Thursday, December 13, 2007

The Final Product

So, after what seems like an eternity, the House is over. The pool has been drained and the mail forwarded.
These are the final images of the rooms I worked on. I think they're rather nice.
The Bedroom canopy is candy striped silk reversing to blossom colored taffeta. The rug is, and I can't believe I am saying this, but multi colored shag. I think it's fab, and I never think shag is fab. The wall color is Grasshopper from Ben Moore, and the Chippendale accents are in Agave. I also did the crown in that great green as well (but you can't see it). All furniture is on loan from Baker, but the bed belongs to my dear gran, and the chair is on loan from a client.
The sewing room features many antiques. And that table in the middle was moved by 5 burly men, neither of which was me. We restored the lino floor to a nice mellow gloss and painted the walls in soft period colors. The light fixtures were also cleaned. The interior of the closets are painted out in a juicy color called Pomegranate. It's stunning with the green walls, black trim, and white doors. And, just for poops and giggles, I did the ironing board cover in leopard.
The hall got a three color treatment, new chair rail, Morris pattern shades (with onion fringe!!!) and a completely restored floor and light fixtures. Simple yet dramatic.





Sunday, August 19, 2007

Greystone Short Clip

I found this on You Tube. It looks like public access work. But still,for those who haven't been to the house, it's a quickie tour. The rooms shown are the Card Room, Great Room, Murder Room, First Floor Guest Room, Library, Dining Room, Sun Room, Breakfast Room, Barbara Lazaroff's Bedroom, The Gun Room, Mr. Doheny's Bedroom and Mrs. Doheny's Bedroom. I could do without the music. It makes it sound so stuffy.
Meanwhile, UCLA will be adding another 9 rooms to the tour! You'll definitely get your money out of this years show!

Greystone on MTV?

Will wonders never cease?
I was researching Greystone on every available venue the Internet had to offer when on Wikipedia i came across a reference stating Greystone had been used in two Mariah Carey videos and a Meatloaf video. Of course I had to find out for myself and of course it was true!
Greystone's Foyer, Card Room (as a ball room), Breakfast Room (as Eric Roberts Office), Great Room (as a game room), and Mr. Doheny's Bedroom (as a Dressing Room) were used in Mariah's "It's Like That" video and the garden's were used in the follow up video "We Belong Together". Both video's also show Mariah's prolific use of Hair Extensions and double stick tape. Greystone's Foyer and Halls also showed up in Meatloaf's "I Would do Anything For Love (but I Won't do That" video.





More Vintage Greystone Pics...

...With Some Interesting Differences...
The Great Room

I'm not sure when this image dates from but I think it could be more modern. the most noticeable difference seen in this photo is that the fireplace and over mantle is not the same one as seen in this room today. the one in the photo seems very Tudor, while the one currently installed seems very neoclassical with swags and urns. Also, beneath the minstrel's loft, we can see two lanterns hanging in the passage way.

The reflecting pool looking towards the Great Room. There isn't much that has changed here, but we can see the original bronze planters that are now missing. Two similar planters can be found in the Portico at the homes main entry.


The Card Room

This is the Card Room or Receiving Room as it was for the Doheny family. The light fixtures and fountain with surrounding detail are missing, the mural has been painted over. However, as we speak, a group of artists is replicating one of the two murals original to the room. Last year, a film company restored the marble floors.

The original Motor Court

This photo shows the Motor Courts circular fountain was once fitted with a Putti figure on a Swan and a central spray. The Fountain today is missing the Putti group and has a pedestal bowl in it's place.

So It's Been a While....



It's been ages since posted anything regarding Greystone! Ack! So here are some photos of the newly cleaned original light fixtures. Initially, we thought they were rusted and ruined, but in reality, they were just really dirty! Be sure and note the shoddy paint job that ran over onto the bases of the fixtures. Thanks AFI! So, we were able to clean them and they turned out to be chrome plated! There are 6 on the second floor, 4 on the first and 2 wall sconces. They look fab! It's amazing what a little elbow grease can do. Makes you wonder why it wasn't done before.
Oh, I remember...no one cared.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Not Related to Greystone...





