A Sorta Fairytale.
“I guess I kind of lived in a fairytale world... looking at everything through rose-colored glasses. I probably always will, to a certain extent.”
-Sharon Tate
Sebring...
Jay Sebring’s salon was recreated for Quentin Tarantino’s movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" at the ORIGINAL LOCATION on Fairfax Ave.!!! The sign was covered when I was there but check out @alisonmartino’s photo of the uncovered ‘Sebring...’ sign. Sebring is best remembered for being Sharon Tate's best friend/ex-boyfriend who was murdered along with Tate and their friends by the Manson Family, but Sebring was a celebrity hairstylist before there were celebrity hairstylists!
Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 - August 9, 1969)
“Dear God, she was beautiful. Sharon was more beautiful as a teenager than she was in her twenties; in Europe people would turn around on the street just to look at her.”
-Doris Tate, Sharon's mom
The Bates Letters
The Bates Letters: On the 6th month anniversary of his daughter’s death, Joseph Bates received a letter in the mail. His daughter, Cheri Jo Bates of Riverside, CA, had been murdered the day before Halloween in 1966. An autopsy on Bates' body revealed that she put up a good fight as she struggled with her killer. A janitor at Riverside City College Library found her body the following morning. Bates had been stabbed numerous times in the lungs, arms, throat, and face. Two more letters had also been mailed out - one to the Riverside P.D. and the other to the Riverside Press. The crime remains unsolved, but San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery uncovered clues linking Cheri Jo Bates murder to the Zodiac serial killer - including these three letters and a poem carved into a desktop at Riverside City College.
Gays of Our Lives
In the news today... Natalie Wood’s sister, Lana, reveals on the podcast, “Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood,” that her sister ended her marriage to Robert Wagner after catching him cheating on her with a man!!! “My marriage collapsed that weekend. It's too painful for me to recall in print the incidents that led to the final breakup," Natalie Wood wrote in her never-before-seen memoir obtained by the makers of the podcast. Wood would go on to remarry Wagner 10 years later.
Here Lies... Sharon Tate.
Holy Cross Cemetery
Culver City, CA
Sal Mineo: The First Gay Teenager
Sal Mineo's character in the 1955 teensploitation flick, "Rebel Without a Cause," is considered by many to be the first gay teenager in a motion picture. In a 1972 interview, Sal Mineo is one of the first actors to discuss his sexuality publicly, coming out as bisexual. In 1976, with Sal's career starting to turn around - thanks in part to the role of a bisexual burglar in the play "P.S. Your Cat is Dead" - he is murdered returning home from play rehearsals. Instead of finding Sal's killer, the police focus instead on Mineo's sex life. For all these reasons and more, I am working on "Sal Mineo: The First Gay Teenager" zine. It will focus on the largely forgotten contributions Sal Mineo made to the LGBTQ cause and I will cover the homophobia surrounding his death. I will be releasing this issue at the San Fernando Valley zine fest on September 29.
San Fernando Valley Zine Fest
Excited to announce that Dead in Hollywood will be tabling at this year's San Fernando Valley Zine Fest on September 29th. A lot of exciting things coming up over the next couple of months, so stay tuned!
This is the Zodiac Speaking...
Dead in Hollywood will be tabling at this year’s San Francisco Zine Fest on September 2nd!!! Labor Day weekend in San Francisco! 🎉 Anyone who knows me knows how obsessed I am with all things Zodiac, so... I’ll be putting together a Zodiac zine especially for the fest and I hope to retrace the Zodiac’s steps while I’m there. Who’s in?
CinemaScope Monroe
Someday you will ache in technicolor, too
Calling All Girls
Tab Hunter and Roddy McDowall in a magazine layout called “Calling All Girls.”
The Duke of Catalina
The Duke of Catalina: Duke Fishman, the "Original Greeter" at Avalon. Landing on Catalina Island in 1933 after living in a South Seas orphanage for most of his life, a 27-year-old Duke finds work as a lifeguard on the island. After a short stint as a houseman at the Annandale Golf Club, Duke becomes Avalon's "Goodwill Ambassador” - Avalon Harbor is Catalina’s main attraction. Duke leads tourists in singing the town's signature song "Avalon" as they disembark their steamships. Duke is also notable as the original, advertising character for the cleaning product “Mr. Clean." In 1975, he has open heart surgery and gives up his lifeguard duties in Avalon, but continues his role as Avalon's greeter. In 1977, his health deteriorates, and he returns to his small trailer in Palm Springs - as he did every fall. After 40 years, Avalon decides not to renew his contract as "Official Greeter,” and on December 22, 1977, a friend finds Duke dead in his trailer from a heart attack. He was 71. He is interred in Avalon's Cemetery. The position of "Official Greeter" has remained vacant since his death.
So Many Perkins
Ever since Tab Hunter’s death, I’ve been obsessing over photos of Anthony Perkins - Hunter’s boyfriend for 3 years. Perkins was so beautiful.
Anyone who knows what love is... will understand.
Tab Hunter (July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018
Hey Jupiter
"Jupiter is so big and its gravitational pull so strong that man would find it difficult to move about on the surface.” -Fritz Zwicky, astronomer
35 Years.
This is a photo of my husband and me with heartthrob Tab Hunter in 2016. Hunter had been with his partner, Allan Glaser, for 35 years when he passed away yesterday, July 8. “We were walking home, and he collapsed in my arms in our front yard," said Glaser. "He said he couldn’t breathe, so I called 911, and we went to the hospital . . . This was sudden and unexpected.” A blood clot caused Hunter to go into cardiac arrest. I hope Glaser finds a little peace in knowing that his and Hunter's relationship has been an inspiration to us. I hope I'm lucky enough to get to spend 35 years with my husband.
