L.A. love story: Fire update as Montana girl pens Hollywood homage

Two new fires erupted as crews remove tons of debris from Eaton
and Pacific Palisades fire areas, fearing mudslides and more damage
as thousands of tons of debris are swept away in forecast rains. Red
Flag warnings increased even into northern and central California.
 
--FIRE PHOTOS COURTESY AP, Getty Images, MSN

NEW FIRES, INCREASING WINDS, MORE EVACUATIONS: FIRE CONTAINMENT INCHES ALONG, TONS OF DEBRIS CLEARED, CALIFORNIA BRACES FOR RAIN, MUDSLIDES  

The American Red Cross and Project HOPE
are helping thousands of evacuees, first responders
and fire crews. To help with food, hygiene, shelter,
counseling: www.redcross.org; www.projecthope.org

Sunset Boulevard and the Pantages Theatre, built in 1930 as a Vaudeville house, film and performance
venue.  For many years it hosted the Academy Awards. It holds a special place in the hearts of writer Christene Meyers, and her photographer husband, Bruce Keller, whose mother Jean, an art major, left University of Minnesota in 1944 to rent a flat at Hollywood and Vine & design window displays.  Meyers and Keller visit Los Angeles often for theater, movies &"Jeopardy" tapings.  

 
HISTORY AS FIRES SWEEP OVER  AN OLD FRIEND WHO WILL RISE FROM ASHES

As a movie reviewer at The Billings Gazette, the writer spent   weekends
in Los Angeles, where she interviewed hundreds of film stars, directors,
producers, screen writers and designers and covered the Oscars. 

The eerie sight of burned trees with downtown L.A. in the
background  greets homeowners and emergency crews in
Altadena, Pacific Palisades and other areas. L.A. now meets
the threat of mudslides and more damage with rains forecast.
As of Wednesday, more than 12,000 structures are destroyed,
27 are dead, more missing, and 60 square miles are burned.
                                                             --Photo Courtesy Getty Images

Aftermath of the Pacific Palisades fire. "The
"destruction is unbelievable," a friend said today.

Jan 23 fire update: Two new fires erupted north of Los Angeles. Over 100,000 people now have received evacuation orders with another 15,000 receiving evacuation warnings. Volunteers and fire crew are following an emergency order issued yesterday to clear debris ahead of forecast rains. Although rain is badly needed, it creates another risk: Mudslides, erosion  and floods, caused by rubble left by the fires. Hughes fire is at 14 percent containment. Sepulveda fire is nearly extinguished. Containment of the older fires is at 80 -90 per cent for Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires. The Palisades fire invaded Pacific Palisades, Malibu, and Topanga and Mandeville canyons. Firefighters inched further as the Eaton fire caused destruction in Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre — and is at 89% containment, according to Cal Fire. Damage is expected to surpass $250 billion, which would make these fires the costliest in U.S. history. We grieve devastating loss with dear friends whose childhood homes have been leveled, animals lost, personal memorabilia gone. Getty Center above Brentwood will reopen Jan. 28. But the priceless Getty Villa --while saved -- is closed indefinitely because of hazardous roads and leveled surroundings in the ghost town of Pacific Palisades.  Prolonged drought and renewed Santa Ana winds created possibly the worst wildfires in the country's history. Please keep imperiled Los Angeles in your thoughts and prayers and continue to check here and on Facebook daily. We offer ways people can help: www.redcross.org;

www.projecthope.org

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

                                                                                                      and newspaper archives 

I DIDN'T REALIZE how much Los Angeles means to me until the fires. Now I understand.

 

Debbie Reynolds and daughter
Carrie Fisher, interviewed at a
Hollywood awards ceremony.

A new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at
  Hollywood and Vine, awaits its a new gold name.
 

IN YEARS of globe trotting, I've spent more time visiting Los Angeles than any other place in the world, with New York, London and Barcelona the runners up.

Makeup wizard and special effcts artist Andy
Schoneberg and his partner and fellow artist
Nicole Michaud, with Cookie and Keller and
Schoneberg's Humphrey Bogart creation. He
has lived in Los Angeles for the past 40 years. 

  ALL TOGETHER I've logged about 7 years in the city -- in visits ranging from 3 days to 2 and 3 weeks. Trips to Disneyland as a young person, a honeymoon trip with late husband Bruce Meyers, five weeks with late husband Bill Jones researching our historical novel partly set in Los Angeles, and at least 10 visits a year during my 25-plus years as a movie critic. I covered the Oscars in the day when newspapers were king and the studios invited select film reviewers for world premiers and interviews. I've strolled the Walk of

Keller's parents were married
in Los Angeles in post-WWII.
Meet William and Jean Keller.

Fame many times, playing tourist, often catching sight of a star. Sometimes they remembered me -- Christopher Reeve and Bill Murray did. I've weaseled my way into Hollywood piano bars to play when the paid pianists took a break. I've sunbathed by the rooftop pool at the historic Hoxton Hotel, which opened in 1924 with star studded fun. 

Looking like a mirage, Echo Mountain House
was a favorite escape for sunshine and fruit groves.
The Pasadena area was called "America's Italy." 
 

