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BEGUILING HOLLYWOOD

If you want a little historical perspective you're home.

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Where I get my ideas for Hollywood novels…

September 1, 2016 by Vickie Lester

September 1st! Where has the time gone? I spent the spring doing a remodel on my house, and the ensuing months recovering from a shoulder injury. I was warned off sitting for hours on the computer, and thus I have been barely a presence here, and I haven’t worked on my second novel at all, but once in a while I post a picture on Instagram… toobeguiling (click here to follow me on Insta) #itsinhiskissbyvickielester… “He had wooed the unwary […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Books, Entertainment, Fiction, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized • Tags: #amwriting, #hollywoodnovel, #itsinhiskissbyvickielester, #RudolphValentino, behind the scenes, Classic Movies, Hollywood history, Hollywood Hotel, Movie Star, Old Hollywood

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“Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how…We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.” Agnes de Mille

January 17, 2016 by Vickie Lester

Agnes de Mille, daughter of William de Mille, was an American choreographer most well know for three works, Rodeo, Fall River Legend, and Oklahoma! As a youngster she lived here, in a Hollywood that consisted of orange groves and dirt roads. This house and property, made way for all the buildings on Highland and Franklin. Here’s Agnes pictured on set with her uncle, Cecil B. DeMille and her cousin, Katherine. She wrote a captivating memoir. Dance to the Piper

Categories: Architecture, Art, Choreography, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Theater, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: Agnes de Mille, Agnes de Mille choreographer, Cecil B. DeMille, Dance to the Piper by Agnes de Mille, Falls River Legend, Hollywood history, Hollywood was an orange grove, Katherine DeMille was married to Anthony Quinn, Oklahoma!, Rodeo

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Bobbing for apples at the Cock and Bull in Hollywood – a long time ago… Photographer, Lee Weber

October 29, 2014 by Vickie Lester

Categories: Culture, Entertainment, Film, Halloween, History, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Photography, Uncategorized • Tags: 1949, bobbing for apples, Cock and Bull Nightclub, Halloween, Hollywood, Hollywood history, nightclub, Photographer Lee Weber

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The Enchanted Hill, a Hollywood dream made real by Wallace Neff, Fred Thomson, and Frances Marion

April 11, 2014 by Vickie Lester

In a short while our hill resembled a gigantic wedding cake. pine trees studded every tier, while on top rose a huge house with a drawing room two stories and a half high, rare tapestries on the walls, an Aeolian pipe organ, and windows overlooking five acres of lawn. Beautifully laid out on the terrace were a tiled barbeque, an aviary, and a hundred-foot swimming pool. Fred and his horses and I had gone Hollywood! Frances Marion via Lost Hollywood […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Blogging, Culture, Design, Entertainment, Film, Gardening, History, Hollywood, Life, Los Angeles, Memoir, Movies, Photography, Story, Travel, Truth & Rumors, Uncategorized, Writing • Tags: architectural masterpiece, architecture, California Dream, community treasure, conscience, cultural heritage, cultural icon, destroyed, Frances Marion, Fred Thomson, gone Hollywood, heritage, history, Hollywood, Hollywood history, Paradise Leased, Paul Allen, philanthropy, razed, Real Estalker, rich man's folly, The Enchanted Hill, Wallace Neff

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FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT IN HOLLYWOOD

December 31, 2012 by Vickie Lester

For my friend Charles Christopher, photographer extraordinaire: http://charleschristopherphotography.com/ This is a tiny story about a life lived large — another of the textile block houses that Frank Lloyd Wright designed in the Los Angeles area, the Freeman House in West Hollywood: He also designed a house for Aline Barnsdall, an oil heiress… Wait, before I go any further I have to interject. Wright took a lot of architectural commissions from very wealthy people. His buildings were expensive in all aspects, […]

Categories: Architecture, Art, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, Friendship, History, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Movies, Photography, Relationships, Science, Travel, Writing • Tags: Aline Barnsdall, ALL ABOUT EVE, Anne Baxter, Architect, architecture, Barndsdall Art Park, bid, Charles Christopher, Classic Movies, cost overruns, Frank Lloyd Wright, genius, heiress, Hollyhock House, Hollywood, Hollywood history, movies, Old Hollywood, photographer, photos, pictures, residential design, textile block house

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BUSBY BERKELEY

October 28, 2012 by Vickie Lester

You know, I think I’ve mentioned this guy before (why, look at that – I did: https://vickielester.com/2012/06/21/a-pretty-girl-is-like-a-melody/ ), but Busby Berkeley numbers ride the line between freaky, and fabulous. In rehearsal: – –

Categories: Choreography, Culture, Design, Entertainment, fashion, Film, History, Hollywood, Humor, Los Angeles, Movies, Music, Photography • Tags: 42nd STREET, Busby Berkeley, choreographer, dance, dance rehearsal, extravaganza, FASHIONS OF 1934, Ginger Rogers, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933, GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935, Hollywood, Hollywood history, musical, show, spectacle