As longtime followers of this blog are sick of hearing, I love the movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. I usually refer to it as my "favorite" movie rather than the "best" movie ever made…and I pick that adjective because when you use the word "best," there's always some clown who wants to correct you as if you'd stupidly said that 2 + 2 equals 749 or that the Mona Lisa was painted by Desi Arnaz. Like it's an established fact that whatever he thinks is the best movie is The Best Movie — end of discussion, you chowderhead!
"Favorite" cuts down on that, at least a little…though a few years ago, I did have one guy stop me at a convention and try to convince me that my favorite movie was not my favorite movie; that my favorite movie was actually his favorite movie. In fact, it was probably your favorite movie too, even if you didn't see it.
All that is one of the reactions I get when I say Mad World is my favorite movie. Another is that every few months, I get a call or e-mail from someone who wants me to tell them how to go visit The Big "W" from that film. I got one this morning from someone who read this article that I posted here. That piece was written by my dear, no-longer-with-us friend Earl Kress, who did once make the sacred pilgrimage to visit the location.
I need to inform the gent who wrote this morning that, first of all, that article is about thirty years old. Secondly, I have never bothered making that trek because I've been informed — reliably, I think — that the current owners of the property do not indulge visitors the way the previous owners did. I have also been told that there is absolutely nothing left there that in any way matches up with what was there when the movie filmed in 1962. The last of the four palm trees that formed The Big "W" fell down or was cut down a long time ago.
There are locations that can be visited. Stick "it's a mad mad mad mad world filming locations" into any search engine and you'll find all you need. The most recognizable and easiest-to-get-to is probably the California Incline, which is a road/ramp in Santa Monica that leads down to the Pacific Coast Highway. The ramp itself was completely rebuilt a few years ago but the area there still has the feel of the same period and a couple of key scenes were shot there.
But there's no reason to visit The Big "W" today, starting with the fact that there is no Big "W" there. And the $350,000 payroll from the tuna factory was dug up a long time ago.