HOME: Stories From L.A.

The process by which one place stops being home and another starts — it’s a mysterious thing. It happens, most often, when we’re not paying attention. And sometimes, as it did for comedy writer and transplanted East Coaster Janis Hirsch, it happens in stages. First she started to feel at home in Los Angeles; but it was only later, after a series of addresses and a run-in or two with Bette Davis, that she landed in the exact place that would be, finally, her home. HOME is a member of the Boing Boing Podcast Network. NEW: The HOME mailing list is live. Sign up now for instant-ish notifications of new episodes, behind-the-scenes information about the show and bonus content. It’s free and ad-free, and we promise we’ll never ever ever sell your address or otherwise use your information to annoy you.  Music: * “Domestic Fun (a),” by Ernest Tomlinson * “Prismatone,” by Podington Bear * “Wook,” by Podington Bear * “Star Prizes (a),” by Tony Kinsey * “Lena Sequence,” by Roberto Prgiado * “Jackie,” by Podington Bear * “Fashion on Parade,” by Ronald Hanmer * “Playmate,” by Podington Bear Thanks to Janis Hirsch and Larry Shulman. 

Actress/writer/artist Rose Portillo lives in the house she was born into, in the Silver Lake section of Los Angeles. It’s the annual scene of her legendary Day Of the Dead parties, and it was the setting for her family’s story of ascension, assimilation and culture clash — as well as the long, wary dance of accommodation, spanning life and death, that Rose has performed with the formidable spirit of her grandmother, Mercedes Mendoza Portillo. Music: * “Los Chucos Suaves,” by Lalo Guerrero Y Sus Cinco Lobos * “Pachuco Boogie,” by Cuartato Don Ramon Sr. * “Solido “Joaquín,” by Dacita & her Orchestra * “Ay Jalisco,” by Jorge Negrete * “Chicano Boogie,” by Cuartato De Ramon Martinez * “Chicas Patas Boogie,” by Lalo Guerrero Y Sus Cinco Lobos * “El Bracero Y La Pachuca,” by Dueto Taxco Con Mariachi Caporales Del Norte * “Los Blues,” by Don Tosti Y Su Trio Altar photo from Day Of The Dead 2009 (upper left) courtesy of CJ Gronner. Thanks to Rose Portillo, Roger Bowers and Mark B. Perry. To learn more about Young Theaterworks, go here. 

Not a hotel, not a dorm, not quite a hostel, open by design and communitarian in spirit  — Los Angeles-based PodShare is something else. And, potentially, something bigger: An affordable way to foster community in a city that’s increasingly stratified by class. This week, to start Season 3, it’s the story of one young entrepreneur and her unstoppable enthusiasm for her big idea. Music: * “Happy Wanderer” by Louis Prima * “Hey Bellboy” by Gloria Wood * “On A Wing” by Podington Bear * “Twinkle Toes” by Podington Bear Photo by Jay Kantor, courtesy Elvina Beck/PodShare

Here’s an audio update on the upcoming season. In extra bonus content — and let me stress that this is 100% free of cost to you, the home audience — I beg for your help! (That is, if you’re a social media or business development ninja.) Music: “Frosted Glass,” by Podington Bear

It looks like a Hopper painting plunked incongruously down on a busy commercial street in West Los Angeles — The Apple Pan, home to freshly-baked pies and what hamburger aficionado George Motz says may be the best burger in America. But the affection Angelenos have for The Apple Pan only starts with the food. It’s an oasis, a rock, a spot out of time, essentially unchanged since the day it opened in 1947. It may not be the kind of place where everybody knows your name, but if you’ve been going there for a long time, as it seems like most of its customers have, it is the kind of place where the countermen most likely know your order. Warmth, familiarity, stability in a rapidly-changing landscape… aren’t these some of the things that make a place a home? Music: * “Feather,” by Podington Bear * “Equazione,” by Gianni Ferrio * “Flute A La Carte,” from Capitol Complete Production Music * “Route 66,” by Bobby Troup * “Forecasting,” by Podington Bear Thanks to Sunny Sherman and Martha Gamble of The Apple Pan, 10801 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. George Motz of Hamburger America visited The Apple Pan a couple of years ago for his Travel Channel series “Burger Land.” Here’s an excerpt. And what are the odds, I happened to be having lunch there that day. That’s me half-obscured by the register at 00:38, sitting (uncharacteristically) on Hector’s side. Here’s a piece I wrote for Forbes when the great Manhattan burger joint Prime Burger closed its doors in 2012.  This episode concludes HOME’s second season. We’ll be back in June with all-new stories; subscribe and you won’t miss a thing. 

