Boutique Clients Shutter Bugged

Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and their fellow celebrities have turned a Robertson Boulevard boutique called Kitson into “L.A.’s hippest hot spot,” in the words of US Weekly -- a place where certain green tank tops go for $645 and $195 buys that special trucker’s hat.

With the star power have come the paparazzi, who regularly line up in front of Kitson waiting for their shot -- a frequent sight on the trendy boulevard, where the photojournalistic ritual sometimes has an unpleasant outcome.

Such was the case on Robertson last October, when Lohan crashed her car while trying to evade a pack of paparazzi. Sheriff’s officials say the cause of the crash was a van driver, not members of the paparazzi who had been following the actress.

“There’s a wake-up call here,” Kitson owner Fraser Ross told The Times then. “It’s not good for my store; it’s not good for business on the street.”

But the same month, Ross became an investor and one of three officers in a new venture: Sunset Photo and News LLC, a paparazzi agency run by a veteran tabloid reporter and celebrity photographer.

Ross and his attorney said he is a “passive investor” and does not have any role in running the firm.

But his involvement with Sunset Photo offers another twist in the shifting relationship between celebrities and the celebrity media.

“We have long suspected collusion between the editors of tabloid magazines, the owners of these paparazzi agencies and the business that happened to always get in these publications,” said Blair Berk, a Beverly Hills attorney who represents Lohan, Halle Berry and Reese Witherspoon. “It is outrageous, but not unexpected.”

Even in the anything-goes world of the Hollywood paparazzi, some tabloid veterans said they have never heard of anything like it.

“He is working all the angles,” said Frank Griffin, co-owner of the Bauer Griffin agency, who is considered the dean of the paparazzi scene. “He, like many, knows there is [big] money in this business.”

Ross said in an interview that he sees nothing wrong with his investment in Sunset Photo.

“Someone needed money and I invested. I leave the business to other people,” said Ross, comparing it to Disney’s 50% interest in US Weekly.

His attorney, Glenn Feldman, said Ross decided to invest because he wanted to give his friend Jill Ishkanian the opportunity to be the first female head of a paparazzi agency. Feldman said it is one of several investments, which include the Kitson stores and real estate.

“He never attended a single meeting at Sunset Photo,” Feldman said. “He has never been involved in the affairs of Sunset Photo.”

Ishkanian was the West Coast news editor of US Weekly before leaving the magazine to form Sunset Photo last year. US Weekly has written extensively about Kitson and showcased some of its products -- and the celebrities who buy them.

In several profiles written about Ross, Ishkanian praised his business savvy and sense of style.

“Fraser is a marketing genius, and he makes it fun. You want to shop there,” she told USA Today last year.

The FBI searched Sunset Photo’s offices and Ishkanian’s home to determine whether someone had attempted to hack into the computer system of gossip rival US Weekly.

Ishkanian did not return calls seeking comment. But Feldman, who serves as her spokesman, said she is cooperating with the FBI and never hacked into US Weekly’s computer system. Feldman said agents took her computers during a raid two weeks ago but have returned them.

Law enforcement sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity said the investigation is ongoing and that agents are trying to determine whether someone at Sunset Photo tried to figure out what US Weekly was working on by breaking into its newsroom computer files.

Robertson Boulevard is dotted with high-end boutiques that cater to celebrities. But Kitson has long been viewed as the breakout of the bunch, with Ross placing annual revenues at about $18 million, including online sales.

The Scottish-born Ross opened Kitson six years ago and has described it as “a general store for the rich.” To a greater degree than some of his competitors on Robertson, Ross has embraced the celebrity culture, even creating T-shirts based on the latest tabloid headlines (when Brad Pitt broke up with Jennifer Aniston and started dating Angelina Jolie, he created shirts that read “Team Aniston” and “Team Jolie”).

The world of Sunset Photo and Kitson have overlapped. When Kitson Kids, Ross’ new children’s clothing store, selected actor Charlie Sheen to produce a line, Sunset Photo shot the premiere party.

Kitson shares the Robertson shopping district with other upscale star magnets such as Lisa Kline and Maxfield Bleu.

Owners of some of those shops have long battled the constant presence of the paparazzi. Lisa Kline, owner of her namesake shop, said she would be “shocked and disappointed” if fellow shop owners were in business with the photographers.

“Our stores are plagued by paparazzi as it is. On one occasion, one paparazzo refused to leave our store and threatened our manager,” she said, adding that the photographer was arrested.

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Winton is a Times staff writer; Lee is a special contributor.