77 Sunset Strip / Hawaiian Eye, etc. (2 Viewers)

[MartinP.]

Dated 1963:

 

[John Sparks]

What's crazy about this thread is that I worked 31 years in the city of Los Angeles for the Los Angeles Fire Dept...and all that time was spent in Hollywood.

Here's what is really nuts...I had never eaten at PINKS...until my last day on the job...so many things to see in L.A., but only so much time to accomplish them...and I had free rein to visit them all as a Fire Inspector.

On a side note, I did get to try and see Lou Costello's home...alas, it was torn down...a few months before I arrived..

But I did get to be a Fire Life Safey Officer in the most filmed homes in the most expensive areas of Los Angeles City that looked over Benedict Canyon and beyond.

Well, one of those nights while filming out by the pool, an LAPD helicopter is going by, sees the filming and decides to hover and go in circles to see what is being filmed.

One of the electricians decides to shine one of the lights at the copter...no problem, the copter flys away.

!0 minutes later, at least 5 LAPD cars arrive. L.A. has areas that are subseptible to brush fires and almost all homes in the mountains fall under that category.

So, they push past the FIRE LIFE SAFEY OFFICER, rush up the driveway, ask who shined the huge light on the LAPD helicopter. The one person that did it, raises his hand...and arrested!

Well, the next day, the captain of LAPD Air Opps calls and speaks to the FIRE LIFE SAFETY OFFICER on duty that night.

This LAPD captain, asks this UFSO (Fire Life Safety Officer...no matter what rank) if he knew why the film crew would shine a huge light at the helicopter...that was just flying back to Parker Center.

Well, the captain of the LAPD was in for a rude awakening.

When the cops arrived at the house, not one of them acknowledged themselves to the UFSO, They ran up the driveway, past him, and arrested the light man.

When the LAPD captain asked the UFSO if what he told him was what happened...this is what transpired....

LAFD Captain...Sir, you have everything wrong!
LAPD Captain...Are you telling me that what I'm saying is incorrect?
LAFD Captain...I was the UFSO that night, and everything you say and your pilots are liars!!!
LAPD Captain...So, what happened that night?
LAFD Captain...We're filming by the pool, and this helicopter goes by and then decides to keep circling and, to us, to see what we are filming. Everyone is moving their arms to tell them to go away!!!

But they don't want to go away...so the lighter decides to shine the light at him, to make him move off.

So, the LAPD captain asks if the he would agree to say that the film crew shined the lights on the LAPD chopper out of spite because they wouldn't fly away!.

Well, this UFSO was not one to agree with this LAPD Captain...why...this LAFD Captain was one of our CHAPLINS..nothing worse that lying trying to cover one's mistakes...GOD BLESS LAFD AND MAGA!

 

[MartinP.]

8524 Sunset Blvd.

Maybe not ALL inclusive, but previous tenants of this address.

--Asia Bazaar - 1930's
--David Tennant Galleries auction house
--Charochka Russian Restaurant May, 1945 - 1947 (below)

EDIT: The photo above was presented as the Charochka Russian Restaurant, but I just noticed it
clearly says Asia Bazaar on that sign. What are the makes/dates of the cars; maybe a clue.

--Club Bayou - Early 1951
--Gypsy Camp, a Hungarian Restaurant - Dec., 1951
--Club 22
--Club Trocadero (not to be confused with the earlier Trocadero at 8610 Sunset Blvd.) - mid 1950's

--Alpine Lodge
--Dino's Lodge - from 1958

I choose the following photograph, taken October 20, 1962, although the car looks much older,
because I have never seen it before today.

And someone's been making models:

More model photos here:
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/this-week-s-new-dectives-77-sunset-strip-dino-s-lodge

Cheers!!!

 

[MartinP.]

,..nothing worse than lying trying to cover one's mistakes...GOD BLESS LAFD AND MAGA!

Hmmm..."lying" and "MAGA" ...ironic, huh?

 

[John Sparks]

Not ironic...only to you, a left wing ironic!

 

[MartinP.]

Don't race your wheels.
Listen to the little men.

 

[Rustifer]

Well, not much response to my silly burger story a few posts back which tells me I probably veered too much off the thread's stated purpose.
I shall train my attention to the subject at hand:

Season 5's "Six Feet Under" has a twist or two and a drunken inventor to shake up this episode.
There's a crime syndicate in town that's pulling off robberies in fur warehouses and diamond exchanges. It's run by Marco Deederman (Malachi Throne) with a firm hand and a no nonsense attitude. Requisites for a crime boss, for sure. However, a botched robbery and shootout creates a need for Marco to devise a way to disappear and avoid capture. He fakes his own death in a fiery car crash that seemingly takes out half of WB's backlot. His second in command, Maury (H.M. Wynant) takes the lead.

