LIZA WILLIAMS
MARCH 20
1927
I was given a party last night—O Jesus! What a party! Drink reveals what a person is made of: drunk, the burgesses lose the thin veneer which hides their crudeness. I don’t mind,—it is the WAY in which one is noisy, foolish, amorous….
I tried hard to fit in, but I feel the party thought me stiff, cold, indifferent, and probably were disappointed, for although I knew but two or three who came, they knew of me, from talk,—and pictured me as a gay Don Juan.
I stole away at 1:30, an unpardonable breach of etiquette! I could not stomach the mess longer.
This morning I am consumed by disgust. At least I am not “crudo,”—I only pretended to drink.
EDWARD WESTON
1948
We went to the Academy Awards, which seemed to me more tidily done than I’d ever seen them—sentimentally, folksily, but at least with a care and preparation and consideration for the feelings of everyone….Elia Kazan got the Best Director Award, which he in no way merited, and he hadn’t the grace to wear a dinner coat. Social protest, I presume.
CHARLES BRACKETT
1964
If possible, I’d like to stay at the Sheraton because I’m treated well there and they do a good job screening off well-wishers, strangers who claim to be my best friend, kooks who want to assassinate me, and assorted and sundry sycophants who want me to buy oil wells, interest in super markets.
ROD SERLING
MARCH 21
1923
Finally, by paying a fee of two and a half dollars I got a job through a commercial labor agency.
It was a pick-and-shovel, or “mucking” job in Hollywood Hills, where a syndicate of Los Angeles realtors were starting a new and exclusive subdivision called Hollywoodland, intended to appeal specially to movie stars, directors, oil millionaires, high-powered evangelists, wealthy widows, and divorcees from the East….It was the hardest work I have ever done….
I shoveled gravel into huge wheelbarrows, pushed the wheelbarrows and dumped them into trucks from a platform, and rolled boulders from underneath an overhanging wall of rock….I was in constant terror that a rock might break off the wall and crush me. The quarry was lighted by huge incandescents which cast over the scene weird shadows of trees and moving men. The owls hooted in the holly bushes….
I became acquainted with some of my fellow workers, many of whom were I.W.W., or “Wobblies.”
LOUIS ADAMIC
1923
Same old Los Angeles, only more beautiful.
It has grown enormously in the years since I was here. Its shops are very fine; its new boulevards magnificent; its skyscrapers, scattered through the city, stand by themselves like great and beautiful towers….This remains one of the loveliest spots in the world.
When one sees in the suburbs the innumerable homelike stucco or wooden bungalows, small and crowded but often attractive in their architecture and delightfully landscaped, with many flowers and shrubs, one learns to understand a good deal about this strange community. People live so comfortably and easily here that one can appreciate why Los Angeles has been and still is one of the most reactionary of cities.
OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD
MARCH 22
1847
Struck tents quite early and resumed our march over this large plain. Cattle seen today also as far as the eye can reach. I fell in the rear today did not reach camp till sun down. Camp’d on the River San Gabriel. Here Gen Kearney and Commodore Stockton fought a battle with the Spaniards. The Americans coming off victorious.
HENRY STANDAGE
1903
Last night 3 robbers attacked an electric car of the L.A. and S.M.—killed a passenger and wounded 4 or 5. They believe one of the malefactors was wounded. 15 or 20 shots were shot and the robbers fled without stealing anything. Clear day and agreeable.
DON JUAN BAUTISTA BANDINI
MARCH 23
1903
Bought a book for a diary in Los Angeles.
DON JUAN BAUTISTA BANDINI
1910
Leo N. Tolstoy,
Sir: Having written a book on the question of “Crime and Criminals,” we found that our Investigations forced us to the conclusion that violence and brutality can beget only violence and brutality and that to attempt to suppress crime by such methods is but to make bad infinitely worse.
Asking ourselves who was most closely identified with this conclusion we were unanimously of the opinion that you had inculcated, above all others, year after year and decade after decade, the principles which examination of the facts in the case had driven us to adopt.
It is with the profoundest respect, therefore, that we have ventured to dedicate to you the accompanying volume, entitled, “Crime and Criminals.”
We trust you will accept with it the assurance of our most affectionate regard extended across the seas to one whom we recognize as a master worker in a cause that knows no limitations of race or territorial boundaries.
