Still There

So much of Los Angeles is being torn down. A great comfort to me is when I drive down streets where I grew up and see buildings that are still standing! One such building is below!

Freda and Sam Katz, Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, 1956

341-343 South Elm Drive, Beverly Hills. My grandfather, Sam Katz, built this apartment building in 1955. Jules Salkin was the architect. Salkin (a close friend of my Dad's) was one of the architects instrumental in the founding and designing of the legendary Crestwood Hills project in Brentwood.
Grandpa built this apartment after selling their home on Beverwil Drive in Beverly Hills. I remember the owner's apartment, upstairs, being very large and spacious. Since there are three addresses at this building, I'm assuming that the owner's apartment is the entire second floor and that there are two apartments downstairs.
The building looks much the same today, except that the decorative grill-work on the front is gone and the plants have grown up a bit. Also, there are apartment buildings on either side of the Katz residence instead of single family homes. This is a building for the ages. It still looks great! Good design is good design.

341-343 So. Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, 2010, Google Maps Photo

This building is one block south of Beverly Vista Elementary School. When we were young, my cousin Janet and I would walk to Grandma's and Grandpa's place after school most days for snacks and to hang-out until one of our mother's picked us up.....built-in baby sitters!
Below, after Grandma and Grandpa returned from a trip to Hawaii with goodies for all, my brother, Ken and I model our Hawaiian togs with Mom in the middle, in front of that very same apartment building.

Modeling our new Hawaiian togs, Ellen, Roz and Ken Bloom, Elm Dr., Beverly Hills, 1956

These days of Quarantine, we're not supposed to travel far from our neighborhoods except for groceries and other necessities.  I find it necessary to just get out and drive around to see what's going on in the neighborhood. This is essential for my mental health!! Hope you are doing OK during this time of sheltering.

Trolling for Patterns

In this time of quarantine, I like to pass the time by trolling the Ravelry "new patterns" section often. I always find it inspirational to see what other folks are knitting, crocheting and designing. This is a perfect procrastination project, trolling for patterns, much like the actual knitting and/or crocheting of projects! Instead of doing something useful like cleaning, cooking or organizing my closets, it only appears that I'm being useful by producing yarny objects. Most of the time, these yarny objects are not necessary, but they're usually so soft and adorable!

Here are a few patterns that have caught my interest. Click on the titles to be re-directed to the patterns:

Market Day Bag

Panda Ski Mask. All that's needed is a filter behind the mouth/nose section to qualify as a Covid-19/Corona Mask for this season

Charleston Hat.  This hat is knit AND crochet!

Eckstein Sweater

Bright Chevron Dishcloth 

San Francisco Purse

During the warmer weather I will try to concentrate on smaller projects. Having a sweater or afghan on my lap during hot weather is not a pleasant practice of procrastination!

Easter 2020

My Online Easter Ensemble, 2020

Easter Sunday was very different this year. Usually, we are feasting at Carol's and Thane's home for their traditional Orphan's Easter Party. They have been holding this delightful event for over 35 years. We missed seeing the gang, but we substituted with some other celebrations, sheltering at home, during this season of Covid-19/Corona Virus.

This Easter I wore my big, orange Church Lady hat with matching ensemble. I have been crocheting these little Peeps Easter bunnies. My crafty friend, Suzette went one better and added her crocheted and knitted items to her Easter bonnet, SO CUTE!

Suzette's Easter Bonnet with bunnies and chicks!

Suzette also photographed her adorable crocheted bunnies in her garden. Those yarny Peeps look almost good enough to eat!

Suzette's Crocheted Bunny Peeps

At 12:30 the KnitGrrlz aka Squirrel Troop #2020 met on Zoom to celebrate MaryJo's birthday AND Easter. We were informed by the Troop Leader, Ms. Natalie of Hollywood, to dress in a festive manner!  Alyson suggested that our Easter Ensembles for next year incorporate some or all of these amazing crocheted outfits found on the innernets! We'd better get busy! Those are 3-piece crocheted togs!

We all toned it down a bit!

Natalie had on some festive jewelry, Larry had on his exciting wrestling mask, MaryJo had on an alluring necklace, Alyson was all cozy in flannel, Brit was Brit and Darcy outdid herself with her divine floral chapeau!

Carla and Daisy joined us from Houston!

We had a lot of laughs, drank tea and adult beverages with snacks. It's always fun hanging out with my good buddies and their pets!

Baxter and Alyson 

Natalie and CoCo 

Tillie Yamashita was having a grand time!

Birthday Girl, MaryJo and Darcy in her delightful Easter garb!

Who wore it better? Darcy Doll or Camilla?

Happy Easter and Passover to my family and friends. Hope you had a good celebration.

Pretend Passover

I'm so sad that we cannot hold our huge family Passover Seder this year due to the Covid-19 Corona Virus pandemic. There are usually 25-30 of us gathered at my cousin's home. We cook and cook for days in advance. We drag out the old Haggadahs, music, dishes, silver goblets and Pesach plates for the event. It's a lot of work, but such a fun time.

