Pentimento Memento

Historic image from www.surfsantamonica.com

Recently I was walking through downtown Santa Monica at lunchtime, and I walked down Santa Monica Boulevard past the old Majestic Theatre. The Majestic was built in 1911, remodeled a couple of times. It was a movie-vaudeville house, then just a movie house, showing grindhouse films. It was a venue for rock bands like Siouxie and the Banshees, and for a brief period, a home for English Music Hall acts - by that time it had been renamed the Mayfair.


It was also used as a film location. It's said that Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein" used the Majestic for the theatre where Dr. Frankenstein and the Monster perform "Putting on the Ritz."


The Majestic was severely damaged in the 1993 Northridge Earthquake. Since then, it's been boarded up. The City of Santa Monica designated it as a landmark in 1994, and there has been a struggle over it ever since. Here's an article about the current owner, with some details of the building's history.


We took a photo of it not too long ago, with its marquee fenced off and covered with wooden scaffolding.

The other day, while walking past it, I noticed something different.

The plywood screening was down. You could see the facade of the building now. You could see on one side, the barroom that once thrived there, and on the other side, the box office.


You could see the entry, the marquee,


and the guano-stained old cases where they used to display posters for coming attractions.

A chain-link fence shielded the sidewalk from the construction area. I took some shots through the chain.

Here's a shot of the stage-house. It's been covered with blue tarps for I don't know how many years. Think of all that winter rain pouring down into the fly-rail all those years.


The next day, I walked by and even the chain-link was gone - a small group of people clustered, and a photographer with a tripod, preparing for a shot. "Looks like a good place to take a photo from," I said. "Mind if I snap some, too?"

There was a guy there who seemed like he was in charge. I asked him if there were any artifacts still inside, and he said everything inside is pretty much crumbled. The earthquake damage was so great, he said - far greater inside than it looked on the outside. There isn't much left of the old Majestic, inside these walls.

When you research the struggle over preservation of this landmark, you find a lot of fingerpointing. The owner blamed the tenants for not keeping it in repair, the tenants blamed the owners. The city, the preservationists, the developers, the business community - the loss of this building is everyone's fault. The struggle dragged on so long, while the rain poured in and the plaster moldings rotted in the darkness inside, that any chance of preserving it as a theatre disappeared.


While I was taking some photos, a young man also looking at the building caught my eye. "Beautiful building, isn't it?" I said. "Such a shame."

He said, "They could fix it up. Have concerts here. I know they could get Bob Dylan or Neil Young to perform here!"

I tried not to but I couldn't help letting a small laugh escape.

It's funny that's what you always hear when people who don't know anything about operating a venue talk about operating a venue. And for some reason, they always seem to cite the same artists - Bob Dylan's name always comes up, oddly.

"Well, they could, you know!!" he said indignantly. "It would be an awesome show!"

I agreed with him. It would be awesome.


But let's face it. The economics don't work.

Let's pretend we already spent the millions of dollars needed to restore the building, outfit it with modern equipment, fixtures, carpets, seat upholstery. And let's pretend we've hired the people to run the place - the technical staff, the box office staff, and the ushers who show you to your seats.

Running a theatre successfully is a terrific challenge, and sometimes the math just doesn't work out. When it was built, the Majestic had 602 seats. That's your product inventory. You can't sell more than that. (Yes, I know about T-shirt and concession sales. 600 people don't generate a lot of popcorn revenue.)


So even though my heart is heavy watching another theatre torn down, I understand why it is inevitable in some cases. This one is too damaged. They are demolishing it and putting up an apartment building.

They are saving the facade. The accepted phrase for this kind of thing is "Adaptive Reuse of a historical structure." Strict preservationists call this technique of pasting a preserved facade onto a totally new structure "Walls of Shame."

I found one artifact of the building's history as busy theatre; a sign painted on the wall, visible from the sidewalk now that the scaffolding has been removed.


This example of the sign-painter's craft is still here. Look at the little touches on this sign that point to the painter's creativity. The delicate lettering for the word "Please." The emphasis of the double exclamation marks. The decorative large "A" in "auto's" - and yes, the incorrect use of an apostrophe!

And the star. Is that for us?

I sure hope they preserve the sign.

Pink Saturday - Pink pajamas

Pink Saturday - Beverly, at the blog "How Sweet the Sound" hosts Pink Saturday. Let the color pink inspire you!

Back a couple years ago when I had a milestone birthday - not saying which one - the guys in my family did something tricky.

