Old Lady of the Hills, Naomi Caryl (Part one)

In my last post I mentioned that after eating at Musso and Frank Grill on Hollywood Boulevard we proceeded to drive up the hills to visit Naomi, the Old Lady of the Hills. In August 2009 while reading ToraA Mirror’s blog of Norway I saw a comment by Naomi and paid a visit to her blog. From then on I started to read her posts. It was because of her report on Musso and Frank Grill that we tried to go to this restaurant in June 2010, but unfortunately it was closed (see my post here.) At the time Naomi told me that when I came back to Los Angeles to make sure to go and visit her. So when we returned there in February 2011 we did pay her a visit.

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The road was quite steep and hilly – and very narrow. My daughter, driving her little sports car, was cautious.

Naomi greeted us in her lovely home. The large window-sliding door in the main room attracted the eye immediately. Moving near this window, we saw the stunning view and felt closer to the clouds than to the land below.



Naomi told us that the view is ever changing – the sun and the light giving a different backdrop to the panorama in an instant. Naomi has taken many photographs from her balcony – I can understand how inspiring this is.

Click on collage then click on picture to enlarge - these are Naomi's pictures

I knew a little bit about Naomi from reading her blog since 2009. Being there with her I felt that I had known her for years. She has a very warm and inviting personality.

Naomi has been writing her blog “Here in the Hills” since October 2005. She has an engaging style and writes on a variety of subjects: her life in show business, her family, friends, her art, her pets, her garden, the animals she observes, flowers, books, movies and many other subjects. Please click on “Here in the Hills” to visit her blog – you will enjoy it – it is fun and a visual delight. She has the most beautiful cat, called Sweetie. Sweetie is a little bit shy and we did not see him right away. But he came back toward us, slowly.



I thought I would ask Naomi some questions in an informal interview style, such as - What delights you most in nature? – Naomi: Flowers, Plants, Cactus and Succulents.... Hummingbirds--in fact all kinds of Birds including Hawks....But there is something about Hummingbirds that touches my heart. I think all living creatures in the Animal and Plant world are fascinating to me.” Naomi has shown many pictures of birds on her blog. I made a collage of the hummingbirds.

Naomi's pictures

She also showed some hawks and doves that nested in her garden.

Naomi's pictures

My next question was: You talk about books in your blog -what type of books do you like to read, do you prefer fiction or non-fiction? – Naomi: I love "memoirs" and autobiography.... “The Autobiography Of Malcom X," which changed my life in some very important and fundamental ways...., but I really prefer reading what the actual person has to say about their life.....In fiction, I like really 'escape' reading…. In one of her posts Naomi showed her den where walls are covered with books.

Naomi's pictures

Then I asked her: What did you want to be when you were a young girl? Naomi: I always wanted to be in show business or the theatre. From her posts I saw that Naomi was born on 27 June 1931 in Great Neck , New York – a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, about 17 miles from New York City. She is the youngest of four children.

Naomi at 4 years old

Her sister Robin passed away in 2005 but she still has her brother Gordon and another sister, Gene.

Naomi with her brother Gordon at 5 years of age

Since she was 4 years old her family took her to the theatres in New York City to see great plays and musicals of the late 1930’s and 1940’s to the end of the 1950’s. She grew up loving the theatre. Naomi spent 2 years studying at the Feagin School of Drama located in Rockefeller Center in New York.

Vintage postcard of Times Square in the 1940s, New York

When she was barely 20 years old Naomi received her first salary ($1 because this was done at a church) as an actress playing the role of Abby (one of the old eccentric sisters) in "Arsenic and Old Lace.” Then she obtained acting roles throughout the summer playing the Sea Cliff Summer Theatre in Sea Cliff, New York where she was an “apprentice.” She was cast as Eunice Hubbell in Tennessee Williams “A Streetcar named Desire” and received her Equity Card through this role. One of the stars that played there that summer was the great silent screen actress Lilian Gish (1893-1993.).

