LA Dork

Before there was the El Capitan on Hollywood Boulevard, there was an El Capitan on Vine Street. The top pic shows a variety show there in 1948.

The venue opened in 1927 as the Hollywood Playhouse, changing names over the years, eventually becoming The Palace and now Avalon.

And of couse, if you had one of these bumper stickers, you weren't cool unless it was upside down...

Me too, but couldn't find that online! 🤔

A once ubiquitous bumper sticker in Los Angeles...

UNREMARKABLE POSTCARD SERIES, No. 103.
Lynwood, Calif. 1950s.

This Townsend's warbler is making himself right at home in my bougainvillea. Do you think birds named after 19th century naturalists are like, 'you don't own me!'?

It would be like me pulling up the first rainbow trout anyone had laid eyes on and declaring it Haddad's trout.

Universal Amphitheatre was demo'd for the Harry Potter section in 2013.

But who remembers when the amphitheater was an OUTDOOR venue before they converted it to an arena? Never caught a show outside, but heard it was great. Screen shot is from a "Columbo" episode with Johnny Cash!

House of Lee in Pacific Palisades was famouly the only establishment in the village with a full liquor license, a residue of PP's Methodist origins.

Pearl Dragon took over the space (along with the license) but its lease recently ended as PP recovers from the Jan. fires.

Fossil Ridge Park update: My kids & I found a way into the park at the end of Coy Dr. Just as inaccessible as the official entry inside the gates of Mulholland Estates. Droves of pampas grass, dense brush, no trails, lotsa cuts, but rewarded with an oak grove near Buckley School.

LA River, Glendale Narrows, egrets, horses, sunlight, clear day...

The serenity I need before the holiday. 😎

The Adler Hotel on Franklin near Argyle is a real gem... going back to previous owners, it leans into Hollywood's golden age... its lobby, parking lot, restaurant (now Clark St.) & rooms (not sure if movie scenes still on walls?). Classy/fun, good for film-loving visitors to LA.

Thomas Ince's estate at 1051 Benedict Canyon Dr. is long gone but pix from his mission-style "Dias Dorados" are stunning. All materials were weathered to look ancient; it included a trout stream, aviary, fruit groves... he barely got to enjoy it, though, dying at 44 in 1924.

Mulholland Estates reneged on an agreed visitor center & EZ public access to Fossil Ridge. Security asks for your ID even though I brought a letter from SM Mtns' lawyers that it's not required. SM Mtns also has blown it. Circled part is ALL inaccessible due to blocked trailheads. #FreeFossilRidge!

Welcome to Fossil Ridge, the hardest-to-get-to park in the SM Mtns Recreation Area. Access only available via Mulholland Estates' gated security. The park is not maintained, leaving only a 30x30 ft. dirt lot; all trails to fossil-rich areas overgrown with shrubs. Willful neglect.

Loved BAM! Readers' Desert Island Records/Discs was always my first go-to each issue.

Before Trousdale Estates was subdivided in the 1950s, it could've become something else...

In the '20s, land owner & oil tycnoon Ed Doheny commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a Hanging Gardens of Babylon community embedded in the hills. It got as far as the sketch phase.

Know what I miss? Thursdays and LA freebie rags.

That's when LA Weekly & LA Reader (later New Times) dropped into record stores, eateries & newspaper stands. We'd tear into them to plan our weekend -- what movies to watch, concerts to see, events to attend. "Best Of" lists too!

Fun fact: You can also thank Lake Sherwood for Woody Woodpecker.

In 1940 animator Walter Lantz & his wife Gracie were staying at a cabin along the lake's shore. An "annoying" woodpecker was pecking on their wood roof at night. Taking his wife's advice, Woody Woodpecker was born.

Lake Sherwood in the SM Mtns. has cameo'd in dozens of films. Its very name comes from doubling as Sherwood Forest in 1922's "Robin Hood."

It was drained in the mid-'80s during a developer dispute, but heavy rains (& natural springs) refilled it for today's elite colony there.

A confession from an LA apologist: I had never eaten at The Galley (Santa Monica's oldest restaurant, est. 1934) until last night.

Holy smokes, what a great experience. Owner Ron Shur & staff crush it. LA needs more fun eateries again. Great steaks & the fish is from SM Seafood.

YouTube video by Paul Haddad "Paradise Palms: Red Menace Mob" Book Trailer

Something I learned today: A reader told me my 2021 novel "Paradise Palms" is available through the LA Library. For fans of old LA, gangsters, noir, Hollywood...

Book trailer here...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=phoA...

Lomie Puckett made national news as the Golden State Grandma in 1958 when Caltrans ordered her home demo'd for the 5 Freeway. She refused and armed herself for 5 days.

After she was arrested & given money, turns out she owned 17 properties in LA and didn't live at this address.

Doing a loop in Silver Lake, and Ivanhoe Reservoir is looking nicely van Gogh-esque this morning, a kind of daylight version of "The Starry Night."

The Golden Mall in Burbank lasted from 1967 to 1989. Similar to 3rd St. Promenade, it converted San Fernando Rd. to pedestrian-only. Many merchants hated it because it was a long schlep for shoppers to get to their cars. "Beautiful Downtown Burbank" was mocked by Johnny Carson.😄

Early streetlights, dangling over Long Beach Ave. at 42nd Street, looking north toward City Hall in 1928.

I can't help but think this should be an album cover by an indie rock band...

Now that it's the off-season and the weather's getting cooler, time to bring back non-baseball sports to Dodger Stadium... like ski-jump competitions with fake snow!

This month marks the 1-year anniversary of a candid I was lucky to get that is totally LA in a nutshell.

I was crossing Hollywood & Highland and saw a "just married" couple while a fire raged at Highland & Fountain against a purple twilight sky. Never found out who they were!

SoCAL FREEWAY FOLLIES No. 4.
Nov. 19, 2021.
San Diego Freeway, near Carlsbad.

Bags of cash fell out of an armored Brink's truck, causing a free-for-all. The FBI ordered all money returned. Two folks armed with bills were arrested after they locked themselves out of their car.

When I was a kid, my go-to Halloween outfit was "hobo," replete with bindle stick, felt hat, tattered clothes. Honestly, I liked it for the bindle stick, a staple in cartoons.

Haven't donned a costume lately but my wife & I had fun dressing as Saul Goodman & Kim Wexler in 2022.

Who remembers Dragon Cable Railway at Six Flags Magic Mountain? Honestly, someone should do a pic book of all the trolleys, trains, funiculars, skyways, people-movers & monorails that graced SoCal parks.

It was nixed for Ninja roller coaster, whose queue integrated parts of it.