August 25th, 7:00 PM. Do you want to read something funny?  Let’s say, a novel set at a divorce ranch in Reno in the 1930s?  A book with memorably eccentric characters, sparkling dialogue, a satisfying plot twist, and some romance and sex?  A feel-good literary comedy/western?  Here it is, then, the book you’ve been looking for: Julia Claiborne Johnson’s Better Luck Next Time.”— author of Dear Committee Members and The Shakespeare Requirement

The eagerly anticipated second novel from the bestselling author of Be Frank with Me, a charming story of endings, new beginnings, and the complexities and complications of friendship and love, set in late 1930s Reno.
$10 Presentation only  – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)*
$15 Presentation only  – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)*
$31.74 Better Luck Next Time book signed by author Julia Claiborne Johnson – Available for pick up at Chevalier’s Bookstore or shipped for an additional $6
*After your purchase you will be emailed the special presentation link by 6pm the day before the presentation and by 12pm on the day of the presentation.

The Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society

presents

BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME

with author Julia Claiborne Johnson

Please join us WEDNESDAY August 25th, 7:00 PM

It’s 1938 and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the “divorce capital of the world,” Reno, Nevada. There’s one catch: they have to wait six weeks to become “residents.” Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need.

Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he’s earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks—“Cary Grant in cowboy boots”—Ward thinks he’s got the Flying Leap’s clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.

A novel about divorce, marriage, and everything that comes in between (money, class, ambition, and opportunity), Better Luck Next Time is a hilarious yet poignant examination of the ways friendship can save us, love can destroy us, and the family we create can be stronger than the family we come from.

WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27TH, 7:00 PM Clete Keith never had thoughts of writing a book, let alone one on the paranormal. He was not someone totally convinced of the existence of ghosts or spiritual hauntings-until he started working at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. After twenty-two years working at the mansion, he woke up one night with the idea of writing a book about the stories he has heard as well as his own experiences. Ghosts of Greystone – Beverly Hills is a landmark exposé of eyewitness accounts detailing supernatural activity associated with this extraordinary location.
$10 Presentation only  – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)*
$15 Presentation only  – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)*
$44 Presentation and autographed hardcover book including shipping, Member price (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)*
$49 Presentation and autographed hardcover book including shipping, Non-Member price (Pay Below with small Paypal fee*
*After your purchase you will be emailed the special presentation link by 6pm the day before the presentation and by 12pm on the day of the presentation.

Purchase book or additional books separately

The Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society

presents

GHOSTS OF GREYSTONE – BEVERLY HILLS

with author Clete Keith

Please join us WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 27TH, 7:00 PM

Having been approached by many guests, patrons, and employees over the years, Keith has heard it all. “Two tourists walked up to me and asked how they could get inside the mansion for the tour. When I told them the interior is closed to the public one replied, ‘Oh, because we saw a man in period clothing staring out the window and we thought he was part of the tour.’” This marks just one encounter of 237 paranormal stories documented at Greystone Mansion. Keith spent nearly three years researching the supernatural activity at the estate. With 86 interviews, including guests of the park, City staff, police officers, movie crew personnel, and janitorial services, Ghosts of Greystone – Beverly Hills promises you a riveting history and ghostly encounters. For more than two decades, the mystery surrounding the strange events taking place in and around Greystone Mansion has been suppressed, ignored, and disbelieved. Along with rare photographs and intriguing details about the landscape and architecture, Keith delves into the family of Ned and Lucy Doheny, including the fateful murder/suicide on the night of February 16, 1929, and other unfortunate deaths that surround these enigmatic grounds that may have stoked the paranormal fire of activity. “People from all over the world come to visit this iconic location. They want to peek behind the curtain and observe this ghostly estate for themselves. Ghosts of Greystone – Beverly Hills will allow them to do just that.”

November 10th at 7:00pm. In Saving Radio City Music Hall, published by TurningPointPress, Rosemary Novellino-Mearns reveals how Radio City Music Hall, Art Deco masterpiece and New York City’s premiere tourist attraction for generations, was saved from demolition. After years of struggling with intense, sometimes painful memories, “Rosie” tells the honest, fact-filled, emotionally charged, and often humorous story of how she organized the gargantuan effort to save Radio City Music Hall in the Spring of 1978. Against all odds, and in only four months, she succeeded. Readers will be shocked by the “no good deed goes unpunished” climax of the story in which Rosie reveals her reward for spearheading the movement to save “The Showplace of the Nation.”

*$10 Presentation only  – Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
*$15 Presentation only  – Non Members (Pay Below with small Paypal fee)
Book available through Amazon
*After your purchase you will be emailed the special presentation link by 6pm the day before the presentation and by 12pm on the day of the presentation.

Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society

Presents

Saving Radio City Music Hall – A Dancer’s True Story

by Rosemary Novellino-Mearns

November 10th at 7:00pm

A modest but determined young dancer from Glen Rock, New Jersey, Rosemary Novellino joined the Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company, the classical dance counterpart to the world-famous Rockettes, in 1966. After a shaky beginning, she danced with the group for twelve years, eventually becoming its Dance Captain and Assistant to the legendary choreographer Peter Gennaro. In the mid-1970s, questionable behind-the-scenes changes in Music Hall management alarmed hundreds of employees, but no one was prepared for the official announcement in early 1978, that Radio City Music Hall was slated to close that April and be demolished.

Drawing upon formerly untapped inner strengths, Rosemary refused to let this happen. She became President of “The Showpeople’s Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall” and motivated fellow workers, friends, thousands of Radio City fans around the world, New York and national media, cultural leaders and politicians to support the cause. As a result of these efforts, the Art Deco palace was declared a National Historic Landmark. saving not only the building but the jobs and livelihoods of thousands of Music Hall employees on stage and behind the scenes who have entertained millions to this day. This “heartfelt and very personal account of that effort,” says Booklist, “provides a backstage glimpse of the drama that ensued and features a cast of characters that includes performers, politicians, the media, and some very heavy hitters in the world of New York real estate that will delight readers interested in the performing arts and their history in the U.S.”

SOLD OUT. Saturday, April 10, 2022, 10:00-Noon. Join us for a walking tour of Los Angeles’ premier Hancock Park enclave with realtor Bret Parsons and architectural historian Eleanor Schrader. You’ll learn the secrets that illuminate this historic HPOZ neighborhood founded in the 1920s by George Allan Hancock. Be regaled with details about its architecture and architects, movie and television filming locations, plus anecdotes about the lavish lifestyles of the famous (and infamous!) personalities who resided here. This tour focuses on Muirfield Road and Rossmore Avenue. Wear comfortable shoes.

$50 Members
$60 Non-Members

SOLD OUT