by Wolf Schneider
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Horse talk in Tesuque this winter. |
Used to be, flying from Santa Fe to LA meant embarking on
the long haul down I-25 to Albuquerque Airport three or four hours before the
flight. This last trip, I made the easy 30-minute drive across Rodeo Road for the
50-seat American Airlines direct flight out of tiny Santa Fe Airport. An intimate
affair, the American Eagle flight is operating four days a week right now. Coming
back was even better, navigating through giant LAX to come upon folks I knew at
the small satellite terminal for the Santa Fe flight, including everyone's
favorite Santa Fean, the gracious Ali MacGraw.
I was in LA for the #ICGLocal600 Annual Publicists Awards,
where a thousand or so publicists and Hollywood glitterati showed up during
LA's biggest downpour of the winter, traversing their way to the Beverly
Wilshire Hotel amid mudslides in the canyons and flooded streets. I feel like
this is the best event of the awards season for seeing all my lifelong friends
and colleagues in the entertainment media. The Golden Globes, Spirit Awards,
and Oscars are the crème de la crème, but at the Publicists Awards Luncheon the
glamour quotient is perfectly calibrated at an amiable pitch, this year’s event
highlighted by the participation of Tony Goldwyn, JoBeth Williams, and Shailene
Woodley. Most of my LA schmoozing this trip took place in Studio City and
Sherman Oaks, where I was lucky enough to stay at a friend’s house in the
Sherman Oaks hills. It rained the whole time, with the orange trees plumping up
while roses, geraniums, and wildflowers bloomed profusely.
Arriving back in Santa Fe, it was so great to get my
gate-checked wheeled carry-on in less than five minutes, pull it on over to my
car that was parked for $3 a day a few feet away, then drive home and make a
big pot of Trisha Yearwood’s excellent chicken tortilla soup recipe, and watch
the Oscars. Mixing up a Santa Fe life with an LA life might be the best of both
worlds.
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| Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva |
Movie publicist Wolf
Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, consulting editor of Southwest Art, and can be followed on Twitter @wolfschneider1.
