Friday, February 19, 2016

The Rockford Files - Episode: In Pursuit of Carol Thorne (1974) Seward Reservoir 1971 is Castaic Lake State Recreation Area, Thrifty / Kragen 842 S. Pacific, Guillermo's Beautique and Beauty Salon 522 West 9th Street in San Pedro, "Drive-Away Car Rental Systems" 828 S Grand in San Pedro, Peppy's Restaurant 584 West 9th St. San Pedro, Cigo's Restaurant 911 South Pacific Ave. San Pedro, The Evergreen Motel 12787 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles - Carol Thorne / Lynette Mettey, Sal Viscuso played the conventioneer, Lee Delano played the man following Carol Thorne, Sandy Ward (Born Sandy Brown) played Police Officer Boris Sausman, Robert Symonds played the dual role of Mr. Hoad and Miles Keeley, Irene Tedrow played Mrs Hoad (Dixie), Vince Howard played the gun drawing uniform cop, Horse Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. played himself, Bill Fletcher played Nate Spinella, Jim Antonio played Cliff Hoad


 
In the top image of this set you can see James Rockford (with suitcase and hat on) walking to the telephone booth. In the background is Thrifty Drug Store. Thrifty is now a Kragen store. The business is located at 842 S. Pacific Ave in San Pedro / Los Angeles, California.
 
UPDATE: 2016 - It is now an O'Reilly's Auto Part Store
 

 

 
 
Actress Lynette Mettey can be seen in these images visiting the Guillermo's Beautique and Beauty Salon. This business was once located at 522 West 9th Street in San Pedro / Los Angeles, California. The last image shows how this filming location appears as of today. In the first photo their is a little girl sitting in the back seat of a car that is traveling past this filming location. I wonder if she ever knew she was once on The Rockford Files? She has to be over 40 years old now.
 

 
 
 
 

In the above set of images actress Lynette Mettey played a recently released prisoner by the name of Carol Thorne. Here she is attempting to purchase or rent a car from "Drive-Away Car Rental Systems". This car lot is was located at 828 S Grand in San Pedro / Los Angeles, California. The last photo shows how this filming locations appears today.
 



 ABOVE PHOTOS: Inside Peppy's Restaurant which was once located at 584 West 9th St in San Pedro / Los Angeles California. It is now the J. Trani's Restorante. Its restaurant sign can be seen in the third photo up. In my upcoming trip to the Los Angeles area the J. Trani's Resorante is one of the places I will be visiting and having dinner at. I heard it is a fantastic place!


We need a little help with this restaurant/lounge. It was decorated with all horse racing photos, ribbons and trophies. Anybody know which restaurant this once was?
UPDATE: On 02/19/2016 I was able to talk with Laffit Pincay Jr today via phone. Mr Pincay called me after writing to him via U.S. Mail. Mr. Pincay believed this was an actual restaurant (not a studio set) but could not remember which one it was. We thank Mr. Pincay for responding to our letter and calling us.
On 03/08/2016 I received a returned letter via the U.S. Mail from Lynn Mettey in which she stated that this was a movie set on the Universal Studio Lot.
Mr. Pincay and Ms. Mettey are the only two surviving actors from this restaurant scene.
Since Lynn Mettey was more "sure" of her answer, I will say that this restaurant scene was filmed on the Universal Studio Lot.
I truly thank both actors for answering my letters.


Rocky walks through the parking lot of Cigo's Restaurant which was once located at 911 South Pacific Ave in San Pedro / Los Angeles California.

The very beautiful Lynette Mettey played a great role in this episode of The Rockford Files. The tough but beautiful female recently released prisoner. She truly made this episode work well.
 

ABOVE TWO PHOTOS: Seward Reservoir 1971 is Castaic Lake State Recreation Area
 
 

The motel in the above four images are from the scene where Jim Rockford finds Miles Keeley and Nate Spinella going through his motel room. Jim is able to flee and a "Rockford" car chase follows. This filming location and motel is located at 13055 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles, CA.
UPDATE: One of the men (the one closest to the railing) Jim Rockford is walking with has been identified as actor Sal Viscuso, who was born in New York in 1948


The above three images are from another scene and were shot at a motel located at 12787 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles, CA. The motel has "The Evergreen" painted on its entrance.


The car chasing Jim Rockford crashes into a street sign pole just off San Fernando Ave at El Dorado Ave as the street sign so states.

