Farewell to the Sahara

The iconic casino, The Sahara, in Las Vegas has announced it's to close its doors on May 16th. The Sahara was built in 1952 and has, for 59 years been apart of Las Vegas history. When I was in Las Vegas I went through the Sahara a few times, coming or going to the monorail station. It wasn't as busy as the other resorts so the closing has not really come as a surprise. Walking past Wynn's I over heard a conversation between a few men in their 20's.

Man 1: "What's down that way?"
Man 2: "Not much, just old school"
That pretty much sums up people's feelings about history and the Northern part of the Strip. People don't seem interested in the resorts that really put Las Vegas on the map. If your in Las Vegas go to the Sahara, reacquaint yourself with a this iconic casino. Take a photo for prosperity.

My visit to Bodega

Finally, a dream come true. To visit Bodega Bay seen in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. I discovered a tourist web site offering a day visit to Bodega and the surrounding Sonoma Coast for a minimum of $500 per person. My dream of visiting Bodega finished right there. A few days before I arrived in San Francisco my good friend, Randy, offered to drive me to Bodega so I could fulfill my wish of seeing where The Birds was filmed.

The day started early (there was no way I was going to sleep in) catching up with Randy and driving to Bodega. It was a fun drive, from San Francisco catching up with our lives and the latest goings on with Hollywood celebrities past and present. The weather wasn’t very co-operative and it started raining on the drive to Bodega. I wasn’t too concerned, you don’t see a lot of blue sky in The Birds. The weather made it more atmospheric. Before I knew it, Randy said, “there’s the church!” At that moment the rain stopped. We were then driving up the same road towards the school house just as Melanie Daniels did! I was so excited but was trying desperately to keep it controlled and not freak Randy out. Needless to say, standing in front of the school house was pretty awesome and naturally I wanted to be attacked by any passing pigeon.

The school house (now a private residence) in 2010

Walking past where the schoolyard play equipment used to be, it's now covered with trees. Sadly there's no bench to sit on either.

The Jungle Gym in the school yard was once at this location.

However, a very odd moment was glimpsing a few bird cages in the yard. Luckliy, I'm easily impressed!

I wandered the street, totally in awe of being there. The house where Annie Hayworth lived was a facade built for filming , however a new stands there today.

The Annie Hayworth House (technically a facade)

The new house stands at the Annie Hayworth location

The home opposite is seen briefly as Melanie Daniels gets into her car. Again, it’s as if time has stood still. The house opposite the Hayworth facade

The same house in 2010

The original Druids Hall (only seen briefly) is now an antique store.

Druids Hall is now an antique store

There’s (I’m going to call it a Hitchcock museum) but it’s probably better described as a general store with Hitchcock items. The man who runs the store guessed pretty quickly why Randy and I were there. He promptly turned on a DVD of The Birds for us. It did feel super exciting seeing The Birds on the TV and looking out the window towards the schoolhouse. There were some wonderful items for sale and I could have purchased them all.

Next stop was lunch at The Tides. Yes, The Tides.

Although it’s been remodeled a few times I was impressed to see some Birds lobby cards inside the entrance. You now pass a huge Bodega souvenir shop where Randy promised me I’d find some Birds related items. Bodega is a small fishing community and naturally The Tides sells a lot of seafood in their menu. Not being a lover of seafood I chose a cheeseburger and promptly souvenired a Tides placemat as a memento.

Of course, the one thing any Birds fan wants to see outside The Tides is a gas station and phone box.

In the movie, these were standing sets at Universal Studios in Hollywood. BUT, across the street from The Tides is a gas station! AND a phone box! Seeing a phone booth, a gas station AND The Tides was pretty nifty.

You can make out the "S" of the Tides in the distance

Sitting in The Tides you can see across the bay towards where the Brenner farm house was. We went for a drive around to visit the location. The actual property burnt down in the late 1960’s and the land is now owned by the Government but I snapped a photo of where the Brenner facade stood.

The former location of the Brenner home...the trees remain.

