A man posing between a beautiful bongo drum and colorful display of plastic wrapped jazz albums predicts the Pee-Wee Herman look. Strike a pose there is nothing to it! That gray glen plaid suit over a white shirt finished with a red bow tie is in no uncertain terms an AMERICANA classic of the highest order. And so is Pee-Wee.

Speaking of…I went to see his new live “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” show here in LA the other night. When the curtain opened and I saw the Playhouse set it didn’t take me long to figure out that this had to be the most incredible set I’ve ever seen on a stage. Whatta thrill it was to see Pee-Wee walk out on that stage. The audience went wild. He looks great! It was quite the flashback-to-the-80s thrill to spend an hour and half in the Playhouse with him and the whole gang. The “secret word” was ‘FUN’ and it was! My imagination was inspired and spirit soared!

Actually I never did see the beloved Pee-Wee’s Playhouse show when it originally aired on CBS Saturday mornings for five seasons beginning in 1986. Which reminds me of the time I was with Paul- Pee-Wee-Herman-Rueben’s several years ago on a trip to the Adirondacks in beautiful upstate NY. We were both guests, along with several others, at a mutual friends’ family camp on a beautiful lake. One morning while everyone was deciding what to do that day I said, “does anyone want to go with me to Enchanted Forrest, the all original, 1956 children’s fairy tale theme park?” It was just up the road and I really wanted to see it. Everyone said, “no thanks,” but Paul.

The next thing I knew I was the passenger in the front seat of his big Buick rent-a-car and we were speeding thru the woods on our way. We got there and the place was even better than I had hoped. He had no shortage of fans gawking even with his baseball-cap-and-sunglasses disguise. The whole time I’m saying to myself, I just can’t believe I’m at the Enchanted Garden with Pee-Wee Herman! The most memorable moment of our excursion came on the ride back to camp when I told him that I had never seen even one episode of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. Immediately he pulled over the car to the side of the road and said “Get out of the car!” I still laugh about that.

Here’s to Pee-Wee, his playhouse, big adventure, the wannabe and YOU!

Los Angeles, CA
February 3, 2010

This is not an art installation in a snooty, big city gallery or museum. (Although it could be and should be.) This is the perky polka dotted wall of a sunshine state souvenir stand dressed with dozens kooky characters. They are to coconuts what tiki gods are to palm tree trunks. Each is hanging there just waiting to be bought, bagged and taken to a new, more permanent home like a patio, tiki bar or rumpus room. Each one has been carefully carved, painted and finished by hand then imported from the exotic island it came from for our pleasure.

Together on the wall they’re certainly mesmerizing and nearly hypnotizing. They look at you every time you walk in the room. No two are exactly the same. Each has his, (or her) own personality. I’m not sure that today they would all pass the test of political correctness. Which one would you choose? Or do you just want them all?

Among the many reasons that coco palms are among my favorites in the world of trees is the fact that they give us coconuts, some up to 100 a year. (Thank you coco palms!) We eat the hearts out of palms too. They also give us milk. And if you need, or want to, you can even build yourself a nice tropical hut out of a palm tree too. Do palms ever stop giving?

I was never cuckoo for Coca Puffs. (Give me Lucky Charms or Captain Crunch any day.) But I’ve always been cuckoo for coconut. Put the word coconut in front of shrimp, cake, cream pie, macaroons and milk and you’ve got yummy, yummy in your tummy. Mix it with pineapple and you’ve got the ultimate exotic tropical isle taste treat sensation of the highest order!

The word coconut is so much fun to say too. But why are coconuts called coconuts when they are neither cocoa nor nuts. Hmmm! Confusing aren’t they. They’re not even fruits. According to coconut experts, they are seeds. If I plant one will it grow?

Here’s to coconuts, coconut characters, coco palms and YOU!

January 21, 2010
Los Angeles

This is what happens when a playground equipment designer watches the movie Frankenstein one too many times on the late, late show. The screws are a dead giveaway.

It’s a playful tribute to the sci-fi superstar stylized as a cross between a giant toy robot and birdcage with googly eyes, and long reaching arms that double as side-by-side slides.

Beautifully finished in a striking shade of bright orange the monster stands out in the master planned suburban scale sandbox his feet are stuck in.

Three floors up two children play inside his head while a young lady is hunched over on the first floor of his two-story torso. He is part observation deck, part thrill ride, part jungle gym, and part pop art for the park.

By any playground standards, artistic or otherwise, before or since, this park monster is amazing!

