# The "rockford files" ca. 1970 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648 "2013-04-02T17:59:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/1 "2013-04-02T17:59:29Z")
I like this old show-I catch it on METV. Anyway, I had a few questions: -Jim Rockford lives in a decrepit old trailor parked in a lot in Malibu Beach-is this for real? (Malibu has the most expensive real estate in the USA!) -Is the little restaurant nearby still in existence? -Malibu Pier- who owns it? Is it free to the public? A down and out PI living in Malibu on a shoestring-is such a scenario even possible?😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/2 "2013-04-02T18:03:08Z")
1. It’s parked in a parking lot, not on a private lot. 2. Yes. It is now called “Paradise Cove Beach Cafe.” 3. IIRC the pier is owned by the State of California 4. Sure. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/3 "2013-04-02T18:09:33Z")
Was Malibu the most expensive real estate in the US in the 70s? ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/4 "2013-04-02T18:40:51Z")
Great book on the subject with lots of behind the scenes stories and trivia: [Thirty Years of The Rockford Files](http://www.amazon.com/Thirty-Years-Rockford-Files-Detective/dp/0595342442/) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/5 "2013-04-02T21:40:05Z")
If you like _The Rockford Files_, you should check out the movie _Marlowe_. Garner plays Philip Marlowe in that movie but for all practical purposes he’s playing the character that would become Jim Rockford. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/6 "2013-04-02T21:56:34Z")
I was about to ask how he could afford that cool car when he was living in a trailer in a parking lot. Then I realized I was confusing RF with Mannix. And James Garner with…the guy that played Mannix. Man, I am so old. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/7 "2013-04-02T22:07:12Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I was about to ask how he could afford that cool car when he was living in a trailer in a parking lot. > Then I realized I was confusing RF with Mannix. > And James Garner with…the guy that played Mannix. Mannix drove a cool car … like Rockford’s gold Pontiac? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/8 "2013-04-02T22:32:28Z")
I never wondered how he could afford one gold Pontiac, but it got destroyed at least twice. I always wondered how he could replace it. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/9 "2013-04-02T22:45:57Z")
Googling the Mannix car it appears that there were more than one. I was thinking of the [green sixties Dart with mild customization.](http://www.motorpressguild.org/assets/media/WWDOct2011_Mannix%20Dart%20screencap%20from%201969.jpg) It doesn’t do much for me now but when I was a kid it seemed cool. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/10 "2013-04-02T22:54:47Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I never wondered how he could afford one gold Pontiac, but it got destroyed at least twice. I always wondered how he could replace it. IIRC he mentioned insurance in at least one episode. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2013, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/11 "2013-04-02T23:51:31Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I never wondered how he could afford one gold Pontiac, but it got destroyed at least twice. I always wondered how he could replace it. He generally spent a scene or two yelling at the person he held responsible for the damage and getting them to agree to pay the bill (sometimes in exchange for some favor he had done or would do for them). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/12 "2013-04-03T00:04:26Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Googling the Mannix car it appears that there were more than one. I was thinking of the [green sixties Dart with mild customization.](http://www.motorpressguild.org/assets/media/WWDOct2011_Mannix%20Dart%20screencap%20from%201969.jpg) It doesn’t do much for me now but when I was a kid it seemed cool. That is a pretty cool car, but I don’t remember Mannix being identified with it the way Jim Rockford was with his Pontiac. Not only was it wrecked more than once, he was continually abusing it with rough high-speed chases and whatnot. One memory I have of my dad’s last visit to Minnesota is him watching Rockford and moaning “That poor Pontiac!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/13 "2013-04-03T00:15:58Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > And James Garner with…the guy that played Mannix. Mike Connors (I actually remembered this) > [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Man, I am so old. Maybe so. But at least we’re younger than James Garner (84) and Mike Connors (87). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/14 "2013-04-03T00:21:14Z")
I loved this show when I was a kid - I was way too young to be allowed to stay up late enough to see it, and way too young for this grownup a show when it premiered, but since I was in the hospital and there was no one around to tell me not to, I saw the premiere, and somehow managed to keep watching it when I got home. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/15 "2013-04-03T01:03:28Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > He generally spent a scene or two yelling at the person he held responsible for the damage and getting them to agree to pay the bill (sometimes in exchange for some favor he had done or would do for them). The two cases I’m thinking of are when he used it to help slow down the truck carrying T.T. Flowers and Rocky, and the time it got blown up by the dock workers who thought Rocky knew about their plan to hijack a shipment of furs. I don’t remember the perps paying either time, and Jim’s insurance premiums must have been through the roof. His trailer got (partially) blown up once, too; Korean-era grenade in the skylight over his bed, but it was fine by the next episode. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/16 "2013-04-03T02:40:07Z")
Don’t forget the time his brakes were cut and he had to drive into a mound of dirt to stop. Actually, I think that happened more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/17 "2013-04-03T03:31:59Z")
Someone put a tank of nitrous oxide in his car, he got loopy, and (I think) drove through some hedges and into someone’s yard to stop. And there was the time Fred Beamer stole his identity while he was on vacation and dented every corner of the Firebird, but I don’t think it was totaled either time. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/18 "2013-04-03T11:51:12Z")
We used to love the show back in the day, but we tried watching recently and found it tedious and predictable and … well, boring. We started with season 1, I think, and maybe we should look again at a later season? ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/19 "2013-04-03T12:50:32Z")
> [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > We used to love the show back in the day, but we tried watching recently and found it tedious and predictable and … well, boring. We started with season 1, I think, and maybe we should look again at a later season? Probably not - I don’t recall the show changing much over the years. I watched a couple seasons while home sick last year and enjoyed, but a lot of the pleasure was vintage car-spotting. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648/20 "2013-04-03T13:16:51Z")
I remember his gold Pontiac being chased by two hitmen in a Vette. Rockford escaped by power sliding up next to a police car stopped giving a ticket. Stuart Margolin and then Noah Beery Jr. were two pretty likeable co-stars of his. Margolin was known from Kelly’s Heroes and Love American Style and Beery from westerns like Red River. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rockford-files-ca-1970/654648.md?page=2)