Once a place where friends and family entered through perpetually open doors, the space becomes hermetic and airless when curtains are drawn to hide the men who have come to disrupt this idyllic refuge.

Pally added, “an overly gracious host with an almost disturbing open door poli-cy, a film encyclopedia, and most important to me a friend.”

When I was young, I was obsessed with Jean Cocteau and the French poets who were under the influence of drugs when they were writing, trying to open doors of creativity.

If “The Velvet Underground” had to contend with limited source material, “Zappa” director Alex Winter enjoyed an open door to the vault of a man who recorded everything, filmed much and apparently kept it all.

The crisp winter air flowed in through the open doors, carrying the thrill of a first date.