The other day my buddy Bryan Moore (whose aunt you’ll remember from this post) sent me a link to a 1957 episode of Official Detective called “Pork Pie Hat.” Hey, he said, sure looks like Bunker Hill to me, but I’ll leave that up to your expert eye.
Holy-freakin’ heck.
It isn’t every day something turns up that isn’t in Jim’s book — though it can happen, as was recently the case with Abandoned — especially not something with this much Bunker Hill. Seriously, it’s almost too much Bunker Hill (jk, that would break all the laws of physics.) Plus, Harry Dean Stanton as a knife-wielding psycho! (I grew up on Alien/Escape from New York/Paris, Texas and especially Repo Man, and used to go see HDS play guitar in various local watering holes.)
New Orleans Times-Picayune
So settle in and watch “Pork Pie Hat” (which is set in Milwaukee, and weirdly, features zero porkpie hats), and follow along below with a recounting of Bunker Hill’s appearances therein:
Cop car turns from Third Place (which replaced Fourth Street after the construction of the Cut) onto South Bunker Hill Avenue. The garage, 344 SBHA, fronted on Grand, and is the 1917 Frauenfelder-designed garage that replaced the Brunson. The house above it is 336 SBHA. Note the two-story structure with the bay windows in the distance; we get to that. The aforementioned336 SBHA, with a bit of that garage to the right. A Palmer Conner shot from the HuntingtonHere, our first bad guy (Berne Bassey)is skulking about looking for easy marks. This is the back of the Kenneth, 326 SBHA, which like the aforementioned garage fronted on Grand (we’ll see that Grand Ave façade later in this post).After he peeps 326 SBHA, he walks over to the Melvin, at 318 SBHA.
In this shot by George Mann, there’s the Kenneth at far right, and the Melvin next door — without Mann’s image, we’d never have known the Melvin was blue!LAPL
↑ You might remember the Kenneth and the Melvin from 1964’s deeply weird Glass Cage, which you may watch here ↑But back to Pork Pie Hat. Harry Dean Stanton arrives at 201 South Bunker Hill Avenue to attack little old ladies, who have heart attacks and fall down the stairs!
A shot by Nadel…showing just the sort of ladies upon whom these cap-wearing reprobates prey!
The popo roar up South Bunker Hill Avenue; that’s 232 SBHA at far left. Note the house two doors down, 244 SBHA, which you remember from this post.
232 is an interesting house: it was built by Joseph Franz Bont, a Hungarian carpenter, between 1888 and 1894.I need to do more work on Bont, as I’m itching to discover how he managed such an important house on SBHA.This is yet another Mann shot from LAPL.
To the north of 232 is just a wee bit of the rarely-seen 220 SBHA
From my copy of the “Pictorial Presentation of South Bunker Hill” — see the Huntington’s copy here
A policewoman goes out to lure and ensnare scofflaws; she’s standing on Second and SBHA, and that’s the backside of the Dome behind herShe walks south on SBHA from Second….…arriving at 212 SBHA, and is hit on by a slimeball, attracting the attention of waiting detectives…That’s the Mauna Loa Apartment Hotel, at 212 South Bunker Hill Avenue:
Shots of the Mauna Loa, a two-story wood-frame rooming house built in 1902, are maddeningly rare.
The X is where she was standing, behind the Dome at Second and Grand. Then she walks to 212 SBHA. And remember the bit with Harry Dean Stanton with the old lady on the stairs? Right across the street at 201 SBHA.
Now we’ve got a woman walking up SBHA, in front of our old friend 336 SBHA, as seen at the beginning of this post
Take a close look at those carvings!
Another shot of five-o heading north on SBHA. Behind the car is the back of the Sherwood, with the Edison behind. Look closely and you’ll see the skybridge linking the Edison HQ to the Edison Annex.
Then, they’re parked in front of 217 SBHA, and roar south past 221
Remember the shots of 232 and 220 SBHA about six images above? Right across the street from here.HuntingtonAfter they tear out of the 200 block of SBHA, they’re headed south on Grand Avenue toward Third Street (Palmer Conner/Huntington). The low wall at left is the Stevens ——at 321 South Grand Ave.
Harry Dean Stanton walks by the Kenneth, at 325 South Grand, next to the Stevens
He then stops near the alley between the Kenneth and the Capitol Hotel (née Fleur-de-Lis)
This shot of these three in a row you recall, no doubt, from p. 159 of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles
And when you look up between the two structures, what do you see in the distance? The Castle! (Mann/LAPL)
Then the reverse shot shows the 1917 A. C. Martin-designed garage at 318-322 South Grand, which looked like this —
And the structure seen adjacent the garage is the Biltmore at 330 South Grand (Edward J. Smith for Luther Mayo, 1916) — yes, the Biltmore, as in “no, not that Biltmore, the other Biltmore.” Bottom shot by Nadel
The Biltmore can be seen in the distance in this return shot looking down the alley from SBHA to GrandLooking down Grand toward Fourth. See the Edwardian apartment building to the left of the car?That’s the 1904 Grand Avenue Apartments at 416 South Grand, which you remember from pp. 52-53 ↑ of Bunker Noir!
And there we are! Proving once again that there are still sources for vintage Bunker Hill-on-film lurking out there in a vast and untapped mediasphere!
If you know of any of which I might be unaware, don’t hesitate to contact me — oldbunkerhill@gmail.com
One thought on “Bunker Hill in “Official Detective””
Oh my, such a wonderful time capsule of Bunker Hill. And I’m assuming the desilu studios too. Those film cans are a sure give away that this was shot in Hollywood.
Bunker Hill, Los Angeles 
Oh my, such a wonderful time capsule of Bunker Hill. And I’m assuming the desilu studios too. Those film cans are a sure give away that this was shot in Hollywood.
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