Jeff Spencer and Lt. Gilmore have the onerous job of picking out plots in the cemetery for the cops killed in the shootout, which consists mainly of the both of them standing around and saying things like "Does this spot look good to you?" Jeff runs into gorgeous gal Nancy (Karen Sharpe) who claims to be Marco's daughter and is mourning her father's 'death'. It's a bit suspicious.
Nevertheless, Jeff offers to take her home-- but does so by way of Dino's and a few martinis. Yeah, he knows how to allay a woman's grief.

Karen Sharpe, Malachi Throne, H.M. Wynant, John Abbott

Jeff and Nancy become a "thing" and before you can say hot cha cha, they're in the back seat of a Rolls playing kissy-face on the way to a cabin in the woods for what we assume is to be a chance to roast marshmallows together.. Nancy is nearly prostate with desire for Jeff, purring his name and breathing like an asthmatic guppy. But wait! It's all a fake. She's NOT Marco's daughter, but rather his girlfriend! Sacre Bleu! She forces Jeff out of the car and orders the chauffer to shoot him dead. Little did she know the driver is an undercover cop and only uses wax bullets on Spencer. Still, it looks like he's dead...

Jeff turns out to be no worse for wear and devises a wild scheme with Lt. Gilmore using the talents of a drunken jailbird professor Dr. Felstrand (John Abbott). The good professor builds a parabolic microphone that can capture even the slightest whisper 500 feet way. This is installed on the roof across from Nancy's apartment, where we soon learn (hear) that she and Maury have been playing footsies behind Marco's back. Marco shows up and discovers the two en flagrante. Thanks to ensuing conversations, enough evidence is gathered for Gilmore to arrest the whole gang.
Written by Lawrence Kimble (who also wrote The Dark Wood and The Night was Six Years Long), I would label this episode as serviceable if not exactly inspired.

Notes: Both Karen Sharpe and H.M. Wynant are still with us. Karen checks in at a spry 83, Wynant at 91.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^

Karen Sharpe was in the I Dream of Jeannie pilot. She was also married to film director Stanley Kramer.
When AMPAS has had any Kramer films screened at their venue the last couple decades, she's appeared
as a guest and talked about them and her husband.

She also stars, with William Campbell, in a mid-50's film noir titled Man in the Vault. It was made by John Wayne's BatJac Productions. It's only 75 minutes long and has some great character actors in it like Mike Mazurki. Also Anita Ekberg. It's a strictly B-film, but it's one of my favorites because of the location filming. They film at the Hollywood Bowl, along Sunset Blvd. where you can see places like the Mocambo and the Chateau Marmont and residences up on the hill along Marmont Lane. They film on a Beverly Hills residential street that I've yet to identify. A "key" shop on Santa Monica Blvd. plays an important role. They film at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland where you can see every building on that corner, including the soon to be demolished Hollywood Hotel, along with the Chinese and the then Paramount Theatre in the distance. It's great. The Bank of America on the corner is an important location. They probably didn't film the bank interiors there, but I don't know that they didn't.

What I love the best, though, is that they filmed both a lot of interiors and exteriors at Art Linkletter's La Cienega Lanes which was originally built in 1940, purchased at some point by Art Linkletter, who owned it at the time they filmed this movie. He sold it at some point and it lasted up until around 1975. It's located on the corner of La Cienega and Santa Monica Blvd. I frequent the place a lot as it is currently a CVS drugstore. I was being waited on one day by a young Latina woman and just blurted out..."You win if you can tell me what this building used to be when it first opened in the 1940's." Without hesitation,, to my surprise, she said, "A bowling alley."

I guess I could also add some trivia: About a decade ago (or maybe two?) at a dinner party I met a man who had worked in that Bank of America (before I knew about this film) back in the 50's onward and he talked about that when the Dodgers baseball team first moved to Los Angeles, they were all set up with Bank accounts at that particular location. As a team, they also would frequent the movie theatre near the bank, on the other side of Coffee Dan's, and see movies. (I read on a Movie Theatre website once concerning this theatre, a comment by someone who happened to work there and corroborated that they did that.) The "door" of Coffee Dan's can be seen in the film, but not the facade. This man also told me that Montgomery Clift used to frequent Coffee Dan's where he'd sober up in the mornings after a night out. Later on I came across a blog by a writer who talked about night's at Coffee Dan's where he'd go with Clift and Burt Lancaster and they'd recite From Here to Eternity lines from the film! If you want some further trivia, this man told me while he worked at the bank, he was asked out on a date by both Montgomery Clift and one of the Dodger baseball players. Monty gave him his phone number. This man did not go out on the dates with either one of them and he does not remember who the Dodger player was. I believe the man.