Lilian Gish by Charles Albin, 1922

Naomi remembers her well because Lilian Gish made a generous gift to the apprentices which no other star ever did. You can read about this in her post here. It is interesting to read Naomi’s posts as she mentions, in passing, great actors and actresses she has worked with or met. For example she was chosen to be Eva Gabor’s “dresser” during the week Gabor played Sea Cliff in a light comedy called “Her Cardboard Lover.”

Eva Gabor, 1919-1995

After speaking for some time we moved to the dining room where a lovely fruit salad and some other sweets were waiting. It was a warm day and we enjoyed drinking lemonade in blue crystal goblets. I failed to take a close-up photo of the beautiful decorated table and the striking water goblets but here is a picture taken from Naomi’s blog.

These goblets used to belong to her mother. Naomi has several posts and photographs of her mother - one is of her mother when she was a young woman. The photograph shows a very lovely lady with large almond shape eyes, the same eyes as Naomi.

Naomi’s mother Jen, affectionately nicknamed “Jen the Hen”

I took a picture of the floral arrangement as I could not fail to notice the exquisite roses.

Reading Naomi’s blog I saw that she delights in flowers, especially roses, and has taken many photographs of the lovely floral arrangements a nearby art-florist creates for her. Here is a collage from her pictures.

Click on collage to enlarge and click on individual photos

This made me think of the many “Ladies who Lunch” posts Naomi shared with us. In it we see the same dining room, for memorable lunches or for birthday occasions with fun presents. Lovely floral arrangements are always present. Her friends become our friends when she show us the “Ladies who lunch” posts or her fun New Year’s parties.

I had failed to take pictures of the lovely china on the table but on Naomi’s’ blog I found some pictures showing several examples as you can see below.



In her posts Naomi has showed many beautiful cacti flowers.



From the balcony I had bent over the railing and seen a great variety of cacti and other succulent plants.



Naomi has a terraced cactus garden since her house is on a steep hill. Here is a picture she took to demonstrate it.



It was time for another question, and this was: Did you get nervous before a show? Naomi: Yes, I had a horrendous fear. She added that this was before the show, but once on the stage the fright was gone. However when she sung she was always relaxed. Naomi‘s first 45 rpm was released in 1956 by Ember Records. Below is a photo of her at the time.



Naomi also recorded for Cambria Records as you can see by the picture of Alexander’s Ragtime Band recording below (one of the first records they released.)



Naomi at the time (late 1950s) worked in small night clubs in and around New York City and throughout the East Coast. She also did a booking, without rehearsal, at the Officers Club at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington, DC. It was not an easy time for her and very lonely. You could not tell by her voice though because it was very clear and fresh. She recorded several songs like “Before You Say Goodbye…” and a record, which I found on YouTube, called “If” released by Ember Records.





I saw in her posts that her parents’ divorce had been very painful for Naomi and her sisters and brother (and her mother too.). After being quite ill in New York she decided to move to Los Angeles in 1961. She found an apartment there, on Hollywood Boulevard. And now, here, we could see Hollywood from the home she purchased three years after moving west. I went back to look at the view and took a picture of a cat peacefully sleeping on the balcony.



Like this little kitten, I think we’ll take a rest now, and will come back for more, next week.


P.S. I noticed the video above does not work anymore.  I found another one, on youtube :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk59zYbW7Qw.

Restaurants in Tennessee and Hollywood, California

Last week I talked about our visits to the Loveless Café and Vingenzo’s Restaurants (see post here.) While we were near Nashville we also went to the historic town of Franklin, Tennessee. The first house in Franklin was built by an emigrant from Balgalkan, Ferintosh, Scotland. His descendants have lived there continuously since 1798. Franklin has a nice old-fashioned downtown.

Click on collage then click on individual photo to enlarge

It was a warm day, about 85 degrees F (almost 30C) but the town still had their winter signs at street corners.

We walked a bit in town. Some of the windows were decorated in honor of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton.



