Crowds line Colorado blvd for the most famous and most photographed parade in the world. The Grand Marshall proves wearing brown in a parade is quite fine if you don’t want to be noticed. Far more eye catching than he are the pointed lines of his chauffer driven, rosebud-studded 1957 Lincoln Première Convertible, the shimmering neon record album and black and white striped awning on the Don Kay Men’s wear shop next door.

In the late 1950s the mood was up, prosperity ruled and the standard of living was flying high. General Motors, Chrysler Corporation and, the granddaddy of them all, The Ford Motor Company, were the greatest automakers in the world.
Both factual and fantasy speedy, air and space travel vehicles inspired the legendary tailfins on the cars of the day. None were severely pointed as the fins on a “57 Lincoln.

Speaking of Grand Marshall’s I’m proud to tell you that I’ve been honored with the title of Grand Marshall for the DooDah Parade this January 18th, thru the streets of Pasadena beginning at 11am. Hope to see you there!!!

Here’s to the 1957 Lincoln fins, The Rose Parade, the DOODAH PARADE to a GREAT NEW YEAR and YOU!

Clearly somebody needs help! They didn’t measure the how high the ceiling was!

This slide was marked “4000 ornaments, 1000 lights, 350 birds; 16 trees to make this one and Mr. and Mrs. Gano Senter’s famous Christmas tree.” With all this info I thought perhaps I could Google the name and find out about this “famous Christmas tree.” But what I found out on Google was a bit more than I bargained for.

Mr. And Mrs Gano Senter, were residents of Denver Colorado. Mr. Senter wrote a book called Kawoo of Alaska and owned a restaurant called Kool Kozy Kafe, which according to the legend, served fish everyday but Friday. Hmmm, Mr. Gano doesn’t sound too friendly to me. Neither does his wife. According to Time Magazine, in 1951, Mrs. Gano called for total castration of all male sex offenders. I found out nothing about their famous tree….until I went to Denver.

While in the mile high city last December to do my retro holiday slide show I was a guest on the live local morning news. I showed this slide on the air. Before the segment was even over a lady called the TV station and said that her mother had the “famous Senter tree” and she would love for me to see it. Was I actually going to see thee tree more than fifty years after the slide was taken!? I was on my way.

A few minutes later half lost in a suburban Denver rat maze of streets lined with huge 80s mansions, I found the house. Before even ringing the fancy doorbell I was greeted by several plug-in Christmas Carolers. The door opened and there stood an older man and a lady smiling from ear to ear and inviting me in. Before I could even introduce myself I was in the door and standing in the living room in awe. Everywhere I looked there were Christmas trees and decorations.

As I was led from room to room getting the “grand tour,” I gasped at elaborate displays of collectable holiday miniatures, decorations, and figurines in every room from floor to ceiling no surface left uncovered. I was even treated to the “off limits this time of year” Easter room on the third floor. After about an hour long tour of the charming but never ending seasonal displays and decor I’d practically forgotten what I had come for.

As impressed as I was overwhelmed, I graciously asked “where’s the famous tree?” She said “It’s right here” as she handed me a vintage scrapbook explaining it came with the tree when she purchased it from the Senter family in 1974 to be on display in her local gift shop.” I thumbed through old newspaper clippings noting the celebrated tree and the thousands that toured the Senter Family home each year to see it during the 50s and 60s.

I didn’t recognize the tree at all. It didn’t have anywhere near 4000 ornaments. I said “what happened to all the ornaments?” She said, “They got broken over the years.”

Even with more like 400 than 4000 ornaments it was a thrill to catch up with the famous Christmas tree .

Here’s to the famous Christmas tree, all the broken ornaments and YOU!

Charles shares favorite
SoCal places in
Los Angeles Magazine’s
online LA to Z Guide. Click here to check it out!

CHARLES AS DOODAH PARADE GRAND MARSHALL
PASADENA, CA, JAN 18, 2009
Click here for more info!

This slide isn’t about the flocked tabletop tree hung with tinsel and pointy pale pink ornaments that match the curtains. Or the mess of gifts both wrapped an unwrapped, including an ice-o-mat and that very odd shaped gift doing a balancing act in the corner. This slide is about the guy wearing lipstick and matching high-heeled thongs. Well, he’s at least wearing one high heel shoe. Looks like his other foot is missing or perhaps it’s twisted sideways for dramatic effect. The red goes quite nicely with those teal trousers and black button front short-sleeved shirt with the collar turned up.

