Visiting L.A. Landmarks

This past weekend, my wife and I had dinner at the popular El Coyote Cafe, located partly on the other side of town from me here in L.A. Already an L.A. landmark, it’s also the restaurant where Sharon Tate and her companions ate their last meal the night they were murdered at home. As you’ll see in one of the photos below, in remembrance, a portrait of Tate is stenciled on the restaurant's exterior wall in front as you enter the restaurant.

Down the street from the restaurant is the New Beverly Cinema, one of the last repertory revival houses in L.A. It’s now owned by Quentin Tarantino, who purchased it in 2008 and, since 2014, has served as the programmer, still running double features as it has throughout much of its history and, of course, almost always 35mm prints (not digital).

The El Coyote is featured in Tarantino’s film, Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, and the New Beverly is given an indirect shout out—during the time of the film, 1969, the venue was called the Eros, and in the film, Tate and her friends notice a red carpet event going on at the “dirty movie” house down the street.

So after dinner, we walked the couple blocks to the New Beverly. Seeing the schedule taped to the front window brought back memories of collecting the schedules for the various revival houses around town when I was in college to plan what flicks to see. The night we visited, Valley Girl had begun about 30 minutes earlier (marking its 40th anniversary), followed by Modern Girls. (As you can see from the marquee at left, there was a midnight showing of Inglorious Basterds as well—Tarantino shows his films there as well.)

In fact, it reminded me that in 2009, thanks to a press pass provided by a friend, I attended a “red carpet” showing of the film that Tarantino and some of the stars—including Diane Kruger, B.J. Novak and Eli Roth—attended, which was a great way to see the film. This was December of that year, and I had already seen the film at its release earlier, but of course I couldn’t resist seeing the opportunity to see the film with its director in the house (he said a few words before the screening). I’ve included photos from that night as well (and here is the original post about that evening).

I've actually seen Tarantino before. Shortly after Reservoir Dogs was released, he had a signing at the Manhattan Beach video store where he once worked. My wife loved the film and wanted to attend. We have a poster of the film signed by Tarantino, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi and others in the movie.

Reclaiming My Comics Stash

End of an Era!

WCG Comics is moving! Or, rather, I’ve changed my business address.

After nearly 20 years at the same business address—palatial “Suite 403” that is actually a mailbox at a UPS Store (formerly Mail Boxes Etc.), conveniently located across the street from my residence—I've switched to a virtual mailbox service.

I initially got a business address at a time when people purchased my early small press comics via mail order. Since the emergence of the Internet, however, most of my business, including mail orders, has of course moved online and the need for a business mailbox has declined significantly. Nowadays, I receive only a few pieces of mail a month, mostly junk mail, which made the relatively high cost of a commercial mailbox a bit of an extravagance. I even considered simply using just my home address, but the thought of publicly posting and sharing my home address for business purposes still gave me pause.

After confirming that other local mailbox centers didn’t offer much of a price difference, I came across a virtual mailbox option—online services that partner with local brick and mortar mailbox businesses around the U.S. (and internationally) that provide users with a physical street address and dedicated “mailbox number” (and other services) for less than renting a physical mailbox. These services seem to target users and businesses that need a business address anyplace in the world, even if they are not local—mail can be managed, discarded and forwarded physically or by scanning within the user's online account. All told, I’ll be saving from $250 to $300 a year!

Ironically, my new business address is no longer within my city of residence and has the same zip code as my first Los Angeles business address I maintained from 1990–2003!

WonderCon 2023

Had a great time at WonderCon, helping to staff the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS) booth. The show has a chill, easygoing vibe that makes it a fun, accessible show (tickets could even still be purchased on site). Lots of new folks gave Rob Hanes Adventures a try and I got to see and catch up with friends, colleagues and longtime fans of the series, who caught up with issues.