 

[criblecoblis]

Well, not much response to my silly burger story a few posts back which tells me I probably veered too much off the thread's stated purpose.

I've been behind in my reading here, so I didn't see the burger post until now. While I don't agree with your specific prescriptions for a proper burger, I strongly agree with your general prescriptions, at least for myself. A burger must be consumable without undue mess or jaw injury.

While I think folks in this great country are free to put whatever they want on a burger, my own definition of a proper burger, for my personal consumption, is quite narrow and traditional. A well-made In-N-Out hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickle instead of the "spread similar to Thousand Island dressing" defines my bone-stock, basic hamburger. Iceberg lettuce (with the spines removed) and tomato are desired, but not absolutely necessary.

If the meat is fresh and char-broiled, I can dispense with the ketchup and mustard, and if the meat is really fresh, I can dispense with the bun in favor of large leaves of iceberg lettuce. But that is as radical as I get.

As a rule, four ounces of lean ground beef is ideal, or up to a third-pound of regular ground beef. Extra-lean ground beef is too dense for a hamburger. The meat should always be done medium rare.

If there is to be cheese, it must be sharp Cheddar, or nothing. The only additional ingredients allowed are chili (without beans) and occasionally Anaheim chiles. While I love onions, they hate me and want me to suffer.

This is my burger testimony.

 

[Mysto]

While I think folks in this great country are free to put whatever they want on a burger, my own definition of a proper burger, for my personal consumption, is quite narrow and traditional. A well-made In-N-Out hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickle instead of the "spread similar to Thousand Island dressing" defines my bone-stock, basic hamburger. Iceberg lettuce (with the spines removed) and tomato are desired, but not absolutely necessary.

As Kookie would say "Man who wants a burger named after a belly button!"
Our favorite is Red Robin Bonzai with pineapple.
And now back to our regularly scheduled 77 Sunset Strip.

 

[John Sparks]

I've been behind in my reading here, so I didn't see the burger post until now. While I don't agree with your specific prescriptions for a proper burger, I strongly agree with your general prescriptions, at least for myself. A burger must be consumable without undue mess or jaw injury.

While I think folks in this great country are free to put whatever they want on a burger, my own definition of a proper burger, for my personal consumption, is quite narrow and traditional. A well-made In-N-Out hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickle instead of the "spread similar to Thousand Island dressing" defines my bone-stock, basic hamburger. Iceberg lettuce (with the spines removed) and tomato are desired, but not absolutely necessary.

If the meat is fresh and char-broiled, I can dispense with the ketchup and mustard, and if the meat is really fresh, I can dispense with the bun in favor of large leaves of iceberg lettuce. But that is as radical as I get.

As a rule, four ounces of lean ground beef is ideal, or up to a third-pound of regular ground beef. Extra-lean ground beef is too dense for a hamburger. The meat should always be done medium rare.

If there is to be cheese, it must be sharp Cheddar, or nothing. The only additional ingredients allowed are chili (without beans) and occasionally Anaheim chiles. While I love onions, they hate me and want me to suffer.

This is my burger testimony.

This could be the testimony of Wimpy!

 

[Rustifer]

As Kookie would say "Man who wants a burger named after a belly button!"
Our favorite is Red Robin Bonzai with pineapple.
And now back to our regularly scheduled 77 Sunset Strip.

Pineapple on a burger???

 

[Rustifer]

I've been behind in my reading here, so I didn't see the burger post until now. While I don't agree with your specific prescriptions for a proper burger, I strongly agree with your general prescriptions, at least for myself. A burger must be consumable without undue mess or jaw injury.

While I think folks in this great country are free to put whatever they want on a burger, my own definition of a proper burger, for my personal consumption, is quite narrow and traditional. A well-made In-N-Out hamburger with ketchup, mustard and pickle instead of the "spread similar to Thousand Island dressing" defines my bone-stock, basic hamburger. Iceberg lettuce (with the spines removed) and tomato are desired, but not absolutely necessary.

If the meat is fresh and char-broiled, I can dispense with the ketchup and mustard, and if the meat is really fresh, I can dispense with the bun in favor of large leaves of iceberg lettuce. But that is as radical as I get.

