Robby and Hazel in front of the Santa Rosa home used for Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

This past Fourth of July weekend my wife and daughter and I decided to go on a family road trip up to Northern California. We spent time in three different NoCal cities. Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some of the film related stops we visited. One of the locations I was most excited to visit was McDonald Avenue in Santa Rosa.

McDonald Avenue, a quiet tree lined street with many attractive Victorian homes, has appeared several times on film, at least as early as 1943. Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first, if not the first, to capture McDonald Avenue on film when he decided to use one of the homes as the primary location for his classic thriller, Shadow of Doubt (1943). At the time Hitchcock made Shadow of Doubt, the country was in the middle of World War II and many supplies used for film sets were being rationed. Instead of building many elaborate sets, Hitchcock chose to shoot his film on location.

Click images to see larger.

904 McDonald Avenue. Shadow of Doubt (1943)

904 McDonald Avenue as it appears as of July 2013.

It's been well documented that the home Hitchcock used for Shadow of a Doubt was a house located at 904 McDonald Ave. It is at this home that Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) visits his sister's family when he needs to hide out from the police. The film stars Teresa Wright, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers, Patricia Collinge, and Hume Cronyn. Other than some landscaping changes, the exterior of the home looks very much the same. 

Shadow of a Doubt (1991) house. 815 McDonald Avenue.

One house south from Hitchcock's Shadow of Doubt home is a house used in the Wes Craven thriller, Scream (1996). The house located at 824 McDonald Avenue was the home of Rose McGowan's character, Tatum. In the screenshot below McGowan can be seen talking with Neve Campbell on the home's porch. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article from 2002, Hitchcock would sit on the same porch at 824 McDonald Avenue and have cocktails with then owner, Judge Donald Geary. Judge Geary's son Bill, who was 13 when Hitchcock came to town for Shadow of a Doubt, said, "He [Hitchcock] used to come over and visit and have a drink with my dad. But Joseph Cotten was a kind of a stuffy guy. He'd have people come light cigarettes for him."

Rose McGowan and Neve Campbell in Scream (1996).

824 McDonald Avenue. Home used in Scream (1996), All My Sons (1948), and where Hitchcock had cocktails with Judge Geary between filming Shadow of a Doubt.

Campbell and McGowan on the porch at 824 McDonald Ave.

Burt Lancaster and Louisa Horton in All My Sons (1948). 824 McDonald Ave in background.

Another film that was made on McDonald Avenue is All My Sons (1948) starring Edward G. Robinson, Burt Lancaster, Mady Christians, Louisa Horton, and Howard Duff. The film also includes a young Harry Morgan (famous later for his role in the television show M*A*S*H) who I will bring up again later in this post. IMDB.com and other sources mention that a home was filmed on McDonald Avenue but no source I found mentioned which home. 

Using screenshots as reference while walking down McDonald Avenue, I discovered three homes that can be clearly seen in the film. The first home is the house at 824 McDonald Ave. See the screenshot above with Lancaster and Horton. Yes, this is the same house from Scream and that porch is the one that Hitchcock sat at while having cocktails with Judge Geary while filming Shadow of a Doubt.

825 McDonald Ave. All My Sons (1948).

825 McDonald Ave. as it appears July 2013.

The second home that can be seen in All My Sons is the house located at 825 McDonald Ave. See the comparison above and the screenshot with Edward G. Robinson below.

Edward G. Robinson in All My Sons. 825 McDonald Ave.

The third home that can be seen in All My Sons is the home located at 815 McDonald Ave. See the comparison below.

Horton and Lancaster in front of 815 McDonald Ave.

815 McDonald Ave. home used in All My Sons (1948).

815 McDonald Ave. as seen in All My Sons (1948).

The most prestigious home on McDonald Avenue is the McDonald Mansion (a.k.a. Mableton Mansion) that was built in 1877 as a summer home for the McDonald Family. This beautiful mansion located at 1015 McDonald Avenue was used as Aunt Polly's house in Disney's Pollyanna (1960). The film stars Hayley Mills, Jane Wyman, Agnes Moorehead, Adolphe Menjou, Richard Egan, Karl Malden, Kevin Corcoran, Nancy Olson, and James Drury. One thing noticeable right away is that the home used in the film is much taller than the actual house. This is because Disney artists used a matte painting to create the illusion that there were two additional floors. See a comparison of the Pollyanna house below.

Mansion from Disney's Pollyanna (1960).

