My Favorite Year Part II
Feb. 20th, 2010 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunchofgrapesBefore I forget, 2003 wasn't all about travel. The other thing that made it a great year? I adopted Harry in July and Sophie in October. So yeah, it really was a great year.
My first trip to California was in February. My friend, Steph, was working with another writer on a biography of Richard Basehart. She'd been in contact with Diana Basehart, Richard's third wife, through a friend (Diana wanted to make sure we weren't weird, stalking lunatics) for quite a while and after some discussion, Diana agreed to meet with us. This was really Steph's project--I was just along to take notes and keep Steph company. Plus, I had friends in Huntington Beach so we stayed with them for a couple of days, saving the cost of hotels. We did spend one night in Santa Monica at a really cool hotel that had a view of the pier and the ocean. We did a lot of driving around Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Malibu and my friends in Huntington Beach took us to an awesome restaurant, Open Sesame, in Belmont Shore. That was also the first time I'd ever had ice cream from Cold Stone. Yes, a love affair was born in Belmont Shore.
Steph had a list of things she wanted to do while we were in L.A. and one of them was to find Richard's star on the Walk of Fame for her website. It's right on Hollywood Boulevard and at the time the star was dedicated, I'm sure that was a prime location. When we were there? Not so much. Hopefully, the area has been cleaned up because back then, think Ellie Brass in "Hollywood Brass". Steph also wanted to visit Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery to find Richard's grave marker (he was cremated) and as creepy as this might sound, I think it was one of my favorite stops. The cemetery is tucked away in L.A. and fairly small but there are a lot of notable people interned here. Most notable: Marilyn Monroe.
As for Diana, we met her, her friend (the go-between), and Richard's youngest daughter, Gayla, at the PF Chang's in Woodland Hills. Steph had also been in contact with Warren Stevens and invited him to join us. Richard and Warren were very good friends and Warren hadn't seen Diana in years so he was excited to join us. It was weird being in the presence of someone like him who had such a long acting career. Yes, he was in his 80's but he was very active and very sharp. And he had some stories to tell! After Diana and Gayla left, we walked over to a nearby hotel and sat in the lobby with Warren, listening to his stories of Richard, Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark and others. And the awesome thing was, to him these were just friends. We had such a good time with Warren that he wanted us to make sure we contacted him if we came to L.A. again. He is such a gentleman and I'm honored to have had the chance to meet him. And happily, this wasn't the last time I saw him.
But that's for another day.
My first trip to California was in February. My friend, Steph, was working with another writer on a biography of Richard Basehart. She'd been in contact with Diana Basehart, Richard's third wife, through a friend (Diana wanted to make sure we weren't weird, stalking lunatics) for quite a while and after some discussion, Diana agreed to meet with us. This was really Steph's project--I was just along to take notes and keep Steph company. Plus, I had friends in Huntington Beach so we stayed with them for a couple of days, saving the cost of hotels. We did spend one night in Santa Monica at a really cool hotel that had a view of the pier and the ocean. We did a lot of driving around Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Malibu and my friends in Huntington Beach took us to an awesome restaurant, Open Sesame, in Belmont Shore. That was also the first time I'd ever had ice cream from Cold Stone. Yes, a love affair was born in Belmont Shore.
Steph had a list of things she wanted to do while we were in L.A. and one of them was to find Richard's star on the Walk of Fame for her website. It's right on Hollywood Boulevard and at the time the star was dedicated, I'm sure that was a prime location. When we were there? Not so much. Hopefully, the area has been cleaned up because back then, think Ellie Brass in "Hollywood Brass". Steph also wanted to visit Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery to find Richard's grave marker (he was cremated) and as creepy as this might sound, I think it was one of my favorite stops. The cemetery is tucked away in L.A. and fairly small but there are a lot of notable people interned here. Most notable: Marilyn Monroe.
As for Diana, we met her, her friend (the go-between), and Richard's youngest daughter, Gayla, at the PF Chang's in Woodland Hills. Steph had also been in contact with Warren Stevens and invited him to join us. Richard and Warren were very good friends and Warren hadn't seen Diana in years so he was excited to join us. It was weird being in the presence of someone like him who had such a long acting career. Yes, he was in his 80's but he was very active and very sharp. And he had some stories to tell! After Diana and Gayla left, we walked over to a nearby hotel and sat in the lobby with Warren, listening to his stories of Richard, Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark and others. And the awesome thing was, to him these were just friends. We had such a good time with Warren that he wanted us to make sure we contacted him if we came to L.A. again. He is such a gentleman and I'm honored to have had the chance to meet him. And happily, this wasn't the last time I saw him.
But that's for another day.
