When Glenn Laiken moved to Knoxville from California three years ago, it created quite the stir. He is the well-known personal designer/stylist of men’s clothes, remember? His clients have included Dr. Phil, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and L.A. Lakers coach Phil Jackson, among many others. He styled all the clothes for the movie American Gigolo. Jack Neely of Metro Pulse wrote a big article about him coming here. (Click here for that.)
It was one of those great stories where a couple lists a bunch of traits they are looking for in a community and Knoxville somehow pops to the top of the list. I love those stories. Laiken and his wife, Sheila, really made headlines when they bought and remodeled the building at 37 Market Square where Blue Coast Burrito now operates. He said at the time he wanted that building to be home to a first-rate, high-quality eatery with the largest outdoor dining area in downtown. (It does have a nice patio.)
Alan and I met Laiken when he first moved to town. He was house-hunting and he looked at our home on Cherokee Boulevard, although it wasn’t really for sale at the time. He eventually bought a large rancher in Westmoreland and set about an extensive remodeling job.
For awhile things went great. A year after moving here, his wife told Metro Pulse that she loved Knoxville’s lushness. “I feel like I’m in heaven,” she said to Neely in that interview. Around that same time, Glenn told Alan and me that the couple was overwhelmed by how friendly Knoxvillians were. “We’ve been invited to more dinner parties here in six months than we were in 20 years in Los Angeles,” he said.
That was then. This is now.
They are leaving. Going back to California. “Why?” I asked them when we got together in April. At that time, they were planning to leave Knoxville to move to Charlotte. “We need to be in a bigger town,” Sheila said. “Where there’s more culture. Where there’s more fashion.”
I think that fashion thing was the real kicker. “I’ve got to be where people CARE about how they look,” she said. She’s a very stylish dresser. “This is what a 70-year-old woman looks like in Los Angeles,” she said, referring to herself. She was making a good point.
(I really couldn’t argue about Knoxvillians not being very fashionable. For the next few weeks, I watched people on the street. Since my office is located between Market Square and Gay Street, I got a chance to see a LOT of people going to a LOT of different downtown activities. We are not uniformly snappy dressers, folks!)
But, back to the Laikens. Glenn said the other day that just as they were about to close on a place in Charlotte, it suddenly hit him. They needed to go back to California. This time San Diego. “Our friends and family are there,” he said. “We are going back to our roots. We are big city people.”
So, here’s the deal. The Laikens need to sell their beautiful home in Westmoreland (it’s on Sherwood, the same street where Gov. Bill Haslam lives when he’s home) and a five-acre piece of property on Norris Lake (“the best view in all of East Tennessee,” Laiken says). Take it from me: they are motivated sellers. They seem almost frantic to leave.
They are selling the properties themselves. Right now, they are marketing the house through a series of cocktail parties. I attended one the other day. They are asking $995,000 for the 5,125-square-foot house. It has five bedrooms and 5-1/2 bathrooms. It’s lovely. The address is 6412 Sherwood and I think it’s a great bargain. Contact Laiken at [email protected].
As much as I love Knoxville, I guess I have to admit it’s not for everyone. And I definitely don’t think the Chamber should list “fashion” as one of our big selling points.
Glenn Laiken’s next project is called “Bible Blessings.” He’s creating a line of belts with Biblical references on them. He plans to market them directly through churches and to donate 25 percent of the sales price to the churches that sell them.
Don’t you love being insulted before people split town?
Bible belts?
Bean has so aptly “baptized” the belts with a new & appropriate name.
This is a beautiful house, and it will make someone a great home. The Laikens have done a magnificent renovation and furnished the house with style.
Disclosure: I told the Laikens that while the Westmoreland area is lovely, I think they might have been happier downtown–though if fashion is the deal breaker, I’m sure we still lose.
Bwah, ha ha. Bible belts. That’s awesome. And oh, so appropriate. Sorry to lose them, but I completely understand. I’d pick San Diego, too, but my family is HERE. 🙂
Bob: You should have gotten them into McClellan’s! Betty: Love! Gay: I think you may be right: about downtown — and about fashion!
Glad for that, Cindy! We don’t want to lose you.
I’m still laughing at this.
