Cops A to Z

00:51– 01:28   Buster encounters Big Joe Roberts, helps him into a taxi, while keeping Joe’s wallet, was filmed at 590 N Vermont Ave in front of the brick pedestrian gated entrance to the now lost Bergstrom (later Pantages) Estate. The “590” address is visible beside the gate. Remarkably, Harry Houdini filmed scenes here for The Grim Game in 1919, before Buster. The estate gates also appear in pioneer film-maker Lois Weber’s 1916 drama Where Are My Children?, the Billy West Oliver Hardy 1918 comedy His Day Out, and Snub Pollard’s 1920 short Fresh Paint. KC.30.3 Winter 2022 pages 42-45. Midtown https://silentlocations.com/2015/11/19/houdini-keaton-the-grim-game-cops/

01:28   Joe realizes his wallet is gone inside a taxi driving east past 6075 Santa Monica Blvd, the now lost Warren Drug Co. on the NE corner of Gower, near the Keaton Studio. This corner appears in Harold Lloyd’s 1921 film I Do, and in Larry Semon’s 1920 short The Suitor. KC.22.4 Autumn 2014 page 6. Hollywood https://silentlocations.com/2016/04/19/buster-in-cops-cruising-santa-monica-boulevard/

01:35   Wide shot of Joe’s taxi making a U-turn from east to west on Sunset at the SW corner of Detroit. Notice the street sign. The apartment to the far right appears in the aerial view below.

The Chaplin Studio stood nearby at 1416 N La Brea. Buster must have been aware of this proximity when filming. Hollywood https://silentlocations.com/2021/01/23/the-lens-of-history-hollywood-before-the-chaplin-studio/

01:36   Looking east, Joe grabs his wallet from Buster, but not the cash, as the taxi heads west on Sunset toward Buster standing at the same SW corner of Detroit. During Girl Shy (inset) Harold Lloyd rides a motorcycle east down Sunset toward the same corner of Detroit. Hollywood https://silentlocations.com/2013/06/01/keaton-location-to-be-demolished-photo-help/

01:38   Joe inside the taxi realizes his wallet is empty. Also filmed driving east on Santa Monica Blvd, see 01:28, perhaps a block or two east of Gower. The two-story building behind Joe could be the east side of the Warren Drug Co building. Hollywood

01:44   Joe’s taxi makes a three-point reversal of direction in a driveway, looking west down Sunset from the corner of Detroit. Notice the matching tall telephone poles and wide sidewalk medians as appearing in 01:35 and 01:36. Hollywood

01:49   Buster and Joe switch places in the taxi back at 590 N Vermont – see 00:51. Midtown

01:55  Buster drives east down Sunset away from Joe at the same corner (01:36) of Detroit. One block behind him is the corner of La Brea, where Syd Chaplin lived in the home on Chaplin’s studio. Notice the repair-man on the telephone pole, and the child sitting on the corner. Hollywood

01:57 Back at 590 N Vermont, Big Joe reveals he is a policeman. In all, Buster’s scene with Big Joe (00:51 – 01:57) cuts back and forth between Vermont, Santa Monica, and Sunset, spaced miles apart.