I was a racist, bigoted, patriotic American jerk

I visited Los Angeles for the first time in 1968. I was 13 and living with my wise old grandmother (MWOG). Charles, her oldest living son (my dad was the oldest son, but dead) lived in Huntington Beach, a southern bedroom community of Los Angeles. We drove from Kingsville, Texas, to Huntington Beach to spend the Christmas holidays with Charles and his family. Since I was only 13, all I got to do was visit the beach, Disneyland, and Knott’s Berry Farm. Of course, for a 13-year-old kid, that was enough!

In May 1978, I took MWOG and two girl cousins, Kay and Shelley, to Los Angeles for two weeks. I figured MWOG could stay with Charles while Kay, Shelley, and I explored everything Los Angeles. That’s exactly how it worked out. Kay and Shelley were 13 and 11, so they were excited to go to California, especially Los Angeles. We did everything we could do in two weeks, but I believe their favorites were Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Magic Mountain, and Hollywood. That was my first visit to Magic Mountain and Hollywood, so I was probably just as excited as they were.

One of the places we visited in Hollywood was Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. I was a 23-year-old racist, bigoted, patriotic American jerk at that time so I was against going to a Chinese Theatre. Kay and Shelley explained to me that it wasn’t a Chinese Theatre per sé.

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre was simply a movie theater that opened in 1922 and looked like a huge Chinese pagoda. Throughout the years it has hosted Academy Award ceremonies and movie premiers. Kay and Shelley told me that the 1977 world premiere of “Star Wars” was at the Theatre. I’m a big science fiction fan, and anything Star Trek/Star Wars gets my attention. I was sold on a visit. After getting a history lesson from those two, we took off for Hollywood.

One thing I did not know about Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at the time, and which Kay and Shelley neglected to tell me, was about the historic handprints, footprints, and autographs of movie, television, and recording stars enshrined in the concrete of the Theatre’s forecourt. I took pictures of every handprint, footprint, and autograph — hundreds of pictures!

I have been estranged from Kay and Shelley since 2003 because their dad was the one who disinvited me from my wise old grandmother’s funeral. Stupid me had no idea that one had to have an invitation to a funeral. I won’t delve into the full story here, but I thought of Kay and Shelley recently when Jim and I visited Hollywood.

Following are some of the pictures I took on May 26, 2013, of what is now known as TCL Chinese Theatre. As is the trend in today’s world, a big corporation, TCL, bought naming rights.

Thirty-six years later: Darth Vader and two Imperial Storm Troopers are still after Princess Leia:

Of course, footprints, handprints, and autographs of some of my favorites:

Bob Hope

Doris Day

Jack Nicholson

Clint Eastwood

Samuel L. Jackson

Matt Damon

Hollywood Boulevard is very crowded nowadays, and getting good pictures of the Theatre and the various concrete enshrinements is difficult, to say the least. Everyone is trying to get pictures of their favorite celebrity’s footprints and handprints, so be prepared to see feet in your pictures as other people step on your favorites to get pictures of their favorites. It’s a dog-eat-dog world there.

TCL Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

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But do they have any famous graduates?

When Jim and I were in Los Angeles this past May 11 for National Train Day, we took Los Angeles Metro Rail from the historic Union Station to Hollywood. We exited at the Hollywood/Vine Station and walked along Hollywood Boulevard to the Hollywood/Highland Station, a tiresome many blocks.

During our walk, we discovered stars (the Hollywood Walk of Fame), the historic Pantages Theatre and TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and Mann’s Chinese Theatre), and much more. When we were finished, we tried to find the Hollywood/Highland Station rather than walking back along the extremely crowded Hollywood Boulevard to the Hollywood/Vine station.

It took us a little while to find the Hollywood/Highland Station. We had kept going around it because there was a huge crowd in front of it. Since it’s a subway station, the crowds massed around the entrance to the underground caused us to miss it when we kept going around the crowds.

We got lost several times, but getting lost is not always bad. In this case, we discovered the historic Hollywood High School. It’s not accessible because, well, it’s a high school, so it has a very high fence around it keeping people like me out. The only picture I could get was of an exterior wall of the auditorium which had been painted with a huge mural. This was on the left side:

On the right side of the wall was information about the mural:

Do you recognize the two people in my photograph? Jim and I think the woman is Judy Garland of “Wizard of Oz” fame. We don’t know who the guy is.

There are probably children of rich and famous movie and television stars who still go to Hollywood High School, again explain the high fence. That got me to thinking just who the famous Hollywood High School graduates are. Here’s a partial list:

• Carole Lombard, Class of 1923 – Hollywood’s highest-paid actress in the late 1930s and wife of Clark Gable.
• John Huston, Class of 1923 – Best known (to me) as the director of such classic movies as  The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, The African Queen, Moulin Rouge, The Misfits, and The Man Who Would Be King. Great movies all!
• Lon Chaney, Jr., Class of 1924 – Actor with a long résumé of movies from 1922 to 1971. He played The Wolf Man, The Mummy, Frankenstein’s monster, and, of course, Count Alucard. If you’re not familiar with Count Alucard, just reverse the letters of “alucard.”
• Alan Ladd, Class of 1931 – Actor who starred in Shane, one of the greatest westerns of all time.
• Alan Hale, Jr., Class of 1936 – The Skipper from “Gilligan’s Island.”
• Judy Garland, Class of 1940 – She’s not in Kansas anymore.
• James Garner, Class of 1944 – “Maverick” and “The Rockford Files.”
• Carol Burnett, Class of 1951 – Do I really need to tell you about Carol? One of the greatest comedic actresses ever!
• Vincent Bugliosi, Class of 1952 – Attorney who prosecuted the Manson Family for the Tate-La Bianca murders in August 1969 and defended Stephanie Stearns in the “Sea Wind” murders in 1974. He is also an accomplished author, having written many books about famous trials and incidents, including, among others, Helter Skelter, using the song from The Beatles’ “White Album” as the title for the book; The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President, about the Bush/Gore contest in 2000; and The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, which I have not read yet.
• Ricky Nelson, Class of 1958 – One of my favorite singers from early rock ‘n’ roll. I had tickets to his concert in Dallas on December 31, 1985. The show was canceled because Ricky was killed that afternoon in a plane crash.
• Stephanie Powers, Class of 1960 – Tied with Shelley Winters as my favorite actress from the ’60s and ’70s. I loved her in “Hart to Hart” with Robert Wagner.
• Meredith Baxter, Class of 1965 – Mom on “Family Ties”
• John Ritter, Class of 1966 – Became a television favorite in “Three’s Company.”
• Laurence Fishburne, Class of 1980 – Actor whom you might know best as Morpheus in the Matrix trilogy. I also recently found out that his wife is Gina Torres, also known as Jessica Pearson from “Suits,” one of my favorite current TV shows — new episodes begin July 16!
• Sarah Jessica Parker, Class of 1983 – Actress from “Sex and the City,” which I have never watched. I know her more as the wife of Matthew Broderick who starred in WarGames, Ferris Beuhler’s Day Off, and Biloxi Blues.

Those are just a few. There are many more. See the Wikipedia entry for Hollywood High School if you’re interested.

With all those famous people graduating from just one high school, I started wondering about all the famous people who graduated from my high school: Henrietta M. King High School in Kingsville, Texas. Number of famous graduates: 1 — me!

Go Brahmas!

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!