MOST PEOPLE don't realize that there was a Los Angeles long before the metropolis we know today sprang from the desert.  L.A. was founded in 1781 by Spanish colonists and Pasadena has long been a popular winter destination for wealthy folks. The gorgeous chaparral and wildflower terrain that has been scorched in at least 8 wildfires reminded J. Paul Getty of his beloved First week's fire coverage, click here

Italy. So much so that he built a lavish museum, Getty Villa, a replica of a luxurious compound destroyed by Vesuvius. There, in a building now closed but safe, his $10 billion collection awaits reopening probably months down the road. 

Bruce Keller and Christene
"Cookie" Meyers at the
Ahmanson Theatre, L.A.

We photographed Getty Villa just before it closed
indefinitely. It is J. Paul Getty's multi-billion-
dollar museum, a showcase for his collection.

 The landscape that attracted the rich for a century is now a charred graveyard. As it burns, its ashes cover the past of a city of remarkable incarnations.

ON ONE sunny afternoon 35 years ago, Bill Jones and I found the remains of Echo Mountain House, built in 1894.  The elegant Swiss inspired chalet was an astronomical observatory and hide-away for Gilded Age partiers.  They dressed to the nines for elegant dinner-dance parties and arrived by cable railway. 

When the regular pianist takes a break, Cookie
often charms herself into a piano bar to play
a few sets, here at the Omni Lounge in L.A.

IN NEARBY HOLLYWOOD,  I interviewed Debbie Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford, Sally Field, Christopher Reeve, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Dolly Parton, Liza Minnelli, Fred Astaire and many others. We stayed in posh hotels: 
Chateau Marmont, The Beverly Hills and Beverly Wilshire, the stately Roosevelt, where Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks hung out.  

Walt Disney Concert Hall hosts world class
 musicians and conductors and is a regular player
 in Cookie's world of theater and lively arts.

Bruce Keller and his mom, Jean
 Keller, sailed the harbors of
Long Beach, Oceanside, etc.

WITH BRUCE Keller (aka "Bruce the Second,") I spend weekends 90 miles north of our San Diego home in L.A.  It is beloved by Keller because his mother came to the city as a young college arts student on spring break from University of Minnesota.  She never left.

 For the past 18 years, we've watched fabulous opera and thrilled to Gustavo Dudamel's baton conducting the L.A. philharmonic at beautiful Walt Disney Concert Hall. We see plays at the Ahmanson, Mark Taper and Kirk Douglas theaters. We've been to a half-dozen "Jeopardy" tapings and spent time with the late Alex Trebek. We visit many friends, including Wyoming born Andy Schoenberg, a well known makeup artist and old pal, and Keller's oldest friend, Bob Hulbert. He and his wife Sue host us for musical gatherings where we sing show tunes and celebrate a long friendship. I'm the only "non-native" as Bruce, Bob and Sue are all southern Californians with long ties to Los Angeles.

Keller took this night photo of the
Pantages on our most recent visit.

READING OF the fires is like hearing an old friend has a terminal illness. I pray to my agnostic gods that this city beloved by me, Keller and millions of others will rebound quickly, rising from the ashes to reinvent itself once again. As it does -- and as soon as possible -- we'll be back. For the show must go on.

************************************************************************************************************  

Marielle Young as Luna and Jin Park as Jane
forge a friendship in their mutual loneliness.

BEST BET: If you love serious theater, with welcome comic relief, head for North Coast Repertory Theatre for "The Heart Sellers." It's a play for play goers, with a perfect theatrical triumvirate. New Yorker Kat Yen's deft direction thoughtfully develops Lloyd Suh's clever script, delivered by two splendid actors with delightful chemistry. The theme is integration-- two wives uprooted from their cultures to support their husbands' education and careers in an unnamed U.S. city. Playwright Suh created two endearing characters in this subtle and sometimes raucous  production. They have just met and are learning to trust one another. Marielle Young plays Luna, a gregarious Filipina woman, endowing her character with brashness and tender enthusiasm. Playing her reluctant Korean new friend Jane is Jin Park who gives her character just the right balance of reserve and delight.  Through two capable actors, a touching friendship develops. When Luna sings "Top of the World," that sweet Carpenters' song, we take  an emotional ride with her. It's a play of satisfying depth and subtlety with welcome moments of slapstick and lightness.

It takes great talent to pull off a two- person show which never fails to engage and sustain us. 
The collaboration of writer, director and actors opens the year at the Rep with a five-star show on an eye-catching set.

northcoastrep.org or call for tickets, call 858-481-1055

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Bruce Keller and Christene "Cookie" Meyers on the trail
of dolphins and whales, keeping safe distance from the fires.
 Find some fire relief next week in southern California.

ON TAP: Concerned about the tragic fires, worried about the safety of our many friends in Los Angeles and the havoc and loss of the terrible fires, we are thankful for progress on containment, and for our safety in San Diego. Now, we travel north of the city to romp with the whales. They're migrating from the north to the warm waters of the Baja and we're on their trail.  Meanwhile, keep the people and critters of Los Angeles in your hearts and minds, remembering to explore, learn, live and be kind, generous and helpful. Catch us weekly for stories on performance, nature, travel and -- sometimes -- breaking news, good or bad: www.whereiscookie.com