L.A.past - Commercials from the 70's and 80's

After posting the Zody's commercial (see L.A.moment: killradio.org fund raiser @ Safari Sam's July 2nd), I got hawt and bothered for the local L.A. commercials from whence I was but a wee one:


CONTROL DATA INSTITUTE





THE FEDERATED SUPERSTORES





I can't find my favorite though, an anti-drinking and driving p.s.a. where I distinctly remember the wife chasing her drunk husband out of the house pleading, "Don't take the car, you'll kill yoursel--!"

L.A.moment: Sunday afternoon @ Lost Souls Cafe

It's Sunday afternoon, hot out...what better to incline oneself to drink iced coffee @ Lost Souls Cafe downtown...

L.A.event- RIDE-Arc July

First time I had ever taken part in SCI-Arc's RIDE-Arc. For July, this architectural and urban anthropological tour of downtown Los Angeles looked at Homelessness, Gentrification and Incarceration. From SCI-Arc's L.A. River adjacent location, about 200 of us biked south to an area between the 4th and 6th Street bridges where the homeless of L.A. were sweeped up by the LAPD, then we traveled further south to the Biscuit Company Lofts for a surprising dose of gentrification. (The whole downtown loft explosion is exciting but I wouldn't want to live so far from downtown, Metro Red Line, etc. while having a gazillion factory and manufacturing buildings as neighbors), next we traveled west into Skid Row. Although our numbers caused some attention and concern from the area's residents we had a great informational lecture in front of the Midnight Mission from the night manager and a current resident. Someone asked the resident how long he had been living there and after he yelled back that he'd been there since October, he got applause from everyone which I thought was touching and beautiful. We biked east to the Hart Hotel, an SRO upstairs that has a non-profit clean needle exchange program on the street level. Since the sweeps of homeless people downtown, these non-profit clean needle exchange groups have a harder time helping those people wishing to exchange old needles for new ones. Because of this, the clientèle has shifted to middle class people coming from the suburbs wishing to exchange old needles for new ones rather than from the homeless population.

We then continued west up 3rd Street to Hill Street where we drove past the backside of Grand Central Market, the hopefully someday will be resurrected Angels Flight and ended up in the South Park neighborhood at the soon to open Ralph's. Our numbers in front of this yet to open supermarket made both the store's security guards as well as the neighbors in the balconies across the street question everything.

From there we rode into the Civic Center all the while reclaiming streets from cars to end up across from the new jail opening next door to the LAPD's Parker Center. Finally we ended up at the Twin Towers Men's Jail adjacent to the MTA Building.

I have to share that this was a powerful experience to bike throughout my favorite neighborhood of downtown L.A. But also there was a sense of responsibility I felt I had to learn about what one might think are 3 separate issues that actually overlap considerably...

(photos to come...!)

L.A.moment: 4th of July in Boyle Heights

After a barbecue in Eagle Rock it was back home to the 4th of July war zone of Boyle Heights...it reminded me of being a kid when fireworks were (albeit oddly when you think about it) LEGAL.

L.A.moment: killradio.org fund raiser @ Safari Sam's

The relatively new Safari Sam's in the shopping center where the 99 Cents Only Store used to be a Zody's and the Safari Sam's used to be a strip club. Non-profit and non-commercial L.A. based internet radio station, killradio.org, with the help of Valerie of The Ghost Lullaby, raised a pretty pretty penny. Thanks to all the bands: Ready The Jet, Jessie Deluxe, Peach Fuzz, The Ghost Lullaby and The Dirges!

L.A.roadtrip: Lake Arrowhead

Quick getaway in the nearby mountain communities of San Bernardino to spend Mom's birthday with Mom (!) and family. From downtown L.A., I'm always surprised it's a mere hour and a 1/2 drive. Though, since I rented a Mini Cooper through Flexcar, I could've driven to Canada...Had dinner at Finn McCool's in Twin Peaks to see Wake The Bard...(where I had 3 Smithwicks and 3 Irish Coffees and couldn't barely get a buzz--must've been the altitude)...



visited nearby Crestline and had lunch with some family at Rocky's in Sky Forest.

L.A.moment: Looker @ El Cid

What a great way to spend a first date: dinner at Hollywood Thai in Thai Town followed by NYC-based Looker @ El Cid. Too bad their plane was delayed, meant they couldn't perform live on killradio.org's "Hear, Here"...but I'm glad that I was able to see them as well as get to better "know" my date (sorry, no photos of that) at this "authentic replica of a 16th Century tavern."

L.A.services - Flexcar

04/05/06 - Next I drove over to Grand Central Market to get some produce. After dropping off everything at my house and returning the car, the whole trip was 1 hour and 30 minutes, which works out to $15. Check out Flexcar at www.flexcar.com

L.A.services - Flexcar

04/05/06 - I drove over to Silver Lake to the vet's so I could get the 20 pound bag of cat food my "kids" adore.