Tropical Matzoh House Decoration

This year, it's just me and Larry in our little breakfast room, sheltering together. It's better than nothing. I'll be making matzoh ball soup, roast chicken, farfel pilaf and some steamed broccoli. Larry's not a big lover of macaroons, so we'll just have some Matzoh Crack for dessert. Matzoh Crack is matzoh, covered in chocolate and chopped pecans, hardened.

Knitted and Felted Matzoh Ball Soup by Tikkun Knits

Over the years I've threatened to knit and/or crochet some of the symbolic foods for the Pesach Plate. I might just make a few of these for this week:

Traditional Seder Plate, Knitted

There's a LOT of matzoh used during the dinner. Better to have a nice, open container for the matzoh on the table, easy to reach!

Matzoh Holder Pattern

There's even patterns to represent all of the plagues that the Jews suffered during the Passover Story:

The Ten Plagues: water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the killing of firstborn children

Years ago, when we first started holding our family Seders at home, I compiled a family Haggadah using excerpts from our classic Temple Beth Am Haggadah, online references and other popular pieces.  I typed it out like a script so that when we go around the table, reciting the old story, everyone has a part.

I even found many song parodies online relating to Passover! We're a musical family, so singing is the best part! REALLY, check out the link to the song parodies. There are Broadway show tunes, current popular tunes, Beatles tunes and more! They are hilarious (and possibly solemn too).

Yes, I will miss my extended family tonight, the first night of Pesach, but I look forward to our gatherings in the future. Chat Pesach Sameach!   

To see an album of our past gatherings, click HERE. 

Quarantine Knit Show

Thanks to my knit friend Mary for suggesting I join her Instagram group #QuarantineKnitShow. This has really helped me pass the time and review my past and current crochet/knit projects during quarantine. 

Mary and her #BreathingSpace Sweater

Here are Mary's parameters to participate:

Hey friends, I’ve been thinking about community in this difficult time, how important it is, and how to keep it going while we’re social distancing. I’ve also been knitting a lot, which is actually par for the course 😉, so I have an idea to try something new.

I’ve decided to start an online Quarantine Knit Show on Instagram. Everyday on my feed I will post a picture or video of me wearing one of my hand knits, and I invite you to join me! Let’s fill our feeds up with our beautiful faces and hand knits! 

Please join me on IG and look for me @marybeezo. You can also click on #QuarantineKnitShow and even follow it so you can see everyday what people are posting. 

Just post a pic of yourself wearing your hand knit sweater, shawl, mitts, hat, socks, whatever, and hashtag it #quarantineknitshow

Don’t have a lot of hand knits? That’s ok; post a pic of you with your WIPs!

Don’t knit? That’s ok too! Post yourself with one of your makes. Crochet? Sewing? Embroidery? Weaving? Hand lettering? Cooking? Yes, yes, yes and yes!

Lets turn this Quarantine Sh*t Show into a Quarantine Knit Show!!! I’m starting tomorrow, friends. Who’s in???!!!

I'm so in, Mary! Thanks for inviting me! In fact, I'm 17 days in! Here are a few of the items I've shared in the past weeks:

Warren Zevon said, "Enjoy Every Sandwich." Truer words were never said!

Elements of the Crocheted Sandwich Tawashi: White Bread, Lettuce, Tomato Slice, Swiss Cheese and SPAM

Granny Square Scarf made from self-striping sock yarn

Jeff and Audrey, sporting my best Xmas gift EVER! Crocheted Beards!

I made beards for EVERYONE that year!

I've been knitting Ballband Dishcloths while meeting online with my Saturday knit group

My latest creation, a crocheted face mask. LINED, of course!

My friend Dommy found this Japanese Crochet Chart for the face mask!

If you're bored and want to show off your crochet and knit items, join our #QuarantineKnitShow! Just tag your Instagram photo so we can all enjoy your creations!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

This is a repeat of a blog post from 2009. Oh, how the street scene has changed!

SIGNS ON SEPULVEDA, 2009

Signs on Sepulveda, Culver City

Larry and I had to run an errand over on the Westside last night, so we stopped in at Villa Italia for dinner. It's on Sepulveda, between Venice and Washington, just south of the entrance to the 405 Freeway, in Culver City. This has always been a busy commercial strip of Sepulveda Blvd., even before the 405 Freeway was built. The street is crazy with signs to catch your eye while speeding along. There's lots of cool 40's, 50's and 60's architecture and neon on this street too if you really look beneath the signs.

Villa Italia has been there forever. I was introduced to the place in the early 1970's.

The pizza is deep-dish, baked in rectangular pans. We had the meatball, mushroom and green onion pizza along with a very nice Italian dinner salad. It was rich with mozzarella, but delicious.

This family-owned restaurant changed management awhile back, but the friendly atmosphere and good service is still there. Anyplace that has a map of Italy on their placemats is OK by me!

They cleaned up the restaurant recently....new paint, new fixtures, new flooring. The best part....there's a FREE parking lot! Villa Italian is popular for family birthday parties. Even on a cloudy Wednesday night there was a celebration, accompanied by spumoni cake!

ADDENDUM: Wow! What a difference 11 years makes. Villa Italia is gone, replaced by a barbecue restaurant. I really miss this down-home restaurant. They call this progress.