Watching the old Rockford Files episodes are quite worthwhile, architecture wise, as they are a documentary of mid-1970s Los Angeles.

We caught the pilot episode of Rockford on Hulu.com, which set up the premise of the series. The pilot includes Rockford’s office in a trailer at 2354 Ocean Boulevard, Malibu. The episode is not just filmed in L.A.; it includes interesting views of the Clark County Courthouse, Las Vegas, and its funky Aztec-looking patterns.

Some points:

• The advent of online, digitized video is a potential boon to tourism officials. Heretofore, many of these episodes were hidden in vaults, but now that they are available online, all the time, with advertiser support, they can be mined to help promote visits to locations. A tourism location becomes far more interesting when it has a story, and the fact that television shows were filmed there helps to build that story. Most major cities have dozens of these locations, and it is up to tourism officials to make sure they are cataloged and mapped.
• With the advent of online video streaming, it is so much easier for companies to find places where their products have been seen over the years, and begin to collate these for the public. Company PR departments and brand managers should have lists of where their products have been seen on old television shows and movies.
• Today, companies are all about trying to place brands in television shows, and shows are all about trying to sell placements. That’s fine, but what is very interesting is how a good producer and location manager can create a style from what sort of images are already out there.

Back to Rockford. We took a look at the show at tried to find out what brands we saw during this pilot episode, which aired in 1974 on NBC. Brands included:

1. Holiday Inn Santa Monica at The Pier: This appears in a distance shot.
2. Cole Steel file cabinets: Unsolved and inactive cases are put here by the police. Rockford only gets to work inactive cases.
3. Water Pik: These are in the background in a drugstore that Rockford visits.
4. Broxident: It was the first brand of electric toothbrush, and it was also in the drugstore. The electric toothbrush brought to market in the U.S. by Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc.
5. Continental Hyatt House: First the Gene Autry Hotel, it was renamed the Continental Hyatt House. In 1976 it became the Hyatt on Sunset until February 1997 when the hotel was renamed the Hyatt West Hollywood. In January 2009 the hotel was renovated and renamed the Andaz West Hollywood.
6. Rockford had a Colt Detective Special, though as a convicted criminal, he did not have a permit.
7. Pengiun Shirts: The killer wore a yellow penguin sport shirt.
8. Ford Country Squire: One of many cars seen in the background.
9. Pep Boys: Shows up on the route to Santa Monica Pier.
10. UPS Truck, looking much the same as today, is prominent in a highway shot.
11. Lord Calvert appears on a billboard.
12. The heiress Mrs. Elias in the pilot episode sat by the pool with a classic green bottle of Sea & Ski suntan lotion.
13. Yuban coffee can be seen in the background at Tail of the Pup
14. Big Blue Bus, also known as Pacific Palisades 9, rolls into Santa Monica Pier. It is a GMC Flxible, I think.
15. Champion Spark Plugs. Ads for these are seen on a wall in Las Vegas.

Local Brands and Streetscapes

A quick note for local companies.

Many of the things that are cool about a local brand have to do with classic signage and consistency of approach over the years. So be careful about your image. Many local restaurants and businesses change according to corporate mandate, fashion and local regulations, and the changes are not always good.

Below are some of the local Los Angeles brands seen in the first episode. Many are around, though they have been changed.

1. Tail of the Pup, the famous Hollywood Hot Dog stand.
2. Cox Paints on Santa Monica Boulevard.
3. The music hall Gazzari’s, home of the Real Don Steele.
4. Mayfair Music Hall and Palace of Varieties, now boarded up, was once in the 1970s home to British variety shows. The episode shows the whole interior of the building, including one of he acts.
5. Cyrano, Luncheon, Dinner and Cocktails. Not sure if it is still open.
6. The Lobster, Santa Monica, a restaurant that overlooks the ocean and pier.
   
