Culver City P.O.

Disney Hall

2012-02-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

Disney Hall

After Dodger Stadium (below), we decided to eat downtown and so naturally gravitated to Lemonade, our new favorite cafe located outside the Museum of Contemporary Art. Yummy buttermilk-battered fried chicken, sandwiches, salads, and fabulous cookies—made me forget all about the popcorn I was craving at the stadium just a few minutes before.

With time still left on our parking meter, we walked across the street to shoot some snaps of Disney Hall, Frank Gehry’s magnificently-designed concert venue. Jagged and covered in titanium, many called it an abomination when it first opened in 2003. Yet today it remains a major part of downtown L.A.’s cultural landscape. I love it.

From the ground, it looks like an elegant, but imposing pile of steel that fell from the sky. The scale of the building is much more relatable at its top, however, where a garden of full-grown trees and California native plants help soften their surroundings—a quiet retreat from the rest of the city.

So the next time you’re walking by Disney Hall, take a few minutes and climb that mysterious staircase just north of the Patina restaurant. You’ll see downtown in a whole new light.

Looking north toward Dorothy Chandler Pavilion

and Cathedral of our Lady of the Angels

City Hall

Dodger Stadium

2012-02-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

Although Timand I no longer follow Dodgers baseball, we did adore the team when we werekids and continue to love the stadium as an L.A. icon. Through Tim’s radio contacts, we’ve beenlucky enough to visit parts of Dodger Stadium that others rarely see—like thepress area and luxury boxes. But we had never been on an official tour—that is, until today.

Dirt-filled field

The tour,arranged by the “History of Los Angeles” meetup group,started at the top of the stadium and winded its way inside and down. The grasswas covered by dirt for a motocross event happening next week (gag!), so wedidn’t get to see the Dodgers’ usually immaculately manicured field. Still, we did get to tour the exclusiveDugout Club restaurant, the Dodgers dugout (very nice) and bullpen (not sonice) and saw lots of terrific photos and historic artifacts (e.g., 1981 and1988 World Series trophies, old uniforms, etc.).

If youlive in Los Angeles and are interested in local history, I highly recommendjoining L.A. History meetup. Friendlyfolks and more fun events ahead.

Tim in the Vin Scully press box

Coaching from the dugout

Player to be named later

Bullpen phones

Other side of bullpen—totally unglamorous!

Smoke Tree Ranch

2012-01-25T23:52:00.000-08:00

Smoke Tree Ranch brand

Have I mentioned lately how much I love being a member of D23, Disney’s official fan club? Over the past three years, Tim and I have participated in many Disney screenings, conventions and tours courtesy of D23. They’ve all been fun and special, but nothing could have prepared us for this most recent Disney adventure.

In November, D23 announced a members-only opportunity to spend three days and two nights at the Smoke Tree Ranch, an exclusive resort/residential area in Palm Springs, where Walt and Lillian Disney once lived. Now I’m not as fascinated by Walt’s biography as other fans are; still, the thought of experiencing a part of Southern California history that remains fairly steeped in the mid-20th-century image of the old West was very appealing. So we made our reservations as soon as possible.

Quite frankly, we didn’t know what to expect when we arrived in Palm Springs on Monday. We knew we’d be staying in one of the Ranch cottages and eating three meals with D23ers. We also knew that we’d get a chance to see where Walt and Lillian lived and learn how to lawn bowl, just like Walt did in the 1950s. But the rest was purposely left a mystery—the better to pleasantly surprise us!

Our cottage

When we checked in, we were handed a map to the compound, an itinerary, keys to our cottage, and a video on the history of the Ranch. Cocktails were being served in two hours (5:30PM), so we watched the video in our new temporary home. We learned that Smoke Tree Ranch started as a getaway for Angelenos in the mid-1930s and eventually became a “colony” as people began building homes on the property. Today residents live on 400 acres of prime (gated) desert land, while the guest ranch covers approximately 20 acres. Our cottage was next to and across the road from Smoke Tree residents’ homes. The focal point of all communal activity was the Ranch House, which also included a nearby swimming pool, three-hole practice golf course, bowling green, fitness center, tennis courts, and Walt Disney Hall, built by Walt so he could screen movies at the Ranch.

We moseyed over to the Ranch House a little after 5:30PM. The living room was already jammed. Before we could even enter, we had to sign waivers giving permission to film us. I entered the living room, while Tim made his way to the open bar.

Within seconds, a familiar face came over to greet me.

“Hello, I’m Jeffrey,” a friendly young man said and shook my hand.

“I know you!” I said, immediately recognizing the Disney Geek, who has his own video blog on the D23 website. “How wonderful to meet you!”

We chatted about the Ranch and then after a few minutes, an older gentleman came over and introduced himself: Bob Gurr, Imagineer and master-mind behind such iconic Disneyland rides as Autopia, the Matterhorn and the Monorail. He’s also a Disney “Legend,” the highest honor given by the company. Bob quickly became one of our favorite people.

As soon as Tim returned, we found seats in the crowded living room and cheered as various Disney dignitaries were introduced: Oscar-winning composer (and Legend) Richard Sherman who, along with his brother Robert, wrote many of the most famous and beloved Disney songs; Tony Anselmo, the voice of Donald Duck for the past 25 years (and another Legend); Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy since 1987 (and yet another Legend); Pete Renoudet, the voice of Henry, the emcee of Disneyland’s long-gone Bear Country Jamboree; Bill Rogers, the current voice of Disneyland (“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls . . .”); Bret Iwan, the current voice of Mickey Mouse; and Dave Smith, Disney Legend and recently retired company archivist. We heard later that out of 40 people attending the three-day event, only 24 were D23 members and their guests. Therefore, the ratio of fans to Disney dignitaries/D23 staff was almost 1:1. We had no idea we'd be surrounded by so much Disney history and celebrity.

Pete, Bill F., Tony, Bill R., and Bret

We then all headed for the dining room. Tim and I were joined for dinner by Jeffrey, Bret Iwan, their friend Justin, and two women named Debbie, who ended up being quite the lively companions. Salad and dessert were “self-serve” at a sumptuous buffet at the front of the room. The main course, however, was served individually in the kitchen by the chef. This particular tradition had started during WWII, when most of the wait-staff were off to war, and has remained part of the Ranch's casual dining culture ever since. There was a bounty of cakes, cookies and fruit for dessert, but we had to return to the kitchen for ice cream, scooped out of containers stored in an ice cream freezer. Delicious and fun!

After dinner, we went back into the living room, where a large piano had been set-up. Some of the fans no doubt knew what was coming next, but Tim and I were completely surprised when it was announced that not only were we going to be part of a special Smoke Tree Ranch episode of D23's video blog "Armchair Archivists,” but Richard Sherman was about to be interviewed and perform! Richard reminisced about Walt Disney and invited us to join him on some of his songs. How often do you get to sing along with the composer of “A Spoonful of Sugar” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”? Hel-lo! Can we say "absolutely once-in-a-lifetime experience"?

“I already got my money’s worth!” I whispered to Tim as we walked back to our cottage.

The next morning we caravanned to Indian Canyon for an old-fashioned breakfast cookout, just like the Smoke Tree residents did 50 years ago. The view of Palm Springs from the canyon was spectacular and the food perfect. We ate family-style with Disneyland publicist and author Tim O’Day, who assured us the new Cars Land attraction at Disney’s California Adventure would be open by the end of June. Hooray!

Looking down on Palm Springs

Breakfast is served!

Eating family-style

After breakfast, we all met back at the Ranch House for a tour of Walt's former homes. He sold his first home in 1954 to help finance Disneyland, but as soon as the park started making money, he built a second house only a few tracts away. His wife Lillian lived at the Ranch after Walt died, but eventually sold the house in 1970.

The Disneys' first home

House #2

At 2PM several people gathered at the bowling green for lessons on how to lawn bowl. I am a much better cheerleader than I am a player of any sport, so I just watched from the sidelines. Tim teamed up with Jeffrey, retired archivist Dave Smith, and the current Disney archivist Becky Cline. Luckily for everyone, no scores were kept!

Tim lawn bowling with Dave, Jeffrey and Becky

Our final dinner together was an outdoor barbecue, followed by a hilarious magic show by Dana Daniels of Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Review. I warned Tim he might be picked-on if he sat close to the stage and, sure enough, he became the butt of many of Dana’s jokes. By the end of the evening, though, Tim was everyone’s hero. As we were leaving the hall, Bill Rogers, the voice of Disneyland, stopped us and talked with Tim at length about radio.

The night ended around a campfire, where Dana and Pete Renoudet told stories about working for Disney. We did some western dancing (Tim was again a hit!) and sang some cowboy songs. Then someone spontaneously launched into the Mickey Mouse Club anthem, “M-I-C (See ya real soon!) K-E-Y (Why? Because we love you!) M-O-U-S-E!” followed by Roy Rogers' “Happy Trails.” And with that, we bid everyone a tearful adieu. OK, so I was the only one crying; but after spending such an amazing time together, I could barely stand the idea of never seeing these folks again. What a magical two days it had been.

The view across the street from our cottage

A smoke tree

P.S. Disney has now posted a recap of our "round-up" on its D23 website, including a video of much of what we all experienced. That's me grabbing a taste of bacon on the breakfast line and you can see us in the middle of the audience watching Dana Daniels. Makes me want to return to the Ranch!

Museum Sunday

2012-01-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

One of my absolute favorite L.A. places to visit when I was a kid was the Natural History Museum in Exposition Park. In those days, every fourth-grader in public school took a field trip to the museum to see the dinosaur bones, followed on the same day by a visit to the La Brea Tarpits, where many an ancient animal lost their lives.

With the state’s budget the way it is, I highly doubt kids get to take field trips to the museum or tarpits any longer. Nevertheless, the county recently renovated the entire Natural History Museum, including three new rooms dedicated to prehistoric animals. In a definite mood for more exhibits (see yesterday’s post about the Huntington Library below), we finally made our way over to Exposition Park to spend Sunday afternoon in the fabulous new Dinosaur Hall. To say that this is every six-year-old’s idea of heaven would be a huge understatement! Here’s just a taste of some of the amazing fossils on display:

P.S. While we were out-and-about, we also stopped by the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) to see two more Pacific Standard Time exhibits: “Kenneth Anger: Icons” and “Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles.” Anger, of course, is the underground filmmaker who also gave us the original celebrity gossip books Babylon Hollywood and Babylon Hollywood II. But even more notorious, in his time, was tabloid photographer Weegee, who loved to capture the less glamorous side of post-WWII L.A. Both exhibits are highly recommended if you’re into a slightly twisted view of fame in early- to mid-twentieth-century Los Angeles.

Huntington Library

2012-01-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

Maloof chair

With the holidays—and a rather grueling fall academic quarter—now over, we can once again turn our attention to Pacific Standard Time, the phenomenal regionwide show of postwar Southern California art. To make up for lost time, Tim, Karen and I schlepped out to the Huntington Library on Saturday to see two fabulous exhibits: “The House that Sam Built: Sam Maloof and Art in the Pomona Valley, 1945-1985” and the chronologically-related “Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California.”

Born in Chino, CA, in 1916, Sam Maloof was the first craftsperson ever to receive a MacArthur Foundation genius grant. Although not as influential as his contemporaries Ray and Charles Eames, Maloof’s furniture is nonetheless world renowned and very emblematic of mid-century artistry. The Huntington exhibit brings together 116 Maloof pieces, plus the complementary art of colleagues and friends who lived and worked nearby. A sampling of the items shown follow below. I highly recommend the exhibit, which ends January 30th, for anyone who loves mid-twentieth-century pottery, woodworking and art.

Maloof chair

Painting by Millard Sheets

Maloof loveseat

Painting by Jean Ames

Just as impressive (for me, at least) was the aerospace exhibit which, unfortunately, ended this past weekend. Though small, “Blue Sky Metropolis” packed a lot of fascinating info into one room. Included were several historic photos of Lockheed and its notoriously secret Skunk Works, located just a few miles from where I grew-up in Burbank. Historic aeronautical events that took place in Downey, close to where I worked in 1994, and, of course, Culver City, which we now call home, were also featured. A companion book is due to be released later this year.

And, naturally, no trip to the Huntington would be complete without visiting its magnificent cactus and succulent garden. Not much in bloom yet, but outstanding anyway.

Disneyland Hotel

2011-12-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

My sister, who lives north of Seattle, and her extended family are in Southern California for the holidays. It's been wonderful having them so close for Christmas. The most fun, though, was when 19 of us, including three toddlers, descended on Disneyland. The last time I went to Anaheim with young ones was when my sister's kids were little. Now here I was with my niece and her two-year-old son! Time certainly flies when you're not looking.

Since everyone lives out-of-state, we arrived when the park opened at 8AM and stayed almost till closing. Tim and I wisely reserved a room that night at the recently renovated Disneyland Hotel. And lucky, too, because my pedometer (I've been trying to maintain a daily 10,000 steps regimen) clocked over 24,000 steps—more than 13 miles that day! An even bigger surprise was when our room was upgraded to a suite on the eleventh floor of the hotel's Frontier building. As you can see below, the view was absolutely phenomenal.

Matterhorn and Downtown Disney in the foreground

California Adventure's Bear Mountain and Tower of Terror

and Grand Californian hotel in foreground

California Adventure between Grand Californian

and Paradise Pier hotels (click on image to see new

Cars Land under construction in the background)

Looking west to downtown L.A. (!)

New hotel carpeting

Breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen

Merry Christmas!

It's a Wonderful Life

2011-12-11T09:58:00.001-08:00

The Geffen Playhouse held a fun holiday-themed fundraiser last night: a live radio-reading of It’s a Wonderful Life, starring four-time Oscar-nominee Annette Bening. Tim, Karen and I are big fans of Bening’s stage as well as film work, so bought tickets on her name alone; but were even more thrilled when the rest of the cast was announced: Peter Gallagher, Bryan Cranston, Glenne Headly, Marty Ingels, Gregory Itzin, Shirley Jones, Leslie Jordan, Josh Stamberg, and Lorraine Toussaint. We also knew there was a good chance Annette’s husband Warren Beatty would be in the audience, making the event doubly exciting.

Tim and I are Geffen season ticket-holders this year, so I called the subscriber hotline to get tickets. I scored third-row seats! I called Karen with the good news.

