Malibu Creek State Park
Malibu Creek State Park in the Santa Monica mountains, is about 25 miles north of Los Angeles. It is also where many television and movie productions have been filmed over the years.
Futurescape?
In some cases, the park posed as the desolate world of the future, such as in the original Planet of the Apes movie and subsequent television show, and in the children's series Ark II. Parts of the Logan's Run motion picture were filmed here as well.
Wild West?
Malibu Creek State Park has also worked as a location for shows set in the Old West. Dozens of westerns were filmed here as well, such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Perhaps the most recent westerns located here were episodes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.
Korea?
But the main reason people recognize the area, is due to it having been the location where much of the television series M*A*S*H was filmed during it's entire run, from 1972 to 1983. It was also a filming location for the M*A*S*H movie from 1970.
The picture to the right is of the area where M*A*S*H was filmed. To commemorate the filming of the show, two old props have remained from when the show was filmed there - an old jeep and an army ambulance. You can see them in the picture if you look carefully.
Here are some pictures from my first visit to the park in July 2001. It was a very hot day - and I look a bit warm sitting in the ambulance.
While
visting one day, a
helicopter flew over - which seemed kind of like deja vu. I half
expected to hear Radar's voice over the P.A.
From the best I could tell while visiting, these mountains in the photo below are the same peaks that radar looks out towards at the introduction of the show, viewed from a slightly different vantage point.
Here's another shot to compare the locales. The first shot is a picture of the M*A*S*H* TV set, taken by fan in 1982.
The second shot is one taken by myself in March 2007. You can see the same U shaped mountain formation in the background. The jeep, the leftover prop, is in the bottom left of the shot.
Here's my map of the area - the satellite image is from Google Maps, and the drawings are my own, based upon my own viewing of episodes of M*A*S*H, and with a litte assistance from fansites on the web.
You can see the jeep, that was left behind, located between where the Mess Hall would have been and the VIP tent location.
Planet of the Apes
Thought I should throw some Apes shots on here as well.
This first shot is of the city in the Planet of the Apes TV series (this picture was taken in the summer of 1974)
This is pretty much the same area in March 2007. In the picture I am standing just about where I think the Ape City was located. Interestingly, the water is at almost the same level, which may indicate a similar time of year.
Links
Malibu Creek State Park - Camping Info
Malibu Creek State Park - A fansite!
Click here to get to the home page - theWellers.com