Don Wildman's Scrapbook

"Off Limits was originally entitled 'Forbidden Access.' It was even earlier called 'Access Denied.' But the feeling was that if access was really denied then we wouldn't have a television program, so that seemed ultimately dishonest and if it was Forbidden'well, that sounded a little too poetic for its own good." -- Don Wildman

"The idea of this scrapbook is to preserve the memories of the shoot season. A few years back, I realized that by luck and some talent I'd landed a gig that was a great opportunity to see the world and learn a helluva lot about civilization." -- Don Wildman

"Trouble was, each shoot day is so busy that you pretty much forget what you did that day before! This became a real sin in my mind and I resolved to always grab bits and pieces of things that would force me to remember the particular experience, that way I'd prompt my memory and generally not be such a loser'as to forget the remarkable experiences I was having! " -- Don Wildman

"I cut this TV logo out of Authentic Entertainment's Christmas card. Normally, if you go to Authentic's website, those TVs have pictures of their best-known shows from the past. 'Cities of the Underworld' is usually on one of them instead of the snowman. Authentic and I have worked happily together for years, all the way back to 'Weird Travels' which I did for Travel Channel, 2003-2006. Authentic's a cool company who've climbed to the very top of a demanding business--oh, and they're my friends, too." -- Don Wildman

"Bought this US 101 badge in a shop on Windward Ave. in Venice. Cool night at the Townhouse Bar..." -- Don Wildman

"After Christmas break we picked up shooting in SF, starting Jan 9. Nice to be close to home, still. Season 1 of (still called) Forbidden Access is going to be all domestic shoots which is a relief, frankly. I've shot so much overseas in the last few years I was jazzed about concentrating on the American story and getting to some cities I'd never seen before. " -- Don Wildman

"San Francisco is not one of those cities I've never seen before 'I've been there lots. But who cares, it's the coolest town and always interesting particularly when you're trying to make a TV show out it. I find everything here'starting with the Golden Gate'to be breathtaking and monumental." -- Don Wildman

"Worked with a professor from Berkeley who intro'd me to an author named JB Jackson and the whole world of human and historic geography. I always figured myself for the geography world (I love maps, for one thing) but had no idea we were actually doing a show about the subject. Turns out, Off Limits IS historical/human geography! It's the investigation of human spaces as a record of civilization." -- Don Wildman

"Pier 70 tells the stories of San Francisco's industrial age when spaces like this one were cranking out gigantic ships and machinery." -- Don Wildman

"This is the America'and certainly the SF-- that is virtually gone now, the heavy industrial state that now does most of its manufacturing elsewhere on the planet. There was a time it was right here in these now-defunct buildings. Just watch, though; in a few years Pier 70's gonna be the place to live." -- Don Wildman

"You're looking at the old photo of the third Byron Hot Springs Hotel, built in 1914, about an hour's drive from SF. Byron Hot Springs was a place to take 'the cure,' drinking from natural sulphur springs on the property. It was a bigtime resort for SF socialites and Hollywood stars of the Silent Era and beyond. If you could lift the shot here you'd find a postcard replica of the original resort built in 1878 and then, beneath that, a picture of its final incarnation, as an interrogation camp in WWII. Now it's tragically ruined but amazingly still standing strong. Watch the show to learn more!" -- Don Wildman

"I used to think those pressed penny machines were a waste of a good coin. Now I realize how wrong I was! Not only do you get the thrill of destroying US currency but you transform it into something new'all for a dollar and a cent. It is'gratifying. Now I stop the whole shoot just to attend to the opportunity. This one I did at the Coit Tower and I've had to glue it three times to make it stick. They're not very cooperative, these things. The paper pocket's for holding business cards for folks I interview. Sorry, private." -- Don Wildman

"This is a cutout from a restaurant/club called Hillstone near where we were staying , ugh, Fisherman's Wharf. Too much tourism for my taste. Alas it was convenient to setting up a meeting with an old bestpal of mine from grade school'which was great. Hey, Scott. More beer in the near future, many years to catch up on." -- Don Wildman

"I try to make the scrapbook come alive. Watch the show to learn more and stay tuned for more pages as the season unfolds." -- Don Wildman

"On a day off in SF, I walked up to Coit Tower'how many times had I seen the thing and never gone near it? The tower was built in 1933, funded by a SF socialite named Lillie Coit in honor of SF's firefighters." -- Don Wildman

" Had no idea about the beautiful murals that decorate its first-floor interior, representing the story of California. Inspired by those done by Diego Rivera in NYC (then destroyed). Super impressive; a startling reminder that this isn't just any state in which I live'California's tale is EPIC. One day after budget crises and constitutional reform pass'it shall rise again!!" -- Don Wildman

"I had never been to Seattle before this'psyched! So much in common with Portland and SF but a totally different feel. In Seattle we look at how supremely difficult it was to just to settle the dang place out there in the old-growth mountain forests accessible only by water'how determined Americans turned it's challenges to their advantage." -- Don Wildman

"Every once in a while in life you get slapped upside your head with something new'or something old that just seems new. The Seattle Space Needle. Where the hell was I?? This structure is one of the greatest things in America. And I am one of two hundred people ever leashed up and allowed to walk the halo. I was HONORED!! Truly. Thanks to all that allowed that to happen." -- Don Wildman