A City in Postcards

One of the things I am anxious to do is to get rid of the boxes of possessions I couldn't bear to part with when I left Los Angeles in 2001. I used to collect postcards of old L.A., especially the places/buildings which no longer exist. I've got over 250 of them, along with some postcard books.

I took some photos and here are a few examples:

15 black and white real photos from 1926

Lookout Mt. Inn--Mulholland

Angel's Flight and the Elks Building

Sunset Park, Santa Monica

Chutes Park--where was this incredible place?

The Hollywood Bowl on Easter--long before the shell

The beginning of my favorite L.A. place--Farmer's Market

The Palisades incline to PCH, 1928

Eastlake Park with swans!!

My favorite:

Caption reads: "The watercress seller," Los Angeles, 1868

The Church of Tango: a Memoir, published January 21, 2012

Finally.

I started writing this story at the time it began--in February of 1992, when I was so depressed after my husband's death I wanted to swallow all of his left-over meds and follow him into the beyond. So what began in a way as a journal or diary became the chronicle of my road to survival in four countries. And once I made that decision to live no matter what tragedy came my way, I plugged on, through one tremendous loss after another, by dancing. No, not yet had the tango found me, but whatever dance there was at the time came to my rescue. I had always been a dancer, and now I knew dance could save me from despair.

As my adventures unfolded, the manuscript grew and grew. I had to make cuts in events, characters, reflections and realizations. That was the hardest part of bringing this story to fruition. There is so much left out. Who knows, maybe I'll write The Daughter of the Church of Tango, or a prequel one day.

Our students come from all over the world: China, The Philippines, Australia, Viet Nam, New Zealand, Hawaii, South Africa, India, Nepal, Finland, Russia, Israel, Scandinavia, all over Europe, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Canada and the U.S. And one question almost all ask me is, how did I end up teaching tango in Argentina?

This book is my answer.

Lots of women have come to Buenos Aires for tango, stayed a while, and went home and wrote about their experiences. There are a couple of tango histories available in English, as well as a couple of Buenos Aires milonga guide books. There are self-help books using tango as a way to better interpersonal relationships. There are some novels about tango in Buenos Aires.

My memoir is not like any of them; it is not a "tango book," but a story of survival that cuts across death, cancer, Alzheimer's, loss of home and homeland and cherished heirlooms and possessions, loss of shared histories, of hope for one's children, of hope for the future, of love. But it's also about finding love and unexpected joy. And about listening to the music and dancing.

It can be ordered from the printer online: https://www.createspace.com/3733773

Now available on Amazon and soon as an ebook for Kindle.

Dancing in the City of Angels

I'm in red and black at right, dancing with Avi.

I usually never take my tango shoes to L.A. when I visit. But this time I planned to meet my old tango friends at the milonga of my first teacher, Linda Valentino, Tango Mio.

That's me in black on the right

I loved seeing so many familiar faces, faces of my Los Angeles tango family: Flo, Dee, Howard, Manley, Johanna, Marcelo, Linda, Malina, so many.

An extra-added bonus was son Jason and his friend Connie attending with me. What a surprise to see Barbara Trelles who had been a student some years past in Buenos Aires!

It's a wonderful venue, the old Leonardo's Ballroom on LaBrea, with a great wooden floor packed with dancers as soon as the  QTango quintet from Tucson took the stage.

We also saw Black Swan, but I was disappointed. Yes, Natalie Portman is gorgeous, but enough already of the closeups of her face with the same expression: closeup--longshot--closeup--longshot. And we're supposed to believe the PR that she did her own dancing? I don't expect an actress to be able to dance the lead in Swan Lake, but the faking just seemed so, well, fake.

The makeup was outstanding though, and so was the performance of Barbara Hershey as the ultimate controlling ballet mother. (Sure I was a ballet mother myself, but I never was able to control Jason, not then, not now!) I do hope, though, that the film will make people want to see the ballet. Along with MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake is my favorite. I've seen it danced all over the world and like The Nutcracker, I'm never tired of it.

My last dance event of 2010 was The Nutcracker danced by the Pasadena Dance Theater at the historical Pasadena Playhouse. For me, it was never Christmas without The Nutcracker. I have many memories of watching Jason perform every Nutcracker role over the years, from Snow King to Russian dancer to Mouse King to Cavalier.

Jason as The Nutcracker, with Elkin as Clara, in the Los Angeles Ballet circa a long time ago

It was a cold and crispy winter night. We climbed into the hills of Pasadena while the stars shone overhead and the city lights twinkled below.

The performance was wonderful, great staging, well-rehearsed, delightful; a fitting finale to my holidays in Los Angeles.

Memories of Chateau Rodney

I went to see The Ugly Truth the other day, (or La Cruda Verdad, as it's called in Argentina.) It's a cute and bland date movie and the only reason I went to see it was because it was filmed at where I lived for six years in Los Feliz (Hollywood, Ca.)