7. Santa Monica Ford, seen in the photo here.
8. Bi-Rite Drugs. Not sure where that is.
9. Mayflower Hotel: Rockford drove past this on the way to dinner. It’s now Now the Hilton Checkers.
10. Peacock Bar: Rockford and Lindsay Wagner went here. Nice outdoor directors chairs. Don’t know where it is and would love some help from readers.
11. Malibu Spic and Span Cleaners, just across the street from where Rockford had his trailer.
12. Canaday’s Used Cars. I don’t think it is around any more; it was apparently on Santa Monica Boulevard.
13. The Glen Campbell Open, which appeared on a billboard  in a background shot.
14. Old World Restaurant, which I think was on Sunset.

Catch the entire episode on Hulu.com and see it for yourself.

Snap E was a product of the Pioneer Ortega Chili Company, and later Heublein, from what I can find. Made with chile peppers, onions and tomatoes, it was a Bloody Mary mix that advertised itself as Bloody Thomas.

According to Kathy Strong’s Southern California Off the Beaten Path, Ortega of Ventura, California was founded by Emilio Ortega. Ortega was headquartered in the historic Ortega Adobe, a structure at 215 East Main Street. Ortega invented a fire roasting process for chili peppers and developed chili, salsa and Snap-E-Tom.

There is one person we need to know more about; it is Richard Whorf (1906-1966), the sometime actor who was director of the Beverly Hillbillies. Whorf was also a dancer, a designer, a producer and a writer. Whorf has a whole world view that we rather appreciate; traditional with a warped view of the world.

He also directed the Beverly Hillbillies episode where Mayflower descendant Priscilla Smith-Standish (Rosemary DeCamp) shows that the Clampetts are of better and earlier blood than the Drysdales because they are descended from English who landed in Virginia at Jamestown. (Since this is the day before Thanksgiving, this is our Thanksgiving angle for BrandlandUSA.)

We found an old TV rotogravure section story on his artwork; he is pictured here at work on one of his old town America paintings. Entitled At Ease at His Easel, it says that the first time he saw Los Angeles he was playing Shakespeare.

According to his Wikipedia entry, Whorf sold his first painting at age 15 for US$100. He had the style of Grant Wood or Norman Rockwell. Apparently, he had a one man show in 1963 with his designs.

“Who says,” he asked a reporter in 1963, “that a man has to do one thing?”

Whorf died in Santa Monica in 1966; we would love to know who has his paintings, and what they looked like. We also wonder if he was related to the art director Peter Whorf, who is responsible for the A&M Herb Alpert record Whipped Cream and Other Delights.

But back to Richard Whorf. When will some hip gallery in L.A. give him a show?

Do any others know about his work?

After they woo the world with their story, they get to go out to Los Angeles and experience all the icons. We thought they were some great old brand names.

Brands included:

• Giorgio of Beverly Hills: Zira goes in after the press conference for shopping. She comes out with one of those early 1970s short coats, and a few trademark yellow stripe Giorgio boxes. The brand is now owned by Proctor & Gamble’s P&G Prestige Products, according to the website.
• The Brown Derby Restaurant: Again, a visit.
• Disneyland: A visit is promised; they will dedicate something at the Jungle Cruise.
• The Beverly Wilshire: Zira and Cornelius get a suite.
• Lincoln Cars: Why are there no more black sedans with that early 1960s presidential look? Ford is missing an oportunity in rear wheel drive sedans, and they are running out the clock with their Town Car limo version. Why don’t they do a new version of the Town Car that’s a Continental, and give it a classic Lincoln restyling?
• Jack Taylor: Cornelius goes in for clothes and a suit, I think, though it flashed quickly across the screen. The store is now the subject of a movie of his life, directed by Cecile Leroy Beaulieu.

Can any other fans of the movies give us some more brands that make cameo appearances in the movie?

LOS ANGELES – One of the great modern hotels, The Century Plaza, is potentially going to be demolished. I say potentially because the owner, developer Michael Rosenfeld, is only applying for permission to tear it down for another real estate development.

