Back to the Future™ -- For Real!

BACK TO THE FUTURE^™ -- FOR REAL!
by Bruce Gordon

A complete step-by-step guide to finding every actual filming location in the first Back to the Future movie.

Photos by Jarrod Adams, Bob Boyce, Tim Clark, Robert Gibbons, Mark Scovel and Jim Sleeth.

When Back to the Future first opened a decade ago, it created quite a sensation among just about everybody I knew. Not only was the film funny, exciting and intelligent (a rare combination indeed) but the locations all looked so familiar it seemed as if it must have been filmed right in our own backyards.

In fact, when Marty McFly skateboarded out of the Burger King at the beginning of the film, everyone in our row pointed at the screen and said, "Hey! That's our Burger King!"

As the film sped madly on, somebody mentioned that they knew where the shopping mall was, that the high school looked like the same one used in Grease, that Doc Brown's house was a landmark in Pasadena, and on and on and on.

It was all looking very familiar.

The film was playing at the spectacular Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, one of the finest theaters in the world. Seeing Back to the Future at the Dome was such a kick that a group of us saw the film there—by actual count—26 times. On one of these many visits, a friend and fellow Imagineer by the name of Chris Tietz mentioned that his brother-in-law knew somebody who knew somebody who had a friend who went home for lunch one day and found his street blocked off by a film crew shooting scenes of a DeLorean parked in front of a neighbor's house.

Marty McFly's house!

After forcing Chris to make a few phone calls, we found out exactly where Marty McFly's house was. Well, sort of. The brother-in-law's friend's friend told us to head north on Interstate 5 and exit at Osborne Street in the town of Arleta. "Turn left", he said, "and go about a half-mile to a residential district. Turn right into the housing development, then almost immediately left and continue on for four more streets." All he could remember from there was that there were high tension power lines in the backyard. Oh, and the street name was Roslyndale.

And that's all we needed to find the house.

Marty McFly's house.

And yes, it's there...driveway, gate, garage, high tension wires and all—looking, still today, exactly as it did in the film.

When we got back and started telling and retelling the story of our adventure, another fellow Imagineer named David Mumford mentioned that he knew where the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance had been filmed. It seems he was sitting at a traffic light at the corner of Highland and Franklin, right in the heart of Hollywood (or more accurately, the left ventricle), about a mile from the Hollywood Bowl. There's a big church on the corner, and the parking lot was filled with folks all dressed in 1950's party clothes. The crowd was spilling out of the auditorium behind the church, apparently taking a lunch break. David is a big fan of the '50s so he pulled over and asked what was going on. "We're filming a new movie for Steven Spielberg," he was told. Only now, upon hearing our story, did it all come back to him—it was Back to the Future.

Identifying the locations was quickly becoming a lunch time obsession. One fateful day, Chris, David and I decided to track down every single location used in the making of Back to the Future.

And so we did.

And now, on the occasion of the film's tenth anniversary, the truth can finally be told! (Actually, it could have been told any time, it just took a while to get around to it...)

But before we start, a word of caution and conscience: most of the locations we tracked down are private property. Many are private residences. Please, please, obey all the signs, do not trespass, and do not disturb the folks living and working at these locations.

And most of all, don't get caught.

You've been warned, and we won't be liable for any trouble you get into while snooping around!

And now, let's take a trip back to Back to the Future, and tour the sites of Southern California as seen by the directorial eye of Bob Zemeckis and the cameras of cinematographer Dean Cundey.

The film opens with an interior shot of Doc Brown's lab. Of course, most (but not all!) of Back to the Future's interior shots were filmed on soundstages, and this one is no exception. But the minute we step outside, we're at our first location: the aforementioned Burger King. It's located on Victory Boulevard in Burbank, between Burbank Boulevard and Magnolia Boulevard. (Burbank - Boulevard capital of the world!) You can't miss it, it's the only Burger King in a five mile radius. And by the way, this is an exception to our "keep out" rule—they'll be happy to have you stop by and enjoy a Whopper®!

