11/01/2024
What started as a Happy Halloween ended as anything but. Today as I was getting ready to take my boys out for Halloween, I got a call more horrifying than any holiday could ever be. For the past 30 years, one of my best friends in life has been Aaron Segal. In fact, he has evolved into something of a brother to me through the years. He has been there for me through my divorce, the death of my Mother, and he has championed me as I rebuilt my life, built my store “66-to-Cali,” on the Santa Monica Pier into a globally famous destination, and he shared a desire to take his show on the road and start entertaining people out at my store next summer. He would have killed it out there and won over even more hearts worldwide. Today, I was sad to learn and to tell his family that he passed away unexpectedly. Out of respect for them, I won’t go into details, but he would want all of you who are his Paramount Pictures Family to know just how loved and special you all are to him. Especially those who kept in touch with him after his accident these past few years. We were still laughing two days ago, and he was trying to stay upbeat about recovering more function in his leg and eventually returning to the lot and to the Water Tower Cafe. Sadly, it is not to be, but I am in hopes that someone will reach out to me with news that a memorial can be secured and held on the lot at some point for him, so that I can pass that info onto his family. As you all know, it is the way he would want it. No one loved Paramount Pictures, its history, or the whole world of Hollywood and entertainment more than he did. The picture is one of my favorite of him and my boys, and they are devastated too. It just figures that as a man with a heart as big as he was, “The Mayor of Paramount” was loved by young and old alike. My boys were no exception. They adored him too. I think we who knew him can all agree, there will never be another Aaron Segal, the funniest, most overlooked talent hidden in plain sight that Hollywood has ever known. 😢🙏🏻💔