So today I went to the Getty for family day with Constance and Ben. Ben is so frickin' cute, Constance will totally miss him after I kidnap him and raise him as my own in Canada. The top image is a photo of him 'dancing'. We went to see a performance of Farmer Jason and the Barnstormers. Yes, it did rock just as much as you would think.
The scab on his melon was brought on by his nana, Trisha. He's OK, no need to call child services, apparently concrete can do that when you trip as you learn to walk. It's just building up his resistance, like giving him cyanide in his malt-o-meal.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Sewing Room



This room is anchored by a 10 foot long oak gate leg table on loan from a client. The room will be painted two shades of green with painted details to emphasize woodwork. The floor is a great vintage checkerboard that we are in the process of restoring. The rooms color scheme was inspired by the vintage french floral chintz that we will be using at the windows. We'll be having lots of surprises in this room too, like a new way to use taffeta! >:) hehehehe
The Ladies Maid Bedroom


This bedroom is painted in a great color called Grasshopper, not too yellow, not too blue. The perfect green for a bedroom. The main focus of the room is a canopy lined in pink silk Dupioni while the exterior is a candy stripe silk. The windows are an Asian floral on a linen cotton. The chair is a green and ivory faille. The floor is Click by Forbo (not my first choice but it was free and we all know beggars can't be choosers) and over that will be a most excellent rug. You will have to come to the house to see the surprises! :)

Dah Bordzzzz

So I just got a call from my wonderful friend Alice and she said she hadn't seen the presentation baords yet. Well, of couse that means I have to post them to the Blog! We had our presentations last Monday and we kicked ass.
So We begin with the Servant Corridors, 2 hallways connected by a staircase tower.

the window treatments are done in a William Morris inspired cotton screen print from Trend and the woven wood shades are from Jessitt-Gold. The French Country Chest is from Baker's Milling Road Collection. We plan to merchandise the hall with ecclectic antique pieces (Majolica plates, sliver trays, etc) and period wall sconces. We will be having a decorative painter and faux finisher detail our stair tower. It's truly a magnificent space in the 'plain' part of the house.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Ed Doheny Sr. House in West Adams



This was Mr. & Mrs. Ed Doheny senior's 'modest' home in the West Adams Districts of Los Angeles, not too far from the St. Vincent Church that Mr Doheny funded. The neighborhood the home is in is called Chester Place, a gated community of palatial estates built by the founding families of modern Los Angeles. I am absoloutely lost as far as the architecture of the home goes. We can definitely put it under the 'Victorian' umbrella. And it has heavy Tudor & Gothic influences, so it could be considered Gothic Revival in some aspects. But the tile roof is throwing me off.
The home, and the rest of the neighborhood, is now occupied by Mount St. Mary's College.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Speaking of the Minstrels Loft



Here's 2 views of it as seen in vintage photo's of the Formal Living Room. Its the arched balcony above the door way. I love how ecclectic, ne gawdy, the room appears. Faboulous! More is MORE!!!!

Creepy Experience. Seriously.




So I took Eleanor into the Movie theater and we decided to be brave and hop the pony wall into the original part of the theater (AFI chopped the long room in half and built a false wall and slapped a screen on it. Behind the wall is the original screen, and a fab stage with columns.) behind the false wall. The woodwork is stunning with a Lyme waxed finish as adorable tole sconces. Eleanor explored the stage while I took photos and she was touching the carving (how could anyone resist that???) and as she walked to the pillar on the right it creaked at her. The floor didn't creek, the pillar creaked. And it creaked right in her face. So we took it as meaning something and we left. When we got outside to the landing I got this weird feeling and felt my left ear throb, as if something flew into it. And there was a buzz too, like an electrical surge of sorts. I don't know if it was psychosomatic or if something really physically affected me. It was very strange.
And if you look at the photos, there's only one orb in the room. There are usually several. But this one appears at the left rear and moved to the right front next to Eleanor. That's also kind of odd.

