Happy Ayyam-i-Ha!

Dong Kingman Watercolors

WATERCOLORS BY DONG KINGMAN  (1911-2000)


Dong Kingman was a Chinese American artist and one of America's leading watercolor masters. As a painter on the forefront of the California Style School of painting, he was known for his urban and landscape paintings, as well as his graphic design work in the Hollywood film industry. He has won widespread critical acclaim and his works are included in over 50 public and private collections worldwide, including Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Brooklyn Museum; deYoung Museum and Art Institute, Chicago. -wiki

I own a book written by Herb Caen and illustrated by Dong Kingman.

With Herb and Dong's autographs.

No, I don't think so..

Screenshot of an email in my Hotmail inbox. I highlighted the funniest part.

Marketing

Powerball

The jackpot was $500,000,000 last week.  Yes, that's 1/2 Billion dollars. Needless to say, I bought a ticket, and lost.


Had my ticket been the winner, for a mere $995,000 I'd steal this house and live there for the rest of my life.

No Respect..

From the Twilight Zone episode: 'OF LATE I THINK OF CLIFFORDVILLE'

Lincoln Memorial

A few sketches from my first visit to Washington D.C.



Lincoln Memorial

North lawn of the White House

The U.S. Treasury

Union Station

The Washington Monument

I rushed this sketch, and it shows.  I needed to find a better station point.

Keeping dogs off the couch

Nothing works..

POINT SUR

POINT SUR

Second Birthday

Есть на Волге Утес (Musical Tribute)

"The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943) was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in the south-western Soviet Union.

Marked by constant close quarters combat and direct assaults on civilians by air raids, it was the single largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare. It was a turning point in the World War II–the German forces never regained the initiative in the East and withdrew a vast military force from the West to replace their losses".

From here

The St. Moritz Hotel

There was a  brief time when I lived with my father and twin brother in a room at the St. Moritz Hotel on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.

On our daily ride to and from Stevenson Elementary School in Burbank, we'd sing the theme to the popular TV show "Maverick".

 I remember how each morning we would descend via Barham Boulevard into the San Fernando Valley, which was blanketed by an opaque brownish fog (dubbed smog) that was tinged pink by the sunrise.  I knew there was a real problem with rapid urbanization even at that young age. I also found that it only took a few minutes immersion before I accepted it as the new normal.  If my nomadic childhood taught me anything, it was to accept change in circumstance if you don't have a choice.

This photo is from the 40's.  It gives a good idea of the terrain we traversed on our way from Hollywood, in the foreground, to the San Fernando Valley in the distance via the Cahuenga Pass and the Hollywood freeway.

At that time my parents were divorced.  My mother was living in Burbank, and working for Ralph Edwards, who was producing several popular television shows at NBC 's studio at Sunset and Vine.  My mom introduced me to Bob Barker, the M.C. for Edwards' program "Truth or Consequences" in the parking lot.

Ralph Edwards' offices were on Hollywood Blvd., and I got to watch the Hollywood Christmas parade from his second-floor windows.  All the celebrities in the parade were waving at me, or so it seemed.

30 years later, my sons marched in that parade as members of Santa Cruz High School's "Big Red Band".

Another Hollywood memory was watching the Capitol Records building being built.

My mom with Bob Barker, on the set of "Truth or Consequences".  She was the show's secretary (for Ralph Edwards).