Who Walked Where You Walked? [Blogging Every Day #24]

[24]

At Vasquez Rocks, I visited a Star Trek
location. So what?

Here in Los Angeles, everything has a connection to movies and television. We're a company town, after all, and so much of what you see is shot in and around the Los Angeles area. I can easily take you to locations where iconic movies and television  shows were shot. The locations themselves may not be particularly special in themselves - but they take an extra meaning in the minds and sometimes the hearts of moviegoers worldwide.

The original Bad News Bears movie was shot in and around the community where I grew up. ET weren't far away. My high school has appeared in numerous films over the years, including The Brady Bunch Movie, Cher's The Mask and a couple of years ago, The Amazing Spiderman. The list is nearly infinite. Even where I live now, which is about 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, the area has served film crews since the beginning of the industry.

Within minutes of my home, Vasquez Rocks is an easily accessible park that has appeared in many movies and television shows, including several episodes of the original Star Trek.

Does it matter? Not really. It's a reminder, though, of the hidden history of so many mundane locations we pass through in our lives. Remember that tree that you and your friends used to gather under outside your high school? Generations before and after your time remember that tree with the same fondness but in an entirely separate context. That restaurant you frequent may have launched a thousand marriages, businesses, divorces and simple friendships. A single home may host generations of families. Children grow up, parents grow old, and finally move away. Another family moves in, making their own memories in the very same locations where another's family's history unfolded a generation before.

Who walked where you walked? Who lived where you live? "If these walls could talk," if you really think about it, is a mind-blowing concept.