Times change and if we are smart we change right along with them... the changing landscape of life is an exciting journey... Still it's human nature to think back on people, places and events with a whimsical and perhaps wistful yearning spiced sometimes with a dash of regret or longing--- I'm sure if you talked to the right people there would have been a few who said... "If only we had taken another family vacation in Pompeii before it was too late!"
I'm a big believer that we have to appreciate what we have today and not pine away over the past but I can't help but miss places like the old Kuhio Theatre on Kuhio and Kanekapolei and the Kailua Drive In ... KDI for short (There are a couple of photos if you read last week) I have some of the best memories of summer weekend nights spent at KDI (It's now the Le Jardin Academy private school) I guess people stopped going to the drive in and started renting movies and staying home.... I also miss not being able to go to King's Hawaiian Bakery for French Toast and coffee... Lucky for me I have the recipe for King's Hawaiian Bread.
If you have been following... I looked back and discussed Pan American in You're Not From Here Are You?
I think Pan Am offered the best service in the industry that was unlike almost all commercial flight now... but if you are reading the financial reports... the airlines are making a profit again for about the first time since deregulation... So take a little flight down memory lane with me while I mull over a few of the people, places and things I miss most...
I probably have to start with I. Magnin... not only did I grow up shopping there (once I could wear adult size clothes) ... I also worked there for a short period... It was actually my first job outside the entertainment industry (If you don't count being a lifeguard or ski instructor)... It was also the very first store credit card I ever had. There was nothing else like it in California or the world as far as I'm concerned it was the pinnacle of luxury. Mary Ann Magnin had a vision and named the store after her husband Isaac... whether I was in one of the stores or perusing one of the stunning catalogs photographed by Victor Skrebneski I could always find something I could not resist... sadly this is no longer the case with any retailer today. Their son Joseph eventually opened Joseph Magnin... very nice but more or less I. Magnin lite... or I. Magninesque, Joseph Magnin had a demographic of people on their way up... The I.Magnin customer was already there.
The flagship was in San Francisco on Union Square... (this photo does not begin to do the entrance justice) The store took my breath away every time I walked in.
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| I. Magnin San Francisco |
I always made a point of going to I. Magnin whenever I was in the bay area... for one thing I loved how it smelled and they had the most divine mens room... I'm told the ladies powder room was even more grand. I was actually standing in front of I. Magnin during the earthquake in 1989... but more about that later.
I worked at the I.Magnin in Beverly Hills... if during that time you were impressed with the windows and later the stores special events... it was me and the team I was a part of that made the experience so special. I don't think most people know what real luxury and fine quality fashion is anymore... perhaps it does not really exist now except to those who actually remember what it was... on a lighter note --- I once went to a costume party dressed in an aloha shirt and shorts with an I. Magnin name badge with the name I.Magnin pi printed on it as an homage to the Tom Selleck character Thomas Magnum... I even grew a moustache.
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| I. Magnin Beverly Hills (long before I even shopped there) |
Unfortunately I. Magnin eventually merged with Bullock's and then got swallowed by Federated Department Stores and eventually sold to Macy's... who only bought them to shut them down... you are never going to be able to convince me otherwise... because they wanted in the market in California and in addition they fired everyone who knew what they were doing and replaced them with young inexperienced buyers and merchandisers (industry insiders called them The Green Goddesses) moreover... Jerry Magnin (the grandson of the founders) even offered to buy the remaining stores back for 40 million dollars... they did the same thing with Liberty House in Hawaii... Jerry Magnin had a pretty swell store in Beverly Hills too... I spent a great deal of time and money in that store as well... Jerry had wonderful taste and is a world class merchant and businessman. I remember when he closed his store I was saddened that he could not compete with the majors and their frequent sales and discounts and the outlet malls. I remember when stores only had two sales a year... and for the most part except for special circumstances and issues you could not return things.
OK back to San Francisco... I recently found something in a box from City Of Paris in San Francisco... there was another wonderful store... I used to love to visit during the winter holidays.
