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It’s always exciting when a noted restaurateur opens a new restaurant in Newport Beach (CdM, Louie’s by the Bay and Arc Kitchen & Bakery are the most recent). However, I am particularly excited about a new concept from the man who created Rouge, Chat Noir, French 75, Chimayo,...

The Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce held its annual Police Appreciation Breakfast at the new Hyatt Regency John Wayne Airport several weeks ago, complete with 500 attendees, mounted police on horseback, and displays of vintage and current police vehicles. They were able to do...

June arrives soon, and with it warmer weather—a perfect time for al fresco jazz concerts in Newport Beach. Up first is the annual Newport Beach Jazz Festival, held May 31 – June 2 at the Hyatt Regency on Jamboree Road. Enjoy three days of world-class jazz and blues from such...

It was a busy eight days for the Newport Beach Film Festival, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019 with a record attendance of 58,000 people. The Festival opened on Thursday, April 25 with the West Coast Premiere of “Luce” starring Naomi Watts, Octavia Spence, Tim Roth...

Newport Beach is not known for its equestrian activities, but we do indeed have a plethora of horses in our city. Most are recreational animals, but a handful belong to one of the best kept secrets in Newport Beach: Back Bay Therapeutic Riding Club. The Back Bay Therapeutic...

Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Orange County, held its annual Celebration of Children Black & White Ball on Saturday, April 27, at the Hotel Irvine. More than 400 guests were there to support CASA’s mission of serving abused, abandoned, and neglected children in...

May is National Hamburger Month, so each week I’ll share some of my favorite gourmet burgers available at local restaurants. These are burgers I love for their creativity, flavor combinations and toppings, and of course the fries that come with the burger. When I sit at the bar...

Newport Beach resident Marisa Wayne has grit, a necessary attribute if you want to succeed in the boutique fitness world. The youngest daughter of John Wayne, a longtime Newport Beach resident who won an Academy Award for the 1969 film “True Grit,” Marisa launched GritCycle in...

It’s not often that a former Playboy Playmate and a skateboarding legend perform a ribbon cutting ceremony, but that’s what happened last weekend when Playboy Playmate Nicole Dahm Kelly (one of the famous Dahm Triplets) and skate icon Tony Hawk officially opened their new...

Natalie Powers recalls sitting in Segerstrom Hall with her mother 10 years ago to watch a production of “Fiddler on the Roof” starring Topol. Now, Powers returns to Segerstrom Hall May 7, but this time she’ll be on stage playing the part of Chava, one of Tevye’s daughters, in the...

More than 50 local restaurants are set to serve food during the 2019 Newport Beach Film Festival, and a presenting sponsor is Pacific Sales (a leader in kitchen and home products), so the foodie factor at the festival is high. That’s why the Film Festival has brought back its...

Orange County has long been a hotbed of creativity, especially in the music department. We had an explosive punk rock movement in the late 1970s and early 80s, which is when I was playing drums in a band called Desperate Living while managing other local bands and producing demos...

With more than 3,000 films submitted to the Newport Beach Film Festival ever year, who determines which films make the grade and which ones get two thumbs down? According to festival co-founder and CEO Gregg Schwenk, he and his team of programmers make the rounds of the top film...

Bees or no bees? That is the question. “The Pollinators” may have the answer. “The Pollinators” is one of the films in the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Environmental Film Series, presented by Pacific Sales. According to Leslie Feibleman of the Newport Beach Film Festival, this...

The Newport Beach Film Festival marks a major milestone this month. The renowned cinematic celebration commemorates its 20th anniversary as a respected lifestyle film festival. It’s the largest film festival in coastal Southern California, one that has garnered international...

Ron Salisbury owns The Cannery Restaurant in Newport Beach as well as the Corona del Mar location of El Cholo, among others. Piero Selvaggio owned the famed Valentino restaurant in Santa Monica for 46 years before closing it last December. These culinary legends have launched a...

Alzheimer’s Orange County is one of those organizations that you often don’t hear about until you need them. In Orange County, more than 84,000 people are affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementia. They need Alzheimer’s Orange County, which began as an independent nonprofit...

Opening night of the Newport Beach Film Festival is always a dazzling affair, with a red carpet in front of Edwards Big Newport theater with filmmakers and actors, VIP speeches, the opening night film premiere, and of course the gala after-party across the street in the...

The Broadway musical “Cats” has had at least nine lives since it opened at Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre in 1982. Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” (which never made its way on my “must read” list), “Cats” ran for...

  Easter is a few days away, which means this is the perfect time to make a reservation for Easter brunch—or dinner. A basketful of Newport Beach restaurants are serving Easter brunch. Some are buffet-style, with more goodies than a dozen Easter bunnies could consume. Others...