Anyway, the article is a conversation about style between
Ellroy and
Steve Cole, a KC restaurateur ("Cafe Allegro"). It's kind of
tough
article to describe, and there's little new in it for
devotees of
Ellroy, unless it's to reinforce the streak of perfectionism
Ellroy
projects. Ellroy did say he had just finished the 343-page
outline for
the follow-on to _American Tabloid_, which will be a
1,100-page
manuscript.
Ellroy also said: "My favorite restaurant on earth is a place
called the
Pacific Dining Car in Los Angeles. It's been there since
1920. It's an
extremely swanky steak joint on the edge of downtown L.A.
that's open 24
hours a day. I met my wife there. We were married there. It's
my place
when I'm in L.A., and I don't even eat meat. It's got style
comin' out
of its ears. It's dark. It's been expanded from an original
railroad car
over the years. It's extremely overpriced (*laughter from
both*). Dig
this: a Porterhouse, no salad, no vegetable, no potato --
$14.50 (*more
laughter*)."
He defined style earlier in the conversation as the two
600-dollar pairs
(one brown, one black) of French wingtip shoes and the
1000-dollar
cashmere sweater (that'll "keep you warm in 30-degree
weather") he
possesses that will last forever. He lives in Mission Hills,
which is
old-time, old-money Kansas City swanky, where his wife is
from, where
the guest houses are two-story jobbers that are twice the
size of my
ranch-style house.
I guess you'd have to read the entire article to get the full
drift.
It's not as off-putting as I suppose the above couple of
paragraphs
might make it seem. Ellroy's just a guy who's full of himself
and honest
about it. I'll try to post the URL when it shows up in the
Star's
on-line archives.
-- Ned Fleming # # To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.