The Onion In The Petunia Patch, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Los Angeles, 1955. Twin crying onions sing back up for a half woman/half petunia in front of a plastic flowered picket fence in front of a fancy front porch.

Bob Baker is a hero of mine. How many people do you know that found their life’s work at the age of eight and are still at it seventy-five years later? Not many, right? And his puppet passion is still 100% intact.

The Bob Baker Marionette Theater is one of the most wonderful, bizarre time warp-ish places I’ve ever been. When you walk in the door you will ask yourself “What decade am I in?” The Los Angeles-sun-soaked exterior is a stark contrast to the timeless classic red velvet interior where countless audiences have enjoyed the puppet parade since 1961. This place is as authentic as it is timeless. Then the show starts and…well, its difficult to explain. You’re in another world- Bob Baker’s world. It’s all from the heart. He is a king of creativity; dean of arts and crafts. After all, these puppets didn’t make themselves.

This August 30, 31 & Sept 1 and 2, I’m very proud to present BOB BAKER THIS IS YOUR LIFE – A TRIBUTE TO THE WORLD’S GREATEST PUPPETEER. This puppet show extravaganza stars dozens of amazing vintage Bob Baker marionettes in classic routines. I will host the celebration and tell the story of Bob’s life and career with slides, photos and film clips. Afterward the finale, a special performance by the master himself, cake and ice cream will be served in the festive party room. Ticket and Info

Your imagination will be inspired and your spirit will soar! You might even get creeped out a little. It’s all part of the fun!

Here’s to you and the amazing Bob Baker

A slat-sided, green-gabled house seems well balanced on a flatbed trailer fixed to a shiny bright-eyed truck. Wide set exterior rear view mirrors give the driver a view of nothing behind him but twin ten pane windows. One window is up the other down. This extra wide load gives motor home a whole new meaning. Or is this a house trailer?

Speeding tire tracks polish stripes in two-lanes of jagged-edged asphalt dividing a deserted desert. Landscaping by Mother Nature. Eats, curios ands a roadside geyser are noted for all who pass by and hopefully don’t run into the road hog home away from home!

Here’s to motor homes, house trailers and YOU!

Bright red cardinals among leafy greens and blossom bouquets in a repeating wallpaper pattern provide a perfect backdrop for a fresh-faced young couple posing for their official wedding cake cutting portrait.

For this momentous occasion the modest bride wears a simple suit of oyster white linen with abalone buttons and hip pocket flaps. Her Peter Pan collar is finished with a short brown tie matching the veiled hat camouflaged by her home-permed hair. She joins her hand with his holding the cake knife pointing directly at the more traditionally attired mini bride and groom cake topper.

The bridegroom sports a timeless classic blue gray suit over a proper pearl gray shirt and fashion forward tie clipped in place with a golden bar. His carnation buttoner matches the flowers circling the three-story cake.

Big, fluffy flowers and twin pairs of unlit tapers frame the simple-but-smart tablescape. Glass desert plates rise nearly two cake layers high. Cocktail napkin are stacked both head on and on the bias.

Out of all of the wedding portraits I’ve run across this is for sure my fave. The harmony blend of elements is practically hypnotizing. And… if that isn’t enough we can learn from it. A wedding doesn’t have to be grand to be great! If you can’t afford proper wedding attire, no problem just make sure that you have amazing wallpaper!

Here’s to the newlyweds, the wallpaper and YOU!

Is this what happens when you watch one too many episodes of H&R Puff ‘n Stuff? And I want to know how this human piñata is going to find her way around the ballroom. She can barely see with one eye through those big juicy red lips. Her husband is going to have to lead her around all night by that wrap around stem. And isn’t this woman with the wrong man? Shouldn’t she be with Jack, from Jack-in-the-Box? They would make a perfect couple.

Fullerton’s annual Ball Masque was a spectacular headdress completion that began in 1962 and continued until I don’t know when. Do you? Sometime in the 90s I think.

Anyway, the city’s high society ladies would spend an evening each year parading around a hotel ballroom balancing a giant arts and crafts project on their head. How wonderful is that! To the powers that be in Fullerton… please bring headdress ball back!

Speaking of arts and crafts this Sunday I’m honored to host Felt Club, an arts and crafts show-and-tell-and-do extravaganza in Los Angeles at the Ukrainian Cultural Center. If you want your imagination to be inspired and your spirit to soar come on by. I guarantee it will happen. Click here for more information!

Here’s to Miss Daisyhead, the Bal Masque, Fullerton, Felt Club and YOU!

A lovely lady tourist models her best metallic ric-rac trimmed western dress with the “Sunshine” City’s cactus cowboy spokes-character. I wonder if she had as good of a time in Tucson as I did. I was there last weekend.

First it was breakfast served poolside at Tucson’s timeless classic Arizona Inn. This oh-so-charming desert town and country style resort is homespun and family run and has been since they opened the rustic doors in 1930. Being there, I felt like I walking through he pages of a 1930s Sunset Magazine.

