Judy picked me up close to 11pm at LAX on Friday, September 28. My flight arrived late, and we were both hungry. We settled on a Shakey's that was conveniently located next to her apartment. I'm glad we stopped by. The place was near closing, the only ones remaining were a family singing Mexican karaoke. All the employees seemed to know the remaining patrons and it felt like we stepped into a family's party as opposed to a restaurant. They were all very nice.
The next morning Judy had her weekend cinematography course at UCLA, and I decided to take a trip I've been planning for about ten years. I drove to Sherman Way, in between Reseda Blvd. and Lindley Ave in the San Fernando Valley. I found the old Reseda Theatre, the church that served as a nightclub, Miss Donuts and the Chapel with the mural of Jesus. I was stunned at how close they all are to one another. As I was photographing the Reseda Theatre a man named Dan, a 50 year San Fernando resident, began to tell me the history of the theatre, how he saw The Ten Commandments there when he was a kid and the multi-million dollar restoration plans.
He asked why I was taking pictures of the theatre.
I told him my favorite film was shot here.
He said "Oh, yeah," recalling the title. "It's called something '- Nights,' right?"
After I told him the correct title, it seemed like he lost interest in talking with me.
Before meeting Dan, I visited Miss Donuts, purchased a Bear Claw and tried to reconstruct spatially how the robbery scene was composed in a location that now holds little resemblance to how it did in the film.
There were some other locations I wished I visited, but for now, Sherman Way was enough.
No comments:
Post a Comment