Take a fun journey back to "Spartacus Draw" and Wildwood Park, on the former Janss Conejo Ranch in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

"Spartacus" (1960): The "I'm Spartacus" scene, filmed in Thousand Oaks

A while back we reported on the filming location for the famous "I'm Spartacus" scene in Stanley Kubrick's 1960 gladiator epic "Spartacus." The scene was shot in Thousand Oaks, Calif., in a cactus-riddled pass through a ridgeline of volcanic rocks.

 

The same location in 2020: "Spartacus Draw" (Jerry Condit photo)

Today the site is known among film historians as "Spartacus Draw." This shot by photographer Jerry Condit reveals that it still looks pretty much the same today, although the cactus has come back in force.

 

Mountclef Ridge, in the "Bat Masterson" episode "A Grave Situation" (1960)

Spartacus Draw is adjacent to a well-known landmark, Mountclef Ridge in Wildwood Regional Park, a popular hiking area. Back in the '50s and '60s this was the Janss Conejo Ranch, a major filming location.

 

Mountclef Ridge in the modern world, at the end of Avenida de los Arboles

The location is easy to find today, at the west end of Avenida de los Arboles in Thousand Oaks. This was a wildly popular shooting area, especially in the days of the early TV Westerns.

 

"Gunsmoke" episode "Cale" (1962): Matt and Chester ride out

Besides "Bat Masterson," episodes of "Gunsmoke," "Rawhide," "Laramie" and many other early Westerns were shot on the Janss Conejo Ranch.

 

They're headed for the draw!

Spartacus Draw is a common background feature in these productions. For additional photos and details about "Gunsmoke" and other TV and film shoots at the location, check out our post from 2020 by clicking here.

 

"Flaming Star" (1960): A battered Elvis at Mountclef Ridge

Plenty of movies were filmed at Janss Conejo too. Even Elvis Presley turned up at Mountclef Ridge — albeit in slightly damaged condition — in his 1960 Western "Flaming Star."

 

"Rawhide" episode "Running Man" (1961): Another "hair salon cowboy" rides up

Clint Eastwood was in a little better shape than Elvis when he rode the same prairie a year later in "Rawhide." Eastwood was still in his 20s when he took on what would become his breakout role as ramrod Rowdy Yates.

 

Eastwood as Rowdy Yates in "Rawhide": Keepin' it sharp on the cattle drive

The young Eastwood had yet to embrace the "rough around the edges" look that would soon come to define him through his "Man With No Name" character in Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns.

 

Two icons share the screen

At least he knew enough to keep a safe distance from Spartacus Draw, with its nasty cactus situation. Here's that link again for more about "Rawhide," "Flaming Star," "Gunsmoke," Wildwood, Janss Conejo and Spartacus Draw.

 

"Spartacus" and "Rawhide" shot in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

A really cool video about "Spartacus," "Rawhide" and Spartacus Draw was recently posted by Jim Carbonetti, with 3D motion footage, movie clips and some beautiful "then and now" fades. Jim reached out to let us know he took his inspiration from our 2020 post. His video work is just terrific! Check it out by clicking on the above image, or by clicking here.

 

I'm Spartacus! ... No, I'm him!

You might also enjoy revisiting our clip of the famed "I'm Spartacus" scene, which you can find by clicking on the above image or by clicking here.

Getting to the bottom of Lake Los Angeles (Movie History of Lake Los Angeles, Part 1)

Lake Los Angeles, Calif. — a historic movie town that deserves to be famous

 

The first thing we may want to clear up about Lake Los Angeles is that it's not a lake. It's a town. And as strange as it might sound, the town of Lake Los Angeles has no lake.

 

Lake Los Angeles, circa 1970s: Back when the town had an actual lake

Oh sure, it did have a lake, once upon a time — decades ago. The town was even named after the lake. Unfortunately, the lake dried up, leaving behind a town that's, well, dry and has zero lakes left.

 

The former lake area as it appears today (July 2022)

In the same spot where people were once photographed happily swimming and boating, today there's nothing but a Joshua tree and a bunch of scrub brush fighting to survive in the scorching desert heat.

 

Lake Los Angeles with the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance, to the south

Another odd bullet point about the town of Lake Los Angeles is that it's not part of the city of Los Angeles, despite having the city as part of its name. If you're keeping score, that means Lake Los Angeles is 0-for-2 when it comes to getting its name right: No lake, and no Los Angeles.

