Vintage Photo Friday

The Village in Idyllwild

This time of year my mind wanders up the hill to Idyllwild, California. I spent many summers during junior, senior high and early college years at ISOMATA (Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts). I was a camper, then a counselor and art assistant during summer session. Now, the campus is a year-round school.

Camp Couselors, David, Ellen, Sid, 1971

I hadn't seen many of my fellow counselors for years and years, so last summer I started finding old friends (the internets are wonderful). We had a mini-reunion last October and it was fantastic! We all picked up right where we left off 35 years earlier. The friends you make during your formative years are the best and most comfortable to be with. This group of people are my friends for life, even though we don't contact each other that often because of our different paths.

Ellen, Sketching in The Grotto, 1970

I haven't made it up the hill yet this summer. There's a really nice group of knitters and crocheters that I found through Ravelry and met up with last summer. I have to make time to take the short two-hour trip up to Mile-High Idyllwild. The summer is almost over!

More Vintage Photos here.

Calendar

This weekend at the Egyptian Theater, it's a Sunset Strip extravaganza! The show is called "Riot on the Sunset Strip Vol. II: Slight Return (To 1966)" From the website: Author and man-about-town Domenic Priore brings together the roots of Hollywood night life and their eventual tumble into bohemia, folk-rock and the invention of the psychedelic music scene... created here in L.A., folks, not in San Francisco, London or New York. We're going on Friday, possibly Sunday too for Frank Zappa's "Uncle Meat". Groovy.

Looking forward to the new movie, "Julie and Julia"? Well, catch the real deal at the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills...interviews and old shows with Julia Child. I think that casting Meryl Streep in the title role was truly inspired.

The 33rd Annual Festival of the Chariots is this Sunday in Venice Beach. It's an amazing array of East Indian dancing, art, food and crafts. The parade starts at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium at 10 am and parades it's way down to the Beach toward Ocean Front Walk Plaza at Venice Beach.

We've got an open house at Audrey's and Jeff's to attend on Saturday. I'll be bringing some homemade macaroon cookies. I might just tint a few pink for fun! Sunday afternoon, the Sometimes Sunday group is meeting again to get our crochet and knit on!

Have a marvy weekend!

What Are These?

Huh?

We were at Ikea a few weeks ago, looking at headboard ideas for our bedroom. I came across these "sock pillows" in the children's department. What in the world are these used for? I can't imagine that a baby could balance while learning to stand on this thing! Enlighten me, please.

Traipsing around Ikea can be exhausting, so we had to stop in the uber-modern cafeteria for our Swedish meatball lunch. Delicious!

Ikea Cafeteria

Swedish Meatballs w/Gravy, Mashed Potatoes and Lingonberries

Happy Shopper

We saw some interesting headboard options at Ikea. I particularly like this Japanese-inspired wall of wooden slats. Shelves can be inserted for various objects. Interesting idea.

Near our house we spotted an upholstery shop on Pico Boulevard with this FABULOUS tufted Princess headboard in the window. Oooooooooo! It's so Barbie.

Addendum: The lovely and clever Christine found out about those crazy pillows:

From Designer Maria Vinka: “My hands and feet are always cold, which iswhy I bury my feet under a pile of pillows whenI lie on the sofa. The thought struck me that itwould be nice to bury my feet inside the pillow,so they would be totally surrounded by thewarm filling. Once I came up with the idea for BARNSLIG pillow, the only thing to do was tocut holes and sew on cuffs. Then I put extra effortinto decorating the pillows, because I wanted them to look like ordinary decorative pillows as well!”

Sometimes Sunday

Lori, Carol and Julie

I'm part of a Sometimes Sunday crochet group that usually meets at Lori's F's house. It's a small group, usually from 4-8 people. We meet on Sunday afternoons if we can all get together. Like I said, it's a Sometimes Sunday group. We hadn't met for almost a month, since late June. People do get busy. Lori and her hub are remodeling their kitchen, so I offered to host the group this past Sunday. Four of us showed up: Lori, Carol, Julie and me. Even so, we had a lively time. Lori and Carol crocheted. Julie worked on a beautiful cross-stitch canvas and I knit a bit.

Lori's Spectacular Cotton Hexagon Afghan

I couldn't keep my hands of the beautiful Mochi Plus yarn that Mary Jo gave me for my birthday! I had to start working on the "Heartbeat" slipover. Yes, I'm almost finished with the orange Ella Rae Kasbah slipover too!
It's rather relaxing to sit and craft with friends on a Sunday. It certainly beats doing chores around the house!

Tiki @ The Egyptian

Saturday was the fifth annual Tiki-Thon at the American Cinematheque...otherwise known as the Enchanted Tiki Weekend. Due to Comic-Con this weekend, the turnout was rather sparse.

