Easter Memories

Today’s Easter memories are circa 1966. As a young tot in San Diego, you can see the jolly anticipation on my face of collecting Easter eggs. As the youngest of three, I was allowed to be front and center with my two older brothers.



In our house, Easter was almost as big as Christmas when it came to celebrating. There was the Easter egg hunt followed by a very hearty breakfast made from scratch by Mom. Although Easter is a religious holiday, I cannot ever remember being told the meaning behind the celebration or ever having that discussed in our household.



Sure, we went to church on Easter (one of the two times we went during the year), but Jesus and Christianity were saved for the minister, not discussed at home. The home celebration was completely secular. New outfits, bunnies (the toy kind), candy, coloring eggs, and chocolate…lots of chocolate.



I helped flip the pancakes for our Easter breakfast.



Meanwhile, over in the land of Shirley…for Easter, 1936, Shirley received this gigantic card from Kansas. From the accompanying publicity blurb:

Shirley Temple proudly displays a huge Easter Greeting Postal Card autographed by five hundred little girl friends of Hutchison, Kansas. The card is eight feet long and four feet high.



With postal rates today, you’d probably need to take a second loan out on your home to be able to send this gigantic card. Anybody recognize the names on here?


In 1940, Shirley posed with a gigantic stuffed bunny and colored eggs that spelled out the holiday. I wonder if Shirley placed them or if the prop man did it? Time is money, so most likely it was the prop man.



A color portrait from the same Easter session:



Shirley fandom aside, for Easter, it’s Judy and Fred all the way. You just can’t beat “Easter Parade” (1948) as the annual classic to watch. Below is a newly created caricature of Judy from the film’s finale.



While Gene Kelly (originally cast in the male lead until he injured his ankle) would have made a more age-appropriate pairing for Garland, you can’t help but root for Garland and Astaire to walk triumphantly together down Fifth Avenue at the end of the film in the title number.



For all who celebrate today (Christian AND secular versions!), I wish you a Happy Easter!

See more photos at my main website.

1950 Pictorial California, Pt. 2

Am finally getting back to the series from the 1950 Pictorial California publication. This group of pages showcases Beverly Hills. In the first image, we see Sunset Municipal Park. It opened in 1915 and was referred to simply as Sunset Park, located just off Sunset Boulevard. The park was renamed in 1952 in honor of entertainer Will Rogers, who was appointed the first “Honorary Mayor” of Beverly Hills in 1926. How the area looked when I photographed it in August 2013:



On April 7, 1998, this park was put on the map for all the wrong reasons when singer George Michael was arrested for inappropriately using the restroom shown below with undercover cop Marcelo Rodriguez. $810 and 80 hours of community service cleared that incident all up. The restroom has since been torn down. Is nothing sacred anymore?



Across the street is the swanky Beverly Hills Hotel:



The rated a two-page feature.



Probably because they purchased an. The Chateau didn’t, thus they didn’t even rate a photo caption. Money talks…



The Beverly Hills Hotel, circa 2018:



The Polo Lounge, as seen twenty years ago for Easter 2006. It was a delicious brunch, as I recall. Mary Ann Mobley and Gary Collins were dining there as well, just two years before his DUI conviction. Maybe the Easter Bunny drove him to it.



More Pictorial California to come!

See more photos at my main website.

Downtown Disney Car Show, circa 2008

In June 2008, Downtown Disney had a display of vintage autos, including this little Red Corvette (did it belong to Prince?).



Notice the Black Book in the windshield; perhaps it was the one used on the cover.



A yellow Pontiac GTO:



The GTO was the one that popularized muscle cars back in the 1960s.



This Chevy Camaro was the Official Pace Car for the 1969 Indianapolis 500:







How appropriate to have “Tigger” at Downtown Disney.



When I saw Tigger, he was at the Plaza Inn:



Back in June 1966, classic cars were parked right at the entrance:



See more Anaheim Downtown Disney photos at my main website.

Exit Sutton

When Disney California Adventure, debuted, The Napa Rose restaurant was one of the few things that I was impressed with. It was different from anything else offered at the Disneyland Resort and a huge step above in both the culinary and customer service aspects of dining.



Andrew Sutton joined Disney in 2000 as the chef who oversaw the culinary portion of Napa Rose. Prior to joining Disney, Sutton spent seven years as executive chef at the Ivy Award-winning Auberge du Soleil in Napa Valley and five years with Dean Fearing at the five-star, five-diamond Mansion on Turtle Creek in Dallas, Texas. The December 2006 image below shows Sutton at work:



Dining at Napa Rose’s Chef's table in 2013, Sutton consulted us about what we liked before preparing our meal.



