TCM Movie Locations Tour Los Angeles

Hello Film Fans!! I got to go on the TCM Movie Locations Los Angeles bus tour this past Friday.  I had a wonderful time and enjoyed seeing Los Angeles through a different lens.  Throughout the tour I kept realizing that I had driven by many of these locations, many times but hadn't taken the time to notice them or was in too much in a rush to stop and appreciate them.  The tour, tour guide, and film clips covered the silent films of the 1910s all the way to the 2010s.

I was very much looking forward to this tour, after having such a great experience on the New York TCM Classic Film Bus Tour and having lived in Los Angeles twice, the first time for 8-ish years and this time for almost 2 years, I thought it would be fun to be a "tourist" here.  I arrived quite early and decided to grab coffee and mosey around the Grauman's area, I was drawn to Jack Lemmon's and Shirley MacLaine's hand and foot prints and couldn't help but enjoy being near the TCM Classic Film Festival headquarters.  There was a pretty decent turn-out, but I spoke to the Starline employees there and they mentioned that they haven't had a full bus yet.  And mentioned that 100 passes had been claimed today, but only 30 people had shown up, quite curious! Although I'm sure that won't be the case when it gets closer to the Festival.

Around 10am, we made our way over to the fancy-shmancy bus.  It looked beautiful, had very large windows.  The gentleman in the hat above warned us not to open or close the windows ourselves because they were quite heavy and that we would certainly lose an arm if we attempted to move them.  I was sure not to touch ANY windows.  There was a large screen at the front of the bus and a seat facing the riders for the tour guide.  Our tour guide was named Michael and he was wonderful.  He continuously asked if we were all doing ok, he really livened up some potentially dry facts (they wouldn't have been dry to me, but ya know) and conducted some fun trivia contests.

After getting situated and meeting our driver, Jose, we were on our way!  Things started off with an introduction video from Ben Mankiewicz welcoming us to the tour.  Michael gave us interesting information about the Roosevelt Hotel and movies that were filmed at the pool, such as Catch Me if You Can.  As we made our way to Sunset Blvd. Michael talked about famous Hollywood High Alum and the cool mural seen above.

We then drove past the former Charlie Chaplin Studio, which is now Jim Henson Studio (which explains the Tramp-esque Kermit atop it) and the Target complex, which I go to frequently, used to be the backlot for United Artists.

Behind the Target is the Formosa Cafe, which was a famous Hollywood hangout and is seen in LA Confidential.  Across the street from the Formosa is an area known as The Lot was owned by Fairbanks and films such as The Best Years of Our Lives, Some Like it Hot and West Side Story were filmed there.  We also drove by a color lab that Howard Hughes bought and used as an editing studio.  It's where he edited Hell's Angels.

On our way over to Cahuenga, we drove by the General Service Studio founded in 1919, which is now known as Hollywood Center Studios.  They filmed many of my Nick at Nite favorites: Get Smart, Mr. Ed and it was the original home of Desilu studios.  We then drove past Red Studios, which was used in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? as Maroon Studios. 

We then made our way down Melrose and drove past Paramount Studios, where we got to see the famous gate, which is most notably seen in Sunset Blvd.  After driving by Paramount we started heading downtown via. Wilshire Blvd.  There was another video with Ben Mankiewicz talking about the infancy of studios and filming in Los Angeles and the desire to 'move west.'

As we made our way downtown, we passed some lovely landmarks like the Wiltern (scenes from LaBamba and Barton Fink were shot there), the Ambassador Hotel (The Graduate, That Thing You Do), The Talmadge Apartments, and the Bryson (picture above).  There was also a beautiful park at Wilshire and Alvarado.

We then got to the heart of downtown where we saw ares like Bunker Hill and the Westin Bonaventure, which used to be the Marriot where scenes from True Lies, Nick of Time (awesome movie) and Rain Man were filmed.  We then went through the 2nd Street Tunnel, which has been used in movies such as, Blade Runner, City of Angels, and Transformers.

Then we came up to our first stop of the day, we got the chance to go into the Bradbury Building.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.  The way the light came through and the stairs was amazing, even Charlie Chaplin was there!  It was such a treat to get to go inside.  And I just had to make a collage. 

Some movies that filmed scenes inside the Bradbury are Blade Runner and The Artist.

After getting a chance to stretch our legs and enjoy that beautiful building we got back on the bus and drove past Angel's Flight, which was lovely, the spot where the bench was in 500 Days of Summer and the Biltmore Hotel, which is where my father and I stayed when I first moved out to LA go to college.  Some movies that filmed at the Biltmore were Ghostbusters and Beverly Hills Cop.

 

We then headed for the jewelery district, which used to be home to tons of movie palaces.  They have now been converted into stores, churches, or just rundown nothing-ness.  It's sad to see what the beautiful movie palaces of the past have become.  The diamond in the first picture is where the WB shield once was on the theater.  During this part of the tour I was lucky enough to answer a trivia question correctly and won myself a TCM hat, it was very exciting!

