The Game Room
When Delante Desouza isn’t on the set of his new HBO series Winning Time, he is often relaxing in the game room at the Sherman Oaks complex where he lives. “We picked it because it is really close to Warner Bros. where we shoot the show,” he notes.
With a contemporary vibe and hues of powder blue, saffron yellow and soft gray, the space has several comfy sofas, high tables and stools, and several game tables. Delante calls it the “hangout lounge.”
“Usually if I’m just chilling or I have friends over, we come down here for a little foosball. There’s also a pool table. It’s a nice open space to entertain,” he shares.
Delante jokes that he finally has friends to actually invite over. A native of Baltimore, he booked the pilot for the 10-episode series in 2019 and moved to Sherman Oaks in 2020—“Not exactly a great time to move to a new city,” he laughs. On the series, which chronicles the meteoric rise of the LA Lakers in the 1980s, Delante plays the role of Lakers shooting guard Michael Cooper. Although he’d worked some in theater, Winning Time was his first professional acting job and he had to learn to play basketball for the series. “I’m still learning. When we aren’t shooting, we’re training like NBA athletes. We do three-hour practices, two times a day, five days a week. It’s intense.”
The Salon
Musician Michael Feinstein has a lot of choices when it comes to relaxing at his sprawling 1930s French Revival-style home in Pasadena. The entertainer and co-owner of the supper club Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Studio City says when at home he tends to gravitate to the main bar. “It’s off the large living room where I often spend time before dinner, and I like the comfort of the space even if I’m not drinking, which honestly is most of the time,” he jokes.
When Michael has guests, the bar is the preferred gathering spot. “I love that it has a modern sensibility in a home that is otherwise so traditional. It is very much a happy room, filled with light and color.”
The most arresting color is turquoise, showcased on a sofa designed and built by interior designer Tim Hawkins. The coffee table is an antique from Michael’s husband’s family. On the coffee table: a small Dali sculpture.
The main bar offers a peek into the couple’s library. “It is full of what I call historical paintings. Most of those paintings have been collected by my husband and are not the type of artwork that appeals to me, but I appreciate their importance. A number of them were in our former home in Los Feliz. David Hockney came to dinner one night and carefully perused each painting, but never said a word. I have often wondered if he liked them or loathed them.”
The Pub
If you ask music industry manager Wendy Dio what the favorite space in her Country English-style Encino home is, she immediately sashays into a large, dramatic living room. Filled with eclectic antiques and several pieces of noteworthy art, the room’s showstopper is a sprawling mahogany bar.
“We bought it from an antiques store in the 1980s. It was from a pub in Epping in the county of Essex, England. The bar apparently dates back to 1910,” she shares. “It is a real entertaining spot. We have 150 people here for New Year’s Eve, for example. But really whenever we have guests over everyone wants to sit at this bar,” Wendy says, settling into one of the whimsical chairs. “They’re from a shop in Ventura.”
Wendy owns and operates Niji Management, which she established more than 30 years ago. One of her first clients was her husband, the late heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio (Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell). She also owns her own record label, Niji Entertainment Group.
When the music business “went all grunge” in the early ’90s, Wendy keyed in on her love of antiques, opening a store in Studio City called The Ivy. Although it closed a few years back, Wendy still owns an outlet in Ojai. “My tastes in furniture and art are eclectic. My philosophy is if something appeals to me, I buy it.”
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