Monday, February 06, 2012

Hollywood Forever

The following could be notes I scribbled while reading Hollywood Forever by Susan Goldstein.  I did not say what money "went to the poor and the homeless". There were characters, homeless, I assume, called Button Lady and Plant Man. The other, Dancing Man, was, I think, the panhandler asking for a loan of $1.83.

Little things like that, in books, remind me of days on the streets. I called a lady Umbrella Lady, due to the number of umbrellas she set up around her for a private sleep space. Never figured out how she was able to sleep sitting up on one of those folding stools. Most of the homeless gave themselves their own nicknames; others had names bestowed upon them, like in the book ~ a lady wearing a zillion buttons, of the political or Save The Dolphins, type, would indeed be called Button Lady.

Another note says: (about) previous passenger in cab ~ "...he looked homeless, with a shock of dreads coming from under a colorful Rasta hat. He very likely stank." That may have been mentioned in Death on the D-List by Nancy Grace.

I would say "Well who has never seen a man with dreads wearing a Rasta hat?", except I guess the answer would be: lots of people. Dreads and Rasta clothing does not shout: homeless to me, quite common sight here in Long Beach. Yet, in the novel, if he "looked homeless", it conjures up an image of someone shabbily dressed, likely soiled clothing, a pallor about the skin, a bone weariness look, that one develops after long days and nights outdoors, surviving on the streets.

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