Courthouse Square - Information

Basically, Courthouse Square is a permanent outdoor set, designed to resemble a generic American small town. It is built on the backlot of Universal Studios, Los Angeles. The set can be 'dressed' by the addition of signage, lamp-posts, trees, bushes, benches, etc. to make the set look more 'lived in'. Anyone can film there, with certain restrictions - it doesn't have to be a Universal production. It makes sense to film on the backlot (as opposed to a real town) if you want to do something which wouldn't be possible in a real town - like blow something up, or transport the whole town to the year 2015. Sometimes it is useful to have your exterior set near your studio sets so you can switch filming back and forth between them.

The buildings around Courthouse Square are not real buildings. A couple of the buildings have interiors built into them (such as the old diner), but even these are not real buildings. For the sake of cost and flexibility the buildings are merely plywood facades with facings nailed to the front. Someone on the bttf.com forums mentioned that the facings are fiberglass panels, molded to look like bricks. However, due to the number of nails showing through the back of the plywood, it seems more likely that they use what's known as 'Mathematical Tiles'. These are tiles which can be nailed on, but externally look like bricks. Here's a picture.

On January 17th 1867, Carl Laemmle was born in Laupheim, Germany, the tenth child of Rebecca and Nathanael Laemmle. He emmigrated to America in 1884. On February 26th 1904, he opened the White Front Theatre in Chicago, the first in a chain of nickelodeons.

In November 1906, Laemmle founded the Laemmle Film Service, a film distribution company that by 19l9 was servicing the majority of cinemas in the Midwest and Canada. In June 1909, Laemmle founded the Yankee Film Company, which soon becomes the Independent Moving Picture Company of America (IMP).

On June 8, 1912, Universal Film Manufacturing Company is founded, the result of a merger of IMP and five other production companies. In 1913 their first feature length film, Traffic in Souls, directed by George Loane Tucker, grosses $450,000.

In 1914 Universal purchase 230 acre Taylor Ranch in North Hollywood for $165,000, which had been used for shooting outdoor scenes since 1912. The building of Universal Studios starts on June 18, and production is in full swing by September. Damon and Pythias becomes the first feature film shot at Universal City.

On March 15, 1915, Universal City celebrates its gala opening. For 25¢, the public is allowed to observe the set of movies in production.

In 1928 Universal produces its first talkie, Melody of Love. The Universal tour is discontinued in 1930, due to the need for quiet sets.

It was around this time that most Hollywood studios were building themselves backlot sets. With sound being difficult to control on location, and productions becoming more complex, it made sense to erect permanent sets as a fixed asset to be used as and when they were needed.

There are a few major events after this date, the first being the introduction of the famous tram tour on July 8th 1964. Now the public could see behind the scenes again. Courthouse Square existed by this point - did you go on the tour in the 60's? Or the 70's? How much of the backlot existed? Do you have photos?

On November 6th 1990, There was a fire caused by an arsonist. Apparently a disgruntled security guard set the backlot ablaze. It took more than 400 firefighters from 86 companies, aided by 6 helicopters, to extinguish the blaze and about 20% of the Universal backlot was destroyed. Opinions vary as to how much, if any, of Courthouse Square was destroyed.

On September 6th 1997, there was another fire on the backlot. This time it was poorly stored chemicals which were to blame. As before, opinions vary as to how much of Courthouse Square was destroyed, certainly almost the entire main street went as you can see in this picture.

And... erm... That's it! While it is easy to find the history of Universal as a company (who owns it, and when they bought it, etc, etc), I can't actually find any history of the backlot itself. Courthouse Square first crops up in "Harvey" in 1950, but I have no idea when it was actually built - or for which movie! If you have any information, please share it! :)