Hollywood Wig Shop. Photo: M. Imlay
“I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.”
– Andy Warhol (1928-1987).
Thanks to out-of-town guests, I’ve been spending a lot of time around Tinseltown lately. For some reason this dingy wig shop along Hollywood Blvd. struck me as the perfect illustration for Warhol’s quote. After all, his Marilyn Monroe prints have become Pop Art signature classics.
Here, locked up safe behind bars for the night, Marilyn and her plastic friends gaze tauntingly at Walk of Fame passersby.
The whole scene makes me wonder: How many shoppers are actually lured into this outlandish store during daylight hours? And who buys this stuff? Are the customers mainly drag queens? Or do Midwestern tourists find this sort of merchandising equally enticing?
