Thank you Jeff Pounds for the pictures of the Easy Rider Cafe today.

]]> http://www.mrzip66.com/2011/01/18/easy-rider-cafe-morganza/feed/ 8 http://www.mrzip66.com/2010/05/29/easy-riders-dennis-hopper-dies/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=easy-riders-dennis-hopper-dies http://www.mrzip66.com/2010/05/29/easy-riders-dennis-hopper-dies/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 17:48:24 +0000 mrzip67 http://www.mrzip66.com/?p=3329 (Reuters) – Hollywood actor Dennis Hopper, best known for directing and starring in the 1969 cult classic “Easy Rider,” died on Saturday from complications of prostate cancer, a friend of the actor said. Hopper was 74.

The hard-living screen star died at his home in the coastal Los Angeles suburb of Venice at 8:15 a.m. PDT (1515 GMT), surrounded by family and friends, the friend, Alex Hitz, told Reuters.

In a wildly varied career spanning more than 50 years, Hopper appeared alongside his mentor James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant” in the 1950s and played maniacs in such films as “Apocalypse Now,” “Blue Velvet” and “Speed.”

He received two Oscar nominations — for writing “Easy Rider” (with co-star Peter Fonda and Terry Southern), and for a rare heartwarming turn as an alcoholic high-school basketball coach in the 1986 drama “Hoosiers.”

“Easy Rider,” regarded is one of the greatest films of American cinema, helped usher in a new era in which the old Hollywood guard was forced to cede power to young filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.

The low-budget blockbuster, originally conceived by Fonda, introduced mainstream moviegoers to pot-smoking, cocaine-dealing, long-haired bikers.

“We’d gone through the whole ’60s and nobody had made a film about anybody smoking grass without going out and killing a bunch of nurses,” Hopper told Entertainment Weekly in 2005. “I wanted ‘Easy Rider’ to be a time capsule for people about that period.”

Hopper and Fonda were joined on screen by a then-unknown Jack Nicholson as an alcoholic lawyer, but it was not a harmonious set. Hopper clashed violently with everyone and Fonda later described him as a “little fascist freak.” Their friendship was destroyed.

Hopper fell ill last September. He continued working almost to the very end, both on his cable TV series “Crash” and on a book showcasing his photography. But his final months were also consumed by a bitter divorce battle with his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy.

Indeed, his private life was never dull. His marriages included an eight-day union in 1970 with Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas, who later told Vanity Fair that she was subjected to “excruciating” treatment.

Hopper is survived by four children.

Here’s some pictures of Easy Rider, from Ballarat California

Screenshot from Easy Rider, 1969

Same shot in Ballarat, Today

I’m riding out there saturday night If I can pull it off to go see what it looks like, take some new pictures and get me a 3 part ride in.

This is the part of the movie before the credits.   This house in 1969 was where Wyatt rolled up the dollar bills, put them in a plastic tube in his gas tank, and put a cork in them.    It’s also where both Billy and Wyatt threw there watches on the road.

Here’s some more scenes from the house, sent to me by a friend who made a film about the movie, on replica panheads like the bikes in the movie.   This was Shorty’s house, from the film, and what it looks like today.

I’m heading out to ballarat.   Call it a tune up ride.  I need me a tune up.    It’s gonna be good.

Easy Rider Cafe in Morganza Louisiana

For those of you who have seen the movie Easy Rider, you may or may not know the iconic cafe in Morganza, Louisiana.   It was torn down a few years ago, but here it is in 1986.    A friend of mine emailed me this picture.   If you lived then, you could have gone in and got service where they got none.   Hell, you coulda ordered kidney beans, because you left yours on the freeway.

I’ve got several pictures of the Easy Rider Cafe in Morganza, but they didn’t match up.   This one is the real cafe, taken before it was torn down.

Pretty cool.    Thanks to everyone who helped me out with this one.    I’m gonna watch the movie again tonight I think.

