“I feel like I’m in Shrek 2”, Hugh Hefner remarked on his way to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.
I can’t relate because each year I’m throwing on a see-through nightgown and some sort of chain accoutrement, like a ghost of JCPenney’s past with a piratey touch.
At the faire, anything goes. A fire swallower does his thing as a shirtless guy in trueys walks past. We all exist in harmony.
Once upon a time, Holly, Bridget and Kendra laced up their Trashy Lingerie outfits to eat with the Queen on an episode of The Girls Next Door. Evidently, Hugh really was into those turkey legs.
Originating in 1963, The Renaissance Pleasure Faire was the first of its kind. And, let me just copy this from Smithsonian magazine, “was inextricably linked to the Red Scare, a Cold War-era mass hysteria prompted by the specter of communism.”
Phyllis Patterson, a teacher of history, English and drama, had refused to sign the political loyalty oath required to work in California public schools at that time. She left teaching and started a theater program for kids in Laurel Canyon. It was there that she had the idea of an Elizabethan country fair. With the Hollywood blacklist in full swing, it was easy for her to find artists, performers and craftspeople with time on their hands. Phyllis recruited her own shoe repairman upon learning he made sandals. She and her husband Ron brought on some members of Mountain Drive, a bohemian arts community in Santa Barbara, to help bring the vision to life. The first location was offered to them by Oliver Haskell, a social organizer and accused member of the Communist Party. He normally used the five-acre North Hollywood ranch as a “free-thinking” day camp for kids.
I obviously knew none of this as I shopped for corsets that I swore I could get a lot of use out of. The faire is extremely thought out in exciting and bizarre ways. The stores are excellent, the catcalling unique.
Prospective faire performers must take workshops on Elizabethan dance, song, and period improvisation. The faire Internet groups tell harrowing tales of showerhouses and background checks. One Reddit user reflects, “There is a saying among some faire entertainers .... ‘the beer is in the pickup truck.’ After the show closes for the day - you are no longer “m’lord” etc. You are jack/tom/suzy whatever.”
In 1970, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Nancy Sinatra remarked on The David Frost Show that the faire was a “master plan for the alternate lifestyle.”
In 1988, John Densmore and Robby Krieger of The Doors were at the faire for opening day, with a yet-to-be discovered Harrison Ford following them around as a second cameraman for a road tour film.
Sometime in the early 2000s, Holly Madison stepped onto the grounds in a custom Sleeping Beauty gown and Hef was crowned the king of France as a Playboy themed joust took place.
It’s like a weird, mystical, boiling hot snowglobe of a world in a dirt park in Irwindale.
If you like mead for some reason or have always wanted to dance around a maypole, this is the last weekend of the season, May 16 & 17.
I have been keeping an eye on one of these estate sales since it was listed for sale (for the first time in 48 years). This week I have 11 sales for you! Read em and weep!
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