When it comes to L.A., sometimes the celluloid image is more reality than fantasy. Take Candy Spelling, whose late husband Aaron spent generations as television’s most famed producer, responsible for blockbusters like Charlie’s Angels and Beverly Hills 90210. She has led the true Hollywood life, everything from her tabloid-fodder relationship with daughter Tori Spelling to the years spent in her family’s Holmby Hills French chateau-style mansion—just down the street from the Playboy Mansion, and recently put on the market by Spelling at an asking price of $150 million.
"I’m a fourth-generation Angelino and I just love this city," Spelling says. "I travel the world and never have been tempted for a moment to live anywhere but Los Angeles. I think it’s a great place to raise children, meet fascinating people. Being the wife of television’s most successful producer ever has given me a life barely anyone can imagine."
Spelling has spent years giving back to the city that has given her so much. She is currently a member of the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission and a commissioner for the Department of Recreation and Parks for the city of Los Angeles. She also released an autobiography, Stories from Candyland, earlier this year.
Having turned to writing in recent years has given Spelling a new view of her city.
"I have a different outlook being a writer. I feel like a great big overgrown middle-aged kid," Spelling says, "I love to go to different areas of the city and investigate and walk and roam."
What Spelling is discovering is that while the city takes on large-scale projects like the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall and Hollywood & Highland, it tries to maintain a sense of history, such as the restoration of many of its grand old downtown theaters, like the Orpheum.
"It’s a city of tradition that’s changing all the time," Spelling says, citing long-standing tourist draws Chinatown and downtown’s Mexican-flavored Olvera Street, considered the birthplace of the city of Los Angeles. The famed Farmers Market is also a stalwart, now celebrating its 75th anniversary.
"I’ve been going to the Farmers Market on Third Street since I was a little a girl," she says, recalling her favorite vendor at the market, Littlejohn’s English Toffee House.
"My mother used to take me there and I took my kids there, and I still go there," she says, admitting a sweet tooth.
Spelling is also a self-professed beach nut, including an affinity for the venerable Venice Beach, which never fails to entertain with its Boardwalk people-watching and Muscle Beach workout area. Being on the parks department, her favorite park is Griffith Park, home to the Griffith Observatory.
"I’m also a fan of Hollywood," she says. "I like to get the movie star maps and find out, ‘Where does this person live?’ When I’m near Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, I like to try to put my feet in Marilyn Monroe’s feet. It’s fun."
