AMERICAN EXPERIENCES

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 13, 21 March 1938, Page 1

AMERICAN EXPERIENCES

TEACHER ON EXCHANGE / LOS ANGELES VISIT . 11l writing, further of her*-trip to California, Miss Mildred Nieol in describing ti visit to Los Angeles, considers it “tlie loveliest place, you can imagine. ... The climate, of course, is marvelolus. Imagine the. middle oi winter (our July) so, warm you could go out in a sleeveless frock, and tlie beautiful palms, trees and; dowers; I was just thrilled with it all, and just wanted to bask in the sun. by the hour. “The poinsettia, with its beautiful scarlet flowers was out. The boulevards were all of concrete and vide enough for six rows of traffic, besides being lined with palms, beautiful buildings, and ' shops built like tlie most aristocratic houses, mostly in the Spanish style. , “I saw Eddy Cantor’s antique shop, Clara Bow’s “It” safe, and Francis X. Bushman’s coffee stall and many others. Before I forget, what do you think of oranges at six dozen for a dime (about 6d.) ? “The night I arrived friends called and took me to Clifton’s Cafetaria for dinner. By the way, everyone in Los Angeles eats out and you get your meals in all kinds of amazing places, the corner drug store being one ol our favourites.

“Can you imagine going *<> a chemist ill New Zealand and asking for bacon and eggs? “After dinner we went out to see my friend, Marjorie. She works out at Beverley Hills as governess to the children of Sam JafFe, a wealthy agent for the films. Wc called at the Beverley Wiltshire, a most exclusive place where they bring a telephone to your table, and Marjorie came with a. car and we drove down Wiltshire boulevard, and Hollywood boulevard, which was decorated ' with huge lighted Christmas cards across the street, and a decorated Christmas tree at every corner. It was there I saw the Chinese Theatre and the footprints and handprints of the stars. “We passed a, park where they had huge coloured lights trained on the trees, giving a. very colourful effect. Everything was just aglitter with coloured lights. Eating places were everywhere, and drinking places just as frequent. J Busy New Year’s Day. “The next day was New Year’s Eve and a most eiaoorate programme was arranged. A party ot us went rmmci Beverley Hills and Hollywood to sec the Christmas trees and lights. Some of tlie decorations were lovely, Harold Lloyd's particularly. One house had Santa Clans climbing in at tin chimney, aiidi another, three huge candles artificially lit with a stai shining over them.'’ Miss Nieol tells of visiting Hayward’s Hotel, “Best’s Cafe, where there were negroes dancing, and music and people ot all kinds. It was an education to her. She arose at 6.30 a.m. to see the Bose Parade at Pasadena on New Year’s Day. It- was lovely, with all the floats decorated with flowers.

“On Sunday I went out to the beach at Santa Monica,, and! walked to Ocean Park,” she adds, “and arrived home just in time to got a drive up to the Griffith’s Observatory, a most interesting and wonderful building, passing the Greek Open Air Theatre on the way. On tlie Monday night. I drove with a party to Olvera street, the first, street, in L«g Angeles and preserved in its original character with all sorts of Mexican and Spanish cafes, stalls, and booths. On Tuesday we drove to Long Beaeli. We passed Signal Hill, where the, oil Wells are so thick you .can hardly, put a. pin between them. From Long Beaeli we went to San Pedro, and back along tlie coast to Culver City. We visited the M.G.M/. Studios and were lucky for it is now almost impossible to got in. We lunched at the cafe, and Robert Taylor and Spencer Tracy signed niy menu. We went all over

the “sets,” and what a world of makebelieve it is! We saw several of tlie scenes still standing of the pictures we had seen and what a disillusionment !

“W e saw Normal Shearer going in to make Marie Antoinette and a number of . extras lounging round in costume. Also Jeanette MacDonald just stepping into lier ear ■.*#* all in makeup a nd costume for “Girl of the Golden West.” Aimee Semple MacPherson. The next evening Miss Josephine Walworth, New Zealand, who has relatives of the same name in Poverty Bay, and who is studying medicine at the White Memorial Hospital, called in her ear to take Miss Nieol out to dinner at a most exclusive place, a “Bit of Sweden.’’ ; “They have a table the length of your dining-room loaded with hors d’oeuvre and- you walk round and choose wliat you want,' and they then serve you "with a full course dinner,” Miss Nieol continued. “We finished about 9.30 o’clock, and drove to the Temple of Aimee Semple MacPherson just in time to hear the last hall-hour of the meeting. I found it most interesting.

“'There was a stage with stars flashing all. over it, a band in scarlet, Aimee in white robes with a white .crown, and a young man raving on the platform—l can call it nothing else.

“Wednesday was more interesting, if possible. A friend drove me out to see the Huntingdon Estate, which is magnificent, and is thrown open to tlu* public. There are beautiful statuary,"'eliina., silver, tapestries and paintings —originals brought from Europe; Romneys, Raeburns, Gainsborough. Reynolds, including the original of -The Blue Boy,’ a beautiful tiling —and tlie grounds and the gardens, a rose garden, sunken garden, Japanese garden, and cactus garden. “On the way home we drove to Forest- Lawn, to- see the “Wee Kirk of the Heather,” an exact replica of Annie Laurie’s church, and the 'Church of the Flowers,’ a . replica of the church where Gray wrote his ‘ ‘Elegy,’ both over so lovely with beautiful flowers growing inside, huge banks of. them, birds singing and soft music. It leaves one with a lovely impression, as does Forest Lawn. The graves are all planted on the hillside, with trees to mark the spot, or a plain slab in the grass—no headstones or graves.”

‘Another afternoon Miss Nieol was taken again through the orange groves to the Riverside Mission Inn, the writer proceeding:.. “And there I saw something wonderful again, an old! Spanish mission converted into an inn but preserved in all its splendour —two chapels with wonderful statuary, stained glass windows, etc., paintings, relics of all kinds, and dungeons, the patio with the fountain playi Ilor and palms growing. We dined there —it is *56 miles from Los Angeles. Tlie roads everywhere are magnificent.”