The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza (click on the pool image above to make reservations! Please!) is one of those iconic hotels, embodying the spirit of California and the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s. Designed by Minoru Yamasaki, he of the World Trade Center, and opened in 1996, it was the site of so many great events.

Above that, it is a VERY cool building, and a place that is pretty universally appreciated.

A bit from the National Trusts press release:

The hotel, which fueled the development of Century City and forged its reputation as a world-class destination, has been a gathering place for celebrities, politicians and world dignitaries since its opening day.  Once nicknamed the “West Coast White House,” the Century Plaza was a favorite of both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.  Nixon hosted a celebration for the Apollo 11 astronauts here, while Reagan presided over two presidential victory celebrations in the hotel’s vast ballroom and conducted much of his business in the hotel’s Presidential Suite while in California.

Actress Diane Keaton is fighting to save the hotel, and has a good chance at saving this one. Here are the reasons why it can be saved:

1. The economy stinks and while some in the city administration foolishly think that demolishing the hotel will help the city, they are wrong. When hotels are demolished, even when replaced, every hotel room that heretofore had been producing MASSIVE amounts of bed and other taxes is gone. Hotels are some of the most taxed amenities in every city, and three years of missed revenue, minimum, will hurt tourism and prepared food taxes. Meanwhile, the attention the hotel gets in upcoming years with the preservation battle will bring attention and visitors to the hotel now. Is Rosenfeld doing a New Coke strategy on us?
2. It’s connected with conservatives. People think that that conservatives don’t like historic preservation, but the whole definition of conservatives is to conserve things, and they won’t let something connected to Reagan go that easily. Who do you think saved all the historical monuments and houses over the years? Liberals involved in the effort appreciate the history too, irrespective of party. At the Century Plaza, the Presidential Suite is a real presidential suite, not a pretend one. While conservatives aren’t as hip on Dick, Ron is another story. The hotel helps tell the story of Reagan in California.
3. California is going to be in the doldrums for awhile. Who knows how long, but things seem so much worse there than the rest of the country, and the high taxes are a challenge to small business. There is a great saying, namely that “poverty is the best preserver.” Charleston and Savannah were preserved through poverty, and so shall the Century Plaza.
4. The National Trust is in battle mode. Only recently has the National Trust been involved in saving modern structures, but they now have a smart and tenacious point person on modernism, Chris Madrid French. Her appointment, part of the Trust’s west coast office, gives full-time national support to saving significant modern structures. The effort is backed by the Henry Luce Foundation. Don’t do battle with Luce!
5. Minoru Yamaski’s buildings are now precious and connect us to something we lost in New York on that day. Yamasaki’s surviving buildings connect us directly to the optimism that the country felt when the hotel was constructed. In Richmond, Virginia, I would look often at the Federal Reserve, designed by Yamasaki, and think how nice it is to look at his buildings in the wake of September 11. Preservationists fought to save the Vesey Street Staircase of the World Trade Center. They did save it, but the state of New York missed the point when they moved them. (What was interesting about them was that they needed to be preserved in place.) History will judge our generation poorly if we lose this.
6. Destroying an iconic hotel confuses travelers. When people come to your city every other year or intermittently, they look for certain brands and hotel names. When the hotel is lost, they get confused. The Century Plaza has a “brand” that is unique to itself, and separate from the Hyatt brand. That would be lost in the demolition.
7. The developer doesn’t get it. Yet. One reason why people own hotels, other than to make money, is to be connected to famous people and influential events, and invite them to his hotel. If the hotel is demolished, that allure is lost. No one cares about coming to a new hotel. It takes time to build the history. Being owner of the hotel, and the West Coast White House, is power. Having Hollywood love you for saving something is power. The power at The Century Plaza comes from the history.
8. Hyatt’s brand is dependent on architecturally significant, minimalist modern hotels. Think Portman’s Hyatt in Atlanta. Hyatt customers are not used to fake Italian lobbies, or any other of the decorating schemes offered up in Marriotts. The Pritzker legacy still lives, and they need The Century Plaza for their brand.
9. That pool. The pool is amazing.
10. The minimalist design is actually easier to keep fresh looking than an ornate hotel. A good hotel needs what hoteliers call a “scrape” every few years. I think in a decent hotel lobby, you need new carpeting every TWO years. So having a simple, classic design brings attention to those changes of fabrics, carpets and interiors. Here in Sarasota, the modern-style Hyatt has a Lilly Pulitzer interior, just added. In two years when other colors are in fashion, it can change again. But the strong bones of the hotel survive.

