Most people thought I was crazy to travel all the way to Los Angeles for only three days, but the purpose of my trip was to take part in the festivities of the Way Out West Tent’s 40th anniversary celebration – which included a mixer, banquet, and two extensive Laurel and Hardy locations tours. I had exactly two days of unused vacation; I decided to use it here. And I’m certainly glad I did. As with my previous seven journeys to the west coast, this one too provided me with a lifetime of memories and good times with my many great friends from this neck of the country.
My flight was at the butt-crack of dawn…6:00am on Friday, July 27, 2007. My lovable and faithful friend Jackie stayed over in order to drive me to the airport and have me at the terminal by 5:00am. We had spent a good part of the month of July together, hanging out and taking walks. As I was during my last flight to California in February, I was astonished at the efficiency of the airport. I had my bags checked, got through security, and was at my terminal by 5:15am. My one-hour layover was in St. Louis and actually provided a nice stretch before the final four hour jaunt to LAX. I arrived in Los Angeles at 9:00am and was picked up by Jimmy.
As I said, my number one purpose for coming to L.A. was the W.O.W. activities and just hanging out with my friends, so I really had no agenda for Friday. I had hoped to maybe see Ellen taped at NBC, but since Bob had just returned from the Ukraine the night before, he didn’t have a chance to follow-up and get the tickets. We had also toyed with finding the location of the Big ‘W’ from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in San Pedro and Bob had thought about having us visit the Will Rogers Estate and Park. With the chaos of trying to prepare for the anniversary that weekend, we didn’t end up doing any of it.
But not long after Jimmy picked me up from the airport, we did FINALLY get to go to the Winkie’s restaurant from Mulholland Drive, a site we had slated to visit during my last two trips – but never did. I wasn’t disappointed. This former Denny’s restaurant looked very much like it did in the film and we even went inside to eat. I’ll report more on this film location in a future posting.
After Winkie’s we headed back to Jimmy’s neighborhood and stopped by his new house. He hasn’t yet moved in because he’s having some wiring and fixturing completed before taking the plunge. It was a nice place and he showed me where my guest room will be. I approved wholeheartedly.
Jimmy’s new dwelling featuring the Brad Suite
Bob met us at Jimmy’s parents house and he treated me to lunch at Sushi 21, an all-you-can eat sushi bar in San Pedro, which was also formerly a Denny’s restaurant. I stuffed myself beyond recognition with various delectable rolls and even some delicious grated mussels. My very favorite was the Las Vegas roll complete with eel, crab, avocado, cream cheese, and eel sauce. The Teriyaki steak roll was interesting too. I can’t get enough of these sushi bars and would certainly weigh about 300 pounds if we had them in Ohio.
Sushi 21 enjoyed having us until we ran them out of fish
When we returned to the elder Wiley house, Jimmy’s friends Mike and Gwyneth had stopped by to visit him and see his new house, so we all headed back for another look at the new abode. Bob and I ran a quick errand to get him a new memory card and then returned to the elder Wiley house to meet Jimmy. Unfortunately, we were supposed to have picked up Jimmy from his house, which caused further delays and nixed our chances of making either the Big ‘W’ or Will Rogers Estate. So we ended up just heading to Culver City to check into our hotel.
On the way, we stopped off at two cemeteries to scout a few famous graves. We didn’t have any luck locating Buckwheat at Inglewood Park Cemetery, but we scouted Al Jolson (seen in the top picture and below) who had a giant memorial and fountain, Trudy Marshall (from Laurel and Hardy’s The Dancing Masters), and Moe Howard of Three Stooges fame.
Me and Jolson’s memorial statue
Jolson’s giant crypt
With Trudy Marshall (why it’s spelled Trudi here is a mystery)
Doing a Stooge eye-poke for Moe Howard
While we were at sushi, Bob presented me with a dilemma by offering tickets to see Ray Bradbury speak live versus going to the Sons mixer. He had forgotten that the mixer was this same night. I opted to take the Bradbury choice, but it ended up making no difference. We drove all the way to South Pasadena for the Bradbury reading only to find out that ol’ Ray had called in sick. This was my second failed attempt in 2007 to see Bradbury live. The kiss of death continued…So we headed back to the mixer at the Westin near LAX, arriving late of course.
Bill Cassara, his daughter, and Stan Taffel attempt to have a normal conversation with little Bob Duncan
Ed Greim, Bob, Del Kempster and his beer
Skip and Rick and Steve yuk it up with Big Jimmy
Trouble comes to the Westin: Dave, Jimmy, Brad, Bob
The mixer was largely uneventful, but it was great to hang out with some old friends. Most importantly, my good friend David was there, so it was fun to hang out with him and Jimmy. Of course, it wasn’t long before the imitations, catch-phrases, and general insanity began. There were quite a few out-of-town Sons who it is always alternately nice or not-so-nice (but in a fun way) to see: Dave Tomlinson (whom I met for the first time after corresponding for several years), Mark Turner, Rick Lindner, Steve Wichrowski, Kevin Butler, Marshall Korby, Bill Cassara, Ed Greim, John and Janet Duff, Lori Jones and Colin McCaffery, John Ullah, Flip Lauer, and Del Kempster all come to mind. The cheese and beer (for $6.00) were good, but I passed on the veggies as indicated directly below.
After the mixer, Bob, David, and I all went out for a late dinner at…you-guessed-it…Denny’s !!! Bob and I then headed back to our lodging for the night, which will be covered next.
Up next: staying in the Culver Hotel…
Click here to see Winkie’s…
Bypass the trip and continue with 2007…
Leave a Reply