...come true
3.7.17
If you're 50ish (cough) like me, the 70's and 80's were a significant coming of age period and nostalgic for various reasons. For me it was a time of innocence, feathered hair and enjoyable t.v. I was into shows like The Facts of Life, Three's Company, The Love Boat, The Cosby Show, and this..
Fantasy Island
This show whisked me away to a beautiful tropical island for an hour and I couldn't wait to see what lessons each guest paid $50,000 to learn that week. Ignorance is bliss when you're a kid and I just accepted what I watched with no thought to t.v. production and what it takes to put a show together. I never dreamed as an adult I'd live with-in driving distance to sets from shows I watched as a kid...let alone walk where the actors did. I'm sort of star struck like that.
I had to wait all winter until it finally stopped raining on the weekends to visit the LA Arboretum & Botanic Garden where this beautiful historical landmark sits. But it was worth the wait in spades. Queen Anne Cottage, built in 1885, belonged to Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin was an exceptional businessman who earned the nickname "Lucky" due to his extraordinary luck at landing such good business deals.
I had to wait all winter until it finally stopped raining on the weekends to visit the LA Arboretum & Botanic Garden where this beautiful historical landmark sits. But it was worth the wait in spades. Queen Anne Cottage, built in 1885, belonged to Elias Jackson "Lucky" Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin was an exceptional businessman who earned the nickname "Lucky" due to his extraordinary luck at landing such good business deals.
For a brief minute I was 13 and imagined Mr. Roarke and Tatoo strolling down the cottage stairs to greet me and ask about my fantasy. Yeah, I'm nerdy like that!
The arboretum's 127 acres of manicured gardens have a long Hollywood history of film and television making. Many of the Tarzan films, as far back as 1936, were filmed here as well as Jurassic Park and Roots:The Next Generations. Television programs like Lassie, Dynasty, Dallas and The Six Million Dollar Man just to name a few were also filmed here and it's still a very active filming venue.
The Coach Barn is equally as beautiful with its original ironwork, and cedar and redwood paneling.
Now here's useless fact #73 about me...I can get overwhelmed easily so when I imported my photos and saw that I had 150+ useable photos from this little day-cation...well...lets just say I'm going to spread this little visit over a few posts!
It was fun to visit, interact and be surrounded by a childhood memory...
...a bit of T.V. magic that didn't lose any of its mystique this visit.
Now it's your turn-
Have you ever visited a favorite t.v. or movie set? Did visiting the set take away some of the magic or make it more sensational? Please share, I'd love to hear.
Happy (fantasy) snapping!
xo
Kelly
What amazing architecture!
ReplyDeleteIt's really beautifully preserved Tamar
Delete"The plane, the plane!" Oh my...that brought back memories of sitting on the floor, with harvest gold carpet, at my parents house fighting with my sister. :) Was Magnum PI on that same night? I can't remember, but I loved both those shows because they took me out of my parents Midwest house to a tropical island. I have never visited an actual TV set but a very long time ago I was in Las Vegas and went to the Star Trek Experience, that was surreal. At the time my husband and I watched Star Trek and walking down the hallways that looked just like the Enterprise was amazing. Then we were sitting at the bar later while a Klingon ordered 'blood wine' and Quork was running around too. That was a fun time. :)
ReplyDeleteHah Michelle on the harvest gold carpet! I remember my mom asking my dad to re-do the hall bathroom in olive green and gold! Your time in Vegas on the Enterprise sounds fun...I'm a Star Trek fan too! Thanks for sharing my friend. xo
DeleteI recognized this right away on IG from Fantasy Island. Oh the 80's show, those were the days. Never visited a tv set but I should would like to.
ReplyDeleteIt's a pretty iconic building if you grew up in the 80's. xo Sarah
DeleteSimply Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteHi Kelley, thank you and glad you stopped by :-)
DeleteHow cool and how beautiful. We just visited other locations where they also filmed portions of Jurassic Park as well as Lost and some other shows and movies. I can only imagine how neat it would be to visit the location of a favorite show from my younger years.
ReplyDeleteI love Jurassic Park so I'd love to go visit those Island Paradise (literally) places. xo
DeleteOh, all those memories ... how wonderful, Kelly !
ReplyDeleteLoved 'The Love Boat' ! :-)
Hope you're having a nice week,
Sylvia
That was a good show too Sylvia. Glad you stopped in
DeleteI guess I never think about locations of tv shows so this is a fun post for me, too! I watched Fantasy Island every week!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great show for the times. Thanks for popping in!!
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