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July 12, 2010:

LA – THE CITY THAT WAS

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, is it the tinge of nostalgia, is it rose-colored glasses, or was the city known as Los Angeles, California really one of the most unique and special cities in the world? Those who’ve read my books know that the first three especially were valentines to this City of Angels. And lately I’ve had occasion to watch several motion pictures from the 1950s that had a lot of location photography – and every time I see streets and restaurants and neon and views of LA when LA had very few tall buildings, I just get a pang for the city that was. I’ll be talking about the motion pictures I saw yesterday in a little bit, but two of them were shot all over LA and there were fantastic views of the city that was. Melrose before it was MELROSE. Santa Monica Blvd. when it was nothing special. Sunset Blvd. and Hollywood Blvd. when they were painted with neon – the neon was amazing. There was a fantastic shot in one of the films – on La Brea looking north to Sunset and there was my beloved Carolina Pines coffee shop. And then the cast drove onto what had been the Charles Chaplin studio and you could see the remnants of the outdoor sets for The Great Dictator. And now you look at what they’ve done and it’s just pathetic. There’s hardly any “quaint” left in LA proper, although certain neighborhoods, like the one in which I grew up, do look sort of the same. But gone are any neighborhood movie theaters, gas stations on every corner (you can now sometimes drive miles on major streets without encountering a gas station), most of the unique and fun architecture is gone and so when I see these shots in these movies I just freeze-frame and try to put myself back there – you cannot imagine how I wanted to go into Carolina Pines, not that it was the greatest coffee shop in the world, but it was, you know, Carolina Pines with that great 1950s design. Of course, fifty years from now someone like me will be waxing nostalgic for the LA of the early 2000s. And that is the nature of the beast, I suppose.

My goodness, I WAS waxing nostalgic, wasn’t I? In any case, yesterday was exactly the kind of day I wanted and needed, not necessarily in that order. I had a great night’s sleep, got up at ten, answered some e-mails, printed some orders, and went to Gelson’s to get the ingredients for my tuna pasta salad. I then rustled up a big batch and put it in the fridge to get cold. While the tuna pasta salad was chilling, I wrote several pages of the scene I’m working on (David is working on a scene, too). In fact, I’m having fun with this particular scene because it’s set at the Burbank Marriott at one of those celebrity signing shows. Then when the tuna pasta salad was chilled, I put some in a bowl and sat on my couch like so much fish.

Yesterday, I managed to watch three count them three motion pictures on DVD. The first motion picture on DVD was entitled City of Fear, another title from the Columbia volume two film noir set. I’d never seen it before – it stars Vince Edwards as an escaped convict who thinks he’s carrying a metal canister of horse (heroin), when in reality he’s carrying a canister of deadly radioactive cobalt 60. It’s a taut, very good film – not that well written, but wonderfully directed by Irving Lerner, with an interesting score from a very young Jerry Goldsmith. And the LA shots are amazing. I then watched the second motion picture on DVD from the same film noir set, this one entitled The Brothers Rico, from a novel by Georges Simenon. I’d never seen this film either, and I really liked it a lot. First of all, I always love watching Richard Conte, and he’s just terrific in this film. There’s also several really good character actors in the film, especially the always reliable Larry Gates. And the score by George Duning was up to his usual great standards. I then watched the third motion picture on DVD, this one entitled Murder by Contract, also starring Vince Edwards and also directed by Irving Lerner (both of these extremely low budget Lerner films were shot by Lucien Ballard). Of the three movies, this was my favorite – it’s just so low budget and so weird, with a great score for solo guitar by Perry Botkin – Edwards was really good in these two Lerner films, and now I want to see the rest of Lerner’s output (Scorsese is a big fan of Lerner’s and Lerner was the editorial supervisor on New York, New York).

After that, I printed out some more orders, had a couple of lengthy telephonic conversations, and listened to some music. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst I continue to reflect on LA – the city that was.

Today, I have to do an early morning errand and whatnot, after which I’ll finish the scene I’m working on and hopefully print more orders. I have to map out the rest of the week, but I have several meetings and meals to do – that said, today shouldn’t be too too busy, although I do have liner notes to write.

I am looking forward to one meeting in particular, with writers Sam Bobrick and Ron Clark, and our very own Barry Pearl. We’re going to start work on revising a show of theirs, with the object of doing a staged reading in a few months. Since I really like Sam and Ron, this will be fun to work on.

Quick, while there’s still time left – let’s all put on our pointy party hats and our colored tights and pantaloons, let’s all break out the cheese slices and the ham chunks, let’s all dance the Hora or the old-fashioned waltz because today is the birthday of our very own Cillaliz. So, let’s give a big haineshisway.com birthday cheer to our very own Cillaliz. On the count of three: One, two three – A BIG HAINESHISWAY.COM BIRTHDAY CHEER TO OUR VERY OWN CILLALIZ!!!

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do an early morning errand and whatnot, write, write liner notes, hopefully pick up some mail and packages, and then watch more movies – I’m finally making some headway through this huge stack. Today’s topic of discussion: In the city in which you grew up, what places do you miss most of all from you various and sundried childhoods? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland and perchance dream about LA – the city that was.

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