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Film Nerd Travelogues - Where You Been?

post #1 of 55
3/24/10 at 7:11pm
Thread Starter 
I travel a lot for work, and I've had the occasion/compulsion to visit more than my share of movie locations that hold some personal interest to me. My list, which I'll update as I remember more:

Psycho - Bates Motel/House (Universal Studios)
Exorcist Steps/House (Georgetown, DC)
Halloween - Myers House/Haddonfield streets (Pasadena, CA), Doyle House (Hollywood)
Texas Chain Saw Massacre - The House (Kingsland, TX)
Dawn of the Dead - Monroeville Mall (PA)

And various spots in Philly from Blow Out and Mikey & Nicky. Does anyone else do this while traveling? Curious to know where y'all been to.
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post #2 of 55
3/24/10 at 7:19pm
I did a Ghostbusters tour of New York, complete with photo of me and friends running down the stairs outside the New York Public Library. More recently I went to Wells and tried to find all the locations in Hot Fuzz.

I'm pretty sure I have done more by accident but those are the only two I have done deliberately.
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post #3 of 55
3/24/10 at 7:21pm
I visited the club where Travolta does his infamous Saturday Night Fever dance. It was a hip hop club at the time, but still had the flashing dance floor. And you bet your ass I replicated the entire dance scene. No one cared, so I assume people did it all the time. I also visited the bowling alley featured in The Big Lebowski when I visited LA years ago. Unfortunately both places are closed.
And while not film related, living in NY during the Seinfeld years I had to visit the Soup Nazi.
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post #4 of 55
3/24/10 at 7:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Savage View Post
I did a Ghostbusters tour of New York, complete with photo of me and friends running down the stairs outside the New York Public Library.
I totally did that too. Forgot about it because I was pretty young at the time. My little cousin wanted to go for his birthday.
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post #5 of 55
3/24/10 at 7:24pm
Catania/Messina, Sicily

The mansion/driveway where Apollonia gets blowed up, and the bar where Michael asks her father's permission.
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post #6 of 55
3/24/10 at 7:41pm
The best place is the village of Conk where they shot The Quiet Man. Oh, and the telephone booth from Local Hero.

ETA: I live a forty five minute drive from Alkali Lake.
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post #7 of 55
3/24/10 at 8:02pm
While in Scotland, I took the Jacobite steam train over the huge aquaduct that Ron and Harry flew over in their car to catch the Hogwarts Express. On that same train trip, I spotted the beach that MacLeod and Ramierez ran across in the original Highlander.
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post #8 of 55
3/24/10 at 8:16pm
I've been to Guildford Cathedral where they filmed The Omen and, while in Jamaica, to the Alligator farm from Live and Let Die.
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post #9 of 55
3/24/10 at 8:54pm
I've been to Niagara Falls many times, location of SUPERMAN II and many girlfriends.
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post #10 of 55
3/24/10 at 9:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Luca S. View Post
Catania/Messina, Sicily
I went there as well, and kept a video journal of the experience.
Check it out.


And yes, I did parody The Godfather in the production of this journal episode.

I also spent part of a day walking around Venice trying to find the "library" from Last Crusade, only to later realize it was in a whole other part of town. But you can't be that angry walking around Venice.
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post #11 of 55
3/24/10 at 9:04pm
My holy grail* was the Seven Seas apt building from The Karate Kid. Not only does it still look exactly the same but the pool didn't have water in it. It really gave context to the layout of the area that I didn't expect.

While visiting you can take a 2 minute drive down the road and visit the donut shop, "Hot Traxx" and parking lot where Dirk gets beat up in Boogie Nights. Thank you, Reseda.

*technically my Holy Grail was the Sherman Oaks Galleria but since they tour it down and rebuilt it that ship has sailed. Chopping Mall, Phantom of the Mall, Fast Times, Commando, Terminator 2 and countless other "classics" were filmed there. Bums me out.
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post #12 of 55
3/24/10 at 9:06pm
Oh, "sunken city" at Point Ferman Park is where Donnie's ashes are spread... I'd recommend this place to anyone interested in a very "California" landscape. An old neighborhood that had it's homes removed in the 1920's where the streets and sidewalks slowly sink into the ocean... it changes every time I see it. Very much worth a look regardless of your movie geekdom.
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post #13 of 55
3/24/10 at 9:20pm
I travel for work but I rarely get to go anywhere cool. Ironically (I think) I'm sitting at BWI as I type this.

