We love the big city! And LA is one of the biggest. There is so much to see and do there and we only had a couple days. Jerry grew up in Riverside, east of LA, so it’s always fun visiting and reminiscing as well. This time we toured both the presidential museums (see last post) and Warner Brothers and also visited Huntington Beach and an old friend of Jerry’s in Riverside. It was very exciting to be in the middle of things again after a lot of weeks in rural areas.
Our stay at Hollywood RV Park was exciting all in itself. They park your RV for you with that forklift because they have so many RV’s packed into a very tiny city park. The whole place is decorated with Hollywood themes and is super cute. They cater to those working in Hollywood but also to traveling nurses or people who are getting treatment in nearby hospitals.
Steve was very kind and quick with getting our little home in it’s place
Huntington Beach – one of Jerry’s favorite growing up and in returning visits. This is an adorable old pic of him (circa 1990) and we attempted to find the same lifeguard station to get a new pic.
So we found Huntington Beach State Park Lifeguard Stand #3. We thought they had just changed them up but then we talked to the lifeguard stationed there and he told us we should be looking for Huntington Beach City Park for blue stations.
We found it! Huntington Beach is 9.5 miles of beautiful sand and waves.
We think WE live on the west coast but this really is the real west coast! (The sunset coast)
Next up Warner Brothers Studio Tour. We somehow never toured this before and were excited to see where some of our favorite old shows were filmed. We were mainly interested in memorabilia surrounding Friends, ER, West Wing and The Big Bang Theory.
Warner Brothers really are 4 brothers!
Quite some interesting contacts in his book – like Cecil B. Demille, Walt Disney, and Salvador Dali.
We rode up front like fan girls with our guide, Thom.
This house is mainly for filming from the outside, but if there’s a scene where someone walks in, there’s just enough of the house inside the door to make it look real, but the rest of the inside of the house is probably on a sound stage (see further below)
This was where they filmed “The One With The Prom Video” from Friends. The scene filmed here was in Ross and Monica’s parents’ house. This shows how the houses aren’t made to be real. They often want places to put lights or cameras, but they just show the right angles so you can’t see how the walls aren’t connected right.
This is a set for Abbott Elementary. They built a school looking set in front of this other set
If you look inside the doors it seems to be a school hallway but that’s just a fake display to make it look like it has depth. This show was on hiatus but is currently being filmed.
Close up of the fake hallway
The FRIENDS fountain
A city street that was used in filming many TV shows and movies. It’s amazing how many things they film by making just small changes to the set. In a town square nearby they told about how they were filming a scene that was supposed to be winter, so they manually pulled all the leaves off the trees. The next movie to film there was set in the spring, so they had to come manually attach silk leaves back on all the trees.
A room where they re-record dialogue if it didn’t come across well in the original recording
We got to have lunch in the commissary. We weren’t allowed to take pics so you’ll just have to take our word for it. It was a very nice and fancy lunch. This is where actors, producers, directors, etc might meet over meals.
The FRIENDS studio. Lots of fun must’ve been had inside there
Stage 16 is used for numerous movies and shows that have water scenes – some examples filmed here: Goonies, Dunkirk, Inception (A family fav), Tenet, and Poseidon. It’s the largest stage on the whole lot.
Stage 16 – there’s a massive water tank underneath the floor that can be filled and used when needed
The prop department
We’re a kitty loving family so we enjoyed these fake kitties. He’s looking at you, though!
Kristi at President Bartlett’s Oval Office desk from the West Wing. It’s a replica of the Resolute desk used by many presidents.
Jerry signing some bill into law or something
A lectern from West Wing.
Several Agent Smiths from the Matrix movies
Thom showing us a life like baby prop
Stage 11 – where ER was filmed for all those years! Kristi really wishes we had visited while this was still filming – the best medical show of all time!
Central Perk
Jerry’s sitting in Sheldon’s seat.
The Big Bang hallway and Penny’s apartment door 4B!
Sitting in Joey & Chandler’s recliners to have our Center Perk drinks – they were nice!
Dinner with Tanya at Islands in Riverside. Kristi & Tanya’s first time to meet.
They hadn’t seen each other since 1990
Jerry & Tanya – 1990
Each morning at Hollywood RV Park we heard stuff start hitting the top of the camper as soon as the sun rose. Jerry went out the last day and spotted a squirrel up there chomping away in the tree above and dropping stuff out of his mouth onto the roof.
Time to go so they had to tow us out of there! It was quite an experience. See ya next time LA.
