On the morning of Saturday, July 28, 2007, the buses were all convening at the Culver Hotel where Bob and I had spent the night. Some were transporting guests who had stayed at the Westin near the LAX (the location of our mixer the night before) and others were driving locally to the Culver Hotel to catch an empty bus. Whichever the case, each person would check in and receive a booklet describing the Laurel and Hardy locations in the immediate walking area. As I described in my last posting about the Culver Hotel, not only was the hotel itself a prime film location but Main Street itself was used in no less than ten of the Laurel and Hardy silent films.
Being intimately familiar with these locations by this point, I attempted to assist some of the folks on the tour by pointing out additional sites. It was informal walk so its not like I had a megaphone – although that would have been fun. I felt bad though when I had to deflate one of the shopowners’ dreams of his place of business being used in Angora Love when it actually wasn’t. Laurel and Hardy lookalikes went through a routine in roughly the same spot where scenes from Leave ‘Em Laughing were filmed, enhancing the walking tour.
Laurel and Hardy look-alikes in Culver City
Soon enough we were ready to board the buses. The first fine mess of the day occurred when one of the four buses was late in arriving. Then, nearly giving Jimmy a nervous meltdown, some of the buses were not equipped with the necessary DVD player to show the film clips of the locations we were about to visit. Still, we managed to pull the tour off. I say ‘we’ very loosely, as although I was considered a co-host on the bus (the short one naturally), Jimmy did most of the talking and all of the navigating. I chimed in here and there with my fountain of useless L&H knowledge.
Jimmy as bus host – not long after firing a DVD onto the pavement
The Culver City bus tour (the following day’s tour would consist of other portions of Los Angeles) included an array of drive-by’s and stops of sites used in the Laurel and Hardy films. We started off with a drive by of the Culver City City Hall used in County Hospital and Going Bye-Bye! and a drive down Madison Avenue, the street used in Towed in a Hole and more prominently in Hog Wild (both just down the street form the Culver Hotel). We then went to the USC campus where the final scenes of Hog Wild were filmed. Some of these particular locations had just been correlated to the buildings on screen when Jimmy and I visited the sites in October of 2005.
Normal people may not know my friend Dick Bann. Others may recognize Dickie for his occasional appearances on Hugh Hefner’s The Girls Next Door TV show. Either way, it was nice to hang out with him quite a bit during the weekend.
We departed USC and drove past the mansion used in Another Fine Mess, and then moved on to another mansion, this oned used in Love ‘Em and Weep. The owners of this house were thrilled to have us visiting and put up a huge banner welcoming the tent. They also gladly opened up their front doors for people to peek inside. This lead to people briefly entering the foyer one at a time…and then to the entire busload of people milling about inside every inch of the house. It must have been like an insect infestation. Nevertheless, getting inside the house was actually the high point of the tour for me.
Making myself comfortable in the Love ‘Em and Weep house
Next up we made our way to the street featured in Me and My Pal and again were able to unboard the bus and look around. This location was an amazing discovery of Jimmy’s – found accidentally while searching for the Love ‘Em and Weep house – when he and his Dad turned down the wrong street!
While some busloads of people stopped to eat lunch, I rode along on the first trip to the Cheviot Hills locations (only the small buses were allowed in this area, hence the splitting up of the groups). We drove by the house from Bacon Grabbers and the hospital from The Finishing Touch. Then we moved onto another tried-and-true highlight, the house that was destroyed in Big Business.
Lunch was served at the Palms park, which was the former location of the train station in Berth Marks. The tracks still existed in the area but there were no other visual remnants from the film. There we enjoyed a nice Subway sandwich and good company. Actually, I called Jackie and we discussed the book Ask Marilyn. I also had Dick Bann send her a video message since she watches that hideous show he’s on.
Steve Wichrowski (The People’s Court) and Kevin Butler (ALF’s Hit Talk Show) flank my pal Bob Satterfield. The bunny ear fingers belong to Lori Jones.
After the lunch, we re-boarded the buses and headed to the duplex as seen in Big Business for a drive-by viewing…and then on to the most-excellent Perfect Day house where everyone excitedly managed to get a group photo as we sat on the front lawn. Finally we headed back to the heart of Culver City to the site of the former Hal Roach Studios. The buildings had all been sadly leveled back in 1963 and all that currently remains is a plaque that was unveiled in 1980. And, I must add, I had been there for that too.
Me and the Hal Roach Studios plaque
Saturday in Los Angeles will continue…
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