“Maybe we’ll sit next to Warren!” I exclaimed.

The play started at 8PM, but an email from the Geffen encouraged us to arrive early to celebrate the holidays. Sure enough, 1940s carolers were singing in the lobby when we arrived, as people chatted and milled around. Tim headed straight for the bar. A woman walked by holding a plate piled high with cookies.

“They’re serving Christmas cookies!” I whispered to Karen before heading off to the right. There I found a table displaying an assortment of baked goods, including cookies that we could decorate with four types of frosting. We had, of course, eaten dinner before leaving for the theater, but that didn’t stop us from loading up. Everyone else had the same idea, because soon the table was mobbed. We stepped aside and watched as the locusts descended. We were also on alert for celebrity sightings.

I knew that Warren Beatty would appear as soon as I went to the restroom and, indeed, the first thing Tim said, when I returned, was, “You just missed Warren Beatty!”

“WHAT!!?” I asked incredulously.

“He was standing two feet away,” Tim insisted. A woman standing next to us confirmed.

“You and my husband,” she said, shaking her head. Her husband was also in the bathroom.

“Did Karen see him?” I then asked.

“Nope. She was at the bar getting a soda.”

I broke the news to her when she returned and then sent Tim off to find Mr. Beatty. He came back a few minutes later.

“Warren’s on the other side of the lobby!”

The ten-minute warning lights were flashing as people started pouring into the theater. Luckily, Warren Beatty is tall, so we could see him above the crowd. He looked exactly as he looked the last two times I’d seen him: handsome. We could now find our seats.

We never did see where Warren Beatty sat, but our seats were very good. Since the play was a live radio-reading, five old-style microphones were setup at the foot of the stage. The sound effects station was to the left. Small bistro tables and chairs were arranged in the center for the actors to sit when they weren’t delivering lines. The rest of the stage was tastefully decorated with huge one-dimensional Christmas trees. The actors strolled out one-by-one and quietly took their seats while the audience continued to pour in. At one point, Bryan Cranston walked to the front of the stage, looked at everybody and thoughtfully said, “What a good-looking crowd,” then sat back down.

Like everyone else, we are completely familiar with the 1946 Jimmy Stewart movie It’s a Wonderful Life and so tried to guess, beforehand, who was going to play which role. We had even speculated that Annette Bening would play a female version of George Bailey, but then abandoned that idea when we saw the lineup of male actors. Annette ended up playing Mary to Peter Gallagher’s George. Leslie Jordan was Clarence and everyone else played all the other characters. There was no intermission, but the acts were broken-up by vintage-sounding radio commercials read by the various actors.

The show was terrific—great performances and it was lots of fun watching the foley artist creating dozens of different sound effects. We were hoping for more cookies on the way out, but the table was gone. So instead we left humming “Auld Lang Syne” and looking forward to Christmas with our families.

Snow White in North Hollywood

2011-11-28T17:26:00.001-08:00

Let the holidays begin! Last night, Karen and I previewed our first Christmas event of the season: A Snow White Christmas, playing at the El Portal theater in North Hollywood.

More Snow White than Santa (I think Christmas was mentioned only twice!), this kid-friendly musical stuck pretty close to the Disney version of the fairy tale with a few contemporary songs (Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” Britney Spears’ “Toxic,” and Katy Perry’s “Firework”) thrown in. The performance was staged as a panto, encouraging lots of interaction between the audience and the actors. We sat in the first row, so plenty of opportunity to have our voices heard.

An extremely talented Lindsay Pearce (contestant on last summer’s Glee Project) was the ever-optimistic Snow White. The evil queen was played by Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi from the still lamented Star Trek: The Next Generation). But we were there, of course, for Neil Patrick Harris, who played the magic Mirror. He was great, even though he was just a (pre-recorded) disembodied face in a frame. Marina was terrific, too, appropriately over-reacting to audience boos every time she walked onstage. Lots of allusions to Star Trek, which I just loved.

Performances are scheduled through December 18, so if you like Glee, Star Trek, Neil Patrick Harris, or even Snow White, I highly recommend taking a trip out to North Hollywood.

Loving Lucy

2011-11-18T17:29:00.001-08:00

Tim likes telling the story about how, during a long holiday weekend in the late 1970s, he taped one of the first I Love Lucy marathons at a friend’s house and then had to go out and buy a machine so he could watch the shows at home! That’s how he got stuck with a Betamax—superior technology, but not long for this world—instead of a VHS recorder.

Betamax is now gone, of course, but Tim continues to love Lucy. No wonder then that he bought tickets to I Love Lucy: Live on Stage as soon as he heard about it. Performed at the Greenway Court Theatre in L.A.’s Fairfax district, the show faithfully recreates the filming of two I Love Lucy episodes—The Benefit, the one where Lucy insists on singing with Ricky at Ethel’s fundraiser, and Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined, which features a funny dance number as well as Desi’s theme song “Babalu.” Seeing actors perform the episodes as Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley was a real hoot.

It was a wonderful evening—we truly got the flavor of what it must have been like to see I Love Lucy (including 1950s commercials!) performed live. The audience was thrilled to pretend that we were still living in a black-and-white TV world. Plus the actors never once broke character, not even during the curtain call. Standing ovations were much deserved.

The show is playing Wednesday through Sunday every week till the end of the year. If you love Lucy, seeing this live stage performance is an absolute must!

L.A. Olympics

2011-11-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

Tim and I aren’t architects nor are we architectural scholars. We are, however, members of the Southern California chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH-SCC), which celebrates the fabulous architecture of L.A. and its surrounding environs. Unlike, say, the L.A. Conservancy, SAH-SCC is not an advocacy group. But its tours and other educational events do a terrific job of bringing together two of our favorite things: architecture and the history of Los Angeles.

Yesterday the Society sponsored a lecture on the continuing impact of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, both of which, of course, were held here in Los Angeles. The program was presented at LA84, a local foundation created with profits from the 1984 games. The speaker was Wayne Wilson, an Olympics expert and director of the LA84 sports library.

Regretfully, Tim and I didn't go to the 1984 Olympics—we were both living in San Diego at the time—but we avidly watched the games and collected and read everything we could about the various events. So even though we weren’t there, we do know a lot about the 1984 games.

The 1932 games, on the other hand, are a relatively recent fascination, especially since the Olympic Village—the first housing ever built for the athletes—was located in the Baldwin Hills, not far from our home. The male athletes had rooms in the Village, while the women stayed at the Chapman Park Hotel near downtown L.A. The 1932 Olympics also marked the first time the staggered dais was used to honor the medal winners—a tradition that lives on till today.

Map of the 1932 venues

Although very few new venues were built for either the 1932 or 1984 games, daily reminders of the Olympics still very much remain. Tenth Street, for instance, was renamed Olympic Blvd. in honor of the tenth Olympiad held in 1932. Then, in 1984, all the streets downtown were changed from two- to one-way to help facilitate traffic to and from the games. Most interesting, though, was learning that approximately 20,000 palm trees were planted in Los Angeles in the late 1920s/early 1930s to make the city more attractive to Olympic games visitors. Like Olympic Blvd. and downtown's one-way streets, the palm trees are here to stay.

Because the Great Depression was in full force by 1932, city leaders feared that few people would trek to Los Angeles for the summer games. So a media blitz was launched nationwide, emphasizing the more romantic aspects of L.A.’s history. One brochure even claimed that a group of Franciscan monks had, in their early travels, blessed the area as “Holywood”—an inspiring explanation for how Hollywood got its name, but complete fiction! Hollywood royalty, like Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, did do a lot to promote the Olympics, however, entertaining the athletes in their home and participating in public events.

Another map of the 1932 vanues

Finally, as a librarian, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention LA84’s phenomenal sports library. Containing some 40,000 sports-related items, the library is open weekdays and by appointment. Their digital archive of over 100,000 PDF files is also available online for free. Happy reading!

From our own library at home

L.A. as Subject Archives Bazaar

2011-10-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

Looking north to downtown L.A. from USC

With both a master’s degree and doctorate from UCLA, I am a Bruin through and through. Still, once a year Tim and I venture east to spend the day at UCLA’s rival university USC for the annual L.A. as Subject Archives Bazaar. Dedicated to improving the visibility, access, and preservation of archives that document Los Angeles’s rich history, L.A. as Subject is a group of archival institutions that make their holdings available through the web and other outreach efforts, like the Bazaar. More than 80 local agencies promoted their collections last Saturday at USC. Tim and I were completely in our element.

Crowds enjoying the Bazaar

The Bazaar is always a glorious event for me, chatting with former and current students working in various exhibit booths. But Tim loves it, too. A couple of years ago he found a photo of his childhood Little League team on CSU Northridge’s San Fernando Valley History Digital Library website. This year we connected with the Museum of the San Fernando Valley and talked about possibly helping collect baby-boomer memories of the area when it was still dairy farms and remote subdivisions. The Culver City Historical Society was also there, selling note cards and umbrellas decorated with images of Culver City.

In addition to the exhibits, the Bazaar offers guest speakers, documentary film screenings and panel discussions of local historical relevance. We heard Christopher Hawthorne, the L.A. Times architecture critic, discuss 27 essential books about Los Angeles and were fascinated as author John Bengston showed then-and-now photos of downtown L.A., where many early silent films were shot. Finally, we attended a session with award-winning TV producer Dan Guerrero, who reminisced about his father Lalo Guerrero, the world-famous Chicano songwriter and musician.

It was a wonderful day. And, oh, did I mention that the Bazaar was completely free? Yay!

The old card catalog at the Doheny Library

where the Bazaar was held

George Harrison: Living in the Material World

2011-10-23T08:10:00.000-07:00

Tim was the one who called, ten years ago, to tell me George Harrison had died. Although not completely unexpected—he had been fighting cancer for several years—the news was nonetheless devestating, especially since George was the youngest Beatle.

To celebrate George’s life and highly successful career, the Grammy Museum is currently presenting a four-month exhibition, called “George Harrision: Living in the Material World.” It complements the fabulous Martin Scorsese-directed HBO documentary of the same name that aired earlier this month. The exhibit features everything from handwritten song lyrics to the jacket George wore during the famous Beatles Shea Stadium appearance in 1965, as well as postcards from the Beatles’ first trip to Germany, guitars of various shapes and colors, photos, and footage of his more notable performances, including the groundbreaking concert for Bangladesh—the first ever rock-n-roll all-star benefit—and a Traveling Wilburys video.

The Museum had mounted a similar exhibit last year, celebrating what would have been John Lennon’s 70th birthday, but somehow “Living in the Material World” is more gratifying, even though John has always been my “favorite” Beatle. Perhaps it’s because George lived two decades longer than John and so was able to accomplish much more in his short 58 years. Or maybe it’s because George was so spiritual. Regardless, it’s a joyous exhibition that anyone interested in the Beatles—and/or George Harrison specifically—should see.

As we were leaving, an out-of-town couple and their young adult son stopped Tim to ask if the Museum was worth visiting.

“Are you a musician?” Tim asked the young man. He said, yes, he plays guitar.

“Then you should absolutely go inside,” Tim advised. “You don’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

With that, we headed home to watch the DVD of George’s concert for Bangladesh.

Downtown L.A.

2011-10-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

Photo Friends of LAPL not only supports development of Los Angeles Public Library’s photography collection, the group also periodically conducts events celebrating the more interesting items in that collection. For instance, a couple months ago we attended a Photo Friends slide show of old pictures of Wilshire Blvd. Yesterday they sponsored a lecture featuring crime photos from the long-defunct Herald Express, the Hearst publication that reveled in yellow journalism. My favorite story was about Robert James, a 1930s serial killer who murdered his newlywed wife by sticking her foot into a box of rattlesnakes. Criminals were certainly a lot more inventive in those days.

Downtown LAPL central library

Since we were already downtown, we decided to visit some of our favorite L.A. landmarks after the lecture. The weather was perfect: warm and slightly breezy. It had rained on Wednesday, so the city was surprisingly clean and sparkly.

Angels Flight funicular

We rode the outdoor escalator, across from the library, to the top of Hope St., and then walked over to California Plaza off of Grand Ave. After taking a few snapshots of the famous Angels Flight funicular, which is apparently the shortest operational railway in the world, we decided to take a ride down the hill to Grand Central, the oldest and largest open-air market in Los Angeles. My mother still remembers eating there in the 1950s after watching Spanish-language movies at the Million Dollar Theater next door. There are lots of food options at Grand Central, but we always gravitate to Tomas’s taco stand, where $2.50 will get you a taco big enough to feed two people. Yum!

Grand Central Market

We hadn’t seen the Bradbury Building in a while, so we wandered across Broadway and went inside. The public is welcome to visit the lobby most days until 5PM. Constructed in 1893, the distinctive Bradbury has appeared in many TV episodes and films, including (most famously) Blade Runner. With its black cast-iron grillwork festooning stairways, railings and elevator shafts, the Bradbury Building (hands down) has the most beautiful interior of any edifice in L.A.

Inside the Bradbury Building

Aesthetically satiated, we rode Angels Flight up to Hope and walked back to the library, where our car was parked. What a perfect day it had been. That is, until we hit a traffic jam, heading south on Flower St.

“What’s with all these cars on a Saturday?” I grumped to Tim. But then suddenly spotted film equipment. “IT’S BATMAN!” we both yelled, noticing “Gotham City” markings on the prop vehicles parked to one side. We'd forgotten that the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, had been shooting downtown for several weeks.

“Stop the car! I want to take pictures,” I insisted as Tim pulled over.

Crowds of mostly young people were clogging the sidewalks, while film crews set-up the next scene. I was most amused by the long line of nearly 30 GPD (Gotham Police Dept.) cars parked next to the 7th St. mall. Obviously there's going to be one helluva cop car chase scene in the new movie.

Gotham City SWAT

Gotham City police cars

Now it was indeed a most perfect L.A. day!

Pacific Standard Time

2011-10-02T11:10:00.000-07:00

About ten years ago, the Getty Research Institute launched an initiative to study the postwar art movement in Los Angeles, 1945-1980. Grants were awarded to art institutions throughout Southern California with the ultimate goal of mounting a massive exhibit, opening in several sites this weekend. Over the next six months, the show, called Pacific Standard Time, will be on view in over 60 museums from Santa Barbara to San Diego.

