Three Great Things is Talkhouse’s series in which artists tell us about three things they absolutely love. To mark the May 15 theatrical release of Katie Aselton’s new romantic drama Magic Hour, which she co-wrote with her husband Mark Duplass and co-stars in opposite Daveed Diggs, gifted multi-hyphenate Aselton shared some of the things she loves most in life. — N.D.
A Spicy Margarita at Salazar
I am going to start with a margarita, but it's not just any margarita, it’s a very unsweet spicy margarita. And it’s best when drunk at Salazar in Los Angeles on the first warm night of late spring or early summer, when the sun is low and the light is gorgeous. Salazar is in Frogtown, and I love to go there with friends to enjoy a delicious margarita as the sun sets over the hills above Silver Lake Reservoir. If it's really cold and the air is really hot and gorgeous, that sets the tone for the whole summer for me.
Salazar is a really cool restaurant; when it opened, it really set a standard for nights out. The building is an old service station, all the tables are outside, the ground is decomposed granite, and there's succulents and olive trees. It's L.A. romanticism at its best, and their margaritas are top notch. No notes! They have a lot of margaritas, but I always want a skinny, spicy margarita. It is such a signature drink for me that there is a hotel in Mexico I go to where the bartender will see me and say, “Skinny, spicy!” Do I have a problem? No. Do I have a signature drink? Yes.
A night out with margaritas is better when there’s also good friends, really good guacamole and non-greasy chips. And if things continue well into the evening, so I can actually lose track of time, that is ideal. (I feel like the older I get, the more aware I am of what time it is. And that's so boring!) The optimal number of margaritas is always three, but three can be tricky if you’re hanging out for hours, because then it's all about timing and pacing. So, you can have four if the evening goes on for long enough and you drink some water and eat food in between!
The Ocean
I grew up on the coast of Maine in a tiny town called Milbridge, which had a population of only about 300 to 350 people. It's a lobstering town, past the point where tourists go. It's real Maine, not touristy Maine – don't think that I'm from Kennebunkport! I'm not bougie, by any means.
The house where I grew up was right on a cliff on the ocean, so I woke up to the sound of seagulls and waves and during the summer I could hear lobster boats. Because I was a kid, I don't think I ever really appreciated the ocean – it was just what my backyard looked like! But when I moved to Los Angeles, suddenly I didn't live on the water. In L.A., the ocean is nearby, but going to the beach is really hard. It's a hike. If you live on the east side of L.A., the beach might as well be a destination vacation, so for years, I didn't really go to the beach. It wasn't until I had kids that we started going further north to Ventura and Oxnard, where there are beautiful beaches with incredible water quality and gorgeous waves. It was only then that I realized how important the ocean is to me, how stabilizing and grounding it is. I think there's something deep inside my body that requires me being close to the water. (And if I can be by the ocean with a skinny, spicy margarita in hand, even better!)
The coast of Maine is incredibly rocky and craggy and there's very few sandy beaches, so I was very lucky to grow up with one of them right in front of my house. The water is very cold, though, so you don’t go swimming in the ocean in Maine, you go plunging in to cool off on a really hot, muggy day in August. You would think that in Southern California, the ocean would be warm, especially as there are so many surfers, but no – the water's freaking freezing. It's so cold, you might as well be in Maine! It’s much more similar than you would think, except sandy and beautiful. Every body of water feels very different, but there is just something so magical about the ocean. I think everyone should touch grass, but you should also make sure to “touch water” too!
Laughing
I love to laugh. I think laughing is maybe the most therapeutic, necessary bodily function that we have. And I speak from experience, because the past year-and-a-half has been fucking terrible, particularly for the city of Los Angeles. It has been very hard to have light moments and to find levity in situations. Yesterday, I made a promise to myself to find the joy wherever I can. It's the only thing that's going to keep us going, and God damnit, we have to laugh! We have to be able to be goofy and silly and let that be our act of rebellion – while also calling our senators.
We need to laugh, because it releases oxytocin, and laughing does kinder things to our face, because it lifts your facial muscles. I have two very funny kids who make me laugh regularly, but when I really need to laugh, I am not above laughing at internet videos of people falling over. And Tik Tok compilations of scare pranks make me laugh really hard. I also love a good dog video, watching romcoms and great old comedies, like Tootsie. Bill Murray makes me laugh out loud.
The poet-artist Joanna Fusco (aka Lordcowboy) wrote a poem and made it into a very cool image, and the second last line of the poem says, “Devastate me, baby.” And that is sort of how I walk through life. But I think what it means is that we need to lead with our hearts and not be afraid of being broken, because we are all going to get broken as we move through the world. But it's not going to ruin us. We will rise again. So, I will get my heart broken and then I will laugh, and I will be OK. So devastate me, baby, but also … devastate me with humor.
Featured image, showing Katie Aselton and Daveed Diggs in Magic Hour, is by Sarah Whelden, courtesy Greenwich Entertainment.
