La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
I’m not going to add to the Tina Turner tributes. Everyone has done a great job at that. But I do have a Tina Turner story. San Geraldo and I moved from Boston to Marina del Rey, California in late 1982. We moved from there to Washington, D.C. mid-1983. But there were some interesting events in those 7 months.
We had become connected with a Beverly Hills couple. One guy was very well connected and invited us to the premiere of the movie “Tootsie” (Dustin Hoffman, Sydney Pollack, Teri Garr, Jessica Lange) at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (which from 1973 to 1991 — was called Mann’s Chinese theatre). We were on the red carpet that night and I’m sure people wondered who the hell we were. Of course, the movie was a blast. But we were also invited to the private after-party at the Brown Derby. We and the other glitterati were there. Unbelievable nibbles, such as a never-ending stream of lobster tails. Anything and as much as we wanted to drink and surrounded by all the A-listers. But, here’s the kicker. When we walked the red carpet, we followed immediately behind Tina Turner and her date that night, ballet dancer Alexander Godunov. Inches away!
I have few photos from our time in Marina del Rey. So, I’ve shared a couple from our apartment in Mariners Village (a star-studded singles paradise… straight singles mostly) and two others taken at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix when we visited San Geraldo’s grandparents who wintered in Mesa, Arizona at that time.
As for Mariners Village, women hoping to be discovered, wore their bikinis to the pools (we had 4 pools), along with silk wraps around the hips, and clogs with spiked heels. If it was a hot day, they strutted (oh so casually) from their lounge chairs to the pool in their heels and silk wraps. They carefully folded the silk wraps and stepped slowly into the water — in their heels! Game show hosts lounged in boxer swimsuits (Have you ever heard of Chuck Woolery?) and let their junk hang out (oh so casually). Those 7 months were quite an experience.
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No voy a agregar a los tributos de Tina Turner. Todos han hecho un gran trabajo en eso. Pero tengo una historia de Tina Turner. San Geraldo y yo nos mudamos de Boston a Marina del Rey, California a fines de 1982. De allí nos mudamos a Washington, D.C. a mediados de 1983. Pero hubo algunos eventos interesantes en esos 7 meses.
Nos habíamos conectado con una pareja de Beverly Hills. Un tipo estaba muy bien conectado y nos invitó al estreno de la película “Tootsie” (Dustin Hoffman, Sydney Pollack, Teri Garr, Jessica Lange) en el Teatro Chino de Grauman (que de 1973 a 1991 se llamó Teatro Chino de Mann). Estábamos en la alfombra roja esa noche y estoy seguro de que la gente se preguntaba quiénes éramos. Por supuesto, la película fue una maravilla. Pero también nos invitaron a la fiesta posterior privada en el Brown Derby. Nosotros y los otros glitterati estábamos allí. Bocadillos increíbles, como un flujo interminable de colas de langosta. Cualquier cosa y tanto como quisiéramos beber y rodeados de todos los A-listers. Pero, aquí está el truco. Cuando caminamos por la alfombra roja, seguimos inmediatamente detrás de Tina Turner y su cita esa noche, el bailarín de ballet Alexander Godunov. ¡A pulgadas de distancia!
Tengo pocas fotos de nuestro paso por Marina del Rey. Entonces, he compartido una pareja de nuestro apartamento en Mariner’s Village [Pueblo Marinero] (un paraíso para solteros repleto de estrellas… solteros heterosexuales en su mayoría) y otros dos tomados en el Jardín Botánico del Desierto en Phoenix cuando visitamos a los abuelos de San Geraldo que pasaron el invierno en Mesa, Arizona en ese momento.
En cuanto a Mariners Village, las mujeres que esperaban ser descubiertas usaban sus bikinis para ir a la piscina, junto con envolturas de seda alrededor de las caderas y zuecos con tacones de aguja. Si era un día caluroso, se pavoneaban (oh, tan casualmente) desde sus sillones hasta la piscina con tacones y batas de seda. Doblaron con cuidado las vendas de seda y se metieron lentamente en el agua, ¡con tacones! Los anfitriones de los programas de juegos descansaban en trajes de baño de boxeador (¿Alguna vez has oído hablar de Chuck Woolery?) Y dejaban pasar el rato (oh, tan casualmente). Esos 7 meses fueron toda una experiencia.
