Somewhere under the rainbow

If you drive a little south from the Getty, you will start to see a rainbow appear, not because of some atmospheric change, but because of the public art piece at Sony Studios, of the Wizard of Oz rainbow. (pictured) I though to myself  "Self, this would be an excellent place to start the 2014 Oscar tour, since the theme of this year's Oscars was The Wizard of Oz."

TWOOZ (lazy for the wizard of oz) was filmed at nearby Culver Studios/MGM lot located in Culver City. Culver City is a young town, incorporated in 1917 and established by Harry Culver, a real estate man from Nebraska.  His first item on his agenda was to lure movie studios there to Culver City. The Cotton Club and Howard Hughes's aircraft business once called it home. TWOOZ was filmed 22 years after Culver City was born. I live just a hop, skip, and a jump from the studio.

Since I have lived here, I hadn't done a studio tour. I was secretly happy that my family was so into it, because I love being a tourist in my own city.  I really didn't know what to expect, I was ready for something really cheezy, punny, and groan worthy.  I don't know why I set my expectations so low.

And so began our tour with Tony, rhymes with Sony. Who is the best tour guide ever, he remembered every single one of our names, those who gave it, nudge nudge, "the mysterious source". We started with a movie of the history of the studio, from its humble beginnings to what it is now. (That studio made such great movies, ahem robocop redo)

"And we're moving" 

We walked across the street to the lot for a tour that was 2 and a half hours long, filled
with set tours, historical information, and trivia. "The mysterious source" was of course on fire with all of her trivia knowledge, they wouldn't let her take an Oscar home as a prize although she tried.

A friend of mine hooked us up with a walk on after which included a lunch where the power people lunch and some of the best scallops I have ever had.

Again the photos from this day are in mom's camera, which I wasn't able to download when I was in MN.