As a rule, four ounces of lean ground beef is ideal, or up to a third-pound of regular ground beef. Extra-lean ground beef is too dense for a hamburger. The meat should always be done medium rare.

If there is to be cheese, it must be sharp Cheddar, or nothing. The only additional ingredients allowed are chili (without beans) and occasionally Anaheim chiles. While I love onions, they hate me and want me to suffer.

This is my burger testimony.

And a well-though out testimony it is. My fervent hope is that In-N-Out legislates a corporate missive to someday franchise in Indiana. I was first exposed the the legendary chain when I began to travel regularly to SoCal on business. The CEO of our company served up a massive pile of the burgers at a corporate meeting for those of us from Hicksville (read: outside In-N-Out's territory) and we all fell upon them like sharks on chum. I know I ate at least three.
My contribution to the meeting afterwards was negligible.

 

[John Sparks]

Just got back from 'Nam in 1971, visited a friend for lunch in Pasadena, CA. Went to buy burgers at some rinky dink drive thru. After eating the burger, I said to my friend, "This is the damn best burger I've ever had!"

I asked the name of the place and he said, "Some dump called In-N-Out!"

They don't taste like that anymore...the only thing I like is the shakes. Can't beat them for the thickest.

 

[criblecoblis]

In-N-Out was my first job, when I was in high school. There were only 18 stores then; two more opened during my tenure. We worked with no cash registers; we had to memorize the (5%!) sales tax tables (everything was priced in five-cent increments). When I started, the price of a hamburger had just increased a dime to 65 cents; fries were 35 cents, shakes 45 cents, and 12-ounce drinks (the only size) were 20 cents. I mostly worked at the Tujunga store, but at the end I moved to the Pasadena store, now the oldest extant.

Now, the chain is everywhere you go in Southern California--even on Sunset Boulevard!--and they are all constantly so busy that they cause traffic problems. They could easily double the number of stores and still be swamped at each one. Then as now, the food is only as good as the preparer, but the product is absolutely identical to what I sold 40 years ago. But now, they use cash registers.

 

[MartinP.]

I watched an episode of The Untouchables last night: "The Doreen Maney Story."
Doreen was played by Honey West herself, Anne Francis. There was an actor in
it named Richard Rust, who played Len Carson. I looked him up and he was in two
episodes of 77 Sunset Strip. I thought he was intriguing.

- Who Killed Cock Robin (1960) ... Walter Legal (Season 2: Episode 19)
- Strange Bedfellows (1961) ... Race Shawn (Season 3: Episode 23)



Anyone remember him from those episodes, what kind of part he played,
did he stand out, etc.?

 

[Gary16]

I watched an episode of The Untouchables last night: "The Doreen Maney Story."
Doreen was played by Honey West herself, Anne Francis. There was an actor in
it named Richard Rust, who played Len Carson. I looked him up and he was in two
episodes of 77 Sunset Strip. I thought he was intriguing.

- Who Killed Cock Robin (1960) ... Walter Legal (Season 2: Episode 19)
- Strange Bedfellows (1961) ... Race Shawn (Season 3: Episode 23)



Anyone remember him from those episodes, what kind of part he played,
did he stand out, etc.?

I remember him more from the one season NBC series “Sam Benedict” where he costarred with Edmond O’Brien.

 

[Rustifer]

I watched an episode of The Untouchables last night: "The Doreen Maney Story."
Doreen was played by Honey West herself, Anne Francis. There was an actor in
it named Richard Rust, who played Len Carson. I looked him up and he was in two
episodes of 77 Sunset Strip. I thought he was intriguing.

- Who Killed Cock Robin (1960) ... Walter Legal (Season 2: Episode 19)
- Strange Bedfellows (1961) ... Race Shawn (Season 3: Episode 23)



Anyone remember him from those episodes, what kind of part he played,
did he stand out, etc.?

Go back through some of my posts on this thread—I bring up Mr. Rust several times.
He was WB’s cross between Marlon Brando and James Dean. With somewhat lesser talent.

 

[Gary16]

Go back through some of my posts on this thread—I bring up Mr. Rust several times.
He was WB’s cross between Marlon Brando and James Dean. With somewhat lesser talent.

Did the studio designate him as a “cross between Marlon Brando and James Dean“ because that thought never ever crossed my mind?

 

[Rustifer]

Did the studio designate him as a “cross between Marlon Brando and James Dean“ because that thought never ever crossed my mind?

Probably not—that’s just the image he was portraying in his roles in 77 SS.