Wow. These people are unfortunately trying to find something they aged out of. San Diego is great, and a lot of top people are RETIRING there. A famous NYC architect is building his dream beach home there and his partner is pushing seventy. Oh, yeah, their clothes are fabulous. Though, I think this couple could afford to not sell their house. They don’t need the money. Donate it to Knoxville as a museum. Seems they need the idea of fame. Because really, darlings, their time has passed. And Knoxville would be a great place to golf, play tennis, and yes, dress up. Lead the way… plenty of people do. And, yeah, they didn’t get down on me when I wouldn’t drop the whole cool all black NYC look. It was fun adapting, and, hey, ask anyone, there is great design, art, and fantastic dressing going on. Just not in the mall and not on an average day. And, keeping with the theme. Manhattan is a great city and the dressing is abysmal. Fashion is a fantasy for The Met Ball. On a regular day it is Uggs, distressed jeans and almost everything the young folks in Knoxville are sporting including tri-color hip folded scarves. And heck, in San Diego there will be lots of stretch pants and nylon suits. Still vote for the donated museum. Way to go. Leave ’em with a legacy.
What do the bathrooms look like?
Diana: Laughed, too, about the fashion part. But, of course, I want everyone to love Knoxville as much as I do. Annette: bathrooms were fabulous. I’m not a professional photographer, so my pics didn’t do justice to the master bath, so I didn’t post. You, on the other hand, are a GREAT photog! Would love to have seen what you would have done with this.
For criticizing Knoxville with not having “culture and fashion” their house sure lacks to reflect their take on fashion and culture. Their choice of furnishings does not convey a good model if they’re emphasizing those two as main fallbacks for leaving. And for what it’s worth Knoxville definitely has a great culture- I’m just certain they weren’t set out on looking for it since they were blinded by what people looked like rather than the culture that people convey here.
Well, in their defense, their house truly is lovely. Not being a professional photographer, my pictures don’t do it justice. And it is a great price for its size and location. It was fun talking to the Laikens about such things as what they like and don’t like in a city. Knoxville is so perfect for me and my friends. But I’m OK with others liking another city more. Variety being the spice of life and all…
How painful it would be to love and live in a city where pressures exist not for “volunteering”, but for plastic surgery. NOT worth the time I took to read this article. Best of luck to them, but clearly, they were out of place in this town from the start.
All places have their assets and their non-assets. Mine was being allergic to the pollens, the trees, the valley that doesn’t change its air much. Though, maybe all the twisters and wicked weather has turned the air around. There is something to being by the beach and have the best of land and water.
And good dressing is everywhere these days since the advent of cable. When I was in LA in the eighties my kid sister, 15, dissed the kids in LA for being very slack with dressing. After 90210 hit TV, all the kids in NYC were adapting their styles to LA.
Never found an event in Knoxville not full of someone who dressed for it. And once in TVA, a man gently tapped my shoulder and said, “I hope what you are doing catches on.” He was a forty year old Dad. And his comment was on my Banana Republic high navy vest with cream and navy and burgundy striped silk. What was charming was the way he WHISPERED IT so as not to sound critical of the status quo. A great memory of the mid-nineties.
Any photos of the Norris property?
Hey, Katie: I’m sure he does have photos. Why don’t you contact him at [email protected]. I’m sure he’ll be happy to send them to you. I gave him a heads up about your post on here.
Good job on those photos Cynthia, looks like a very nice house.
Glenn is partnering up with two incredible designers, Casey Lavin and Cameron, Fraser both Honor Graduates from Art Center of Design College in Pasadena California in this new company… Both designers have been working with me for the last 6 years doing Leather Island vintage jean belts, Soft Collection Dress Belts, and Bill Lavin Signature Collections… With Glenn and these boys partnering up in this company Bible Blessings venture, you can get a sneak glimpse of these few designs and only imagine what’s to come… I wish them well…. bill lavin
I had never seen these posts before today, my bad. Cynthia Moxley and her husband Alan, are 2 very classy and kind people. They are 2 of the many “Gems” living in the wonderful city of Knoxville.
My wife Sheila and I decided to stay in the Southeast. We left Knoxville in 2014 and have been living 4 hrs away in Charlotte, NC. We are very happy here, and would have never found this wonderful city if it weren’t for moving to Knoxville.
We continue to visit Knoxville on a regular basis. We have made some amazing friendships and I continue to do business there.
I want to say “Thank You Knoxville,” for exposing us to totally different way of seeing life and appreciating so much more than aesthetic values.
Sincerely
Glenn & Sheila Laiken
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