Monday, November 9, 2009

Our 15 minutes of fame

I may have mentioned a while back that there would be no more posts about Lakeview Cottages. Well, that wasn't exactly the case, but at the time I wrote that, our lips were sealed.

We had guests for that whole last weekend, a reporter from the L.A. Times, Tom Curwen, and Times photographer, Mark Boster. They basically shadowed us all weekend, starting Friday after until we pulled out for the last time late Sunday afternoon. They shared meals, sat around the fire, followed Mark and George all weekend, along with several others of the owner group who came for a while on Saturday, watching every minute detail of what it means to close down 13 rustic cabins for the winter season. Mark B. took thousands of pictures--or at least it seemed that way, along with recording the sounds of the weekend--flames crackling, bacon frying, screw guns, staple guns, conversations. At first it was a little disconcerting, knowing he was recording a lot of what we said, but then we kind of got used to it. And Tom was never without his little notebook. They asked about everything from what motivated us to become a part of the owner group to what music we had playing in our cabin or on our ipods during the weekend. Mark B. took pictures of the beautiful scenery and pictures of Mark W. plunging the toilets. Along the way, we got to know each other on a more personal basis....because that is what happens when you spend time around a campfire. Somehow things that you might not feel comfortable sharing, especially with someone you just met, become easy to talk about with the flames crackling.

Both mornings, all four of the guys got up early and went down to the lake to fish, building a fire to keep a little warmer.


Mark Boster--never without his camera, even when eating lunch

Then the waiting game began. When would the article be printed? What would Tom's angle be when he wrote it? If pictures accompanied the article, and we happened to be in them, would they be flattering or would we look dorky? Where would the article be "buried"? After all, it was in the L.A. Times, a big paper with a big circulation. Somewhere back in the Life section?

Well, the slide show went online late last night, and it is definitely worth taking a look at. We were able to read the online article this morning. Then George went to Barnes and Noble to be there when it opened at 9 a.m. and I headed off to Borders, where we each bought every single copy of the L.A. Times that was available. Yep, we are now proud owners of 15 copies.

And where was the article actually "buried"? Uh....

Section A, page 1. Let me repeat that.

Section A, page 1.

I called Mark at work. I called my mother to tell her my name was on the front page of the Times but that I had not committed a crime to get there. And I texted Aaron and Christa. Aaron texted me back: "You mean Column One. That is the big one for L.A. Times." Checked my paper. Jeepers!!! We ARE Column One! Who knew? (and side note: how did Aaron know that? When I called George to let him know that little tidbit, that was his question as well. "How does your son know all these random things?" Yeah, well he's always known so much random info that I wasn't sure how he had room for all the stuff he needed to know to become an optometrist, but that's a topic for another day.)

I was hoping I could put the actual slide show right here, but I don't think the L.A. Times wanted me to do that, so here is the link:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-huntington-resort-ss,0,7804935.htmlstory

So I'm just trying to expand our 15 minutes into a full 24 hours. Until the next issue of the L.A. Times comes out and we are just "yesterday's news."

12 comments:

05 08
JHNickodemus said... #

Yahoo congratulations! It's a great article!

Katie said... #

You guys are FANTASTIC! That slideshow was amazing. I hope you can get copies of some of his pictures of you and Mark...there were some good ones.

Sharon said... #

Bob just came in and said, "Hey, there is a great article about Mark and Cindy and their cabins at Huntington on the LA times website!" I read it and then I checked your blog and found the link to the slide show. Great pictures and a wonderful article. Congratulations on your 15 minutes :)

Letterpress said... #

Just went on and read the article--terrific write-up. Sounds like an idyllic place to summer. And a lot of work to button up for the winter. I loved the slide show as well.

Thanks for posting it.

Aaron said... #

It's from reading way to many LA Times over my lifetime. Here is a quote from wikipedia:

"One of the Times' best-known news columns is "Column One," a feature that appears daily on the front page to the left-hand side. Established in September 1968, it is a place for the weird and the interesting; in the How Far Can a Piano Fly? (a compilation of Column One stories) introduction, Patt Morrison writes that the column's purpose is to elicit a "Gee, that's interesting, I didn't know that" type of reaction."

The Luedtke Family said... #

Perhaps it is Aaron's reading of Column One that gave him all of his random bits of info!

The Luedtke Family said... #

Awesome article! I would love to spend some time. Peaceful and serene! Congratulations!!!

The Isaacs said... #

That is so neat! The photographer did a great job capturing the beauty- we might just have to head up there one of these summers!

Leah said... #

cool! how exciting for you!

k said... #

So neat! Beautiful photography.

Anonymous said... #
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said... #
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.