I have been to Chicago a bunch of times and sought out lower wacker where some cool Dark Knight scenes were shot. I live in Raleigh, so Kiss the Girls and Patch Adams locations are close. I've been to Universal in LA and saw some cool Back to the Future sets. That's pretty much it for me.
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post #14 of 55
3/24/10 at 9:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Q View Post
While visiting you can take a 2 minute drive down the road and visit the donut shop, "Hot Traxx" and parking lot where Dirk gets beat up in Boogie Nights. Thank you, Reseda.
The "donut shop" is now a liquor store and is about 100 yards from my apartment.
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post #15 of 55
3/24/10 at 9:23pm
I went to Tucson High where they filmed the eternal classic 'Can't Buy Me Love'.

I used to hang out on the intersection of 5th and 4th in Tucson where James Gandolfini was hit by a car in Perdita Durango.

I shop at the Maplewood Mall on occasion here in MN, where Mallrats was filmed.
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post #16 of 55
3/24/10 at 9:35pm
I've purposely been to the multi-story care park in Gateshead where the famous scene from GET CARTER was shot. Bit of a shithole to be honest.

Also been to Alnwick and Bamburgh Castles in Northumberland where numerous Hogwarts exterior scenes were filmed. Definitely not shitholes.
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post #17 of 55
3/25/10 at 12:38pm
The baseball field from A League of Their Own is located in my hometown and houses a minor league baseball team. I've been there quite a few times.
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post #18 of 55
3/25/10 at 1:22pm
Psycho - Bates Motel/House (Universal Studios)
Exorcist Steps/House (Georgetown, DC)
Dawn of the Dead - Monroeville Mall (PA)
Elizabethtown - I got to see them shoot it for a couple of days. The geography was really off, as they shot around to Lexington, Versailles, Louisville, So. Indiana and Elizabethtown.

Stripes - Half of the buildings from the opening of the film are now part of our many useless stadiums.

Goldfinger - Went to the Rolling Roadshow at Ft. Knox. Got to look at the usual junk that was in the movie. Plus, I bought a t-shirt near the Patton Museum.

There's Something About Mary - I was down in Florida about a year after this came out and some local was just randomly showing people where they shot stuff. I was just trying to go to Suncoast. But, this guy really wanted you to see where they shot Ben Stiller getting snagged in the mouth with a fishing hook.
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post #19 of 55
3/25/10 at 1:28pm
I did the stupid thing first time I went to Philly as a kid and ran up the steps.

When I lived in Jersey, the intersection where the first tripod rises out of the ground in Spielberg's War of the Worlds is 4 or 5 blocks from Penn Station. Was geeking out about that every time I passed for months afterward.

And not so much a movie location per se, but the house where I lived just before I moved out of Jersey was a minute or so away from Thomas Edison's laboratory. You can see the Black Maria right outside, the factory where his own Lumiere rip off "Workers on Lunch" film was shot. I've been lucky enough to be part of one of the last people from the general public to see the inside of the place on a field trip in sixth grade, before it got shut down for restoration almost 20 years ago now.
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post #20 of 55
3/25/10 at 1:29pm
'Untamed Heart' - I worked on the swing gang for that movie, so I visited most of the local MN locations for it.
'From Here to Eternity' - When I was in Hawaii, we visited the beach where the scene took place.
'The Thomas Crown Affair' (Brosnan) - Saw Thomas Crown's vacation house when we visited Martinique.
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post #21 of 55
3/25/10 at 1:34pm
How could I forget Gloucester Cathedral and Laycock Abbey? The Cathedral was used as the Great hall in several of the Potter movies, as have Laycock abbey cloisters.

Edited to add I had no idea the Cathedral was also in the 2008 Dr Who Christmas Special
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post #22 of 55
3/26/10 at 12:41am
In high school we use to party on the sets to the silent ten commandments, in Oceano, California, can't evewalk on them now, and they are awesome.

Been all over Owens Valley site of countless movie from Gunga Din, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Satan Bug, and countless westerns.

Been to the bonanza ranch, Universal Studios, and other studios. lived in California my whole life, and don't really think about it much.
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post #23 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:02am
I live and work near many of the areas shot in Romper Stomper.

Also been to Cong where The Quiet Man was shot.

Stood under the windo Otto hangs Archie out of in A Fish Called Wanda.

