Catherine Opie's portrait of Elizabeth Taylor's home says a lot about the star ... Why is Modernism Week in Palm Springs? ... 5 Every Week gives you the ways and the means to explore SoCal ... Goodbye Jubilee
This KPCC voice helped launch the last showgirl act in Vegas
For years, Vegas meant showgirls — topless or scantily clad dancers in outrageous costumes with ostrich feathers and sequins. But one by one the shows died out. Now there's only one left, and it closes next Thursday, February 11th.
"Jubilee!" at Bally's has been running for almost 35 years.
One of the singers in the original cast was a woman whose voice all KPCC listeners know well: KPCC production manager Rita Pardue. She's the warm voice you hear on many of the underwriting and other spots you hear on the air every day.
Here she is today:
And here she is in 1981, backstage:
And in one of the fabulous costumes the show was known for. Rita says this one, from "Gold Diggers," weighed 40 pounds.
First things first. She wasn't topless in the show. "I always say," Rita says, "singers wore the most clothes!"
Rita was hired by the show's famed production manager, Fluff LeCocque, after a bad audition in Boston.
"There I was ... all the other singers were bobbing up, and I'm bobbing down. And when they're bobbing down, I'm bobbing up. Two weeks later, Fluff sent me a letter thanking me for auditioning, but I didn't make it," Rita says.
Rita wrote her back, thanking her for the opportunity and saying her next step was to take dance lessons: "Two weeks later, I got a telegram from Fluff saying, 'You're hired.'"
One of the performers had been named Miss Universe, so LeCocque filled her spot with Rita.
Rita will be reuniting with many of her former cast members, plus designer Bob Mackie, next Thursday at the last performance. For many more memories of Rita's life in Vegas performing "Jubilee," listen to the audio.
This story has been updated.
6 places to go when everyone else is watching the Super Bowl — and the roads are wide open
On Sunday, you could probably hold a Super Bowl party in the middle of the Hollywood Freeway, because everybody else will be at their Super Bowl parties.
We call it the Super Bowl Speedway, one of the wonderful times — like Fourth of July weekend, or any federal holiday — when just enough people are off the roads that you can get just about anywhere in 20 minutes.
KPCC science reporter Sanden Totten put out the call to his Facebook friends a few days ago, asking them for ideas of destinations in Southern California he and his friends could go when the freeways are truly free. Here's what they came up with:
1. The Getty Villa
The Getty Villa is open 10-5 on Sunday, and we've made it from downtown in 20 minutes on previous holidays. This is a great time to check out the watercolors Marc Haefele told you about.
2. The Watts Towers
You've always meant to go to the Watts Towers, right? Or you've always meant to go back. Now's the time to head to Watts and take in Simon Rodia's beautiful creation. It's open 12-3 Sunday.
3. The Deep Creek Hot Springs
This one's in Apple Valley, so it's still a drive from L.A., but the bros who usually crowd the water will be in their man caves watching the Super Bowl — so Sanden, his nudist hippie friends and you can take a relaxing dip.
4. Palos Verdes Tide Pools
Usually, it's tough to see the Palos Verdes Tide Pools — and many others in SoCal — because there's no parking. But on Super Bowl Sunday, the starfish won't be watching the game, but the other drivers will be.
5. Chengdu Taste
Food writer Eddie Lin told Sanden that the world-renowned restaurant Chengdu Taste in Alhambra might have a smaller line on Super Bowl Sunday.
"By now you may already know that waiting for a table during peak hours at the insanely popular Chengdu Taste in Alhambra is the equivalent of languishing away at a disaster relief center while hoping against all hope that someone will come give you nourishment. The hungry humanity is manifold. The wait is long (upwards of two hours). But, the prize is a taste of Chengdu." — Eddie Lin, Los Angeles Magazine
Chengdu Taste is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sunday. It's at 828 West Valley Boulevard in Alhambra.
6. Your father-in-law's
Yeah, just go watch the game at Juan's. He'll love you for it for another year. And the traffic won't be bad at all.
Palm Springs Modernism Week: The history of modern design in the desert
What sits in the desert, is over 60 years old, and is full of sharp corners?
If you answered "modern architecture," you're right, and you'd fit right in at Modernism Week, which starts February 11 in Palm Springs.
There you'll find tens of thousands of architecture fans discussing the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Frey, Richard Neutra and others that make up many of the homes and businesses of Palm Springs. According to organizers, last year's Modernism Week attracted almost 60,000 people and brought in $22 million to the local economy. And if this year's event is like those before it, the numbers will be even bigger.