 

Up next was our second stop to walk around.  This time it was at Union Station.   Some movies that were shot there were, Bugsy, Union Station, Blade Runner and Catch Me If You Can.  I had driven by Union Station a few time, had dropped off a friend there once, but had never actually been inside so that was a treat.  They were doing construction there too, so I couldn't get a nice picture of the main entrance, but inside looked very nice.

 There was beautiful detailing and old-fashioned touches.

 After the short break we got back on the bus and headed towards the Echo Park/Silverlake area.  We were treated to another video with Ben Mankiewicz telling us about how many silent films were shot in the area and that Disney had gotten its start there before moving North to Burbank.  We drove by Bob's Market, which was seen in The Fast and the Furious.

And a house that was used in LA Confidential, but I was on the far side of the bus and couldn't capture the whole house, but I did zoom in on the cute dog on the porch.

As we made our way through the area we drove by where the Music Box steps from the Laurel and Hardy short.  They are now a historical landmark.  It would've been nice to get closer to the steps, but I will be sure to make a trip over there sometime in the future.  We then got onto Hollywood Blvd and drove by the intersection of Hollywood and Western, which is where some scenes in Double Indemnity was shot.

The tour was rapidly coming to an end as we drove down Hollywood Blvd towards Grauman's.  We were able to see the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory from afar.  Michael shared an interesting story about the Hollywood sign.  When they were looking for sponsors to fund the renovation/rebuilding of the sign, apparently Alice Cooper bought one of the Os for his friend (who knew?) Groucho Marx. 

 We also drove by the Pantages Theater, The Egyptian Theater, The El Capitan and saw the Roosevelt Hotel again before returning to where we had started. Personally note, this got me VERY excited for the Film Festival coming up in just 18 short days.

Before getting back to the parking area we got a goodbye video message from Ben Mankiewicz and I took the opportunity to take a picture of the windows on the roof of the bus.

So that just about does it for me.  The tour ended up taking 3 and 1/2 hours total considering traffic and construction (for some reason there was a lot of it), but it was all enjoyable.  All in all, this was a wonderful experience, done very nicely by TCM.  I could have done without some of contemporary movies mentioned, such as Spider-man 3, Transformers and Fast and the Furious, but I guess it's helpful to get the full picture and show that these areas are still being used today.  Speaking of, we actually drove by a couple of films in production, so I guess we should continue to look out for these locations.

I'm so glad that TCM is doing all these wonderful things to help celebrate their 20th anniversary and that the fans get to be the ones to celebrate.  Happy Anniversary and many more!

Other bloggers who had the opportunity to take the tour and their posts:
Laura's Miscellaneous Musings

Lindsay's Movie Musings

Elsie's Ramblings

TCM Classic Film Tour of New York City

 Hello all, apologies for not posting sooner and for not sharing the awesomeness that was the TCM Classic Film Tour.  I was lucky enough to be approached by a representative from On Location tours offering me an opportunity, as a blogger (a term I use loosely since I'm not the timeliest of bloggers) to go on the tour and I jumped, leaped, vaulted, hopped at the opportunity.  I was going to be in the NYC area over Columbus Day Weekend for a family event so I thought that would be a good time to take in the bus tour.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to go on this bus tour, since I've been living in Los Angeles for the last year.  I always feel like I'm missing out on something classic film related when I'm on the opposite coast.  I don't think I've ever been on a bus tour before and this seemed like a good choice for my maiden voyage.  I made my way into the city and somehow convinced one of my brothers to meet me at the bus to be my plus one (my family isn't as classic film obsessed as me, but I'm slowly converting them).  Anyway, back to the tour.  As you can see in the photo above, this the bus that took us around the city.  We started at the Ellen's Stardust Diner at 51st and 7th.

I first met the tour guide Sarah, who exuded enthusiasm and excitement for all things classic film and for the tour.  She kept the tour lively and fun, even while we sat in traffic making our way cross town to Grand Central Station.  The day started out with an introduction video going over some of the highlights of films shot in NY and included a welcome from Robert Osborne (pictures below).

 The bus was very comfortable, with multiple TV screens throughout.  I also noticed (near the end of the 3 hours) that there were outlets in many of the seats.  This was helpful for a much needed phone charge.  There was also a bathroom at the back of the bus.  I had some trouble with the light/door, but it was really nice to not have to worry about missing anything for a potty break.  Anyway! We began by heading towards Columbus Circle, Sarah pointed out the various films that utilized the area, these films included It Should Happen to You, Superman (Lois Lane lived nearby), Ghostbusters, On the Town and some others.  There were many mentions of On the Town, since it was the first musical/film to be shot on location in NYC.  Here are some shots of On the Town and Columbus Circle.

New York, New York, it's a wonderful town!

From It Should Happen to You

Found the above image from Once Upon a Screen who also had a chance to go on the tour and wrote a lovely overview of her experience, which included riding on the bus WITH Robert Osborne and Jane Powell!

