Category Archives: Los Angeles

Shakespeare, Ozzie, and Greta

August 18, 2019 by Vickie Lester

I was reading a novel at play with time travel and a certain eminent figure, when I decided to climb a ladder to the top shelf of a bookcase to reach for the sonnets and spied an old edition of the complete plays… It was illustrated by the striking works of Rockwell Kent. And while leafing through it I came across this: There are pages and pages with the dialogue of an old TV show inserted. The show was called […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Children, Culture, Design, Early Television, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Literature, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: climate change, friends, McCarthyism, Shakespeare

Oh, my! I feel—yes, definitely—it’s irritable vowel syndrome.

July 13, 2019 by Vickie Lester

Don’t worry. It’s not contagious. I am increasingly persnickety; about the state of the world, modern discourse, and, hell’s bells, my favorite bakery is closed for renovation. Translation, I’m in a mood. To combat my discomposure I walk, write, read—generally in that order—and in between all have many cups of tea and slices of toast. Except the bakery is closed. Solution: since one must have really good toast with one’s tea to ease the mean reds, I got my hands […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, New York, Photography, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Breakfast at Tiffany's, Dreyer's English, Gwen Verdon, mean reds, Over the Rainbow, The Nordic Baking Book, therapeutic cooking, Truman Capote

Mr. Lester’s great aunt Hazel, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy and gossip…

July 12, 2019 by Vickie Lester

The exquisitely patrician Connecticut lady pictured above had quite a career – and split her time between the East Coast and the West. Very busy. I don’t know that she really cooked more than brownies and put together hot fudge sundaes – but she did eat and appreciate food. The people pictured below on the left are the Mister’s father and mother (expecting the Mister’s eldest brother), an uncle I don’t believe he’s ever met, and on the far right […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Writing • Tags: #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, behind the scenes, Beverly Hills, gossip, Hollywood, inside scoop, Katharine Hepburn, Michael Stipe, patrician, Spencer Tracy, upstairs downstairs

What my feet looked like when I decided to walk from my house to Cecil B. DeMille’s

July 11, 2019 by Vickie Lester

Once upon a time, in the nineteen eighties, Cecil B.’s house still stood atop a hill in a neighborhood called Los Feliz, not far from our place in Beachwood Canyon. It was a beautiful spring day, the neighborhood where many luminaries live now, was not gated, and I decided to walk over and enjoy the view. Now, angels, baronial is not a term I throw around lightly, but the DeMille joint was just that. Placed prominently, sprawling, a statement. Befitting […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Writing • Tags: architecture, baronial, Beachwood Canyon, Cecil B. DeMille, Cecil B. Demille front door, Cecil B. DeMille quote, Hollywood behind the scenes, Los Feliz, once upon a time, Vickie Lester

“All creative people should be required to leave California for three months every year.” Good advice from Gloria Swanson

July 11, 2019 by Vickie Lester

WALLACE: Let’s go back to the Hollywood that you knew. I would like your opinion….. SWANSON: Oh, it was a fabulous….fabulous …fabulous… WALLACE: Well…… SWANSON: But we were all young then…..everybody….. WALLACE: Well now wait….here is a description of Hollywood during the 1920’s published in Reporter Magazine February 21st this year — screenwriter Robert Ardrey writes as follows he says: Out of the Roaring Twenties in Hollywood came rape, manslaughter, white Rolls-Royces and an equal host of master pieces and […]

Categories: Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, New York, Photography, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: "All creative people should be required to leave California for three months every year." Good advice from Gloria Swanson, Gloria Swanson, Gloria Swanson in Father Takes a Wife, Gloria Swanson Mike Wallace interview, I had other interests in my life other than just making pictures, The Roaring Twenties

I’m a hopeless romantic…

July 2, 2019 by Vickie Lester

And it’s not only people that make my heart flutter…so can a beautiful building, or the angle of light on a linen pillow case… That said, I have been taking a long break from blogging, working on the new novel and refining my 1924 Spanish Revival home. Household maintenance is like painting the Golden Gate Bridge, you finish and start over again — throw in much needed restoration projects — and months and money disappear. Unlike the marvelous Marilyn […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Fiction, Film, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Marriage, Memoir, Movies, Palm Springs, Photography, Romance, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting, #evearnold, #hopelessromantic, #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, #lovestory, #spanishrevival, Hollywood, MarilynMonroe, novel, Vickie Lester is writing a new novel

“What a costume designer does is a cross between magic and camouflage.” Edith Head

July 1, 2019 by Vickie Lester

From left to right – Model, Orry Kelly, Bernard Newman, Travis Banton, Edith Head, Adrian, and Irene. With model showing evening gown, 1955: Edith at bat 1957: A fashion show from the “Think Pink” sequence at the premiere of “Funny Face” – model Ginni Adams with Edith Head: Dressing Debbie Reynolds for a benefit, 1960: Hosting a charity event at her home, Casa Ladera, 1967: With Tony Curtis, Anne Baxter and Omar Shariff, 1967: At the Costume Designers Ball with […]

Categories: Art, Baseball, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Writing • Tags: #fashionforthestars, #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, Academy Award, actor, actress, Adrian, arbiter of taste, behind the scenes, benefit, Bernard Newman, celebrities, charity, Classic Movies, Costume, Costume Designer, Edith Head, Edith Head birthday, Edith Head's birthday October 28, EdithHead, fashion, FUNNY FACE, head of department, history, Hollywood, Irene, Los Angeles, Models, Movie stars, Old Hollywood, on set, Orry-Kelly, photos, pictures, publicity stills, studio, tiny, Travis Banton, tyrant, wardrobe

A holiday kiss from grandmother to mother to daughter to you – our recipe for Pavlova…

December 12, 2018 by Vickie Lester

Or as we gals call it — Schaum Torte. That’s my mom. She made a show stopping dessert and here’s the recipe: First of all preheat your oven to 275 degrees, then cut up a large brown paper bag and line a baking sheet. Now separate 6 six eggs. (Put the yolks aside to make a lemon custard, or, if you’re not inclined toss them away.) Beat the six egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Very, very gradually add […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertaining, fashion, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Parenting, Photography, Recipes, Story, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: birthday cake, dessert, easy dessert, holiday dessert, Hollywood, kiss, meringue, meringue dessert, my family recipe for pavlova, pavlova recipe, schaum torte recipe, show stopper, slice of heaven, strawberries and whipped cream, wedding cake

“Fruitcake is my kryptonite,” an admission from a friend…

November 18, 2018 by Vickie Lester

“He left Hollywood and renounced the pursuit of fame, joining a brotherhood of Franciscans who supported their monastery by refilling ink cartridges and baking fruitcake, available at Amazon.com.” That’s a line from my first novel, summing up the future for an actor in dire need of redemption. Obviously fruitcake means something to me too, and I wouldn’t be stretching it to say it has to do with the transformative act of baking. Every November I stir this batter together and […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Christmas, Cooking, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, Gastronomy, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Recipes, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: #amwriting another novel about Hollywood, a Hollywood whodunnit, baking raises my spirits, british wedding cake, climate crisis, comfort baking, fruitcake, fruitcake recipe, recipe

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