Lovecraft and His Wife in Color!
No. Not Howard and Sonia; but Margaret and Danny!
I’m sorry, but I couldn’t resist that…
Charles “Danny” Lovecraft, the publisher of P’rea Press Books in Australia (http://www.preapress.com/) and his wife Margaret Barnes-Lovecraft, were on the last leg of their most recent American vacation when they stopped in Los Angeles for a few days before boarding their flight home to Australia.
My wife Jean and I drove up to Hollywood late on Friday evening (28-Jan-2011) to meet and greet Danny and Margaret on their first night in the area; and Danny and I exchanged a few collector’s items.
The books that Danny gave to me were all wonderful titles that I didn’t have in my collection yet, including:
But the truly unexpected treat that he and Margaret gave to me, was a copy of the MythosCon 2011 Program Booklet, that they had made priceless by having it signed by Fifty-One(!) of the attendees, including, Thea Alexander, Martin Andersson, Peter Atkins, Mark Boniece, Jason V. Brock, Ramsey Campbell, Peter Cannon, Matt Cardin, Dan Clore, Scott Connors, Richard Dakan, Walt DeBill, Mike Dubisch, Jason Eckhardt, Dennis Etchison, Alan Dean Foster, Terry Ganley, W. Paul Ganley, Richard Gavin, Cody Goodfellow, Ron Hilger, Chuck Hoffman, Derrick Hussey, S. T. Joshi, Allen Koszowski, Donovan Loucks, Pamela H. Loucks, Charles “Danny” Lovecraft, Margaret Barnes-Lovecraft, Steve Mariconda, Adam Niswander, William F. Nolan, John Pelan, Dorothea Nissen Phillips, Fred Phillips, Carol Price, Robert M. Price, Wilum H. Pugmire, Juha-Matti Rajala, Ann K. Schwader, Ben Schwader, Darrell Schweitzer, Donald Sidney-Fryer, Michael A. Stackpole, Simon Strantzas, Jonathan Thomas, and five others whose signatures I haven’t deciphered yet!
I’ve scanned a complete copy of the booklet to share here with everyone in a 300 d.p.i. PDF format; and I’ll be posting all of the pages in a 600 d.p.i. format later in my Lovecraftian Flickr Collections; including detailed scans of the five autographs that I’m still trying to decipher.
The MythosCon 2011 Program Booklet Jan 6-9, 2011:
MythosCon 2011 Program Booklet Jan 6-9, 2011
With the Lovecraft’s having already been to Phoenix, Sedona, Fresno, Yosemite, Sacramento, Auburn, Berkely, Pacific Grove, Carmel, Hearst Castle, and MythosCon 2011 (which I couldn’t attend this year), I wasn’t sure what I could show them in the Los Angeles area that would compare with the sights they had already seen; but I gave it my best shot!
Over the next few days, we covered many freeway and surface street miles to see numerous famous and infamous spots, far too many to cover all of them in this brief over-view; and to have several great Vegan meals that even an Omnivore like myself could enjoy. My Vegan House in Hollywood (http://myveganhouse.com/Home.php), and the two-story Whole Foods in Pasadena (http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/arroyo/) were both great dining experiences!
We passed by and through many famous locations, like the 2nd. Street Tunnel in Los Angeles, which is seen in so many movies; including Bladerunner:
We saw the death sites of Janis Joplin, John Belushi, River Phoenix and others:
We saw the outside of places like The Beverly Hills Hotel:
But we found it more fun to visit the inside of the Men’s Restroom in the Will Rogers Memorial Park across the street, where George Michaels gave his private performance before his arrest. If you have a good sense of humor, you might appreciate the fact that one of Will Rogers‘ most famous quotes was, “I never met a man that I didn’t like.”:
We saw many Beverly Hills Mansions while driving through the celebrity filled neighborhood; mostly through gates, and over hedges:
We got to spend a few minutes with the legendary poet and scholar Donald Sidney-Fryer in his home in Los Angeles; but due to a scheduled tour elsewhere, we had to leave far too soon:
With reservations made weeks in advance, we were able to have a private multi-hour tour through the beautiful Virginia Robinson Estate and Gardens in Beverly Hills (http://www.seeing-stars.com/Live/RobinsonEstate.shtml, and http://www.robinsongardens.org/index.html):
Wherever we went in the Hollywood area, we could see the Hollywood Sign and the Griffith Park Observatory; which constantly reminded us of where we were:
In the North Hollywood Park, we met a Nutty Local Resident that we couldn’t resist sharing a snack with:
When we went to the historic Greystone Mansion and Park in Beverly Hills (not very well known to tourists, but a must-see sight if you are a film fan!), we got to see a television crew in action shooting an episode of NCIS (http://www.seeing-stars.com/live/Greystone.shtml, and http://www.greystonemansion.org/):
By making reservations a couple of weeks in advance, we were able to spend several hours exploring and photographing the phenomenal Greek, Roman, and Etruscan Antiquities in the stunning Roman-inspired architecture and gardens of the Getty Villa, which over-looks the Pacific Ocean in Malibu (http://www.getty.edu/visit/):
We visited several well-known movie and television stars, including Don Adams, Jack Benny, Mel Blanc, Errol Flynn, Michael Landon, Darren McGavin, Rod Steiger, Jimmy Stewart, Spencer Tracy, and even Vampira.
And we even had Harvey the Pooka join us in Glendale when we went to visit with Jimmy Stewart:
We paid our respects to two of the great Filmmakers, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli (the Producer of most of the James Bond films), and Walt Disney:
At the Hillside Memorial Park (Jewish Cemetery), we found an example of what inspired Leonard Nimoy to create his “Live Long and Prosper” hand-sign:
We enjoyed an all-star classic comedy tour with, Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Marty Feldman, Curly Howard, Moe Howard, Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, and Larry Fine (although the Photo Police would not allow us to take any pictures with him!):
We got up-close and personal with the inner workings of the Warner Brothers Burbank Movie Studios by taking their VIP Tour (http://vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com/). And we have to thank Charlie Sheen for being a no-show the week we were there (he’d been out about a week or so at that time); which made it possible for us to enter and visit his “Two and a Half Men” sound stage and sets during our tour!
And when we found Merlotte’s in the Jungle section of the Warner Bros back lot, we tried to stop for a bottle of True Blood, but they were closed for the season!
We visited numerous new and used book stores, and found the Mystery & Imagination Bookstore in Glendale to be among the best still open in the Los Angeles area (http://www.mysteryandimagination.com/):
And finally, at the end, what better last-minute souvenir or gift shop could a horror fan find in Los Angeles, than “Skeletons in the Closet,” the Gift Shop in the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office? And it is located in the old Los Angeles General Hospital building (http://www.lacoroner.com/Default.aspx). A Gift Shop at the Coroner’s Office; now that’s what I call Black Humor!
And if you are curious as to what items I just had to take home, they were the following conversation starters:
And my single favorite item, which already sparked the interest of many while I was recently on Jury Duty:
We didn’t see everything we wanted to see, but we did see more than most people will ever see in the same amount of time we had together!
Danny & Margaret, I hope this brings some fun memories back to you!
And I hope it shows a slightly different side of the Los Angeles area to everyone!
ps
No. I don’t live in Los Angeles County.
I live about 35 miles South of Los Angeles, in Orange County,
in the city of Fullerton, just North of Anaheim, the home of Disneyland;
and I can hear and feel (and sometimes see) the fireworks from there
every night.
pps
Charles “Danny” Lovecraft is not related to H. P. Lovecraft.
But he loves H. P. Lovecraft’s Prose and Poetry enough to have
had his last name legally changed to Lovecraft.
