By: Samie

Travel Dates: June 1st-4th, 2022

Day 2

(Warner Brother Studios Tour, Grand Central Market, Evening at Alyssa & Evan’s apartment)

After a very enjoyable evening the day before, our first full day included our first planned and booked activities of our trip! In fact, this day included the thing I was probably most looking forward to. We were going to be taking a tour of the Warner Brothers Studio, aka, the filming location of my favorite TV show and the company behind the filming of my favorite book/movie series! Thanks to Warner Brothers, we have Friends and Harry Potter! We had booked a 10:00am tour so that we could still enjoy our morning and have enough time to get there without needing to rush.

Our Airbnb, amazingly, was close to a Starbucks, so Luke, being the early bird that he is, was up and going before I was and walked over to the Starbucks to pick us up some delicious morning energy boosts! We had flown to LA and didn’t rent a vehicle, we would be getting picked up by Alyssa and Evan who would then drive all four of us to the studio. We were dressed, caffeinated, and ready to go by 9:00am because it was suggested to arrive about 30 minutes before your tour time.

Since they were so generously offering to drive us around anytime we needed to get anywhere, we purchased the tickets for all of us. Tickets are only $69 per person for adults, and the tour, as we found out, includes so much to see, so it is well worth the price! Evan was scheduled to work later that afternoon but once we arrived, he didn’t want to feel responsible for putting a time constraint on us, so he selflessly decided to call in sick despite it giving him anxiety because he had never done that before. We ended up being very grateful for his decision because we got to take our time during the tour and get a chance to see everything we wanted to!

Upon arrival, you have to go through security and scan your tickets, but it was a very quick and easy process and because we decided to go first thing in the morning, there wasn’t a line and we were through swiftly! We only had to hang out in the lobby for a little while before making our way to the tour entrance where you walk through a little teaser of the studio lot such as movie scenes, props, and the iconic Warner Bros Studios water tower! The very first part of the tour brought us into a small theater where we watched an intro video and were introduced to our tour guides for the day. There was a line of different tour guides, and they dismissed us by row to accompany a designated guide so that our groups stayed relatively small and would be able to fit on the tour vehicles that would be driving us around.

Our tour started with driving through the back lots and forest area of the Warner Brothers lot. Our tour guide wore a microphone that connected to speakers all through the tour trolley we were on and a couple different screens for when video clips were shown, so it didn’t matter where we sat. We would be able to hear him and see no matter what. Most of the front seats filled up right away, so our crew sat toward the back of the trolley, which we were fine with and is probably where we would have chosen to sit anyway.

Our tour guide was extremely knowledgable and did a great job not only pointing out recognizable structures and filming locations, but also giving examples of shows or movies we would have seen them in! Even though this part of the tour wasn’t the reason we bought the tickets, I had a surprisingly wonderful time hearing about and making connections to all the places we got to see and definitely took a plethora of photos. I tried to narrow them down a little bit and only picked the ones I was most excited about to share below, but I didn’t do a very good job because there are still a lot. However, I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did and maybe recognize a few yourself!

The very first structure we came across that our tour guide pointed out was a cabin and shelter area. When he told us where we might recognize this from, I was immediately thrilled to realize I had seen the show and was on my list of favorites! I think it might have been at that point that I realized that I was going to enjoy myself even more than originally intended!

The building was a cabin used in the TV series Chuck. The cabin is featured in the episode “Chuck Versus the Living Dead” where Stephen Bartowski (Scott Bakula) is hiding out off the grid to stay away from danger but is found out and captured and when his son, the main character, Chuck (Zachary Levi) comes to visit him, is captured as well.

Then we came across one of the most iconic areas seen in the original Jurassic Park movie where theT-Rex chases the Jeep. A fun fact we learned about this scene is that this area is just a small section of pathway and trees, so in order to film the lengthier chase scene, they had to go down this area over and over. They would back up to the beginning, drive to the end, and do it again until they had enough driving footage to complete the scene and make the path look longer than it really was!

The next house pays homage to little high school Samie as it is from one of my favorite shows from high school that my best friends and I would get together every week to watch each new episode together! This is the one and only DiLaurentis house from Pretty Little Liars, or for the outside shots at least. It is only a facade and doesn’t even have a roof so is used exclusively for exterior shots, whereas the inside scenes were filmed on a sound stage.