 

We know this is an old sign because nobody would use those creepy colors now (circa 1966)

But at least Lake Los Angeles is in the right county. The town is situated way up in the northeast corner of Los Angeles County, in the Antelope Valley — once known as the "Gateway to the Inland Empire and North L.A. County," as if that was ever a thing.

 

Lake Los Angeles — officially part of the "Palmdale/Lancaster Urban Area"

With a rich but widely overlooked filming history, this small Mojave Desert town of some 13,000 inhabitants and just one traffic signal sits about 15 miles east of its much larger neighbors Palmdale and Lancaster.

 

"Them!" (1954): Filmed in Lake Los Angeles, but you wouldn't know it from IMDb

In movie location listings, Lake Los Angeles is often misidentified as Palmdale or Lancaster, or else it gets mixed up with other desert towns that are even farther away, such as Victorville and Mojave.

 

"Kill Bill": Deadly Vipers at Sanctuary Adventist Church in Hi Vista, outside Lake Los Angeles

Calling it Palmdale or Lancaster may not technically be "wrong" in some cases, but even so, it misses the point. Lake Los Angeles is its own place, with its own movie history and its own distinctive screen presence.

 

Buttes near downtown Lake Los Angeles (2022)

The big draw for filmmakers, who have a habit of suddenly needing a rugged desert landscape, is the region's abundance of rocky buttes. Before it became Lake Los Angeles, the area was known as "Los Angeles Buttes."

 

"Wagon Train" episode "The Nancy Palmer Story" (1961): Those same buttes

Hollywood discovered the region way back in the silent film era, but the town's filming heyday came in the 1960s, when TV Westerns including "Wagon Train," "Gunsmoke," "Bonanza," "The Virginian," "Rawhide" and others routinely roamed the nooks and crannies of Lake Los Angeles.

 

The streets of Lake Los Angeles are steeped in movie history

The movies came to town too, especially the Westerns — as commemorated by some of the town's street signs. This one recalls the 1969 Western feature "Mackenna's Gold," along with the TV series "Rawhide."

 

"Incident at Phantom Hill" (1966): Filmed in the heart of Lake Los Angeles

The Western "Incident at Phantom Hill" was filmed right in the middle of town. That's Noah Beery Jr. on the right, and the movie also starred Robert Fuller, Jocelyn Lane, Dan Duryea and Claude Akins.

 

Lake Los Angeles' "Phantom Hill" in 2021

This impressive butte in the center of Lake Los Angeles, which I refer to as "Phantom Hill," was a focal point for filming and is featured prominently in "Incident at Phantom Hill." You'll notice that the above two shots match.

 

"Extradition, Part 1" ("Gunsmoke" episode, 1963): Phantom Hill

The same butte can be found in many productions. Here it is in the two-part "Gunsmoke" installment "Extradition," about a tough desert crossing. The primary location shoot for both parts took place in Lake Los Angeles.

 

Phantom Hill in "Chuka" (1967): Same butte, same angle

The 1967 Western "Chuka," starring Rod Taylor, Ernest Borgnine and John Mills, captures Phantom Hill from a similar angle to the one seen above in "Gunsmoke."

 

"Mackenna's Gold" (Columbia, 1969) — Filmed in "midtown" Lake Los Angeles

The residential street "Mackennas Gold Avenue," identified above on a street sign, is named after the wide-screen Columbia Western "Mackenna's Gold," filmed in Lake Los Angeles in 1967 and released in 1969.

 

Phantom Hill, in "Mackenna's Gold"

Once again we find Phantom Hill playing a central role. The big-budget Western features a cast that includes Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Julie Newmar, Raymond Massey, Eli Wallach and Edward G. Robinson.

 

 

"The Oath" ("Bonanza" episode, 1966): Relay station near the foot of Phantom Hill

Phantom Hill used to have two old cabins nearby that turned up in movies and TV shows, often playing a relay station. In this shot from "Bonanza" the sign on one of the buildings reads "Overland Stage Line & Depot."

 

A cranky Little Joe (Michael Landon) at the stage depot in "The Oath"

Here's a shot of Michael Landon outside the stage depot, with Phantom Hill in the background. The sour expression on Little Joe's face gives us a clue as to what's coming next.

 

Michael Landon in another meaningful brawl — just outside the stage depot

That's right — Little Joe gets into one of his many "Bonanza" fistfights, probably his only one in Lake Los Angeles.

