Category Archives: Los Angeles
Inside Harvey Weinstein
I love these parties celebrating my movies that have generated more than three hundred Oscar nominations. I’m the guy everyone wants to talk to. I confess it wasn’t like that in high school or college or when I started in show business as a concert promoter. I saw those looks a million times: hey, you’re […]
Also posted in Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood, Movies, Sex
Kerry James Marshall Paints Big
SKIN Portrait of the Artist & a Vacuum, 1981 my black ass smiles a missing tooth over a vacuum I never use Self-Portrait of the Artist as a Super Model, 1994 photographers ignore my face until i bury it in dirty blonde hair When Frustration Threatens Desire, 1990 black cat black snake black glove black […]
Also posted in Kerry James Marshall, Museum of Contemporary ARt, Painters
Loving Lana Turner
I’m just Judy Turner being followed by boys down the halls of Hollywood High and that’s pretty good but not nearly as exciting as when a reporter spots me cutting class in a cafe and sends me to an agent. Right away MGM signs me and says I’m one of the most beautiful women in […]
Also posted in Artie Shaw, Divorce, Infidelity, Lana Turner, Marriage, Movies, Sex
The People v. O.J. Simpson
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Football, Johnnie Cochran, Marcia Clark, Marriage, Murder, O.J. Simpson
Introduction on a Train
This story is now in the collection “Tales of Romance”
Also posted in Bing Crosby, Divorce, Marriage, Movies, Romance, San Francisco
Marvin Gaye to his Father
Dear Father, Why do you beat me so? I’m your son and love listening to your inspired sermons and beautiful singing and know someday you’ll be more than a lay preacher. Most of all I enjoy being with you and hoping someday you’ll be proud of me. I know you will. You’ll hug me, and […]
Also posted in Berry Gordy, Cocaine, Detroit, Divorce, Marvin Gaye, Mental Health, Motown, Murder, Music
Hooker Haven
This story appears in the collection “In Other Hands”
Also posted in Prostitution, Sex, Slavery
Interview with a Vice Detective
This story appears in the collection “In Other Hands”
Getting the Girls
This story appears in the collection “In Other Hands”
Also posted in AIDS, Cocaine, Drugs, Siege of Vicksburg, Slavery
Money in the Bank
There aren’t any good jobs in L.A., and I’m sick of work anyway. I don’t even want to sell drugs anymore. I’ve got a better plan. Two friends and I are going to knock off a bank in Bakersfield. It would be too tough in L.A. In Bakersfield we’re dealing with hicks. I figure we […]
Also posted in Bakersfield, Banks, Crime, Theft
Errol Flynn v. John Huston
I don’t know how much I’d had to drink but always drank too much at Hollywood parties because I feared the beautiful and talented actresses there were a bit more wonderful than I, and that I’d only be a walk-on as long as I lasted and that wouldn’t be long, and then I’d have to […]
Also posted in Bette Davis, Bob Fitzsimmons, Boxing, Errol Flynn, Jim Corbett, John Huston, Movies, Warner Brothers
Kobe Decides
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Bakersfield, D'Angelo Russell, Jerry West, Jordan Clarkson, Julius Randle, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal
Deli Delight
I was hungry and the manager of the gallery showing wild faces said the deli across the street’s world famous go on over and get something. Okay I said and pressed the steel arrow to red-light busy Melrose Ave. and allow me to cross. Inside the deli large glass cases featured food I began studying […]
Also posted in Food, Hollywood, Lawyers, Mental Health, Painters
Lamar Odom to the Hoop
This story appears in the collection “In Other Hands”
Also posted in Alcohol, Basketball, Cocaine, Depression, Lamar Odom, Las Vegas, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Marijuana, Mental Health, Nicotine, Prostitution
Here’s Bobby Chacon
This story appears in the boxing collection Death in the Ring
Rolling Hills Paradise
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Alcohol, Football, Palos Verdes, Pat Haden, Steve Sarkisian, USC
Bathroom Slip
At age eighteen Bill tossed everything into his old car and moved to L.A, yearning for a life of wealth, women, and major league sports close up. He knew he was destined for distinction, he just had to figure how to proceed. He’d gotten a job sweeping concrete floors and stacking boxes in a south […]
Also posted in Falling, George Thomas Clark, Health, Insects
Chasing DeAndre Jordan
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Basketball, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Dallas, DeAndre Jordan, Doc Rivers, Houston, Los Angeles Clippers, Mark Cuban, Microsoft, Steve Ballmer
Einstein Calculates Kobe
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Albert Einstein, Basketball, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Nuclear Weapons, Physics, World War II
Sophia Loren v. Jayne Mansfield
