Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood is a unique theme park in that it was based on a real film studio backlot, and the Backlot Studio Tour actually started in 1915.

Note This article is part of our USA Retrospective series, featuring images captured on an early generation Kodak DC220 digital camera with 1280x1024 resolution. The images have post processed to artificially increase sharpness. Please forgive us if they do not meet your expectations of photographic quality.

We visited the theme park in 1993 and also in 1997. In those days, the main attraction was the Studio Tour and associated performance attractions like stunt shows and special effects attractions, the rides came a bit later. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use, but in recent years have transformed more or less into a full fledged theme park. The other Universal Studios theme parks are just regular theme parks, often with no actual film studio attached.

The Studio Tour was interesting in that there was a “traditional” section covering actual sets used to film many well known films and TV shows, including Courthouse Square (used in the Back to the Future film series), Cabot Cove (used in Murder She Wrote!), Bora Bora Island, Spartacus Square, Little Europe, Old Mexico and Six Points Texas. In addition, some sets were constructed especially for the tour, turning it from being just a bus tour to a “ride” where we get to experience King Kong growling, a white shark (from Jaws) sniping at you, a simulated flood, earthquake and a collapsing bridge. These were super fun in the 1990s and we really enjoyed them. Plus, there were staged events and stunt shows such as Waterworld (featured really impressive explosions, a helicopter and lots of water spilling from tanks!) and Backdraft (featuring a controlled fire explosion guaranteed to singe your eyebrows). We have visited Universal Studios theme parks in other locations such as Japan and Singapore and it’s just not the same.