Hazzard Square

[HossC]

If I'm not mistaken it was used briefly in Diamonds in the Rough. I cant remember exactly when,but i think it was just after Bo and Luke got the Bugs Bunny doll.

Boy CD, you've got a good memory. The tunnel is seen about 7 minutes in, just after Bo and Luke get the Bugs Bunny doll. I would have thought that they had used the same tunnel as the one in 'Witness for the Persecution' (I'd guess that the piece of road they're on immediatley before the tunnel is somewhere west of Santa Clarita), but it looks like you're right - it is the tunnel in Griffith Park. The scene in 'Diamonds in the Rough' is virtually an exact copy of the scene from 'Witness for the Persecution': General Lee enters tunnel:

Truck enters at the other end:

General Lee makes it past the truck, through the tunnel, and out the other end:

Bad guys have to reverse out the way they came in:

If you look at the picture in the post above you'll see a couple of small changes:

1) There appears to be a faded white sign over the entrance.

2) There are yellow lines painted on the road.

3) The gates open outwards instead of inwards.

[CDoherty95]

I would have thought that they had used the same tunnel as the one in 'Witness for the Persecution' (I'd guess that the piece of road they're on immediatley before the tunnel is somewhere west of Santa Clarita)

I wonder why they chose to use a different tunnel. The only reason I can think of is that the Witness for the Persecution tunnel relativity close to Golden Oak Ranch (which is where WB was at that time).

Where as Lake Sherwood is much further north (if I remember correctly) so it must have made more sense to use the new tunnel.

[HossC]

This thread seems to have expanded beyond the Square itself, so I thought I'd include these pictures here. CDoherty suggested a thread for other Hazzard buildings - I may just add them in here as I come across them.

The first two are from 'Deputy Dukes' when Rosco, Enos and Jesse are looking for Bo and Luke. I thought this location would be easy to identify because of the buildings they drive by. First they go under a bridge and pass a Standard gas station:

Shortly afterwards they drive past a sign for 'Castaic Junction Restaurant':

Although Castaic Junction is clearly marked on the maps, I struggled to identify the exact location because both buildings have since been torn down and very few pictures of them seem to exist. Added to that, there was also another Standard gas station (now also torn down) a couple of miles south-east of here that was made (in)famous when it was the scene of the 1970 Newhall Massacre/Incident. I also found out that James Dean's last meal was at Tip's Coffee Shop at Castaic Junction. Some sources name Castaic Junction Restaurant as the location for this, while others say that Tip's Coffee Shop is now Marie Callender's, which is at the other intersection (now the intersection of I5 and Magic Mountain Parkway (that leads to Six Flags Magic Mountain that was the Tri-County Amusement Park in 'Lulu's Gone Away')) - information seems to be confused.

I then found a reference to Castaic Junction Restaurant appearing in an episode of The A-Team (Black Day at Bad Rock). Here it is just as the biker gang pull out (in the intervening years the Standard gas sign has now become 'Chevron'):

The same restaurant is also seen about 10 minutes later when the biker gang return and get their bikes strung from a crane. Part of the 'Ham and Eggs' sign is visible in the second picture above, next to Uncle Jesse's head.

I'm now fairly confident that Rosco was driving south on what is now called 'The Old Road' at this intersection. As far as I can tell, the Standard/Chevron gas station was on the piece of land next to what is now the 'Castaic Elementary School'. That would make the restaurant location just south of Henry Mayo Drive. The A-Team footage also shows a single-track railroad running behind the reastaurant. This also appears to have gone (what looks like a track bed is still visible), and I couldn't find any reference to it. Added to this, the bridge carrying the Newhall Ranch Road is now much wider than it appeared in 'Deputy Dukes', and there are now many new buildings north of Newhall Ranch Road that weren't there either.

There are a few other locations from 'Deputy Dukes' that I'd like to identify, like the gas station where the boys fix the ambulance, and the road where the blue car performs its big jump. I'm sure these were filmed on or near public roads as moving cars and trucks can be seen in the background, but all the signs seem to be props. I'll have to post some screengrabs to see if anyone recognizes them.

[Brian Coltrane]

Hoss, you have an amazing eye for detail. Great detective work once again!

[mirabella]

This is an amazing thread Hoss! I am on page 3 now, still reading through. I am bookmarking this for future reference too. I love the map at the start of the thread too. Thanks for sharing all this with us!

[HossC]

Thanks for your comments Mira.

I've got some more filming locations to post in the near future, but for now it's back to the square.

When I started this thread I looked for an aerial view of Warner's backlot that dated back to when Dukes was filmed. I've finally found one at www.historicaerials.com (as you can see by the watermarking on the second map). The first map is a current(ish) overhead view from Google Maps that I've included for reference. For clarity between the views, I've included a few of the original numbers:

3 - Boss's bank

15 - building with small tower/dome used as a hotel/Tri-State Press etc.

