The locals appreciated Boulevard Larchmont for a century, as have audiences around the world. The Boulevard’s irresistible charm from the start has made it one of the main filming locations since the beginning of the Hollywood film industry.

Boulevard Larchmont was popular for movies even before Julius LaBonte developed the street in 1921.

Langdon, Keaton, Lloyd

In 1917, vaudeville actor Harry Langdon, in “Lonesome Luke, Messenger”, was in a hurry to deliver packages, and he fell off his bike in front of houses on Clinton Street and Larchmont Boulevard. The Keystone Cops, a clumsy police team popular in the 1910s, were often chased along the boulevard.

In “Sherlock, Jr.” (1924), thugs pursue comedian and Hancock Park resident Buster Keaton, who jumps on the handlebars of a motorcycle while being chased down the boulevard. That same year, comedian Harold Lloyd played her husband in “Hot Water” and, while bickering with his family, was reprimanded by a policeman for forgetting to bypass an old-fashioned traffic island in front of a “workshop. repair shop ”in Larchmont. and First.

At this same intersection, but a year later, Langdon in “His Marriage Wow” (1925) asks an exasperated traffic cop for directions, after ending up in the wrong church on his wedding day. Later, he and a crazed wedding guest, played by actor Vernon Dent, nearly crashed into the center posts of the streetcar on the boulevard during a mad rush to the hospital. The yellow streetcars of the # 3 Los Angeles Railroad line went up and down the center of the street.

Langdon actually collided with a cart post in front of 221 S. Larchmont Blvd. (now vacant; formerly Pickett Fences) in his film “Saturday Afternoon” (1926), after filling the gap between two moving streetcars and falling asleep. Later, he and Dent also argue over their failed double dates outside a “chocolate” store in Larchmont and First.

Harold Lloyd returns to the Boulevard in 1926 for one of his most successful films, “For the Love of Heaven,” which sees him comically attempting to push his drunken friends into one of the running streetcars.

Other shootings at Larchmont, such as “All for a Girl” and “The Movies” (1925), “For Heaven’s Sake” (1926) and “Better Behave” (1928), crowned the era of silent cinema.

Stooges

The Three Stooges, a burlesque comedic trio, filmed at least nine different locations on Larchmont. Their films feature the trams and sidewalks of Larchmont, as in “Punch Drunks” (1934), “Hoi Polloi” (1935) and “Pop Goes the Easel” (1935), in which the Stooges rush to hopscotch in front of 107 N. boul. (now the Buck Mason store). The Larchmont Theater at 147 N. Larchmont Blvd., where local residents were able to watch finished films in person, can also be seen in “Hoi Polloi”.

Bob Hope

Bob Hope in “Off Limits” (1953) is a boxing manager who vandalizes a car at “Ashton Super Service”, which is actually the Richfield gas station at the northeast corner of Larchmont Boulevard and First Street (now the building Bank of America). Bob Hope returns to the boulevard again for “Eight on the Lam” (1967), where his character is hiding on his building site in the “First National Bank” (in fact the last and last branch of the Security-Pacific National Bank in Larchmont) at 147 N. Larchmont Blvd. Hope rushes down the alley and goes down to First Street to escape the cops, who are looking for him on the boulevard, and he then tries to blend in with a crowd of protesters in First and Larchmont.

Baby Jane and Elvis

Boulevard Larchmont moved away from car chases and police comedies as the street developed. Horror movie “What happened to Baby Jane?” (1962), starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, was shot almost exclusively in Larchmont Village and the surrounding area, and the characters regularly leave the 172 S. McCadden Pl. Mansion to shop in the stores of Larchmont.

In “Live a Little, Love a Little” (1968), Elvis Presley as “Greg” follows the police on motorcycles to Larchmont and Beverly.

“MACGyver” EPISODES Often included Larchmont Boulevard, as the main character lived in an apartment above the late Larchmont Hardware, right.

Television

Over time, Larchmont also entered the world of television. He appeared in the television series “Dynasty”, in the episodes The Mortgage (1984) and The Man (1985). Even if it was only during the second season (1986-1987), Angus “Mac” MacGyver was able to settle on Larchmont Boulevard while living in an apartment above the hardware store.

And, of course, the late, longtime Rossmore Avenue resident Huell Howser chats with Village Pizzeria owner Steve Cohen on “Visiting.” . . with Huell Howser ”(2007). The following year, in Season 5, Episode 10, of “Entourage,” Eric “E” Murphy gets up at Village Pizzeria.

Since 2010, Boulevard Larchmont has served as the backdrop for at least 140 productions. The ads cover everything from ESPN and Chipotle to Geico and T-Mobile. The street has remained popular for movies and TV shows, such as “Hangover 2”, “Private Practice”, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “The Voice”. Recently, songwriter Olivia Rodrigo shot a music video for Kasimoff-Blüthner Piano Co., and Amazon TV’s new spinoff series “Bosch” shot a scene in front of Le Pain Quotidien in late August.

Even though neighbors sometimes complain about the inconvenience of on-location shoots, the shoots can be lucrative for owners and profitable for production companies.

Commercial cinema was certainly an effective means of preserving the historic images of Boulevard Larchmont throughout its first century.

Key words: Baby Jane, Bob Hope, Elvis, Macgyver, The Three Stooges

Category: Entertainment