Author: Phantom of the Backlot

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…

Look what I found! That’s my buddy Stanley peaking out the dragons head.

MGM’s famous Grand Central Station was one of the locations used in the filming of Brothers Grimm. It can be a working train station which actually ties in to Southern Pacific’s tracks where MGM shipped out large props such as stage coaches to arrive at various filming locations. This iconic set, Grand Central Station, was located inside MGM’s fabled Lot 2, and was featured in the closing scenes of this classic tale of The Brothers Grimm in 1962. This set had a small but important role, when Hollywood needed a grand rail depot. In 1972 while roaming this backlot we found the dragon which was missing it’s head, used in Brothers Grimm. At the time we weren’t sure what movie it was from. We searched the area everywhere looking for the head but it was gone! It did not need a stationary head- facial expressions would be needed. It never had a plaster head. Visual effects takes over in the Buddy Hackett/ dragon interactions. That’s a George Pal specialty. He had just completed work on the classic Time Machine film on this very same lot the year before. Below is a picture I took of my friend Stanley peeking out the neck of the dragon.

The Brothers Grimm was filmed here the same time the television show Combat was blowing up these same sets. MGM had a difficult time on the backlots in the early sixties with all the sound issues these battles created. Sound can’t be contained. I could hear it at my house. The sound of gunfire was equivalent to a fire bell or the end-of-day school bell for me. Me and my buddies would go running out of the house and be on set in literally just moments- to see what action was going on today at MGM!

Combat factor exists-Often a big problem, that hit show was a nightmare for other films and TV shows not set in WWII. The Twilight Zone battled Combat, just for quiet. Imagine trying to film the Twilight Zone episode “Stop Over in a Quiet Town” here. This Quiet Town sits next to the loudest village in all of Hollywood. The small town square is deserted, except for the battalion sitting in the shadows with their guns hanging out the windows. These shows that attempted to film quietly would have to be in radio contact with the production of Combat, so quiet scenes could happen while Combat reloads. It’s probably something many folk don’t realize takes place. But, it does…. I’ve personally dealt with sound carry over several times at Universal.

I enjoyed all the gunfire, as a boy. It made my army battles in my yard feel so real. Non-stop gunfire, all day, only stopping to reload or move cameras. What you see on TV was half of what took place gunfire and noise wise. Much gets edited, but when in doubt –fire away.

The movie Phantom of Hollywood, to the T.V. series Planet of the Apes, and of course That’s Entertainment all thrashed it. But the Fortune, Capone, and Young Frankenstein all fixed it up nice before filming began.

This plot of land with it’s wonderful worldly sets is where magic creates itself. I still feel it when I walk my dog down the residential streets that now cover what once was. Magic is real but you must believe in your wishes! In my case an MGM genie was perched on my shoulder and gave me everything I ever dreamed of-and still is ! It was like I was inserted into this world to first live, then share all these special memories from this wonderful real life fairy-tale land.

My big dream now is making a film based of these kid stories, the entire decade of the seventies- relived. This era of color, music, and energy played out full scale, this lot went with a bang. I’ll take you there, in my upcoming book- Hole in the Fence. This time can be recaptured for all through the tiny eyes of little trespassers -that turned into big trespassers on the ultimate E-ticket ride. Buckle-up!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

My picture looking down on this set from a church tower. The bridge is barely visible to the left.

Brothers Grimm- meet Brothers Gibb…they’re here to close out this old station with a very appropriate rock video- Stayin Alive…This was the last scene ever filmed here at this iconic rail destination.-1977. The lot was not only Alive’ but flourishing!

1975 N.Y Central is painted over what was Penn Central for Young Frankenstien.

MGM Backlot 2 Train Station location-bottom left corner is a large green structure that is a working rail station.

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Harum Scarum ;

Nobody except the King himself can put you in this movie chase besides me. Something caught my attention watching this Elvis rerun recently. Elvis had a Harum at Desilu studios. Even better, he used my fort to escape from angry tribesmen with little Billy Barty. This Middle Eastern village is located just adjacent to the La Ballona creek. Everyshow that films on this lot uses the dirt road behind this village to get to the heart of the backlot.

