BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

Want crotch shots? Go to TMZ. If you want a little historical perspective you're home.

Main menu

Skip to content
  • About

image Archives

Show Grid Show List

Post navigation

← Older posts
Architect 1925 built Samuel B. Bird burned down 1939

THE PALOMAR – ARCHITECT SAMUEL B. BIRD – BURNT TO THE GROUND IN 1939

March 23, 2013 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Choreography, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: alcohol, Architect John C Austin, Architect Samuel B Bird, architectural rendering, architecture, bar, bartender, behind the scenes, cocktail, cocktail lounge, dancing and dinner, design, Griffith Park Observatory, history, Hollywood, interior design, Los Angeles, martini shaker, nightclub, Old Hollywood, photography, restaurant, The Palomar, Venice, vintage cocktails

13
1948 cocktail lounge John C. Austin and Sumner Spalding

1948 COCKTAIL LOUNGE – DESIGNED BY JOHN C. AUSTIN (OF OBSERVATORY FAME)

March 23, 2013 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, DIY, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: alcohol, Architect John C Austin, architectural rendering, architecture, bar, bartender, behind the scenes, cocktail, cocktail lounge, design, Griffith Park Observatory, history, Hollywood, interior design, Los Angeles, martini shaker, nightclub, Old Hollywood, photography, restaurant, Venice, vintage cocktails

13
Sardis designed Clifford A. Balch and R.M. Schindler

SARDI’S ON HOLLYWOOD BLVD – 1932 – DESIGNED BY BALCH and SCHINDLER

March 23, 2013 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Advertising, Architecture, Art, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, New York, Photography, Story, Travel, Uncategorized • Tags: alcohol, Architect, architecture, bar, bartender, behind the scenes, Clifford Balch, cocktail, cocktail lounge, design, history, Hollywood, Los Angeles, martini shaker, nightclub, Old Hollywood, photography, restaurant, Rudolph Schindler, Sardi's, Venice, vintage cocktails

35
1935 bar tender Venice

A LITTLE GROG IN VENICE – WITH A SHAKE FROM A NAUTICAL BARTENDER – 1935

March 23, 2013 by Vickie Lester

Happy Birthday to The Pink Agendist | by E.B. de Mas Feel free to light up your cigar and crack open the champagne. And here’s to many more.

Categories: Architecture, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Short Stories, Story, Travel, Uncategorized • Tags: alcohol, architecture, bar, bartender, behind the scenes, cocktail, cocktail lounge, design, history, Hollywood, Los Angeles, martini shaker, nightclub, Old Hollywood, photography, restaurant, Venice, vintage cocktails

2
hollywood blvd

SO ALIVE – A STORY BY VICKIE LESTER

March 15, 2013 by Vickie Lester

In 1996 Kier Bloomfield got his first sole screen credit as a writer. Granted it was on a low budget, a very low budget movie, that the producers guaranteed would be seen on oil refineries and tuna boats the world over. But, it was a credit and it was his. Toni Todd, the film legend, to whom he owed his fledgling career, had nothing to do with it; as a matter of fact she crinkled her nose at the whole […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: agent, alcohol, attraction, auditor, bar, Beachwood Canyon, beguiling, book, CAA, celebrity, celebrity hangouts, charlatan, church, climb, crush, devoted, drunk, ecstasy, Elks, Essa Pekka Salonen, film executive, film legend, friend, gay, gossip, handsome, Hollywood, Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood Gossip, Hollywood Royalty, Hollywood sign, i heard it through the grapevine, inside story, low budget movie, martini, Masons, meter, mogul, movie career, Movie stars, musician, Musso and Frank, Musso's, Old Hollywood, orchestra, photo, piano, pictures, rich, scoop, screen credit, screenwriter, secretive, secrets, sexual attraction, sexual identity, steak, studio, studio head, symphony, talent, testosterone, the skinny, true story, writer, young

21
Mother Russia_1

MOTHER RUSSIA

December 30, 2012 by Vickie Lester

My uncle, who is retired (and very, very aged), used to travel the world. He was a Hollywood Production Designer. A title he scoffed at, preferring the old-school moniker, Art Director. He often sniffed, “King Cameron Menzies, what’re ya gonna do?” Uncle, once a medical student whose aspirations shifted in the gore on the beaches of Normandy, drafted up skyscrapers, and Spanish galleons, and space ships, and made them all into movie sets. The last movie he worked on was […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Politics, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Writing • Tags: bar, Bentley, canary in a coal mine, Chaika, crime, drugs, film history, graft, Hollywood, hookers, humor, Leningrad, machine guns, mafia, mobster, Movie stars, Production Designer, restaurant, Russia, sex, St. Petersburg, uncle, William Cameron Menzies, WWII

4
paramount pictures

YOU DON’T OWN ME – Chapter 5 (continued) – WALK DON’T RUN

November 25, 2012 by Vickie Lester

As you might have gleaned by now, when there’s a story to tell about Hollywood, I’m inclined to change the names and mix it up a bit to protect the innocent. What follows is mostly true, except what’s not. YOU DON’T OWN ME 5. Walk Don’t Run Two weeks later, after dropping Jake off at a stipulated pre-school that had eaten up forty billable hours in attorney’s fees, and from which her son would be collected by one of Dave’s […]

