Hard to believe, but somewhere between red carpet arrivals and making tabloid headlines, Hollywood stars actually go to work. Often they punch the clock at one of L.A.'s major movie studios. Want to see movie magic revealed and perhaps spot actors in their element? Take a behind-the-scenes studio tour and say hooray for Hollywood.
Universal Studios Hollywood
Tours of the Universal lot are nearly as old as the studio itself. As early as 1915, Universal chief Carl Laemmle charged the public 25 cents for a box lunch and a bleacher seat to watch silent film stars at work. Today, Universal Studios is part movie theme park, part genuine studio tour, albeit one peppered with special effects razzle-dazzle. Through your tour's duration, your group will be menaced by "Jurassic Park" raptors, a rubber shark and a rampaging King Kong.
Traveling through the back lot, you'll pass a series of large outdoor sets, including faux East Coast brownstones and the instantly recognizable Courthouse Square, where lightning struck the clock tower and sent Michael J. Fox "Back to the Future". The residential Colonial Street, once Beaver Cleaver's hood, now plays Wisteria Lane on "Desperate Housewives". Up the road loom the creepy "Psycho" house and Bates Motel. Next door, the smoldering wreckage of a jet airliner litters a huge outdoor set built for Stephen Spielberg's "War of the Worlds."
Serious cinephiles should spring for Universal's pricey VIP Experience. Smaller trolley tours visit all the main attractions, plus provide a more authentic behind-the-scenes experience. You'll visit craft shops, technical facilities, fully dressed sets for current TV shows and be allowed to wander a few of the outdoor sets on foot.
Sony Pictures Studio Tour
In Hollywood's Golden Age, the letters MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) and the theater-rattling roar of Leo the Lion represented the mightiest studio in the movie business. Garbo, Gable, Crawford, Tracy and Hepburn were all under contract and MGM boasted "More Stars Than There Are in Heaven." The studio lot, located in the glamour-less Los Angeles suburb of Culver City, is now owned by Columbia Pictures' parent company, Sony.
Two-hour walking tours tell the tale of both studios and begin in the sleek Sony Pictures Plaza building, where lobby displays show off costumes and props from recent Columbia releases like "Ghost Rider" and "Memoirs of a Geisha." On the lot, Oscar gold sparkles in the Art Deco administration building, named for legendary MGM producer Irving Thalberg. Here you'll ogle a dozen Best Picture Academy Awards won by movies ranging from "Lawrence of Arabia" to the "Last Emperor."
Beyond the faux storefronts of Sony's "Main Street" lies a maze of production buildings and massive barn-like soundstages. Filming schedules dictate which current TV show sets you'll see. Meanwhile, nearly every tour visits the game shows "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" ("Alex, what are Sony Television's bread and butter?"). Feature film sets, on the other hand, come and go. Remember the Emerald City of Oz? Yup, the Yellow Brick Road led to a Culver City soundstage.
Paramount Pictures Studio Tour
In the 1950 classic "Sunset Boulevard," Paramount Studios plays itself when a delusional Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) drives through the iconic, arched Paramount entrance gate on her way to pay "CB" DeMille an unwelcome visit. It's one of the signature scenes shot at Paramount, the only major studio situated in Hollywood proper.
Aboard oversize golf carts, two-hour tours motor around the historic lot, making frequent stops to explore soundstage sets. "Dr. Phil" tapes here and new TV programs often inhabit lucky Soundstage No. 25, once home to the long-running hits "Cheers" and "Frasier." On Paramount's sprawling outdoor "New York Street" set ("Friends," "Seinfeld," the "Barbershop" flicks), there's always a good chance you'll spy filming in progress.
Tour itineraries change constantly, but all depart from the studio's gourmet coffee house. Keep an eye peeled for celebrities juggling lattes and BlackBerrys. Outside, a glass case filled with the studio's Academy Awards fronts the studio commissary. Tours wrap with a photo-op in front of the famous Paramount gate. Don't be shy. Go ahead and say it: "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."
Warner Bros. VIP Studio Tour
The permanent outdoor sets on Warner Bros.' back lot never fail to trigger cinematic déjà vu. The false fronts of "New York Street" have stood in for Chicago on "ER" and provided gritty backdrops for countless 1930s and '40s gangster pictures. You've seen the studio's mock "Anytown USA" pose as River City, IA, in the "Music Man" and Stars Hollow on TV's "Gilmore Girls." Embark on a two-hour VIP Studio Tour of the Warner's lot, and you may get the feeling you've been here before.
The four Warner brothers acquired the current lot in 1928, and moved their fledgling studio from Hollywood to this 110-acre spread in the east San Fernando Valley city of Burbank. Aboard a stretch, 12-seat golf cart, your guide drives you past an abundance of outdoor sets and usually stops for a stroll around "Anytown USA," a backlot set often referred to as "Midwest Street." You may get lucky and see cameras roll on a TV or movie production. Tip: Your best bet is to visit during the summer, when TV dramas are shooting episodes for the fall season.
On the front lot soundstages, you may visit the sitcom sets for "Two and a Half Men" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine." One of the more interesting stops is The Mill, where sets and props are built. Guides will usually have a studio craftsman speak to the group about tricks of the show-biz trade. Tours end at the terrific memorabilia-packed Warner Bros. Museum. The VIP Tour is pricey, no doubt, but it just might be the best overall film factory tour in screenland.
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