sidewalk scene

sidewalk scene
Originally uploaded by meekorouse

This was the scene on the corner of Main & Winston early Saturday morning. I posted this to Facebook then, and got several interesting comments regarding the hinky-ness of this filming. They did have a permit.. they weren't necessarily the part of the filming that was legitimately going on this past weekend. (we still haven't figured this out) and they weren't selling shoes.

What amused me about it (because getting woke up on Saturday from some guy with a bullhorn wasn't it!) was their attempt to film a cafe scene on the sidewalk in front of the parking lot next door.. Good Luck with whatever that is. Maybe next time they can save up and rent a real cafe??

Just Another Saturday on Main

An average weekend (or weekday) will find traffic stopped on Main so that filming of some kind can occur. I get so many FilmLA notices (one must subscribe to email updates as the posting of FilmLA notices are erratic or non-existent), I'm not sure if this was an 'action' shot or just a messed up car commercial.

If you see the video the car is being driven South-bound on a normally North-bound ONLY Main Street. Basically all day long traffic is stopped, shouting occurs to silence the neighborhood and then a 'take' is shot, then repeated several times over several hours. Most people who live downtown are familiar with this as it seems Downtown LA is the location for any number of programs, (like CSI: NY or Castle) commercials and movies (too many to name).

This one was fairly innocuous, as far as noise and light (night shots can often be bad as giant spotlights are shone into buildings as they light the block up and shooting on sidewalks can be annoying if you have some jerk PA trying to tell you you can't walk on your own sidewalk out of your building). I can't speak for anyone dealing with the traffic stoppage though.

OBD movie star..

Hotel Barclay as seen from 4th Street in the film End of Days (1999)

Woke up and went to turn on the news.. The TV was tuned to the StarzHD channel where End of Days (1999) had recently started. I've never seen this movie (not a big Schwarzenegger fan honestly) but what caught my eye of course was the locations. The film supposdely takes place in NYC, but of course LA is the star of many locations including Broadway's Tower Theatre and what I think was a re-dressed Bar 107. What really played a role in the early scenes is a helicopter chase that ends at 4th & Main..

Old Bank District..


Helicopter flying past the Continental Bldg at 4th & Spring.

At some point the helicopter lands on 4th Street and one of the 'bad guys' falls through a fake overhang on the 4th Street entrance to the Hellman Bldg.. The Hellman Bldg doesn't actually have any glass overhangs.. one can surmise it was built especially for the film.. The Hallman is about 100 years old, you know. ;P


Helicopter landing on 4th (in the larger image you can make out the San Fernando Bldg and the Farmers & Merchants Bank & part of the Hellman Annex (4th St facades) on the right.

The Barclay Hotel is on the left.. guessing they used special effects to put the other buildings into the image.. they just aren't there. In 1999 the corner of 4th & Main across from Barclay was a parking lot and the construction on the Medallion project was many years away.

Old Bank District buildings star in many many movies.. (most recently last summer's Eagle Eye) As an example, one can easily point out the Hotel Barclay in many films, tv spots and primetime tv shows. On one hand it's kind of fun pointing out familiar places (I love "location spotting" when I'm watching CSI and can see where they filmed downtown or in the Arts District) but if it's easy for me, I wonder if some locations are being over-used?? What about the residents who live there (me being one of them I stay away from the filming and have been fortunate not to have bright lights shining in my bedroom from an all night film shoot.. some of my neighbors have not been so lucky).

This movie was shot in 1999 (or maybe 1998?) and so the Old Bank District Lofts hadn't been completely developed yet (the San Fernando Bldg at 4th & Main was the first.. then the Hellman across the street, and last the Continental at 4th & Spring) but people do (and did at that time) live downtown. The film industry was using downtown LA as its own backlot for years, nevermind what people living there had to say about it. As downtown LA becomes more populated, one wonders if landing a helicopter on Main Street is so easily done these days. =)

Still, I like spotting my neighborhood. I hope they continue using downtown and the OBD as a star location, as long as they respect the businesses and people who are inconvenienced by all the disruption. It's fun seeing OBD in movies.. even the bad ones. =)

Life imitates Art.. CSI style

One of my favorite shows on the magic picture box is CSI (Las Vegas) and after having just seen this latest season finale, one wonders if there's a chance it'll be a cliff-hanger.

Is it possible that Gary Dourdan, the actor who plays a lead CSI on the show will make it back after his Avoiding jail time as he undergoes 30hrs of Diversion Therapy? The gentleman was arrested for possession, so perhaps 30 hours is more than enough therapy.

They off'ed the guy's character possibly because of his drug bust but who knows? This isn't the first time an actor on a popular program like CSI has had a real-life run-in with drugs or alcohol related trouble.

Previously the people who handle things like this let it get worked out then decide I have read. I don't know anything about the people involved, but it could also be a case of burnout and stress. The show just finished up its eighth season and could possibly keep going like Law & Order, but hopefully not run into the ground with bad stories and acting.
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On a more upbeat note, I loved this same last episode of CSI where they found a DB (that's CSI speak for 'dead body') in the Arts District not too far from the Toy Lofts. I love identifying stuff like that. They film in LA all the time,(that's not uncommon) but that one, I didn't expect.