But before you go, watch the film and take a look at the pavement when Marty first comes out the door: you can clearly see that the wall of Doc Brown's lab cuts right through the middle of one of the parking spaces! For many years, you could visit the Burger King and see the patched up holes in the ground where the supports for Doc's lab were placed. (Unfortunately, they have since re-paved the parking lot, destroying this piece of history once and for all.) Also, as Marty pulls out onto Victory Boulevard, note the red-brick building at the right of the screen...it was the home of Arriflex Cameras, one of the competitors of Panavision Cameras, the system used to film Back to the Future. Needless to say, the Arriflex sign was covered up.

The film cuts immediately to the back lot at Universal Studios. Although most of the town square sets seen in the film were destroyed in an arson fire a few years back, they've been rebuilt and are usually part of the Studio Tram Tour. (Just don't try getting off the tram!)

From Universal, we jump twenty miles across town to Whittier High School, located, oddly enough, in the town of Whittier. From the Interstate 605 freeway, take Whittier Boulevard east to Hadley Street, then continue east on Hadley for a block or so.

We have been told that all the scenes at the high school—both interior and exterior—were filmed over the Thanksgiving Weekend, when the school was closed for vacation.

Which brings us to an interesting diversion... keep in mind that the filmmakers really did go back in time when they went back to the same locations to shoot the film all over again. As everyone has heard, Back to the Future was actually filmed twice—once with Eric Stoltz in the role of Marty McFly, and once with Michael J. Fox. But despite Studio proclamations that only a few scenes were involved, the truth is that the majority of the film was shot with Eric Stoltz. At each location we visited, we spoke to the folks we ran into (OK, so we don't follow our own rules!) and each of them confirmed that filming did, indeed, take place twice.

It seems that the young Mr. Stoltz, a fine and serious actor, was coming off a little bit too serious, especially in his scenes with Doc Brown. Through no one's fault, the all-important and all too rare chemistry between the two lead actors just wasn't working. So Bob Zemeckis, demonstrating the tremendous dedication to his art that has become so apparent in years since, asked Steven Spielberg if he could recast the film and reshoot the Marty McFly scenes. Obviously, the answer was yes...meaning that every scene that featured Eric Stoltz on screen had to be reshot. (Well, almost every scene. There are still a few shots lingering in the film that are clearly not Michael J. Fox! Keep that freeze frame remote handy!)

Well, we've talked for so long now that we've made it all the way from Whittier High back to Burbank, where we find Huey Lewis listening to Marty's "Pinheads" in the recreation room at McCambridge Park. The park is located on Glenoaks Boulevard between Andover Avenue and Amherst Avenue. From Interstate 5, exit at Scott Road and look for a big park. (For those of you who live in L.A., a "park" is an undeveloped area generally covered with grass and trees.) The Recreation Room is in the north corner of the park, on the lower floor of the big red brick building. But please don't go wandering in without permission.

Trust me on that one.

From Burbank, we jump back to Universal City and find Marty and Jennifer in the town square. Notice that they're waiting behind the tree as the camera pans toward them, and they start walking just a second too late to appear natural. Also note the "FOR MARY" personalized license plate on one of the cars in the lot, a tribute to Mary Radford, personal assistant to Second Unit Director, Frank Marshall.

The Clock Tower, of course, has been used in countless movies and TV shows, often appearing as Wally Cleaver's high school in the original Leave it to Beaver. (It always appeared without the triangular clock tower, which was added just for Back to the Future.) In fact, the New Leave it to Beaver was filming in that same town square when the Back to the Future crew had to return to re-film the Marty McFly scenes with Michael J. Fox. They had to squeeze their shots in on days when Beaver wasn't filming, switching the sets back and forth between Mayfield and Hill Valley!

Now we cut to Arleta, California, the real home of Marty McFly. The Lyon Estate walls are fiberglass props set in the middle of the road. (They can still be seen on the Universal Studios tour.) Oddly enough, for some reason they were set on a street corner a few blocks from Marty's house, not just up the street where it would have been easy!) Then it's on to Roslyndale and those infamous power lines.

Apparently, Bob Zemeckis was intrigued by the power lines' symbolism as 1980's grunge, and as a foreshadowing of the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity needed to get Marty home. The story goes that Bob actually asked the location manager to find a house with power lines visible in the background. Notice how, particularly in later scenes, the towers are actually lit up by special lights in the back of the house.