In 1965, the year this was filmed, an average day on this historic backlot could include one, if not all the shows I will name now:

Hogan’s Heroes, Andy Griffith, Lassie, Gomer Pyle, This was TV in the 60’s at it’s best. Desilu Studios was a TV factory, so when this feature rolled in, it stood out. MGM equipment, MGM personnel and MGM’s biggest star. Goober’s gas station sits almost connected to this village. Production vehicles would have surely been parked here and on Western street. Fitting equipment in on busy backlots goes unnoticed, unless your crew, and there is an an art to loading 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound box. Somehow, it all gets done. I can only imagine the buzz on the backlot on these other sets and shows knowing Elvis is filming here. It’s safe to say the cast of Hogan’s Heroes probably crossed paths with Elvis, even if it was a quick “Hello.”

I’m guessing this Harum Scarum set had a lot of visitors wanting to see a piece of the legend called- The King. He did not let anyone down. He danced about in this tiny village on a backlot known more for horse rustling than dancing…

Stalag 13 stands within close proximity, close enough for sound to carry to the prison. Can’t hide noise. There was a King here in 1933, named Kong. Elvis is running around in the same footsteps where King Kong once filmed. Those sets were destroyed in Gone with the Wind. The burning of Atlanta cleansed this part of the lot. This village from King of Kings has stood through all this history. It remained as the last set standing until a 1976 fire did it in. Goober’s gas station also burned that night at 10:25 pm, December 29,1975. I was there when this fire broke out, it was a fitting way for it to go, bulldozers were soon to be leveling the few sets still standing. Fire was a fitting way to see it disappear. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, best describes the Desilu backlot. It was cremated.

I was told a story that took place at 20th Century Fox in the late 50’s involving Elvis. He had an office next to Marilyn Monroe in a complex on the studio lot. My friend was a laborer and his job was to deliver a piano to a second story office. It had to go up a flight of stairs. Elvis was playing football in a courtyard when the studio crew arrived. He had other plans, he said “Your on that team”, to the one laborer. Elvis directed “Mike Murphy” into his huddle and said “Your with us.”

15 pass plays later, the group all helped get this piano upstairs to finish the delivery.

We boys know the trouble with girls- they can’t throw a football!

Long Live the King!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Fade in: March 6,1981- continued on from the Waltons Treehouse adventure…

Sitting at the counter at Bob’s Big Boy on Riverside Drive is like being in a studio commissary at certain times. A man with a Wolfman costume sits at the opposite end as if this is his set. Jimmy and I rehash our interlude at TBS earlier today with the Waltons crew, having never before been in a set that became “hot” while we were inside it.

We explored the Burbank Studios lot this morning and now it’s off to Universal for the second part of our afternoon. We take the car from Valley Heart Drive, the public street behind the Waltons house and we pull into the Universal Lot. It is so big that employees get shuttled by a yellow school bus that reminds us of the Partridge Family. Over an hour ago, we walked out of the TBS lot and waved “good by” to security like we will see you again Monday. Now, we are waving “Hello” to Universal security as the magic bus door slaps open, and a teamster tells us “pull the cord when you want off” … “will do sir”

The older we get, the easier this charade has become.

We decide to get off by stage 44 with the rest of the kids. Across the way is Colonial Street. Filming for BJ and the Bear is already in progress on this street that has the Munsters House and The Beaver House. Jimmy and I go inside the Munster house and go upstairs, we see a big rig with a chimp climbing around the cab. Greg Evigan is kissing a blonde girl good-by as he and the Bear climb inside the cab and say “Farewell”

This lot is even busier than the one we just left! We have just gone from Dukes of Hazzard, The Waltons, and Blade Runner at TBS to BJ and the Bear and some other show farther down the street.  Jimmy and I relax and finish the joint that we had to snuff out up in the Waltons’ treehouse. This joint, started up in a treehouse on the Waltons at TBS, and gets finished upstairs- in the Munster’s house. Welcome to my world!

