My friends Max and Dao-Yi started an amazing clothing company called Public School. Recently radio personality Howard Stern had some words for them. Click here to here what he ha to say. They say all press is good press I’m sure Public School got crazy buzz from this. Keep pushing homies.

Ahh yet another installation of Breakfast with Kenny. This week I didn’t bring together two people who didn’t know each other. Instead I brought together two of my friends who know each other how ever never explored to option to work together, Mikhayel Tesfaye and Peter James Lee. We met at one of my favorite breakfast spots in LA, Toast on 3rd. 

Mik is a homie from my early NYC days. When we first met he was on the way out of Mecca where he was part of the design team and I was on my way in, as part of the Marketing team. He left to head up design at Phat Farm. We stayed in touch as he left Phat Farm to start his own thing with some of his friends called Prohibit. At that time I was leaving Mecca to go to Ecko. Then he left Prohibit to got to Roc-A-wear, and I left Ecko to focus on my company Direct Impulse. Then he left Roc to move to LA and start a design consulting firm, and Direct Impulse was acquired by  Alloy and I became fashion/lifestyle editor of Rolling Stone. Then he started Greedy Genius with some friends, and I left Rolling Stone to be Puffys marketing director. Now he sold his interest in Greedy and has started a new venture called Passport, and I moved to LA to run the west coast marketing for Belvedere. Needless to say our friendship has lasted longer than any of our jobs.

Peter Lee is my man who I met when I moved out to LA. He is a brilliant designer who has worked at Puma and Hudson Jeans. His insight for design and his attention to detail has lead him to start his own line Cassette. 

Toast is a dope little cafe on 3rd street. It’s set in the mix of cool independent boutiques is the perfect spot for LA cool kids to have lunch and breakfast. 

These two cats have known each other for a long time. Mik always makes the joke that he knew Peter back when they both had dreads. They have both had success in the fashion industry and made a name for them selves. We discussed if there were ways for them to work together.  The meeting began with us talking about how sad it was to see a lot of the boutiques in LA were closing. We blamed part of it o the fact that the city is so spread a  part and that foot traffic is not as good as densely populated cities like Tokyo and New York. As we continued the conversation our waiter came to take our orders.

Mik kept it chill and vegan as always with a fruit salad, toast and veggie sausage.

Peter however jumped out the window with a cheese burger and sweet potato fries at 9am.

I went for the French toast and turkey sausage.. I mean the name of the place is Toast.

We discussed how sad it is that so many young designers price themselves out of the game creating product that’s sexy but unaffordable to their consumer. You have to really think about who really wants to buy your product and can they afford it at your price. In this economy you have to consider your consumers finances as well as yours. All to often designers are make their dream product that they themselves would love to buy however they themselves couldn’t afford it.

We also discussed that  a lot of brands think that the answer for them is to survive in this economy is the Wall Mart model. However that isn’t always the right way to go. These low budget mass retailers cut your margins and the only way you make any money is buy selling them mass quantities. Now a days it’s really hard to get a loan or line of credit  from the factories and banks, so its hard to get the production on these mass quantities. Also there is the nightmare of retailers cancelling the order in mid production leaving you with a ton of product on your hands, as well as the bill. 

It seems like the fashion game is a gamble today. I hope these two vets find a way to work together.

I had to go to a work retreat at the Pelican Hill Hotel in Orange County. When I first heard I had to go out there first thing I thought was I don’t golf so this won’t be any fun. However I was wrong. This is the perfect place for a little weekend get a way. With the room which was amazing.

There were so many perks about the room as well. Staring with my welcome snack.

The slippers and the robe.

The hidden booming system

The adjustable bed light.

The sick mini bar with the coffee maker and toaster

And the TV sellection and cozy fire place

The bath room situation was serious as well.

The patio and view were so fly.

And lets not forget the huge circular heated pool.

But the most impressive thing about this place was the spa…. sorry no pics… For all my West Coast people, I highly recommend taking a weekend vacation at Pelican Hill. Great near by spot to do a spa weekend.

So last Friday I had a dinner meeting at Bond Street in the Thompson Beverly Hills. I had recently received a membership card to the rooftop club of the Thompson “ABH“. So I decided to get their early and finish my workday on the roof, this way I could enjoy their 360 degree view of Beverly Hills. Check it out.

So I stopped by Kidrobot on Melrose the other day to holla at the homies Hoang an Jed. They had just got in a rear Krink mail box for me. when I got there to pic it up I also saw they had a B.I.G. figure and a Hugh Hefner as well. So I had to get al three for my collection. Check em out.

I got a special shipment to the crib today. Opened the box and was hype when I realized it was a pair of he new Kanye West, Nike colab… The Air Yeezys. These kicks seems to be mash up of all of Kanye’s favorite Nike’s of all times, including one of mine the Jordan IV. Check em out they are fire. 

A couple of weeks ago I stayed at The Wynn in Las Vegas. I have been to the clubs and resturants there but never stayed there. So I finally got to see what the hype was about the hotel named after the LV casino developer Steve Wynn.

Like every other hotel in Vegas you have to walk through the maze in the casino in order to get to the room elevators. Yet another way to try to get your money always hated that.

Made it to the Elevator and then got out on the never ending hall way. Finally made it to the room.

The lighting, coloring and mood in the main living area and bed room was dope. The pop art pieces gave a regular Vegas room lay out a more modern feel. Always dope when a Vegas hotel gives you a Bible so you can pray for all the sins you commit there.

The bath room in the room is almost better that the bed room.

So after I check the spot out I sat down to watch some CNN.

Listening to all that bad news made me hungry.

The mini bar was well stocked, but I needed real grub. So I ordered room service.

Seems like I wasn’t the first to use the phone there. Any way I had to leave in a hurry so I ordered the only thing that was fast and I could actually eat.. Chicken wings

It was ok.. Any way after going to the event I headed back to the room cause I had an early flight. And I got to really enjoy to best part of the room… the comfortable bed. I really got a good nights sleep.

So I got a visit today from homie, photographer and fellow blogger Flo. He stopped by to discuss a couple projects, and Just to check in. 

He showed off his amazing old school Polaroid camera and we talked about how crazy it is that they went out of business. That’s crazy since the fashion industry is so dependent on Polaroids. Not to mention all the sneaker heads out there that use them to organize their kicks

He showed me how rich the black and white comes out on the rare chocolate Polaroid film he used. Looking forward to working together.

So after the big IX launch party with JUSTICE last month, I took some of my Belvedere folks to the Montalban Theater to design some Nike ID’s. In the spirit of the launch mine were based on the brand. Well I just got them in the mail. What do you think?

I remember when I lived in NY how bad the restaurants where in LA. There was not a lot of places to get a good meal much less some good Italian. However over the years the cuisine has gotten a lot better. The other night I had the opportunity to check out Terroni on Beverly. The aesthetic of the place was very relaxed and cozy. The lighting is dim, exposed brick walls, with adjustable lights in several of the booths.

Also to keep the mood right there is a screen which they project old black and white movies. The night I went they were showing Roman Holiday. 

Along with their decor Teronni also have a great wine list. With great affordable wines by the glass and bottle. Great to wet the pallet.

All that is just icing on the cake. The real treat here is there food. Terroni’s southern Italian food is authentic and tasty. From the olive plate to the freashly hand tossed pizza Terroni has the taste of NYs Little Italy. So if your in the mood for some Italian try out Teroni.

Terroni

7605 Beverly BLVD

LA, CA 90036

323 954 0300