This week marks the return of the Egyptian Theatre and we couldn’t be happier!

Hollywood and high fashion have always gone hand in hand, and many a star designer career has been launched from the red carpet - meet Salvatore Ferragamo, who first became famous as a Hollywood shoe designer.

The idea of this particular house being demolished had the community up in arms because none other than Marilyn Monroe had purchased and occupied this house in 1962 shortly before her death. It was the only home Marilyn ever owned. This house, while a private residence, has become a shrine of sorts, a way to remember Marilyn Monroe for fans all over the globe.

We’re not exactly sure when Hollywood’s first movie theatre opened, or even how its name was spelled.

Why is Marilyn Monroe, a film star with a career that spanned less than 20 years, ending with her death in 1962, still resonant with so many people? That’s the magic of Marilyn, and I don’t know that there is one answer to that question, but I do want to share with you three things I find special about this legendary film star.

The years 1907 - 1931 were formative years for the motion picture industry and also happen to be the years that over in New York City, a man named Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. was scandalizing Broadway with his “Ziegfeld Follies” shows. The Ziegfeld Follies created a new type of revue show, featuring beautiful showgirls, comedians, and singers in scenarios that were titillating to the public but never too showy or daring to be considered in bad taste. It’s the same line that films were trying to walk until the Hays Code came crashing down on them.

Located at 5959 Franklin Avenue, the Villa Carlotta, and Italian Palazzo style building, is in the heart of the Franklin Village neighborhood. It is designated as a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument.

A few old Hollywood connections I found on my recent trip to London…

It was so rewarding to have a small part in an episode of PBS’s docuseries Iconic America, telling the story of the Hollywood Sign!

Four miles west down a small bridle path that would eventually become Sunset Boulevard, a developer named Burton Green was building a Spanish style hotel in a tiny hamlet he called Beverly Hills,

Film star autobiographies are tricky - you’re contending with ego, faulty memories, events/people they don’t want to address, the fuzzy facts…But, for my money, the best way to learn about the true personality of a star is to read their autobiography (if one is available). In a book that bears not only the star’s stamp of approval, but their signature, you’re getting amazing insight into how that person saw themselves and how they want to be remembered. Here are some of my favorite classic film star autobiographies:

In 1923 the Monmartre Cafe was Hollywood’s first major nightclub. The time was right; in the last ten years Hollywood had experienced a dramatic transformation from tiny town to the beginnings of tinseltown.

Los Angeles is full of the ghosts of classic Hollywood and the “things that aren’t here anymore” - I often wish I could time travel back to various times and places in its history. And as many great restaurants as we have now, reading and hearing stories from some of these classic Hollywood haunts has me salivating…and not necessarily for the food (although I’m sure that was amazing too)!

Do you know the story behind Hollywood’s first tourist attraction, the De Longpre Gardens?

These five old Hollywood haunts should be on your list when you visit!

Originally I titled this blog “My Five Favorite Film Noirs” but I found making those definitive selections impossible! Film Noir, characterized by dark stories featuring cynical characters, femme fatales, dramatic black and white cinematography, twisted love, and crime, were popular in the U.S. in the 1940s and 50s and fortunately, many survive, making it hard to choose a top five! However, here are five I’m obsessed with right now:

This week’s birthday girl Lana Turner (Feb. 8) definitely achieved a place in the pantheon of classic Hollywood stars, and whether you believe in luck or fate, I think a little of both were on her side. Here are five realities that should have kept Lana out of the limelight, but none of them could stop her exciting and at times tumultuous career:

One of my favorite Hollywood restaurants with classic Hollywood ties is the Formosa Cafe, off Santa Monica Boulevard and Formosa Avenue in West Hollywood.