Happy Holidays!

cov13, originally uploaded by Bad Album Covers - volume 2.

Because of the 'War on Christmas', it's more PC to say Happy Holidays. You've got to check out Bad Album Covers - volume 2 on flickr. He is hilarious!!

David Ruffin

I rented The Temptations miniseries which led me to go on Youtube and see the real Temptations. David Ruffin, the lead singer during their heyday, who sang "My Girl", was so charismatic and handsome. The actor who played him in the movie was the whole movie - everyone else was a little boring. David Ruffin's voice is so soulful, passionate, and sexy. I love his song, "Blood Donors Needed (Give All You Can)", because it has a dub echo in it. Very advanced for that time (1970s).

Age

This angelic, Botticellian person turned into someone who looks 110. This is a flattering photo of him. But so what - Bob Dylan is the greatest.

Bottom photo is AP, Bob Dylan at Jazz Fest 2006 in New Orleans.

Halloween is coming

Witch, originally uploaded by yerffej9.

The Snow White ride at Disneyland. Photo from flickr.

And now for something completely different

He actually wasn't that great a dancer. And the way he prances around...lol. But I love his Italian male look, the skin-tight clothes, the platform shoes. This is a lot of fun.

100 years ago

This fantastic site, http://www.shorpy.com/, has vintage photos of the USA early this century. The images are hi-res and perfect quality. It also lists the photographer and/or collection the photo is from. This one is called "Fifth Avenue Sunday", ca. 1913.

Boney M

Somehow, I missed this group completely during the 1970s. They're the Black ABBA or something. Their songs are really catchy - I especially like the one about Rasputin. I even watched a video of it on YouTube, something I rarely do. (click on post title to go directly to YouTube for the video.)

Beverly Park Kiddieland

I used to visit this amusement park as a child. It's now the Beverly Center.

This description is from a site about rollercoasters: http://www.rcdb.com/ph1093.htm

The following list of attractions is thanks to Abraham M. Rudy who visited the park countless times from the late 1950s to the closing of the park.

* Train - that more or less circled a portion of the Park (individual "locomotive" type yellow and black cars that sat 2 to 3). The train ride had a "pay off" (a short and mild roller coaster-ish type ending that had you nearly running down a mannequin dressed as a engineer that swung out of harms way at the last minute).
* Autopia - Mini cars in bright colors that took a winding course around a portion of the Park but without any real control.
* Carousel - Parker Carousel #316.
* Boat ride - A very narrow boat ride that wound through a simple FantasyLand that was available for birthday parties. The area remained open for Birthdays through park's closing, but the boat ride ceased operating some years before.
* Pony Rides - A stable of sorts was West of the Park, same side of the street, sharing the parking lot to the West, around where the Hard Rock Café is today. The Pony Rides (nearly identical to those offered at the Griffith Park pony rides today) were open on the weekends, offered fast, medium and slow horses that would do two laps around a track of sorts (white wooden fences separated the concentric circles of track . . . innermost for slow, middle for medium, and the outside track for the fast horses). They gave you a short whip or crop for fast. (Editor's note: Ponyland was adjacent to Beverly Park, but was not owned by David Bradley.)
* Ferris Wheel - There was a Ferris Wheel right next to the ticket booth, with its back to LaCienega and circling E to W or W to E (depending on the direction). The cars was not enclosed, a simple bench seat with a rail in front of you.
* Fun House - A "Fun House" (mobile as opposed to walk through .. . 2 riders in a car, side by side) that came with it's own legend (or urban legend) -- this may actually have been confirmed -- about a famous dead body being used as one of the props. The old Long Beach Pike fun house may share this story . . . I'm no sure which, if any, is actually the proud owner of the corpse.
* Carousel - A small kiddie carousel with roundish fishes that 1 or 2 very small children could sit in. I don't recall if the fish went up and down or simply around.
* Food - A Hot Dog stand and the best roasted peanuts in red and white stripped I can ever recall tasting. Popcorn and cotton candy.
* Goldfish - At one time, goldfish in the little cement canal that carried the small boat. Whether for the taking or not, they were often taken.
* Grounds - The ground of the Park and of the parking lot was made up of gravel atop earth. Always clean, always raked, always light gray to off-white. And a chain link fence surrounding.

To see the entire pictured article: http://whimsicalwill.tripod.com/BeverlyPark1.html/

Electric Fountain, Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills

When I was a kid, we drove past this fountain on the way home from my aunt's. At night the water lights up with different colors. I loved the Indian statue at the top. This fountain is still there.

Submarine Lagoon

submarine lagoon, originally uploaded by boogah.

It was a blast from the past to see this on flickr. I used to go on this ride and thought it was really under the ocean!

Adrienne Segur

Another beautiful illustration. http://segur.artpassions.net/

Republished!

This book I remember from childhood has been published again and is available at amazon.com. Hurrah!! My older cousin owned it and I envied it greatly. Golden Book of Fairy Tales, translated by Marie Ponsot and illustrated by Adrienne Segur.