 

Whoops! Didn't see that coming

Little Joe loses this one, running his lifetime record in Lake Los Angeles fistfights to 0-for-1. Meanwhile we get a chance to admire the fake movie bricks covering the stage depot building.

 

Saddleback Butte, a key landmark north of town

We also get our first glimpse of Saddleback Butte, just to the north of Lake Los Angeles. It's one of the area's major landmarks.

 

"Help Me, Kitty" ("Gunsmoke" episode, 1964): The same relay station building

The fake bricks were just one of a variety of surfaces used on the relay station set. When the same building appeared two years earlier in "Gunsmoke," the skin on the building was wood.

 

The relay station set as "Brant's Trading Post" in "Incident at Phantom Hill"

The relay station set was made up of actual buildings, not movie facades, and they stood in place for decades. In the years before these structures were converted into a movie set, they would have served some purpose in the real world — my guess is it was a house and small barn.

 

"The Jonas Murdock Story" ("Wagon Train" episode, 1960)

The old cabins were removed sometime around the end of the 1960s, and today the Lake Los Angeles fire station stands where the two buildings used to be, near the corner of 170th Street and Lake Los Angeles Avenue.

 

The Lake Los Angeles fire station, in the middle of what was once a busy filming area

Here's the fire station that replaced the two movie buildings, photographed on a recent visit to Lake Los Angeles. The photo is taken from behind the station looking east, toward another large butte adjacent to Phantom Hill.

 

"Gallagher's Sons" ("Bonanza" episode, 1962): Queensglen Butte

This shot from "Bonanza" shows the same area about 60 years earlier. Queensglen Butte in the background is almost a perfect match for the fire station photo, even though this TV screen shot carefully avoids the movie buildings. In the "Bonanza" shot the relay station would be just off camera to the left.

 

Central Lake Los Angeles, showing Queensglen Butte and Phantom Hill (Google Maps)

An aerial view of central Lake Los Angeles reveals that Queensglen Butte — that's my name for it — is much larger than Phantom Hill, its more heavily filmed neighbor to the northwest.

 

Location of the fire station, also the former location of the movie buildings

The aerial map also pinpoints the location of L.A. County Fire Station 114 — the same location where the movie relay station once stood.

 

Queensglen Avenue, bisecting Queensglen Butte

Another feature I want to point out on the aerial is Queensglen Avenue, which bisects Queensglen Butte on both the east and the west and is the reason I started identifying it as Queensglen Butte.

 

Queensglen Butte in the "Wagon Train" episode "The Duke Le May Story" (1959)

Similar shots to the "Bonanza" shot can also be found in a number of other Westerns. From an episode of "Wagon Train," here's Queensglen Butte looking east again, zoomed in a bit more than in "Bonanza."

 

The "Wagon Train" location in 2022

Today the "Wagon Train" angle is a close match for the view looking east along Lake Los Angeles Avenue toward the intersection with 170th Street.

 

"Help Me, Kitty": The relay station's remote desert location

A wide shot of the area from "Gunsmoke," looking north this time, puts the relay station in context. Here we see the buildings as part of a barren desert vista.

 

Amanda Blake and Betty Conner take the scenic route in "Help Me, Kitty"

The relay station plays an important role in the "Gunsmoke" episode, in which Amanda Blake and guest star Betty Conner find themselves stranded in the desert. Their ordeal plays out entirely in Lake Los Angeles.

 

Piute Butte, north of Lake Los Angeles

The ghostlike image of a background feature, barely visible behind the two women, is Piute Butte, another important movie landmark located a short distance north of Lake Los Angeles.

 

"Extradition, Part 2" ("Gunsmoke): Piute Butte looms in the background

We get a better look at Piute Butte in another "Gunsmoke" episode, "Extradition, Part 2." Its easily recognized "high-low" profile makes Piute Butte an important background feature, as it tends to be one of the first indications that a shoot took place in Lake Los Angeles.

 

"The Mountain of the Sun" ("The Virginian," 1963)

Here's a color shot of Piute Butte in an episode from the first season of "The Virginian."

 

"No Tears for Savannah" ("The Virginian," 1963): Gena Rowlands with Piute Butte

In another episode of "The Virginian," this time from season two, we see a suffering Gena Rowlands framed by Piute Butte. It would appear Lake Los Angeles is once again the setting for a desert ordeal.

