Connect with us

Lifestyle

How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Bozoma Saint John

Published

on

How to have the best Sunday in L.A., according to Bozoma Saint John

The first home Bozoma Saint John bought in L.A. was a condo in Marina del Rey.

“It was the first time I bought anything on my own, and it was such a boost to my confidence,” said the entrepreneur, marketing executive and star of “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.” “L.A. has been an interesting place for me from a real estate standpoint.”

Sunday Funday infobox logo with colorful spot illustrations

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

Advertisement

Saint John has called L.A. home for 11 years, having moved from New York City after her husband died in 2013. “L.A. felt like a refuge that was new and exciting,” she said. “It’s where I’ve found myself in a second act.”

This month, Saint John was one of the tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in the devastating Palisades fire. When we checked in with her in the aftermath of the destruction, she said: “My God, I feel like I’m in purgatory.”

Saint John acknowledged that she is privileged to have a second home, but the loss is still extremely significant to her, as this house in Malibu was one she had “prayed for.”

“I fought for every single inch of that property: from the process of getting it, which is its own terrible story, to the 25 years of work so that I could afford it,” she said. “Nothing that I own has ever been given to me. On top of that, I was intentional with the house in how I revamped it and decorated it so that it wasn’t just mine, but really for my people.”

Typically in the Sunday Funday column, notable folks in L.A. share a play-by-play of their ideal day in the city. But this week, in the wake of the fires, we had a conversation with Saint John about her recent reflections on L.A. and the meaning of “home.” In Sunday Funday form, we also chatted about her favorite places in town. Because, as she says, “That’s home too.”

Advertisement

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What was it like moving from New York to L.A.?

Los Angeles felt like home immediately. Maybe it was because of my mindset that I had coming here. I’m not ashamed to say that I was running away from something. I think people often say you shouldn’t run from something in order to go to something. And I’m like, “Why the hell not?” Like, yes, I ran away, and I found Los Angeles, and I said, “I’m gonna make this home.”

What made you want to settle in Malibu? What was it like being a Black female homeowner in Malibu?

I wanted to be in Malibu because I love the water. And Malibu feels like it’s worlds away, even though it’s close enough that I could escape and have a sanctuary without having to book a flight or drive three hours. Someplace where I didn’t have to pack a bag.

Advertisement

And it was very, very, very difficult to get it. First of all, I think we all know the inventory is not [vast], especially if you want to live on the west side of the Pacific Coast Highway. The second thing is that there’s not a lot of diversity when it comes to ownership of homes in that particular strip. I had come up against situations where I put in an offer above asking and was rejected, so I knew that I had to probably find another way to eventually get accepted. I had to put the offer in a trust inside a trust in order to buy that house, so it wasn’t [obvious that it was] me, and that’s how I got it.

I know it’s early, but what do you plan to do? Do you expect to rebuild or settle somewhere else?

Man, I don’t even know. All those questions are in my head right now. There’s a part of me that is a fighter. I’m somebody who doesn’t take no for an answer, and it feels like somebody was trying to tell me no. It’s like, “Well, screw you. I’m coming back.” And then there’s the practical side of me, which is like, “Girl, you don’t want to go through this again.” But where is safe? Where can I go where there will be a guarantee that nothing happens? And is that the kind of life I want to live? I don’t want to make decisions based on my fear of something tragic happening And so my instinctual feeling is that I’ll rebuild.

What do you like best and least about living in L.A.?

I’m gonna sound [like such a] Coloradan and New Yorker, but I love the weather. You can’t beat the weather in L.A. Year-round, I don’t have to worry about wearing a coat too often. I can wear open-toed shoes whenever I want. Can’t beat that. It’s so fantastic.

Advertisement

What do I love least? Traffic. This is why I always try to triangulate where I live, work and where my daughter goes to school, so I don’t have to be involved in too much traffic.

So living in Malibu and being a girl who doesn’t like the cold, do you ever get in the water?

Let me tell you something: No, I don’t [laughs]. I will walk in up to my calves. But that’s the beauty of living in Malibu, your house is your house. Like, I don’t have to make use of getting in the water because there’s no expiration date. When you’re visiting a place, because you’re there for a short amount of time, you feel like, “Oh, I gotta jump in because if I don’t I will never have another chance to.” But prior to this, I would always say, “Ah, next time I’ll go in.”

