The beautiful Yma Sumac statue at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, which is nearby her crypt that I designed a few months before her passing in late 2008.

#hollywoodforever #ymasumac

It sure would have been great to see Yma Sumac on What’s My Line? The panelists would have been totally enchanted by Sumac, especially beautiful Arlene Francis and the flirtatious Bennett Cerf.

Photo of Yma Sumac ©️Damon Devine /Official Yma Sumac Archives

#whatsmyline #ArleneFrancis #YmaSumac

Yma Sumac wins a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Wilshire Ebell in Los Angeles, CA, 1997. She deserves a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from the @recordingacademy.bsky.social

Filming at Yma Sumac Headquarters in Los Angeles.

www.yma-sumac.com turns 20 this year!

Yma Sumac lived in Los Angeles for 58 years. She only ever owned homes in Los Angeles, two of them just 15 miles from the catastrophic tragedy that has happened here. Images of wildlife confused and running aimlessly in the city streets would have absolutely broken her heart, as well as residents.

We were gone for the holidays, so here’s this.

A gorgeous Yma Sumsc arrives in Mexico, 1957. She always had great fun there. Two of her 2 movies were shot there. Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico is where she got her start, and she never forgot those places.

(C)Damon Devine

Today would have been marvelous Vampira’s (Maila Nurmi) 102nd birthday. Both women were born the same year (1922) and passed on the same year (2008). Both rest at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Yma Sumac photo ©️Damon Devine / Official Yma Sumac Archives
Vampira photo restoration by Leonardo Baricala

Yma Sumac met Joan Crawford at Mocambo in Hollywood. She was a big fan of Crawford’s and about fainted when Joan came over to her table. “Yma Sumac! What a voice you have!” Yma: “She have very strong face, but was beautiful and very sweet with me.”

#joancrawford #ciros #mocambo #classicholllywood

A radiant Yma Sumac looks at a vintage tour program from her 1954 concerts in Paris. This photo was taken by me in 2005. I was her makeup artist and person assistant at the time.

photo© Damon Devine / Official Yma Sumac Archives

Yma Sumac's star on Hollywood Blvd. She was not the first "the first Latina" to receive the honor, that is "internet Peruvian folklore." Many stars were all unveiled at the same time, in no particular order. The little dogs seen here are Papacito & Rudy, whom Yma Sumac adored like grandchildren.

Yma Sumac's official website which turns 20 year old next year. She and I created it together in late 2004.

www.yma-sumac.com

In 1990 Yma Sumac posed for one of the iconic L.A. Eyeworks ads. Grace Jones, Andy Warhol, Divine, Eartha Kitt, Elvira and a few hundred more fabulous notables also posed for photographer Greg Gorman's camera for the campaign.

#laeyeworks #gracejones #divine #andywarhol #earthakitt #elvira

Google celebrated Yma Sumac in 2016 with one of their famous doodles. Ironically...that was the ONE day her official website was down with technical issues. 😐

#ymasumac #exoticamusic #korlapandit

Hello, I am Damon Devine and I own The Official Yma Sumac Archives and run all of Yma Sumac's official social media, including her website, which we created together in 2005.