Categories: Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Humor, Literature, Los Angeles, Marriage, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Writing • Tags: auteur, bar, book, Brovard Hall Photo 1939, BVDs, card, Chapter 5 Walk Don't Run, Chardonnay, class, Dick Dale, diner, director, disposable desk job, divorce, fiction, film class, film editing, Film Icon, Hollywood, Hollywood behind the scenes, humor, Jean Luc Goddard, Kate Mantilini's, Melrose, on set, Paramount Pictures, party doll, PR, Santa Monica Blvd., Silver Platter, Southern, spin, Sunset Blvd., surf rock, talent scout, USC, USC School of Cinema-Television, Ventures, YOU DON'T OWN ME, Young Turk

5
1939 Brovard Hall

YOU DON’T OWN ME – Chapter 5 – WALK DON’T RUN

November 24, 2012 by Vickie Lester

As you might have gleaned by now, when there’s a story to tell about Hollywood, I’m inclined to change the names and mix it up a bit to protect the innocent. What follows is mostly true, except what’s not. YOU DON’T OWN ME 5. Walk Don’t Run At least someone was providing a map through the divorce. Even though Polly had never married she had an advanced degree in such matters. And so, Billie found herself back in school, the […]

Categories: Architecture, Books, Culture, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Humor, Literature, Los Angeles, Marriage, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Writing • Tags: auteur, bar, book, Brovard Hall Photo 1939, BVDs, card, Chapter 5 Walk Don't Run, Chardonnay, class, diner, director, disposable desk job, divorce, fiction, film class, film editing, Film Icon, Hollywood, Hollywood behind the scenes, humor, Jean Luc Goddard, Kate Mantilini's, Melrose, on set, Paramount Pictures, party doll, PR, Santa Monica Blvd., Silver Platter, Southern, spin, Sunset Blvd., talent scout, USC, USC School of Cinema-Television, YOU DON'T OWN ME, Young Turk

8
Annex - Bogart, Humphrey (Casablanca)_10

SOMETIMES IN HOLLYWOOD ONLY A DRINK WILL DO

October 12, 2012 by Vickie Lester

I’m not advocating intemperance – but… – -

Categories: Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, History, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: "Casablanca", bar, Bette Davis, bottle, Brian Aherne, bubbly, Cary Grant, Dark Victory, Everything Happens at Rick's, George Brent, Geraldine Fitzgerald, get your drink on, hit the bottle, Hollywood, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Michael Curtiz, movie still, nightclub, Old Hollywood, Pandro S. Berman, Ronald Reagan, Sylvia Scarlett

3
Annex - Todd, Thelma (Maltese Falcon, The)_01

THELMA TODD

October 2, 2012 by Vickie Lester

Beautiful and funny and died too young. She was married to an abusive rat who she got wise to and divorced. I’m not going to write a  blog about her death being mysterious, if you read the court papers you will find that it wasn’t.  I just want to share a few cool pics of someone referred to in her time as “the ice cream blonde” and the terrific looking restaurant she opened with director Roland West on PCH. The […]

Categories: Architecture, Culture, Design, Film, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Uncategorized • Tags: architecture, bar, comdien, Hal Roach, ice cream blonde, Ida Lupino, Movie Star, restaurant, Roland West, Stanley Lupino, The Marx Brothers, Thelma Todd, Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe, Trocadero

4

Post navigation

← Older posts

Vickie Lester

  • About

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Recent Posts

  • YOURS TRULY STROLLING WITH THE MISTER WHEN SHE HAS JUST UNTIL MONDAY TO TURN IN HER BOOK TO THE EDITOR
  • ONE OF THE QUEENS OF PULP – JACKIE COLLINS 1987
  • BEFORE E.L. JAMES – ELINOR GLYN, CREATOR OF THE “IT” GIRL AND SAUCY SEXUALITY IN THE MODERN NOVEL
  • MUST HAVE FLOWERS – THE WEEKEND IS COMING – AND THE MANUSCRIPT IS TO BE SENT AWAY MONDAY
  • TONY CURTIS ON CROSS-DRESSING – SOME LIKE IT HOT

Archives

  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012

Categories

  • Advertising
  • Animation
  • Architecture
  • Art
  • Baseball
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Chicago
  • Children
  • Choreography
  • Christmas
  • Cooking
  • Cosmetic Surgery
  • Crime
  • Culture
  • Design
  • DIY
  • Dogs
  • Early Television
  • Easter
  • Election
  • Entertaining
  • Entertainment
  • fashion
  • Fiction
  • Film
  • Friendship
  • Gardening
  • Gastronomy
  • Halloween
  • History
  • Hollywood
  • Humor
  • law
  • Life
  • Literature
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Marriage
  • Memoir
  • Mother's Day
  • Movies
  • Music
  • New Year's Day
  • New York
  • News
  • Olympics
  • Palm Springs
  • Parenting
  • Paris
  • Pets
  • Photography
  • Politics
  • Recipes
  • Relationships
  • Science
  • Short Stories
  • Sports
  • Story
  • Sundance Film Festival
  • Thanksgiving
  • Theater
  • Travel
  • Truth & Rumors
  • Uncategorized
  • Valentine's Day
  • Vegas
  • Weather
  • Wedding
  • Writing

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • Blog at WordPress.com.
Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: Customized Gridspace by Graph Paper Press.
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,108 other followers

Powered by WordPress.com