The cocktail glass he’s holding in his hand is empty. Either he just drank it all or just spilled it. Either way it’s ok because there’s another one waiting for him on the rug nest to his phantom foot. And how about that cuckoo-yet-festive headpiece he has on the top of his head. Clearly its hand made but how and out of what I have no idea. Did he learn to weave ribbon in prison or something? And judging by the way his painted lips are open he’s having a ho-ho-ho moment!

Here’s to a high heeled, ho-ho-ho, cuckoo Christmas and YOU!

This is thanksgiving casual. A single shocking pink taper burns in the center of a picnic table spread with newspaper. The man on the right, sporting his work clothes, ponders the moment. His Budweiser beer is near. The other guy picks something out of his teeth and has a nice slice of what looks to be a delicious pumpkin cake brought to the table covered in wax paper. The lady proves that if you wear orange to thanksgiving dinner you will match the food.

No matter how you slice it Thanksgiving is about eating. It’s the biggest and most famous dinner of the year. For some it’s about cooking. I love to cook. And always, no matter what I’m concocting it’s without a recipe. Creativity in my kitchen is definitely encouraged. That’s why I call it the “test kitchen.” Last year for Thanksgiving I Polynesionized the big dinner and called it the Tiki Turkey Dinner. In place of a roast tom turkey I made a turkey meatloaf shaped like a Tiki god. Yes, this really does give “carving the turkey” a whole new meaning. The exotic theme carried through the side dishes and desert. The mango cranberry sauce, Hawaiian Bread Stuffing, banana yams Kailua, coconut curry green bean casserole and volcano mashed potatoes with lava gravy turned out to be quite tasty! For desert I created the Flaming Coconut Pineapple Apple Pumpkin Upside Down Pie Cake. Yum, yum, yum! You may see the Tiki Turkey Dinner how-to YOUTUBE video here the recipes are here and here.

Not everything I create in my “test kitchen” turns out. In preparation for Thanksgiving this year created another pie stuffed cake and called it the Pumpkin, Apple and Pecan-Pie-Stuffed Spice-Cake Flambé. A three layer Betty Crocker spice cake with a Pumpkin pie baked in to the bottom layer, an apple pie in the middle and a pecan pie in the top layer. For the frosting I mixed a tub of Betty Crocker butter cream and a tub of cream cheese frosting and mixed it with several tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice. Woo-wee was it good! I frosted the cake and centered three lemon extract soaked sugar cubes on top for the fabulous flambé. With the strike of a match the cake was flaming like a tiki torch. Moments later after the oohs and ahhs ended I noticed the taller than average cake was listing like the leaning Tower of Pisa. As I gingerly cut a slice to reveal the pie fillings the whole cake collapsed in every direction. I guess I should’ve let the pie-stuffed layers cool overnight before frosting. Oh Well! Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a whirl!

Pumpkin, Apple and Pecan Pie Stuffed Spice Cake Flambé

1 8-inch frozen pumpkin pie
1 8-inch frozen apple pie
1 8-inch frozen pecan pie
2 boxes spice cake mix (mixed)
1 tub butter cream frosting
1 tub of cream cheese frosting
3 table spoons pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons lemon extract (for flambé)
3 9-inch round cake pans

Bake the pies and let cool. Mix the cake batter. Put enough batter in each pan to cover the bottom. Place a pie in each pan, cover with batter and bake according to the directions on the box. Let cool overnight. Mix frostings together with the pumpkin pie spice and frost that cake like you’ve never frosted a cake before.

Just before serving, put the lemon extract soaked sugar cubes on top of the cake. Gather guests around, turn out the lights and light it with a match. Everyone will gasp! Then serve it BEFORE IT COLLAPSES!!!!

