VMAN ONLINE EXCLUSIVE

THIS IS NOT HERE

We hit L.A. for a survey of cool guys who capture the new essence of Lost Angeles

Photography Colin Donahue      Styling Parinaz Mogadassi Contributing art editor Dominic Sidhu

< PREVIOUS / NEXT >

Left: Patrick Hill, artist, 37, photographed outside the Randolph Duke's estate in the Hollywood Hills

Jacket and shades Adam Kimmel
Shirt Yves Saint Laurent
Pants Yohji Yamamoto

Right: David Walton, actor, 31, photographed in the shadow of a palm on Hollywood Blvd.

Jacket Prada
Shirt Dries Van Noten
Pants Yves Saint Laurent
Boots Adam Kimmel

Patrick Hill

On eating and surfing:
Surfing at Malibu and the #19 sandwich at Langer's Deli in MacArthur Park.

On walking through the Valley:
My work often explores the landscape of this city and the San Fernando Valley and it's relationship to trauma. There is something very unspecial, even seedy about the landscape of the Valley, Hollywood, and South Bay towns. Musicians like Judee Sill, Brian Wilson, and Darby Crash are from these places and I'm into how these crappy
neighborhoods influenced their work. Pornography as an industry is really interesting to me. I am attracted to the sadness of "Hollywood" and the desire for fame and attention. It seems deeply related to that slide into another kind of performance, an outlet for performer and viewer both therapeutic and destructive.

On driving through the hills:
On one of my first visits to L.A. in the '80s we were driving at night, probably on the 10 freeway, and I saw a car full of totally cool looking New Romantic kids with the hair all done up and with cool hats and clothes. It was very John Hughes or even more appropriately Less Then Zero. I wanted so badly to be in that car and I think that might be one of the main reasons that I live in L.A. now.

David Walton

On freeway trannies:
I love L.A. It's the one place you can truly have any life you want. Surf bum guy, white picket fence with kids guy, ultrahip loft guy, drug addict guy, mountain bike to health food store guy. Also sitting in traffic and watching a 60-year-old man dressed like a transvestite cowboy with a guitar get off the bus in Venice is pretty interesting.

On violence in film:
Acting as a profession is volatile and with the right mindset can be very exciting. I was in a big TV show called Heist. I was acting with Ted Danson in a great scene for episode 7. He had to shove a pen in my chest! I grew up watching Cheers, so it felt super surreal being stabbed, office style by Sam Malone, I felt on top of the world.

On the fashion set:
A long time ago I was on-set, shooting my first major TV role. It was in the middle of a tense scene and we were all of a sudden interrupted by the creator who said that we had just been canceled. Two hundred people fired at once. A strange energy washed over everyone. The prop guy started crying. A few others tried to laugh it off. I stole a bunch of clothes from the wardrobe truck to get back at the network. It didn't make me feel better but I definitely dressed better afterwards.