The Los Angeles Public Library foundation’s “Literary Feast” is possibly the group’s biggest and most successful fundraising event of the season, bringing in no less than $500,000 every year it’s held. The Feast offers contributors the opportunity to dine with famous authors—many of whom are well-known celebrities—in fabulous homes throughout the southland.
Having attended the last Literary Feast, we were thrilled to receive an invitation to participate again this year. Dining arrangements are made strictly according to how much money you contribute to the event. For instance, top donors ($2,000 a plate) get to eat with one of two authors of their choice. Those of us at the bottom of the financial ladder get to choose six authors and then cross our fingers that we’ll be asked to dine with our top choice. This year we chose:
1.
Judith Freeman, author of one of my favorite historical novels, “Red Water,” about the 1857 Mormon Meadows Massacre
2.
Peter Greenberg, travel editor on “The Today Show” whom we know through Tim’s work
3. comic genius
Bob Newhart 4.
Patt Morrison, National Public Radio personality and L.A. Times writer
5.
John Sacret Young, producer of the TV shows “China Beach” and “The West Wing”
6. Pulitzer Prize winner
David Oshinsky Three weeks later, we learned we were to be one of 25 couples eating with Bob Newhart at a mansion in Bel-Air. Cocktail attire required!
I had planned ahead and bought a low-necked Lycra dress for just such an occasion, but Tim was in a dither. Somehow, the suit I bought him seven years ago had mysteriously shrunk (wink, wink) and so, with just a week to go, we went shopping for another suit. He settled on a nice navy-blue pinstripe by Jones of New York (see photo below). Thank heavens for Men’s Wearhouse!
Our hostess, Fabienne Guerin, wife of movie producer
J.P. Guerin, called us on Saturday to make sure we were still coming. “Cocktails are on the patio at 7PM,” she cheerily added.
Indeed! The house, located at the very top of the Bel-Air hills, overlooked the entire westside. (We heard later that the Guerins, who had just sold their home for $35 million, were renting this place while their new house was being built!) A shuttle brought us from the street up to the residence. I felt like Cinderella masquerading as nobility.
Bob Newhart and his wife appeared a few minutes after we arrived. “He looks so old,” a woman said to me. But I thought he looked very much like himself. Some people brought books for him to sign, others just casually went over and chatted with him. Tim had met him a while ago at the radio station (see photo above) and so didn’t feel compelled to mingle. Instead, we staked our place under one of the outdoor heat lamps and snacked on hors d’oeuvres (mini-Kobe beef hamburgers, champagne flan and caviar, puffed pastry filled with shrimp, and mushrooms and cheese)—rather, Tim snacked while I chatted with the other guests.
After about an hour-and-a-half, a woman came out and announced that dinner was about to be served. Seating was prearranged, forcing spouses to sit apart. However, since Tim and I have separate last names, the hostess goofed and sat us together, making it a lot easier to share food during our seven-course (!) meal.
Two long tables were set-up side-by-side in a great hall that seats 50. The Newharts were at what I guessed was the $2,000-a-plate table, surrounded by movie producers and the like. We sat at the “other” table amongst a clutch of real estate investors and lawyers. A guitarist, who styled himself after Carlos Jobin, was playing softly in the corner.
“This is so much better than the dinner party I attended last week,” the woman across from Tim enthused. “The hostess had hired a ten-piece band to play while we ate. I was hoarse the next morning from yelling all night!”
(Gee, I thought to myself, and what were we doing last weekend? Oh, that’s right—we were scarfing down free appetizers at one of the California Library Association conference receptions. Well, at least we didn’t get hoarse from talking over a ten-piece band!)
Dinner was served. The courses consisted of (in order):
1. Three small bowls of soup: onion, butternut squash, and fennel. “What’s fennel?” the man next to me asked. “It’s an herb,” I answered, smacking my lips at how amazingly tasty the soup was.
2. Two salads: crab and mixed greens. Tim and I discreetly exchanged plates so he could eat my crab salad.
3. A small lamb chop with couscous baked in a filo purse. Even though I hate lamb, I took a small bite and then retreated to the couscous, which was heavenly.
4. Then the main course: medallions of beef on wilted spinach, with seabass on a bed of rice. I ate my vegetables and left the rest, but, thankfully, was not alone because by then everyone was just about stuffed.
5. A cheese platter, which Tim and I shared. Gorgonzola on pear pieces—YUM!—along with brie on a cracker that looked and tasted suspiciously like figs (yuck).
6. A cookie platter, which our server told us to “share with our neighbors.” (Whaddaya mean share?) And then finally . . .
7. Dessert: cantaloupe sorbet sprinkled with cinnamon and served with a warm berry cobbler. To die for!
We chatted with our tablemates during the entire meal, until Fabienne finally got up and introduced the guest of honor. Bob Newhart then moved over to a microphone and began to tell stories from his book, “I Shouldn't Even Be Doing This!: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny.” Everyone, including Newhart himself, laughed hysterically at his jokes about Frank Sinatra, et al. Mrs. Newhart, however, just sat there stoney-faced.
