Everything’s coming up rosaries
WHEN Maripat Donovan came to L.A. from Chicago to do her show “Late Nite Catechism,” she thought she’d be here just a little while. So she rented a house around the corner from the theater in Hollywood.
Five years later, she owns a house on the same street and, in the persona of Sister, is still “teaching” the funnier side of Catholic doctrine at the Coronet Theatre. In fact, she and her partner, Glenda, have become so settled that Donovan was recently elected to the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council.
Tonight at 7:30 at the Laguna Playhouse, she’ll present a special Christmas show that promises to be one part Nativity scene, one part “CSI.”
Fashionista
Santee Alley in the Fashion District downtown -- that is one of the most amazing places. It feels like you’re in a bazaar in a foreign country.
Around the rest of the Fashion District there are some great stores where you’d never think to go, but you can find great clothes incredibly cheap. And they’ll make a deal with you. You end up getting great bargains for a lot of designer-looking stuff. There’s $5 parking lots and good ethnic food. And Michael Levine’s fabric store, that’s a wonderful place to go. Even if you don’t sew, it makes you want to start.
Home cooking
When you’re so down and don’t know where to turn, and everything is just avocados and bean sprouts -- there’s Taste Chicago on Hollywood Way in Burbank. They have this Italian beef. No one out here knows what that is. But it’s like a French dip -- meat cooked in spices and gravy -- served on Italian bread with green peppers on top. Plus they have Chicago pizza, penne with cheese, and this sausage. And frozen custard that would kill, it’s so good.
Grave matters
I love to drive through cemeteries -- not to be morbid, but there’s so much interesting stuff. There’s art. There’s history. And in Hollywood, there’s celebrity.
Right by my house is Hollywood Forever, which is really interesting. I wandered into a Dia de los Muertos event, and a huge hunk of the cemetery was filled with a giant party. It went on all day and into the dark. There are no lights; it was only lighted by candles. There were all these people in costumes and masks. It was like a Fellini film.
Flea circus
One of the things I like to do on Sundays is the Melrose-Fairfax Flea Market, in the parking lot of Fairfax High. You can get art, furniture, clothing, jewelry. At Christmastime, you can’t beat it for presents. Plus there’s good food and a jazz quartet.
One time, from across the flea market I saw a pair of pants, and the fabric was a print of cats playing pool. I was drawn like a magnet to this woman’s booth. I asked if she’d make a jacket of these rugs I had -- and she did it. It has JFK in front of the White House, the moon landing on the sleeves, and dogs playing poker on the back.
Molto bene
I found an Italian restaurant that is deadly good -- Fabiolus Cafe on Sunset Boulevard -- almost better than I would get in Chicago. I’m so close that the waiters will come over in their aprons and tuxes and deliver takeout food. They make a pasta there -- the penne with radicchio and gorgonzola cheese with cream sauce -- and it’s under $10.
