Author: Phantom of the Backlot

Rainbows and Wizards;

When this feature was made back in 1981, I was aggressively applying to film companies and distributors of such around town. I was working for a company called Gilboy. We had movies that we shipped all over the U.S. usually six reels is the average length of a feature and they ship in metal cans. Our top movie was Star Wars. We couldn’t ship it fast enough, that’s when we all discovered for eternity Ms. Carrie Fisher.

She became bigger than life from that role of Princess Leia and most likely, bigger than Debbie Reynolds, the MGM matriarch. Once you’re a goddess from another Universe, you have reached your peak. So, this fun romp was just a throwback to a time when Culver City was overrun by dwarfs and little people. Debbie would eventually grace MGM in the fifties the way Carrie graced the Universe in the seventies onwards.

This story of the Munchkins arriving to make The Wizard of Oz had to touch a sentimental nerve in both Carrie and Debbie. Debbie would have worked with people involved with the making of the original Wizard of Oz. Carrie and Todd Fisher would grow up on these studio backlots that ringed the city.

What’s neat was all things existed in 1981 as they did in the years 37/38. Other than the backlots, which were all scorched earth by the time this recreation was made. Many of our our city landmarks still remained. The Culver Hotel being most centerpiece. A gate was built on the street named Van Buren for this film. It has Culver City Studios attached to it. The studio should be Selznick Studios and Gone With the Wind was taking up much of the studio located on Ince Blvd. The studio was Culver City Studios-in 1981, now Amazon Studios occupies this landmark.

The hotel that was described as Culver’s skyscraper looks down on all of this. It’s as rich in history as our studios themselves. They are directly tied together in fact. Previous owners besides the founder Harry Culver would include Charlie Chaplin and John Wayne. Legend has it Chaplin lost the hotel in a card game.

The Hotel opened September 4,1924, two months before the owner of the studio across the street-Thomas Ince mysteriously passed on- aboard the Hearst yacht. Way back when Hollywoodland sign glowed proudly, looking down upon its aspiring film making entrepreneurs.

Let’s just say- The party was just getting started as this corner was being developed 1918-1924. After Ince’s death, RKO and Joseph Kennedy took over and the studio took on a rogue toughness. The backlot was a wild ranch, not lined with structured game plans like were being designed by MGM. One studio had a master plan while the other – shot from the hip. Even though highly competitive, the hotel and this entire downtown was a place for studio execs to compare notes on who gets what perks and where this film business is headed.

This area came together during silent film days- The Golden Age of Hollywood.

From 1924 until the time Under the Rainbow came here in 1981, the history on this corner is second to none in all of Hollywood. 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Brothers are not built in a way that intersects so intimately with its potential audience. Many of our residents work on these films and movie stars are just par for the course. Paramount is centered in a way much like our Culver Studios.

A who’s who of guests have included Clark Gable, Mickey Rooney, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Lana Turner, Red Skelton, Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks, Frank Sinatra, and Ronald Reagan. Dwight D. Eisenhower even had a campaign office inside in his run for office in 1952. Casts from Gone With the Wind and the Wizard of Oz both staying here including over a hundred Munchkins were lodged here. But entertainment was across the street, at Big Ed’s Bar

It’s famous for the likes of Desi Arnaz, Leonard Nimoy, Batman, and every studio mogul and actor in need of a stiff drink. A tunnel existed from this Culver Hotel to the bar across the street. This was a speak- easy during prohibition. Drinking never stopped around here and drastically increased during this original production. The bar had an escape route back to your hotel. From all accounts, this corner was wilder than this film portrays it.

Drinks were on hand during this remake, Chevy Chase parked his black 911 Turbo Porsche right outside its saloon doors. My dad has many stories inside Big Ed’s. The Bar is featured in the film Barfly. My dad became a member of SAG after some shrewd negotiations by me and the producer in front of this bar. I became an agent, I got my dad a trailer and healthy residuals, a huge upgrade from a box lunch and all the booze you can drink. Ohh the memories…

This corner is as iconic as any in Hollywood. Robert Stack and his Untouchables was never really able to clean up this section, since Studio execs need it to freshen up at lunch time. More than one episode has Tommy Gun’s a-blazing right across the street from this watering hole. I can only imagine Robert Stack coming in to order a drink… “No, no no alcohol here sir!”

