The Point

Well, I KNOW you've seen it. If you have watched a car commercial in the past ten years, you've seen it! We used to see it as often as possible. Last summer I introduced some newer members of my family to it. What am I talking about, you ask? I'm talking about one of the most filmed lumps of rock in Western America--Point Mugu.

Here's a cool shot of CoolGuy and the motorcycle on the cliff by the rock. Just continue north on the highway that threads between the point and the mountain and you'll be at the base where he worked for six years. He drove south past this icon many days for lunch at Neptune's Net. (Featured in "Point Break") The Net is a little diner where you can get clam chowder and shrimp and then sit and eat it while watching the surfers at County Line Beach (of the Beach Boys' song: Surfin' USA).

So, anyway, we are quite fans of Mugu Rock and have driven by it countless times. It is a marvelously picturesque piece of real estate with the Pacific Ocean stretching off into the background. Now that you're looking at the photo, I know you've seen it in so many car commercials, huh?

We found another occasion when it was filmed. CoolGuy was vegging recently and as he channel-surfed he found the beginning of an old favorite movie, "North to Alaska" featuring John Wayne, Stewart Granger and even Fabian (!). We remembered seeing it at our home town theater when we were 9 or 10. Plus, the theme song is by Johnny Horton of "Battle of New Orleans" fame. (Well, fame to us in 1960...)

In the plot, Sam is heading south, after he and partner George hit it big in the Klondike. Sam is the only person that George can trust to go fetch his girl and bring her North, now that George has enough money to propose marriage. So there are Sam and George, on the pier in Nome, waiting for the ship to finish unloading, so Sam can board. All around them are men building the boomtown, hauling barrels off the ship, carrying another load of something onto the ship. Sam is dressed in his warm jacket and hat and it is portrayed as a busy Alaskan port.

Except as the camera pulls back to show Sam walking up onto the ship and the hills in the background....we see....Mugu rock. Hmmm...I'm sure I've seen that movie about five times, but none of those times were after I'd lived in Ventura county. So, I'll bet I assumed it was Alaska when I saw it as a kid. But, that beach along the Pacific Coast Highway is about as far from the frozen north as you can get. I still like the movie.

Here's a gorgeous day in September on the PCH between Malibu and Port Hueneme.
Neptune's Net is often crazy busy on the weekends. It is a perfect motorcycle ride from L.A. and sometimes you'll see "bikers" that you normally see in their other life starring in a t.v. show or a movie. If you're really lucky, you'll see the Sexiest Man Alive 2008*...

*and every other year since I first laid eyes on him*