Driving Mr. Cowell
My friend and neighbor and youth sports ally Chris Contreras, who makes his first appearance in The Opposite Field on page 82, has been in the transportation business all his life. The son of a milkman, Chris grew up rambling through East L.A. in his dad’s refrigerated Divco. Later, he became a car customizer, cruising Whittier Boulevard in a lowrider Karmann Ghia, and as an adult, he launched his own limo service, Total Transportation. Because Chris has a gift for gab and ingenuity, decorum and wit, he also sometimes lands a coveted Hollywood gig—and that includes driving for American Idol king maker/dream crusher Simon Cowell.
The assignment lasted the duration of AI’s ninth season—Chris spent months shuttling between the MPK and the 90210—and although he needed to be discreet about what he was up to, the job ended with last week’s finale and Simon’s farewell. There was one last run to make, a wee-hours getaway from SkyBar, at the Mondrian, and parting the sea of paparazzi, from behind the wheel of the Bentley, was my buddy, the Monterey Park Sports Club’s basketball commissioner.