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?