Tuesday, October 11, 2022

The Rockford Files - Episode: Aura Lee, Farewell (1975) Filming Location: Oscar's Restaurant

Brian from FaceBook - Brian's Rockford Files has some great updates and photos on this episode.

Brian's Main Page For The Rockford Files Is

This episode featured many great actors/actresses.
 Above Photo: The "Bionic Woman" Lindsay Wagner makes her second appearance in The Rockford Files as bikini shop owner Sara Butler.
 Above Photo: A very young and beautiful Melissa Green plays the role of Aura Lee.
 Above Photo: The woman in the black and white checkered coat is actress Linda Dano, her current photo is shown in the bottom right corner of this image. Linda played Senator Evan Murdock's wife. The woman interviewing her is real life news reporter Kelly Lange. The late great Robert Webber can be seen standing in front of Jim Rockford, Webber played California State Senator Evan Murdock. 
 Above Photo:
Date of Birth1 January 1948Brooklyn, New York, USA
Birth NameThomas Scott

Mini Bio (1)


Tom Scott was a predominantly a '70s African-American lead and supporting actor who appeared sporadically on television and in films beginning in the late 1960s. His first Hollywood appearance was as a student on "The Patty Duke Show" in 1964, He made appearances, mostly in guest spots on such popular TV shows as "Sanford and Son", "Marcus Welby, M.D.", and "Quincy M.E". His last Hollywood appearance was in a 1999 low-budget science-fiction thriller entitled "Age to Age".
played the motel manager, Ralph Salisbury.

 Above Photo: Actor Greg Mullavey played the seedy con-artist Dirk Schaffer very well... You got to love that slick 1970's outfit he is sporting in this scene. 
 Above Photo: Veteran character actor Henry Slate played the crusty restaurant owner Oscar. Henry sadly passed away in 1996 at the age of 86. 
 Above Photo: Bill Mumy who became famous as young Will Robinson in the TV series "Lost in Space" played the painter/artist Trask. Along with his most impressive list of television/film credits, Bill is also a very talented well-known musician, songwriter, recording artist, as well as writer. He plays guitar, bass, keyboards, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, percussion and sings. He has released three solo CDs, 1997's "Dying To Be Heard", 1999's "In The Current" and the 2000 release of his third solo album, "Pandora's Box". All three released on Renaissance Records.

10/11/2022 Update: 
Oscars was the Corral Cantina and was located at PCH and Corral Canyon Road. It is now the Calamigos Beach Club Restaurant which still incorporates some of the original "Oscars" restaurant structure. See photos on my Facebook page: Brian's Rockford Files

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3106069382739325&type=3


Oscar's Restaurant Update: I received the following information from Melissa Greene who played Aura Lee (As seen in the above photo) - She currently writes on FaceBook - Write From The Heart (Is her page)
Hello William - Oscar's was on the Pacific Coast Highway, on the right as you were heading north from the point where Sunset Blvd meets the Pacific Coast Highway. I'm not sure if that was the real name or not. The Sea Shore restaurant, shown in a few of your shots may very well have been right there at the end of Sunset Blvd., where it meets Pacific Coast Highway. If so, Oscar's was located across the street from a 50s style motel  - now gone, I'm sure - where the two highways intersected. That's where Robert Webber and I shot the montage of our  dinner and drinks preceding our "one night stand." The car accident scene was shot on a street on the Pepperdine College Campus in Malibu.

THANK YOU MELISSA GREENE FOR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT IN REPONSING TO OUR REQUESTED INFORMATION! 

UPDATE: May 11, 2018: 

On May 10, 2018, I received a phone call from Gary J. Moreno. Mr. Moreno worked on the original Rockford Files TV series – listed by IMDB.com in the following fields: Set Decorator | Art Department | Special Effects. I recent wrote him in an attempt to ascertain any additional information about Oscar’s restaurant.  


Since this episode was filmed over 40 years, I knew, at best this was a shot in a dark. I can hardly remember what I did last year, let alone almost ½ a century ago. Mr. Moreno was able to remember a few things about the Oscar’s filming location. First that Oscar’s was not the real name of the restaurant but a fictitious name for the purpose of filming. Mr. Moreno also confirmed what was previously stated to our blog by actress Melissa Greene who played Aura Lee. Specifically that the Oscar’s location was located north of Sunset Blvd. on Pacific Coast Highway. Oscar’s was located just north of a real restaurant shown in this episode called Sea Shore Inn restaurant – which in 2018 is named Gladstone's


17300 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272. 

Mr. Moreno, and rightfully so, could not recall the real name of the restaurant called Oscar’s in this episode.  He also confirmed it was on the Oceanside of Pacific Coast Highway, directly across the street from an old roadside motel that is no longer in existence (Non-Oceanside of PCH).    

