I have a strong belief that there is a thematic connection between these three news items. Can you tease it out?
- The last remaining Clifton’s Cafeteria has been sold. Yes, Clifton’s Brookdale, which I wrote about in this post and which has been open since 1935, has been purchased by the owner of “The Edison” (“The Edison” is a lounge that is housed in an Industrial Cathedral (their word) crafted from LA’s first private power plant, and is an attempt to create living history). The owner is, according to LA Observed, expected to add a speakeasy and tiki bar on the upper levels and add to the menu, reportedly while keeping the low-cost items that draw people into the cafeteria. The current Clifton’s Brookdale is decorated like an old Yosemite lodge, with an old dining room upstairs with the history of the original Clifton’s.
- Many people have heard of the Magic Castle, the private club that is the home for magicians in Los Angeles. The Castle was founded by Milt Larsen, who also operated the Variety Arts (link) in downtown. Well, Milt’s brother and sister-in-law, Bill and Irene, have another home for traditional magic, the Brookledge Follies, in Hancock Park. This is billed as the last stand for traditional close-up magic, against the spectacle that seems to characterize magic today. Brookledge is now the home of a regular magic show, free to invitees but strictly invitation only: you must be invited by a performer or by a guest who has been invited by someone on the inside.
- The San Diego area is well known for its animal preserves, what with Seaworld, the San Diego Zoo, and the
Wild AnimalSafari Park. Well, it seems that the San Diego Zoo has a new marine mammal: specifically, a new dead whale. Long dead, in fact, for while excavating for a storm-water runoff tank, construction workers found a 3-million year old whale skeleton (more detail from the San Diego paper). It is rare because it is an intact skeleton; it is a baleen whale, and it’s probably hadn’t reached full adulthood when it died. Evidently, whales have been in the Balboa Park area for a long long time. So far, there is no indication if that whale answered to the name “Shamu”.