Easy Rider, 40 years later.   I’d love to be part of this project.

If anyone is looking for the route they took in the movie, I posted it a few months ago here:  http://mrzip66.com/2009/04/20/route-from-the-movie-easy-rider-map/

Captain America and Billy didn't screw around. (click picture for more Info)

I’ve had quite a few questions via email about the route that Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda rode in the 1969 Movie Easy Rider, and for the last couple of years I’ve ridden and researched it.   The movie cemented me as a rider for life at a young age.  Anyway, here it is.   Since it’s a movie, it hops around a bit, but here’s the route:

View Larger Map

If you do this trip, do it right.   A couple of tips: First off, Don’t sell coke to finance your trip.    If you do, don’t tell anyone.   Definitely don’t put coke money in your gas tank, because It’ll lower your gas mileage.    If you want to go to Mexico and pretend to buy coke in an old truck, knock yourself out.   Put it in 2 motorcycle batteries and go sell it to Someone who looks like Phil Spector in front of the runway at LAX.    Phil would probably still buy it from you, but he’s busy now with his murder trial.   Don’t be offended if he fails to calls you back.   That’s how Phil rolls.

LAX then. The deal is done, count the cash and head out of town...

LAX from Easy Rider Today

This is looking west toward runway 25L.

Runway 25L today.

(Special thanks to Wild Bill Carr for taking time to take  the “today” shots and info)

Technically, you could start at LAX, but the real riding started in Death Valley.     They we’re caging it in LAX.   If you know the whole story of Billy and Wyatt they we’re headliners, baby.     They had a stunt riding side show and decided to bust out, make a run for the big cash and go looking for America.

Start out in Ballarat. Ditch the watch

Start out by going to Death Valley.  Ballarat, Specifically.  Ballarat is a pretty cool place, with it’s own bit of history like the gravestone of Seldom Seen Slim, and the Barker Ranch where Charles Manson family laid low after the nights they made the history books.   Tex Watson’s  truck is still there.    Supposedly there’s hippie graffiti still inside, but I didn’t look that close.    There’s a house in Ballarat where Captain America put the dollar bills in a tube in the tank, and where you can ditch your watch.

Chuck Manson's Ride. He was a dick. A Serious Dick.

Be sure to take your watch and chuck it by the side of the road because if you’re going on this ride, You need to disregard time.   It’s Easy Rider man, don’t screw this up.  Find the house, and you’ll know what to do.

Ok, Watch this. It’s gonna set the tone for this whole run you’re gonna make:

Fire all of your guns at once and explode into space brother. Lets go.

Ride on out of Ballarat and head down through Boron California (Home of 20 Mule Team Borax and the Movie Erin Brockovich).  Be sure and stop at the museum there in Boron, it’s actually pretty cool.    Then head to  Barstow.    From Barstow,  head east on 1-40, staying on as much of Route 66 as possible, because that would be the route they took since 1-40 wasn’t officially designated until 1984.    In 1969, it was all route 66 baby!    It’s pretty well marked and If you need more mappage of what the road was like in the route 66 heyday, there’s quite a bit here.    I ride it at least 3 to 5 times a year, and it’s pretty well documented on this site.   Kick the tires and look around.

Anyway, head toward Amboy.   Stop at Roy’s and get gas, because you know they stopped there with 2 gallon Peanut gas tanks.  Roy’s is one of the coolest places on the mother road.   Take some pictures of the 50′s retro sign and head on down the road.   Roy’s is a route 66 original and is in the process of getting resurrected to it’s former glory.   Roy’s is the Shit.

My FLHX in Amboy. Roy's is a Route 66 Classic. Captain America And Billy would have surely gotten gas here.

Keep riding through Route 66,  stay to your right and get back on Interstate 40.  head up through downtown needles and back onto 40.

