 |
Seeing Stars: Where You Can Shop for the Stars
8200 Sunset Boulevard,
Hollywood, CA.
Alas, the Dudley Do-Right Emporium
closed its doors for good in July of 2004.
Fortunately, the giant statue
of Rocky & Bullwinkle remained on the spot for almost a decade.
But in July of
2013, it suddenly vanished. Turns out that it became cracked, and
DreamWorks removed it after the property owner decided it was too
expensive to fix.
We don't know
what DreamWorks has planned for the statue, but they do have a
Bullwinkle-related movie coming out in 2013 ("Mr. Peabody &
Sherman"), so perhaps they are restoring the statue to use as publicity
for that film.
Update: Los Angeles magazine spotted the statue under wraps at Warner Bros. Studios. And later, in late 2014, the same magazine reported
that the statue had been lovingly restored by Ricardo Scozzari at the
behest of the Ward family.
The statue was on display through December 2014 at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills.
The most recent
news is that the Bullwinkle statue will finally return to the Sunset
Strip, but not to the same spot as before. Instead, it will now
be located in a public lot at Sunset Blvd & Sherbourne Drive (8775 Sunset), just
west of Sunset Plaza. (That's about a mile west of its
original location across from the Chateau Marmont.)
Update: As of early 2017, the return of Bullwinkle to the Sunset Strip
is being held up by the construction of a high-tech billboard across
the street. Apparently, the city of West Hollywood wants to make
sure that the base of the statue doesn't clash with the new
billboard. But the City insists that they plan to return the
moose to Sunset as soon as possible. "Stay tuned for our
next exciting episode..."
I will leave this page up for
a while for those who might be interested in reading about the Emporium,
but keep in mind that the article below was written when the shop was still
open.
|
 "And
now here's something we hope you'll really like..."
As you drive down Sunset Boulevard, just west of Crescent Heights (across
the street from the legendary Chateau
Marmont) it's hard not to notice a giant statue of Bullwinkle
J. Moose (holding Rocky the Flying
Squirrel) on the south side of the Strip,
 This
15-foot-tall statue of Rocky & Bullwinkle
stands outside Dudley Do-Right's Emporium, a small, eccentric
gift shop named after that fearless Canadian Mountie. Inside, the shop
is filled with toys, stuffed animals, trinkets, hats, t-shirts, wristwatches,
original animation cels, cartoon scripts, recordings of TV themes, and
assorted souvenirs, all bearing the likenesses of Bullwinkle
& Rocky, Boris &
Natasha, George
of the Jungle, Dudley Do-Right,
Nell, Snidely Whiplash,
Mr. Peabody & Sherman,
Super Chicken, and the other famous,
wacky creations of Jay Ward Studios.
 In
fact, the gift shop is located right next door to the former Jay Ward
Productions (8217 Sunset Blvd.), a tiny studio building, where
some of the nation's favorite cartoons were brought to life. Ward Productions
Inc. is now run by Ramona Ward and Tiffany Ward, Jay Ward's widow and daughter.
The original "Adventures of Bullwinkle and
Rocky" ran on network TV from 1959 to 1973. But the Frostbite Falls
characters have been experiencing something of a renaissance lately, what
with the recent release of a live-action movie version of "George
of the Jungle" and the release of live-action film versions of
both "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" and "Dudley
Do-Right" due from Universal Pictures. And of course the Cartoon
Network is still rerunning the classic Ward cartoon shows every weekend.
Jay Ward and his wife both recently received stars on the Walk of Fame.
Robert DeNiro
(who starred as 'Fearless Leader' in the movie version of "Rocky
& Bullwinkle") says that he remembers seeing the giant
statue of Bullwinkle across the street when he used to stay at the Chateau Marmont.
 A
mural on the studio's western wall depicts the evolution of a cartoon,
and the surrounding area contains colorful toon-like tile work; the courtyard
bears the signatures of those who originally helped create Rocky &
Bullwinkle. (The giant statue of Bullwinkle is actually located a few spaces
to the west of the gift shop & studio.)
If you're a loyal fan in search of a Bullwinkle souvenir,
you've come to the right place. If not, there's not really much to see
here - unless you want to shoot a photo of the statue. (Even then, the
statue looks a bit cheesy up close...)  But
this wacky landmark is certainly something you won't find anywhere else
outside of Hollywood, and you might want to stop by just to satisfy your
curiosity.
(Incidentally, if you are a fan of the Frostbite
Falls gang, you can also catch a live Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
at Universal Studios
Hollywood.)
Note that the store keeps unusual hours. They are
open only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 11 AM - 4:30 PM.
There's a small parking lot out front, or you can park in the larger lot
of a nearby shopping center just to the east.
 Getting
there: The statue and gift shop are
located on the south side of the Sunset Boulevard, just west of Crescent
Heights - across the street from the legendary Chateau Marmont. / From
Hollywood & Vine, take Vine Street two blocks south to Sunset Blvd.
Turn right (west) on Sunset, and go west (a little over two miles) to just
beyond Crescent Heights. The statue will be on your left (south) side.
[For more information on this subject,
you can access a web page about the Emporium at: http://www.designtrain.com/jayward.]
Looking
for something in particular? Search the Seeing-Stars website!
|
|
|
