Ron's Log

Bonnie's Kids

Last month as the Desert Hot Springs Historical Society discussed Robert Altman's Three Women, John Furbee, who owned the hotel where Altman and his crew stayed and where they filmed Sissy Spacek in her room, told us that another movie had been made in Desert Hot Springs in the 1970s: Bonnie's Kids (in 1973). Jeff Bowman and I went searching online and all we could find was a bootleg DVD made from a VHS copy of the film. Not well filmed to begin with, the quality degraded at each step of conversion, what I finally saw was not worth much more than the $13 I paid for it.

The story of the movie is irrelevant. It was fairly typical of R-Rated exploitation flicks intended to be shown in a drive-in theater to young people on makeout dates: plenty of gratuitous female breast shots, hints of lesbianism, chunks of explicit violence, and a plot that was unimportant to follow.

But much of it was filmed in Palm Springs, and some of it was in Desert Hot Springs. They put a camera on the east side of Palm Drive between Pierson and Acoma (at what must have been almost the same spot where Altman stood) and filmed the west side of the street, as Altman did later. Scenes were shot along Varner Road and at two gas stations: one at Varner and Ramon in Thousand Palms, the other was somewhere along I-10. A hotel, possibly the Biltmore [or Ocotillo Lodge] in Palm Springs, was used.

The complete collection of screen grabs is here.

Varner Road, I think, looking WNW with Edom Hill behind us.

The remains of that landmark rock gas station that used to stand on Varner Road at Mountain View. Having heard that it was used in many movies and ads, this is the first time I've actually found it in a film.

The first gas station is at Ramon and Varner in Thousand Palms:

Driving north on Varner toward Edom Hill.

The second gas station, somewhere along the north side of I-10 with Mt. San Jacinto visible in the background:

I think the lower destination on the sign in the background is "Palm Springs."The man on the right is Timothy Brown playing a character called "Digger" who was a bit pre-occupied with sex. His filmography. He may be most famous for his role as "Spearchucker" Jones in M*A*S*H. He was also the black country singer in Nashville.

Approaching the second gas station.

A phone booth at the second gas station. An entrance to I-10 can be seen in the background.

There is a brief, poorly done homage to the shower scene in Psycho. Woulda been more impressive if the drain in the bathtub had worked better.

Possibly the Biltmore [or Ocotillo Lodge] in Palm Springs.

Max Showalter. His filmography.

Parking on Indian Canyon in Palm Springs to pick up a package at the Greyhound station. The gas station in the background is now the location of the Palm Springs Life building.

The first hotel, probably in Palm Springs.

Driving into Palm Springs on Indian Canyon. The significance is what is missing: windmills.

A cafe in the Banning pass. I think it's in among the businesses where the dinosaurs are now.

In the Banning pass.

Desert Hot Springs:

View from the east side of Palm, south of Pierson, looking back to toward Palm & Pierson.

Palm Drive.

Palm Drive, the west side, near Acoma.

Palm Drive.

Palm Drive.

Extras inside the drug store on Palm Drive.

Entering the drug store on Palm Drive, you can see the facade on the building across the street that is now the optometrist.

Looking south on Palm Drive.

Another Naked Hike In The Mecca Hills

Owls

Obamas Turn Down $100,000

The Obamas will not accept the standard $100,000 government allotment to redecorate the White House. Nor will they use money from the private White House Historical Society. And they aren't going to accept private donations of goods, either (but the article doesn't expressly rule out cash donations). The Obamas will be paying for the redecoration themselves, which allows them to keep it all confidential. Admirable, although I imagine racist conspiracy nuts will have a field day theorizing about the nature of the redecoration.

Medical Tobacco

A Wikipedia article about the benefits of tobacco administered rectally. Mostly it involves blowing smoke up somebody's ass (honest!), which was said to be able to resuscitate drowning victims, treat cholera and relieve constipation. It was also administered as a decoction to treat convulsions and worked well "although the decoction resulted in excited sickness, vomiting, and profuse perspiration."

The use of tobacco as medicine declined after 1811 when some silly-willy showed that nicotine was a poison. The civil suit against said silly-willy by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco is still working its way through the courts.

So naturally I Googled "cannabis enema" but most of the results are pure spam. The rest are just utter nonsense. I conclude that receiving a cannabis enema totally destroys that part of the brain one uses to navigate the internet.

We Can All Stop Worrying

Representative John Shimkus from Illinois's 19th Congressional District tells us we don't need to worry about global warming or any other consequences of human behavior because the Bible tells him so.

Maurice Jarre, 1924-2009

Maurice Jarre, film score composer, died yesterday at age 84 in Los Angeles due to cancer. His first Oscar was for Lawrence of Arabia. His second was for Dr. Zhivago, which included the immensely popular Lara's Theme.

His third Oscar was for yet another David Lean film: A Passage to India. His filmography also includes Dead Poets Society, Gorillas In The Mist, Fatal Attraction, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Witness, The Year of Living Dangerously, Mohammad: Messenger of God, The Man Who Would Be King, Mandingo, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, Plaza Suite, Topaz, The Longest Day and a zillion more.

You can hear some excerpts of his music here.

Stonewall's 40th Anniversay Coming Up

A montage prepared in anticipation of June's 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots (and the death of Judy Garland).

Descanso Gardens

Yesterday I went to Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge for my first time. This was part of a Los Angeles Flickr group meet-up. When I got off the 210 and rolled down my windows I was surprised to discover that I'd forotten what spring smells like out in the real world. Flowers and grass everywhere. The gardens themselves are packed with blooming flowers right now, of course. They've also got this little train that you can pay three bucks to ride. Video here. It's got no visible safety features. No seat belts, no crossing guards, no lights, not even warning signs! It's great. It's like recreation without the attorneys.

More photos here.

I would suggest that the Descanso Gardens give up on their lilacs. Maybe the Los Angeles area is just not the right climate for traditional lilacs. Unlike all of the rest of the place, the lilacs are in a flat, dusty area with about half as many leaves and blooms as I'd expect on lilacs at either the Arnold Arboretum in Boston or along the driveway at the house where I grew up in Kansas City.

Fresno Bee Does Saline Valley

The Fresno Bee has an article about Saline Valley and its springs which covers all the main points pretty well.