Riordan Residence City Hall insiders last week said Mayor Richard Riordan and long-time companion Nancy Daly, who were to wed on Valentine’s Day, will maintain separate residences post-matrimony. “She has her big old mansion, he has his big old mansion, and they’ll continue to live apart,” one City Council aide said. Asked about that living arrangement, Riordan spokeswoman Noelia Rodriguez laughed and said, “You know more than I do.” The mayor and his new bride, whether together or separate, actually will have a choice of at least four homes to stay in: her West L.A. home; his Brentwood mansion; his Sun Valley, Idaho vacation home; and the official mayoral mansion in Hancock Park, the Getty House. Take-Off Food Few people go to the airport for the food, but LAX is aiming to change that. The airport just received the first annual Restaurant Industry Innovation Award, presented by restaurateurs attending the California Restaurant Investment Conference held Feb. 5 in Beverly Hills. Since 1993, LAX has added an array of brand-name restaurants and bars to its terminals, including Wolfgang Puck, California Pizza Kitchen, Daily Grill, Jamba Juice and Manhattan Beach Brewery. Meanwhile, LAX’s Encounter restaurant in the landmark Theme Building may be the first destination eatery to be located at an airport. While awards are nice, revenue growth can be even nicer. Total food and beverage sales at LAX have risen from $55 million in 1994 to $76 million today an increase of 38 percent. Starr Representation In its long-running battle with retirees over proceeds from a $2 billion surplus in its pension fund, El Segundo-based Hughes Electronics Corp. has turned to a big gun: Kenneth W. Starr. That’s right, the same Kenneth Starr who is the independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation. Starr is also a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Chicago-based law firm Kirkland & Ellis, from which he has been compensated roughly $1 million a year since 1994, the year he was appointed independent counsel. The Hughes pension case began in 1991 when retirees filed suit against Hughes’ parent, General Motors Corp., to compel Hughes to share its pension fund surplus (then at $1 billion) with retirees and active employees who had made contributions to the pension plan. Last October, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Hughes’ request to dismiss the retirees’ claim. Hughes has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On the appeal petition form, Kenneth W. Starr is listed as the counsel of record for Hughes.
