Tomorrow : Yesterday and Today - The Star Trek Filming Locations

[Botany Bay]

Guys, recently I spent a few days hunting down the TOS filming locations. This (very) picture intensive thread will show you how these locations look today, and where possible I will put then and now pictures for comparisons. I will try to get them up as quickly as possible, but it's likely I will work on the thread intermittently as time permits.

If you have any pics of the locations please share them. I wasn't able to find/access some of the places, so if you have any tips for hunting them down, please let me know.

Big thanks to the great TOS resource, Trekcore.com for the episode screencaps, and to BBS member PCz911 for the tip on how to find one of the locations.

First stop is near LAX. We're beaming down to Redondo Beach to visit the ill fated planet Deneva, aka Northrop Grumman :

Feb 1967 :

Today :

Beamdown :

Today :

(much) More to come!

 

[CorporalCaptain]

(much) More to come!

Nice!

 

[scotpens]

At the time "Operation -- Annihilate!" was filmed, the property was owned by TRW Corporation. Northrop Grumman bought out TRW in 2002.

 

[Botany Bay]

Spock meets the locals :

If he visited today, he could have a nice cup of coffee with them :

 

[ElimGarak.93-99]

Thanks! It is really great to be able to see it.
Because not everyone has the ability (time, money etc.) to go to the United States and look up those places him/her self.
And probably wouldn't have a clue where to look.

 

[EnriqueH]

I

LOVE

LOVE

LOVE


filming locations.

I can share quite a few non-Star Trek pictures, but this is a WONDERFUL thread!

Excellent work. I'll be following this thread with great interest.

Keep 'em coming!

 

[feek61]

I always wanted to do this myself!! I hope you continue to post the maps as well as the photos; I would even like MORE detail on the maps (GPS coordinates perhaps?). Looking forward to your reports!!

 

[MarsWeeps]

I thought I saw a similar thread with the same past/present day pics.

Just a suggestion, it would be nice to see the present day pics taken as close to the same view as the originals. A few of the posted pictures don't really show that. For example "Spock meets the locals" doesn't really show a specific place, that shot could have been taken anywhere.

 

[PCz911]

I posted the images on my tumblr page. I tried to mirror the original angles and I included a map showing where the camera was located.


Visit to Deneva
Sorry its taken so long. And I admit that I didn't show a lot of the photo references from the episode.... BUT did visit Northrop Grumman and find all the key shooting locations for Operation annihilate. I created a powerpoint showing the camera locations in case someone is interested. Here's the link in case you want to see what it looks like now. I admit that near the end of the visit I saw the sign that prohibited photography! Egad! Sorry, didn't know.

http://pcztos.tumblr.com/

 

[PCz911]

I've been out to Vasquez rocks a few times, but I didn't have stills to match up specific locations

 

[Push The Button]

All I have to say is, I love stuff like this, great work.

 

[Botany Bay]

Yeah, sadly I didn't have production stills with me on my travels either, so the pics aren't going to align perfectly with filming angles. The comparison shots I'm showing are limited by the available screencaps and my sometimes hasty photography : not all these places I'll be showing are what you would call mainstream tourist attractions, and I didn't want to hang around too long for various reasons I'll cover as the thread progresses

If someone with more skills than I have wants to use my pics to create 'now and then' shots, by all means guys, please go for it.

Meantime I'll try to give my best approximation of before and after shots, and feek61 I will keep posting my google maps for you : does anyone know how to derive GPS co-ordinates from them?

Anyway, on with the show, and if you're looking for this building, the establishing shot of Sam's lab :

You won't find it at Northrop Grumman, you will need to go to UCLA and locate "Schoenberg Hall" - I didn't take the pic, but this is how it appears today :

 

[Botany Bay]

I thought I saw a similar thread with the same past/present day pics.

Just a suggestion, it would be nice to see the present day pics taken as close to the same view as the originals. A few of the posted pictures don't really show that. For example "Spock meets the locals" doesn't really show a specific place, that shot could have been taken anywhere.

