Snowballs, Serendipity and Suicide Bunnies

I love bookstores and at The Grove there is one that is three stories high.  Walking in the front door you find new releases, periodicals, music and movies. At the top of the escalator are rock and roll, cookbooks, theatre and art. The second escalator going up lets one out near a section on Los Angeles. Walking around the top floor one can find everything from children’s books to classics, from business to cartoons and erotic reading can be found next to the self help section. The coffee shop on the third floor tempts one to while away the hours on the balcony, if only one had the time.

While Suicide Bunnies might not be everyone’s style, every teenage boy should read Jeremy & Mom  with their mother. Getting Fuzzy is always a treat as is playing with a Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat.

Captain Underpants flies through the air as the Cat in the Hat causes fascinatingly entertaining havoc. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle works her magic on disobedient children and Fluffy  rules the classroom. Love You Forever will make you cry and the Teddy Bear’s Picnic will make you want to dance. Catwings will make you believe cats can fly, pink dinosaurs will make you believe in Serendipity and The Crocodile’s Masterpiece really is one. Who can resist a big red book of fairy tales, Woodland Tales or Tales from Fern Hollow? The Little Fur Family is wonderful and Beatrix Potter can’t be beat.

Real vampire books by authors like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,  Ann Rice  and the ultimate vampire novelist: Bram Stoker can be found there but I prefer books about werewolves like those written by Ann Rice’s sister, there's just something about wolves...

They have just about everything from quantum physics to Brain Droppings to Snowballs. Disparate as they may seem connections can be found between science and belief in an infinite being. Whether flying to new heights,  taking a journey of discovery, riding a motorcycle down the highway  or a convertible across the desert voyages of discovery exploring life, sanity and insanity can be found at every hand.

There is something sensual about old books with their musty vanilla scent, leather covers, gilt edges, pen and ink etchings, ribbon place markers and feathered fly leaves that is tactile as well as intellectual. While really old books won’t be found in this store, new stories in old style bindings can be found there. There is something magical about a good bookstore and the treasures it contains…

Evolution, Revolution and Good Old Fashioned American Fun

On Santa Monica Blvd., toward the end of old Route 66 there stands an establishment that opened in 1920 called Barney’s Beanery. For ninety years they’ve served some of the second best chili in Los Angeles. Since it’s humble beginnings in a bungalow at the edge of a Poinsettia field Barney’s has outlasted the golden age of Hollywood, the revolutionary changes of the sixties and seventies and has emerged unscathed into the computer age of the new millennium (as of today they’ve been friended 999 times on Facebook and they Tweet). Like everything that endures over time Barney's history is not all good, not all bad, but somewhere in the middle with colorful stories of human frailties and successes, the famous, the infamous and the everyday, evolving rather than remaining static. They advertise “A good meal for a fair price, terrific service and some genuinely friendly conversation” and every time I have been there, refreshingly without fail, this has turned out to be true.

They also advertise “If we don’t have it – you don’t need it.” And considering there are over 1,000 items listed on the menu this could actually be true. During the Depression customers couldn’t always pay for their chili so Barney’s would take their license plate in exchange and give it back when the tab was paid, considering the today’s economy it seems somehow fitting they will still give you a bowl of chili if you give them your license plate for collateral.

Beer has been served at Barney’s since Prohibition was repelled and with eighty-seven imports including Jamaica Red Stripe, Wychwood Hobgoblin, Young Double Chocolate Stout, and Pendle Witches Brew. The sixty-five domestic beers served include Iron City, Seadog Blueberry Ale, Micky’s Malt Liquor (whatever would Walt say!), Rogue Dead Guy Ale, Dogfish Head, Moose Drool, three kinds of Flying Dog Poggie Style, Liquid Sunshine Blond and Speakeasy Big Daddy. The twenty-nine brands on tape include Barney’s Own Brew, Blue Moon and Fat Tire. All in all they pretty much have something suited to everyone’s taste including four non-alcoholic brands. (Twin Fin and Dom Perignon are also available for those whose palettes are a little more finicky.)

Breakfast is served all day and I kinda like their idea of breakfast: “A giant chili cheese dog with choice of side and a bottle of Dom Perignon.” Of course the menu has two whole pages of other breakfast offerings but this one tickles me pink.

Surrounded by office buildings and high rise apartments Barney’s has stayed loyal to their roots, it’s unpretentious character surviving intact over the years while change occurred all around. On the porch stands an old traffic signal that was once used to signal chauffeurs that their owners were ready to leave or that a table had opened for them. John Barrymore, Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn, Judy Garland, Lou Costello, Norma Jean Mortenson, Shelly Winters, Desi Arnez, William Frawley, Steve McQueen, Peter Faulk (Colombo often ate at Barney’s), Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Bette Midler, Elliot Gould, Dennis Hooper, Mel Gibson, Adam Sandler, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Keefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and John Cusack have all been known to stop by. Drew Carey participated in a cigarette smoking sit-in at Barney’s in 1999,  and Quentin Tarantino worked on Pulp Fiction while hanging out there.

Regulars included Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. There is even a small plaque embedded in the bar saying “Jim Morrison sat here” although it should probably run the length of the bar saying: and here and here and here and here… Janis Joplin’s album Cheap Thrills cover art by R. Crumb featured Barney’s Beanery at the bottom right and the tabletop that she signed hangs from the ceiling. The members of Led Zeppelin have stopped in, as well as Janes Addiction, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bob Dylan and Liza Minnelli.