As members of the L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA), Tim and I got to preview LACMA’s contribution to this amazingly historic event last Thursday evening. Focusing on mid-century west coast design, LACMA’s exhibit begins in the 1920s and ends in the late 1960s, chronicling how local art trends have influenced what we’ve come to know as the “California lifestyle.”

It’s a wonderful retrospective, examining everything from a magnificent aluminum Airstream trailer (which is the first thing visitors see) to a futuristic Studebaker Avanti automobile (midway through the exhibit), from Bauer pottery to Barbie and her “dream house” (sigh!). The high point is the recreation of the living room from L.A.’s own Eames house, one of the most architecturally significant homes of the 20th century. There are also lots of fabulous examples of mid-century furniture and magazine shoots of modern homes built in the 1940s and ‘50s, plus album covers, textiles, books, kitchenware, artwork, jewelry (looking surprisingly contemporary) and even swimware. It’s enough to make one weep for the days when style was everything.

We didn’t know picture-taking was allowed (without flash, of course), so snapped these photos with Tim’s iPhone. The LACMA exhibit runs through March 2012. The next time I go I’ll take the good camera and shoot many more photos. For now, here's just a tiny flavor of postwar California:

P.S. We also recently saw the Tim Burton exhibit at LACMA, which is on till the end of October. It's a must-see for all Burton fans. For some reason, Burton has kept every piece of art he ever created since adolescence and it’s all displayed here. Perhaps too much of a good thing?

L.A. County Fair

2011-09-26T19:11:00.000-07:00

My family may have been rich in many ways, but we never had much money. Still, our parents managed to take my sister Vicki and me to Disneyland every couple of years. Plus we always went to the L.A. County Fair—an annual ritual—that is, until Vicki and I got too old to care much about farm animals and family outings.

Then

When we were young, all six of us—including our Gramma and aunt Ti—would pile into the car at the crack of dawn, so we could get to the fair when the gates opened. (Pomona was a looong way from Burbank, in those days!) As soon as we arrived, we’d drop Gramma off at the Mexican Village, where she could yak all day with other Spanish-speaking natives.

I no longer remember what we did at the fair (other than eat), but do know we always stayed till dark, stopping at the “Fun Zone” on our way out. My sister and I weren’t much for carnival rides, but we did love to pitch dimes at small faux Depression-glass bowls in one of the many game booths. Vicki had an extraordinary arm, filling both our and Ti’s kitchen cabinets with tiny glass bowls—far too many, even for our family of hardy dessert-eaters.

Me, Ti and Vic

Now

It’s been many years since I’ve been to the fair, so naturally I said I’d go when Tim announced he had to work a remote broadcast from there this past weekend.

The radio show started at 7AM. We spent the night before at the Fairplex Sheraton (Pomona is still a very looong way away!). I was surprised to see the fairgrounds looking pretty much the same: the big grandstand/racetrack at the center, farm animals to the north, the flower and garden pavilion to the south, and the permanent exhibit buildings on the east. The “Fun Zone” has been replaced by rides located throughout the park. Tim’s broadcast booth was next to the sky ride, from which passengers were admonished not to throw objects or spit (!).

My first stop was the old flower and garden pavilion, where I had spent many delight-filled hours as a youth—an early indicator, no doubt, of my future fascination with all things botanical (who knew?). I was distressed to find myself back in the 1960s, however, staring at tacky lush landscapes and lots of water features. Have the county fair exhibitors learned nothing about drought-resistent California plants in all these years? A major disappointment.

I next went in search of Gramma’s Mexican Village. Now called the more politically correct “Plaza de las Américas,” the stage—and the performers!—looked exactly the same, though the audience was decidedly much more heterogeneous. Hawkers were selling the same old south-of-the-border junk; but Spanish-language radio station KWKW's booth, where Ti and I were interviewed on the air many years ago, was now history.

I then moseyed over to Fairview Farms. In the old days, the cows, goats, pigs, chickens, and sheep were all confined to small pens. At least now the barn was spacious, allowing the animals to roam around and stay clear of humans, if they so desired. Where else can you laugh at a mound of adorable sleeping piglets, then step outside and order barbecued pork as soon as you leave the barn? The county fair is nothing if not incongruous!

I spent a good hour walking down the crowded aisles of the “Shopping Place,” where you can buy everything from jewelry, candy, sewing machines, beds, flags, several brands of kitchenware, handbags, flying toy helicopters, vegetable choppers, grave sites and coffins (yikes!), and fake chamois. You can also have your teeth whitened and/or get a foot massage, while waiting for the next product demonstration to begin.

This, too, was a familiar throwback to my childhood. But I did stumble upon two completely new areas that I would have loved as a kid: a medieval town, where youngsters posed with fake knights and a magician, and Jurassic Planet, a pretty good exhibit of animatronic dinosaurs.

As fun as all that was, the biggest highlight for me was the Millard Sheets Center for the Arts, where “Eclectic Collectibles” were being displayed. Here I found collections of postcards, lunch boxes, comicbooks, buttons, thousands of soda-can pull-tabs carefully shaped into furniture, wood sculptures, fruitbox labels, and an assortment of signs on loan from the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale. This alone was worth the price of admission.

And, of course, no county fair experience is complete without massive quantities of mostly fried food. But as even Tim discovered, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing! For the first time ever, he couldn’t finish his hot dog. Another county fair memory to cherish!

Vicki, me and Dad

Vegas, Baby!

2011-09-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

There was a big boxing match in Las Vegas this pastweekend, so HBO, which broadcasted the fight as pay-for-view, invited radiostations nationwide to promote the event from Vegas on Thursday andFriday. My 40-year high schoolreunion was also this weekend, so Tim swapped jobs with his boss Mike, whocovered Tim’s weekend hours in exchange for Tim going to Vegas. Hey! Radio is hard work, but someone’s gotta do it!

Here’s Tim’s account of what happened:

I knew this wouldn’t be a normal trip when I arrived at LAXand saw a very tall young lady in “Daisy Duke” shorts. She was standing on the security linewith a man who probably would have endured short jokes, if he were not builtlike Arnold Schwarzenegger in his prime. I was going to Las Vegas to oversee remote broadcasts to promote HBO’supcoming Mayweather vs. Ortiz fight. An otherwise uneventful one-hour flightsuddenly turned interesting as we circled McCarran airport for 45 minutes, waitingfor a thunderstorm to pass, before landing in Vegas. I then took a shuttle to the hotel: the MGM Grand, site ofthe fight and the broadcasts.

A regulation-sized boxing ring was installed under the domein the hotel’s lobby. Signing autographs nearby were Leon Spinks, ErnieShavers, and others. Autographs cost $49 to $99, depending on which one you gotto sign. The lobby was crowded for a Wednesday, I was told. Weddings,bachelor/ette parties and fight fans had swelled the usual weekday mob.

My room was nice for what I paid (zero—thank you, HBO!).Since it was the MGM Grand, all artwork in the rooms and hallways was glamourshots of movie stars, past and present. My room featured a photo ofPatrick Stewart, Cindy's beloved captain Jean Luc Picard from Star Trek: TheNext Generation. He stared at me as if admonishing me to stay away from themini-bar, if I knew what was good for me!

The remote broadcasts were in a ballroom converted into“Radio Row.” A couple of dozen stations from around the country sent teams todo their shows, mentioning the MGM Grand, HBO pay-per-view and the fight MANYtimes an hour. My last radio row experience was during the 2000 DemocraticConvention in L.A., but this was way better. Catered! Radio people are far downon the show biz chain, so free food is a BIG deal. At home, our “craft service”is a vending machine.

Our shows were broadcasted from 10AM to 2PM, then 4PM to10PM. Our final guest during the early show, Thursday, was Mike Tyson—asurprise addition who just happened to walk by after we went off the air. Wetaped a 20-minute interview with him for the next show, about 6 minutes ofwhich was deleted because of profanity. A very interesting man, Tyson spoke of his youth and time in the ring.He got emotional recounting the accidental death of his 4-year-old daughter. Itook a picture with my cellphone, but was warned by one of his group (i.e., theblurred figure reaching out to me in the picture above) to refrain from taking more.

Walking around the hotel on Friday, I spotted more muscletypes. Turns out the Mr. Olympia competition was also in town. Usually you seemen staring at attractive women. But they were also staring at the Mr. Olympiamen with as much, if not more, admiration and awe.

Early flight out on Saturday—plenty of time to prep for thatnight’s high school reunion. But could the Universal Sheraton match the glitzof the MGM Grand? As long as there was no Hercules walking around in a tanktop, I'll take it.

Sugar Ray Leonard

The Two Spocks

2011-09-15T17:30:00.000-07:00

We already had reservations to attend another event when I read in the newspaper that Zachary Quinto, who played Spock in last year’s Star Trek movie, was going to interview the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, about his latest photography project, "Secret Selves," at the Hammer Museum. I emailed Tim immediately to say there had been a sudden change of plans. He told me to go have fun.

Located in Westwood a few blocks from campus, the Hammer is one of UCLA’s many museums/galleries. The outside is very imposing—a big concrete, steel and glass box that seems impenetrable. But inside, the box opens to the sky as the exterior of the building surrounds a lovely open-air atrium with trees and a small cafe. To me, the space has always seemed more like something you’d find in NYC than Los Angeles.

The event was free, so I left almost two hours early in anticipation of a big crowd. Sure enough, there were about 100 people in line by the time I got there. Still, I got an excellent seat—one of the advantages of going to these types of things alone. I had plenty of time to observe the audience, many of whom wore Star Trek regalia, including jackets, t-shirts and one woman attired in a full 24th-century star fleet uniform—completely inappropriate, I thought, for a program about Nimoy’s artwork.

Nimoy was introduced shortly after 7PM and commenced explaining his artistic process. Seems he recently became interested in the Greek notion of humans once having four arms, four legs and two heads, until Zeus split them in half, forcing us to constantly search for our other selves. Wondering what this might look like photographically, he asked the R. Michelson gallery, where most of his art is exhibited, to find 100 people who’d be willing to reveal their “secret selves” to his camera. Nimoy then showed us a 40-minute film of his sessions with 25 of these people.

To say that these were deeply intimate encounters with folks who have fascinating and—sometimes very touching—alternate lives would be a huge understatement. The film opened with a children’s book illustrator, standing in his underwear, holding an electric guitar. His fantasy self: to be a rock star. Others included the former Junior League president who was physically and mentally abused by her husband (she appears wearing boxing gloves in her photo), a graphic designer who is portrayed as an angel, a transvestite who wants to be Rita Hayworth, and a sailor who sees himself as Superman. (Click here to view all 25 photos, plus clips from the film). It must have taken great courage for these people to participate in this project. The audience laughed many times throughout the short film, but Nimoy never once acted as if his subjects were strange or ridiculous.

After the screening, Nimoy reemerged alongside Zach Quinto as the two started chatting like old friends. They talked about acting and the secrets performers create about the characters they’re depicting. They also talked about Spock and the sometimes unwanted celebrity he has brought them. (Nimoy had famously said to Quinto, "I do hope you know what you're getting into," when the younger man agreed to play Spock in last year's movie.) It was really quite wonderful listening to two such popular actors discuss their craft candidly and so intelligently.

I highly recommend watching the podcast of their conversation, which will eventually be posted on the Hammer website, but be sure to stop once the Q&A is opened up to the audience. A trekkie myself, of course, I tend to be very tolerant of fan questions; but even by my lax standards these were far more idiotic than usual (e.g., “How do you both feel when you see yourselves as action figures?”). Ugh!

Watts Towers

2011-09-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

On a weekend when many people are commemorating the senseless destruction of the Twin Towers in NYC, I am so happy I had the foresight to buy a ticket to tour L.A.’s own magnificent Watts Towers, located in south Los Angeles. Oddly enough, though I’ve lived in L.A. most of my life, I’d never seen the towers, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and are a National Historic Landmark as well as a state Historic Monument.

In 1921, Italian immigrant Simon Rodia began building a series of steel-enforced concrete structures in his backyard. Encrusting the towers in bits of discarded glass, pottery, ceramics, and seashells, Rodia called his masterpiece “Nuestro Pueblo” (“Our Town”). He was not trained as an artist nor did he have a background in engineering, yet his towers have survived many earthquakes and seem to defy gravity. In 1955, he just walked away, deeding the house and land to a neighbor. Today the property is managed by the city’s Cultural Affairs Department, which has stepped up preservation efforts to save it (and not a minute too soon). As you can see for yourself, Rodia’s work is truly an amazing piece of art.

Max Monroe

2011-09-03T12:52:00.000-07:00

We were standing outside with our neighbors, watching as a police helicopter buzzed overheard, when the conversation turned to previous crime incidents on our block. In our 13 years here, we had seen 2 car chases zoom by and knew about a shooting that occurred on the street before we moved in.

Then our next-door neighbor to the right pointed to the next-door neighbor on our left and casually said, “Oh yeah, and of course you know that the front of your house was blown-up several years ago.”

“WHAT?!!” we all yelled. None of us had ever heard this story before.

Turns out our three houses were featured briefly in an episode of a short-lived 1990 TV show called Max Monroe, starring Shadoe Stevens as an “unconventional” L.A. detective. That bit of news sent us all scurrying back home to find Max Monroe footage on the Internet.

Well, the show lasted only 6 episodes and none of the YouTube snippets (apparently uploaded by Shadoe Stevens himself) were shot on our street. Nor could we find any evidence of recorded copies of the show. So I started hunting for bootleg DVDs of the entire series.

About 5 screens into an intense Google search, I found a dealer (who shall remain nameless) selling a DVD collection of all the show’s episodes. I called a good friend (who shall also remain nameless and who buys lots of bootlegs herself) to see if she thought this guy was reputable. Looking at what he promised, plus his ratings (consistently 4 stars out of 5), I decided to proceed and bought the set sight-unseen. The DVDs arrived in the mail yesterday.

“I know what we’re doing tonight!” I emailed Tim.

Sure enough, as soon as we finished dinner, Tim inserted the first of four DVDs. We fast-forwarded through the first two, containing two episodes each. Lots of scenes of downtown L.A. and other local landmarks, but no house. I was starting to worry that maybe our neighbor was wrong.

But then we started watching “Flashback,” a two-hour episode that aired on April 14, 1990. About 3/4 of the way in, we suddenly saw something very familiar.

