SANTA PAULA : Residents Praise New Series Filmed in City

Most Santa Paula residents reacted favorably Friday after seeing the premiere episode of “Angel Falls,” television’s nighttime soap opera in which Santa Paula stands in for the fictional Montana city of Angel Falls.

Customers at several cafes said they enjoyed seeing such Santa Paula landmarks as the train depot, the Mill feed store and the Unocal Oil Museum in the CBS series.

And even if the show’s formula of steamy sex and country manners didn’t please everyone, residents praised the infusion of Hollywood money spent to hire locations and compensate neighbors.

“Of all the film companies I’ve dealt with, these guys are way and above the best,” said Jim Hanks, whose Chili Hut cafe was transformed last week into an Angel Falls restaurant.

His daughter, Kathy Hanks, said she felt foolish when she failed to recognize series star James Brolin as he waited at the cafe’s counter for shooting to begin.

“I was going to ask him if he was an extra,” said Hanks, a waitress, after mistaking the actor for a local. “After I realized it was ‘Mr. Hotel’ himself, I walked off with my tail between my legs.” The television series “Hotel” ran from 1983-88.

In an informal survey, residents who saw the series premiere Thursday night said their favorite character was Rae Dawn Snow, the single mother with a scandalous past who was played by Chelsea Field.

Joanne Banman, a new resident of Santa Paula, also enjoyed the Rae Dawn Snow character, who in the series returns to Angel Falls after her father’s death to take over his pool hall.

“She’s a naughty girl, but she does it so well,” said Banman, who added that she will tell relatives in Winnipeg, Canada, to watch the show so they can catch a glimpse of Santa Paula.

But the reaction was not uniformly favorable.

“There was entirely too much sexual innuendo,” said a woman at Logsdon’s restaurant who asked not to be identified.

At the bar behind her, five customers who had not seen the show interrupted, exclaiming in unison, “We want to watch it now.”