It wouldn’t shock me to hear a booze tunnel extended into the studio administration building, but I digress.

Part the Waters;

This was always a fun animation to drive through. My job depended on successful completion of challenges these animations provided. Each mechanical interaction between tram and animation required skill and training. A whole weeks worth of training, that’s it-40 hours. Pass or fail.

Just need a Class A license and look good in polyester.

This animation was half-way through the backlot tour. We would cruise out of the old west, 6 points Texas, cruise around the paddleboat, only to be followed by a submarine as we creep towards a road that disappears under water like Atlantis. If you’re into this, you will shout “Part the waters” on the tour guide’s command. She’s the eye candy, I trigger the ride.

An average summer day takes us through here 6 to 7 times a day.

The pink and white trams hold 125 passengers, while the Blue Super Trams beef up to 175 cash paying guests. As for driving through this animation, factors come in to play. First, Super Tram or Mar Tram, big one or small. The big trams are able to complete the task under almost all conditions. But the smaller ones ( Mar Trams) are sensitive. They lack torque and the tires start sliding, if you go too slow, you won’t be able to exit, you will have the last trailer stuck inside the crossing. A service truck then swoops in behind you to push your trailer out. It’s the funnest way to exit actually. We’re a well oiled machine around here.

Remember these words; The Tour Must Go ON- Paying Customers Await!

Picture the backlot tour like the Indy 500. It’s a big circle, while one tram gets unloaded of passengers, another tram starts yet another tour, loaded with smiling and happy faces, most of the time. On busy days, we had 30 trams. That would include all summer days, then the holidays. 21 trams are Super, while 9 others are less than super, but funner to drive. I prefer the old pink and whites, you get a nice summer breeze and the throttle response is much better. But either way, you’re listening to a tour guide, let’s hope they’re good.

Most guides are here to be discovered, which seldom if ever happens. Many have jobs elsewhere at night, like bars and strip clubs. Yes, the guide you have today may have danced for you last night. Does she look familiar?…

It was a different time in the 80’s. We had shows such as the A-Team, which turned into Miami Vice in the entertainment center. But the driven part of the backlot tour is most people’s favorite adventure.

That’s because not only are the tram animations exciting, but filming coexists when operations has no choice but to interrupt a set for tram passage.

Crossing the Red Sea with a high tide-so to speak creates its own obstacles. Tremendous drag, like one of Kong’s hands has a hold of you, is created if the water level is not low enough. That also will overflow along the floor of the tram, wetting shoes and washing out purses. I remember pulling up to cue the Red Sea, but animations were busy fishing. A purse washed out on a tram prior to my tram’s arrival and several hundred-dollar bills were sent floating in the Red Sea.

Another memory is when a Rolls Royce with a record producer inside-accidentally drove into the Red Sea one night. Julian Lennon was doing a video, the tour was closed, I was an electrician now at this time. The road leading to the sea is pitch dark at night and nothing exists to warn you this road is for tours to use only. So, this poor guy just trying to go home after a long day, ends up driving into the sea.

He forgot to yell “part the waters”…so they didn’t.

Worse-his car started floating away and was starting to tilt downwards- he needed a rescue. We have a fire department close by and they arrived with lawyers in tow, taking pictures. A fire engine boomed across the water to hoist our record producer to safety.

This was not your same old song and dance rock video.

Just a couple of fun memories when Glamour Trams ruled the world…

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

At the time this feature was filmed, Jim Carrey was a top box office magnet. He had already starred in Liar-Liar and The Grinch and would return to do Mr Majestic up at our lake set. He was at the zenith of his film career…so big in fact-he often flew to Universal from Malibu by helicopter. A few days started with Jim delays getting to work late, due to fog at the beach and the copter being grounded.

