There are certain days in my life where I feel like I am unabashedly raking in every drop of fun that can satiate my wide varieties of interests. Monday, January 14, 2013, just so happened to be one of those days. I had already spent a very enjoyable weekend at the Hollywood Show meeting scads of celebrities, visited Disneyland twice, attended the memorial service of Our Ganger Peggy Ahern, eaten one of the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, visited the Grammy Museum, and hung out on Hollywood Boulevard. It would seem that this had been a great weekend without any extras, but there was more to see… more to do… more to experience, as many of my interests intertwined into a few further adventures with my friend Bob.
We woke up around 6:30am that morning inside a movie location. Literally. We had spent the night at the Safari Inn in Burbank, which had been used as a location in several movies, most prominently in the 1993 film True Romance. We got ready and headed out by 7:30am, checking out of the room and taking a few photos in the light. This satisfied my FILM LOCATIONS interest for the day. I have provided a few screen shots from True Romance so that the motel can be compared:
Christian Slater and the bloody Patricia Arquette run by the rooms on our floor
Outside our room at the Safari Inn
The couple pull into the motel
The unique entrance to the motel, with the sundeck above the driveway
Under the sundeck, the pair say goodbye
The view of the pool from the motel office, from the same angle as above
From there, Bob and I stopped off at the Corner Cottage for some giant breakfast burritos. There he gave me a couple of signed photos of recently discovered Our Gang members. This satisfied my AUTOGRAPH and LITTLE RASCALS interest for the day.
After eating, we made a stop at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills to scope out a few graves. It was still way too cold for California outside, so I didn’t enjoy this one as much as some grave hunting expeditions. I also was not remembering that I had already visited this cemetery and got photos with two of them back in 2011, but it was still nice to pay my respects to Anita Garvin Stanley (who co-starred with Laurel and Hardy in 11 films) and Eddie Quillan (who starred with L&H in Hollywood Party), both of whom I had been fortunate enough to meet. I also saw the grave of a Mary Costa, which turned out not to be the voice of Sleeping Beauty… because that one is still alive. A new grave that I marked off my checklist was that of Scotty Beckett (who had starred 17 Our Gang films). This satisfied my LAUREL AND HARDY and FAMOUS GRAVES interests for the day… but there would be even more, much more, of both.
The grave of Our Gang member Scotty Beckett
Just across the street from the Mission cemetery is the Eden Memorial Park Cemetery. There are quite a few famous interments of Jewish performers here, but we only concentrated on one: Groucho Marx, the leader of the Marx Brothers comedy team. It took us a while to find, as Bob’s memory had failed him in locating it, so we consulted the front office and were pointed right to the nook, in which was found a very small mausoleum marker, behind which his ashes are stored. By the way, did I mention that I love THE MARX BROTHERS?
The humble grave of the not-so-humble Groucho Marx
Famous graves once again collided with my interest in U.S. PRESIDENTS as Bob and I made our way to Simi Valley and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. We arrived a bit before they were scheduled to open, so we visited the grave located outside before we bought our tickets and went in. It is hard to believe that it had been more than seven years since I had last been to Reagan’s library. Since all of my photos from 2005 were taken before I started this blog, I had not taken any specifically for my presidential posting. I was glad to be able to rectify that and the results are posted on Reagan’s official posting.
My second visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Behind the podium where I belong, getting cheers from some former presidents
Bob and me with the Reagan’s Air Force One
The ‘official’ purchased photo, courtesy of Bob
Down in the Air Force One Pavilion is this little pub now called the Ronald Reagan Pub, which was based on a pub in Ireland that the Reagans encountered, with a much more appealing name
In all, Bob and I spent nearly three hours at the Reagan Library, not only exploring the standard Reagan museum and artifacts, but also boarding the Boeing 707 Air Force One that had been used during Reagan’s administration, and even more impressively, checking out the revolving exhibit called Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives. This part of the visit in itself took nearly an hour, including a trio of short films about “Disney and the Presidents”, “Ronald Reagan and Disney,” and “The Hall of Presidents” – and as you might have guessed, satisfied my interest in WALT DISNEY. Below are the photos that I took at this magnificent exhibition. I was glad to be able to catch this one as it will only be in place until the end of April.
Replica of Walt Disney’s office from his studio in Burbank, containing his original desk, furnishings, and personal effects
The original prop storybook as seen at the opening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs...
…and Cinderella…
…and Sleeping Beauty.
