Straight to Video

Last month, we were looking into signing Mr. Big up for Pomona little league. We debated because the rules turn out to be very strict in terms of where you live and where you play. Pomona has two options: a field at Indian Hill and San Bernardino; the other at Ted Greene Park on Orange Grove below Arrow. I geuss you can see where this is going if you read the Daily Bulletin. The problem is that Lincoln Park kids are only allowed to play at the Indian Hill location, and not the Ted Greene Park locale, which is much closer. Husband and I both agreed that the intersection of Indian Hill and San Berdo is like the sleaziest one in Pomona. And actually, that intersection is at the crossroads of Pomona, Montclair and Claremont, so the scene there is a tri-city production. Really, that particular area of town is the only part of Pomona that gives me the eebie geebies (besides Phillips Ranch, of course). So, in the end, we decided to forego baseball this year, since we couldn't play at Ted Greene Park.

So then last week I read about the double homicide shooting at Ted Greene Park last Thursday at 4:30 p.m. in the afternoon.

Then this week, the Pomona City Council, rather than talking about THAT shooting, are talking about a film shooting instead. They have apparently decided to give $13,000 in community redevelopment funds to a film company -- all for the honor of gracing us with their presence to film for a few days. Sometimes it seems like the Council purposely does things to land themselves a spot in David Allen's column, which I suppose is better than the police blotter.


Even 7 year old Mr. Big knows that a friend you buy is not worth having. When some kid recently asked Mr. Big for his chocolate pudding in exchange for being his friend, Mr. Big refused. (Big would never make it in Pomona politics; he likes chocolate pudding too much.) I don't see why Pomona has to bend over backwards on this one. I can see if we are talking an entire film festival, but we are talking about one low budget film.

Even Big can do the math: Pomona's $13,000 would be better spent on hiring a part time recreation director at Ted Greene Park, or improving the sound system at the Fox Theater for next year's Smogdance.

THE END

Another day, another location scout

The cult of Leica.
Originally uploaded by nimboo

Was anyone else visited over the weekend by Scott, the location scout? He had a slew of Lincoln Park addresses on his piece of paper, and I know he got into a couple of bungalows. The production company he works for is looking for a home in which to film a commercial for a midwest bank. The ideal location will have the look of a midwest couple's first home in the craftsmen style with a wooded entry way and a large kitchen. Unlike some other recent projects, this one will definitely be filmed in Pomona, not Pasadena, not Whittier, not West Adams/ Los Angeles and definitely NOT Claremont. Reason being, that the director is sold on downtown Pomona for the other part of the commercial, and they specifically want a nearby home.

It will be interested to see which house is chosen. I'm sure it won't be us, since the money would come in too handy right about now.

Scott told me that Pomona is increasingly on the radar for filming, since it hasn't been used over and over, and that while in the past people thought it was too far, when they have worked out here they find that it isn't. He said that he scouted locations for two major films in recent years, but both projects changed at the last minute and were not filmed in Pomona. He said that one project, which was for Swordish, would have involved the restoration of the Fox Theater at the film company's expense. Anyone know about that?

THE END

Asked and Answered

former Snelgrove Ice Cream Store
Originally uploaded by agilitynut

We didn't go to the Saturday Night Arts Walk, but we did go down to Second St. for a stroll on Sunday. We saw a bright new ice cream shop going in on the 100 block of Second Street, right where the group of white people were plotting last week. As we got closer, we realized that it was a film set. One of the production assistantants said it was "nothing exciting, just a commercial for Quaker Oats." As we drove out of the area, we saw a car on a truck being filmed as it drove down Mission at Holt. So, thanks to my anoymous reader below, the question of the mysterious white people on Second Street is solved.

Last year, my house came within heartbeats of being the location for this summer's twenty-something thriller Disturbia. Dreamworks' location scouts were in Pomona, looking for a two story craftsman that had windows overlooking a pool. The house was supposed to have the look of people behind on their mortgage payments. That would be our house. In the end, the location scout told us that the filmmakers thought the house was right, but they decided Pomona was too far for the crew to come each day for so long of a production (2 months). The film ended up being done on Painter Avenue in Whittier, mostly at night. Of course any money we had made would have been replaced with resentement from our neighbors over the inconvenience of filming on the street, not to mention what the gaffers tape can do to your woodwork. My husband always said that he would never allow his house to be used for filming, since he knew from experience that filming can absolutely trash a house. But when Steven Spielberg comes a knocking, things change.

I heard the colonial house across from the park was used to film the Jennifer Aniston movie "Father of the Bride" (was that the name?). And, of course, downtown Second Street was used for the Cat and the Hat, which explains all the pastel colors in the antique district.

When I drove by yesterday to snap a photo of the "new" ice cream shop for the blog, it was long gone. So I'll continue to get my cheap scoops and thrills at the Rite Aid on Holt and San Antonio.

THE END

Pomona on the Silver Screen

We all know that Pomona takes it's lumps in the local press, but now we're being slammed in film. Pomona shouldn't feel too bad, since even Claremont's squeaky clean image is sullied in a current movie:

"'Alpha Dog' may not be top dog in Claremont
Written by David Allen, Columnist, Daily Bulletin
01/24/2007

A NEW CRIME MOVIE, "Alpha Dog," is inspired by a true story involving a 20-year-old San Fernando Valley drug dealer who allegedly had a 15-year-old boy kidnapped and killed to get revenge on a rival.
"Alpha Dog" changes the names, some details and the location, moving the drug dealers to...Claremont?
When the words "Claremont, CA" pop up onscreen, documentary-style, the audience I saw the movie with in Ontario let out an audible gasp.
The movie wasn't filmed here, but L.A.-area locales stand in for Claremont's tree-lined streets and Cahuilla Park, where the movie kidnapping occurs.
A very un-Claremont scene takes place on a decaying, Holt Boulevard-esque urban commercial strip made up of used car lots and a grungy mini-market named Circus Jr. Its oversized sign features a circus clown.
In other words, "Alpha Dog" does for Claremont what "The O.C." did for Chino.
There doesn't appear to be an outcry in Claremont. This could be because Claremont has no movie theater.
Mayor Peter Yao hadn't heard of the movie until I alerted him. But when I explained the plot and the Claremont connection, the mayor let out not an audible gasp, but a loud laugh.
"Well, we need more controversies. Bring 'em on," Yao quipped.
Alas, the movie has no Claremont dialogue, which I think would have been a cinema first. But a couple of scenes are set in Pomona, and as you know, no movie is complete without Pomona dialogue.
In this case, it's when the gangster played by Justin Timberlake tries to convince his girlfriend that rather than killing a boy in Palm Springs, he merely gave the boy a ride home.
Justin Timberlake: "Yeah, I dropped him off in Pomona."
Skeptical girlfriend: "Yeah? What street?"
Timberlake, angrily: "I dropped him off in Pomona!"
Maybe it's just me, but that was the best part.

FILMING BEGINS today in good ol' Pomona for the next "Die Hard" sequel, "Live Free or Die Hard," starring Bruce Willis (who is also in "Alpha Dog"). Shooting will take place in a Fairplex parking lot along White Avenue from today through Feb. 14.
"There will be stunt work including precision driving, explosions and helicopter work," says city spokeswoman Monique Valadez. Today's filming, kicking things off with a literal bang, will involve "a large explosion." "Some simulated gunfire" will occur other days.
Well, if there's going to be gunfire in Pomona, I prefer the simulated kind."

David Allen is a regular contributor to the Daily Bulletin and I always enjoy reading his columns.

FYI: Robert Redford will be in Claremont to film a movie at the colleges in late January.