 

"No Tears for Savannah": Piute Butte on the right, horizontally flipped

Elsewhere in that same "Virginian" episode we again see Piute Butte, but this time it is flipped horizontally — presumably so the audience won't recognize it as the same butte seen in the Gena Rowlands sequence.

 

Piute Butte in 2022

Piute Butte as it appears today looks just about the same as it does in movies and on TV, although in today's world it's likely to turn up with barns and other contemporary Lake Los Angeles structures in the shot.

 

"Help Me, Kitty": Kitty and Hope approach a desert relay station

The Amanda Blake/Betty Conner desert trek in the "Gunsmoke" episode "Help Me, Kitty" includes an interesting sequence as the two women make their way toward the remote relay station.

 

The relay station that stood where the fire station is today

This is the same desert relay station where Little Joe lost a fistfight in "Bonanza" and where "Incident at Phantom Hill" and a number of other movies and TV shows filmed key scenes.

 

A familiar background feature peeks over the horizon

It's easy to miss, but the very top of Piute Butte is also visible during this sequence. The bulk of the feature is concealed below the horizon line, with the shallow slope at the left of the frame helping to block it out.

 

"Water Tower Rockpile," seen behind the relay station in "Gunsmoke"

The closest landmark to the relay station is a nearby pile of rocks, seen here just behind the buildings. I've been calling this rocky clump "Water Tower Rockpile," as suggested by the next photo.

 

The same pile of rocks, photographed in 2021

"Water Tower Rockpile" can still be found in the center of Lake Los Angeles, and today you can't miss that there's a water tower standing right next to it. The tower looks old, but it was just put up in the past 10 years.

 

Central Lake Los Angeles: Water Tower Rockpile and the water tower

Taking another look at the map of central Lake Los Angeles, we can pinpoint Water Tower Rockpile and the nearby water tower. I know I'm repeating myself, but this spot was historically one of the busiest filming areas in town.

 

"Extradition, Part 2" ("Gunsmoke," 1963): Water Tower Rockpile

It's no surprise, then, that Water Tower Rockpile turns up repeatedly in movies and TV shows filmed in Lake Los Angeles. This shot is taken looking approximately southwest.

 

Water Tower Rockpile, at the center of the action

The rockpile is something of a shapeshifter, taking on different profiles depending on the camera angle. But that's it right in the middle of the "Gunsmoke" shot.

 

"No Tears for Savannah" ("The Virginian," 1963): Water Tower Rockpile

The same year Water Tower Rockpile turned up in "Gunsmoke's" "Extradition," it also appeared in "The Virginian." That's the rockpile on the left, from the same episode we examined previously that featured Gena Rowlands.

 

The San Gabriel Mountains, south of Lake Los Angeles

The "Virginian" shot is taken with the camera facing south, and includes a glimpse of the San Gabriel Mountains in the background. This mountain range has also proved helpful in identifying productions shot in Lake Los Angeles.

 

The San Gabriels in January 2022

Throughout the winter months, the scenic San Gabriels to the south provide a snow-covered counterpoint to the arid Mojave Desert landscape of the Lake Los Angeles region.

 

San Gabriel Mountains ridgeline south of Lake Los Angeles (July 2022)

In a photo taken later in the year, after the snow had melted, we can pinpoint two sections of the San Gabriels that match the "Virginian" shot. Notice the areas highlighted here in red and blue.

 

"The Virginian": Matching ridgelines in the San Gabriels

These are the same sections of the ridgeline that frame Water Tower Rockpile in "The Virginian."

 

Cadillac Lyriq commercial airing in 2022: San Gabriels in the background

Almost 60 years after this stretch of the San Gabriels turned up in "The Virginian" and other TV Westerns, a shot from a current TV commercial lets us know that the Lake Los Angeles region continues to be used for filming.

 

Shooting location for the Cadillac spot (Google Maps)

While it's not always possible, in this case we can confirm the exact location even without visiting the site. Here's the same location seen in the Cadillac commercial, which I was able to pinpoint on Google Maps.

 

Features found on Google Maps that match the Cadillac ad

Here I've highlighted the same Joshua tree and butte seen in the Cadillac spot, along with a distinctive section of ridgeline in the San Gabriel Mountains to the south.

 

The same features as they appear in the Cadillac commercial

In the screen shot from the Cadillac commercial, we can see that the Joshua tree, butte and ridgeline all match. The shot is taken on 240th Street East near Avenue N, on the outskirts of Lake Los Angeles.

