0 The Fairmont Miramar Hotel

The Fairmont Miramar Hotel

Mark Twain and Susan B. Anthony were some of the first celebrity guests to stay at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica. At that time the hotel was a large Victorian mansion, built in 1889, as the residence of Senator John Percival. By the 1920s, the Miramar would become a popular place for Hollywood types. When Louis B. Mayer first brought Greta Garbo to Hollywood, the actress was put up in a suite inside a six story brick hotel building constructed next to the original mansion. In the 1930s, Jean Harlow would dine at the hotel restaurant and Betty Grable would sing in the Miramar lounge.

Over the years the hotel has changed dramatically. Different owners have each made their own additions and renovations to the property. In 1939 the original mansion was demolished and a swimming pool and bungalows were added. In 1959 a modern ten story tower was built on the property and a new pool area was added. The current owners of The Miramar Hotel have plans for another major renovation.

The Miramar Hotel seen in the film, Let's Make it Legal.

Looking at The Miramar Hotel from Ocean Avenue at Wilshire.

The Miramar Hotel has appeared several times on film. As early as 1946, according to the website Imdb.com, the bungalow apartments are featured in a scene from the Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake film,  The Blue Dahlia. Marilyn Monroe, who at times was a hotel guest, also appeared in a film that used the hotel pool.  In the film, Let's Make It Legal (1951) with Macdonald Carey, Claudette Colbert, Zachary Scott and Robert Wagner, Monroe runs up to Carey while he is dining with his daughter at the hotel pool. In the 1962 film, That Touch of Mink, Cary Grant and Doris Day can be seen in the renovated pool area that was completed in 1959. The Miramar has also appeared on television in such shows as Columbo, Starsky and Hutch, and Knots Landing.

Carey, Monroe, Bates by the Miramar Hotel pool.

A contemporary view of the Miramar Hotel pool.

Cary Grant, Doris Day in That Touch of Mink.

Another contemporary view of the Miramar pool.

The hotel bungalows as seen in The Blue Dahlia.

A contemporary view of the hotel bungalows.

If you don't want to spend the night at the hotel but you still want to see the hotel grounds, stop in for breakfast, lunch, dinner or drinks at the hotel restaurant FIG. The name FIG is a reference to a giant fig tree in front of the hotel that was planted by the wife of the original owner, Georgina Sullivan Jones, back in the late 1800s. The food is simple bistro fare, made with what is in season and is served in a seating area that overlooks the hotel pool and bungalows. If you use the hotel valet the restaurant will validate your parking. Afterwards you can walk across the street and stroll along Ocean Avenue and enjoy the view of the Pacific Ocean. I can imagine the athletic Garbo, in her time at the Miramar, running across the street to enjoy a swim in the ocean.

Detail: The Fairmont Miramar Hotel

0 In a Lonely Place (1950) - Film Locations

Bogart as screenwriter, Dixon "Dix" Steele

In 1950, Hollywood produced three amazing films revealing a dark side to show business: Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, and In a Lonely Place. In my opinion, Sunset Boulevard and All About Eve are the much stronger films overall, but In a Lonely Place is certainly no slouch. Humphrey Bogart's electrifying performance as down-on-his-luck screenwriter, Dixon Steele, really makes In A Lonely Place a gem to watch. Add in Nicholas Ray's melodramatic directing touches and noir starlet Gloria Graham and you got the ingredients for a delicious cinematic treat. Like Sunset Boulevard, In a Lonely Place features a few Los Angeles area locations and I decided to track some of those locations down. 

The film opens with Bogart driving. Bogart comes to a stop at an intersection and turns to a pretty girl who is sitting with her husband in the next lane over. On a hunch, I figured that this intersection would be in Beverly Hills, so using Google Street View, I picked a commercial street and started comparing the buildings to the screenshot below. I couldn't have been more lucky. I found the intersection after scrolling just three blocks from my starting point. The intersection is North Beverly Drive at South Santa Monica Boulevard. The way I spotted this was from the unique detailing on the building which I've circled with the red oval.