I always enjoyed Napa Rose; the food was delicious, the plates were pieces of art, and the service was impeccable.





The one difference I noticed between Napa Rose and other comparable high-caliber restaurants was that you definitely got the feeling that they didn’t want you to linger. Courses came out quickly like clockwork and tables were turned over just as fast. Eat, enjoy, and leave.



Sutton’s success with Napa made him the culinary golden boy of the Disney Corporation. Soon after, he was given the Carthay Circle restaurant at Disney California Adventure. The theme of that restaurant was old Hollywood, to align with the newly added Buena Vista Street.



The food, however, looked like it had just come out of the Napa Rose kitchen. The customer service didn’t quite port over as well. It seemed like they were trying to mimic professional wait-staff but couldn’t quite pull it off.



Looking for ways to maximize profits in other areas of the Disneyland Resort, Club 33 received a makeover and Sutton was also part of that package. Bye-bye Chef Marcel, hello Napa Rose cuisine.



Club 33 or Napa Rose? Hard to tell. Long-time Club 33 members were not happy that the more traditional and hearty fare was replaced with larger plates and smaller portions. Sutton’s “fancy” is not really what the typical Disney guest is looking for, let alone familiar with.



Sutton was also tasked with the 2017 21 Royal private dining venture, which charged nearly 20K for a multicourse meal. Nope, never dined there, but I could make a very educated guess about what the plates looked like.

Did I like Sutton’s culinary choices? Heck yes. However, having the same chef for four different restaurants is the dining equivalent of selling Disney plush in every store at the resort. You remove the diversity of experiencing culinary choices that resonate with the environment you are experiencing. While the reasons for Sutton’s “departure” have not been made public, it isn’t difficult to surmise what occurred. The announcement came shortly after a massive restructure of the Disneyland Resort. I would guess that a mix of economics and a desire for new trends played into that decision.

See more Napa Rose restaurant photos at my main website.

The Oscars: Shirley On Location

Over the years, The Oscars have bounced around from location to location. The very first one was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in the Blossom Room on May 16, 1929. The Roosevelt still operates today; above is a 1950s image of the Hollywood Boulevard hotel. The Ambassador Hotel held the dinner for the second Academy Awards event on April 3, 1930, as well as in 1932, 1934, 1940, and 1943.



All were in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub (below) except for 1932, which was in The Fiesta Room.



The Oscars were held in downtown Los Angeles at the Biltmore Hotel in 1931 and then 1935 through 1939. Below, Shirley Temple gives Claudette Colbert her Best Actress award for “It Happened One Night” (1934):



On February 23, 1939, Shirley famously presented Walt Disney with his specially designed Oscar for “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937):



Shirley also hobnobbed with Tyrone Power:



Douglas Fairbanks:



…and Ann Sheridan (Hedy Lamarr is behind Shirley):



An outside vintage view of the Biltmore:



The Biltmore Bowl ballroom where the Oscars were held at the Biltmore:



Increased attendance and World War II made banquets impractical, so the ceremony moved to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre from 1944-1946.



John Derek (of Bo Derek fame!) and Shirley were at Grauman’s for the March 2, 1944 event:



On March 7, 1946, she walked down the red carpet with then-husband John Agar:



The Shrine Auditorium was the location of choice from 1947-1948:



Red Skelton and Shirley, circa 1947:



1948 with John Agar again:



The 1949 Academy Award Theater on Melrose Avene in West Hollywood hosted the 21st Academy Awards on March 24, 1949 (since demolished). The RKO Pantages Theatre on Sunset Boulevard followed in 1950 and remained on the event roster until April 4, 1960.



Zsa Zsa Gabor and George Sanders at the Oscars in 1951:



In 1961, the Awards moved to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Shirley posed with Annette Funicello that evening:



On April 14, 1969, the 41st Academy Awards ceremonies moved to the brand new Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Music Center of Los Angeles County. Shirley appeared there on April 9, 1984. Below she is shown holding her miniature Oscar from 1935:



Below, Shirley poses with Ginger Rogers, who she worked with on “I’ll Be Seeing You” (1944):



That’s it for my Oscar photo collection!

See more contemporary and vintage photos at my main website.