"I must see a Beatle" - Paul at the Hollywood Bowl

Paul McCartney at the Hollywood Bowl, March 30, 2010

back of photo reads "Hannah Miller, Hollywood Bowl Nov, 1948"

When I was 6 years old, the night before a planned trip to Disneyland I would never sleep. I would be up at 5am ready to go while my parents would still be in bed hours away from a departure time to Anaheim. Well into my forties now, I had that same feeling awaiting to see Paul McCartney at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday Night. I still get up at 5am as part of my daily ritual of getting ready for work, dog walking and catching public transportation to my job. As an adult in the working world I found the day to go by quickly and at 4:30pm my journey to the Bowl commenced. Arriving promptly at Hollywood and Highland at 7pm via the Red Line and making the short walk up to the Bowl, I was finally seated at 7:30ish despite “Beatle, People, Scalper and Traffic Mania” at the front gate. As a side commentary, if one is a young and/or able bodied person and needs a shuttle to go from Hollywood and Highland to the Bowl, then I would really hate to see what your bathroom looks like.
The show started at 8:30 rather than the 7:30 ticket time which is now very common for a concert in the congested City of the Angeles. With his longish hair, Paul looked like the vintage 1974 Wings Paul, very incredible for a 67 year old rock icon. The show did not disappoint, with Paul digging into his extensive Beatles, Wings and solo catalogue for a rich two hour plus show. Highlights included paying tribute to those no longer with him; Linda McCartney (My Love), George Harrison (Something), John Lennon (Give Peace a Chance) and an instrumental version of Hendrix’s Foxy Lady paying tribute to his late friend, as Paul jammed on the familiar riff using his Lefty Les Paul. I have never seen Paul before but I have seen Bruce Springsteen many times, and Paul shared candid stories before many of his songs much like Bruce does. Stories included how Jimi Hendrix was playing Sgt. Peppers live at his own shows just two days after the Beatles released it, how the elements of Blackbird were written in a touching story with George, never being able to say the things he wanted to say to John with Here Today, bringing out the original guitar he used to record Paperback Writer and of course how the Fab Four played the Bowl back in 1965. Sharing the stage with him were four incredible musicians, Rusty Anderson, Brian Ray, Abe Laboreil Jr and Paul Wickens and they ruled the stage climaxed by a pyrotechnics display during Live and Let Die. My favorites of the evening were Blackbird, All My Loving, Jet, Something (with Paul on a Gibson Ukulele, a gift from George) and I Got A Feeling from Let it Be, where they rocked the house with Paul on the Lefty Gibson once again. Although everyone expected him to be there, Ringo Starr was not in the house.
The encore included, Day Tripper, Lady Madonna, Get Back, Yesterday, Helter Skelter and Sgt. Peppers with all 5 musicians looking as if they could play into the morning hours. “I must see a Beatle” as my friend Mike L recently put it and now I have finally seen one. If you want to experience this you must hurry though, as time and our choices (only 2 left) are running out. Paul plays again tonight at the Hollywood Bowl, don’t miss it. Thanks Paul for an incredible and memorable evening.

The Googie Gods

photo courtesy of http://www.you-are-here.com

Googie Architecture: A form of futuristic atomic architecture that originated in Southern California in the early 1940s. Although biased with restaurants and coffee shops and spurred by California car culture, its style can be seen in many other forms including motels, bowling alleys, liquor stores, car washes and casinos.

In a rare field assignment for my job today, I boarded the 740 bus at Union Station and traveled to the end of the line at 182nd street and Hawthorne. Once we past the Broadway Theatre district and Exposition Park, we ventured into a series of Los Angeles neighborhoods that I have rarely, if ever have visited in my 46 years in Los Angeles. Neighborhoods such as Arlington Park, Leimert Park, Crenshaw Manor, Angles Mesa, Hyde Park, and The Crenshaw District. Of note on my trip was the cornerstone of the Crenshaw District, the 1947 Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza with its shades of art deco architecture. Also of interest was Leimert Park, a famous jazz and literary community that hosts many events each year to promote music, literature and the arts. Leimert Park was featured in the Michael Mann film Collateral and was also the neighborhood where the body of Elizabeth Short was found, in the now famous and still unsolved Black Dahlia Murder case of 1947.
The jewel of this trip occurred as we traveled south down Hawthorne Blvd and approached 120th street. Through the hazy windows of the bus, an image appeared in the form of an original Chips Coffee Shop. This magnificent example of Googie Architecture stood in an almost undisturbed state as it has since its maiden pot of coffee was brewed 53 years ago. Built in 1957 by Mr. Harry Harrison, an architect who later worked with famed modernist architect Richard Neutra, it has somehow been saved by the Googie Gods and not rendered into a commercial strip mall eyesore. With its three distinct pylons and its mesh background floating the letters

