“You often meet your fate on the road you take to avoid it.” Goldie Hawn
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“What I look for in a man isn’t printable! I wouldn’t want to shatter my cool Swiss image.” Ursula Andress
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Catherine Deneuve, and her sister Françoise Dorléac
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Bewitched, bothered, and bewildered…
As the millennium was about to turn a high rolling actor, after two chaste dates with someone very near and dear to my heart, invited her back East to meet his parents. You know, a girl takes an invitation like that quite seriously. (Although, she might not have been the sharpest knife in the drawer regarding his very gentlemanly demeanor.)
The pair checked into a lovely hotel suite, not far from the actor’s childhood home. It was graced with a living room and a single king sized bed. My friend had visions of the weekend turning into something like that pictured above. Yet, as their last night unfolded and she snuggled up against him – oh so much more than suggestively – he gave her a peck on the forehead and said, “Don’t be silly, dear”
After their return home to Hollywood, and two weeks of radio silence, the actor called and inquired if my friend would accompany him to a premiere. To which she replied… “Don’t be silly, dear”.
Why people do people still engage in this backward rigamarole? Box office. Name me one openly gay American movie star and I’ll show you an actor who isn’t working. Sad… and completely ridiculous… but true.
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A FAVORITE OF HOLLYWOOD’S – ROMANOFF’S
Ext. Romanoff’s:
Int. Romanoff’s:
The Zanuck’s celebrate Susan”s graduation from the Marlborough School with a dance at Romanoff’s. From left to right, Darryl, Susan, and Virginia Zanuck:
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CARY GRANT READS THE PAPER
1960, when everybody read the paper, but none so suave as Cary Grant:
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THE BEATLES AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL
The Beatles landing at LAX – they played the Hollywood Bowl in August of 1964 and 1965:
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August 24, 1964 — the day after the Hollywood Bowl — at a Bel-Air rental:
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LIZ TAYLOR WINS FOR “BUTTEFIELD 8”
April 18th, 1961 Elizabeth Taylor arrives at the Academy Awards in a gown designed by Dior with her husband Eddie Fisher:
Best Actor to Burt Lancaster for “Elmer Gantry, and Best Actress to Elizabeth Taylor for “Butterfield 8”:
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HOLLYWOOD HORSE RACES AT SANTA ANITA PARK
Filming at the track in 1935:
The building was designed by Architect Gordon B. Kaufmann (who also designed the Los Angeles Times building) in a fluid Art Deco style – 1936:
The entrance and the paddock – 1936:
A view of the stands the year it was completed – 1934:
In the early years stockholders included Cary Grant, Edgar Bergen, Bing Crosby, Lana Turner, Harry Warner, etc., remember, Hal Roach was a major booster, and the track opened Christmas Day, 1934.
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STREAMLINE MODERNE IN LA
From the tips of your toes to the top of your head – elements of style from hats to escalators:
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TO MARKET I GO IN HOLLYWOOD
Even the grocery stores were glamorous – designed by Morgan, Walls & Clements (also designed the Chapman Market) – this firm designed some of the most iconic buildings of early Hollywood (and I promise we’ll get to these landmarks) but for now we’ll roll with my fascination with the mundane market made marvelous:
Wilshire Blvd.
Hollywood Blvd.
And, where Mildred Pierce’s boyfriend made his home in high tone Pasadena.
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The Palm Beach Story
How does a young lady who hops aboard a train in New York City without her luggage and ticket end up serenaded by “The Ale and Quail” club?
And, breakfast with a stranger dressed in a pajama top and blanket skirt?
You’ll have to watch “The Palm Beach Story” to find out, but if you’d like to see a delicious scene where she scores a ruby bracelet check in at noon.
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AN UNLIKELY PAIR – DAVID BOWIE AND ELIZABETH TAYLOR
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ONLY MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN
Here’s the historical context. That’s David Bowie, during a decade he reports to have forgotten, nabbed in Upstate New York on a coke charge. Talk about aplomb. He looks impossibly elegant under obviously trying circumstances. Contrast that with any mug shot you’ve seen recently of errant celebrities and then just shut your mouths!
But, I digress. Recently, a music industry great of similar vintage, and possibly more lifetime habits, has returned from Switzerland with a sparkle in his eye and new spring in his step. Rumor has it he has taken the cure with a complete blood transfusion. Who can say? My sources inform me he has reconciled with his first wife, a legendary folk singer, at least as far as having her most recent restraining order against him revoked.
Seen strolling Wilshire Dr. at 7 a.m. in his tennis whites accompanied by a silver haired friend the impresario was queried by a curious onlooker as to his sportive attire. His answer, “I do not own sweats. They are an abomination against man and God.”
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ICON – ELIZABETH TAYLOR
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Icon, practically asleep on set…
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ICON – DAVID BOWIE
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VALENTINE’S DINNER AT THE CAFE TROCADERO
A romantic rendezvous on Sunset Blvd.
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Profiterolles glacees au chocolat aka cream puffs with chocolate sauce are actually pretty easy to make. If anyone wants the recipe let me know and I’ll post it – it would be a “wow” to feed your sweetheart on Valentine’s.
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ARCHITECTURAL EYE CANDY LA – HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY
I was running around town with my sweetheart and I snapped these photos with my ancient, but mighty, iPhone. This is a neighborhood at the southern edge of Korea Town, south of Wilshire Blvd. When I was a little girl I used to have dreams about Los Angeles. It was city crossed by rushing canals and there were a million cities hidden within the city, and I was always trying to find my way from one to another. Turns out those early dreams were slightly prophetic. Here we have a pocket of Old Hollywood glamour in an area now pocked by bad signage, vinyl windows, and uncontrolled development…
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SWING TIME AND THE INESTIMABLE: HERMES PAN
Hermes Pan choreographed everything from “Swing Time” in 1936 to Elizabeth Taylor’s “Cleopatra” (including the spectacle – dancers, warriors, witch doctor’s, elephants, and zebras – that was Cleopatra’s procession into Rome).
Pictured above with Ginger Rogers, he was a soft-spoken gregarious man who was loved by his dancers. Recently a biography was completed by John Franceschina, titled: Hermes Pan: The Man Who Danced with Fred Astaire: John Franceschina: 9780199754298: Amazon.com: Books. A fascinating look at a rare talent.
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CELEBRATING AT CIRO’S – 1952 – NANCY DAVIS, RONALD REAGAN, JEANNE AND DEAN MARTIN
February 23rd, 1952. Nancy Davis, and her soon to be husband, Ronald Reagan, at Ciro’s celebrating with Jeanne and Dean Martin.
The menu:
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