Here’s to turkey tikis, collapsing cakes and YOU!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The Space Needle is the ultimate architectural icon of the Space Age. The flying saucer shaped restaurant, cocktail lounge and observation deck combo were built to be the icon, centerpiece and crowning touch of the 21st century-themed 1962 Seattle World’s Fair. Today it is one of the most recognizable buildings in a world. What the Eiffel Tower is to Paris the Space Needle is to Seattle. According to the legend a TV tower in Stuttgart, Germany inspired its oh-so futuristic design. Thank you, Germany, for the inspiration. Originally, there was going to be a flame spouting out of the top of it like a giant tiki torch. It never happened. But, it’s never too late!

Last week I was in Seattle to do a show. It was my first time. Of course, the first thing I did was go to the Space Needle. I figured the best way to get there was the monorail, it’s futuristic sidekick, also left over from the ‘62 world’s fair. Boarding one of the two original monorail cars, I was impressed by how clean it was. It looked like new. As it accelerated and then reached full speed I was nearly hypnotized by the feeling of the monorail in motion because it felt exactly like riding the monorail at Disneyland when I was a kid. And that’s no coincidence. ALWEG, of Germany, built Seattle’s Monorail and Disney’s original monorail. Thank you again, Germany! And as if riding the monorail wasn’t enough to inspire my imagination and make my spirit soar, there it was, the Space Needle getting closer and closer as the monorail approached. This is Seattle’s version of going from Main Street USA to Tomorrowland.

As I disembarked, still overwhelmed by the time-travel-monorail adventure I had just experienced, I was even more spellbound by the Space Needle up close and in person. The giant UFO-on-a-tripod is far more spectacular than in any photo (or slide) that I’ve ever seen of it. Beaming with Americana pride I marched myself up to the ticket booth to buy a ticket to go the top. I couldn’t believe it was $19.00. Much to my relief the scary ride up wasn’t nearly as traumatic as I was expecting it to be. Dusk was beginning to sparkle just as I stepped off of the elevator. It was magic time. As I hovered above the city marveling at many things far and near I thought, $19.00 to go to the top to the Space Needle? That’s outrageous! It should be at least $195.00!

Here’s to Seattle’s Tomorrowland, the German influence and YOU!

These woman all work in the Whittler High School cafeteria. The jailbird, the cowgirl, the angel, the Nordic princess on her way to a kabuki festival, smoking a corn cob pipe, and Tom Cruise in Top Gun. Together they sit on and before a shapely sofa upholstered in a deep turquoise fabric sparkling with silver metallic threads. And then there’s the lady on the right sporting a football jersey and sweatpants. She stares at a flaming orange taper while moving her hands up and down. What is she supposed to be and what is she doing? And what’s with her very unusual lap display? Everyone knows that russet potatoes don’t have anything to do with Halloween!

Here’s to ladies that work in cafeterias, russet potato lap displays and Halloween!

Dirty titty-pink carpet and spindly split-leaf philodendrons are upstaged by misplaced white plastic geraniums and twin Nobles joined at the tuxedo. I always enjoy seeing people dressed alike in slides and, of course anything to do with Shiners, but these two guys are, in no uncertain terms, taking it to a whole new level. And gents if you’ve never had a tasseled fez on your head what are you waiting for? I’m here to tell you when you do your imagination will be inspired and your man-spirit will soar!

Shriners have fascinated me as long as I can remember. And not for any reason more than the fact they wear those amazing tasseled fezzes. They also parade in Arabian inspired bright colored satin costumes while wearing their oh-so fashionable fezzes. But that’s not all they do.

The fez sporting gents date back to 1871 in New York City when the first formal Shriner meeting was held. The goal of the group was fun, fellowship and philanthropy. It was, however, required that members were first a Freemason and held degrees from either the York Rite or Scottish Rite. Not just any Manny, Moe or Jack was eligible to join. By the turn of the twentieth century there were dozens of Shrine Temple in the US.

About 1920 the Mayor of Philadelphia, also a Shriner, came up with the idea that the fez fraternity should “undertake something for the friendless, orphaned and crippled children.”
That became and today remains the group’s central focus. There are currently nineteen Shrine Hospitals in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Thank you Shiners for your tradition of generosity and for wearing those fantastic fezzes!

Here’s to Shriners, their fezzes and YOU!