“THERE IT IS!” we both yelled, as the bad guys’ car turned the corner onto our street.

The cameras were obviously filming from our front yard, because we could see everyone’s house but ours. Then the south side of our house appeared and we were ecstatic. Our house was famous, if only for half a second! And, indeed, the front of our neighbor’s home got pretty much blown-up. See for yourself:

D23 Expo: Hurry-Up and Wait

2011-08-22T17:47:00.000-07:00

The second D23 Expo, Disney’s three-day “ultimate fan event,” was held this past weekend. No big shock that I had the dates saved on my calendar for almost a year. The first Expo, in 2009, was a fun but rather low-key affair. Not so much this year.

Day 1 (Friday)

The doors opened at 9AM on Friday. Since I was able to easily saunter in and out of the 2009 Expo, I didn’t feel at all compelled to get up earlier than usual before heading out to Anaheim. Imagine my surprise, then, when I arrived and saw (literally) thousands of people waiting outside the convention center! I parked my car and went searching for the end of line.

I stood behind a young man, from Pasadena, who had also gone to the 2009 Expo. In front of him was a young woman from San José, CA, and behind me a 30s-ish woman and her mother, both from Sacramento. Not too many people in costumes, though we did see a Mary Poppins and two distinctly different yet credible Cruella de Vils. Almost everyone else was sporting some sort of Disney t-shirt or paraphernalia. I, of course, fit right in with my Mickey Mouse tank-top, Nightmare Before Christmas sweatshirt (stylishly tied around my waist), Mickey flip-flops, and Walt Disney World charm bracelet.

The women in front and behind us had never attended a fan convention before, so Mr. Pasadena and I scooped them in on what to expect. We also commiserated about the massive crowds, which neither of us had expected.

“Last time, I just waltzed right in without having to wait on any lines,” I groaned. “I’m afraid D23 is becoming like Comic-Con.”

“Yes and it’s too bad,” Pasadena said.

After waiting more than an hour, we finally got in. I had already missed the first event of the day—a panel discussion and slideshow on the history of the Disneyland Hotel—so agreed to join Pasadena and Ms. San José on line for the Disney “Legends” induction ceremony at 11AM. All the truly big Disney names—like Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, Roy E. Disney, etc.—were immortalized as “legends” years ago, so the event seems more of a publicity stunt now than an awards ceremony. Still, the audience—all 4000 of us!—were thrilled to see minor, as well as major, Disney stars. This year’s inductees included the actresses who voiced five of the most recent cartoon princesses—Jodi Benson (Ariel), Linda Larkin (Jasmine), Paige O’Hara (Belle), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), and Lea Solonga (Fa Mulan)—Regis Philbin, and Muppets creator Jim Henson and Guy Williams (Zorro), both deceased. The arena went wild when the princesses each sang a song from their individual movies. I’m not a fan of the princess genre, but even I got a little misty-eyed, especially when I noticed the burly man in front of me wiping away tears during Paige O’Hara’s Beauty and the Beast medley. The real highlight for me, though, was seeing Kermit the Frog and Rowlf sing “Rainbow Connection,” the sentimental hit song from the original Muppets Movie. (Click here to see a video of the performance.) How many times does one get to see the Muppets perform live on stage? Never.

My new friends and I floated out of the arena, comparing notes about our favorite parts of the program. It was nearly 1:30PM.

“Do you want to get on line for the next program at 3:30PM?” Mr. Pasadena asked. Ms. San José said yes immediately, but I had other plans.

“It was great getting to know you both, but now I’ve really got to go shopping!” I declared. “Enjoy the rest of the Expo!”

And with that I ran over to the "Collectors Forum," where vendors were hawking all sorts of marvelous things. I spent the next two hours searching for Disney gold.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, the older I get the more nostalgic I am about the Disneyland of my youth, when the park seemed so much more magical than it does today. To recapture those days, I’ve begun collecting (mostly paper) items that remind me of the original Disneyland. I hit the jackpot several times over at Expo, buying (among other things!) a vintage silk scarf (pictured above) decorated with scenes of the park’s various “lands,” a brochure commemorating the long-gone Monsanto “House of the Future,” and—the pièce de résistance!—a 30” x 44” wall map of Disneyland ca. 1964, when I was just 10 years old.

I was exhausted by 4PM, but decided to see one more exhibit before going home: “Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives” displayed in a special room on the 2nd floor of the convention center. The line was 30-minutes long, but well worth the wait to see costumes and memorabilia from the Mouseketeers, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Pirates of the Caribbean, the original Tron, the most recent Alice in Wonderland (Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter gear!), and Lost, the popular Disney-owned TV show that ended last year. I couldn’t wait to get home and tell Tim all about it!

Day 2 (Saturday)

Tim went back with me, Saturday morning. The line was half as long as the day before. Yet well before we could even see the front door to the convention center, we heard an announcement that the first event of the day, featuring the stars (Robert Downey, Jr.! Scarlet Johansson!) and footage of upcoming Disney movies, was already full. We had just arrived and were already disappointed! This did not bode well for the rest of the day.

While everyone else was in the arena watching movie-clips, we strolled the vendor booths (again!) and admired artwork inspired by various Disney films. Once the program ended, however, the place turned into a mob scene. If we hadn’t already reserved a hotel room for the night, we probably would have left in disgust.

But then we discovered the D23 “charter member” lounge, a secluded room where charter members (me!) could relax and help themselves to free drinks and snacks. Rejuvenated, we decided to get on line for a presentation about the planned renovation of Disney California Adventure (DCA), the less-loved theme park located across from Disneyland.

An hour-and-a-half later, we and several hundred others were directed into a large ballroom, where we oohed and aahed over artist renderings of “Buena Vista Street,” DCA’s new entrance that will incorporate iconic elements of 1920s Los Angeles (e.g., the old “red car” trolley and the much lamented Carthay Circle theater, where Walt premiered Snow White). It's going to be absolutely fabulous.

The man sitting next to me, who shared my passion for all things Disneyland, recommended that Tim and I see the enormous “Parks and Resorts” exhibit downstairs, so we ran over there after the program ended. My new friend was right! Behind a secluded wall were small displays on all the new Disney travel and amusement park features still under development. Very fun. But once again, while there, we heard a voice from above announce that the line for the 6:30PM event we wanted to attend (two hours later!) was now closed. What to do?

We decided right then to skip Expo on Sunday and instead stay up late (i.e., past 10PM) to see DCA’s “The World of Color” light show, which we’d never seen. So we checked into our hotel, took the shuttle to the parks, ate dinner at Uva, our new favorite restaurant in Downtown Disney, and then stood on line (one last time!) to catch the 10:15PM “World of Color” show. It was fantastic!

Day 3 (Sunday)

On the way out of Anaheim, we stopped for a leisurely breakfast at the LaBrea Bakery in Downtown Disney. After shopping briefly at my favorite Disney Store, I looked at my watch and noticed it was only 10:30AM.

“There’s still time to go to Expo and stand on line for the 1:30PM program on DCA’s new Cars Land ride,” I said to Tim half-jokingly.

Getting no response, I grabbed his hand and headed home.

The Captains

2011-07-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

I may have missed Comic-Con last weekend, but there was no way I was going to miss a free screening of William Shatner’s new feature-length documentary, The Captains, about the lead actors (including captain Kirk himself) of all five Star Trek TV series, plus Chris Pine from the latest Trek movie. The film was being shown at Hollywood Forever, the area’s oldest and most famous cemetery, which, in conjunction with Cinespia, has shown outdoor movies for the past 10 years. Although the screenings are wildly popular, we’d never been to one until last night.

The films are projected onto the wall of the cemetery's mausoleum, while the audience reclines on a grave-less lawn nearby. Blankets and/or short beach chairs are recommended as the grass can be a bit damp. We took chairs and a blanket just to be safe.

Any excuse for a picnic, so we packed a small cooler full of fried chicken and a salad. Karen brought pasta, cherries and two kinds of cookies. We also took along a jumbo-sized bag of potato chips, just in case.

Though we’d never been inside the cemetery, we’d driven by enough times to know that most movie-goers park on the street and then walk into the grounds. We parked on Gower and schlepped four blocks to the cemetery entrance. We were so loaded down that we looked like three sherpas preparing to ascend Mount Everest. At the gate, a group of young people welcomed us with even more stuff: free movie posters, t-shirts and water. They were promoting EPIX, a new cable channel we don’t get.

Hollywood Forever isn’t huge like, say, Forest Lawn. Still, it’s plenty big when you’re carrying a blanket, beach chairs and a week’s worth of food. Tim zoomed ahead while Karen and I admired row after row of rather elaborate gravesites. Established in 1899, the cemetery is the final resting place of many old-time Hollywood legends (e.g., Jayne Mansfield, Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, Rudolph Valentino, Peter Lorre, etc.). Even more interesting, though, are the engraved headstones featuring portraits of the more recently departed. I could easily imagine spending an entire day there, roaming the aisles and reading gravestone memorials.

By the time we arrived at the lawn, all the close spaces were taken, so we setup camp toward the back of the crowd. It was still light out. A DJ entertained us with a dance competition and various silly contests, while we ate dinner and waited for the movie to start. Prizes were given for best Star Trek costumes, so there was lots to see until sunset.

Then around 7:30PM, I noticed lights flashing and commotion over by the mausoleum.

“I think Shatner is here,” I told Tim and Karen. They went to investigate while I held down the fort.

Sure enough, a red carpet had been laid down and Bill and his wife were talking with the media. Tim snapped a bunch of photos and then came running back to report what he’d seen. A few minutes later, Shatner, wearing a white fedora, was introduced to a rousing round of applause. He pointed towards Paramount Studios, which backs up against the cemetery, and noted—a little sadly, I thought—that it’s been almost 50 years since he and the crew of the starship Enterprise filmed the first Trek series right there on the Paramount lot.

I could have gotten all misty-eyed, but instead yelled, “WE LOVE YOU BILL!” And then the movie started.

How fun to watch a Star Trek documentary with hundreds of like-minded fans! They knew exactly when to laugh and exactly when to cheer. I was completely in my glory! But soon it was all over as the grounds became suddenly very dark. (No overhead lights!) We gathered our belongings and started heading back toward the car.

I was trying hard to not to stumble, when I heard Tim say, “Babe, there he is!”

I looked up and immediately recognized Shatner’s white fedora just three feet from where I was standing. He was slipping into a black towncar. I considered thanking him for making such a wonderful movie, but just couldn’t get the words out fast enough. Sometimes it’s just easier to yell “We love you!” from the back of a crowd than it is to say “Thank you” in person.

We walked back toward Gower and beamed home.

Not Comic-Con

2011-07-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Normally we’d be in San Diego this weekend, fighting the hordes at Comic-Con, but weren’t able to get tickets this year (boo hoo!). So instead, Tim, Karen and I took the MAK Center tour of four significant mid-century houses designed by John Lautner, the renowned American architect who left a profound, and often controversial, mark on the Los Angeles landscape. His homes, which usually incorporate lots of wood, concrete, and spectacular views of the surrounding environment, are distinctly dramatic. This weekend’s tour was just one of many events celebrating what would have been his 100th birthday. Lautner died in 1994.

The first—and most famous—residence we toured was the Sheats/Goldstein house, an enormous low-lying edifice that sits above Benedict Canyon. Owned by multimillionaire James Goldstein, the house is located atop a steep and winding road, which we traversed aboard a short schoolbus (not recommended!). Although I thought the architecture was cold and uninviting (too much concrete), the home’s gardens were magnificent: lush greenery that does a very good job of protecting the owner’s privacy.

Our next stop, the Schwimmer house, was much more friendly with its curved wood beams and semicircular design. The grounds weren’t anywhere near as lush as the previous home, but the views of the city were amazing. I am not a big fan of hilltop living, especially in L.A. where fires and earthquakes are a common enough occurrence; yet I can definitely see how someone might be seduced by such a phenomenal vista.

We had seen the Harpel house (tour stop #3) before, but were still blown-away by its unparalleled 180-degree panorama of Burbank and the Hollywood Hills. (If you click on the very first photo above and look directly to the right of the antennas on top of Mount Lee, you can barely see the back of the H in the Hollywood sign!) The Harpel house is also known for being right below the Chemosphere, arguably Lautner’s most notorious creation. Built on a pedestal, the Chemosphere looks like an eight-sided flying saucer (which you can see floating above the Harpel house in the photo below.) We may have all been there to see the Harpel house; but I can guarantee that everyone on the tour was secretly lusting for a chance to see the Chemosphere instead.

Our last stop was the Jacobsen house, a cozy two-bedroom postwar residence built above what’s now the Hollywood freeway. Although the entire structure is suspended from just three steel truss columns, I have to say I felt the most comfortable here, perhaps because it was the most modest—and, therefore, most liveable—of the four homes.

Since all tourists need sustenance, we headed straight to Mozza (scene of our infamous porkfest back in February) from the Jacobsen house. Luckily, we found seats at the pizza bar and watched as the cooks assembled a never-ending assortment of wood-baked pizzas. If you’re not hungry when you walk in, you most certainly will be after seeing several pizzas being made here. Our lips were smacking! Boy, was I glad we hadn’t gone to Comic-Con.

P.S. With all my excitement over the houses, I forgot to mention that comic actor Will Farrell was also on the Lautner tour. I guess he couldn't get tickets to Comic-Con either!

Hey! Hey!

2011-07-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Anyone familiar with this blog knows that I love the Beatles and always will. There was a brief period in the late 1960s, however, when my affection for the Fabs was rivaled by four other lads: The Monkees, the pop-rock group who (for any of you non-baby-boomers) had a prime-time TV show from 1966 until 1968.

The Monkees TV show was NBC’s response to the Beatles’ wildly popular movie A Hard Day’s Night. But unlike the Beatles, The Monkees group was specifically created for the TV show. Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork all auditioned to become part of the band and, therefore, the show. They were supposed to be singers and actors, not musicians or songwriters.

Although they were derisively called “The Pre-Fab Four” by unkind critics, my sister and I loved The Monkees and their music. I especially adored Micky who, like John Lennon (still my favorite Beatle), was the group’s defacto leader. My sister liked Davy, the “cute one;” but then again, Paul McCartney was always her favorite Beatle, so no surprise there. Getting ready for the show every week, I would change into my best outfit—and maybe even wear a little lipstick—before sitting down to watch my heroes. I was 12 years old.

