I was almost fifteen and singing my heart out at a multi-church Christmas Festival in Long Beach, California. Out of three hundred kids I was the one who was approached by the Hollywood talent scout. Bright lights! A record contract! It was all within my grasp! Being underage I needed my parents' permission. But my dad looked at the talent scout and said "WE don't want anything to do with Hollywood." Now it is possible that my dad was trying to protect me from that nefarious den of iniquity. But --- Dad! I already had the bug!
I have had a love-hate relationship with this district of Los Angeles for most of my life. One does not necessarily make peace with it but one can find acceptance and happiness while living there. Of course there is still the "what if" or the "there but for fortune go I" thoughts that will meander through one's mind. There are the losers, the users, mediocre snoozers ,the boozers and the abusers. There are the rakes, the heartaches, the fakes, the flakes and the reprobates. I have met some wonderful kind people in Hollywood. I have also met some terrible and demonic, evil people here as well.
Hollywood is a destination. It is also a state of mind. It is fame and fortune or the loss of innocence and despair. Hollywood might be what you want it to be but more often a person will find it will shape you into what it wants you to be, regardless of your desires. You might end up as a star. Or you could end up with every dream cruelly broken, the sharp edges cutting you with scars only you can see.
Many people came to Hollywood and stayed because they realized they belonged here even though they did not belong anywhere else. A person could live frugally as an extra. The rents were cheap, the apartments ( Hollywood is over eighty per cent apartments ) plentiful. It was/is a sunny Bohemia. The rents are no longer cheap and the dream costs more. But thousands still flood onto its star-spangled streets.
Dreams are brought here, born here, live and die here. Hollywood, a district of Los Angeles, is a world of tinsel make-believe and fantasy. It is fame and fortune, dreams realized. Or it is mean streets that will harshly slap you with a cold dash of reality. Whichever the case may be --- welcome to where I hang my Bohemian beret --- welcome to Hollywood --- and enjoy the wild ride!
Hollywood, CA 2007
It has now been seven years since I moved from Hollywood to the Coachella Valley. I am still amazed that I have not been back to Hollywood since I moved here in 2007! My former apartment, which rented for under $450, would now rent for $1150! OUCHEE! The yuppies and the developers moved in and the rents went sky high. The working class neighborhood near Sunset and Vine is now the haunt of the hipster and the trust fund baby. OH ICK. Bohemia might still be in town but she is possibly in hiding under an assumed name. My Bohemian beret moved out of town and slept through the unmerciful desert summer day.
I miss Hollywood! And yet... for some reason, I wander those cracked and pitted concrete streets in the multi-colored kaleidoscope of my mind. I revisit its streets and boulevards, feeling as if I am still there. The neon of the Sunset Strip beckons me. When first started hollyWEIRD I thought it would be one book. I realize I now have written enough material for possibly three or more books. And still the ideas come.
I first latched onto the idea of hollyWEIRD because of mysteries. I write fantasy but I read mysteries. There are mystery series based in Hollywood or Los Angeles ( Ray Chandler comes to mind ). But where are the fantasy series in this Tinsel Town with its Fantasy Factory? That thought came into my mind one day ( one night ) and brought hollyWEIRD onto the written page. So here it is, whether that Bohemian beret resides in Hollywood or out in the desert where this night cat sits up and writes all night.
Did I mention I miss Hollywood? I miss the dear friends I made there. I owe them visits. The last time I lived in the desert ( in the 1980s ) I lived here seven years. My seven years are up. I need to move back to Hollywood! Ot at least within shouting and waving distance of it. But until then I will visit it here, through the stories I have written, and in memory.
Indio, CA 2015
CH ( Cynthia ) Summers
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