As the smoke clears we appear and walk right out the front door of 1313 Mockingbird Lane. I correctly diagnosed something I was looking down at, Dan Pastorini is on this set. He plays Pro-Football, he is on the Raiders. He is the star I want to meet. I position myself alongside him, he is busy being the object of several women’s attention in between scenes. I just want to talk football, the Raiders are World Champs. He obliges me, I sit in a folding chair next to him. I’m acting like I belong here and am doing a real good job.

I get what I needed, including seeing the advance for Monday, on the call sheets. 7am, Santa Monica Pier. Count me in, I live right by there, see ya at breakfast.

A camera operator shares a story with me, it involves a moving truck shot and the camera is inside this truck POV looking out of the cab while driving. The camera is in the sleeper compartment behind “Stacks, BJ, and the Bear (BJ’s sidekick “the Bear” is actually a chimp named after University of Alabama football coach Bear Bryant.) The concern is this- the Bear is infatuated with the red air brake knob that would lock this truck up and send it into a jack-knife if it gets pulled. The entire time this scene is filmed, everyone was looking from the corner of their eye as they delivered their lines- ready to grab the chimp’s arm if he makes one wrong move towards the brakes.

The Bear would have loved the Waltons treehouse we were in earlier today. I’m sure the Waltons kids wouldn’t mind. This show is on the move to stage so we also move to another set, right down the street. Barbara Eden is being hosed down in front of a home by a green water hose, she’s dripping wet as we watch from the Beaver’s porch. Let’s all just pause and take a Barbara Eden moment…

That scene gets finished and we are in the mood to explore, so we walk the length of New York Street and end up at a castle that is better known as The Tower of London. From on top a castle turret, we watch all the activity on this lot and beyond. We can see the church steeple at The Burbank Studios, heck, we were just there. Below this castle is 6 points Texas, and the best gig on the Glamour Tram tour takes place right here-The Runaway Train.

Every couple minutes this train heads straight for the Pink and Whites with the conductor shouting ” I can’t stop!”

The train, having scared the Glamour Tram farther along, backs up by itself and hides next to the barn on this special set of tracks. It’s ready for the next unsuspecting tram.

O.K. we got this, the train parks, like train robbers we climb aboard, we duck behind the conductor, there are three of us up here now. Here we go, there’s a tram, ride em’ cowboy.

We pop our heads up as the train goes face to face with the tram. Pictures are shot from inside the tram as all this takes place by tourists and somewhere, in this world, Jimmy and I are in several. We do this several times, with each one we become bolder, we embellish the “can’t stop- part”

I always wanted to ride in a train engine, and today, we did that. We say, “Good by” to the gray-haired guy in blue coveralls with the three-word vocabulary “I can’t stop.” “We will see you again sir,” with that we walk to the next town.

The depot on Denver street doubles as a jail, inside anyway. Inside it, is a picture of Alias Smith and Jones. That’s a must have picture, The Hole in the Wall Gang meets The Hole in the Fence gang.

Jimmy and I got what this gang was searching for…Amnesty! It’s all Smith and Jones wanted, not to have to look over their shoulder at every turn. Well, the show got cancelled before the Governor came through. But the valley and its marvelous studios have provided Jimmy and I the amnesty those boys were searching for.

We’ve gone being shot at, hunted, and on every most wanted list at every studio gate in Culver City, to a simpler life. Unassuming, willing to work, can drive a train if need be. We got something special out here, we couldn’t get it in Culver City. We got… amnesty!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

This album cover type photo was snapped by Danny Hancock as we recreated a chase that took place requiring us to- jump.

