“Don't forget now: 1:15 am, Twin Pines Mall.”
Yesterday I did something über nerdy. I took a road trip to the Puente Hills Mall, better known as the Twin Pines Mall (later Lone Pine Mall) in Back to the Future.
The mall’s southeastern parking lot was used for the famous time travel scene, when Einstein was sent one minute into the future and “the Libyans” shot Doc Brown and chased Marty around, eventually crashing into the photo hut. Even though it’s a nondescript parking lot, I always wanted to see the place for myself. I mean, one of the greatest moments of movie magic — a signature scene in one of my favorite movies — happened there.
My normal weekend trips are usually to LA proper, which means a trip up the 405 or 5 and dealing with a classic City of Angels logjam. I think I’ve only been to LA once or twice and, by some miracle, didn’t get bogged down in one of its notorious bottlenecks. But, thankfully, the Puente Hills Mall was an easy drive into east LA County up the 57 via the 55 and 5. My bladder liked it, and the undeveloped golden foothills along the LA/OC line were beautiful…except, of course, for the 10-lane freeway.
I’d never been to that part of the San Gabriel Valley. It’s on the fringe of the Inland Empire, and, like the parking lot, I was sure the area was just another nondescript SoCal grid of concrete, strip malls, and tract housing. I wasn’t wrong. There’s really no reason for anyone to visit these places. They were the housing boomtowns of the ‘70s and ‘80s: characterless and stereotypical suburbs where there is nothing to do but go to the mall and shop.
I got off the 60 at Fullerton Road and drove west on Colima Road to the mall’s southeast entrance. It was the same entrance Marty skated down in the film. It was where the mall sign was placed. Hella nerdy of me.
Now, I’d love to say I was overcome with some corny sense of awe. “Holy shit! This was where they fucking filmed Back to the Future!” But it wasn’t like that. It felt surprisingly unspectacular, like I was…at the mall. Any ol’ mall. Though I knew what happened there, and knew it was the reason for being there (why the hell would I have gone anyway?), the experience felt nothing unlike when I’ve been to the Westminster Mall. Maybe it’s because malls and parking lots don’t take on the same type of historical movie aura as certain buildings or houses, like Ferris Bueller’s house in Long Beach or the Bradbury Building from Blade Runner in downtown LA. Shopping centers and their acres of parking may be too functional.
I parked, walked through the aisles of cars, and went into the mall to take a leak. Once relieved, I did something very ‘80s, at least to me: I bought an Orange Julius. I walked around, finished my drink, and left. The inside of the mall had nothing to do with the movie, so to hell with it.
Back outside, I took a couple pictures. Though I’ve seen the movie a million times, I could not pin point the exact places were the events of the scene took place. Where was Doc’s big van parked? Where had they stood as the car vanished in front of them to leave trails of flames between their legs? Where had the photo hut been? There are no nerdy markers for Back to the Future tourists like me (not that there should be). You should have watched the scene before coming, I thought, just for a reference.
(Tonight I found this page on the Back to the Future Wikipedia (yes: a Wikipedia dedicated to Back to the Future; cool, but so lame): http://bttf.wikia.com/wiki/Puente_Hills_Mall. It features a map of the route taken by the DeLorean and Libyan terrorists in the chase. Somebody has way too much time on their hands.)
What had been a JCPenny is now a 24-Hour Fitness. While taking pictures, a typical, macho, SoCal douchbag walked out of the gym to his jacked up truck and saw me. He looked at me as if thinking, “Why’s that dumbass taking pictures of the parking lot?” Or, if he knew the significance, he was probably thinking, “Another Back to the Future nerd.” I didn’t care. I was doing something I’d wanted to do for a long time, even if it was totally unimpressive. The next time I watch Back to the Future I can say, “I’ve been to that parking lot. I have the pictures to prove it.”
The mall’s southeastern parking lot was used for the famous time travel scene, when Einstein was sent one minute into the future and “the Libyans” shot Doc Brown and chased Marty around, eventually crashing into the photo hut. Even though it’s a nondescript parking lot, I always wanted to see the place for myself. I mean, one of the greatest moments of movie magic — a signature scene in one of my favorite movies — happened there.
My normal weekend trips are usually to LA proper, which means a trip up the 405 or 5 and dealing with a classic City of Angels logjam. I think I’ve only been to LA once or twice and, by some miracle, didn’t get bogged down in one of its notorious bottlenecks. But, thankfully, the Puente Hills Mall was an easy drive into east LA County up the 57 via the 55 and 5. My bladder liked it, and the undeveloped golden foothills along the LA/OC line were beautiful…except, of course, for the 10-lane freeway.
I’d never been to that part of the San Gabriel Valley. It’s on the fringe of the Inland Empire, and, like the parking lot, I was sure the area was just another nondescript SoCal grid of concrete, strip malls, and tract housing. I wasn’t wrong. There’s really no reason for anyone to visit these places. They were the housing boomtowns of the ‘70s and ‘80s: characterless and stereotypical suburbs where there is nothing to do but go to the mall and shop.
I got off the 60 at Fullerton Road and drove west on Colima Road to the mall’s southeast entrance. It was the same entrance Marty skated down in the film. It was where the mall sign was placed. Hella nerdy of me.
Now, I’d love to say I was overcome with some corny sense of awe. “Holy shit! This was where they fucking filmed Back to the Future!” But it wasn’t like that. It felt surprisingly unspectacular, like I was…at the mall. Any ol’ mall. Though I knew what happened there, and knew it was the reason for being there (why the hell would I have gone anyway?), the experience felt nothing unlike when I’ve been to the Westminster Mall. Maybe it’s because malls and parking lots don’t take on the same type of historical movie aura as certain buildings or houses, like Ferris Bueller’s house in Long Beach or the Bradbury Building from Blade Runner in downtown LA. Shopping centers and their acres of parking may be too functional.
I parked, walked through the aisles of cars, and went into the mall to take a leak. Once relieved, I did something very ‘80s, at least to me: I bought an Orange Julius. I walked around, finished my drink, and left. The inside of the mall had nothing to do with the movie, so to hell with it.
Back outside, I took a couple pictures. Though I’ve seen the movie a million times, I could not pin point the exact places were the events of the scene took place. Where was Doc’s big van parked? Where had they stood as the car vanished in front of them to leave trails of flames between their legs? Where had the photo hut been? There are no nerdy markers for Back to the Future tourists like me (not that there should be). You should have watched the scene before coming, I thought, just for a reference.
(Tonight I found this page on the Back to the Future Wikipedia (yes: a Wikipedia dedicated to Back to the Future; cool, but so lame): http://bttf.wikia.com/wiki/Puente_Hills_Mall. It features a map of the route taken by the DeLorean and Libyan terrorists in the chase. Somebody has way too much time on their hands.)
What had been a JCPenny is now a 24-Hour Fitness. While taking pictures, a typical, macho, SoCal douchbag walked out of the gym to his jacked up truck and saw me. He looked at me as if thinking, “Why’s that dumbass taking pictures of the parking lot?” Or, if he knew the significance, he was probably thinking, “Another Back to the Future nerd.” I didn’t care. I was doing something I’d wanted to do for a long time, even if it was totally unimpressive. The next time I watch Back to the Future I can say, “I’ve been to that parking lot. I have the pictures to prove it.”
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