James Brubaker was a co-producer and his early career takes him back to the days of Combat. He was involved with transportation back then but since moved high up the power ladder. Jim Carrey also produced this film besides being the star. Tom Shadyac is producer and the director.

This show pulled in so much money that a clause in Tom Shadyac’s contract made him have to direct a sequel, Evan Almighty. Jim got out of the sequel and was replaced by Steve Carrol for the part of Evan.

Tom Shadyac and his Shady Acres production company felt forced in to doing the sequel by Universal. The remake spiraled in runaway costs. Large Arks were built in Virginia and Universal. Virginia is Tom’s home down, that’s why he chose that location. It was on Evan Almighty I became friends with Tom, who has a Buddhist background. He is a special human being not motivated by the boat loads of money he was generating. He took pleasure in relationships developed on these sets.

I watched him spend the day with real Monks and share Eastern Philosophy, which he is very involved with. His love for animals is unsurpassed and I spent and hour being checked out by the trunk of a elephant along side Tom. Two elephants, two human examinations by the end of elephant trunks. It was like a communion of man and beast. It’s actually hard to call these loving, caring, respectful animals- beasts. Good old Pachyderm’s is a better description.

Once this large friend is done with it’s head to toe examination, it will have you as pre-approved for life. Tom went from not wanting to due this sequel to doing it on his terms. The show sky rocketed over budget, largely do to animal after animal close ups for all the Ark scenes. We were having fun on Stage 29, that stage was set aside for the animals needed for whatever the next scene calls for.

Evan Almighty would never had been made if Bruce Almighty didn’t rip up at the box office. Universal would do business differently going forward, not investing in high budget features that that might not make a return on the dollars spent, such as Evan Almighty, which struggled at the box office.

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

We gotta start somewhere;

Lets start with ear protection, this is a loud remembrance of typical MGM Lot 3 day in the 60’s. I can’t use protection, I gotta know what’s going on…

The way I approach sets is often through buildings, so this can be a dangerous method on war shows. As I work my way around, I have found myself in proximity of explosives that will be going off, more than once. My problem is I’m not at the safety meetings as a trespasser so I have to figure out what’s safe myself. It starts with what is the Panavision camera is looking at, then how is this set being prepared?

With explosives, many safety precautions are necessary, so kids sneaking through buildings is especially dangerous. Fire extinguishers are always present as well as fire hoses. Depending how big the detonation, the fire department may be there. Loose debris, such as cork, that’s light-weight, gets thrown on top of the charges and wood framing is precut to blow apart easy. Special Effects people build things to look real but break easy, prop building is a prerequisite for this job, along with powder license. Welding is also a key component, for blast muzzles to direct the explosions. Combined, this creates the mass of flying timbers with smoke and flash, and noise for absolute realism.

This Dutch Street is often used with sets on lot 2 -when a quaint european atmosphere is needed. But in the 60’s, these sets were purposely bombed, burned, and riddled with bullets from effects legends such as A.D. Flowers. This effects legend has passed on but we will forever be able to watch his work on not only Combat but also on Tora, Tora, Tora, The Godfather, Apocalypse Now and so much more. He was considered the top (Powder Guy) in the business. That is short for –Gun Powder.

I had the pleasure of meeting him at Universal. While running set power on a small shoot I was told see what Special Effects needs, and as we began talking, I found out I was talking to my HERO… It’s Flowers- Combat-it’s him. I quickly realized…

“You’re him, you’re Flowers from Combat?” I exclaim.

I turned into a little kid at that moment, ” I heard every one of your detonations at MGM, I lived right behind the backlot, it was non stop war”

It’s funny when you’re around someone famous what you say or ask when you get your moment, and I chose Combat for my reflections with him. He had no problem reflecting backwards and we shared something …we both grew up loving MGM!