If you want to check out a cool scene from the movie get off past needles at Park Moabi.   All the buildings are gone now, but you’ll recognize this scene:   Ride it.

Park Moabi Exit after Needles you'll recognize this Scene

Get back on 1-40 (Route 66 from 1966 to 1974) and cross the Mighty Colorado river at the state line.    You’ll notice the bridges there even though theyve changed a bit since 1969.    If you don’t, rewatch the credits of the movie again.   You should recognize it  immediately if you’re paying attention.   This was the part  of the movie that I knew I was an Easy Rider fan for life.   Bust out your Steppenwolf, and dig where you are going.    You’re an Easy Rider.

Keep going on 1-40.   At Kingman, get off the freeway and follow the signs to ride the longest un-interrupted stretch of Route 66 that still remains today.   It ran from the 1920′s untill 1979.     It’s well marked, just follow the signs.

Take Route 66 Through Kingman. You can't hardly miss it.

The place where Billy and Wyatt fixed their bike tire and had lunch was supposedly in Valentine Arizona.     I’ve found no evidence of this, but it makes sense, since Valentine is an Indian Reservation (“my wife’s a catholic, ya know” – Remember that scene?)   Granted, this was on Day two of the movie, and you still haven’t gotten through the movie credit part of the ride, but that’s how movies go.  Valentine is on the Hualapai Indian Reservation and is on route 66.   The terrain also looks the same.

Head through Valentine, stop at the Grand Canyon Caverns (its cool), then  go into Seligman.  Stop at the Snow Cap at the edge of town and eat the best hamburger with the best service you’ve ever had.  The Snow Cap has been there since the 50′s.   It’s another route 66 icon.    Don’t get on the freeway yet at Seligman, ask any local where Crookton road is and head down that instead to stay on what was route 66 until 1979.    It’s what Captain America and Billy would have done.

Get off the freeway and ride through Williams Arizona when you see the signs.   Williams is the last town to be officially bypassed in 1984 by interstate 40, so you gotta see it.   It’s still got the flavor of how it was in 1969.  You’ll dig it.   Get back on Interstate 40 East when you’re done, and head on down the highway…

"hey man, you got a room?"

Pine Breeze Inn Today. Click Picture for more info

By the time you hit Bellemont, pull off.    Get some free coffee at the Harley dealership, stop at the bar and grille next door and see the original No Vacancy Sign hanging as you walk into the bar.   Since I’m giving you this information completely free of charge,  I think it would be a nice touch for you to order a Guinness in the name of Mr Zip, flirt with the bartender and head a quarter mile up the road to the Pine Breeze Motel to see where billy and Wyatt we’re denied a room their first night.   The bartender gal there is a sweetheart, and I’m fairly short and reasonably ugly.   You’ll do better than I did.

The Pine Breeze Inn - You may be able to sleep where Billy and Wyatt Couldn't

Ask the bartender if you can pull out a sleeping bag at the Pine Breeze, or ask the current proprietor at the Pine Breeze if he’s there.   If you want to be hardcore you’ll sleep a few miles up the road by a campfire; If you want to stay where Dennis and Peter stayed, get back on the freeway and head the 10 miles into flagstaff and stay at the Americana Inn.    You have a choice:  Stay where Billy and Wyatt camped in the movie, or stay where actors and crew in real life slept.   Either way, I don’t care.   If you’ve come this far, you’re obviously a biker I’d love to ride with.   It’s ALL good.   You’re goin’  down to Mardi Gras to get you a Mardi Gras Queen.  Start yourself a fire and kick back.

The Easy Rider film crew stayed at the Americana Inn

500 biker points if you sleep by the side of the road.   If you’re a rich urban biker in your new Harley leathers, playing easy rider for the weekend, stay at the Americana Inn.     This is an easy Rider Journey, man up and sleep under the stars.   When you get to New Orleans you can get a real room and bust out some of that cash and get a groovy dinner.  Right now, you gotta start this out right.

