Working by Morning Glory Circle

[TygerTyger]

Hi all, I am new here, thought I would share something some of you might find interesting.

I work in TV animation, for various studios. From 2009-2012 I was on the Warner Brothers ranch lot (I was actually there in 2007 as well). I wasnt much into Bewitched until recently, so now my previous working environment is all the more interesting to me.


It's not letting me post any URL because I have not left 5 messages yet. Let me see. Go to Google and type in:

Warner Ranch Lot

..and click on the link that says Warner Ranch (w/diagram)

Scroll down to the second page..you are looking at a downshot of the Warners Ranch Lot in Burbank. This is not the main lot..it is a smaller lot just down the street, originally owned by Columbia.



Look down by Oak Street and you can see the location of the Bewitched house..in fact, you can see the names of many of the original houses used for the Partridge Family, Dennis The Menace and loads of movies and commercials. Take a look at the park in the center of the neighborhood...it appeared loads of times in various exterior Bewitched shots. Also, you can see the pool, the pool is still there...and is the same one used in some of the BW episodes too, as well as the dot which is a fountain, the one at the start of Friends, and I also saw it used in a Monkees Episode and it's at the end of Omega Man too, and who knows what else. Loads!

So many things are filmed on this lot it always amazed me they could use it over and over and over again and no one would know!! I would just watch them haul in trees, paint fake signs, build and tear down fences, etc.

You can see building 34R which is where I worked. Much of the year, the lot was quiet...imagine an old neighborhood with NO cars and hardly anyone around. It made for nice picnic lunches and afternoon chats.

I went into all the various houses on the lot. As you know, they are facades and the interiors are not full size/real home interiors. The BW house's door opens up to a dusty room the size of a one car garage. The bricks on the outside are actually soft, like foam. Not real bricks!

What always amazed me as well was that the houses just sit, almost unchanged. They will dress and undress them for movies and stunts but most of that neighborhood remains exactly the same as it did in the 60's.

In the upper right corner of the lot it is grayed out. This used to be part of the ranch lot, but was sold and developed into a shopping center. Lot 6 is where I parked. Also, the Waltons house is tucked away by itself, just over the words LOT 9 on the map.

Interesting stuff! I always enjoyed working on the lot, it was fun to have this huge quiet park to sit and relax in, and the quiet neighborhood. (Except when all the extras were in for one thing or another and swiped all the parking!)

[comedyfreak]

I like watching The Middle their house is on the ranch across from the Bewitched house.

[MichaelKeith]

Yeah that is a great old studio lot! I believe that next door to the BW house is the house they used on Hazel and Gidget, both in the 1960s.

Unfortunately, they don't have studio tours that go into the ranch. I would love to tour it in person.

[AB]

It must be so cool to work there & see all those old set locations.

[TygerTyger]

Yes, The Middle was being filmed during most of my tenure there. Also something called American Teenager, whatever that was, used to really clog up the parking lot when all the extras came in.

WB does give the studio tours but yeah, not on the lot. Also there was no commissary on the ranch which would have been nice!

What always amazed me was how fast sets would be put up, torn down, snow, trees, fences, bleachers, everything up, then suddenly gone again. The millions of times the exact same areas are used over and over.

[catlover79]

Very cool!! Thanks for sharing.