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Showing posts with label California. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California. Show all posts

Saturday 5 March 2016

M5 Industries

Who are the Mythbusters?

Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Address: 1268 Missouri Street
Date: Feb 2014
Website: www.m5industries.com

  When we were in San Francisco we stopped by the offices of M5 Industries Inc.  This is the company owned by Jamie Hyneman.  Together with Adam Savage he hosts the MythBusters television show.  Adam & Jamie are usually assisted by Kari, Grant and Tori.  This trio is often referred to as the Build Team.  On the show they test rumours or myths and use science to determine if they are plausible or busted.  The show has always proved entertaining and all of the personalities on the show are likeable and legitimately seem to be interested in what they are doing.  Another great thing about the show is that they like to blow things up.  Blow things up good.  They then like to replay the explosion in super slow motion so you can really get a good look.

Am I missing an eyebrow?

  The offices are attached to the M5 workshop which is where a majority of the episodes are filmed.  When we arrived at the building some workers were outside repaving part of the front sidewalk.  Perhaps it was an experiment gone wrong, or maybe the destruction was intended.  It definitely reminded us of the Jimmy Hoffa episode where they buried two pigs in concrete very close to that spot.  It also reminded us of an episode where Jamie was buried alive while inside a coffin.  That myth was tested almost in exactly that spot.  In fact there have been numerous episodes where things have been dropped off of the roof or blown up in the garage doorway or tested in front of the wall with the M5 INDUSTRIES INC sign.
  The back lot of the building has also seen a fair bit of use, especially in the earlier episodes.  They shot a frozen chicken through the windshield of a plane and Jamie created an army of marching feet in an attempt to shake a bridge apart.  As time went on the Mythbusters myths grew in size and they spent more time out on the bomb range blowing things up or at the Alameda Runway crashing cars.  The Build Team also used a nearby location called M7 to conduct experiments.

Failure is Always an Option behind M5.

  Mythbusters will be airing its final episode today (March 5, 2016) after about 13 seasons.  We are sad to see the show end, but the Mythbusters and the M5 building must be glad that they all made it in one piece after years of taking risks to entertain us.  Do not try what you saw on Mythbusters at home.  They are what you call experts.


Map of Our World
M5 Industries , Alameda Runway , M7

Post # 99

Wednesday 10 February 2016

Pier 39's Musical Stairs

Climb The Musical Stairs.

Location: San Francisco, California,USA
Address: Pier 39
Date: Feb 2014
Website: www.pier39.com

  Pier 39 in San Francisco has seals and stores and carnival rides and more.  Part of the more is a set of stairs designed by Remo Saraceni.  Remo also created the floor piano used in the Tom Hank’s movie Big. (You can read more about the Big piano here.)  The stairs follow a similar concept where the keys are activated by your feet.  The stairs are painted like the keys of a piano and as you walk up the notes get higher.  As you head back down the notes get lower.  If you practice a little bit you might even be able to work out something that resembles a tune.  Just be aware that a floor piano is much safer than jumping up and down stairs trying to hit the correct notes.  One wrong move and you may end up sliding all the way down to a low A flat.  You may want to get a few friends together and each pick one or two notes to play.  Also be aware that other people are just trying to use the stairs to get where they are going and may walk noisily through your masterpiece.  These musical stairs are far more interesting than your average set of steps.  We enjoyed doing a little people watching to see people's expressions when they take that very first step.  It was also fun to see the people who pretended they were not enjoying themselves as they musically scaled the stairs.


Map of Our World
Pier 39's Musical Stairs

Post # 95

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Back To The Future Day

A bolt of lighting. Unfortunately you never know when or where it's ever gonna strike.

Location: Universal City, California, USA
Address: 100 Universal City Plaza
Date: May 2012
Website: www.universalstudioshollywood.com

  When Marty McFly went into the future he chose the date of October 21st 2015.  He arrived in a world of hoverboards and flying cars as part of the imagined future of Back To The Future II.  By the time you are reading this post that date may have already arrived.  The future is here!  When we visited Universal Studios some 27 years after the first movie, part of our plan was to go back to where Back To The Future was filmed.
  Courthouse Square on the Universal Studios back lot is where most of the action takes place.  To visit this area you need to take the studio's popular tram tour.  As we walked through the park heading to our tour we noticed Doc Brown's Chicken which has nothing to do with the movies except that it uses the character of Dr. Emmett Brown.

Great Scott ! This is good chicken !

