The Pics of Lil Wayne Sporting Nike Air Diamond Turf II
Aloha to the Royal Hawaiian
After 65 years, the Royal Hawaiian -- one of the last Polynesian/Tiki themed restaurants in Southern California, one of the oldest restaurants in Orange County, and a Laguna Beach landmark -- closed yesterday. Francis Cabang opened the Royal Hawaiian at 331 N. Coast Highway in 1947 and members of the Cabang family ran the place until 2006 when it changed ownership and underwent a major remodel.
I'm sad but not entirely surprised that the place closed. The key reasons given for the closing are the economy and high rent, which makes sense. But a number of major changes since 2006 probably didn't help either. Prices went up, the amazing and enchanting jungle village decor all but disappeared, their lapu-lapu shrank (a common problem when reaching age 65), and it was not uncommon for meals to be accompanied by modern rock music rather than something from the islands. Stu News Laguna is reporting that another key cause of the closure was the city cracking down on how late live music could be played. Of course, it wasn't that long ago that the place didn't have live music at all.
But even the watered down Royal Hawaiian was far better than no Royal Hawaiian at all, and it will be missed.
There are articles about the restaurant's closure in both the L.A. Times and the O.C. Register.
The placemat at the top of today's post is from the late 1940s and was given by Royal Hawaiian owner Junior Cabang to the guys at Oceanic Arts in Whittier. The illustrations of the restaurant immediately above and below are from the late 1940s or early 1950s. I wish I had photos of the old interior. It was truly remarkable. At one point, the place was so popular that a second Royal Hawaiian was opened in Anaheim. It stood at 1025 S. Los Angeles St. (now Anaheim Blvd).
Like those "doomsday preppers" hiding guns and canned food in their lead-lined cellars while waiting for the apocalypse, perhaps I need to build my own authentic tiki room -- Insurance against the sad day when Orange County's last vintage tiki torch is snuffed out.
Millard Sheets and Home Savings & Loan
Sheets studied art at Chouinard Art Institute (the source of so many of my favorite California artists) in Los Angeles. During the Great Depression, he helped lead the government's Public Works of Art Project in Southern California and painted murals inside the Department of the Interior building in Washington, D.C.The photo below shows a statue in front of the Santa Ana Home Savings. Note the echos of 1930s Regionalism.
According to LAMurals.org, "During World War II [Sheets] traveled to India and Burma as a war artist for Life magazine. From the late 1930s until 1955 he headed the art departments at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate School. In 1953 he became director of Otis Art Institute (now Otis/Parsons), and while in that position created a new official seal for the County of Los Angeles... Outside of California his major commissions included murals for the Detroit Public Library, the Mayo Clinic, the dome of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C., the Notre Dame University Library, and the Hilton Hotel in Honolulu."
I used to enjoy visiting the art gallery of Millard's son, David Stary-Sheets, which was located at first in Old Town Irvine and later in Laguna Beach. He specialized in furniture and in paintings by the California Regionalists, including his father. Sadly, David died in 2000, and there hasn't been anything quite like the Stary-Sheets Gallery since then.
Anyway, this Home Savings exhibit is long overdue. If you're not a fan of these buildings and their art, I'd be a little worried about you.
Beauty Bender
Perhaps I've mentioned to you in the past that I know absolutely nothing about make-up.
The whole world of foundations, mascaras, lipsticks and all the rest of that face-y stuff has always been a mystery to me.
Just stepping into Sephora brings on a headache because I'm overwhelmed by all the products.
One would think that by now, at my very advanced age...I would know something about all of this
but I don't.
So, why am I telling you all of this?
Well, because two very smart young women started Beauty Bender
The whole world of foundations, mascaras, lipsticks and all the rest of that face-y stuff has always been a mystery to me.
Just stepping into Sephora brings on a headache because I'm overwhelmed by all the products.
One would think that by now, at my very advanced age...I would know something about all of this
but I don't.
So, why am I telling you all of this?
