Huell Howser Archives: California’s Gold | Hacker News Reader

Huell Howser Archives: California’s Gold

blogs.chapman.edu

78 pointsthaw1357922 comments

Required viewing: https://youtu.be/kWVFEVWJMz8

Huell’s show had a real loose feeling without a budget. I loved that. At one point he had a phone call with the owner of a cafe to ask about a photo of Burt Lancaster on the wall. The other half of the call wasn’t recorded and the conversation went nowhere but they still aired it.

I cherish the authenticity of it all.

I was going to post this exact one if nobody else did. Excellent episode. It certainly was a great show. Very informal and informative.

I love how that thing sounds

That is one episode I never saw on cable reruns. Is that for real? Or does the performer just pantomime the motions of making the music?

The Fotoplayer is based on a player piano so the musician isn’t always playing the piano, leaving them with a much more sensible amount of work to do. One person bands are very much a thing and I think this performance falls well within the realm of plausibility.

Indeed this is real and not a pantomime.

Huell Howser visiting the Bagdad Cafe is a classic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImpGsMenmSs

Personal favorites

"Salt" about the salt ponds around the South Bay. https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1999/01/08/s...

"Drawbridge" about a ghost town in the marshes of the South Bay. To me, it was more interesting as a glimpse into how people lived a hundred years ago. https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2002/01/08/d...

And because I think it's important to remember the ugly parts of history, lest it be repeated, I'd recommend "Manzanar" https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/2002/01/08/m..., "A Tale of Two Cities" about Colonel Allensworth State Park https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1992/12/10/a..., and "Weedpatch" about the 'Okies' https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1995/12/10/w....

Every time I'd take the train down to SJ, Drawbridge was always a favorite sight.

Someone had told me there was some sort of Speakeasy thing out there during Prohibition. Urban folklore as far as I know.

I don't know either, but my father-in-law claimed to have got drunk there during prohibition. He died a decade ago, but by my calculation he would have only been 17 when prohibition was repealed in '33. Only know that because he was 24 when he was called up for WW II. Could be true or a very old wives tale.

I visited the Manzanar site, found it worthwhile.

I used to watch his programs on cable TV, back when he was still alive. Even after death, I recall that his videos were still being sold by his company/estate, both on VHS at one point and DVD. But I can no longer find evidence of these direct sales, so I guess only used copies for sale are available now.

Trivia: the character on TV series "Breaking Bad" named Huell was a nominal reference to Huell Howser, according to the video commentary.

Huell Howser was a big part of my childhood - he had this authentic "aww shucks" way about him, while also asking the questions most people would probably ask, seeing a given thing.

He had this charm about him that made anyone talking to him feel heard and excited.

Any Huell link gets a instant upvote from this guy.

"Now, now hold on a minute. You say there's a cayhhuve down there? And you can just go walk in the cayhhuve?"

"Well ahhve just about seen everything now. Come on folks, we're gonna have some fun today."

I had the good fortune to meet him and he was just as warm, gracious and personable off camera as he was on camera.

His archives are a treasure. At the 12:30 mark in the linked video, Huell visits NASA's Deep Space Network complex in Goldstone, CA. https://blogs.chapman.edu/huell-howser-archives/1998/01/08/b...

Gotta love the bunny museum episode! https://youtu.be/1D5LCd5ytRc

I love these shows. Huell’s joyful child-like curiosity would light up and elucidate even the most arcane attraction or monument. It’s good that they are saving these for posterity. They truly are… California’s Gold.

And in case you haven't seen his Simpsons appearance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOnbVbgrZms

Also he voiced the Backson in a Winnie the Pooh movie. A mysterious creature that had everybody scared out of their wits throughout the show until (spoiler alert) he finally shows up at the end and is the friendliest sounding character you can imagine

This brings back good memories as a kid watching Huell with my parents

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