Friday, August 20, 2004
 you can live twenty summers in california and never have a drink on a perfect night on the rooftop bar of the wyndham bel age and be fine.
but i dont recommend it.
just like you wouldnt recommend for me not to hang out with karisa for more than six weeks. its just plain foolish.
towering above the sunset strip right behind the viper room where san vicente begins in west hollywood, the bel age is classy and hip and clean and attentive. so much so that if a party is to end at 10pm you can bet that a very handsomely dressed young man will politely ask you to leave the pool area.
apparently the guests expect to sleep in their rooms.
the 360 degree views are perfect, as are most sights when youre drinking with karisa.
tonights occasion was a party for mr luke ford, former adult film industry gossip expert slash news hound.
luke has just released two books, one of interviews with hollywood producers, and the other, a memoir of turning away from porn journalism to orthodox judaism. guess which one i want to read first.
the crowd was diverse educated funny engaging polite. both karisa and i were amazed at how much people wanted to talk to us, when for the first time in a long time i found myself seriously interested in talking to the author about his new book.
the LA Press Club turnout was so good, and karisa and i were so late, that we didnt have a chance to really do much talking with mr ford per se but perhaps since he's now knocked out a few IMs maybe he's ready to get interviewed via it.
its two am. karisa and i woulda stayed at the kickass hotel if they woulda kept the bar open but i was also starving so we went to the labrea sunset bk lounge and ate in the parkinglot of the powerhouse on highland, hollywoods last great dive bar which reportedly is going through a slow death that karisa and i wanted to investigate first hand.
the powerhouse has been one of karisas favorites for quite a while. its a real place thats been around for 50 years and feels like it. now all the pictures are down the posters are down the "decorations" are down but the springs in the cushions of the booths will still poke you in the ass if you dont sit on them right.
and the jukebox will always flow with a nugget to surprise you with as the clientele skews from hollywood hip to post punk to emo to tourist. its a good mix typically offerring enough to watch but theres always the tvs.
miss montreal and i met there one night after not dating for a while and i would like to think that it was the powerhouse that brought us back together before fate struck us asunder.
we had heard that the walls had been torn down and that yuppie scum redevelopment that has turned a good thing on the third street promenade into a tolerable but bad thing at hollywood n highland into a scary thing as it pops up on sunset and vine across the street from the archlight in the form of a borders/baja fresh/hollywood condo/bed bath and beyond monstrosity that says lots of things except hollywood.
artificial christmas trees are logical and fine and practical but theyre just not right.
and neither is slowly gutting a hollywood mainstay and turning it into just another bar for the tourists to get the wrong impression of america. yes i know there are more Applebies than Powerhouses but just because theres a Gap on one side of the street doesnt mean that every corner has to be a sellout too.
mickey kaus talked me out of putting ads on this blog until i was getting enough hits that it would be worth it. i appreciated his insight there.
saw my wife moxie looking gorgeous as always.
we met a real live novelist who gets to write from 10am to 4pm.
fascinating.
ben sullivan had a cowboy hat on.
people were making out.
then a whole bunch of hotel guests jumped into the hottub, and then the pool.
karisa and i agreed that the Walkmen are pretty good.
what the hell is that all about?
cathy seipp + amy alkon + emmanuelle
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