 

The same location in July 2022

Even though I succeeded in finding the site on Google Maps, naturally I wanted to check it out in person. I visited the location earlier this month, and was able to confirm that it still looks pretty much the same — including the tree.

 

Video of the Cadillac Lyric commercial

Here's a link to the 30-second Cadillac spot on YouTube. Click on the thumbnail above and you should be able to watch the commercial, which includes a number of shots of Lake Los Angeles and the San Gabriels.

 

"Palm Springs" (2020): The Highway Patrol harshes someone's desert vibe

No, this isn't a snapshot from one of my recent excursions to Lake Los Angeles. It's a screen shot from the 2020 Andy Samberg comedy feature "Palm Springs," filmed in Lake Los Angeles.

 

Snow on the San Gabriels to the south

Once again we see the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains to the south, including the same ridgeline we matched up in the Cadillac commercial. But let's dig a little deeper into this traffic stop sequence.

 

Bummer: Samberg and Milioti in handcuffs

The CHP encounter in "Palm Springs" escalates to the point where Samberg and companion Cristin Milioti are handcuffed and ordered to wait by the side of the road while officers conduct a search.

 

"Palm Springs" traffic stop: NOT Palm Springs

This wide shot from the movie gives us an overview of the location of the traffic stop, looking west.

 

The scene of the crime (Google Maps)

As we did with the Cadillac commercial, we can again pinpoint the shooting location on Google Maps. The shoot takes place on 150th Street East, on the western edge of Lake Los Angeles.

 

Features seen on Google Maps that match the "Palm Springs" traffic stop

A number of details match up nicely, even though the Google Maps shots are several years older than the "Palm Springs" screen shots. It seems Google hasn't visited this stretch of road since 2012.

 

"Palm Springs": The same bushes and butte, six or seven years later

The same bushes and distant butte to the west can be found both on Google Maps and in "Palm Springs."

 

Google Maps: Matching up some of the less obvious features

By taking a closer look at the Google Maps shot from a few years earlier, we can track the gradual evolution of this remote desert location.

 

The desert reveals its secrets in "Palm Springs"

The movie shot reveals that the diagonal road on the left, heading southwest, has been well-traveled since 2012, and today is more fully carved out. Meanwhile a distant bush still clings to its position along the other dirt road.

 

The "Palm Springs" traffic stop location in June 2022

I recently visited the site in person and took my own photos of the traffic stop filming site. I even captured a dramatic sky on a day when intermittent lightning storms buffeted the desert around Lake Los Angeles.

 

Features seen in the "Palm Springs" traffic stop sequence

The same features seen in "Palm Springs" can be identified in my own photos. But I think this is one case where Google Maps might actually work better than going to the location in person.

 

The same location, looking southwest

Here's another Google Maps shot taken from the same location, but this time we're looking southwest to a formation known as "Rocky Buttes."

 

Key sections of the Rocky Buttes ridgeline to the southwest

Note the sections of the distant buttes highlighted here in blue and yellow.

 

"Palm Springs": The same sections of distant features

The highlighted buttes are almost an exact match for the "Palm Springs" shot. If you've been dying to make a bad pun where the word "butte" is pronounced like "butt," I recommend getting it out of your system now.

 

"Palm Springs": The original traffic stop, looking southeast

Here's where I think things get even more interesting — but I hope you won't think I'm some kind of weirdo when you find out what I'm so excited about. I mean, sure, it's weird, but so what. It's OK because I call it research.

 

Google Maps (2012): Scene of the traffic stop

This Google Maps shot matches up with the original shot of the "Palm Springs" traffic stop — but the one thing that locks in this stretch of road as the exact location of the movie shot, more than anything else ...

 

Google Maps: Cracks in 150th Street East, in 2012

... is the cracks in the asphalt. The cracks as they appeared in 2012 can be seen in the Google Maps shot, and even though they get a little worse as the years roll by ...

 

"Palm Springs": The same cracks in the road

... they're still recognizable as the same cracks several years later in "Palm Springs." More than the telephone poles, the San Gabriels or any of the distant buttes, the cracks in the road pinpoint the location of the shoot.

 

"Club Ed," located at 42848 150th St. East, Lake Los Angeles (2016)

One of the Lake Los Angeles region's better-known movie sets, "Club Ed," is situated on that same stretch of 150th Street, about a half-mile north of the "Palm Springs" traffic stop site.