The McDonald Mansion used for Pollyanna. 1015 McDonald Ave.

Me and my little Pollyanna at the gate of the McDonald Mansion.

This last film location is my personal favorite. It's from a little known film called Happy Land (1943) starring Don Ameche, Frances Dee and Harry Carey. The cast also includes Ann Rutherford, Dickie Moore, a young Harry Morgan and Natalie Wood in her film debut.

IMDB.com and other sources mention that this film was shot in Santa Rosa, but nowhere could I find where any scenes were filmed, not even any streets. I figured if Hitchcock, Disney, and others all made films on McDonald Avenue that maybe there was a good chance that Happy Land was also filmed on McDonald Ave. Fortunately, my instinct was correct! Before I visited McDonald Avenue, I had used Google Street View to look up and down the street to see if I could find a home that matched the below screenshot. The home of Don Ameche's and Frances Dee's characters is located at 1127 McDonald Ave. I've also found many of the other film locations used in Happy Land that have not been reported anywhere which I will include in a larger post on this movie later.

Don Ameche and Harry Carey in Happy Land (1943)

1127 McDonald Ave. Home used in Happy Land (1943).

A couple interesting facts:

Wifey and Hazel admire the flowers on McDonald Avenue.

Santa Rosa's McDonald Avenue is a beautiful residential street with gorgeous homes. Even if it were not for all the film related connections, this street would be a nice place to go for a stroll. The film history just makes it that much more fun for movie lovers.

Check back the next couple weeks for more highlights from our Fourth of July weekend trip.

Me in front of Fatty Arbuckle's 1923 McFarlan Auto

To kick off the month of December and get into the Christmas spirit, a friend of mine invited my wife and I to the Nethercutt Museum for a special holiday themed organ concert. When I heard that the concert was to be performed on a Wurlitzer organ, an instrument one does not regularly get to hear, and that the amazing Rob Richards (probably most well known for being the house organist of Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood) was going to perform, I knew we had to go.

What I didn't know at the time was how amazing of a place the Nethercutt Museum is. I had never heard of this gem located just north of Los Angeles, in Sylmar, California. The main building of the museum is four floors containing antique automobiles (some previously owned by Hollywood greats such as Cecil B. Demille and Fatty Arbuckle), "Mechanical Musical Instruments," antique furniture, clocks and other items to tantalize the eye.

The most exclusive of the antique autos are housed in what looks like a grand ballroom with marble columns and floors, lighted by crystal chandeliers and covered by painted ceilings. The room seems rather appropriate for the classy cars of the 1910s, 20s, and 30s found in this room. Some of cars in this room include Maybach, Duesenbergs, Renault, early Cadillacs and so many other exotic brands that are no longer.

The Grand Salon

As you work your way through the Grand Salon and up the stairs to the next level, you pass large display cases containing a vast collection of hood ornaments. These ornaments are so spectacular that they look more like trophies, something perhaps that would be handed out at an award ceremony - not something you would have on the hood of your automobile. 

Above the Grand Salon is a more cozy room with plush carpet and dark walls. All around the room are what are various mechanical musical instruments including self playing pianos, phonographs, cylinder music boxes, and what I thought were said to be European Orchestrations. These European Orchestrations are about the size of an average armoire and some are so large they cover an entire wall. Think of these like the 19th century version of a jukebox. These contraptions contain actual instruments built inside - drums, xylophones, piano, bells, violins, accordions, etc. - that will play music when turned on. Apparently these were popular in hotels and dance halls in Europe as they could mimic a full orchestra without needing all the musicians. 

Stairs leading to the Mezzanine Level

Looking down at the Grand Salon

Walking pass antiques and the hood ornament displays.

Top of a European Orchestration

A European Orchestration

Antique Watches

After checking out some of the cars, antiques, and mechanical musical instruments, my wife, friend Dave and I took our seats for the organ concert. Rob Richards performed on the museum's restored Wurlitzer organ, accompanied by Alex Zsolt on piano. The two played mainly Christmas tunes - some popular and some a little obscure. Between songs Richards and Zsolt really hammed it up for the audience as they explained the songs, cracking jokes like true entertainers.

