Among My Souvenirs and eBay Bait

Sure, most people would want to see the Hollywood sign, or ride a tour bus. I did all that and more when I spent four days in Los Angeles. I had hoped to be close to a movie star or two, and I did, sort of, thanks to the Golden Globes. I did enjoy an unexpected meeting with an actress well known in the Whedonverse, and found out how small Craig Ferguson's studio really is. It's less than half the size of Conan's talk show, and more foul-mouthed...but in a good way.

The unexpected surprise I had through the weekend, aside from an Apple store that eased my fears about my iPod Touch, was the Melrose Trading Post that raises cash for activities at Fairfax High School. It was also the first flea market I attended in a while. I managed to get some really good stuff like this....



This is a mock-up of an Oscar ad for Martin Scorsese's ill-fated musical New York, New York from 1978. I will have three for sale. I even have a poster that promotes an exhibition of paintings by Robert DeNiro's dad. It's a bit worn, but OK. Also for sale. These were literally at the bottom of a box filled with DeNiro staff some guy collected. There were even mock-ups for small newspaper ads for a double feature of the first two Godfather movies. I decided not to get those.

Here's what else I got:



Looks impressive, doesn't it? A small box of note paper from The Burbank Studios, a facility that Warner Brothers and Columbia shared in the 1970's. It was made for Lewis T. Rosso, who was known for....well...being a production manager in B movies from the '40s and '50s. Still, getting something like this made for you ain't bad. This is the definition of Hollywood fame: being forgotten but still being part of the entertainment machine somehow.
I also got an Alaska Airlines pilot pin, and this piece of Disneyana...



From 1957, a brochure describing Disneyland's Tom Sawyer Island way before Pirates of the Caribbean took it over.

So if you're at a loss of who to spend a Sunday, try going to Melrose and Fairfax. You'd be surprised what pieces of Hollywood you can find. No doubt, it's not something you could find at the Warner Brothers Gift Shop