Then it was off to visit Taylor Street, another street seen in The Birds. There’s two locations seen in The Birds. Bodega and Bodega Bay. If the children had run from the school to The Tides they probably would have died from a heart attack. It’s a good six miles between the two locales. So, if you see the children running with the school behind them, they’re on Bodega Lane in Bodega. If you see the children running towards The Tides, they’re on Taylor Street in Bodega Bay. Ahh the magic of movies!

Running on Taylor Street in Bodega Bay

Taylor Street in 2010

Another location is the farm house Lydia visits. It's not too hard to see the trees still standing (although one farm house looks like another). In the movie it's Dan Fawcett's farm but it's still good to see it's still a farm property.

The farm property in 1962

The same farm property in 2010

I still can't belive that Bodega is the same as it looked in 1962 when The Birds filmed. It's well worth checking out if your ever in Northern California.

Loving McDonalds

With Valentine's Day approaching, what better way to say "I Love You" than with a vintage McDonald's Valentine Day card. These vintage 1974 cards go great with a Big Mac and fries!

My true love

I can not lie, my heart belongs to Clarabelle Cow. Clarabelle is one of Walt Disney's earlier creations. Clarabelle had minor roles in Walt's cartoons of the 1930's and even featured in Mickey Mouse's first color cartoon, The Band Concert.

She doesn't appear in the Park very often, although in a the last few years she's made a few appearances in a number of Disneyland parades. However, she's always fronted for the Christmas Fantasy Parade. Originally, her and Daisy Duck were positioned on the gingerbread float. Now she's part of the Gingerbread Treats unit where she performs the Nutcracker with the Gingerbread Men.

Clarabelle has (in the past) played a love interest of Goofy's, however she's normally paired with Horace Horsecollar. On Christmas Eve last year, I hung around the train station steps at closing time aware a few characters were coming out to wave goodbye to the guests as they left. I wasn't disappointed, Clarabelle AND Horace both turned up. I (along with the rest of the crowd) was thrilled to see them. Clarabelle is a good friend of Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck and shops at the same shoe store. She's decidedly feminine and proudly wears her cowbell as if it were fine jewelry. Just recently she and Horace were nominated by fans to appear the the Character Fan Days at Disneyland. When your over at Disney California Adventure stop by the Silly Symphony Swings and check out Clarabelle (and Horace) painted on the ride.

Clarabelle & Horace Christmas Eve 2010

A tale of a glass elevator

Apologies, I've been vacationing in the United States, soaking up as much as I could in thirty-three days. I love America. It's been an obsession since I can remember and when I get there, I'm like a kid in a candy store. So...I got to visit beautiful San Francisco for the first time. Tons of movies have been made there and what did I obsess about...The Doris Day Show (I kid you not) and one of the most famous disaster movies of the Seventies, The Towering Inferno. ( I will admit to wanting to obsess about Vertigo but I'll talk about that later)...onto The Towering Inferno.

Going back to the seventies for a moment. The Towering Inferno (in case you didn't know) was a huge release. Huge! It was produced by the Master of Disaster, Irwin Allen, who scored big with The Poseidon Adventure a few years earlier. Inferno, was so big in Australia our local paper even offered a full color poster advertising the movie as a collectible. (Not quite sure where it ended up). The cast of Inferno was a who's-who of Hollywood. It's reported that Steve McQueen and Paul Newman actually had the same amount of dialogue in the movie so neither could be considered the "star". (Ahem, Diva!) Fred Astaire, Jennifer Jones, Faye Dunaway were known to me even as a kid but seeing Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady) in a role was damn cool. Over the years The Towering Inferno remains an important part of the DVD collection. So when I went to San Francisco I had to go see where it all happened.

The lobby of the Towering Inferno was filmed at the San Francisco Hyatt. I'd planned to visit, but, a few days before my flight to the US, my friend, Randy, had booked a room just so I could have a chance at riding the the glass elevators seen in Inferno. (You need to be a guest to actually use the elevators). To see the glass elevators was one thing, to ride in them, blew me away.