N. Beverly Drive at S. Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills

N. Beverly Drive at S. Santa Monica, Beverly Hills

The only building still standing at this intersection that can be seen in the film is the one that I've circled. The rest have been torn down and replaced. The next two comparisons give a different view of the intersection.

Bogart at the intersection of Beverly & Santa Monica

Looking south down Beverly Boulevard. The store in the background is now replaced by a modern glass building.

Looking south down Beverly Boulevard.

Looking north up Beverly Boulevard.

Looking north up Beverly Boulevard.

One interesting note about In a Lonely Place, is that Nicholas Ray modeled the set of Bogart's apartment building after the Villa Primavera apartments in West Hollywood, the same apartment building Ray lived at when he first came to Hollywood. Although the apartment courtyard and interiors were recreated on a soundstage, in one scene we do get a glimpse of what is across the street from the actual apartment location. In the screenshot below, Bogart is walking up to the entrance of the Villa Primavera apartments located at 1300 North Harper Avenue. The view in the background is the intersection of Harper and Fountain Avenue.

Bogart at the Villa Primavera apartments.

Fountain Ave at Harper, West Hollywood

Bogart in the apartment courtyard.

The apartment is gated, but below is the entrance to the Villa Primavera apartments. You can see a fountain in the center by looking through the gate, similar to the one Ray recreated on a soundstage.

1300 N. Harper Ave, West Hollywood

Later in the film Bogart is seen leaving the Beverly Hills post office which is located directly across from the Beverly Hills City Hall building. Below is a screenshot of Bogart and the City Hall building. As of present, the area between City Hall and the Post Office is fenced off and under construction, so I couldn't get a good photo of the City Hall building. Instead, I have a Google Street View screenshot for comparison.

Bogart in front of Beverly Hills City Hall

Beverly Hills City Hall (c) Google 2013

In another scene, Bogart is taken into the Beverly Hills Police Station for questioning in a murder case. Below, Bogart is seen leaving the police station, which is a side entrance to the City Hall building. Today the bushes have been cut away and now palm trees have been planted in front of the entrance.

Bogart leaves the Beverly Hills police station.

Side entrance to Beverly Hills City Hall.

Below is a scene of Bogart driving off with Gloria Graham after a beach picnic. In the background we see the Canyon Market, located at the intersection of Chautauqua Blvd, Channel Road and the Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica. Just below the screenshot is a historic photograph of the Canyon Market that gives us a better view of how this intersection once looked. Following that image is a photo I took showing how the intersection looks today. I believe the building that is standing there today is the same building, only greatly modified.

Photo Credit: Santa Monica Public Library Image Archives

Former site of Canyon Market, Santa Monica

As Bogart drives off in a rage, another building we see him pass is the Casino Lunch building. This is located across the street from the Canyon Market building. Below is the screenshot of the Casino Lunch building as seen in the film. Below that is a historic photo providing a better view of the Casino Lunch building, followed by a photo I took showing the intersection as it appears today.

Bogart drives by the Casino Lunch building in Santa Monica.

Photo (c) California Historical Society

Former site of Casino Lunch, Santa Monica

Of the three show biz related 1950 films, Sunset Boulevard, All About Eve, and In a Lonely Place, what's your favorite? (I say "show biz" because I know All About Eve is more about Broadway than Hollywood.)

Detail: In a Lonely Place (1950) - Film Locations

0 Move Over, Darling (1963) - Film Locations

Move Over, Darling (1963) is a remake of the unfinished Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin film, Something's Got to Give (1962), which was a remake of the Cary Grant and Irene Dunne film, My Favorite Wife. With Something's Got to Give, Monroe was fired from the film and was to be replaced by actress Lee Remick; however, Dean Martin had final approval of his leading lady and refused to work with anyone other than Monroe. 20th Century Fox rehired Monroe, but tragically she died before the film was completed and the movie was abandoned. Fox, which was struggling financially, decided to reuse many of the sets that were built for Something's Got to Give and produced a new film that followed more closely the original story of My Favorite Wife, with Doris Day and James Garner starring. That film became Move Over, Darling.

