June 21, 2002 – Road Trip Day #11
After the Warner Bros. Tour we drove back through Hollywood, where I spotted this church, the First United Methodist Church of Hollywood, where the Enchantment Under the Sea dance took place in the first (and second) BTTF movie. Too bad we didn’t have time to look at the inside…
June 22, 2002 – Road Trip Day #12
Right after our visit to the Griffith Park Observatory (see Bowfinger), we drove back down the road that leads to it (Vermont Ave.), which is where Marty turns the DeLorean around for his run toward the courthouse. Doc had marked the street with a start line, and Marty began his run up to 88 mph. That whole approach was filmed on Vermont Ave, and I could tell when I was there, but we didn’t have time to look for the actual spot where the start line was.
The next stop was right off the Pasadena exit, and surprisingly close to the Rose Bowl, (which we found while lost) and it is probably one of the most easily recognizable BTTF locations, Doc Brown’s house. It is right on the corner of 2 streets, and is all fenced in, but you actually can drive right in, since it is a historical location, the Gamble House. The house is open for tours, and the garage is a gift shop, but neither was open when we were there.
Since this shot shows the inside of the house when Doc opens the door, they filmed it at another house. You can see that the doors aren’t the same.
I peeked in the windows just to make sure the DeLorean wasn’t in there…
Next it was off to find the string of BTTF houses in South Pasadena on Bushnell Ave. When we found it, it looked just like a typical movie street; all of the grass was neatly cut to the perfect length. There was a sign that they have a neighborhood watch that reports all suspicious behavior. Andy dropped off Jamie and I at the end of the street so we could find each individual house and take pictures, while Andy kept driving up and down the street, waiting for us to finish. I soon noticed that we were being followed by someone on the sidewalk. Just as Andy picked us up, the guy asked us what we were up to. I told him that we were taking pictures of the BTTF locations, and he was like “Oh, alright, cool.” It must be hard having a movie location house…
Biff's house from BTTF Part II.
Lorraine’s (Marty’s mom) house - which George (Marty’s dad) was looking at from…
…this tree, when he fell out of it onto the street.
George McFly's house.
Whittier
The next stop, quite a distance away, in Whittier, was Marty’s high school – Whittier High School. It was without contest the largest high school I have ever seen. There was a tall metal fence going around the whole school, blocking it off from any visitors. At the front entrance, the school is divided by a road, and there is a foot tunnel going under the road to the other side.
Andy out for a run
I think this was the gym (not used in the movie, but still cool)
Puente Hills
Bar far the coolest Back to the Future location, and in my mind, the BEST movie location we saw the whole trip was Puente Hills Mall, the next stop after the school. By this time, it was pitch dark when we arrived, setting the scene perfect to recreate the car chase and time-travel moment in our T-Bird (with the soundtrack tape playing at the same time). The parking lot was pretty open, so we parked relatively close to where the DeLorean went back in time in the movie. If you watch the movie before you go, the chase scene is very easy to retrace when you are there. However, there was a lot of mall security, in SUV’ s and on bicycles, seemingly anticipating this kind of behavior. Even though the darkness made it seem more like the movie, it was disappointing, since none of our pictures turned out.
