Page 52 - 2014 Travel Guide to California

CA.MOVIES
BY JACQUELINE YAU
The Stuff of Dreams
Many of your favorite films were made
in California, at a location near you
It’s the movies that have really been running things in
America ever since they were invented. They show you
what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel
about it, and how to look how you feel about it.
—Andy Warhol
ALCATRAZ ISLAND
Alcatraz has been present in the
popular culture since its time serving as
a maximum-security federal prison
from 1934 to 1963. It’s periodically the
subject of movies, with credits that
include The Rock (1996), Escape from
Alcatraz (1979), Murder in the First (1995),
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) and other
films and TV shows. For more on San
Francisco, where Alcatraz is located,
see pages 72-76.
For more than a century, filmmakers
have been inspired by California’s polyglot
culture, striking landscapes and laid-back
lifestyle to create a breathless diversity of
movies representing the human condi-
tion. A Paramount Studio location map
from 1927 shows what locations in Cali-
fornia could stand in for places across the
country and around the world—from
Wyoming cattle country to the Nile River
to the Swiss Alps to Sherwood Forest in
England. These movie-making master illu-
sionists have shaped perceptions of the
Golden State and influenced attitudes and
dress globally through such memorable
quotes as, “Just one word … plastics,” from
The Graduate (1967) and Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s line in The Terminator
(1984), “I’ll be back.” There’s a symbiotic
relationship between the film industry and
the state, and many cities have benefited
economically from films shot in and
around them.
Film Locations by the Hundreds
So many movies have been filmed in Cali-
fornia that cottage industries have cropped
up guiding tourists to film locations. There
are hundreds of places to visit in Holly-
wood and greater LA, the cradle of the
50 2014 T R AV E L G U I D E T O C A L I F O R N I A
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