Who is Electra Anderson?

Electra Anderson is a 6th generation Californian. Her great grandmother started the Hotel Hollywood in the 1880's and built the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1912. Her father was born in Bungalow 1. The Hotel was in the middle of the beanfiields and they had to hire extras from the studios to "pose" as guests. Her grandfather got the first car in B.H. and got a ticket for speeding and fought it in court saying he had been driving 6 months longer than the policeman and was certainly a better judge of speed. He also used to race at the old track in Venice Beach.

When Electra was 12 she was driving the family Cadillac up and down the driveway in reverse and forward and back again for hours until she knocked out the column that held up the carport (in reverse) and her driveway career was halted until steel posts could be put in to hold up the roof and the car was repaired.

Electra also started riding motorcycles when she was 12 and she continued in her teen years by climbing out of her window at night to go riding with boys that had big bikes and returning in the morning in time to put on her uniform and get ready for girls school. Until her mother found her missing and nailed her windows shut.

At the age of thirteen her mother bought the first Mustang ever made. Electra would put her hair up in a French twist and put on her mothers sunglasses, sit on a phone book and wave to her grammar school friends as she passed by them driving while they were walking or riding their bikes to school. She would then rush home put her hair in a ponytail and ride her bike in a big hurry to school. Weekends were much better for driving and she took the car on the freeways and experienced her first taste of speed.

On her way to Beverly Hills High School she passed the Jaguar dealership with an XKE in the showroom window. Every night she dreamed it would be her car. On her 16th birthday her Grandmother gave it to her. The insurance was more than the car.

In 1975, she bought a red 62' Carrera 2 convertible Porsche for $15,000.They are now worth about $375,000.and found herself racing the likes of Steve Mac Queen and James Coburn on Sunset Blvd. It was the beginning of a love of racing. Naturally they beat her very badly and she usually blew a gear or two.

For several years she drove Mom cars and car pooled her daughters Tiffany and Tabitha. She lived in the jungles of Mexico without electricity for 10 years where she had 2 more girls, Tatiana and Talulah. There were no cars, but she was the only girl who could drive a boat. She also made documentary films on Alice Cooper and The Dead Kennedys with her film production company Electra Flash Films. She started a record company called Hit and Run Records and produced records by Mad Society and Adore O' Hara. She then formed a publishing company called E.L. Anderson and Daughters and published her book, "The Beverly Hills Hotel 1912-1928". She was recently asked by the Library of Congress to participate in a symposium on "Brave and Daring Women". She is the curator of a museum about her family and writing another book.

After returning from 12 years in the jungle, she bought a 91"C2 Turbo and found that she was getting from La Jolla to Beverly Hills in an hour and 10 minutes. She decided that it might be a way to stay out of jail if she took it to a track.

In January of 2000 she went to her first autocross with Scca, they made fun of her Porsche and she came in last. She ran two more autocrosses with PCA and in March did her first Short Track event at Streets of Willow in Lancaster, Ca. with POC. Her fifth race was at Phoenix International Raceway and when she pulled up her son in law Mel, who is also her "Pit crew", said. "Are you sure you can do this?" She did and went on to win the Autocross Championship for 2000 as well as the Short Track and Time Trial Championship for 2000 in her first 10 months driving. She also attended the Skip Barber driving school at Laguna Seca, where her times were so good that the "boys" in her class got very upset.

Electra did a night Enduro at Firebird in Phoenix, Arizona, where she won her class. She had no radios or normal equipment to know when to come in for her mandatory pit stop so Mel, her pit crew/ son in law Velcro-ed a cell phone to her dash and called her when it was time to come in. People were hoping she wasn't going to try and answer the phone.

Electra co-produced a movie called "Grand Champion" starring Emma and Julia Roberts and Bruce Willis and George Straight. It recently opened in Austin and Santa Fe and will be in local theatres soon. It's a "G" rated movie and the kids will love it. Electra's daughters Tati and Talulah are also in it. Electra will be racing with PCA Club Racing all over the USA this year in her GT3S Porsche and she will also be racing in the Mazda Formula Rotary Rocket Series. Electra won the Burt Reynolds Gumball 3000 trophy at Hugh Hefners's for best dressed and most spirit for her adventures from New York to Hollywood in the 2002 Gumball Rally. In Feb. of 2003 Electra ran in The Player's Run from LA to Miami with only a short time in a Texas Jail and a ticket for waving in a parade without a parade license on the Hoover Dam. Too much fun was had by all. Rock on!

The Beverly Hills Hotel Cookbook (1912-1928)
by Electra Anderson
($25.00) If you are interested in purchasing this book please contact sales@electraracing.com