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| Here I am on Vendome Avenue in Los Angeles, a hilly neighborhood about one block off of Sunset Blvd. This is where Laurel and Hardy filmed their only Oscar-winning short film, "The Music Box" (1932) commemorated here by the International Laurel and Hardy Fan Club, with signage and a plaque... |
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| In "The Music Box" Stan and Ollie play proprietors of a moving company, assigned to deliver a piano, a crated, upright music box, to the address at the top of an impossibly long flight of stairs. I walked up and down these stairs and I think I counted 132 steps. Yes, I HAVE that kind of free time. I was on vacation. |
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| When Ollie was here in 1932, there was a lot more open air in this neighborhood, which has since been built-up with dozens of homes surrounding The Steps at all angles. Plus the foliage has greatly multiplied as well... |
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| The base of The Steps looks pretty much the same, if you compare this photo (2016) with the one below (1932). A shorter set of stairs has since been built to the right of The Steps, but the garage remains the same, right down to the lamp still hanging between the two doors. The window, however, had been covered over at some point. |
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| Near the top of The Steps there sits a cat, name of Tooey. I presume he's always there. He probably has little-to-no knowledge that Laurel and Hardy once shot an Oscar-winning film on these Steps. |
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| Here's Ollie near the top of The Steps, about one level below where Tooey the Cat now sits. That open field on the right side of the photo is currently covered by several more houses. |
VIDEO: Me Climbing the Music Box Steps!
Quick! Watch it before they make me take it down for
using Laurel and Hardy footage and copyrighted music!
I apologize for the poor quality of this. I never shot video before.
(I appear after a 30 second Laurel & Hardy intro)
