The 2022 Ed-Vent Calendar, Day 9: Back into the Huffman Files we go!

Rob Huffman does not stop. He cannot stop.

This current series, The 2022 Ed-Vent Calendar, is strictly for me. What with work and other entanglements, I had really gotten out of the habit of writing anything, so I wanted to force myself to generate a few weeks of content for this blog. If people read it, great. If they don't... well, that's less great but still fine.

One person who definitely does read these articles is the unstoppable Rob Huffman. I figured he'd have some feedback on the Ed-Vent Calendar eventually, and I wasn't wrong. He sent me this neat photo of an ashtray from the dearly departed Cameo Room, the Hollywood bar where Kathy Wood first fell in love with Ed.

Remember when you could smoke in bars?

That very ashtray was going to serve as a crucial prop in a book that Rob was writing: a "pseudo-autobiography" of Ed Wood in the 1970s! His story would have Ed and Kathy stealing that ashtray from the Cameo Room as a memento. (Kathy would later chuck it at Ed's head during an argument.) This sounds like an interesting and fun project. Rob says he got about 150 pages into it and had even attracted some publisher interest before he abandoned it.

Rob also found this vintage postcard for the place, which is nice because it shows you the surprisingly plush interior. And on the exterior, we see that the bar was decorated with large cameos, hence the name.

A postcard advertising the Cameo Room. Nice place, huh?

I might as well show you the back of the postcard, too, since it's full of interesting historical details. You can see, for instance, that the card is postmarked 1950, which gives you some idea of its vintage. We even get the name of the manager, Rene Perdini, and another stamp that says, "BUILD YOUR FUTURE WISELY SAFELY U.S. SAVINGS BONDS." That's a real throwback to another era, as is the phone number (NOrmandie 1-3627). Even the brief message scrawled on the card has some human interest. For some reason, I find it charming that the words "today" and "tomorrow" used to be hyphenated. And it's nice to know that the Cameo was a "swell place to eat."

The back of the postcard pictured above.

Rob sent me more information and commentary about other aspects of the Ed-Vent Calendar, but I think I've given you more than enough for one day. After all, this is supposed to be short-form content.

The 2022 Ed-Vent Calendar, Day 6: The Cameo Room

The Cameo Room played a key role in the Ed Wood story. Twice!

Two days ago, I shared some B&W publicity stills from The Beach Bunnies (1976), a mostly-forgotten sex comedy that Ed Wood wrote for director Stephen C. Apostolof. Way back in 2014, I fleetingly mentioned a long-gone nightclub called the Cameo Room that is briefly glimpsed in that film. Back then, I complimented the club on its "very cool-looking neon signs" but admitted that I couldn't pin down an exact location for the place.

Well, this week, reader Shawn Langrick let me know a little bit more about the Cameo Room. In a Facebook forum about Ed Wood, he wrote:

The Cameo Room was at 5061 Sunset Blvd. and was around from 1946 until at least 1977. This pic from 1946 is pretty dark, but I'd bet a good dinner at the Brown Derby that it's the same sign.

Here's that pic he's referring to:

An ad for the Cameo Room from 1946.

Shawn also mentioned that the Cameo Room was where Ed Wood met his wife Kathy. And, sure enough, in a chapter of Nightmare of Ecstasy (1992) called "Marriage," Kathy Wood tells this anecdote:

Kathy describes the first three or four times she met Ed Wood.

I knew you'd want to see what the business looks like today. As of right now, 5061 Sunset Blvd. is an office building that's for sale. Astonishingly, though, it looks like the building is intact! The neon is gone, but the stucco walls and Spanish tile remain. And Ed Wood would have appreciated that there's a liquor store in the mini-mall next door.

The former site of the Cameo Room as it looks today.

Thanks again to Shawn Langrick for the cool Cameo Room research!