I’m not sure what happened to The Monkees after their TV show was canceled, but other things in my life became far more important. Then about 20 years ago, they played as part of an oldies concert following a Padres baseball game in San Diego. I tried to storm the stage, yelling “MICKY!! MICKY!!,” but, of course, wasn’t allowed onto the field. Fast-forward to 10 years ago when Micky and Davy began touring together and played a short set at Disney’s California Adventure theme park. I was much more restrained, but thrilled nonetheless to hear them sing their top-10 hits. I thought for sure they’d never play together again.

Not so! As soon as I read that Micky, Davy and Peter were appearing at the Greek Theatre this past weekend, I bought tickets for Tim and me. The majority of the audience was definitely within our demographic as middle-aged people sitting around us reminisced about their teen years. There was no opening act, so I wondered how The Monkees were going to fill a two-hour concert by themselves. Soon enough a large screen came to life, showing silly 1960s Monkees commercials for Kool-Aid and Kellogg’s cereal. Then, at 8:02PM, the back-up band started playing as the three Monkees emerged, singing “(Take the) Last Train to Clarksville,” while footage from the TV show was shown overhead. Suddenly we were all teenagers again! The audience went wild.

Micky, Davy and Peter looked great and, for the most part, sounded good. But most wonderful was the continuous feed of Monkees TV show footage screened at the back of the stage. The Monkees may never have been as talented as the Beatles, but they were certainly much more beautiful. No wonder I dressed up to watch them every Monday might.

The guys performed their greatest hits (and more!) for over 2 hours. By the end everyone was standing, singing and, yes, even crying. OK, I was the only one crying, but we all had a wonderful time.

Carmageddon

2011-07-17T15:17:00.000-07:00

So the weekend we’ve been dreading is finally here: Carmageddon—when life as we know it in west L.A. was supposed to grind to a halt while 10 miles of the 405 freeway were closed for major repairs. Fifty-three hours of sheer traffic chaos—or so everyone predicted. Since we live only 2 blocks from the 405, I envisioned all kinds of gridlock in our neighborhood as people tried to avoid the blockage four miles north of us.

But the horror we all thought was going to happen never materialized—probably because the media did such a good job of scaring everyone to death. Westsiders either left town or just stayed indoors all weekend. In fact, the project went so well that the freeway is now open again some 20 hours ahead of schedule.

Still, it was an historic event—how often is L.A.’s main north-south artery voluntarily closed for more than a few minutes?—so, of course, we had to see it for ourselves firsthand.

The methodical process of closing the 405 started at 7PM, Friday night, with full closure occurring at midnight. We tuned into the news as soon as we woke-up the next morning. Expecting to see traffic backed-up for miles, we instead saw a newscaster happily driving around, showing the world just how uncongested the highways actually were.

“I want to see what the freeway looks like without any cars!” I excitedly told Tim. “Let’s go for a ride!”

“But it’s 6:30AM,” he said groggily.

“I’ll drive, but I need you to take photos, “ I insisted. “Let’s go before everyone else has the same idea.”

We threw on the previous day’s clothes and hopped into the car. Most of L.A. was apparently still fast asleep.

We entered the 405 off of Culver Blvd. The road was wide open—a miracle even at 7 o’clock on a Saturday morning.

“Wow! Wouldn’t it be fabulous if the freeway was always like this?” I exclaimed.

Tim was madly taking pictures. Before we knew it we arrived at the I-10 interchange, where we passed a roadblock and several workers in reflective gear. The northbound 405 was closed from here to highway 101. We merged onto the 10 and then exited at National. My plan was to drive up to UCLA and across the Sunset Blvd. bridge, so we could look down onto the empty freeway.

Though few cars were on the road, traffic cops were stationed at what are usually the most heavily traveled intersections (i.e., Pico and Overland). We continued north on surface streets until we got to Sunset and then turned left (west).

“Get the camera ready,” I told Tim as we approached the bridge. A lone bicyclist was standing on the freeway overpass, photographing the scene below. We parked across the street and ran over to the bridge. With the exception of a few orange Caltrans vehicles, the northbound lanes were completely deserted. Very freaky. I felt like we were watching a post-nuclear holocaust movie from the 1950s.

After a few minutes, we jumped into the car and got back on the freeway. We were one of three cars headed south. Very, very strange, but not at all unpleasant. Indeed, it was kinda nice having the entire road to ourselves. Plus, when we got home, we noticed that the ever-present freeway noise outside our front door was completely gone. Maybe this Carmageddon thing wasn’t so bad after all!

Royal Welcome

2011-07-10T17:49:00.000-07:00

Despite my wacky behavior on Friday, I woke-up this morning wondering just how badly I wanted to see the royal couple as they visited Sony Studios. After all, I had no idea what time they’d be arriving nor even which studio gate they’d be entering. I had no desire to spend my entire Sunday just waiting for the Prince and Duchess.

I am a librarian, however, and like any good librarian I love the challenge of a tough information query. So instead of moping around the house, missing the newlyweds’ stop in Culver City, I decided to figure out exactly when and where they’d be arriving.

My first clue was a 7AM news segment broadcast from Sony’s sound stage #15, where the big event was going to be held. At least I now had an exact location for their visit. The next step was to figure out where sound stage #15 is located. Luckily, I was able to find this nifty map of Sony Studios, which then helped me deduce which gate they would be entering. I remembered that when I saw President Obama in April, the public entered the main gate on Overland. Yet when I saw him leave that night, his motorcade emerged from the south gate on Culver Blvd. Sure enough, the Culver gate is closest to sound stage #15, plus has a VIP parking lot nearby. The royals would be entering via Culver Blvd. Half of the mystery was solved!

But exactly when would they arrive? I scrolled through countless websites, until Karen called (to the rescue again!) to say ABC channel 7 was covering the last leg of William and Kate’s trip. I checked the ABC7 website and not only did it provide a map of the royals’ activities, but also an interactive itinerary with times! Eureka! I now knew exactly when they were due to visit Sony: 1:15PM. I had three hours to prepare.

To test my theory, I took a quick drive by Sony (less than 2 miles from our house). No royal watchers yet, but police cars and officers were suspiciously parked in front of the Culver gate. Confirmation. I decided then and there to return at 12:30PM to see the royals.

At 12:15PM I spied a helicopter circling Sony and so hopped into my car and headed north. Four blocks from the studio entrance, I could already see a crowd gathering across the street . I parked a block away and quickly walked over. I asked the first two women I saw whether William and Kate had arrived.

“No,” they replied. “But we’re not even sure this is the right gate!”

“This is the correct gate,” I stated emphatically, explaining that Obama used this gate when he was here in April. The women gave me a dubious look—their friends were waiting outside the Overland gate. But they decided to stay anyway. I later heard others repeating my Obama explanation. Since we still didn’t know for sure whether the royals were coming our way, I silently crossed my fingers that my theory was right.

The crowd eventually grew to about 200 spectators—mostly women. I was one of the oldest people there. One young woman wore a tiara and others had handmade signs proclaiming their love for Kate and William. A photographer from the local weekly newspaper, The Wave, took pictures and interviewed a group of girls holding a British flag. We all stared intently at the gate across the street and made note of every movement. Police officers arrived a few minutes before 1PM, as did a cadre of men dressed in black suits. Some sort of secret service, we told ourselves. Final proof that this indeed was the right gate—phew!

Regular people in cars drove by, honking and giving us the royal wave. We cheered when the channel 2 news van pulled up (further confirmation!) and when a line of sheriff cars took off east, toward where the royal motorcade would be coming. Then, in an instant, a flurry of activity occurred. I looked down Culver Blvd. and saw flashing lights.

“Here they come!” I said to the women next to me. People at the easternmost end of the crowd began screaming. I looked to my left and traffic had stopped. In front of us, someone had quickly placed orange cones down the middle of the street. Everyone was screaming! I could see the line of Range Rovers turning right into the studio. The crowd suddenly went wild as all 200 people spontaneously ran into the street!

“You guys!” I yelled. “You can’t just run into the street!” I then whispered, “Oh, hell!” to myself and ran after them.

Though some people insisted they saw the Prince smiling and waving, all I could see was the crowd and the top of the Prince’s car. Everyone chanted "KATE AND WILL! KATE AND WILL!" It was very, very exciting.

The motorcade was now fully inside the studio gates as traffic started moving again on Culver Blvd. A nice police officer insisted that we move back to the sidewalk. The crowd, giddy with joy, booed a young man holding a sign that said “Go Back to Canada.” We craned our necks as faceless people emerged from the motorcade. I fancied I saw Kate, but later discovered it wasn’t her at all.

Still, I was glad I went. Though the crowd wasn't going to budge until their heroes left the studio—at least another hour—I had seen enough and so turned to leave. I'll watch the rest of the royals' trip on the news tonight.

The Royals Drive Thru Culver City

2011-07-08T18:43:00.001-07:00

Tim and I were debating where to eat dinner when Karen, who lives near LAX, called.

“There are hundreds of helicopters hovering over my house,” she said.

“OH MY GOD! THE ROYALS!” I yelled, forgetting all about my empty stomach. “Are they on TV?”

“Yes,” she confirmed

“OK. Good-bye!” I said, dashing over to the television. I was so engrossed in my work that I’d forgotten Prince William and Duchess Catherine were flying into L.A. this afternoon. Tim and I watched as the royal couple stepped out of their plane and into one of several waiting Land Rovers. Their motorcade then headed north toward Playa del Rey. Next stop: the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.

“They’re taking Culver Blvd. to the freeway,” we both guessed. Even though William and Kate’s itinerary—including a stop in Culver City this Sunday!—is well-known, their travel route is closely guarded, so there was little chance for me to plan ahead to see them drive by. We assumed they’d take the Marina freeway to the I-405. But when they passed the onramp, we both suddenly realized they were taking surface streets to Beverly Hills. And not just any surface streets—they were taking our own Culver Blvd., only a handful of blocks from our house.

I grabbed the camera and my phone.

“I’m going to see them!” I yelled at Tim as I went running out of the house and down the street.

By now, the helicopters were flying over our neighborhood as people emerged from their homes to see what was going on.

“Where are you going?” one neighbor asked as I ran by.

“THE PRINCE!!” I yelled. I was madly trying to call Tim to see where the motorcade was.

“They just passed Sawtelle,” he informed me. “Uh oh. Now they’re crossing Sepulveda.”

I had missed them, so stopped running and jogged back home. I arrived just as the motorcade turned left at Overland.

“Why didn’t you take the car?!” Tim asked incredulously. I had gotten so carried away that I just ran out the door! The funny thing is, I can’t remember the last time I ran anywhere, let alone down the block in flip-flops. I was like a woman possessed!

Still panting, I heard the newscaster ask his colleagues, “Does anyone know what street they’re on now?”

“OVERLAND!!” we both yelled at the television. Sure enough, there was Sony Studio on the right, followed a few minutes later by Westside Pavilion mall on the left. I have to say, they were making damn good time—something every Angeleno has to admire, especially during rush hour. The motorcade then turned onto Pico.

“They’re taking our secret way!” Tim and I marveled. Even the royals know the freeway is a nightmare this time of day!

We remained glued to the TV until William and Kate were safely inside the Beverly Hilton. We then got back to the business at hand.

“So where do you want to go for dinner?” I asked.

P.S. Like I said above, the Royals are returning to Culver City on Sunday. This time I plan to be better prepared. Watch for my report early next week . . .

ALA @ NOLA

2011-06-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

The annual American Library Association (ALA) conference was held this past weekend in New Orleans (NOLA). Even though I swore I’d never attend another ALA conference in NOLA (too damn hot!), I couldn’t resist the opportunity to speak on a panel of librarians who, like me, work several part-time jobs. Plus I’ve been missing our good friends Suzanne and Mike, who live in Baton Rouge. So I packed my cotton summer dresses and several pairs of flip-flops and off we went to Louisiana.

We did the typical touristy things, like take a horse-and-buggy ride through the French Quarter and ride the trolley—oops, I mean streetcar—to see the Victorian mansions along St. Charles Ave. We also visited the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, which is still rebuilding after losing most of its sea-life during Hurricane Katrina.

But the true highlight of the trip was seeing the National World War II Museum, located in the central business district of New Orleans. Now, you may be asking yourself why on earth a national WWII museum is located in New Orleans? Well, the “Higgins boats,” which were used to land American troops during D-Day, were built in New Orleans, the hometown of Stephen Ambrose, author of such WWII classics as Band of Brothers and Citizen Soldiers. He apparently spearheaded the movement to build the museum in NOLA. It opened on June 6, 2000. Although the museum was surrounded by 6-foot-deep flood waters during Katrina, the building—a former brewery—sustained minor damage.

The museum complex spans six acres and will eventually include several buildings. For an extra $5, you can see a 45-minute film, called Beyond All Boundaries, about the war. Narrated by Tom Hanks and featuring the voices of a stellar (but uncredited) cast, including Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon, Blythe Danner, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris Pine, and Gary Sinese, the film is far more interactive than the usual two-dimensional movie-viewing experience. Anyone remotely interested in WWII should see it.

We stayed at the W Hotel, one of the more luxurious accommodations offered through ALA. Our room was very nice, but the hotel itself was far too hip for us two old codgers: minimalist interior decoration and loud techno-music pounding in the lobby. And no gift shop! (Where’s a gal supposed to go when she has a 9PM crave for candy?) They did, however, offer free car service (an Acura hybrid, of course!), which I took advantage of on our first day in town. (Too hot to walk 5 blocks!) They also provided a DVD player and free movies; so, on our final night, we stayed in and watched Oliver Stone’s Kennedy-assassination treatise, JFK. The movie was much better 20 years ago when it was first released, but fun nonetheless because of all the New Orleans locales.

Although my delicate SoCal stomach eventually rebelled against the rich Louisiana cooking, we did manage to consume some excellent local food. The best was chef John Besh’s Lüke, a brasserie within walking distance of our hotel. Tim treated himself to oysters on the half-shell, gumbo, steak, and a chocolate crepe, while I feasted on salad, roasted chicken (yum!), and, by far, the most amazing bread pudding I’ve ever eaten. We also loved Besh’s American Sector, a small diner located within the WWII museum.

