2020 Best of Beverly Hills Golden Palm Award Winners Announced
2020 WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
The Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce is thrilled to announce this year’s Best of Beverly Hills Golden Palm Awards Honorees. The Chamber is fortunate to lead a world-class community of the most unique and innovative businesses. Each year, we celebrate the amazing business community and honor exceptional winners. The awards selection process was challenging with so many deserving entries, and the winners had to be truly remarkable in order to earn the most votes. With stiff competition, success is always sweeter.
Congratulations to the 2020 honorees and we look forward to celebrating during the Beverly Hills Back to Business | Fall Virtual Collaborative on October 21, 2020!
Fred Hayman Visionary Award Honoree
An individual(s) or business who has brought their unique vision of Beverly Hills to life by positively uplifting, supporting, and influencing the business and residential communities and beyond.
Mr. John Bendheim
John Bendheim is a staple in the community of Beverly Hills, both personally and professionally. His contributions both financially as well as advisory positions, have been instrumental in leading this community forward for many years and he continues to do so. Bendheim’s passion for the Beverly Hills Community, both residential and business, was self evident when deciding to take ownership of the The Beverly Hills Courier to ensure honest and in-depth coverage of our community with the hope of uniting our community. The successful transition of taking the paper into the future with digital content is instrumental in catapulting our community into the future. Bendheim has been an active and engaged member of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for many years, supporting in roles as a longstanding member of the Chamber as well as past Chairman of the Board. He is a revered business man with many true visionary development projects under his belt. His guidance and expertise in the business world has been invaluable resource for the Beverly Hills Chamber’s success. He is admired by many and is a true visionary who works tirelessly to make sure that Beverly Hills not only stays relevant but maintains its role as a leader on the global stage.
Above & Beyond Award Honorees
Businesses who lead by example by going above and beyond in their business practices and while contributing to causes supporting the Beverly Hills and surrounding communities.
Cedars-Sinai Health System
Cedars-Sinai Health System has been a force in the Beverly Hills and greater Los Angeles community, especially since the pandemic outbreak. They have been great leaders in fighting the COVID-19 virus and dealing with the hospitalizations of patients with it. In addition to providing incredible community support, they have participated and supported the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce for a number of years. Cedars-Sinai Vice President, Government & Industry Relations Deborah Kallick is on the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, served at the 2019-2020 Chairwoman of the Board of Directors and is heavily involved with the Chamber on behalf of Cedars. In addition to these efforts, Cedas-Sinai sponsors the Chamber’s Health & Wellness committee. To reach more about Cedars-Sinai Health System, click here.
Meraki Fitness (Small Business)
Meraki Fitness Owner Anna Stavaridis immediately pivoted at the beginning of the pandemic by converting her services to a virtual environment, welcoming existing and new Chamber and community members. While balancing a wide dimension of impacts from the mandated quarantine, Anna immediately provided online services to adapt to our new world, adopting technology with ease, and guiding others to shift their businesses as well. During quarantine, Anna also hosted Instagram Live videos three days a week in a three month series, showcasing different types of influential people in the community. By doing this, Anna connected small businesses and their owners with a larger audience and educated the community on a more holistic mind/body approach to self-care and wellness. Anna has provided a complimentary and continuous series of physical, mental, and financial health webinars educating the community with a full spectrum of wellness professionals. In her weekly newsletter, she celebrated guest contributors and promoted a small business of the week. Anna held free strength training and senior fitness classes as well for the community to help build a stronger self and connect others. She serves as an indispensable Ambassador of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, and Chair of the Chamber’s Young Professionals Network and Membership Committees. Anna is also a member of the Chamber Health & Wellness Committee and Beverly Hills Kindness Task Force. Meraki Fitness’ services include concierge personal training, corporate wellness, senior fitness, and strategic partnerships with medical professionals to enhance their client’s experiences. Their elite team of wellness professionals come to you online or in person with proper health considerations. To learn more about Meraki Fitness, click here.
Innovation Award Honorees
Businesses who excel in having created and implemented an original idea, which demonstrates marketplace success and practical development.
Spago Beverly Hills
When in house dining reopened and then quickly pivoted again to only outdoor dining, Spago Beverly Hills had already arranged to be one of the first dining establishments to utilize Open BH. They applied for both a dining permit and liquor license immediately and were able to utilize the stunning art mural wall that was erected to help mitigate some of the Metro construction issues as well as the streetscape. In addition to these efforts, they have been extremely careful regarding mandates with their staff (testing regularly) and guests regarding safe distancing, masks wearing, sanitizing ensuring the utmost safety for all. They have kept up their support of various charities, serving on the business recovery task force and other city concerns such as Metro and adding art to the BH streetscape. They take pride in serving our community of visionaries, dedicated hard workers and we love our beautiful city and all of our citizens. To learn more about Spago Beverly Hills, click here.
UMBERTO (Small Business)
UMBERTO Beverly Hills, a 12,000 square foot salon, home to 20 cutting, styling and coloring chairs – (offering color, highlights, balayage and keratin treatments) seven nail stations that offer gel, nail art, manicures and pedicures, has transformed its parking lot into a luxury outdoor salon. The “Open Air Salon” has a vacation vibe with music filling the air. The space is covered by white sails, white mirrors and pots of white roses throughout the space. The asphalt has been painted light and dark gray stripes to give it a carpet-like feel. The idea was practical only if they could overcome the obstacle of being able to offer color services which included having proper drainage, hot and cold running water and electricity. As business and property owners they thought it was important to do their part to contribute to bringing people back into the city and to see it thrive again. To reach more about UMBERTO, click here.
The Chamber is thrilled to recognize the 2020 Best of Beverly Hills Golden Palm Awards honorees during the Beverly Hills Back to Business | Fall Virtual Collaborative on October 21. Join us in celebration! Click here for complimentary registration | Click here to learn more about the event