Here’s to he monster, the playful pop art in the park and YOU!

January 16, 2010
Los Angeles

Saturday, Feb 20th, 8pm – Descanso Gardens, La Canada, CA
Plus CAMELLIA COCKTAILS at the bar!
CLICK HERE FOR $25. TIX (via TicketWeb)

Charles super-charges the classic living room slide show into a live, laugh-out-loud celebration of mid-century American life and style … car culture, space age suburbia, fast food stands, drive-ins, theme parks, local landmarks, local legends and much more! Festive retro dress is encouraged but not expected!

SUNDAY, Feb 28, 2010, 11am–5pm
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS – 75$

Join Charles on this 6-hr walking & school bus tour beginning ending at Union Station – See Old Chinatown – Olvera Street – Clifton’s Cafeteria – The Bradbury Building – Carroll Avenue – Bob Baker Marionette Theater – Walt Disney Concert Hall and SO much more!

Experience the charm of MAIN STREET USA, exotica of ADVENTURELAND, wilderness of FRONTIERLAND, magic of FANTASYLAND, and future of TOMORROWLAND – all in the heart and soul of our city.

You will never see downtown LA the same way again! It’s just like a big theme park! The similarities between Downtown Los Angeles and Disneyland are staggering!”

Cat-eyed teenage girls consume chocolate frosted white sheet cake in a less than dainty manner sure not to please their charm school teacher. Their painted lips match the traditional print on the slip-covered sofa they are gathered on. Plastic straws in several pastel shades emerge from mostly empty bottles of Pepsi, America’s second favorite refreshing cola beverage,. The beautiful bottles share the coffee table with festive napkins, forks and plates of uneaten remains of hot dogs and pork and beans.

The South gave us soft drinks! We have North Carolina to thank for Pepsi, the sparkling cola beverage with the peppy name. A pharmacist there first concocted it in 1898, several years after Coca Cola was first consumed in neighboring Georgia where it was invented in 1885. The Coca Cola we drink to day is a bit different than the original formula. But it’s still addictive. No, the Coca name didn’t come from coconut, it came from cocaine. Scandalous! The granddaddy of all soft drinks began, according to the legend, as refreshing, attitude altering beverage called cocawine, a blend of cocaine and wine. How festive!

Speaking of Coca Cola… have you seen the NEW Coca-Cola can shaped like the classic coke bottle? You won’t believe your eyes! And it’s SO adorable! I hadn’t seen it until I opened up my hotel room fridge in Seattle and there it was. I could believe it! It’s as though a can and a bottle had a baby. I was a FOOL not to grab one… and of course now I can’t find one anywhere.

Speaking of cake have you made a Cherpumple yet? I DARE YOU TO TRY! Click here to see how!

Here’s to cake with Pepsi, Coke with coke, and YOU!

January 7, 2010
Los Angeles

A basement ceiling bouquet of colorful crepe paper hangs twisted and streaming over a pair of party guests posing with nylon stockings stretched over their heads. Why collectively as a society have we turned our backs on crepe paper as party decor? It’s SO festive and fun! And covering our heads with nylons for memorable party portraits, what has happened to that New Years tradition? Perhaps it never was one. But it’s never too late to make it one… in 2010. Yes, two thousand ten. It has such a SCI-FI ring to it. We really are living in the future! Lets savor it and make the most of every moment.

Here’s to a happy crepe paper and nylon new years and YOU!

…and Happy New DECADE TOO!

December 31, 2009
Los Angeles

Master flocker Larry Deminter, proudly poses with one of his very special Christmas confections. Freshly flocked trees are his holiday specialty. This one is a tri-toned tabletop tree in lime, light pink and bright pink. Larry can flock a tree any color you want including black.

Frankly, I’ve always had a wondering eye for flocked Christmas trees, especially when flocked in color. So this year when I spotted lime green, periwinkle blue and peach flocked trees displayed at the local neighborhood tree lot I pulled the car right up and hopped without skipping a beat. Standing beneath the red and white striped tent and surrounded by a impressive, fragrant selection of fine cut pines a variety of shapes and sizes my imagination was inspired and my spirit soared. After several questions including how many flocking colors do you have? And how many colors can u do on a single tree? The answers were 15 and two or three, I ordered tall tree flocked in shocking pink. Curious about flocking, (isn’t everyone?), and how one becomes a flocker, I introduced myself to the flocker and I got more than I bargained for.