From here we follow Marty into his house, but the interiors of the house were all filmed on a soundstage, not in Arleta.

It's often been reported that the dinner scene (with Uncle Joey's cake) was the first scene filmed with Michael J. Fox after he was rushed into the role. As the story goes, he was playing Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties during the day, and at night he transformed himself into Marty McFly. It's interesting to note that in this lengthy scene, Marty only delivers three words of dialog ("Uncle Jailbird Joey") and does it with his back to the camera, which means he probably looped it in later. It's fun to imagine that for this first day of filming, they just plopped him down in a chair and had him react to the other actors, avoiding the need to memorize and rehearse lines of dialogue.

Later that night, Doc calls and it's off to our next location, Twin Pines Mall. This is another location that you can visit freely. It's actually known as the Puente Hills Mall, and is located in City of Industry. From the Pomona Freeway (California Route 60), exit at Azusa Boulevard. You can see the mall from the freeway. Go south on Azusa to Colima Road, turn left, and you'll suddenly find yourself at the back of the mall—and driving on sacred ground.

It looks a little bit different today, of course. Robinsons is now Robinsons-May, and it has a new sign. J.C. Penny has also replaced their sign. And the Fox Photo stand isn't there, because it never was.

The parking lot, though, is just fine.

It's fun to head to the mall (early Sunday morning is best) and take a spin around the parking lot, recreating the route Marty took while escaping the Libyan terrorists. It's fun because you can actually do it—unlike most films where chase scenes are cut together in the editing process and actually make no sense in relation to the physical world, this one was carefully storyboarded by designer Andy Probert. (Andy is most famous for designing the Enterprise for Star Trek: The Next Generation.) Andy actually went to the mall, laid out the chase scene in the parking lot, and then created detailed storyboard sketches showing the route the chase should take. And Bob Zemeckis filmed it just right.

While we're here, take a look at the scene right when Doc throws his gun to the ground. As the gun is in mid-air, I could swear there's someone else running by in the distance, just for a second, by that bright light. But hey, that's another story, and we aren't going to get into that argument here. (For the record, though, the building in the distance was a Sherwin Williams paint store, and the brightly reflecting object was the trash dumpster outside the store. Of course, it wouldn't be reflecting so brightly if they hadn't carefully pointed a spotlight right at it...)

But enough of that. I promised.

Now we speed up to 88 miles per hour, and leap (much to our surprise when we finally figured it out) 40 miles north to the Golden Oaks Ranch. We were surprised, because the Ranch is owned by our very own Walt Disney Studios. In fact, just about every countryside exterior in any Disney movie or TV show was filmed on the Ranch. (Unfortunately, the Ranch is not open to the public. Ever. So don't even ask.)

When Marty emerges from his time travel, the DeLorean is heading through a corn field, straight at the scarecrow. Unfortunately, the ground clearance of a DeLorean is a bit too low for it to actually travel over the bumpy dirt of a cornfield and come out in any usable shape. So they came up with a very clever solution: the DeLorean is actually traveling along a narrow asphalt landing strip laid out in the middle of the ranch. Normally, they use the landing strip to fly movie stars back and forth from the Studios. (Unlike you or me, movie stars don't have to sit in traffic jams.) But this time the movie stars stayed home while the location people plowed the dirt on either side of the strip, threw hay all over the place, and raced the DeLorean as fast as it would go. If you look closely, you can see a bit of the asphalt under the DeLorean's wheels as it blows the hay out of the way.

The Peabody farmhouse and the barn are also located on the Ranch, and are very recognizable from a number of old Disney films. (By the way, the Tales from Space comic book the little kid is holding was created for the film by Andy Probert, the same guy who storyboarded the chase scene. It's not real, so stop looking for copies of it.)

Marty races out of the back entrance of the Ranch and takes his biggest trip of all—some 60 miles east to the city of Chino. He lands on a private road that cuts through the middle of a Union 76 oil field behind the Chino Women's Prison (conveniently located just a few steps from the Chino Men's Prison.) He squeals to a stop and finds the fiberglass Lyon Estate walls next to a road freshly cut through the grass. Though the filmmakers took the Lyon Estate signs with them when they were done, the trenches they cut were clearly visible for the next couple of years.

