Just a few random-y thoughts and memories that have been swimming around in my brain…

• I used to work in this building way back in the mid-80s, as a receptionist for the management company who owned/operated both the Broadway Hollywood and the Hollywood Taft buildings. It’s so weird to think my old office is now someone’s very own bought-and-paying-for home in "downtown" Hollywood. That’s just craziness.
• While working at the above, I had my first introduction to "Angelyne." Anyone who’s ever worked in Hollywood area during the 80s and 90s knows Angelyne. She’s a very bosomy woman determined to prove you don’t have to do anything to be famous except get your boobs mug out there for everyone to see, so she put up murals of herself all over Hollywood (this one, on the wall of the Plaza Hotel, was the one I first saw, and had to look at every day on my way in to work — Welcome to Hollywood!). At the time I thought she was a complete joke and would never have any real success. Silly me. I was right about her, BUT… it occurred to me this morning that she was just paving the way for the Paris Hiltons, and the "stars" of The Hills and other pseudo-reality shows, and all the other socialite nobodies who’ve managed to capture the attention of every photographer and tabloid in the nation. They are the new breed of Angelyne. Way to go! And the Original? Well, a quick Google search assured me she’s still going strong and turning heads in Hollywood. Crazy.
• How many people think the WGA is going to strike in the next week or so? [muttering/counting]… Uh, yep. That’s everybody. — Wait. What do you mean you had no idea the WGA was even in negotiations with the AMPTP? What do you mean you don’t know what the WGA or AMPTP is?? What do you mean you don’t care what they mean or who they are or what they’re doing??? How could you people not care about television or movies or…. Oh, yeah. I live in Nashville now.
• PS Say goodbye to your fall television programming (those who actually watch) and say hello to Reality TV Overload. Woohoo.
• Yes, I’m still a little obsessed with All Things Entertainment Industry.
• I remember the last writer’s strike (in 1988). I was just starting out my career in Hollywood and had a safe accounting clerk job at Universal. I hardly felt a thing, financially. But I watched businesses around me from restaurants and caterers to florists go out of business never to return because all their business had come from the studios and production houses. With production at a stand-still their business dried up, and they couldn’t move fast enough to replace it. So most ended up turning out the lights for good. This strike, if the hype surrounding it is correct, threatens to be worse than the last. Hollywood will not be a pretty place to work for a while. Kinda makes me glad I’m no longer there… kinda…
• For some reason I’ve been missing the Industry, missing Hollywood/LA in general and missing working at a studio a lot right now. I’m not sure why. This was the funnest time to work on the Paramount lot too; with all the Christmas decorations that went up right around Thanksgiving weekend and all the presents arriving from the many, many contacts who wanted to keep in good graces with whoever I happened to be working for. Yeah… good times. 😉 Even without the presents; I just loved the way the lot looks at Christmas. Spectacular!
• Speaking of Christmas… I think I might actually be up for it this year…
• I miss Disneyland at Christmas too.
• Now I’m just really rambling…