Odds & Ends From Around the Valley : House Coats
If it’s time to paint the outside of the house, there’s an artistic decision to be made: Do you want to go ‘50s retro or catch the coming wave of vivid earth tones?
“The trend in the last couple of years has been toward 1950s color matches, like salmon and antique green,” notes Bob Geller, architectural services representative for Dunn-Edwards Paints.
The au courant Southern California look is to paint a house in soft earth tones, then finish it with a Cape Cod blue or antique green trim, says Geller, who based his observation on what colors are flying out of stores.
Larry Allen of Sinclair Paint and vice president of the Color Marketing Group, whose members forecast colors for their own industries, says, “The Olympics started the shift toward brighter pastels, then it was reinforced by ‘Miami Vice’ and by the Southwestern trend.”
What will houses be colored in the ‘90s? “Stronger earth tones, influenced by the American Indian. Burnt oranges and clays with striking combinations of navy blue, spice colors and burgundies,” Allen says.
Pop Art
Looking for an original painting to hang above the sofa, but only have about $100 to $200 to spend? At Tower Records and some Wherehouse record stores, there’s an outdoor gallery of sorts: The huge oil paintings used to promote musicians and their record albums are actually up for sale.
“I don’t think people are aware that they can buy them,” says Jennifer Koch, manager of the Van Nuys Wherehouse, who says she fields questions about the paintings only about once every two weeks.
The three companies that are hired by record companies to paint these “boards,” which average 6 by 6 feet in size, say they are only interested in recovering the cost of their materials when they resell the paintings to the public.
The recording artist always has first dibs, though. “Michael Jackson buys all my stuff,” says Pat Solomon, owner of Solbrook Displays in North Hollywood. She sells about 70% of her signs to the public, and says she donates the money to charity. To buy one, look at the company’s name on the board and give them a ring.
The boards are prone to vandalism, particularly graffiti. “Believe it or not, there’s more vandalism at the Sherman Oaks store than the Sunset store,” says artist Chris Gant, co-owner of Art & Sign Production in Burbank.
Seems Debbie Gibson can’t shed that bubblegum image: Her portrait outside the Tower on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks recently had some of the pink sticky stuff stuck on every tooth.
Just Say Yes to Ice Cream
The Los Angeles Police Department operates a 17-week program to teach fifth- and sixth-graders to say “no” to drugs. It’s no problem getting kids to show up for the course, which is offered during school hours.
Parents are another matter. Police offer a one-night, introductory meeting for parents whose offspring are going through DARE. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) classes.
“Out of 90 kids in my sixth-grade program, the average number of parents who come is between 15 and 30. I’ve heard of meetings where officers have given the entire 1 1/2-hour presentation to just one or two parents,” says Officer Ron Robbins, a DARE teacher. “Most parents don’t want to think of their kids as having to deal with drugs in the sixth grade. And to be quite honest, we’re competing with television at night.”
So Robbins has resorted to one of the oldest tricks in the book: ice cream and candy.
To increase attendance at a recent parent meeting at Andasol Avenue School in Northridge, the officer sent invitations with this promise: “Classes with the most parents attending will receive a refreshments party from the DARE officer and PTA.”
The ploy worked. “Attendance was more than double,” Robbins reports. “A lot of parents told me flat out that they had to come because their kid made them go.
“I don’t care how I get the parents there. I just want them to hear about the program.”
Chickened Out
It seems that most San Fernando Valley hotels are simply too chicken to change their banquet menus.
For years, poultry has been the main fare at local banquets and receptions. That isn’t about to change.
Half a dozen big Valley hotels report that chicken is still No. 1 on the entree list. Not everyone likes the taste of fish or the health ramifications of beef, they say. So hotel caterers must try to spice up a more-than-familiar dish with some mystery sauce.
“If there is a new way to prepare chicken, they’ll go for that,” says Bill Gaines, director of catering at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, who says the hotel is serving more fish than chicken. “People are looking for something different.”
The newest version of hotel chicken is apt to be a chicken breast stuffed with veal and spinach or stuffed with wild rice, Gaines says.
Still, a chicken by any other name. . . .
Overheard . . .
“I can’t believe how cheap real estate is out here. Do you know how much this house would cost in New York?” --Visiting New Yorker reading Sunday real estate ads over breakfast at Hamburger Hamlet in Encino