One thing that struck me while I was visiting these places is how economical the production crew were with their set ups. They would put their equipment down in a spot to get a scene, and then rather than move all the gear, they'd simply just turn the camera around and shoot facing west instead of east, for example. So, Spock's unfriendly encounter with the orange jumpsuit sporting Denevan would have taken place right under the "S Cafe" sign where you see the red wall.

Some clever work here from Herschel Daugherty, using the underside of the bridge to block out the corporate logo on the building -- which, as scotpens pointed out -- would have been "TRW" back in '67.

For a corporate HQ, it's quite amazing how little it's changed in 50 years. The only things I noticed that have changed were the stair railings had a paintjob, the stairs themselves have been coated in non-slip material, the natural garden they had growing down the hill next to the stairs has been replaced by some kind of awful fake grass, and the white fence behind those (blurry) angry Denevans seems to have disappeared.

 

[ElimGarak.93-99]

Maybe the fake grass is less maintenance than real grass and plants.
On the picture the grass looks very green, but it's like you said probably awful.

 

[PCz911]

Has anyone been out to Vasquez rocks to search for gorn? Ive been a few times but if someone's done the heavy lifting about matching up camera angles......

 

[Botany Bay]

Yes I went Gorn hunting...and managed to track one down...but more on that another time . Back to Deneva...

Sam's lab door :

Is on the right here underneath the "Employee Store" sign :

But what is inside these days? A cafeteria...

Spock and his assailant :

The club wielder hid behind one of these pillars.

1967 :

Today :

 

[Christopher]

Has anyone been out to Vasquez rocks to search for gorn?

The one time I went out to LA, that was my top priority. It was interesting to discover the differences between the real layout and what was implied onscreen -- the way they edited shots together to rearrange the geography of the location. Of course, both the Cestus fortress and the asteroid arena were at different parts of the same location, but the fortress was torn down decades ago.

A similar case was the Flintstones live-action movie with John Goodman, which built the town of Bedrock under the big cliff at Vasquez Rocks. In the early scene when Fred and Barney are driving home from the quarry, they're really just driving back and forth along the single road leading from the parking lot to the main area, and if you've been to the location, you can see when the car suddenly reverses direction between shots even while it's supposed to be traveling in a straight ine.

 

[Botany Bay]

Yep, that's what struck me about Vasquez (and all the locations), they put their equipment down, then shot in multiple directions generally from that one spot, using editing and clever camera angles to make it look like different places. Seeing these places just makes me appreciate the behind the scenes talents of TOS even more.

All the shots on Deneva so far have been in the courtyard where that employee cafeteria is. Kirk and co are heading towards it in this shot :

Ok, time for a few angles I couldn't find anywhere :

Couldn't find this spot either :

God that is one short skirt! No wonder she wore a big coat in all the behind the scenes stills.

This is an interesting shot, but sadly I couldn't find it either. Looks like it was filmed from a rooftop :

 

[CorporalCaptain]

This shot here is among my very favorite location shots of the whole series.

 

[Botany Bay]

Agreed! Bob Justman thought so, too. He selected it a few times as a still in the closing credits.

Well, that's about it from me for Deneva. Just a word to future potential visitors : I have heard many different opinions on how welcoming this location is for visitors. Given the sensitive nature of the stuff they're designing in those buildings, security is understandably high I've been told. My (LA local) driver didn't want to go near it on a weekday.

On the other hand, there have been public tours of the facility by architecture buffs, and the cafeteria area is used by a ham radio club for meetings.

Personally, I had no problems. I went on a weekend and confined my activities to the "Sam's lab/Employee cafeteria" area, figuring there is nothing too important in that area, but I wasn't game enough to go deeper into the complex. Luckily the cafeteria area where most of the filming was done is just next to the carpark. My advice would be to email ahead and ask just to be safe. Who knows? Maybe there is a Trekker on staff who would welcome you with open arms and help you scope out the shots.

Next from me : Muagto hunting season on planet Neural