If you do go, Peter Moruzzi says there will be lots to do. Moruzzi is an historic preservationist who founded the Palm Springs Modern Committee in 1998 and is author of "Palm Spring Holiday."
He's not officially connected with Modernism Week, although the home he shares with his husband will be on a house tour. "Every day there are bus tours... parties every night at a different house or some other location," Moruzzi says. "There are lectures, film premieres. There's so much."
But before the crowds get there, it's worth asking - how did all those modern buildings end up in Palm Springs?
To find the answer, follow the money.
"Back in the day, lots of movie stars and wealthy people went to Palm Springs, because that was the place to go in the winter time, and they started doing that in the 1920s. So there was always money in Palm Springs," Moruzzi explains.
The post-war affluence of the 1940s brought even more money to the desert city, as the newly-minted middle class began moving to the desert city. And of course, there was room to build.
"After World War 2, modernism took over. So the banks, city hall - almost every building you can think of that was popping up at that time was modern," Moruzzi says.
Palm Springs' growth in the 1940s - combined with with its celebrity-backed architects - is key to understanding its modern architecture today.
"It was the style after World War 2. It was considered to be sophisticated, contemporary, it's what people wanted to be associated with if you wanted to be 'of the moment,'" Moruzzi says. "Modern commercial buildings, modern residential, modern everything."
Just as they had grown together, once modernism fell out of fashion, Palm Springs did too.
"In the late '70s and into the '80s, attention started moving east, what they call Down Valley - Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, Palm Desert, Indian Wells," Moruzzi says. "They started building more golf courses and gated communities, and Palm Springs was no longer the place to be. Because of that, most of the great architecture survived."
As for its renaissance, Palm Springs modernism has the '90s and gay people to thank.
"Gay people started moving [there] in the '80s because it was a great environment, there was nobody to bother you," Moruzzi explains. "Then there was a transition - starting in the 90s, when modernism was being rediscovered, a lot of gay people came from all over the world and were a part of the preservation movement."
At this year's Modernism Week, there will be one more modern icon to add to the tour - The Salton Sea Yacht Club, which was built in 1958 by Albert Frey, and saved from extinction with Moruzzi's help.
"[Frey] was commissioned to build this amazing nautical-style yacht club on the edge of the Salton Sea," Moruzzi says. But when tourism, and much of the water, at the Salton Sea dried up, the yacht club was abandoned.
"It was almost demolished. But the county of Riverside took the initiative and actually restored it to its original look - and it's beautiful," Moruzzi says. "So, I wrote a National Register nomination for the property, which was accepted, so we're having a big celebration on Friday, February 12 to unveil the plaque and learn about the Salton Sea - it's going to be a lot of fun."
Butch meets hyperfeminine as Catherine Opie photographs Elizabeth Taylor's home
Catherine Opie, one of today's most sought-after and collectable photographers, is very comfortable in her skin, which happens to be the skin of a lesbian who generally wears jeans and a T-shirt and no makeup and isn't a size zero. But even she admits her identity was challenged when she photographed the home of Elizabeth Taylor, the "ultimate" of femininity.
"Even in photographing her house, as a butch identified lesbian, I'd put my scuffed tennis shoe next to her silvery pump and I'd be like, 'How did she do it?!'" — Catherine Opie
Opie's photos also challenge us and our perceptions by showing a realness to Taylor that gets lost too easily: the many photos of Richard Burton and Michael Jackson show those were real relationships, a photo of Bill Clinton between Taylor and Sophia Loren shows her sense of humor, the easy comfort of the home shows her classiness.
Opie's new show, at MOCA's Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, is called 700 Nimes Road, for the Bel Air address of the ranch-style home Elizabeth Taylor lived in for decades.
Opie walked me through the show, then sat down for an in-depth interview. Click the audio above for the full Q&A. Here are some highlights.
Catherine, why did you want to photograph Elizabeth Taylor’s home?
Well I think that it’s about a challenge and about different ways that we perceive ideas of portraiture, and it just so happened that we shared the same accountant — Derek Lee — and he asked me if I would like to do anything with Elizabeth. It took me a few years to wrap my head around it, and kind of entered it thinking about William Eggleston’s Graceland photographs that he made about Elvis’ estate. And I thought, "Well, how interesting would it be to try to take somebody as iconic as Elizabeth Taylor and truly make a portrait of her home?!"
