...and don't miss
John & Philomene
Poetry and Prose from John Thomas and Philomene Long
The Beats: an Existential Comedy
by Philomene Long
Lynne Bronstein's Venice Poems
Eavesdropping on the Boardwalk
by Anne Alexander
Zendik poem:
Buck-or-Two Blues Rap
Gas House beat HQ
Van Gogh's Ear
Note from the webslave
Here's a place I know bupkis about, but would like to fill a page with.
Send your words and pictures to the webslave.
I worked there around 1994-1995. I think I was one of the only Americans employed there at the time, lots of foreign kids sort of passing through. All the menu items were named for infamous (well mostly infamous) celebrities, eg. the "John Holmes" was the steak dinner, the "Karen Anne Quinlan" was the vegetable lasagna, "Connie Chung" was the Chinese Chicken salad, and all the breakfast items were named for child stars including all the actors from "Different Strokes;" the food was actually quite good. The upstairs dining room had walls painted purple and the ceiling metallic gold, all the chairs were mismatched. There was a mix of customers that ranged from celebrities (no joke, everyone from Esther Williams to Eddie Vedder), homeless people and a whole lot of drunks after the bars in the affectionately termed "Bermuda Triangle" up the street in Santa Monica closed in the wee hours. The advertisements around town for that place read "That's not coffee, that's rocket fuel!" Really funny place...very, very Venice.
Kristen Vore
I really liked Van Gogh's Ear. It was a cool place with good food. The original location was just a couple of buildings off the Boardwalk at Westminster and Speedway. I never went there after they moved several blocks away to the big yellow house although I wish I had.
Van Gogh's Ear was one of the places where I used to meet with RomTom when he was in California in late 1991 and early '92. Rom later told me that there was an upstairs but I don't remember it. It really had an inspirational ambiance. RomTom worked on part of his book Comporting Roadwise there on his old Tandy laptop computer. He also brought in albums of his photographs of interesting people and places to show whoever was around.
Marc Madow
Medicine Bow Gallery
I worked there from, say, mid '92 to mid/late '93. I lived with Kelly upstairs for a while, then with Charles and Catherine (with the 3 Huskies). Bob and I finally got in a fight over the tip jar or something, which he threw at me in a rage. I can't remember if that was pre/post Sydney.
Terry Wunderlich