In an effort to grab one more impressive batch of celebrity autographs and encounters, I made one last travel plan and booked one last flight of the year to leave on Friday, October 7, 2011, for Los Angeles, California, and visit the Fall Hollywood Show. It was going to be a short trip, so I tried to pack in as much as I possibly could. My friend Jimmy was on board to pick me up and tote me around for the weekend. (His wife Ellen was vacationing in New England that week). Unfortunately, David was heading to Disney World the morning that I was flying in and Bob had made plans to be in Lone Pine. So Jimmy and I came up with a few things to do to fill the odd hours where I wouldn’t be at the Hollywood Show.
I left work a couple of hours early on that Friday, stopped by home, and then headed to the airport. Since the trip would be short, I just left the car there, but was pleased to get an optimal spot in the cheap lot. My flight departed at 5:55pm and I got lucky on the first leg, sitting next to a very pretty and nice girl from Cincinnati named Rachel. We later became Facebook friends. The flight landed in Dallas at 7:30, where we gained an hour. I wasn’t so lucky on the second leg, which left at 8:20. I had to sit next to a cleaning lady whose arm kept touching mine. We landed in Los Angeles 9:30, gaining the final two hours.
LAX was as crowded as I had ever seen it, but Jimmy remarkably was able to pick me up during his first drive-thru of the pick-up area. With the crowds getting out of the airport and some construction on the highway, we opted to bypass our first planned activity, which would have been a restaurant from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives in downtown L.A. Instead we just stopped by In-N-Out Burger where I picked up a Double Double and some Animal Fries. We took the food back to Jimmy’s and watched some Wings and Cheers before turning in for the night.
Happy as a clam back at Jimmy’s with my In-N-Out
For some reason, Elbie was insterested in me when I came back with my burger and fries
On Saturday morning, we were up nice and early in order to get some breakfast in San Pedro before heading to the Hollywood Show. Naturally, this joint was featured on DD&D – appropriately in the episode Breakfast. The location was the Gaffey Street Diner, and the featured breakfast meal was called the John Wayne Breakfast, which included a tortilla, home fries, eggs, cheese, and spanish sauce. It was supposed to come with sausage but they were out of it. This worked out well, because they were willing to subsitute chorizo, which was one of their specialites. The chorizo was amazing, while the John Wayne breakfast itself was merely ‘good’.
DD&D #28: Gaffey Street Diner in San Pedro, California
The John Wayne Breakfast minus sausage plus bacon and chorizo
A hearty breakfast to prepare us for our long day
Nice and full, we headed to the Hollywood Show, again being held at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center. The initial line-up was not incredibly strong when I first bought my airplane ticket, and it remained somewhat mediocre up until the list of celebrites were completed. The big event was a reunion of Batman TV show cast members. While I was interested in getting a good portion of them, I was never a huge fan of the show, so this was only mildly exciting. One huge disappointment was that the Waltons reunion was changed to being on ‘Sunday only’, so I knew I was going to miss that – and missed Eric Scott, Mary Beth McDonough, Judy Norton, David Harper, and Kami Cotler. Michael Learned and Earl Hamner ended up cancelling.
The other reunions going on were stars of the film Grease, Laredo, the Avenging Angel series, and the two principles of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. Again, my reaction was somewhere between ‘mildly excited’ and ‘couldn’t care less’. I skipped the latter reunion of Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis because they were charging $15 each to get photos with them. Among those I had already met were Ron Ely, Edd Byrnes, Eddie Deezen, Lesley Ann Warren, Morgan Fairchild, Donna Loren, Terry Moore, and (as if we could ever get enough of her) Erika Eleniak.
There were also a couple of disappointing cancellation and no-shows that included Van Williams and Doris Singleton. The last minute addition of Sofia Milos (who?) was highly publicized and touted, but turned out to be a non-event as either no one knew who she was, or wanted to pay her inflated prices. It must have been quite the ego buster.
Overall, although it was a long day that went from 10am until closing time at 5pm, I had a good time overall. It was great as always to see my friends Steve Cox, Rick Greene, and Bob Satterfield (who ended up not going to Lone Pine after all). I also bought a couple of bootleg DVDs of Song of the South and Let It Be. Finally of note, there were also a couple of celebrities roaming the crowd who weren’t official guests but granted me free photos with them: Larry Thomas and Mason Reese. Follow the trail of the other celebs here.
With my buddy Bob
Catching up with my friend Steve Cox
My pal Rick Greene. Anyone noticing these shirt changes?
Larry Thomas had portrayed the Soup Nazi in the classic episode of Seinfeld. I had met him before in Chicago (as seen here), but remarked that I wanted a photo of him with his famous mustache. He told me that he prefers not to have the mustache, but he was getting ready to do a personal appearance in Europe and they asked him specifically, “you have the mustache right?” So he grew it.
No soup for me
Mason Reese was a child actor in the 1970’s known for a series of commercials for such companies as Post Raisin Bran and Dunkin’ Donuts, and frequent appearances on The Mike Douglas Show. He appeared on the cover of TV Guide in 1973 as seen below. Steve pointed him out to me and I got a picture taken with him.
