IT’S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD Locations Then And Now

So last night during a fit of channel surfing, I came across Stanley Kramer’s all-star, comedy epic It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on MGM-HD and as I watched Phil Silvers, Mickey Rooney, Sid Caesar, Milton Berle and the rest rampage across southern California in a race to uncover $350,000 in stolen loot, I started to wonder about how the myriad locations used in the film have changed over the years. Lo and behold, this morning I stumble across this video, posted by the folks at the Criterion Collection just this past Friday highlighting the half century of changes that many of the locations have gone through. (And I am sure that it has nothing to do with the fact that they have just put out a new blu-rayof the film. OK, maybe just a little bit.) I think that the most amazing thing is how built up some areas became over the last 50 years as California has continued to expand while others have remained virtually unchanged over time.