• Christmas dinner 1982.
• Cena de la Navidad 1982.
• Esa es mi expresión tonta. Obviamente, lo perfeccioné. Recuerdo el chaleco (chaleco) de lino de San Geraldo y su ropa Louis Boston (le servían vino y uvas mientras su vestidor personal le traía cosas); mi camisa Alexander Julian, la corbata de seda tejida, los zapatos Cole Hahn. Qué par de fanáticos de las etiquetas.
• That was then and this is now.
• Eso fue antes y esto es ahora.
Chuck Woolery has turned into a rabid MAGAT.
I would have followed Tina around all night.
Bob:
We could have followed Tina around all night, too. As for Woolery, it seems he was always a smarmy asshole. In recent years, he’s shown himself to be a complete idiot.
You could write a book, what an amazing experience.
David:
And then there was SG’s kiss from Martha Raye!
“Take it from a Big Mouth!”
Steve:
He idolized her. I thought he was going to start hyperventilating.
“That was then and this is now” — hahahahahaha!
Debra:
I feel a song by The Monkees coming on.
1982 ~ Tina played the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver ~ sitting close was our choice and so happy we did. Seems that your chance siting and our’s were at the same time only a few 1000 miles from each other.
Ron:
That would have been an amazing experience! And that was the time she was finding own solo footing.
Sometimes brushes with the famous can be cool, and sometimes… just icky (thinking of Chuck Woolery, and the life of a wannabe bikini-clad woman).
I looooove that green love seat!
Judy C:
We both loved the green loveseat. We bought it at Paine’s Furniture in Boston in 1981 and replaced it (sadly, it was cheaper to buy new than to reupholster) in 1998 in San Diego. By that time, it had sunk so low that we were just about sitting on the floor.
Wow! Are you guys sure that you’re not in your early hundreds? There’s a lot of living packed between you two. I think I prefer the “now” you, sans the fashion.
Deedles:
We do pack a lot in. Within 22 months after we met, we had moved in together, moved across the country, and moved back again.
Look at you young things!! And to think you were semi-celebrities for awhile!
I watched a lot of games shows over the years, so I know Chuck Woolery. I bet he hasn’t aged nearly as well as you and SG.
Kelly:
Hah! Chuck Woolery can’t hold a candle to us. And he’s turned out to be a knee-jerk right-wing anti-vax asshole.
Great ‘Tina story’! How lucky were you guys!?
Jim:
It was an interesting experience. But your concert experience must have been truly incredible.
That it was.
My six degrees from Miss Tina is not as nice as your story. One of my coworkers 15 years ago was an elderly woman whose husband had once worked as chauffer for Ike and Tina. She said her husband had witnessed Ike being unkind to Tina and one night had to drive her to a hospital after a particularly bad beating.
Shirley:
That must have been a nightmarish experience.
I wondered what happened to the ladies; did anyone discover them?
Urspo:
I never saw anyone taking much notice poolside. But who knows.
Look at your eyebrow in that second-to-last picture. You got some fun planned!
Kirk:
I don’t know WHAT was going on.
I bike through Mariners Village often. Being you lived there for a brief period of time you would be shocked at what that area is now. Silicon Beach,techies condos, apartments , and restaurants everywhere. Beautiful massive housing developments everywhere if one can afford it.
Anon:
When we lived there the area between Villa Marina and Ballona Lagoon was almost completely undeveloped. Nothing but a couple of small oil derricks. Just before we left, streets were being laid in preparation for housing developments. The last time we were there, we couldn’t believe how it had changed. Mariners Village apartments, I saw online, have been updated beautifully. But we were disappointed that there were no longer Koi fish swimming in the waters there. The landscaping (and the waterfalls that got turned off at night) were stunning. Enjoy those bike rides. We lived at 13909 Old Harbor Lane.
Well, that’s a pretty amazing brush with fame, although I would be terrified to walk a red carpet. I think I’d have to find some way to get out of it. So inquiring minds want to know…was it Chuck Woolery’s junk that you saw?! (Also an interesting brush with fame, though…blech.)
Steve:
Yes, it was Chuck Woolery’s junk. And, yes, blech.