Been to Universal Studios (Bates Motel)

Been to Hanging Rock (Picnic At Hanging Rock)

Been to a few of the locations Mad Max was shot in as it was shot here in Victoria. MFP headquarters is a couple of suburbs along from my house.
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post #24 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:07am


The land of Yor, believe it or not.
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post #25 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:16am
Oh and Cappodocia/Goreme in Turkey where apparently scenes from the orignal Star Wars were shot.
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post #26 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:29am
Pretty much all of the locations for:
Diner, Avalon,Tin Men, Liberty Heights, Most of 12 Monkeys, if we're counting TV, The Wire....
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post #27 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
Oh and Cappodocia/Goreme in Turkey where apparently scenes from the orignal Star Wars were shot.
Yes, but Star Wars doesnt have the hero punching a flying monster out and riding its carcass like a hand glider.
Also, are sure? I thought it was filmed in Tunisia and Death Valley.

Also, i have family in Ecuador, so I've visited Hollywood's version of Drug wars Colombia a lot.
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post #28 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:34am
What happened to the Universal studios backlot after the fire, did they re build it as it was, or has it been updated?

Other than that

The Frightners (Lyttelton, NZ)

Chronicals of Narnia (Castle Hill, NZ) haven't actually seen the movie though.

Probably some lord of the Rings places.

Took a bus tour in Vancouver, only place I remember them mentioning was the building from MacGyver.
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post #29 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ryoken View Post
Yes, but Star Wars doesnt have the hero punching a flying monster out and riding its carcass like a hand glider.
Also, are sure? I thought it was filmed in Tunisia and Death Valley.

Also, i have family in Ecuador, so I've visited Hollywood's version of Drug wars Colombia a lot.
Well the locals liked to make a big deal out of it. Doesn't mean it's not bullshit tho I guess.
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post #30 of 55
3/26/10 at 1:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Rain Dog View Post
Well the locals liked to make a big deal out of it. Doesn't mean it's not bullshit tho I guess.
I like to think that to this day, the locals think Yor was Star wars.
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post #31 of 55
3/26/10 at 10:25am
Well, Jaws 2 was shot on the beaches where I live. Yeah, that never caused any issues as a child.

Been to Chicago many times, which of course includes tons of film-centric sites. Especially The Dark Knight and The Blues Brothers. Ditto that New York.

The Truman Show was also filmed at Seaside which is little over an hour from me. I went down there while they were shooting, and every couple of years will go down there for a few hours on a weekend or something (it's a good date type of thing).

I've been to L.A., so I naturally spotted a bunch of stuff there. But I haven't sought out too many specific sites while traveling.
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post #32 of 55
3/26/10 at 10:50am
Been to that Hawaiian valley where they've filmed a ton of shit... Lost (Hurley's golf course), Tears of The Sun, 50 First Dates. They had one of Godzilla's footprints from the American version, and the giant twisted piece of driftwood they hide behind in Jurassic Park. A year later the road we used to drive up there popped up in the first five minutes of Snakes On A Plane.

Also, when I'm not in Savannah, I live less than a mile from the square that the Bandit tear asses through after hiding behind the brick building.
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post #33 of 55
3/26/10 at 10:51am
I was in Salzburg over Thanksgiving and the Mrs. and I drove around the city to check out all the Sound of Music sights. The Abbey, the park where they sing Do Re Mi, the Von Trapp house in the movie. What an enchanting city. The real Villa Trapp is now a bed and breakfast, so of course we had to stay there too.
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post #34 of 55
3/26/10 at 11:22am
Thread Starter 
Ooh, I forgot about Savannah - Cape Fear locations all up in that. The Longest Yard as well.

(originals, in both cases)
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post #35 of 55
3/26/10 at 11:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Phil View Post
Ooh, I forgot about Savannah - Cape Fear locations all up in that. The Longest Yard as well.

(originals, in both cases)
Fucking hell. Completely forgot about the shit in the town I'm actually in. I'm pretty sure I've shot a short in one of the Cape Fear locations.

Bagger Vance, Glory, Forrest Gump*, etc. etc. ...and The Conspirator, when that hits. Also, Miley Cyrus' new flick.

*Girlfriend lives right on and above *the* square.
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post #36 of 55
3/26/10 at 11:32am
Thread Starter 
And Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil. I like that Clint shot the film in the real houses (mostly). Shame the movie wasn't better.
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post #37 of 55
3/26/10 at 2:32pm
I've been in the Santa Monica pub (can't remember the name) where they shot the Bullseye throwing darts scene in Daredevil.

