I fell into a deep, mad, passionate love with New York City when I first visited my best friend, Brian back in the late 90s. I knew I would love New York City. I dreamed of living there most of my life. I broke into an ugly cry outside of the theater during intermission of my first Broadway Show, Rent! It moved me to my core. I love!!!!!!! NEW YORK!!! What the shit, this blog is called "L.A....?" I know, I know. I became that person who loved the east coast and had no interest in visiting the west coast. "Sex and the City" came out and there's a line about L.A., "....frozen yogurt is not culture..." Lol. My show poked fun of L.A. often and that show is like one of my life guides! I had friends who visited L.A., comic friends who moved there, I heard about L.A., but I never had the chance or desire to go. I was a teacher my whole adult life and when my summer came, I was NEW YORK bound!!
Then, I turned 51 and my dear friend and comedy producer of nearly 30 years asked if I'd like to meet her in L.A. and we'd drive to Cerritos to catch Jay Leno do stand up! It felt like for the first time, I suddenly realized that visiting L.A. for the first time was such a thrill to anticipate! Duh!! I love film! I have loved it my whole life. My grandma and I watched The Golden Globes together for years. Just the two of us. We watched every movie that was "good, clean, fun" together and she 'got me' when it came to my need and desire to be on stage. I was going to L.A! I was going to see the stars! I released that prejudging attitude of a place I had never even visited & was so excited. Rox hoped we would get back stage to meet Jay, but I kind of thought she was dreaming!!! She has proved me wrong before!!
Thank you for coming to Tableforsue!!! Enjoy today - "LA & Jay" I had such an amazing time and writing/reflecting/sharing makes it even more special! Thank you, Rox! And, of course, and especially thank you always to my 'loved one', Lars. He continually encourages me & affords me opportunities to fulfill my dreams. I love you so much honey!
First, the "meeting Jay Leno" story! We flew in on a Friday and had the best day ever, then took our rental car and headed to Cerritos, CA pretty early on Saturday. We wanted to get there early. We started off with this delicious brunch on Saturday which you can read about further down. Then, we drove down Mulholland Drive for a while! The views were spectacular! Once we arrived at the theater, Rox took guard while I changed into my dressier jumpsuit in the back seat! Rox has seen me naked more times than I can count in every green room across Minnesota and Wisconsin. Pretty sure she's is no longer jarred. Rox bought Jay a gift and wrapped it. She taped a photo on the outside of her recent meet with him at his show in Mississippi. We worked out a nice little note and she left her cell phone number. We then finagled our way into the theater before it was open because I am so ashamed to say that I was bamboozled by a second party, third party whatever it's called it shouldn't have the word party in it, ticket seller so I had already spoken with very nice folks at the theater for weeks and knew names. We were welcomed back to speak with one of the box office managers to ensure we had tickets that were not nose bleeds. I explained how we were comics and that Rox has had the pleasure of meeting Jay a few times and all we ask is that they make sure he gets her gift - preferably sooner than later. They were all awesome and set Rox and I up with like 4th row front and center seats! (They were 120$ seats each - we paid nearly $700 total. - hanging head low in shame) Side note here - this will never happen to me again - it's like getting your car towed - it only happens once in your lifetime. Always and only buy your tickets directly from the hosting venue. And be careful because these scammers make their sites look like you're on the theater's site.
Okay, so Rox buys me a glass of wine and then they open the doors and say, "no food or drink." I tell Rox to go ahead and I will be right in. I step outside to finish my wine and immediately I just threw it in the garbage and headed in because I thought, "What if I wasn't there and she actually got to go backstage!!" I still had not allowed my hopes to get too high. I was happy enough to see him perform! I found Rox, sat down, and settled in with these great seats! It was not even a minute and Rox shows me that her phone is ringing; "Unknown Caller ID!" She picks up and I hear her say, "Hello this is Rox Tarrant!" lmao - Then excitedly, "Hi! Yes!! You're so welcome!! Yes!! No, we are here! In the audience!! Oh, great!! Okay, see you in a minute!" My heart sank because I couldn't believe we were going to meet Jay Leno. A fellow comic, an interviewer of many greats, someone I had always admired for his old school humor and work ethic. I own it! I get sooooo excited at the thought of meeting some celebrities and Jay Leno!!!!!!! He's one of them! Lars rolls his eyes at me too. It's okay. I don't mind. Film, acting, tinsel town, that is all like my Fantasy Football. Okay, so, we are walking backstage. This poor guy was trying to get a pass back there. He kept saying he is a friend of Jays and wondered how we were getting through. He went on up until we got to the door and he was stopped by security. I just kind of kept moving and motioned, "sorry :(." I walked behind Rox. I wanted her to be able to greet Jay first, of course. And my heart was pounding a bit harder than I was used to. Then Rox said, "Jay, this is Susie Saccoman," and I just gave him a big hug and blacked out for a few seconds. When I came to, I saw a few other guys who I would later realize