Adventures in Retro LA

I had the most amazing weekend exploring the fabulousness of Los Angeles history. Almost by coincidence, I found myself visiting some of the sites of the city's popular history, places the exemplify the layers of the urban past in all their commercial glory and whimsical exuberance.

It began on Friday with a trip to Disneyland in the rain. Because of the rain there were almost no lines, so we explored all of the rides I usually don't bother with, including several of the attractions that date back to opening day: The Jungle Cruise, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Snow White's Scary Adventures, the Storybook Land Canal Boats, and Peter Pan's Flight. We even went into the Main Street Cinema and watched "Plane Crazy" and "Steamboat Willie." I went with people who know Disneyworld and see Disneyland as a quaint cousin of the larger park, but for me it represents both childhood memories and the embodiment of the local myth of Southern California as a place of wild dreams and playful innovation.

On Saturday, I had tickets with a friend to "Something to Crow About" at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater in celebration of Baker's 85th birthday. I knew it was shameful that I had lived in L.A. for so long without attending the Marionette Theater, and this was a delightful opportunity to learn about it. There was short film about the history of Baker's work, which is amazing, and then Baker and host Charles Phoenix (Who is fabulous! His voice and his suits make me swoon!) presented a short slideshow of Baker's personal history as puppeteer to the studios and the stars. Following an intermission featuring free wine and/or fruit punch, the puppeteers of Baker's studio presented "Something to Crow About," a marionette show originally performed in 1959. The performance combined the classic humor of a mid-century vaudeville or variety act with a surprising liveliness that skillful puppeteers gave to the marionettes (and one of the puppeteers was totally a cute girl with a pixie haircut, yay!). The show culminated in Baker himself manipulating a marionette of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson demonstrating tap steps. It was very impressive! The whole evening was truly a delight.

Before the show, we ate dinner at Clifton's Cafeteria, where the food was ok, but the decor was fabulous. The interior is decorated as a woodland wonderland, complete with waterfall and strange stuffed animals (and wandering Mariachi singer - isn't that what you expect in the forest?). This location has been serving Los Angeles since 1935!

We finished our evening at Tiki Ti, the last of the great LA tiki bars, founded in 1961. We enjoyed potent rum-based cocktails at the very crowded (and mysteriously populated predominently by straight men) bar, amusing ourselves with the video menu's descriptions and taglines for all the drinks (all of which are hilarious, and many of which I hope to try at some point).

I know that people from back east and other countries scoff at a city where a bar founded in the 1960s is considered an icon of urban history, but each of the locations I visited this weekend is a tribute to the magic and artifice of local culture in the booming mid-century. I have visited the missions, ranchos and pueblos of earlier California history, but there's something about L.A. that evokes elaborate architecture of 20th century modernism. It is in many ways a city of the 1950s and visiting the shrines to mid-century Southern California culture feels like finding the soul of the city to me. I am absolutely delighted by my weekend of local exploration, and I think the retro-fabulousness of these locations, while evoking kitsch and nostalgia, also feels appropriate for this city of the Golden West.