But our most fun dining experience was at Mother’s Restaurant, a beloved greasy-spoon that’s been around since 1938. Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter Sunday, and, of course, Mother’s Day, Mother’s is open 7AM-10PM, seven days a week, and frequently has a line outside the door. Once you get inside, you stand on another line to order and pay for your food, which is then brought to your table. Tips are not allowed. The house specialty is something called “debris,” a shredded beef concoction served either with grits or as a sandwich. Tim didn’t eat any hot dogs on this trip; but he did enjoy a debris and cheese sandwich an hour before leaving for the airport. I silently wondered if I should call ahead and arrange for an ambulance to be waiting, just in case, but he and I both made it home just fine. We’re having salad tonight for dinner!

The appropriately-named "debris" sandwich (ack!)

Breakfast with friends at Mother's

Dick Tracy

2011-06-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

I never was a fan of the Dick Tracy comic-strip when I was a kid nor did I much like the live-action movie released in 1990. I am, however, very interested in Warren Beatty, the film’s director and title character star, so I schlepped all the way out to Hollywood (a 50-minute drive during rush hour), Thursday night, to see a special screening of the movie, followed by an in-person Q&A with the otherwise elusive Mr. Beatty.

I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying the film. I couldn’t decide which star looked more gorgeous: Warren, who was then in his early 50s, or Madonna, who played the lounge singer Breathless Mahoney and was famously rumored to be Beatty’s real-life mistress at the time. The movie was eye-poppingly beautiful, shot in primary colors that evoked the look of the comic-strip. No wonder it won that year’s Oscar for art direction.

Warren emerged as soon as the film ended and immediately asked that the spotlight shining on him be dimmed so he could see the audience. He is notoriously cautious about speaking in public for fear his words will be taken out of context. Still, he was extremely talkative and answered audience questions well after the evening’s host, L.A. Times writer Geoff Boucher, finished his interview.

Beatty insisted the audience could ask him anything, but nonetheless declined to answer several questions. He teased us with news that he’s been thinking about a Dick Tracy sequel, yet refused to give any details. He talked about Bulworth, one of his more recent (and best) films about a politician running for office, but stopped short when he realized he was about to go into a political rant. He spoke affectionately of Ishtar, his biggest box office flop, and seemed quite thrilled at Boucher’s suggestion that it be shown as a follow-up L.A. Times event. His comments about movie ratings being obsolete in a world where kids see everything on the Internet were especially insightful.

Most interesting, though, was when he explained why he was attracted to Dick Tracy. He said he wanted to make a movie about a man who was ready to settle down and have a family. I’m sure I wasn’t the only pop-psychologist in the room who saw parallels to Beatty’s own life: as everyone knows, Warren met his future wife, Annette Benning, on the set of his next film, Bugsy, and quickly had four children together.

Click here to read Boucher’s review of the evening. And oh, by the way, Warren Beatty still looks pretty damn great.

Buffalo Springfield

2011-06-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

Summer officially started for us Sunday night as we stood outside the Wiltern theater, waiting to see the recently reunited band, Buffalo Springfield. Sure, we had seen Paul Simon perform in an amazing concert just a few weeks before; but Sunday night’s audience was truly a summertime Woodstock crowd in jeans and vintage rock t-shirts. This was the first time Buffalo Springfield was going to perform in L.A.—the group’s hometown during the 1960s—in over 40 years.

Our tickets said the show started at 7PM, so we arrived by 6:15PM. Walking from our secret parking spot two blocks away, we passed the band’s tour buses tucked behind the theater. A handful of fans stood outside the barricades, clutching albums and posters they obviously hoped would be autographed. We walked around to the front of the theater and joined a short line. Two men panhandled us, while a woman hawked peace symbol stickers, supposedly to raise money for hungry families. We eavesdropped on the couple behind us as they related what just happened to them at dinner.

“We mentioned to the young waitress that we were on our way to a concert,” the husband said.

“Who are you going to see?!” the waitress asked excitedly.

“Buffalo Springfield,” the couple replied.

“Buffalo Springfield—how great!” the young woman responded. “Isn’t that the guy who also starred on a soap opera several years ago?”

“I think you’re thinking of Rick Springfield,” the wife told her, stifling a laugh.

The theater doors opened at 6:30PM as we all headed into the lobby. The concert was sold-out. A guy, who had bragged that he was going to sell his ticket for twice what he paid for it, yelled to a group of passersby, “Last chance to see Buffalo Springfield!” while waving his ticket. No one bit, so he entered the theater with the rest of us.

Built in 1931, the Wiltern is an art deco masterpiece clad in blue and bronze terra-cotta. The interior is equally beautiful, with hand-painted murals on the walls and ceiling. Renovated many years ago, the Wiltern remains one of L.A.’s most magnificent theaters. Its sound quality is outstanding, too, as we eventually found out.

We were in the relatively cheap seats and so headed upstairs. The doors to the mezzanine didn’t open till 7PM, so we had plenty of time to gaze at our fellow audience members. Most of the people were our age, looking ready to spend the evening reliving their youth. Some had seriously outgrown their tie-dye t-shirts (yikes!), but overall our generation has aged fairly well.

The opening act—folksingers Gillian Welch and David Rawlings—were terrific, but they didn’t start till 8PM—meaning, of course, that Buffalo Springfield wasn’t going to take the stage until well after 9PM. Now, we had waited 8 hours—in the rain, no less—when we saw them at the Bridge School concert in northern California last October, so I can bide my time with the best of them. But come on! The tickets said 7PM!

Still, all was immediately forgiven the minute Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and rock legend Neil Young began to play. The three surviving bandmates (two others had died several years ago) took turns singing the lead on their greatest hits, while the crowd went wild. At one point, Neil introduced the band as “Buffalo Springfield—we’re from the past!” They obviously had a blast playing together again and had clearly practiced many times since we saw them in October.

Before they came out, the woman sitting in front of us kept asking whether we thought they’d play “For What It’s Worth,” one of the most famous anti-Vietnam War anthems and arguably their best song.

“They’ve just got to play it!” she insisted. “It wouldn’t have been the ‘60s without that song!”

And play it, they did, during their show-end encore. And, yes, it was almost like the ‘60s all over again.

For an excellent review of the concert, click here.

Where in the World is Timothy?

2011-06-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

Can you find my husband in this picture?

When former Laker Shaquille O’Neal announced earlier this week that he’s retiring from basketball, CBS immediately sent a reporter to Tim’s radio station to film commentary for the Early Show. Tim, who’s never met a video camera he didn’t like, used the opportunity to test the equipment in the next studio. Hey, who wouldn’t want to be on national TV? You can see his puzzled coworker asking, “Tim, what are you doing here?” The footage aired yesterday morning.

Here’s a close-up, in case you missed him the first time.

Southland

2011-06-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

We’ve always been fans of L.A. cop shows—Dragnet, The Shield, Law and Order: Los Angeles, and the still lamented Boomtown. But the best one, hands down, is Southland, the gritty docudrama that was picked-up by TNT when NBC foolishly canceled it two years ago. The show not only takes place in real-life Los Angeles settings (hooray for Molly’s, one of Tim’s favorite hot dog stands!), but is credibly acted by a terrific ensemble cast.

We made reservations last night to see Dick Van Dyke in conversation with Carl Reiner at the Writer’s Guild, but canceled immediately when we heard the Paley Center for Media was featuring Southland as the topic of one of its monthly evening events. Unlike its annual film festivals, which are staged in large venues to accommodate thousands of fans, events held at the Paley Center are small, intimate affairs (less than 200 people), where stars and admirers sometimes even intermingle. We’ve attended many such Paley events—an early Mad Men panel, a tribute to filmmaker Robert Altman, a Friday Night Lights panel, the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, etc.—and have never been disappointed.

The stars of Southland were already walking the “red” carpet by the time we arrived. All the actors on the show are brilliant, but we were especially happy to see our favorites: Michael Cudlitz, who plays John Cooper, the training cop addicted to painkillers; Ben McKenzie, a rookie cop from the ritzy westside; Regina King, the sensitive but grounded female detective; and Shawn Hatosy, hotheaded Sammy Bryant, whose partner was killed this year in the most heart-wrenching episode yet.

Cast members and show co-creators Christopher Chulack and John Wells sat at the front of the small Paley theater after screening the last episode of the season. We learned that the show is shot entirely on location, helping make the action seem very true-to-life. Since Southland is on cable, seasons are only ten episodes long, allowing the writers to create story arcs that begin and end relatively quickly. Plots are inspired by events experienced by LAPD officers, who work closely with the cast to advise on how cops would actually handle real police situations. Everyone was obviously very grateful to still be on TV.

Filming for next season starts in October, so keep your eyes peeled for live location shoots around town. Then set your tivo. New episodes of Southland begin airing in January 2012.

(Photos: 1. Cudlitz. 2. McKenzie, Hatosy, King. 3. Hatosy)

Eichler Tour

2011-05-15T07:19:00.000-07:00

In the early 1960s, real estate developer Joseph Eichler commissioned the local firm of famed architect A. Quincy Jones to design a tract of homes on the north end of the San Fernando Valley. The homes, located off of Balboa and Woodley, are distinctly modern, with low-sloping A-framed roofs, clean vertical lines and unadorned facades. Embracing the mid-century “indoor-outdoor” philosophy of design, each home is situated around a small open atrium that greets the visitor at the front door. Other features include concrete floors, post-and-beam ceilings and burlap-covered closet doors that conspire to give the houses an extremely natural—as opposed to human-made—feeling. We, of course, love Eichler homes and so were thrilled to be able to tour six excellent examples yesterday with the Friends of the Gamble House, a preservationist group that sponsors various architectural tours. Indoor photography was mostly restricted (don't want the world to know what's behind those deceivingly simple exteriors), so here’s a taste of what we saw (click on the images to enlarge):

Last Weekend

2011-05-05T08:21:00.000-07:00

The weekend began, of course, with the royal wedding, Friday morning. I debated waking up at 1AM to see it live, but tivo’d it instead so I could watch while getting ready for work. The whole hat obsession was a bit odd, but the wedding itself was wonderful. Kate Middleton and her dress were gorgeous and I cried when William and Harry—both looking so handsome in their military regalia—arrived at the church. If only Diana were alive to see it. What a glorious day!

In the late afternoon, Tim and I joined a handful of my students who had arranged a tour of the CNN studios in Hollywood. We’ve toured other TV studios before, so nothing new, but we did see Dr. Drew, CNN’s latest on-air personality, getting off an elevator, and chatted briefly with fashion commentator Nick Verreos on his way to shoot a critique of the wedding guests’ attire.

On Saturday, Karen and I spent a couple of hours visiting homes on the Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase tour. Now in its third year, the tour featured more than 70 properties located in a diverse section of L.A. that stretches from Culver City to Venice Beach. This has become a premier event for local gardeners and, most amazingly, is free. Highly recommended.

That night Tim and I joined my students once again for the dept’s annual Dodgers outing. The seats were in nosebleed territory, as usual, but the view of the city was phenomenal. After a long day in the sun, I was exhausted, so we left the game early, stopping in upscale Larchmont, on the way home, for an ice cream nightcap. Baciami gelato: creamy, rich and expensive, but oh so tasty—yum!

Back to it on Sunday, Tim accompanied me on yet another house and garden tour—this time in Santa Monica. The homes were fabulous and the weather perfect. We took the Miata and rode with the top down all day. After three hours of touring, we headed toward the Brentwood Country Mart for some Reddi Chick rotisserie-baked chicken, our new favorite “fast food” on the upper westside. Built in 1948 and looking like something right out of the midwest, the barn-clad Mart is located on the corner of busy San Vicente Blvd. and 26th St. in the heart of ritzy Brentwood. The shops may be too high-end for our thin wallets, but the food is outrageous—definitely worth the 20-minute (on a good day!) drive.

POTUS in CC

2011-04-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

The President was in town yesterday—but not just any town, our own Culver City, where he stopped at Sony Studios to campaign for the 2012 election and rally supporters before heading to Brentwood for a big celebrity fundraiser. Those of us attending the Sony event were told to get there by 4PM. Although we live only a mile away, Tim, who came home early to avoid the nightmarish traffic that always surrounds the President’s visits, dropped me off at Veterans Park across the street from the studio. The parking lot was already filled. I joined a handful of people walking toward Sony.

A small contingent of protesters crowded the sidewalk outside the studio gates. Sheriffs, dressed like Desert Storm troopers, stood nearby. Across the street were gawkers who, I assumed, were waiting to catch a glimpse of the President. Five military helicopters had flown over the house about an hour before, so I suspected Obama was already safely sequestered inside.

Once past the security gate, high-rollers—who actually got to meet-and-greet the President—were directed left, while the rest of us common folk joined a long line to the right. Unlike the last Obama fundraiser I attended, this one was well organized and smooth. Lots of young professionals were on line, many of whom hugged each other or shook hands as they passed. Ahead of me was cartoonist Keith Knight, who quickly made friends with a lawyer standing next to him. I didn’t see anyone I knew, but we were all stunned and amused by an Obama look-alike who happily posed for pictures! (See the photo above.)

After waiting an hour to check-in and pass through a bank of metal-detectors, we entered sound stage 30, right next to the studio entrance. (I was hoping to see more of the Sony lot!) People queued up to buy snacks and drinks, while loud disco music boomed overhead. Having attended many of these types of events, I made a beeline toward the back of the building, where I knew Obama would be speaking. I staked my spot, about 20 feet away from the raised lectern, and didn’t move for the next three hours.

Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx was the evening’s master of ceremonies, revving the crowd with chants of “Four more years!” and the new campaign slogan, “I’m in!” Sit-com star Rashida Jones made a brief appearance, followed by the Foshay musical choir, a group of charming young people who sang “I Want to Shine Like Barack Obama Shines,” a song they wrote specially for the occasion. Next up was a Grammy-winning folksinger, whom I liked very much but whose name I never did hear. Then finally, at 7:20PM, the President emerged to a rousing ovation.

I could barely see for all the cameras being held high, but at least this time I could actually hear what he had to say. Obama was relaxed and funny—very self-deprecating about his graying hair—and everyone loved him. Noticing a woman faint in the front row, he immediately called over the medics before continuing his speech. I clapped loudest at his comments in support of education and the environment and a reduction in military spending. In all, he spoke for half-an-hour before stopping to shake hands. Not wanting to get stuck in the building while the secret service hustled him away, I zoomed toward the door as soon as he said “good night.” Everyone was buoyant.

