Hotel California... The Del Coronado. Photograph: Lisa Marks
There are life moments and there are movie moments - and sometimes, just sometimes the two come together in a sweet union. Let me explain.
My film top three includes Some Like It Hot. Faithful readers will recall me attending a writer's group at the Writer's Guild of America building earlier this year, and finding myself in awe of the surroundings; the scrumptious Billy Wilder library.
Well life got a whole lot sweeter in San Diego this weekend. I was in town for (a third) Thanksgiving lunch with friends and one of them happened to drop in to the conversation that the Hotel Del Coronado, on Coronado Island in San Diego bay, was the location for the Miami hotel in SLIH; the one where Daphne and Geraldine hide out with Sugar Kane.
Immediately I rallied the troops and asked him to drive me there. Which he did. Coronado is an upscale part of town; everywhere in SoCal has palm trees but Coronado's were particularly well-sculpted and there were lots of antique shops and bistro restaurants. Think Upper Richmond Road but with fewer Starbucks.
The Hotel Del (as the locals call it) is enormous. We arrived at dusk in time to see the Christmas lights flicker on. The picture you can see above is a view from the back of the hotel. The boardwalk and gardens were absolutely packed (clearly, some like it crowded?) and to my amusement they'd built a temporary ice rink in the rear gardens. Both sessions were fully booked which was a shame but we wandered inside to gawp at the giant traditional Christmas tree and watch the Reilly-Kawinoski wedding party make their way to the Crown Room for the evening's festivities. I noticed that opposite the hotel was a sushi bar. I bet that wasn't there in 1958.
The hotel opened its doors in 1888 and legend has it that it was at a formal function there in 1920 that Edward met Mrs Simpson. No, not Jessica.
My other brush with celebrity this week came in the form of Mr Spock. The day after Thanksgiving I visited the amazing Griffith Observatory in Hollywood and was delighted to discover that he sponsors the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon theatre. He cheerily presents a short film about the restoration of the building, which was an incredible $90m feat of engineering. They literally lifted the 67-year-old construction off its foundations so they could build more rooms underneath. I was lucky enough to view a nebulous cluster of stars being born through one of the observatory's giant telescopes; though this being Hollywood, I probably didn't need a telescope to see that happening.
This week I'm off to the Santa Fe film festival, where the director's cut of my first short, Maconie's List, gets its first public screening. I'm devastated to discover that it's snowing down there because as you must know by now, I like it hot too.
Pumpkin pie postscript
And so to the pumpkin pie. I'd been warned off eating this festive fruit fancy but in the interests of fair reportage I felt compelled to try it for myself. Let me just say up front that I don't have a particularly sweet tooth, so the Cool Whip chocolate pudding is something I won't go near again. I'm more of a cheese person. However, the pumpkin pie was tasty. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. But it's traditional, so once a year will do for me. Topol had a few things to say about tradition but fortunately I've run out of space...
