Better Get It the 1st Time
The First City Bank facade on vacant property Downtown went up in spectacular smoke and flames Sunday--right on schedule--for the filming of a movie. A splendid old state government building stood on the Civic Center site until it was razed in 1975; the 1971 Sylmar earthquake and a bombing in the state attorney general’s office had rendered it unsafe.
In 1988, about 50 homeless people were ejected from an encampment there. Since then, the only construction has been a fence--until Columbia Pictures set up the facade for the comedy “Blankman.”
The phony bank was built last week of quarter-inch plywood with foam columns. It’s unlikely that anyone went looking for an ATM on the premises, but Thomas Meeker of Raffi Cohen Industries, who oversees the lease of the property, says: “Sometimes those things are so realistic, they can confuse a person.”
Meeker’s wife once saw a staircase Downtown--part of Metro Rail construction, she thought. “My wife crossed the street,” Meeker said. “She actually thought it led to a subway.”
It was a movie set.
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
