I’ve never heard of any of these things. Or anything else beyond a 100-mile radius from Manhattan.
(J/K.)
“My LA friends also talk about Orange County as though it’s supposed to connote something to me.”
Obviously you don’t watch Real Housewives of the OC. 
I lived in OC an liked it, mostly the ocean and the view of the mountains (a few hours on a good morning, before the smog rolls in, ha.) Know Gelson’s. Have to admit, had to look up Balducci’s. I do know Pepe’s. It’s ok, BevHills. We can google.
Pizzagirls: you never saw the OC?
this is fun and I didn’t want to be a douche by mentioning this, but here goes:
I mentioned my paternal grandma being related to English royals. It turns out that she is (and my sister and I are) a direct descendant of the following:
Clovis
Charlemagne
Charles Martel “the Hammer”
Hengest
William I
Alfred the Great
Pepin
Hugh Capet
Henry I
Henry II
Eleanor of Aquitaine
John I
Robert the Bruce
Llewelyn the Great
Some of them were better than others. Obviously I had nothing to do with it, but it’s neat.
I’m pretty sure that Hengest was a mythological rather than a historical figure (with Horsa, a “divine Indo-European horse twin”), but I’m impressed nonetheless! It is neat.
Through my Weil ancestors, I’m supposedly a descendant of Meir of Rothenburg, the famous 13th-century German rabbi known as the Maharam, but I don’t include him in my family tree because I can’t prove it. Then again, none of the other people claiming descent from him can really prove it either – there are several missing links in the chain of descent. (In Jewish genealogy as it was traditionally practiced in the 19th and early 20th centuries, claiming descent from famous rabbis was the Jewish equivalent of a Gentile claiming descent from European royalty. Now, there’s much less emphasis on that, and people seem to be far more interested than they used to be in finding out about the lives of their “ordinary” ancestors, both male and female. Which is a good thing, I think.)
Sorry, doorwall is the sliding door that goes outside- generally to a patio or just backyard.
Well, that makes sense. Like “hotdish.” I liked that one and used it with my kids.
Bevhills - no, I never watched any show called the OC. I’ve vaguely heard the name, but really don’t have any idea when it was on the air or what it’s about. Emilybee - I know (generally) what the Real Housewives of (wherever) is about but have never watched any of those. Not to say I don’t have lowbrow tastes, lol, just not those!
That is cool. I have the whole lineage thing documented by generation, like Matthew 1 in the Bible (hehe) - starting with Henry II and Eleanor (I researched the ancestors of them…) - and I would share that here if you wanted me to. But then you’d know my name and could find out about me personally, and that could become weird. I suppose I could provide Henry to my great-great grandparents if you guys felt it was ok.
Thanks for this discussion. DH dug up some of our old files and was able to open some of them and enter things into FamilySearch. It’s amazing how much info it has to hook things up once you get past a few generations. I’ve played with it for a couple days. It’s addicting. I’ll try some of the techniques some of you have suggested. We haven’t paid for any services like ancestry.com yet. I’m stuck a few generations back on my dad’s side, so I may to try ancestry.com.
Pizzzagirl: Trust me when I say that the best part of watching (with my daughters) the OC, Gilmore Girls, Pretty Little Liars etc. is not mind expanding nor are these shows a template for lives lived. For me, it is a wonderful way to spend an hour or two a week drinking tea and enjoying each other’s company.
…oh and the fact the one of my daughters is in TV development these are a beneficial role as well.
I just watched “America America” directed by Elia Kazan that came out in 1963. The story is about Kazan’s uncle who was Greek by blood, Turkish by birth, and eventually American at the very end. The title was his uncle’s nickname on the docks of Constantinople in the early 1900’s. The scenes I liked best were the ship’s crossing to America, what it was like at Ellis Island, and the struggles between Armenians, Greeks, and Turks in Asia Minor.
I don’t understand why other directors never tackled immigration as a movie subject.
“The Emigrants” and “The New Land” were a pair of movies about Scandinavian immigration to the Upper Midwest. Max von Sydow (of course!) was the star.
The indie film Sweet Land (2006) also is framed around Scandinavian settlers (and one German) in the upper midwest, though without Max von Sydow.
Didn’t Stanley Tucci do something called “Italians in America” on PBS?