The crowning paradox of the touring comic’s life may be this: You have to leave home to make a name, but without the grounding and security of home you may not have anything to say. This week, three experienced comedians on striking the tricky balance between the road and home. Music: * “Sophistication,” from the Complete Capitol Production Music * “Track 2,” from “I Love You Alice B. Toklas” (original soundtrack) * “Rythn,” by Podington Bear * “Pretty Simple,” by Podington Bear Thanks to Cathy Ladman, whose one-woman show, “Does This Show Make Me Look Fat?”, opens soon; Brad Upton, whose upcoming tour schedule is available here; and Jackie Kashian, who can be heard on The Dork Forest and The Jackie and Laurie Show.

How far would you go to rescue the remains of a bygone world you’ve loved since you were a kid? Peter Knego went to Alang, India, and then did it again and again, to save what he could of the great ocean liners being scrapped there. But he didn’t just want to save the ships. He wanted to live in one. And to a remarkable degree he’s succeeded, filling his home in Oceanside, CA with a breathtaking array of maritime memorabilia. This week: One man’s mission to recreate, in landlocked miniature, the great days of the oceangoing ships. Thanks to Peter Knego and Mark B. Perry. To learn more about Knego’s memorabilia business, visit midshipcentury.com.  Music: * Theme from “The French Line” (1953) * “Back In The USSR,” by The Beatles * “Saver,” by Podington Bear * “Whiplash String Swell,” by Podington Bear * Excerpt from “Tosca,” by Renata Tebaldi

Suppose you wanted to design a home away from home. What would you put in? What would you leave out? What kind of seating would you have? (Soft? Hard? Low? High?) What kind of tables — big working slabs or intimate little two-tops? A good “third place” may seem casually homey, but its design is the end result of a million tiny decisions. This week, it’s a conversation with Kambiz Hemati, who oversaw store design at Starbucks for two years and now owns Love Coffee Bar in Santa Monica, where he gets to think hard — and think small — about what makes a place feel like home. MUSIC: * “Trader Ho Hey,” by Podington Bear * “Whistle Work,” by Podington Bear * “Song For A Pea,” by Podington Bear Thanks to Kambiz Hemati of Love Observed and Love Coffee Bar.

Up in the manicured hills of Los Feliz, a neighborhood that boasts at least three famous murder houses, the one with the weirdest history may be the Perelson house… where, deep in the night of December 6, 1959, a husband and father of three lost his fragile grip and went terribly, shockingly crazy. But the story only starts there. Why did Harold Perelson snap? What does it mean when, without warning, the safety of a family home is shattered from within? And how do you explain what’s happened to the house since? Read blogger Jen Clay’s account of a 2012 trip to the Perelson house here. That’s her photo to the right. Thanks to Jeff Maysh, whose “The Murder House” is the definitive work of reporting on the Perelson case; Scott Michaels of Dearly Departed Tours; and Yolonda E. Lawrence. Special thanks again this week to the fantastically talented, prolific and generous Podington Bear, a/k/a Chad Crouch, whose work is an invaluable repository of music that’s free for non-commercial use.  MUSIC: * “Epiphany,” by Podington Bear * “Dark Matter,” by Podington Bear * “Strikes Again!” by Podington Bear * “Preservation,” by Podington Bear * “How Fortunate The Man With None,” by Dead Can Dance * “Corridor,” by Podington Bear * “Velcro,” by Podington Bear * “Got Spark,” by Pdington Bear  

When an elderly parent dies after a long life of lovingly acquiring things, she leaves behind more than memories for her kids. She leaves something much more tangible: The things. So many, many things. Is it things that make a home? This week, to kick off Season 2, it’s a story of life, death, memory, loss, Christmas, trash bags, and what it means to unmake a home. One housekeeping note: With this episode, HOME joins such excellent shows as You Are Not So Smart, Futility Closet and Gweek on the Boing Boing Podcast Network. I’m delighted to be partnered with one of the smartest, liveliest names in online culture. bb MUSIC: * “Plastic Glare,” by Podington Bear * French cafe music by David Lewis Luong * “Summertime Outing,” by Dick Walter * “Jack,” by Podington Bear * “Christmas,” by The Metro Strings * “Bated Breath,” by Podington Bear * “Cradle Song for A (Interstate B3),” by Max Richter

