Jeanie Buss, governor and minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and co-owner of the all-female sports entertainment property WOW (Women of Wrestling), says she is proud to call Los Angeles home, where she went to college (University of Southern California) and where she has always worked.
In Sunday Funday, the people of Los Angeles tell us step by step their ideal Sunday in the city. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.
“I was born at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, but I consider myself a Los Angeles citizen,” Buss says. “I grew up in Pacific Palisades and for a time lived with my father [Jerry Buss] in a very famous old mansion in Beverly Hills called Pickfair, which was owned by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.”
She then moved to Manhattan Beach, Playa del Rey, and now lives in Playa Vista, where “everyone has a dog, and people who don't have one borrow someone else's dog, because everyone goes out dog walking,” Buss notes. “It really gives it a sense of community.”
The sports executive says Sundays are set aside for activities that help you reflect on your life and recharge for the week ahead. For Buss, that includes getting a manicure or a facial, going to the movies and having dinner with interesting guests.
7am: Up and out with the dogs.
After we got up, my husband [stand-up comedian Jay Mohr] and I take our dogs for a walk locally starbuckswhich takes between five and eight minutes. I have a four and a half pound Maltese who thinks he's a 100 pound Rottweiler that he can boss around everyone, especially me. Her name is Elly May, after “The Beverly Hillbillies” character Elly May Clampett. Jay's dog is a Pomeranian named Bertie. He looks like a teddy bear that has come to life. After the dogs do their business, we go home.
8 am: Breakfast at home
Jay makes us scrambled eggs and bagels, then we talk about what's going to happen that day and rest until lunchtime. If it's a nice day, we go to the park across the street and enjoy the sun with the dogs.
11 am: walk until lunch
If we went out to lunch, we would walk to photovoltaic housewhere you can have a weekend brunch or a great turkey sandwich. On weekends I walk to almost everything. I really like the idea of taking a day where you don't get in your car, but instead shop and do all your activities in your neighborhood.
1:00 p.m.: Myself–careful
Then you could opt for a manicure or facial. I'm going to Varnish laboratory for a manicure with Tommy, or escape spa in Playa Vista for a facial or massage. If I need to relax, there are Swedish massages. If I feel tension in my muscles, I get a sports massage. It really depends on what I feel I need.
4:00 p.m.: Movies are essential…
After returning home, my husband and I decide which movie we are going to watch at the Cinemark Playa Vistato which we walk. I make it a priority to go to the movies every weekend. Going to the movies was one of the things I did with my dad that I have very good memories of. I remind people that that's our industry here, the entertainment industry, and that going to the movies is a community event. I love this time of year because all the blockbusters are out. You get within a block of the theater and you can smell the popcorn cooking. I just watched the movie “Song Sung Blue” with Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman. I loved it and ate a lot of popcorn.
Or an escape room
If there isn't a movie we agree we want to see, we'll do an escape room. Last weekend we did one where you're on the Titanic and you have 60 minutes to get everyone off the ship. If you can't solve it within 60 minutes, then the loss of life will fall on your head. We achieved the goal with a few minutes to spare. The place we went to is called 60Out Escape Rooms in [HHLA in Westchester].
6:30 pm: Dinner with he ““Fourth Presidency”
Then, on Sunday nights, we do something we call the “Fourth Chair,” which was my husband’s idea. We invited my girlfriend Stacy Kennedy, who is our friend, and we come up with ideas about who we would like to have dinner with. We then invite that person to take the fourth chair at dinner. No one ever gets a standing invitation to sit in the fourth chair. It has to be a rotating guest.
We just have a good conversation, have a lot of fun, and talk about what's going on in pop culture. Whatever comes up, we go down the rabbit hole. There is never an agenda. You learn a lot about people in that type of conversation that is comfortable and fluid.
Generally we will Sweet fish sushi restaurant and bar in Playa Vista. I love all sushi: halibut, red snapper, spicy horse mackerel, and carpaccio. The service is really good there.
Or we will go to coffee penguinan Italian restaurant in Playa del Rey, right on the beach. I would order a Caesar salad, followed by any type of pasta. Last time it was penne alla vodka. The good thing about them is that they serve everything very hot, fresh from the kitchen. It's small, but has excellent food and service.
I also love going to Baltaire Restaurant & Steakhouse in Brentwood. It's a steakhouse, but it also has the best seafood tower, called Grande Plateau. My husband and I love lobster, crab, shrimp and oysters. We attack him like there is no tomorrow.
9:00 p.m.: Laugh before going to bed
At nine it would be the dogs' last walk. We are people who go to bed early. We could watch something funny, catch up on something we've recorded, like old comedies, “South Park” or “Saturday Night Live” from the night before. We like to laugh before going to sleep. My husband could watch a documentary about the Civil War and it would put me to sleep. I like to cheer myself up a little more before falling asleep.