   What we really wanted to see was the square from the first movie of the trilogy.  In the movie, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) time travels from 1985 back to the year 1955.  The square is changed to reflect the town of Hill Valley in both of those years.  In the sequel, Back To The Future II, he goes forward 30 years to the year 2015 and the town has changed again. Unfortunately, Universal has also undergone some changes and many of the buildings are not the same as they were during filming in the 1980s.  Some were changed on purpose and others were lost during a fire in 2008.  Anyways, on with the tour!
 
Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Think, McFly

  As the tram rounded the first corner and entered the square there was a gas station on our right.  We remember the Texaco gas station from the movie, but this is not it.  If it is the same gas station it is no longer where it used to be. This gas station is actually standing where Lou's Cafe was in 1955 and where the gymnastics studio was in 1985.  It was inside Lou's Cafe where Marty encounters his father George for the first time.  In the sequel when Marty goes to the year 2015 it has become a cafe again.  It has become a retro cafe called Cafe 80's.  Across the courtyard in the picture above you can see a little pointed rooftop.  This was a movie theatre and in 2015 it was playing Jaws 19.

Are you gonna order something kid? Give me a Tab.  I can't give you a tab unless you order something.
Alright, give me a Pepsi- Free.  You want a Pepsi pal you're gonna pay for it.  Just give me something without any sugar.

  Since we were busy filming the gas station we missed out on getting a picture of one of the most important streets. Once we realized the courthouse was behind us we turned around, but it was too late.  The street on the left side of the courthouse is where Marty speeds down trying to reach 88 miles per hour at the exact moment a bolt of lightning hits the town clock tower.  You can see a tiny bit of the street where he enters the square on the right hand side of the picture above.  You can also see a tiny bit of the buildings and street on the left hand side of the picture below.  This part of the street would be where Doc had hung wires across hoping to harness the lightning's power.  Sadly, the end of this street was lost in the 2008 studio fire.  That means there is no longer another movie theatre down there for Marty to crash into after returning to the present, or for a theatre full of gremlins to enjoy a showing of Snow White.

Save The Clock Tower.
  At the top of this post is a picture of the courthouse as it looked when we visited.  It is not looking quite the same as it was in the Back To The Future movies and the clock was missing.  Still it was nice to go back in time and visit a place where one of our favourite movies was created.  We wish we could go back in time and get a better picture of the DeLorean DMC-12  below. Who knows? Maybe tomorrow someone will invent a time machine or hoverboards or flying cars, or maybe they are still 30 years away in an unknown future.

Are you telling me that you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?


See more locations from the Universal Studios Backlot.

Map of Our World
Universal Studios (Courthouse Square)

Post # 76

Monday 5 October 2015

Secretary Birds

Good morning everyone! How was your weekend?

Location: San Diego, California, USA
Address: 2920 Zoo Dr.
Date: Feb 2014
Website: www.sandiegozoo.org

  Take a memo.  File these reports.  Cancel my 10 o'clock.  These birds have nothing to do with this kind of secretary.  In fact these days someone performing this type of work would be an administrative assistant.  Also, more and more, these tasks might be performed with a cellphone.  Anyway, having one of these almost four feet tall birds strutting around the office would probably freak people right out.
  We have seen secretary birds at the Toronto Zoo as well as at both the San Diego Zoo & San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  In the wild they can be found in the savannahs of Africa. If you see them up close they have some wonderful eyelashes and red and yellow around their eyes. 

Check out those lashes.

  You can tell from their beaks that they are a bird of prey.  You can also tell that they are very strong.    We enjoy watching them walk around on their extra long legs.  (See the video at the bottom of this post for a bit of walking, but mostly standing, by one of these impressive birds). In fact they prefer not to fly, but capture most of their food by stomping it to death.  Their food usually consists of small mammals and reptiles.  They appear on many stamps, flags and emblems across Africa and after seeing a few of them for ourselves we can understand why they are so admired. 

Yes, I know I'm beautiful.


Map of Our World
San Diego Zoo (Secretary Birds)

Post # 74

Monday 10 August 2015

MUSIC - California Girls

The West coast has the sunshine and the girls all get so tanned.
  
