Exhausted in Burbank, I awoke at David’s house on the morning of Saturday, April 21, 2012, ready for another day – my eighth in a row to be exact – of excitement and adventure. I moved with acceptable slowness and got ready for the day. David and I departed his house shortly after 9am and headed to the Tallyrand restaurant for some breakfast. After eating, he dropped me off at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, a place that was now feeling like a second home to me. The occasion, of course, was the Spring Hollywood Show – where celebrities and opportunities to spend cash abounded.
The show itself was a rather mild one this time around. There were three things that had me excited about this show, but mostly it was the reunion of kids from The Sound of Music. You may recall a previous posting of mine where I speculated as to whether I’d ever get to meet the kids whom I had yet to meet. This show ensured that I would.
There was also a reunion of Laverne & Shirley going on – but this one interested me less, namely since I had already met both Laverne and Shirley. Henry Winkler was initially announced to be there (but again, I didn’t care) before he had to cancel, and there were a couple of others associated with the show who did hold a bit of interest for me. There was also a small reunion of kids from The Brady Bunch.
The biggest disappointment was that one of my big three had to cancel due to a broken shoulder. This was a crying shame as I’d always wanted to meet Jonathan Winters. Two other cancellations of folks on my list were Jeremy Licht and Julian Glover.
Whereas at the last show there were only ten celebrities whom I had met before, this one seemed to be teeming with them. Doubling the earlier count, I saw Tanya Roberts, Sally Kellerman, Eddie Mekka, Cindy Williams, Penny Marshall, Linda Blair, Kathy Garver, Mickey Dolenz, Leslie Easterbrook, Cora Sue Collins, David Hedison, Louisa Moritz, Susan Olsen, Mike Lookinland, Christopher Knight, Robbie Rist, Carla Laemmle, Billy Mumy, Nastassja Kinski, and David Lander, all fine folks whom I had met in the past. I did pick up a signature of David Lander that I didn’t have before, and talked briefly to two of the sweetest ladies at the show: Kathy Garver and Leslie Easterbrook. I told the latter so after she gave me a free Sharpie. Check out the trail of new celebrities I met at the show, beginning here.
Bob came to show separately and we palled around for much of it. He had to leave earlier than I did in order to get back for the school prom in San Bernardino. He was there as the Activities Director, not as someone’s date. My friend Steve Cox was also at the show, and he passed on a couple of items he was requesting I got signed for him at the upcoming Chiller Theatre Show.
With my pal Steve Cox
With Bob and a conveniently placed mannequin of Batgirl
Jimmy was going to meet me at show and perhaps visit a nearby Diners, Drive-In, and Dives restaurant for lunch – but the charity walk he was attending ended up going longer than he expected, and I wasn’t done at the show anyway. It took most of the day to get everything I wanted. He picked me up shortly before 4pm.
It had gotten too late for lunch so I just skipped it and we pressed on with a few other little items on my agenda, namely three awesome movie locations that I had never seen before. Given the magnitude of how much I love these movies, and the ease of finding the locations in southern California, it was amazing that I’d never seen them before.
No more than twenty minutes after the leaving the show, we were pulling onto a residential street in Tujunga. The long driveway at the end of the cul-de-sac and the looming San Gabriel mountains behind it made this the unmistakable home of Elliot and company in E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial. We had not issue getting pictures, but Jimmy’s jeep had a bit of an overheating meltdown and leaked coolant all over the street. We continued the rest of our tour with the heat on.
Gertie and her Mom head out for the day in this E.T. screen capture
Me and the place where all the extra-terrestrial action took place
A little over a half-hour from here was the next location: the apartment complex home of Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid. This historic spot can be found exactly where it states in the film: Raseda. I had seen photos of the outside, which if anything actually looks cleaned up since 1984, but I was quite amazed at how similar the inside still looked – pool and all. Unfortunately, entrance was through a locked door that only residents could get through. It didn’t stop me from gawking and taking photos, imagining that I had stepped right into this awesome, awesome movie.
The LaRussos pull up to their new Raseda home in The Karate Kid
Stepping momentarily back to 1984, a most awesome year
Daniel and his new friend pass by the disgusting pool on their way to the new LaRusso apartment, the corner one at the top of the stairs
The pool has been filled, but other than that, it pretty much looks exactly the same 28 years later
If I had known karate, I’d have kicked down this barrier to actually walk around in Daniel’s world
The side of the complex; Daniel’s mom pulls into the carport. The green door on the right is Mr. Miyagi’s ‘office’. This was built inside one of the carports. On the near side of the fence is where Daniels would later be attacked by the Cobra Kai.
The side of the complex today, with Mr. Miyagi’s quarters removed from the carport. I hate this stinkin’ bike.
Finally was the McFly residence from Back to the Future – used in all three films in the trilogy. This one was located in Arleta, another 20 minutes away. (I had actually screwed up and did these out of sequence; we should have hit this one in the middle). The electric towers behind the home were the dead giveaway, but even without them, the house remained virtually unchanged. Even the road in front of the house where Doc took off in the DeLorean and said, “Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
Marty watches disgustedly as the truck that Biff wrecked and spilled beer in is towed home in Back to the Future.
The McFly home today
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads (note flying DeLorean)
We do need roads…and we also needed Mr. Fusion to fix to Jimmy’s over-heating car
It was the simple things in life that pleased me greatly. These were all great locations that were simple to find and enjoy. The magic of the movies had really put me under its spell on this day.
Jimmy and I headed back to his place in San Pedro with the intention of gathering up Ellen and his folks to have dinner at one of the DD&D’s in Long Beach. We actually made it to the restaurant, but were utterly stymied by the utter lack of parking space around the area. It was a corner diner called the At Last Cafe, but amidst the frustration, it became apparent that this one would have to be saved for another time.
Instead we wound up at an amusement zone in Long Beach known as the Pike. It had grown chilly and we had quite a bit of walking to do before we all agreed to go in and eat at a Japanese steakhouse known as Tokyo Wako. I attempted to order the Wako deluxe with the New York steak and salmon, but somehow I ended up with streak and shrimp… so they brought me some salmon too. The white chocolate ice cream for dessert was to die for.
Japanese delights in Long Beach
We started our trek back to San Pedro at around 10pm. It took me no time at all to crash that night, with one day of amusement park activity looming in my future, which would be bringing this amazing, fun-filled trip to a close.
The California leg of the trip will continue in the next posting…
Follow the trail of celebrities from the Spring 2012 Hollywood Show here…
I guess the current maintenance man takes better care of the pool area than Mr. Miyagi did.
Chris
June 4th, 2012