Stupid Map Tricks

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 sent cartographers scrambling to redraw shifting borders. No such urgency apparently gripped the star map industry after the demise of Buena Park’s Alligator Farm in 1984. Its former location now staked out by a Claim Jumper restaurant, the Alligator Farm lives on in the “Points of Interest” section of the “Movie Stars’ Homes” map hawked up and down the Sunset Strip. Guaranteed “revised every 90 days,” it also holds these curiosities:

Virtual Superhighway: The “proposed” 105 Century Freeway (opened October 1993)

Disco Immortal: Under “Recommended Clubs”: Tripps (folded 1994), Nucleus Nuance (1994), Le Cafe (April 1995) and the Palomino (August 1995). Confusion reigns in the “Restaurants” category as well: Alice’s in Westwood (renamed twice since 1993) and the unexpected relocation of the Santa Ana Planet Hollywood to Anaheim.

Pessimists Welcome: “I’ve never heard of that club,” responded a puzzled Yamashiro’s hostess when asked about the star map’s listing: “Optimist club meets every Tuesday noon, Yamashiro’s.”

Hot Air: Disposition of the 12 phone numbers listed to schedule your “Baloon [sic] Rides”: eight are disconnected, two are pagers, one is a fax line and another the answering machine for a guy named Sam.

Amazing, Heretofore Unknown Spelling for a Venue: Universal “Amphy Theater”

Channeling ‘Charlie’s Angels’: Recommended television tapings to attend include “Knot’s Landing” and “The Wonder Years” (both canceled May 1993) and “L.A. Law” (canceled May 1994)--each, in any event, filmed without a studio audience.