(Thomas) We’ve planned something very special for today. Or rather: I have. I’m glad that Gabi supports this – thanks! :-* We’re going to visit a lot of filming locations from my favourite movie of all time, Back to the Future. Yesterday, we already saw the real screen-used DeLorean Time Machine and on Thursday, we drove to the tunnel and the start line to find the exact spots. I’ve brought my Back to the Future 1 Marty McFly costume with me to take photos.

1. Hill Valley High School

We drive quite a long way southeast and get a preview of Los Angeles traffic. Not good. Most of the high school scenes were filmed at Whittier High School. Here’s where Marty discovers his parents as teenagers, Biff gets knocked out by George, and Marty jumps down some stairs to try and get the Sports Almanac back from Biff. The outdoor scenes of the Enchantment under the Sea dance took place here as well, while the interior scenes were filmed somewhere else. See tomorrow‘s blog post.

2. Doc Brown’s mansion (1955)

Doc Brown lives in this amazing mansion in 1955 when he gets a surprising visit by a guy in a life preserver. The Gamble House is a museum today and looks absolutely stunning. There’s now a book store inside the laboratory shed across the lawn. Nowadays, the Back to the Future trilogy is regularly shown on this lawn, usually with many DeLoreans parked along the driveway. I’d love to join one of these events.

3. Biff Tannen’s family home

This house may be seen in part 2, where the old Biff from 2015 travels back to 1955 in the stolen Time Machine to give the Sports Almanac to his younger self. He’s driving through the hedge seen on the left side.

4. George McFly’s family home

All of the three houses (4, 5, and 6) are along the same street. This house is where George McFly lived with his family. Behind the house, Marty explains his plan of ‘saving’ Lorraine at the dance to George.

5. Lorraine Baines’ family home

This is where Lorraine lives with her family. Marty gets hit by her dad’s car – instead of George.

6. George McFly’s peeping tom tree

From this tree, George tried to peek through Lorraine’s bedroom window and watch her get changed. Naughty.

7. River Road Tunnel

Inside this tunnel (to the Griffith Observatory), Marty McFly tries to steal the Sports Almanac back from Biff in part 2. But he’s discovered and almost gets run over by Biff. In the end, Doc Brown saves Marty by dropping down a rope from the flying DeLorean and pulling him up into the air. Biff crashes into a manure truck outside of the tunnel, right next to the photo. The real tunnel is a lot shorter than it appears on screen.

8. Burger King

We’ve really earned our lunch break! We eat a burger at the Burger King next to Doc Brown’s shed in 1985. Doc Brown had to sell his 1955 mansion after having spent all of his family’s inheritance to develop the Time Machine.

At the end of the opening scene, Marty leaves the parking lot on his skateboard and drives into the street, with the Burger King clearly visible. They must have added the roof cube recently.

Doc Brown’s shed stood at the rear end of this parking lot, approximately where the big white sheds are now. It was a wall built for filming only and removed afterwards. The holes in the ground were visible until the parking lot was refurbished.

9. Marty McFly’s family home (1985)

Marty McFly and his family lived here in 1985. This is where he discovers his Toyota pickup truck at the end of part 1, and where Doc Brown picks up Marty and Jennifer to travel back to the future with them. There are regular people living in all of the houses now by the way.

10. The Terminator 2 crossing

I admit: this has nothing to do with Back to the Future. That’s why I changed. From this bridge, the evil Terminator in Terminator 2 drove the towing truck down into the concrete flood control channel to get John Connor. Later, Arnie jumped down as well on his Harley to save John.

11. Twin Pines Mall

Getting to Puente Hills Mall proved to be difficult in Los Angeles traffic. It took us more than two hours instead of the 40 minutes indicated by Google maps. But that’s Los Angeles. On the mall’s parking lot, Marty met Doc Brown and saw the Time Machine for the first time. He then travelled, chased by the Lybians, accidentally into the year 1955. All of this happened during the night. We’re still a bit early for that. We therefore head into the mall but soon discover that there aren’t any stores of interest to us. I still wanted to go inside to see the ‘Twin Pines Mall’ luminous sign that’s on display here. It was created for the ‘We’re Going Back’ event in October 2015 and placed on the original spot outside the mall like in the movie. Please note my change of clothes again.

We have dinner at Outback Steakhouse, also on the lot. I’ve promised Gabi a proper piece of meat for putting up with today’s trip. She soon finds a new friend: alcoholic root beer.

We share a filet mignon and lobster tails with mashed potatos and mixed vegetables.

And a warm brownie (and quite a delicious one too!) with some vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

It’s after dark finally and we take some more photos. Behind me, Doc Brown parked his van with the DeLorean inside.

And again behind me, here’s where Marty stumbled down the slope to get to Doc who has been shot by the Lybians.

12. Sleeping

An hour later, we’re back at the hotel and tired from a long day. I drop into the bed a happy fan. Marty McFly sleeps in this pose when Doc Brown calls him after midnight to remind him of their appointment and to ask him to bring a video camera. It’s the last of the photos planned for our Back to the Future day.