August 2018 Newsletter

By now, most of you have heard of the June passing of our beloved Stan Ross.  Rather than repeating what most of you have already heard, please check the experimental Kenneth Leventhal & Company Alumni blog at https://kennethleventhal.blogspot.com/

With my upcoming retirement, we will be losing our distribution channels for this newsletter.  However, please be reminded of our alumni group online points of contact in addition to the blog, the EY Kenneth Leventhal & Company Alumni page on Facebook, which is at https://www.facebook.com/groups/58653401803/, as well as the Kenneth Leventhal alumni group on Linked In which is at https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2165469

With this fall’s closing of the Leventhal/Ross office in Century City, we’re looking for a new home for the Kenneth Leventhal & Company archives which are currently stored there.  There are perhaps a dozen boxes containing copies of KL&Co. publications, meeting binders, and other associated firm items.  If anybody has any ideas of how to rescue these items from the trash bin, please let me know.

UPDATE*****
Thanks to Jack Rodman and Mary Jo Leventhal for finding a home for the KL&Co. archives at the Leventhal School of Accounting at the University of Southern California.  

Beating me through the retirement door is Alan Gittelson, former managing partner of the Washington DC office of Kenneth Leventhal & Company, who relocated back to EY Los Angeles several years ago.  If you would like to contact Alan, you can reach him at amgittel@gmail.com or (202) 215-1790.

Brad Hall was quoted in a Los Angeles Times article on the effect that L.A. Live has had on the resurgence of downtown Los Angeles in the past decade. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-la-live-20180621-story.html   Brad has a vested interest in this revitalization, as Brad is one of the owners of Hotel Figueroa, located just steps away from L.A. Live and Staples Center.  Brad and his group spent tens of millions to convert the aging relic into an upscale boutique hotel.  As Mike Meyer recently told us, Hotel Figueroa has a special place in his heart as that was his first stop upon arriving in Los Angeles from Omaha in the 1960s–for the princely sum of $12 week.

Maria Salinas was named the first woman to serve as President and chief executive of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.  She had run her own consulting firm, Salinas Consulting  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-chamber-ceo-maria-salinas-20180531-story.html    Maria  was named to the position after the Chamber conducted a national search.

Renata Simril spoke at the second regional Conference on how sports can help humanity, held in June at the campus of Loyola Marymount University.

Gregg Bloomberg is speaking at the upcoming Bisnow conference on “Evolution of LA’s Submarkets & The Impact of Opportunity Zones” .  Gregg has made a number of other recent speaking appearances and is Tax Partner at Cohn Reznick.

Mitch Clarfield was honored as one of the Rainmakers of 2018 by Real Estate Forum in their annual national ranking of the top producers in the real estate capital markets.  Mitch is Executive Managing Director at Berkeley Point Capital in Santa Monica and is on the Real Estate Forum list for the second year in a row.  http://www.reforum-digital.com/reforum/may_2018?pg=30#pg30

Bob Cohen continues his leadership role in the world of accounting for cannabis.  Once again he is speaking at the California CPA Society’s annual CalCPA Cannabis Symposium, and this year he is also on the planning committee for the event.  Bob is a partner at Lodgen, Lacher, Golditch, Sardi and Saunders in Encino.

Susan Carlisle, partner with Carlisle, Dorafshani, Wohl and Associates commented on the new alimony provisions of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act legislation in Financial Advisor Magazine.  https://www.fa-mag.com/news/big-tax-changes-for-alimony-payers-36746.html

Linda Hetzel Neuenburg presented “Women’s Guide to Smart Spending & Rich Living” as part of the Savvy Life series of presentations put on by First Financial Consulting.  Linda is a senior financial planner with First Financial Consulting in Pasadena.  https://firstfinancial.is/linda/

This month’s alumni headshot: Liang Wu

https://www.uglobal.com/en/profile/lwuster/

David R. Chan tackles the mystery of why Los Angeles Chinatown is the only Chinese community in North America where you cannot find authentic Sichuan style food (particularly puzzling since there are three such restaurants in downtown Iowa City, Iowa).  https://www.menuism.com/blog/los-angeles-chinatown-cantonese/

In addition, David explains in an interview on the South China Morning Post’s Goldthread 2 Chinese food website that General Tso’s chicken is not from China, as part of the larger discourse of how so-called Hunan style food made its way across the United States. 

Don’t forget that you can always contact me at chandavkl@gmail.com as well as chandavkl@chandavkl.com