Meeting Vic Morrow was a bucket list experience, especially since he passed on a week later. But this effects legend extraordinaire is who kept these weapons locked and loaded. Real deal professionalism in an extremely dangerous occupation. It was quite apparent-he lived for this stuff. So do I.

This was one of my most cherished memories and connected dots back to my childhood, I’ve been very blessed. I live my lunch-pails as I liked to say.

WW2 on the MGM backlots lasted over a decade, all through the 60’s before disappearing as the 70’s began. The villages wore their battle scars proudly long after. Craters and shell casings appear as if a full fledged retreat just occurred. The battle torn landscape sits silent, just an occasional door or window slamming in the wind…

I feel privileged to have seen this stuff, met these people, and still be alive and well to share these memories that include legends not only found in front of the screen but also…just out of frame!

3,2,1 ACTION!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

This Porcelain has “the look”

Cate Blanchett in a scene from the movie

Same set as above from the film

Spartacus Square is what is on studio maps and it is the first mention off the tour guides lips as the Glamour Tram spins a tight U-turn in this area. The area often has camels and horses scattered about and lies just beyond the studio transportation department. Currently, Eight sound stages are sprouting up nearby, where we used to park our trucks and trailers.

The pictures used in set dressing take you to a place in time of Nazi Germany, 1945. Berlin lays in ruins. This was the most elaborate build I ever saw take place in over 3 decades at Universal’s backlot. It was rebuilt to look bombed-out for the film, The Good German. In an interview with Cate Blanchett, she describes in detail how spectacular it was to walk on this set. Like the Fall of Berlin, this film crashed in the box office, by grossing only 6 million dollars in the theaters against its 32-million-dollar budget.

Not long before Berlin, this was Persia for the movie Scorpion King. The wars most fought here were that of the Roman Empire and Persia. Swords and chariots dominated the landscape. Scorpion King restored this area. It’s amazing just how well all the artists and crafts come together seamlessly, or so it appears, to create anyplace and anything. If you can dream it, we can make it, for a cost mind you.

This is why I love show business. It’s the behind-the-scenes attention to detail and research that goes into setting up the reality attempting to be portrayed like you’re the one living it. These bombed out sets put you smack dab into WW2. My favorite TV series growing up was Combat. At MGM, the European backlot Vic Morrow was used to seeing, looked just like this, all blown up.

Vietnam raised its ugly head here, and Vic Morrow, “Sgt- Saunders” from Combat, graced this set making it official for war. I met Vic Morrow in this same village on Twilight Zone: The Movie. Unfortunately, his next location would be his last location, where the helicopter mishap played out in Indian Dunes.

I didn’t get to meet Mr. Clooney on this shoot, but I did on his next appearance on the lot. A Nespresso commercial that he is the pitch man for was filming bright and early. They had three locations, being set up for this commercial at the Red Sea, Falls Lake and New York Street. Base camp was on New York Street. As I was powering up trailers, I look up and Clooney is pulling into our camp. But everyone was at the other sets and the star did not know exactly where everybody was at this deserted base camp. Since I was servicing all three sets with electric power, I said, “How do you do?”, and took him for a ride around the studio so he could be on the same page with all of us who start work before there is daylight…

Needless to say, there was no shortage of Nespresso on that set…

Spartacus Square

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

We Begin;

MGM lot 3 is its own very special land. Nestled at the base of the Baldwin Hills Oil Fields, MGM uses its natural western looking landscape to frame its movies and TV series’. This lot is best known for war if you grew up in the 60’s- around here. Combat, The Rat Patrol and Garrison’s Gorillas gave us a longer war than WW2 did. The sounds of gunfire ripped through this area adjacent to the studio, scaring birds and critters that go about their business in this adjoining oil field.

First operated by Standard Oil, these oil fields behind the studio can be seen in several Twilight Zones including the episodes Dust and Rance Mcgrew. Combat made sure not to capture these hills since it would not match their location. Oil derricks by the hundred looked down on this backlot. This was a very quiet area when no filming was taking place, often the only sounds were birds and oil wells pumping. Sulphur smells can be detected all about this area.

