Jörg at the gateway to nearly every Star Trek adventure ever filmed.

Having freshly returned from the land of dreams, Drex Files contributor Jörg takes us along on his trip to Hollywood. Part one of four.

LA trip – day one

On Friday the 25th of September I headed off to LA to spend an amazing Star Trek weekend in the city. My plan was to visit as many Star Trek shooting locations as possible and meet fans and people that worked on the shows, some that I had known for years through the internet but had never met in person. I can certainly say that my expectations were exceeded by far!

Now, I’m sitting here back home in Germany in front of my computer, looking at all the homepages of those shooting locations, all the sites still open on my browser three weeks later. Funny looking at the photos and information again, now that I have seen all of it! A piece of advice for people who want to go on a similar trip: Internet research using google maps, google earth and analyzing Star Trek screenshots certainly pays off, it made finding the right spots quickly much easier. If only I had also written down not only the addresses of the places but also the “how to get theres”, it would have made Jeff’s life (and that of his wife at home on the phone) much easier…
Anyway, you wanna hear about the places I visited and people I met? Here we go!

The first place I saw, actually from the plane, was Griffith Observatory, which was featured in “Future’s end I”. Right, it was just a white blotch in the distance, but as it was located to the east of another white blotch, the Hollywood sign, I realized I had come to the right place.

After spending more than two hours in an airport shuttle (mhh, every word seems to have a Star Trek connection here…) on a trip which normally takes 30 mins, as I was assured by the driver after the fact, I finally arrived at my hotel, the Hollywood Heights Hotel. I quickly left my bags in my room and hurried to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, as I wanted to take pics of the Star Trek stars’ stars while there still was a little natural light. I had no idea what was expecting me there. You have to know, I’m from a very small town and am not used to big time city life. The Walk of Fame was packed at 7 PM with people dressed up as various stars from the movies squeezing their way through the walk of fame in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. I really didn’t have time to look at the colorful neon billboards, the people in costume or the old movie theaters, I just looked down at the ground to find the Star Trek related stars and quickly get outta there.

The first star I came across was DeForest Kelley’s. I sighed in relief at having found something familiar and not as otherworldly as the rest of that street. After taking some photos, I went on and used my list with addresses of the other stars to find and photograph them all. So, one by one, I found Patrick Stewart, Ricardo Montalban, James Doohan, William Shatner, Whoopi Goldberg, Gene Roddenberry (another sigh and quiet moment ensued), George Takei, Leonard Nimoy and Nichelle Nichols. I took a moment to reflect on the fact that Walter Koenig unjustly still has no star on the Walk of Fame and went back into the crowd again to take a few shots of the TOS actor’s handprints in front of the Chinese Theatre. After that, I went back to my hotel room to escape from the busy street life.
While watching the season premier of Medium (and thereby making a certain friend of mine in Germany a little jealous, I guess) I got a phone call from Larry Nemecek. We had previously arranged a meeting through Facebook and Larry told me, he’d pick me up a few minutes later to take me to some nice restaurant in LA – and that he did.

After finding a parking spot, we made it to Micelli’s, an amazing ancient restaurant (in LA terms) where the movie stars of the 20s and 30s had dined and enjoyed drinks after finishing a day of shooting. The latter, we did too and talked about all things Trek while an even more ancient waiter sang some old Hollywood favorites in the background. Talking and listening to Larry was a blast. I had never met him in person before and had never been to a convention, so I had no idea what interesting stories would await me. Of special interest to me were the Star Trek Fact Files and their story of existence and prevalence. I loved them when they were released in Germany and still do and Larry had some interesting insights on the partwork.

When we were about to leave at 1 PM, Larry suggested we’d have the waiter take a pic of the two of us. Unfortunately, he was busy standing around, so we asked a group of pretty drunk people next to us to take a few pictures. After a regular smile shot, I wanted one shot of both of us with the Vulcan salute. The drunk crowd next to us had figured out that I was from Germany and after we raised our hands in the familiar way, one of them said “Ahhh, I get it, V for Germany”. Larry and I jokingly said: “Yes, finally someone understands what this salute is all about, right on boy!” and left the building exchanging raised eyebrows. I guess we had expected a different response…
Before leaving, Larry told me that the place had some actual Star Trek connections, too. In one quiet corner of the restaurant, Larry and his wife Janet had pitched the VOY episode “Prophecy”, so Star Trek history was made here after all!

Instead of going right back to the hotel, Larry took me to a place were most of Star Trek’s history was written: the Paramount Studios. There I stood, in front of the famous gate with the water tower in the background. You can also see the building behind the parking lot, were the water scenes with the crash-landed Bird-of-Prey in Star Trek IV were shot, one can barely make out the cloud patterns on the wide building.

Larry and Jörg prepare to chow down at Micelli’s. Sorry boys, plomeek soup is not on the menu!

So, my first night in LA ended with me visiting a real shooting location after all. Thank you Larry for taking me to Micelli’s and the Paramount gate and taking the pictures of me! I realized about then, that I had finally arrived at the place where Star Trek was made and was talking to the people that actually worked on the show. I didn’t have a clue though, what would await me in LA in the next 2 ½ days: In fact, I only realize that now, looking at the photos I took, but more of that tomorrow! – Jörg