The first glimpse of the Glass Elevator in The Towering Inferno

I got the the Hyatt early and caught the escalator up to the lobby (it's on the second floor) just as Fred Astaire did in the movie. Riding the escalator and seeing everything appear before my eyes was a thrill. It was December and the lobby was decorated for the holidays and what they did with L.E.D lighting blew me away.

Fred Astaire arriving in the lobby.

In reality I was at the Hyatt but I knew where I really was, I was inside The Towering Inferno lobby. I turned and saw the elevators. I was in heaven. They were mesmerizing. I found a seat, sat down and just watched in awe. The elevators are also in another favorite movie, Mel Brooks, High Anxiety. It was so cool to be there. Randy came down and said, "let's go for a ride" at that point there has never been a happier tourist in San Francisco. I was on my best behavior, (although secretly I wanted to do a Jennifer Jones impression). I got to ride the elevators a few times, okay, I refused to get out.

The Jennifer Jones impression I secretly wanted to do

The elevators today..still going strong

In the movie, you only see one, however, there are five merrily going up and down taking guests to their room. They even had red and green lighting to help celebrate the holidays.

If you go to San Francisco go to the Hyatt, have a coffee and watch the elevators while humming, We May Never Love Like This This Again. It's just too cool!

How lucky can you get?

Here's a first! I'm blogging "live" from Circus Circus here in Las Vegas. Ever since I can remember I've always wanted to see the Circus Circus clown! Obsessive as I can be, the obsession took a back seat for a number of years. When I made plans to visit Las Vegas there was only one option where I wanted to stay. Actually there were a few. I really wanted to stay in one of the older hotels from the 60's and 70's. There's not a lot left. They implode them all and build new resorts. So...the choice was between the Sahara, the Flamingo, Circus Circus and the Riviera. As luck would have it, I couldn't go past my old friend, the clown.

Imagine my expression of seeing him for the first time. I probably stood there for about five minutes taking it in. I'll admit I was really excited and he is HUGE! I knew he was big but he's a monster. In reality he's 123 feet high, designed by Dan Edwards and now has a new LED screen. I took a gazillion photos of him, (his name is "Lucky"). Although the hotel was opened in 1968, Lucky didn't arrive until 1976! There's another great thing, he's from the 70's! I immediately went on a hunt through the gift shops. Alas, there appears to be no Lucky merchandise. I did find a number of Circus Circus items but nothing with Lucky emblazoned across them. Too me he's part of the Las Vegas strip. I hope the owners don't try to update or modernize Lucky. He'd be lucky no more.

The Roustabout ferris wheel today

If your a fan of Elvis Presley you pretty much know his 1964 movie Roustabout. Probably more than me. I've only seen the film once, basically to see the Ferris Wheel. That makes me sound like I have some unnatural obsession with ferris wheels. Far from it. I'm not a huge fan of riding them but for the sake of a good story, I did. A few years ago I heard that the ferris wheel from the movie, Roustabout, was now living in Australia.


The original exteriors for Routabout were filmed in Thousand Oaks, California. In a cow pasture! Luckliy the ferris wheel now has ocean views. When I found myself in Semaphore, I made a beeline and I just had to check out this movie icon. As I walked up I noticed the sign claiming it to be the real thing! Yes, it's even called, The Roustabout! Poor Barbara Stanywck doesn't even rate mention on the sign.


As I'm easily impressed I asked the operator if he knew any history and how it ended up half way around the world. He didn't seem interested in talking about it. I'm guessing he'd recounted the story so many times he was probably bored repeating it. The sign claimed it was in the movie, so I kept up my questions. I learnt that it WAS from the film. The original chairs were replaced a few years ago. The originals were unsafe and he didn't know where they were now. The only other fact I could muster was it shipped to Australia a number of years ago. I thanked him for having to deal with my questions and I hopped on for my three minute ride.


When visiting Semaphore in South Australia make sure to visit and ride the ferris wheel that Elvis rode in the movie, Roustabout. Book that vacation now!