"C h i p s", it called out my name but I could not jump out of a moving bus to capture its atomic green façade on film. In the interim, I have posted a photo and given full credit to its owner, but soon I will be traveling to Hawthorne to enter the time capsule of the Chips Coffee Shop.

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For an interesting read on Googie Architecture pick up a copy of GOOGIE REDUX by Alan Hess.

Jim Marshall - Photographer of the Rock Gods

b/w 3200 speed photo by El Niño Angeleno - John Lennon Memorial, Hollywood, CA 2003

photo courtesy of Jim Marshall - The Beatles Candlestick Park - San Francisco, CA 1966

If I ever had a dream job it would have been that of “Photographer of the Rock Gods”, such as Jim Marshall had from the time he first picked up a Leica camera in 1959 up until his death this week at age 74. By chance one day in 1959, he photographed jazz legend John Coltrane as he was asking for directions to Berkley and soon thereafter Jim realized his calling in life. He photographed many of the greats including The Stones, Dylan, Janis, Jimi Hendirx, The Allman Brothers, The Who, Johnny Cash, Miles Davis and the Beatles. He had the good fortune of not only being back stage during the shows and the glamour, but also photographing them when they were doing all of the mundane things we all do as mortals such as eating breakfast, sitting in a lounge chair or “flipping the bird” in anger. Many of the iconic images of musicians and music festivals that you may have seen in magazines, posters and album covers were captured by Jim and his Leica Rangefinder throughout the years. His most recognizable image is that of the Beatles entering Candlestick Park in 1966 for their final concert.

In 2004 I entered a photo contest sponsored by Leica Cameras. When I found out that Jim Marshall would be one of the judges, I strategically submitted one of my black and white photographs of a young woman lighting a candle to John Lennon’s star on the walk of fame during the annual John Lennon Memorial. I was not as much interested in the grand prize (a new Leica M7) but rather the opportunity to meet Jim Marshall, show him some of my work and possibly chat about those great photo sessions of The Beatles and Johnny Cash. Although I received an email informing me I was one of the finalists, I never heard back from them again. The winner was a photo student who had traveled to the mountains of Turkey and had photographed a group of centenarian women spinning yarn. I just jumped on the Red Line subway to Vine Street and walked up to Capitol Records for my photograph of the Lennon Memorial. Rest in Peace Jim, you are now with many of the rock gods you captured on good old fashioned Film.

No greenbacks for City of Los Angeles St. Patrick's Day Parade

photo on b/w film by El Niño Angeleno

I went to the customary place where the City of Los Angeles hosts its annual St. Paddy's Day Parade on Main Street next to the Olvera Street Plaza but there was no parade to be found. I confirmed on KTLA.com that it was scrapped due to budget woes and added to the list of budget crisis casualties for 2010. To finish off my afternoon in a truly unmemorable way, I had the absolute worst corned beef and cabbage of all time for lunch. Photo is from the 2009 parade.

Willie Davis - Los Angeles Dodger great 1940-2010

photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times

Willie Davis probably one of the greatest athletes to wear a Los Angeles Dodger uniform passed away on March 9th in Burbank at the age of 69. Willie, nick-named the “Three Dog” was a multi-talented gold glover winner and was part of those glorious championship teams of the 1960s along with Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Maury Wills. After graduating from Roosevelt High School in East Los Angeles in 1958, Willie played for the Dodgers until 1973 and still holds a few Dodger records today including that illustrious 31 game hitting streak in 1969. Along with many great players from that era, Willie never made much money playing professional baseball, so after his playing days were over he made a few bad decisions from time to time which led to brushes with the law and erratic behavior. We have all made bad decisions in our lives, Willie just happened to get the spotlight as he was a former professional baseball player from Los Angeles.

Willie Davis was the first Dodger I can recall who made an impact on me from those early Dodger games we would attend in 1971, 1972 and 1973. Rest in Peace # 3 and I will always see you in center field at Dodger Stadium.