ABOVE PHOTO: Lee Delano played the man originally following Carol Thorne
Oddly he had a speaking role in this episode but his acting was unaccredited

ABOVE PHOTO: Sandy Ward (Born Sandy Brown) played Police Officer Boris Sausman. Ward died in 2005 at age 78. He starred in three episodes of the ROCKFORD FILES
The Rockford Files (TV Series) 
Peter Henshaw / The Sheriff / Det. Boris Sausman

- So Help Me God (1976) ... Peter Henshaw
- Chicken Little Is a Little Chicken (1975) ... The Sheriff
- In Pursuit of Carol Thorne (1974) ... Det. Boris Sausman
 
ABOVE PHOTOS: Robert Symonds played the dual role of Mr. Hoad and Miles Keeley - Symonds died at age 80 in 2004 & was a WWII era Veteran.
Irene Tedrow played Mrs Hoad (Dixie) and died in 1995 at age 87.
Tedrow had two appearances on the ROCKFORD FILES
The Rockford Files (TV Series) 
Mrs. Tooley / Mrs. Hoad / Dixie
- The House on Willis Avenue (1978) ... Mrs. Tooley
- In Pursuit of Carol Thorne (1974) ... Mrs. Hoad / Dixie
 
ABOVE PHOTO: Actor Vince Howard who is 78 years old in 2015 played the gun drawing uniform cop.
Howard had four appearances on the ROCKFORD FILES
The Rockford Files (TV Series) 
Billy Mayhue / Kleinschmidt / Police officer dealing with vending machines / ...

- The House on Willis Avenue (1978) ... Billy Mayhue

- The Trouble with Warren (1976) ... Kleinschmidt

- Chicken Little Is a Little Chicken (1975) ... Police officer dealing with vending machines (uncredited)

- In Pursuit of Carol Thorne (1974) ... Patrolman

 


ABOVE PHOTO: Horse Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. retired in April 2003 as horse racing's all-time winningest jockey until that time, with 9,530 victories.
Pincay played himself in this episode of the ROCKFORD FILES
 
ABOVE PHOTO: LEFT is Bill Fletcher (Born 1922 & is 93 years old in 2015) played Nate Spinella - The other actor pictured with him is unaccredited, if anybody knows his identity, please let us know.
Fletcher had two appearances on the ROCKFORD FILES
The Rockford Files (TV Series) 
Hitman / Nate Spinella

- The Gang at Don's Drive-In (1978) ... Hitman

- In Pursuit of Carol Thorne (1974) ... Nate Spinella

 ABOVE AND BELOW PHOTOS: Then and now.... is actor Jim Antonio who was born in 1931. Antonio played Carol Thorne's boyfriend Cliff Hoad


ABOVE PHOTO: I always wondered if these kids in this park car knew they were going to be in an episode of the ROCKFORD FILES or were they just parked there???

ABOVE IMAGE: Anybody know what make, model and year Cliff Hoad's car is???
A blog viewer named Christopher left the following comment:
The car is a 1955 Ford Country
 

The motel in the above four images are from the scene where Jim Rockford finds Miles Keeley and Nate Spinella going through his motel room. Jim is able to flee and a "Rockford" car chase follows. This filming location and motel is located at 13055 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles, CA.

The above two images are from another scene and were shot at a motel located at 12787 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles, CA. The motel has "The Evergreen" painted on its entrance.


The car chasing Jim Rockford crashes into a street sign pole just off San Fernando Ave at El Dorado Ave as the street sign so states.

28 comments:

OneMeditator said...

I JUST watched this episode last night on DVD. Thanks for posting this. I LOVE the yesterday/today thing you did with the shooting location photos! Great blog - I enjoy visiting. This was one of the best tv shows ever.

Carl from Texas said...

I have to agree with One Meditator, great blog and great TV series. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

When I originally commented I clicked the "Notify me when new comments are added" checkbox and now each time a comment is added I
get three e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can
remove me from that service? Bless you!

my page Voyance gratuite

Anonymous said...

Paragraph writing is also a fun, if you be familiar with after that you can write otherwise it is complicated
to write.

My web blog; voyance

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know where the Evergreen Motel was?

Rockford Files Tv Show said...

Anonymous said...
Does anyone know where the Evergreen Motel was?

October 29, 2014 at 12:36 PM

http://rockfordfilesfilminglocations.blogspot.com/search?q=evergreen+motel

The above two images are from another scene and were shot at a motel located at 12787 San Fernando Road, Los Angeles, CA. The motel has "The Evergreen" painted on its entrance.

Unknown said...

Thrifty? IAt the one on Fairfax and Sunset right? Looks like it, my brother worked there in the 80's. Across the street from ''Chalet Gourmet'' and before that is was ''Sunfax groceries'' I have pics of all 3 places. Today it's Bristol Farms I don't have a pic of that lol

Unknown said...

Sorry no edit I really hate that !! Anyway I have pics of 2 not 3 of the places . Also at the start I asked ''Is that the Thrifty on Sunset and Fairfax?

Rockford Files Tv Show said...

In the top image of this set you can see James Rockford (with suitcase and hat on) walking to the telephone booth. In the background is Thrifty Drug Store. Thrifty is now a Kragen store. The business is located at 842 S. Pacific Ave in San Pedro / Los Angeles, California.