By delightful coincidence I was dining in elegant Romanoff’s restaurant in Beverly Hills that 1957 night when young and ravishing Sophia Loren entered, accompanied by several movie executives who, once seated, gazed across satin tablecloth and widened omnipresent smiles, laughing at her every utterance. I understand their behavior for I was equally captivated by the […]
Also posted in Boxing, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, Jayne Mansfield, Mike Romanoff, Movies, Sophia Loren
Donald Sterling v. Adam Silver
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Adam Silver, Al Sharpton, Basketball, Doc Rivers, Donald Sterling, Jesse Jackson, John L. Sullivan, Oprah Winfrey, Racism
New Owner of Clippers
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Adam Silver, Basketball, Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers, Racism, V. Stiviano
Toe to Toe with Bobby Chacon
This story is part of the collection “Death in the Ring”
Also posted in Bazooka Limon, Bobby Chacon, Boxing, Dementia Pugilistica, Ray Mancini, Ruben Olivares, San Fernando Valley
Edgar Payne v. Elsie Palmer Payne
This story is part of the collection “Paint it
Also posted in Art, Divorce, Edgar Payne, Elsie Palmer Payne, Laguna Beach, Marriage, Painters
Elsie’s Bus Stop
This story is part of the collection “Paint it Blue” Click here to see “Bus Stop,” a 1949 painting by Elsie Palmer Payne
Also posted in Art, Buses, Edgar Payne, Elsie Palmer Payne, Marriage, Painters
Art Aragon’s Sweetest Ladies
This story is from the collection “Death in the Ring” Click here to see a photo of Art Aragon and Marilyn Monroe
Also posted in Art Aragon, Boxing, Carmen Basilio, Jayne Mansfield, Marilyn Monroe, Ray Robinson
In Ripley’s Museum
This story is now in the collection “The Bold Investor”
Also posted in Marriage, Ripley's Museum, Sex
Architectural Delight
This story is now in the collection “Tales of Romance”
Also posted in Architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright, Hollywood, Marriage, Murder, Short Pieces - GTC
John Wilkes Booth Today
We mustn’t permit deed of John Wilkes Booth to stand and therefore shall remove from time and place and raise today in theatrical family thriving in Manhattan and nod when Hollywood beckons splendid Booth who becomes movie star in early twenties making millions while he drinks and snorts and occasionally crashes cars but fires only […]
Also posted in Abraham Lincoln, Assassinations, Civil War - American, Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth, Movies, New York City, Racism, Short Pieces - GTC, Slavery, Theater
The Tumble
An old woman carefully descended steps of a museum amphitheater, stopped at the second row from the front, and said, “Excuse me.” I immediately rose, and she planted about half her foot on the step, a semi-high heel hanging over, spun ninety degrees and fell, her hips landing on the first step and then her […]
Also posted in Falling, George Thomas Clark, Health, Short Pieces - GTC
Executive Jack
Monday after high school graduation kid was required to become adult, moving long miles to Los Angeles and working in south central warehouse owned by gray parental friend named Jack who invited to dinner first night. In large Palos Verdes home south of city Jack and wife greeted kid and promised he’d have great summer. […]
Also posted in Alcohol, Families, Football, George Allen, Short Pieces - GTC
Bakersfield at the Movies
Legions of teenagers and adults march into theater carrying troughs of buttered popcorn and sodas large enough for elephants, and guffaw during previews of teddy bear wrestling man, creamed pants jokes, president slicing face open to reveal he’s bullet-dodging, axe-wielding “Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter.” Amid chomping and slurping, I wonder how many here have watched […]
Also posted in Abraham Lincoln, Bakersfield, Food, Movies, Short Pieces - GTC
Surgical Surprise
This story is now in the collection “The Bold Investor”
Also posted in Health, Mental Health, Michael Jackson, Plastic Surgery, Short Pieces - GTC
Tobacco: The Holdouts
This story is part of the collection “Paint it Blue”
Also posted in Art, Drugs, Painters, Robert Colescott, Tobacco
Garden Party for William H. Johnson
(A major feature about painter William H. Johnson, 1901-1970, will be posted later this spring.) I wish William H. Johnson, gifted painter of a unique world, were at this party honoring young African American artists, staged by the foundation bearing his name, at an elegant old two-story home near the Wilshire district in Los Angeles. […]
Also posted in Art, Food, Housing, Mental Health, Painters, William H. Johnson
John Wilkes Booth Today
mustn’t permit deed of john wilkes booth to stand instead remove from that time and place and raise today in theatrical family thriving in manhattan and nod when hollywood beckons splendid booth becomes movie star in his early twenties making millions while drinks snorts and occasionally crashes cars but fires only slurred words To see […]
Also posted in Abraham Lincoln, Assassinations, Civil War - American, Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth, Movies, New York City, Poetry - GTC, Racism, Slavery, Theater
