8 Shots of Speedo Speaker Michael Crosby Addressing WeHo’s City Council; Nearly Naked, Obviously
Talk about a fish out of water.
File this one away in the “only in WeHo” category: In only a Speedo, local water polo player Michael Crosby took to the public comment podium at Monday night’s City Council meeting to express his approval of the city’s plans to build a whole new recreation center, including two pools on the rooftop.
In the ultimate irony, the City Council later approved “code of conduct” rules (unrelated to Crosby’s stunt) requiring speakers to wear shoes and a shirt, although the rules did not include pants.
While Crosby appeared ready to dive in Monday, the pools probably won’t be done for about four-and-a-half years.
Also speaking, and a little more appropriately dressed, was Markus Rogan, an Austrian swimmer who won two silver medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece and a gold medal in the 200m backstroke at the 2008 World Championships in Manchester.
Below, see freelance photographer Jon Viscott’s shots of Crosby in his game-time gear:
Nic Adler’s Tweet Takes Down CougarLife’s Racy Sunset Strip Billboard
It’s amazing what a tweet can do. A tweet, that is, that comes from Nic Adler, co-owner of the Roxy and a man with 57,000 Twitter followers.
“What idiot put this up outside my office? @westhollywood please do something!!! Shame on you Van Wagner !!” @NicAdler tweeted on Monday. He was referring to a billboard erected just after Mother’s Day in the West Hollywood parking lot on Sunset Boulevard that hosts the Thursday Farmers Market. The billboard features a photo of a woman breastfeeding a child, which would be all too innocent except that the billboard is promoting CougarLife.com, a website for women interested in younger men. A thought balloon shows the baby asking “jealous?”
The City of West Hollywood has very limited control over billboard content. But Van Wagner, owner of the billboard, quickly agreed to remove the offending poster. In a statement to Huffington Post, CougarLife.com, which claims four million members, professed wonder at why anyone would be upset. ““There is no reason for this billboard to be taken down. The Farmers Market is actually the perfect place to showcase this ad,” said Cougar Life spokeswoman Marlo Jordan. “There is nothing more natural than a woman breastfeeding.”
Jordan neglected to mention an earlier and perhaps more controversial billboard on the Strip that showed a blonde woman lounging with a cocktail with the legend, “CougarLife.com … for Mother F*ckers.“
CougarLife’s explanation for the placement of that billboard is that it has more members in the 90069 ZIP zone than in any other area of the United States. That ZIP zone covers the west side of West Hollywood, bounded roughly by Melrose Avenue on the south, Doheny Drive on the west, Sweetzer Avenue on the east and extending on the north into the Hollywood Hills. It’s an area best known for its gay male population. CougarLife’s members, however, are “cougars,” which it defines as women 35 or older interested in a relationship with a man at least five years younger, and those younger men who lust after them.
All that leaves us wondering: If West Hollywood is ever going to officially acknowledge Boystown, should it also consider labeling an area Cougar City?
Chinese Restaurant Chi-Lin Opens
Chi-Lin, the much-anticipated Chinese restaurant from Innovative Dinning Group (IDG), opens for a “preview period” starting Monday night.
Chi-Lin joins neighbor RivaBella, another IDG restaurant that opened to positive reviews in mid-January, as part of a burgeoning dining and nightlife scene on the Sunset Strip’s west end.
Chi-Lin will serve dinner from 5:30 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday and Monday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and 5:30 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Saturday. The bar opens daily at 5 p.m.
Signature dishes include: the Maine Lobster Cantoness Xiong-Tong with ginger and scallion over house-made noodles; Hong Kong Pin Pei Chicken carved and served with hand-made porbien crêpes, plum sauce and julienned cucumbers and scallions; Seared A-5 Japanese Wagyu New York served with the chef’s Xo sauce and coarse sea salt, and Leaves of Wild Yam in Lemon Zest, a superfood dark green leaves of wild yam lightly sautéed with ginger and garlic, sprinkled with lemon zest and topped with honey glazed yam cubes.
Chi-Lin is located at 9201 Sunset Blvd. at Doheny. For reservations, call 310-278-2068 or visit www.chi-lin-la.com. Valet parking and $7 self parking are available.
SEE: Rod Stewart Rockin’ Out at the Troubadour
Mr. “Hot Legs” himself performed at the Troubadour last night for an intimate invite-only performance. The set was short but sweet as he played some of his classics, including “You Wear It Well” and “Forever Young.” He also mixed in tracks off his newest album, “Time.”
It was also a family affair. Stewart pointed out members of his family in the VIP section, including his wife (also the subject of many new songs) who was down on the first floor with the rest of us. A true showman, Stewart often interacted with the crowd. No soccer balls were kicked, mind you — it wasn’t that kind of show.
Stewart tossed the free performance as a way to collect promo material for his album release. Plenty of crew members worked $50,000 cameras on remote control jibs as song lyrics scrolled across a teleprompter in case Stewart needed the assistance.
The event was closed off to photographers, but we snagged some iPhone shots from the show.