“She’s obviously heard these stories a million times before,” Tim whispered, as I giggled behind my hand.
Then suddenly it was 11:10PM. We bid our dinner companions adieu and raced down the hill to our car. We wouldn’t want our small Honda to turn into a pumpkin, now would we?
11/10/07
1. I may hate to fly (see my January 27, 2007 blog entry), but I do love the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Despite the traffic, it remains our airport of choice when traveling to places too far to drive. It is also the scene of many childhood bon voyages, including the time the entire family turned out to wish my uncle Manuel and aunt Eva “adios” as they winged their way to Spain, ca. 1964. My favorite features at LAX are the spectacularly mid-century-modern Theme Building and the more recent installation of internally-lit pylons that sit at the entrance of the airport. They are always the first thing I look for when landing at LAX.
2. There is nothing quite as exhilarating as driving the Miata topless (the car, not me!) to downtown L.A. on a Sunday afternoon. The city can be very peaceful on the weekend and oh so beautiful on a clear, sunny day. To me, the most iconic of all L.A.’s many landmarks is City Hall. We’ve toured it twice and never tire of its majesty. The fountains outside the Department of Water & Power building, a few blocks away, are also amazing, especially on a summer night. Despite its tendency to turn into a ghost town after dark, downtown Los Angeles remains one of the most magnificent places in the entire city.
3. OK, so the world famous Farmers Market also appears on Los Angeles Magazine’s list of top 64 places. But it’s far too important not to include on my list, too. Farmers Market has always been something of a foodie’s United Nations, so naturally it was my family’s favorite destination when I was a kid. It was also our signature haunt when Tim and I lived across the street in Park LaBrea during the 1990s. We feared “the Farmers,” as Tim’s aunt used to call it, would become severely overshadowed the day The Grove opened next door, but the 1934 Market’s charm happily remains in tact. Life as we know it would cease to exist without Dupar’s pies or baked goods from the ancient but tasty Bread Bin.
4. As reported elsewhere on this blog, Tim and I are all about mid-century-modern houses and so have spent many enjoyable hours touring homes designed by Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, and Gregory Ain. In one of the most magical days of my life, the two of us spent the afternoon in the company of Julius Shulman, perhaps the single most famous photographer in Los Angeles history. His black-and-white shot of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House #22 might just be the most iconic photo ever taken of the L.A. lifestyle. We were thrilled to be able to visit the Koenig house last year and have been inside many others that are almost as famous. Long live modern architecture!
5. Certainly among Tim’s top 10 L.A. landmarks is Mt. Wilson, home to a world-renown observatory as well as to most of the area’s F.M. radio and television antenna. Visible from the end of our block, Mt. Wilson is part of the San Gabriel mountains which form the city’s snow-covered backdrop during especially cold winters. My sister and I built many a snowman in the shadow of Mt. Wilson when we were kids. Today I find the roads just a tad too narrow and windy for a casual drive; but Tim loves visiting his radio station’s antenna and seeing Los Angeles county from above.
6. And speaking of viewing the county from above, one of our favorite L.A. “things” is the Goodyear blimp, which lives about 15 miles south of us and frequently flies over our house en route to sporting events, etc. We’ll be quietly sitting at home when suddenly we’ll hear the distinctive hum of its motor. “BLIMP!!” one of us will yell as we go running out of the house, looking up at the sky. For some reason, I still can’t get used to seeing a zeppelin fly overhead in the middle of the day. Silly me!
7. What would Los Angeles be without cars—especially phenomenally gorgeous cars that would rust anywhere else in the country. Even with the gas crisis, Angelenos adore their cars. The annual L.A. Car Show is a “must see” event every year, while Culver City’s annual vintage auto show always makes my heart weep for the many wonderful cars that have come and gone in my life. If I were a millionaire, I’d build a garage big enough to keep examples of all the cars I’ve ever loved.
8. Whenever we can’t think of anywhere else to eat, we always default to Dinah’s, a Los Angeles institution since 1959. Located on Sepulveda, about two miles from our house, Dinah’s is the perfect place to stop before or after going to the airport. Their fried chicken is among the best in the county and their oven-baked Apple Pancake is to die!
9. One of our favorite local “sights” is the "square tree" located on Sanford, within a mile of our house. Come rain or shine, the square tree just sits there completely oblivious to its natural surroundings. My sister has called it an “abomination.” But the square tree brings me comfort to think that there’s still some order in the world.
10. And while we’re on the topic of abominations, no tour of L.A. would be complete without the “house of Davids,” located on 3rd St., one block west of Rossmore. The front yard, festooned in hundreds of naked white statues (dressed up here for the holidays!), is the horror of upscale Hancock Park. It is also, of course, one of our favorite places to take out-of-town visitors.
