Many years ago I worked at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power which was across the street from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion which is where the Academy Awards were held at that time. 

It wasn’t the security zoo that it is now and at the end of our work day we would congregate on the sidewalk and watch the limos arrive.

It was the year of Lady Sings the Blues when my late friend Mary Ellen Aguilar and I walked over to the bleachers trying to get some strangers to save us seats. We were both young and cute and felt that was to our advantage. She also was bilingual which turned out to be a big plus.

Speaking Spanish, she asked the guy who was sitting in the best spot if he would save us seats. He said he would if we found a gardenia that he could give to Diana Ross. We accepted the challenge and went back to work calling local florists. After about the third call we found a florist who had one. We rushed down at lunch time and picked it up. Then ran back to show the guy that we had it, our collateral, our pass to the best seats in town.

We left work a little early because it was difficult for him to save the space and literally had front row seats. We were so close to the movie stars that we could see their powdered pores.

Diana Ross came and the crowd went wild and as she walked past us, the guy handed her the boxed gardenia. Obviously she was touched and she wore it! I have to admit it was thrilling.

The following year we were still working at DWP and we went over to scout the bleachers and found the same guy with a bigger entourage. He remembered us but said that he didn’t want or need anything and wouldn’t save us seats.

After a while the Academy Awards moved to some auditorium in the USC neighborhood and now is at the Kodak Center on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Hollywood. Security is a nightmare as is crowd control.