 

VHS cover for "Eye of the Storm"

The set is said to have been built for the 1991 thriller "Eye of the Storm," starring Dennis Hopper, Craig Sheffer and Lara Flynn Boyle. If you remember 1991, you may recall we were still watching VHS tapes back then.

 

"The Devil's Rejects" (2005): Trouble at Club Ed

Club Ed has been filmed many times since then, and remains an active movie set today. The paint job, usually something close to pea-soup green, is often the first clue that you're seeing Club Ed in a movie or TV show.

 

Club Ed with its "Easy Rest Inn" sign (Graham Gilmore photo, 2011)

If you're headed up 150th Street East on the outskirts of Lake Los Angeles, you'll know you've arrived at Club Ed when you spot the "Easy Rest Inn" sign along the side of the road.

 

"Eye of the Storm": Early depiction of the Easy Rest Inn

A rendition of the sign can be found on the VHS cover for "Eye of the Storm."

 

"Quicksilver Highway" (TV movie, 1997): Club Ed's pale period

Club Ed hasn't always been green. When it appeared as Myra's Place in the horror anthology "Quicksilver Highway," it was ... um ... well, I'm not sure that color has a name. Come to think of it, I'm not sure it's a color.

 

Will Yun Lee and Christina Milian at Club Ed in "Torque" (2004)

When the set was transformed into Earl's Blue Plate Diner for the motorcycle action movie "Torque," it sported a bright yellow paint scheme.

 

Club Ed in June 2022: It's just easier being green

I confirmed on a recent visit to Lake Los Angeles that Club Ed is currently awash in something close to its trademark faded green. The building is also looking appropriately ragged these days, even if the effect is dampened a bit by the presence of a late-model red truck.

 

Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes: 23% (That's bad)

If you're thinking Club Ed seems to have a penchant for schlocky, low-budget horror and action movies, you won't get an argument out of me. In researching the set's movie history, I kept running across some of the lowest Rotten Tomatoes ratings I've ever seen.

 

"Four Aces": Available for filming

We can't talk about Club Ed without also mentioning "Four Aces," another active Lake Los Angeles filming location. The combo diner, gas station and motel is located at 145th Street East and Avenue Q.

 

Four Aces in a current Dodge commercial

In recent years this location has been a magnet for commercial shoots. I found this shot of the motel area in a Dodge commercial that's currently airing, themed "Hwy 93 — Summer's Highway."

 

Jack in the Box commercial for Jack's Roost Fries (2022): Four Aces

 

A series of Jack in the Box spots premiered in June 2022 featuring the Four Aces gas station, the adjacent Lovejoy Buttes and some of the surrounding terrain.

 

Lovejoy Buttes and some familiar Joshua trees (Google Maps)

Once again, the background can be matched up without ever leaving the living room. Here's a Google Maps shot containing the same Joshua trees and buttes as the Jack in the Box screen shot.

 

The same background features seen in the Jack in the Box commercial

Two of the same Joshua trees seen in the Jack in the Box ad are highlighted here, along with Lovejoy Buttes. Here again, the Google Maps shot is from 2012, almost 10 years before the Jack's commercials were shot.

 

The same Joshua trees seen on Google Maps

The same two trees are noted here. Joshua trees tend to hold their shape reasonably well over the years, so they make decent indicators for stuff like this — provided the production isn't super-old.

 

The San Gabriels to the south in a new ad for the Double Bacon Cheesy Jack Combo

Other spots in the new Jack in the Box campaign feature the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance, along with a series of large billboards that were added digitally. This shot finds Jack and his companions traveling east on Avenue Q at 145th Street, with the cameras set up across 145th Street from the Four Aces location.

 

Avenue Q at 145th Street (June 2022): Where the Jack in the Box ad was shot

I took this photo on a visit to Lake Los Angeles in June, capturing the same stretch of road seen in the Jack in the Box ad. The photo includes several of the same features seen in the commercial.

 

Joshua trees and other matching features

Besides the San Gabriels in the background, matching features include the scrawny Joshua tree circled here in light blue and the more hardy Joshua tree with a double-arrow street sign in front of it, circled in yellow.

 

The same features in the Jack in the Box spot

The scrawny Joshua tree and the more hardy tree are easy to spot in the Jack in the Box commercial.