Kill the Whale
This story is part of the collection “Paint it Blue” The Doomed Mural
Also posted in Art, Karen Liebowitz, Murals, Painters, Poetry - GTC, Whales
Flowers for Errol Flynn
on sunny forest lawn fresh pink flowers lie across errol flynn caressed by lady lost in distant dreams To read “Fallen Star,” a story about a disturbed actor who looks like Errol Flynn, please click here To read “Arnella Flynn, Too Much Like Errol,” please click here
Also posted in Alcohol, Errol Flynn, Fallen Star, Movies, Poetry - GTC
Freeway Flow
another gridlocked nightmare on hot 405 south in santa monica mountains needing to pee late for work ready to drive on shoulder or in emergency lane must get hell out to civilized community would’ve imploded when whitecaps whooshed me through cloudy cold canyon flowing too fast to stop
Also posted in Cars & Driving, Dreams, Poetry - GTC, Sleep
Charles White Endures
This story is part of the collection “Paint it Blue”
Also posted in Alabama, Art, Charles White, Chicago, Civil War - American, Elizabeth Catlett, Hammer Museum, Harriet Taubman, John Brown, Marriage, Mexico, Murals, Nat Turner, New York City, Newspapers, Painters, Pasadena, Poetry - GTC, Racism, Slavery, Tobacco, Tuberculosis
Material Handler on the Road
I still wonder if my adult working career for many years progressed like a tortoise in sand because of apathy or a reflexive hatred of manual labor that began too soon, at age nine, when my mother remarried and her new husband, a drill sergeant masquerading as an electrical engineer and contractor, drafted my stepbrother […]
Also posted in Abraham Lincoln, Alcohol, Auburn, Babe Ruth, Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Burbank, California, California Youth Authority, Carmel, Cars & Driving, Chico, Clint Eastwood, Coast Ranges, Construction, Drugs, Electricians, Errol Flynn, Families, Frank Lloyd Wright, Fresno, George S. Patton, George Thomas Clark, Grass Valley, Hollywood, Interstate 5, Manual Labor, Marijuana, Media, Mental Health, Monterey, Newspapers, Pacific Ocean, Rocklin, Rolling Stones, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Sierra Nevada, Stephen Stills, Stockton, Television, Unions
Clippers Carve Kings during Thanksgiving Feast
On Thanksgiving night I made my first visit to Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles since New Year’s Day when the defending-champion Lakers hosted an aroused and hot-shooting group of young Sacramento Kings who would’ve prevailed if Kobe Bryant, with customary flair, hadn’t swished a three-point jumper a millisecond before the final horn. The capacity […]
David Alfaro Siqueiros Rides Again
This story is part of the collection “Paint it Blue” To see The New Democracy, please click here To see The Tough Colonel, please click here To see Our Present Image, please click here To see From the Dictatorship of Porfirio Diaz to the Revolution, please click here Other Sources – Murals under the Stars […]
Also posted in Art, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, Leon Trotsky, Mexico, Mexico City, Murals, Museums, Painters, Porfirio Diaz
Cruising in My First Car
I wish I’d been more on the ball and returned to somehow punish the scoundrel who sold me my first car. The deed occurred on an ominous weeknight when my stepfather drove me east of Sacramento to a fine suburban home where a slender dorky old man at least forty-five opened the door and said, […]
Also posted in Alcohol, Babe Ruth, Baseball, Basketball, Cars & Driving, Civil War - American, Elvis Presley, Football, George Thomas Clark, Grambling University, Grapevine, Highway 99, Jim Cleamons, Kentucky, Lebron James, Louisiana, Luke Witte, Mississippi, New York City, Niagara Falls, Notre Dame, Ohio, Ohio State University, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Racism, Roberto Clemente, Sacramento, Siege of Vicksburg, Tennessee, Texas, Travel, Ulysses S. Grant, Vanderbilt University, Western Kentucky University, Woody Hayes
Memo to Phil Jackson
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Andrew Bynum, Basketball, Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson
The Battle for LeBron James
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Basketball, Blake Griffin, Chicago, Cleveland, Gavin Maloof, Joe Maloof, Lebron James, New York City, Sacramento, Tyreke Evans
Basketball in Downtown Los Angeles
Trust yourself. You’ve been to the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles many times, so you know you’re walking the right way, south on Figueroa Street a couple of blocks to the arena. Okay, then. Where is it? It’s got to be there. They haven’t moved a building holding almost twenty thousand people, have they? […]
Also posted in Basketball, Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson, Tyreke Evans
Pete Carroll Departs
This story is in the collection “Basketball and Football”
Also posted in Football, Lane Kiffin, Pete Carroll, USC
Crips and Bloods
This story appears in the collection “In Other Hands”
Also posted in Crime, Crips & Bloods, Drugs, Gangs, Murder
