Tar Pits: A Romance

I'm WAY into hyperbole (as evidenced by the fact that I just typed "WAY" in all caps). I love the words "big" and "best" and "huge" and "everything." Sometimes I overstate things, for sure, but when I call the La Brea Tar Pits here in Los Angeles world-famous, I'm not overstating it.

The real tar pits down the street from the fictional Wilfair Hotel make up one of the most well-known fossil sites on the planet. It is hilarious and strange and magical to me that they're in the middle of a very large -- sorry a HUGE -- city that teems with modern features. I love the juxtaposition, ancient and futuristic.

The pits have been in some movies -- notably "Volcano" -- but they've all been, for the most part, action or disaster flicks. So one day I was like, "hey, the tar pits TOTALLY need to star in a romance."

No, really, I like actually thought that. And "totally"? Another problem word for me.

The pits are a bit smelly (I rather like their singular odor) and they're known for trapping unsuspecting animals (there's a fence up now, so that doesn't happen these days), so they don't automatically summon a romantic feeling. And that's why they should star in a romance, in my mind. Sometimes an odd backdrop can make a love affair stand out in a new way.

I'm mad for romcoms, and perfect people falling in love beside fountains on snowy nights, and perfect people falling in love in all the places we've been told are the appropriate places for people to fall in love.

But there are romcoms that boast unusual settings, too. I wanted one for these stories. Tar is stinky, viscous, and goopy, and an argument could be made that the very best love holds those qualities, too.

photo: gtall1

Wilfair's Real Neighborhood

The setting of "Wilfair" is real.

The first book takes place at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles -- that's where the book and its hotel get its name -- as well as the art museum and tar pits up the street. There's also a quick visit in the story to Farmers Market, a famous public market.

This older photo shows almost the entire setting of the first book. The intersection of Wilshire and Fairfax is at the very bottom of the photo, slightly to the right (meaning the fictional hotel and motel would be slightly out of frame). Above it? The museum, and above that, the tar pits (the dark lake to the upper right). Wilshire is the long street that runs along the right of the photo.

Farmers Market, where Sutton works, is not pictured. It's a few blocks off to the left.

Oh, and the grocery store that Fair is thinking of when she says people fall in love in Aisle 6, next to the frozen peas? That's real, too. It's at the very upper right.

Have you been to LA? What did you do here?

photo: Remapping LA

The Fruitcheress

Sutton Von Hunt works with fruit.

This isn't where the character of Fair Finley's best friend started out, though. Well, since Sutton burst into being -- and she really seemed to burst into being for me, where Fair more twirled -- she's always worked at the world-famous Farmers Market, which is a real place not far from the real Los Angeles intersection where the fictional Wilfair Hotel sits.

But Sutton was a butcheress in Wilfair's early days. Then fruit took a front seat in the stories -- in the cherries in Fair's favorite drink, the Shirley Temple, in the oranges of The Wilfair's famous citrus topiaries, in the fruit baskets our hotel heiress can't stop giving away, in the ripeness of the moment these people find themselves in -- and I knew Ms. Von Hunt needed a slightly different occupation.

Enter the fruitcheress, which is someone who creates art out of apples and crafts out of kiwis. One of the unexpected joys of writing the Wilfair stories has been thinking up random things people might request at Sutton's grandma's fruitcher shop. A honeydew handbag? A grape necklace?

Most of all, I liked a delicate calling paired with Sutton's not-so-delicate nature. She has to do precise work even as her true nature is to rail and flail. She's large and in charge, even as she's slicing the smallest of gooseberries.

© Dmitry Fisher | Dreamstime.com

Tar Pits Sloth

There are these giant prehistoric sloth statues at the La Brea Tar Pits, which are located next to The Wilfair's corner of Wilshire and Fairfax.

And there are two types of people in the world: People who will kick off their shoes and climb on the sloths -- no easy task -- and people who most certainly will not.

This is my completely rad friend Tracy atop a sloth. While none of The Wilfair characters are based on anybody, I'd be fibbing if I said Sutton doesn't owe something to her. My sloth climber extraordinaire.

Monty's Movie Theaters

Movie lover Monty Overbove is lucky enough to live in a city where films are made, meaning there are many fine theaters.

But these two offbeat screens are walking distance from his motel home on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue:

New Beverly Cinema 

(Revivals, double features, and owned by Quentin Tarantino to boot)

The Cinefamily

(Funky films in the old Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax)

photo: New Beverly Cinema

Farmers Market

It's one of the three real locations mentioned in Wilfair. It's where Sutton works. And I love it so.

