In developing the story it was decided that the town of Cactus Cove would have an offbeat, eccentric nature to it, and this would be represented in one image: a 16-Foot Hula Girl welcoming people to the town and waving them on their way. What could be stranger than a mascot calling to mind a watery paradise in the middle of the desert?

Art team assembles Hula Girl.

The Hula Girl could be a key tool used to create the tone the team wanted, and thus the Production Designers were determined to build her from scratch. They recognized the need to get started as early as possible, and so immediately began their research, scouring the Internet and becoming regulars at the museum in Hesperia that houses a similar Hula Girl sign.  This project was an enormous design challenge because Lola (as they came to call her) had to be: two sided, able to withstand the strong desert winds, easily transportable, wearing a brassiere that could light up in a domino fashion, and assembled and disassembled very quickly as the shooting schedule was extremely tight (she was mounted in two different locations within two days).

Jib arm shot of Hula Girl.

The talented Production Design team met every criterion, and designed and built a masterpiece to be proud of.  In fact, Lola became quite a celebrity in the town of Lucerne Valley.  The last night of desert shooting went late into the wee hours of the morning, so it was determined that Lola would remain standing until the Art Department could dismantle her the next morning.  Upon arriving at the site in the morning it was discovered that our beloved Hula Girl had been mercilessly egged while unattended for those few hours, and a group of townspeople were there taking pictures with her.  They asked the filmmakers if they would consider leaving Lola there as the new town sign.  When they told them they couldn’t do that, the townspeople asked if they could rent her for parties and proceeded to push their contact information on the team.  It seems that Lola made an impression on the desert.