Minstrels loft passage


Here's a very uninteresting space. It leads from the minstrels loft above the formal living room into what is being labeled as Lucy Doheny's (the daughter) dressing room. It's sort of weird that it leads there, which makes me think maybe it wasn't Lucy's bedroom and it could have been more like a guest room since the dressing room connects to a full bath. Or it could have been a changing room for the band, too. Anyway, I'm showing it because its full of orbs. what a weird place for them to collect.

New Pics!

So i had a visitor today at the house; my friend/instructor Eleanor Schapa dropped in to check our progress. As a commissioner for Beverly Hills she keep tabs on what's happening, especially what's happening to fabulous buildings like Greystone. So of course I gave her a back door tour, even going places I've never been (like the attic children's playroom, the attic mechanical room and the old movie theater) that were wonderful. Loved it!

here's the attic children's playroom. Pay no attention to that fire ladder in the corner. AFI put that in when they were renting the house from Beverly Hills for 1.00 a month. They totally trashed the house, btw. Beverly Hills was going to lease it to UCLA, but the neighbors were afraid it would become overrun with hippies and drugs. So instead, the house was over run with hippies and druggies who went to film school first.
Anyway, I loved this room. What a great place to play! That 3x3 opening in front of Eleanor is an access hatch that hid a cat walk for maintenance and repairs. Those little holes are all over the house so that service men could get inside and make repairs without disrupting the house. The Doheny boys also had fun with these; they would climb in and spy on the parties in the house and even crawl to the maids rooms and peep in through the heating vents and watch them change in the closets. Dirty buggers!

This is the mechanical room. Its mostly electrical and was probably used for storage judging by teh low ceiling and the windows blocked by headers. but look at the orbs! Oh my gosh! I wonder why there are so many little orbs in the electrical room. I wonder.....hmmmm....all that electricity with no where to go if it's in inexperienced hands.....creepy!

Saturday, June 23, 2007

So We're Having Our Pictures Took

The thought of this gives me colitis.
Not that I don't want more people to know what I look like, because I do. I think it would be unfair, if not unamerican, to keep people from knowing of me. My concern is that whatever photo is taken of me (or us) will look like it came from the pages of some dust bowl yearbook or a horrible passport photo session (No one ever seems to know what diffused light is in those passport places...and they never take the photo from your good side. It's as if they don't care. The left side is my best side, FYI. Just in case you want to know how to approach me on the street and get the most bang for your buck.).
However, while lounging in exquisite languor, as is my way, I saw this group photo in House and Garden from a few years back. Disregard the people in the photo, who ever they are. I think they're from some fancy pants art gallery somewhere in New York. The kind where all the art is untitled because they don't want to influence your thoughts with subjective and superficial issues such as names. In fact, you probably wouldn't understand it anyway, so just leave. Maybe they shouldn't have put the door on the building after all. Damn fire and safety commission. Apparently, they're also into bricks. And shop lights. However, high concept art and snotty attitudes aside, I love the composition of the photo and I have always been intrigued by the idea of scaffolding. Remember that old Vogue cover with the 20 skinny models in white shirts climbing the wall of scaffolding? I loved that. It had sort of a union strike/house painter vibe. I sort of want the group image to look like that. Hip, young, enterprising, not campy or embarrassing. A dramatic simplicity. And no stupid toothy grins either. Last thing we need is to look like cast offs from Hee-Haw.

just because

because i love madeline kahn and miss her terribly.

and does anyone else think she sounds like heidi klum here? I do.

it was just one of those days....

...for so many of us.

I'm Finished!

