I worked 4 years in the security department at Universal (mid-1990s) and spent most of that time roaming that entire lot during the graveyard shift. Virtually all those sets on NY Street are relatively new (a huge fire burned much of it to the ground in 2008). I also noticed they've put up more modern-looking facades. As for the Psycho House: I was the only one who'd go up there on dark, rainy nights. Oh, such fun. As for the inside of Psycho House, it's pretty much just a shell, looking much like an empty garage. But a fun video and thanks for bringing back great memories for me!
I worked for a popular TV show from 1995 to 2001 and our offices were on the Universal lot. I would drive around the lot on my golf cart all the time, and look inside everything. I even got to walk inside sound stages to watch filming of big films. It was a great time.
It's awesome, huh!!! My friend worked on a popular tv show also, was bout 2 name that show but then again, might not be the smartest move, edit button hit... he would get us guest passes after hours around midnight, a couple of golf carts, backpack full of beers & other stuff, like the stuff some people might put on a pizza, haaaaa, yes, I'm serious... we ran around the back lot like a playground all night long!!! Those were some of the best nights my friends & i had, pretty hard 2 top!!! Jumping off 2nd stories on2 stunt bags in the western town, walking through the psycho house & crashed airplane, we climbed a fire escape 2 get in2 the Pirates of the Caribbean sound stage that was set to look like a thailand pirate village with caves & a lagoon, man, 2 this day those are some of my fondest memories, those Universal nights... I am eternally grateful I got 2 experience that!!!
I was a VIP tour guide at Universal from 1976 to 79-the lot was much bigger then and things were more in the original areas-Spartacus square and Europe burned down in one of the several fires that have happened since then-The showboat is gone as is the tower of London and the original 6 points Texas-The lot evolves as films are made and many sets have been placed just for the tour-Beavers house was next to Marcus Welby and colonial drive had many places including yhe HARVEY house, Munsters, Animal House etc-it was nice to hear you sound excited about visiting the lot-on the VIP tour we could take our guests off the little trolly and let them do what you did-get up close and personal and take pictures on Beavers Porch or the Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew houses etc-That lot was at one time the largest in the world and taking people through it was a privilege since movie history was made there-Frankenstien, Dracula The Mummy and the Wolfman -the original Phantom of the Opera stage I think may also be gone-that had a full sized opera house set with seats and boxes that was used in many films-its sad that Universal has basically reduced their studio to an amusement park but it also serves to keep the history of Hollywood alive-glad you had fun-Warners also has a tour and some of the Hello Dolly set still exists at 20th-the tram tour isn't what it was when they opened in 1965-we had lots more to show people in those days and the tram tour took 4 1/2 hours or more.
Hey...Colonial St. use to be in a entirely different location. Universal needs to get rid of the Who Ville that no one gives a crap about and the Plan crash scene..Universal is waaaay behind the times. We were zipped around the back lot like we were a inconvenience ...Universal Tour isn't what it use to be.
Anthony Richard You are totally correct-its no longer a tour its an extension of the amusement park-they don't have room to expand like Florida here in California-its sad to me since I remember a truly historic 420 acres in 1976-79 when I was a VIP guide-now its a sad artifact and frankly embarrassing with what they present as "film sets"
You are the Mr. Roger's of traveling the US for adults. That's a compliment. I loved watching him as a kid when he would take us to factories where things were made. You take us to Universal Studios where movies were made and make it fun to learn stuff we may otherwise never consider or see. Thanks!
Now with all the retro style channels... I'm amazed at how often the houses were shared by different fictional families ! 😏. Adams Family, Donna Reed Show, Dennis the Menace, the Partridge Family, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, Fathers Knows best, Marcus Welby, Andy Griffith, Leave it Beaver, Gidget, My three Sons, Adam 12, Dragnet, and the list goes on and on. 😓 And I love those huge painted back drop murals.
The Wisteria Lane part blew my mind. I just binge-watched Desperate Housewives and never would have made some of those connections from previous filming...
Oh my God, thank you SO much for sharing this. You have thus far gone through two of my favorite places- one being the old Fairmount High School in Indiana, and the second being Mayfield Pl from The 'Burbs, my favorite movie!
