Out in the Desert

Can I take you on another odyssey related to the movie "The Graduate"? I didn't intend that film to crop up so much on this trip, but I guess reading the book on the plane -- and then re-watching the movie, and realizing I was amid so many of the filming locations -- has kept it in the forefront of my mind. I knew that the church where the final scenes were filmed was located in the little town of La Verne, between Los Angeles and San Bernardino. So I devised a plan to stop there on our way out to Palm Springs.

It was easy to do, actually -- La Verne is just a few miles off the freeway. And sure enough, we found the church, which was brand new when the movie was made in the '60s.

Here's a screen shot, showing Dustin Hoffman running around the outside of the building:
 

He eventually runs up that side staircase and in through a door. Looking at the church now, in the top photo, I notice that staircase doesn't exist. They must have built it for the film. I bet the architect hated that! I also notice that some lighting sconces and (hopefully temporary?) wreaths have been hung on the front wall, and the windows are no longer such large panes of glass.

Anyway, we didn't try to go in, though the doors were standing open and there were people around. I was happy just to see the outside.

On we drove, via the Foothills freeway, passing the turn-offs to Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead on the way to Palm Springs...

...which is much more congested and built up than I remember it! The last time I was here was in April 2008, and I remember a quiet little town with clean, modernist lines. Yesterday, as we walked down the main drag with its red barrel-tile roofs and faux adobe buildings, I kept saying to Dave, "What have they done to this place?! It's like Frontierland at Disney World!"

But then I looked at Google Street View from 2008 and it doesn't look much different, at least not in our immediate area. There IS a big new hotel, I think, as well as a gigantic statue of Marilyn Monroe that I don't remember seeing before, but maybe I'm just not remembering things accurately. Anyway, once you get off the main drag, the town is as charming as ever.

Here's where we're staying -- a little 1940s apartment complex now called the Hideaway. I'm standing in front of our room, which is called "Lucy and Ricky's Getaway," looking toward the pool. It's a great little place with period furnishings and original fixtures, including a crazily narrow shower door that must be discouraging to people bigger than I am.

Speaking of which, I really hope to get some walking in today. I need exercise in the worst way. Too much sitting and driving!