Bela Lugosi's Dead

A little over a week ago marked the 30 year anniversary of Darby Crash's death. The singer of the L.A. punk band the Germs, he died at the age of 22 of an intentional heroin overdose.

The Germs were one of the first punk bands I listened to. Fifteen years ago I came across an article about them in a random music magazine and became obsessed with their story. It took me over a year to track down their music--at the time the internet was still in its jurassic stages, so I couldn't exactly Google them, and I wasn't yet familiar with the concept of independent record stores. I finally found a copy of MIA at a Strawberry's while on vacation in Boston, and to this day I still love the Germs.

So when I went to L.A. I of course had to make a little pilgrimage to find Darby's grave. He's interred at Holy Cross, a Catholic cemetery in Culver City, his plot marked by a flat rectangular stone that I quickly noticed seemed to have been a frequently-used generic design.

Dave had unsuccessfully tried to find the grave the last time he was in L.A., but he hadn't been able to research its exact location. I can't imagine how many hours it would take to find it without any direction whatsoever--it'd be like, well, finding a needle in a haystack. (Dave also wrote his own meditation on Darby's death anniversary. It's the inaugural post of his new blog, Savage Aesthetic. Go read it!)

The website where I found Darby's grave location (Section R, Tier 8, Grave 114, by the way) lists a number of other celebrities buried at Holy Cross--among them John Candy, Sharon Tate, John Ford, Rita Hayworth, Jimmy Durante, Bela Lugosi, and many others. I sought out Lugosi's grave as well (and, without trying, Bing Crosby's), and was warmed to find that someone had recently wished him a Happy Halloween.

Bela and Bing are in the section referred to as "The Grotto," where this altar and statue of Mary are situated.

Closer inspection reveals a variety of candles, prayer cards, and other Catholic relics placed on the altar, and in the rock wall.

It might seem a bit morbid, but if I'd had more time I would have liked to have explored the whole place a little bit more. It is an actively used cemetery, but as long as you're respectful, I don't see anything wrong with a little bit of graveyard tourism.

Hanging out at the Eames House

Constructed in 1949, Case Study House #8 was designed by legendary designers Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen. The house is in Pacific Palisades, a fancy-looking neighborhood of L.A. just north of Santa Monica. I made a reservation to take a self-guided tour of the outside (only one tour of the interior is granted per year, to Eames foundation members).

When we got there it turned out that the tours are actually guided, which was nice as we learned a lot more about its history and design. Even though we couldn't enter the house, the design is so open that we could easily look inside and see the whole thing (with the exception of the upstairs)--I learned that the intention was to give the impression that the patio was an extension of the house.

Dave sitting in Ray's swing, which she thought provided the best view of the house.

Here's their doorbell.

The space between the house and their studio is of course nicely designed as well.

The pathway is made of a variety of materials, with various carefully placed potted plants.

A view of their studio, which is located about fifteen feet (maybe more...it's pretty close though) from the house. Note the giant praying mantis.

We noticed this little guy in a far corner of the property. It was a gift to the Eames for their grandchildren to use, and came from a London playground. Reminds me quite a bit of this...

We also noticed these toy dump trucks elsewhere on the property (it's a pretty huge piece of land). I love how everywhere we turned there was another little surprise. The yard is situation on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean--those Eames had pretty good taste.

We weren't allowed to take any photos of the indoors but I found this site that has a few interior shots. I love the bookcase. It's hard to see but they have several LTR tables lined up in the hall between the kitchen and living room. And now I of course really want one. Sigh.

This is Dogtown

Friday we were back on the coast, this time staying in Santa Monica. In the morning we grabbed a quick breakfast at Peet's (amazing how many Peet's there are in California), where we noticed the most amazing Christmas tree in the courtyard outside.

It's made of dozens of shopping carts stacked on top of one another, with giant silver balls dangling in the centers. This thing is brilliant. I would have liked to have seen it being assembled.

Afterward we walked along the beach toward the pier. We'd watched Dogtown and Z Boys a few days before we left and noted a few of the famous skating and surfing spots that were mentioned.


I'm pretty sure this is where they filmed some of the scenes in Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, which we'd seen just days earlier. (About 30 seconds in from here.)


I feel like a lot of movies must have been filmed here. (I'm pretty sure Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead is one of them--the part where Christina Applegate and her boyfriend are under the pier--though I'm not sure why I remember that.)

Later that day we went to the Venice Canals. The area was originally planned as a resort town called Venice of America, with sixteen miles of canals comprising most of the thoroughfares. But in the 1920s with the rise of the automobile, this proved rather impractical, and the majority of them were filled in and converted to roads.

In the 90s the canals once again became a sought after locale, with fancy modern homes replacing vacant lots, and in 1994 the city refurbished the six remaining original canals.

These photos don't really do them justice. Here's one on flickr that shows the full extent of this place a little more. Walking around on the narrow sidewalks alongside the water, we decided that this was where we were going to live. We imagined waking up every morning and having coffee on a sunny patio overlooking the water. Then I saw that an average rental costs around $3,000 a month. So now we just have to win the lottery.

Joshua Tree (not the U2 album)

After leaving Palm Springs we headed over to Joshua Tree National Park, about 45 minutes away. The week before I had watched a documentary about Gram Parsons, who apparently died in Joshua Tree (in fact, you can still sleep in the room where it happened--seems a little bit weird that they advertise it, but that's just me). I hadn't realized how much of a hippie town it is, a cluster of vegetarian, health food, and vintage shops in the middle of nowhere. (It was Thanksgiving when we went, so nothing was open, but it was all there on the main road.)

