Uncovering the San Francisco Mystery in Paul Reubens’ ‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’

Paul Reubens, aka the ever-infectious Pee-wee Herman, died Sunday night at the age of 70. Fittingly, the social media tributes quickly began rolling in to salute one of the most singular comic talents of the late 20th century.

At the height of his fame, Pee-wee was a cultural phenomenon. His 1985 smash-hit movie “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” was a wonderfully weird 90 minutes of zany joy. There just wasn’t anything else like it.

I watched the film in a sweet spot moment when I was 10 years old, and then spent much of 5th grade — like everyone else in my class — quoting the movie. Sure he made: “I know you are but what am I” culturally ubiquitous, but the movie is just a field day of quotable lines: “I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel.” “Good morning … I’m heeere.” “I brought you guys … french fries!”

Years later in a feature writing class, I made the case that Large Marge’s soliloquy was a great example of descriptive writing: “There was this sound … like a garbage truck dropped off the Empire State Building.” Amazing.

On my way to Coachella in the early 2000s, I would always stop at the diner in Cabazon, with its looming dinosaurs outside (though I refrained from ever telling the waitress that Large Marge sent us).

In terms of setting, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” just exuded SoCal scenery. The film was shot in locations such as Glendale, Pomona and Santa Monica. So I was kind of dumbstruck years later when I noticed a prominent San Francisco connection in one of my favorite scenes — the basement meeting.

For some reason, Pee-wee’s brilliantly unhinged recounting of the evidence surrounding his bike’s disappearance takes place in front of a giant map of San Francisco. I had watched the film dozens of times and never noticed it until I recently showed the movie to my daughter.