Photo by Joe Stargensky
Originally posted August 18, 2009
by Concerned Muir Resident:
I’m a Muir Ave resident here with my two cents on the current shoot of ‘Terriers.’ We received a hand delivered notice about the upcoming filming 2 weeks before production began (a nice courtesy indeed). Listed on the one page letter was the name of the Production Co’s contact who welcomed contact from local residents with any concerns they may have.
One day while sitting out front, I watched as a member of the prep crew callously toss his cigarette butt on the sidewalk, stamp it out, and walk away. With letter in hand, I headed over to where the crew was and introduced myself to Jason, the Production Co’s main contact. I told him what I saw and voiced my concerns about disregarded butts ending up in the ocean. I told him how one of my neighbors surfs regularly and had “eaten” a cigarette butt while surfing one day.
Always wanting to present a solution to a challenge, I handed him an empty coffee can and strongly suggested that his crew use it from now on for ALL discarded butts. He was very open to my concerns and thanked me for bringing it to his personal attention. He agreed that this shouldn’t have happened and assured me that they would not discard any more butts on the ground. I also told him that if I saw another member of his crew discard one more butt, I would approach them personally and make them eat the butt themselves – saving our surfers from suffering such fate. We laughed at that (he must have thought I was kidding) and went about our individual business.
I have kept an eye on the street where the crew is working and have not seen an unusual amount of discarded cigarette butts around. So far, Jason has been a man of his word.
So while the production crew presents little issue with me, the security company’s guards were the final straw for me last night. While sitting quietly in my garden (around 7pm) I couldn’t help but overhear two of the on-site security guards speaking rather loudly between themselves. They must have been speaking loudly because as I turned to see where the voices were coming from they were standing in the middle of the street – a good distance from my peaceful garden.
I politely asked them if they wouldn’t mind moving down the road as their talking was disturbing me. Without a moments hesitation, another guard standing on the sidewalk outside my property yells in the rudest, gruffest voice I’ve heard in OB in a long, long time, “Your voice is louder than their’s!” Needless to say, I was stunned by his rude and unexceptable attitude/behavior. I reminded him, in no uncertain terms, that he was a guest in this neighborhood and sought out his supervisor, who just happened to be on-site.
Her name is Pat Worthy (I think that’s her last name). She was genuinely disturbed about what happened and remedied it immediately and professionally by moving the rude guard away from our property, brought another guard to the front of our property, introduced him to me personally, and stating again that if I had any other concerns to contact her without hesitation. She pointed out to me that the guards are not supposed to be standing together at any time and that she would remind the two loud talking guards as to their duties here. When I got up this morning, Pat was again on-site supervising her crew.
Now I’m all for additional monies being spent here in OB, yet at what cost? I think anyone doing business in OB from ‘the outside world’ needs to be strongly counseled as to some basic principles as to how to conduct themselves when guests in our town. Littering? Totally unacceptable!!! Yelling at residents? Again, totally unacceptable!!!!
And what happens if this pilot gets picked up? Does that mean the crew with all their “Hollywood energies” be here disrupting OB’s peace on a full time basis? Will this pilot identify the actual location of our town? Let’s hope not. Geeze, even the Simpsons never revealed the actual location of Springfield. I’m seriously not down to live in OBwood.
I say let’s leave Hollywood outta OB.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
A crew member parked in front of my driveway. The whole street is available for them. Jerk. Have some manners or go away “Terriers”.
Really hoping they don’t return after Tuesday. Are they?
so what?
the crew screwed up a couple of times. they fixed the problems when you called them their attention.
i’m sorry that some employees aren’t as politically correct as you’d like them to be. perhaps we should set up a re-education camp at Robb Field that they have to attend before they can walk down Muir Street.
get a life!
this has nothing to do with political correctness hoobler. it has to do with common courtesies as a guest in our neighborhood.
see? it’s a vicious cycle. the more we make OB cutsey, the more outsiders take advantage. so another film crew arrives, throws some money and their uninvited weight around. they make a show from OB – more see it and want to come here. more arrive and make it even more cutesy. and then … do you see where i’m going ?
what we really need are events and incidents that trash the place – make it less cutesy, say, a riot on newport ave.
okay, just kiddin. there’s less likelihood of that than the real santa showing up at our holiday parade. but you get my drift.
so, let all the dog shit stay, leave all the trash and graffiti around, and say nasty things to out of towners. that’ll show them. so maybe there won’t be any more TV crews or puff articles from the fishwrap.
