The Last Edition - Tailing Sam Blotz - 2
Then … Blotz arrives at his destination. Finding this location was easy for CitySleuth - he turned to John Bengston, host of the blog silentlocations.com, knowing that he had already discovered it in numerous silent movies and that he had described it in detail in his blog. This is E. Cahuenga Alley in Hollywood, since renamed the Chaplin-Keaton-Lloyd Alley in recognition of the silent movie stars who filmed there (map).
… in 1922 … 3 years earlier Buster Keaton was filmed at exactly this spot in the comedy My Wife’s Relations.
… and Now, here’s how that location looks today. The building facing us, other than its brick walls having been stuccoed over, hasn’t changed.
In this 1920s aerial photo the T-shaped alley is highlighted in yellow. It has an east-west section between Cahuenga and Cosmo and a north-south section down to Selma Avenue. The circle shows where Blotz’s car was parked, at the corner with Cosmo.
… and Now, this matching Google satellite view shows the alley as it looks today. It’s a century later but several of these buildings are still there.
Then … Blotz enters the Pal’s Club via a back entrance. But where was this doorway? There aren’t any other views or clues to help find it, other than the adjacent elevated window with security bars on the left.
Once again silentlocations.com provides the answer. John Bengston came across the same doorway in the 1932 silent movie Hells House (on the left, below). This was filmed 7 years after The Last Edition but check out how various wall features still matched up.
The Pal’s Club doorway showed up in the 1933 film Torchy’s Kitty Coup. Here you see a wider view of it (with a sign attached across it) and the adjacent elevated window with security bars.
… and Now, this rather poor quality photo captured the doorway as it looks today, seen here looking along the section of Cahuenga Alley that runs south down to Selma Ave. There’s now a metal box covering the adjacent window.
In this 1920s aerial photo the doorway is indicated by the black circle.
Meanwhile Clarence has caught up with Blotz and spots him entering the club. This was filmed in the east-west section of the alley; Cahuenga Blvd crosses in the background.
Then … Unable to enter the back door he takes a chance on spotting Blotz within one of the building’s windows; He (well, a stunt-man, no doubt) daringly climbs to an adjoining rooftop then down to the window. Note the address number on the Chime Lunch sign - 6374; this is the rear of 6374 Hollywood Boulevard.
That building is circled in this 1920s aerial view; the arrow points to the window that Clarence is about to peer into…
The building was seen in the 1933 filmTorchy’s Kitty Coup scene referenced earlier; the view looks in the other direction along the same alley. Note the Pal’s Club doorway on the left.
… and Now, the purple-walled building facing us at the end of the alley has since been added in front of the Chime Lunch building. The Pal’s Club doorway is highlighted at left. (Note the continuity hiccup - we now realize that the doorway and the window he climbed up to were not part of the same building).
… then when Clarence looks inside there’s another continuity goof - this is a different window; the brick windowsill is not the same as in the Then image above. To be fair, most movie watchers would never notice, but CitySleuth obsesses over details like this.
He’s in luck - he sees Blotz conferring with his accomplice Red Moran and overhears him, livid over his exposé by the Chronicle, making a call to the city’s assistant D.A. Gerald Fuller to get the police off his back then instructing Moran to deliver a cash bribe to him.
