Okay, I've actually got some people reading this thing, and apparently, they're not locals (one's from Germany, I think, and the other from Canada) because if they were, they'd sure as shootin' know who Angelyne, a.k.a., "She Who Is Famous For Being Famous", is.
First of all, she's not as Famous-for-Being-Famous as she used to be. A del.icio.us search for "angelyne" tags turned up zippo.
A Google search turned up the official Angelyne website linked to above, along with a page from the World Artists Video website pimping Angelyne's video (L.A. Video's "virgin" release), serving up the 411 on the enigma herself, as well as how to hook up with the Pink One's fan club. Again, sadly, this page apparently hasn't been updated since 1997, suggesting again that perhaps Angelyne's star isn't shining quite as brightly as it once did.
Angelyne has been in a smattering of film & tv, but her IMDb listing is deceptive: her greatest celebrity comes not from the films she has acted in, but in those that have shown her image. Her billboard image. Because that's what Angelyne does: buys (or otherwise obtains) media space and plasters it with gigantic likenesses of herself in repose, either alone or avec her custom Pepto-pink 'Vette with the Angelyne plates. (I wanted to sprawl on hood of said vehicle when I spied it in the Pavilions grocery store lot, but years of Catholic school have burned into me an irrational fear of doing anything even remotely outside the law.)
There's a less interesting, "isn't-she-just-so-representative-of-phony-old-L.A.?" angle to the Angelyne story that people seem to latch onto. (And for the record, I'm pretty sick of people crapping on L.A. when I've been to plenty of so-called "real" towns that are way phonier and in a much scarier way.) But that Google search also turned up a pretty good (unpublished) article about Her Pinkness by a guy named John Mendlessohn. He spent some up-close-and-personal time with Angelyne, and serves up good info for the uninitiated or undecided.
I do not count myself among them: I adore Angelyne. Not because I want to drive a pink Corvette or see my face plastered all over the city (especially if I have to do dubious things to get it there) but because Angelyne is so essentially, explosively, unapologetically A-N-G-E-L-Y-N-E. This girl seems to have figured out who she is and what she wants and, despite all reason that would argue against success, has gone after and achieved it like Mormons prowling for fresh meat. In other words, her truth is not my truth (any more than Mormon truth is my truth) but boy-o-boyardee, do I respect her for isolating it and giving it the room and respect it needed to shine.
xxx c