With the deepest respect, we remain,
GRIFFITH J. GRIFFITH
1946
In flying in to Los Angeles, we had snow-capped mountains on either side of us and soft white billowy clouds underneath. It was really a beautiful sight. But the most impressive time to fly in to Los Angeles is at night, when all the lights are on and the city lies below you like a multi-colored heap of jewels.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
1988
Met my father for lunch at Nickodell, the old Hollywood restaurant next door to Paramount, around the corner from Beth Olam cemetery where my grandparents are buried. I had Hungarian goulash, the special of the day. Dad had a French dip sandwich. He told me he doesn’t expect Mom to live more than five years. He’s been reading up on the stats for pancreatic cancer; doesn’t look good. I still think she will defy the statistics, though she has been having bouts of unexplained pain, was in terrible condition during Ken’s wedding. I asked the waitress if I could take home what was left of my goulash (most of it). It didn’t feel like a good time to eat a lot of meat.
We went outside and climbed into Dad’s new car which he calls the Mafia Mobile. Surprising, since Dad’s not the flashy type. It’s a shiny black New Yorker with caramel-colored leather interior and a sunroof and a digital read-out of the compass. Dad said he realized there was no point in waiting to be comfortable. He wants Mom to be comfortable. We drove off to the cemetery. We stood in front of my grandparents’ graves in the vault. It was the third anniversary of Grandma’s death. We said a silent prayer, then Dad took me upstairs and showed me the empty slots in the marble wall where he and Mother will be entombed. (Encrypted?)
I felt a sob come up then regained my humor, remembered Susan’s story about how her dad traded a Cadillac for his tombstone. Remembered the Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, how I felt in the cemetery there, those piles of marigolds, red coxcombs, brass bands. Friendly spirits can be kind to one another.
It was light and airy in the vault and it felt right that my father would want me to see the space he has reserved for himself and my mother for the hereafter. Then it didn’t feel odd to be there.
I decided to tell my father that Lloyd and I are going to get married. He didn’t have much reaction, which somehow felt ok.
We stopped in front of the grandparents on the first floor before we left; I told Dad I thought Grandma would be happy that I was getting married.
“Tell her,” he suggested.
“I already did,” I said.
LOUISE STEINMAN
MARCH 24
1882
We got word this evening of the death of the poet Longfellow. He died in Cambridge at 3.15 p.m., aged seventy-five. This comes specially near home to me, for I remember meeting him often and hearing him read his poems at the Sunday afternoon
musicales.
L. VERNON BRIGGS
1931
I’m working this week at one of the most generous studios in Hollywood. Thirty or forty cents in stationery means practically nothing at all to this outfit.
DON MARQUIS, to a friend
MARCH 25
1942
About 100,000 Japanese (incl. American citizens) are being evacuated from the coast here for military reasons. wonderful how humanity pulls through despite all these psychoses and panics. in the office where we too had to register as enemy aliens i saw an old Japanese woman, half-blind, and not looking at all dangerous. she had her companion, a young girl, apologise to the people who were waiting that she was taking so much time to write. everybody smiled: the American officials were very polite.
BERTOLT BRECHT
1946
Here in Los Angeles, Miss Corinne Seeds, principal of the elementary school of the University of California, has helped to start what seems to me a very interesting plan. The names of 3,000 school children in one little town in Holland were secured and already 2,000 have become “adopted friends” of children in the schools of Los Angeles….The children’s efforts may have more success than their elders have had in the past, so at least we can applaud their efforts and hope for the future.
Spring is certainly the most delightful time to see the Southern California landscape. The hills and fields are green and I know of no more beautiful beaches anywhere than those along the Pacific. When I come to California at this time of year, I always remember my first visit here. Franklin K. Lane, then Secretary of the Interior, was traveling with us. He loved this state, and early in the morning he would send us huge bunches of flowers, saying that this was the state of flowers and sunshine and he wished our first impression to be of their beauty and of the sweet odor of the orange blossoms. On this visit I’ve been sent a number of the very decorative paradise flowers, which one does not see as much in the East as out here. I must say that the profusion of little flower marts along the streets adds greatly to the charm of the city. On Saturday I had a chance to walk through Olvera Street, the heart of the Mexican community, and many of my old friends there spoke to me.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
MARCH 26
1927
With K. to see Ruth Draper, an actress of unusual ability, who presented an enjoyable evening’s entertainment. She has a great vogue, but I came away with not more than a pleasant feeling: I would rather have seen a Chaplin comedy….
I am disgusted this morning for not having slept longer,—I needed to. Probably I overworked yesterday, having made 12 enlargements from as many negatives on an order. It will bring me $120, then I’ll sleep better!
EDWARD WESTON
1946
Yesterday afternoon, I drove out to the Junior Auxiliary Jewish Home for the Aged. This home is for both men and women. They have a small hospital, a very charming dining room and auditorium, a small synagogue, and pleasant living quarters.