I began talking to Larry and was quite impressed by his family history in the tree business. Turns out he learned the seasonal tree trade when he was boy. His father began selling Christmas tress at the corner of Central and Vernon Avenues in South LA in 1950. His family maintains that lot to this day every holiday season in addition to three others in Culver City, Hollywood and the Los Feliz Costco parking lot, where I met him and this image was captured.

Over the next few days I returned to the lot several times and ordered two more flocked trees -the tri-tone u see in the pic and another in fire engine red knick-named the “Red Devil” Christmas tree. I gave it away at my retro holiday slide show in Hollywood.

The next morning the wind was howling at high speeds when I went back to tell Larry what a big hit the Christmas tree giveaway was and to thank him for flocking it special. When I got there it looked like the wind had attacked the place like a tornado. Trees were blown over in every direction. I looked over at Larry’s flocking booth and it was completely gone. Only a mashed, muddy mound of multicolored flocking remained. I asked what happen to the flocking tent? It blew away the wind. Where’s Larry? He’s gone and wasn’t coming back.

I stood there in the bluster among the windswept trees and red and white tent slapping in the breeze. For a moment I truly believed I was in some sort of crazy Christmas fairy tale where the flocking booth flew away with the flocker in it flocking a tree.

THANK YOU, LARRY, for the flocking!

Here’s to flock, flocking, flockers, flocked Christmas trees, Larry and YOU!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

December 25, 2009
Los Angeles

The flash of a flashbulb reflects in the living room window through which we see a tinsel-trimmed tree and someone peeking at the backside of a bevy of backyard beauties.  This is the valley of the dolls! Which ones are real? Meet Patti Playpal! She is a “companion doll.”

The contrast between the big dolls and their little owners, or lack there of, is shocking and proves there’s quite a difference between a baby doll and a life-size plastic playmate. Seems Patti is less like a doll and more like a special friend. They can even share clothing. And they need to because the dolls are better dressed.

All but the young lady on the right looks into the camera.  Perhaps she looks away in shame for she is the only one with a Patti Playpal wannabe, a fake, a fraud. Size-wise the faux Patti is slightly more monstrous, and judging by her hair and eyes, looks like she stuck her finger in a light socket.

The first Patti Playpal was born in 1959 at the Ideal Toy Company in New York City, the same fine company that introduced teddy bears to the world in 1903!

What I wanna know is… where are all the Patti Playpals and their playmates now!?

Here’s to Patti, her pals, Teddy, the Ideal Toy Company and YOU!

December 15, 2009
Los Angeles

PS! Join me THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON, DEC 20th @ 2pm at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood… for my RETRO HOLIDAY SLIDE SHOW! Celebrate New Years, Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas like you never have before. Your imagination will be inspired and your holiday spirit will soar! …also in Seattle, WA on Dec 27 and Portland, OR, Dec 29

CLICK HERE FOR TIX & INFO

Gleaming silver stars hang from frizzly-foiled canes fixed to stylish streetlamps towering above signs, signals, bus benches and painted curbs. Is this an obstacle course or an intersection? There is no traffic; no flag and the sidewalks are deserted. It’s Sunday and the store is closed.

Architecturally speaking, this is what happens when a streamline modern ocean liner of the ‘30s and the famous flying wing of the ‘40s have a baby. Less, of course, the potted vines sprouting over the trio of terraces. As if passing motorists don’t have enough to look at and out for already, MAY CO is clearly spelled out twice in golden metal-framed yellow neon readable at any speed.

Line-wise, little relieves this smooth slab-sided, curved cornered department store spectacular with the exception of its nearly hypnotic asymmetry. Don’t stare too long! Let’s lovingly call this style: late-streamline early mid-century mod minimalism.  And a very rare example of it at that.

Miraculously this streamlined suburban super store still stands at the corner of Martin Luther King and Crenshaw Blvds, in the Crenshaw District, one of my favorite LA neighborhoods to explore. The May name marked the building until 2005 when Macys, the granddaddy of all grand department stores, took control.

Macy’s started in NYC in 1878 one year after May Company began in Leadville, Colorado. By the end of the 1920’s Macy’s had morphed into the nations largest department store. Ultimately it would become a retail beast that would swallow its competition including the second and third largest stores ever, Hudson’s in Detroit and Marshall Field in Chicago.

Here’s to May Company, Marshall Field, Hudson’s Macy’s and YOU,

Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles, CA
Dec 8, 2009