I'm not surprised it was used as a movie set--the two apartments of the lead characters--because the 1926 Monterrey-style building was so special. There are six townhouse apartments in a horseshoe shape around a central courtyard. When I moved in in 1995, it was a little shabby but because of the quality of building in those days, it was still elegant and comfortable. The apartments have hardwood floors, the original tile kitchens and bathrooms, stained-glass windows, balconies, and archways. They didn't have dishwashers, garbage disposals, or room for the refrigerator in the tiny kitchen--it had to go on the back porch. There were little doors built in the walls by the back doors for the milkman to leave a bottle of milk; my neighbor Marita used it as a cat door.





See Phoebe, the Expat Cat?

But apart from the homey and beautiful construction, the building has a very special vibe. I'm not surprised that it appealed to the location scouts.

When I lived there, all the neighbors became family, and the events and parties and the love that went on there was out of a dream. It was just what I needed at the time. I recently recovered from drastic treatment for breast cancer, and I had just returned from living in France, where I had buried my husband. I had already lost my beautiful family home in Los Feliz a couple of years before.

I really felt the magic of Chateau Rodney, as we called it, and when I most needed it. The Universe provided a place of love, connection, and fun for an unlikely assortment of Hollywoodians, who bonded permanently.

I think all of us wanted to stay there forever, I know I did, but the building sold in 2001, and the new owner tripled the rent, which none of us could pay. So we were forced to move on in our lives--me to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. But whenever I'm in L.A., all of us former neighbors try to get together, as we did last July, and it always feels like it was just yesterday that we gossiped, griped, and drank cocktails together in the courtyard.


Of course, for the movie they pimped it up a lot. I mean, the lighting alone was spectacular, and it made me wish we had used more of it while living there. Also it made me wish I had taken more photos. But I'll never forget the good times there or the lifetime friends I made.






This is the door to my old apartment; see the address?





Here most of us are in 1995, celebrating my birthday in the courtyard.







And here we are at one of our favorite hangouts, ChaChaCha, in July 2009.

I'm glad I saw The Ugly Truth, because the memories are so beautiful.

Uniting and Reuniting

After two weeks in Los Angeles, I couldn't wait to go to the milonga. Holly brought another blogger along to Los Consagrados, Esther Hartwig, who I had the pleasure to meet for the first time in person; I've been a fan of her blog, Not Just Another Brick in the Wall, from the beginning. Esther, or Coogie, was passing through Buenos Aires before leaving today for her home in Germany. She hopes to return one day to Argentina.

















My L.A. visit also was rich and full of reunions. I feel so incredibly blessed. Here are some photos so you'll see what I mean:





My librarian friends always meet for our traditional Mexican dinner whenever I'm in town. I've had the pleasure of working with all of them in one library or another and they are the best people, real good folks, whose friendship I treasure through the years and over the miles. (From the left are Roy, George, Pearl, Cathy, me, and Sheila.)








Another day, another reunion, this time of bellydancers who performed together in The Perfumes of Araby. We are all still active dancers (MaryAnn on the left is also a librarian), despite the passage of several decades since we first donned our veils. (To my right are Donna and Denice.)






Here are my dear L.A. tango friends who I see in Buenos Aires whenever they are in Argentina, and in California when I am there! (From the left are Flo, Howard, me, Dee, and Manley.)










Gorgeous Marita and I first met at our apartment building in Los Feliz in 1994 and have had lots of adventures together through the years. Here we are with her new husband Noah and her parents, Manuel and Helga, visiting from Arizona.









Of course a big Chateau Rodney reunion was inevitable. We ex-tenants and good friends met for a Sangria Sunday at ChaChaCha on Hyperion close to our fabulous old building in Los Feliz. When our apartment building was sold in 2001, we all had to go our separate ways, but we bonded forever during the years we lived there. We were one united family whose doors were always open to each of us; we shared Thanksgiving, celebrated Soltices and Equinoxes, birthdays, went on rafting trips and art walks, had barbecues, supported each others' performances, and cried together when our "family" had to split up. It was so good to be with them again! It was like we had never been apart.




Chateau Rodney Forever!
(The building is featured in the new film, The Ugly Truth; in fact, my old front door is shown clearly with the address, 1930 1/2.)





















(Front row from left: Marita and Noah; second row: Mitch, Steve, Jessica, me, Steve; back row: Chris, the Virgin, Daryl, and Jason.)



















But the main reason I went to L.A. just now was my son Jason's 40th birthday--that's a big one and I had to share it with him as it's a big day for the mom too. And I'm glad I did. His older brother Adam drove down from Sacramento and we saw each other for the first time in over three years!







Adam, Connie, me, Jason


Naturally it was also wonderful to reunite at home in Boedo with Ruben and Mirasol the cat! And with all my friends in the milonga.

I am very blessed indeed.

Things in L.A. That Make Me Go Oooooh!

Venice Beach


The International Passport Breakfast at IHOP



The Farmers' Market



The Grove with Connie & Jason



Asian fusion food and mojitos



At Buddha's Belly with Jason



Drinks with ocean view


The beach at sunset




Lobster dinner on the Santa Monica Pier



The Santa Monica Pier