Then we ate lunch at the Battle Ground Brewery and Restaurant. It was established in the historic Franklin jailhouse built in 1909. It is an interesting place. I had a mug of their Soldiers Joy IPA - (India Pale Ale) and enjoyed it as IPA is my favorite type of beer.




The jailhouse is historic but not the restaurant which was established about 1 ½ years ago. Now miles from here, in California, is another restaurant where we ate in February, and that restaurant is historic. It is located at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California.



I don’t have to explain Hollywood.

Vintage Postcards

In June 2010 we were supposed to have lunch at this historic restaurant called Musso and Frank Grill but could not. I have a first cousin who lives in Cairo, Egypt, and he also has an apartment in Hollywood. I do not see him often as he is always traveling to see his son in Singapore or his other children in Egypt. I had read a 3-part review of Musso and Frank Grill in Naomi’s Here in the Hills’ Blog (see here Musso Part One is dated Sept. 4, 2009 and is at the bottom of the page.) I was much intrigued by the place after reading this great report by Naomi and asked my cousin to meet us there. Unfortunately it was a Monday and the restaurant is closed on that day. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant near by – my cousin was happy to make all the selections for us since his wife is an Armenian from Lebanon and he knows the cuisine well. I did take some pictures of the American Cinémathèque across from the restaurant.

This past February 2011 after our trip to Hawai’i we stayed several days with our daughter who lives in Long Beach. Fortunately my cousin was back in Hollywood and we, again, decided to meet at Musso and Frank Grill for lunch. I had asked him to bring some old photos from the family since I have so few from my father’s side (his mother was my father’s only sister.) He did bring several and I have to read all the good explanations he also provided. He brought two pictures of me from the first time I went to Cairo to visit my aunt and her family.



The pictures are not too clear, but my old-fashioned hair style can be seen, unfortunately. One picture he gave me is of my grand-mother’s sister (I think.) She lived in Istanbul and looks pretty with her long hair – her name was Seranouche or Siranush I am not sure (it is an Armenian name.) I had never seen her picture before or even knew of her.



So we had a booth at Musso and Frank Grill and it was perfect for a leisurely lunch where we all could talk and look at vintage family photographs. Please read Naomi’s account of this restaurant as she explains its history so well. The restaurant is located off Las Palmas and Cherokee, just east of Highland Avenue and has been there since 1919.



As you enter the restaurant you can feel the old world atmosphere – it is like a nostalgic walk back in time, to the old Hollywood. I would love to be, just for a moment, in this restaurant in the 20s, 30s or even 40s and observe the Hollywood Elite coming here. I understand that some of the regulars included Mary Pickford, Bette Davis, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ginger Rogers, Marilyn Monroe, Steve McQueen and nowadays stars such as Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Madonna, Sean Penn, Johnny Depp and so many others.



Even though the restaurant is a breath from the past, it is still popular now. I read that in Season One, Episode 7 of the popular Mad Men TV Drama, the bar and old room of Musso’s is prominently featured. They use this restaurant also in Season 2, Episode 5, as a substitute for Sardi’s in New York. It is also featured in Greenberg, Ben Stiller’s movie. So the celebrities still patronize this nostalgic place. As we entered from the back we passed the counter lining the grill and sat in a cozy booth in the old room, under the oak-beamed high ceiling.



We were there early and the first patrons in this room, some other clients were sitting by the counter. It certainly was a different ambience from the Hollywood strip outside. The restaurant was opened in 1919 by Frank Toulet, an immigrant from France and originally called “Frank's François Café,” then, around 1923 he was joined by another immigrant, from Italy, Giuseppe Musso. The restaurant is still owned by descendants of the original owners.



The staff stays working at Musso and Frank for years as for them it is not just a restaurant but a family. One of the chefs, Jean Rue, a Frenchman, was employed there for 53 years, starting in 1922. He created the old fashioned menu of "comfort" food such as the flannel cakes for breakfast, chicken potpie (just like mom used to make – or even better), the bouillabaisse with a varieties of fish and chunks of lobster, clams and shrimp. There is a strong following for more of the old standards from another era: the braised short ribs, sand dabs and the corned beef and cabbage. All the dishes on their voluminous à la carte menu are very satisfying. The Martinis are said to be the best in town, but I had a glass of wine.

