A House in the Middle of a Mall

Stage I - base of the house





We had a great time at the Grove.  For those not familiar with the Grove, because Vince had no idea what it was.  It is an outdoor mall in Los Angeles that houses upscale stores and the farmer’s market.  The show Extra also films at the Grove every weekday.

 As I previously shared we hauled in a small house that was to be built in the middle of the mall for a 3 day promotion by Tommy Hilfiger.  The house is promoting the company’s Prep Shop and will only be open at the mall from June 10^th – June 12^th.  I was shocked to learn that all of this work was for only 3 days, but I guess that is how marketing and promotion works in big companies.

When we arrived Monday morning, the first truck was just getting in to place.  Tony, the driver, had decking needed for the base of the house which was to be placed on sand that had been hauled.  After the decking was down it was our turn. Vince believed the best way to get into place was to back into the mall.  As I was at the back of the trailer helping Vince, a gentleman with the mall approached me and asked if it wouldn’t be easier for him to drive in.  I shared with him that Vince was not under that impression and suggested he talk to him.  I radioed to Vince that this gentleman was on his way up. After talking to Matt, who ended up being a top manager with the mall, Vince radioed Matt was jumping in to show him the way and asked if I was walking or riding.  I said I would walk, because I wanted to walk the route ahead of Vince’s arrival so that I could see if there were any complications.  I must say over the 3 last years I have become much more comfortable helping Vince get into places.  I was confident I could assess the situation and see maybe not all, but most problems.

 By the time Vince and Matt came around it appeared to me the only problem would be getting around the movie theater marquee. I believed it might stick out just enough that any pitch of the trailer might hit it.  Another issue was 3 pickups and a van parked on the left side of the road by the theater.  I radioed my concerns to Vince, who shared that Matt was already out of the truck preparing to get the vehicles moved.  I knew that Matt was my kind of guy when he walked up to the security guards and told them that all four of the vehicles had to go.  So many times theatre and other location representatives expect these drivers to work magic around vehicles that have no business being in the way, because they don’t want to upset people.  Trust me I have seen many Clark drivers do just that, work magic to get in docks and along curbs all while dodging cars. But not that day, Matt was in charge and I loved it.  He even shared with Tony and me that if they couldn’t locate the van driver they would be pushing it out of the way.  I love a guy not afraid to take charge.  After all the vehicles were moved, yes they found the van driver, darn it, Vince made it around the marquee with ease.

Stage II





After we were in place Matt introduced himself to me and shared that Extra would be filming in about 20 minutes down the way and if we wanted to see a movie he would arrange it.  We thanked him, but shared we didn’t know how long we would be there.  He said “oh you are going to be here all day, so just let me know”. 

As we were being unloaded, Tony, Vince and I were hanging by our truck, when I noticed a woman taking pictures of the truck.  It is not unusual to see people taking pictures, it happens all the time.  European travelers are fascinated with American trucks because they have nothing like it in their countries.  Little boys are also very drawn to our trucks. People are always getting up on the side boards and having their picture taken when we are in the big cities.  Vince and I have given many tours of our trucks. Vince likes showing off the trucks to the little boys because he would have loved to have had the opportunity to see the inside of one when he was a kid, but didn’t. So he is always open to giving a little guy or gal the chance to see inside.

As we saw the woman, Vince looked over asked me if I felt like giving a tour.  Of course, I love showing off our truck. As I approached the lady, who turned out to be an American living in California was thrilled to learn we were the owners and jumped at the chance to see the truck. I gave her a tour and learned her name was Linda.  She and her husband and I exchanged stories about our travels and lifestyles.  When I shared that I had a blog she asked for the link and made a suggestion that we put the link on the side of the truck so people could follow us.  It was nice to share our truck and story and I just wanted to take a moment to give Linda thanks for the opportunity and suggestion.   


Linda and me by our truck

 About an hour later, Sam who was in charge of the project stated he would need Vince to drop the trailer and then come back at 2:00 pm to pull it out of the mall. He then needed him to return at 11:00 pm to complete the unloading.  The crew working on the house was only called in for 6:00 am to 2:00 pm shift, the next crew was scheduled from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am.  Unhooking from the trailer for the first part was not a problem because Vince could park the tractor next to the parking garage, but leaving between 2:00 pm and 11:00 pm was a different story since the closest truck stop was 50 miles away.  Fifty miles in LA traffic is way different than it is in most other cities.  It could take us 4 hours to go that far, which yes, did happen to us once. 

So with only a couple hours left, I told Vince I wanted to at least go down and watch some of the taping of Extra.  Matt had by this time introduced us to one of the gentlemen from the Extra crew, who had shared that the guests were Wendy Williams and Linda Carter and their appearances were scheduled for 1:30 pm and 2:00 pm.  I knew we wouldn’t be around for those times, but it looked like they were filming some other segments so we wandered down.  Well, let me tell you that Mario Lopez is as cute in person as he is on TV and also just as nice.  He talked with people and encouraged people to get into the shots; it was really nice to see.



Mario Lopez during taping of Extra



After making an attempt to be the audience of the Extra show, sadly I didn’t make it but the guy to right did, so I was close. We were talking again about the parking/truck stop issue, but never fear, because it was Matt to the rescue when we ran into him again. He was checking to see how we were doing and wondering what movie we wanted to see.  We shared that we had to leave at 2:00 pm so that wouldn’t be possible.  He acknowledged knowing we need to move out of the mall, but shared that we could park by the parking garage and if that didn’t work there was a dock area in another part of the mall.  We were so grateful to hear that we didn’t have to head to the truck stop.  He stated “it’s LA you aren’t going to find parking.”  He then walked us over to movie theatre to get us tickets to the Hangover II.

Stage III

Around 2:00 pm we moved the tractor and then it was off to the movies.  Later, on the way to dinner we ran into Matt one last time and thanked him again for making our time at the Grove so enjoyable.  He shared he was happy to do it and glad we had such a great time.  A genuinely nice person like Matt is rare. He is definitely one of the best managers I have ever met. 

After dinner it was a nap then back at 11:00 pm for the completion of the house. Due to the darkness I was not able to get the completion of the house but hope the pictures give you a good idea.  It was a great day but now it's time to truck back across the country.


Stage IV - a wall up