One of the many funny things that I’ve learned to appreciate about my new home is why the film industry settled here in the first place. Although we’re a significant distance from where much of the action takes place, quite a lot of filming takes place not only in tinseltown down south of us but throughout the state.
Meanwhile, the north’s no slouch in that department, either; San Francisco herself has doubled as several New England cities and Sacramento has doubled for the deep South.
Apart from logistical concerns that make filming on-location impractical, there are times that filming in the real deal is either unsafe, such as in times of political stability; or unrealistic, like in period pieces where the real city (ancient Rome, pre-WWII London) is no longer visually suitable as a time-defined set. The film industry’s long presence in California means that filmmakers can find a whole world’s worth of filming in its neighborhoods.
The relocation of the budding cinema industry to California was deliberate. A combination of generally sunny climate and terrain made California the best place in the U.S. to make movies for much of the late 19th and early 20th century. A little (of if you’re a big shot like Cecil B. DeMille, a lot of) Hollywood magic can turn any random desert into the Wild West, the surface of Mars, Ancient Egypt, or the Highlands of Vietnam.
Heck, if it isn’t already standing, it will be built. Elaborate film sets made in the golden age (now acting as theme park attractions) still see action today for both films and television. European-looking sets immediately stand in for just about any European nation with the change of a flag and signage. Admittedly, some of the New York sets Alice and I visited actually made me a little homesick.
Hey there, Michael Telvi here. New Yorker by birth and Californian by marriage. For more of my thoughts on my adoptive new home, follow me on Twitter.
Michael Telvi 
