When I first began to plan my October 2008 trip to California nearly a year before it took place, there were four goals that I had in mind which I hoped to accomplish while there – and I had no idea if any of the four would even be possible to arrange. Soon things began to really take shape and not long before I left, I had made arrangements to make three of them actually happen – and these all will be covered in this series of postings. I will go ahead and tell you the fourth since it didn’t happen: an old high school friend is employed by NBC in the publicity department and I had hoped to set up a private tour of the facility and sets. She didn’t seem to think that there was anything of interest that she could show me (or perhaps she just didn’t want to), so that prospect was quickly nixed. Turns out her job took her to New York before I even arrived in California, so it wouldn’t have worked out anyway.
Now that the trip is over, I would have to rank this as one of the most amazing trips of my life – perhaps with even more fun stuff to consign to memory than the famous European trip earlier this year. It was a week absolutely jam-packed with activity, with new events being added to the week as it went along, several little surprises, at least one unbelievably big surprise, and unfortunately a couple of small disappointments – along with one huge one. As the week of departure was drawing near, I began to christen it in my own head as the “Dreams Come True” tour. Bob would later rename it the “All About Brad” tour after a comment that my pal Rick Greene made to him as he prepared for my arrival.
Following Adam’s birthday party on September 13, I basically spent the next three weeks in preparation for the trip. I was able to drop nearly fifteen pounds by resuming the salmon/walking regimen. This was planning ahead for the great meals that I would be devouring while out west. I was also getting CDs ready to bring to my friends Rick and David, going through my autograph books to pull out photos I would be needing, and of course doing laundry and packing. I managed to just get a couple of website postings ahead for the week I’d be gone. And I got deep into the first season of 24 on DVD – when I had a few odd hours to waste.
I had a little bit of time to spend with friends on the weekends, going to a couple of bonfires at Heidi’s on September 20 and 27, and having Jackie and Christi and the kids over for a visit on September 26. But other than that I was a virtual recluse. Oh and yes, I had a birthday on Thursday, October 2 – my 37th. Mom had offered to take me out for dinner but I declined in order to continue getting things ready. Amidst the work, I got several phone calls, emails, and Facebook messages all wishing me a happy one, but overall it passed with little fanfare – as they all should…
On Saturday, October 4, 2008, the day finally came to pack my grip and split for the coast. I got up dark and early at 4am to head to Dad’s house. He would then take me to the Dayton airport to meet my plane. The first leg of the flight was a short one to Cleveland, departing at 7am and landing at 8am. I had a mere 55 minute layover and then a five hour flight on a plane almost completely full. I was sitting next to a rather large guy, but no one was sitting on the other side of him, so he exclaimed “this is our lucky day!” and moved over a seat. I hoped that the whole trip would be so lucky. I had some cold cereal and a cold banana for breakfast on the plane, but didn’t want to eat again until we arrived at the sushi bar. With the three hour time change, it was 10:46 when I arrived at LAX.
At first it appeared that I would in fact not be so lucky. My Delta flight was actually operated by Continental Airlines and for the first time in my life, I could not find my luggage anywhere. In fact I couldn’t even find the luggage carousel where my flight’s suitcases were being unloaded. One sign said one place, another said a different place. Eventually, after wasting nearly a half-hour (not even knowing if the luggage was located in the Delta or Continental area), I was able to track down my bag, sitting all alone in a desolate corner. I wasn’t amused and neither was Bob who circled the airport in his car a half-dozen times waiting for me. But things quickly began to look up.
From the airport, we went straight to the Hollywood Collectors Show at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel & Convention Center, arriving around 12:30. I had assembled a list of all of the celebrities whom I hoped to encounter. Some I needed to purchase autographs from and some I just needed photos with. Although the cash flowed like water that day, I was able to get what I wanted from every single one of them.
Of course, again I must blast the current trend of almost everyone – even those who are virtual no-names – to charge at least $20 for a signed photo, with some big names at $30. And what’s worse, probably a dozen or more of them were charging additional fees to have your photo taken with them. I still long for the days of the $5.00 signed photo and the old-timers who were grateful that you even wanted a photo with them – but that’s just living in the past. Overall, it was probably the best show out of the five that I had attended. Naturally, I will be posting each celebrity encounter individually in seperate postings.
Bob and I stayed there until about 4pm browsing the celebs, looking over a few of the other dealers’ items, chatting with our friend Dick Bann (who was perusing the vintage movie stills), and saying hello to Brad Sterner (a guy from Pennsylvania that we know). We then headed out for the rest of the day’s adventures.
Brad Sterner began buying autographs from me on ebay in the late 1990’s. I eventually turned him on to Bob and he began sending Bob photos to get signed for him, and then eventually visiting the Hollywood Collectors Shows now and then. His ebay screen name was Muggy – and that’s what we generally call him.