The oil field is closed to the public, sadly, and there's a big gate across the entrance that does a pretty good job of keeping you out. Of course, there are those who claim I have a picture of my car parked in the exact spot where the DeLorean screeched to a stop, but they'd have to prove it. (If you look closely as Marty gets out of the car and the camera is pulling back, you can see a big "X" that was once painted on the pavement, a convenient marker for placing your own car. If you can get the gate open, that is.)

But wait, I've said too much.

As Marty walks back to town, look in the distance over the hill and you can see the water tower of the nearby prison.

Then it's back to Universal City, with the streets freshly watered down as all motion pictures seemingly demand—but in this case it's another foreshadowing of the big lightning storm to come.

By the way, when Marty moves his finger down the phone book looking for Doc Brown, notice that there are already several fingernail marks under Doc's name. Was Doc Brown really that popular...was this a sign of Marty traveling through time again and again...or was it just a sloppy retake?

Inquiring minds want to know.

From Universal City, Marty next hops to Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena, one of the most often used settings in Southern California. (Oddly enough, another Michael J. Fox film, the less than legendary Teen Wolf, was filmed on the very same street!) From Interstate 110, take Fair Oaks Avenue south to Oak Avenue, then go east on Oak a few blocks to Bushnell.

The tree branch George is lying on is a fake, but Lorraine's house is there, including that big window where she's being peeped by George. We were told that the dining room scenes in Lorraine's house were actually filmed inside a real house down the street, but we were never able to confirm that as a true fact.

From South Pasadena we jump to Pasadena proper, to the most unusual location in the film, an actual California Historical Landmark. It's Doc Brown's magnificent mansion, though it's actually known as "The Gamble House," the early 1900's summer home of the latter half of Proctor and Gamble. From the Interstate 210 Freeway, exit at Orange Grove Boulevard and head north a couple of blocks. The house is open for tours on some weekends, and the interior is truly gorgeous. But don't set your heart on meeting Doc Brown -- the people that control California Historical Landmarks don't take kindly to film crews tromping through irreplaceable Greene and Greene interiors. Nothing was filmed at the Gamble House except for the scene where Marty approaches the house, and as Doc runs from the house to the garage.

Even the door Marty knocks on is not at the Gamble House; it's at a private residence about a mile away. And the close-ups of the exterior of Doc's garage were shot on a soundstage.

Sorry.

After a few more interiors and soundstage scenes, we find ourselves back at Whittier High School. It's fun to walk the hallways and go sit in the cafeteria (yes, it's also at Whittier High), but remember that high schools are pretty rough territory these days. Watch out!

We hop back to South Pasadena, where we find George's house just two doors up from Lorraine's house. (If you're driving around Southern California with this article in your lap, we probably should have mentioned this fact when you went to South Pasadena the first time!) By the way, the copy of Fantastic Story Magazine lying on George's bed that night is real, and was purchased by the set decorator from the Collector's Book Store in Hollywood. (Now that's trivia!)

Back we go to the soundstage at Universal. Now here's where you can spot some of the original footage from the first time they filmed these scenes: though you can't easily spot Eric Stoltz, note how the people standing at the counter are different when Michael J. Fox is in the scene than they are when the scene features just George. Unless Michael was in the shot, they used the original footage.

Before we leave Universal (and Biff's manure) behind, we pause to take a look at Doc in his laboratory, watching again and again the videotaped scenes of his own death at the hands of the Libyans. It's a strikingly emotional scene that raises Back to the Future to the high plane that so many films strive for but never seem to reach.

Then its back to South Pasadena, and the backyard of George's house, where Marty plans George's big fight. The clothesline and grass were added by the filmmakers, in a spot where the homeowners were trying to grow a vegetable garden. (Now remember, don't bother these people. They're already fed up with us!)

Notice also how the scene with George and Marty is one long continuous take. That's something very rare in motion pictures (since it requires memorizing the entire scene, and if one actor blows a line they have to start all over again) but it really gives Michael J. Fox and Crispin Glover a chance to truly interact.