Martini photo (left) courtesy Paige Photography

I had the Welsh rarebit and that certainly was eminently pleasing to my palate. The first time I had this dish was in a restaurant in San Francisco in the 60s and since then it has been one of my favorites.

Our lunch was relaxed and our conversation was a long one but the staff never rushed us. Our waiter was unobtrusive but attentive. This was a moment in time to be enjoyed, savoured really. It is not a “hip” restaurant with chi-chi nouvelle cuisine, but a venerable institution with retro-glamour and understated old Hollywood patina – a piece of Hollywood history if you wish.



We left through the front door and we said goodbye to my cousin. I carried away a bag of old family photographs he let me borrow. I also carried away a bit of Hollywood’s past in my memory and hope that Musso and Frank Grill will also be part of its future.



Before going back to our car I took some pictures of the brass stars embedded in the sidewalk.



Then it was time to drive up into the Hollywood hills to visit Naomi, the Lady in the Hills – but that will be another post.

Loveless Café and Vingenzo

Coming back from Nashville, Tennessee, I brought home many lovely images of spring. I placed some in my last post. I also brought back something, not as lovely – a bad cold. Since this cold makes my head heavy and hazy I am not attempting to write something too imaginative or smart. I am staying with “comfort.” Food is usually associated with comfort – hence this post. This will just be a report about the two restaurants where I was invited to eat my birthday lunches – at the Loveless Café, one week early in Nashville and at Vingenzo’s on my birthday last Saturday in Woodstock, Georgia.




In a way I would have rather been back in Hawai'i where my birthday, 26 March, is a national holiday. It turns out that Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana’ole was born on this day, in 1871. In Hawai’i it is a state holiday so government offices, schools and some businesses are closed. There are parades, festivals and other events celebrating the birth of Prince Kuhio.

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole born on March 26, 1871. Courtesy Hawaii State Archives

I found other more worthy individuals than me who were born on 26 March, such as Robert Frost in 1874, Tennessee Williams in 1911, Pierre Boulez in 1925, and Richard Dawkins in 1941. But for the celebration on my day, food was in honor. After we left the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens in Nashville (see my post here ) my daughter and son-in-law took us to a well-known Nashville eatery to celebrate my day, one week early –at the Loveless Café.

Postcard copyright Anderson Design Group

In 1951 Lon and Annie Loveless purchased the property. They served chicken on picnic tables by the side of US Highway 100. As more and more travelers stopped by they remodeled the early 1900’s home into a dining room and kitchen and added country cured ham on the menu. Lon managed the motel and Annie the cooking – everything was home-made, the hams curved, smoked and carved on the premises, the home-baked biscuits and slow cooked preserves.

The Loveless Café was sold but the secret recipe for the biscuits was given to the new owners. Carol Fay Ellison, who began to work for the café as a dishwasher while in high school, made her career there – she was known as “the Biscuit Lady.” She safeguarded the restaurant’s biscuit recipe and went even on TV shows demonstrating Southern cooking. I took a picture outside of a sign advertising her biscuits (she passed away in April 2010.)



The Loveless Café became a Nashville landmark drawing locals, tourists, country stars, actors and many others. The motel closed in 1985 and was remodeled into a country store and little shops. We arrived at the café with an appetite after our walks in the Cheekwood gardens. We had to wait for a table so we checked the shops.

Click on collage to enlarge then click on each photo to biggify

A couple of gift shops had colorful wall paintings and interesting pottery.



Then we went back into the restaurant and waited a few more minutes for our table. The walls of the front room are covered with pictures of country music stars and other celebrities.




We sat at our table and a waitress took our orders then came back quickly with a tray of hot biscuits and home-made preserves. We ate them as we read the story of the café printed on the place-mats. I ordered the country ham dinner with sides of greens, fried okra and fried green tomatoes – it came with eggs and red eye gravy. My husband ordered the barbecue plate with coleslaw and the potato casserole – with iced tea of course. We finished with blackberry cobbler but could only eat half of the food, which was excellent. We liked the preserves so much that after dinner we went back to the shop and bought some to take back to Georgia.




