Kim Novak frantically rushing into mission San Juan Bautista in a still capture from the film "Vertigo."

Adventures

Obsession!

San Juan Bautista and Vertigo: The impact of Alfred Hitchcock's classic film on a small Central California town.

Hitchcock, Lydon, and Obsession
In the fall of 1957, Alfred Hitchcock and his cast and crew swept into San Juan Bautista to film perhaps the most important scenes of the classic movie Vertigo. Sandy Lydon, a young testosterone-fueled college student, was in San Juan that weekend in a futile effort to catch a glimpse of Kim Novak. The resulting movie had a profound effect on both Sandy and San Juan.

Sandy Lydon meeting Kim Novak (in his mind) in this slightly altered poster.






Hitchcock's fantasy version of the mission San Juan Bautista with its fanciful tower (the better to fall from, my dear…); the present-day mission belfry built during the mission's restoration in 1976. Was it a matter of life imitating art?


So much so, that Sandy co-chaired a 50th Anniversary Symposium in October of 2007 during which hundreds of Vertigo groupies converged on San Juan from all over the world to share obsessions and watch the screening of the movie inside the mission church where part of it was filmed.

Dates:
Friday evening, June 10, 7:00-9:00 PM, lecture-discussion on the history of San Juan Bautista and the coming of the movie. Room 435 on the Aptos Campus of Cabrillo College.

Saturday, June 11 – 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM – A day-long bus tour beginning at the Cabrillo College Watsonville Center (map will be provided registrants) The Resetar Hotel played an important role in the story…We will view some of the famous scenes on the bus video system while they are outside the window. We will examine the story of the tower and how it still haunts the San Juan landscape to this day.

Transportation: Comfortable motorcoach.

Walking? We will walk approximately one mile during the day as we reconstruct the movie's filming sequences in San Juan.

Cost: $95 before May 20; $105 after May 20

To Register

Because of the subject matter, children under 18 may not participate in the course.

Meeting Place: The bus will make pick-ups and drop-offs in two locations:
#1 – Cabrillo Aptos campus, Parking Lot E – depart 9:00 AM
#2 ---Cabrillo Watsonville campus – depart 9:30 AM

What you should bring:
• Layered clothing
• Comfortable walking shoes
• Picnic lunch

To Register