They did it again! Flicker Alley is now hosting Laurel & Hardy: Year Two, a beautifully presented 2-disc Blu-ray set of Stan and Ollie’s 1928 films, their second year (Year Two) working as a duo. These all-new restorations were assembled from archives and collectors from around the world, and once again I was honored to present a bonus video essay providing a detailed overview of the locations appearing in such films as Leave ‘Em Laughing, The Finishing Touch, You’re Darn Tootin’, Their Purple Moment, Should Married Men Go Home?, Two Tars, and We Faw Down.
Many of these 1928 locations were discovered long ago by Robert Satterfield and other devoted location fans, as documented in Pratfall, the 1985 Way Out West Tent filming location guide. That said, while researching the visual essay I came upon several new locations that do not appear to have been previously reported. To see them all check out the new Year Two locations program. This post focuses on Two Tars, famous for its slow-motion demolition derby among frustrated drivers stuck in a rural traffic jam.
Hal Roach Studio carpenter and prop man Thomas Benton Roberts (who built the many collapsing cars, see his cameo at left) reported the traffic jam was staged along Centinella Avenue, as does the 1928 Studio Date Book. Newly reported here, convincing photographic evidence seems to confirm it was staged along Centinella a block or two south of the Clover Airfield, the corner of National Blvd, and the Santa Monica Golf Course (see map above, more details to follow). While a nearby street has been proposed as the location instead, vintage aerial photos and maps show this street was not constructed until after the movie was made.
A quick example, more details below – the crest of the hill and the trees marked red and orange in the aerial view at right (looking north up Centinella) stand at the corner of National Blvd, and seem to match these trees in the film.
The film begins with Stan and Ollie, two sailors on shore leave, driving a rental car north up Main Street in (where else?) Culver City, a few blocks west from the Roach Studio.
Enjoying their automotive freedom, Stan mindlessly drives straight toward a telephone pole on the Roach Studio backlot, barely missing it.
After scolding Stan to always keep his eyes straight ahead, Ollie takes the wheel, driving past the entrance to “The Pink Pup,” appearing in Their Purple Moment (right), before smashing into a corner lamp post. (Full disclosure – the above images are correct, but the bonus program marks the wrong corner for “The Pink Pup.” In my partial defense, I did not realize the “Pink Pup” sign was moved among different sets, read more below.)
Click to enlarge – looking south, this aerial view of the former Roach Studio backlot, once standing at 8822 W Washington Blvd. in Culver City, highlights the corner where Ollie hits the lamp post, then the first “The Pink Pup” entrance, as appearing in Putting Pants on Phillip, and then next door, the second “The Pink Pup” entrance, as appearing in Their Purple Moment. The corner with the telephone pole, here standing before the car, is blocked from view. Roach Studio backlot expert Jim Dallape confirmed “The Pink Pup” sign has appeared on at least three different sets during Roach films. Visit Jim’s remarkable Hal Roach Studios Backlot Tour HERE. Marc Wanamaker – Bison Archives.
Further scenes were filmed back on Main Street, including then and now views of the Boys stopping to flirt with Thelma Hill and Ruby Blaine. Their car faces south, with 3838-3840 Main behind them. Photo Bob Borgen.
Now looking north – notice the prominent “PLUMBING” sign painted on the wall of 3808 Main Street, then standing beside a vacant lot.
Three views looking north up Main toward the corner of Venice Blvd. with the once exposed “PLUMBING” sign highlighted. Photo Bob Borgen.
The gumball scenes with the girls and Charlie Hall were filmed on the backlot. The matching details show Charlie’s store had portrayed the ABC Restaurant before in You’re Darn Tootin’. Click to enlarge – do Stan’s hands seem to be somewhat occupied?
Click to enlarge – looking east, this 1928 aerial view of Centinela, running north-south (left-right) toward the corner of National, seems to match the traffic jam road. Notice the isolated home (yellow) standing west of Centinela. FrameFinder c-300_j-286
The bluffs of Playa del Rey at back (orange) confirm the traffic jam road looks south. The traffic jam home in the movie (yellow) appears to match perfectly with the isolated home west of Centinela (inset) identified in the prior aerial photo. Both square homes have peaked pyramid roofs, small side awnings to the left, and narrow wings along the back. These matching homes, other consistent details, and the lack of other credible, alternative candidate locations, convinces me this is the correct spot.
Robert Satterfield reports in Pratfall the Centinela filming centered around what is now Rose Ave. The maps and aerials seem to confirm this is generally correct. Of course the cars stretched for blocks, and I would place the Boys a bit further north. Since today Centinela is completely built over and unrecognizable, the precise spots are now lost to history. See 3245 S. Centinela on Google Maps at the end of this post. Photos Bob Borgen.
The film ends near the Santa Monica Pier, a popular amusement park now for over 100 years.
The Loof Carousel-Hippodrome, still standing (color inset), appears at right. The popular “merry-go-round” carousel played important scenes during 1973’s “Best Picture” The Sting. Notice the wooden framed tunnel and wooden stairs to the left. Huntington Digital Library.