were his opening "doo-wap", singing group (LOVE!!!!) and Rox directing a photo opp. Jay let me go, went and got a photo with Rox and then Rox directed Jay to me again. I held on to Jay and quietly asked, "Haven't you ever met someone who you are just so excited to meet?" I guess this came out because in my delusion, I wondered why his excitement was not matching mine? He was so calm. Wasn't he excited to meet me? LOL. He then replied, "All of the time." He squeezed me tight and we got some shots. I kept my hand on my chest the whole time because I think I wanted to make sure it knew to chill. It was very kind of Jay to keep his arm around me the whole time. I gave him one last hug and we wished him a great show and thanked him for taking the time to see us! We did check in with how he was doing after his accident and his skin grafts were flawless, just made his ass smaller, he said! Jay's opening singing group, The Alley Cats, came out and they were so awesome!! I loved, loved them! "Lion Sleeps Tonight" was so cool! I secretly thought, "Hmmm, he should give his opening spot to a different comic every show." At the same time I also thought, "He never missed a single taping of The Tonight Show for a reason." So, I guess you can get something, but not be in love with it at the same time. After the Alley Cats, Jay came on and with great ease, shared hilarious, clean stories with us for over an hour. I laughed and laughed. As he was nearing the end, he offered us some, "Jokes to Go," as he called them. He told the first one - they are like short stories. I was like having a weird deja vu moment. Then he shared the second short joke and my mouth dropped open and I turned to Rox poking at her and laughing my ass off at the same time. I whisper to her, "I know these jokes!!" Later, I told her how I had long forgotten, but my brothers had these joke books in their bedroom when we were kids. I was like 7 or 8 and I would memorize some of the short story jokes in there and share them with whoever would listen. Like the Buhl banker, the lady who worked at the Short Stop, teachers, etc. I'm like oh my gosh, Jay Leno opened such a fun memory! I am now on a quest to find those book titles! Welllll thennnnn, Jay's very last "To Go" joke was about a woman going in to her doctor for breast augmentation and uses a pumping motion to make them bigger & a male patient then sees her and his last line as he's making the pumping motion too is, "we have the same doctor." And he locked eyes with me through that whole last, 'to go' joke and it wasn't because of my bubbies - he knew how thrilled I was backstage to be able to meet him! He knew how much I would appreciate him closing his show by sharing his last story with me. That's totally my story and I am sticking to it! You were so awesome Jay! I laughed the entire time! There simply is no better medicine.
Heart pound - January 2023 Cerritos, CA
Heart pound, Jay, Rox 2023
So, allow me to back up to the day we flew in. I somehow landed at LAX and found my way to the car rental. I grabbed a car and returned to Rox's gate to pick her up and head to our hotel in Santa Monica. Only 52$ a day to park at our hotel. What a deal. (eye roll) We got in nice and early and were able to get an early check in. We decided to go have a snack in the hotel restaurant while we waited for my dear, childhood friend, Michele to arrive! I was so excited to see Chele! She lives about 2 hours from L.A. and I was so happy that she reserved her entire Friday to come visit! Michele and I were very best friends throughout grade school and high school. She recalled how she stayed with us at our house when both her baby sister and her baby brother were born. Michele and I had a great group of friends. We reminisced about how she and I had the most slumber parties! I was always at her house or she was at mine. Even when friends go years and years without seeing each other, when there is that much love and that much history, it is always like no time had passed. She is my family. We know each other's insides. I am so blessed and grateful to know that when I get to see friends from growing up in Buhl, even when I see them in California, being with them makes me feel like I am home. It is one of the strongest feelings of love that I can think of in my life.
Okay!!! So Michele pulls up in her cute work car and sees me outside of the hotel! I am like beaming with joy inside! She jumps out of the car and we hugged so tight! I would have started crying, but she then shouted, "I had to take off my coat in the car because of my hot flashes!!" It was so funny because I was standing outside because I, too was having a HOT FLASH and I went to stand in the rain. There is something really indescribable to have love relationships with those who were with you when you got your first period and your first hot flash!
Here we are near Venice Beach. Chele, Rox and I took a cart ride down here to enjoy a cocktail and snack before our dinner at Craig's!
Us in January 2023 and .... (scroll down)
....us in like 85'! Love you so much Michele!! Thank you for the most wonderful first day in L.A.! You are still that positive, independent, kind hearted, fierce girl who has forever marched to her own, joyous beat! You make me better! I love you always and forever!
So, we have 5pm dinner reservations on a Friday night at a restaurant called, Craig's. 5pm! Lol. They did not have anything later and I reserved a table a few months prior. I was told that it was a "celebrity hang out", but that the food was not over priced. Hmmm, that sounded odd because what I was discovering quickly was that EVERYTHING was insanely high priced in L.A.!
Craig's L.A.