We then made our way around to a man-made lake/pond landscape, although it wasn’t filled since it wasn’t being used for any upcoming filming during our tour. When filled, this lake can be scene in a couple different famous scenes, including the ER episode “Hell and High Water” and PeeWee’s Big Adventure where he swings over it as he is driving away from security through the actual Warner Brothers Studio (not staged to appear as a different place) in the movie.

Then, we pulled around the another cabin structure that can be seen in quite a few different filmed scenes. One such scene sees it featured as Dexter’s hunting cabin in the show Dexter. Another has it taking the place as a lakeside cabin used by Emily and a few of her friends once again from my beloved Pretty Little Liars. Lastly, this cabin is also used as Ira’s Roadside Cafe from the iconic Million Dollar Baby!

We then made our way to another area of the Warner Bros studio that was streets and buildings and intended to look more like big city environments than the secluded environment sets we had just come from. The buildings, streets, and fire escapes are used for many different Hollywood backdrops.

Some of which include the girls doing their chores out on the fire escape from the 1982 film adaptation of Annie, Roger and Mimi kissing in the snow from the 2005 adaptation of Rent, the album cover for Prince’s album Purple Rain, and the street scene from Friends where Rachel and Monic meet Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Within these same streets was the alley/corner where Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst shared the iconic Spider-Man kiss! Apparently Toby had to shoved cotton balls covered in Vaseline into his nose because the water used for the rain kept filling his nostrils and essentially water boarding him.

We turned the corner of the first street we were on and saw the setting of LMFAO’s legendary music video for Party Rock Anthem.

Rounding another corner were several store front sets, one of which can be seen in National Lampoon’s Vacation.

At the end of the street was a front with an overhang that read Rosa’s Tienda and was used to film a scene in a more recent show that Luke and I have been enjoying, especially as an elementary teacher myself, Abbott Elementary. In this scene, a couple teacher’s try to connect with a student’s parent that has been struggling to make an effort to get her child to school on time.

Before continuing on with the tour, there is a photo op where you can get a photo on a model of the Friends couch in front of a fountain made to look like the infamous fountain from the opening credits of the show! We then hopped back on the trolleys and got to see some sound stages for the next part of our tour. Outside each sound stage is a plaque that includes the names of successful shows that were filmed on that stage. Really huge shows get one big plaque essentially saying it’s their stage. We got to drive past the sound stages where the big shows The Big Bang Theory and Friends were filmed during their run! We even got to walk through one of the sound stages that was set up for a currently airing show, but I didn’t recognize the name of the show, which was All American, a sports drama. It was still cool to walk through a an actual set that was currently being seen on TV!

We then got dropped off at an inside area of the tour and said goodbye to our tour guide. The first area we walked through in the building sets up an example of the process before a show gets made. It shows piles and piles of scripts, steps to screenwriting, headshots and the casting process, and example set ups of story boards.

Then we walked through a room that all kinds of props and outfits used in well-received movies. Some things we got to see were the dress Lady Gage wears in A Star is Born, the jumpsuit worn by Jennifer Lopez in Selena, some of the stunning dresses including the wedding dress worn by the cast of Crazy Rich Asians, and the Batman mask worn by Michael Keaton in Batman Returns.

After that, we finally got to the best part of the tour, at least in my own personal opinion. We got to the example sets of some of the hit shows, including the Central Perk set from Friends, the best show ever! On display next to this set were the scripts from the pilot and Part 1 and Part 2 of the final episode, signed by all six main cast members. We hopped in line and when it was our turn, the employee took a couple pictures of us on the couch with my phone and then took some of the tours professional photos that are available for purchase at the very end. They give you a ticket with a QR code that gets scanned every time a Warner Brothers tour photo is taken and gets added to your portfolio, and you can buy as few or as many as you want before you leave (which we of course had to buy all the photos taken during the tour).

We also got to walk through and take some pictures with Leonard and Sheldon’s apartment from The Big Bang Theory, another show we enjoy. They also had a couple outfits of the characters from the show on mannequins in an area nearby made to look like the cafeteria from their job.