The Loveless Café is located near the northern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway. This parkway is a 444-miles picturesque road which commemorates an ancient trail going from Natchez, Mississippi, through Alabama and ending in central Tennessee. The Choctaw, Chickasaw and other American Indians used this Trace. It was also heavily used from 1785 to 1820 by the “kaintuck” boatmen when they returned on foot to Nashville after having floated their wares on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez and New Orleans. We drove to the double-arched bridge that spans Birdsong Hollow. It received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995. It rises 155 feet above the valley. We stopped to admire it (and for me to take some pictures.)



We returned to Georgia the next day, admiring the lovely spring blossoms as we drove away.



Last Saturday, March 26, it was raining here. We drove to an Italian restaurant in Woodstock, Georgia, a little town north of us. We had never eaten there but I had read glowing reports on Vingenzo’s “real” style Italian pizzas and pastas. The restaurant is located near the railroad tracks of Woodstock’s historic district on one side and a little park with a gazebo on the other side.



As an appetizer we ordered the “Grandioso Tasting” which is a platter of three homemade mozzarellas: Latte, Burrata and Bufala. It came with roasted tomatoes and peppers, Cerignola olives, Pantelleria capers and oven roasted Taggiasche black olive. On the side we had a glass of Zonin Montepulciano wine and warm pizza dough bread drizzled with olive oil and fresh grated parmesan cheese. The Latte mozzarella was firm, the Burrata was a mozzarella cylinder around a buttery semisolid core and the buffalo mozzarella was juicy and just right. Tasty!



We studied the menu and placed our orders. I then went close to the “forno” the wood-burning oven in the open kitchen area and talked with Enrico who mans the oven. We spoke in Italian – he is from Napoli. He turned the pizza in the oven so fast that my photo was blurry.



I like my pizzas Italian style, that is thin and crusty. I ordered the Regina pizza which comes with San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh ricotta, Fior di Latte Mozzarella, house made sausage, wild mushrooms and basil. It was perfect – a thin crust, pliant but crisp with circles of cheese melted across the surface. The sausage was flavorful and the mushrooms and fresh basil gave it that extra special touch. Genuine Italian and fantastic! My husband had the Pasta Al Forno which is baked with house-made fennel sausage, latte fresco mozzarella, cherry tomato sauce and fresh ricotta. He decided on the rigatoni for the pasta and was pleased with the robust but light flavor of his dish.



When “dolce” time came, my husband decided on the Torta Caprese which is a flourless chocolate almond cake and I had the Torta di Ricotta which is ricotta cheesecake with Marsala soaked raisins and chocolate chips. Heavenly!


This certainly was a lovely birthday lunch. We left the little town knowing that we would be back. I noticed the tavern’s name, close to the railroad which is called “Right Wing” and further down the street another house had a sign saying “Bug off” – hum……

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Back at home I had time to look at the three pretty birthday cards I received

and the two books my husband gave me – “Unfamiliar Fishes” by Sarah Vowell – it is an history of Hawai’i told with a wicked sense of humour and “Waikiki – a History of Forgetting and Remembering” by Gay Chan and Andrea Feeser – filled with beautiful images of days past.




But this was 26 March and today is my nephew’s birthday. With all this going on I did not send him a card yet. Still thinking of comfort food I shall mail him the card below. Unfortunately I can only show virtual comfort food here, Greg, but Aunt Ruth, your mother the baker extraordinaire will surely have a scrumptious cake for you. Happy Birthday!




This was supposed to be a very short post…..so much for that. I still cannot finish without saying that this is my blog anniversary. I started this blog in Long Beach, with my daughter’s help, on my birthday in 2009 - two years already. The time has gone so quickly - I have learned a lot from reading my friends’ blogs and also made so many dear friends.