It was about 8:30am on the morning of Tuesday, July 14, 2009, when Bob and I checked out of room 2467 of the Paris Las Vegas hotel. We had had a great two days there, but it was time to work our way back to Los Angeles to continue with my California adventure. We crossed over the border and had made it halfway toward our L.A. destination when we stopped for brunch in Barstow at an eatery known as Quigley’s. Bob had the monte cristo and I went for the breakfast border burrito. We sat near a ‘biddy brigade’ that Bob ended up knowing.
Bob and me at Quigley’s. The milkshake was already gone
Tuesday would end up being a bit of a ‘catch-all’ day, which saw a couple re-visits to locations I had been to before (some for new photos, some just because) and a couple of new sites that I had never seen. There was no apparent pattern, rhyme, or reason to any of our stops other than they were all geographically mapped out to our advantage. And every California trip needs one, but this was the day that saw the big disappointment of the trip. Last time it was David Garrison; this time it was Farragut North.
One of the objectives I had hoped to accomplish was to get a good picture of and with the famous Hollywood sign. Bob had thought that the best place was at the Hollywood and Highland shops, but I was convinced that we could get much closer. But since we were nearby, we first made a brief stop at 2310 North Vermont in the Los Feliz region of L.A. Here stood the house that was used as the Griswold family home in one of my favorite movies of all-time, National Lampoon’s Vacation. The house is virtually unchanged but it was fenced off for privacy, possibly from onlookers such as Bob.
Frame grab from Vacation as Chevy Chase brings home the Family Truckster – supposedly in Chicago
In front of the same house in Los Feliz
As it got close to 2pm, we ventured up into a residential area in the windy Hollywood Hills. Eventually we came to a spot where there was an incredibly clear view of the sign, which was much closer to me than I had ever been. But soon the access road ended into a gate that expressly forbid anyone from going any further to drive or hike to the sign. Security cameras ensured that no one could reach the sign and either vandalize it or hang themselves from it. I was planning on doing neither. Still, I was happy just to get this close.
Stymied at the sign
Hooray for (see above)!!
Fittingly, we then headed into the heart of Hollywood. We parked at the Hollywood and Highland complex on Hollywood Boulevard and walked through the shops out to the street where I had spent so much time over the past four years during my trips here. This time there was a little mixed bag of things that I wanted to see – starting with the star on the Walk of Fame dedicated to the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz. I had somehow missed getting a picture with this star during my last visit.
If you squint just right, you can make out the Hollywood Sign as seen from the Hollywood and Highland complex. Yeah, we got closer, thank you.
With the Munchkins star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Pop sensation Michael Jackson had just died in Los Angeles less than three weeks before my visit. Although the furor of the funeral had already abated somewhat, there were still remnants of the fan pilgrimages that were taking place in Hollywood. I was less interested in actually paying homage to MJ, as I was in the hubbub surrounding his death – starting with the oodles of fans lingering around his star on the Walk of Fame. The photo below shows the crowds of people right in front of the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre that made getting close to the star very difficult.
With the undesirable crowd surrounding MJ’s star
Just down from the Chinese Theatre is the Kodak Theatre, which has been the home of the Academy Awards ceremonies since March of 2002. For those who care, American Idol is also filmed here.
The Kodak Theatre – Oscar’s current home
That was basically the extent of what I wanted to see on Hollywood Boulevard on this particular day. But just around the corner near Hollywood and Vine is the famous Capitol Records Building, which has been home to the famous record studios since 1955. This was the first circular office building in the world. So, um, yeah…I wanted a picture with it.
With the apparently Leaning Capitol Records Tower of Pisa. I think Bob needs to get his ear fluids checked
And finally in downtown Hollywood was the former Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. Now a hotel housing senior citizens, it was originally built in 1923 and factors into many stories of Hollywood lore, not the least is that both D.W. Griffith and William Frawley died in its lobby. It was also used in the film The Graduate – and served as a meeting place for Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. But my #1 interest in it was that it was here that Laurel and Hardy were meeting with their manager and touring agent when they were surprised by cameras and whisked away to be on This Is Your Life in 1954.