Lot 3, like Lot 2, had different types of fences around its vast expanse. The views where the hills would be included had chain link so you could not easily tell there was a fence. You could clearly see inside. Except on the main streets that border this lot. They tried to hide the place but how do you hide a wall with a sky painted on it and an ocean that has seen more action the Caribbean, with all its Pirates? The entire lot stood out above and through these fences like a gorilla in a small, tight suit.

I think everyone growing up around here, trespassed here, very easy to access, but security has free range and use of firearms was standard. So, keep that in mind. Plenty of places to hide but, this lot is so big, running requires covering huge sometimes wide-open distances. I can outrun a guard, but not a jeep, or a bullet. The vast expanse worked for us, but also against us.

My pal Jimmy and I rode around this lot on the outside for years, on our sting rays. When we finally got the guts to venture inside, we meet guys who warned us they shoot here. They pointed to a flood control drainage area that works like a bunker. Trains line the south side of the lot, blocking the views of the western street, so we would stare under the train carriages, looking for security. This gun thing is scary, it just is, because it’s true!

It’s the only reason more people did not partake in this game.

My friend Pat was shot at on lot 2 in a chase, we split off in different directions and security fired two shots at Pat. It’s scary enough being chased by an angry guard in a speeding jeep but the sound of shots fired is something you don’t forget –when you’re the target.

The western streets line up back to back but other sets are spread out so it’s dangerous in the daytime and really scary at night. The lot is too big to feel like you mastered it, so expect the unexpected. It feels haunted because I think it is. All these backlots are, but this one takes the cake. No stages exist at Lot 3, it is pure wilderness, with various villages and streets sprinkled in.

It is now the site of Raintree and Tara Hill, it’s laid out nicely, incorporating much more MGM landscape than the Studio Estates “Mistakes” made over on on Lot 2.

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

We Begin;

Ok, yes, I did just do a post using Montana and all the connecting streets, but this show popped up later that evening. Exactly 50 years later. The street corners involved in this film hit home. Every day and night you could find me pass by here. Whether it be going to school at St. Augustine’s or just casing the joint, known as MGM. I have my own pictures of all these corners, but this show deserves honorable mention.

I was told by my friend Al Black, the most athletic security guard at MGM, about this show. He said the Bronco is in it. This was 50 years ago, finally this show appeared for me, 5 decades later. I was looking for the Red Bronco and never saw it- until my jaw dropped. The Bronco is not in it, but the license on the Corvette is-FJPP. This was a legal California plate, not a film placard fake.

But what’s better is all the film footage on these streets/corners. A switchblade knife fight begins after the car crashes through the fence. Fact is stranger than fiction, stuff like that kinda happened.

Around 1974, a tractor that was parked inside the studio fence one day, was found crashed through the fence the next. It was left next to the Hole in the Fence it created!

In 1973, Jimmy and I nailed security guard George Barner with lemons from a tree that still lives on Midway. He was hiding on the roof of the watermill house, we were outside the lot, at this very corner. We remained stealth until ready to launch, then we pelted him with lemons. He almost fell down the stairs escaping our onslaught!

Jimmy and I have very good arms, lets just say “we hit the oversized target! “

Montana is the same street the 1967 fire was fought from on New York Street.

Lots of stuff happened on this secluded little side street that framed the North side of MGM’s best backlot…

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

I love the MGM, it’s gift that keeps on giving. Internet didn’t exist when I was a young lad inside these fences. Films and TV shows were our link to the past. Books hardly existed on our secret world.

When I saw these pictures from the sky, my heart fluttered. I get to see my home before I lived in it, meaning the studio. The oldest part of MGM lot 2 was the area closest to my house. That explains why so much of what’s located in this section is extremely aged and weathered. Like character wrinkles on an older friends face. We all age, even the sets I play on. But, what I did not know is how lot 2’s NY street was not original, but part of a large expansion.