You started working on this when Elizabeth Taylor was still alive — she was alive for a few weeks while you were in the house with her. Did you ever think about trying to get her into a photograph?
No, that was never really my intention. I felt like that would probably be asking a lot. I knew that her health wasn’t in top shape, and I really wanted to actually try to grapple with that idea of how to represent somebody through their belongings, versus photographing somebody who is utterly so iconic, so can you make a more humanistic and more truthful portrait to a certain extent by the observation of making images in one's home.
What did her house say about her?
I think it said that she was a very passionate person who really enjoyed entertaining, but really loved having family and people around her.
You write that you were this butch woman photographing this "ultimate femininity." You say (her femininity, as seen in movies) frightened you as a child, and challenged your adult identity. Why?
I don’t know if I would use "frightened" to this day ... I probably said that at one point, but I am not scared of femininity. I’m more I guess frightened in relationship to something that I would never want to achieve, or the absolute inability to achieve ... Although recently I did buy a dress! (LAUGHING) It’s a post Caitlyn world we’re living in.
Catherine Opie: 700 Nimes Road is at MOCA Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA 90069 through May 8, 2016.
Through May 22, The Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024) is showing Catherine Opie: Portraits, including Opie's photos of Jonathan Franzen, Kate & Laura Mulleavy, Mary Kelly, Matthew Barney, Glenn Ligon, John Baldessari, Kara Walker, Miranda July, Raymond Pettibon, Ron Athey, and Ryan McGinness.
5 Every Week: neon museum, virtual reality theme park, secret food window, Japanese skincare!
Behold: Five great things you should do in Southern California this week, from art to food to music to an adventure we'll call "the Wild Card," from the makers of the 5 Every Day app. You can also get this as a new podcast in iTunes. If you want five hand-picked things to do in Los Angeles every day, download the free 5 Every Day from the App Store.
ART: Virtual reality theme park
Coaxial is a creative space-slash-weirdo factory near University Park. It’s dedicated to experimental television production and media art. Think of it as a brick and mortar home for the sort of lo-fi alien transmissions public access channels used to air.
Coaxial specializes in obscure screenings and interactive performances from Angelenos in the televisual vanguard, like this Saturday’s “Virtual Reality Theme Park.” Yeah, it’s what it sounds like — we think: a “simulated amusement park” featuring rides from around the world.
We’re told the attractions will be presented in “Low-Tech VR.” Instead of using electronic headsets, the space will manipulate sound, temperature and the environment to create an immersive simulated experience.
The classic thrills include rides from Coney Island, Busch Gardens, Ferrari World and other, famously litigious theme parks that we probably shouldn’t mention.
To round out the experience, the event will also feature souvenirs, costumed characters and actors posing as park employees . What does that all mean? I don’t know. I guess we just have to go to find out.
Plus, it’s $7, only a tiny fraction of that park-hopper pass.
CITY: Museum of Neon Art
For the last year or so, a building across the street from the Americana Mall in Glendale has been taunting us. It’s an impressive Streamline Moderne-looking thing with a magnificent neon sign of an old-timey bathing beauty perched on the roof. And another massive neon sign of a giant faucet in a sleek neighboring courtyard.
For what feels like an eternity, the building has sported the same maddening sign: Museum of Neon Art—opening soon.
It’s been torture. Opening soon? When is soon? How much longer must we wait to visit what is clearly going to be the strangest and most wonderful museum in LA?
Guess what. They’ve actually been open for a while now, without much hoopla. But now The Museum of Neon Art — MONA, for short — is finally holding its grand opening. Thank God.
They’re hosting a special party Saturday, February 6, where patrons willing to part with $50 get to see the exhibitions. Those include "It's About Time," a collection of neon clocks, photos of '40s and '50s neon art in Glendale by photographer Glenn B. Ward, and a group exhibit called Illuminations, with neon and kinetic art from over 30 different artists.
Winter hours are Friday and Saturday from noon to 7 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
FOOD: Blue Window
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBTbf2uwIFv/
Six months ago, the industrious chefs at Hollywood’s gourmet gastropub Mud Hen Tavern popped up a sneaky little sideline: a takeaway place they call Blue Window.
The takeout window — it’s blue, obviously — has a couple of stools and a small menu. But here’s the interesting thing: The menu changes entirely every six months.