Angels Flight returns to Bunker Hill

Grand Reopening March 15, 2010

Grand Central Market across the street serving Angelenos since 1917.

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Angels Flight, the funky funicular that transported Angelenos from the top of Bunker Hill down to the Hill Street Grand Central Market is back in operation again after a nine year absence. Built in 1901, it operated problem free up until 1969 when it was dismantled and put into storage while waves of gentrification were transforming Bunker Hill from an area of transients and boarding house drifters to the of high rise condos we see today. In 1996 most of the original parts including the two cars (Sinai and Olivet) and the archway were pulled out of storage and mounted onto a newly designed track and haulage system just a half block south of its original location.

Operation ran smoothly up until a 2001 accident which resulted in the fatality of an 83 year old tourist when one of the cars broke loose and smashed into the oncoming second car. After a lengthy NTSB investigation, both Sinair and Olivet were repaired and returned to the tracks and testing of the funicular began in the Fall of 2008. The Public Utilities Commission approved the safer design of Angels Flight and operation was welcomed back to Bunker Hill on March 15, 2010.

Bunker Hill is regularly featured in the writings of Charles Bukowski and John Fante and Angels Flight can bee seen in several films including the Glen Miller Story starring Jimmy Stewart and episodes of Dragnet starring Belmont High School graduate Jack Webb. In my one and only venture into the film making business in 1996, I used Angels Flight in my Super Hi-8 short film which took third place at the PCC film festival. Someday I may dust it off for a digital transfer but I have to warn you, “it ain’t pretty”. For a great film experience that features the funky funicular and Bunker Hill, check out a recently restored film by the UCLA Film Archive called The Exiles. Shot in 1961 by Kent MacKenzie, The Exiles chronicles the lives of several native Americans who leave the reservation in the 1950s and take up residence in Bunker Hill. The DVD also features an interesting 1956 documentary on this historic downtown Los Angeles area.

I like Ike - Who wouldn’t have liked Ike?

President Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower, January 1953
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“I like Ike“ was the presidential campaign slogan for General Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower in 1952. Who wouldn’t have liked Ike? He was the man in his day and had more impressive titles than any other person in mid-century America. Being “Tight with Ike” meant that you ran with the in crowd at the Pentagon.

Among the many titles he held in his career:

Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Military Governor of the American Occupation Zone in Germany
Five Star General of the Army
Commanding General European Theater of Operations (ETOUSA)
Supreme Commander Allied (Expeditionary) Force of the North African Theater of Operations (NATOUSA)
Commander in Chief
President of the United States
President of Columbia University

More than likely he was also President of the local chapters of the Elks Club, the Rotary Club and Supreme Commander of the PTA. He was even a real estate broker as he brought in a couple extra states for us (Hawaii and Alaska) to make it a nice even number of 50. I am sure Ike never had a problem getting a table at his favorite nightclub back then. A conversation with the maitre d' would have gone like this: “You remember that D-Day invasion at Normandy back in ’44? well, I was in charge of that whole operation, now how about a table for two right next to Sinatra and Brando."

The snapshot in this post was taken in January 1953 during his inauguration parade back in a time when we could get close enough to capture a candid moment in history without the fantastic telephoto lens. Thanks to the actions of Squeaky Fromme, John Hinckley, Sirhan Sirhan, Mark David Chapman and the fictional Travis Bickle (from Taxi Driver) the whole up close and personal feel to these events is a thing of the past. In June of 1968 we were living on Beverly and Kenmore in Los Angeles about a mile north east of the Ambassador Hotel when Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed in the pantry of the hotel. I don’t remember a thing since I was about 4 years old but years later at a neighborhood reunion party, a neighbor from that time recalled hearing the small caliber gunshots that day from several blocks away, through Wilshire Blvd traffic and from the inside of his apartment. We just poured him another Johnnie Walker on the rocks and humored him.

An early episode of the sitcom Happy Days had the Fonz character played by Henry Winkler endorsing Ike in the 1956 re-election campaign. The Fonz gave a quick speech at a rally that went like this: “I like Ike, my bike likes Ike….heeeeey”. The Fonz gave Dwight Eisenhower his two thumbs up approval that night and the rest of America soon followed.