Then it was high-time for some kitsch culture so I was off to the Magic Carpet Miniature Golf Course where I quickly baked in the blazing hot sun. This is not your ordinary windmill-castle-style mini golf course, oh-no! This late-60s extravaganza of creativity looks like some crazy grandpa fashioned the giant mini-golf-scale monkey, Texas long horn, three story tall Easter Island head, and other folk art-style obstacles and challenges along the course, from scratch.

From there I checked into a past-its-prime late 70s hotel on Congress Street in heart of downtown Tucson. Within moments I was on my way to have some lunch the nearby hip ‘n trendy Hotel Congress, a railroad-side landmark since 1919. Walking two short blocks there I scampered in and out of several interesting shops including the legendary Chicago Music Store, the Wig-O-Rama wig shop, a fun-smoke filled smoke shop, a Goth clothing store and a couple of struggling art galleries with dead mannequins in the window.

After lunch it was back in the air-conditioned car for a quickie trip ‘round town to see vintage motel signs. There are several stunner’s including the Tucson Inn and the Tiki Motel. Speaking of Tiki. It was then time for a tasty ‘n tangy Tiki cocktail at Tucson’s premiere Tiki bar restaurant, the Kon Tiki, serving since 1963. What can I say? It was intoxicating!

The cocktailing continued at what is now my favorite bar EVER!!!! …The Shelter. This freestanding 1961 lounge is legendary for supposedly being a built as a cocktail bar that could double as a bomb shelter if need be. The spellbinding semi-circular booths and free form bar of this well-seasoned watering hole are enhanced by more multi-colored lighting than I have EVER experienced in one place and a SPECTACULAR collection of mid-century memorabilia crystal clearly curated by some one with razor sharp good-bad taste. My imagination was inspired and my spirit soared!

Tucson is no exception to my rule…no matter where you go there is something interesting around every corner.

You’ll always find me where classic meets kitsch in the land of Americana!
Cheers!

This is Mrs. Polehugger “gettin’ her kicks,” just like the song suggests, “on route 66!” I have no idea what this woman’s real name is but I do know she holds onto poles wherever she goes. She is really hugging America’s Mother Road, as John Steinbeck called Route 66 in his 1940 novel the Grapes of Wrath.

I recently got my kicks on Route 66 traveling from Los Angeles to Tulsa and back on route 40. Crystal clearly marked historic sections of the old road are the main streets of towns and cities along the way.

Among the world-class collection weather beaten space age gas station and motel carcasses there are many amazing gems form the golden era of road tripping to see and experience. Every America should spend at least one night of their precious life in the Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, Arizona. The same goes for ever-and-oh-so rustic El Rancho Hotel in Gallup New Mexico. And if you ever have a craving for a FREE 72 oz steak you wouldn’t want to consume that anywhere else than The Texan, an uber-wild west themed restaurant/motel extravaganza in Amarillo. These are unquestionably roadside Americana institutions of the highest order. The same can be said for the charming array of Native Americana themed souvenir stands also to be discovered along the way.

The idea for a super-highway linking big cities and small towns from Chicago to Los Angeles was dreamed up in the early twenties by Cyrus Avery of Tulsa, Oklahoma and John Woodruff of Springfield, Missouri. Ironically, Route 66 goes through both Tulsa and Springfield but unlike Saint Louis, Joplin, Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Gallup, Winona, Flagstaff, Kingman, Barstow, and San Bernardino, neither city is named in the classic song, Get Your Kicks on Route 66, which was first recorded by Nat King Cole in 1946.

Over the years high-speed four-lane interstate highways replaced Route 66.

Finally in 1984 the weary old road was de-commissioned as a federal highway when the last section, though Williams, Arizona, was bypassed by I40.

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a 30-something fellow American and Route 66 came up in the conversation. He said he’d never heard of it. I was stunned. Isn’t that that’s like not knowing who Marilyn Monroe or Elvis?

Here’s to your Route 66 road trip!

So Tulsa’s legendary buried car emerges extra crispy and golden brown like it’s been battered and deep-fried like a piece of chicken. It’s shocking. People gasp. Some cry. How could this happen? How could the vault it was buried in have leaked? Why didn’t they do a better job? So many questions…so few answers. The whole thing was really just a big publicity stunt that morphed into a bizarre science experiment. Oh well, a petrified Plymouth makes for a much more interesting story than a pristine one.

The saga of the soggy car continues. On Friday, June 21, 2007 Mr. R.E. Humbertson, was announced as the winner. He’s the one who in 1957, guessed closest to what Tulsa’s population is in 2007. If he is still among us in the land of the living he’s 85 years young. He, or his heirs, have five years to claim the prized Plymouth before ownership goes to the Tulsa Historical Society. Earth to Mr. Humbertson…are you out there?

For a full recap of my Route 66 road trip go to my blog DESTINATION TIME CAPSULE!

NPR’s Day to Day covered the DESTINATION TIME CAPSULE! trip. Listen to the series here.

Here’s to the crispy car and it’s lucky winner!