This lead us into a Friends themed cafe, appropriately named Central Perk. At this point, it was around lunch time, so even though there was quite a line, we were willing to wait to get some drinks and food. For drinks, I got The Phoebe, a blended cookies and cream coffee, and Luke got The Chandler, a caramel hazelnut latte. For food, I got a turkey melt, and Luke got a pizza pocket. Lastly, we got a chocolate mousse dessert made to look like a coffee cup! We were even able to find an open table to enjoy our meal!

You aren’t allowed to go to the next area of the tour with any food or drink, so we explored the next door Friends boutique while finishing up our coffee drinks. While it is technically a gift shop, every area of the store is made to look like a different part of the Friends set. I got to sit in the big leather chair in Joey and Chandler’s apartment and sit on the bench where Rachel and Phoebe find the gifts Monica hid inside Monica’s apartment. There were also different recognizable Friends props decorating the walls and ceilings, props like the turkey head wearing sunglasses, umbrellas, Joey’s penguin Huggsy, and Phoebe’s painting Gladys.

The last part of our tour took us through different areas built to represent a couple of Warner Brother’s biggest projects. There were rooms built to look like scenes, character costumes, and props. We got to see some things like the costumes and wands from the Fantastic Beasts series, many of the DC hero costumes including Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Aquaman, the Bat Cave and Batmobile, Shazam hero costume, flying car from Harry Potter, Marauder’s Map, a room made to look like the potions classroom, sorting hat set up in the Great Hall, Dobby statue, Harry’s under the stairs bedroom, and even the Dursley’s living room with flying letters.

There were also lots of movie secrets such as how they made Gandalf look bigger than the hobbits in Lord of the Rings and a green screen where we could make a video of ourselves flying on a broomstick, which Alyssa and I did, but the boys wimped out when it was supposed to be their turn. The broomstick pictures and short video we made were also a part of the QR photo package we bought at the end of the tour.

Before leaving, there is a huge generic Warner Brothers gift shop where you can purchase lots of different merchandise from many of their big productions. Then outside the shop is a giant Triwizard Tournament goblet which makes for a great photo op as well. In my picture, you get a full view of the very specific outfit I had picked for the day’s tour, inspired by a look from the one and only Rachel Green.

Once our tour was over, it was time for the activity Luke was most looking forward to, a self-guided food tour through Grand Central Market, a food market filled with many different delectable eateries.

Our first stop was at Horse Thief BBQ. We got extremely lucky because by the time we parked and walked over to the market, it was already about 3:00, and their kitchen closes at 3:30, so we got our order in right before they shut things down for the day! We got the brisket plate, which also comes with 2 sides. To accompany our brisket, we got the street corn and beans. While the food was absolutely delicious, it was still pretty early in the day for supper, and it was heavier meal, so we sat for a while we slowly finished our food.

We spent a couple hours at the market so that we could space out our food samples and try a few different things. A few different things we sampled were different beers from some of the brewery stalls, some sandwiches from PBJ LA, a pizza from Olio Wood Fire Pizzaria, and finished with donuts from The Donut Man and coffee from G&B Coffee to take with us as we left!

Before making our way to Alyssa and Evan’s apartment, we took a scenic drive up the iconic Mulholland Drive. Not only does this road have beautiful lookouts and a fun view of the Hollywood sign, but it’s also home to some of the most exclusive and expensive houses, most of which are owned by celebrities!

To finish off our already eventful day, we decided to end with a relaxing evening together at Alyssa and Evan’s apartment. We start by relaxing out in the beautiful summer evening sun on their balcony. When the sun dipped below the horizon, we made our way inside where we got to spend some time with their cat Artie and one of their roommate’s cat Bum. At one point, Artie was hanging out on their stairs and I went up to take a picture, at which point he gave me a surprisingly terrifying stare that caused us all to burst out laughing because he’s an extremely friendly cat.

As it got later, we decided to call it a night because we knew the next day would be a big one, as it would be the day I hosted Alyssa’s bridal shower. Evan and Alyssa dropped Luke and I off at our Airbnb, and we all got tucked in for the night with big smiles on our faces from such a wonderful and memorable day!