Day and Garner do not disappoint in this silly screwball comedy.  In the film, Ellen Arden (Day) and Nicholas Arden (Garner) are a happy married couple with two infant daughters living in Los Angeles. While on a flight traveling over the South Pacific, their plane goes down. Garner survives the crash but Day's body cannot be found. Five years later Garner is ready to move on with his life and he remarries the young and attractive Bianca Steele (Polly Bergen). Amazingly, it turns out that Day had survived the flight and was living on an island with another man who survived the crash. Day is rescued by the Navy and brought back to Los Angeles where she learns that her husband has left for Monterey to go on a honeymoon with his new wife. Day goes to Monterey where she surprises Garner, who is shocked to see her alive. Garner has a predicament. Does he go back to his wife that he has not seen for five years and has gone on believing was dead? And how does he break the news to his new wife?

In the beginning of the film Garner and Bergen are seen driving from Los Angeles up the Pacific Coast Highway to Monterey. They are on their way to the fictional Monterey Inn hotel for their honeymoon. Along the way, they pass the landmark Mugu Rock, not too far from the city of Oxnard.

Garner and Bergen drive pass Mugu Rock.

Mugu Rock on the Pacific Coast Highway near Oxnard.

The fictional "Monterey Inn" where Garner goes for his honeymoon.

After Garner learns that his first wife is still alive, he thinks up an excuse to head back home to Los Angeles. Garner's home is located at the corner of Wyton Drive and S. Mapleton Drive in the posh Holmby Hills neighborhood. In the screen comparisons below, taken from different points in the film, show the entrance of the home and the house from different angles. It appears that the house seen in the film must have been demolished, as now a massive mansion stands where the modest sized home seen in the movie once stood.

Doris Day arrives at the home on Wyton Drive.

Looking down Wyton Drive from S. Mapleton Drive.

The home as seen in the film looking down Mapleton Dr.

Looking down S. Mapleton Dr. at the intersection of Wyton Dr.

Day walks up the driveway from the Wyton Drive entrance.

A huge mansion now stands at the corner of Wyton and Mapleton.

Later in the film Garner wants to find out who the man is that Day has spent the last five years with living on an island. He learns that the man is staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel, located at 9461 West Sunset Boulevard. Garner scouts out the hotel and then arranges to have lunch with Day by the hotel pool, where Day's companion of the last five years has been staying.

Garner spots the man at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool.

The pool as it appears today. (c) Oyster.com

Day and Garner have lunch by the hotel pool.

The pool as it looks now. Photo credit: BeverlyHillsHotel.com

Day and Garner at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool.

When Day learns why Garner brought her to the Beverly Hills Hotel she storms out and drives off like a maniac. Garner runs to the valet, hitches a cab and follows after her. They drive through a car dealership in Santa Monica and then through a car wash at Pico Boulevard and S. Beverly Glen Boulevard.

Day races off from the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The Beverly Hills Hotel as it appears today.

Day and Garner drive through a Porsche dealership on

Wilshire Boulevard at East 20th St. in Santa Monica.

The car dealership is now the site of a Walgreens.

Looking down Wilshire at 20th St. Santa Monica.

The dealership side entrance on 20th Street. The 

Lighthouse Church steeple can be seen in background.

Looking down 20th Street. The Lighthouse Church

building can still be seen on the right.

Day drives pass a car wash on Pico Blvd at S. Beverly Glen.

The Car Wash is still in business nearly 5 decades later.

Day rounds the corner of Pico and Beverly Glen.

St. Timothy's Catholic Church is in the background.

The corner of Pico and S. Beverly Glen Blvd.

Garner follows Day passed an apartment building

behind the car wash.

The apartment building on S. Beverly Glen near Pico Blvd.

Move Over, Darling gets many added laughs from a hilarious supporting cast including Thelma Ritter, Fred Clark, Don Knotts, and Edgar Buchanan. The film has been released on DVD as both a stand alone disc and also as part of 20th Century Fox's 75th Anniversary Studio Classics quad sets. In the quad set the three other films included are, O. Henry's Full House, On The Riviera, and Rally 'Round The Flag, Boys!.

Detail: Move Over, Darling (1963) - Film Locations