They’ve been shilling marvelous Asian-inspired small plates since they opened, but it’s February now, which means Blue Window has just reinvented itself, and started a totally glorious new menu. It’s called: JUNK.
Yep, junk. It's all junk-food-themed platters: Artichoke po'boys, falafel onion rings, Nacho baked potatoes, and our personal favorite: "spaghetti-yos" a haute-cuisine kid noodle with smoked chili, roasted garlic, meatballs and almond ricotta. We’re crazy about those spaghetti-yos. They’re instant nostalgia generators, like a wonderful memory tasted through an elevated foodie filter.
The kicker is that everything is under $10.
The second kicker is that everything on the menu can be made vegan. And not by exclusion. There are superlative vegan versions of each dish, each just as flavorful and considered as the dairy-and-meat menu.
You’ve got six months. Get it while the getting’s good.
MUSIC: Fat Tuesday at Amoeba
Amoeba Records celebrates Fat Tuesday like few other institutions in Los Angeles. Which makes sense. Mardi Gras is so much about music.
In full N’awlins splendor, Amoeba throws a yearly bacchanal, a daylight parade that spills out onto Sunset with all the stuff you'd expect: confetti, beads, makeshift floats and a bring-your-own-brass orchestra blaring a proud, tuneless rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In."
Claire: Be a part of something big and loud and ridiculous. It feels good.
Zac: Or just go lurch through the maze of aisles, in a human ocean of gold and purple and green, to buy something—a portion of all sales Tuesday go to New Orleans music charities.
Claire: Laissez les bon temps rouler!
WILDCARD: Make Asobi
https://www.instagram.com/p/-exgRkQIHG/
Japan knows skincare. At least, that's what we can infer from the countless hours and dollars we have spent at Make Asobi, a Japanese cosmetics boutique in the Little Tokyo Plaza shopping mall, where the shelves are lined with products you never knew you needed.
An enterprising narcissist can find anything here. Extreme foot exfoliants. Semi-permanent mascara. Pseudo-surgical zit-popping tools. Massage objects to roll on your face and neck — to do what, we're not sure.
And our favorite: prepackaged facial sheet masks imbued with charcoal, snail mucus or green tea.
Much on the shelves at Make Asobi remains mysterious to non-Japanese speakers but Google translate and some assistance from the friendly clerks goes a long way.
For those with the patience for it, an eternity can be spent examining each precious package of lotion, shampoo and high-definition makeup.
Westsiders: there's one on Sawtelle, too!
Jerry Heller helped bring N.W.A 'Straight Outta Compton'
“Personally, I don’t really have that much animosity toward Jerry Heller. You know, it’s a long time ago. Respect the fact that Eazy was no fool. And this guy was like a father figure to Eazy. In a lot of ways, he did what he said he was gonna do. Which is, make him legit. We were selling records out the trunk of our car before Jerry came into the picture."
— Ice Cube to Amos Barshad in Grantland, 8/11/2015
The new movie "Straight Outta Compton" tells the story of how the group N.W.A broke out in the mid-1980s, revolutionizing hip-hop. O'Shea Jackson Jr. plays Ice Cube, Corey Hawkins plays Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell is Eazy-E ... and way down the list of credits is Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller.
Heller, now 74, was in his 40s when he started managing N.W.A after an already long music career working with Elton John, Van Morrison, The Eagles, Pink Floyd and others.
(L-R: Elton John and Jerry Heller. Courtesy Jerry Heller)
As Heller told KPCC's Adolfo Guzman Lopez in 2006, when he released his memoir "Ruthless":
"I heard about a little pressing plant down on Santa Monica Boulevard called Macola, and there was Ice-T, MC Hammer, The World Class Wreckin' Cru, CIA, J.J. Fad, The L.A. Dream Team pressing their records over there. So if you sold 10,000 records, on a record that probably cost you two or three hundred dollars plus the thousand you had to pay to press them up, everybody made a lot of money. So I got involved then. And in The World Class Wreckin' Cru was Dre."
Dr. Dre, of course, one of the founding members of N.W.A.
How did this white Ohioan mix with the black rappers from Compton?
"Remember," he told Adolfo, "I grew up in Cleveland on the same block as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. I knew a lot bigger gangsters than N.W.A."
But their artistry was clear.
"This cry," he calls it, "from our inner cities, from these audio documentarians, probably the greatest poets of their era."
There's much more from Heller in Adolfo's interview from the Off-Ramp archive; click on the arrow above for the audio version.