After driving through Columbus Circle we made our way past Lincoln Center.  Sarah shared an interesting story about the filming of West Side Story and showed a clip of Russ Tamblyn discussing shooting in the city.  It turns out that they were able to shoot the film in that area before construction on the current Lincoln Center began.  It is also where scenes from Moonstruck and The Producers were filmed.

Lincoln Center

West Side Story

Moonstruck

Zero and Gene dancing in the fountain

We then headed over to a little area near Zabars, which had a lot of very nice looking buildings.  One of which The Apthorp, which is dually interesting because it was not only where the film Heartburn was filmed, but it's also where Nora Ephron had lived.

The Apthorp

We made our first stop of the day at Zabars, which is where a scene from You've Got Mail was filmed.  We got off the bus and were able to walk around and purchase snacks.  My whole bus wanted to buy the brownies because Sarah mentioned that they were to die for.  They were delish.  My brother also got me some souvenirs.

After Zabars we headed to The Dakota, which was in Rosemary's Baby and also where John Lennon was shot and killed.  We had another opportunity to get off the bus and I have to say it was very strange to stand in the front of the building, but it's definitely a NY landmark.

As we left the Dakota, Sarah shared a funny story about Mia Farrow living in her mother's apartment in a building nearby.  This apartment was used for filming in Hannah and Her Sisters.  After getting back on the bus we headed through Central Park, where scenes from Marathon Man were shot.  I saw that movie for the first time at the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival.  We then drove past the Guggenheim and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Movies mentioned with these buildings/areas included Cactus Flower, Butterfield 8, Midnight Cowboy, Eyewitness and When Harry Met Sally.

"I'd be proud to partake of your pecan pie"

We then made a stop at the house used for Audrey Hepburn's apartment in Breakfast at Tiffany's.  On the drive over there Sarah shared 2 interesting Breakfast at Tiffany tidbits.  One was that Audrey Hepburn was not a big breakfast pastry fan (which helps explain her svelte figure) and suggested that she be eating ice cream instead.  The other piece of trivia was that there were 2 versions of the iconic Givenchy dress, one for walking and one that was just for standing, because it was so tight and she had to be sewn into it.

This was followed by a drive to the 59th Street Bridge, which was made iconic in the movie Manhattan.  My brother and I were not as iconic, but still a lovely view.

We then made our way to Lexington and 52nd, which is wear Billy Wilder and company filmed the famous subway grate scene from 'The Seven Year Itch.'  Ultimately the scene was recreated on a set, they still had an evening shoot at this location.  Sarah mentioned that TCM hopes to set up a plaque or a memorial at the location, right now it just looks like any other subway grate.

Sarah did her best Marilyn impression:

And my brother didn't see what all the fuss was about:

We then started to make our trek towards the last stop on tour, Grand Central Station.  There was an inordinate amount of traffic as we made our way cross town and to pass the time Sarah led the bus in a trivia contest.  It was a lot of fun and I'm not just saying that because I won :).  There were many questions about information that we heard/learned on the tour and other questions about general classic film knowledge. Here are pictures of the very nice t-shirt that I won:

Everyone also got an issue of Now Playing.  

While heading over to Grand Central Station we passed some other interesting buildings, such as the Seaman's Building, St. Barts, St Regis, Rockefeller Center, The Waldorf Astoria and The Empire State Building.  To the left is a clip of King Kong sharing a moment with the Empire State Building.  Other films that were filmed there were Love Affair, An Affair to Remember and Sleepless in Seattle.  By the time we made it to Grand Central Station I was a little bit out of sorts, because I had to catch a train back to Long Island so I could catch my ride to the airport (I was flying back to Los Angeles that afternoon/evening).  But I did get some pictures of Grand Central Station before frantically speed walking to Penn Station to catch my train.  But the movies that have been filmed there include: North by Northwest, Spellbound and The Thin Man Goes Home (to name a few).

All in all this was a wonderful tour and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to experience it.  I loved that we got to make stops along the way and soak in the location.  It was great that the bus had TVs so that we could watch enjoyable clips, interviews and explanations of the wide variety of films that have been filmed in the city of New York.  It was great to have such a knowledgeable and fun tour guide, Sarah and be surrounded by a nice group.  I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any and all tours put together by TCM and/or On Location Tours.  Thanks for reading!

List of the movies mentioned on the tour (that I either wrote down or somehow remembered): 

On the Town, Ma and Pa Kettle Go To Town, Sleepless in Seattle, West Side Story, Network, Nothing Sacred (Which has the honor of being the first technicolor film shot on location in NY), Butterfield 8, Ghostbusters, Superman, Annie Hall, Manhattan, You've Got Mail, Rosemary's Baby, Hannah and Her Sisters, It Could Happen to You, Marathon Man, Cactus Flower, Hearburn, Eyewitness, When Harry met Sally, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Midnight Cowboy, The Seven Year Itch, North by Northwest, Spellbound, An Affair to Remember, King Kong