Felix In Hollywood

A Blog for the Smart Set

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

As I Was Saying....

In my recent annual report to you all, I cryptically mentioned that I "Am preparing remarks for my participation in a swell historical/literary salon in January. "


Well it's been formally announced so I can gush a little now.  I've been invited to take part in:

    Click the above for complete info 

An entire evening at the most historically rich address in Hollywood!  During the 1 hour cocktail/mingle portions both before and after dinner is when I step into my role (the role I was born to play) of on-site roving historian to chat Old Hollywood with the attendees.

LAVA (Los Angeles Visionaries Association) was founded and is facilitated by my amazing friends Kim Cooper and Richard Schave of Esotouric bus tours.  They are sweet and kind mentors to me and two of the most interesting people one could ever meet.

For more on "Musso's"  go here and here.


It is nothing short of astounding to me that, in this day of maximizing 'progress', one can walk into a place and dine where Garbo dined!

This is table #1 -- it was Chaplin's booth.

Meet Ruben Rueda, he of the legendary maritinis.  He has worked at Musso & Frank since 1967.  He has served everyone from Orson Welles to Raymond Burr to Bing Crosby to Mick Jagger to Johnny Depp.  Hell, he's driven Charles Bukowski home when he was too drunk to walk and thrown out his buddy Steve McQueen for being too rowdy.  Yet when I'm there, he treats me like a king.

Meet Mark Echeverria, a 4th generation family member of Musso & Frank.  He is the Proprietor/Manager.  You couldn't find a nicer or a more historically minded custodian of it's legacy.  For me Mark has been more than generous with his time and access to the restaurant, the kitchen, the offices upstairs....
.....even the rooftop!!!!

3 comments:

Theaterdog said...

I want to take time to thank you again for this blog, and to say I wish in my dreams I could come and take your tour in person.
tim

Debbie said...

WOW. Musso & Frank's IS THEE HOLLYWOOD INSTITUTION. The two times I actually had lunch there I saw Connie Stevens, who was very beautiful and actress, Jane Alexander. It was 20 years ago but it was phenomenal ...

VP81955 said...

I've never seen anything that definitely indicates Carole Lombard dined there, but given her close ties to writers and the literary set (remember, she had a relationship with Robert Riskin after Russ Columbo and before Clark Gable), I have to believe she ate at Musso & Frank's at one time or another. That also applies to Fay Wray (whose husbands included John Monk Saunders and, in the '40s, Riskin).