TDW 1850 - Largest Abandoned Movie Set in Hollywood History
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam the woo here I am
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on Hollywood Boulevard but you'll notice
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there are no stars along the pavement
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cuz I have trounced along for a little
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bit of a ways away from the Walk of Fame
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not all of the boulevard has the Stars
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some people know that some people don't
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and now you do it's my second channel
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daily Vlog channel it's kind of kind of
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overcast today look at this clouds
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that's a rarity it's the daily woo I
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still have about a mile and a half give
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or take to go to the first destination
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of the subject matter that is going to
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take over
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today's Vlog but
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first look at this what is that haunting
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Aroma coming out of
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oh don't get distracted don't get
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distracted Adam keep moving keep moving
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food can we'll wait later for food this
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ice truck looks like looks like it could
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be used in a horror film or something
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popped in real quick to this little
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parking area the murals and graffiti on
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the side of the wall and here's Michael
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doing his famous
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saying and he has the White Glove that's
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actually pretty cool looking thrilling
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from the
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grave and
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Beyond I like that and this ever
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presentent reminder well present until
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it gets painted over but this reminder
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we should always be happy this guy
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scaffolding the side of the wall and
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drawing a happy face from this spot you
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can get a pretty good view of the
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observatory way up there on the hill and
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the side of this little Motel has
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adorned it with the Hollywood sign and
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the Chinese Theater there which actually
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is way
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down that
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way about 2 mil I stand corrected it is
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nearly 3 mil I had to look it up from
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point to point B today's subject matter
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is going to take us back to the year
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1916 the silent film era director DW
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Griffith humongous Epic film that became
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a box office flop but is Remembered in a
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lot of ways for a number of different
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reasons that that's what we're talking
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about and that's where we're heading as
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we continue on the sidewalk for just a
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little bit longer the road will shift
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slightly to the right and Hollywood
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Boulevard will connect with Sunset
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Boulevard and that's where the abandoned
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film set sat for 3 or 4 years after
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production oh no she's behind bars what
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did you do to get locked up not sure but
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there's some pretty sweet
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sunglasses in there with her on the side
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of this electrical box someone has drawn
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a lot of the Hollywood icons wait wait
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wait
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wait are those nah at first I thought
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they I thought they were but they're not
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there's the sign and some sort of
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dismantled figure that has been
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shredded I don't I don't know what
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happened there
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but I always like artwork and real quick
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just peek around this fence
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line classic car
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alert now I feel really awkward I didn't
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have to look around the fence you can
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see it perfectly from this angle just
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walking just walking down just walking
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down the road no no peeking was NE we're
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now approaching where the road shifts
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like I was mentioning a minute ago and
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it looks at some point that you were
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able to walk underneath the road now you
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have to take the crosswalk but over
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there was the exit platform used to be
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able to go down here into the nether
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regions oh man
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that's it's kind of scary it's where the
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chuds live by the way sad to hear about
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the passing of John herd got to meet him
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once you know him as the father from
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home alone I know him from chud and at
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this point you can see just how far we
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are Meandering away from the iconic sign
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just a little bit of ways to go just
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down that way a few more blocks as I
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pass this music note painted on the side
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of the wall I can't help but notice this
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this relic of Ace Hardware history
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that's an old school sign up there I
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made it at least to the first spot of
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the day here at the cross streets and
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also the cross streets of Virgil right
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across from the Vista theater it's
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incredible to think but over a hundred
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years ago a century ago at this very
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spot at the angle I am standing there
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was a gas station here on the right
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corner and where the Vista theater is
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was the set from the movie intolerance
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this structure did not open till 1923 so
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a few years after the movie Set was
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bulldozed but it stretched all along
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here massive a couple blocks all the way
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down and all the way over huge as best I
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can tell this little now paved Road was
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the entryway into the set and some of
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the houses not obviously not these
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apartment complexes but some of these
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houses were actually here and the set
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was kind of sort of behind it over where
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those palm trees are now walking a
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little further into the neighborhood
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actually around the back of the
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neighborhood I am now on the corner of
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Clayton a and Rosalia road I was trying
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to match up some photos of the former
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houses and structures or maybe even the
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production Bungalows couldn't really
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find anything that matched up to the
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photos I found but I think I think don't
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quote me on this but this is the angle
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in the photo you were looking at now and
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they layered the set even as Monumental
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and massive as it was they layered it to
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make it look even larger on the screen
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hypothetically if it had never been
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removed this would be an Urban Explorer
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dream they said kids adults people of
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all kinds were out here just wandering
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around climbing up on the huge elephants