Artist: Beach Boys
Song: California Girls
Released: 1965
Where to listen: Anywhere in California

    When we visited California we drove all the way from LA to San Diego and then up to San Francisco and finally back down to LA again.  That is a fair bit of driving and this song can take you across the entire state.  California Girls has been making people dream of fun in the sun for over 50 years now.  It is perhaps the best known of the Beach Boys songs.  It is also a great tune for relaxing or singing along.  You get your Beach Boys and your California Girls

Artist: David Lee Roth
Song: California Girls
Released: 1985
Where to listen: Anywhere in California

    If you want to mix it up a bit you can also listen to a cover version by David Lee Roth (former Van Halen frontman). This version is only 30 years old and has a campier feel.  It is still Beach Boy approved as Beach Boy member Carl Wilson provides backup vocals.  The song mentions girls from all over the United States but the West coast is the preference. We wish they all could be California.

Map of Our World
California

Post # 67

Wednesday 10 June 2015

Flying Gremlin Attack

It's one of them!

Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com

  In Gremlins 2 there are all sorts of gremlins loose in a science lab.  The poor Futtermans, who surprisingly survived the first movie, are in New York visiting Billy & Kate.  Once again they find themselves in a situation with one of the creatures.  As a result of one gremlin becoming mixed with a bat and some genetic sunblock it flies out into the city.  The Futtermans are standing in front of  the Cathedral of Saint Eva Marie when it swoops down from the sky.  The joke here is that Eva Marie Saint is an Academy Award winning actress for her work in On The Waterfront.

Greek food and Gremlins.

  This scene was filmed on New York Street at Warner Brothers Studios.  The gremlin flies down and attacks Mr. Futterman in front of A Taste Of Greece restaurant.  This was located just to the right of the awning in the photo above.  He struggles with the gremlin as they move down the sidewalk past two big store windows.  He finally manages to get the better of the gremlin and dunks him into some freshly poured concrete.  This happens at the end of the block in front of the entrance to the building below and just behind the pillar on the left.  The gremlin gets covered in concrete but still manages to fly up and land back on the church before the concrete finally hardens and he becomes a permanent gargoyle.  Concrete?  Reviewing our gremlin rules we know that you never want to get them wet or they will multiply.  We also know that concrete is a mixture of water and cement.  This scene could have ended quite differently. 

From Gremlin to Gargoyle.

    The front of this building may already be familiar to fans of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.  It served as the Daily Planet newspaper building, but in the picture above it is missing it's giant metal globe.  The stars of the show were a pre-Desperate Housewives Teri Hatcher as Lois and Dean Cain as Superman. 


See more locations from the Warner Bros. Studio Backlot.

Map of Our World
Flying Gremlin Attack

Post # 56

Friday 10 April 2015

Deagle / Seaver House

Deagle, Deagle, Deagle!

Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com

  While taking the Warner Brothers VIP Studio Tour our golf cart stopped right in front of the last house on Midwest Street.  Our guide let us know that this house was featured in the movie Gremlins, as well as on the TV show Growing Pains.  The house has changed a bit through the years as the extended front porch has been removed.  In Gremlins, the house belonged to mean Mrs. Deagle.  Mrs. Deagle was the owner of the Kingston Falls bank and was generally disliked.  Gremlins arrive at her front door and sing her some Christmas carols while one of them sabotages her electric stair chair.  She climbs into her chair and it runs out of control, speeds up the stairs and hurls her out the top floor window.

My God Frye. That was Mrs. Deagle.

  According to our Official Collector's Edition Gremlins Magazine, Bob MacDonald Sr. (Special Effects Supervisor) explains the troubles they encountered filming the scene.  "The first time we fired it, the dummy went clear across the street and landed on the porch of the house across the street".  That means the fake Mrs. Deagle ended up in front of this house (below), where a few years later Ross would almost take Rachel to the prom.

Here comes your knight in shining.....

  Gremlins hit theatres in June of 1984 and the following year Growing Pains first appeared on TV in September.  So it would have been just over a year from the time Mrs. Deagle abruptly moved out and the Seaver family moved in.  The house was only really featured during the Growing Pains opening credits when the family stands out front for a group shot and then they all turn and head inside.  Alan Thicke stays out front the longest as he enjoys being on camera.

Show me that smile again. Show me that smile.

  Anther appearance of this home is in The Lost Boys.  The two Coreys (Haim and Feldman) ride their bikes past as they head to church to get some holy water for their vampire problem.  The little white church is also situated on the Warner Brothers back lot.  The photo below was taken from just outside of what we affectionately refer to as the Deagle / Seaver house.

Little white church.


See more locations from the Warner Bros. Studio Backlot.

