San Diego’s First TV Private Eye
Harry O premiered on ABC in the fall of 1975. It was the first, but not quite the last, private eye TV series filmed in San Diego. At the time, we were all very excited to have a big-time TV show being filmed here. I watched it with my Mom every week (I think she was a secret David Janssen fan).
The show was one of the more creatively (if not commercially) successful versions of private eye shows made for TV. Harry came with the usual baggage—a former cop with a bullet lodged near his spine who picks up the occasional private eye case to help pay the rent. In short, he was down on his luck, living on the beach, with an old sports car that was always in the shop.
But what made the series interesting was its variations on the usual TV crime tropes. There were no car chases (not at first, anyway). Harry didn’t carry a gun. He relied on city bus services to get him where he wanted to go (a notable accomplishment in San Diego). Harry’s interior voiceovers captured the bruised romanticism of SoCal noirists such as Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald and Janssen delivered them in his best world-weary manner. The first episode, Gertrude, won The 1975 Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Writers Award (“the Edgar”) for “best episode in a television series.”
Sadly, the series only lasted two years and even more sadly, it left San Diego behind after only thirteen episodes. For financial reasons, the show was moved to Los Angeles and put Harry in a trailer at Malibu Beach. Not unlike another show which had premiered the same week—The Rockford Files. Apparently there wasn’t enough room for two private eye shows on TV.
The first Rolly Waters mystery was called Black’s Beach Shuffle. Coincidence or subconscious inspiration?
Harry makes a call from Coronado Island, with Downtown San Diego, circa 1975, across the bay.
More reading about Harry O:
The Thrilling Detective – Harry “O” Orwell
Crime Reads – REMEMBERING HARRY O, THE SEVENTIES’ SECOND BEST, MOSTLY FORGOTTEN PRIVATE EYE SERIES
How fun, it was ended before I was born. My mom helped film a private eye series in San Diego a few years ago, she did set design, but I don’t think it has been purchased yet. That picture of him on the phone looks like it’s near Il Fornaio, where I had my first wedding dinner back in 2004. Second wedding, about 3 years later, I had lunch in Seaport Village.
I think you’re about right with the Il Fornaio location. Somewhere near the ferry landing at least. Hope your mom’s tv series gets picked up and we get another SD private eye!