ROLL CALL, the 4th episode of Adam-12 season 7, continues in ACT TWO
Start with Act ONE if you just joined us.
The Leaning Tower of Pizza, which used to be on Victory Blvd near Lankershim, as seen on Adam-12 in 1974:
This is primarily a blog about Adam-12 locations, and the Adam-12 series ended in 1975, so it's beyond my scope to be All North Hollywood, All the Time [Adam Carolla should fund a site like that!], but the FM Station music venue, which would open a short walk from here [and that's walkable even for an Angeleno -- Charlie Don't Surf, Angelenos Don't Walk -- ] was very important in the LA rock music scene for nearly 20 years. Possibly concert goers also ate at the Leaning Tower of Pizza!
I had to break this up because the location photos got overwhelming. When last we saw our heroes, they were on Ventura Blvd in Studio City, having passed by the Queen Mary and reached Whitsett, heading west. Next they magically appear on Victory Blvd near Lankershim 4 miles away. You'd want to take Whitsett north, past endless apartment buildings. If they did take Whitsett north instead of doubling back to the 170, they need to head east (or exit the 170 at Victory and head east) past Laurel Canyon and almost to Lankershim. On the south side of the street they come to the Leaning Tower of Pizza and neighboring shops. Lots of screencaps and modern Google drive views below:
A couple modern shots:
This man tells them there's a 211 in progress and points west. Actually the 211 is to the southeast, but first we get a few more views of this row of shops on Victory just west of Lankershim.
Here you get to watch them whip the car around (which makes no sense because they were already facing Lankershim where they're headed, but...) and pass through another great Adam-12 wormhole!
They end up right back at Lankershim and Bloomfield (further south from here and much closer to Universal) -- the same place they found Woods at a house, and the same place Reed will deliver a pizza. When the production crew found a location they liked, they stuck with it.
Our last moments on Victory:
Hang on tight! Warp Speed and all, we're going through an Adam-12 Wormhole!
Bloomfield is one of those streets that breaks up when it crosses an intersection, with the eastern part being a wee bit further north than the western side. When our heroes appear by the upholstery and Texaco, that is also Bloomfield.
They come across Lankershim, going north, and stop at the eastern continuation of Bloomfield, where the laundry used to be. Where the bar was, this monstrous black box building now stands. The upholstery place and Texaco are also long gone. The two buildings seen behind Reed (see above) appear to be the same ones. Just past that, on the east side, is/was the market featured in the wonderful "The Search" episode.
Clearly the 4300 block(s) of Lankershim was an Adam-12 production favorite. It's just a few minutes north of Universal.
Back to our 211 already in progress:
Back to our story: An officer called in that shots were being fired but he did not identify himself or his location. I'm going to describe the officers' feeling as trepidation while they went through roll call, old school, trying to figure out who was unaccounted for. Reed and Malloy came to this very corner looking for Woods. Now they know it's Officer Grant on his chopper who is missing.
I think they are still on Bloomfield because this place is just across from where Woods was, where Reed later delivers a pizza.
Then they're right back on Lankershim where we left them after the 211 at the bar.
Adam-12 officers head north on Lankershim and meet up with Mac at the Red Lantern Inn at Laurel Canyon and Chandler, where Mac gives the nuttiest directions of the entire series.
The inflation calculator tells me $78 in 1974 is over $430 in 2021. Seems like a lot!
Around three miles later, our boys are northwest of the 170 to meet up with Mac at Joe Capra's Red Lantern Inn, 5409 Laurel Canyon Blvd at Chandler. Remember the Piece of Pizza place where they were originally going to eat? It was across the street.
Raise your hand if you know your way around Los Angeles -- including the Valley! Ready?
For non-Angelenos: Melrose, Olympic, and Washington run parallel east-west and are all three way south of the Valley. Melrose ends on the west side at Doheny. West of Doheny is Beverly Hills. LAPD do not patrol the City of Beverly Hills. (Alternatively, Melrose begins at Doheny and goes east 😃 Melrose used to have alternative fashion and British "punk/mod" clothing stores and record stores in the early 80s. Teenage me went there as often as I could.)
Ventura runs the length of the Valley, morphing into Cahuenga when it crosses Lankershim. Running west, Ventura Blvd ends at Valley Circle.
Someone else can look for Officer Grant. Reed and Malloy have a pizza delivery driver robber to catch.
Lankershim runs diagonally east of the 170 and down to where the 170 merges into the 101. Laurel Canyon runs north-south to the west of the 170. If you took Moorpark west to get there, you'd pass Vineland, Tujunga (former corner of Henry's Tacos and Bob's Liquor), and Colfax. That stretch is mostly residential, heavy on apartments.
After their pizza delivery sidetrack, they find Officer Grant!
They also find a young Stephen McHattie holding a woman hostage. The unusual-looking Canadian actor has tons of credits, but most people don't react until you say he was Elaine's creepy therapist on "Seinfeld." He was briefly an "X-Files" character too. He played the grown-up Rosemary's Baby in a 1976 TV movie "Look What's Happened to Rosemary's Baby." His human parents were played by Patty Duke [Malloy's ex-wife in an alternate universe] and George Maharis [Malloy's ex-road buddy bestie in an alternate universe]. It's a small alternate universe.
Go back to ACT ONE of my ROLL CALL entry
