Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 17, 2009 - 08:55pm PT
caught Huell on his telly show hiking up above Saddlebag Lake.
went up past Greenstone Lake. I don't think he did the North Ridge of Conness, or one of the couloirs on North Peak though.
Just watched Cali Gold, saw the shot of the lake w/ Conness in the background, I've seen that same shot here on the Taco!
Now wich effin thread was that........Damn....who took us on that TR to conness and the colier???
Too fun, I love the Taco!
Marcus
I love Huell Howser. He was the sports caster on the evening news in Nashville, when I was growing up.
Huell and I both up and moved away from there. Said Californy is the place we're to be, so we all got loaded and moved from Tennessee.
I loved it when Maysho guided Huell to the top of Half Dome and he's up there interviewing folks and those two west Hollywood types offered him some alcohol... ' (bleep!) YEAH!'
Was out in JT earlier in the month. The neighbors there watch Huell every night. I saw the show on the amphicar. I even remember ads for that back in the fifties.
Man, what a maintenance effort to keep something like that in one piece for 60 years!
HH's gotta have one of the greatest attitudes I have ever had the prividlege to watch. A camerman I used to work with ran with Huell for years. Guy's supposed to be a workhorse. Always loved his show because he almost immediately works up an intimate relationship with folks and the viewers. That takes great emotional skills.
"Queer as a football bat" is something Huell would probably howl at because I'm thinking the guy just rolls like that.
I had no idea who Huell was when I took this (don't watch the tube)and I was trying to get a nice shot of the SB Solstice Parade Director when this really friendly guy put his arm around her. Of course after chatting (needed their releases) I learned he did a series - he was not filming, just having fun before the parade kicked off.
Now that YouTube link above is just magic - I see what I've missed!
I went sailing with Huell earlier this year, he was looking old but seemed hail and hearty IMHO. Got to talk with him quite a bit, he is a genuine guy, no facade on camera.
He did an episode in the meadows once, waterwheel falls.
Oh myyyy. Just LOOK at this LAKE! It's amazing! And the snow! It's even more amazing!
God I love Huell Howser.
I've seen him a few times at the Saturday morning Joshua Tree farmer's market. Many folks at the market recognized him. As a big a celeb as we've seen there. I think he kind of wanted to be left alone but he's Huell Howser, a California treasure! He was polite enough to all his well wishers but never stayed long.
I met him when he visited San Onofre.
He was taken by the beach culture, surfing history, and natural beauty of the local state park.
He became a vocal opponent to the proposed toll road that would affect the park and surf spots.
Here he is narrating a PSA for the Surfrider Foundation.
I'm going to miss that guy's voice and childlike sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world.
I had the honor to have lunch with him at the fire station I worked at in the Los Feliz district of LA, while eating lunch he asked if we ever rescued cats out of trees, we all said no, that only happens on TV, well not 2 minutes later we get a call for a cat stuck in a tree. The timing and his look were priceless. You will be missed.
So sad! He was such a fixture I thought he'd be around forever. Though he apparently grated on some people, I found his sense of wonder and enthusiasm to be genuine and I loved watching his programs. I remember both the Conness piece and the one on LeConte Falls, which I still have yet to see.
Kind of reminds me of what Elvis's old guitarist Scotty Moore (I think) said about learning of Elvis's death: "It's like if somebody told you there weren't going to be any more hamburgers in the world."
One of his episodes he interviews an elderly man that use to work and train with an Elephant, there is a reunion of the elephant and man after some 15 years.
I loved him, he was so excited about the most mundane things and then... Bam!!! With his manner, Huell will get someone to open those unknown places, like the underground station in L.A. that is truly wondrous. I don't think anyone else could sweet talk them into showing it. Only Huell because he really was interested.
"One of his episodes he interviews an elderly man that use to work and train with an Elephant, there is a reunion of the elephant and man after some 15 years."...
That was a really COOL episode (So MANY, were!!!)...
