Let me be clear: I do not advise you watch Whore. If you have a shred of decency, be forewarned, this is a pathologically indecent film. But if you thrive on outré cinema, know that Whore is neither “so bad it’s good” like Showgirls, nor “unpleasantly unsettling yet fascinatingly, skillfully crafted” à la Happiness or In the Company of Men. Rather, all possible metrics considered, it’s just relentlessly awful. (Don’t believe me? Watch it yourself here or here. When Theresa Russell speaks to the camera at 3:20, you shall die from cringe.) Nevertheless, Whore has no small quantity of Bunker Hill! So…
Anyway — it’s 1990. Pretty Woman comes out in March, huge hit; it informs us that prostitution is a glossy Cinderella fairytale. That September, Ken Russell begins shooting an antidote to such nonsense, called Whore. Whore, based on David Hines’ 1984 monologue play Bondage, was directed by Russell, apparently (and allegedly) in a state of extreme intoxication, which explains a lot. (Hey, far be it from me to hate on Ken Russell; I liked The Devils and loved Gothic, and Lair of the White Worm is one of my all-time favorite films but…still.)
In any event, because you didn’t ask for it, here are some then-n-now screengrabs from Whore:
Our movie begins with the title sliding deep into the Third Street Tunnel. Then, up drives a guy—with wieners on his shirt. Wieners! Going into a tunnel! Writers of great nuance and subtlety—I’m looking at you, Henry James!—have nothing on the introspective complexities of Whore.We open on Liz (Theresa Russell) dancing around to Doin’ the Bang when all of a sudden……up drives a john, the aforementioned guy-in-a-hotdog-shirt. It’s quite a scene; earned the guy his own t-shirt. Note that Angelus Plaza had an enormous plate glass window fronting the tunnel entrance. Seems like a bad idea, so no surprise it’s now just iron bars. Her interaction with Wienershirt does not go well. She flips him the bird as he drives off.Then winoguy pukes up his breakfast. And guess what, I found the EXACT ROCK he vomited on! (You know, I could be composing a violin concerto right now, but, nooooo…)She then meets Antonio Fargas (who you remember as Huggy Bear), a street character who walks on broken glass for money. She gets picked up by a couple of aging bowlers in, mysteriously, a pristine 1958 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 limousine. This encounter does not go well either. But it does show the distinctive smooth, rounded exit of the tunnel; that addition garnered Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall an AIA award in November 1969. The tunnel was, however, stripped of this feature in 2018:—and while I’m sad to see a cool 1960s feature like that, especially one designed by DMJM, be removed, its removal did expose the original 1901 tunnel entrance, which is a plus. But let’s move on.Now we’re up on Hope Street, facing the Wells Fargo (née Crocker) Center. Ken Russel directing that scene. From here.Liz directs our attention across the street, to the prostie flashing her goods in front of the YMCA. This shot is especially amusing since the filmmakers were evidently told by the Young Men’s Christian Association to please not have dissolute slatterns exposing themselves in front of their sign. Thus:
Uh-oh, Liz’s pimp starts chasing her! The library under renovation in the distance. At far left, note the Italian cypress partially obscuring Ulysses (trees discussed on p. 39 of Marsak’s Guide).She runs across Grand, into California Plaza. One Cal Plaza has been finished; Two Cal Plaza is under construction. Look closely and note how we now step up into California Plaza — but in 1990 you’d walk straight to a set of stairs that…….took you down to Lower Grand! Which has all been blocked off, now. (This location initially confounded me, and inspired me to do this post.)So she runs down Lower Grand, and hides behind a pillar until her pimp drives by…but what’s that red neon tubing?She finds refuge in the world’s dingiest and most depressing gentleman’s club, and delivers a flashback-laden half-hour monologue. Its entrance was another piece of art department genius: the door production reworked into “Big T’s” stripclub entrance is adjacent the loading dock for the Museum of Contemporary Art. I am tickled that in the Whore universe, my erstwhile employer has a lair of licentious revelry in its basement.Also, she meets up with veteran character actor Sanjay Chandani, in his first film appearance. He is listed as “Indian” in the credits and his antics are as cringe-inducing as Theresa Russell breaking the fourth wall. In any event, this is on Hope Place, that weird little street between Grand and Hope, north of Fifth Street.Liz delivers a monologue while riding down the Olive Street escalator into the Pershing Square parking garage; these escalators were torn out two years ago and replaced with glass elevators.This area once contained magazine racks, and coolers full of snacks…or was it dressed that way by the art department?The walls with the shoeshine stand and drink machine could be flats? Does anyone remember this area?
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As long as I’ve got you here — other Whore locations, non-Bunker Hill, but still pretty interesting:
At 8:45 she turns from the bridal shop in the Bradbury Building to speak to a john in a van —
Spoiler alert: never get into a van
And there across the street is the Million Dollar. What makes theaters featured in a movie so special, of course, is seeing all the crazy flashing lights on the marquee.
At 41:15, the crazy flashing lights of the Cameo —
Art department dressed up the marquee: Lair of the White Worm being Ken Russell’s 1988 picture, paired with Space Sluts go to College, on which we must begin production immediately
A nice view of the now-lost Cameo box office:
The Cameo and Arcade are seen again in all their glory at 1:01:30—
Another Ken Russell Easter egg: Kathleen Turner played China Blue in Russell’s 1984 Crimes of Passion
At 46:50 we head a few miles west, to the Century Plaza (yes, that’s rascally scamp Sanjay Chandani again, riding up on his moped) —
This is a shot from the center toward the fountain in the median of Avenue of the Stars, toward the Century Plaza.
A couple other locations downtown:
Looking east on 7th across Main. The backlit liquor sign with the neon arrow is still there…sort ofLooking north on Main toward 7th. The signage with the round donut that says “HOT” is also still there…sort of. The yellow marquee is, of course, the famed Hotel CecilBelieve it or not, downtown used to be a place where you could go…to buy things…in, say, stores at 7th & Main that had New Wave bedroom displays and cool terrazzo floors and giant Art Deco neon signs. Now 700 S Main is a chronically empty “creative office space.” Bottom right image, LAPL
Lastly — if there’s one L.A. location used more than Bunker Hill’s Lower Grand, it’s probably where Santa Fe crosses under the Fourth Street bridge. In Whore, after her abduction, Liz is dumped by some railroad tracks —
Looks unnervingly like the crime scene photos of Evelyn Winters. This location is gone; they pulled up the tracks and SciArc built upon’tThen along comes a fellow…
…the fellow rescues poor Liz, pulling over on Santa Fe just north of Fourth St…
…a location you remember from Repo Man…
…and who is the random Liz-saving stranger? Who is in the picture for thirty seconds and has all of one line? JACK NANCE!
Those, then, are some images of a movie shot on Bunker Hill, because believe it or not, once upon a time we used to shoot movies in Los Angeles! But that was back in Ye Olden Times … before grasping, myopic bureaucrats created too hostile an environment for Hollywood.
Maybe someday we’ll shoot on Bunker Hill again, and our grandchildren can marvel at early-mid 21st century Los Angeles. Until that time, I hope you have enjoyed our sojourn into the Long Ago of the early 1990s, and a magical motion picture named Whore.
Bunker Hill, Los Angeles 