The Alcove

We arrived at the church in Hollywood where the Enchantment Under the Sea dance was filmed about 6:30 or so. It wasn't too far from the Arclight Theater, where the BTTF screening would be, which was great. After the nice night manager allowed us inside, we immediately descended on the most recognized part of the area -- the little alcove off the stage, where Marty had his good-bye chat with his parents. It was such a small area that getting photographs without anyone in them was almost impossible.

Note the doors -- they are not double, though they were at one point in time. Outside, we could see a kind of patch fill-in job where they removed one of them. Who knows why? Maybe handicap laws or whatnot.....

And I finally solved the mystery of what that little sign was that you can see on the closet door! Whooo! :-D

During our time in the gym, there was a pick up drop in basketball game going on. (Ironic, considering the same thing was happening that morning when we checked out the rec center where Marty had the audition.) Fortunately, this allowed us ready access to the stage and all that, so we could get some good shots and the like. Though the men playing basketball were wondering what the hell we were up to!

These are some shots of the gym, which looks considerably different in person than in the films. (Must be the lack of decoration!) Oddly, it feels smaller....

Hill Valley High School - Main Entrance

Ironically, the school gym has nothing to do with Whittier High School, the site of Hill Valley High. (Believe me, they are WAY cross town from one another!) We didn't have any time to hit this site on December 17th -- though apparently the guys did go there after the film screening, at 2 A.M.! -- but the next day just Nicole and I made a detour out there before hitting Universal Studios for a spin on the BTTF Ride before driving back to Sacramento. Sadly, it was a school day, and there were intimidating bars around the campus. We talked to one of the staff security guys, and I even used my "I'm a student teacher line" -- well, not a line 'cause it's true! -- but we were not allowed on campus. Something about a locked campus due to someone bringing a gun a few months ago, yadda yadda. "But you can come back after school gets out!" the guy told us brightly. Unfortunately, that was a no go.

So Nicole and I wandered around the outside, and surprisingly saw all the highlights used in the films. Our camera zoom lenses were a Godsend!

Little known fact -- the "parking lot" that Marty uses for his plan with Lorraine is actually a court yard at the high school. Strange but true....

I gotta give props to Nicole for this catch. We were standing near her car, squinting at the campus and muttering ways to sneak in -- in jest, of course -- when I kept saying, "Why does this look so familiar to me?!"

"I think that's because those are the roof stairs," she finally said. And, yep, it appears to be so. One could also glimpse the alley outside the dance's gym, too. Pity we couldn't get closer.... One thing we did curse ourselves over was the fact we were apparently standing right by Strickland's house and had no idea -- until we watched the commentary on the DVDs and Gale mentioned this fact. Ahhhhh!