20 - Boss's house

22 - Cooter's

25 - used car lot/van rentals

I have pieced together the aerial view from HistoricAerials that claims to be from 1980 (they also have 1954, 1972, 1977, 2003, 2004, 2005), and superimposed it on the map above. The detail, especially with the older photos, is not what we're used to with current technology, but it's still useful.

The square itself is pretty much as it appeared in Dukes, although there is a street, with buildings on both sides, stretching down from building #15. I don't think that it ever got used in Dukes, and was torn down before we got a chance to see it. To the right of building #15 is the car park that appeared in 'Southern Comfurts' (see 2nd and 3rd pictures in this post). To the right of that is the old western set, Laramie Street. I think the saloon is the one on the left just above the '.com' in the watermark.

There is not enough detail to see the yard directly to the right Boss's house (Morgan's Glueworks etc.), but the outside props store (seen in the first picture of this post from 'The Dukes in Hollywood') is visible a little way below.

Above building #3 is the car park that played the part of 'Cedar City Fairgrounds' in 'Carnival of Thrills' (picture here).

[RogerDuke]

This is an amazing thread Hoss! I am on page 3 now, still reading through. I am bookmarking this for future reference too. I love the map at the start of the thread too. Thanks for sharing all this with us!

I second that compliment Mira. Hoss has done great work on this thread.

[HossC]

I recently purchased season 1 of The A-Team at a really good price, and for a second time I've found a filming location shared with Dukes (see here for the first). In episode 7, 'The Out-of-Towners', the action takes place in New York where a group of shop keepers is being hit for protection money. Some stock footage of New York is used, but most of the filming takes place on a backlot at Warner's that appeared in 'Big Brothers, Duke', 'The Dukes in Hollywood' and 'Hazzard in Hollywood'. Here's one end of the street from the A-Team:

Here's a close-up from 'The Dukes in Hollywood' (previously posted here). The Dukes are standing where the fake subway entrance appears in the picture above

Here's the other end of the street as it appeared in The A-Team (the Big Brothers building is just off to the right). This episode had a great supporting cast. The guy on the left is Robert Tessier who appeared as one of C.J. Holmes's heavies in 'The Runaway' alongside later A-Team regular Lance LeGault (Col. Decker). The guy an the right is Albert Popwell who famously played four different parts in the first four Dirty Harry films (he was the bank robber who received Harry's famous "I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?'" speech in the first movie - "I gots to know"). Their boss was Yaphet Kotto, who played Kananga/Mr. Big in the 1973 James Bond movie 'Live and Let Die'.

This end of the street is virtually unchanged from how it appeared in 'Big Brothers, Duke' (previously posted here, with other pictures of the street and a map). The signs for Chuck's Bar and the bail bonds store are exactly the same in both.

[Meadowmufn]

I second that compliment Mira. Hoss has done great work on this thread.

If he keeps this up, he's gonna earn himself another Fan of the Month. LOL.

As for Castaic Junction, I'm familiar with the area. My brother and I often went trout fishing at Castaic Lake, usually at the Afterbay (Lagoon), but occasionally at the lake itself up behind the dam (where you have to be more careful because there're rattlers there). When I saw that sign while watching the episode, I knew exactly where that was. On one particular trip, we had to make an emergency trip to the Ralph's just off The Old Rd for water. We'd both brought a liter with us, but it was so hot out that wasn't enough. Uncle Jesse would've loved it there, plenty of crawdads for his bisque! Which, incidentally, also make great bait for bass fishing.

Unfortunately, I think the restaurant in that picture was long gone by the time we made regular trips there.

[Mark B / Scooter Davenport]

HossC, you are a man after my own heart!

I've had a similar obsession with the backlot buildings at Universal for the past 25 years or so- I've built models, collected blueprints, etc. and I could tell you way more than you'd ever want to know about sets from the Munsters, Leave it to Beaver, and many other shows shot on the backlot.

Anyway- on to Hazzard: I started researching the Warner DOH sets very casually last year, and just found your threads recently here. I began the research out of a desire to do some sort of model from DOH in scale with the 1/25 MPC kits. I was partially inspired by the model of the Duke farm on display at Cooter's in Gatlinburg, TN (visited there several times in the last couple years). I quickly gravitated to the Hazzard Garage set and have been concentrating my 'note taking' on that building ever since. My goal is to recreate the garage building inside and out in 1/25 scale, right down to the individual signs, etc.

I feel like Cooter's garage probably has the most character of any of the buildings in Hazzard Square, both in its architecture and how its used in the show.

I've started building aready- I'll post pics when my full posting privilages are in place. I may eventually even build Rhubottoms next door...