 

The Joshua tree with the sign in front of it (June 2022)

Here's a better look at the more hardy of the two Joshua trees — the one with the sign in front of it.

 

No Jack in the Box billboard found at the site

One thing that doesn't match at all between the commercial and the site visit is the ginormous billboard, which was added digitally and never really existed at the location.

 

Four Aces Movie Set: Talk about a "hardy" Joshua tree

On the other side of Avenue Q from the non-existent Jack's billboard, the Four Aces Movie Set is open for business — complete with a monster Joshua tree that dwarfs our so-called "hardy" one across the street.

 

The diner at Four Aces, because one puke-green movie set is never enough

The Four Aces diner has the pea-soup-green motif in common with Club Ed, an indication that the two sets are in cahoots. I believe both sets have the same owner.

 

Featured in the current Dodge ad: A vintage Four Aces sign?

Ordinarily I would assume that the Dodge folks or their ad agency came up with the "Kold-Draft Ice" sign, but since it's that same pea-green color yet again, maybe it's something Four Aces keeps around for special occasions.

 

The massive Joshua tree in a Progressive Insurance "Motaur" commercial

Progressive Insurance shot a number of its entertaining "Motaur" commercials at Four Aces a few years ago, including prominently featuring the giant tree.

 

Progressive's "Motaur": Half man, half motorcycle

The Motaur ads revolve around a character who's half man, half motorcyle, played by actor Terrence Terrell. The spots were in heavy rotation back in 2019 and 2020, and I believe they continue to air.

 

The Motaur fills up, with Lovejoy Buttes in the background

Several of the most familiar Motaur commercials are based in the gas station section of the Four Aces set, with backgrounds that show off the surrounding buttes and desert flora — especially the Joshua trees.

 

Joshua trees: Always ready for their closeup

I wouldn't be surprised if you're starting to recognize some of those trees. These are the same two Joshua trees I highlighted above in one of the Jack in the Box commercials.

 

A Motaur among the Joshua trees

Here's a better look at one of the trees to the east of the Four Aces gas station — the one that was mostly hidden behind the gas pumps in the previous shot.

 

Same tree, different commercial

Here's the highlighted tree again, as it appears in the Jack in the Box spot. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, these wide shots work best if you click on them to see a larger version of the photo.

 

"Palm Springs": Cristin Milioti fuels up at Four Aces

The characters in "Palm Springs" also made a pit stop at the Four Aces filling station, crossing paths with both the Jack in the Box campaign and Progressive's Motaur spots.

 

Mystery Christmas bell?

First of all, there's the "bell," which looks to me like an out-of-place Christmas decoration. I have no idea why it's there, but it pops up in both "Palm Springs" and the Motaur ads.

 

The Motaur dazzles a couple of kids, but what about that bell?

This Progressive spot provides a less cluttered look at the "bell," near the center of the shot.

 

Four Aces in June 2022: No sign of the bell

The "bell" will probably remain shrouded in mystery. I noticed on a recent stop at Four Aces that, whatever it was, it's no longer there.

 

"Palm Springs": The Four Aces gas station, looking south

The "Palm Springs" shot also has a lot in common with one of the Jack in the Box ads. The gas pump area at Four Aces is oriented at a 45-degree angle, and can be shot with two completely different backgrounds — the San Gabriels to the south, as seen here, or Lovejoy Buttes to the east, as in some of the commercials.

 

Jack in the Box ad: Across the street from Four Aces, looking south

The "Palm Springs" gas stop is shot looking south, so a number of the same features turn up that were also seen in this Jack in the Box spot. The angles are different because this shot is taken from a little farther east.

 

Motaur joy ride: More trouble on 150th Street?

"Palm Springs" also shares its traffic stop location with one of the Motaur spots. In this Progressive ad, the Motaur goes for a ride on 150th Street, zipping past the spot where the CHP encounter went down.

 

The Motaur rides past a Lake Los Angeles landmark

As the Motaur travels north on 150th, we again see the Rocky Buttes on the right.

 

"Palm Springs": Just not a particularly fun spot

These are the same buttes we identified previously in the "Palm Springs" traffic stop sequence.

 

Motaur spot on 150th Street, Lake Los Angeles

Here's a video of the Progressive Insurance "Motaur" commercial shot on 150th Street. Click on the red arrow thingie, then on the word "YouTube" at bottom right, to view it on YouTube.

