Famous L.A. Restaurants and Bars As Filming Locations

Above, Los Angeles City Hall. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Los Angeles City Hall has appeared in a number of movies and television shows over the years. It doubled as the Daily Planet Building in the 1950s in the Adventures of Superman. Other buildings and landmarks in Los Angeles have also appeared in movies and television shows.

According to L.A. Weekly's website, restaurants and bars in Los Angeles were also used in many movies and television shows. They have posted an article with 70 photographs on different filming locations featuring restaurants and bars in Los Angeles.

Right off the bat, I see that Miss Donuts in Reseda, Frank's Coffee Shop in Burbank, the Dresden Restaurant in Los Feliz and the Prince (when it was the Windsor) Restaurant in mid-Wilshire were all used as filming locations and I have been to each of them at one time or another. Most recently, a 1950s style coffee shop in Hawthorne, Chips, was used in Hollywoodland.

According to L.A. Weekly:

In a city with thousands of restaurants and bars, it can be a daunting task for film or television production to find the perfect location for an eating or drinking scene. Does the film take place in modern day or 1950s Los Angeles? Does the script call for an Italian restaurant or a coffee shop, a dive bar or a lounge? Can the screenplay be adjusted in order to better suit the story and fit the budget?  

While for most business comes first, appearing as a location in a film or TV show no doubt has its merits and, in more cases than not, brings additional customers through the door. Here are some of L.A.'s most memorable movie restaurants and bars. 

To see the gallery of locations, go here.

Thanks to Mike Triggs for the article information.

Original "Godzilla" Now In L.A. ArcLight Cinemas

Godzilla opens six days from now, but residents of Southern California can screen the movie that started it all through May 14 at a local ArcLight theatre.

According to L.A. Weekly:

Before watching the new Godzilla, which comes out on May 16, revisit the original in the 60th-anniversary restoration of Godzilla: The Japanese Original, playing at all ArcLight locations through May 14. Ishiro Honda's 1954 classic finds the nuclear radiation - mutated gigantic creature wreaking havoc on Tokyo. Showtimes at the various locations are at arclightcinemas.com.

In the San Fernando Valley (near me):

ArcLight Cinemas at the Sherman Oaks Galleria, corner of Ventura and Sepulveda Blvds., Sherman Oaks.

To read more, go here. 

Comikaze Expo, L.A.'s Answer To Comic-Con?

Above, fans waiting for Adam West to appear on-stage.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Stan Lee's Comikaze Expo is not quite L.A.'s answer to the San Diego Comic-Con, but it is getting there, according to an article posted by L.A. Weekly.

They wrote:

For a year now, the buzz has been that Comikaze will be the L.A. equivalent to San Diego Comic-Con, but it's not there yet. There were none of the oversized, swag-filled studio booths that you would see in San Diego. There was, however, some interesting TV and film programming. The stars of the original Batman series -- Adam West, Burt Ward and Julie Newmar -- were on hand. There were reunions for the popular '90s children's shows Salute Your Shorts and Wild & Crazy Kids. Elvira and Peaches Christ brought their film competition Elvira's Horror Hunt to the convention. Their event at the Vista Theatre last week served as a kick-off to Comikaze. 

What Comikaze has in its favor is that they immediately marketed the event as a pop culture convention. They've given themselves the freedom to experiment with different types of programming without alienating people, something that has been an issue for conventions that began their life in a smaller niche. But they haven't had that long gestation period that so many cons have had before they got big. When I covered the inaugural event last year, I noted that the biggest problem was the amount of space available for the convention. This year, the issue was with the pre-sale line. Both of those instances could be linked to simply being unprepared for the volume of people who want to attend the convention. It's something that Comikaze's team will need to resolve to reach the next level. 

To read the full article, go here.

L.A. Weekly: "Howard Berman's Last Stand"

Above, Armand with Mark Reed on Election Night 2010.

L.A. Weekly has an interesting article on the Howard Berman/Brad Sherman contest in the 30th Congressional District.

I have a long memory, and there's no way in hades that I would become a "Republican For Howard Berman" as some prominent Republican office-holders have.  Berman put up carpetbagger candidates in districts over the past 40 years to run against Republican incumbents.  He did so in the old 53rd Assembly District of Paul T. Bannai.  Luckily, he was unsuccessful there.

As I won't check my principles at the door, I am voting for Mark Reed next Tuesday.

To read the full article, go here.

Thanks to Mark Reed for the tip on the article!