#gruenfair

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Oscar “Buttons” Robinson, Birmingham, England, 1927

When Oscar Robinson got his coat back from the Chinese cleaners he found it had several extra buttons sewn on in unconvincing ways.  As it was a cold and damp afternoon, he decided to wear it anyway, and get the extra buttons removed by his club’s tailor on the weekend.

Long story short, all the favorable attention given to his unusual sartorial mischance caused young Oscar to rethink his entire wardrobe’s button number and placement, and, over time, earned him the nickname “Buttons.”

Later in life, upon the medical removal of both his eyes, his nickname was revised to Oscar “No Eyes” Robinson.

See several of his buttons on display at the Baby Gruenwald Archive Barn and Glitter Beard Shaming Station, located across the street from Gruenfair, Baby Gruenwald’s sprawling Culver Hills estate.

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Vintage postcard of longtime Hollywood resident Claude Gaynor.

Though Claude Gaynor was neither a mystical swami nor an astronaut from the future, he liked to dress as both. At the same time if possible.

He could often be seen early on a Saturday morning frequenting garage sales in the neighborhood, but rarely buying anything.

One time he asked a woman to hold a “Jesus Hates It When You Smoke” ashtray for him, telling her that he'd be right back with the money. But it was two whole hours before he came back. She still had the ashtray, but had thought about selling it to a persistent neighbor and didn’t like being put in a spot like that.

- A slightly misprinted reproduction of this postcard is available for free in the gift shop at the Peek-A-Boo Schultz Memorial Competitive Tickling Training Center, down a rustic trail from Gruenfair (the Gruenwald mansion), if Christine is working that day and you ask her sweetly enough without coming across as flirty or creepy at all.

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Evocative paperback cover for ‘Escape From Gruenfair’ by Baby Gruenwald, a nurse romance/ecological thriller published in 1947 by Dell Books, the story set at the iconic Gruenfair (the Gruenwald mansion) in Culver Hills, Los Angeles.

SPOILER: She never escapes from Gruenfair (the Gruenwald mansion) because it’s all in her head. In a shocking twist worthy of Frida Kahlo, it is revealed she was never a nurse, but a glamor girl driven mad by her unrequited love for the iconic baby. This is hinted at by the cover artwork, as what professional nurse would wear such garish lipstick and nails? No one in the employ of the very conservative Baby Gruenwald, that’s for certain.

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Postcard from the 1930s of Morgan Rafael DeYoung and his lushly wooded Culver Hills estate.

The wild-eyed industialist never ventured inside the showplace (just down the hill from the Gruenwald mansion), preferring to live within the clockwork mechanism of the large rococo-style fountain behind the secluded property.

When asked why he didn’t live inside his gorgeous home, DeYoung would always mumble something about “termites,” and wander off to fish for steelhead in his man-made lake or hunt for meerkats in his man-made zoo.

After investigation by social workers, it appears DeYoung hadn’t meant “termites” at all, but “wolves,” a pack of which had taken up residence in the south wing’s china pantry.

FUN FACT: In 2008, DeYoung’s estate successfully sued Clorox for the unlawful use of the late industrialist’s bearded image on their Burt’s Bees line of personal care products.

[babygruenwald]

Vintage old-timey postcard of Gruenfair del Mar featuring numerous rusty stains of an unknown ilk, which can be significantly reduced through the use of Photoshop or another image retouching program.

We here at the photo desk of the Baby Gruenwald: Forever is a Long Time blog don’t believe in “fixing” things that don’t need to be fixed, and find the light freckling a beautiful enhancement to the original look of the card.

A THOUGHT:

One way in which we are all tied to the past is through urns. Similar urns to those pictured above are available right now at a nearby Lowe’s or Home Depot for decorating your own beachfront mansion.

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Another commercial postcard available at Gruenfair (the Gruenwald Mansion) in the 1920s and 30s. These did not sell very well and I have a case of them if anybody is interested.