MGM lot 1, the side with the sound stages, also had sets built on it. A move was made that demolished the sets on lot 1, and more stages were built. Newer, fanciers sets were built brand new on the backlot. This expansion, would see MGM buy up a Culver City street called Wyoming. This section would become the most iconic New York street any backlot would want to have, or dream off. Well thought out and engineered, each angle appears to go on forever. Clever intersections, cut through connecting street after street. It’s a grown ups play set. Add streetlights, newspaper stands, light posts, phone booths, subway portals, cars etc. Next thing you know Gene Kelly will be dancing or skating- down this street..

Even a massive warehouse was constructed on the backlot that could hold both an oceanliner and a rocketship…and everything in between. MGM bragged it has more stars than the heavens, so it needed more real estate to present these actors settings to perform in.

More than any other star, Gene Kelly is attached with this street. American in Paris, Singing in the Rain, It’s Always Fair Weather, and the Black Hand were all done here. Fred Astaire walks down 5th avenue in the classic The Bandwagon.

Red Skelton, The Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton are some of the funny people that would create history on 5th avenue. In the 70’s the street saw Joe Gannon of Medical Center have a clinic on it, Soylent Green became the official food of the neighborhood. Richard Roundtree filmed Shaft, the TV series here. I can dig it!

Laugh- in filmed a special on this street which included the legendary Bettie Davis, Roddy McDowell and Robin Williams, on my birthday-1977. I snuck into the theater during filming of a scene and realized the camera was facing in towards us and they were about to detonate a pyro technique explosive, right where we were positioned. We exited just in time before the blast… their is danger in the fun I have.

The Phantom of Hollywood would use the entire lot, including a murder at a studio party thrown by Peter Lawford on my NY street. Broderick Crawford was given the challenge to capture Jack Cassidy, the notorious Phantom. MGM security called me the Phantom before this show was created. In the script, two kids die falling from where my Boystown fort happened to be, at the time of this filming. Truth is stranger than fiction.

Planet of the Apes would take this street captive only to die off due to poor ratings. Yul Brynner stared me down as the Ultimate Warrior, dead center of this theater district, while taking direction, he looked at me like a robot.

Chips even chased a Phantom cycle-down this street. MGM would blow up a portion in 1979 in John Ritter’s Hero at Large feature.

It’s amazing how a couple pictures can conjure up so many memories…

Written and lived by Donnie Norden...

Mayberry Church-1973

The original church that stood here was originally built for the movie Gone With the Wind

Stained Glass Gone With The Wind Church/Hospital

Gone With the Wind concept of Atlanta. Notice the GWTW Church (Back center) has a steeple on it. The actual church in the movie did not.

A later shot of the church

More of the damaged church

Aunt Pittypat’s House in the 60’s before the fire

Aunt Pittypat’s House after, is seen in the right of the picture after the fire.

Located dead center of the old RKO backlot, it could be viewed clearly by town folks doing their everyday chores, if their endeavors take them down Jefferson Blvd. I remember my parents going to the local Fedco Department Store in pop’s station wagon, I marveled at all the backlots we passed along the way. Just east of MGM lot 3 and its sky background is the Desilu lot, perfectly wedged between a creek and a hillside. It sits at the edge of town. It was always a part of the landscape around here. It stands out like a parish should.

The best set ever built for a backlot backdrop is this complete church. It’s real inside and should count toward credit on Sunday mass. It’s better than many real churches I see about town. I was raised at St. Augustine’s catholic church. After school- often us Catholic boys headed over to Desilu and this church was our sanctuary from the grind of going to school in a church run by nuns. Frank Sinatra seems more forgiving than Sister Sheila. Every kid needs his Father Flanagan. If ever a backlot needed God’s influence, it’s this 40 acre backlot.

Pews stretch out inside from end to end. Most likely, the last mass inside was for The Andy Griffith series. It sat silently, yet stoically, as if on pause, until we breathed life into it again.

