All hail San Diego!

The recent 30 + m.p.h.winds and the hail is pretty interesting for San Diego.
Yet, here in Los Angeles, it is quite warm and skies are clear.

There is no sound quite like that of a marching band's drum. Today, while walking to see my mother at her new skilled nursing home (happily, it is within walking distance of her apartment) I walked past Fairfax High, my alma mater. Two drummers were practicing and that unique sound (maybe it is the same for college bands, too) loud, distinct and unmistakable, the sound evokes not only nostalgia but a sense of Americana like none other. It is very effective and I wish I could think of a way to use it in my life.

My L.A. travels continue to fascinate me. While walking home, I passed 436 Fairfax Blvd. which used to house Nortie's Records when I went to school. It was THE only place to purchase the latest music. I would save my allowance and buy all my 45's there. And with birthday money, I would go there and buy the latest Broadway soundtrack LP. Now Nortie's is a store called, Family and is very different.

One of the perks I have enjoyed on my visits here is the Sunday Los Angeles Times. Not only do I get a great Calendar Arts section, I get to do the wonderful Sunday puzzle...in ink, I might add. Barry Tunick and Sylvia Bursztyn have been creating the Sunday puzzles for years and I appreciate their creative themes. This past week, Don and I rented the DVD for "WordPlay" a documentary about the puzzle fanatics who do the N.Y. Sunday crossword puzzles--including a whole bunch of celebrities. I would need to get back up to crossword speed before tacking the N.Y. puzzles.

Normally, I just pull out the Arts section to retreive the puzzle and recycle the rest of the paper. Yet for some reason, I found myself galncing at last Sunday's issue. On the front page, was an obituary for a local icon Mr. Robert E. Petersen who was teh founder of Petersen Publishing Company. Mr. Petersen was a self-made millionaire who never graduated high school but went on to create a publishing empire that printed the likes of Hot Rod, Motor Trend and PhotoGraphic Magazine(s). I worked for PhotoGraphic for a few years; in addition to working as a special assistan/social secretary to both Mr. and Mrs. Petersen. Mr. Petersen was a wonderful man and I enjoyed my time working for his family and his company. He did a lot of amazing charity work and also owned the famous Danish restaurant on Sunset Blvd. Scandia; and was instrumental in fund-raising and building the Petersen Automotive Musuem on Fairfax and Wislhire. He was 80 years old.

Godspeed, Mr. P.

Working for and with The Petersen's I got to meet lots of celebrities. And in the world of synchronicities and such, one of those celebrities is on the TV screen right now on a re-run of "Will and Grace" but I digress...again...
It was while working for The Petersen's in their office building that I met someone very special, the WIndham Hill artist, George Winston. Well, George was not recording there at the time he worked there in the mailroom. But I would run into George in the stairwell because we were the only two people I knew that took the stairs instead of the elevator. George was such a nice man and so shy. He would invite Mike (who worked at PhotoGraphic at the time) and I to hear him play at various gig's at McCabe's and other concert venues. George was one of the first artist's who would request food donations be brought to his concerts to help feed the homeless. He did it before it became the cool thing to do.

Mike and I lost touch with George--happily, Mike and I are still close buds--and I still e-mail a woman I knew who worked at the company who now lives in San Diego. In fact, she was the first person who ever took me to San Diego. While there I bought Pavlova Perfume and I used that as my primary fragrance for over 20 years and still own a bottle for the occasional shpritz.

It really is a small work, ya know...