It's 3.30 in the moring on Saturday and I'm finally done with the presentation boards that have taken 3 days out of my life, even though it seems they have taken 3 weeks. I have watched TBS throughout the entire process and I can recite the script of Men in Black I & II and some of The 5th Element, which is a very good movie. I'm surprised. I'm really watching it for the JPG designed costumes, but the story's pretty good and I usually don't go in for Sci-Fi, or Bruce Willis for that matter. I was also surprised that Lara Flynn Boyle was in Men in Black and I was even more surprised that her rack was that big. Usually, she's built like a 3rd grader, but in this movie it looked like they had shoved 2 bocce balls down her shirt. And her lips were normal at this time too, after Jack had his way with her she sort of had a swimming pool innertube vibe going on.
Watching all these movies in a row remind me of when I was laid up (at th age of 22) with chicken pox and I drifted in and out of consciousness while watching Mommy Dearest on Bravo and Immitation of Life on AMC. It wasn't that I wanted to watch, its more that I lost the remote and was too incapacitated to try to find it.
Well, I'm going to try to get the smell of art markets out of my sinuses. And watch a little more 5th Element. Woo Hoo! All done!
Now I just have to go to class and risk character assassination. Good times.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Cynthia Sparks Intellectual Thought...

Last week, Cynthia informed us that the City of Beverly Hills had an interest in knowing the motivation and goals for the project. This got me thinking, "What are our goals?" Of course personal glory and accolades and invitations to underground key parties are at the top of every one's list, but once we get past the glittering surface of moral corruption and depravity, what else is there? What do we hope to achieve by throwing ourselves head first down a rabbit hole?

I know you're all dying to know what I think, so here you go!

Our primary commitment to the space is the restoration and rejuvenation of this forgotten area. The years of abuse and neglect the wing suffered during its incarnation as offices and storage units had taken its tole; cabinet doors had fallen of their hinges, water damage had penetrated walls, in some cases the ceiling was literally falling down. Behind the layers of peeling paint, beyond the smell of age, under the strata of grime, was a collection of rooms as unique as the home that houses them.
These interiors were the watermark of a romanticized age, the indicators of wealth, and, by contrast, illustration of the laborious daily life of the once prevalent servant class. Research into the lifestyle of the Doheny family and their staff provided answers to copious questions regarding the functions of these rooms. Aside from bedrooms to house a second floor staff that included a House Keeper, Personal Valet and Ladies Maid, this area included an office for the inventory of household wares, a linen closet complete with locking cabinets and doors, and an adjoining room dedicated to the treatment of the second floor linens as well as the Doheny family’s wardrobe.
The designs for the interiors reflect the careful combination of what could be considered contrary subjects; functionality and ornamentation. Without a doubt, these rooms are designed for service and are the true work-horses of the Mansion. The main corridor and work areas are paved with asphalt floor tiles, the bedrooms and baths are small yet functional, modern conveniences such as call bells, telephones, garbage chutes and dumb-waiters pepper the space enabling the servants to be efficient and accessible to their employers.
Though the spaces have minimal ornamentation, we take our inspiration for the rooms from the architecture of the Mansion and the lifestyle of the servants. Dormer windows and sloping ceilings create cozy and intimate bedrooms that are nothing if not inviting after a long day of tending to the affairs of the home and its inhabitants. The busy corridors are clad in jaunty paint colors (yes, I did say jaunty), perforated with dressed windows to control the acoustics and keep out the elements, and enhanced by the dynamic and dramatic tower stair. The workrooms are spacious and functional with beautiful views of nature, pleasing patterns, and elements of comfort.
In the end, the goal of the UCLA team is not to recreate the past or vulgarize an honorable profession with stereotypes, but to pay homage to and respect those who committed their lives to the service of others. The rooms represent a humanistic approach to the live-in staff; though not glamorous, they illustrate the basic need for a place to call home. Furnished with personal mementos and hand-me down pieces, the interiors indicate a sense of dignity, pride of profession and, perhaps most important, a sense of identity.

