Aug 2025

Marilyn's Glamour and My Hollywood Roots

Marilyn Monroe's radiance in gentlemen prefer blondes and some like it hot hooked me as a kid. I watched every one of her films dreaming of a Hollywood where stars like Lana Turner were discovered, sipping sodas on Sunset Boulevard, that golden age glamour felt like a world I could claim.

My grandmother, a stunning woman who turned heads at Hughes aircraft, even catching Howard Hughes eye brought that world to life over crackling 45s on her old crank record player she'd spin stories of Hollywood heyday. Her mother, my great-grandmother ran a restaurant and a fishing barge at the Malibu pier where stars like Lucille Ball cried on her shoulder over Desi Arnez.

At 18, I packed my car chasing Marilyn's dream to Los Angeles the 1990s weren't the 1930's. I'd soon find myself caught in a script I would've never expected.