But nowhere is Bob Zemeckis' skill as a director (and co-screenwriter) more evident than in the interplay between Marty and Doc as Marty writes the note warning Doc of his impending doom. It's quite a balancing act to bring a lighthearted comedy to such a dramatic stop—then get it going again immediately, while making both extremes totally believable.

Well, it's off to Whittier High again. Amazingly, the parking lot where Marty and Lorraine have their first kiss is actually at the front of the high school.

For the next few minutes, we hop back and forth between Whittier and Hollywood, as we alternate between the parking lot and the interiors of the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. We stay with Whittier High for a while as Biff's gang dumps Marty in the trunk of Marvin Berry's car, actually parked at the back of the high school's auditorium. Then it's back to Hollywood, appropriately enough, for Marty's big rock and roll debut.

When Marty and Doc are back in the town square getting ready to send Marty back to the future, notice a couple of things. First off, as Doc tells Marty he painted a line on the street "way over there," look closely at the street lights in the distance. They aren't really in the distance—that back lot street stops right past the diner. They're just white lights lined up side by side on poles that get shorter as they move toward the center of the street.

Notice also the masterful use of mis-direction when the tree branch falls right after Doc tears up Marty's note. You become so concerned about the branch and the unplugged wire that you don't notice Doc shoving the torn up note in his pocket.

From this moment until the lightning strikes the clock tower, we experience one of the most perfectly constructed film sequences ever created. One problem after another continues to build, and just as one is solved the next one lands right on top. It's breathless and brilliant. An entire class on filmmaking could be based on this one sequence alone.

But we all know that.

An interesting example of the painstaking attention to detail can be found in the next location: the street where Marty turns the DeLorean around, stops and mounts the lightning rod. Notice the line down the middle of the street. It's white. Now think about the line down the middle of any street in your neighborhood. It's yellow. Today, two-way traffic is indicated by a yellow stripe...but that wasn't the case back in the 1950s when street stripes were all white. So, in an effort to stay true to the time period, a street with a white line down the middle had to be found. That street turned out to be Vermont Avenue in Hollywood, located just north of Los Feliz Boulevard, right near the famous Greek Theater. It seems that Vermont splits into two two-lane roads at this point—one going north, and one going south. Thus each road is one way, and therefore has a white line down the middle (which today signifies one-way traffic) not a yellow one as a two-way road would normally have.

It was a lot of work for a tiny detail. But tiny details are what Back to the Future is all about.

Finally the lightning bolt strikes and catapults Marty back to 1985. He arrives at Puente Hills, um, Lone Pine Mall just as Doc throws his gun to the ground. (Wait a minute, wasn't that exactly the same point where we saw the mysterious figure run by at the beginning of the film? Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up again. Somebody slap me, please.)

So now it's back to Roslyndale, where everyone else is a big success and Marty has now become the sloppy, over-sleeping low-end-of-the-food-chain in the McFly family. (By the way, the cover for George's book was also painted by Andy Probert.)

Finally, it's outside to the garage with Jennifer and Doc, ready for a flight up through the trees to sequel land.

If you happen to find yourself in Southern California some time, take a day and take the tour. Reliving Back to the Future for real is quite an adventure.

And ten years later, it's just as much fun as it was the first time.

"Back to the Future™ -- For Real" first appeared in Hill Valley Telegraph #16, the 10th Anniversary of the theatrical release of Back to the Future in the U.S. Bruce Gordon is a Disney Imagineer and a long-time fan of Back to the Future. He is best known to BTTF fans for his intriguing trilogy of "Other Marty McFly" essays in STARLOG magazine. Bruce is the co-author of the 1995 hardcover guidebook Disneyland: The Nickel Tour -- A Postcard Journey Through 40 Years of the Happiest Place on Earth, available from Camphor Tree Publishers. Bruce also authored the infamous Back to the Future essays "The Other Marty McFly?", "The Return of the Other Marty McFly", and "The Other Marty McFly Rides West" (issues 108, 154 and 170 respectively) for STARLOG magazine. It was Bruce's debut BTTF article in STARLOG #108 that inspired Fan Club president Stephen Clark to become a Back to the Future fanatic in June 1986, and later form Back to the Future™...The Fan Club in 1992.