We begin;

Inside this home is another very basic and simple set. A stairway behind the structure takes you upstairs. There is no backing so you can be seen upstairs, it’s a nice place to visit. It lies in the outskirts of New York Street and Tarzan’s Lake. Nestled along side tall, beautiful pine trees. A couple wild walls provide some cover, you can step directly inside here from the backside. Doors only exist in the front for the illusion this is real. Curtains that haven’t completely fallen off still profide cover, if nothing else. The window we jumped from was where we would sit down and relax at under normal conditions. We picked places depending on; Our mood, our plans, and what is taking place on the lot at that moment. Often, our decisions are based off the work taking place here at MGM. Also a big factor is whose on duty in that Bronco.

Most my memories in this area were security issues, which were several terrifying moments I will never forget.

In 1972, my good friend Pat Rich, was shot at by a salt rock gun in front of this home. He branched off away from a group of us being chased thinking he would be safe away from the pack as we were all running to exit, at the closest fence we could climb. The Red Bronco was going wild, we were on the set of Soylent Green, and we all had some green in our possesion when the guard showed up under the theater marquee on 5th avenue. This story of the movie and chase will be in my new book- A Hole in the Fence.

Fast forward, 1975

Pat brings a couple friends visiting from Oregon over for a backlot tour. MGM was heavy duty with security due to a fire earlier in the week on a set just used in the movie Logan’s Run. The Girls School had just burned down, boys call it Boystown. Whatever you wish to call it, it- was a smoldering ruin. As we snuck up on it we see 5 MGM guards. My posse is also 5 guys, 2 of which don’t have a clue of where their actually at. They know it’s a studio is all.

As we peer from the Tarzan jungle, a branch snaps, a flock of birds take off creating a huge ruckus. That attracts security and the next thing you know as dusk sets in, officer Al Black comes flying in to our group and before we know it he’s on our tail and tackles one of Pat’s friends who has only been on the lot with us for ten minutes. He is apprehended as Danny and I take off running towards- then into, the Hunting Lodge.

We laugh are heads off replaying what just happened as we are on pure adrenaline. So much just happened, and we just got here. Well, wouldn’t you know, here comes a dark figure against a dark sky, it’s Al again. He handed over Pats friend to Culver City Police and is hot on our trail again. It’s the moment Butch says to Sundance-Who is this guy?- He’s really good!

We were too loud laughing, we were so pumped up. Al is like a Indian Chief who knows how to track his prey. We shut up when we see his torso outline, he walks in the door just below the window we’re up inside in. We see the top of his sweaty head. He knows we’re up here. We must wait until he gets as close as possible, all the way up the backstairs. As we see the whites of his eyes, it’s time to exit by jumping out that window. We figured, just like Butch Cassidy did in my favorite cowboy movie ever, that your not going make this jump unless you have to…we have too!

We play cat and mouse until we safely exit…

Fast Forward, 1976

King Kong is on the lot and the production company has hired bikers as security. MGM no longer secures the lot, Heathen’s do, on motorbikes. Like a modern episode of the Twillight zone episode Black Leather Jackets.

I’m by myself when I’m spotted just in front of this house. We stare at each other at 50 yards away. They’re planning and suddenly one takes the backroad behind the house while the other one is hauling ass my way. I’ve never been chased by a biker before, this is new. I hide just inside the front door as these bikes circle the Lord House with little Donnie tucked inside. I have no intention of staying here, I counter their moves. I need to get out of here. I need to make it to the designated dirt pile area across the way. They can’t chase me on there bikes in that area. I can see they don’t want me to get to the fence. I have to escape in the lot.

In between circling the home, I get my moment to take off and get to a no ride area. I can out run them on foot. They’re only chance is these bikes, my counter move works to perfection. I crawl through the weeds and hide under a building –The Courthouse on NY street. I’m like a big racoon they’re after, but this coon got away.

When Chips filmed their Phantom scenes here, in 1978, it reminded me of my Phantom real life escapades at this same.

