Paul Zaloom in West Hollywood: wall to wall art (and a sense of humor)

By Lisa Boone

Paul Zaloom — an Obie-winning puppeteer, filmmaker and actor probably best known as a wacky scientist on the children’s TV series “Beakman’s World” — lives in a one-bedroom guesthouse in West Hollywood, where his obsessive collecting instinct is on full display along with an infectious wit. The living room’s midcentury modern furnishings largely came from the Rose Bowl and Pasadena City College flea markets. The centerpiece of the room is a striking 1960s earthworm chart credited to Jung-Koch-Quentell that Zaloom bought at a Paris flea market, where it was hidden from view because “the owner couldn’t stand to look at it,” he says. “It was so weird and gross and juicy and really odd that I had to have it.”