About the author: Writer and editor Garland Pollard is a former boardmember of Historic Richmond Foundation in Richmond, Virginia and has led numerous successful preservation efforts in Richmond.

And then, a few weeks ago, I go to the opening of their store on Sarasota’s Tamiami Trail. It’s a civic occasion because IHOP (and McDonald’s and Outback) seem to be the only new businesses opening up on our bit of suburban strip in this shut-down year, and everyone in town is wishing them well. They hired 125 folks when they opened the store. If this is to be a long recession, every job is precious.

The store, a franchise, explains the run-up in share price the chain has seen in recent months. IHOP is actually DineEquity (NYSE: DIN); it renamed itself after its merger with Applebee’s.

Having been at IHOP restaurants that were no better than a Lum’s, the turnaround I saw inside was a revelation. The place was packed, and the store nailed it on every single count. I thought it might be instructive to list what went right:

• Location: They opened it in some of the best real estate in town, in an outparcel of a shopping center anchored by a Barnes & Noble and Best Buy. The location was previously a Village Inn that closed last year.
• Hiring: The hostess outside, Roberta, was easily able to deflect annoying customers who wanted to grump about the wait. Our waitress was equally friendly. While you don’t have to be a genius to wait tables, it does require a certain stamina, and many restaurant chains do not try to hire friendly folks.
• The Look: The decor is perfect for its market, clever but not edgy. Silkscreens of old IHOP restaurants, sketches kitchen whisks and the like are on the wall, giving a hip but homey feel to the store. It is obvious that the Glendale headquarters staff knows what it is doing. While the whole idea of IHOP is kitsch, it is no longer kitschy but now classic.
• Nostalgia: They have  sense of the nostalgia of the IHOP brand without living in the past. Old photos are done in collages, to keep them from being backwards feeling.
• Accountability: The manager, a polished Patrick Welenc, had his name emblazoned on the front door of the restaurant. It was obvious that the restaurant was his, as he walked from table to table to check in on patrons.
• The customers were upper middle class. While it is Sarasota where there is lots of money, I wasn’t expecting the crowd I saw. For instance, the grandfather heading up the table next to us wore a Berkshire Hathaway polo shirt, and he had long discussions with his sons about municipal unions and bottlers while waitresses served up Rooty Tooty breakfasts.

IHOP’s success proves that the full-service family restaurant isn’t dead, by a long shot. The shakedown Americans have felt in this pullback have put people back in reality, and I feel quite certain that IHOP will be a part of that reality for a long time. If a chain can’t perform in this sector, it isn’t because of consumer trends. It’s because they can’t do the simple things that are needed to run a restaurant.

The success also bodes well for other full-service, mid-market restaurant chains that might attempt revivals in this economy. If they are done well, they can succeed.

PALM SPRINGS – Any person who owns a silly little motel by the side of the road ought to look at Hope Springs Motel Resort in Palm Springs, California. It’s an utterly nondescript motel that has turned into a Travel & Leisure favorite. The recipe? A hip approach, minimalist design and ultra clean rooms.

While not all motels are situated near the hipster/hepster crowd of Palm Springs, any average person on the road will appreciate a place like Hope Springs if its clean and friendly. So what if they miss the Eames and Saarinen chairs?

Across the nation, there are hundreds of these motels that are undervalued, and sometimes valued less than replacement costs. Tourism officials in destinations often want a new Sleep Inn, but a potential gem like Hope Springs gets lost.

Let’s dust off some old motels, put up some fresh paint and find a few IKEA bedspreads to bring these old motels back to life.

