South Pasadena: Movie Backlot

I remember watching movies set in neighborhoods with Craftsman houses nestled into tree-lined streets and wondering where IS that?

Turns out, a lot of those films were shot in South Pas.  While some people might be annoyed living among so many film and TV productions, I think it's fun to be a small part of the dream factory.  (Plus, it's kind of exciting to see your street in a Steve Carrell movie...)

I've only gotten a few checks from a studio in the almost ten years I've lived here.  One was merely for using my driveway to stage equipment for a CSI shoot down the street.  Thanks, Hollywood!

I put together the above video a few years ago, so it is missing quite a few productions.  (In fact, I've barely scratched the surface of South Pas film and television history.)   I think I might need to make a Part 2.  

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Storybook House

Every time I think I've found a favorite house in South Pas, I find yet another one that I adore.  This one is right out of a fairytale, don't you think?

I'm in a South Pasadena Home Tour kind of mood these days, so look for more shots of picturesque homes.  It's no wonder so many film crews shoot in and around our city.   Here's my highlight reel of famous South Pas film and TV production settings:

Want to leave a comment? Head on over to the new Glimpses of South Pasadena Forum and start a conversation!

That's Show Biz, Baby

So many film and TV productions have been turning up around town lately, it really feels like living on a set. Here, Bistro de la Gare serves as a location for something that looked pretty fancy. (Expensive suits! Fancy dresses!)

I actually was living on a set yesterday. My delightful little street got yet another 15 minutes of fame as the location of a TV commercial. Well, make that about 15 hours of fame -- that's about how long it took to finish the shoot.

Note to new South Pas residents who might not know the drill: make sure to find out all specifics when a production company tells you they're using your street for a location. If they are going to feature your house, you definitely want to get paid appropriately, and find out in advance how long you will be required to find alternative parking and how long a crew will have cameras trained on your front door. (Also, for heaven's sake, make sure not to run around in front of an open upstairs window in your underwear while filming is going on, either. Not that I've done that or anything...)

For more on movie and TV production in South Pasadena, check out my tag below and look at the column and slideshow I did last year for Patch.

If only it were this easy...

...sigh.

(For those of you who don't live in Los Angeles, this type of sign points to a movie/TV production location around town. Projects often have code words to identify them to the cast and crew, or perhaps a shortened version of the working title.

For all of us, we know what a bully is. And for our children, there seem to be more and more than we ever had to deal with when we were kids. I have my theories about this, but I'll save it for another rant post.)

equally dark view of the car

"By the time of early film noir the internal combustion automobile was already firmly entrenched in the American way of life. The country’s ideals of individual freedom, prosperity, and technological advancement all found a perfect symbol in the car, a liberating machine with the promise of personal mobility and control. But as the automobile began to affect the physical and social fabric of cities and their environs, a film movement focused on the dark sides of the city and humanity would take an equally dark view of the car."

Excerpted from: Driving is Murder: The Automobile, Violence, and the City in Film Noir

Written for Professor Joan Copjec's Reading the City: Film Noir

at City College of New York, December 15, 2006

A Shot of a Shot

My neighborhood doubled as a movie set again last week. This time, it was for Burt Wonderstone, a film featuring Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell. (No, Mr. Carrey and Mr. Carrell weren't around for this particular location. If they were, your faithful blogger might have been arrested for stalking.)

A crew of about 200 took our street back in time to the early 80s -- complete with an old Pinto and a lot of looooong General Motors sedans. It was like being transported back to my youth, except without the Air Supply and mullets. (No, I didn't shoot the cars. Why should I when I can get these cars anytime I want?)

Here, everyone waited while a tracking shot was set up. After about a half day of shooting, they packed up, took their dolly and went home. (Yes, I've always wanted to make that bad pun!)

Film Guy on the Move

When you live in South Pas, you get used to yielding the right of way to film and TV crews. Here, a production company guy wheels a mystery machine across the 110 Freeway overpass on Arroyo Drive.

I can't complain. We just got a check from NBC for the use of our driveway last month. Woot!

For more on South Pas as a backlot for Hollywood, I did a piece about it for Patch back in November, 2010. Check it out here. (And yes, for those of you who have asked, my Patch column will be back soon. I have just been on hiatus. Isn't that what they call it in Tinseltown?)

Sunset Paparazzi

I often stop for the sunset along Arroyo Drive. This time, a film shoot forced me to stop. A production company was setting up one of those shots where a camera is mounted on the front of a car to film a character driving. I didn't mind the delay, though. It was a great excuse to enjoy the late afternoon view along with the gentleman silhouetted in the right side of this picture. Shortly after I snapped this, the man got up, walked over to the film shoot and climbed into the driver's seat of the car just in time for the director to yell "action!"

I'm not sure who he is ... but there he is!

