Ask A Genius 1278: L.A. Murder Day
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/02/26
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: I will play the Addams Family song in my head, and you’ll tell me about your L.A. day. How was your L.A. day, Rick?
Rick Rosner: So first, I drove through a movie set, and then a murder scene. A real one.
Jacobsen: Was there a murder scene at the movie set as well?
Rosner: No, no. I’m sure somebody’s been killed around there at some point. We knew a couple of people who owned a restaurant in the area—it’s been bulldozed now, but it’s part of the movie set.
They took over a part of North Hollywood called Valley Plaza, which in the 1950s was the West Coast’s largest mall. But it’s fallen on hard times, and now they’re bringing the ’50s back.
They turned it into the ’80s when they shot Captain Marvel about five years ago. They also filmed the frog scene for Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia there.
But now, they’re recreating the ’50s.
I tried to look up what movie they were shooting, but it’s obviously set in the ’50s.
They’ve got a bunch of old streamlined mobile homes—what do you call those? They’ve also got an abandoned school bus from the ’50s, some cars from the ’50s and maybe even the ’40s.
They’ve got artwork that looks like it was painted in 1947 and has since decayed—like those old advertisements painted on the sides of buildings.
You can still drive through it because so many people work there.
They’ve let the few people who know about this shortcut use it. It takes you past a homeless encampment and out onto Laurel Canyon.
And they’re not stopping anyone to check credentials. Probably over a hundred people are working on this movie, and they don’t have time to ask for papers.
They assume you’re part of the production.
So, I took advantage of the shortcut. That was between gym number two and gym number three. And then, between gym number four and gym number five, I drove past cop cars at the park.
This is the same park where they filmed the famous scene in Say Anything, where John Cusack holds up the boombox. He’s supposed to be outside Ione Skye’s house, but in reality, he’s standing in a North Hollywood park.
He was at the north end of the park in that scene. Today, I drove past several police cars, police tape, and a camera set up on a tripod at the south end of the park.
To me, that all signaled that somebody had been murdered there.
And sure enough, Carole found the story earlier this evening.
Yes, somebody was shot.
Jacobsen: So, the whole day felt very L.A. How did that transition into the evening?
Rosner: Nothing major.
We drove to a friend of Carol’s husband’s 65th birthday party up by Porter Ranch, which is in the far north end of the Valley. And everyone there was old. When you start going to 65th birthday parties for your peers, you realize—you’re surrounded by older adults.
I had two half sandwiches, and then we snuck out early because we don’t like staying long at these things.
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