"Star Wars" 47 Years Ago

Above, Star Wars during its initial run at the AVCO Center Theaters in Westwood. AP photo.

It is hard to believe that Star Wars (later Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope) on Memorial Day weekend 47 years ago, in 1977. I was at the ripe "old age" of 23.

I saw it at the AVCO Center Theaters in Westwood twice during its initial run. One of the times was with a date. She was in ecstasy during the movie, she loved it that much.

Since Lucasfilm (along with the Star Wars franchise) has been acquired by Disney, I have no desire to see the movies they've churned out. I have the first two trilogies in my collection.

The theaters are still there, but they are no longer the AVCO Center Theaters.

49 Years Since "The Exorcist" Was Released

It is hard to believe that it was 49 years ago yesterday that William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist opened for general release. The release date was December 26, 1973.

A friend and I went about a week or two later to see it at the Mann National Theater in Westwood near UCLA. The lines for the movie wrapped around the block the theater was on (more like an island). The National opened on March 27,1970 and was demolished in January 2008.

While we stood in line, we met two girls (a blonde and brunette) and we ended up at the Woodland Hills home of one of them after the movie. The brunette was named Sharon. We were in line for about three hours before we saw the movie. The Mann National Theater only had one screen.

I later bought the book version of The Exorcist (I still have it). It was one scary movie and it still holds up well.

Above, the Mann National Theater in Westwood showing The Exorcist.

Back around 1985, my then-girlfriend (and later spouse) and I rode an elevator at work and in the elevator car was Linda Blair. 

Then, in 2016, music from The Exorcist (specifically "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield) was played in the helicopter as we toured Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park. I made mention of this and the pilot laughed.

Trump/Back The Blue Rally In Los Angeles

At this writing, a rally to support President Trump, Back The Blue and 30th District Congressional candidate Mark Reed is in progress.

The mile-long rally started in the San Fernando Valley on Woodley Ave. south of Victory Blvd. and is proceeding south on the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405) to the federal building in Westwood.

Thanks to Mark Reed for the video feed where I got these snaps:

Above, the rally being assembled on Woodley Ave.

Above and below, the rally heading south on the San Diego Freeway though Sherman Oaks.

Who says there's no support in California?

The Great Deluge of 2017

Above, yours truly in the car at the market today. 

The heaviest rainstorm this season struck Los Angeles today.

It was predicted that one inch of rain per hour is expected to fall in the area. I believe it! I had to drive to West L.A. and back in it.

Jes, her mom and I went to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center for a meeting that did not take place. Somebody got the information wrong. Well, we get to do it all again this coming Monday. Hopefully, we'll have dry weather that day. At least we had a good lunch at the hospital cafeteria.

The streets in the San Fernando Valley were like rivers. I hadn't seen such flooding in the Valley for a long time. It reminded me of the 1973 special election of a North Hollywood area state senate seat. Alan Robbins and Phil Johnson were in a head-to-head election showdown. It rained heavily on election night and a group of us from the Young Republicans of El Camino College took part in the GOTV that night. It was a lot of fun driving through the rain to get voters to the polls.

Johnson lost the special election. But, at least we had a good spaghetti dinner hosted by the Johnson campaign or the California Republican Party that night in a gymnasium. I later received  a thank-you note from then-Gov. Ronald Reagan, who said we all braved the storm for the GOP.

"Lake Tarzana" re-formed in my apartment's parking lot by the time I got home. My shoes were drenched through by the time I got inside. Looks like I am staying put tonight.

What drought?

Dearly Departed Tour - Part Three

One of the highlights of the Dearly Departed Tour, was a 25 minute stop at the Westwood Cemetery (located behind the Avco Center) where many celebrities are buried.

Here are some of them:

Above. Don Knotts. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Mel Torme. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Truman Capote. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Heather O'Rourke (from the original Poltergeist). Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Marilyn Monroe. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Dean Martin. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Burt Lancaster. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Louis Jourdan. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Above, Dorothy Stratten (1980 Playmate of the Year). Photo by Armand  Vaquer.

Above, Billy Wilder. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

End of part three. More celebrity graves in part four.

UPDATE (3/17/24):

I was reading about director Peter Bogdanovich earlier today. I enjoyed his interviews about director Howard Hawks in several Hawks-directed John Wayne movies. I went to Find a Grave and found that he is buried next to Dorothy Stratten, the Playboy Playmate murdered by her estranged husband in 1980. She was living with Bogdanovich at the time of the murder. He later married her sister. 

Earthquake In L.A.

Well, we just had a nice shaker in the Los Angeles area at 6:25 this morning.

The preliminary magnitude of the quake was 4.7 and then lowered to 4.4 and it was centered in Westwood.

Being in many earthquakes, I knew when it hit that it was over 4 on the Richter Scale. It started as a sharp jolt and then several seconds of shaking. I called Amber and Jes to make sure they were okay and they were.

This makes the second earthquake I felt this year. The other being last month in Tokyo.

UPDATE:

According to CBSLA.com:

The tremor struck at 6:25 a.m. and was “epicentered in the Santa Monica Mountains between Westwood and Encino, closer to the Valley side, about five miles below the surface,” Dr. Lucy Jones of the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The epicenter was close to the Sepulveda Pass, which is about 5-6 miles from here. Two items fell from my bookcase. One of them was a signed and framed autographed photo of Phyllis Coates and George Reeves. Thankfully, the glass didn't break.