William Holden Slept Here (well sort of)

When cinephiles trek to South Pasadena in search of William Holden's childhood home, they're often befuddled. Census records list 1911 Fletcher Avenue as the residence of 11 year old William Beedle -- Holden's name before Paramount Pictures changed it. (The rent for the Fletcher Avenue home was $62.50 a month. The census report also made note that the house had a radio.) But at some point 1911 Fletcher Avenue was consumed by the parking lot behind Huntington Cleaners, now bordered by this lovely hedge.

In 1921 three year old William Beedle moved with his family from O'Fallon, Illinois to South Pasadena. His mother taught school in neighboring Monrovia. His father was a chemist with Gooch Industries. The family was pleased that sleepy, respectable South Pasadena was aligned with their Midwestern values and seemed light years away from the wild, outrageous antics of nearby Hollywood.

But after Billy Beedle graduated from South Pasadena High School he began inching closer to the fast lane. He performed in radio plays at Pasadena Junior College (merged in 1954 with John Muir College to become Pasadena City College.) He got his big break playing the part of an 80 year old man in a play at The Playbox -- a small theater owned by the director of Pasadena Playhouse. A Paramount talent scout spotted him and offered him a contract. His mother was happy about her son's career but begged him to "date only South Pasadena girls" because she thought they weren't corrupted like those poor souls in the movie business. What's a mother to do!? (We can only guess what Mrs. Beedle eventually thought of this scene from Picnic.)

Settings: Part 26

I hadn't planned on playing my favorite game again so soon, but when I drove past the library and saw the tree from yesterday's post being used as a backdrop for yet another South Pas film shoot, I couldn't resist.

Since this actually is a setting for a movie, what do you think the scene is about?

Camera Crossing

I've posted before about the abundance of film and television location shoots in South Pasadena. (Even in my own neighborhood!) Here, crew members wheel a camera across El Centro at Meridian. I bumped into three separate productions around town on the day I snapped this shot. Some may find it annoying, but I love it that my city serves as a back lot. Then again, you guys know how much I like to imagine scenes from movies...

Footage

So many film, TV and commercial productions shoot in South Pas it sometimes feels like we're living in a studio back lot. It's fun to play spot the location while watching something on TV. Shakers shows up so often that if you took a shot every time you saw it you might end up with acute alcohol poisoning. And Mad Men lovers take note: our wholesome little region has played host to some of Don's (and Betsy's) adulterous shenanigans...

Here, film crew members wait at Bistro de la Gare while cameras roll inside. That's show business.

Ready for her Closeup

When you live in the greater Los Angeles area, you get used to coexisting with Hollywood's dream factory. Yet another film crew set up along El Centro the other day. Despite an impressively lavish production set up across the street in the library lawn and down the block at the brick lofts, it was business as usual at Kaldi. (Regular patrons were decidedly unimpressed.)

Action!

The Cold Case production company descended upon our neighborhood at 6:00AM this morning with all the animation and excitement of a carnival. Even though I’ve been around the entertainment industry for 20 years, I still get a little jolt when I see the dream machine at work.

Dozens (and dozens) of crew members wheeled in equipment, set props, bundled electrical cables along the sidewalks, set up sound boards and placed spot lights. Within no time our little Southern California village was transformed into Philadelphia, 1968, complete with costumed extras and at least a dozen vintage muscle cars. Around 2:00PM, the team was ready for the explosion scene.

“Wow,” I said to my daughter as we stepped out on the porch to watch, “They really have thought of everything.”
“Excuse me,” a crew member interrupted, “May we borrow your hose?”

Well, maybe not everything.

By 4:00PM we were offered free ice cream with the cast and crew and by 11:00PM, the last truck had pulled out. That’s show business...

Personally, I think the trees upstage the actors...

When you live in the greater Los Angeles area, you get used to seeing film and TV crews. They’re everywhere. And it makes sense -- this is the world entertainment capital, and the region has some very notable scenery. Think about how many times you’ve watched a movie or show and seen the Santa Monica Pier or Rodeo Drive or the Pacific Coastal Highway.

But what happens when a production wants to shoot something that doesn’t look like Los Angeles? (I’ll sidestep discussing the trend of moving production jobs from Los Angeles to cheaper Toronto… ) What happens when a production needs a nearby location that looks, well, far away from Southern California? Perhaps even far away from the present time?

Hello South Pasadena!

The South Pasadena Film Office promotes our town as “Anywhere, USA” complete with a vintage art deco high school and “many tree lined streets without palm trees.” Not only that, it’s a one-stop shop for filmmakers: the police, public works and fire department are all handled by the Film Liaison. The film permit forms are even available online.

South Pas has quite a resume: Gone With the Wind, Legally Blonde 1 and 2, Back to the Future, The Player, The Terminator, Halloween, Bruce Almighty, Desperate Housewives, Flags of Our Fathers, Big Love, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Landscapers Challenge! (Just to name a few.) New productions roll in every month.

That's a pretty great career. Especially considering South Pasadena is waaaaaaaay over 30...