I had Sam Raimi stalk me on the same day, every where I went I'd turn around and he'd be there with his daughter. What a freak.
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post #38 of 55
3/26/10 at 2:53pm
I've been to virtually every Austin landmark that shows up in Slacker and Dazed and Confused, and probably a few from Death Proof. The stadium where they end the night in D&C is the Tony Burger Center, which was just a couple of miles from the house where I spent the majority of my childhood/life, and where I marched in marching band during many a high school football game. Their High School exterior was (partially) Porter Junior High (RIP), where I went for 7th grade.

The San Antonio Riverwalk: I'm pretty sure I found several spots that I recognized from Cloak and Dagger. But the area has changed a lot since then.

The Alamo: Pee Wee's Big Adventure

I'll have to think about places outside of Texas.
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post #39 of 55
3/26/10 at 3:41pm
About the only one I've really visited was for the Coney Island Rolling Roadshow of The Warriors. It was a trip, though. Wandering costumed gangs. Finding out that the guy who played Cyrus works is currently a librarian (I think). It was great. But don't ride the Cyclone roller coaster if you're an overweight middle-aged guy. It hurt like hell.

Oh, and I visited Roslyn, Washington where they filmed Northern Exposure.
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post #40 of 55
4/2/10 at 11:53am
Bronson Canyon in Griffith Park, Los Angeles - many, many movies and television shows were shot here, including scenes for THE SEARCHERS and Star Trek. You can get a nice view of the famous Hollywood sign.

Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, CA - probably a third of JACKIE BROWN takes place in this shopping mall. Nothing special, though. My brother and I walked around imitating the cop swagger of Michaels Keaton & Bowen.
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post #41 of 55
4/2/10 at 12:04pm
Thread Starter 
I want to go to Vasquez Rocks and Lake Powell, AZ, where Col. Taylor crashed his spaceship.
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post #42 of 55
4/2/10 at 12:16pm
I was in Sydney a few years back, and I hit up a bunch of Matrix locations. Pics or it never happened.
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post #43 of 55
4/6/10 at 12:21pm
I'm off to Seattle for a wedding in September, and as such, the lady and I will be visiting Twin Peaks (or "Snoqualmie" to the layman).
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post #44 of 55
4/6/10 at 1:55pm
I was in DC over the weekend and we found several movie sites. Couldn't find the big statue of the monkey though. There's just some old white dude pretending to be him.
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post #45 of 55
4/6/10 at 2:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sammy Jankis View Post
I was in DC over the weekend and we found several movie sites. Couldn't find the big statue of the monkey though. There's just some old white dude pretending to be him.
But it's that guy that likes to yell "PARTY ON, DUDE!"
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post #46 of 55
4/6/10 at 7:24pm
I live vicariously through Horror's Hallowed Grounds (by Creature Corner vet malfuncsean):

www.myspace.com/horrorshallowedgrounds
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post #47 of 55
4/6/10 at 11:28pm
Pretty sure one of the early scenes from Cannonball Run where the plane takes off from the street after was filmed in Avondale Estates east of Atlanta and about 10 minutes from my place. There is a good bakery right in there.

http://tinyurl.com/yaao7ap

I had a friend who worked at NASA in Houston and we did the Armageddon/Space Cowboys tour shortly after they came out.

Been to the Kennedy Space Center where they filmed Space Camp and some of Apollo 13.

Devils Tower from Close Encounters in Wyoming is worth a stop. Be sure to check out the prairie dog town on the way into the park.
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post #48 of 55
4/7/10 at 5:26am
Wandering around downtown LA at night(it's like a ghost town, kind of neat) with a friend I was surprised to turn around to see the 2nd Street Tunnel. I never knew where it was located. You know it from a billion movies and TV shows, from Blade Runner to that shitty Charlie's Angels movie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beageal View Post
I was in Sydney a few years back, and I hit up a bunch of Matrix locations. Pics or it never happened.
Where is that fountain? I think I took photos of it without even realizing it was the same one.
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post #49 of 55
4/7/10 at 12:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by joeypants View Post
I'm off to Seattle for a wedding in September, and as such, the lady and I will be visiting Twin Peaks (or "Snoqualmie" to the layman).
Im assuming you'll have some coffee and pie while there?
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post #50 of 55
4/7/10 at 5:29pm
I realize that this story may take me from normal geek to uber-geek, or even to creepy stalker level, but I share it anyway.

Last year when a friend and I went out to New York for a trip, we decided to make it our pilgrimage to Mecca. My friend did a little bit of research and found which church would have been Martin Scorsese's parish growing up in his neighborhood, so we trekked to it (subway trek!) and left a few of his DVDs there at the church, along with a thank you note. The note was simple and said something along the lines of "Thank you for inspiring hours of films examining guilt and redemption."
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