SIGHTSEEING IN HILL VALLEY (Part IV)
December 16 - 18, 2002, L.A., Calif. & February 23, 2003, Jamestown, Calif.

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI




Me posing with another lamp post -- this one being the one to illuminate Doc's work around his van at the Twin/Lone Pine/s Mall. (Puente Hills Mall, in this reality.)


The Tour of Hill Valley Film Sights Continued....:

George's House

When we departed from Doc's Mansion -- aka the Gamble House -- we found the aftermath of the rain storm dripping from the old oak trees on Bushnell Avenue. This street had a three fold purpose, as both George's home, Lorraine's home, and Biff's place were all on the same strip. Same side of the street, even. Man, they were close neighbors.... Due to the position of the sun with George's place, it was difficult to get clearish pictures. I was particularly interested in some of the angles with the McFly home due to the additional cut scene that used more of the exterior than we saw in the first film. (And which I screen capped, above.)

Lorraine's House

Lorraine's house was easy to spot -- and boasts the additional irony/notoriety of being the home of Michael J. Fox's character in Teen Wolf I noticed, fairly recently. While we were loitering out there, a teenaged girl came out to drive away in one of the home's cars, but by that point we had stopped snapping pictures of the home. Maybe this was a good thing; less questions.

The Tree - "He's a peeping tom!"

Just as we see in the film, this tree is indeed directly across from the street of the Baines home. Note the 1800 mark on the curb in both the screen cap and the photograph. The branch George was on is on the far left of the tree photo.

Gertrude Tannen's Home - Biff's House

Biff's house is about two down from Lorraine's, weirdly enough. (You cannot see it in this last photo; it would be the next house on the far left, if you could.) In the final photograph, one of the "tour group" members is pointing to the house where Biff tossed the kid's ball. Lorraine's place is right next to it, on the right. Interesting -- and even more interesting that the film neglected to show this detail, probably on purpose, in that part.

The Mall Entrance & Sign

After finishing our visit of the 1955 homes, we booked it to the Puente Hills Mall, setting for the Lone/Twin Pine/s Mall of the film. Here, some of us (me included) purchased the BTTF Trilogy DVD -- finally. It seems rather appropriate, y'know? Getting the BTTF DVD at the very mall that was used in the film? It was really weird to go into the mall, as it was about a week before Christmas and all the decorations inside were up. I'd done a fanfic the year before about Marty running into Doc at the mall during the last minute Christmas shopping season, and was almost tempted to take photos for my own post-research or something. However, we were in a hurry at that point. It was about 4 P.M. when we arrived at the mall, and we had to be at the ArcLight screening by 7:30. And, you know, Industry, California, was one of the more far flung points of the tour. And L.A. rush hour was warming up. Danny, who was used to the traffic patterns of the area, urged us to hurry, but we didn't make it out until almost six between purchasing the DVDs, grabbing dinner to go in the Baja Fresh across the street, and then gassing up.

Anyway -- Nicole and I got to the mall first, having been the lead car or somehow cut around the others in our little caravan. Thus, I urged her to park where she did, marking approximately where Doc's van was parked in the film. (Although now as I compare the photographs to the screen shots, it looks like her red car was in the direct path of the DeLorean's as it went through time!) As I had been to the mall once before -- at night -- I quickly recognized the landmarks and such. The above photos are of the entryway to the mall that Marty takes by foot and skateboard, and the vantage point and place where the sign was to be.

The Area of Temporal Displacement #2

These photos can give one an approximate idea as to where the DeLorean time traveled the second time, and where Doc's van was. The lightpost was a great reference point, as was the mall store with the pillars, now a Robinson & May.

The Parking Lot

These shots show the sheer vastness of this parking lot -- and some snippets that are easily visible of the DeLorean chase. I got about three different angles of them, as apparent here.

Although we left later than we wanted, we still made it back to Hollywood with enough time for one more place that evening, before the screening: the location of the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance....

Continue on to the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance and Hill Valley High School....>>