Funny story.   Peter Fonda told the story of staying the night at the Americana Inn and his arms we’re so stiff from ape hanging on a hard tail all day, that he couldn’t pull his beer up to his mouth.    He’d also put his leathers in the bathtub and soaked them down to give them a more weathered look, so at the end of the day his legs we’re black from the dye.

Route 66 ends where Interstate 40 cuts it off not far past the Pine Breeze inn, so double back and head East on 1-40 towards Flagstaff.  Get off at Deer Farm exit and road and ride up through Parks Arizona to get back on old 66 and ride down the main street in Flagstaff a few miles later if you really want to stay true to route.     Turn North on highway 89 at Flag.    When you see the sign for  Sunset Crater, head east there and  Ride up through Waputki National Monument, Pick up a hippie (there may be one, I don’t know for sure).  Queue “I wasn’t born to follow” on your ipod for the full effect.

Camp at Wupatki National Monument, start a fire, climb on ruins, and bring bail money. Hopefully the hippie is an attorney.

You’ll need to ride clear through Waputki, double back and get back on 89 and head south to stop at the Sacred Mountain Gas Station.   It used to be a gas station, but now it’s the home of someone.   He’s a nice guy.   He will more than likely tell you some good stories.     He may not.    Either way, you’re on an adventure.   Tell the hippie he owes you a tank of gas.

Sacred Mountain Gas Station from Easy Rider

Sacred Mountain Gas Station Today.

From Sacred Mountain, head north.    Hit “the weight” by the band and listen to it as you ride.    Its a great song.   Turn at hwy 16o and ride through Monument valley at dusk if you time it right.     In the movie, that road ends up at Wupatki, but in real life it’s doesn’t.     You’re probably not riding a hard tail chopper, so keep going until you hit Farmington New Mexico and crash for the night.    Drink beer, laugh, do whatever.   At this point you’re well into your easy rider trip.

If you want to be hardcore and drop off the hippie, you’ll have to swing a bit wide and head into the Malibu hills in California and look for a commune.  Mulholland to be exact.   Good luck finding one.  Dennis Hopper wanted to film at the New Buffalo Commune, but  Wavy Gravy and his people  weren’t into it, so the recreated the commune in Malibu.   Look for Dan Haggerty.   If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you haven’t watched the movie Easy rider and you’re a pussy.    Put your Mike’s Hard lemonade down, Turn your bike around, and head back to LA.    Go eat sushi and buy yourself a Vespa.

You knew this guy smoked alot of weed. Way Too much Weed...

Grizzly Adams can ride. Flat out. He was also one of the guys on the crew that watched and took care of the 2 Easy Rider bikes.

Head into Taos.    There’s several scenes in Taos, including the scene where they head into the commune, as well as the location where they shot the inside jail scenes.    I’m not sure of the jail location.    The opening scene where they bought the drugs in the truck at the cantina was shot here as well (not in Mexico).     Lots of Easy Rider in Taos.

From Taos, head into Las Vegas New Mexico.    Parade without a license here, because thats where that scene was shot.   The outside of the jail, and the spot where Jack Nicholson (George) took his first drink of the day was here as well.

The Jail in Easy Rider from the Movie

The Jail in Las Vegas NM from Easy Rider Today

Take some Jim Beam With you, for obvious reasons.  Toast to ol’ D.H. Lawrence (the crew supposedly slept on his grave the night before in Taos)  NIC NIC NIC FUT FUT FUT!…… INDIANS!     That’s right, you know what I’m talking about.      Dream of the finest whorehouse in the south at Madam Tinkertoys House of Blue Lights.   These are no porkchops, these are Grade A Prime…

The “If you wanna be a bird” sequence by the Holy Modal Rounders was filmed through Coyote New Mexico.

Remember, stop somewhere while listening to “don’t bogart that Joint” and pee on the side of the road.   Anyplace will work.     Also: You better not be wearing fingerless gloves and assless chaps man, not on this trip.

