Never let a name fool you: Yvette Mimieux. The ooo-la-la French seductress thing was all the rage in the early 1960s cinema and TV. After WWII, French culture spilled across the Atlantic and wormed into American culture. French plus female, along with even a minimal degree of attractiveness, propelled a woman into the hearts, minds,… Continue reading Evan Engber and Yvette Mimieux Kayak the Coquille River
7430 Pyramid Pl., Los Angeles: Crooners and Rapists
Perched at the top of the Hollywood Hills, off of Mulholland Drive, is a property that commands what might be the highest and most expansive view of any home in the area: 7430 Pyramid Pl. 7430 was the long-time home of one of the most famous crooners of the early 20th century, Rudy Vallee, who… Continue reading 7430 Pyramid Pl., Los Angeles: Crooners and Rapists
Cheap and Easy Dreams: Spadrom Estates and Herbert Heftler
Located in Anaheim, California, Spradrom Estates was a $7.5 million development of 486 homes that broke ground in 1956. It’s still there. Hundreds of housing developments were built across the Southern California landscape in the post-World War II housing boom of the 1950s and 1960s. Like most housing developments of that period, Spadrom’s original name… Continue reading Cheap and Easy Dreams: Spadrom Estates and Herbert Heftler
No Down Payment (1957)
No Down Payment begins peppy and optimistic as the two central characters, a couple, move to Sunrise Hills, a Southern California suburb. Things turn dark quickly. This is pure John Cheever and Raymond Carver and Mad Men all tossed together. No Down Payment is not a perfect movie, and the ending has a bit of… Continue reading No Down Payment (1957)
Random Ephemera: Doctor’s Estate Mysteriously Willed to Secretary
In 1951, Dr. Roy Campbell committed suicide in his office at 814 1/2 S. Alvarado, Los Angeles. Dr. Campbell’s will, which was never found, apparently left $100,000 not to his wife, Mrs. Iva or Eva Campbell, 55, but to Ondine Kifer, 35, his secretary. Dr. Campbell supposedly had written it by hand on a sheet… Continue reading Random Ephemera: Doctor’s Estate Mysteriously Willed to Secretary