Fire At The French Market Café - Merde!

A lot of places I love have closed in Venice while I've been away, and a little part of me is crushed every time. It's all sad, but nothing has hit me as hard as hearing that my beloved French Market Café has had a fire early yesterday morning, and is now closed indefinitely. I could (did) just cry.

When I'm in Venice, I go to the French every day. It is my coffee spot, my place to visit with my friends that both work and frequent there, and the place you can most regularly find me other than the beach. This is a hard one to swallow.

Back in the days when I didn't call my Mom every day (you live and learn that these things are necessary), she would even call the French to make sure I had been there and all was ok with me. If I had a work meeting, I would always suggest the French first. I was so thrilled when they announced last year that they would be opening for evenings and serving dishes from the old Lily's menu - another now gone favorite. It was tough to get people to that end of Abbot Kinney at night, but they were doing it. Now what?!

It was always a delight to celebrate Bastille Day at the French, with Can Can girls dancing and champagne flowing in the sunshine on the patio. Who can forget the day that France won the World Cup in 2018, and all the French ex-pats in Los Angeles descended on the packed French Market, driving cars around with flags waving out the windows. A total blast, and one of the most happy and fun memories ever had at our beloved Frenchie

I haven't been able to reach Agnes (Martinez, the owner and a dear friend) yet to know what happened exactly, but it just kills me that I'm not there ... and that it's now very up in the air if I will ever again get my favorite Mocha in town there again. This global pandemic has forced us all to handle a LOT of loss for sure, but some things really do hurt more than others, and this is one of them for me. MERDE!

Je t'aime, French Market, Agnes, Jenny, and all of my friends who work there, who go there, and who love it as much as I do. Hoping so much for the best outcome, that we may all gather there in the sun again one day soon.

A fundraiser has been set up by Agnes' friend, Yon Idiart, to help the French get through this extra hard time. You may donate HERE! Merci! 

Vive La French Market!!!

Farewell Madame Varda!

I was sad to hear the news today of the passing of Agnes Varda, widely known as the mother of French New Wave Cinema. She was one of a kind.

I've written stories about her projects in the past, as I found them so moving. First, The Beaches of Agnes, which is filmed partially in Venice, and couldn't be more lovely.

More recently, I was charmed out of my socks by the wonderful Faces/Places ... and I bet you will be too.

Varda saw the humanity in all of us everywhere, and made the viewer feel it too. I hope to touch people even just a little bit as much as she did one day, and thank this legend for her inspiration always. 90 is a great run, but the loss of this marvelous woman is still a tough one. She will be missed by the entire world. 

Vive Varda!

The French Market Celebrates Bastille Day With World Cup Championship!

The French Market was like the happiest place on Earth yesterday, when on the very day they had long planned for their annual Bastille Day celebration, France played in the World Cup final - and won! You've never seen more happy Frenchmen and women - except for maybe in actual France.

I was a bit torn as to who to root for, as I love my Frenchies, but my dearest friend back home is married to a Croatian man, and when I was home for a visit recently, we were cheering for Croatia all the way - like wearing the merch cheering. I looked at it as a win-win, because I'd really and truly be happy either way ... and let's face it, it's really a bunch of men kicking a ball around, so the world would still continue to spin around, whatever the outcome.

The French, however, were all in. Because it was also the Bastille Day shindig, the stage was already set with the tri-color bunting and flags everywhere. There was a t.v. set up inside and outside, to better watch the riveting match that really was not reflected well in the final score of 4-2. Croatia played wonderfully, but France got the ball in the net two times more and that was that. Venice erupted in cheers (in French) and cars waving flags drove back and forth between The French Market and Zinqué, with French happiness at a zenith. You couldn't help but share in their joy as people were lifted off of the ground in ecstatic embraces between countrymen/women. The elation was truly infectious.

Champagne flowed as people got their faces and bodies painted in the red, white, and blue of France, and French Market owner, Agnes Martinez, beamed at the sight of so many of her friends and fellow French folk went crazy with that special kind of jubilation that seems to only come from winning soccer games ...

... and maybe Can Can girls! When the Moulin Rouge type girls made their entrance to the French Market patio, the people gathered erupted in cheers again, and rowdily cheered on the dancers kicking up their heels to the classic French anthems. It was about as close as you could get to Gay Paree without actually being there, and everyone was loving it.

Bastille Day is already a packed to the rafters affair each year at The French Market, but to have it coincide with the World Cup Final - it was super extra tight squeeze in there. They had all the French specialties going (Croque Monsiuer, etc ...), as well as non-stop refilling of the celebratory bubbly, and they did it all with smiles - and berets on! Kudos to the hard workers that are there ever day, but especially in the mad house that was yesterday! Love you guys!

French Toast (The French Market mascot) was there to oversee it all, and perhaps played the good luck charm role that was needed to lift France over Croatia, without the extra time that Croatia had been forcing the whole tournament. Whatever it takes!

I was so happy for my French friends, looking around at how over the top happy they all were. It was a doubly special day for them all, and it was a delight to celebrate with and for them on a perfect Summer day on Abbot Kinney!  Vive La France!!

Faces Places - The Power Of Imagination

When it's May Gray days, you kind of just want to hunker down and watch a movie or something, right? There used to be a section on Netflix (when you got the dvds in the mail) where it said something like "People in Venice, CA are watching:" and it never let me down. It let me know that I was living in the right place, that my community shared my general views and tastes, and it turned me on to several films that I might not have otherwise known about. Like The Beaches Of Agnes.

Agnes Varda is the "Grandmother of the French New Wave", and was a resident of Venice, where our beach was featured in her beautiful film from 2008. The Beaches Of Agnes was so great, that I will watch every other thing she ever does, and last chilly night I snuggled in with a blanket to watch her newest film, Faces Places ... and I loved it just as much - maybe more.

Varda is a tiny little woman, who reminds one of an elderly Rachel Dratch (of SNL fame), but with a Friar Tuck-like  two-toned hair-do, for fun. I adore her. What a font of pure inspiration! She embarks on road trips around rural France with the photographer/muralist JR (a hip, young enthusiastic French dude who never takes off his shades, to Varda's annoyance), and they shoot everyday people doing everyday things, and then make them huge and grand and important looking by pasting them up on the side of giant buildings, bridges, water towers, barns ... and the result is pure beauty.

In one part of the film, Varda says, "The point is the power of imagination." And it is. Their ideas and conversations and art all celebrate both imagination and humanity, in such a lovely way that most likely you will both laugh and cry, like I did. When you see an elderly woman (who is the last person remaining in her village that is going to be torn down) come outside and see her photo on the outside of her house, and be so moved ... you can't help but be moved yourself. It reminds me a bit of the also excellent documentary Wasteland, where you witness the same sheer glory of real people.

I always go back to the Einstein quote that goes, "Remember your humanity and forget the rest", and this film helps you to do exactly that. If you're looking for a wonderful escape from all the ugliness and meanness and sadness all around us in the world today, here you go. An hour and a half where I thought of nothing but the grace and love that remains all around us, if you can just let yourself be open to it. Our own faces and places are still pretty great too, just look around.  It would be awesome if Varda and JR returned to Venice to capture some of our Visages Villages (the original French title - oh, it is in French with sub-titles, but you can do it!) Enjoy!

Thank you, Madame Varga!