49 Years Since "The Exorcist" Was Released

It is hard to believe that it was 49 years ago yesterday that William Peter Blatty's The Exorcist opened for general release. The release date was December 26, 1973.

A friend and I went about a week or two later to see it at the Mann National Theater in Westwood near UCLA. The lines for the movie wrapped around the block the theater was on (more like an island). The National opened on March 27,1970 and was demolished in January 2008.

While we stood in line, we met two girls (a blonde and brunette) and we ended up at the Woodland Hills home of one of them after the movie. The brunette was named Sharon. We were in line for about three hours before we saw the movie. The Mann National Theater only had one screen.

I later bought the book version of The Exorcist (I still have it). It was one scary movie and it still holds up well.

Above, the Mann National Theater in Westwood showing The Exorcist.

Back around 1985, my then-girlfriend (and later spouse) and I rode an elevator at work and in the elevator car was Linda Blair. 

Then, in 2016, music from The Exorcist (specifically "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield) was played in the helicopter as we toured Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park. I made mention of this and the pilot laughed.

20th Anniversary of Northridge Earthquake

It is hard to believe that today marks 20 years since the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake hit the Los Angeles region.

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was living in North Hills (in the San Fernando Valley) at the time. My daughter Amber was asleep in her room and I was asleep in mine when the quake hit at 4:31 in the morning. I tried to get out of bed to get Amber but the shaking was so violent that I was kept from getting out of bed. It was jumping like Linda Blair's bed in The Exorcist (1973).

Eventually, we got out of the building and headed to the parking lot in back. All the other tenants of the apartment building were there. I had the only working television set, a battery-operated Sony Watchman and we were able to see the news coverage of the quake. The quake knocked out all power to the city and it was strange seeing so many stars in the sky.

We put all of the building's children in one car so that they would be kept warm and they would be comfortable being with their friends. It was weird seeing the building shake when the aftershocks hit. Several of us went into the building to check for residents who may have needed assistance in getting out.

I had about $2,000 in property damage that FEMA took care of. They were quite efficient during those days.

The quake came almost 23 years after the February 9, 1971 Sylmar Earthquake. We are due for another big one as we seem to have major ones in 20-year intervals.

We had a small quake centered near Universal City last night in "celebration" of the Northridge Earthquake.