Day 2 of my LA adventure found me taking the LA Subway, (yes, LA has a subway - a very nice one in fact) to Universal Studios. "The Red Line" runs from Union Station through downtown LA to North Hollywood. It takes about 30 minutes to make the trip with numerous stops along the way. There are other "lines" running to various LA areas but these are light rail rather than subway lines. The transportation grid is very easy to figure out and utilize.
Universal Studios is sort of a small amusement park with some rides, shows and lots of food vendors based on TV Shows and Movies.
But, the back lot tour is worth the price of admission. The tour is well over an hour long. You ride in a tram and visit all sorts of lots and sound stages where movies and TV shows are/were filmed. It is really interesting that they only build what they need so a lot of the houses and city buildings are merely house/store fronts only.
Wisteria Lane where Desparate Housewives is filmed is a street of house fronts. The rest of the filming occurs on the sound stages in buildings like Building 50 below.
Saw lots of examples of special effects - rain, flooding streets, King Kong 3-D, experienced a subway during an earthquake and saw a staged plane crash site. All very interesting but I don't think I'll look at TV shows and movies the same way again! Also saw famous cars from Magnum PI and Knight Rider.
And remeber Jaws and the sleepy town of Amity Island?
And, of course, there are always characters roaming the park looking to make new friends.
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