Interviewer: We’re at Olive and Alameda in what Johnny Carson used to call “Beautiful Downtown Burbank“. Actually, downtown’s about two miles in front of us. It’s east, beyond Interstate 5 and (gag) The Los Angeles River, that concrete spillway that cuts through L.A. county, and hits the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach.
The folks in line hold tickets to the Tonight Show, and will soon be ushered into NBC Burbank’s Studio 3. Jay Leno’s guests will Jeff Foxworthy, Larry The Cable Guy, Tim Russert, and David Lee Roth, so it should be a good show. This is Burbank’s Media District. A half mile behind us is Warner Brothers, and to our right is Disney. The three story ivy covered building (just to the right of the stop light) was home to Dick Clark Productions for over 20 years, but the company moved out in 2005. Though it’s gone downhill, the Acapulco Restaurant hangs in there, perhaps thanks to hungry out of towners here to see Leno. They’d be better off grabbing a spicy chicken burrito with walnut sauce at Choza Mama, the Peruvian cafe two doors west!.
Behind the Dick Clark building is Niagara Street. Heading down Niagara and strolling two blocks, beneath rows of old pines, we turn up a driveway and come upon this bucolic scent...
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