All these stories will show up in a series of books to begin very soon. Also, Steven Bingen will have his latest book on MGM out shortly after mine as it stands now. His tremendous extrapolations on studio history our unparalleled and is must have studio literature. My books will be great companions, if you dare to actually step foot on these lots. Watch what you wish for…

Just – Be careful…As mom always says!

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Rated- R; for marijuana use… By the time your day is done, you will have smoked out in many iconic film sets. Films are being made everywhere around me…Last but not least- this is a real life trespass. It’s through those red eyes –we begin;

My diary-Fade in- March 6/1981…The Burbank Studios

My trespassing buddy Jimmy and I need a studio fix. The backlots in Culver City are all gone, so today we’re going mobile, where all the valley studios still stand. We exit the freeway on Barham Blvd and the selection process begins. We first pass Universal on this Friday work day morning. It’s very busy as we slow our volkswagen to a crawl. We decide to keep driving toward The Burbank Studios, whose stages can clearly be seen from the Universal employee parking lot.

We both fixate on our life back in 1975, when on New Years Day we drove around the lot in a Walton picture car. The former Warner Brothers lot is laid out wonderfully, the backlot completely separate from the stages up front.

Today we just want to re-explore this lot and check up on all the sets we have played on over here before. Nostalgia for Jim-Bob and Don-Boy. Ironically, the show The Waltons, is still on the air, this many years later.

We start our trespass from fences by the L.A. river on the studio’s south boundary. A big dog barks the entire time we climb this barb wire fence adjacent to a residential area just outside the studio fences. We’ve been had so to speak, but we finish a successful entrance while ignoring this four legged barking soul. We need to scoot and once inside, we run to the church set in the TBS small town set. This area is busy with set dressing going on.

We work our way around, deciding not to hide, but just act like we work here. Hide in plain site, now that we’re getting older and don’t look like we’re school ditching kids on the prowl anymore. Getting old is a good thing, when your under 21 and hang around adults. We stop inside the bank on Laramie Street, I look up to the roof and the hole that was created by my falling halfway through is fixed. You can no longer see the sky. We celebrate by lighting up one of three joints in my sock. I blow the smoke upwards , towards the roof. I stand where I would have landed had not my camera saved me.

As we head toward the Waltons House, we pass by a building that says Ike Godsey proprietor.. The Dukes of Hazzard are parked outside. Their car is anyway, the Duke boys are nowhere to be found. Just me, Jimmy, and General Lee, framed by Ike’s country store. Having driven a car here before, on the Waltons’ set, we can’t help but look inside this mean orange machine just to see if the keys are inside. Thankfully, they’re not, because driving this car would be the ultimate temptation for Donnie and Jimmy.

Next up, the pond. This small body of water is full today and it sits in a jungle in between Laramie Street and The Waltons House. Any TBS TV series in need of a pond films here. I snuck in here last year during the filming of Flamingo Road and stood next to Morgan Fairchild as Howard Duff pulled to shore in a Hydroplane. The big-fan boats used in the everglades. I appeared from the jungle as a scene was being filmed. This super loud engine is distracting and allows me to position myself with the pick of the litter, Ms. Fairchild herself. It’s then a mishap takes place, this boat flips, dunking Mr. Howard Duff head first into this pond. Although concerned, everyone is laughing their heads off. Especially Morgan!

Jimmy was with me then as we laugh at our previous escapade and as we finish off that first doobie. It’s cool that we are beginning to have a lot of adventures at our new hang outs in the San Fernando Valley, more pages for my diary, which has been on a diet since MGM was torn down.

As we stand in house built on the pond, workers on bikes come tearing through the jungle. All appear to have a post-buzz on from their lunch break, since the time is 12:30. Hot dogging in front of us, one guy crashes into the pond, completely submerged as every one else laughs.

Deja vu, last time I was here, Howard Duff ended up being fished out of here.

Next up in this Hollywood jungle is The Walton Home. Normally, this is where we get in at, but we couldn’t use this entrance this morning.