Season 2 of HOME comes your way in January. Subscribe today and new episodes will automagically fly through the aether to you more or less the very second they’re released. And if you get a moment between now and the start of the new season to tell your friends about the show, or even better, to rate and/or review it at the iTunes Store, why, there’ll be a fine fat goose under your Christmas tree!* (Many thanks to the most excellent Podington Bear for much of the music used in Season 1, including “Vox Bubble Rumba,” heard in this audio update.) *Not a binding promise of an actual goose

The venerable Villa Carlotta — home to show business A-listers in the Golden Age, and later to a generation of young actors, writers and musicians  — sits, a hollowed-out shell, on Hollywood’s Franklin Avenue. It may or may not be about to undergo a transformation into an upscale hotel. What happens to a community when it’s driven from the place where it’s made a home? One resident stubbornly hangs on, battling for the soul of a building that once buzzed with life and energy. MUSIC: * “Home,” by Henry Hall and his Gleneagles Hotel Band * “Twine,” by Podington Bear * “It’s All Forgotten Now,” by Ray Noble and His Orchestra * “Tuesday’s Tune,” by Herschel Burke Gilbert * “Toccatta and Fugue in D Minor,” by Johann Sebastian Bach * “Zombie,” By Johnny Fever (Sam Fuller) * “Csm,” by Podington Bear Photos, top to bottom: Carlotta exterior 2008 by Stinson Carter.  Carlotta lobby 2015 Carlotta lobby 2014 by Stinson Carter Carlotta courtyard 2014 by Stinson Carter Carlotta courtyard 2015  Thanks to Sylvie Shain (above). For more information on the campaign to save the Villa Carlotta, see its Facebook page. Read Stinson Carter’s excellent piece about The Carlotta in Vanity Fair.

There’s the San Fernando Valley, the one you can find on a map… and then there’s The Valley, the one that exists in the culture, whose notoriety far outstrips its size. How did that happen? How did it come to be that you can mention The Valley to people in Milwaukee or Toronto or Tokyo and they’ll know what you’re talking about? And what does it mean to call The Valley home? This week HOME looks at the tangled legacy of a place that managed to be both the iconic American suburb and an industrial powerhouse that cranked out everything  from beer to cars, and moon rockets to The Brady Bunch. For more on the history of the San Fernando Valley, visit the Valley Relics Museum. MUSIC: * “Holiday Commercial,” by Alan Hawkshaw * “San Fernando Valley,” by Johnny Mercer * Theme from “The Brady Bunch” (Season 1) * “It’s Not Unusual,” by Enoch Light Photo: The Valley Relics Museum, 2015. Thanks to Denny Tedesco, Kevin Roderick, Hal Lifson and Tommy Gelinas.

Andy Puddicombe left college at 22 and spent a decade tramping the world before returning to the UK and landing, eventually, in Los Angeles. He’s lived in so many countries that he has trouble recalling them on demand. How did his travels, and his training in Buddhism, alter the way he thought about home? This week on HOME: The winding road that led an ex-monk from Bristol to Venice Beach. Music, once again this week, by the prolific and generous Podington Bear: * “Gamma Ray” * “Sienne” * “Little Dipper” * “Kitten” * “Teen Bean” * “The Falls” * “Peas Corps” Here’s an article I wrote on Headspace, the Web-and-app-based meditation platform founded by Andy and Rich Pierson, for Fast Company. For more information, visit Headspace.com.

This week it’s a story about Amboy, CA, a ghost town 30 miles from anywhere on the old Route 66, and the chicken magnate who’s spent a fortune trying to keep it from collapsing into the desert sand. Can Albert Okura really hold back both history and nature? Read more about Amboy here and here. You can find a video about Albert, his right-hand man Charlie and the town here. MUSIC: All the music in this episode is by the wonderful Podington Bear, a/k/a Chad Crouch of Portland, Oregon. Crouch has composed and performed hundreds of instrumental tracks that he distributes freely for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license. You can license his work for commercial use here, or buy his recordings here.  The tracks used in this episode are: * “Cascades” * “Ah Clouds” * “Pong Delight” * “Going Forward Looking Back” * “Flicker and Burn” * “Gentle Marimbas” Thanks to Albert Okura and Charlie Aceves.