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Archive for the 'Film Locations' Category

The “Cheers” Set

Saturday, December 29th, 2007

cheers6.jpgFollowing 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). Read the rest of this entry »

“The Brady Bunch” House

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

brady2.jpgThe house chosen in the Spring of 1969 to be used for all exterior shots in the hip-yet-square TV series The Brady Bunch still stands unassumingly in Burbank, California deep in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. The widow who owned the house at the time was paid a very modest sum for its usage, and exterior shots from every angle were gathered. These initial shots were recylced for the entire five-year duration of the series. Although the house wasn’t a two-story dwelling that would match the already-designed interior, producers didn’t care because it captured so well the look of the California middle-class that was trying to be conveyed. In order to correct this slight problem, the answer was to simply add a phony window to the upper level. Read the rest of this entry »

California Dreamin’ Monday Monday 2005

Tuesday, November 6th, 2007

cul3.jpgAfter the busy weekend cram-packed full of activity that I had just enjoyed, it seemed as if my vacation was ready to be ending rather than beginning a brand new week with six full days ahead of me! Nevertheless, I awoke bright and early to a phone call from one of my service providers at work informing that some files were not staged for a pinpad upgrade they were performing that morning in one of my stores. This was my fault, so I had to make a few early phone calls. I then shuffled my way out from the guest room couch of my friends the Wileys for breakfast of bacon, eggs, and jellied toast courtesy of Kris. She always takes good care of me. Read the rest of this entry »

music.jpgIt was at the Hollywood ’80 Sons of the Desert convention when I first became acquainted with the flight of steps that Laurel and Hardy encountered in their 1932 Acadamy Award winning film The Music Box. This short film had been the first one that I had ever seen from my favorite comedy team so I was well aware of the significance of where I was standing – on the corner of Vendome and Del Monte in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles on that warm summer afternoon, Thursday, July 31, 1980. Although I was only eight years old, I can distinctly remember being at this location, walking up and down the 133 steps, milling about, oohing and aahing, and then pressing on to our next locations. Read the rest of this entry »

Los Angeles Bus Tour ’07

Monday, October 8th, 2007

ala2.jpgDave and I awoke bright and early the morning of July 29, 2007 in our hotel room at the Westin LAX Airport Hotel. We packed up our stuff and headed over to the Wiley office to help load up the afternoon’s coolers with beverages and ice in preparation for the second leg of our bus tours to the various Laurel and Hardy locations. While the prior day’s tours had been centered around Culver City, this day would see some of the other film locations in the outlying areas of Los Angeles. Read the rest of this entry »