L.A.services - Flexcar

04/05/06 Flexcar is a car rental service that rents by the hour. Cars are at many locations downtwon, Mid-Wilshire and Westwood. Today I used it for the first time. Most cars are Honda Hybrids, but here was the Honda Odyssey waiting for me at Union Station.

L.A.moment - Financial District

04/03/06 California Plaza

L.A.moment - Union Station

03/31/06 - [via mobile phone] Union Station, home to the Amtrak, Metrolink, MTA Red Line and Gold Line Trains as well as MTA buses and Flyaway Union Station to LAX express buses.

L.A.media - "Hear, Here" on killradio.org

O.k., this is a plug... I'm a DJ at L.A.-based internet radio station, killradio.org. Well a fellow DJ, John Hershfield, and I have started a submissions only show for bands and artists called "Hear, Here". Check out the archive and listen in on Mondays from 12pm to 2pm Pacific Time

L.A.moment - L.A. River

03/28/06 [via mobile phone] L.A. River, after some rain

L.A.moment - Civic Center

03/27/06 Once again the Los Angeles Police Department was using my place of work, the Los Angeles Times, as a temporary staging area for their monitoring of the City Hall protests . I had to show my work I.D. to officers on the corner of 1st and Broadway just to be allowed to continue down 1st street. The L.A. Times cafeteria was filled with about 30 officers relaxing and shooting the excretement. All this was because of the student protests taking place at City Hal against the anti-illegal immigrant bills before Congress. All the while the Eddie Murphy film production of Dreamgirls (starring Beyonce) was upstairs on the 6th floor (No photos of the cops--or Beyonce--for that matter, I was too chicken to ask or to snap clandestinely)...

L.A.moment - Silver Lake adjacent

03/27/06 Outside the killradio.org studio, pro-immigration rights student walkout...

L.A.moment - Boyle Heights

03/26/06 Boyle Heights, Cesar Chavez and Chicago St.

L.A.visit - West Los Angeles

The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park (1218 Glendon Avenue, south of Wilshire, in Westwood, 310-474-1579)

Visiting any of Los Angeles’ cemeteries makes for a unique (and to some, morbid), visit with the famously dead. Stand where their famous friends stood, place flowers where a famous spouse might have and consummate a dead celebrity obsession that has been going on for some time now.

Just a headstone’s throw from UCLA and Westwood Village, sits the final resting-place for many of the famously dead. The Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park is home to an eclectic group of actors, musicians, filmmakers, and other famous mortals. Visitors may be surprised and puzzled as to whom they’ll find buried in Westwood.
As a reminder, please keep in mind that cemetaries are not museums. Families for both the famous and non visit as well. So maintain an un-L.A. attitude that is both respectful and discrete.

Marilyn Monroe’s (1926 – 1962) life and death is thought of as one of tragedy and mystery. With cause of death declared as an overdose of Nembutal, a barbiturate, the coroner signed it off as probable suicide. But missing personal documents (including her diary) and the sudden stop of the investigation to her death, along with missing phone records, a lost routine death report, the quick destruction of organ specimens, and lack of remaining medical photos, lead many to believe murder as a more probable cause. (Corridor of Memories, #24)

Famous for her angelic face and catchy mantra, “they’re here” from Poltergeist, Heather O’Rourke (1975 – 1988) died at the age of 13 of intestinal stenosis. The story is that she was discovered by Steven Spielberg in the MGM commissary. (New Mausoleum, outside along the bottom)

The death of Dominique Dunne (1959 – 1982) follows a trend started in such films as Rebel Without A Cause and The Barbarian where many cast members of an entire film die unexpectedly. On-screen sister of Heather O’Rourke's in Poltergeist, Dominique Dunne, daughter of Vanity Fair writer cum laude, Dominick Dunne, was strangled in her driveway by her estranged boyfriend. (Section D, #189)

As previously mentioned, the untimely and strange deaths of celebrities can affect an entire film’s cast. Natalie Wood’s (1938 – 1981) death off Catalina Island completes the trinity of dead prinicipal cast members from A Rebel Without A Cause. Preceded by Porsche-crashing James Dean and the murdered Sal Mineo, Natalie Wood’s body was found floating in the Pacific Ocean, dressed only in a nightgown, woolen socks, and a red down jacket (Section D, #60).