If you had a perfect L.A. Sunday, what would you do and where would you go?

I’d probably start off going to Reparations Club. I just love all kinds of books, but right now mostly historical fiction based on women’s stories. The last good book I read was Margaret George’s “The Memoirs of Cleopatra.” It’s like 700 pages. And I just love it because I think everybody has an opinion on who Cleopatra was, and this turns it a little bit on its head. You really see the woman, the mother, the warrior.

Advertisement

I would then probably want to go get something to eat [at the restaurant] Issa Rae just [opened], Somerville. It’s Sunday, so I’m drinking right away. I like Issa’s bubbly, that feels like a nice Sunday drink. And then I would probably want to hit up the All Chill Hip Hop Ice Cream Shop for dessert. I’m a vanilla ice cream type of girl. Maybe you can throw a little chocolate sauce on there, maybe some nuts, but just two scoops of vanilla is good for me.

And then maybe a wine spot like 1010 Wine. And then after all this eating, I probably would want to go take a nap. I’m wearing what I wore [out] and I’m sleeping on the couch. No blanket [laughs]. You can’t nap with the blanket because otherwise you know you’re gonna be asleep.

Afterward, I would definitely hit the gym: Strong House Fitness; shout-out to the owner of the gym, Jerry Housey. He’s amazing. And because it’s Sunday, it’s probably a cardio day. So I’ll run on the treadmill. Actually, I’ll probably run from my house, but it’s not too far so don’t be impressed.

And I’d probably end it at a spa like Elle Marie Spa with a facial or something to brighten my face. I don’t want layers of skin taken off or anything like that. I want one that massages, something that feels soft and relaxing that can take me into the evening right after this full day where I’ve worked out.

After that, I’m going home and getting ready for Monday. I’m thankful to be in a position where almost everything on my calendar I chose to be there. So I like to see what’s coming up, what I need to prepare for. Maybe hitting people up on Sunday like, “Hey, I’m so excited to meet with you this week.” That always feels good. I like to put good energy into meetings. When people feel like you are looking forward to seeing them, the meeting ends up being better. Maybe they were feeling the Sunday scaries, but now they don’t feel that.

Advertisement

Lifestyle

Sunday Puzzle: New newsmakers of 2025

Published

on

Sunday Puzzle: New newsmakers of 2025

On-air challenge

Every year around this time I present a “new names in the news” quiz. I’m going to give you some names that you’d probably never heard before 2025 but that were prominent in the news during the past 12 months. You tell me who or what they are.

1. Zohran Mamdani

2. Karoline Leavitt

3. Mark Carney

Advertisement

4. Robert Francis Prevost (hint: Chicago)

5. Jeffrey Goldberg (hint: The Atlantic)

6. Sanae Takaichi

7. Nameless raccoon, Hanover County, Virginia

Last week’s challenge

Last week’s challenge came from Joseph Young, of St. Cloud, Minn. Think of a two-syllable word in four letters. Add two letters in front and one letter behind to make a one-syllable word in seven letters. What words are these?

Advertisement

Challenge answer

Ague –> Plagued / Plagues / Leagues

Winner

Calvin Siemer of Henderson, Nev.

This week’s challenge

This week’s challenge is a numerical one from Ed Pegg Jr., who runs the website mathpuzzle.com. Take the nine digits — 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. You can group some of them and add arithmetic operations to get 2011 like this: 1 + 23 ÷ 4 x 5 x 67 – 8 + 9. If you do these operations in order from left to right, you get 2011. Well, 2011 was 15 years ago.  Can you group some of the digits and add arithmetic symbols in a different way to make 2026? The digits from 1 to 9 need to stay in that order. I know of two different solutions, but you need to find only one of them.

If you know the answer to the challenge, submit it below by Thursday, January 8 at 3 p.m. ET. Listeners whose answers are selected win a chance to play the on-air puzzle.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Lifestyle

Daniel Tosh Sells Lake Tahoe Estate for $10.75 Million

Published

on

Daniel Tosh Sells Lake Tahoe Estate for .75 Million

Daniel Tosh
Sells Lake Tahoe Home for Millions

Published

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Lifestyle

What worked — and what didn’t — in the ‘Stranger Things’ finale

Published

on

What worked — and what didn’t — in the ‘Stranger Things’ finale

Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield.