In addition to the holiday music Richards and Zsolt played a few other tunes to show off the splendor of the Wurlitzer. As a special treat for Disney fans, Richards performed the music from the 1978 Disney animated short, The Small One. The website DisneyShorts.org has the following synopsis for The Small One: "A young boy must sell his undersized donkey to raise money for food. But instead of being sold to the local merchants, the donkey is destined for a very special passenger on a very special journey." That special journey was the journey of Mary and Joseph. I vaguely recall seeing this short when I was a kid but I would not have seen it since. The short was directed by legendary Don Bluth and according to the book "Disney A to Z," by Dave Smith, "this was the first Disney production created exclusively by the new generation of animators at the studio, except for 'old timer' directing animator Cliff Nordberg, to prove their ability to create a success."

Up out of the trap door floor came the organ, but the massive amount of pipes of all sizes, of which there are over 1,500, were located behind the walls. There were two walls that were see through so you could get a glimpse of the stunning pipes.

The Organ

One view of the organ pipes.

Antique Clock

Looking into the Dining Room

Cecil B. Demille's Car

DMIL CAD

Demille Car

Fatty Arbuckle Car

Me checking out the dashboard.

I saw some of the museum by attending the holiday concert, but you can visit the museum most anytime and tour the exhibits. Check out the museum site here. The collection has become so large they had to expand to another building. I plan to go back to see the rest of the exhibits.

And if you haven't had the opportunity to see Rob Richards perform on a Mighty Wurlitzer Organ you can usually catch him by seeing a movie at Disney's El Capitan Theatre. Richards often performs on the theatre's Wurlitzer before the feature - Disney songs of course.

Your thoughts?

Walt Disney

Here are some of the locations that Walt Disney lived and worked at when he first arrived in Los Angeles. This was part of a post I did a while back for another blog but wanted to incorporate here.

In 1923, Walt Disney, unable to get the funds needed to keep his Laugh-O-gram cartoon business going, decided to file for bankruptcy. At the urging of his older brother Roy, he left the Kansas City business behind and boarded a train for California. Roy, because of health reasons, was already living in California, staying at a veterans hospital in west Los Angeles. Their uncle Robert Disney had retired to Los Angeles and was living in the Los Feliz neighborhood. When Walt arrived in California he stayed at his uncle Robert's place at 4406 Kingswell Avenue.

Walt & Roy Disney's Apartment, 4409 Kingswell Ave

Disney Bros. Studio

Disney Bros. Studio Kingswell Ave

Disney's Alice Comedies would become a hit and Walt would need to hire other artists to help create his cartoons. One of Walt's early employees, an ink-and-paint girl named Lillian, would later become his wife. In 1925, after little more than a year of courtship, Walt and Lillian married.

Roy had married his sweetheart about a year earlier and had moved out of the apartment he shared with Walt. When Walt and Lillian married they moved into a small apartment located on Melbourne Avenue, close to the studio on Kingswell, and then later to a larger apartment on Commonwealth Avenue.

With the success of the Alice Comedies, Walt and Roy put a deposit down for land and an office building on Hyperion Avenue, in the Silver Lake neighborhood. The Disney's planned to grow their business here, and they would, but it would not be easy.

The Disney's would move the studio from the Kingswell location to the Hyperion office. They moved on from the Alice Comedies and introduced a new character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, which also proved to be popular with audiences. With the popularity of Oswald, Walt asked his distributor Charles Mintz for an increase in budget, only to learn that they wanted to decrease Walt's budget by 20 percent. Walt also learned that he didn't own the rights to Oswald, Mintz did, and he had hired away most of Walt's staff.

Walt, with his few loyal artists, would finish their contract with Mintz and complete the last of the Oswald cartoons while secretly working on a new character - Mickey Mouse. Mickey would prove to be more popular than anything Walt had done up to that point.

Below is an image of the Walt Disney Studios in the Silver Lake neighborhood and the site as it appears today (the studio is demolished and a grocery store stands in its place). It is at this studio that the early Mickey cartoons, Silly Symphonies, and the first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were all created. After the success of Snow White, the Walt Disney Studios would move to a new location in Burbank, a few miles away.

Roy Disney's Home on Lyric Avenue

Walt Disney's Home, 4053 Woking Way

As Walt's success grew and news came that his wife Lillian was pregnant, he decided to move from the small home on Lyric Avenue to a larger home up in the Hollywood Hills. The home was located at 4053 Woking Way, just above the Los Feliz neighborhood. To get there you need to drive up some steep narrow roads. Walt would live in this home for a few years and then move again to his most famous residence, which was located in Holmby Hills (it was at the Holmby Hills residence Walt had his backyard train).