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where this neighborhood now resides
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right where I'm
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standing pretty crazy at the time it was
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one of the most expensive movies ever
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made and the box office did not reflect
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or compensate for the amount of money it
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took to create the set director ended up
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really having a lot of financial
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difficulties throughout the rest of his
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life and the studio ended up being sold
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you have to wonder have they ever
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screened the
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movie Inside here that'd be pretty neat
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if it wasn't for the cross street
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coordinates and a few photos there
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really would be no hint or proof that it
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ever existed here over 3,000 extras were
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used in one of the scenes and the story
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is the urban legend is the weight of
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everyone was so heavy that it almost
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collapsed the set could you imagine that
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if that humongous structure would have
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fallen now if you were anything like me
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you are thinking man it would have been
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nice for me to lay my own eyes upon
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something that Majestic well fret not my
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friends cuz 3.7 miles from where I am
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standing from the original spot it has
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been recreated
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down that way
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just trust me it's down
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there oh yeah he never stops he never
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stops busting busting makes me feel good
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but he's busting through the roof and
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this gold lettering signifies where I
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currently am the cross
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streets in beautiful gold lettering
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along the ground the shopping center
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located here opened in
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2001 right there and if you look closely
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it looks eerily similar to the movie set
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in question but it is no coincidence it
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was built this way completely on purpose
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everything from the gargantuan elephant
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perched on the ledge up there to the
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massive Archway which just so happens to
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Peak onto a very good view of the
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Hollywood sign and the stairs which are
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pretty much identical to where all those
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extras came running down in the film oh
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so long ago nickname Babylon Center you
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could say this is the real life
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Hollywood Babylon and that epic tracking
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shot at the time that was the longest
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one in the existence of Cinema up to
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that point hu almost three blocks that
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huge tracking shot nice swooping in ever
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so gently into the Modern Age of makeup
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stores and
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restaurants
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look at
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this mostly unnoticed by everyone
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Meandering through here probably do not
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realize the history
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of This Magnificent structure that
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elephant is providing some sweet Shades
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and while I stand here and Marvel at the
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sheer
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magnitude of this I can't help to think
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also that this is only a portion of the
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size of what the original looked like
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now it has never been 100% confirmed but
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there are stories that science fiction
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writer Ray Bradberry was the first to
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come up with the idea to recreate this
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place and then turn it basically into a
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makeshift mall and tourist attraction he
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also had some very other interesting
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ideas for this area check it out a
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Hollywood Sign pretty good view right
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there everyone's staring that way when
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in reality they have no idea the history
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and the
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backstory of these getting a closeup now
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of the pillars this one is completely
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intact the circumference goes all the
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way around and there's a stairway tucked
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away over here but if you look at the
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secondary one it's only half a filler a
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little photographic
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trickery right there only what the
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camera sees is all that matters and I
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must be honest the first couple times
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that I came here I was staring in this
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direction in this fashion as well just
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as everyone else is currently it took me
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a while to really start to understand
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and research the significance of the
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rest of the plaza if you're on the
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Boulevard and walk up the stairs
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immediately past the fountain just
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glance over this direction Babylon Court
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the Monumental Archway and elephants
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above you are inspired by the film set
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from DW Griffith's historic 1916 film in
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tolerance perhaps the most famous set
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ever built it became the first tourist
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attraction related to the movie business
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in Hollywood when it was abandoned
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during filming over 1,000 extras were
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used now I heard it was 3,000 they say
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1,000 on this use your own discretion
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and horsedrawn chariots raced a top the
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battle they raced a top that's insane
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across the top of the set it remains
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standing for many years after filming
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was completed near the intersection of
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Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard some of
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the other ideas that Bradberry had was
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to put a towering gold pillar somewhere
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on the cross streets here there's no
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towering pillar but there is there is
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that guy and he also wanted to build
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another library that had a huge Egyptian
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mummy out front and then when you
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entered in through the corridors talking
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mummies gave you
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directions those ideas never came to
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fruition imagine if they did that would
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be pretty freaking awesome if you want
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to find DW star the D ctor of the movie
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just look for Marino Sullivan Johnny
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Weiss Mueller of course who played
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Tarzan and next to him David War
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Griffith like mark but instead of an M
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it's a w David War
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Griffith that's a star his Legend not
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only lives on here but also Claire D is
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there as well but also down in the form
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of a shopping center the odds of that
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being bulldozed anytime sooner probably
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slim to none because let's face it
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people like shopping
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