It’s the semi-grand finale of Melissa’s annual west coast excursion! This Sunday morning at the Chateau was like most; morning laps followed by breakfast. At this point in the trip, Willis was showing his lack of enthusiasm about waiting for me to finish my swim.
This is what it takes to restore that enthusiasm: Chateau Marmont peppered bacon!
He smells it! And yes, he received a few tasty morsels.
It was a pretty relaxing day for me; a few naps, some photography…
When Melissa was done with her event in Ventura, it was time for a few more film location visits, starting with Circus Liquors in North Hollywood. Remember when Cher (Alicia Silverstone) gets mugged in “Clueless” (1995)?
Melissa’s outfit may not have been an Alaïa (“An a-what-a?!?”), but it was close enough!
Unlike my first visit there, the neon was working this time!
Recognize this fountain?
Yes, this is the fountain where Cher has her grand epiphany: “I love Josh!”
Melissa’s epiphany was that it was late at night and time to go to bed. Known as the Electric Fountain, this Beverly Hills water feature was designed by architect Ralph Carlin Flewelling in 1931 in partnership with sculptor Robert Merrell Gage, who created the center granite sculpture of a Tongva/Gabrieleno tribe member kneeling in prayer. The bas relief images below the sculpture are also by Gage, showing scenes of the area’s early development. The fountain was a gift to Beverly Hills from silent screen star Harold Lloyd’s mother, Sarah.
You can also see this fountain in the “Our Lips Are Sealed” music video by the Go-Gos’s:
Our last film location for this trip is from “Rebel Without A Cause” (1955).
The same alley were Natalie Wood and James Dean left their homes on the way to school.
In 1997, I saw a portion of the original fence when it was at the James Dean Gallery in Fairmount, Indiana:
A closeup of the display photos, showing where it was “liberated from”:
Back in San Diego, we finished the trip off with a tasty dinner at the Hob Nob Hill restaurant, which is a Daveland staple.
Melissa loved the remodel, which includes a large mural from “The Wizard of Oz”:
As Melissa jets back to the East Coast, Willis waits patiently for his next adventure!
See more photos at my main website.
4 comments:
who's the skater fellow ?
My friend Johnny; he lives in LA.
Your adventures are a live-action museum. Simply amazing. As always, a great job lining up past/present photos. Locales change so much over time that I would imagine a roofline is all you have to go by sometimes.
A wonderful series of images, as per usual-! Interesting, with the still frame from "Rebel..." we can more-easily see the two chimneys and a portion of one backyard incinerator that were common fixtures in every backyard prior to late 1957, when they were finally banned in the City of LA.
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