Second Day of Work

This was Wednesday. Only Laura and I came in, plus Cliff the Contractor to show us what we need to do. She scraped glass, I scraped paint off my cabinets. It's a sick version of finding your Zen. Forget raking those little rock gardens or clipping Bonsai into obscene figures, give me a something to clean! My Zen, however, came to a screeching halt when I found a lovely crop of mold under the old shelf paper lining the upper units. I went no further. What made time go by quickly was the addition of the ipod. there's no better way to spend 4 hours on a Wednesday than with the Pussycat Dolls and a paint scraper. Maybe I should download Leonard Nemoy singing 'If I had a Hammer', I think it would be apropos. Yet stupid. 'Rock Me Amadeus', however, is genius! If I only spoke German...

First Day of Work at Greystone


Ok, so, here's the Laundry Room I will be working on. Notice anything odd? Like the surplus of balls floating around?! On the bigger version, I stopped counting after 40. That is not dust. If I say they're the manifestation of spirits, you'll all think I'm crazy...but it's got to be something! Right? I definitely think it's something. I think whatever it is, or are, it is , or they are, drawn to the energy that we all brought to the house that day. I think it's an energy that this part of the house hasn't seen in a long time. Excitement, optimism, exuberance, etc. Maybe one energy awakens another, like a circuit. We all provide the spark to light the homes flame (I do believe homes, especially ones of this age, have a life unto themselves). I don't want to get too metaphysical, I know one lady who's totally into that; psychics, energies, chi, chakra. Blah, blah, blah. But I'm willing to make allowances for all these balls.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The Kids Playhouse

Playhouse?!?!!?! Frickin' A! It's a 2 bedroom semi-detached with garden views and it's conveniently located near schools and shopping. Playhouse my Aunt Fanny. It's like a little Anne Hathaway cottage.

Here's the original caption from the L.A. Times...
Mrs. Leonard Horwin, wife of former Beverly Hills mayor, stands outside the Children's playhouse at Greystone Estate. Note the roofing design and a birdhouse at the top right, on the roof. Photo dated: May 14, 1965.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Ben Beats Morgan by 9 Months....


My first friend to have a killer baby was Constance (again, Mark helped a little but we all know what that really means....). His name is Benjamin Albert Snookal and he's built like a Linebacker. And I bought him that rockin' Polo Ralph Lauren Onesie he's wearing. If he's going to be my honary nephew, he needs to look a little more like me (but I totally stopped wearing onesies last spring...). I'm waiting till he can walk before I buy him his first Polo rugby and cargos. I went with him (and his mom, who is one of my personal BFF's) to the Getty in Brentwood, (because he is a thinking man's baby), yesterday and I was shocked to see what a 9 month-old could do with, and to, a banana. And how much of it he could get on the pictured Polo outfit I bought him... *sigh* But he is frickin' cute. Hates the car seat though. Hates. It.

Babies Babies Everywhere!


My SECOND friend to pop out a child! I know this has nothing to do with Greystone but it's my blog and I'll do whatever I damn well choose.
My dear friend Veronica Sheedy just had her first child (with a little help from her husband Kevin). His name is Morgan George Sheedy. Isn't he effing cute!?

Saturday, May 5, 2007

More Greystone History from Waddle's Book

In another area of the book, this is found....
(paraphrasing again)
At first glace, it appeared Hugh had shot Doheny, then himself. But upon examination, the physical evidence was inconclusive. There were no fingerprints on the murder weapon and the angle at which the bullet entered Doheny's head was odd to say the least. One detective, Leslie T. White, theorized that Doheny had fired the first shot (to finally quiet the unstable Hugh) then turned the gun on himself. Later, the Greystone staff, or even Lucy, tampered with the weapon to make it look like Hugh was the man who fired the first shot.
No one will ever know what really happened. Some think Hugh was blackmailing Doheny over information he had on the Teapot Dome Scandal, or an alleged homosexual relationship. Both would have provoked Doheny to fire a gun once he was liquored up and angry. Or, as the DA concluded, Hugh fired at Doheny to demonstrate that the rich are not so different from the rest of us after all-that their blood is just as easy to spill.
chilling!!!!!

