Alison Martino | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation(s) | Television producer, Writer, Historian |
Years active | 1998–present |
Alison Martino (born December 15, 1970 in Los Angeles, California) is a writer, television producer and historian. She is the daughter of the late singer Al Martino and his wife, American Airlines flight attendant and model Judi Stilwell Martino. [1]
Known as an expert in Los Angeles history, Martino has been referred to as the "Godmother" of old LA and the Sunset Strip. [2] Her knowledge of Los Angeles has been featured in numerous regional publications such as Curbed LA , [3] [4] [5] Los Angeles Magazine, [6] [7] WeHoVille, [8] [9] The Hollywood Reporter [10] and nationally in the Los Angeles Times , [11] Huffington Post [12] and The New York Times . [13] She has also been featured in various television and radio programs such as ABC's Eye on L.A., [14] NPR, [15] and the nationally syndicated shows The Insider, Travel Channel's Baggage Battles, Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations and 2018's In Ice Cold Blood, hosted by Ice-T. In 2019, Alison became an on-air contributor for Spectrum News channel on a series called The SoCal Scene [16] produced by Make Fresh Productions.
As an author she has written numerous articles for Los Angeles Magazine . [17]
Martino is also a successful television producer, spending much of the late 1990s and 2000s in various production television roles, producing multiple episodes of E! Entertainment Television's Mysteries and Scandals as well as the popular reality shows Trading Spaces, Celebrity Rehab and the critically acclaimed Intervention. In 2014, she teamed up with P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes of The Ebersole Hughes Company to create the web series VLA TV, [18] premiering on her YouTube channel. In 2017, she co-produced a documentary on Jayne Mansfield titled Mansfield 66/67. [19]
In 2010, Martino created the online community Vintage Los Angeles which documents the history of Los Angeles. [20]
West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages in the United States.
The Sunset Strip is the 1.7-mile (2.7 km) stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly Hills at Phyllis Street. The Sunset Strip is known for its boutiques, restaurants, rock clubs, and nightclubs, as well as its array of huge, colorful billboards.
The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California.
Gower Gulch is a nickname for the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Hollywood. It forms the northern boundary of Little Armenia and runs through Thai Town. After crossing the Hollywood Freeway, it runs through central Hollywood and heads into a tourist area, including attractions such as the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the Hollywood and Highland district. At its western end, after crossing Fairfax Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard merges into northbound Laurel Canyon Boulevard which continues north into the western Hollywood Hills. Hollywood Blvd continues westbound as a winding residential street. Three B (Red) Line Metro Rail stations are located on Hollywood Boulevard: Hollywood/Western station, Hollywood/Vine station, and Hollywood/Highland station.
Crossroads of the World is an open-air mall on Sunset Boulevard and Las Palmas in Los Angeles. The mall features a central building designed to resemble an ocean liner surrounded by a small village of cottage-style bungalows. It was designed by Robert V. Derrah, built in 1936, and has been called America's first outdoor shopping mall.
Zankou Chicken is a small, family-owned chain of Armenian and Mediterranean fast casual restaurants located in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Little Armenia. The restaurants are especially known for their spit-roasted chicken, shawarma, falafel, tahini, and a "secret" garlic sauce.
Brad Stephen "Taylor" Negron was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Milo in the 1991 buddy cop action comedy film The Last Boy Scout.
P. David Ebersole is an American television director, independent filmmaker, and novelist. He began his film career as a child actor, playing the lead in the musical Junior High School (1978), which also starred Paula Abdul.
Norma Triangle is a residential neighborhood in West Hollywood, California. It encompasses the area bound by Doheny Drive and Beverly Hills on the west, Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive on the north, and Santa Monica Boulevard on the south. The small district has the shape of a right triangle.
The Earl Carroll Theatre was a historic stage facility located at 6230 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It was built by showman Earl Carroll and designed in the Streamline Moderne style by architect Gordon Kaufmann in 1938. The theatre has been known by a number of names since, including Moulin Rouge from 1953 to 1964 and the Aquarius Theater in the 1960s and 1970s. From 1997 to 2017, it was officially known as Nickelodeon on Sunset, housing the West Coast production of live-action original series produced for the Nickelodeon cable channel.
The Tiffany Theater was the first theater on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California. It stood west of La Cienega between the Playboy Club and Dino's Lodge restaurant. Before being converted from the Mary Webb Davis Modeling School office at 8532 W. Sunset Blvd to a movie theater, the building had been seen in the 1958–1964 television series 77 Sunset Strip as the office for detectives Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes.
Wallichs Music City was a record store in Hollywood, California, USA, founded by Glenn E. Wallichs, that also had stores in West Covina, Lakewood, Canoga Park, Costa Mesa, Torrance, Buena Park, and Hawthorne from 1940–1978 and was one of the first to display cellophane sealed albums in racks. Wallichs stayed open until 2 a.m.
Todd Hughes is an American screenwriter, author, producer and film director. He is a Columbia University graduate and currently resides in Palm Springs, California and Mérida, Yucatán.
9200 Sunset is a commercial office building at 9200 and 9220 Sunset Boulevard at the west end of the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California.
Shahs of Sunset is an American reality television series that aired on Bravo. The series debuted on March 11, 2012 and ended August 29, 2021. The series followed a group of Iranian Americans living in Beverly Hills, who are trying to juggle their active social lives and up-and-coming careers while balancing the demands of their families and traditions. It is the second American reality television show about Iranians after E!'s Love Is in the Heir in 2004. The series originally focused on Reza Farahan, Golnesa Gharachedaghi, Sammy Younai, Asa Soltan Rahmati, Mike Shouhed, and Mercedes Javid. Of the original shahs, Younai left after the first season and Soltan Rahmati departed after the sixth. The remaining shahs joined in later seasons, Rose and Vand in the seventh. Past shahs include Lilly Ghalichi, Asifa Mirza and Shervin Roohparvar.
Mansfield 66/67 is a 2017 documentary musical directed by P. David Ebersole and Todd Hughes about the last two years of actress Jayne Mansfield's life. The film examines the rumors surrounding Mansfield's untimely death, and relationship with Anton LaVey as a celebration of Mansfield's life on the 50th anniversary of her death.
Hamburger Hamlet or "The Hamlet", was a chain of restaurants based in Los Angeles, a point of reference for Angelenos and for the creative industries that were located in the city. Opened in 1950 by film actor Harry Lewis with his future wife Marilyn (m.1952), it grew to a chain of 24 locations, including Chicago and the Washington, D.C. metro areas. before they were all either sold or closed down.
Edward Donald Rubin was an American jazz and rock drummer, and composer. His repertoire included rock, jazz, pop, R&B, folk, and blues, although he had a preference for jazz drumming. Rubin is best known for his performances and recordings during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s with artists Neil Diamond, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Johnny Rivers, Dexter Gordon, Ornette Coleman, Paul Revere & The Raiders and Don Randi.
The LAX color tunnels were designed in the 1950s and installed in 1961 at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Seven tunnels were created, three remain open to the public. The tunnels were envisioned by the architecture firm Pereira & Luckman, to minimize the experienced distance of the 300–500-foot (91–152 m) tunnels. The work was overseen by Charles D. Kratka, the firm's head of interior design and they were designed by Janet Bennett, then a young artist on his team. The tiles were produced by Alfonso Pardinas of Byzantine Mosaics in San Francisco.