There's one main road going through the park, with various points of interest and hiking trails along the way. We took a one-mile loop trail to Barkers Dam, which was constructed in 1900 by cattlemen. I wanted to walk out on the ledge like this man but was too nervous. It's really narrow, and I'm not that graceful.

Not sure what this is--a water trough?. It's very Georgia O'Keeffe.

This place is called Skull Rock.

We decided to drive to Key's View, which is located on the crest of the Little San Bernardino Mountains, and affords views of the Coachella Valley and the San Andreas Fault. It was so windy that this woman's knit hat was blown right off of her head and into the valley. I felt like I was going to blow away myself.

The view.

We had hoped to drive to the Salton Sea and Salvation Mountain afterward, but didn't leave early enough, and it was already growing dark by the time we left the park. Maybe next time!

Desert oasis

Now where was I?

After we left the dinosaurs, we continued on to Palm Springs, and after a few unsuccessful thrift store runs, arrived at the Ace Hotel. This kid really loved his scooter--I saw him riding it every time I walked by here, on both days.

Here's our room number.

I feel like I didn't really take such great photos of it, but the room was awesome. I have to admit, this was our main impetus for taking this little excursion.

They provide you with plenty of snacks, though I'm guessing they aren't free. (We did not partake of them to be on the safe side.)

Dave peruses the Ace Hotel guidebook. I was into the denim bed covering--it kind of inspired an idea for our own bedroom (which I of course have yet to carry out).

Say what you will, any hotel that has pictures of 70s-era Dennis Hopper pinned to the walls is okay in my book.

After exploring the room for a bit, we ventured over to King's Highway, the hotel's restaurant, which has a decidedly mid-century lodge feel to it, with the stone walls, hanging globe pendant lights, and the giant wicker elephant. I had the vegetable pot pie, which was pretty good.

The tables are outfitted with white Eames shell chairs with Eiffel bases. We sat in a booth for dinner (one of the most comfortable booths I've ever sat in).

Next morning at the breakfast table. The coconut French toast was satisfying, though Dave's chocolate croissant was even better.

After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and went on a little self-guided driving tour of Palm Springs architecture before heading out of town. Here's the visitor center, housed in a former gas station. Sadly, it was closed that day.

Even though we were barely there at all, we had a good time in Palm Springs. I'd go back! I wish we'd spent a little more time in the hotel--they had a lot of good amenities that we didn't get to take advantage of. It was so cold we didn't even get to go swimming (though we did take a dip in the giant hot tub).

If we did go back, though, I might like to stay at the Del Marcos hotel, which we passed by on our drive. It's pretty much what the Ace wants to be, except it's been in business since 1947.

I know you are, but what am I?

I'm interrupting my vacation coverage (haha) to report back on The Pee Wee Herman Show: it is 90 minutes of awesomeness. If you are in the NY area, you need to go! Now! (It ends January 2 so there's not a lot of time left.) Most of the classic Pee Wee's Playhouse characters are there, some played by the original actors (Miss Yvonne, Jambi, and Mailman Mike), with a few new ones, including a talking Sham Wow. Pee Wee wears an abstinence ring, and does a pretty great trick involving a balloon. I was trying to show off my Cabazon Dinosaurs shirt, though you can't really see it in the picture.

I now leave you with one of the greatest photographs I've ever seen (okay maybe that's an exaggeration but it's still pretty great).

Let's talk about your big but.

Tonight I'm off to see the Pee Wee Herman Show on Broadway (!) so in honor of PW, I give you...

The Cabazon dinosaurs. I was pretty excited when I found out that these dinosaurs from Pee Wee's Big Adventure were right on the way out to Palm Springs (which is where we were headed on Wednesday).

Well, they weren't glowing, but they were still pretty awesome. I got curious about their history and learned that they were built in 1964 by Knott's Berry Farm sculptor Claude Bell in an attempt to bring in customers to his restaurant, the Wheel Inn (the diner where Pee Wee pays off his meal by washing dishes, hair net and all).

After re-watching the movie when we got home I remembered that Pee Wee and Simone pass the night up in the T-Rex's mouth, which made me sad that we didn't try to go up there. (A search on flickr shows that you can get up there, though there is no seating and the teeth are covered in chicken wire.)

We did walk up into the apatosaurus (named Dinny), which is actually a giant gift shop. And that's when we discovered something rather surprising.

It seems that the dinosaurs changed ownership in the mid '90s following Bell's death, and the new owners are using them to promote creationism. You can buy T-shirts and books that say "by design, not by chance," and there are signs telling you that "creationist scientists" have found evidence that man and dinosaurs lived at the same time (6,000 years ago, at the same time Adam and Eve first hit the scene).

We went into the Wheel Inn to see if we could find any real souvenirs and we certainly did. These T-shirts were available in every color imaginable. I settled on a nice baby blue.

The restaurant, by the way, was absolutely deserted. I didn't see a single customer. No shrine to Large Marge either.

Just behind the dinosaurs are these wind turbines lined up as far as the eye can see (well maybe not that far). They look pretty awesome, and together with two other locations in the state, they are responsible for producing much of the world's wind energy. ( In 1995, these areas produced 30 percent of the entire world's wind-generated electricity--I don't know what the stats are today, as for some reason they're not listed on the website.)