I know some of you enjoy the movie and the chance to see it in a great old movie house is coming on Sat. June 12 at the State theater. The State was built in 1934 and has been nicely refurbished. http://www.thestate.org/calendar I have no connection with the theater and am merely pointing this out for those of you who might be interested.
there is contravercy abot the whole movie in modesto.......i know in the movie it took place in modesto but ive heard it was filmed in petaluma or santa rosa???? and the drive in was in san leandro???? never really heard the truth either way but sounds fun to go check it out
the movie was based on george lucas' younger life in modesto. the movie was filmed mostly in petaluma which is why i probably wouldnt bother driving all the way to modesto for a the car show lol
Our local club is trying to get the movie for here at the local drive in, anyone know the folks doing it or what limb you have to sell? It might be cheaper to just run out to the coast, after all, AG is not just a movie, it's a lifestyle........
They haven't actually had "Graffiti Night" in Modesto in years and years and years... They do have something good the last several years now, after several years of NOTHING. The original "Graffiti Night" thing was actually a phenominon that I believe started happening after the movie came out, and thousands of people converged on the main big street through town, but not on the street that all the action happened on that the movie was based on - wouldn't have been enough room on that road. There were people that came from probably every state and Canada judging by license plate frames. There was 4 lanes of cruising for about 2 miles or so, with thousands and thousands of people along the sidewalks and parking lots with lawn chairs, etc. (Very similar to Hot August Nights in Reno). All the car lots along McHenry Ave were like mini car shows. It happened the first weekend after high school graduation, and was the place to be whether you were into cars or not - One big daylong party. Eventually the gang bangers ruined it by trolling through the crowds in packs where they easily start trouble, then disappear into the crowd. The last year they had it, someone in a car got shot and killed. They didn't have didn't have it for several more years, and still had to beef up police force for a couple years because people just migrated there. Then evetually the city decided to do some cheezy street fair downtown with the Graffiti name. Not sure how long they did that, but never went. Nowadays, it's a week long event which starts at the MJC west campus with a good sized show, then every night for the next week there are mini shows from 5pm to 9pm at different locations around town with a different place every night. Friday night will have a parade/cruise for the cars that are entered in the big Graffiti show on sat/sun. It's a good time. We lost the good stuff, then got some cheezy stuff thrown our way for them to make a buck off the name, and now finally we get something decent. We have George Lucas statue at the base of McHenry now, and when it was put up during the "street fair" days, I thought it was pretty cheezt for us to have this great memorial, and our city can't even organize graffiti night. Seems like Reno can manage it...
Here's a video of the modern day "parade/cruise" on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSFRbP-xP4 Not sure who took it, but it's cool to me because my '64 LeMans is in there at about 04:13 The T bucket behind me is my buddy's mom. It was his dad's car before he died, and now the mom drives it to all the shows in memory of him.
The Last Graffiti Night in Modesto,Ca I went to was in 1989..It was ALOT of FUN! As far as the filming of the movie it started to be filmed in San Rafael,Ca and then moved north to Petaluma.They have a Graffiti event in May in Petaluma.We performed there in 2008.The cast members were there,Rick Figari brought out the Deuce Coupe etc...
I'm going to say that the last Graffit night was around '91 or '92 judging by the last car I remember going there in.
Yeah, it's too bad that the city that Lucas made the movie about would not let him shoot the movie there! It was shot in Petaluma acting as Modesto. The opening shots at Mels was downtowm San Francisco!
Just added the video link I forgot to add to my post #12 above: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbSFRbP-xP4
Yeah, Modesto sucks. Took me a lot of years to appreciate the Lucus memorial. Just seemed tacky to put this thing up after killing off the event, and trying to cash in on the name. Basically the city loved the tourist money that came to town that week, but wasn't willing to put the man power into controlling it. They needed to clamp down on the gang bangers PERIOD.
I used to live in Lemoore,and Hanford,so I've heard the stories.Isn't the drive-in used in the movie in Visalia?
My dad used to cruise 10th st back in the day too. Just checked and it seems as if George were 3 years older than my dad. I wonder if they ever ran into each other...
there are a few mels diners in san fran but the one that was used in the movie was on south van ness and doesnt exist anymore. however, there is a mels on van ness now as well as geary, lombard & 4th st at market
The place I was thinking about was Mearle's,but I think I was wrong about it being in the movie.I heard it shut down.Too bad.The food was pretty good,and it was a pretty cool place.It had a soul.
I used to live in Visalia. Yes there was a Mels there and it looked alot like the one in the movie. I would go there in my 55. Sadly it was torn down along time ago. I will make a few laps around town tonight and tomorrow in my Tee just for old time sake.. I will try to be at JCs cruise on Monday,I will defanatly be at the Road House on Thursday night. Lots of people show up for that cruise...
>>>Well,,if any of you HAMB'ers are going to the HAMB drags at MOKAN ,in Augest ,,from the East ,,take I-44 outa Springfield west for about 10 miles ,,look for the MO 966 get off there ,,THATS OLD Hiway route 66 ,,then ,,at Carthridge ,Missouri ,just a few miles from MOKAN ,,on Friday Nite ,before the drags on Saturaday ,,the old 'Route 66 Drive In Theater" is showing American Grafitti AND Two Lane Blacktop ,,ON THE BIG SCREEN GUyS ,, PLUS ,,Open Hedders are O K ,,
The Mels Diner in the movie was already closed down when Lucas wanted to film there.They opened it just for him to shoot his scenes.It was on Van Ness and Mission.There is a drive thru Coffee Place and a parking lot there now.
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