Icy Advice : Weather: In a mad leap to get out of the heat, we ask inventive Southern Californians to let us in on personal secrets of chilling out.
Record-setting temperatures have broken the sweat barrier this week--not to mention the productivity threshold of many in Southern California. Of course, triple-digit temperatures have bred fires that have created real disaster for some.
But assuming life is going on pretty much as usual, is there relief beyond lollygagging at the beach, ducking into a movie theater, high-tailing it to a mall or boosting the air conditioning into overdrive? To see if there might literally be something new under the sun, 22 of the Southland’s most inventive souls were asked, simply, what they do to beat the heat. Their cooling mechanisms range from the experimental (soothing baths concocted to mimic amniotic fluid) to the philosophical (acknowledging the gift of heat and surrendering to it) to the conventional (opening the windows or turning on the air conditioning) to the totally unpredictable (going to Palm Springs, where it’s even hotter):
“I work in my garage. (Syndicated cartoonist) Lynda Barry pointed out to me that what I’ve done is create eternal midnight. The only light in the garage is the illumination from my drawing board. I also dress like Bart Simpson. I wear shorts and Hawaiian shirts everywhere.”
--Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons,” whose telephone answering machine message has remained unchanged for 10 years, largely to irritate New York callers: “Hi, this is Matt. It’s too hot to come to the phone right now. . . .”
“I eat less. Whatever you eat puts off extra metabolic heat, so if it’s warm, you don’t need to generate extra heat. It will also keep you more comfortable. The second thing I do is put one of those plastic ice packs--they’re about eight inches long, six inches wide and half an inch thick--under my hat. It’s really comfortable if it’s really hot. “
--Dr. Roy Walford, UCLA pathology professor and experimental gerontologist, who has raised the world’s oldest mice and spent five days in Biosphere, a sealed, artificial environment in Oracle, Ariz.
“I roll up my sleeves, drink a lot of iced espresso and complain a lot.”
--Nancy Silverton, pastry chef and owner of Campanile restaurant
“I take baths with ice cubes in them. El Vez puts his underwear, his Aqua Velva and his Tabasco sauce in the freezer.”
--Robert Lopez, a.k.a. El Vez, the Mexican Elvis
“I go to the back of the temple. It’s cooler there. I just don’t move when I feel a sweat coming on. I sit down.”
--The Rev. Masao Kodani, a Buddhist priest at Los Angeles’ Senshin Temple who wears four layers of ceremonial robes several times a week during services
“I go to the beach in the morning and surf. Then I come home and skate until it’s dark.”
--Tony Hawk, the world’s No.1 skateboarder
“Most of my life I’ve cooled off by bathing. You can make your bath almost ceremonious. Right now, I frequently bathe in a mixture of Epsom salts, aloe vera gel, Kneipp bath oils, which contain essential oils, aloe vera bubble bath and a little high-grade olive oil--extra virgin, cold-pressed. Everyone should develop their own recipe. The combination of Epsom salts and aloe vera gives a comforting sense of being in an amniotic fluid.”
--Marilyn Ferguson, author of “The Aquarian Conspiracy” and editor-publisher of Brain/Mind Bulletin
“Our lunch business goes from 11:30 to 2:30. So at 2:30, we say ‘pool time.’ The waitresses and I jump off the roof and into the swimming pool that’s in the middle of the restaurant. I tell the girls clothes are optional.”
--Steve Obradovich, owner of Julie’s restaurant in Los Angeles and semi-retired beach volleyball superstar who appeared in the film “Side Out”
“In the old days, we were always wet because we were busy with clay. It was very moist and caky. My skin was beautiful. A lot of people pay big money to get that way. These days we stay hot (working with metal and wood). I stay in my basement, which isn’t very picturesque, but it’s cooler.”
--Peter Shire, sculptor and furniture designer
“I stay cool, turn on the fan, wear as little clothing as possible and work. When I’m working, I don’t think of anything else.”
--Poet-novelist Hubert Selby, author of “Last Exit to Brooklyn”
“The truth is that, because I’m designing next year’s swimwear line, I don’t get to the beach. I stay in an air-conditioned office.”
--Robin Piccone, designer - owner of Body Glove, the swimwear firm known for launching neoprene bathing suits
“I don’t (beat the heat). For 10 years, I ‘ve been going to Palm Springs in the summertime, and the temperature there is usually 108 to 116; 112 is not uncommon. I enjoy it. All of a sudden, it gets just nice here and everybody’s complaining. I don’t know what to do about it.”
--Dr. George Fishbeck, weatherman, KABC-TV
“Maybe my ideas are too naive or simplistic, but I’d recommend staying in the house, and if staying inside doesn’t work, you can always put ice in your pants.”
--Marsha Warfield, actress-comedian-talk show host who appears on “Night Court” and “The Marsha Warfield Show”
“I just constantly change T-shirts. I let them soak up sweat and move on to the next one until they run out. I haven’t run out yet.”
--Richard Meltzer, author of “L.A. Is the Capital of Kansas”
“I do a lot of drawings and sketches. It’s critical that your hands not sweat on the art work, so I open the windows in the morning, when the air is cooler. The house stays cool until 1 or so, then I turn on the air.”
--Syd Mead, conceptual designer known for his work on theme parks, consumer products and transportation environments, such as magnetic levitation trains
“I get a stack of detective novels, get a hammock, fix up a jug of lemonade and lay in the hammock and breeze through the detective novels.”
--Shane Black, screenwriter best known for “Lethal Weapon” and the $1.75 million he recently earned for his script “The Last Boy Scout”