Find your roots and stay with it Adam this was amazing! Minimum acceptance from the RU-vid and other social media platforms. Maximum effort and content on your part! Love you bro keep up the great work! from Kenosha! NC
I remember going to universal in California when I was a little girl. I was obsessed with war of the worlds. I went on a tour on a bus and we drove right past that place on 5:43. It's so cool that you got to see that on foot.
I went to S. Cal to visit my cousin back in 82.Went on the Universal City tour.Back then they still had Gilligans Island. It was amazing seeing where they filmed everything.Saw The Beavers house too....
Adam, please make these info type videos longer about hollywood tidbits. I could listen to you for hours, I"m totally fucking serious to0 dude. great job
Yes. That was that car that was in that film. I do believe that exactly same car was used in another film. You know that one film with that actor with that face? You are freaking hilarious! GREAT videos. Please do not stop.
But last time I checked, 20th century fox made home alone. I don't think 20th century fox can use another Studios set for a movie? I mean it looks accurate, but still.
Tony Chavez yourusacityguide.com/ultimate-home-alone-2-filming-locations-how-to-find-all-the-new-york-film-locations a simple google would have shown i was right lol but there is the information i don’t know why they filmed on that lot but they did
My claim to fame as a guide was that my tram sank in the Red Sea around November '83. I believe the driver was Ray. All ended well--the guests all got free Olypmic outfits and signed release agreements in the tour guide breakroom, which was cleared out to accommodate the wet visitors! 😊
That one you showed close up is a Boeing 747, I can tell from the nose & cockpit design plus the pilots escape hatch on the roof. I've been a fan of commercial planes since I was a kid.
The plane wreckage is from War of the Worlds. I recognized it even before you said it was from a popular Tom Cruise movie, I've seen it like a hundred times. :D
I believe the sarcophagus @11:45 was used in Nancy Drew, "A Haunting We Will Go", and the hollow statue @11:56, and the Bates house, were used in the Hardy Boys pilot, "The Mystery of the Haunted House".
@@ToyotaGuy1971 I only learned about the series lately. It didn't do well. It was during this time that they also added the second window on the ground floor, (front face of the house) I'm designing a shed as a mini replica of the house, and have had to do some intense photo research, as the studio blueprints aren't very accurate when compared to the house they actually built.
@@ToyotaGuy1971 Further research has led me to a bit of a mystery. The house in "Captains and The Kings" had the same porch extensions as "Hardy Boys" but had the second window, as mentioned earlier. There's a photo of the house with the extensions, but unpainted, (no window) with the tower roof removed. I believe that this is when the original facade was totally replaced. (second window added) in prep for the series being filmed Mystery... There's no second window, and unpainted in the Hardy Boys pilot (77). That would mean it was filmed BEFORE "Captains"(76), but sat on the shelf for a bit???? That would also give Hardy Boys the distinction of being the original facade's last film appearance.
I am new to your videos (years late sorry), but I do enjoy your commentary and the interesting places you visit. Thanks for sharing this video...….how cool you lucky lucky lucky lucky luck boy!
Really enjoyed this video Adam. I took the tour in '97 and loved it. Been wanting to go back. When I was there King Kong was still running and they had the Backdraft experience as well as the Back to the Future ride. They had to shut the ride down because some Japanese tourists were video taping it They asked them to leave so the rest of us could experience the ride. Of course I didn't get to see as much of the back lot that you did but it sure did bring back some lovely memories. Thanks!
I worked on a film on the Universal backlot in 2002. I used to drive the golf cart allll around that lot. I went inside the Psycho house... and got a selfie with Mother... Good Timez!
Bewitched house is in W.Bros studio www.google.com.au/maps/place/Warner+Bros.+Ranch+Blondie+Street/@34.1578367,-118.3438781,94m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x80c2bfd24667e095:0xcae895c05394a0e4!8m2!3d34.157658!4d-118.3436421
The first time I went to Universal, they had a show that was the A team (if that tells you how long ago this was). It wasn't the REAL A team but it was pretty neat if you were a little kid. The back lot was a bit different as well.
