“Lights, Camera, Valley: Movies That Were Filmed in the San Fernando Valley, Part 1”

So, this subject always gets brought up a lot in my inner circle. What has been filmed in the valley? Well, there is a lot?

There are numerous of television shows and movies that have been filmed in the San Fernando Valley whether it be on location or at the studios itself.

5 films out of many filmed in the valley + a bonus

•      Back to the Future (1985)

•      ET the Extra- Terrestrial (1982)

•      Fast times at Ridgemont High (1982)

•      Karate Kid (1984)

•      Valley Girl (1983)

•      The Bad News Bears (1976) *

The 70s & 80s were a rad time! So much freedom, so much coolness! So many fun movies were made in the 1970s & 1980s, I’ve lost track of how many. These 5 films plus the bonus were all filmed in the early-mid 80s. the bonus was made in the late 70s. All 1980s ones were close together in years as well, so this makes this a perfect top 5 plus bonus to talk about. Let’s get into it!

Since there are 6 subjects, I am dividing them into 3 and 3

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PART 1:

Back to the Future (1985):

GREAT SCOTT!

Back to the future was one heck of a great movie I must say, so much coolness in that movie is beyond of what it was even at during its time. It was way ahead of its time, no PUN intended.

Back to the future came out July 3rd, 1985, it was directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The runtime was 116 minutes. The genre was science fiction, comedy, and adventure. It was a Universal Studios film. The movie stars Michael J fox as Marty McFly, a teenager who is going to high school, back in 1985 who accidentally travels back into 1955 in a time machine built by scientist, Dr. Emmett “DOC” Brown, who is played by Christopher Lloyd.

So basically, what the movie is about is that Marty McFly’s friend doc brown has created a time machine out of a DeLorean, Marty travels back to 1955 where he accidentally interferes with the first meeting of his future parents, George McFly and Lorraine Baines. At the same time, Marty must look and try to find Doc Brown in the year of 1955 to figure out how to generate enough electricity to send himself back to the year 1985. If you haven't watched the movie I highly recommend it. It's one of the best films ever made. It gives a lot of nostalgic universal vibes to it. The movie is basically about time travel, family, friends, changing history, the 1950s versus the 1980s culture and nostalgia. It brings out comedy, science and invention in a small-town America era and trying to understand your parents before they became your actual parents which was a bit confusing but that's what the movie is about. Basically, Marty is being sent 30 years into the past and encountering his parents as teenagers which obviously creates a chain reaction that threatens the future because you can't literally change your past since it could affect the future or your present-day self.

Valley filming locations:

The movie was filmed throughout the Los Angeles region specifically in a lot of multiple San Fernando Valley locations and not to mention, a fictional town called, “Hill Valley”.

·      Arleta:

-       Marty’s House

-       9303 Roslyndale Ave, Arleta

-       Marnie McFly’s fictional story home sits in a residential neighborhood in the non-fictional neighborhood in Arleta, which is in the northeastern part of San Fernando Valley. As for the movie, it is presented as being in a fictional location of Lyon Estates development.

-       This is probably one of the most important actual valley locations in the movie.

-       It is said that the filmmaker specifically wanted the electrical transmission tower slash power lines visible behind Marty’s house because it helped establish the McFly family is living in a more modest part of town.

-       Marty’s Skateboards Home

-       This location appears throughout the movie when Marty skateboards home throughout the neighborhood.

·      Burbank:

-       McCambridge Recreation Center

-       1515 N. Glenoaks Boulevard, Burbank

-       This is where Marty has a Battle of the Bands audition. He gets rejected in this scene because his music is “too loud”  

-       Doc Brown’s Garage/ House exterior

-       535 N. Victory Boulevard, Burbank

-       The opening sequence was filmed at this location of Doc Brown’s garage

-       So, the actual filming setup is a little complicated. The movie used a constructed slash modified garage setup associated with the location however the famous brown residence itself was represented through other locations and sets, a little bit confusing but that's the way it goes.

·      Universal Studios:

-       Universal City; So, a huge portion of the fictional town of hill valley was created on the Universal Studios back lot which you can literally drive through on the tram ride when you are visiting Universal Studios Hollywood, I've been going on that tram ride for years and every time most of the time, I've been through that area of hill valley. I love it so much, other movies were filmed around there too but when you go to Universal Studios and on the tram ride, they will share all that information for you. That is one amazing cool thing to go to when you live in the valley or when you're even visiting. What is in the fictional town of hill valley is the hill valley town square, the courthouse, the clock tower, the shops, St. of the hill valley and various 1955 and 1985 town scenes. Basically, the film makers constructed the 1950s town square on the universal back lot however they later transformed it to represent the year of 1985.

