Fresh Start for the Year
Happy New Year! It’s a fresh start, if we can just get past all the rain that’s been drenching LA lately! But that hasn’t stopped me from keeping my New Year’s goals. And one of them is looking at LA for all its kitschy, kooky, star-studded glory.
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My first stop was Schwab’s on Vine. While the gentrification of Hollywood continues, at least there are attempts such as this to hark back to the old glamour days by resurrecting this historical name in the heart of the new Sunset+Vine luxury apartment hi-rise. The original Schwab’s Pharmacy of the ’40s and ’50s was a popular soda shop where actors and writers converged, Charlie Chapin was known to hop behind the counter and make his own milkshakes, and reporters jammed the phone booths to call in the latest celebrity gossip. Though the new Schwab’s — a modern, casually-set restaurant — bears little resemblance to the original, it does pay tribute in the form of black and white photos that line the counter seats. As I sat on the barstool and waited to be discovered — as Lana Turner did in the original Schwab’s — I found the selections of American cuisine are worth checking out for any would-be starlet. I’m ready for my close-up!
Speaking of old glamour days, I dropped in on the Hollywood History Museum, which reopened last year in the Max Factor tower on Highland. Talk about a grrrl’s dream come true! Almost the entire first floor of this three-story museum is dedicated to the make-up wizardry of Max Factor with his color strategies and rooms just for Blondes, Redheads and Brownettes. The museum’s cosmetics tribute rooms are packed with photos and personal makeup cases owned by such glamour-pusses as Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Lucille Ball, Bette Davis and more! The rest of the museum is chock full of Hollywood film memorabilia including a large collection of personal items and dresses owned by Marilyn Monroe, a Bob Hope exhibit, costumes worn by Elizabeth Taylor and Betty Grable, set props from such films as “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure,” “It’s a Mad, Mad World,” “Moulin Rouge,” and so much more. My favorite exhibit was an entire room filled with black and white photos of old Hollywood and stars frolicking at hot spots on the Sunset Strip. The whole museum does beautiful justice to Hollywood’s best side! Makes me wanna go buy a Marilyn coffee mug in a cheesy souvenir shop!
While we’re on the subject of Marilyn, I got my dirty grrrl fix my stepping into the Erotic Museum across the street where they honor the naughty in all of us. One of the first displays is a Marilyn film screening — but we’re not talking “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” Rather, it’s a grainy blue movie of a pre-glamour Ms. Monroe in some explicit sex scenes. After that sufficient fluffer, I moved on to the rest of the museum where I found the sex Hall of Fame with framed portraits of such icons as Sigmund Freud and Dr. Ruth, a collection of 1960s Varga watercolors that led to the “Stairway to Hef” with glass cases filled with the pipe, smoking jacket and slippers of my hero Hugh Hefner along with, of course, an official Playboy Bunny corset and ears outfit. Upstairs, rotating exhibits continue the tease ‘n’ please as this visit educated me on porn in the Valley and sex gadgets throughout history. Stop by if you’re feeling “in the mood!”
But if you’re just itching to get out of town, you don’t have to go far to find paradise. Just outside of LA is Big Bear where I went in time for the season’s first snow. With everything covered in white, we took lazy strolls through the center of this quaint ski resort where virtually every shop and hotel incorporates the bear symbol – “Mama Bear’s Pharmacy,” “Bear Manor Motel” with little wooden bear sculptures everywhere. It was utterly charming! We went on exploring with a relaxing walk around Big Bear Lake where breathtaking views of snow-blanketed mountains are humbling for this city grrrl. We visited the local zoo to see the natural wildlife including the trademark grizzlies (they’re enormous!) the magnificent snow leopard, a bald eagle and my favorite, the mountain lion who was so awesomely gorgeous I wanted to take her home to give my cat a playmate! Then we hunkered down in our cabin for the night as a storm moved in and Jack Frost worked his magic to continue the beauty of the area in the wintertime. For anyone looking for a weekend getaway to remind you just how stunning California is, I highly recommend a visit to Big Bear country!
And no Cool Grrrls report would complete without a little rock ‘n’ roll. For LA lovers, I have to recommend a CD I recently got in the mail by German band the Targets, whose song “When LA Died” is a tribute to LA’s great late ’80s glam metal bands and clubs. Check them out at www.the-targets.com
Hooray for Hollywood,
Kastle
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