Non-Disney Theme Parks
Topic: Large Fire At Universal Hollywood Lot

#	Author	Message
31	DlandDug Mon 6/2/2008 1:07a	There are actually 144 photos of the fire in the gallery. Augh. Photos 37, 57, 68 clearly show the gutted "King Kong" attraction, as well as the degree of destruction on New York Street. That's Six points in the foreground of photo #37-- it appears to have escaped. Photo 71 is depressing. I'm pretty sure that's New York Street with brownstone Street behind. Both appear to be leveled. Interesting that in photos 96 and 97 the devastation in the foreground is the plane crash set from War of the Worlds. The big blue screen between that and the column of smoke is the backdrop for Universal's "studio sea." It was memorably seen as the edge of Truman's world in The Truman Show. In 110 you can see the back of the Bates house from Psycho, at center. Photo 134 may have been shot early in the blaze. The soundstage labeled 747 (on the right) houses a full airplane interior. The diagonal facade that adjoins it appears to have survived. Ironically, it was built for the Robert Redford film "Legal Eagles," in which it was a New York art gallery that burns down. No photos of Courthouse Square. The stories now say that the courthouse and clock tower were damaged, but not that it was destroyed. The Court of Miracles and Spartacus Square (seen as Genovia in Princess Diaries II) also appear to have been out of the path of the fire.
32	oc_dean Mon 6/2/2008 1:21a	What makes me nervous (as I live in the area) .. is there have been FAR too many fires in the general area in the last year - ALONE! Just a couple weeks ago .. a fire started just under Griffith Observatory. A burned out area from THE LAST major fire that happened several months ago that consumed MANY acres on the east side of the Hollywood Hills. And just a couple short months before that devastasting fire .. was one just above Barham Blvd on the north side of the Hollywood Hills which was pretty big. Two of those fires were due to smokers! How much do you want to bet this fire at Universal was due to a careless smoker?
33	DlandDug Mon 6/2/2008 7:21a	I just saw an aerial view this morning. The courthouse is still standing. So pleas to save the clocktower have again been heeded! There was also clear footage of what happened to the King Kong attraction. The roof caught fire and collapsed. The interior is completely gutted. The big concern today is local water pressure. It seems the firefighters were unable to dump as much water as they expected. After the 1990 fire a new system was installed to "deluge" sets in the event of a fire. Not only did that fail, the firefighters were forced to pump water from the set lagoons and ponds to keep the fire from spreading further.
34	mawnck Mon 6/2/2008 7:38a	Well, #1, what I saw them carting away from that "tape vault" were film canisters. At first I thought that they were 2" videotapes, but they were definitely film. But #2... >>Nikke Finke reports that according to a source, Universal Music rents space in the video vault and inside were 1000's of original Decca, MCA, ABC recording masters from the last century.<< Universal Music also owns Motown, Chess, A&M, Mercury, Island, Def Jam, RSO, Casablanca, Verve, Polydor, Capricorn, Philips, Coral, Vocalion, UNI, Dunhill, Duke ....... I assume not ALL their masters would have been in there - it's probably mostly west coast stuff - but ... ouch. Just the A&M masters alone, which are almost certainly destroyed if the report is true -- unbelievable. This would be a historic loss, and the only good I can see coming of it is that it might wake up other companies to the importance of getting ALL their stuff stored securely and backed up. Several small labels have had their master tapes destroyed through various stupid means (the 70s label Private Stock, for instance, now has to use vinyl as their "masters" after a storage facility dumpstered their entire tape library), but Universal Music owns a substantial percentage of the hit recordings in music history. Obviously the most popular stuff is available in copies, but you can never get true audiophile results without the first-generation masters. I hope this report is exaggerated.
35	dshyates Mon 6/2/2008 7:46a	Yep, those canisters the firemen were bucket brigading were film canisters. Not 1" or 2" video tape. But they also said it contained film reels of TV shows like "I Love Lucy" and "The Munsters". And they were archived and restored for the DVD releases.
36	Elderp Mon 6/2/2008 7:57a	After like 160 the pictures are all paparazzi shots of the Simpsons opening.
37	Elderp Mon 6/2/2008 7:58a	Starting on 190 they are about "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
38	Elderp Mon 6/2/2008 8:02a	265 is a guy holding a sign that says "Nick Counter Eats Farts."
39	Elderp Mon 6/2/2008 8:05a	and just to save you time the last picture is of Jessica Biel attending the premiere of "Chuck and Larry."
40	DlandDug Mon 6/2/2008 8:06a	Yes, ElderP. That was from the writer's strike. That's why I noted there were actually 144 photos of the fire...

All times are Pacific Time (US)

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