The walls and ceilings are covered with movie and music posters from Easy Rider to the Foo Fighters to Muhammad Ali with the Beatles.  Neon beer signs, license plates, graffiti, framed newspaper and magazine clippings and street signs also adorn the walls and ceilings. The plates commemorate Route 66 in white and green checks as does a street sign on the ceiling. Watercolor sketches hang from cross beams. The seats in the booths have crayon colored stripes, red Coors lamps hanging above and the tabletops boast collages culled from Hollywood gossip magazines. “Thunder Road” low rider motorcycles hold up the ceiling dividing the rows of booths. Pool tables, video games (PacMan) and TVs make up the entertainment as Hendricks plays on the sound system. You can watch basketball, football and cartoons at the same time as a vibrating Fruit Loops commercial plays and Toucan Sam bursts out of a bowl of loops to the sound of Kiss singing “I want to rock and roll and party every day.” Not to mention that for the first time in memory the blow dryer in the lady’s room actually had the ability to completely dry hands (20 psi?).

While the scene has tamed down some from the notorious days when Dezi Arnez told William Farowly to clean up his act there, when Janis Joplin socked Jim Morrison in the face, when Morrison peed on the bar, when the Beanery was picketed because of a homophobic sign hanging behind the bar, when starving writers came in for a bowl of chili, if you go to Barney’s all American roadhouse today, you can still get your kicks on Route 66 along with excellent service, a generous helping of chili nachos and awesome burgers.

Hat's Off to Hats

On a little back street next to the 405, behind a two story high green wrought iron gate, hides an old fashioned factory store where hats are created.  Cascading through a rainbow of colors for autumn: rust, green, blue, purple, brown, grey and black, on walls and racks and tables, if you don't see a hat you like they will custom make one specifically for you.  Also offered are hand embroidered scarves, flower pins, jabats, feathered headbands, reworked vintage sweaters and cashmere scarves.  Behind the front desk is a hold tree where they'll keep a hat awaiting your final decision.  For the last twenty years Louise Green Millinery Company has supplied Los Angeles with vintage romance in the form of hats.

Hats provide warmth and protection from the elements but they are so much more. In a bygone era hats were tipped to say good-bye and taken off entirely when greeting a lady to show respect or flirt, when passing in the street, if the lady you are speaking to is a stranger or if you saw your wife. Tipping your hat to a man could be an insult in the wild, wild west. Ladies kept their hats on indoors unless wearing an evening gown and removed daytime hats at night. Men removed their hats indoors unless it was a public building. In a house of prayer sometimes head coverings were donned to show humility and sometimes hats were doffed to show respect. Hats worn to the theatre or the movies were removed if they obstructed someone’s view. Men put decoration on the left hand side of the head band and women put decoration on the right side. Etiquette, good manners and respect all tied up in scraps of fur, felt, feathers, leather and lace.

If you threw your hat in the ring you were saying you wanted to get involved. If you reacted at the drop of a hat you were impulsive. To make something magically appear you pulled it out of your hat. You could throw your hat in the air to celebrate and show happiness. Passing the hat meant you were collecting money, if you came to someone hat in hand you needed a favor. Secrets were kept under one’s hat and anything boring was old hat. Different hats signified different jobs. Home, no matter how humble was where you hung your hat. Today although the sayings remain very few of the hats do.

Women had garden hats, church hats and hats for special events that inspired conversation. Cloches, bonnets, bandeaus, berets, and toques were worn with pride. Men had bowlers, fedoras, top hats, panama hats, pith helmets and trilbies to cover the inevitable signs of aging. Little boys and girls tried on their parent’s hats and shoes to feel grown up. Different nations had different hats identified with them.  The fez, the chapeau, the tam o’shanter, the homburg, the turban, the sombrero and the Greek sailor’s cap were a few of these. Sadly enough today, public consciousness sees terror wearing a turban and controversy wearing a veil.

Hats signify jobs for firemen, cowboys, construction workers, baseball players, football players, pirates, police men, sailors, palace guards and Santa to name just a few. We use hats to tell the world which teams we root for and that we’ve graduated from school. But, sadly enough, except for baseball caps, hats are seldom seen on a regular basis in today’s world.

If clothes make the man than hats make a statement. Who could picture Abraham Lincoln without his top hat? It now resides in the Smithsonian. Fred Astaire’s top hat was flaunted with style and grace.  Frank Sinatra always said “Cock your hat – angles are attitudes.” John Wayne’s Stetson was auctioned off for $75,000 in 2007. Jackie O made the pill box hat famous and Princess Di loved hats of every kind. Villains wore black hats and heroes wore white, shades of gray were few and far between. John Wayne would never have worn a pink cowboy hat but on Dolly Parton it works.

The best character actors use hats to change how they are perceived.  Charlie Chaplin once said “I thought I would dress in baggy pants, big shoes, a cane and a derby hat, everything a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small and the shoes large.” All the famous detectives had hats to suit their styles, John Steed’s bowler, Sherlock Holmes’ deerstalker, Philip Marlowe’s crumpled fedora, Sam Spade’s crisp one. Adventure heroes have theirs as well. Who could forget Davy Crocket’s coon skin cap, Indiana Jones custom fedora, and Crocodile Dundee’s trimmed with crocodile teeth and skin.

The world would be a much less interesting place without hats. Those who don’t wear them are missing out. I don’t believe in romanticizing the past as history, however, bringing forward and reinterpreting, refining, reintroducing old styles, timeless fashions, art and music only enriches the foundations of the present.