New Ned-ness

So I was reading an exerpt from a book about Beverly Hills Mansions and the drama within.
Accoring to this book, Hugh, the secretary, did shoot Ned in a fit of rage. However, it was no lovers tryst. Hugh had worked for Lucy Donheny's family before she and Ned were married (Lucy's father owned the Pasadena transit system). Hugh had worked as a mechanic and had met Ned, instantly there was a common admiration and friendship even thought their backgrounds were very different (rich man, poor man and all). Ned took Hugh on as an assistant and a travelling companion and Hugh loved living the high life with Ned. (There was no talk in this book of Ned living at the Mansion, but the murder did take place in the same guest suite.) On one occassion, Hugh traveled with Ned to D.C. to meet a politician (the Secretary of the Interior) and give him $100,000.00. Hugh didn't know this was a bribe, and he also didn't know the reason for the bribe; Ned was paying off the Secretary so he could get incredibly cheap land prices so his company could build oil wells on it and increase his already high profits. This became known as the Teapot Dome Scandal (it's called Teapot Dome because there was an outcropping of rocks near the oil fields that looked like the dome of a teapot.) and it rocked the media and Washington.
Once Hugh found out about this, he freaked out. Appealing to Doheny for advice (he could have been ruled as an accomplice), Doheny said not to worry. Hugh worried. He knew Doheny was in the clear because he had enough money to buy off any judge, politician or media outlet. Hugh, on the other hand, had nothing and feared a long stay in prison for his employers shady dealings. Ned offered an alternative, Hugh could have himself committed to a state metal facility for the duration of the trial. Hugh almost went along, but balked when the thought of the Doctors failing to release him after the trial claiming he was mentally unstable. He feared that the Doheny's might pull strings to keep him in that hospital for years, if not the rest of his life.
In addition to this stress, Hugh's wife (aha! a wife!) of 11 years had just left him and filed for divorce citing abandonment as her justification as well as a fear of his volatile mental state. This did not help Hugh's situation and he suffered a nervous breakdown and was ordered by the Doheny's family Doctor to bedrest. Ned offered him sanctuary in the guest house (no personal bedroom in the house, according to this source) but Hugh decided to stay home to stay out of Ned's reach, his anxieties began to spin out of control. Hugh had become suspicious and began to see a rift between the two realizing they were never really close at all. Hugh was both a liability and a man to take the fall.
One night, Hugh decided to take matters into his own hands. He drove up to Greystone and was allowed in by the Guard (the majority of Beverly Hills mansions were without guards at this time, Greystone was one of the few exceptions) because Hugh was a frequest visitor. Hugh arrived at the house and burst in the Doheny's master bedroom as the couple were getting ready for bed. Ned took Hugh to the Guest room downstairs to smoke, drink, and talk about Hugh's problem. Sensing Hugh's now erratic behavior, Lucy Doheny phones for their Doctor to come immediately.
Upon the Doctor's arrival, 2 shots ring out from the guest room. The Doctor, followed by Lucy, runs to the room. He steps over Hugh's now dead body and finds Ned still breathing but with a bullet wound in his head and blood beginning to drip from his mouth. In an attempt to revive Ned, the Docotor turns the man on his side to clear his air passage but Ned dies within a few minutes. Lucy returns to her room with a servant and goes into hysterics. The Doctor calls Ed Doheny Sr. at his home in Chester Place in West Adams and tells him of his sons death. Mr. Doheny travels by car through the night up to the home he built for his son.
Upon seeing the body, he goes to his sons side and takes one hand in his and holds it for some time. Once police arrive, Ed goes to join his daughter-in-law who has regained some composure, but continues to grieve. It is said that Ed fell to the ground and wept uncontrollably for his only child. A servant closed the door to leave the pair in privacy.
Paraphrased from the book 'Among the Mansions of Eden: Tales of Love, Lust and Land' by David Weddle

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Creepy McCreepsalot - Ned's Grave!


