The Chicago L (Elevated Train). Recognizable all over the world. This is Blue Line and the Shepherd Avenue Station.
Actually, it's not a station. It's not the Blue Line. And it's not Chicago.
When we were living in Los Angeles, one year my sister treated my wife and I to the studio tour on the Warner Brothers lot as a birthday present. These photos were all part of the "ER" television show set. Above, a Chicago-style newstand.
This summer my family and I spent six weeks on a work related trip to Chicago - figured this would be as good reason to post these Chicago backlot photos.
Another view of the L train set, with the front of "County General Hospital."
Palm trees and a office building to the left. Welcome to Hollywood.
This "tight" shot could in theory pass for Chicago.
Add a little winter snow outside, a bunch of actors running around, and a soundtrack - and you're set: County General Hospital.
ER aired from September 1994 to April 2009. My wife and I were at Warner Brothers in April of 2008, so this was all during the final year of production.
Inside the interior ER set - that window our tour guide is pointing to is simply a photograph and can be changed to represent either day or night.
Same thing with the vending machine images in the waiting room set: just photographs.
My wife and I inside the emergency room set. Sort of a "serious" set - should we be smiling?
Walking out with the "Jumbo Mart" across the "street" - the L set is visible at the top of the photo above.
A final view of the L Station.
Looking down Warner Brothers "New York" set. Over the years, this has been used for hundreds of movies and TV shows.
View from inside our eight passanger cart - for anyone who has been to Universal Studios, the Warners Brothers Tour was a very different (and for me, much more interesting) experience. More on that in Part II next week.
Oh, and here's a real deal: an L Station in the Loop. Yes, we really were in Chicago this summer. Good times (not to be confused with Good Times).
With "Carmageddon" (the closure of the 405 Freeway) in L.A. this weekend, it'd be nice experiencing L.A. with other options: a version of the L - or a real subway system - rather than a single line and this set piece on the Warner Brothers lot.
© 2011 www.experiencingla.com
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5 comments:
That first photo really looks like Chicago - CMD
"like"
could be almost any bass or just where was the tour guides.
So cool - Chicago wihout the humidity.
different than universal - a lot less people, for sure
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