I love when you have no clue what to expect about an evening. I was just excited to be with Rox and Michele and be in L.A. I had no expectations of any outing we had planned because I was new to this city. Who could be out at 5pm for dinner? Well, we get seated in outdoor seating underneath a heating lamp. It was beautiful out there and you could barely tell you were outside with the warm lamps and plants and lighting. Very much my kind of ambiance because it was a bit darker with mood lighting. Our server seriously looked like a 25 year old Bay Watch lifeguard - like a Ken doll and he was a lil angel. We had wine, a pizza, a caesar salad, tuna tartar, & rigatoni with vodka sauce and two different desserts. Everything was perfectly lovely, fairly priced, and fun to share! But for the first time ever, the food was just a background thing to me. I was on cloud 9 teetering back and forth between LOVING that Michele and I were catching up and stepping outside every 25 minutes due to hot flash level melting underneath that lava lamp we were sitting under! Well, while I would go back and forth from the outdoor veranda to the actual outside, I had to walk through the restaurant each time. Michele and Rox can vouch - I was melting! Turned out, walking back and forth about 4 times during dinner, made for the most interesting 'meet cutes!' Here's one...
I was sitting close to this character and some other well dressed guy in a suit who he would call, 'boss.' Turns out, this is Yehya, from Jimmy Kimmel and he sits here outside of Craig's every night according to my Uber driver who ran out of his vehicle to give Yehya a hug! Oh my gosh, I love you Yehya! He had such a fun time giving me shit about my Ranger accent! We hung out each time I went to cool off.
Another fun 'meet-cute' was when I went to open the door to go outside, the exact same time Wayne Knight was entering. Teeny pause, me: "Hiiiiii!!!!" him: "Hiiiiii!!!" And we both laughed. Everywhere we looked, there were recognizable actors. Oh my gosh, it was so fun! I then realized, "ya know, if it is a place that is a "known" celeb hang out, then both celebs & non celebs know that.... so that's what makes it fun! everyone is okay with that!" Lol - Michele and I totally recognized actors that we couldn't recall names of. I found people looking at me twice and I wondered if they were thinking - "Oh, is Kelly Clarkson heavy again?" Lol - (I was feeling cute that night) oxo
All I can say is that my food blogging sucks when it comes to Craig's, but I WOULD DEFINITELY GO BACK AGAIN and I will do a better job at reviewing our dishes. It was such a fun night! A great vibe! I had a total blast! I remember the dessert being really good. I give my evening there 5 kisses to our server and the manager who came to greet us and check on us more than once!
Saturday, Rox and I had reservations to eat at "The Fig" which is located inside of the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica. It was a beautiful place! Inside and out! There was this shop inside of the hotel near the restaurant that pulled me in like a magnet!! Everything ocean!! Clothes with a water theme! Swimwear, dresses, jean shorts!!! I went up to the jean shorts that had a green sea turtle sewn in and a wavy pattern on the inside fabric!! They had my size! I want them! Look at price - 498$!!! What the!! Crap. I was worried they were going to be over 100$. Boo hoo - but I am keeping my eye on their site for 75% off sales?? lol. Vilebrequin is the name of the store.
Fig Restaurant
Fairmont Hotel
Santa Monica, CA
Delicious homemade donuts and this delectable cheddar & bacon biscuit! 5 kisses for sure!
My A+ salmon benedict with perfectly lemony hollandaise & runny yolk.... Mmmm!!
I really wanted to have a little time on Hollywood Boulevard! I stumbled on some of my very favorites of all time!! I always loved Walter Matthau! My heart!! I love him!!
Groucho!!! Come on! I was obsessed with You Bet Your Life! oxox
There's no place like home - with one of the Queens of LGBTQ+ advocacy!
Every now and then, if you throw caution to the wind and just see what the day brings, you may end up finding a gem! On our last evening, Rox and I were pretty tuckered out from a full day of touring L.A. We were both coming down from the high of meeting Jay and seeing him perform and were both feeling pretty grateful for a wonderful long weekend together. Parking is a BiiiiAhhhTchhhh in these neck of the woods, but I spotted an Italian spot on Ocean Avenue. I dropped Rox off and began to circle. I ended up on ocean view freeway and had to turn around. Finally, I got a spot in their little lot. You walk in and Bruno's smells like how my Nana's kitchen smelled every Sunday. The first thing you smell is the best tomatoes paired with oregano, basil and even pasta water smell!! I took a big whiffff!!!! Rox was smart and ordered a bite while she waited forever - homemade meatballs and fresh bread!! All you have to do is check out these pictures and you will know what I mean. Super pure, old school, delicious! By the time we left, I thanked our server who was a dear!!! and we waved goodbye to the kitchen and blew kisses saying "delicious!" Oh gosh, I think it must have been Bruno and I should have said hello! He had an Italian accent (hot!!) and said he was so glad we enjoyed! Small, delicious place that I will be returning to if I ever make it back to L.A. 5 kisses to everyone at Bruno's!!
Bruno's
Santa Monica, CA
Can you even!!?? You can't find this kind of authenticity anymore! So delicious!
I love getting a good caesar and since I tasted their delicious red sauce and meatballs, I wanted Linguini with clams. It is something I always ordered at this little Italian joint in Fargo, ND. The owner, a New Yorker, served this dish and Bruno's was nearly spot on to my old friend who gave me my first stage to do stand up comedy on back in 1993. "The Spaghetti Shack" (It just needed one, nice, extra ladle of sauce to match my friend's). I love when food transports ya!! This whole meal was fucking awesome! Whew! I had to get it out.
Thank you for joining me - I hope I can bring you some joy! Love, Sue - tableforsue.com
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