Netflix


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Netflix

Yes, there are spoilers ahead for the final episode of Stranger Things

On New Year’s Eve, the very popular Netflix show Stranger Things came to an end after five seasons and almost 10 years. With actors who started as tweens now in their 20s, it was probably inevitable that the tale of a bunch of kids who fought monsters would wind down. In the two-plus-hour finale, there was a lot of preparation, then there was a final battle, and then there was a roughly 40-minute epilogue catching up with our heroes 18 months later. And how well did it all work? Let’s talk about it.

Worked: The final battle

The strongest part of the finale was the battle itself, set in the Abyss, in which the crew battled Vecna, who was inside the Mind Flayer, which is, roughly speaking, a giant spider. This meant that inside, Eleven could go one-on-one with Vecna (also known as Henry, or One, or Mr. Whatsit) while outside, her friends used their flamethrowers and guns and flares and slingshots and whatnot to take down the Mind Flayer. (You could tell that Nancy was going to be the badass of the fight as soon as you saw not only her big gun, but also her hair, which strongly evoked Ripley in the Alien movies.) And of course, Joyce took off Vecna’s head with an axe while everybody remembered all the people Vecna has killed who they cared about. Pretty good fight!

Advertisement

Did not work: Too much talking before the fight

As the group prepared to fight Vecna, we watched one scene where the music swelled as Hopper poured out his feelings to Eleven about how she deserved to live and shouldn’t sacrifice herself. Roughly 15 minutes later, the music swelled for a very similarly blocked and shot scene in which Eleven poured out her feelings to Hopper about why she wanted to sacrifice herself. Generally, two monologues are less interesting than a conversation would be. Elsewhere, Jonathan and Steve had a talk that didn’t add much, and Will and Mike had a talk that didn’t add much (after Will’s coming-out scene in the previous episode), both while preparing to fight a giant monster. It’s not that there’s a right or wrong length for a finale like this, but telling us things we already know tends to slow down the action for no reason. Not every dynamic needed a button on it.

Worked: Dungeons & Dragons bringing the group together

It was perhaps inevitable that we would end with a game of D&D, just as we began. But now, these kids are feeling the distance between who they are now and who they were when they used to play together. The fact that they still enjoy each other’s company so much, even when there are no world-shattering stakes, is what makes them seem the most at peace, more than a celebratory graduation. And passing the game off to Holly and her friends, including the now-included Derek, was a very nice touch.

Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington holding up drinks to toast.

Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington.

Netflix


hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Netflix

Did not work: Dr. Kay, played by Linda Hamilton

It seemed very exciting that Stranger Things was going to have Linda Hamilton, actual ’80s action icon, on hand this season playing Dr. Kay, the evil military scientist who wanted to capture and kill Eleven at any cost. But she got very little to do, and the resolution to her story was baffling. After the final battle, after the Upside Down is destroyed, she believes Eleven to be dead. But … then what happened? She let them all call taxis home, including Hopper, who killed a whole bunch of soldiers? Including all the kids who now know all about her and everything she did? All the kids who ventured into the Abyss are going to be left alone? Perfect logic is certainly not anybody’s expectation, but when you end a sequence with your entire group of heroes at the mercy of a band of violent goons, it would be nice to say something about how they ended up not at the mercy of said goons.

Worked: Needle drops

Listen, it’s not easy to get one Prince song for your show, let alone two: “Purple Rain” and “When Doves Cry.” When the Duffer Brothers say they needed something epic, and these songs feel epic, they are not wrong. There continues to be a heft to the Purple Rain album that helps to lend some heft to a story like this, particularly given the period setting. “Landslide” was a little cheesy as the lead-in to the epilogue, but … the epilogue was honestly pretty cheesy, so perhaps that’s appropriate.

Advertisement

Did not work: The non-ending

As to whether Eleven really died or is really just backpacking in a foreign country where no one can find her, the Duffer Brothers, who created the show, have been very clear that the ending is left up to you. You can think she’s dead, or you can think she’s alive; they have intentionally not given the answer. It’s possible to write ambiguous endings that work really well, but this one felt like a cop-out, an attempt to have it both ways. There’s also a real danger in expanding characters’ supernatural powers to the point where they can make anything seem like anything, so maybe much of what you saw never happened. After all, if you don’t know that did happen, how much else might not have happened?

This piece also appears in NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter so you don’t miss the next one, plus get weekly recommendations about what’s making us happy.

Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending