Movie-cino - Mendocino, CA

Sunset, April, 1997 by James A. Martin

A 1-mile walking tour of Mendocino, California, conjures up Russian invaders, hoary sea monsters, and the ghost of James Dean

For a remote coastal village, Mendocino has seen a lot of action. In 1966, a Russian submarine invasion had the entire town in an uproar. From 1984 to the mid-1990s, mysterious murders were committed - and solved - every Sunday evening. And in 1980, an army of mutated creatures rose from the sea and went on a rampage.

We're talking, of course, about the reel Mendocino - that photogenic Northern California town whose rustic, unspoiled, dramatic beauty has made it a favorite location for Hollywood filmmakers since the 1940s. Among the town's screen credits are the hit comedy The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966); the popular TV mystery series Murder, She Wrote (1984 to 1995); high-powered dramas such as Oscar winner Johnny Belinda (1948) and East of Eden (1955), James Dean's breakthrough film; nostalgic classics like Summer of '42 (1971), starring Jennifer O'Neill; and a few schlock thrillers, too - among them the salmon-monster saga Humanoids from the Deep (1980).

MENDOCINO PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 44831 MAIN STREET

Begin at California's oldest continuously used Presbyterian church, and Mendocino's most recognizable landmark. In 1948, the church was seen in Johnny Belinda when Warner Bros. shot several key interior and exterior scenes here. The studio donated money to the then financially strapped church, which the church used for badly needed roof repairs.

MASONIC HALL, LANSING AND UKIAH STREETS

Designed in 1866 as a Masonic lodge and now home to a bank, this striking white wood building doubled as the courthouse of Cabot Cove, Maine, in Murder, She Wrote.

MENDOCINO MERCANTILE, LANSING AND MAIN STREETS

In the early 1970s, a vacant shop on this spot was converted into a World War II-era pharmacy for the film Summer of '42. In a memorably comic sequence, the hero, Hermie (Gary Grimes), sheepishly attempts to buy his first condom at the corner drugstore. Today, Hermie would be more likely to shop for aromatherapy candles or wind chimes here.

FORD HOUSE, MAIN STREET

This mid-1800s house is now a historical museum. The Ford House was a sheriff's office in the film The Killing Time (1987) and was a regular in the later seasons of Murder, She Wrote.

CORNER OF MAIN AND KASTEN

In the first few moments of East of Eden, James Dean loiters on this corner, shadowing a mysterious woman (Jo Van Fleet) whom he suspects is the mother he's never known.

WOODWARD STREET

After she leaves the bank, Van Fleet walks up Kasten Street, hangs a left on Albion Street, and pivots right on Woodward, trailed by Dean all the way.

MENDOCINO COMMUNITY LIBRARY, LITTLE LAKE STREET

Eventually, Dean follows Van Fleet to this street, where he discovers the source of her big bank deposit: she's the madam of the local bordello, now Mendocino's library. The East of Eden crew added the oversize pillars on the porch to exaggerate the building's appearance; the pillars are still here.

BLAIR HOUSE, 45110 LITTLE LAKE STREET

This is Angela Lansbury's home in Murder, She Wrote. Almost. Exteriors of the 1888 Victorian with Lansbury tending her garden were filmed here, but interiors were shot on a soundstage.