We climb up into the treehouse, armed with a doobie and a transistor radio. Elvin Bishop is singing “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” as we reach the top for the Walton family treehouse experience. We spark yet another joint as Steely Dan’s song Show Biz Kids comes across the FM dial on KMET.

Jimmy and I are fulfilling our craving for a backlot country club, TBS replaces MGM. TBS is very busy. We sit in a prebuilt professional fort. It’s on TV once a week! A stake bed truck slowly rolls under the jungle canopy and parks right in between the treehouse and the main house. Lighting equipment is getting unloaded. They’re doing a “company move” to this set is what Jimmy and I decipher peering from up above.

We cut the music and snuff out the joint, because we’re stuck up here. We watch as this set gets rigged, cables and boxes and lights get unloaded off the truck bed. We realize the longer we wait, the more chance we will have of being confronted. It would be embarrassing to run into John- Boy, up here. It’s his fort, he can have it. There was a time I had 5 forts between Desilu and MGM. Now we use other people’s, but today, we gladly hand over the keys. It’s for the Waltons to enjoy!

We just don’t want to be seen climbing down, once on the ground we’ll be ok. We pick a time and quickly exit through the chicken coops. We backtrack through the jungle, having avoided everyone and all involved on this series.

Next we filter over to New York Street, and sure enough, we are asked by two ladies what shows are going on here. This is interesting since we’re trespassers. Cordially we reply, “Dukes of Hazzard is over that way,” turning while pointing, “The Waltons is that way, and a big movie titled Blade Runner has its sets on New York Street, over there How’s that? You have a good day ladies!”

We’re getting hungry and we’re close to the main gate on Barham. Bob’s Big Boy is to the right and Universal is the the left. Jimmy and I agree to go to Bob’s first then double-back for more studio adventures at Universal.

It’s here we decide to- just walk out the front gate. Wave good-bye to TBS security, like you will see us again Monday. Walk out the gate like the free men we are. Screw climbing, keep it simple.

“Yes, two Big Boy combos and a couple ice cold Cokes.” We place our order sitting at the counter on the opposite side of the glass, from the oversized statue that welcomed us after our adventure at TBS.

An Aerial shot from the same time period of my uninvited visit

The tree house and shed is just to the right hand side of this photo

Its been lots more than just the Gilmore Girls

Empty pond… Before/after

At the end of this street is the main gate, hang a left you’re at Universal, hang a right your at Bob’s Big Boy.

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

Beaver TV show fans, the original home is still standing but it’s hidden away, deep in the bowels of the historic Universal backlot. Trams no longer drive past the original one, it’s the closest set to the 101 Hollywood freeway.

The original house has journeyed around this studio lot at three separate locations in its long but not always star-studded history.

It’s a storage shed now on the inside and the fact it’s stuck so far back in this backlot has actually saved its existence. When it becomes in the way of something the studio decides to do going forward, it will be demolished. The old place does not have any more moves left, it sits like an old car on blocks, a shell of its historic self.

The new Leave it to Beaver house was built on the footprint of the original, let’s go over and see the replacement Beaver House built specifically for the feature film Leave it to Beaver.

The tram tour is factual sometimes and yes, when you drive down Colonial Street you will see a really clean, modern replacement. Guides often do not differentiate between the past and present and you may exit your tour thinking you saw Jerry Mathers’ and Tony Dow’s house. But, you didn’t.

What you saw is this replacement-

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…

In its Original location just north of the Gone With The Wind Train Depot. This house was relocated next to the Train Depot in 1963 to make way for “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, Jerusalem sets. If this set wasn’t connected to a TV series that was still in use, they would have just torn it down. It was needed, yet in the way of something that was bigger, budget wise anyway.

Built for the Television Show Guestward, Ho! Here is the original Mayberry R.F.D. house in 1960. Original location before being moved to a deserted spot close by.

In the T.V. Series Kentucky Jones with added front chimney (1964)

Here is the house post-1963 in its new location and slightly remodeled

Mayberry R.F.D. switched lots and this house was built at Warners also. It became most famous for the family that moved in with all those kids...But, this Desilu location saw tons of kids, right here, this was the official backlot party house. Just good clean fun!

