I skipped the continental breakfast at our comfortable Super 8 motel in Monterey on the morning of Monday, June 14, 2010 – opting instead to chat online with Erin for a bit while Bob gathered his morsels. We didn’t have to get up too terribly early that day as the cemetery in town that we were going to visit didn’t open until 8:30am. It was the Cementerio El Encinal (or Cemetery of Many Oaks). We weren’t visiting any graves here. We were dropping off. Not a body, but a marker. Bob had spearheaded some fund raising to put a stone on the unmarked grave of Viola Richard.
Viola is near and dear to my heart. She was an actress at the Hal Roach Studios who appeared with Laurel and Hardy in six of their silent films. For years, the whereabouts of Viola Richard were unknown. It was my friend Bill Cappello who first researched her history and shared the info with me. As a result, I was the first to publish the “Whatever Became Of…” story of Viola. You can read the full text of my article here. So it was my distinct privilege to see some of the fruits of my labor culminating in Viola not only getting the recognition that she deserved, but now be receiving a grave marker after all of these years.
Viola Richard’s marker (January 26, 1904 – December 28, 1973). This bad boy was heavy.
From here, we headed toward San Francisco. I hadn’t visited the city by the bay since 1997, so this would be a most welcome return. Erin had lived in Benicia, a suburb of San Francisco, for many years so she had plenty of recommendations of things to see – although with only a day allocated here, Bob and I, as usual, were moving at breakneck speed. On the way into the city, we stopped off at the campus of Stanford University’s campus to check out the only permanent residence of President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou. I’ll describe more about this location in a future posting on the President.
423 Mirada Avenue – former home of President Hoover
As we made our way toward our first major destination of the day, Bob veered off at the Golden Gate National Cemetery to show me the grave of Admiral Chester Nimitz. During World War II, Nimitz was the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet. He was the United States’ last surviving Fleet Admiral. I had visited the amazing WWII museum in his hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas, in 2008.
The grave of Admiral Nimitz
It was noon when we arrived at the Walt Disney Family Museum. I was looking forward to this quite a bit, but after seeing it, I can safely say that it was probably the highlight of the trip. Located in the Presidio of San Francisco, a former Spanish fort, then U.S. Military installation, the museum is housed in an unassuming building resembling a very large house.
The unassuming Walt Disney Family Museum
Inside, however, are some of the most amazing and visually dazzling displays one would ever find in a museum. The displays encompass every bit of Disneyana that occurred during Walt’s lifetime, culminating in his vision of Walt Disney World before he passed away in 1966. Although the museum is not formally affiliated with the current Walt Disney Company, the ten permanent galleries are every bit as lavish and dynamic as something you’d expect to find at Disneyland. The current temporary exhibit was dedicated to Peter Pan, but we didn’t see it.
Unfortunately, photos weren’t allowed in the museum – with the exception of the Academy Award display in the lobby. This was a highlight for me, as we got to see Walt’s collection of Oscars for such films as Der Fuehrer’s Face,
The Old Mill, The Living Desert, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Ferdinand the Bull, Seal Island, and the special award presented to Walt in honor of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Also in the lobby were some of the original furnishings from Walt’s apartment at Disneyland.
With Walt Disney’s amazing array of Academy Award statuettes
The special Oscar award that Disney received in 1937 hailing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as ” a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new entertainment field”
Furniture from Walt Disney’s personal Disneyland apartment
Overall, we were in the museum for an hour and a half, although we could have easily spent twice that amount. My favorite exhibit was the scale model of Disneyland, complete with moving parts!
The only spot that you could take photos once in the museum was in the rear of the museum, where a glass wall allowed a nice panoramic view of the Golden Gate Bridge
Bidding farewell to this most amazing museum
Being in San Francisco, there were several film locations from the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo, and being a Hitchcock buff, I wanted to see as many as I could. My next posting will highlight these locations, but the first one we saw in the city was not only a location form the film, but an icon of the city itself. Around 2pm, we made it to Fort Point, for the amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The beautiful vista of the Golden Gate Bridge on a foggy San Fransciscan afternoon
Built between 1933 and 1937, the bridge spans the strait that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean, and connects the cities of San Francisco and Sausalito. After checking the views of the bridge from Fort Point, I requested that we drive over the bridge since I could not remember if I had done this back in 1997. The ride to the Sausalito side was free, but it was $6 coming back, which I happily paid for the experience.
The way the Golden Gate Bridge looked as we crossed it
The way my faced looked as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge
The other location that I needed to see in San Francisco should be obvious by now. Yep, that’s right, the Hard Rock Cafe, which would be my 25th Hard Rock overall. It was located in the touristy shopping area known as Pier 39, at the edge of the Fisherman’s Wharf district. We headed there, passing the Palace of Fine Arts (another famous San Francisco icon, which can also be seen in Vertigo), and arriving just before 3pm. I had my traditional Hickory BBQ Bacon Burger and browsed the artifacts.
