Hollywood North-Marine Link – Acrylic on Canvas

Description

The Inspiration

Many movie stars from Hollywood escape to the Islands off the Northwest Coast. A couple of reasons: they run from the relentless heat and constant threat of summer brush fires in Southern California.

Secondly. the spectacular beauty and isolation of the area draws them in and often compels them to purchase small islands or large tracts of land.

When BC was attracting movie makers. a large number of  California actors discovered that “Hollywood North” offered them a quick escape from their day to day lives in the heat!

When Brian visited the area, he shot 900 digital images on the Discovery Marine Link Mystery tour—a testament to the beauty of the area.

Some visitors to the area include John Travolta, Goldie Hawn, Antonio Banderas, even George Bush Sr. and British P.M. John Major.

More historically, the North Coast has been the playground of the Hollywood greats: John Wayne, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, all coming here for the beautiful silence and the great fishing.

Locals still remember shooting pool with John Wayne when his yacht became stranded on top of the sand-bar in the mouth of the Campbell River Estuary.

Large yachts can now be the size of small aircraft carriers with their own helicopters, and tow-along sailboats to cruise the area.

Many are Microsoft executives from Redmond, Washington. Bill Gates’ birthday party on an island off Cortez Island is still talked about. Its extravagance in such a remote part of the world made for months of conversations up and down the coast.