Following our visit with Mildred Kornman in San Diego on Tuesday, October 4, 2005, Jimmy and I hightailed it back to Hollywood to check off a few more items on my list of things to accomplish. You wouldn’t think it would take to long to go from one place to the other, both of them being hubs of Southern California, but traffic was always disastrous at any and all times of the day. It was well after 1:00pm if not later before we had reached the first of our destinations, Hollenbeck Park, the site where Laurel and Hardy filmed their two-reeler Men O’ War in 1929. This was the first time I had ever been to this great location. (More on that later).
I will also discuss our next stop in Liberty Heights at a later time. We spent a good half-hour in this area, walking the dangerous streets, exploring the area where Laurel and (possibly) Hardy shot the first film that they ever appeared in together in 1921, The Lucky Dog. We then headed over to Hollywood Boulevard to visit the Hollywood Entertainment Museum.
I had looked forward to visiting this place for some time for the simple fact that I am a Cheers addict and I was dying to visit the Cheers set. The museum overall was hardly a museum in the strict sense of the word, but a few rooms with set pieces from Cheers, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a small room from the X-Files. Not being a big sci-fi fan, the Cheers set was certainly the main attraction.
I could almost hear the shouts of Norm!
The front door. Boston was not on the other side of it.
The piano area and picture of Tecumseh (bottom left)
The wall hangings, still intact
With the set pieces of Star Trek: The Next Generation
Of course, the television series wasn’t actually filmed here, but rather the set pieces had be relocated from the soundstage at NBC where the show was actually recorded. Of mild disappointment was that Sam’s office and pool room were completely absent (so I couldn’t look for the photo of Spanky McFarland that adorned the wall in Sam’s office). But there was enough iconic props – the bar itself with the actors’ carvings, the piano, the Indian statue, and the Tecumseh photo that hung in Nicholas Colasanto’s dressing room before he passed away – that it made it all worthwhile.
After we had toured these rooms, there was an additional portion of the tour with various video displays – most of which were powered off. This portion was an indescribable mess, with very little of interest, save a piano which had been autographed by hundreds of star patrons of the Masquers Club. Unfortunately, some ninny had outlined each inscription with a silver marker. Strange to say the least.
The signed piano
In July of 1996, the Hollywood Entertainment Museum would shut its doors – with plans to continue to the next ‘phase’ of their development. I don’t know when we’ll ever be able to see the Cheers set again.
The day will continue with our five seconds of fame…
Awesome pics but one correction. The statue by the front door was Tecumseh. The picture in the piano area from Nicholas Colasanto’s dressing room is Geronimo.
Lyndon
June 17th, 2014