Pursued by angry motorists, the Boys hide inside a train tunnel. Near the pier, this tunnel ran beneath Colorado Avenue and once served early trolley and rail lines running north along the coast. Huntington Digital Library.
The Boys survive the outgoing train, but if you look closely their powerless, non-motorized auto, built for them by Thomas Benton Roberts, is towed from the tunnel by wires. Huntington Digital Library.
The closing shot, ending our Two Tars tour. This once simple tunnel now leads traffic from the Santa Monica Freeway north onto the Pacific Coast Highway.
Click to enlarge – as mentioned, the Year Two bonus program highlights many other 1928 locations, such as these newly reported views from The Finishing Touch …
… and these views from Should Married Men Go Home?
Be sure to order Flicker Alley’s Laurel & Hardy: Year Two – I hope you’ll enjoy the new Year Two bonus program. I want to thank Flicker for once again inviting me to prepare a program, the Flicker editors Nate Sutton and Silas Lesnick for their hard work, and my friend Bob Borgen for taking and sharing so many color photos. Also, check out Jim Dallape’s guest blog post showing how TV’s 1970s crime shows Starsky & Hutch and Charlie’s Angels filmed in the same places as Laurel & Hardy and other Roach stars!
My YouTube channel hosts my latest video – the many new discoveries about how Buster Keaton filmed Go West.
Two Tars – Centinela on Google Maps.
Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd film locations (and more) 
Excellent, Mr. Bengtson. Another gem. Thanks.
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You are amazing John! This is great! So glad you were able to confirm these locations. As the years went on, I was told by several folks that Pratfall was incorrect. Glad you salvaged our good name. Also, regarding the closing tunnel. As we toured locations during the Laurel and Hardywood Convention of 2014, conventioneers got the treat of driving through that tunnel on the way to Santa Monica. Fans were very excited on my bus to have that experience even though we were not able to pull over for photographs. Glad to know the experience was genuine.
Thanks for all the amazing work you do!
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Thank you so much Bob. You and the other early detectives, your discoveries, your documentation, made all this later work possible. Thank you once again for showing us the way.
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Nice to see you’re still around Bob. I’m an old vet from the Way Out West Tent. Thank you for everything.
Ah, the memories of meeting and talking with so many, including Thomas Benton Roberts, as mentioned above. One funny note: Marvin Hatley was amazed at the number of past titles I would ask him to play–which he always did. For example, Ain’t Misbehavin’. One after another. What he didn’t know is that I was pulling titles from the nose art which adorned–B-17s for example–planes with young boys which flew over Germany, wrecking someone’s hopes for world domination.
Lucille Hardy Price, Dennis King, maybe Anita Garvin–I corresponded with her for sure when she was in Woodland Hills, and a whole raft of people who made my life so happy, and that of so many of my relatives and friends. I’ll have to dig out McCabe’s hardcover to review all the autographs and at the Way Out West Tent there were many to secure. We have folks like you–and the former husband and wife team, whose names escape me at the moment–to thank for that !
Of course, there’s no getting through life without some of the best comedy ever including what I consider to be one of the greatest lines in movie history: ‘Why didn’t you tell me you had two legs ?’
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Another great posting. Just recently I saw Two Tars as part of Ben Model’s Silent Comedy Watch Party so your post was very timely. Thanks!
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Excellent work, as always. The “corner” on the Hal Roach Studio Back Lot where L&H almost run down pedestrian Sam Lufkin was a standing set that jutted out into what studio call sheets termed “New York Street.” In August-September 1928 the studio carpenters removed this set to give the street a straighter alignment, at the same time removing a slight “kink” in the frontages on the street’s south side, about where the Pink Pup facade stands. Evidence of this work can be seen in A PAIR OF TIGHTS, where some of the north side is covered by wood hoardings, and the amount of lumber and cement troughs in the background of some of the street shots. The gumball scene intercuts action filmed outside the standing set on the Back Lot for the drugstore, and reaction shots with the Model T on Main St., Culver City, an elaborate bit of filming. The drugstore exterior set was one of the few on the Back Lot with a working interior, allowing filming units to shoot inside looking out: e.g. it’s the police station in NIGHT OWLS, the Mint Cafe in WHAT PRICE TAXI, Finlayson’s dry cleaners in HIS SILENT RACKET, the jewelry store in THE MIDNIGHT PATROL, etc. On a trip to California years ago I drove through that tunnel on the Santa Monica Freeway just to experience traveling along the footprint of the TWO TARS finale.
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Thank you for this great information. I didn’t know name of the actor standing beside the telephone pole. Yes, the ‘street’ looked rather narrow and misaligned, something they would straighten out for later films.
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Fun story to read. Thank you for sharing. How do I purchase this film?
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To purchase the films follow the Flicker Alley links in the post. Flicker spent time and money making these films available in their best condition, so we should support Flicker by purchasing them – thanks
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