Our first stop following the show was at the Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood to visit the grave of Oliver Hardy, something I like to do everytime I’m in California. On the way in, we stopped off at the grave of Curly-Joe DeRita of The Three Stooges fame as well. After visiting with Ollie and also Lucille (his wife) & Ben Price (her second husband) – both of whom I had met years earlier – we went out in search of a couple of additional Laurel and Hardy co-stars buried at Valhalla: Baldwin Cooke and Mantan Moreland. Unfortunately, Bob couldn’t remember exactly where they were, so after we looked around for about 20 minutes, we gave up and headed out to dinner.
A Stooge eye-poke for Curly-Joe
Another visit to Babe’s marker and plaque
The grave of Ben and Lucille Hardy Price, right in front and to the right of Babe’s plaque
Oliver N. Hardy’s actual marker (directly in front of my feet)
I can’t pass up a good sushi bar during any trip to California, and this was the only time of the trip that Bob and I would be able to partake in this delicacy. We went to a little place called Midori and sat at the bar and engorged ourselves on the all-you-can-eat special – and to make it even better, Bob treated for my birthday. As I said before, I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast on the plane, so as it was now 8pm on my watch (5pm California time), I was ready to rumble. I was delighted with the chicken teriyaki, sweet shrimp, eel and avacado rolls, Vegas roll, Baja roll, spicy crab nugget, baked scallop on California roll, Dragon roll, and crunch roll. It was enough to make your mouth burst out crying in ecstasy and your stomach just to burst out. I was worthless for the rest of the night.
With some splendid eel and avacado
After Bob and I crawled out to the car, we stopped by the Pantages Theatre so I could purchase some tickets for later in the week. As we drove by the former location of the Ambassador Hotel, I asked Bob if we could stop and try to get a look. This was the site where Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968 after giving a rousing speech during his California campaign celebration. The building is being completely leveled at the urging of the Kennedy family and a school is getting ready to be erected. The construction site is completely fenced in, but I grabbed a couple of photos of a pair of nearby landmark indicators.
Marker indicating the Ambassador Hotel, now long gone without me ever getting a chance to visit it
The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Parkway sign, on a median in front of the Ambassador site
We then headed over to the Ahmanson Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. There we met up with Jimmy and his girlfriend Ellen for the presentation of the new stage show 9 to 5. We had a little bit of time to kill as we waited for the show to start at 8pm so we walked a bit around the Music Center outdoor area. As you may have guessed, I was growing tired by this point – as it was 11pm back in my world.
The show was very good and I enjoyed it a lot. Unfortunately, no matter how entertaining it was, I was struggling with all my lid power to keep my eyes open. It was obviously based on the film 9 to 5, and although I don’t think she delivered most of her lines as humorously as Lily Tomlin did in the film, the show’s star Alison Janney (of The West Wing fame) was quite good. The set pieces were fantastic and the music was very enjoyable as well. I did a little better staying awake during the second act. During intermission, I purchased a nice signed photo of Dolly Parton for $20. Dolly had written all of the music and lyrics for the play and had naturally attended the opening the week prior.
My signed photo of Dolly Parton
After the show, Jimmy and Ellen took off, but Bob and I stayed around to try and greet members of the cast at the stage door. They all came out one-by-one and I was able to get photos with and autographs of the three leads: Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty, and Allison Janney. It was a nice way to end the night. I’ll show off the Allison Janney encounter in a future posting.
Bob waits patiently for the 9 to 5 ladies to make an appearance. This would be my only photo of Bob’s beard this week
With Stephanie J. Block, who played Judy Bernley (Jane Fonda’s role from the film)
With Megan Hilty, who played Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton’s role in the film)
Bob and I then headed back to the Marriott in Burbank where we were spending that night. We stopped at the grocery store on the way back so we could pick up some bottled water and other knick-knacks. By the time I went to sleep at nearly 1am, I was only about 15 minutes shy of getting a legitimate ‘up for 24 hours’ picture of myself. But I was too tired to even think about it. I’m not as young as I used to be, you know.
A Kroger in disguise. I took this photo so I could write off the entire vacation as a business trip.
Surveying the day’s loot back at the hotel – thoroughly ready to crash
Day one had been a rousing success. Seven more to go…
To be continued…
Check out Allison Janney here…
Follow the trail of celebrities from the Hollywood Collectors Show…
Bypass the trip and continue with 2008…
So you lost weight by walking a salmon. I must try this.
Chris
October 21st, 2008
Sorry you didn’t look me up while you were in L.A. I work 2 minutes from where you were staying.
Jim Harwood
October 23rd, 2008