The studio tour is the best part of Universal Studios. It's really awesome you got to walk around. I've always wanted to do that. I'm glad you gave the older history of the sets too. Unless you get a really awesome guide on your tram, they only talk about what the sets were most recently used for and the tour guide lets the tv's do all the work and I hate it. I like the tour guides who know their stuff and give you an enriching experience. The tours were better before they made videos for the trams.
Elfie, I couldn't agree more. The Backlot Tour is not what it used to be. I've probably been on that attraction about a dozen times, since the early 80s. The last time I was there, our tour guide admitted that he was an actor and that the tour guide gig was a side job to pay the bills. He didn't say it in a "this job sucks" sort of way, but after hearing that it made sense why he wasn't into it for the sake of being a movie buff. I'd much rather have an average Joe off the street as a tour guide, if he's a huge movie buff or better yet, a film historian, than someone who just knows how to perform for an audience.
I have one of the pickets from the front porch railing of the Psycho house. I worked on the backlot in the late 1990's, and the house was being restored. As they were just going to be thrown out anyway, I took one home with me.
If you can swing the price you can do all this on the Universal VIP Experience Tour. I did it and it was worth every penny. They feed you, take you onto sets and stages for hours, and then take you to the park where they jump you to the front of every ride line.
You are a very lucky man. I would love to wander around the backlot. Great video by the way. Your commentary was very entertaining. How were you able to do this? Thanks for posting this.
You don't simply to get to walk around wherever you want like Adam in this video by paying the $300 VIP ticket. Adam was obviously invited by someone from Universal to do this. Very cool nonetheless.
The V.I.P. tour takes you to ALL these spots. And you can walk around just like Adam did. The current cost is around $389. Check out the Universal Studios Hollywood website for more info.
you can experience it too! it's part of the VIP Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. You'll get to walk on the streets seen on screen, walk into a soundstage and even go into the prop department (while being escorted of course) but nonetheless experience exactly what he did! although he did a very good job at making it seem like he was "alone". watch closely at 6:33 he moves the camera too much to the left and you can see the other people getting the VIP Experience as well! (he tried though)
1:30 "AH ah! Callahan: I know what you're thinking: "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" [The bank robber gives up trying to retrieve his shotgun; Callahan picks it up and starts to walk away.] Thief: "Hey! [Callahan turns around] I gots to know!" [Callahan aims his revolver and pulls the trigger, but the gun just clicks on an empty chamber, and he grins, laughs, and walks away.] Bank Robber: "Son of a bitch!"
8:18 Red Mazda RX-7 and Yellow Toyota Supra from the opening race of 2Fast2Furious, and behind it Romans Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. Looks like Doms 69 Charger in the back, but can't be sure. Probably stunt cars.
Our thoughts exactly. Fortunately, nearly six years later and Mr.A.T.Woo has lost that annoying and distracting camp voice and now provides narration using his "normal" albeit occasionally lisp voice caused by a hunk of metal imbedded in his tongue.
FYI - that is NOT the original Psycho House. The house you see now is scaled down model that purportedly was built for the Bud Court Bates Motel series. It's been moved a few times. When I worked on the lower Lot, my wife, who worked on the upper Lot told me that the fake Bates House was a "make-out & more" spot for merchandise employees who were on break from their night-time shifts in the Merch Warehouse which is very close by. 9/10ths of what they tell you on the Tram tour is utter BS. The Backlot has had numerous serious fires and so very little of what you saw in 2014 is "original" anything. Still, you do get to see how often things get turned over and re-used for surprisingly different projects and themes. Get an actual employee or long-time director to take you around on a golfcart or watch the underground short "It's UCS for me!" (sound it out) It was made with the collusion of many big star actors & directors during the Seagrams Era, which was an hysterically funny time to be on the backlot.
