Memories - Hats in LA!!

Oh! Oh! Oh!



I love a good tilt hat!



My new sister-in-law looking great in a hat!



My absolute favorite!! But ridiculously expensive!

To LA and back, part 3

This book was on loan to me from my vintage friend Madelin and was a great source of information. It gave tips on vintage buildings, shops, places to eat or just stroll !



Union Station in Los Angeles



The beautiful Bradbury building were many movies were shot. Like Bladerunner !

Image from here

Then there was the magnificent Biltmore Hotel.



I'm afraid none of of my photos did this beautiful hotel justice... Better then to reminisce of days gone by...

Image from here

The Biltmore in its heydays.



October 2 1923, at the opening of the hotel



This was the cutest little train ever !



And we're off !



Vintage LA !

Image from here

Angel Flight in the 1940s.

Image from herea

I also had lunch at Musso and Frank Grill were, in Hollywoods golden era, big contracts would be signed and stars from Chaplin to Garbo dined.

Image from here

I however had a slightly strange eating experience ordering what I believed to be a grilled hot turkey sandwich, only to get hot turkey slices on a large piece of bread and covered in gravy.... But it did come with cranberry sauce and it was Musso and Frank Grill ! :)

R.I.P Etta James !

Etta James, the legendary singer, died at age 73. To listen to the clip don't forget to stop my iPod tunes first.



Would also like to take the opportunity to say THANK YOU ! - I now have 100 followers! Look out for the Celebratory Give Away coming your way very soon !!

I forgot !!

When I was in LA, me and my mother went to see The Artist ! We loved it!! So happy for the director and cast with all the success they are having !



Congratulations Jean Dujardin on winning an Golden Globe !

To LA and back, part 2

I'm going to Hollywood baby! Well, that is to say I went one December day with my sweet-sister-in-law Ruby.

Between 1998 to 2000 I was in LA to study at UCLA Extension. I remember visiting Hollywood and being quite disappointed with the drab streets and many runaway children roaming the streets...

That's why it was so great to see how much had changed since then! Especially with the new Kodak building in the middle of it all!



And the buildings were such a treat being as they were a homage to one of the silent eras great film directors - D.W Griffith.



"Intolerance - Love's struggle through the ages" by D.W Griffith from 1916.

Of course Griffith was also the director of the biased and racist influenced "The Birth of a Nation" were he romanticized the Klu Klux Klan...




Then we went to Graumans Chinese Theater !

Image from ebay here

Built in 1926 by Sid Grauman, who had already had great success with his Egyptian Theater, built in 1922,the Chinese Theatre opened the following year with D. W Griffiths "King of Kings".

Mary Pickford at imdb

One of the first stars to put her hand and footprint in the wet cement outside the theatre was Mary Pickford (1892 - 1979).

Image from here.

Mary Pickford, who was originally from Canada, was not only one of the silent eras mega stars she was also a smart business woman and would change movie companies all the time. At 17 her salary was 40$/week in 1909. The following year she had upped it to 145$/week. By 1916 she had 10,000$/week and an additional 300, 000 $ in bonus. Still not satisfied, she once again changed company and in 1917 negotiated her price to 350,000 $ per ...film! She was 25 and Americas first Sweetheart.




Beautiful Olivia de Havilland! So many memorable films - Captain Blood, Gone with the wind, The Heiress just to mention a few.

image from here

Born in 1916 she is still going strong and resides in Paris, France! Her sister is of course the movie star Joan Fontaine, but they have remained permanently estranged since the 1940s...

Myrna Loy at imdb

In my opinion the only one who could outplay Myrna Loy's comic timing was the indomitable Carole Lombard

image from here

Myrna Loy (1905 - 1993) was actually discovered by another über star of the silent era, Rudolph Valentino, as she was one of the background dancers at... the Graumans ChineseTheater!

Judy Garland at imdb

Freda Astaire at imdb

Image from here.

Judy Garland (1922 - 1969) and Fred Astaire (1899 - 1987) in Easter Parade. The film was Fred Astaires fist film since his retirement and became MGM's highest grossing film of 1948.


Todays Vintage Vegan Kitchen :

Homemade Ketchup

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup

To LA and Back, part 1

Its good to be back in Sweden, but what a chock to the body system! From 25 C° to -6 C°... And as usual I am behind even before I've begun :) Washing, bills, meetings, phone calls, blablabla! The best of all...?



Hooking up with my little guy again! My little Neo! Well, hes actually an old guy no going on nine years...

I will post more pictures from my LA adventures, but need to get up and running first. Have already had my first melt-down as I shrunk my new beautiful vintage evening gown into a cocktail dress ... I know, I know :( Washed it in a cold cycle (wool/hand wash) in the machine. All other things were fine, except my dress - aaaaaaah!!! Well, I am going to sell it on Etsy to some one slimmer and more petite than I. Lucky girl!!

I've also started a new blog My Vintage Vegan Kitchen as I am to become vegan after watching Forks over Knives - amazing documentary - an eye-opener! There I will post things about my hopes to redecorate my home a bit, cooking and other narcissistic musings! .)