When I was a kid, I had an insatiable fascination for all things Hollywood. Here I am an older kid and I still do. I loved the movies and every one I saw made a massive impact on me. I was a Sci Fi fan even back then and I remember being scared out of my mind by “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and other movies like it. Before they actually arrived I used to dream of the day when we would be able to save the movies we loved so we could see them over and over. Now, to my love of travel and photography I have added vcr’s.
The entrance gate you see here is one of many gates that have admitted more great stars than we might dare to remember into the magical world of the movies. The memories that a movie fan can encounter by taking a tour through one of the several Hollywood studios would at the very least stretch the imagination. I know, I have done it on many memorable occasions.
The one let down of visiting one of these wonderlands behind fences is that once you have seen the magic up close, the movies are never the same for you because you have lifted the curtain of illusion.
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What appears to be an old western building like a saloon is in fact just a false front kept standing by a sea of scaffolding in back. Give that false front a new coat of paint, add a few cosmetic changes and it can be anything the producers want it to be as indeed it has been in an endless vault of prized old cowboy films.
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I have always rented a car in any destination I visited for a photo shoot where a car and drive had not already been provided. If you are truly a lover of photography, you must have the freedom to stop and go when and where you want to. Imagine my excitement when I was driving along one of Hollywood's broad avenues and my eye spotted the futuristic vehicles you can see here. If you know your movies you will recognize the car from the movie "Logan's Run" or the imagination bending lines of the ultimate land & sea machine in "Damnation Alley."
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While I was touring one of the studios, “Burbank” I believe it was I spotted the very unusual black beast that terrified movie audiences in “The Car” with James Brolin. It’s amazing how Hollywood can make even a car look fearsome.
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That pink conning tower of a ww2 submarine of course was from "Operation Petticoat." I have always wanted a Balao Sub but that is one model that I have never been able to find. And in the final image for our brief visit to Hollywood you can see one of the sets for one of the biggest movies of all time "Psycho."
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There are so many things for the movie lover to see and experience in Hollywood and Los Angeles that it might take a thousand or more lifetimes to see it all. I hope you have enjoyed these shots from the home of glitz and glitter I have so many others that I will share with you in another visit somewhere along the road to Imagine Land.
Be Well
Big Jim