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Deagle / Seaver House

Post # 45

Wednesday 25 February 2015

General Hospital

Dr. Drake to surgery please.  Dr. Patrick Drake to surgery.

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Address: 1983 Marengo St.
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  www.lacusc.org

  As you head north through Los Angeles on the I-5, just after the exit to the I-10 to San Bernadino, and as you continue north towards Sacramento, there is a familiar sight for soap opera fans.  Get into the right hand lane, roll down your windows and get your cameras ready.  Then as the traffic coming off of the I-10 merges with the I-5 point your cameras north-east and fire away.  This is how it worked for us, but if you are lucky enough to be stuck in a Los Angeles highway traffic jam then you may have plenty of time to view General Hospital.   
  General Hospital is currently the third longest running soap opera on television.  Only Guiding Light and As The World Turns have had more episodes, but both are no longer on the air.  General Hospital first aired in 1963 and recently celebrated 50 years.  The show takes place in the fictional town of Port Charles and never actually filmed inside of the hospital, (pictured above) but the hospital was featured in the opening credits.  In reality it is the LAC + USC Medical Center which is short for Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center.  The show is filmed at The Prospect Studios in the Los Feliz neighbourhood of LA.  Most of the characters on the show either work at General Hospital or have been a patient there for one reason or another.  They have given birth, emerged from comas, or recovered from numerous shootings, poisonings and car accidents.
  Even though the Medical Center is only seen in the opening credits, it has still been part of the show almost every weekday for the past few decades.  It is always fun to see the real world location.  On a previous trip to Los Angeles we also spotted actor Michael Easton in a North Hollywood Rite-Aid looking for help buying bottled water.  He played both John McBain and more recently Dr. Silas Clay on the show.  So always have your camera ready while you are in LA as there is either a television star or a filming location just up ahead.


Map of Our World
General Hospital

Post # 40

Sunday 30 November 2014

Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

If we weren't in the show starting right away. We'd be in the audience too.

Location: Anaheim, California, USA
Address: 1313 Disneyland Dr
Date: May 2012
Website:  disneyland.disney.go.com/destinations/disneyland/

  When visiting Disneyland one of our absolute favourite places in the park is the Enchanted Tiki Room. The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.  It is a show performed by animatronic birds and has been part of the park since 1963.  We find that whenever we are walking through Adventureland we have to stop and watch the show, which repeats about every fifteen minutes.  The show is currently sponsored by Dole and they run a juice bar right out front.
  
Maui tells us time to go.  Time for wondrous Tiki show.

    Everyone waits outside of the Tiki Room. The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.  A few minutes before the main show is about to start, the different Hawaiian gods introduce themselves from their locations around the Tiki Garden.  Then the doors to the Tiki Room open. The Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.  You are then welcomed to a world of joyous song and wondrous miracles as everyone goes inside and takes their seats.

My siestas are getting shorter and shorter.

  Ole! Ole! It's showtime! Up above you can see some of the birds on their perches.  The four main birds are Jose, Michael, Pierre and Fritz who introduce the show.   You may recognize some of their voices from other attractions in the park or from Disney films.  The most recognizable voice belongs to Thurl Ravenscroft who is best know as Tony the Tiger and for singing "Your'e a Mean One, Mr. Grinch".  Then the whole glee club of birds break out into song and sing "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room".  All the little animatronic birds flap and move their beaks as they belt out their tune.
  Next the enchanted fountain in the center of the room is lit up.  "Look. Here come the girls."  We are introduced to Collette, Suzette, Mimi, Gigi, Fifi and Josephine, who rise from the fountain and perform "Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing".  You will soon find yourself happily tweet, tweet, tweeting along.
  The final song is the "Hawaiian War Chant" which starts out beautifully but then the whole room is filled with drumming as the walls come alive.  The tension builds and the birds get more and more excited until a storm breaks out.  Then it all clears up again, but the show has to come to an end and the birds must say adieu.  You have now heard the birds and the flowers sing and seen the Tiki's play their drums.  Don't worry you can always go back around and wait in the garden for the next show.  No matter what, the songs of the birds will now be with you always. All together! In the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room.

As long as your'e standing.  We are going to make you all disappear.


Map of Our World
Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

Post # 30

Saturday 1 November 2014

Monterey Bay

Monterey Bay

Location: Monterey, California, USA
Address: 720 Cannery Row
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  www.seemonterey.com/things-to-do/animals-and-wildlife

  As we were driving north to San Francisco we stopped in the town of Monterey.  We wanted to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and also hoped to see some of the local wildlife we had heard about.  Our first order of business, after driving for a few hours, was to get some lunch.  We had also done our research in this area and knew where we were headed.

