CANOGA PARK - On Sunday, Juliana Martinez will immortalize Anna Nicole Smith with a girly altar decorated in shades of pink.
The Canoga Park woman wants people to remember Anna Nicole as a sultry Guess jeans girl - not the drug addicted sex symbol whose life spiraled out of control.
Martinez will honor Smith at a daylong celebration of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), an annual Latino celebration where the living symbolically pass time - even party — with the souls of the dead who return each year to visit and be entertained.
“I mean this in a totally respectful way,” she said as she sifted through items that will be used for an altar. “I just want to protect her from somebody else who might want to abuse her memory.”
Martinez, 53, is among dozens who will erect altars, or ofrendas (offerings), to welcome the returning souls at Sunday’s seventh annual event.
Main Street Canoga Park, a nonprofit, community-based organization, established the festival, with the assistance of the Community Redevelopment Agency in 2001.
The Anna Nicole Smith altar will be decked out in pink marigolds, pink-dyed rice, a headless mannequin dressed in a pink satin dress, a pink martini glass filled with pink M&M’s, black roses and pictures of the blonde bombshell.
“I’m not a fan,” Martinez said. “When she was on TV I looked at her and said `poor thing.’ You should give her the respect you would to anyone who passed away.”
http://origin.dailynews.com/news/ci_7357228
Another 15 minute seeker.