Page 62 - 2015 Travel Guide to California

CA.MOVIES
BY JACQUELINE YAU
Shooting on Location
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
SAN FRANCISCO
For decades, San Francisco has been a
popular location for films because of its
breathtaking setting and equally
beautiful architecture, as seen here in a
row of iconic Victorian houses on
Alamo Square. Countless films have
been shot in the city and tours visit as
many as 70 movie locations.
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 condition.
A Paramount Studio location map from 1927
shows what locations in California 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 illusionists 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
movie business. One of the better-kept
SOMCHAIJ/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: SONGQUAN DENG/SHUTTERSTOCK; SHIPPEE/SHUTTERSTOCK
60 2015 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A