So yes, one of the coolest movies happen to be filmed in the valley, one that represents the future. “You may not realize it, but Marty McFly lived In the San Fernando Valley”.

The movie makes the valley look like a fictional Midwestern suburb. It's cool that the audience is supposed to believe Marty’s home is in hill valley but it's in Arleta from the year 1985 and Burbank and universal city contributing all the pieces of the movie additionally which is great. Basically, Hollywood is hiding in plain sight in front of our very eyes here in the San Fernando Valley. The movie really isn't set in the San Fernando Valley however pieces of the real valley are hiding underneath the fictional world of Hill Valley; that's the way I look at it. Because it's true hill valley is just a mirage of what the San Fernando Valley is but in a cool futuristic nostalgic movie. Also, fun fact, Back to the Future was one a ride at Universal Studios Hollywood at the upper lot from June 1993 till September 2007 where The Simpsons took its place. "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads."

ET the Extra- Terrestrial (1982)

ET was a unique film. This movie has a lot of recognizable neighborhood footage in the San Fernando Valley and a little-known fact, the movie was deliberately shot in the valley neighborhoods to give it that ordinary suburban American feeling.

The movie was released on June 11th, 1982, it was directed by the one of kind, the legend, Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It was produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg, the genre of the movie was science fiction, adventure, and family and the score was by the music legend himself, John Williams. The movie was about a little boy by the name of Elliot, he was lonely and he discovers an extradition stranded on earth. He made friends with the alien known as ET, they developed a very close friendship and Elliot, and his siblings and their friends tried to help ET communicate with his fellow people and get home while others are trying to search for him the other people are considered the government scientists. The movie was a very well-done successful films back in the 1980s, it was a major critical and commercial success. This is where little Drew Barrymore got her start plain Elliot’s younger sister, Gertie. Elliott is played by Henry Thomas. ET himself was played by an animatronic puppet created rather than a traditional human performance. That is what they did back then and that's the way it should be, real and talented. A guy by the name of Carlo rambaldi designed the character and the people who contributed the voice of ET, was Pat Welsh and Debra Winger.

Valley Filming Locations:

·      Tujunga

-       Elliots House

-       7121 Lonzo St, Tujunga

-       This is a very important filming location as it was Elliot’s home exterior in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains.

-       An interesting fact is that the film makers had to combine locations to create the movie's neighborhood. The exterior house initially was selected in Northridge however didn't have the mountain backdrop they wanted so another house in Tujunga was chosen. It edited to appear as part of the same neighborhood this is according to the AFI catalog.

·      Northridge

-       Northridge, my home base, well one of my top home bases where I am from and where I was born, this was Elliot’s neighborhood they filmed between Northridge and Tujunga during the early part of filming according to Wikipedia and IMDb. It's important because the movie suburban environment wasn't simply a Hollywood back lot, it was the San Fernando Valley, we are very suburban out here. How many people could say Steven Spielberg was using the San Fernando Valley for his filming locations!?

·      Porter Ranch

-       Halloween Scenes, The Bicycle Chase, Porter Ridge Park / “E.T. Park”, Bus Stop, and More Chase Locations

-       Porter ranch, my home base, where I'm fully from and where I've lived most of my lifetime. Porter ranch and Northridge are kind of together in that situation we kind of called that Porter Ridge. If you live here or know what I'm talking about, IYKYK

-       A lot of scenes were filmed in Porter ranch, the Halloween scenes, the bicycle chase which is very iconic and Porter Ridge Park which is basically ET park and the bus stop and more Chase locations

·      Granada Hills

-       White Oak Ave. One important location that was filmed with this movie was in Granada Hills, which was another home base of mine, it was during the famous bicycle flying sequence. According to the Los Angeles Times, it specifically identifies white oak Ave. in Granada Hills as one of the valley locations where Elliott, ET and the other friends escape on their bikes.

Fun Fact: E.T. was a ride at Universal Studios Hollywood from June 1991- March 2003 at the lower lot and has been replaced by The Revenge of the Mummy indoor roller coaster ride.

ET was one of a kind movie that still captures the love to this day. E.T., phone home!

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

"All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine."

