CCH Pounder
Four-time Emmy nominee CCH Pounder is busier than ever these days, with a hand in a pop-up charity boutique in Santa Monica and a featured role in a little indie project you might have heard of.
“Making ‘Avatar’ was almost like the transition of going from theater to movies for the first time,” said the actress, who lives in the West Adams district with husband Boubacar Koné. “The acting part feels familiar, but it’s also different. It felt like you were doing something that was cutting-edge, like going from the silent era to talkies or from black-and-white to color. But then [director] Jim Cameron would say, ‘The technology is coming so fast, what we’re doing now is already going to be obsolete by the time we finish.’ It was an amazing experience.”
That pop-up
Our pop-up store on Montana in Santa Monica is called Poverty Not, and it’s probably the best-looking boutique that’s only going to be around for about six weeks. It was put together by a bunch of artists. I’m about a 30-year beader, and I make jewelry for the shop, but we have crafts from all over the world, and the proceeds benefit Women’s Campaign International, Human Rights Watch and the African Millennium Foundation.
We’ll be there through the end of February, with a possibility of extending it through March.
Soul of an artist
I’m a huge art buff, and I love trolling the galleries all over town. I love Avenue 50 Studio up in Highland Park, which shows primarily Latino or Chicano art. A fantastic collection. I also love NELA, the Northeast Los Angeles Art Walks. And the Culver City art walks are pretty good too.
My favorite place to food shop is Bangkok Market on Melrose. I do these giant fish dinners that look homemade, but I actually go to this market and they cook it up and give it to me in these big boxes and I take them home, throw some lemons on it and everybody says, “Oooh, CC, you fished today!” It’s a very ethnic market with a lot of live things. It’s good for children to see the faces and the fins of what they’re eating.
For entertainment, there’s a good place down by the airport on Manchester called the J Spot. I like it because they have some shows where up-and-coming comedians can try out material, but they can’t use cursing. That’s a challenge for comedians nowadays. They have excellent dining there too.
Bargain hunting
I usually stay out of the big-box stores, except for Target, which everybody loves. I like Cottage Arts in Artesia, a fantastic catch-all of shirts, skirts, trinkets, jewelry and fantastic scarves. It’s smack in the middle of Little India.
Half-Off Clothing on Larchmont and also in Los Feliz is also great. They carry Johnny Was, who I’m a huge fan of. Comfortable, kind of high-end clothing that can take you from a drab day into the evening just by putting on earrings and changing your shoes.
Eating well
There are some restaurants I love because I can pop in, a woman alone, and not feel uncomfortable. Canelé in Atwater Village on Glendale Boulevard is a good one. The food is fresh, crisp and really delicious. I’ll usually order whatever’s the special of the day. And I’m sentimental about Hal’s Bar & Grill on Abbot Kinney because my husband and I ate there right after we were married and they thought to bring us a bottle of Champagne even though the place was swamped.
And for breakfast in that same neighborhood, the whole-wheat pancakes at Axé. After walking up Runyon Canyon, I tell myself, “I deserve those pancakes!”
