Name That Photo - Reveal - Fun in Acapulco

The reveal to Name That Photo - It's All in the Name - Where am I?

A couple of years ago I went to Mexico - and the place that was at the top of my list was Acapulco - I just had to see the Acapulco's cliff diversl hurl themselves off a tiny ledge 105 feet above a narrow seawater channel just 12 feet deep.   They still fly for more than three seconds, breaking the water with clenched fists at speeds of more than 50 miles per hour.  But time has changed everything else. 

From the late '40s through the '60s, Acapulco was the fountain of cool.   Sinatra was here, and Sammy Davis Jr. and Errol Flynn, John Wayne, Brigitte Bardot, Sean Connery when he was licensed to kill, Tom Jones and his hips, Rocky Marciano and his fists.

They called it the Mexican Riviera, and it was as hot as Saint-Tropez and as cool as Havana before Castro. It was elegance: Hedy Lamarr married here and LanaTurner lived here, the Nixons spent their 25th anniversary here, the Kissingers honeymooned here..

The glitterati came here, to the cliffs at La Quebrada, to see divers called Monkey and Fatso and the Doctor defy death for pennies. When Acapulco was hot enough for Jack and Jackie's honeymoon, for one of Liz Taylor's weddings (to Mike Todd) and for Elvis to chase Ursula Andress around in a movie called "Fun in Acapulco," the divers were every jet-setter's favorite souvenir photo.

The last vestiges of hip Acapulco linger at La Perla restaurant in the El Mirador hotel, which still has girls in wow-short skirts making the rounds with trays of cigarettes. Here, in a room where diners get perfect views of the cliff divers, the visiting celebs used to autograph the walls.

Then local craftsmen traced those signatures with chisels, carving them into the wood-paneled walls forever.  One small and worn panel, at floor-level next to the bathrooms, bears the carved signatures of Sinatra, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Ginger Rogers. The little curly "a" at the end of Sinatra is less than six inches from the bottom hinge on the ladies' room door.  The place has a special magic!

I know for me, Elvis was a cliff diver in "Fun in Acapulco" so I've wanted to see it all my life. For the record, it was filmed in Hollywood, with a stand-in diver used for the big final scene at the cliffs. But who can forget the featured songs"You Can't Say No in Acapulco" and "No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car? :-) ya ya I know I'm dating myself here :-) 

If you or someone you know is thinking of Buying or Selling property in Cultus Lake, Chilliwack, Hope, Abbotsford, Langley or anywhere in the Fraser Valley Area of B.C. - or if you would like more information please give Liz  Moras of Landmark Realty Chilliwack a call at- 604-799-0459 or e-mail at lizmoras@gmail.com.