Fast Times was one of those movies that everyone loved/ relate to especially the boomer generation. My parents and intermediate family members come to mind when this movie is brought up since they quote it and talked about it many times with me before. Personally, I’ve only seen it once. But I do plan on watching it again, I enjoyed it. It’s comedy, it’s filmed in the valley, and Sean Penn is the star, what’s there not to love? The movie was released on August 13th, 1982. It was directed by Amy Heckerling and written by Cameron Crowe. It was based upon Cameron Crowe’s 1981 book best times at Ridgemont high, a true story. The genre of this movie is coming of age comedy slash drama. The locations were primarily Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. The principal photography took place November 2nd through December 28th, 1981. It was a Universal Studios film as well.

Basically, what the movie was about is that it follows a group of Southern California high school students as they navigate friendships, school, dating, relations, jobs, popularity, peer pressure and growing up. That's what we all had to deal with back in high school I could imagine, I know I dealt with most of that stuff. There were many characters in the story. I'm not going to talk about all of them or mention them but there was Stacy Hamilton who was trying to figure out dating, being in relationships and growing up. There was a guy named Brad Hamilton, who was Stacy’s older brother who was trying to survive his senior year and his increasingly distraught jobs. There's a character named Linda, Stacy’s more experienced older friend who gives Stacy advice about relationships and of course Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn), the chill surfer who constantly clashes with his various serious history teacher, Mr. Hand.

Sean Penn became well known after this movie, his character was very popular after that and to this day a lot of people know him from that movie. Anyways, let's see where the San Fernando Valley connects with this movie, let's get into it.

Valley Filming Locations:

Van Nuys:

-       Van Nuys High School, Rat & Stacy’s date (On Oxnard St.), Spicoli’s Car Crash (On Van Nuys blvd and Vose St. 13726 Oxnard St., a Restaurant that was formerly called Hoppe’s Old Heidelberg which is now Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant. This is where Mark AKA “Rat” Ratner and Stacey Hamilton go on their date according to IMDb.

-       Another scene that appeared in Van Nuys according to its filmed there, there was a sequence where Jeff Spicoli wrecks the car in a car accident. It happens on the route of Van Nuys Blvd and Vose St.

Canoga Park:

-       Canoga Park High School, 6850 Topanga Canyon Blvd, the movie’s “School Dance/ “Last Dance” sequence was filmed here.

Canoga Park/ West Hills:

-       Brad & Stacy’s House, 24124 Welby Way aka The Hamilton House, they filmed numerous scenes here involving Brad & Stacy, including a famous scene which the pool sequence. On a side note, geographically speaking, sources variously identify this area as Canoga Park and West Hills because at the time it was just considered Canoga Park but as time went on West Hills became a thing so now it's considered boss, the neighborhood is now generally identified as West Hills. West Hills and Canoga park’s boarder is Shoup Ave.

Sherman Oaks:

-       Sherman Oaks Galleria, 15301 Ventura Blvd.

-       The Sherman Oaks Galleria is a very popular location and still is to this very day, there's just not a lot going on there like it used to be. Back when this movie was filmed, the interior mall scenes were filmed inside the original Sherman Oaks Galleria a huge portion of the teenage social world of this movie takes place since most of the character worked, shopped, hung out and interreacted in this specific mall. According to AFI, they've started filming production at the Galleria after hours with overnight shooting from approximately 9:00 PM to 9:00 AM. Another fact of importance, the movies fictional Ridgemont mall exterior was not the Sherman Oaks Galleria. The exterior was filmed at Santa Monica place in Santa Monica while the interior was the Sherman Oaks Galleria according to Movie Locations & Viennale.  

-       So, they filmed it back in late 1981, So if you were living in the valley / growing up/ just graduating high school around this time, you'll probably remember a majority of this.

Encino:

-       The Point: 17301 Oxnard St., I guess there was a scene with the baseball field slash dugout sequence involving Stacy and Mike that was filmed in Encino and one specific filming location was the third base dugout on field #4

Northridge:

-       8622 Balboa Blvd, Captain Hook Fish & Chips where Brad works. The original restaurant is no longer there. It is now a dance studio.

Granda Hills:

-       17701 Chatsworth St. at White Oak Ave. , a scene location where Brad is driving and delivering seafood. He has a memorable interaction with a young woman in the car. This location is pure home base to me.

North Hollywood:

-       5944 Riverton Ave. in North Hollywood is where they filmed Mike Damone’s apartment

As you can see, Fast Times at Richmond High was filmed throughout the valley a lot, that's what makes it so awesome. It's a fictional high school that brought the valley to life but Hollywood is hiding in plain sight.

To be continued..