The best photo I could get with these amazing relics
The costume worn by Julie Andrews, along with original blocks and Jack-in-the-box that were used in Mary Poppins
The 1915 Model T Touring Car used in the film The Absent Minded Professor
King Brian’s crown from Darby O’Gill and the Little People
The Lucrezia Borgia painting and Borgia ring from The Shaggy Dog
Original costumes of Tommy Sands and Annette Funicello from Disney’s Babes in Toyland
The “Captain Rex” Audio-Animatronic figure from Disneyland’s Star Tours ride
The Mickey Mouse Animatronic from The Mickey Mouse Revue, a long-defunct ride from Walt Disney World
The Hitchhiking Ghosts and various headstones from the Disney World opening day Haunted Mansion
My camera does another inexplicable effect on the 1996 version of Disney World’s Haunted Mansion ghost bride
Various Haunted Mansion paraphernelia
An Audio-Animatronic from the 1967 Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean and an attraction marquee from the Disney World version of the ride from 1973
The first-ever display of all of the Presidential busts, sculpted for Imagineers to use to create the Audio-Animatronics in Disney World’s Hall of Presidents
A montage of later Disney artwork
It was about 12:30 when we left the library, and I was utterly ready for some fine chili dogs that would be found at Chili John’s. This eatery was an interesting addition to my DINERS, DRIVE-INS, & DIVES quest, as the show’s host Guy Fieri had just visited it a month earlier. Consequently, the segment had yet to air. Our friend Steve Cox met up with us for lunch and we enjoyed some mighty expensive-but-well-worth-it hot dogs. I opted for the Chicken Chili dog, which required a fork to eat. The effort was well worth it. We got to sample the lemon pie too. Although it was outstanding, we passed on getting any. Bob, however, would return to the restaurant the next day for more.
DD&D #57: Chili John’s in Burbank, California
The establishment which opened in 1946 still features a U-shaped counter
Weiners everywhere! Steve, Bob, and I enjoy some amazing grub.
Bob and I bid farewell to Steve and then drove through Culver City, which is a thriving Laurel and Hardy location in itself. We made a quick stop at the first house used in L&H’s silent classic Big Business and I got some photos with it. (More on that at another time). We also stopped by the vacant lot where the Hal Roach plaque was located. There had been some construction around it, with an additional drive now behind it, which led to some concerns that the plaque might have been removed – but thankfully, there it was in all its glory.
The Hal Roach Studios plaque, which is now 33 years old. The Studios themselves lasted just 11 more than this plaque has.
We left Culver City at around 3pm and headed over to Jimmy and Big Jimmy’s office to meet up with them. They had been working on finding the location used in Laurel and Hardy’s film Dirty Work since last summer and after visiting the place they thought it was, had determined that they were in fact successful. Besides the Wileys, no one had ever been there before and Bob and I were going to be the first. We took along photos for comparison, and spent a good half-hour checking out the area, proudly showing the photos to neighbors who inquired as to why we were taking pictures. I’ll be doing a posting on the location shortly.
Near the site of the Dirty Work house, formerly part of the Arnaz ranch that was owned by Hal Roach, and utilized in several of the Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy films. Some of these eucalyptus trees might be the very same ones seen in such films as The Hoose-Gow and School’s Out.
Once we had finished at the location, we all headed to dinner at Gloria’s Cafe. You might recall this restaurant as one of the DD&D locations I visited last summer, at which time I forgot to take a photo of the exterior. Never fear, this time I remembered. I was also able to order the other item that had been featured on the show: the Carne Adobada. It was tasty, but I didn’t find it to be over-the-top spectacular. Still, it was nice to sit down with Bob and the Wileys and talk about some of the upcoming plans for the next Sons convention in Hollywood ’14.
A re-visit to DD&D #47, Gloria’s Cafe, this time getting a picture outside
The Carne Adobada, with the mandatory rice and beans
The fellas at Gloria’s
I said my farewell to Bob after dinner, and I left with the Jimmys. I was plum tired and ready to crash almost instantly when I got back to Jimmy’s place. But I did chat with Carolyn a bit before dozing off for the second time.
My flight wasn’t too terribly early the next morning, but I did need to get up before 6am. Jimmy took me to the airport and I caught my 8:12am flight without a hitch. I sat next to girl whose mouth was shaped like a triangle when she slept. My layover was from 4:04pm to 4:55pm in Dulles in Washington D.C. I sat in a solo seat on my last flight and arrived in Dayton at 6:23pm. I was greeted with Carolyn’s loving arms waiting for me in the airport.
It had been a great trip, but I had missed her terribly. I had grown rather close to this girl that I had only known for just shy of three weeks. Something told me that we would get closer as we left the airport and pressed on with our lives together…
2013 will continue…
Return to the beginning of the trip here…
“I was plum tired…” – what a classic way to say that.
What’s with the bold, capitalized, green text scattered throughout this posting? To my recollection, that’s never before been seen on the Catsafterme, a site steeped in tradition. (I’m not trying to debate, I’m just wondering.)
Peter
June 3rd, 2013