Vendors

Fine with me...easier to park...less crowds...better sightlines. The crowd skewed much older than in past years too. Everyone seemed to be having a great time though!

Fans

I always love going to the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. It has been beautifully restored and it's always a joy to see a movie there. After viewing the wares of the many vendors and a great set of Hawaiian-inspired songs by King Kukulele and the Friki Tikis, we went into the theater to see some great short movies and "scope-tones" which were the music videos of the 50's and 60's. Highly entertaining.

Excellent Hawaiian Shirts

The feature that night was "Devil at 4 O'Clock" with Spencer Tracy and Frank Sinatra. This was a pretty good ol' time movie with some very believable volcano disaster scenes. Barbara Luna was the ingenue in the movie. She was at the screening and held a question and answer period before the screening. Of course, I remember Luna as "Maria," Cord Roberts' mother on my soap, "One Life to Live" in the 80's. She still looks great.

Fan with Plush Tiki

You might consider joining the American Cinematheque. They have screenings in Hollywood at the Egyptian Theater and in Santa Monica at the Aero Theater. Many of the events are really interesting.

Vintage Photo Friday

Vera & Moishe Bloom (my great-grandparents)

My Grandma Ethel passed away in 1962; my Grandpa Lawrence passed away in 1965. My Dad captured most of the old photo albums from his parents' house when he and my uncles were clearing everything out in '65. These photos are from an album that Grandma put together with her family's photos and also my Grandfather's family photos. Some of the locations are in Russia, some in the United States. All are from the late 1890's to the early and mid-1900's. I can recognize many of the people in the photos, but some are lost to history. I should really take this album over to my Uncle Mort's house (he's 92) and ask him who some of these people are.

Fuel-Efficient Family Vehicle

The man in the middle, wearing the derby looks like my Grandfather. I'm not sure who all the beauties in bustles and hats are!
Grandma Ethel's parents owned a kosher hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The photo album that all of these pictures are contained in has a molting, suede-like finish with a handpainted flower on the front. Etched letters declare this a photo album for "snap shots". On the back, "Atlantic City Hadassah." The Hadassah organization was founded in 1912. You can read a bit about it here.
More Vintage Photos here. Have a great weekend!

Calendar

Photo from Layer Cake Shop

"Hot town, summer in the city, back of my neck gettin' dirty and gritty..." John Sebastian and the Lovin' Spoonful said it all. It's hot, hot, hot here in Los Angeles. Your best bet is to either stay inside in an air-conditioned environment (movies), next to and inside a swimming pool or go to the beach.

I must be a glutton for punishment, because I won't be doing any of those things to stay cool!

Friday night at the Echoplex in Echo Park, there's a memorial tribute to Sky Saxon. Sky passed away within days of Michael Jackson. Sky's band, The Seeds, was an influential rock band during the 1960's here in Los Angeles...one of Mr. Larry's FAVORITE bands!

On Saturday, I'm having breakfast somewhere in our steamy downtown L.A. with Christine. Later in the afternoon I'll be heading out to cooler Santa Monica for the Fairview Knitters SnB from 3:30-5:30.

Saturday night is special! In fact, this event starts on Friday night. It's the Enchanted Tiki Weekend Blowout at the American Cinematheque! We're skipping the luau dinner in the courtyard of the historic Egyptian Theater, but we'll be at the movies, wearing our Aloha outfits!

Gertrude Berg in TV's "The Goldbergs"

A new documentary is debuting in Los Angeles this weekend, "Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg." From the L.A. Times: "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg," directed by Aviva Kempner and opening Friday, chronicles the life of seminal writer-actress Gertrude Berg, who created the first sitcom, "The Goldbergs," in 1949. Of course, I've seen clips of this show...it's a hoot. My parents thought it was hilarious. I'm looking forward to seeing the documentary...maybe I'll take Mom.

The Original Farmers Market is still celebrating it's 75th anniversary. There's always live music on the weekends at my favorite place in L.A.

If you feel so inclined to drive down to San Diego, this weekend is Comic-Con.
Maybe I'll run into you around town this weekend?

One More WIP

Ella Rae Kasbah - Summer Slipover

WIP = Work In Progress. I'm loaded with these. I love to start projects. After working on them for awhile, I lose interest and they become WIPs, sitting in totebags around the house. I know you have some of these too!!

It's hot, I need some summer tops. Of course, I should have started working on summer tops in the winter and fall, not in the middle of summer. Luckily, summer lasts a very long time in Los Angeles. It doesn't start getting cool until middle or late October.