Art deco skyscrapers soaring among brick buildings and billboards provide a dramatic backdrop for Kansas City’s monumental train station. When it opened in 1914 it was the second largest rail hub in the country. After the final trail left the station in 1988 it closed.  Thankfully it was spared the wrecking ball and today it has been reinvented as an entertainment and cultural center. 

Union Station was just one of the many spectacular places I visited last week while in Kansas City to do my retro slide show at the wonderful Airline History Museum. The first thing I did after I arrived in KC was go to the Airline History Museum. Much to my shocking surprise I was greeted at the hanger entrance by the TWA Rocket to the Moon, the twin to the one that was in the original Tomorrowland at Disneyland. This rocket was originally placed on the roof of TWA headquarters in downtown Kansas City in 1956.  Already flabbergasted by the rocket, I nearly had to be hospitalized when I boarded the world’s finest remaining example of the most powerful and luxurious passenger plane of the 40s and 50s, the Constellation. I knew the exterior had been restored to its original red and white TWA paint scheme glory but I had NO idea that the interior had been flawlessly restored to its high-fashion-fifties glamour down to the gold lurex threads in the turquoise upholstery fabric and silk-screen map-of-the-world murals. 
 
While exploring the north south, east and west of Kansas City, I enjoyed a delicious low-cholesterol diet. At Villa Capri, a total time-warped 1961 Italian restaurant complete with checkered table cloths, I savored yummy-salty-cheesy eggplant parmesan, while being hypnotized by hand painted black-lite murals of the “old world” that lined the walls.  Next door at John’s Space Age Donuts, I sat at the original turquoise on white daisy-print Formica counter, unchanged since the grand opening in 1967, and gobbled down several of their delicious deep fried threats.  For lunch it was off to Fritz’s Railroad Restaurant where model trains double as waitresses. Yes, choo-choo trains deliver your cheeseburger, French fries and cherry limeade to your table. If you want music served with that no problem. Each table furnished with a vintage Seeburg Consolette jukebox. The unique and uber-charming train-themed diner “that could” began in 1954.  By the time I got to Gate’s BBQ stand and devoured what seemed to be half a pig served sliced, smothered in sauce my arteries were clogging for sure. But, oh, was it all delicious! 
 
Then it was of to Crown Center, a very 70s utopian style work/shop/live/play place and world headquarters of Hallmark Cards. My too-quick spin through the visitors center there inspired me to realize that Hallmark is, in the scheme of all creative and cultural institutions in this country, very underrated to say the least.  The creativity unleashed there over the last nine-plus decades is not to be taken for granted.  J.C. Hall began making cards in 1910. Thank you Mr. Hall!    
 
The unexpected super surprise treat of KC was a museum called The Treasure of the Steamboat Arabia where the contents of the greatest early American time capsule is on display.  In 1988 locals discovered the buried intact remains of a cargo-packed steamboat called the Arabia that sank in the Missouri River in 1856.  Through a miracle of odd environmental circumstances the boat and the vast majority of its cargo were preserved over the 131 years it was buried in mud 40 feet beneath what had become a corn field after over the years the course of the river had changed.  Over a three year period the boat and its contents were unearthed and carefully reacclimatized to light and oxygen before being meticulously cleaned, detailed and put in display. The 200 tons of what seemed to be countless items including wool clothing, housewares, farm equipment, building supplies, bottled pickles, guns, and even the entire paddle wheel of the boat itself are as mind-boggling as the legend itself.
 
But the true highlight of my KC experience was my slide show opening act, the TWA stewardess uniform fashion show put on by a dozen former stewardesses. They modeled forty years of 30s -70s high altitude hostess wear. It was almost more than I or the audience could take. Thunderous applause erupted as each of the vintage uniformed ladies emerged from the Constellation and gracefully descended the staircase that was also their catwalk. The shapely suits of the 40s and 50s, short-lived paper (yes, paper) gold lame mini dress uniforms of the 60s and polyester prints of the 70s were a thrill to see. But what we were cheering for even more were these former stewardesses. Their sophisticated poise and cool confidence reminded us of the era when flight attendants actually performed their duties with dignity.  

Here’s to former TWA stewardesses, the World’s most beautiful Constellation, model train lunches, black light murals, 100 years of Hallmark,  the treasures of the Steamboat Arabia, the rocket to the moon and YOU!