Well, because two very smart young women started Beauty Bender
I can't say that I'm ready for my close-up yet but I am happy to have found this website.
Check it out.
This, That and a little more of This
It's been a while.
But yesterday I had the pleasure of checking in with my favorite Australian blogger
and it inspired me to write post about a little of this and a little of that.
I've got to start with Beladora....of course.
From young hottie Michael Fassbender in W Magazine to
surprisingly senior femme fatale, Betty Whit
in the May issue of Vanity Fair.
Beladora jewelry...it gets around
but you knew that
Next...important election news
No not "dog in a crate vs dog on a plate"
(which is my favorite line describing the US elections)
but what's going on in France
and you know what I'm talking about
Carla Bruni Sarkozy
Seriously Madame Sarko
leave the botox and fillers to the women of a certain age in Beverly Hills
The French appreciate their women as they do their wine...
with a little age.
The Beau Sancy, a 34.98 carat diamond that will be put on sale by Sotheby's auction house in Geneva next month, is presented in Paris, Monday April 23, 2012. The Beau Sancy diamond, a stone of historical importance with a royal provenance stretching back to Marie de Medicis is estimated between two and four million dollars, (1.5 to 3 million Euros).(AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)
Imagine what it took to cut a diamond 400 hundred of years ago without modern technology.
Onto fashion.
Is everyone as excited as I am about all of the bright colors used in this season's ready to wear?
My take on it is that all the bright colors signal a new optimism in our national mood.
And, I would wear it with this ring
I believe that I've told you that from time to time I like to read, real books not ebooks.
So I've estimated that over the last 12 months I've read something in the range of 20,000-25,000 pages.
Admittedly, with the giantical tomes of the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon
and the Game of Thrones books by George R.R. Martin
the pages really added up.
But if you like to tackle big books I recommend both series.
With all that reading, no wonder I haven't had time to blog.
And worse, I've been away from the blogosphere for so long that I'm totally perplexed by the new blogger interface.
It was bad enough that Google changed the Gmail interface, now they've gone and made blogger less user friendly.
Why Google why?
Is it time to check out WordPress or Tumbler?
Yorba Cemetery
The cemetery is located between Anaheim and Yorba Linda on what was part of Don Bernardo Yorba's Rancho Canon de Santa Ana. It closed in 1939 and is now operated by the County of Orange. It is the "oldest private cemetery in Orange County predated only by the Mission Cemetery in [San Juan] Capistrano."
The great photo of the cemetery's entrance comes from Daralee Ota.
Rancho Days at Heritage Hill, El Toro
On a related note, Janet Whitcomb has been writing articles about El Toro/Lake Forest history for Patch.com in recent months. You might want to take some time to check them out.
Olinda, Ray Rast, Veta Schlimgen, Laguna, etc.
The photo above shows some of our group at one of the old wells. One of the stops on the trek was Olinda #1, which is the oldest still-producing well in Orange County. The photo below shows the group's stop at the Olinda Oil Museum, which is located in an old Field House (1912). Olinda native Jack Smith shared some of the museum's artifacts and shared how they were used in the oil fields and town.
I've heard rumors, but now it's official. Ray Rast, Professor of History at CSUF's Department of History, and his wife, Veta Schlimgen, Director of the Brea Museum, have been offered excellent jobs at Gonzaga University in Washington State and will be on their way at the end of this semester. Both did great local history work while they were here. We were hoping they'd stay, but we wish them well in their new adventures.
“80th Anniversary of the Festival of the Arts” will be the topic at the Laguna Beach Historical Society’s meeting, May 8, 7:30pm, in the City Council Chambers at Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Ave. Speakers include Sharbie Higuchi, Dee Challis Davy, and Dan Duling.
Around Orange County with Esther Cramer
Today's final photo shows Esther speaking at a historical dedication of some kind at the Modjeska Home in 1994. Supervisor Gaddi Vasquez is the second from the right among the seated dignitaries. And I think that may be Pamela Harrell wearing blue in the back row.
