Nestled at the foot of Runyon Canyon, in Los Angeles’s Hollywood Hills, the entrance to the Goldwyn House is suitably cinematic. Designed in 1916 by the American architect Arthur S. Heineman, who, in the following decade, would develop the world’s first motel, the Neoclassical-style mansion was home to Samuel Goldwyn, a co-founder of the Goldwyn Pictures and Paramount Pictures production companies, in the mid-1920s. Once upon a time, the estate’s driveway snaked down what is now two city blocks to Hollywood Boulevard. Today the white facade, complete with cast-iron Juliet balconies, peeks enigmatically through an archway cut into the 30-foot-tall hedge that surrounds the property.
On a blustery February evening, ahead of a dinner there during the Frieze Los Angeles art fair, the house looked as dramatic as ever, if somewhat different: Its current inhabitant, David Alhadeff, 48, uses the space as both his home and an outpost of his influential design gallery, the Future Perfect, which also has locations in New York and San Francisco. Arranged throughout the rooms — along with pieces by the gallery’s roster of contemporary designers — were gelatinous-looking rainbow-colored resin lamps, chairs and tables by the evening’s honoree, the pioneering Italian artist and designer Gaetano Pesce, 83, whose first solo gallery exhibition in Los Angeles, “Dear Future,” had recently been installed in the house. “This is a full circle moment for me,” said Alhadeff. “I remember being introduced to Gaetano’s work in the 1990s and it was outside my imagination of what a fusion of art and design could look like.”
The atmosphere on arrival was familial, setting the tone for an event that felt more like a meal with friends than an exhibition opening. In the dining room — where a mobile-like metal chandelier by the Brooklyn-based designer Karl Zahn illuminated gold-leaf wallpaper with a jungle motif by the New York studio Calico — Pesce chatted to Alhadeff, who bounced his 6-month-old baby, Leo, in his arms. The gallerist and his partner, the creative director Jason Duzansky, 46, adopted their son just days before moving into the space last summer, and although there are private areas within it, the lines between gallery and home are blurry; the family entertains regularly and hosted Thanksgiving at the house last year.
Around 6 p.m., Alhadeff’s 40 guests started to trickle in. Once the wind had calmed and everyone had a chance to take in the show, the group moved outside to the pool, where wines from the California producers Reina del Toro and the Wonderland Project were served along with hors d’oeuvres of marinated artichokes, panissa and herbs and focaccia with preserved tomatoes. Pesce, though, could be found in the sunroom, sitting in one of two new editions of his bulbous La Mamma chair — first released with B&B Italia as part of his 1969 Up series — that he made for the show from recycled cork. “This is a political object with a political message, about how badly women are treated in the world,” he said of the iconic piece, which comes with an attached spherical ottoman intended to symbolize a ball and chain. Pesce has long combined his experimental approach to forms and materials with social critique, and a percentage of the exhibition’s proceeds will be donated to organizations advocating for women’s rights, including Planned Parenthood. “The design of the future has a message,” he continued.
For the meal, guests sat at a long linen-draped table under the garden’s towering palm trees. Alhadeff had enlisted the chef Chris Kronner, known for his pursuit of the perfect burger, to create the menu. “Thank God we’re friends because, at this point in his career, I shouldn’t be able to book him,” Alhadeff said with a laugh. “He takes whatever I’m working on conceptually and then he articulates it into food. For one dinner, I showed him a Flemish painting and he served everything in silver bowls and there were grapes draped everywhere.” For this meal, Kronner drew inspiration from Pesce’s birthplace, the northern Italian city of La Spezia, which is famous for its seafood. The twist? All the dishes — including trofie pasta with hazelnut and oregano; pink chicory salad with dried persimmon; involtini with cabbage, potatoes and mushrooms; and citrus-topped olive oil cake — were entirely plant-based.
The finale — a sundae of vegan chocolate ice cream by the Los Angeles company Magpies Softserve topped with olive oil and sea salt — was a particular hit with the designer Jeremy Scott, who was seated next to the London-born, Los Angeles-based ceramist Leena Similu. (The artist recently joined the Future Perfect’s roster, and Scott owns several of her anthropomorphic pieces.) Other guests included the interior designer Nicole Hollis, the design consultant Alisa Maria Wronski and Joseph Becker, the associate curator of design and architecture at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, who moderated a talk with Pesce at the Future Perfect the following day. After dessert was cleared and the group began to disperse, Pesce remained at the center of the table, as animated as ever, exchanging anecdotes with Scott into the night. Here, Alhadeff shares his tips for hosting a dinner party at which creativity reigns.
Create Contrast
The Goldwyn House can seem “grand” or even “a little imposing,” Alhadeff said. “But I always want it to feel like home. And I want there to be a contrast between the space and the entertaining: a mix of high and low.” Accordingly, he tends to take a playful approach to hosting: “Rather than trying to impress, my goal is to put smiles on the faces of my guests; some nights that might mean having a huge, elaborately molded jelly dessert, other nights it might mean hiding unexpected objects within the table décor,” he said.
Turn Your Table Into a Gallery
When Alhadeff throws a dinner for an artist, he likes guests to experience the work during the meal itself. “We work with functional art and it’s nice to see it in practice,” he said. To bring what he called the “flavor of Gaetano” to the table, Alhadeff created a centerpiece from Pesce’s vessels filled with simple blooms, including poppies, that he selected himself from Los Angeles’s flower district. And to offset the brightly colored works, he opted for simple gray flax table linens. “I definitely went neutral for this event because Gaetano is the star,” he said.
Inspire Interaction
To create an intimate environment when hosting larger dinners, Alhadeff likes to serve dishes family style. “I want there to be ease and comfort in getting to know the people around you, and I think passing the food across and around helps to create interactions,” he said. For events of 20 people or fewer, he will either cook dishes — like giant bowls of pasta — that don’t involve spending hours in the kitchen, so he can maximize time with his guests, or serve something that encourages everyone to get involved, like D.I.Y. pizzas with an array of different toppings.
Host the Party That You’d Like to Attend
“The key to setting the right tone for an event is a relaxed and happy host,” said Alhadeff. “I don’t enjoy parties where the host is rushing around in a frenzy, trying to accommodate everyone’s needs.” To that end, planning ahead and knowing what to outsource are key, he advised. “And then, of course, it’s about listening to your instincts and sharing the things you love with the people you’ve invited,” he continued. “This principle can be scaled up or down — it might mean simply serving chocolates, as opposed to contriving an elaborate cake you’ll stress about.”
Go Plant-Based
When planning the menu with Kronner, Alhadeff followed the logic that “meat eaters can eat plant-based food, but vegans can’t eat meat,” choosing to prepare just one menu that would accommodate a range of different diets. For the same reason, he always serves pupusas at his Los Angeles openings. “Nobody ever thinks about them as primarily gluten-free — they’re made with cornmeal — or vegetarian-friendly — filling-dependent, of course,” he explained, “and they’re always a real crowd-pleaser.” At this dinner, he said, “the dishes Chris prepared were so delicious that most people didn’t even notice they were plant-based.”
