Last time we visited, apart from being holiday season, the writer's strike was on and the place was a ghost town. The back lots were quiet, nothing was happening. This time, the place was busy busy busy! There were people everywhere, live sets, construction work on sets, etc.
We toured the usual backlots (New York streets, Chicago streets) plus many of the actual areas where they build stuff indoors. We even got to see some actual filming in progress for the Conan O'Brien Show (now known as Conan).
Since the show Friends finished, they have a permanent set of Central Perk to take us shameless tourists to. Here it is!
We were taken inside and down some of the corridors of the props department. Here, all props are stored, and checked in and out for use in filming. The corridors were lined with furniture and other interesting stuff. There were many rooms filled with lights, furniture etc.
We got to walk through the "jungle" which is an area with a lake, a few buildings and lots of trees. This building has been used in countless movies and TV shows, most recently this is the Merlotte's Bar and Grill on True Blood.
We were taken inside to walk through the actual sets for Hart of Dixie, on the soundstage. This is one of Helen's favourite shows and was great to see the actual sets.
Toward the end of the tour, we passed a live shooting for Hart of Dixie in progress. This was great to see, and they were actually stopping and starting filming as we passed. This was in the famous Warner's Town Square, used for so many shows including the Dukes of Hazzard and Gilmour Girls.
The tour lasted about 2 1/4 hours, not too bad. The only disappointment was the restriction of cameras on sets. I can vaguely understand why, but it is a shame nonetheless. Otherwise, we enjoyed it very much and it was worth returning.
We have until this evening to return to LAX and catch our plane to Auckland. All good things must come to an end.
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