Bronson Canyon

The East Portal

Bronson Canyon, or Bronson Caves, is a section of Griffith Park in Los Angeles that has become known as a filming location for many movies and TV shows, especially westerns and science fiction, from the early days of motion pictures to the present. Its craggy and remote-looking setting, but easily accessible location, has made it a prime choice for filmmakers, particularly of low-budget films, who want to place scenes in a lonely wilderness.

Location and history

Bronson Canyon is located in the southwest section of Griffith Park, thus is easily accessible from Hollywood.

In 1903, the Union Rock Company founded a quarry, originally named Brush Canyon, for excavation of crushed rock used in the construction of city streets. The quarry ceased operation in the late 1920s, leaving the caves behind. The caves became known as the Bronson Caves after a nearby street, giving the area its more popular name of Bronson Canyon (the same street indirectly provided the stage name for actor Charles Bronson, who chose the name of the Bronson Gate at Hollywood's Paramount Studios, which in turn derived its name from Bronson Street).

Scenes of the main cave entrance are normally filmed in a manner that shows the entrance at an angle because the cave is actually a very short tunnel through the hill, with the rear opening easily visible in a direct shot. The most well-known appearance of the tunnel entrance is likely as the entrance to the Batcave in the Batman television series of the 1960s.

Partial list of motion pictures filmed in Bronson Canyon

This list includes films with one or more scenes filmed in Bronson Canyon, including many serials filmed on location.

The West Portal

TV series filmed in Bronson Canyon

Partial list of novels set in Bronson Canyon

• Lost Light by Michael Connelly'

Video Games featuring Bronson Canyon

• In the 2005 video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, the custom character created by the player meets Andrew Reynolds to convince him to being featured in a video in order to save the fictional skate ranch, Green Pipes Point. The character is taken together with Reynolds to Bronson Canyon where the player has to do a 50000-point combo into the cave which takes the custom character launching off the Hollywood Sign, going off with pyrotechnics. After this stunt, Reynolds agrees to do the video.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park.

• Vasquez Rocks, another Los Angeles County landmark used as a location in numerous films and television episodes

References

External links

• Bronson Canyon in the Movies
• List of 101 movies that used Bronson Canyon
• Bronson Canyon - Representing the divine on earth

Coordinates: 34°07′22″N 118°18′56″W / 34.12287°N 118.31550°W / 34.12287; -118.31550

	Hollywood Hills	Griffith Park -	Griffith Park
	Hollywood Reservoir	Bronson Canyon	Griffith Park
	Hollywood Hills	Hollywood Hills	Griffith Park