I'm truly sad to hear he has left us. I've always enjoyed his shows. Truly enthusiastic and it was very contagious. The Man truly seemed to have fallen in love with California. I think I remember him saying he was former Marine and that he had spent time at Camp Pendleton.
I was riffing on Huell Howser one afternoon at the bridge to the Pt. Bonita lighthouse. The docent (my victim) nearly collapsed laughing. Apparently H.H. had filmed out there a week or two prior, and I had just nailed it. R.I.P. Huell, you'll be missed.
Anyone can do a show on Yosemite or Sequoia , but Huell went to the forgotten, insignificant, and borderline mundane places in CA . I always wondered how he managed to stay so enthusiastic and upbeat when talking to some old timer or looking at some dusty old can .
Huell Howser was the real deal. His authenticity always shone through, no matter where he was or who he interviewed. Never did he come across as a phony - because he wasn't one.
Huell effortlessly maintained a genuine child-like awe and fascination for ordinary people and things and places, so rare in this age of media arrogance and slickness.
Who now will uncover those people and places just off the beaten path that Huell found so fascinating, so worthy of both his and his audience's attention ?
Who will find the old man in the desert , living in a marvelous house of glass bottles, an old man the world had ignored and passed by a generation ago?
Who will uncover the unlikely story of the guy in the local donut shop, on the busiest urban street in LA, who managed to rise out of poverty only to make the best donuts in town?
Huell gave a shining light to the unknown, the forgotten, and the uncannily interesting. People and places just off the beaten path.
It took an uncommon man who approached others without disabling judgement, and with a sincere empathy , and an ever- curious heart .
When Huell Howser came to Tuolumne to film California's Gold, i didn't even know who he was.
Years later i finally got a television, and had fun watching a bunch of his shows.
In 2005, i got to met him in person while he was filming an episode of his show in Chico.
He was a pleasure to met, and he signed the cd copy of the show...........very nice man...
OK, only Huell could bring me out of Taco Stand winter hibernation... genuine, enthusiastic... he was the real deal. He was a big piece of California's Gold! This is like losing a family member. Chokes me up. I remember seeing him at the opening of the YCA's Granite Frontiers opening reception at the Autry and being too shy to go say hello. What was I thinking???? I have always said I have had no regrets in my life, but this may be an exception.
The best tribute to Huell I can think of is to be like him: Welcoming, interested in others, genuinely enthusiastic, and curious. Some of you here definitely have it in you... I've seen it! Keep the magic alive!
His plan for the visit to Newberry Springs didn't quite work out, so Huell had to wing it. That Bagdad Cafe bit is priceless.
In one part of that visit, he and Cameron pulled off on some dirt road to look at this desert rat's abode. Huell approached this guy and it was very tense. This guy lived in the desert for a reason. He was not happy to see a dude with a microphone and a camera walking towards him. He was suspicious, a little paranoid and we thought Huell might actually be in some danger.
Within a minute, Huell had engaged this guy and had him showing off his rock and crystal collection. The dude was very sharp and knew his geology. He had a great collection, too.
It was a great episode, and showed what Huell was all about. RIP.
huell's brand of journalism is actively discouraged by media management. this very thread demonstrates how welcome and well-received it would be. his predecessor was charles kurault, who stayed on the road a couple years, then got kicked upstairs, then kicked out of the attic.
Wow....78 posts on the taco and not one negative remark - I think that's a record? For him to have such an impact on this notoriously cynical crew speaks volumes. I had the pleasure of meeting him @ Warner Bros., a very nice man with an infectiously great attitude.
That Newberry Springs show was the best, unrehearsed, pure road trip gold. He visited some real characters on that trip. Huell owns the Volcano house in that area, it is up for sale.
I went sailing with Huell last year, genuine guy for sure, it was a cold, wet and windy day on the bay, but he was a great sport about it!
I like the part on the half done cables hike episode where he tops out and walks up to a couple guys about to celebrate the summit with some shots and he offers Huell a shot. Huell says sure, the camera cuts away for a couple seconds and comes back and you know Huell just downed the shot and was even happier than normal.
Let us know!