 

Four Aces in 2022: The eastern face of the "Gas Food Lodging" sign

In what is at best a mildly interesting footnote to the Jack in the Box shoot at Four Aces, I confirmed recently that the big Four Aces sign out on the corner reads "Gas Food Lodging" on both sides.

 

The sign's western face — some of the words are messed up

The lettering is in much worse shape on the west side of the sign than it is on the east side — especially the word "Food." Could be normal wear and tear, but an alternate theory is that the sign was damaged during a shoot.

 

The "Gas Food Lodging" sign's messed-up western face: Normal wear and tear?

It occurs to me that the shoot for the Jack's Roost Fries ad may be the culprit. In the commercial the sign reads "Gas Lodging," so the word "Food" was removed from the sign.

 

No food at Four Aces, in the world according to Jack in the Box

Of course the word could have been blotted out digitally, but I imagine it was easier at the time to just ask the people running Four Aces to take down the word "Food" from that side of the sign. The sign's pretty old, so the letters could have easily fallen apart while being handled.

 

... and the sign would never be the same

I get it — it's Jack's commercial, after all. But however it went down, I can't help thinking it's kind of silly, if it's true, that Jack in the Box simply did not want anything in the commercial that might promote a food outlet other than Jack's — even a fictional diner that was part of a movie set.

 

"Belle's Diner" (July 2022): Another roadside distraction

Club Ed and Four Aces aren't the only "famous movie sets" around Lake Los Angeles. It's the kind of place where anything that looks like an old abandoned roadside business might turn out to be an active filming location.

 

"Breakdown" (1997): Kurt Russell at Belle's Diner, east of Lake Los Angeles

Case in point: "Belle's Diner." Following up on a lead I found in Harry Medved and Bruce Akiyama's excellent guidebook "Hollywood Escapes," I located the old building in the Kurt Russell movie "Breakdown."

 

"Breakdown": Kurt Russell and Jack Noseworthy at Belle's

Some of the distant hills and other background features can also be spotted in the movie. For example, notice the small gray hill visible above the old green pickup truck and Jack Noseworthy's right shoulder.

 

Belle's Diner in July 2022: The same gray hill

In this shot I took earlier this month, the same small hill can be seen on the right. You may have also noticed that the Belle's Joshua tree is still standing, some 25 years after it turned up in the Kurt Russell movie.

 

Belle's Diner in 2012, with its rusted-out roadside sign (Google Maps)

One minor disappointment from my visit to Belle's is that I was hoping to get a good look at the old roadside sign, which was still intact as of 2012, if "intact" is the right word. Even then the old sign was clearly well past its use-by date, but that just made it more interesting.

 

All that's left of the old metal sign in 2022

Sadly, this is all that remains of the sign today — a piece of metal sticking up out of the ground. At least it pinpoints where the sign used to stand.

 

Belle's Diner: Keeping it green, like so many other desert movie sets

Belle's is located on 240th Street East, midway between Avenue O and Avenue P. It's the same road where the Cadillac Lyriq commercial was shot, and the Joshua tree in that ad can be found 1.3 miles north of Belle's.

 

Sanctuary Adventist Church, 2015 (Jerry Condit photo)

This small church is probably the single most famous movie location in the Lake Los Angeles area. In recent years it's been the Sanctuary Adventist Church, but it was made famous by the "Kill Bill" movies.

 

"Kill Bill": The Deadly Vipers at Sanctuary Church

There's a great backstory behind the so-called "Kill Bill Church," but we've run out of room here so we'll have to save that part of the Lake Los Angeles story for Part 2.

 

But wait — there's more!

The good news is that Part 2 and Part 3 of the movie history of Lake Los Angeles are posted now, with more in the works. Click here to see Part 2, focusing on Hi Vista, the Kill Bill Church, the giant ants of the sci-fi classic "Them!" and more. You'll also see Marshal Dillon himself, James Arness, with a bazooka no less. Then if you're up for a wild romp around the roads of the western Mojave Desert, click here to check out Part 3, about the juvenile delinquent movie "Hot Rods to Hell." It's a thrill ride, so you may die laughing!

 

"Hollywood Escapes": Check it out!

If you appreciate stuff like Club Ed, Four Aces, Belle's Diner and the Kill Bill Church, I recommend picking up a copy of "Hollywood Escapes," which you can find on Amazon. Would you be interested in a book that could provide you with a lifetime's worth of Southern California movie locations you could visit? Here it is!