It's in Hancock Park.
It's got three stories. It's in an old Hollywood building. It's old.
It has a big kitchen where a bunch of people are gathered. They all have different accents and even might be speaking in different languages.
Some of just gotten back from "The Clinton Wedding." Some have children. Some are trying the new Kalbi Burger joint in Koreatown.
But there's cheese. And wine. And great R&B or Soul music playing in the background. Mary J. Blige. Al Green maybe. Maybe even some Bobby Matos - latin jazz. When there are guests.
When there aren't guests, my iPod is blasting from the kitchen as I'm chopping vegetables. One of the NY Times Talks or Spilled Milk, a great food podcast. And definitely KCRW.
There's an amazing outdoor dinner table. Like a farm table with ten big red, high backed chairs. And three or four candle drawers.
Is there a man? Maybe. Or men. Having great conversations. Making brunch.
Book club meetings. Next up: "Finishing the Hat" by Sondheim.
There's dancing. Loudly.
And REALLY LOUD conversations.
Friends drop by. Announced. Unannounced. Either way.
Favorite outfit: t-shirt, cardigan, underwear. thick socks. when there are guests. when i'm alone. whatever.
Cigarettes outside.
Sunday night dinner parties. Soup nights. Eclectic characters around the table. The dinner parties are cast well. Mom and Dad drop by. Sela (my niece) comes over and has her own room. She lets her parents stay there with her. But it's her room.
It's three stories. Did I say that already? It feels like New York. But the weather is better. And maybe there's one in New York too.
My home office is as messy as I fucking want it to be. I need some place that is the outward physical representation of my brain.
A big bed. And a sofa in the bedroom. Next to the kitchen, which has some good seating area, it's the place where most people are gathered. And not just for sex. But for heart-to-hearts.
And there's an extra room for a friend who's going through a hard time. With soft sheets. An adjacent bathroom and lots of bath products.
And how do I know about this place? I was there last night. I went to a marvelous party.
And while I'm thinking about it, this is what would be playing in the background as well.
"I Went to a Marvelous Party" by Noel Coward
Verse 1
Quite for no reason
I'm here for the Season
And high as a kite,
Living in error
With Maud at Cap Ferrat
Which couldn't be right.
Everyone's here and frightfully gay,
Nobody cares what people say,
Though the Riviera
Seems really much queerer
Than Rome at it's height,
Yesterday night-
Refrain 1
I went to a marvelous party
With Nounou and Nada and Nell,
It was in the fresh air
And we went as we were
And we stayed as we were
Which was Hell.
Poor Grace started singing at midnight
And didn't stop singing till four;
We knew the excitement was bound to begin
When Laura got blind on Dubonnet and gin
And scratched her veneer with a Cartier pin,
I couldn't have liked it more.
Refrain 2
I went to a marvelous party,
I must say the fun was intense,
We all had to do
What the people we knew
Would be doing a hundred years hence.
Dear Cecil arrived wearing armour,
Some shells and a black feather boa,
Poor Millicent wore a surrealist comb
Made of bits of mosaic from St. Peter's in Rome,
But the weight was so great that she had to go home,
I couldn't have liked it more.
Verse 2
People's behaviour
Away from Belgravia
Would make you aghast,
So much variety
Watching society
Scampering past,
If you have any mind at all
Gibbon's divine Decline and Fall
Seems pretty flimsy,
No more than a whimsy,
By way of contrast
On Saturday last-
Refrain 3
I went to a marvelous party,
We didn't start dinner till ten
And young Bobbie Carr
Did a stunt at the bar
With a lot of extraordinary men;
Dear Baba arrived with a turtle
Which shattered us all to the core,
The Grand Duke was dancing a foxtrot with me
When suddenly Cyril screamed Fiddledidee
And ripped off his trousers and jumped in the sea,
I couldn't have liked it more.
Refrain 4
I went to a marvelous party,
Elise made an entrance with May
You'd never have guessed
From her fisherman's vest
That her bust had been whittled away.
Poor Lulu got fried on Chianti
And talked about esprit de corps.
Maurice made a couple of passes at Gus
And Freddie, who hates any kind of a fuss,
Did half the Big Apple and twisted his truss,
I couldn't have liked it more.
Refrain 5
I went to a marvellous party.
We played the most wonderful game,
Maureen disappeared
And came back in a beard
And we all had to guess at her name!
We talked about growing old gracefully
And Elsie who's seventy-four
Said, A, it's a question of being sincere,
And B, if you're supple you've noting to fear.
Then she swung upside down from a glass chandelier,
I couldn't have liked it more.
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