My appearance at the show was made possible by CAPS (Comic Art Professional Society) and I shared the space with Eddie Angelini, David Moreno, and Darin Henry, who were fun booth mates. We spoke and promoted CAPS to whoever asked and ran a daily drawing for prizes made up of contributions from members, ranging from original sketches, comics, prints, Funko and action figures, and other tchotchkes and collectibles. The winners were all delighted by the overflowing gift bag.

Though I’ve attended as a regular attendee in the past, this was my first time exhibiting at WonderCon at the Anaheim Convention Center. Being a smaller venue, I appreciated how as an exhibitor it was easy to access the hall and bring in items for the boot—in fact, some exhibitors literally drove their vehicles and U-Hauls into the hall, via the back door entrances, so that they could unload inside, many at their actual booth.

It was fun to also see a bunch of friends and longtime fans of my series. A highlight was meeting Mark Evanier, one of the founding members of CAPS, who was surprised to see his name on the banner and who graciously agreed to a photo op with me!

In an earlier post, I mentioned that I religiously followed GoogleMaps’ instructions to get me to and from the convention center. Out of the 8 total trips either to or from the convention center, I took the exact same route only twice!

Now back to the grindstone!

Below are a few photos from the show—visit the full WonderCon photogallery.

New Rockstars YouTube channel panel

New Rockstars YouTube channel panel

With Mark Evanier

WonderCon 2023 Day 1

See you at WonderCon 2023!

I'm going to Anaheim!

I'll be at the 2023 WonderCon, March 24–26, at the Anaheim Convention Center, helping to staff the CAPS (Comic Art Professional Society) booth (#2280). Come by and say hi, and pick up the latest trade paperback and issues!

Hollywood Babble-On

This past weekend, my wife and I attended a live taping of "Hollywood Babble-On," a comedy podcast hosted by filmmaker Kevin Smith and comedian/actor Ralph Garman, at Flappers Comedy Club in Burbank, CA.

It was an enjoyable and laughed-filled evening, and great to be at a comedy club again. The show primarily consists of entertainment news and comedy bits from the perspective of two pop culture fanboys, delivered with plenty of raunch, smack talking, and quite a bit of booze (or, in Smith’s case, weed). They definitely bring a bro vibe to the room, reflecting the strong opinions typical among fanboys about their favorite films, television shows and other pop culture ephemera, but always delivered with good humor, self-awareness, insight and warmth. Smith and Garman have great chemistry and make a hilarious comedy team, playing well off each other with their shared love of pop culture and in their deft use of callbacks throughout the show. (At the beginning of this particular show, Smith noted he was celebrating his fifth anniversary since his heart attack in 2018, which has led to a healthier lifestyle.) 

My wife reminded me that this is the fifth podcast recording we've seen live (including two consecutive New Year’s Eve shows in 2018 and ‘19 that were held at the Hollywood Improv, where the show was held pre-pandemic).

My wife is a big fan of Smith and Garman—both of Smith’s films and Garman’s daily Ralph Report podcast, which she listens to religiously. The duo became friends during Smith’s numerous guest appearances on a local top-rated radio station morning show that Garman was a regular on until 2017—the Kevin and Bean Show on KROQ, which previously also helped break in comedians Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla. In addition to being part of the morning comedy show (where, among his contributions, he regularly did celebrity impressions), Garman did a regular entertainment beat segment, which Hollywood Babble-On built on. In addition to his current podcast, Garman regularly does voice work on the Family Guy animated series and has also done work on films and on TV as an actor and presenter/host. (Because my wife is such a fan of Garman, a few years back, I even commissioned Garman to record a Cameo birthday greeting for her as a surprise!)

And, yes, there even is a comics connections, being certified comics geeks. Both have done plenty of comics-adjacent work (they co-wrote a Batman comic book and Smith has directed episodes of the Flash and Supergirl TV series). Garman is also a huge fan of the 1960s’ Batman television series—he is a major collector of memorabilia from the show and was a major driving force in Adam West getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, having befriended the actor in his later years. Among his impressions, Garman also does a killer impersonation of West’s Batman.