Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Is this Adam-12 or Batman?

Log 144: Bank Robbery, season 2, episode 24, opens with our heroes (and their stuntmen) being tossed around like dog chew toys by giant Mike Mazurki. All that was missing was the "Biff! Zowee!" cartoon words on the screen. Aired Saturday, April 11, 1970.

Mike Mazurki on Adam-12


Jed Allan's first of six (it only seemed like more) Adam-12 appearances. Mr. Celebrity Bowling -- Don't miss Kent McCord bowling against Batman if you haven't seen it.

Jed Allen on Adam-12



Reed's visible disgust at touching a dead, dirty hippie.




Car banter has Malloy complaining that Reed's wife's girlfriends "haven't shown me much" -- pardon?

Still a chance he might get set up with a former Miss Hollywood contestant. 




In front of the Cahuenga Shopping Center on the southwest corner of Cahuenga and Regal-- you can see KPFK headquarters. The radio station had some controversy.  Notice it says North Hollywood.  

Radio Station KPFK on Adam-12

How could I not leave the top of Pat Buttram's column!

KPFK grant blocked 1970




More of the Cahuenga Shopping Center and its shops:





Also quite a robbery at a Thriftimart Discount Foods. That was Adam-12's beat, southeast corner of Lankershim and Erwin. $18,000 in 2021 money is almost $130K. Wow! 




And you know how Malloy and Reed often exchange $5 here and there? According to the inflation calculator, 1970 $5 is over $35 in 2021. 


While Malloy and Reed listen to the man's stolen car parts story, Phil's Transfer and Storage (not a Valley business) truck drives past the 101 on-ramp behind them. You can see the Sheraton Universal at the top of the picture. 





Tethered to the Universal lot:



Here's an odd thing to have on Adam-12: a 1949 Plymouth with the name blocked out. Marty Milner had just turned 17 when this car was new. 

1949 Plymourh on Adam-12


Tuesday, February 15, 2022

Adam-12 pass Nudie's Rodeo Tailors and Kentucky Roast Beef

Adam-12 Patrol Nudie's 
Nudie's Rodeo Tailors on Adam-12

Log 164: The Poachers, S3, Ep21, aired February 25, 1971


Not the most exciting episode crime-wise, but some classic San Fernando Valley places on Lankershim make cameos.
The theme here is businesses with horses on the roof.

The one that jumped out at me was Nudie's! Nudie's Rodeo Tailors. I went in there once or twice, probably early 80s. I remember they had a fully signed photo of the Flying Burrito Brothers on the wall, just fading away. 

Nudie's Rodeo Tailors on Adam-12 5015 Lankershim North Hollywood

Nudie's Rodeo Tailors on Adam-12 5015 Lankershim North Hollywood

In my mind, I once stood across the street and took photos of the cowboys on horses on the roof and have it as a real hold-in-your-hands photo. Quite possibly I just always meant to. 

Just to tie in Phil Ochs [who I believe was America's best songwriter ever; he wrote topical songs and his technique was alliteration] -- Phil's best friend Andy's girlfriend Frances worked for Nudie. "She's working for the tailor, makes the western clothes." Phil Ochs' song about his friends, "Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Me.

Nudie's was often hiring!




I have a clean DMV record and know my way around the Valley. I want that job! 

Almost nobody remembers when Kentucky Fried Chicken had a spin-off, Kentucky Roast Beef, but here it is on Adam-12:

Kentucky Beef Colonel Sanders Kentucky Roast Beef on Adam-12

Colonel Sanders Kentucky Roast Beef restaurant 1970s North Hollywood

Hard to catch it unless you really obsess over Lankershim Blvd maybe (hee!) but they pass the Silver Saddle Motel right next to the former Kentucky Roast Beef.  

Adam-12 on Lankershim Blvd Silver Saddle Motel

A couple of my own recent photos of the area (note the horse on the roof):
Silver Saddle Motel 6235 Lankershim Blvd North Hollywood

Sandy's Char Burgers 6223 Lankershim NoHo

I recognized the Hub furniture store sign at 6418 Lankershim, just north of Victory, and I was very curious about that "Seaside" sign, especially as NoHo is nowhere near the sea. The "Seaside" sign is probably left over from a much earlier business, Bud's Seaside Service which existed in the 50s. By the 60s it was Rayes Shell. Not sure what it was in 1971, but the address is 6335 Lankershim. 





Note: These drive-by shots heading south have jumped back and then back again -- the higher numbers are further north, so coming south, it was The Hub furniture store north of Victory and "Seaside" sign in the 6300 block south of Victory; the Silver Saddle and Kentucky Beef in the 6200 block south of Sylvan before Erwin; Nudie's way down just north of Morrison, getting closer to where Lankershim crosses Vineland.

Adam-12 Patrol North Hollywood is largely just Adam-12 drive up and down Lankershim. 

Yet Tujunga and Moorpark is Adam-12 Square! (Make it happen! #Adam12Square)

Two more items: Whitnall Highway and an actor of note; Sinclair Paint in Studio City

Whitnall Highway, not really a highway, but a collection of giant high voltage towers:

Am I the only one that can't look at Whitnall without thinking "Withnail and I"?


Whitnall and Cartwright. Marty Milner lived on Cartwright in his younger days (further south than this, between Huston and Camarillo). 



I like to think Milner just ad-libbed this classic comedy zinger, but probably not. 

Adam-12 High? I don't know. Are you?


An actor of note in this episode, Scutter McKay. He passed away at only 45, but not before having been in costume on both Pufnstuf and The Land of the Lost. He was on Adam-12 twice ["Log 153: Find Me a Needle" was the other]. I was surprised to learn he had been Freddie the Frog on the New Zoo Revue (oh how I loved that show!) -- and both imdb and Wiki list only Yanco Inone. Whoever's doing the New Zoo Revue blog (please let there be one!), please research this one.
Scutter McKay

I suspect he was my height, and that is how I would look size-wise compared to the giant officers of Adam-12.
Scutter McKay actor

Then we head down to Ventura Blvd to Sinclair Paint:

For that one other person on earth who wondered "how many Sinclair Paint locations were there in the San Fernando Valley in 1972?" 


Not knowing the exact location of this Texaco knocks the wind out of my sails:


At another point the dispatcher sends them to the in-joke of a non-existent street called McWhirter 😀 That's where I'll say this Texaco was, Lankershim and McWhirter! 

Spaulding Square Bungalows in Adam-12 episode “Excessive Force”

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