Great ads have one thing in common. They sell things. Things like products, services, ideas or lifestyles. If they don’t do this directly, they are memorable enough to influence a consumer at the time he or she makes a purchase.Bad ads are brand poison. If you go public with a half-baked concept, a forgettable headline, or a me-too message, chances are the ad will have the opposite effect you intended. It will drive consumers away. Even worse, it will drive them to the competition.

Below are 10 principles to keep in mind when creating an ad. Read them before, during, and after you have created your ad. Make them your checklist. And remember, every ad represents not just a product or feature or price, but what your brand promises.

1. No one cares about your company. You might be intimately familiar with your product or service. You might even love it. But your audience doesn’t. Your ad has to give them a reason to care. Consumers don’t think in terms of features and benefits. Those are marketing terms. Consumers want something that will make their lives easier or bring them success. How will your product or service do this? More importantly, how will your ad convince them it will?
2. Don’t let fear motivate you. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to second-guess your audience’s ability to understand. Think of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners’ “Got Milk?” campaign. The entire message is based on the absence of milk. Without picturing milk in a variety of scenarios, the agency created a world without milk. If somewhere along the line, the California Fluid Milk Processor Advisory Board (the client) had rejected the no-milk concept because it didn’t adequately promote the product or make milk “the hero,” the resulting campaign would have been very different. And probably far less memorable.
3. If it works on you, it will work on them. You are a consumer. You read ads and buy things. If your ad doesn’t convince you, chances are it won’t convince your audience.
4. Talk about one thing. Volkswagen once ran an ad whose headline read: “It makes your house look bigger.” The message was simple: VW Beetles are small. The headline didn’t mention the car’s gas mileage, price, or engineering. It didn’t even mention VW. It got people to think small is good.
5. Say it differently. Take the one thing you want to communicate and come up with different ways to say it. In the VW example above, the headline didn’t say “VW Beetles are small.” Think of ways to state an ordinary message in an unusual way so that it gets attention.
6. Let your audience draw their own conclusions. When Steven Spielberg first screened Jaws, the audience laughed at the shark. His solution? Remove the shark. In the end, you see the entire shark in only a few scenes. But the movie is still terrifying. The same principle applies to advertising. Don’t be afraid to let consumers draw their own conclusion about your company or product. The conclusions we make for ourselves are usually the most powerful.
7. Make design and copy work together. The headline and image tell the story. Don’t let the visual design overpower the message. And don’t rely on copy alone to convey the entire idea. A headline should never tell you what is in the picture. And graphic design should never be used merely to fill space.
8. Create an emotion. The worst thing an ad can do is be boring. A series of physiological events occurs when we’re happy, sad, entertained, or angered. Use this to your advantage. Make sure you generate a response in the person looking at your ad. Any response is better than no response.
9. Sell something, don’t just talk. Imagine this: You’re looking for a new car. You have one in mind. You arrive at the dealership, see the perfect car on the lot, and go inside to inquire about it. Instead of answering your questions, the salesperson launches into a history of the car dealership. Do you care? In advertising, always stay focused on what you’re selling and anticipate the consumer’s needs.
10. Make them respond. The best ads demand a response. They make consumers want to act. Always give your audience a reason to act and the means for doing so, whether that’s a phone number, fax number, or web address.

Tom Parrette is Director of Verbal Branding for the Berkeley, California advertising agency Addis Creson.

Addis Creson, 2515 Ninth Street, Berkeley California 94710

Each generation leaves its famed financiers. We wondered what happened to Lytton Financial, which was a high flying savings and loan company, and its founder, Bart Lytton. He looks right out of the “Mr. Drysdale” California of the 1960s, doesn’t he.

Turns out Lytton, who was nicknamed Black Bart, was a high flyer who was very active in Democratic politics, according to a Time article. But by 1968, parts of his S&L empire were given to other banks.

Bart, who was known for his support of arts causes, died of a heart attack in June of 1969, after his empire collapsed. There is a park in Palo Alto named after him.