yeah, the fires were a real bummer. taking away the real sets. i remember going thru courthouse square when they were filming back to the future II. wish i had a camera then. i still prefer the old kong to the new one. lol
Yes, Daverat, you're probably the only one commenting on these Universal backlot videos that knows the score about how many buildings and sets there have been moved, rebuilt, or even destroyed. One example would be the original vast soundstage from the 1925 classic Phantom of the Opera, demolished in 2014. Hitchcock shot the interiors of the Psycho house there, with the extreme high angle shot above the staircase looking down. In 1990 a disgruntled, disturbed security guard there torched some of the most legendary buildings and sets, including the street of houses and buildings from To Kill a Mockingbird. I first went to Universal Studios with my family in the late 60's when I was about 13, wanting to see where Psycho was filmed. I do remember that even though it was the original Psycho house, it was too far to get a good look at it from the tram. In '87 I took my own "private tour" there with my girlfriend, just as filmmaker Steven Spielberg did when he was about 16. We deliberately took the final tram tour of the day, patiently loitering there till we could sneak past security, then we hiked down a steep hill and across fields till we could see the Bates Motel in the distance and then the Psycho house on the hill next to it, at sunset. It was thrilling to explore around the motel and then go up the hill to that house and even open the front door (with caution). This was so much better than any patronizing, pricey "VIP" Tour I've seen on any of these YT videos. Of course I now know that the original Psycho house was moved from near the original Singapore Lake location in 1980. But at least the second location wasn't compromised like it is now in it's third location, with the Grinch movie set surrounding and even dwarfing the "Bates Motel" set while the tour tram continues on a street, right past the front porch of the latest "Psycho house" model. To further compromise this classic Hitchcock set, Steven Spielberg's massive set of plane wreckage and destroyed cars and houses from The War of the World's remake is directly next door! In retrospect, our biggest regret on that furtive private tour was that we didn't continue on to the street built especially to represent the town of Maycomb where To Kill a Mockingbird was filmed around 1961, not long after Harper Lee's book won The Nobel Prize for Fiction. To walk down that street and view the Boo Radley house, the tree where Boo put the gifts for Jem and Scout, the Finch house of Atticus, Jem and Scout, and other houses and buildings from that legendary film, 3 years before it was to be destroyed by that security guard sociopath.
Daverat I think Mel Brooks missed out on a sight gag. I woukd have loved to see a knife wielding psycho run out of the Bates house, only to be forced to stop to let a tramload of tourists go by on the access drive at the circumference of the plateau before continuing his pursuit of his prey down the steps.
On the lots they are only sets and the wires you see are for the film crews. Even when on location, like when they are filming in a real house, the lighting and everything is controlled by the crew.
Chase Petit Yes, the rooms would look real as you walk on the set, but if you look up there would be no ceiling or anything. No real walls and everything is easy to move around. These are all set up in warehouse type areas. Behind the "walls" of each set is warehouse space and where the film crew sets up and works. It's really pretty interesting because as you watch on tv or in a movie it all looks so real.
I've been on the Universal Backlot. Most of the buildings are just facades. They have exterior walls, but no innards. The interior shots are filmed on the sound stages.
at 1:00, I know I've seen that Theater once or twice in a TV Show or movie (couldn't narrow down, though) 2:01, Yep, That's Hill Valley/Kingston Falls from BTTF/Gremlins, respectively 2:43, Isn't that the Shopping Cart from the Jackass posters? 5:05 I'm Genuinely surprised that the Whoville set was erected almost smack-dab on top of the Bates Motel set 5:31 It's the War of the Worlds set, You know, from that Tom Cruise movie 8:41 now I KNOW I've seen that... If I'm not Mistaken it was used in Scream 3 11:19 I swear that gong was used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom's opening scene at the club in Shanghai
That giant shopping cart was used in "The Incredible Shrinking Women" with Lily Tomlin so she could appear to be smaller. Not sure if it's been used in other productions since then.. Here's a link to a pic. media.aintitcool.com/coolproduction/ckeditor_assets/pictures/5283/original/isw01.jpg?1327867370
Was that the giant shopping cart used in one of the Jackass movies? A bunch of the guys were piled in there, wearing superhero costumes maybe? And explosions were going off around them.
The gong from Indy, where they hide behind it while getting shot at, was about 6-8 feet diameter and had dragons and a mountain on the face. That gong does look familiar though.
