Rockford Files Locations
Written by Jim Suva
In July 2011, Pat McKinney and I went to find the locations that were used on The Rockford Files. Below are some of the locations we found.
Here is the original location of Jim Rockford’s trailer in the parking lot by the Malibu Pier on Pacific Coast Highway.
The first two pictures are from the show. Last two are 2011.
First picture below is Lankershim Blvd. in 2011. A number of scenes of Jim driving down this street have been used. The second picture is St Charles Boromeo. The inside of the church was used while filming “Find Me If You Can”. The church is located on the corner of Moorpark and Lankershim Blvd.
“The Real Easy Red Dog” First picture is from the episode. It shows the Services entrance to Ruehmanm Pontiac in 1975. The next picture is of the dealership today. It now sells BMW’s. The third picture is the house where Stefanie Powers character lived in 1975 and the fourth is 2011.
Jim entering the house and the side view of 4265 Denny Ave. North Hollywood.
“The Trees, the Bees, and T.T. Flowers” The church is located on the corner of Cahuenga and Whipple in Toluca Lake. The first two picture are from 1976. The third picture was taken 2011.
“Beamers Last Case” This is Tony’s Body Shop located at 4730 Blix Street in North Hollywood. First picture is from 1977 and the next two are 2011.
Here is Jack Kelly’s characters home at 4365 Forman, Toluca Lake. First picture is the gate to the property in 1977. The next picture is the gate 2011. Third picture is the driveway 1977. Fourth is the driveway 2011.
“Hotel of Fear” Here is the Mob Bosses Nova’s house located at 4256 Navajo, Toluca Lake. First two pictures are from 1977 and the last two are 2011.
“Rosendahl and Gilda Stern are Dead” The intersection is at Cahuenaga and Riverside Drive in Toluca Lake. This is where Abe Vigoda and Robert Loggia’s characters met. The first two pictures are from 1978 and the last two are from 2011.
This is Rocky’s House located at 3654 Lankershim Blvd., Studio City. The house has had an addition built on the front of house. It now has a row of trees in front.
This is Bob Morse’s Beach Cafe, Paradise Cove. It use to be called the Sandcastle. It has changed quite a bit over the last few years. Jim Rockford’s trailer use to be parked in the parking lot. That part of the parking lot is now a sandy beach with tables. Below are pictures of Paradise Cove, July 13, 2011.
I hope you enjoyed these pictures. It is always nice to see what the locations look like today.
YEE-HAW: The General Lee (a ’69 Dodge Charger) takes a ride. (Photo courtesy of CBS)
The Saint’s Volvo: The Saint, played by Roger Moore on the 1962-1969 TV show, 
The Alfa-Romeo Duetto from “The Graduate”: Another personal connection because I owned that car’s linear descendant, a 1976 Alfa Spider (with a cut-off Kamm tail instead of the Duetto’s rounded example). Alfa even created a “Graduate” model because of the popularity of the movie and
The “Bad Timing” Mercedes: Admittedly not a star movie car, this circa 1959 Mercedes 220S from Nicholas Roeg’s 1980 “Bad Timing” again duplicates one of my own cars — my all-time favorite. It was probably the scene with Denholm Elliot and Teresa Russell, captured in the video below, that stimulated my interest in the car in the first place. Alas, I let mine get away, and now I couldn’t touch a nice one for less than $10,000. If you get a chance, 
The “Julie & Julia” Buick: I’d love to own one, but they’re worth $40,000, so it’s not likely anytime soon. 
The 1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville from “Mad Men”: Don Draper (John Hamm) brings home this beauty in the second season, at his boss’ urging. It’s interesting that there 
Hey Star Car Fans!
Our “Banner Girls” lead the way out in front with Sue in Her Get Smart Sunbeam and machine gun! After a long wait on a beautiful tree lined street we finally got started and the crowd loved seeing all their old “four wheeled friends” from TV and movies from the past!
Here’s a nice shot of Sue with our award banner at the end of the parade!
Paul brought out his “MAD MAX” Interceptor for a rare look at his very rare replicar with right hand drive and meanest looking police car around!
New to our group this year is Stephen and his Jurassic Park Explorer! He is actually more into rock climbing than star cars, but his truck is a crowd pleaser! We have yet to get Stephen and Ari together, who has a Jurassic park Jeep!
Transformers, assemble! and then turn off your engines and wait for a bit longer! John’s BumbleBee Camaro from Transformers is followed by Jason’s “Ratchet” Transformer ambulance from the cartoons! You can also see Tony’s top notch Smokey and the Bandit Trans am and Lou’s Torino from Starsky and Hutch bringing up the rear in the above photo.
Behind Tony is Nate Truman in his new “A-Team” van – this is the last shot of the van before the front push bar and even MORE front lights were added! “I pity the fool” who doesn’t love Mr. T and his van!
Alex put on his light and sound show with his amazing KITT car from Knight Rider!
Cliff and his son are behind the wheel of their NASCAR inspired Herbie, like in “Herbie, fully loaded”
Oscar’s 308 GTSi Ferrari decked out like in the Magnum P.I. TV show is pretty at any angle!
Charlie brought his Green fastback Mustang like the one Steve McQueen drove in “Bullitt” the dream car of many men in the crowd!
Paul drove his Back to the Future Delorean with gull wing doors open, and sounds from the movie blaring! Reba, get that leg back in the car!
Dave and his family tooted out the familiar sounds of “DIXIE” as they displayed their Dukes of Hazzard General Lee Charger!
A few times a year we are always happy to see “the other” batmobile! Tom’s car is sweet and he’s one of the few guys Nate has to chat with about after burners!
You are not seeing double, this is Jason’s “classic” Herbie as the lovable Bug appeared in the early movies! Jason also was running through the cars to get all these photos and did all the paperwork and phone calls so we could all play with our cars down the middle of the street! Thanks Jason and “Dad” Dave!
Mark with his Adam-12 Cruiser gets extra “good guy” points for coming despite being in terrible pain! His “reward” for his troubles? He started overheating due to the slow speed of the parade! So he switched on his police lights and sirens and tore to the end of the parade to let the car cool down! Thanks for putting yourself through all that! The crowd loved seeing the car tear down the street and I thought it was the “real” cops behind me – not the “REEL” ones!
I saved Brian’s car for last, as we all were amazed at his latest “upgrade” to his James Bond BMW from Tomorrow Never Dies. He brought along a pal dressed as Super Spy James Bond, and he pretended to drive the car by remote control, just like in the movie. No one can accuse Brian of wanting the spotlight, his friend was cool and collected walking down the road while Brian was well, it’s easier to just look at the photo!
In other words, it’s frickin’ beautiful, and it’s here at California Speedway on a cool February morning ready to take on its shiny new grandchild, the 
In sum, it’s a General Lee ready for a really big jump! Only this one never got a chance to commit on-screen automotive suicide.
The new Hemi, like the old Hemi, is a pushrod, overhead-valve engine with an iron block, and it has an eager personality thanks to variable cam timing and a stiff 10.5:1 compression ratio. However, with its contemporaries moving on to six-, seven- or eight-speed automatic transmissions, the Charger R/T’s mandatory five-speed box is antiquated.
Of course the rack-and-pinion steering has more feel and is much more precise than the General’s. Naturally the new Charger’s all coil-sprung, all-independent suspension is more supple than the General’s. And, naturally, its four 245/45R20 all-season Firestone Firehawk GTV tires produce superior stick.
The standards for both comfort and performance have come a long way in 42 years, and even if Bob Hartwig’s General Lee had shown as a pristine, brand-new 1969 Charger R/T 440, the 2011 edition would be the better everyday companion.
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