Outside, traffic started to back-up as Culver Blvd. was temporarily closed for the President’s motorcade. I rushed to the corner and stood with a small group waiting to see Obama drive by. Sure enough, within minutes people began to cheer as the presidential limo and an endless parade of black SUVs, including a bomb squad truck, zipped by. I waved madly and screamed. I then called Tim to come pick me up.

Walking back past Veterans Park, I overheard two teenaged boys talking about what they had just experienced. One of them ran ahead when he saw a friend approaching from the other direction.

“Rick!” he yelled excitedly. “You’ll never believe who we just saw driving by. President Obama! It was so cool!”

Very cool indeed!

Theodore Payne Foundation Tour

2011-04-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

We were thrilled and honored to be invited onto the Theodore Payne Foundation’s Native Plant Garden Tour again this year. In fact, when asked which one of his clients’ houses should be included on the tour, our landscaper Joel didn’t hesitate to recommend ours. The tour was held this past Saturday.

Payne not only provides signage and color-coordinated t-shirts, but also a docent or two to help manage the crowds. This year I requested our friend Marcy, whose own beautiful gardens have been featured on the tour in previous years. When our great octopus agave died last fall after producing a 15-foot stalk of blooms (see last year’s tour photos), Marcy rescued the babies, called “pups,” to pot them for a fundraiser. I’m not sure what happened, but on Saturday she showed-up schlepping 80 small potted agave plants.

“I thought it would be fun to give them away to the people on the tour,” she offered. And she was right! We lined them up on the front and back porches with a big sign saying, “Please help yourself!” They were gone within four hours.

Marcy greeted people in the front yard, while Tim and I answered questions in the back. In November, we created a third garden where our rear driveway used to be. People who had been on the tour last year were very interested in seeing what we’d done. They also loved our naturally symmetrical western redbud tree and, of course, our spectacular dendromecon (Channel Island Bush Poppy), which apparently has no peers. But everyone was most fascinated by our leucadendron (pictured above)—a South African native that most had never seen. Its unusual blooms are gorgeous.

By 4:30PM, we were completely exhausted. . . and very, very happy. Some 120-150 people had come through (we lost count, early on!) and all said they loved our gardens.

“What a beautiful sanctuary!” one woman exclaimed. Another asked if I talk to my plants.

“Of course!” I said. “Who wouldn’t? After four years, I’m still amazed every morning when I come out to see what else has bloomed.”

What a joy to be able to share such beauty with others.

February/March

2011-03-26T15:52:00.000-07:00

It’s been an incredibly busy two months, in both work and play, hence the recent dearth of blog postings. I won’t bore you with the work stuff, but here’s a sampling of some of the fun things we’ve been doing:

Lots of Theater

In early February, Tim and I went to a reading of a two-person work-in-progress play called The Opponent, featuring TV stars Dulé Hill and Donal Logue as a pair of washed-up pugilists. Extremely intimate venue—one of the rehearsal rooms at Culver City’s Kirk Douglas Theater—and interesting performances. Not a bad way to spend part of a gloomy Sunday afternoon.

Two days later, Karen and I saw Sting and his wife Trudie Styler perform in a benefit reading of Twin Spirits, a short play chronicling the highly romantic (and ultimately tragic) love story of German composers Robert and Clara Schumann. John Lithgow narrated while violinist Joshua Bell and others played music from both composers. Judging by the ovation he got before the play even started, Sting was the evening’s big draw. But it was truly Trudie’s night as she gave an emotionally moving performance as Clara who, as a teenager, falls in love with the older Robert and remains faithful to him long after his untimely death. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

Karen and I also saw Jane Fonda play a Beethoven scholar dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease in the Tony-winning drama 33 Variations. The entire cast was terrific, but it was Fonda whom everyone was buzzing about as we left the theater. Her performance was great, plus she looked absolutely fabulous.

Paley Festival

A big part of March is always spent at the Paley Fest, the Paley Center for Media’s star-studded annual celebration of television. Although the two-week festival used to honor the TV shows of our youth, in recent years it’s become mainly a showcase for the most popular programs of the moment. We attended four events this year: Parks and Recreation, Glee, Raising Hope, and a reunion of Judd Apatow’s Undeclared and Freaks & Geeks, two cult favorites that aired in 2001 and 1999.

Parks and Rec was, of course, very funny, with nearly all the cast present. (Though Rob Lowe was absent, everyone insisted he’s staying on the show.) The actors obviously all have great affection for each other and acknowledged that Amy Poehler is their leader.

Glee was the same: lots of cast love and joy about being on such a mega-hit program. I was disappointed that Lea Michele was back-east filming a movie, but almost everyone else was there. Jane Lynch is very attractive in person.

Disappointed, too, that Cloris Leachman didn’t attend the Raising Hope panel, but enjoyed the rest of the cast. We did get to sneak-preview the final episode of the season: a flashback to before Hope was born—very funny!

And speaking of funny, the Apatow reunion was, of course, crazy and profane. Neither Charlie Hunnam, who now stars on Sons of Anarchy, or Oscar-nominated James Franco were there, but they both sent cute videos, which the audience loved. Lots of affectionately funny stories about Franco, in particular. It was wonderful seeing the “freaky” and “geeky” kids (Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jason Segel, Busy Philips, Linda Cardellini, et al.) now all grown-up . . . and, for the most part, extremely rich and famous.

Food!

As an early birthday present, I treated Karen to a Moroccan cooking class at the Beverly Hills Williams-Sonoma a couple of weeks ago. We learned how to make a savory chicken stew (which I made this week at home—yum!), couscous with almonds and apricots, carrot and parsnip salad, and orange-cardmom ice cream. The point of the class, of course, was to get us to buy Williams-Sonoma products; but the food was just amazing, so we easily ignored the sales pitch and concentrated on the meal. I highly recommend trying other cooking events there—some of which are even free!

And, of course, Disneyland

Tim has a ton of vacation time to burn-off at work, so we went to Disneyland one rainy Friday morning, just because we hadn’t been there in a while. The crowds were light and we were in-and-out all within four hours. My kind of TGIF!

Snow Above L.A.

2011-02-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

The weather guys and gals were almost giddy predicting snow in L.A. over the weekend. Although it apparently snowed in Burbank late yesterday, the only white stuff we saw was up on the mountains this morning. These were taken from Kenneth Hahn park—one of our most favorite spots in all of Los Angeles county. Downtown L.A. and the Hollywood sign never looked so beautiful!

Tim took these 30 minutes later from the Baldwin Hills outlook above Culver City. No snow, but spectacular nonetheless.

Downtown Culver City

Marina del Rey

Porkapalooza

2011-02-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

I stopped eating red meat over twenty years ago, but never gave up pork (or beef tacos, for that matter, but that’s another story . . .). In fact, pork is our favorite food—we serve it at all special occasions and adore it in all its forms: bacon, pork chops, carnitas, babyback ribs, ham, etc. No wonder, then, that we flipped when we heard that Mozza, one of L.A.’s top-rated Italian restaurants, had begun offering a multi-course pork dinner every Saturday. January was sold-out, so Tim made a reservation for Karen and us last night.

Seating was family-style (i.e., one long table for everyone). We got there a half-hour early to make sure we could all sit together. There was no need to worry: places for 30 were already assigned and the menu at our three settings had Tim’s name on it. The diners seemed to be mostly “industry” folk (i.e., people who work in show biz) and at least one couple was from out of town (San Francisco). Almost everyone dressed up. I, on the other hand, opted to wear stretch-pants with an elastic waistband—there was no way I was going to be limited by constrictive clothing.

Dinner started at 7:30PM with fresh-baked foccacia. We’ve seen our fair-share of multi-course dinners before—mostly as fund-raiser events—but this was more like the movie Big Night, where a pair of brother chefs decide to cook the meal of their lives in hopes of saving their restaurant. Their dinner—a masterpiece—goes on all evening. Unlike the movie, though, last night’s feast did not include dancing between courses—which was too bad, because I think any type of exercise would have gone a long way toward helping us better digest our food. As it was, we just sat and ate for three hours.

Our host was Matt Molina, a 2010 James Beard finalist for best chef on the Pacific coast. Happily, our seats faced the open kitchen so we could watch him work his culinary magic.

The first course was salumi and various patés. I’m not a big cured meat fan, so was able to resist. Everyone else piled it high. I thought to myself, “There are at least five more courses to go—pace yourselves!” But apparently I was the only one who listened to her inner voice.

Next was pork belly sausage with grilled broccolini. I like my sausage almost burned to a crisp (a Philistine, I know!), so only nibbled off of Tim’s plate. The broccolini was good, though, marinated in olive oil and hot spices. While the next advertised course—soufflé of parmigiano-reggiano—was baking, chef Molina brought out a surprise course: scaloppini made from muscle meat left over from that week’s butchered pig. He had pounded, breaded and fried it to perfection, then served it with tasty greens.

Finally, after quite a long while, the soufflé emerged to a round of “oohs and aahs.” As expected it was heavenly, as was the pork leg ragù served along side. The highlight for me, though, was the roasted pork shoulder that followed. After presenting it for all to see, the meat was chopped and served with a chicory salad—now we’re talkin’! I, unfortunately, ate just a little too much of the shoulder, however, and so left the table as soon as the main course, pork loin, appeared. One too many pork plates for me (a wimp, I know!). But Tim and Karen stayed till the end, enjoying various flavors of gelato and sorbetti for dessert. They saved an after-dinner cookie for me. It was, of course, shaped like a pig!

Our review: Although we both had something of a meat hangover this morning, we heartily recommend Mozza’s pork dinner for all who love “the other white meat.” The food was fabulous and we had lots of fun watching Molina meticulously prepare each course. But be forewarned—there’s a lot of food here, so you may want to fast the day of the big event. Or at least pace yourself as you joyously move through each course. You don’t want to miss dessert, like I did.

'60s Rock 'n Roll

2011-01-28T17:53:00.000-08:00

I nearly drove off the side of the road the first time I saw this billboard. There they were: the Beatles, floating above the street just three blocks from our house. Two months later, they are now ubiquitous throughout the city, inviting us to buy their music on iTunes. I love seeing them, even though they’ve become a big part of the visual noise of Los Angeles.

And speaking of the Beatles, Tim and I are in the midst of taking a (free!) five-week class called “What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been: A Review of Rock’s Greatest Decade” at the Grammy Museum downtown. I’d looked for such an opportunity for years. Still, I thought it was a risky commitment since we’ve both been students of 1960s rock-n-roll our entire lives—Tim, in fact, is currently reading Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards’ new autobiography. Would we know more about the topic than the instructor?

But not to worry. Robert Santelli, executive director of the Museum, is an excellent teacher and master storyteller. Not only is he our age, he’s also met and worked with many of the artists he talks about, making his classes extremely personal and fascinating. I knew we’d struck gold when, halfway through the first session, Tim leaned over and whispered, “I LOVE THIS!”

In the first class, Santelli highlighted music of the early 1960s, positing that this era is often forgotten because no one sound dominated. Sure, there were the “girl groups” and male teen idols we all watched on American Bandstand. These were also formative years for Motown and the Beach Boys. Still, no one great group or musician emerged like, say, the Beatles or Eric Clapton, so this period has been forgotten. At the end of the first session, Santelli promised to dedicate the entire next class to the single most influential songwriter of our generation.

“Paul Simon?” I said, daring Tim to disagree.

“Nope! Brian Wilson!" he countered.

We were, of course, both wrong. According to Santelli, Bob Dylan was the single most influential songwriter—and to hear him tell it, the single most influential human being!—of our generation. I’ve never been much of a Dylan fan (sorry Ginny!), but the lecture was illuminating, taking us through the singer’s entire career right up to last year, when Dylan joined Santelli at the White House for a concert celebrating civil rights. Exciting stuff.

Week 3 finally brought us to what Santelli calls the “1st British invasion”—the Beatles, naturally, but also early Clapton, the Animals, and groups like the Dave Clark Five. I especially liked how the instructor focused on the Beatles’ formative period in Germany—a time that I’ve always found absolutely fascinating. At one point, Santelli asked the students—some 150 of us, mostly baby-boomers—if anyone in the room had seen the Beatles in concert. A woman said she’d seen them twice: she was in the audience for their first Ed Sullivan appearance and then again at Shea Stadium. Our collective jaws dropped in pure envy.

The Beatles’ story continued in week 4 as Santelli compared the group’s (arguably) greatest album, Sgt. Pepper (1967), to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds (1966). Though I didn’t think so then, I now believe Pet Sounds is the far superior album and listen to its songs regularly. Sgt. Pepper, on the other hand, is fairly dated—“A Day in the Life” being the only song worth playing over and over again. Santelli then challenged us to come up with a list of the 25 most important rock songs of the ‘60s. Here are mine (in alphabetical order):

All Along the Watchtower (Jimi Hendrix)

Be My Baby (The Ronettes)

California Girls (The Beach Boys)

Crossroads (Cream)

A Day in the Life (The Beatles)

Eight Miles High (The Byrds)

For What It’s Worth (Buffalo Springfield)

God Only Knows (The Beach Boys)

Good Vibrations (The Beach Boys)

I Got You Babe (Sonny and Cher)

I Heard It Through the Grapevine (Marvin Gaye)

I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles)

Light My Fire (The Doors)

Like a Rollin’ Stone (Bob Dylan)

Louie, Louie (The Kingsmen)

Respect (Aretha Franklin)

Satisfaction (Rolling Stones)

Something (The Beatles)

Sounds of Silence (Simon & Garfunkel)

Stop! In the Name of Love (The Supremes)

What’d I Say (Ray Charles)

White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)

Whole Lotta Lovin’ (Led Zeppelin)

Woodstock (Crosby, Stills and Nash)

You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling (The Righteous Brothers)

One more class to go. We’ll be discussing the 2nd “British invasion” (e.g., Led Zeppelin, et al.) on Tuesday.

Which 25 rock songs would you nominate as the best of the 1960s?

Palm Springs (Again!)