Esther R. Cramer (1927-2012)
Esther's parents were La Habra pioneers, and she was born, raised, and lived her whole life in that town. She graduated from Fullerton Union High School in 1944, and later was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Mortar Board at Pomona College. Esther was charming and unerringly polite, but was also a very strong woman in the best possible sense.
Beginning in the 1960s, her lifelong love of her community led her to study and write about its history. She became the leading North County historian.
In addition to her popular local newspaper column and magazine articles, she also wrote numerous books, including La Habra: The Pass Through the Hills (1969). This first book won awards from the Southern California Historical Society, UCI, and the American Association of State & Local History.
[The photo above shows Esther speaking in Courtroom One of the Old Orange County Courthouse at a Centennial Scholarship ceremony. The photo below shows Jim Sleeper, myself, and Esther on a visit to the library.]
But being the public face of Alpha Beta was, of course, only the tip of the iceberg. Her faith, her community, and certainly her family were central in her life. As her friend Phil Brigandi wrote, "...She has always been equally devoted to her three daughters and her late husband, Stan. Longtime devotion is one of the hallmarks of Esther’s life."
If I had to guess, I'd say that sense of devotion is partly what helped Esther keep an active and productive life nearly 15 years after doctors predicted she would be gone. She had work to do and duties to fulfill. Not the least of these duties was seeing that her ailing husband, Stan -- who passed away several months ago -- was cared for properly.
Over the years, Esther also showed her devotion to the cause of recording, preserving and sharing local history.
She served on the Orange County Historical Commission since its inception, nearly forty years ago. There, she exhibited her skill for cutting through the haze of distractions, differing opinions and bureaucratic double-talk, and regularly set the Commission back on track. (Every board and committee should have an Esther. ) As a Commissioner, she championed the Centennial Scholarship program and projects that focused on serious history. She also served as co-editor and contributor for two editions of the Commission's book, A Hundred Years of Yesterdays: A Centennial History of the People of Orange County and their Communities.
She was also a member for decades of the La Habra Old Settlers Society, where her crowning achievement came with the opening of the La Habra Historical Museum in 2010. The idea for the museum and much of the museum's research collection came directly from Esther.
[The photo below shows Esther and Stan Cramer (both in blue) speaking with Paul Simons of the O.C. Historical Commission in 2010.]
She was also a longtime member of the Orange County Historical Society, where she once served as president, and still served on the editorial board for the Society's journal, Orange Countiana -- a publication she helped launch decades ago.
When the City of Brea approached its 75th birthday, it rightly approached Esther to turn their history into a book. Brea: The City of Oil, Oranges, and Opportunity, was published in 1992. She followed it up with A Bell In the Barranca (1996), a book for children about La Habra's history.
But as serious a historian as Esther was, she was a great deal of fun to be around. Like most intelligent people, she had a great sense of humor. Not that she was above a corny joke or pun, either. It was no surprise when she wrote a well-researched article about Basque sheep ranches specifically so she could use the title, "Baa Baa Basque Sheep."
As local historian Cynthia Ward wrote today, "Orange County has lost a legend. Esther Cramer knew everything there was to know about North County, and thankfully enjoyed sharing that knowledge with others. Esther was one of a kind, and will be missed."
Indeed she will.
Nice new books and why old books smell funny
Recently, I came across an interesting online video by AbeBooks -- one of the better sources for used books online. The video explains the reasons why old books start to smell musty. It may be more complicated than you think. Frankly, I can't smell it anymore. (Click here to see the video.)
Jennifer Lawrence Revealed Her Secret
The famous actress Jennifer Lawrence decided to make a confession and talk about how the work affects her life. It turns out that her career was often makes her feel lonely. Actress, who plays a major role in the film “The Hunger Games,” just released, a longing for family and friends when she has to travel the world, which is inevitable, given the specificity of its work. Jennifer, of course , likes to stay in luxury apartment hotels, travel the world and communicate with people. However, this way of life is inevitably linked with loneliness. Many people envy the star of show business, believing that she simply can not complain. So she tries to keep secret the true state of affairs.
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