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BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

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

July 21, 2015 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 • 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

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GLAMOUR BOWL ~ A Short Story. | SCENTS MEMORY

June 9, 2013 by Vickie Lester

GLAMOUR BOWL Near death and on a constant morphine drip Theo passed from the hospital bed to his past on a regular basis. When cognizant of the present he knew what was happening. It is said when you die, your life flashes before you in an instant. He was on a slow slide towards death and instead of a flash card review he was, on and off, watching a disjointed, slow drug induced movie of his life. Theo was never […]

Categories: Art, Blogging, Books, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Fiction, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Life, Literature, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Music, Relationships, Short Stories, Story, Theater, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: actor, actress, AIDS, Artist, behind the scenes, Billy Wilder, Bowling, bowling alley, Classic Movies, cocktail lounge, design, fiction, film, first kiss, gay, Glamour Bowl a Short Story, history, Hollywood, Jack Lemon, Kim Novak, Lanier Smith, Los Angeles, movies, Scent Memory, Shirley Maclaine, short story, Southern California, The Apartment 1960, the laws of attraction, writer, young love

8

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

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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

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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

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Night falls on the red roofs of California. Sweet dreams. . . . . . #historic #historichome, #historichouse #historicpreservation #oldhomelove #architecture #architecturelovers #exteriordesign #architecturaldetail #style #design #nightphotography #lightandshadow #nightsky #uplighting #nightscape #garden #curbappeal #losangeles #houseportrait #captivatinghouses #romantichome #californiadreaming #goodnight

What am I hiding? A spider bite! Do I hide much in the pages of my new Hollywood novel? Nothing you won’t have fun trying to figure out... “Late in the summer following my sophomore year, I was living in the Beverly Hills home of a blonde former figure skater. She had met Mr. Major Movie Star on a commercial promoting California cheese...arguably a metaphor for something.” There are more pages up on the blog today, link in the profile. . . . . . #portrait #author #authorlife #blackandwhitephotography #bookaddiction #bookstagram #bibliophile #booklover #behindthescenes #hollywood #moviemagic #lovereading #bookworm #bookish #lovereading #excerpt #amwriting #readers #lovetowrite #californiadreaming

See what’s unfurling on the blog, it might be a new #Hollywood novel... “Life never is a simple linear narrative; it’s too messy and senseless. On the other hand a memoir, no, make that a novel (a much less contentious prospect) is an attempt to resolve the random acts of a life and give them meaning — put them into some sort of context. Whether this reads as simply an insider chronicle of a life lived in Hollywood or another of those cautionary tales about the same, I’ll leave to you, gentle reader, my unknown confidant.” . . . . . #bookaddiction #bookstagram #bibliophile #author #booklover #mustread #petals #rose #behindthescenes #moviemagic #lovereading #bookworm #bookish #ilovereading #amwriting #readers

It’s a good night when @kfullermendez calls me from the east to herald a moonrise over the west. #goodnight #supermoon #sweetdreams @heybillkuhn @antiquegoddess

“These stories seem at times to be stories of a long-lost world when the city of New York was still filled with river light, when you heard the Benny Goodman quartets from a radio in the corner stationary store, and when almost everybody wore a hat. Here is the last of that generation of chain smokers who woke the world in the morning with their coughing, who used to get stoned at cocktail parties and perform obsolete dance steps like “the Cleveland Chicken,” sail for Europe on ships, who were truly nostalgic for love and happiness, and whose gods were as ancient as yours and mine, whoever you are.” . I picked up a sweet #volume of short stories in the new year, continuing my #love affair with fictional Manhattan. . . . . . #stories #manhattan #nyc #johncheever #bookbliss #bibliophile #exploretocreate #empirestatebuilding #architecture #streetscape #citylife #literature #author #writer #bookstagram #bookstoread #cityscape #skyscraper #bluesky #writerslife #thestoriesofjohncheever

Traveling SW I promised @heybillkuhn I’d take pictures... Over breakfast in the dining car I learned how to bet the horses. Sharing a meal with people I’ve never met is now one of my favorite things to do. . So relaxing watching the country roll by, thinking about what to make for Christmas dinner back home. #Pavlova? #ChocolateMousse? For recipes check out the link in the profile. . . . . . #trainstation #exploretocreate #artofvisuals #waiting #portrait #citylife #architecture #homewardbound #urban #dawn #interior #graphicdesign #art #lifeisbeautiful #journey #style #friends #everyonehasastory #itsinhiskissbyvickielester #amwriting another #hollywood #novel

Sometimes places look #enchanted — because they are. This town sends me. There’s a little free library in front of the police department, #design students everywhere you turn, early risers who stroll around the park, and #bookstores like @thebookladybookstore where you can browse and talk for hours — discovering #treasures. All that and I had a eureka moment working on my manuscript. Where am I @williee64 ? In #Savannah! Thank you @heybillkuhn for giving us a proper introduction 😘. . . . . . #bibliophile #books #amwriting #library #exploretocreate #historichome #federalarchitecture #architecture #december #hollywood #novel #author #southerncharm #style

It’s the #morning before #Thanksgiving in #Savannah and I found lady bountiful on my #walk to the market. It’s #bright and beautiful and last night on the #movie set they made it snow — glorious fluffy frosty stuff — which I can’t share pictures of, but I can share stories and a #recipe for a #delicious #dessert, link in the profile. . #goodmorning! . Am #onlocation with my #beloved #writing another #Hollywood #novel.

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Recent Posts

She read too much…
Their peach-down flesh and cotton-poly clothing were scented, faintly, and at all times with Ivory Soap and horse manure…
Jung can kiss my archetypal ass.
Weaving spiders, come not here. Hence, you long legged spinners, hence!
It’s Sunday, and I still haven’t achieved digital deliverance…

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