Mason Reese on the cover of TV Guide
With Mason Reese, who hasn’t changed all that much
Once we finished at the Hollywood Show, we headed south toward Anaheim. Since David wasn’t there to get us into Disneyland, we decided to visit Knotts Berry Farm. But first, it was dinner time and three was another of the famous DD&D spots in the area. This one was called Mamma Cozza’s Italian Restaurant and had been featured on the episode Tried and True. With the California traffic, it took a little over an hour to get there. It was quite a popular location and was currently under expansion construction. It took about 45 minutes to be seated. I made the mistake of ordering a tomato based pasta based on the show’s suggestion. This is not usually my favorite, and thus I wasn’t all that impressed with the Domery Sauce on my Rigatoni. This was one of their specialties and was made of Italian sausage, baby clams, garlic, and spices simmered in the ‘Mamma’ sauce. It was OK, but not exactly as good as I hoped it would be. Oh well, can’t win ’em all.
DD&D #29: Mamma Cozza’s Italian Cuisine in Anaheim, California
Fueling up before our night of frights
Knotts Berry Farm was a legendary theme park in its own right. Its roots go all the way back to 1940 at which time it was a roadside attraction where berry preserves and pies were sold roadside. Somehow with all of my trips to California, I had never actually visited the park. But since this was near Halloween, our visit to the park was quite different from the traditional visit. They had gone all out to convert the park to Knotts Scary Farm, which operated from 7pm until 2am. We arrived at 8:30pm, but by the time we got through security and inside it was 9pm.
In a word, I must say that I was very impressed with the attractions of the Knotts Scary Farm. In all, there were 13 ‘mazes’ that were added specifically for the monster theme. Some were incorporated into the existing rides, and some were built inside exisiting rides (one walk-thru maze was inside the bumper cars area).
In addition to the mazes were three scare zones (Ghost Town, Necropolis, and Carnevil), where monsters and zombies and evil clowns would jump out at you through the fog as you roamed the streets of the park. In essence, there were scares to be had everywhere and even with my rock solid bravery, they made me jump a few times throughout the evening.
One of the ghouls among the fog in Ghost Town
A frightful fellow in Necropolis
A man with a chain saw gets in the act. These are not my normal type of people.
Jimmy and I gradually began to have more and more fun checking out the attractions. The two rides were our longest wait. We started with the Invasion Beneath train ride, which was a modified version of the Calico Mine Train (dating back to 1960). The Sleepy Hollow Mountian was a modified version of the Timber Mountain Log Ride (which dates back to 1969). This was an extremely fun ride in its own right and the live monsters jumping out at you really spiced it up.
One of the skeletons inside the Bird Cage Theatre. This was where Steve Martin first got his start.
Getting ready to get on The Sleepy Hollow Mountain log ride
Accosted by this handsome fellow while waiting in line
After these rides we did the walk-thru mazes that included Virus Z in Fiesta Plaza, Endgames: Warrior of the Apocalypse and Fallout Shelter, both located in Camp Snoopy, and Dia de los Muertos, which was built inside the Wheeler Dealer Bumper Cars. The latter two were best seen with the ChromaDepth 3-D glasses that we had to purchase for $1. The neon colors painted throughout the maze, and on the monsters, gave the illusion of the objects and monsters being closer than they were.
Entering the Virus Z walk-through. I didn’t even notice the female zombie when I posed for the picture. She’d soon be attacking.
Jimmy and me in our 3D glasses after exiting Fallout Shelter
We ended up staying until close to 1am and then headed back to San Pedro. It had been a fun evening and it’s something I’d definitely be interested in doing again – along with a full-fledged visit to Knotts Berry Farm.
On Sunday morning, Jimmy’s parents Kris and Big Jimmy came over to his house and we departed for the final DD&D restaurant of the trip. This one was in Long Beach and it proved to be a lengthy car ride as they’d shut down some of the streets due to a marathon that was going to be going on. The eatery was called Schooner or Later and it had been featured on the episode Off the Hook Specials. It was located next to the marina, so there was a great view for outdoor seating. In the interest of saving time, we opted for the indoor seating however. I had a yummy Crab and Avacado Benedict.
DD&D #30: Schooner or Later in Long Beach, California
The Crab and Avocado Benedict
Back at Jimmy’s, we watched some episodes of Newhart and Wings before we had to leave for the airport. My flight departed LA at 1:55pm. I was seated next to a skinny man working on spreadsheets. I had a very short layover in Dallas between 6:55 and 7:40, so immediately bordered my next flight. I sat next to a black man with a wannabe mustache cramming for a meeting on his Kindle. We had been a little late taking off out of Dallas, so my 10:50 flight arrived in Dayton about an hour late. I got to my conveniently-located car by 11:30 and was home by midnight.
It had been a quick, fun trip, but it was soon back to business as usual – and the sad and disappointing month that October would prove to be.
October 2011 will continue…
Follow the trail of celebrities from the Fall 2011 Hollywood Show here…
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