2 minute read
The Happiest Place on Earth
Where the
Lows feel less (1903 – 1998)
Griff 5th obs hervé torii
indie ’hood
Affluent, hilly ’hood. Hollywood district/ noted for expensive celebrity/ with Griffith Park & Observatory/ original Rancho land concession.
Rancho Los Feliz -- The Happy Ranch - succession of owners./ Griffith J. Griffith donated half/ to Lows Angle-ease wishing to appease C’mon, get happy!
Came out Secret drunkard/ except to wife whose right/ eye was shot out/ on vacation
in Santa Monica then off/ to San Quentin.
Mickey Mouse was born in The Happies/ in the garage of Walt’s uncle’s house on/ Kingswell between Vermont and Rodney before/ steamrolling into mass production just down the street/ second guard at the gate studio paid for/ on Silver Lake side with mass hypnosis.
Disney Kix took her first breath/ exactly one year after to the day/ reminded the dailies/ Walt’s brain was frozen then/ transplanted into Kurt Russell/ just a teen of fifteen
fast forward three decades/ tail end of a millennium...
imagineer me famous maker/ of faces grimacing throughout/ latest spoof No Escape from El Lay/ on my way from Venice beach/ bungalow to Disney’s cockloft/ studio for another day’s shoot
in the Happy Queendom/ let me adult entertain you…
A fit 45 trod the boards/ upstairs just another day’s/ cliff-hanger from the rafters/ where hanging is flying/ on Serrano off Los Feliz Blvd/ off of which on the park side/ I’d park for discretion oh/ what would the neighbors say?/ walking whistling ’cross blvd/ ½ blk down ave of magic castlets/ with switch cane parked/ perpendicular gift wrapped/ down cheeky chinos crack/ down down right pant leg/ I’m a powder keg baby/ strike a match on down/ down right pant leg/ Ready to blow baby
Sulfur and Charcoal my first and last name// POWder keg buh buh-buh-BAE-bee/ Potassium nitrate my middle... ding-/ a-lingam-dong ... name.
“Oui, entrez, Monsieur Snake.”
Scene: Replace Whistler/ broken splintered/ over bare blistered be/ hind previous/ appt.
Here it’s sin not to/ finish job barely begin.
Home to other early studios, i.e.,/ D. W. Griffith (of no/ linear relativity to land donor/ namesake just another/ one of those spooky/ entanglements/ calculated/ to trip us/ up) filmed/ Charlie Chan/ here and the camp/ classic “Johnny Guitar.”
Sprinkled with homes by Frank Lloyd Wright.
