Most people have seen this popular Mel Gibson film about a man who opts to be frozen in order to await the eventual revival of his comatose girlfriend. Although IMDB lists the on-location shots for the diner/accident scene as being filmed elsewhere, I was there the day production crews set up the portable “diner” set on a street corner in Northridge, California, just a half-block from where I was working. We could see Mel and other cast members filming all day.
Most memorable, however, is the lighthouse scene. Mel’s character, having been thawed out sixty years after his cryogenic deep freeze, goes looking for his now senior gal-pal, and ends up at Point Arena. Crews built a shell of a Victorian house and a gazebo on the land (only the gazebo remains today) and cameras rolled as Mel landed a small plane with the lighthouse as a backdrop. (Collective sigh, here!) (Note: his little boy buddy was none other than that famous “One Ring” caretaker, Elijah Wood.)
Would it be hokey to say that Point Arena is forever young? The original tower, razed after the 1906 earthquake, was first lit in 1870. The replacement, a 115 foot beacon that was placed into service in 1908, celebrated its centennial last year. According to the go-to web lighthouse experts, The Lighthouse Friends, although 1.6 million dollars in renovations were made last year, the lighthouse is still in need of paint. The Fresnel lens has been moved to the fog signal building, and the now-empty lantern room began providing a large observation area for visitors as of February, 2009. Read more about it here.
There are four rental homes adjacent to this majestic lightstation that are rented out to visitors. You can bet this is a vacation locale near the top of my list!
a young Mel and a lighthouse..does it get any better?
The rebuild is not as attractive as the original, but the location…wow!