Shay's queer door

fascinating story

more of the gone

back in my boozing days I saved swizzle sticks. (what didn't I save?) of course many of the places they represent are history. I began thinking abt this when I postd those old Hollywood pix. I opend a cupboard & faced the glass holding the collection & there was the swizzle from Cock'n Bull. during the summer I postd my Sonny Tufts poem which recalls a famous incident at the Sunset Strip restaurant. altho I wasn't actually there for that I did chat with John Carradine at the Cock'n Bull. & had dinner there with my dear friend Richard Martin & other members of the costume fraternity when I was dabbling in that.

& representing the other coast -- the legendary Max's Kansas City.

out of the past

from that same visit here are some shots of spots no longer there.

the legendary Schwab's & next to it what was left at that time of Googie's:

& the official closing of Tiny Naylor's:

Hamburger Hamlet

James Duke Mason suggestd in a Facebook post that the original restaurant is closing. actor Harry Lewis opend the Sunset Strip restaurant years ago. it was a favorite spot of Marie Windsor & most of our lunches together over the years were there. here we are in front of the place in 1984:

I feel so cheap

just found a copy of one of my books for sale online for 52 cents.

still here

this time I went right to my log on page.

after a gloomy day we're back to sun.

& here's another Gildzen site.

future of this blog

if I go silent here it's because of technology.

to use my new cell phone I had to create a gmail account. in that process something happend with my Google log-in. all morning I was unable to get to the page which allows me to post. then without warning the old prompt came back & I'm able to post this.

but I can't be certain that I'll always have the opportunity to find the old log-in page.

as I watchd

"The Last Station" I felt particularly old.

it's a period film. abt the final days of Tolstoy. & one of the characters was his daughter Sasha.

I met her in 1968.

over the weekend

I pickd up the ceramic marker from "Dad's Last Garden" & brought it inside.

I suspect it'll eventually become part of my papers at Kent State.

only a movie geek

will find this as exciting as I did.

I often ramble around IMDB checking movie casts. this ayem I lookd in on a movie I haven't seen in years which is now available on DVD -- "Athena."

to my surprise Howard Wendell (see Elyria: Point A in Ohio Triangle) plays the husband of Bess Flowers (see Percy & Bess).

every day

I expect it to be the last of this superb weather. & then comes a gift of another stunner. this ayem I walkd to farmers market & back. & now I'm blending New Mexico harvest beets with Ohio garlic in a Greek recipe. doesn't get much better than this.

Balloon Fiesta

is an Albuquerque event. but on the way home from the gym I was entering my local Starbuck's & an elderly gentleman was leaving & stoppd me to say there was in balloon in the field of the nearby middle school.

with a venti coffee in hand I watchd the deflation of a balloon as I walkd home. by the time I got my camera the balloon was pretty dead. but then I turnd on my computer & neighbor Phil had e-maild me this picture he took from his backyard.

& here is mine taken shortly after:

I remember some years ago when a balloon was launchd from the school's football field which is directly across the arroyo from my yard.

everything new is old too soon

my cell phone is just over 2 years old & began to die (& I'm not a phoner so use it only a couple times a week). I went in for a new one. the folks at Best Buy were wonderful but I'm sure they thot I was quite the antique for thinking that 2 years isn't nearly long enuf of a life. the new phone is beautiful & a bit confusing & does way too much but I'm happy to have it & hope the learning curve isn't too steep.

anxiety hay(na)ku

I
do not do
waiting well

star of the future

Ruben Rascon is a local boy who I saw dance today at a benefit to raise funds to send him to Russia where he'll study with the Bolshoi.

private bathrooms?

reading abt the new college trend for boutique housing made me remember my undergrad days at Kent State.

I lived in room 321 of Stopher Hall. it was a 2-man room. my first roommate was a problem but subsequent ones were rewarding. before I moved west I visitd the old dorm -- which at that time had been closd down.

in addition to the obligatory photos of me in my room I wantd one in the bathroom down the hall.

there is something elemental abt communal living. & of all the bathroom areas in my life that one seems to have quite the imprint. & because the university knockd down that building (the current Stopher Hall is one I've never been in) these photos are all the more poignant.

here's a poem from the Kent section of Ohio Triangle:

STOPHER HALL

when I saw
my dorm fallen
I wantd to search
the rubble
for a linoleum square
from the floor
of room 321
or a manila block
from the showers
I wantd to hold
my memories
but I walkd on

the saddest part

of reading my high school reunion booklet is the "in memory" section. there were 465 graduates in our class. according to the booklet 80 have died. & then an e-mail from the reunion committee informing us of 3 more deaths. among those was Denise Gainer.

Denise was a 5-foot blonde who was movie-star beautiful. she was an early girl crush. we "dated" briefly. here's a picture taken in the Woolworth photo booth in downtown Elyria.

she began singing lessons at age 9 & was doing commercials at the same time she was appearing in the high school choir alongside the late Jimmie F. Skaggs. throuout high school she appeard on Cleveland tv shows & after graduation became a vocalist with Blue Barron's band. later she appeard on stage in Chicago. somewhere along the way I lost touch. I heard she got married but knew nothing more of her life.

back in my Ohio days

a fall tradition for Lorain Countians was to go to Grobe's for apples & cider. last week I did it again with Mom's next door neighbor Betty Mulligan (the woman mentiond in the poem "View from the Porch").

besides gala apples & cider I got the last of the peaches & some of the best corn ever.

Alexander Rivera is an artist & animator who also serves as vice president of Lorain Arts Council. the other nite he presentd me with this drawing he did during the reading.

didn't post

during my week in Elyria because my ipad wdn't connect to the internet on Winckles St.

Mom & I had a super time together. she loved every minute of being a star. with her blessing I slippd out the nite after her birthday. John Burroughs askd me to read with him at Lorain Arts Council. it was quite a nite.

John Stuehr -- who I hadn't seen in years -- took a bunch of good photos which he postd on Facebook. here's one:

I dedicatd my reading to Mom. LAC director Antonio Barrios passd a birthday card around for signatures afterward & then surprisd me with the hugh cookie postd earlier.