Growing up in Beverly Hills with a father who was a music industry legend and a mother who was a philanthropist and consummate dinner party host, Nicole Avant had a front-row seat — at a 12-seater antique wood table — to history.
Mohammed Ali, Ella Fitzgerald, Bill Withers, Sidney Poitier, Hank Aaron and Don Cornelius were regular guests who were always offered her mother’s signature drink, Kir Royale.
But what Ms. Avant, 56, remembers most about her childhood home is passing the history on what her family called “the Great Wall,” which served as a space to honor Black American entrepreneurs, lawyers, scientists, and professors at historically Black colleges and universities.
Nicole Avant poses in an outdoor area of her home. She is wearing a leopard-print blouse and long black skirt with brown boots. The outdoor area has a stone walkway, several planters and two benches.
