Lights, Camera, California
Pasadena, pickles, a film premiere and Jay Leno - that's the way to do Los Angeles!
So I’m cruising along Venice Boulevard in a white Jaguar I-Pace. Teddy Swims’ Lose Control is booming on the speakers and the sun is glaring through the windscreen, but there are no complaints from the driver. Because there isn’t one. Yes, no driver.
My daughter had convinced us to take a ride in a Waymo, one of the autonomous electric taxis that are fast becoming the ride-hail of choice in Los Angeles. We weren’t taking her to Disneyland, so it seemed only fair to agree to one wild ride and she duly summoned the sleek, sensor-studded robocar.
I was terrified, but less so when it greeted me by name and, after one smooth, silent trip, I was hooked. It’s like being chauffeured by a ghost
who obeys the traffic laws, and I can’t wait for Sadiq Khan to bring them to London (He won’t and apologies to taxi driver pals).
When the fires broke out in California in January, visiting wasn’t the obvious thing to do. Not after seeing so many lose their homes – it felt wrong to holiday in a place of heartbreak. But that hasn’t stopped me visiting Israel; on the contrary, it’s a reason to go and anyway, Los Angeles had to happen – because Midas Man, the film I’d written about The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, was opening the LA Jewish Film Festival.
For one day only, I knew how it felt to be Tom Cruise. We landed at LAX at 2pm and, by 7pm, I was on the red carpet – or rather, the Abbey Road zebra-crossing carpet – at The Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills, for the gala. Hilary Helstein, director of the festival, is a seasoned wrangler of Jewish A-listers (yes, even Mel Brooks) and secured Jay Leno – who plays Ed Sullivan in the film – to host the welcome.
That was the icing on the cake, and there was a cake with the film poster imprinted in icing sat on a buffet table big enough to feed all 800 of the Jewish film fans attending.
Leno, while expressing deep respect for the Jewish community, cheekily told the crowd that Italian food was better and they laughed in agreement with the legendary host of Italian ancestry.
Just when I thought my ‘celeb’ moment was over, I popped up on the LA news – straight after the weather. Jay Leno and me on TV. What can I say? There was another screening in Encino, which, according to my daughter, is where Real Housewife Dorit Kemsley lives. We didn’t look for her as we were off to Pasadena. Why? Because I’d never been, and it’s where Doc Brown lived in Back to the Future.
It’s also one of the cleanest places I’ve ever visited in the States outside Montana and it chimes with good intentions, which is pointed out in the street signs.
A film set and part recording studio is the interior vibe at Pasadena’s Hotel Dena. Guitars hang beside TV sets on the wall in the bar and black and white classics flicker on a loop in the lobby, which has vintage cinema seats. Even breakfast is themed at the Dena, with a menu that offers two cage-free eggs any style as part of the feast that is the Good Day Sunshine Beatles breakfast (appropriate) and vegan tacos if you opt for The Mamas & The Papas’ California Dreamin’.
The Dena pool is pure Palm Springs, complete with unicorn floats and, best of all, there are dogs sat around the guests sipping cocktails, none of whom mind because the hotel is dog friendly. Very, and with good reason. The property is next door to the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, where America’s Got Talent is filmed and there have been many canine contestants. Israel’s sensational dog-dancing duo Roni and Rhythm stayed at the Dena and, according to staff, were the perfect guests.
The hotel’s generous pet policy has also accommodated local people with dogs who lost their homes in the fire or were waiting for the toxic fumes to fade. The historic Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center was destroyed in the fire, but as flames engulfed the synagogue, cantor Ruth Berman Harris went back in with her husband to save all 13 Torah scrolls. The synagogue is being rebuilt, as are many buildings on the outskirts of the city, which has the best-preserved Arts & Crafts homes in America. Among them is the Gamble House (1909), which was home to David Gamble of Procter and Gamble fame but appeals more because it doubled as Doc Brown’s mansion in Back to the Future.
Pasadena’s love affair with the camera doesn’t stop there, as Legally Blonde, Matilda, Catch Me If You Can, La La Land and The Big Bang Theory were all filmed in and around the city. There’s little point listing the movies made on Venice Beach as filming started there in 1910 with Mack Sennett’s Keystone comedies and it continues. I like to think of David Duchovny dropping in to the ‘Little Shul on the Beach’ while shooting Californication, but can’t confirm it’s the place to spot famous of the faith.
It’s famous enough in its own right as a beach, and this time I got to stay on it at the boho Hotel Erwin. With its al fresco rooftop lounge, the Kassi, overlooking the boardwalk, the vibe is Soho House with flip-flops and a DJ at sundown.
Inside, the hallways channel New York’s Chelsea Hotel, with photos of music legends – Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and others – leading the way
to spacious comfortable suites. For all its rock ’n’ roll, Venice Beach shuts down early, so breakfast is best, and the Erwin offers the full American complement. Our TikTok-motivated child also insisted we try Eggslut (there’s one in Notting Hill) and return to our favourite, the Sidewalk Café, where wannabe actors serve the Andy Warhol chopped chicken salad and resident eccentrics entertain.
There are must-dos that are part of the LA experience and Farmers Market near The Grove is one. It’s where I stock up on birthday cards and where, this time, I was confronted by other Jewish shoppers who clocked my Star of David. At Kaylin + Kaylin Pickles stand I met a woman who makes salads for the Kardashians and, as I waited for my smoked salmon and cream cheese on a pickle – which K&K substitute for a bagel – she invited us for Shabbat. Nutella and peanut butter is one of their combos. Don’t knock it ’til you’ve tried it, Mrs Elswood!
Olive & James, renowned for its matcha, took us to Melrose, as my daughter had to try it, just as she had to sip Hailey Bieber’s strawberry glaze skin smoothie ($20) at Erewhon, which I finished, so don’t believe the TikTok hype. But Melrose proved fruitful in another way, as it was where I found Needle, a boutique owned by a charming Italian Ashkenazi, who told me Nodl was his surname.
“It’s Yiddish for needle,” he said, then showed me his hoodie range – ‘Six Jews who changed the world’. Moses, Solomon the wise, Jesus, Freud, Marx and Einstein are all available on black, but I liked the Einstein and Chaplin meshuga gang sweatshirt in the window. “It actually happened,” said the designer. “The two men met in 1931 at the LA premiere of City Lights.” And so my trip ended as it began. With a movie. Just as it should in Hollywood.
LA info:
Hotel Dena, Pasadena https://hoteldena.com
Hotel Erwin, Venice Beach https://hotelerwin.com
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