From 'Grease' car to Cruise glasses: what to see in the first Hollywood studio

[Akrapovic]

We tell you how to do the Paramount night tour that, founded in 1912, is the only one that remains in the heart of the movie mecca

Nightfall on Melrose Avenue and a few tourists look for parking like crazy. Although there is never a lack of parking in Los Angeles, everyone wants the best place. Its objective is to enter the 'After Dark Tour', a night walk through the oldest studio in Hollywood, that of Paramount. They have paid 78 dollars and do not want to lose detail of everything that the 'backlot' (most po[CENSORED]r term for those parts) has to offer.

Founded in 1912 in the heart of movie mecca, the studio is perhaps not as playful as Universal (which includes a flashy amusement park) nor is it as focused on superheroes as Warner. However, strolling through its rooms is a way to relive the most authentic Hollywood, that of the 'Golden Age' of the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s, which made half the world imitate the ways and modes of the star system.
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in 'Grease'. (CORD)
John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in 'Grease'. (CORD)

Starting with its inner door, the one through which Norma Desmond herself entered in 'The Twilight of the Gods' when she returned to the studio that had turned her into a star. Behind that door there is much more. The tourist has the opportunity to enjoy the glass of champagne offered by the guide, which will give you as a snack a small museum behind the box office where you can look from the Oscar to the Best Film of 'Titanic' to the glasses of Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun'. Hollywood, increasingly aware of its (relatively short) history, exhibits its relics with the pride of a father at his son's end-of-year party.

Interior (and classic) door of Paramount Studios. (J. Madrid)
Interior (and classic) door of Paramount Studios. (J. Madrid)

Second stop: a series of offices with names of illustrious of the study (of Cecil B. DeMille to those Fleischer brothers to whom we owe 'Betty Boop' or 'Popeye') begin a tour in which the tourist has occasion to see, by example, the car of the musical of 'Grease', one of the standards of Paramount. There is also time to discover, with great amazement, that the Red Sea scene of 'The Ten Commandments' was shot in a… parking lot. Yes, as they read. A parking lot with a white screen in the background served for Moses to open those waters through which the Jewish people would parade.

One of the posters of 'The indiscreet window'. (CORD)
One of the posters of 'The indiscreet window'. (CORD)

Hitchcock lovers also have their little gift. When the guide introduces the visitor to the studio where 'The indiscreet window' was shot, he puts it in an elevator that goes down to an underground floor, a specific construction to house the depth required by that patio of neighbors, in which James Stewart watched him all. A giant model shows the enormity of the scenery, the kind of lighting that required the staging of the top work of Hitchcock's filmography.

The false streets of New York. (J. Madrid)
The false streets of New York. (J. Madrid)

The visitor's walk will also take you through the streets of a New York in which Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) was shot between oranges in 'The Godfather' and in which Audrey Hepburn sang that of the 'Moon river' with the fire escape next to 'Breakfast with diamonds'. The falsehood of the buildings, full of wooden planks and spotlights inside, is even more shocking in the middle of the night, in the stillness of this Hollywood corner.

Between so much industrial zone there is also a garden through which they have walked from the protagonists of 'This is a Us' to those of 'Blacklist'. Not far from there, next to the old door that received the Desmond, we can also sit on the bench where Forrest Gump ate chocolates and remembered his amazing life.

The bank of Forrest Gump. (J. Madrid)
The bank of Forrest Gump. (J. Madrid)

However, the real surprise of the tour has to do with another late study. Decades ago, the mythical RKO had, in this same field, part of its studies, as evidenced by an old globe located in the corner of the outer wall, which overlooks Melrose Avenue. That is, that Paramount added to those impressive units those sets in which Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers danced. It is surprising to see, for example, the small cinema (called Gower, as one of the streets through the studio) where executives first saw 'King Kong' climb the Empire State Building.

The 'Stage 19' in which 'Citizen Kane' was filmed. (J. Madrid)
The 'Stage 19' in which 'Citizen Kane' was filmed. (J. Madrid)