The rest of the route is a bit Hazy until you hit Morganza Louisiana.    In 1969, the film crew was advised against being a long hair in the South, but Dennis Hopper was determined to do whatever he wanted film wise, so they went anyway.     Not much is filmed in Texas as far as I can see, so head toward Morganza.     If you can find the Cafe in Morganza where the young girls and the sheriff and rednecks we’re, you’re a better man than me, because the locals who knew the place said it got torn down a couple of years ago.   In October 2010 they put up a plaque at the site of Melanchon’s Cafe to commemorate the making of the movie and the locals that were involved.  Keep riding, it’s pretty easy to get a feel of 1969 Morganza.

Did anyone else think this kid was a 100% pud in the movie? Yeah, he's a pud.

The rednecks in Morganza were the real locals.    Dennis told the crew to tell them that he, Jack  and Peter had raped a girl outside of town before they started filming to get a real reaction of hate from them.   One thing to remember, is other that a loose premise, Easy Rider wasn’t scripted.   They made it up as they went, and most of the cast would tell you that Dennis Hopper was generally insane in those days.    Dennis later said when they rode off from the Cafe scene that was the one time they were scared and wondered if they pushed it too far.    They’d heard stories of long hairs getting whacked in Texas and Louisiana.    You shouldn’t have the same problem, unless you get way out of line.   Head south.

Head south out of Morganza,  Hit the 190 and then west till you hit Opelousas, then south.   If you’re ready, you’ll have Jimi Hendrix Queued as you hit Franklin Louisiana.    Remember the song?  Thats right old-schoolers, if a six became a nine.   Find the bridge, stop, and queue that puppy for proper listening.

I want to thank my Cajun Friend Johnny for the modern day pictures of Franklin.    You sir, are the man.   I owe you a round of beers Man.

Our Hero's riding down the streets of Franklin

Franklin LA Today. Looks about the same...

Old Theater, then Ben Franklin Store from the Movie. Remember Ben Franklin?

Old Theater and Ben Franklin Today. Do you see it?

Downtown Franklin Then...

Downtown Franklin Now...

One more Shot.

Old Courthouse, Franklin Louisiana Then... (notice the building being built behind the old courthouse)

Old Courthouse is gone. This is the old building that was being built in 1969

Then head on into New Orleans.   Go to where Mardi Gras is.    Now its time for Madam Tinkertoy and Groovy Dinners.   Its Mecca man!  You’ve reached the Glory Hole.   Party like a rockstar, do whatever you do, because tomorrow you’re going to get shot by a short redneck with a Goiter on his neck.    I’m not trying to be  a downer, I’m just sayin’.      It could happen.    You’re almost there.

The scenes in Mardis Gras we’re filmed a month after Mardis Gras had ended.  The parade scenes they shot with friends and some stock footage.   Watch the movie again and you’ll notice.    They also shot these scenes first.   You may have better luck with Mardi Gras then they did if you time it right.

While you’re in Nawlins, pull out your 80′s CD of Tony Basil singing “mickey”.   C’mon, you know you have one.   In 1969 she played a prostitute in Easy Rider.   In the 80′s, she was a one hit wonder with fat cheerleaders.     Hey Mickey!

Easy Rider Ended in Krotz Springs Louisiana.

Once you had your fill of New Orleans, Double back and head towards Krotz Springs Louisiana.   You’ll notice the Levees on LA 105.    That’s where this great movie ends, only you’ll survive.   Now’s the time to bust out a cigar if you have one, because you made it to the end of the movie.    Call a loved one and tell em you’re coming home.   Queue the ballad of easy rider and head on out of town.   You’re gonna retire in Florida Mister!   If a man with a goiter shows, get the hell out of there.

This thread is over.   Im going to end it all of a sudden, just like my favorite Movie, Easy Rider.   Don’t blow it.