Studio City, North Hollywood, Encino: Pilot episode continues
Last we saw our heroes, they were driving east on Moorpark from Tujunga. But they must have turned around and headed back the other way as they end up west of Laurel Canyon.
That apartment building behind them is every 1960s apartment building in the Valley.
Two reasons why exact locations can be hard to pinpoint: The 1960s Valley looked very much the same [cue Micky Dolenz singing "another Pleasant Valley Sunday, charcoal burning everywhere"] and so much of it has been torn down to make room for Hideous Monster Boxes. Mind you, 60s architecture wasn't any too attractive either, but it tended to be low to the ground and not oversized.
Then they come to the 12200 block of Landale at Laurelgrove in Studio City. Thank you highly visible, unaltered street sign! Whose artistic vision to shoot through the telephone pole and the tree?
If you look through the back window, the curb matches the modern view from Google Maps. Or maybe it's the opposite corner. The curbs have since been carved out to comply with the ADA.
1959 Buick in 1967 Studio City
Big bold street signs. Do more of that! Pay close attention to the windows of the homes visible to the right of the stop sign. More modern view below, prior to the tear-down. There's trees and bushes in front of the one on the right, but the one on the left is clear.
Now THIS is the Los Angeles I know. Older single-family homes? Demolish them! The future is multi-unit monster boxes. Pack 'em in. Strain on the sewer system and electrical grid, what? More traffic? Lower quality of life? Low quality Chinese materials to get this eyesore up as soon as possible? Think of the property taxes the city can rake in.
On my Google Drive I found this nice little home from 1923. Also found a couple others from the 20s. I did not know any 1920s homes could be found in the Valley, not really. Not on Adam-12, but in this same area where they were driving.
Were you wondering how that Monster Box turned out?
Los Angeles Eyesore # 4,862
Doesn't it look homey? And this is why you can't find most of the things seen on Adam-12.
Back to 1967:
Liquor store on Moorpark at Laurel Canyon.
I like this episode because they call out the actual streets they're on. None of that random LA street names stuff. Pete's shouting Moorpark and indeed they are on Moorpark. The white building behind the liquor store sign survives. Modern evidence follows. I love the mailbox. It's painted like the Fisher Price toy one I had long ago.
The Buick they're chasing turns north into Moorpark Park and manages to get down into the LA River. My family always called it the storm drain, but I guess most other people called it the wash. On occasions Los Angeles will have a flash flood and it will actually fill up with water. Some fool teenagers always manage to get swept away and make the news. Most of the time the LA River is non-existent and the storm drain ("the wash" yeah yeah yeah) is full of gang graffiti, trash, and now homeless camps.
The Tujunga Wash as it heads down to meet up with the LA River. Or a concrete channel where a river would be if we had any water.
They wrecked that beautiful car. They didn't just crash it (you can only do that shot once!) but it's on FIRE. That beautiful car....
Here is the confluence (that Y-shaped thing) from the air, right next to the CBS lot.
Finally they go to the station they should have been based out of, North Hollywood.
Pete requests their 7 at Burbank and Lankershim. THIS is the kind of Monster Box Horror you'll now find at Burbank and Lankershim. THIS is what happened to all the little houses, courtyard motels, and liquor stores you saw on early 70s TV.
And during their coffee we learn Reed has been married 3 years and has a pregnant wife, while Malloy "never found anyone who'd put up with me." [His reason changes every time Reed pushes the issue during the series.]
Adam-12 being largely good PR for the LAPD, they shamelessly have a story of Pete saving the life of a black infant. Of course, Pete would have written "Negro" in his report, and nobody would have flipped out.
My question is how could Malloy administer CPR to anyone given his smoker's lung capacity is, what, 25% of a normal person's at this point?
The baby's parents are played by two actors who had appeared in the 1967 Dragnet episode "The Missing Realtor." Gene Boland:
and the impossibly pretty Ena Hartman, who I first saw on Bonanza and said, "Wow, that girl is pretty!"
And amusingly enough, Scatman Crothers in a piece!
Mr. Crothers had an Adam-12 spot in Season 5.
But from this Adam-12, more of the lovely Ena Hartman:
She looked great even in emotional agony thinking her baby had died. She went on to have a regular gig alongside Burt Reynolds, Richard Anderson, and oddly Norman Fell (Mr. Roper as a cop!) on the show Dan August.
Back to our original storyline with this being Malloy's last day:
Time for one more big adventure, this time in Encino. Of course there's a "Nazi" who punched a woman and killed two dogs (horrible!) because every show had to have a "Nazi" villain. 30 shiftless youths have descended on an Encino neighborhood and 3 of them are shooting.
Reed or Malloy?
The correct answer is Mac!
Take a good look at the structures behind them.
You already know what's there now, don't you? The Monster Boxes of Paso Robles north of Ventura. Because of course.