Arriving at Pier 39
My 5th Hard Rock of the year, 25th overall
Proving that I was at the San Francisco Hard Rock…without Photoshop
Bob and I get ready to tear into our burgers
With a guitar played and signed by George Harrison for charity, and a derby hat worn by Ringo on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, August 8-15, 1964 edition, and signed by both him and George. If nothing else, you can always count on there being Beatles memorabilia
After dining, we browsed some of the shops at Pier 39, namely a nice autograph and memorabilia store known as Anitquities. The proprietor was friendly, but seemed genuinely disappointed that we didn’t plunk down hundreds or even thousands of dollars on some of his items. Nice, but as usual in a place like this, even at 50 percent off, overpriced. We also checked out the carousel, and the amazing view of Alcatraz prison – the ROCK – which I would have like to have seen again if time permitted. I had toured it in 1997.
The carousel of Pier 39. Sorry Erin, I didn’t ride it
An expressive reaction to the site of Alcatraz prison
On the way out of Pier 39, I found the opportunity to have an official San Francisco hot dog from an official San Francisco hot dog stand. It was okay. Maybe only because I had just had a full lunch. As we got closer to the end of the Pier, I found another, more appropriate hot dog stand by the name of San Francisco Gourmet Dogs. At this point though, I wasn’t going to by another hot dog. So now I have a reason to go back to San Francisco. It was 4:30 as we hit the parking garage, where Bob struggled with the machine to pay the parking fee.
It wasn’t a gourmet dog, but it was most certainly a dog from San Francisco
Overlooking San Francisco Bay as we departed Pier 39
As per usual, Bob has difficulty with the garage payment machine box
The next stop was Lombard Street. There were two reasons for this visit. The first was to see yet another Vertigo location (to be shared in depth next time) and the second was to see the portion of the street that is known as the “crookedest street in the world”, a one-way portion of road with eight sharp turns. As you might expect, I wasn’t satisfied to merely see the street, but requested that Bob drive down it – adhering to the 5 MPH speed limit of course.
On the streets of San Francisco – more specifically the drastic inclines of Lombard Street
There was a crooked man standing before a crooked street
The way my face looked as we drove down the crooked portion of Lombard street
We then attempted another Vertigo location, the Brocklebank Apartments, which we parked next to – and then promptly took my photo in front of the wrong building. My fault for not watching the film before the trip.
By 6pm, we had moved on to the next and last Presidential site of the trip: the lavish Palace Hotel, where President Warren G. Harding passed away in 1923. Further details of this site can be found in the Warren Harding posting located here.
Outside the Palace Hotel. President Harding died inside.
A half hour later, we were checking into our hotel for the evening. By telling you that it was called the Hotel Vertigo, I am probably removing the shock of finding out that the hotel itself was a film location from Vertigo. But again, more on that in the next posting.
We ended the day on a high note, by dining a sushi bar that Erin had recommended adamantly. It was called Blowfish Sushi, and yes, they served blowfish on occasion. The thing about blowfish is that if its not prepared just right, it can and will kill you. This is why the restaurant’s slogan is “sushi to die for.” I was resolute in my decision to throw caution to the wind and eat the blowfish, but unfortunately (I guess), it was out of season and they were not serving it at this time.
However, I did have an amazing dining experience, opting for the “Dine About Town” meal deal that included the Ritsu Roll (miguro, bincyo, avocado, and misago), the Fiery Bincyo (seared white fish and chilis), the Gocyamaze Platter (spicy tuna maki and a selection of Nigiri-style sushi), followed by the Zen Garden dessert (green tea cheesecake and ice cream). As if that wasn’t enough, I ordered an extra Super Dynamite Roll. Along with my Pepsi, I had a Junmai Ginjo Sake cocktail and an X-Rated Martini, filed with passion fruit. By the end of the meal, I was full.
At this point, still thinking I’d be risking life and limb
The ritzy Ritsu Roll with dipping sauce
Bob and I with the sushi chef at Blowfish
Getting ready to tackle the the Gocyamaze Platter
The Super Dynamite roll was super dynamite
Downing my Rated X Martini, then crawling back to the hotel
We finished up at about 8:30 and headed back to the hotel. I mostly played on the internet down in the lobby, while Bob watched Vertigo on my laptop back in the room. He had borrowed it from the front desk. I went back up to the room to watch the second half of the film with him, before drifting off to sleep. It had been a good day in San Francisco.
The Northern California trip will continue with more Vertigo sites…
I absolutely LOVE your website (I came across it randomly by trying to find the birthsite of Bill Clinton). I have gone to several of the same sites (especially related to presidents) but not nearly as many. I’ve spent the last two hours sifting through the site and have lots more looking around to do. It seems that you have not been to Herbert Hoover’s birthplace, unless I overlooked it. If you do go, feel free to contact me. It’s 45 minutes from my home and we go almost every year. I would love to show you around. It is a beautiful place.
Travis
January 31st, 2013