Wattles Garden Park

Finally at long last I have found my way into Wattles Garden Park. Smaller than I had thought. It's a fine old home, pre-movie industry Hollywood, with what is now a small area of land set aside as a park. It is right next to Runyon Canyon, and the whole place reeks of dog "regalos." All those "Curb your dog" signs mean YOU, yeah, YOU! We celebrated Guavidad (A Lopex Holiday, pat pending) on location this year! Official site for the home here. The home dates to 1909. Down the narrow nearby streets are mostly unattractive homes built on a slope never intended for houses. Stucco pink apartments and palm trees are the norm for the area. There is also a community farm which you can only access with a key! Dogs, dogs, dogs, and dog poop.

Closer to the house.


LOTS to read, from filming rules to dogs.


View from the house down onto the dirty town. Grass looks so green!


I like trees, especially that tall one. Looks almost like fireworks.

Every residential street corner in Hollywood looks like this:



In Zorro news, Season 1, # 13 "The Fall of Monastario"--hate to see the downright pretty Britt Lomond's saga come to an end, but a particularly good episode for Don Diego. I love when he pretends he can't handle a sword. And for Guavidad, among my gifts was a custom Zorro minifig. Gracias!!

BS Stands for Many (Inappropriate) Things featuring Major West

B.S. can stand for some bad stuff. Not just the obvious. However, it also stands for a movie that really wasn't so bad at all: Blue Sunshine. I first saw it in the late 70s because I really liked an actor called Zalman King. I was amused to see Major West from Lost in Space in it. I rewatched it just now. I had barely remembered that Major West played the used car salesman type politician. VERY mid-70s style. Uggh. Still mega good looking man though. Luckily, his character kept his hair and didn't wig out (har har). Here he is in a majorly ugly suit, and he said the BS word (yeah, that one) on the phone. Bad, Mark!

After that scene, smiling Major West is pleased to show off how he looks basically the same ten years later, and full head of hair! (The hair is very important in this film!)

No, sorry. Judy married someone else after we returned to Earth.

Remember that time when Dr. Smith almost got us all killed? Which one? So many good times. Hahahah!

Zalman King tries to convince the Major to upgrade his fashion sense and stop smoking. Nope. Ain't gonna happen. That Taxachusetts accent is so thick with cigarette smoke it made me nearly cry. Why, Mark, why??

Somehow he thinks that he'll be able to sound like Tom Waits when he sings onstage with Liza. (I wish I were making that up).

The Major gets suspicious that I'm gonna embarrass him with something else.

Well, he's right. Ready? If I could have one prop from this film, it would not be the fake campaign posters. Oh no. It would be this shirtless hippie drug dealer poster with the blond wig! (Insert smokey Taxachusetts accent "It was a paying gig! I had kids to support!")

Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself.....

Later the Major utters another BAD BS word. He says Barbra Streisand! He does! A puppet of her has just performed as his lead-in act at the shopping mall. A shopping mall that has a disco in it.

Zalman King returns to tell him it's all his fault! We never do find out if he won the election or was arrested or what.... (sorry for the spoilers).

Remember, Major, smoking will spoil your good looks.

Yeah, it's something to think about, Don.

But you'll live on forever (or until the film rots) as the cutest guy on TV in the autumn of 1959.

Hey, Cully! Johnny Ringo and John Robinson have the same initials! It's a small TV world.

When Last We Saw the Robinsons

Or "Hot Men of 60s Television"










Lazy lazy me sitting inside due to rain.... and all I've wanted to do for days and days is watch Lost in Space. Sure, Dr. Smith wears a person out (oh the pain, the pain), and the music remains the same, some dialogue is embarrassingly corny, occasionally it turns into Batman, the women only get to do "women's work," but it was a GOOD show, especially the early ones when the focus was still on the family. Zorro even gets a few chances to show off his sword fighting along with that mystery skunk spot on the back of his hair. Why do people grow old and die? It's not right.

Space Age Christmas

Happy Winter Solstice! The sun returns! Although, here in SoCal we're having a winter storm, so the sun should return Thor's Day. Atomic Age ornaments make Christmas feel safe (ironically!) Here's a UFO classic I've only just acquired. Alas, I have no tree up. Nor have I carved this year's Halloween pumpkin--it's still sitting in waiting in the living room. Meanwhile, all I want to do is watch Lost in Space. They never celebrated Christmas on the Jupiter 2, did they?

Cookies n' Scream

Packaging cracked me up. They look just like the photo on the bottom right of the package. Not sure what chemicals the colors come from--cheap Palmer candy after all (hey, made in USA!), but they're actually quite good.

Why does the skeleton have a bandaid on his head?

Voodoo Frat?

I wasn't the only one who stopped to take a picture.

Why Deodorant is Better than Men?

Emotionally responsive deodorant.

AVOID the film Sleepwalkers!

October, so there should be some funny horror films on. Well, I thought "Sleepwalkers" (1992, and apparently Stephen King) might be amusing. NO! It started off with dead cats hung all over the place. SICK!! I presume they are fake, but still... animal violence is always unnecessary. BOO HISS! Changed that channel promptly.

Meanwhile TCM is running a colorized version of The Family Way. Much better (not colorized! I mean, much better than the hanging cats alternative.) Hayley was soooooo skinny then. That tub she's washing in is more of a teacup. The best of the three Hywel and Hayley films though was Twisted Nerve. Classic!

Another silly film was on the other night, Let's Kill Uncle. Sounded like it might be noteworthy, 1966, bit like an Avengers episode or maybe more gruesome. Terrible ending, just terrible.

The hunt for additional GOOD scary films, esp 60s ones, continues.

TCM has that "underground" segment too, and last week they aired Psychomania, one of my faves! It's an early 70s British film with a rotten gang of young bikers who terrorize people, but still quite mild. The twist is that the lead chap kills himself and returns from the dead. It's worth seeing for the fashions, colors, etc. I'm quite sure I first saw it on Elvira. This past time I managed to fall asleep before it ended. Drat!

Engrish in My Class

I love the things they bring with them. From Japan. Classic.

So Ripped Off

Ages ago I came up with "Come on down to Sofa Q !" Just ask Lopex! Years later SNL did a skit like that, cos they tap my phone and steal from me. And now it's spread to the Vietnamese community. Kinda inappropriate for public display though.