Hopefully I can also contribute to your 'Buildings of Hazzard' thread when my drawings are of sufficient detail.

Mark

[TRPColtrane95]

yeah all pictures look awesome... so I love that way as I remember in past..

[Brian Coltrane]

I've started building aready- I'll post pics when my full posting privilages are in place. I may eventually even build Rhubottoms next door...

Hopefully I can also contribute to your 'Buildings of Hazzard' thread when my drawings are of sufficient detail.

Mark

Mark, as of right now you have been given full posting abilities. Enjoy!

[Mark B / Scooter Davenport]

Mark, as of right now you have been given full posting abilities. Enjoy!

Thanks Brian- I've started a new thread for The Hazzard Garage project so as hijack HossC's thread! :

http://www.hazzardnet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=197301#post197301

Mark

[HossC]

I tried to identify this location when I first went through the episodes for this thread. It's the scrapyard from the end of 'Uncle Boss' in season 3. The 'Hogg's Auto Wrecking' sign seems to have been added next to the original sign. I say this because the part of the sign on the right that's readable appears to say 'VW & Compact American ...' and they wouldn't have made a sign with 'VW' named on it.

After re-reading this thread I spotted MaryAnne's post with the pictures of Robert Culp (does she have any other kind) outside the San Fernando Valley Generating Station with the cars piled up in the foreground. This, coupled with Mufn's comment that 'there are like 40 bazillion junkyards, scrap metal recycling, and car wrecking yards around there' made me revisit the area. The picture below was the clincher as it shows the run-off from the Hansen Dam at the top of the picture with the Hansen Dam Golf Course to the left. The waterway below the dam passes the scrapyard on the left, and there are no roads between here and the dam, so we must be on Glenoaks Boulevard, just north of Truesdale Street. You can see for yourself on Google Maps.

Both the scrapyards and Sheldon Quarry behind have changed considerably since filming. To help visualize them as they were then I've included aerial views from 1982. I've highlighted the dam at the top and and the two scrapyards at the bottom. If you've looked at the Google Maps link above you'll notice how much smaller the quarry is here. The 'L' shaped building at the bottom in the center is still standing, but the left scrapyard is now offices and the one on the right is occupied by a couple of car parts businesses; one selling Japanese parts, the other specializing in foreign cars.

[TRPColtrane95]

lol that nice display area.. and yeah I remember they bit change in seasons..

[MaryAnne]

After re-reading this thread I spotted MaryAnne's post with the pictures of Robert Culp (does she have any other kind) outside the San Fernando Valley Generating Station with the cars piled up in the foreground....

Well, I have a lot of Dukes of Hazzard pics too.

Great detective work!

[HossC]

New member Mark B. (the guy who's building a 1:25 model of Cooter's Garage) shares my interest in the backlots, and he let me know that the 1976 John Wayne movie 'The Shootist' was filmed at Warner's studio in Burbank. Considering that it's a turn-of-the-20th-century gunfighting Western you'd have thought that Laramie Street would have been used, but it was Midwest Street (Hazzard Square) that played the part of Carson City in 1901. I guess it would have cost too much to give the square this treatment for 'Go West, Young Dukes'. Here's some pictures from the movie to show what the square looked like a couple of years before the Dukes came to town:

The first picture is instantly recognizable, but the streets are filled with horses, carriages and pedestrians. There's even rails for the horse-drawn tram (horsecar) service.

This picture is taken from the other end of the street looking between buildings 15 and 16. The buildings off to the left of this shot are seen briefly, but not clearly enough to get a screengrab. I'm assuming this is missing street that's visble on the 1980 aerial view I posted here (2nd picture). Building 16 is the one with the 'Express' sign. The large building behind that was probably built for the movie as it doesn't appear in the 1972, 1977 or 1980 aerials views. Behind that, the back of the church is just visible.

Now we're looking at the square from outside building #19. The gazebo is visible on the left, and in the center is building #10 which has a covered section extending from the front.

The building on the left of this picture would become Boss's bank. Although not visible in this shot, the building on the right (Hazzard's drug store) is the Acme Saloon. The buggy is parked outside the store that became Hazzard's barber shop.

[HossC]

Here we see the livery stables run by Moses (Scatman Crothers) with one of the horse-drawn trams passing by. We know it better as Cooter's Hazzard Garage. I guess Jeeter Davenport's blacksmiths must have been elsewhere!.

The barber shop in Carson was in building #2. Both the interior and exterior appear in the movie. I wish I could still get my hair cut for 25¢!.

Building #13 plays home to the local newspaper, The Morning Appeal. Just like building #10, it also has a covered section at the front. In the background is building #12 that was to become Fanny's Fabrics, Joe's Hardware etc.

