Fashion PR division of Pierce Mattie Public Relations, A Fashion Public Relations. Fashion publicity, promotion marketing firm

Whenever I’m in L.A. I rely on a few friends who really have their finger on the pulse of what is happening around town. One is a buyer for the coolest fashion store in California and the other is one of the biggest casting directors working in television. They don’t know each other and hang in very different crowds. They give me a great Yin Yang perspective of everything from fashion to movies and just in their own personal sense of style. One lives in the Hills and the other in Hancock Park. One rolls in a Defender and the other in a Benz convertible. Its rare that the hot topic of conversation with them is on the same page. Except a year ago when I got emails from both telling me about their new favorite place to go on sunset after dinner or before going out for a late night. PINKBERRY.

Now New Yorkers are impressed with very few “new” things and let alone of all things .. frozen yogurt. After all, we are the home of tasti-delight on every other corner. We know ice cream and we know frozen yogurt. I tried to get excited and not dismiss it before I saw it and made plans with both during the next week I was spending in L.A.

The whole concept behind Pinkberry is that it is all natural. Two base flavors – green tea of plain yogurt – then an endless combination of fruit or treat toppings give you all the choice you could ever want. I have to admit – they had me at “green tea or plain?” There is something clean and modern about the décor – its like a cross between American Apparel and Alessi design store. There is shocking green color that makes you think health while at the same time it borders on bad Korean take-out. The colorful pink swirl logo is streamlined and happy. The pebble tile floors carry through on the au natural feeling. The location is also the cherry on your yogurt and part of the huge success of the brand. They were wise to open just off Santa Monica Blvd. In the middle of West Hollywood. They had a built in audience of gay men with an eye for design and looking for a natural snack if not low calorie. Just like Samantha told Smith Jarod on Sex & The City -“first the gays, then the girls, then Hollywood!”. No truer lines were ever written or spoken! All three followed suit for Pinkberry. One of the best things about Pinkberry are the portions – LARGE. There is more than enough in each cup to fill the tiny stomachs of all the Mary-Kate and Ashley clones that surrounded my friend and I. For the girls in L.A., this is dinner. After all, they aren’t working off the snack with and hour or two at Crunch on Sunset like my friends and I. I loved the whole experience and was so happy my TV friend had brought me, and happier still that I would have to come back with my fashion friend the next night! The Los Angeles times said that Pinkberry was “The taste that launched 1,000 parking tickets” and most will risk fines for that pink swirl. I put it on my list of things to do when in L.A. Along with visit the Hammer Museum, drinks at the Chateau, and driving around Santa Monica. It was the perfect addition to one of my west coast weekends. You can imagine my surprise one winter morning in NYC when I thought I saw a Pinkberry mirage. I had stumbled out of my apartment in Chelsea bleary eyed on auto pilot headed to Starbucks for my morning fix. As I headed down 8th avenue I breezed past the old lamp store space that had been vacant for a few weeks. I was stopped in my tracks when I saw that little pink swirl logo. I knew what that meant! I immediately started to dial one of my friends in L.A. when I realized it was 5:00 in the morning on the West coast…. Phone call aborted!

The funny thing is that now.. I'm not so excited about Pinkberry.  I have chalked it up to the phenom that happens all the time.   Something that is so AMAZING in L.A. is just so so once it goes east of Nevada!  I've had this happen with clothes, haircuts, and I hate to admit- people, but I never thought it would apply to a frozen treat!

I don't know if its the light in L.A. or the air.... but its almost like the O2 they supposedly pump into casinos... everything seems excellent at the time.   Back at home.. whatever.

SO, now that I have a Pinkberry one block from my house - I have gone once.   Ok, so maybe I'm a totally spoiled NY'er who is always looking for something exotic - but I will be lining up for the stuff when I'm on the West Coast and Cruising on Santa Monica Blvd. with my friends.  Go figure!