The Silver Screen Oasis

We knew this day was coming, but the time has now arrived.

The old Columbia Ranch, now controlled by Warner Bros, will soon be completely wiped away and replaced by WB soundstages, offices, and parking. This backlot has been whittled away since the late 1960s, mostly due to fires. The lot suffered a series of fires in the 1960s and 1970s, and much of the affected areas were not rebuilt. What was left of the backlot had been pared down to the famous Blondie Street, with its very familiar backlot homes, the park (minus its fountain, which was moved to the WB main lot, primarily to cater to fans of Friends on the WB studio tour, and a few New York style brownstones.

The lot is probably best known because of the many Columbia/Screen Gems sitcoms filmed there, including Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge Family, Father Knows Best and many more.

Most recently, the old Partridge home was being used as a set piece for outdoor and establishing shots on the current CBS single-camera sitcom, Young Sheldon. In this season's last episode WB sold the old ranch to investment/development firms and leased the property back, in 2019. This is the same sort of deal that CBS arranged for its Television City property, and it too will be redeveloped. The city of Los Angeles, however, had designated Television City as a historically significant site, primarily due to the architecture of the building, so the core of that property should be retained. As for the Columbia/Warner Ranch, the plans were to have the backlot demolished by 2023, with the new development ready for 2025. There are plans to build 20+ soundstages on the property, along with other buildings for WB's use. The demolition of the Partridge house was confirmed, with the spot now being an empty lot. The rest of the property should be cleared soon.

So, another piece of Hollywood history goes by the wayside.

Heh, if everything is going to be filmed inside a building, there's no need for it to be in expensive Hollywood.
There's certainly plenty of great talent in Hollywood North and Hollywood North East and the dollar goes farther.

TikiSoo wrote: ↑May 27th, 2023, 5:24 am Heh, if everything is going to be filmed inside a building, there's no need for it to be in expensive Hollywood.
There's certainly plenty of great talent in Hollywood North and Hollywood North East and the dollar goes farther.

Yes, there are so many more production locales now. Virtually every major city has at least some film and/or TV production capability. Many of these are assisted by tax breaks and other funds available at the state or local level.

I really hope that the facade of the BEWITCHED house at 1164 Morning Glory Circle is saved.

HoldenIsHere wrote: ↑May 27th, 2023, 10:35 pm I really hope that the facade of the BEWITCHED house at 1164 Morning Glory Circle is saved.

They might reconstruct it elsewhere, but it won't be on the current lot, as nothing is being retained there.

1164 Morning Glory Circle was created based on an existing house in Santa Monica. They reversed the layout when they built it on the backlot. The address is 267 18th Street.