My husband called me at work and invited me to lunch. He said he'd pick me up in the company parking lot.

When I arrived downstairs, he was in the car, and our son was with him. I was whisked away to LAX, where we boarded a plane and flew off to an undisclosed location.

Actually, I'm happy to disclose it. We ended up here:

The Sou'wester Resort is located in the town of Seaview, Washington State. It's on Long Beach Peninsula, which is a narrow barrier island in the lower left-hand corner of Washington State, at the mouth of the Columbia River. It's a cool, foggy, damp place at times, but in the summer it's kissed with sunlight, wind, and a mild climate. The wild treacherous currents at the mouth of the Columbia River and the crashing waves of the northern Pacific Ocean contrast with the richness of the seafood harvested from Willapa Bay, the cranberry farms and organic vegetable gardens - and make it a wonderful place to experience the natural environment and the bounty of local-grown food.

[The Man I Love] and I have been going to Long Beach Peninsula for vacations since we were married. We honeymooned here, and we visited here many times while we lived in Seattle. So for my guys to spirit me away here for my birthday was a sweet treat.

The Sou'wester Resort consists of a main lodge house with furnished rooms, a handful of small cabins, and an assortment of venerable travel trailers dating from the 1940s and 1950s. The deluxe aluminum Spartan travel trailer in the photo above was our rustic hideaway for my birthday.


The wide Pacific Ocean beach is just beyond the dunes, down the road from the Sou'wester. One of the attractions of Long Beach Peninsula is the summer Kite Festival.


Another attraction is the fact that you can drive your car right on the hard-packed sand of the wide beach - with the hopes that you won't get stuck in wet sand, or run afoul of giant tree trunks tossed in the violent, frigid Pacific surf.

Turns out [The Man I Love] had colluded with my boss to let me take a few days off. Hmm.... sneaky of him!

We flew into Sea-Tac airport, then rented a car and drove through the dark, stormy forests of Southwest Washington. When we arrived it was dark, and we were cold.

Our trailer had been lovingly prepared for us. Birthday greetings festooned the narrow, compact space. A glass of champagne was offered, some tasty snacks, and then my family brought out gifts for me to open.

Like a pair of pink flannel pajamas. Patterned with pictures of dogs taking baths. With treats. And bubble bath.


Books, too - good girly novels plus some great hard-boiled paperback detective stories.

Long Beach Peninsula looks rustic and rural, but it's actually home to two of the Pacific Northwest's great restaurants, The Shelburne Restaurant at an Inn in Seaview, and The Ark Restaurant in Nahcotta - over on the west side of the island overlooking Willapa Bay. My guys had made reservations at both!

Aren't they clever?


We snuggled in the cozy bunk beds. We bundled up for long walks on the beach. We ate oysters on the half-shell in tiny ocean-front shacks. We had a marvelous time.

I have to thank my two guys for organizing this. They are the best. And I love my pink pajamas. I still wear them today. I'm wearing them now, this weekend, while you're reading this.

Thematic Photographic - Drink

Every Wednesday, Carmi posts the week's theme for Thematic Photographic. For the next seven days, bloggers post photos that echo that theme. This week's theme is: Drink


Aguas frescas - this row of vitroleros on display at the Alameda Swap Meet in South Central Los Angeles offer a variety of cool refreshing drinks. From left to right there's orange, horchata, tamarindo and lime.

The flavors come from macerated fruit, or the boiled and soaked pulp of the tamarind pod, or ground rice spiced with cinnamon. But they all have in common cool fresh water, ice, and a touch of sweetness.

Mmmmm. Cool.

Culinary Corner

My auto mechanic's shop is located in West L.A. on Sepulveda Boulevard between Venice and Washington. If you know L.A., that means something to you in a geographic sense.

I love the shorthand of these citified geographical markers. Think about what it means to someone when you talk about a city. Take Manhattan - location on Name Avenue between two numbered streets. Or Seattle's peculiar yet logical system of numbering streets and avenues - the intersection of Something Avenue Northwest and Something Street North paints a perfect picture in my mind that's completely different from Something Avenue Southeast and Something Street South. Or New Orleans' totally unique directional markers. Those numbers, that name, create for many people a vivid impression, a world, a universe.

How amazing our shared human experience is, distilled down to civic language. Five centuries hence, will humans bond when hearing that a fellow soul hung out on Asteroid Six, Quadrant Three, Culdesac Twelve in the little joint on the corner? Probably. I don't doubt it one bit.