Los Angeles Rams Legend – Merlin Olsen dies at 69.

photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
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Merlin Olsen the legendary Los Angeles Rams NFL hall of famer, actor, broadcaster and the FTD florist spokesman has passed away at age 69. Merlin who spent his entire professional career in Los Angeles was the 1974 NFL MVP and a member of the “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line in the 1960s. He was also one of the first athletes that made the successful transition from the sports stage to the acting stage playing Jonathan Garvey on NBC’s Little House of the Prairie and later staring in his own show, Father Murphy. A native of Logan Utah and a longtime resident of San Marino California, Merlin was a big gentle giant who never lost his temper. When I think of Los Angeles sports icons there are three names that come to mind; Sandy Koufax, Jerry West and Merlin Olsen.

Bobby Espinosa, founding member of El Chicano has died at 60

El Chicano 1970

Bobby Espinosa founding member and keyboardist for El Chicano passed away in Boyle Heights last week at age 60. El Chicano from East Los Angeles along with other bands of that era such as Tierra combined a creative blend of pop, funk, Latin Soul and R&B to create that unique sound of 1970’s Eastside Los Angeles. El Chicano scored two top 40 hits with “Viva Tirado” and “Tell Her She’s lovely” in the early 1970s. When I hear “Tell Her She’s Lovely” today on K-EARTH 101 it reminds me of my older brother driving us to school in the classic Chevy Nova. Bobby was born here in Los Angeles and came from a family that was very passionate about music and creativity. We will miss you Bobby.

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"Tell Her She's Lovely" on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H74UVW9-m-o&feature=fvw

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For a history of Chicano Rock n' Roll in Southern California check out the book "Land of a Thousand Dances" by David Reyes and Tom Waldman.

The Dingbat - The 1950s Southern California Apartment Complex

A Dingbat ornament at the Harmony Terrace - Silverlake, CA

The outline of a missing Dingbat (upper left) - South Pasadena, CA

“Stifle Dingbat” was a term of endearment so to speak that Archie Bunker would say to Edith Bunker when he wanted command of their conversations in the Queens, New York based sitcom, All in the Family. The term Dingbat is also very prominent in Southern California culture and as you drive through sections of Santa Monica, Culver City, Hollywood, South Pasadena and in neighborhoods such as St. Andrews Square, Koreatown, and Little Armenia you will definitely see a Dingbat or the remains of one. Apartment buildings built in the 1950s in Southern California were just big stucco hat boxes adorned with palm trees and modern style decorations and letterings with kitschy names such as the Gower Arms or the Ambassador Gardens. These decorations were made of inexpensive metals and were usually in the form of a sunburst and somehow the buildings were coined “Dingbats“ from this. “Want to come over to my Dingbat for a drink?” after a night out on the town would be amusing today. These apartment buildings housed the thousands who flocked to post war Southern California in search of jobs, stardom and of course better weather. Over the course of time, many of these starburst ornaments have been removed, have fallen off, or have succumbed to the elements and have never been replaced. I am assuming replacing a cheap metal sunburst decoration on the façade of the building is on the bottom of a landlord’s to-do list, thus bringing more meaning to the term, “Stifle Dingbat” and gone forever.

Jamie Escalante, L.A. teacher from Stand and Deliver fighting cancer.

Photo Courtesy of Dept of Special Collections/UCLA Library.

Jamie Escalante the Bolivian born educator who gained famed in the early 1980’s as the Advanced Placement Calculus teacher at Los Angeles Garfield High School is battling cancer and his family has run out of money to pay for his cancer treatments. The story of Jamie Escalante and Garfield High School is depicted in the 1988 film Stand and Deliver staring Edward James Almos, Lou Diamond Phillips and Andy Garcia. In 1982, 18 of Mr. Escalante’s students passed the Advanced Placement Calculus exam and the results of the tests were questioned because each of the 18 students made the exact same error. More than likely because they were all taught the same techniques by the same teacher as noted in the film. 14 students were asked to retake the exam and the 12 that agreed to do so passed the second time. The number of Garfield students that passed the AP calculus exam continued to rise each year until Mr. Escalante left Garfield High School in 1991. The cast members from Stand and Deliver are currently raising money to help pay for his medical bills. Edward James Almos portrays Mr. Escalante in this touching film that showcases period Los Angeles in the early 1980’s.

Please get well Mr. Escalante.