Another scene from Mayberry R.F.D., the window on the upstairs left is my fort that lasted for years. Simple boxes left over from Hogan’s Heroes were what we sat on. Some said- Wine. Some said- Explosives. We hung posters on the back wall that framed in our private room. We even had a nice carpet we installed.

Let’s take a tour around here... Located in the hub of the RKO/Desilu backlot, there stood an ordinary house which over time hosted its share of occupants. First, there was Andy and Opie, then Sam and Mike, then the Waltons and lastly me. I was the last tenant of this house. What good times were had – for years. We never worried about guards here, only the German Shepherds that patrolled the lot in the very early 70s. Rounding up trespassers in this wild west ranch was impossible. This was the easiest of all the lots in Culver City to access. There is not even a fence along the La Ballona Creek.

We had 4 forts going in this place at our peak. They were located in Andy Griffith’s house, the Spanish Cantina, The Ranch house from Mayberry R.F.D., where we took over Opie’s, then Mike’s upstairs bedroom and the Saloon.   

The Saloon would become our make-shift casting office. We even had a working rolling phone and used it to call random numbers from all over the country, letting them know we were famous producers calling from Desilu Studios in California. We would often order pizza from our favorite local spot and have it delivered right to the lot!  The phone bill probably red flagged the old rotary phone so our Saloon/office fort was discovered and boarded up. Other than the saloon, these forts stayed active for years. I have those stories in my upcoming book.

The Mayberry R.F.D. farm house was located dead center of this lot. You could walk in the front screen door, or just walk up a flight of stairs behind it. The smell of licorice plants is intoxicating as they sprout behind this façade. Follow a wood stairway upwards takes you to a tiny bedroom set, fit for “four” teenagers. But, the roof could hold another 4 to 6 on a busy night hanging out. It served as an outside the window floor you could sit on and be part of this room.

We would usually have music and party as the moon climbed above the Baldwin Hills and gave us all the light we needed. If this ranch house could talk, what a story it could tell. We were confronted by security out front once-but he was drunk as a skunk. So we let him go, we stayed, what’s he going to do, call the cops? This was during the filming of The Fortune. 

The view out the upstairs windows looks toward the old train depot, the area beneath where we would sit overlooks the scene of civil war soldiers in a triage medical situation in Gone With the Wind. At night, it’s easy to imagine the soldiers lying all around below us. It’s spooky. Behind that, a railroad ridge for Hogan’s Heroes, then finally a big mountain that frames every show ever done here. If you film this backlot, it’s hard for this hilltop not to show up. It’s the elephant in the room, if ever there was one. It’s part of the Baldwin Hills.

Ironically, the Waltons upstairs view also sees a big, similarly shaped mountain which is the backside of the Hollywood sign, in Burbank.

On one trip to the Waltons set at TBS, “The Burbank Studios” we were lucky to find a slightly beaten-up coupe with the key in the ignition. I was 14 and didn’t have a license yet, but when opportunity knocks… Besides my dad let me practice in the driveway a couple times. My first time driving a stick! After getting the hang of shifting gears, I drive my buddies to John Boy’s home. I have the idea to park the car and say good night to this most highly rated television family, but, I’m moving a bit too fast. This iconic house is quickly becoming centered between… the headlights and the hood ornament. And I can’t slow it down! Just at the moment of truth, the car decides to turn itself off like it wants us to leave! Miraculously, we are successfully parallel parked blocking the front patio stairs.

The Waltons made money before, so let’s try our luck again. Another house was built for special grown up Waltons episodes on the Warner Ranch. John Boy gets married was one, who would have guessed that? I will end this piece at what they now call the Gilmore Girls house. They built in the wrong community, the Warner Ranch will soon succumb to bulldozers and be the next backlot Same Old Song and Dance tragedy.

Written and lived by Donnie Norden…