The final picture, taken from the end of the movie, shows the church on the left and building #19 with smoke coming from the chimney.

If anyone knows of other movies/TV shows filmed on Midwest Street, let me know, or post some pictures yourself.

[CDoherty95]

Once again great work Hoss!!

Another movie that features Hazzard Square is Of Mice and Men. I was watching it in school and noticed the bank in the town shots.

[TRPColtrane95]

wow look great and yeah I remember some not this lot area I remember... oh well thanks for this pictures help us to remember that show.

[HossC]

Today I'm going to focus on the buildings behind Boss's house. Way back in post #53 I showed a picture of the back of Cooter's from 'Trouble at Cooter's' and wasn't sure where it was filmed:

For the first time in this episode we get to see the back entrance to Cooter's. I'm not sure where this was filmed, other than it wasn't at the back of Cooter's!.

CDoherty thought it was filmed at Paramount Ranch. I thought that was quite likely as the building was seen out of context, and various other isolated buildings were used in filming. He also pointed out that the buildings also appeared in other episodes including 'Mason Dixon's Girls' and 'The Great Santa Clause Chase'. I hope the following posts shed some light on their true location, and put this loose end to bed (sorry for the mixed metaphors). The following pictures are from 'Mason Dixon's Girls', and show some more of the surrounding buildings.

Firstly, Bo and Luke drive up disguised in some of the bad guys' clothes:

The second shot shows the car relative to the building used as the back of Cooter's (I'll call it the 'Farm Implements' building due to the sign over the door). The vehicle in the shadows on the left appears to be the uncredited third appearance of Swamp Molly's pickup truck (I've lightened the image and compared the rust against grabs I have of the truck - they match up!).

The last shot from 'Mason Dixon's Girls' shows an alley near the front of the black car. I'll explain my reasoning below, but I can only assume that the building on the right and the roof over Bo get torn down before the building on the left.

[HossC]

Moving on to 'By-Line, Daisy Duke' we see Boss's car outside the 'Farm Implements' building, but from a different angle. I'm sure the white house with brick chimney in the top left is one of the houses in Boss's street, most likely building #21 (the boarding house), but the way the camera shortens distances makes it difficult to tell.

As Boss pulls away you can see that the covered area on the right now has some sort sacks under it. Above that is the top of another building in the background.

Finally from 'By-Line, Daisy Duke' is a parting shot showing part of the building where the yellow truck was parked in the second 'Mason Dixon's Girls' picture above.

Below is an aerial view of how this area appeared in 1980, with a recent view for comparison. The part we're concerned with is in the lower right. I recently suggested that this long-gone street never appeared in Dukes, but I think I'm about to prove myself wrong in the next post!. In the recent view I've arrowed and inset the gazebo from the center of Hazzard Square that was being stored in this area when the photo was taken.

[HossC]

The last pictures come from 'The Hack of Hazzard' in season 3 and show more of the buildings from the map above. The area we are looking at was used as Shoveltown near the end of the episode. Various dirt, debris and props have been used to turn it into a deserted mining town. The scene-setting shot is taken form the upper floor of the building at the end of the street.

Here's a closer view of the hotel above. It's difficult to make out the sign, but I think it says Southern Belle Hotel. I know the buildings are meant to look run-down, but they look like they're in a pretty poor state of repair. Most were probably torn down soon after this was filmed.

As a captive Daisy gets led down the street we can see the Julip Mining Co. building with the 'Farm Implements' building to the left. The Julip Mining Co. building was the one seen above on the right of the alley and with the black car parked in front. As I said before, I'm assuming that this building got torn down before the 'Farm Implements' building because the latter appears in several other episodes including as the Hazzard Livery Stable in 'Nothin' But the Truth' from season 4, and as Morgan's Glueworks in 'The Revenge of Hughie Hogg' from season 5. In 'Nothin' But the Truth' there's a bus parked where the Julip building was standing.

The last picture shows the view from inside the 'Farm Implements' building. The end fight scene takes place inside the building. In the background you can see a saloon and an assay office, as well as the pylons on the hillside that are visible in several episodes. I tried Googling 'Southern Belle Hotel', 'W. Earl Hall Land Agent' and 'Julip Mining Co.', but got no useful results. Does anyone recognize them from another TV show or movie, or were the signs made just for this episode?.

[Mark B / Scooter Davenport]

What I find interesting is you can hardly tell those barn doors are there when its dressed as the back of Cooters.

I'm also surprised the allowed the top of the barn in frame when they were trying to portray this building as the back of the Garage- its not even close to the same type of building siding, etc. The only logical (in-story, not real life backlot) explanation to me is that this is a seperate barn building behind the main garage building; perhaps they are even connected.

M

[RogerDuke]

Wow Hoss, this is an amazing thread. Great job as usual!