Johnny Ramone's Widow Linda Gives Us a Tour of Their Beautiful and Bizarre House

By Kai Flanders Thu., Aug. 16 2012 at 3:50 AM

Kai Flanders

Linda Ramone lives in an eccentric museum. The widow of iconic Ramones guitarist Johnny Ramone (who died in 2004 of prostate cancer) is dedicated to preserving her late husband's legacy, and his estate. She still lives in the home they shared in the Valley -- a wacky, charmingly garish house filled with things like original posters for Elvis Presley movies and stuffed foxes resting beneath punk memorabilia. And, of course, there's the shrine to Ronald Reagan in the kitchen.

Seated on one of her plush pink chairs in the living room, the ageless Linda conducts herself like the First Lady of Punk. Dressed in a flowing orange dress with red hair fluffed like a dyed cotton ball and plenty of eyeliner, she exudes a kooky confidence.

Kai Flanders

She tells her story with pride in the brassy accent of New York, the city where she met the Ramones at CBGB when she was still a teenager. One thing is clear: She loved Johnny more than anything in the world.

She maintains a cenotaph statue of Johnny at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, which depicts him hammering away at his guitar, and holds an annual memorial at the site -- near Dee Dee Ramone's grave -- in Johnny's honor. (This year the event is on Aug. 19.) Past guests have included Eddie Vedder, Lisa Marie Presley, Nicolas Cage and Pete Yorn. Linda says she curates the event so that it would be a party her husband would want to attend; this year she's showing the 1958 Elvis film King Creole.

Johnny was a massive Elvis fan -- there is an "Elvis room" in the house -- and he differs from traditional punks in some ways. For one thing, he was a diehard conservative and a staunch supporter of Reagan. Further, he was a notoriously frugal man, claiming in his autobiography, Commando, that Linda was the first woman who made him want to spend the money he made with the Ramones. "[Interviewers] would ask [him], 'What's it like being a legend?' " Linda recalls. "I was like, 'You're a legend and we live in a one-bedroom?' "

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Hollywood Forever Cemetery

6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Category: General

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Hollywood Forever, Johnny Ramone, Linda Ramone

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conspiracy

Not a Traditional Punk? I'd say he was one of the few TRUE Punks! And how can a Conservative, Elvis and Regan admiring guy be a "Punk", you may ask; and I'd say it was BECAUSE of these things...and his refusal to change who he was, or what he believed in one damned little bit to satisfy fans, media or trends...you either accepted him for who and what he was or fuck off.

Too many so called punks believe it is about looking a certain way, or having a certain set of beliefs...and that is 100% Counter to the punk idea. Johnny was Punk...and Rock and Roll..and 100% original.

fuzzermucker

There was an anti-black element to the early punk movement as a reaction against soul and disco music. It wasn't until Reagan laid a wreath on the graves of SS soldiers at Bitburg that the Ramones made an anti-Reagan policy song, Bonzo goes to Bitburg (My Brain is hanging upside down), precisely because the greater conservative movement was returning to its racialist and fascist origins, a larger conflict than that between three chord garage rock and highly produced dance music.

Neil6wptmo

@farratia http://t.co/xjhIcrzD

Justin

You'd think a tour would come with pictures.

davidtuckisgay

@lindaramone @laweeklymusic Like a punk Graceland.

montemelnick

Learn all about Johnny Ramone & the Ramones in the book;

“ON THE ROAD WITH THE RAMONES”.

Throughout the remarkable twenty-two-year career of the Ramones the seminal punk rock band, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers and Recording Academy Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Monte A. Melnick saw it all. He was the band’s tour manager from their 1974 CBGB debut to their final show in 1996. Now, in this NEW UPDATED EDITION he tells his story. Full of insider perspectives and exclusive interviews and packed with over 250 personal color photos and images; this is a must-have for all fans of the Ramones.