The Ludmila Confessions

Upon awakening my first day in Hollywood, I couldn’t see the sad environment I was in. I only had one thing on my mind, “I must see everything!” I first needed to get to know this city. So I put on some makeup and out the door I went! I walked and walked, until I found myself not too far from Fairfax and Santa Monica Blvd. I continued walking, while passing cars honked their horns, and men offered to pick me up. I totally ignored them and kept on walking until I got to La Brea and Hollywood Blvd, then to Sunset. I kept on going west following the advice I remembered from the western movies that said, “go west young men.” The east seemed poorer, but the west looked prettier. And suddenly, there they were! All the handprints of the stars that I grew up with during my youth, the stars of my dreams, in the sidewalk in Hollywood Blvd!

I reminisced on the swing where I played as a child, imagining that I was already in Hollywood and meeting all those stars– Victor Mature, Errol Flynn, Barbara Streisand, Greta Garbo, Lucille Ball, Dean Martin. Those big stars from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, here I was, with their hand and footprints! I stood in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater and just loved it. I crammed my feet to step in their prints, carefully with love, while my heart was pounding with joy that I am finally here!

I walked until nightfall. I don’t even remember how I got back to the hotel; I only knew I needed to sleep. On the second day I took a bus tour to go observe the whole city and find a more beautiful place to live. I was still spending the 1000 dollars Walter gave me and I had my morocotas of gold knowing they could be of use if I needed to sell them.

On the tour I started to see some beautiful places! Santa Monica Blvd. goes all the way to the ocean. It wasn’t so pretty to me, being totally different from the tropical Caribbean that I grew up with. There were no natural palm trees, no soft sand, not fine and white, and the color of the water isn’t clear blue. To me it looked dirty. I was shocked that this is the ocean of the Pacific, that people back east and all around the country bragged about and glorified. They would say, “you’re lucky to go to California, the beaches are great, so beautiful!” Well it was still water and ocean to me, and I needed that, at least to look at the immensity and infinity, and feel that space of freedom.

The bus tour continued without stops, and people were not supposed to get out wherever they wanted, only where they started the tour. But as we passed by Wilshire Blvd, at the railroad track the bus had to stop and opened the doors. “Now we are entering Beverly Hills,” announced the voice on the speaker. We were at Linden Drive, and what a beautiful street! Since I was sitting in the front row of the bus and the doors opened, with no hesitation I jumped out and walked away while the driver yelled, “No, come back!” I just turned around and said “No speak ingles, thank you goodbye!” and I headed down that lovely street with trees. After I walked about half a block, I saw a little sign stuck into the ground, “apartment for rent.” It was a typical Californian courtyard, with grass, plants and flowers, and a little fence. It was a two story apartment building with a nice water fountain in the center of it. I just adored it and thought, “How much will it cost? I’ll just ask the manager, but how will I understand everything? We’ll see!”

I paid for the deposit, with the money Walter gave me, and I even had money left to go shopping. Just half a block down was a gorgeous Catholic school. I thought to myself, “This is great for my niece Vera.” There were stores on Wilshire Blvd with Rodeo Drive just two and a half blocks away. Signs were hung everywhere to hire people for the holiday season. This was September of 1960, and Hollywood was full of stars– Elvis, Marilyn, Elizabeth, everybody lived here in Beverly Hills or in Bel Air, and now me!