Last year, Mary Jo gave me some Ella Rae Kasbah Aran weight yarn. I love it. It's orangey. It's 51% cotton, 49% acrylic. I picked up my size 6 circs and cast on 76 stitches. I worked in the round, purling for the neckline for about 6 rows; switched to size 8 circs, worked in stockinet for 5 rows (increasing for sleeves every other row in my usual top-down method), switched to size 9 circs, purled one row. I continued the ridgey pattern for the yoke; held the sleeve stitches when they were the proper size and joined the body.

Sleeve Increase Detail and Ridgey Yoke

Now I'm doing boring stockinet stitch for the remainder of the slipover. I may do some sort of lacy border at the bottom of the piece. Later, I'll pick up the sleeve stitches and make them a bit longer. Hopefully, I'll finish this before the end of summer. Then, I can get back to some of my other WIPs!

Thank you!

Flowers from my Brother and Sis-in-law

My birthday celebrations are almost over. I still have a couple of dinners and breakfasts with friends, but the day has passed and I'm thankful. I'm thankful for all of my thoughtful friends, co-workers and relatives who gifted me with their presence and presents! I LOVE everything, especially the thought that was behind your gifts. I am so fortunate to have so many considerate people in my life.

As I get older, I realize just how important friends and family are. Remember that old Girl Scout song we used to sing in a round as kids, "Make new friends, but keep the old....one is silver and the other gold." How true.

Here are a few highlights from my birthday extravaganza-a-rama-a-go-go! Again, thank you all.

I Am Moonchild

Today, July 20th is a memorable date in our nation's history. This is the day that astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins landed on the moon in 1969, piloting the spacecraft, Apollo 11.
It's also my birthday.
Usually, on my birthday, I'm taken out to dinner. In 1969, my parents treated me to birthday dinner at that venerable Scandinavian restaurant on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles, Scandia. It was made even more special by having little TV sets placed all around the restaurant so patrons could view the moon landing while nibbling on open-faced shrimp sandwiches and Veal Oskar. I do remember how awed we all were to see and hear Armstrong as he walked around in the vast openess that is the moon's surface.
For the past few days I've been celebrating with friends and family. I will continue to celebrate as long as the moon shines in our beautiful Los Angeles sky!

Sunday Brunch

Vintage Photo Friday

Roxbury Park, Beverly Hills, 1956

It's birthday time again. Above is a picture of one of my childhood birthday parties at Roxbury Park in Beverly Hills. That's me in the center, looking at Dad, taking the photo, waving. From left to right, my cousin, Amie (wearing glasses), Aunt Frances (looking gorgeous), me (with the bottom half of Grandma Freda behind me), Margie Bovill, my cousin, Barbara, Mark Borden (standing) and the back of my brother, Ken (wearing a paper party hat).
Since I was only 4 in this photo, I hadn't started school yet, so all of the guests at the party were either relatives or kids of my parents' friends. Roxbury Park was the scene of many of my birthday parties. We lived in a duplex one block away on Bedford Drive. Our backyard was non-existent, so the Park served as our play space. It was great. There were open areas to run around, a playground, areas of trees to climb that we called the "jungle", a barbecue area with picnic tables, tennis courts, basketball courts, a recreation center and the lawn bowling course. Once, I spotted Walt Disney in the Lawn Bowling area.
Roxbury Park is much the same today. Some of the buildings have been updated and changed. A few of the tennis courts are gone.....so is the "jungle." I drive by the park all the time. It's on the corner of Roxbury and Olympic, just east of Century City on the edge of Beverly Hills. I hadn't actually been in the park in years, so about a month ago, I parked and walked around the grounds. It's still a great place to hang out, sit and knit a bit, read or just stroll the walkways. When I was a kid I thought this park was absolutely huge. Now, I realize it's small. We call this "kid-vision." Even though it is a petite park, it's still large on atmosphere.
Have a great summer weekend. I certainly plan to enjoy myself!
More Vintage Photos here.

Calendar

I officially started celebrating my July 20th birthday last night. My cousins, Amie and Carol took me to dinner at Hurry Curry on Sawtelle Blvd. in the Westside's version of Little Tokyo. I call the area Mini-Tokyo. We managed to stroll the Boulevard a bit and check out some of the great little shops. Dinner was delicious....I'll review the restaurant at a later date.
As we were walking down the street, my cousin Carol related a long-forgotten story to me about our grandmother, Ethel Bloom and this area of Sawtelle. By the time WW II rolled around, the Bloom family was living on the westside of Los Angeles near Barrington and Pico. Ethel was a realtor. Most of the Sawtelle area consisted of little shops and nurseries owned and operated by Japanese. Ethel had friends and business associates in this area. When many of the Japanese were moved to internment camps during the war, my grandmother "held" a few properties in the area for some of her Japanese friends so they wouldn't lose their property to the government. After the war, she "sold" these properties back to the families that owned them. Ethel Bloom was an admirable woman!
So, even though I'll be doing various things with other people in my life this weekend to celebrate my upcoming birthday, I will give myself some time to check out a few events happening around town this weekend.
Modernica is having its huge warehouse sale. OMG! They have the best modern furniture EVER! This is their 20th anniversary sale and it should really be fantastic.
This week the Original Farmers Market is celebrating its 75th anniversary with various activities. Today (Thursday) is a big day, with a giant cake and birthday card shaped like the famous clock tower. There will be live music all day too! I'll be there later today for the WeHo SnB. I'm meeting up with some of the goils early in the evening to have dinner at the ever popular Dupar's Restaurant, the cornerstone of the Market!
July 20th, 1969 was the day that Apollo 11 landed and Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to walk on the moon....on MY birthday! It was very exciting. There are a number of exhibits, lectures, etc. at the Griffith Park Observatory to commemorate this historic event.

