The Dresden

This evening, we headed to the Dresden restaurant, the hip LA nightspot popularised by the movie Swingers starring Vince Vaughn. We were there to meet with our friends, screenwriter and director Ethan Wiley and his partner, artist and writer, Ellary Eddy. Our friend Fred Dekker (director of such classics as The Monster Squad and Night of the Creeps) was unfortunately unable to make it, so we look forward to meeting Fred next time.

Ethan started his career as an effects technician working on movies like Gremlins and Return of the Jedi. In the mid 80s, Ethan wrote House (1986), a hugely popular horror comedy starring William Katt, and wrote and directed its sequel House 2: The Second Story. House is a particular favourite movie of mine. Ethan and I have been in contact for probably 8-10 years, but hadn't met until this evening. It was wonderful to finally lay eyes on the old bastard! 

Both Ethan and Ellary were terrific company, giving us an evening of entertaining conversation. Ethan was also incredibly tactful in letting me know that in LA, when you order food, the standard tip jumps to 18%. The waitress at the Dresden let me know about the increase by bringing my payment back to the table and suggesting we check the sums. I was mortified and corrected it immediately, but then again, I still think the waitress was being pretty fucking cheeky. Later, we moved on to the Figaro café for dessert courtesy of our Hollywood pals.

Thanks to Ethan and Ellary for a wonderful evening and for their advice in terms of travelling up the coast towards Seattle.