Although a supporting cast member of A Rebel Without A Cause, Jim Backus’s (1913 – 1989) death was neither sudden nor strange. Better known for his roles as the Millionaire in Gilligan’s Island and the lead voice of the animated cartoon Mr. Magoo, Jim Backus died of Pneumonia and Parkinson’s disease. (Section D, #203)

Maybe one of the last people expected to be buried in L.A., let alone Westwood, Truman Capote (1924 – 1984), Southern Gothic novelist, journalist, and darling-about-town, is entombed a number of steps from that cute pixie, Heather O’Rourke. Allegedly, his cremated remains were in the possession of dear friend, JoAnne Carson (ex-wife of Johnny Carson). when they were stolen along with her jewelry. Although later returned, sans jewelry, half of his ashes now reside at Westwood Village, while the other half remains in Ms. Carson’s possession. (New Mausoleum)

Big Band drummer extroidinaire, Buddy Rich (1916 – 1986) had the natural knack and rythmn to be what many consider as the greatest drummer of all time. Raised by vaudvillian parents, Buddy Rich picked up the drums at a young age and became a child star known as “Traps, The Drum Wonder”. Roommates with Frank Sinatra during the Big Band era, Buddy Rich was a member of Tommy Dorsey’s Band and was especially known for being “resoundingly disliked”, to put it nicely. (Sanctuary of Tranquility)

Burt Lancaster (1913 – 1994) didn’t start acting until he was in his 30’s, which may be part of what led him to take greater control of his career. He is perhaps best known for his performances in Birdman of Alcatraz, From Here To Eternity, and Elmer Gantry, the latter winning him an Academy Award for his performance opposite Shirley Jones.

Another performer who died at a young age, Minnie Ripperton (1947 – 1979), is most famous for her song "Loving You". She died at the age of 31, of breast cancer. (Section D, #41).

Remembered for her performances in It’s A Wonderful Life and From Here To Eternity, Donna Reed came to Los Angeles at the age of 16 to complete her education and become an actress. Although she was in over 40 films during her career, she will probably be best known as the quintessential 50’s T.V. mom in the show that bore her name, The Donna Reed Show. She passed away from Pancreatic Cancer at the age of 65. (Section D, #142)

At the opposite end of the cultural icon spectrum from Donna Reed lies Playboy model, Dorothy Stratten (1960 – 1980). Before her death, she entered the acting world via the sci-fi comedy Galaxina, but the world came to know her more through the film story of her life, Star 80. Although the sentiment rings true, Dorothy Stratten’s headstone is a/the unique example of a rambling and contradictory epitaph. (Section D, #170)

One of rock and roll’s most diverse, satirical, and non-conformist renegades, Frank Zappa (1940 – 1993) is buried in an unmarked section of the cemetery. Known for his distrust of authority both on the record and on the record, he lead the charge against the Parents Music Resource Center, calling them “a group of bored Washington housewives” who wanted to “housebreak all composers and performers because of the lyrics of a few.” He died of prostate cancer. (Section D, #100, unmarked)

Texan rocker Roy Orbison (1936 – 1988) follows Westwood Memorial’s rocker trend by being buried in an unmarked area of the cemetery. Although he knew of his heart troubles for a while, Roy Orbison refused to cut short his exhausting comeback tour. He died of a massive heart attack. (Section D, #97, unmarked)

Although her grave doesn’t give her birth date, it is believed that Eva Gabor (1921/1922 – 1995) was 74 when she died.

Best known for the television and radio versions of the play, Our Miss Brooks, Eve Arden (1908 – 1990) is also remembered for her portrayals in Stage Door, Mildred Pierce, and the film version of Grease. (Section D, #81)

One of the last of the 1930’s male stars, Lew Ayres (1908 – 1996), may be remembered by some audiences for his work in the 70’s and 80’s on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Highway To Heaven, Damien: Omen II, and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Others may remember him as Dr. James Kildare in the nine Kildare movies. But he will probably be best remembered for his work in the 1930’s anti-war Oscar winning film, All Quiet on the Western Front as the disillusioned German solider. Later when he declared himself a WWII conscientious objector, he was shunned by the studios and movie audiences, only to revive his career when he eventually volunteered as a medic and chaplain’s aide (earning three battle stars)

Everyone’s favorite nanny, Mr. French, from Family Affair is buried here. Granted, his headstone reads Sebastian Cabot (1918 – 1977). He was also the voices of Bagheera from The Jungle Book, the narrator in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Sir Ector in The Sword in the Stone. He died of a stroke. (Large Urn Garden, near front of office, top row, nine from right)

Many people remember John Cassavetes (1929 – 1989) for his acting work in such films as Rosemary’s Baby and his Oscar nominated performance in The Dirty Dozen. But it is his work as a director, where he was most prolific. Films like Faces and Shadows from the early part of his directing career as well as Opening Night and A Woman Under the Influence are considered not only his best work, but important films of the American independent cinema. (Lot 308)

Editor's note: Some gravesite listings do not have location information due to unacertainable information. Go to the Find-A-Grave website for GPS coordinates, if so determined.

L.A.moment - Civic Center

03/25/06 [via mobile phone] Immigration Rights march, Downtown Civic Center, Los Angeles

L.A.moment - Civic Center

03/25/06 [via mobile phone] Immigration Rights march, Downtown Civic Center, Los Angeles