Really Working

I'm on vacation from my day job for a few days. I really like my job, the company where I work and the people I work with. I like sitting at my desk, doing my clerical chores, of filing, answering phones, preparing documents along with cruisin' the web in a nice, air-conditioned setting. I have accumulated too many vacation days. I really have to use them. So, I decided to take off a few days surrounding my b-day, which is Monday.
I'm having a tiny b-day brunch on Sunday with a few of my knitster friends. If you read my blog you know that we've been doing some remodeling this year. Our house is chaos. There are bins and piles of stuff in the living and dining rooms that don't belong there. We're slowly re-organizing and clearing things out. There is lots of caulking, touching-up and hanging of paintings to be done. There's nothing like having a little get-together to push us to get everything in order.
So, today, tomorrow and Friday I'll REALLLLLLY be working! Some vacation, huh?

Cooking - The Easy Way

I've been following the Twitter feed for Cooking with TJ for awhile now. The blog is also fabulous, sharing new recipes. The two women responsible for this blog and for the new "Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's" are Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati. I frequent at least three different T.J.'s around the City and none of the stores stock the cookbook! This is rather unfortunate, as I believe the best marketing strategy for the sale of this cookbook would be to pile a bunch of them at the checkout counter.

I've been talking about the blog and the cookbook for a few weeks now. My cube-mate (and frequent Ravelry knit and crochet model), Jessica gave me the new cookbook as an early b-day gift today!! Woo Hoo! I've been looking at all the recipes and making a list of what to pick up on my way home tonight at Trader Joe's.

One main dish favorite is "Go Go Mango Chicken." All you need is three ingredients: 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts; 1 (12 oz.) jar Pineapple Salsa; and 1-1/2 cups frozen Mango Chunks or frozen Tropical Fruit Trio. Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place chicken breasts in a baking dish, cover with salsa, top with mango chunks (don't thaw fruit). Lightly drape with aluminum foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until chicken is done.

How easy is that? My favorite kind of recipe!

So far, one of the yummiest sounding recipes and inventive desserts is "Honey, I Ate the Chocolate Bread Pudding." The ingredients include Whole Wheat Honey Bread; Brownie Truffle Baking Mix and some milk. You'll have to buy the book to get this divine recipe for yourself! Here's another review of this book. It seems that the authors have no affiliation with Trader Joe's, they just wanted to create a cookbook for busy people who shop at Trader Joe's.

Thank you, Jessica.

Boosting the Economy

Lenise, Rhoda, Jewelry

On Saturday, my friend Rhoda and I did our part to boost the economy....or at least Lenise's economy! Our friend, Lenise has a little side business where she helps people prioritize their belongings. She also helps with estate sales, etc. She offered to give us first shot at purchasing a bit of the estate jewelry that she has acquired. WOW! What a haul!!!

Vintage Earrings

We met at Lenise's place on Saturday at noon. Rhoda and I (along with Lenise's friend, Ian) tried on all kinds of vintage costume jewelry. It was like playing dress-up when we were little girls. There were some very unusual pieces.

We were so overwhelmed after about an hour-plus of shopping, that we had to walk around the corner and break for lunch at Jan's Coffee Shop in West Hollywood. Jan's is a classic coffee shop with many dining choices. I particularly like places when they have photographs of the food on the menu. The owners of Jan's also own The Astro in Silverlake, a lovely example of Googie architecture by the famous architects, Armet & Davis.

Ian in her disturbin' turban (right) @ Jan's

Classic Diet Plate

California Turkey Melt

Anyway, after we had a delicious lunch, we walked back to Lenise's house with clear heads, full stomachs and were ready to decide about our jewelry purchases.

Ian rocked all of the dangling gold animal pendants

I must say, I happened upon some very unusual pieces and am extremely pleased. This was an early b-day gift to myself! Thanks Lenise!