The WB Studio Tour

There's a long list of things I've been meaning to do in the six years I've lived in Los Angeles and one of them is going on the Warner Bros Studio Tour. One of my favorite television shows was filmed there, and I couldn't wait to see what Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls looked like. Also? I desperately wanted to get a mug with the familiar Luke's logo on the side.

I finally got around to booking the tour, and it was worth every penny. Our tour guide was wonderful (thanks, Mike!) and we went just a bit over the two hours allotted. I had no idea how big the Warner Bros lot is (over 100 acres) and how many shows or certain episodes of shows were filmed there. Off the top of my head: Gilmore Girls, Chuck, True Blood, The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, ER, Friends, Shameless, Pushing Daisies and on and on. I can't even begin to recall the huge list of movies created on the property.

The city streets and residential areas we drove through looked quite familiar. I spotted the corner that was The Pie Hole in Pushing Daisies and saw the morgue. A building set among trees at the beginning of the tour was Merlotte's Bar and Grill. There was a lagoon used by Hart of Dixie and also True Blood with unnaturally pretty water. A parking lot was the helicopter pad for ER. We drove right past the barn that was Patty's dance school in Gilmore Girls and saw Lorelai's house and the gazebo (yes, I flipped out a little).

Merlotte's:

Lorelai's house:

Preserved Central Perk set:

We also explored some standing sets (no photos allowed there) for The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory, and Mike and Molly. Even though I've visited a couple of sets before, I'm always fascinated by what it takes to film a single episode of a TV show. Sets, props, costumes, cast, crew - it's an insane amount of effort coming to your television each week.

And that's not all. The tour also included a look at some movie cars like the Batmobile and the Ford Anglia from Harry Potter, we walked through a set building area, and we explored a museum with lots of costumes and props. There was a whole floor of Harry Potter stuff - yeah, it made me want to visit the Harry Potter experience in Britain even more. It was ridiculously fun to explore even if the Sorting Hat put me into Hufflepuff.

Going on a Saturday was nice because more stuff was free and available to explore; I imagine it's a much busier place on weekdays. That said, you may get to witness shoots in action during the week which is its own kind of fun. I recommend going any day of the week.

See more pictures over at my Flickr page.