Unknown said...

The rock recreation helpful post. I like to recreate in summer. So nice post i also like baqueira beret

Anonymous said...

This comment will need to be moved. I could not find a Paper Palace location page.
The Canadian/American building in that episode is 500 e Olive in Burbank. The building has changed some and the church across the street no longer had a steeple but you will recognize the building.

Christophe said...

Hi all,
The car is a 1955 Ford Country Sedan just like this one:http://cdn.barrett-jackson.com/staging/carlist/items/Fullsize/Cars/113015/113015_Front_3-4_Web.JPG
Thanks for your wonderful blog.

Anonymous said...

Great show me and my bros in the hood of Orlando and my best bud Stan love this show great site Gary bloated Ratnich email me if the show is the gratest thing since Bently cars gary@knbr.com

lukebandit said...

Thank you for this blog! I love seeing a show, especially a very old one and see what it looks like today. I have an idea about the family in the car driving by the Beauty Salon. Put the picture on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and a brief description and it wouldn't take long to find them! Millions of people will see that picture. It will go viral and they will be found!

Leapy Lea said...

Just watched this on ME TV. I didn't see Pincay in it...perhaps his part of that scene was cut to shorten the episode. Or perhaps I looked away!

I love this blog. Piece of trivia: back then, TV shows were shot on film and the film camera technology of the time wasn't good at handling nighttime scenes. So they were shot in daylight and then the film was dipped in dark blue dye to make it look like night. I think one of the scenes in this episode was shot like that---when Carol is running away from her apartment (or hotel?) and Rockford starts tailing her to the motel in Nevada.

Unknown said...

Funny, but I would've bet my house that it was Abby Dalton playing Carol Thorne. I've never heard of Lynette Mettey until browsing thru your blog today. I've been geeking out on the show since James Garner passed away. Garner is in heaven, and this blog is geek heaven. Great work...

TheWhistler77 said...

Am I wrong or in the front window of the car in the shot of Carol leaving Guillermo's with the aforementioned little girl is that the NBC Peacock? Maybe a reflection from a camera or production truck?

car rental morocco said...

Very useful post. Look forward to your next post. Thanks!

car rental morocco said...

Thank you for this blog! I love seeing a show, especially a very old one and see what it looks like today. I have an idea about the family in the car driving by the Beauty Salon. Put the picture on Facebook, Reddit, Twitter, Instagram and a brief description and it wouldn't take long to find them! Millions of people will see that picture. It will go viral and they will be found!

PAUL said...

In the opening scenes on the bus departing the prison, Jim is reading a paper with a headline: "Angels lose 8th straight". The (then) California Angels lost 11 games in a row from June 30 to July 10, 1974. The "eighth straight" loss would have been Sunday, July 7, 1974. So, in theory, this scene was shot on Monday, July 8, 1974. Or close to it.

location 4/4 au maroc said...

I do not know whether it's just me or if perhaps everyone else experiencing problems with your website. It appears as if some of the text in your content are running off the screen. Can somebody else please comment and let me know if this is happening to them too? This could be a issue with my browser because I've had this happen previously.

Unknown said...

Hiya, I’m really glad I’ve found this information. Today bloggers publish just about gossips and web and this is really frustrating. A good site with interesting content, this is what I need. Thanks for keeping this web-site, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can not find it location de voiture casablanca

Location de voiture Casablanca said...

I have been surfing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all site owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much more useful than ever before.
location de voiture casablanca

location de voiture casablanca said...

You’re so awesome! I don’t believe I have read through a single thing like this before.
So good to find someone with some genuine thoughts
on this topic. Seriously.. thank you for starting this up.
This web site is something that is needed on the internet, someone with a
bit of originality!

Stephen Robart said...

I have no word to appreciate you. One of wonder article I have seen! From me, you will get 5 stars ;) Keep it up. Thank you.

Locatmane Cars said...

Woah,
Nice piece of well crafted content <3 The points you covered are really awesome everything you wrote was agreeable really cool thanks for writing such a cool post
Regards,
location voiture Marrakech aéroport, location voiture Casablanca aéroport, agence de nettoyage Agadir

Caroline E. Morgan said...

Its an excellent and entertaining blog. The image shows us and feels us a historical cinematic moment, and also it is good to see you are storage these images properly and place them in the right place. I just see and see over and over then realize it is 842/b California, which site is totally changed now.

Thank you very much for sharing this informative and nostalgic blog.

Anonymous said...

I met James Garner when filming “The Messenger “ episode season 5. He was a real cool and respectful man and allowed us to be on set. Joe Santo, and John Huston were also respectful. Love that series , Hollywood’s never been the same from riches to rags that’s Hollywood.