of course, it's not like the postcards say it is. this is what it's like. i'm pete appleton, and this is my town.
born and raised here, thank you very much. sometimes, it seems like everyone here is from somewhere else. but everyone loves the movies, so hollywood is everyone's town, and they come here by the busload. to them, grauman's chinese theater is just about the most exciting place on the planet. to me, it's the theater that's playing "the african queen."
that's me and my girlfriend. her name is sandra sinclair, and this is her town, too -- she's from cleveland. she came out here to be an actress, and that's just what she's doing. the first picture i ever wrote, a little potboiler called "sand pirates of the sahara." okay, it ain't "citizen kane," but you gotta start somewhere.
we were young, we were in love, and we were working in pictures. life.  was good.
i had no idea how i got to santa monica, but it certainly was a good idea. i don't think i could've faced the headache i had alone in my apartment. at least i had the ocean air.
three forty-five. i had only been there for a couple of hours at most. truth be told, i was still fairly drunk.
i'd head north until the sun came up or i ran out of gas, whichever came first.
guess which came first.
i should've known better than to think that a service station in the sticks would be open at this hour, but it wasn't like i had a lot of choices.
what the hell. at least there'd be a diner opening in a couple of hours. i'd get some pie and coffee, and then i could worry about the gas.
dear adele, on my way back to lawson stop. that is, if they'll have me stop. train arrives four p.m. stop. hope you can be there stop. pete.
"happily ever after" is a relative term, folks. my world is much smaller now, and my dreams are very different than they were. but i have something now that i never had before: i have the magic. and it's for sale at the bijou, every day of the year. all you need is the price of a ticket.