Hotel Shirley -Sierra Madre, California

Inchoate intimations of immortality!

One of my trio of pages dedicated to Sierra Madre.

Check out my Sierra Madre Miscellany Page and stay tuned for my Pinney House piece. All works in progress.

Updated 9/6/11

Strange convergence; my two former S.M. residences; actual
and floral facsimile. The Shirley as it was in the early 1980's
when I lived there.

I moved directly from the Pinney House to the Hotel Shirley. I never referred to it by that name -- it  was " Piedmont South" because of its shared affinities with my apartment on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. Psychic leylines coursed between them -- or so it seemed to me.

Both apartments shared a vibe particular to residences in commercial districts; not merely the activity and clamor associated with living above businesses,  but a blurring of the public/private realm.  I felt strangely voyeuristic gazing out on Kirsting Square. Conversely,  passersby stared into my windows at night if the drapes were open and the lights were on. Eye contact with strangers  -- that was unnerving.

Strange times. The two bedroom was listed in the Pasadena Star News. I remember checking out the apartment one night. I climbed the stairs, nobody there;  the door unlocked, electricity cut, but once my eyes adjusted, there was sufficient illumination from the street lights on Baldwin through the windows to get the basic idea. Funky, moody, noir  -- my kind of place.

A daytime visit confirmed a certain shabbiness -- but I was sold. There were two odd skylights; one above the convergence -- it wasn't actually a hall -- but the space where the two bedrooms and bathroom came together.  The bathroom also had skylight and a lanky claw foot tub was compensation for the lack of a shower. My Piedmont Avenue apartment also had a claw foot; but this one was exceptionally long -- I could stretch out completely.

 The floor was overgrown with a weedy brown shag. A lighter, even coarser weave bedeviled my bedroom -- like the pelt of a yeti -- it would have defeated a vacuum -- if I had owned one. Among the many eccentric features of the place were dual front doors  perpendicular to each other. One opened directly from the outside hall into the living room, its twin to the left, swung absurdly into my tiny kitchen -- a vestigial portal.

Kersting Court, the "Pod distribution center" in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers was visible from both bedrooms that overlooked Baldwin.

 Kersting Court. One night I heard a couple of loud drunks. A fight erupted --   they began slapping each other like cartoon characters before losing impetus, and staggering away together. Another time spotted a former girlfriend striding across Baldwin directly outside my window. I raced downstairs pursuing her, before finding myself  face to face with a stranger; a cliched scene from a movie.

  An episode of the television show, The A Team  was filmed outside my apartment. I was away, but got an excited report from my neighbors. Mr. T. right there on Baldwin!  I still  seldom watch TV; one of my few admirable traits.

The Hotel Shirley, like the Pinney House were low-rent apartments, neither configured nor maintained with care.  Cheap rent in Sierra Madre? This was long ago.  

I think I purchased the two vintage photos at  "The Keepsake", a boutique on the first floor of the Shirley, that occupied the former  McGowan Photo Shop.

 The incompetence of a handyman made for this aesthetically interesting sequence.

 My kitchen. Roaches were legion, but none showed for the photo shoot.

7. False Ceiling/True Art.

During a period of intense melancholy, the sickly yellow sun filtering through the drapes was unbearable and  I would take long aimless walks down Sierra Madre Blvd.

  Thrift Shop Art to spice up the place.
Back before everyone was a dealer/collector.

. Craig in my living room.
Photo 8 shot from that window.

 "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers had an idyllic/apocalyptic tone as did "Testament" some of which was filmed outside my bedroom window.This must have been 1983.

 My good buddy Fred with his Deuce and a Quarter,
Baldwin and Kirsting Ct. looking N/W View

  That's my apartment abutting the home office of Juicerator.

 Northwest view from my room. One of those rainy days
when clouds lingered in the clefts of the San Gabriels.

 My kitchen SE view. Window looked out onto an odd enclosure;
neither patio nor  ventilation shaft. The Japanese work wonders 
with these sorts of enclosures. No zen space here-just stucco and tar paper.