Originally, to me, the Culver Hotel was merely a Laurel and Hardy film location. Seen in several of the Laurel and Hardy silents, such as Putting Pants on Philip, We Faw Down, Leave ‘Em Laughing, and Forty-Five Minutes from Hollywood, among other Hal Roach silents starring Our Gang and Charley Chase, the hotel has always stood tall among the little town of Culver City where so many classic films were made in the 1920’s and 1930’s. The hotel has also gained much noteriety as the lodgings for the actors portraying the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. The Chevy Chase film Under the Rainbow helped perpetuate the myth that the little actors were a bunch of perverted sots…and that film, too, also filmed its exterior shots at the Culver Hotel.
So I had seen the Culver Hotel on numerous occasions. Visits to Culver City were generally a no-brainer whenever I had traveled to California. The whole town is seeping with film locations from the Roach classics. Heralded as the city with the world’s shortest Main Street, the entire area was a prime location to use as a location. It didn’t hurt that the Hal Roach Studios were just down the block.
Movie posters adorned the hallway walls
But during my first several visits to the Culver Hotel, this former movie star palace was vacant and sitting in ruins – and had been for nearly fifty years. But in 1997, the hotel underwent renovations and opened back up for business. The first time I saw it as a thriving entity was during my visit in 2005, at which time I was able to peek my head in the door. In February of this year, I got a little braver and walked through the lobby. But this time, Bob and I, in our quest to always partake in the interesting and unusual, booked a room for the night so that we could actually sleep in a Laurel and Hardy film location.
Relapsing on the vintage furniture
The Culver bath
The hotel was bristling with other ghosts of Hollywood past as well. Among them was the John Wayne suite. Wayne owned the hotel at one time, alledgedly winning it from Charlie Chaplin in a poker game or some such nonsense. Our original plan was to actually stay in the John Wayne suite, but it was apparent upon entering the room – with one single double bed and no mention of John Wayne – that the hotel had let us down. Bob complained to the desk clerk who sent us up a rollaway bed and knocked about $100 off the price of the room.
Your only chance to ever see me in a cowboy hat…outside the John Wayne Room
It was a neat opportunity to be able to stay here. Outside our windows was a great overhead view of Main Street, with its familiar buildings from the L&H films staring back up at us. The next morning Bob got up early and took a walk around town and I sat in the lobby and played on the hotel internet. Later before our organized walking tour began, one of the managers gave us a tour of the place and showed us the office, vault, and escape hatch of Harry Culver, the founder of the city. What a cool experience the whole thing was!
The view of Main Street from our window
In Harry Culver’s former office
Laurel and Hardy in front of the hotel in Leave ‘Em Laughing (1928)
Bob and me 79 years later
Oliver Hardy runs toward the hotel in Putting Pants on Philip (1927)
The Culver Hotel taken from Main Street
My Summer California trip will continue…
Thanks for sharing this. It’s extremely interesting. I had no idea that it had been renovated.
Peter
August 17th, 2007
You look absolutely ravishing in the cowboy hat, darling.
Jackie Moore
August 17th, 2007
“Ravishing” isn’t the word for it!
Bob
August 25th
Bob
August 25th, 2007