 My name’s Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump.  Bubba was my best good friend.

  Monterey Bay is home to the very first Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.  The restaurant chain was created by Paramount Pictures after the success of the Forrest Gump movie.  It is based on the shrimping company that Forrest started after the suggestion of his friend Bubba whom he met during the Vietnam War.  Out front of the restaurant is a bench with Forrest's suitcase and running shoes all ready for photo opportunities.  We have always enjoyed our food at Bubba Gump and this time we had some very tasty blueberry and strawberry lemonades as well.  One neat thing about Bubba Gump is that at your table are two license plates.  One says Run Forrest Run and the other says Stop Forrest Stop.  If you display the Run Forrest Run plate the staff will pass you by, but if you flip to the Stop Forrest Stop plate the nearest staff member will stop to see what you need.  The best thing about this restaurant is its location.  The restaurant is right on the bay and from our table we spotted some sea otters out on the water.  We had to wait until we had finished our meal before we could run outside to take a closer look.  

Down by the bay.

Birds and seals on the rocks.

  Sure enough, when we looked out into the bay we saw harbour seals lounging on the rocks surrounded by Brandt's cormorants and seagulls.  Looking further into the bay we once again located the sea otters that had entertained us during our lunch.  In North America, sea otters can only be found along the Pacific coast and the Monterey Bay area is one of the best spots to see them.  Sea otters spend the majority of their time in the water moving between the kelp.  They are known for using rocks as tools in order to crack open shells on their bellies.  They are also known for being incredibly cute.   We stopped and watched the sea otters play in the water for a while and then we headed off to get an even closer look at more sea otters inside the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 




Map of Our World
Monterey Bay
Bubba Gump Shrimp Company (Monterey Bay)

Post # 27

Thursday 30 October 2014

Cannery Row Monument

Cannery Row Monument Ceremony

Location: Monterey, California, USA
Address: 700 Cannery Row
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  canneryrow.com

    When we arrived in Monterey, California it was raining.  After parking the car we noticed a crowd gathered around a statue and a podium.  We took a quick photo and carried on our way towards lunch and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Later we discovered that this was the unveiling ceremony of the Cannery Row Monument.  Cannery Row is the nickname that was given to this area due to all the sardine canning plants that used to line the streets.  The monument features several important people sitting on rocks in a fashion not unlike the birds and seals we had seen from the shoreline.  At the top sits John Steinbeck who was the author of a book called Cannery Row, published in 1945.  He is best know for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.  Beneath him sit other figures who were important to the success of the area.
  After leaving the Aquarium, which was built inside one of the old canneries, the rain had washed away the crowds and we were able to get a proper look at the monument.

Cannery Row Monument


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Cannery Row Monument

Post # 26

Thursday 26 June 2014

Warner Bros Studio VIP Tour

What's up Doc? How you doin'?

Location: Burbank, California, USA
Address: 3400 West Riverside Drive
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com

 The Warner Bros. Studio Tour is a must for any TV or movie fan.  Since we are both big TV and movie fans we had to pay the studios a visit.  We went on a Sunday afternoon and not much was happening as far as productions on the lot, but we had the opportunity to see many of the places from productions in the past.

Warner Bros. Tour cart.

  You go around the studios in small groups riding in a cart like the one pictured above.  The tour guides don't follow any set pattern around the grounds so they can customize the tour based on your group's interests.  Be sure to talk to them and let them know what you like.  The highlights of our tour included a trip around the Backlot, some time to explore the Warner Museum and Picture Car Collection, a visit to the retired Central Perk set from Friends, a drive through The Mill and a visit to The Big Bang Theory and Pretty Little Liars sets.

I don't think anybody is home.

  You get a glimpse of just how fake everything is, because movies are always just concerned with what you see on screen.   Our guide was telling us how they use pull ties to put branches on the trees depending on what season they need it to be.  It is interesting to see how this all comes together in the finished product.  Even more exciting is knowing that you have been in the same exact spot where your favourite shows and films were created.

To see more of our trip to Warner Brothers, check out this permanent page of
Productions filmed on the Warner Bros. Backlot.

The Warner Brothers Water Tower.


Map of Our World
Warner Bros Studio VIP Tour

Post # 14