Laurel and Hardy were disturbed here
After extracting about 45 minutes from Hollywood Boulevard, we headed over to the Wilshire area to visit another house location. This one located at 566 N. Cahuenga Avenue was the house that was used for the establishing exterior shot in the sitcom Happy Days. This would be quite an apropos location as just four days later, I would be meeting six of the original cast members from the show.
As seen in Happy Days – the streets of ‘Milwaukee’
As seen with happy guy
It was about 4pm by this time and Bob and I headed over to the Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills cemetery. Bob and I had just visited here on Saturday, but there were a few more graves that we didn’t have time to find (namely those of Ozzie & Harriet Nelson). Photos of these graves are incorporated into a posting on the cemetery found here, but I will still give you the glimpse of my tenth visit to the grave of Stan Laurel.
Another visit with the Master of Comedy (and wife Ida just below)
And the MJ mania reared its ugly head again as we checked out the Hall of Liberty where Michael Jackson’s private family funeral was held just before the soiree a week earlier at the Staples Center on July 7. Out in front of the cemetery, tape was still affixed to the sidewalk which marked off spots for the various branches of media. It was also rumored that his body was kept in a crypt owned by Barry Gordy somewhere in the cemetery. Again, I was more interested in this pop culture phenomenon, rather than being thrilled by any of this.
The loction of MJ’s private funeral. Unfortunately I left my white glove at home. Bob employed a napkin.
The media’s markings outside the cemetery
Still, just 90 minutes after leaving Forest Lawn, we were visiting yet one more and final MJ location: the home in Holmby Hills in which he passed away. Fans has adorned the entrance gate to this rented mansion with posters and tributes. Security was still stationed outside of it but didn’t seem to mind gawkers like Bob.
Outside the MJ death house. Gee, I can’t tell you where this is located. It’s a big secret apparently
As we made our way toward Pasadena, we made on final pit stop – this one in Bel Air. This was at the current residence of First Lady Nancy Reagan and the home in which President Reagan died. They were apparently okay with people like Bob being photographed with their garbage cans, but they didn’t go so far as to invite us in for tea. The photo of this location can be seen here.
Our intended climax for the evening was to see the play Farragut North at the Geffen Playhouse in Pasadena. It starred Chris Noth (from Sex and the City and Law and Order) and Chris Pine (Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek). Bob and I were prepared with the photos of both stars that we had purchased on Saturday. It is almost never a problem to get tickets to plays here at the box office before the performance, but for whatever reason, on this occasion they were sold out. I blame the Trekkies.
So instead, we decided to drown our sorrows at a nearby sushi bar called Mika. It didn’t have a bathroom, it was a $30 for the all-you-can-eat special, and the sushi wasn’t quite as good as most of the west coast joints I had frequented, but still – it was sushi! The best part was when I couldn’t finish my last roll and Bob was too full to help out. He buried it in his sushi remnants.
When sorrowful, sushi does the body good
With nothing left to do, we headed on over to Culver City. We had a lunch meeting here the next day, so we decided to just go ahead and stay in the hotel again (as we had during the Summer of ’07). After swinging by the Big Business house, we headed over the the hotel and checked into room 605 at about a quarter of nine. They still had their lobby computer, so I was able to Facebook for the first time in a few days. We slept well that night despite the swarms of people lined up outside the theatre across the street under our window to see the new Harry Potter movie.
Missing Farragut North was a bummer, but I was in Culver City with a computer and a stomach full of sushi. I wasn’t complaining too much.
California will continue…
You can really tell which side of Hollywood you’re on.
Chris
September 1st, 2009
So…do we know which room Laurel & Hardy were in when they were ambushed at the Knickerbocker? I think you can see the door to the room in the show, and maybe the room number is there; I’ll have to watch it again.
Randy Skretvedt
September 2nd, 2009
It was Room 205 of the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. Two heads, two bodies, and one big laugh.
Brad
September 2nd, 2009