This is from the OB Mainstreet website on “Terriers”:
“The police dept is actually the old Cal Trans building on Juan St. in Old Town and they put the name up “Ocean Beach”.
…
FYI: OB MainStreet has been assured that no thru traffic will be blocked during filming.”
lol at somebody with a banana avatar talking about political correctness.
There have been many TV shows filmed here throughout the years. I think the positives generally outweigh the negatives of having them here. The X-list, being the most recent production, did not appear to produce an upsurge in gentrification or tourist traffic. I think if individual security guards or crew are being disrespectful and littering or causing problems, they should absolutely be called out on it just as we would call out anyone, and it seems like the production managers are doing a good job trying to keep that under control. We actually have an advantage here….normal tourists throwing their butts or trash on the ground are not held responsible to any greater authority, whereas these guys are on the job and are easily reported to a supervisor for being a jerk and disrespecting our ‘hood.
jon, the thing with the Ex list was it sucked. It was canceled after 2 or 3 episodes. I think if it had been a hit we might have seen more of an upsurge in tourists.
Some of their security were glaring at me as I pulled out to drive to work today, not sure what I did to offend.
Here’s a dose of OB the film staff received that I thought was quite funny:
In the wee hours of Monday morning, the crew was on-site at the Muir location setting up in preparation of the film staff’s (crew and acting) arrival. Working so hard, they erected a huge tent-like enclosure around the individual apartment being used, including the grassy shared courtyard area. Yep, pretty much took over the entire apartment complex in that section, especially with all the extra items cast about here and there, on other tenants’ porches and sitting areas.
Finally, hourse later, in the early afternoon the film staff arrived! And what do I overhear? Comments and Complaints that the tent (aka: filming location) is hot and STINKY!!! Hee Hee! Of course it is stinky! They tented-in the dog and cat urine saturated grassy courtyard! Teee Heee!
Side Note: the rent-a-cop folks that have been lurking about since Friday night in our peaceful Muir Avenue neighborhood have made for a creepy kind of atmosphere. Seems like the cost would have been cheaper to just have someone crash at the apartment over the weekend.
Justice B. Peace: I agree, the rent a cops are being a bit creepy. I live right near where they are filming, and every time I walk or drive by I get the hairy eyeball from them.
I’m not sure what they think is going to happen.
Yeah, I live in the building that they’re filming at. Besides security in my front yard 24 hours a day, watching everything that we do and talking to me nonstop about how lame it is that they have to be there every time I take my dogs out, I didn’t really see a problem with it. Until Monday morning when I was so pleasantly woken up by the crew who were within feet of my bedroom window, dropping scaffolding pipes from the second story on to pavement for hours straight. I work the night shift.
Hey Hoobie,
“U’s” a’int a part of the “WE” anyway. The strategic position of the trolls is disrupt the Service activities of the “WE”, impinge on the Progress of the “WE” and cut the “WE” Unity oFF at the knees (They Trolls being “WeKnees”) So the suggestions they offer are about as much value to the “WE” as the Goons are regarding Health Care for All!
Since this is as much about the community character of Ocean Beach as it is the spirit of freedom let me tell “U’s” a story about the Soviet Union that I heard the other day. If a person was caught littering in Soviet Moscow someone would politely but firmly remind them that “We” citizens do not litter but rather take responsibility for “We’s” actions.
Since the Dictatorship of Capital is the order of the day I don’t think we can avoid the question “Will success spoil Ocean Beach?”. B.S. Bob is right as is lane and D. “WE’s” are all-right on this one. The spirit of our community needs to be politely but firmly upheld lest “WE’s” become just like Russia. And I’m sure that not even “U’s” want that!!!?
Ahhhhhhhhhh, the sounds of the clear-out crew hard at work to get this production wrapped up tight and headed out of town. It’s music to my ears.
I don’t know what time they started this morning, yet as far as I can tell they are just about finished packing all their stuff and gettin outta town.
Looking forward to no more security guards lerking around on Muir.
