Ed Ruscha Ed Ruscha Ed Ruscha - Art and Living

and Las Vegas’ Chinois and such accolades as the 1991 Platinum Circle Award fordesign fill the columns of Ms. Lazaroff’s resume, the titles “restaurateur” and “interiordesigner” were not always in the cards for this girl with a background in biochemistry.Growing up in the Bronx and Queens, Lazaroff’s family was of modestmeans, though her upbringing didn’t dissuade her from lofty aspirations. Like manya young lass, she had dreams of becoming a couture-designing ballerina.Eventually, her flair for the eccentric landed her at NYU as a theater major.Witha life in the theater came many odd jobs, one of which was at the acid-base laboratoryat Roosevelt Hospital.There, between bouts of brushing up on her Shakespeare,she developed a love for organic chemistry, which inspired her to head to a chemistryprogram at the University of California, Berkeley before heading back to NewYork and finally onward to Southern California to continue her studies in 1979.Since then, her life has not been lacking in adventure. She’s accrued two honorarydegrees (including one Ph.D.) and more than thirty business, design and humanitarianawards—all the while developing and designing restaurants throughoutAmerica, Japan and Australia.“I get obsessed,” she reveals.“The only thing that matterswhen I’m into a project is getting it accomplished as close to my vision as possible.”That fearlessness and voracious appetite for realizing her vision has led to manytriumphs, most notably to the wild success of the original Spago Hollywood, whichwas the 1994 recipient of the James Beard Foundation’s award for Restaurant of theYear.“The idea with Spago was to create a sort of playground. Spago was boisterous,free-spirited and wildly fun. It had a bold, young design spirit and, as simple as it was,there was a lot of thought involved,” she says. Barbara’s use of open ovens at Spago isoften celebrated as the creation of what is now known as the exhibition kitchen.Indeed, Lazaroff is characterized by her aptitude for out-of-the-box thinking.For instance, you might presume that an interior designer would not be all thatinterested in most matters pertaining to chemistry—organic or otherwise. Andyet, Lazaroff maintains that convergences of man and nature are present in allwalks of life. “People often think that the sciences and the arts are so unrelated,but I think that’s a misnomer—that’s a total misconception,” she says.In fact, when she designed the visceral underwater visual of Malibu’s nowclosedGranita, she drew inspiration from her days in the laboratory. “I wouldlook at the space and see the striking biomorphic and organic-looking tile andincredible glazes and all the undulating lines—it was all very reminiscent ofThe main dining room of Lazaroff and Puck’s Chinois on Main. Opened in 1983, the restaurant helped spark the “Asian fusion” trend and its interiors were lauded as Oz-like. Photo by Penny Wolin.Art and Living 109