Valet of the Dolls

This is a real company, and a great play on words although a bit of a non-sequitor since there's really no connection to the film, just hot girls parking your car. I learned about them one night; they'd been hired to valet for an event that was happening at the Jim Henson studios, which is right across the street from work. The other night my co-worker was certain he'd seen Jennifer Hudson go in for a party or something.

Incidentally, I got a brief tour of the place last year when my new work computer was accidentally delivered to their address. The cute receptionist, Matt, was kind enough to show me around a little. I saw lots of Emmy statues and a life-size Skeksi, among other things.


We were really hitting it off, Matt and I, and I started to imagine myself hobnobbing with the Henson family, maybe getting a part time job, moving my way up the ladder, etc. when I mentioned that I grew up watching the Muppet Show and really loved the muppets. There was a silence. Matt said, icily, "We sold that property to Disney." More silence. Flirting: fail. Foot in the door: fail. Fail. I grabbed my computer, lugged it across the street, and never looked back. "That property", like it couldn't be spoken of. I guess I'd be bitter too.

Anyway, whether it's hot ladies doing it or not, after a while of living in LA, you willingly valet your car practically anywhere (movie theater, mall, etc.) and don't think twice about paying for parking. It's just the norm, and in the city, for as huge and sprawling as it is, it can be tough to find parking (justification alert). Admittedly, we Angelinos, after a while, just start to accept less walking. Walking, rather than being integrated into daily life (as in DC after I sold my car, and particularly after Jason's car was stolen), becomes an event. You go hiking in Runyan Canyon or you go to the gym to walk. But walking more than a block from the car to the restaurant? Screw that nuisance! There's a valet. (and the blocks here are pretty big [justification alert #2]). Now I try to walk only for its own sake, never as a means to an end, and only at designated times.

I remember in DC thinking that places where you could valet were really fancy and that only the elites did that. Here, I recently noticed in Pasadena, you can valet at the Container Store. No shit. The Container Store.