The old Jewish people there seem to spend most of their time in prayer, and so it was fitting that they should hold their short but moving ceremonies of welcome to me in their synagogue. In these ceremonies, they remembered my husband as their friend and presented me with a gift which will always have value because of the sentiment attached to it.
I could not help being thankful that, in this country, these old people could find a sanctuary in their declining years. A happy contrast to the sad old people that I saw in a Jewish refugee camp in Germany.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
1968
God, what I need is a man.
OCTAVIA E. BUTLER
MARCH 27
1848
Received orders to proceed to San Gabriel with a party of 12 dragoons to assist the Alcalde of that place to arrest some horse thieves We proceeded at a rapid rate but the birds had flown—It was my first expedition with dragoons and as I am a volunteer officier, considered it a compliment—I had also an opportunity of seeing a beautiful part of the country and we paid a long visit at Mr [Hugo] Reid’s who gave us a fine dinner and I had an opportunity of seeing the fair Dona Maria—she was very polite and gave me a splendid orange—I tried hard to make friends with them all and I think my fine charger dressed off in dragoon trappings and the military appearance of the rider made quite an impression on the fair flower of San Gabriel….
As I stood and looked at this spot—thoughts of home filled my mind and I could but think of her in the cold grave and of those from whom I was so far distant—I asked myself when I should see home again and walk among the scenes of my youth—I never felt more sad or more dispirited than I did then since I left home—Yes I thought of home and of all those that are dear to me and when I should see them again—I trust it will not be long and that I shall find them all well and happy—
LIEUTENANT JOHN MCHENRY HOLLINGSWORTH
1928
I’m only praying he’s still alive, for when I left him in his berth in the “glory-hole” of the “California” last Sat. night he looked as though he were nearing the Pearly Gates. We were held up and beaten by a gang in San Pedro….
I put up quite a fight, but neither of us were in much condition. They all beat it as a car turned on a nearby corner. Both of us robbed of nearly everything, and practically unconscious. After reporting at police headquarters I don’t know how I would have got him back to his ship without the help of a sailor friend of mine whom I had run into earlier in the evening while waiting for him. We roused several of his shipmates—and I’m only hoping that his bumps and bruises haven’t been any more fatal than mine. I finally had to finish the night in a ward of the Salvation Army Hotel, and it was five o’clock Sunday before I got enough money to get back to Hollywood. On his way back to Frisco I’m hoping to see him again—but not in Pedro!
HART CRANE
1955
I’m really scared about Disneyland….So much I don’t know and trying to design and not being sure I’m on the right track.
RUTH SHELLHORN
MARCH 28
1928
You ought to hear Aimee [McPherson] carry on over the radio to get the full blast of her personality….they almost caught her with her shoes off in that “kidnapping” episode.
HART CRANE
1949
Billy and I dined at his house with Audrey [Wilder, née Young], who is his “girl,” and he and I worked until 10:30….Am I merely deceiving myself when I view his life, upon which the bores and parasites are moving so fast, with a lot of pity for him, and regret for that mind of his which can be so first-rate at best, and so ox-stupid at worst….It was not an evening of inspired work but very useful.
CHARLES BRACKETT
1957
We cleared up quite a night’s work…finished off Janet in the picture, and got some good cuts in the water and under the bridge for the last scene. The company is tiring a little now, after fifteen straight nights, but they still work well and cheerfully, full of the hope of a good film. [Cinematographer] Russ Metty cooked up a mess of spaghetti in the trailer, which saved us from that dreary catered stuff.
CHARLTON HESTON
MARCH 29
1946
It must be ghastly in Germany, compared to that we really are in paradise, as incredible as that may seem.
THEODOR ADORNO
1979
L.A. is the ultimate expression of the capitalist system in spatial terms.
AARON PALEY
MARCH 30
1867
Off quite early. From the mission took Scott’s ranch road to the city. Got into quite a talk with Carl about painting his wagon. May get the job. Arrived at the town at three. Went up to his house & helped him unload, unharness, etc. Has got a gay wife, is as fresh & as plump as a ripe peach. Their greeting made a poor wandering homeless homesick youth like me m
ost awfully blue & heartsick. Went down to the U.S. [Hotel] & booked myself & then out to get shirts & pants, as my appearance in that respect was most awfully dilapidated. Took a bath & shave & put on clean clothes: felt much better. Went to bed early in evening.
WILLIAM HENRY JACKSON
1927
The shells I photographed were so marvelous one could not do other than something of interest. What I did may be only a beginning.
EDWARD WESTON
MARCH 31
1853
California is a bad place to raise children. I suppose it will not always be so. Los Angeles has become somewhat better since I came here.
Dear Los Angeles Page 10