I would be quite upset with an invasion of production crew outside of my home and would seek compensation from the landlord for the interference to my peace; however, some of the rant reflected herein is typical of OB residents. The rant reflects the community norms that are often in conflict. Community members support and invite “outside” interests to film, hold festivals, sport’s events, etc. Typically the motivation is for financial gain. The property owners who loan their properties to the movie companies are handsomely rewarded. Sadly, OB is sold out more than we want to believe.
Additionally, many found the behavior of some of the visitors inappropriate. What about the daily disrespect by “locals” who blast music from homes and cars; don’t pick up after dog waste; fail to maintain their properties, etc.? We don’t always hold our own to the same standards.
Along the same lines, now we have medical marijuana shops proliferating in the community because landlords want to rent their properties and dealers want to cash in –good for them. But is this a benefit to the community as a whole? Do we really need these shops throughout OB when they will only serve a small group of local consumers. Next, the community will complain about the invasion of federal and local law enforcement agencies that will be camping out in OB.
Our tolerance and kindness is taken advantage of by those who want to make a buck.
So here I am… It’s now 10:47pm, Monday. Corner of Abbott & Voltaire. A huge light as bright as the sun and three stories high is now blaring like the sun into my window. The noisy crew is moving things to and from the trucks that were once parked illegally in the dirt lot parking spaces that I pay rent for. I’ve got to be up in the morning but the noise busting through the open windows leave me with to options. Close the windows and deal with the sticky humidity the night brought. Or leave them open and listen to the commotion and deal with the artificial sun that hovers over Pat’s Liquor and into my room.
I was hoping that when I heard the big trucks filming a “chase” in the alley behind me for three takes @ 6am that this would be the worst of it. Or maybe the conversations of crew members nonchalantly cruising through our courtyard in the early morning with their (not likely local) catered breakfast in hand that initially woke me up would be a once only thing.
But now as a blog at nearly 11’o-clock in the night, I realize that this nightmare is true. For the first time in months (and probably ever here in OB), I felt THE NEED to bring in the items in which I thought the out world crew members might find an interest in. So in came my wetsuit, surfboard, while I put other items in a not-so lit up spot.
Ohhh… wait. It’s now 11:02 and the beacon just shut down. Thank the heavens for small miracles. Now the sound of several car alarms chirp as crew members, actors, whatever up clog our streets and head to their hotels somewhere on the other side of the hill. I can only hope that I’m not waking to the sounds of fake sirens and camera trucks outside my window again.
I agree, at times as a community we allow for noisy neighbors and irresponsible dog owners. But those who are part of the community know to take the community in mind. A party happens once in awhile and in most experiences, ends rather early. Dog owners get the hint when you place plastic bags hanging from a tree in a cut out milk carton.
Besides, these aren’t our neighbors. These are people from a hundred miles away selling out our way of life and taking advantage of the laid back nature of the community. Their coffee mugs aren’t from Cafe Bella or even from the local 7-11. The croissant sandwich was not likely from Liticker’s or the Newbreak Cafe down the road. I begin to even wonder if they know that Crown Point Catering is two blocks up the road from where they are filming.
But I can’t even get to my corner Liquor Store (Pat’s) to get a Twix to satisfy my sweet tooth because there’s a security guard obviously there to keep me from anything in the vicinity.
Never mind… The light is back on… It’s 11:21… Aren’t they supposed to quit at a certain time?
Dallas – there must be another option. How about this: call the cops and make a noise complaint. I had friends who were partying way until 9 P M on a recent Friday night – and the cops shut them down. They were a bunch of 60 years olds in the back yard of the home. The cops told them they had to shut it down, go inside.
How about this: try running past the security guard.
This is crazy stuff Dallas that you’re sharing with us. Does anyone else have similar experiences? Dallas – make sure you vote in this weeks poll.
One of the crew arrived again yesterday in the most outlanding monster truck imaginable. It’s about 800′ tall, 1000′ foot long, has bright orange and blue, flaming puzzle pieces as its designed…ahhhh, can you say visual explosion even Salvadore Dali wouldn’t understand?
Imagine my surprise when I heard him set the talking alarm on the thing that would even warn you if you got too close to it….as if anyone in OB would want to steal and/or drive such a visually appauling beast.
I bet one if its tires would pay next months rent….dude, get serious.