Remembering Marilyn

When I was a teenager, I became really interested in old movies, fashion, costume, movie stars. This led me to books on the subjects, which is where I always went when some new idea grabbed my fancy (before the days of the internet, for all you young'uns). When I read the biography of Marilyn Monroe, I was hooked. There was something about her life, persona, personality that just got to me. Maybe someday I'll try to put together a more eloquent post about my interest in Marilyn.
For today, I just wanted to remember her on this anniversary of her sad death.

Every year, the Marilyn Remembered club does a memorial at her gravesite, and I've even been a couple of times in the past (remember that, Anthony?). Believe it or not, it's not the circus you might think it would be. These people actually care about honoring her memory, and it's pretty low-key and touching.

A Kitschtastic Father's Day

For Father's Day, my husband's dad surprised us with dinner at this joint not too far from our house. He loves the 50s movies, cars and music, and knows that I love everything retro, and he thought we'd love it. He was right! It was kitsch overload and 1950s Americana retro heaven!

The menu is huge, and I was delighted to find a delicious avocado sandwich on rye amongst all the burgers, hot dogs and fries. If my readers from other countries have ever wondered why Americans can get so fat, just look at the next two photos.

Our food, Grandpa and Daddy-O and two hungry and over-stimulated kids.

The whole place was jam-packed with repro tin signs, old toys, movie posters, etc.

Even an old Chevy coming right through the wall. I tried to do one of those "look, I'm holding up something really heavy" shots with Miss June...these are really hard to do with wiggly kids.

A couple of my favorites: Elvis, of course...

and my perennial favorite, Marilyn...

This one is especially for Keith of The Dino Lounge:

And for all of you retro-renovators wondering what to do with those unsightly vertical blinds, here's an idea:

Just spray-paint giant portraits of your favorite stars of yester-year! Just kidding - that's a bit too kitschy, even for me!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day and a great weekend!