Well, dear readers, what has happened to the Hills of Beverly? I’ve been back to Beverly Hills several times over the last few years, but really only to eat, either at Nate ‘n’ Al’s or Crustacean. What I haven’t done is really take a walk and look around. But after supping at Nate ‘n’ Al’s, which was completely empty, I suppose thanks to the Presidential debate, I took a very long walk and what I saw nauseated me to the core. But before I get to that, let me just say that my New York pastrami sandwich (cole slaw and Russian dressing on rye – pastrami extra lean), was, as always absolutely yummilicious. And I had a side of kishka with it, and that really is the best kishka I’ve ever eaten anywhere. Nate ‘n’ Al’s is located just south of Little Santa Monica Blvd. It is the only building left, I believe, that is original. After my meal, I walked south on Beverly Drive and what I saw was new building and/or storefront after new building and/or storefront, with many of the storefronts sitting empty with For Lease signs sitting on them. The Cheesecake Factory is still there, but I don’t believe there is one business left from before 1970, with the exception of my friend Marsha Kramer’s tobacco shop, which her parents owned since the 1950s at least. Gone are the wonderful bookshops, gone are the record stores, gone are the movie theaters, gone are the mom-and-pop stores, all replaced by big, ugly, faceless buildings.
Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away was a quaint but upscale little village called Beverly Hills. You could walk the three long blocks from Little Santa Monica south to Wilshire and you had wonderful stores to go to, all kinds of stores, none of them chains. You had the beautiful Beverly Theater, the Ontra Cafeteria and it all seemed like a little town – not a big, overdone, overstuffed ball of crap. Canon, one block to the east, was doctor’s offices, other kinds of offices, a drug store, and not so many shops, plus the old Canon movie theater, which, later, became a playhouse, where Forever Plaid and Ruthless! played. One block to the east you had Rodeo Drive, which you have probably heard of and which, ever since the late 1970s, has been what it’s been. Now Rodeo is just one glitzy building after another, each housing a trendy or just ritzy store. I was never a Rodeo Drive person.
When I was a teen, I spent hours and days and weeks hanging out in the Hills of Beverly. I walked there from my house, hung out at Chesterfield Records on Wilshire near Canon (you can read all about this stuff in Kritzer Time) or a little novelty house near to Chesterfield, or the little French bookstore where I used to buy French import soundtrack EPs and albums, or the two bigger bookstores, Martindale’s and I can’t remember the name of the other at the moment. I’d see movies at the Beverly and the Canon and the Stanley Warner Beverly Hills. I’d eat many, many meals at the Ontra Cafeteria until it was torn down. South of Wilshire we had Wil Wright’s Ice Cream Parlour and the Hamburger Hamlet. You didn’t feel out of place in Beverly Hills, because there were no pretentious, bo-toxed, trendily dressed people there – even the occasional movie star just blended in. As kids in the 1950s, it was where we got our clothes (at Rudnick’s) and our shoes. We weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but we could still shop there. And Christmas was really magical, with all the decorations and lights there. It’s barely recognizable in any way now – even the newer buildings that sprung up in the 1970s are now gone and replaced by others. Very occasionally I would pass an original storefront and memories would come flooding back. I hope Nate ‘n’ Al’s never goes away – it’s really the last vestige of what Beverly Hills was.
After walking around for almost two hours, I then went to the Paley Center (located on the southwest corner of Little Santa Monica and Beverly Drive – one of the big bookstores was either right there or just south of there), for a seminar with my pal Richard M. Sherman. I saw him and his lovely wife Elizabeth before the show – Richard told me he was very hoarse. I said hi to our very own Miss Adryan Russ, who was one of the coordinators of the event for the Society of Composers and Lyricists (the SCL), of which I’m now a member. I didn’t really know anyone else there, but met a few folks. The event was fun – mostly Richard singing songs, telling stories, and being his usual charming self. There was a moderator who has done this kind of thing with Richard before – there were some slides and some clips, too. The audience was very appreciative and even though Richard was indeed hoarse, it didn’t really matter. I have been thinking of doing an evening with Richard for LACCTAA, our alumni association for the theater department at LACC – we haven’t done an event in over a year and I really want to get back to doing them regularly. But I thought we might do a Sherman event as a little fund-raiser for the department – in their black-box space, which I think we could sell out easily. It would be a very different kind of evening, though. I’d moderate a chat with Richard, and we’d have either two or three singers doing the Sherman Brothers songs, with Richard only singing a couple of things. If I could pull it together for this year I would, but it would probably just be easier to do it in February of next year.
After the event, they had a little reception. I hung out with Richard and Elizabeth briefly, saw my friend Bonnie Janofsky, who used to do a lot of our music copying back in the heyday of doing albums, and met a few more people.
Prior to all that, I’d been awakened at eight-thirty by hammering and the churning of a cement truck – they are doing more tear downs in the neighborhood and I think this will be going on steadily for the next year – it’s completely sickening. I fell back asleep and got up at ten. I answered e-mails, had telephonic conversations, and began writing the liner notes. I never even had time to go to the mail place. Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really need a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I have a busy morning. I’ll finish liner notes, have a little visit with our very own Mr. Nick Redman, eat, hopefully pick up some packages and no annoying mail, and then we have a long Kritzerland rehearsal, after which I’ll relax.
Tomorrow is busy, and then I’m attending some James Bond film music event at the Academy. I’ll probably get there early and eat at Kate Mantilini’s. Saturday is our stumble-through and I’m not sure if something is happening Saturday evening. Sunday is sound check and show, and then next week I have to get everyone their music for the NEXT Kritzerland show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, finish liner notes, have a visit, eat, hopefully pick up some packages and no annoying mail, rehearse, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Since we had so much fun with hot dogs the other day, let’s do hamburgers – what is your first hamburger memory? What were your favorite burgers when you were growing up? What is the best hamburger you’ve ever had? Where do you like eating hamburgers today (veggie burgers count)? And what are your favorite ways to have a hamburger? Bacon, cheese, ketchup, mustard, thousand island, onions, tomato, lettuce? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland where I shall remember the Hills of Beverly the way it used to be.