Long before Mayberry existed on this lot by name, this area was built as Atlanta in Gone With the Wind. Inside all the buildings are simple reminders of this prestigious past. Curtains, wallpaper, even some signs are inside every doorway. The focal point of this town is its wonderful church. It makes this town very identifiable, “oh I recognize that set”-stuff. When Jimmy and I first approached it, we tuned in all the Andy Griffith shows done here. One reason is that show was on every evening, so we could watch it on TV then-play there…

Well, that’s the buildup, so let’s step inside -follow me through the front door

We Begin;

We walk down a path with a black sign of mass schedules on one side and a flagpole on the other. We come to two wooden doors that hide what’s inside. So we open sesame…

A vast expanse religious space greets you; it takes a few seconds to absorb what’s inside. A four-story high roof creates an airplane hangar effect. It smells old inside here. There is scent in this building that began fermenting back when the church doors first opened back in 1947. Ancient dust kicked up by horses and soldiers and has settled for eternity inside these old buildings.

It’s real church size and a complete covered shelter. A large circular stained-glass window looks east, outward and beyond. At night the moon shines inside through it. This was the place where catholic boys can cut loose, get their uniforms dirty. Instead of myrrh incense, pot fills the air inside here often. It’s kinda where teen-age kids come to experiment. We’ve had deep life discussions in these pews, as deep as 13-year-olds get. Like confession!

Power exists inside, this church is often a hub for production to set up inside. Food tables, copy machines, refrigerators etc. Phone jacks and rolling phones are inside on production shoots. It doubles as an on-lot production office. The inside of this church was captured in the feature-Miracle of the Bells.

Starring Frank Sinatra and Fred MacMurray, this 1948 film captures this church like no other. As we begin to focus inside, we are greeted by silence. Opaque windows look out to the residential neighborhood that includes both Andy Griffith’s house across the street, two houses down from the church reverend.

A set of dual wood doors also provides access on this, the west side of the church. A messed up stand-up piano sits in a back corner, alongside a more messed up old gimbel horse. The horse is so old it’s decayed from termites but still has spooky eyes and a saddle built on to its back to pretend you’re riding off into the sunset.

For all I know Clark Gable sat on this rocker horse before us kids took it over

As we muster around here some more, we end up at the tallest peak this building offers. An imposing shaft towers overhead like the Tower of London. A straight shot ladder built directly into the church siding itself tempts you or…scares you away.

You came this far, let’s do it. Hold on tight to each rung, don’t look down. It’s worth the risk/ reward. Each story has a window to provide the only light to work with. At night, you make the climb by feel, best you practice in daylight. As you reach the summit, your head pops through to a belfry covered with pigeon and owl droppings. Owls leave piles of bones behind, I learned to differentiate up here. It’s like a kid science project. Not just a little, four decades worth, a foot thick. This old movie ranch has creatures of the night on the hunt. Nothing sleeps around here, you just lightly shut your eyes is all. Predators lurk at every turn. Bless the beasts and the children…

Now you’re here, this view is unparalleled, it’s the grandest position on the lot. It looks far beyond Mayberry and the 40-acre lot, Culver City encompasses the outer radius, beyond all parts Mayberry. It’s as if the two cities merge here. Culver City actually had Mayberry charm and innocence, way back when.

You have to factor in something important, you can easily be seen up here. It takes 20 to 30 seconds to climb up here, so if you’re seen and feel a need to escape, the posse after you can cover a lot of ground while you’re stuck in climb mode. As great as this view is- be careful is all. My Mom’s favorite line. Night time is the better time and I have spent many a moonlit night inside this church and up top in this steeple. I would guess I’ve been up here 100 times. It is the set of sets on this iconic lot.

Sadly, it was lit on fire. A small group of vandals has done so much backlot damage, it’s pitiful. Let’s celebrate its long existence, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It’s almost appropriate this lot goes out on fire, it’s what it’s best known for…

Gone With the Wind is how we began, and it’s how we end it. Close the curtains, put the horses back to pasture, and exit in the cloud of dust that blows in from the Ince main gate.

I love this place!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…