It's now a Neiman Marcus... I'm glad the architects were persuaded to keep the rotunda and build the new store around it.
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| City Of Paris Christmas Tree |
San Francisco is one of my favorite cities in the world... as I said I was standing in front of I. Magnin during the earthquake in 1989... it was also the first time I was staying at Campton Place Hotel... I have been a loyal customer ever since... they have gone through a few changes in the years but I guess I have too... what has not changed is the outstanding service from the second you pull up to the entrance to world class restaurant ... I've never had a bad meal there and interestingly I usually always meet people from San Francisco while I'm waiting at the bar before dinner.
If you know me... you will know that I love to eat... one of the places I miss most is Hamburger Hamlet... While in school I spent a more than my fair share of time in the restaurants on Sunset and the other on Hollywood Blvd... I also had a meal or two in the Palm Springs location while I was there visiting. If you are what you eat... I should have turned into a cheeseburger by the time I was out of college.
Part of the reason I wanted to learn to be a good cook was I wanted to recreate some of the tastes from growing up and from the fare offered in my travels... I must say I'm to the point where I can recreate something equally good or better than any restaurant or bakery in the world... but I still miss Boulay... (David Boulay's restaurant in DT NYC)... and I still like to go to Jim Neely's Interstate Barbecue when I'm in Memphis.
If you were ever in Denver (when there was still Stapelton International Airport) there was a downtown Hilton Hotel (usually full of businessmen and flight crews) and across the street was a store called May D&F (it was a merge of the May Company with a local store named Daniels & Fisher)... they had almost everything you could ever want under one roof... they also always set up an ice skating rink on the plaza during the winter (the skating accident from Ice Castles was filmed there)
All of this is gone including the place where I bought my sporting equipment for most of my adult life... I made two special trips out yearly and combined it with a ski trip just to visit the Gart Brothers Sports Castle... what you could not find at May D&F they had at Gart Brothers...
Sadly none of these establishments exist either... but I guess people have figured out a new place to buy their skis and tennis equipment and whatever else they need... I guess the whole point in all of this is it's OK to miss things and places but time brings progress and change and we have to keep up with it or we are going to get left in the dust of time and memories... Because while there is no City Of Paris store in San Francisco there is an actual city of Paris in France with one of my other favorite Hotels... Hotel Lutetia.
And while some of the places I like to shop are gone there is still plenty to find on and around Piazza di Spagna in Rome... I've spent many whimsical hours people watching and hoping to run into Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck on the Spanish Steps. (If you want to surprise me with a heartfelt gift--- in a jacket I need a 50-52 and a shoe 43- 43 1/2)... So let's not be like those sad sacks that did not visit Pompeii before it was too late let's enjoy all the things life has to offer now... Venice is at the top of my list.
People are all together different than places and things... most of the people who are not in my life I still miss and think about them sometimes daily and hold their memory and what we taught and meant to each other close to my heart... I think this is one of the things that make us human and defines what kind of people we are and how we treat others and ourselves.... but I also have some rather complex and unresolved emotional issues with a few that I could never put into words for you to comprehend as I don't always fully understand all of it myself... so perhaps these thoughts are best not shared but examined again quietly when the warm wind is blowing over me while visiting the sea in the cool grey light of dawn... I'll make one exception today... during a somewhat complicated and difficult time in my life two people made me part of their family for nearly a year and gave me the gift of belonging to a family when mine was far and away... they also gave me the the first in what turned into many years of dance classes to follow... Thank you Henry and Wilma from the bottom of my heart... not only did I enjoy being part of your family for that period of time--- but because of you I had the courage to take those first awkward steps that led to me dancing across more stages than I could start to list here... as a bonus--- I'm a big hit at wedding receptions and on the dance floor after a bar mitzvah.
Go out and enjoy the people and places in your life... and give someone a hug and tell them thank you... someday sooner than you might think what you create today is going to be either a cherished memory, a guilt ridden regret or simply forgotten... the choice is yours.
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