My pal Charles Coy snapped these superb pics.

*The other two real locations? La Brea Tar Pits and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The Miracle Mile

That's the real nickname for The Wilfair's neighborhood.

It comes from the way-back era when the area near Wilshire and Fairfax served as LA's frou-frou shopping destination. I didn't set the stories on The Miracle Mile because of the nickname -- here's why I chose that corner. But do I love the catchy name and its obvious mystique? I do.

What's in a Name: Wilfair

Does your city do this?

Many Los Angeles businesses are "combo named" after their nearest intersection. Probably the most famous is the Wiltern Theater, which is located at Wilshire and Western (hence the "Wil" and "tern").

The intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, however, doesn't have any such businesses. It's long been a mystery to me.











I knew I wanted to write a story set in this intersection's neighborhood, which I happen to think is one of the most magical places on the planet. (Here's why I think that.)

Then I knew I'd name the main business The Wilfair.

Then I knew The Wilfair would be a hotel. I love hotel stories and I grew up in hotels.

Then I knew it needed an antagonist. So I created Motel Fairwil, also a combo-named business.

Then I needed some people living and working in each building who liked each other but didn't feel entirely comfortable with liking each other, due to their businesses being in competition.

Then I needed something for them to fight over. Enter the motel's swimming pool.

Lastly? The series lead is named Fair Finley. (Fair's name comes from Fairfax Avenue.) So, is the title "Wilfair" also a question?

And does that make the motel's name -- Fairwil -- something of an answer?

Questions.

What's in a Setting: Wilfair's Neighborhood

I flat-out, hands-down, forever-and-ever love The Wilfair's real neighborhood.

It's in the middle of Los Angeles. That adds a lot of excitement, yes, but I chose this setting for the Wilfair series for four reasons.

1. I wanted to set a magical hotel at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue and I wanted to name it Wilfair. I wanted to set a magical motel on that very same corner and name it Fairwil. (Okay, that's two reasons.)

2. One of the world's most famous and picturesque fossil sites is walking distance. It's the La Brea Tar Pits, or simply the tar pits to the locals.

3. One of the world's most famous and treasure-filled art museums is walking distance. It's the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, or LACMA to the locals.

4. One of the world's most famous and beloved public markets is walking distance. It's called the Original Farmers Market, or FM to the locals. (That's what my friends and I call it, anyway, when we're in a rush to get to all the good food.)

I'm prone to hyperbole, I admit it, but I think calling those three locations world-famous is on the money. So a magical hotel and motel seemed a natural fit for the area.

And when Fair and her friends/enemies want to leave their hotel and motel and go out, they've got three amazing, cinematic places to hang, no car required. (Yep, the hotel heiress has a driver, and the motel guys have a van, but they prefer to go on foot in LA's most walkable area.)

I love you, tar pits, LACMA, and FM.

Gomery and Monty: Real?

I love this tweet asking if Gomery and Monty Overbove are real (actually, it reads "Please tell me Montgomery 1 and/or 2 are real!")

Sarah, smiles. Seriously.

Various incarnations of Monty frequent The Grove. The outdoor shopping center has 1) dancing waters 2) celebrity sightings and 3) the biggest Christmas tree in Los Angeles. The Grove is also a few blocks north of Wilshire and Fairfax. Coincidence?

Monty-type guys walk fast and sport dark hair and untucked shirttails. I suspect a lot of The Grove-based Montys are actors, because they're all dreamboaty and have a delightfully driven air.

I've never seen Gomery. There are a couple of musicians I listen to who could be in Gomery's family tree, appearance-wise, but the man himself? Not yet. Eyes peeled.

I saw Sutton's doppelganger working in the San Francisco's Ferry Building last summer. She sang along to Radiohead's "High and Dry" and flirted with customers. Wilfair had been out a few weeks and I wanted to give her a copy, but, like. That would have been weird. Right? Yeah.

And Fair? The moment I spy a snood and evening gloves out of the corner of my eye I'll report back here.

Anyway. Sarah. You asked after Montgomery #1 and Montgomery #2. Monty is at The Grove, smiling at the ladies. And let's say for now that Gomery's walking down Wilshire, toward the museum, hands in corduroy pockets, thinking about theorems and if he'll possibly get a glance of Fair through the citrus topiaries today.