I don’t know where to start with this chapter. There is a lot to squeeze in. What an amazing 2 years. I think about LA in 2 parts because I met Paul half way through my time there.
Tracey and I spent some time orientating ourselves at my good friends, Jo Guinane. I had met Jo when we were both in Grange Hill. She was a ‘Sylvia Young’ girl, beautiful and just so slightly mad. In a brilliant way. We hit it off on set and became good friends. I spent many a night out with her in Essex growing up. Her lovely family moved to America and kindly put Tracey and I up when we first arrived.
We soon took ourselves off to Santa Monica, where we based ourselves from a hostel whilst looking for more permanent accommodation. I remember when we first arrived, we met these two American guys in the local English bar. They offered to show us the sights and promptly picked us up in their porsche the next day, from the hostel. They showed us around all of the the tourist stops and the day trip culminated in meeting their family in a penthouse apartment. Tracey and I couldn't get out of there fast enough but it was a funny beginning to our LA adventure.
Someone let us know that there was an affordable apartment in Venice Beach available to rent and there was a bit of an English crowd that lived there. ‘Albert Square’ as we named it became our home for the next year. It was a two-storey concrete square of apartments, mainly filled with English travellers based in the middle of Gangland Venice. I’m not sure we truly realised the extent to where we were based. There was quite often a pair of trainers hanging from the telephone wires, which indicated a member of a gang had been blown out. Either through complete naivety or some stroke of luck, we never had any trouble there or felt unsafe. Venice Beach was a vibrant, exhilarating area simply full of the weird and wonderful. It was a real privilege to have experienced living there.
The Albert Square gang included Nicky, Linda and Tina in one apartment. Mark, Nicky, Darren and Andy in another. Tristan and his crew in another. And finally, introducing our next door neighbours - Luke and Simon. Much more on these two later, given they became our new best friends. This group along with the girls - Torah, Maxine, Lisa and Mairead became our new pals.
I am not sure I will be able to bring the fun we had to life in this blog as many of the magical moments simply had to be experienced. But it was such fun living in this very crazy city.
Tracey got a job as a nanny. I worked in a very exclusive shopping centre for the rich and famous called ‘Fred Segal.’ There was a creche attached to it where most of Hollywoods royalty bought their kids. Completely randomly, I found myself in this job where I must have seen most of the major movie stars in there at one point or another: Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise and my personal favourite… John Travolta. Grease is my all time No.1 film. I also remember Michelle Pfeiffer buying and returning a dress once. I had to take her details as part of the process. Naturally, after a few drinks one night, I thought it would be a great idea to give her a call for a chat. (Really Natalie?!)
We quickly became pretty inseparable from Luke and Simon who lived next door to us. Our friendship began when Tracey and I thought it would be funny to break into their apartment and steal their ‘penquin’ chocolate biscuits which had been sent from home. We got on with them immediately. Luke, from North London, an arsenal fanatic and a big fan of coloured jeans at the time. Simon, from Kent, who loved motorbikes and had a wicked sense of humour. Both with bigger than life personalities and a naughty streak in more ways than one. The four of us went everywhere together. Luke and I in particular became very close and most of my funniest memories of LA include Luke. (He is by the way, still one of my dearest friends).
We had great times hanging out and people-watching on Venice beach, frequenting the ‘Cock and Bull’ bar, long Sunday champagne brunches at the Marina and dancing at ‘The West End’ club. We really just lived life to the full. One weekend we would take off to Vegas, another to Mammoth for a bit of skiing. That was what was so wonderful about living in L.A.
Fran, my friend from college, decided to come and join us in L.A. for a while and ended up staying just a bit longer. Los Angeles and a certain neighbour of mine, named Simon, was just too tempting. To my surprise, Fran and Simon, chalk and cheese, fell in love. And it must have been in the air - Tracey met Steve Lamb and they also fell head over heels. Steve is now one of Pauls very best mates although they didn't really know each other properly in L.A.
At some point, we all moved out of Albert Square. Tracey and Steve moved in together and Simon and Fran got their own place. So, Luke and I decided we would house share. We found a gorgeous house literally on Venice Beach. We had to go on an interview with the landlord and the agent advised us they would only rent to couples so Luke and I fabricated our story and off we went posing as a couple. We were like an old married couple anyway so the interview was a breeze and the house was ours! The location was amazing. The only downside was that the landlords 100year old mother, ‘Billy’ took it upon herself to visit us most days. In her bright red lipstick, she would patrol the grounds. The days we ducked out of sight….
Simon decided to nickname me ‘Billy’ on account of my wearing red lippy and an uncanny resemblance to Billy herself.
I also changed jobs about this time. I worked in a restaurant called ‘Van Go’s Ear.’ It was a real quirky, cool place open 24 hrs in the heart of Venice. I worked shifts and Luke would pick me up if I finished late and his reward was a huge chunk of their carrot cake - it was amazing. I do have one rather amazing story to tell during my time working there. One day, I was sort of held up at gun point. A man with a mask put a gun to another mans head and demanded that I hand over all the money or he would shoot the guy. Mmmmmm? What to do? Impulsively, I legged it into the kitchen and hid. The gunman fortunately ran away leaving one very angry other man who couldn't quite believe I had risked his life. I think they were in on it together anyway. So, the outcome? I got a pay rise and escaped my first brush with death.
Our trip to Catalina Island, off the coast of L.A. was one of the most memorable weekends of this period. We slept in wigwams, drunk jugs of Brandy Alexander and simply laughed. The sight of Simon and Luke on the canoes will stay with me forever.
After about a year, sadly, Lukes Dad became very ill and Luke travelled home. I felt like I had lost one of my limbs! Lukes very good friend Siobhan, from home, had booked a ticket to visit him and perhaps stay for a while. I remember hearing him chat to her ‘Don’t worry Darlin’ - Nats my mate, so she's gonna be your mate.’ Luke gave me a photo of Siobhaun so that I could recognise her when I picked her up from the airport. And that is exactly how I met my very dear friend and my next introduction, Siobhaun.
When I picked Siobhaun up from the airport, my first impression was just how pretty and just how ‘posh’ she was!! She had such a lovely speaking voice. I was worried we might not get on. I couldn't have been more wrong. One night out later and we were bosom buddies. And new flatmates! We had so many good times together in L.A. We laugh now at how chubby we both were given we lived on a diet of English muffins and lemon curd, and White Russians to drink. We shared clothes and partied together and therein I found another lifelong friend.
When I was diagnosed with Cancer, Siobhaun and her gorgeous family were on holiday. I did not want to tell Siobhaun more than most, as she had recently suffered a personal loss. I asked Paul to call her upon her return. A prompt 1 hour later, Siobhaun and Steve were at my doorstep. I was in my bedroom and just remember her coming up the stairs and hugging me hard. Siobhaun is without doubt the most thoughtful person I know. She always remembers important moments (unlike me) and I have a collection of cards that Siobhaun has sent me over the years. She is as precious to me now as she was when I met her nearly 20 years ago.
Siobhaun, Tracey and Steve left to go to travelling to Australia. I moved house again with Lisa, Mairead and Francine and started Chapter 2 of L.A.
To be continued…………………………..
No comments:
Post a Comment