Freaky, no?! According to sources, Ned was not buried in the family plot at the Catholic church his father funded (see St. Vincent de Paul in the West Adams District). Instead, his family erected a monument to his memory at Forest Lawn in Glendale.
Hmmmmmmmm, why wouldn't he be buried at the family plot? Certainly not because they ran out of room...they practically owned the whole church. So, I am willing to use the deductive reasoning skills that I picked up from watching Scooby-Doo and Get Smart. I think that because of his somewhat well know affair with his assistant (his dude assisitant) that his family felt it would be a little sacrilegious to bury him in their big fat Catholic church (it was the 20's after all...) since he was diddling around with his dude secretary. And perhaps because of all the publicity this high profile murder case was undoubtedly receiving, they may have felt that it would be a disservice to the church patrons to have people trudging across the graveyard to gawk (People with enough time on their hands to visit graves of random strangers are crazy anyway. They don't need anymore crazy coming and going from there than they already have). So banishing him to the Valley does make some sense; no one is going to drive that far out of their way and confront crazy Valley people to see a grave. But still, it's the Valley, he's still family, no need to punish him even more now that he's dead...

More Vintage Greystone!

These interior shots all appear to be showing the home in its original condition. I find it a unique situation in that the exterior of the home is a heavy, quasi rustic European style with Tudor and French influences, while the interior has a refined Classical Revival style (the majority of the homes original furnishings were French with occassional variations from that theme). The majority of the rooms have Classically influenced ornamentation, save for the sitting room which is very English in style; the photos original caption calls it 'Elizabethan'.




A Little Vintage Greystone Action


The foyer circa 1965. This is when the City of Beverly Hills was attempting to purchase the mansion. Who on Earth painted all the woodwork white?! Rachel Ashwell?! This photo was published in the Herald-Examiner with the following caption:
Even stripped of furnishing, the old mansion retains an irreplaceable charm of yesteryears. Mrs. Leonard Horwin and Jo Van Ronkel, chairman of Citizens for Greystone, walk down the staircase of the entrance hall. The mansion rises majestically from a forested knoll above Doheny Road and Loma Vista Drive and occupies an 18-acre area. Note the architectural details of the entrance hall. Photo dated: May 15, 1965. Photo from lapl.org

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Apparently I'm Illiterate

Hi People,
Numerous friends (or character assailants) have pointed out that my grammar and proof reading skills are a little lacking. So, I will attempt to be more aware of what I am writing and I will also attempt to hack my own blog to fix all the type-o's. I swear, I am a college graduate! I shouldn't post so late at night, either.

We got our room assignments!

Sema and I will be doing the linen room (rich people like to have servants iron everything!) and a charming little attic bedroom. In Manhattan it would rent for 2,000/mo. plus utilities and association fees. It has cross ventilation, and a walk in closet. Solid gold people. Solid. Gold.
Sema was also more than happy to point out the the bedroom we were assigned to had NO orbs in the photos (we're both still undecided on the whole ghost thing, but better safe than sorry). The laundry room, however, not so much with the whole no orbs thing.







cynthia

I'm just posting this because I can. Look and all the orbs she has on her jacket! Do you think she knows? She was talking about something very interesting here, I just don't remember what it was...
As sappy as it sounds, and as brown noser-esque as it sounds, we all owe Cynthia a lot for putting all of this together. I've made some new friends that I never would have met otherwise, and this is going to be a great experience for all of us and great exposure as well. Go team!
Well, that's enough of that.