In the solar system that is L.A., the corner of Sepulveda and Washington is such a corner. Because it is home to a culinary establishment that is part of Los Angeles' collective memory.

Everyone's been to Tito's Tacos.

Crispy fried tacos, served on greasy white pleated paper, filled with non-descript shredded beef, iceberg lettuce and grated orange cheese, come in a brown cardboard box filled up with chips and a cup of blandish, tomatoey salsa.

This is not authentic Mexican food - this is American Mexican food, adapted for American palates back in the forties or fifties, to feed the migrants from the great Midwest who came here to make airplanes or get out of that small town or break into the movies. It's the stuff of memory for many people who grew up in L.A., whose mothers brought them here. Or whose fathers rode their bikes here as kids. Or who came here after school. Or between bar-hopping - Titos serves till 11:30.

The line at the order window spills out onto the sidewalk. You wait and order and then step aside so someone else can order. You can rub elbows with secretaries, rock stars, landscapers and Google employees.

But for someone who didn't grow up here? The appeal eludes us....at first. But then you get your order.

Greasy fried tacos? Eaten outside, at a picnic table, while the tame sparrows hop beneath the benches and you can overhear someone bitching about their boss at the salon? I can totally get into that!

Natasha Richardson

Photo: New York Times

So sad. Such talent lost. A family devastated.

I can't help thinking about her two sons, aged 12 and 13.

Thematic Photographic - Drink

Every Wednesday, Carmi posts the week's theme for Thematic Photographic. For the next seven days, bloggers post photos that echo that theme. This week's theme is: Drink


There's no more spectacular drink than the beautiful Horchata served at Guelaguetza restaurant in West Los Angeles at the corner of Palms and Sepulveda.

Horchata is a drink made of ground rice flavored with cinnamon and other spices, and in most regional Mexican cuisines it's a rather subdued pale drink, white or beige colored.

But in Oaxacan cuisine, they jazz it up! Here, a squirt of bright pink syrup from cactus fruits or tunas is added to the top, followed by chunks of ripe cantalope and chopped pecans. You take your straw and stir it up so the shocking pink color shades all the way down.

Beautiful and delicious!

Back to the Beach

Beautiful spring day? What else is there to do but head for the beach?

Malibu Seafood is a little shack on the inland side of the road in Malibu, just north of Puerco Canyon Road. Pass Cher's house on the beach side and go down the hill - look for the sign and the parking lot on the right.


The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy recently spiffed up this parking lot, using it as a trailhead for Corral Canyon Park. The loop trail that starts here is only 2.5 miles. It makes it convenient for taking an after-lunch hike if you want to walk off your meal.


You go in the door on the right if you want to order some seafood by the pound to take home and cook. You go in the door on the left if you want to order something cooked here to eat at a picnic table in one of the seaside patios.

You can get almost any kind of seafood you want, broiled, grilled, or fried. You can get a sandwich, fish & chips, or you can get a 3- course meal with an entree, rice, and salad.

Me? I always order fried clams when I come here. It's just what I like to eat at the beach.

Place your order, and go find a seat while you wait for your number to be called. You can sit under and umbrella close to the road, or you can climb up to the enclosed patio on the hill, and take in the view.


No food photos today! I was so hungry I forgot to take them! You'll have to make do with the view.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

We enjoyed a beer at a local Irish pub. Well, an Irish pub in Santa Monica, anyway. I had two photos to choose from for this post. In one, the beer is in focus but the background is blurred. In the other, the people are sharp but the beer is fuzzy. Which would you choose?

We are all of us in the gutter.
But some of us are looking at the stars.

--Oscar Wilde

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

PROMPTuesday

Every Tuesday, Sandiegomomma gives writers a prompt to help inspire us and make writing fun! Today's prompt? Use in a story/poem: a skein of red yarn, a comb and a bottle of water. Here's mine:

A stroller pushed
through stalls at El Mercadito,
baby displaced by groceries;
A jug of water, fresh bread
the chiles and onions,
Filling the fabric sling seat.
Father holds the girl in his arms,
a pink flowered headband
held with a comb in her dark curls.
Mother looks at dishtowels, socks.
Plump skeins of embroidery yarn,
fill a plastic bin
with a tumble of color.
The baby reaches out
wanting a ball of red wool
eager to hold its brilliance,
to feel it spring beneath her fingers.

My photo is from a trip to El Mercadito in East Los Angeles this December - in a second floor notions stall I watched a little girl drawn by the bins of brilliant colored yarns.