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This is part four of a book report on Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A., by Lili Anolik. More chapters are available. one two three Pictures for this profusion of confusion are from The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.
RACHEL KUSHNER: You mentioned to me (in an email) that you learned new things about yourself from listening to that (very juicy) podcast by Lili Anolik on Bennington College. Can you say more? BRET EASTON ELLIS: It was just odd to hear your life presented as a kind of oral history lesson and even odder to realize that this era at Bennington has somehow become a compelling story for a lot of people. If only we knew back then, I think we might have behaved a bit differently. I think there was an overemphasis on drugs (maybe not) that surprised me, and some publishing stuff surrounding Less Than Zero that I don’t quite remember in the same way a few editors do. I also learned a lot about Donna Tartt, which I hadn’t expected.
BEE is the thread that runs through all of these rags. I first heard about Eve on his podcast, including the Earl McGrath quote. Lili was a guest, probably when she was promoting HE. Lili, at some point, did a podcast series about Bennington College, featuring BEE. Finally, Eve wrote a blurb for Less Than Zero, when BEE was a young nobody.
185 “Eve wasn’t attempting books, though she did blurb one, the debut of a valley boy, a mere sixteen when he completed the first draft. “This is the novel your mother warned you about … Jim Morrison would be proud.” … BEE met Eve after LTZ was published. “My memory of Eve in the semi darkness of Ports in 1985 is that she was very buxom, very flirtatious, great smile. She wasn’t a ditzy Southern California girl. She was almost a parody of that idea. And then through the parody, this no-nonsense intelligence would come out.”
Ports was an accessory for Eve during the squalid overboogie days. “Forty years ago today, on Feb. 9, 1970, a burly actor named Jock Livingston and his artist wife, Micaela, opened an extraordinary, eccentric, and eventually rather legendary restaurant called Ports, across the street from Goldwyn Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. … The place had formerly been a bar called Sports Inn and Jock had climbed up a ladder, … and removed the first letter and the last three. … Micaela had very definite ideas about the people who dined and drank (and worked) at the establishment, and she expressed them with a biting wit. When one brash young man was overheard complaining loudly that he’d been sitting there for 10 minutes and hadn’t gotten menus, she said, sotto voce, “You haven’t even earned your napkins yet.” When a regular described a vapidly handsome young waiter as looking like an 8×10 glossy, she added, “Yes, and only on one side.”
Self promotion is important in the BEE-Lili-Eve world. Capitalist BEE is currently hustling The Shards. Lili returns the favor on facebook: “Lili Anolik reads the iconic opening of Less Than Zero. Return to 1980’s Los Angeles with Bret’s new novel, The Shards, on January 17th. Pre-order now.”
One page 198, Mirandi Babitz enters. Mirandi (née Miriam,) the younger sister of Eve, was a valuable source for Lili. Mirandi was an important part of the story. Mirandi was dating Julian Wasser when he took the chess photograph. Mirandi owned a leather shop, and made a pair for Jim Morrison.
222 “Miranda watched Morrison perform at the London Fog, then called Eve.”You have to see this guy, he’s Edith Piaf with a dick.” Eve stopped by the club the next night, seduced Morrison the night after that … her description of Morrison was pretty irresistible, and Eve, as a rule, didn’t resist.”
241 *”I’m not going to identify this famous lover or any of the other famous lovers mentioned in this section. Why not? To paraphrase Eve, so I don’t get sued!”
250 “… after we’ve brought Eve to the Village Idiot for a lunch of Ale steamed mussels and deep-fried brussel sprouts and cinnamon-sugar-dusted churros, after Eve dragged me to a nearby 7-Eleven so I can buy her $100 worth of British tabloids and disposable e-cigarettes” When Lili caught up with Eve, the LA woman was in reduced circumstances. Eve never really had a job, and when she caught on fire, there were $$ problems. Even in her glory days, Eve knew how to work people. What are tits for?”
Lili pursued Eve. There was a profitable story to be told. Lili saw a payday, took Eve to lunch, and bought her prezzies. When Eve finally accepted Lili’s invitation, the author flew from New York to Los Angeles the next day. Being a doctor’s wife has its advantages. The End

Publishing Hollywood’s Eve Part One had an unexpected complication. When tweeting the link, I thought it would be cool to tag author @LiliAnolik. Only one problem … the link would not come up. I thought her name was spelled Lily, with a y. Fortunately, WordPress is easy to edit, and I was about to correct this. … So it is another day. The episode will actually be about the Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A. Lili has a lot of *notes, for details that don’t fit her narrative. One way to cover HE is to go through the *notes, and see what they inspire.
016 * “Eve has told this story both orally and in writing many—many times as in many—many times. Though the major details remain constant, the minor change. … I went with this one for no better reason than because I like it best.” Julian Wasser was a photographer, a bf of Mirandi Babitz … Eve’s sister … and a California player in 1963. He took a famous picture of Eve playing chess with Marcel Duchamp. Eve’s fashion statement in the picture was very well received.
023 “What are tits for?” * “A rhetorical question posed by Eve, in casual conversation.”
034 “New York is hot in the summer, so I got a boyfriend who had air-conditioning. Ralph Metzner. Ralph was part of Timothy Leary’s team. I hated Tim. He was an alcoholic, and he always ordered everybody around as soon as he walked into a room. He made me type all his lectures, and he couldn’t write.” Eve went to New York in 1966, stayed a year, and had a lot of adventures.
044 “In every young man’s life there is an Eve Babitz. It is usually Eve Babitz.” This observation is in every piece ever written about Eve, so we can now take that off the to-do list. It is blamed on Earl McGrath, who was a well connected piece of work. “I was researching a piece on Andy Warhol and … Edie Sedgwick and received a message …He needed to reschedule the day of our interview. “ Earl’s memorial service has been postponed to let the smart set at Jerry Hall’s wedding to Rupert Murdoch fly across the Atlantic including the bride and groom.”
Earl McGrath is one of the degrees of connection that populated Eve’s life. Earl came from humbled beginnings, and charmed/fucked his way into friendships with many famous people. Eve met Earl one morning at Peter Pilafian’s house. Earl came by one morning to hit on Peter, and became friends with Eve. Earl and Eve were faghag buddies, until they were not. Earl appears in “Slow Days Fast Company” as a toxic queen. … Earl does not have a wikipedia page. Nor does Lili Anolik. As best I can determine, Earl did not have a middle name.
060 It is another rule … all stories about sixties California must mention Charles Manson. “The first time I saw Sharon was at the Cafe’ de Paris in Rome. It was 1961, the same year I saw the pope. I couldn’t believe anyone was that beautiful.” Later, Bobby Beausoleil stayed with Eve for a week. “He’d worn a sign that said “I am Bummer Bob.” I let him stay but hadn’t slept with him because anyone who called himself that, I figured, must have the clap.”
097 *”Once when we were at lunch a woman—Eve’s age—perfectly pleasant seeming, waved from a neighboring table. Eve didn’t return the wave. I asked Eve who the woman was, and she said, eyes wide, voice grave, “That’s my enemy.” (Eve and the woman had, as it happened, shared a boyfriend forty years before.)”
100 Eve wrote to Joseph Heller: “I am a stacked eighteen-year-old blond on Sunset Boulevard. I am also a writer. Eve Babitz.” This letter is another part of the Eve legend. As in other Eve stories, there are several versions, so you must pick the one you like. In this interview, Lili says that Eve had an affair with Mr. Heller. Google does not confirm this detail.
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.” Other parts of the Hollywood’s Eve series are available. one three four