Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

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submariner
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by submariner »

romleys wrote:The 1973 horror movie "Mesiah of Evil" has some excellent interior and exterior scenes from a Ralphs Supermarket. There is also a WT Grant prominately featured in one scene.
Here is a clip...
At 3.47 into the clip is a priceless view!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1HsndCVP5w
That (almost) looks like the Cala in SF... any idea where this location was or is? Was the 'winged' look common to Ralphs of this era?
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by klkla »

submariner wrote:
romleys wrote:The 1973 horror movie "Mesiah of Evil" has some excellent interior and exterior scenes from a Ralphs Supermarket. There is also a WT Grant prominately featured in one scene.
Here is a clip...
At 3.47 into the clip is a priceless view!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1HsndCVP5w
That (almost) looks like the Cala in SF... any idea where this location was or is? Was the 'winged' look common to Ralphs of this era?
I actually know where this Ralphs was. I lived next door to it for a short time when I first moved to the Los Angeles area.

It was in Burbank at the corner of Victory & Buena Vista. It was torn down when Ralphs built a replacement store on the adjacent lot. If you look at the following Bing Map the store was located almost exactly where the CVS is today.

http://www.bing.com/maps/Default.aspx?e ... &FORM=LLDP
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by storewanderer »

That does look very similar to the Cala. How strange.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by Groceteria »

klkla wrote:I actually know where this Ralphs was. I lived next door to it for a short time when I first moved to the Los Angeles area.
This is it, yes? (I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet.) Photo is from the book Googie by Alan Hess.

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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by klkla »

Groceteria wrote:
klkla wrote:I actually know where this Ralphs was. I lived next door to it for a short time when I first moved to the Los Angeles area.
This is it, yes? (I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet.) Photo is from the book Googie by Alan Hess.

Image
Yeah, that was the one. It was a neat store. Too bad them couldn't save it.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by enginecapt »

Step-on door openers at that Ralphs. Those are rare as hen's teeth these days.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by ieguy441 »

I don't know how vintage this may be, but in the movie "Funny People", Seth Rogan's character works at a deli in an independent supermarket... which happens to be a former So-cal Smith's location from the early 1990's. The deli area looks a bit different than your typical Smiths of this era. In the final shot of the film, Seth Rogan and Adam Sandler are eating lunch in the front cafe area of the store, the camera pans back to reveal Lucky's final design package from the '90s. The only thing really different about this store than your typical former Smith's is that the area that would have originally housed the Chinese takeout place has been replaced with coolers.

It's really a neat ending, with the camera panning back slowly through the aisle towards the back of the store while the credits begin to roll.

I can't find anything online about which location they filmed at.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by justin karimzad »

The 2005 movie Because Of Winn-Dixie is about a girl who finds a homeless dog on her way to run an errand at a Winn-Dixie. Towards the middle of the trailer, there are exterior and interior views of an old (1950s?) Winn-Dixie;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avWH7T4F2RU
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by Jeff »

One of the old episodes of CHiPs shows an old Alpha Beta store (that was called something else on the episode - even though it said ALPHA BETA on the store).

The store used was located on Jefferson and Overland in Culver City. It recently expanded into the old drug store next door and is large (with the old wall that divided the two stores in the middle of the market!)
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by dooneyt63 »

While watching the 1964 James Bond movie Goldfinger, I noticed a fleeting glimpse of a Food Fair sign and building. The surrounding scenes also show a Kentucky Fried Chicken in a store-front type location and a Royal Castle hamburger restaurant. The shot is quick, but it is unmistakably a Food Fair. The building appears to be an older, rather plain structure rather than one of the more exuberant later models.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by Steve Landry »

By the noted retailers in the scene you describe suggests that the shoot location was probably somewhere in Florida.

?????????
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by rich »

The scene with the Kentucky Fried Chicken and Royal Castle was from Louisville or possibly Lexington (more likely Louisville because of the scale of the development). The super was probably a Winn-Dixie, not a Food fair. the opening of the film is in Miami Beach, but only has shots from a hotel.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by dooneyt63 »

The sign in the shot is clearly a Food Fair sign with Food on top line on four squares and Fair below likewise. There is no doubt it is Food Fair and not Winn Dixie. I am pretty sure it was filmed in Miami. All would have been present at the time, especially Royal Castle and Food Fair. I didn't make a guess based on the building but went by the sign. I backed the DVD up several times during the street scenes to verify the specific businesses. The KFC and Royal Castle appear more than once. The Food Fair is only in one shot but is very definite. It appears to be an older white building very close to the road. This is highly plausible in 1964 Miami. Much creative editing was done in Goldfinger. Sean Connery was filming Marnie at the time, thus all of his shots at the Fontainebleau were shot at Pinewood Studios and superimposed on images filmed at the hotel. Much info about this is available on the DVD insert.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by Gunter Caddington »

Bachelor In Paradise (1961) - OK Bob Hope movie with scenes in an LA-area Hughes supermarket.

From some of the scenes in the store - apparently Hughes was an IGA affiliate in the early 60s' - there were several posters in the store with prominent IGA logos!


Sorry, gang--couldn't figure out how to quote and reply to a 5 year old post. The above was quoted from Jamcool on Page 1 of this thread.

The film was on TCM last night. The Hughes Market was on Parthenia Street, just west of where Parthenia curves into Van Nuys Boulevard in Panorama City. This was the only market I ever saw with a Porte-cochere at the entrance until years later when I saw one in upper New York state. I would assume they were more common in the east given the difference in climate from California ...

I don't think Hughes was ever an affiliate of IGA--more likely those scenes in the film were done on a sound stage with IGA posters added for "flavor". Many of the interior shots, though, look like they were filmed inside the market itself.

There might have been some product placement going on here--I noticed the round Quaker Oatmeal cartons, and cans or bottles of Hires Root Beer in practically every shot.

I think the Porte-cochere lasted into the late 1960's. Time was not kind to the structure--I remember it being somewhat battered looking before it was torn down. The Market itself is still there, now an ethnic Hispanic store. Haven't been inside in years--it was pretty frowsy looking the last time I did go in--but the exterior looks to have been remodeled since then--so, maybe the interior has been, too.
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Re: Vintage Supermarkets in Movies and TV (Old Ones Only Please)

Post by Ephrata1966 »

Not sure, but I thought the 1978 movie Animal House took place in Southern California. Part of it takes place in a local supermarket.
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