2011-01-26T18:39:00.000-08:00

I have never subscribed to the notion that a hotel room is just a place to sleep. For me, the hotel is every bit as important as the rest of the vacation. And even though I’ve never had a good trip ruined by a bad hotel, I have been on several great trips that were made even better by a wonderful hotel (the Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua anyone?).

One of our latest fave getaways is Desert Hills. One of Palm Springs’ many “boutique” hotels, Desert Hills is located at the foot of the San Jacinto mountains in a very quiet part of town. I discovered it last year when we made last minute plans to attend Modernism Week at the height of the desert tourist season. We returned this past weekend for much deserved R&R—plus I was craving sun, sun, sun. We got tons of all of the above.

The best thing about Palm Springs, of course, is that it’s only two hours away. On Friday, we waited till rush hour traffic had passed and then hopped in the car and headed east. We were eating lunch in the desert by 1:30PM.

There’s not a heckuva lot to do in P.S., but we always manage to have fun anyway. Highlights this time included a terrific Richard Avedon photography exhibit at the Art Museum within walking distance of Desert Hills. (If you ever visit the museum, be sure to go up to the third floor and look into “the tunnel,” an art piece using lights and mirrors to create the illusion of an endless hole—absolutely mesmerizing!) We also drove out to Palm Desert to see Mike Leigh’s Another Year (fabulous film). En route we spied this great neon sign advertising a do-it-yourself carwash, of all things!

The most unexpected part, though, was a World War II celebration at the Palm Springs Air Museum, certainly one of the best air museums in Southern California, if not the entire state. Two veterans shared their memories of the war, followed by an exciting air display by an authentic WWII plane. At least 200 people were there to cheer as it took off and then buzzed us three times. As thrilling as it all was, I could easily imagine how frightening it must have been to see that thing flying overhead during WWII. I wanted to run for cover!

The rest of the time we sat around the hotel: me doing crosswords (my favorite form of relaxation) while Tim read. We were completely refreshed by the time we got back home on Sunday—just the short break we needed. . .

Early Spring

2011-01-18T16:33:00.000-08:00

Last month's constant rain may have been annoying, but the pay-off is already evident. Although our wildflowers still haven't started to bloom, our other California natives are beginning to explode with tiny bits of color. I spent as much time as possible in our yards this past weekend. Enjoy!

Manzanita

Dendromecon (Catalina Island Poppy Bush)

Yarrow

Ribes (Currant)

Red Bud

New Year's Day

2011-01-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

No trip to Burbank, my hometown, is complete without stopping somewhere for lunch. But where to eat on New Year’s Day when most places are closed?

We drove by Portos, our favorite Cuban bakery/deli. It was closed, as was Taste Chicago, a pizza and hot dog joint owned and operated by actor Joe Mantegna’s wife, Arlene. Next stop: Bob’s Big Boy on Riverside Dr.—one of the last remaining original Big Boys and a truly iconic piece of mid-century Americana. Bob’s was open, but had a 20-minute wait, so I put our names on the list and went to the restroom. By the time I came out, Tim had called The Smokehouse, a few blocks away. Apparently he was far hungrier than I was.

“The Smokehouse is open and there’s no waiting!” he told me as soon as I returned. “Let’s go!”

Located across the street from Warner Bros. Studios since the late 1940s, The Smokehouse remains kinda hip, even if one of its signature dishes is “Steak Sinatra” (oy!). The place is packed with Hollywood types eating lunch there during the week. No doubt, fans of The Larry Sanders Show will remember Hank Kingsley (Jeffrey Tambor) forever trying to get Larry (Garry Shandling) to go with him to The Smokehouse to drink beers and pick-up women.

For locals, however, the place has a much happier and personal meaning. This is still where families and couples go to celebrate special occasions: anniversaries, birthdays, graduations. My sister’s date took her there before one of their big high school dances many, many years ago. Lots of memories have been made at The Smokehouse.

We parked the car and followed a group of Asian tourists into the restaurant’s lobby. The lighting was dim and Frank was singing “My Way” overhead. The tourists were led into a large dining area, while we were taken to a more intimate space with banquettes and small tables. Our wide booth had smooth red leather seats. Four people speaking Russian were seated two tables away. Every so often I could hear them say something in English, like “The Godfather” or “Life is like a box of chocolates.” Ah, the global influence of American culture . . .

We were reviewing the menu (no lunch entries under $19.95) when a woman made a dramatic entrance, explaining loudly that she and her family, who were following close behind, had just come from the Rose Parade in Pasadena.

“My niece marched in a band that came all the way from Philadelphia. It took her four days to fly out because of the east coast blizzard!” she announced to the wait staff (and whoever else was listening). “We got to the parade at 4:30AM. We walked seven miles from the car to Colorado Blvd. I’m exhausted. Bring two orders of garlic bread immediately!”

Not to be outdone, a woman seated across from the parade-goers started telling her story as well. She was eating with her 85-year-old mother whose husband had died last year.

“This is our first holiday without Daddy,” she told Ms. Garlic Bread. “So we thought we’d treat ourselves to The Smokehouse on New Year’s Day! We’re having a bottle of champagne with two orders of Chateaubriand!”

Making a quick check of the menu, Tim whispered “The Chateaubriand is $30 a person!” in my ear before ordering shrimp Louie for himself. I got a Cobb salad.

By now, the music had changed from Frank to a female singer, but it was impossible to tell whether it was Eydie Gormé or Vikki Carr above all the noise the two women were making.

“Do you live in Burbank?” Chateaubriand asked Ms. Garlic Bread.

“Oh, yes. We’re up on the hill,” she said rather smugly.

“What does that mean: ‘up on the hill’?” Tim asked me in a low voice.

“That means they’re a lot richer than we are,” I snorted, digging into my salad. I decided then that all the world's a stage at The Smokehouse.

We ordered a big slice of cheesecake to go and then went home to watch Larry Sanders on DVD. Welcome to the new year!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

What a great year it's been!

Fun things we did this year:

Traveled to Portland (twice!); drove to Reno, NV with my sister Vicki to visit our Uncle Louie; traveled to Las Vegas with the Lakers; just got back from Orlando, where we did Walt Disney World and visited the Kennedy Space Center (absolutely fabulous!); toured Frank Sinatra’s former home in Palm Springs, Disney Studios and several architecturally significant homes in L.A.; saw President Obama and Michele Obama at separate Democratic Party fundraising events; attended Comic-Con and Destination D, the first-ever Disneyland conference; attended several concerts, including Sting, Ringo, the Dukes of September (Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs and Donald Fagen), and Neil Young’s unforgettable Bridge School Benefit with Kris Kristofferson, Jeff Bridges, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Leon Russell, and Buffalo Springfield; saw live interviews with Roger Corman, Leonard Nimoy, Sandy Koufax and Joe Torre; and welcomed over 100 people to visit our home’s gardens as part of the prestigious Theodore Payne Foundation’s annual spring tour.

What we’re grateful for:

Family, friends, jobs we love, and good health; our cats Beanie and Cecil, who bring us joy every day; our wonderful home; and 24 happy years of marriage.

What we’re looking forward to in 2011:

Tim's family reunion in San Diego; being part of the Theodore Payne Foundation garden tour in April; visiting friends in Louisiana; and watching the Emmys red carpet ceremonies again from Tim’s office window!

Wishing you all a wonderful new year!

Walt Disney World, Orlando

2010-12-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

Since we don’t have kids, we usually treat ourselves to a big gift every Christmas. Last year it was a new computer. This year we decided to go to Orlando—a place we’d never been, even though I’m (as you probably already know!) something of a Disney nut. We left L.A. on Saturday morning and arrived back home late Wednesday night.

We roomed at the Beach Club Resort, one of the nicest but oldest Disney properties. The resort’s main advantage: it’s within easy walking distance of Epcot, the most “adult” of all the Walt Disney World (WDW) theme parks, which we visited several times during our stay.

Epcot is actually two parks in one: (1) Future World, a more traditional Disneyesque experience with attractions focused mostly on ecology and the future and (2) World Showcase, a mini-world’s fair of exhibits and food from several international countries. Our first morning there, we made a beeline straight to the Spaceship Earth geosphere—the iconic golfball-shaped building that greets all Epcot visitors. Inside we traveled from the stone age to the information age, culminating in a very clever video that’s tailor-made for every person participating in the ride. (Click below to see ours.)

Very fun! The rest of the park, though, was rather mediocre. The various “countries” offered an interesting array of restaurants (that serve alcohol!), but the attractions were embarrassingly outdated and stereotypical. No need to ever return.

From Epcot we took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, Disneyland’s fraternal twin. Visiting the Magic Kingdom was weird for both of us. Although the layout is very similar to Disneyland, it’s enough different that we felt like we were in an alternate universe. Everything is also more spread out in the Magic Kingdom; plus there’s no Matterhorn (!!). And the castles aren’t the same: Disneyland has Sleeping Beauty’s castle, while the Magic Kingdom’s castle is home to Cinderella. I longed for the familiarity of Anaheim!

Temperatures plummeted into the 30s on Monday, but we mushed ahead anyway to the Animal Kingdom, one of the newer and best WDW parks. Built in 1998, Animal Kingdom feels like a true extension (rather than recreation) of Disneyland and does a good job of promoting animal preservation, one of my favorite topics. We enjoyed the half-hour Finding Nemo stage play, performed with puppets (a la The Lion King). We also went on the Dinoland, U.S.A. ride, which is similar to Disneyland’s “Indiana Jones” but with dinosaurs instead of Harrison Ford (!). The best part, though, were the live animals featured in several of the park’s attractions. Foremost was the Kilimanjaro Safari that takes visitors through some 100 acres of transplanted savanna, forest, and rocky terrain. Now I’m not one for zoos or other artificial animal habitats, but this was really quite wonderful.

We saw all kinds of African fauna, including flamingos, giraffes, hippos, lions (spectacular!), and elephants.

The highlight, however, came after the tour when we walked along the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and saw a family of silverback gorillas. What a thrill!

Did we end up having a good time? Absolutely, especially when combined with our trip to the Kennedy Space Center (see the separate blog entry below). But whenever I need a Disney fix, I’m glad all I need to do is drive 35 miles to Anaheim and visit the Happiest Place on Earth. Sure, Orlando’s Downtown Disney—with its miles of endless shopping, restaurants and fun nightlife—is far superior to ours, but the rest doesn’t hold a candle to the original Disneyland. (If only Animal Kingdom could be transported here!) Plus, Walt Disney World is far too enormous. You literally need a car to get from one park to another. You can rely on the free shuttles, but they take FOREVER! I swear we spent at least 10 hours waiting for shuttles to take us to and fro.

Will we ever return? Of course! We barely scratched the surface of things to do and see. But next time we’ll go in the spring and rent a car for our entire stay.

Kennedy Space Center

2010-12-17T15:11:00.000-08:00

One of my earliest childhood memories is of watching astronaut Alan Shepard blast-off from Cape Canaveral to take the first U.S. trip into space. The event was so historically significant that my 1st-grade teacher brought a TV to class so we could all watch. I was immediately hooked on space travel.

Oddly enough, it never occurred to me that Orlando is only an hour away from the Kennedy Space Center—that is, until Tim’s boss mentioned we might need a break from Disney while there (thanks Mike!). Boy, was he right! On Tuesday, we rented a car and drove to the Kennedy Space Center, home to NASA and my childhood dreams of space exploration. Hands down, it was the highlight of our vacation.

Much like Walt Disney World, the Space Center is spread out over many miles, most of which are accessible only by tour bus. The visitor center features a rocket garden of early spacecraft, exhibits about the U.S. vs USSR "space race," an IMAX theater, and an open space shuttle. There’s also an astronaut hall of fame, located a couple of miles away, and a fabulous offsite Apollo/Saturn V Center, which houses an example of the monstrous Saturn rockets that carried the Apollo moon missions into space. To get the real flavor of the place, however, you have to pay extra to take a tour of either Cape Canaveral (”Then and Now”) or the shuttle assembly building, launch pad and landing strip. We opted to revisit our youth and so toured the Cape.

Some of the launch pads are still active; but the most impressive ones were those where Shepard, John Glenn, et al., lifted off in the 1960s. We toured the “blockhouse” where Shepard’s first flight was counted down

and took pictures of what remains of launch pad 14, where Glenn’s historic Friendship 7 flight originated.

The most emotional site, though, was launch pad 34 where the crew of Apollo 1 burned to death during an on-ground test run. Although it was a horrible time for the space program, NASA eventually recovered and launched Apollo 7 from this same site.

The dramatic concrete pad base

and huge flame diverters remain on the site, as does a memorial to the three Apollo astronauts who lost their lives.

Tickets to the Kennedy Space Center are good for two days. “That’s strange,” I thought when we paid our entrance fee. But now I know why. Spending only one day at the Space Center is not nearly enough. The next time we’re in Florida, I hope to schedule at least two days on Cape Canaveral as this was truly one of the most amazing places we’ve ever visited.

7th Street

2010-11-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

One of the most exciting on-going local developments is the revitalization of downtown L.A. Hundred-year-old buildings are turning into living spaces as more and more amenities—like a recently opened Ralph's supermarket—are introduced into the area. Downtown is becoming gentrified.

A big proponent of this conversion is the L.A. Conservancy, the organization that regularly fights for the restoration of old Los Angeles landmarks. To open residents' eyes to the beauty of the city, the Conservancy conducts several walking tours a year, featuring downtown architecture. We try to participate when we can.

On Sunday, the Conservancy offered an historical tour of 7th Street, one of the main east/west arteries downtown. As usual, we revisited some familiar spots; but mostly we marveled at buildings we had never really noticed before.

Here are just a few of the sights we enjoyed. Who says this city isn't beautiful?

Los Angeles Public Library as viewed from atop the Sheraton Hotel

The crown of the Pantages Theatre (1920)

401 W. 7th St,

Ornamentation on the Union Oil building (1937)

215 W. 7th St.

Old L.A. streetlamp and fire escape

Mural on Dearden's furniture store

700 S. Main St.

Former factories (1911) turned into lofts

Santee Court, 714 S. Los Angeles St.

Top of unknown building

7th and Los Angeles streets

Mural on Spring St.

Kitschy detail, St. Vincent's Court

Alley off 7th between Broadway and Hill

Saving the best for last:

Fine Arts Building (1926)

811 W. 7th St.

Batchelder tile floor

Lobby

Mezzanine