Thank you Mr. Moreno for your gracious phone call and information…… 

OK, enough with the actors/actresses in this episode. Here is what we need help identifying. It's a little grill called Oscar's in this episode. Not sure if that was the real name of the restaurant or not. It appears to be along the Pacific Coast Highway in 1975. The above two images show the building.
Anybody have any idea where this place is or was located?

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know the location but I always enjoyed Robert Webber's appearances on the show. Especially when he played the crime swami.

Anonymous said...

I don't know about the cafe location, but in the 4th man episode when Jim follows the postman down the street he was walking east on Ventura Blvd. between Vantage and Laurel Canyon and then he goes into the coin store which is now some real estate place, and hey thanks this is a great site'

Anonymous said...

I don't know about the cafe location, but in the 4th man episode when Jim follows the postman down the street he was walking east on Ventura Blvd. between Vantage and Laurel Canyon and then he goes into the coin store which is now some real estate place, and hey thanks this is a great site'

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised there are no locations on this one, just actor profiles. The last part with the motorcycle chase on the cliffs looks like it was shot at Leo Carrillo State Beach.

Socaltomatoes said...

A not so important piece of trivia -- In the Linda Dano image, the lady with the microphone is Kelly Lange, local KNBC anchor for years and years.

As of a year or two ago, I now own Kelly Lange's working script from this episode.

Anonymous said...

The location is between Santa Barbara and Ventura on Pacific coast highway...check it out on Google maps street view;-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot..
Will drive down tomorrow morning and take a look..

Anonymous said...

You full of it..no Oscar joint in sight from Santa Barbara to Santa Monica...oh well worth the drive..

Rockford Files Tv Show said...

I think somebody posted that possible location due to the dialog in that episode. Based on where the accident occurred. What many fail to know is a shooting location can be anywhere and the "pretend" location for the movie/show can be anywhere they want it to be.....

Anonymous said...

Right on.

Anonymous said...

Wanted to post an update about Bill Mumy. He released a new CD, 'Velour' in Nov. 2016. Its sold out on Amazon several times and is really quite good. He's also very active on his Facebook page.

Anonymous said...

I found Oscar selling hot dogs at Malibu pier, he looks in his 90's ..said Hi to everyone on this blog

Unknown said...

The Motel Clerk identified as Tom Scott is a different man than Tom Scott, the composer. IMDb has this wrong as well.

Freddy and Kay on said...

How about that.
.. Motel clerk you said.
.not the manager?

Angel M said...

No kidding

Jim Burgoyne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brian said...

Pat McKinney and I searched for the real location of Oscars for a long time. Pat noted the "COR" and "C" of the real sign on the roof which was the initial clue. The location of Oscar's is 26025 Pacific Coast Hwy, quite a ways North from Sunset and just before you get to Corral Canyon Road. It's most recent incarnation is the Calimigos Beach Club Restaurant. I have to thank a local Malibu resident and author by the name of Suzanne Guldimann for helping identify this as the location of Oscars. She recalled eating there and said that "The diner and gas station opened in the 1950s and was originally the Corral Cafe. I’m sure that’s what it would have been when they filmed that episode of the Rockford Files. In the late 1970s the gas station closed and the cafe became the Corral Beach Cantina for a couple of years—when the Cantina moved up the coast they ditched an R and became the Coral Beach Cantina. Beau Rivage opened around 1982 and lasted until 2012.

Brian said...

You can see my photos of the Oscar's location on my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/brianrockfordfiles/photos/?tab=album&album_id=3106069382739325

Unknown said...

Which episode has Rockford saying "Alright, alright, alright."

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Anonymous said...

After breaking into Dirk's apartment, Jim and Sara quickly pass a golf course. Any idea what course this is and if it may still exist?

Anonymous said...

This Oscar's location looks like it could be the current Malibu Seafood Fresh Fish Market & Patio Cafe located at 25653 CA-1, Malibu, CA 90265. The buildings look similar. What do you all think?

Brian said...

To Anonymous: See my prior comment about the location. It is NOT the Malibu Seafood Market. Oscars was the Corral Cantina and was located at PCH and Corral Canyon Road. It is now the Calamigos Beach Club Restaurant which still incorporates some of the original "Oscars" restaurant structure. See photos on my Facebook page: Brian's Rockford Files
https://www.facebook.com/brianrockfordfiles
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3106069382739325&type=3

Anonymous said...

Thanks Brian. Love it. Thanks for the link to the page. Love the car and the memories. Glad to see I am not the only one who loves all things Rockford. Be well.