Universal Studios Lot is a television and film studio complex located at 100 Universal City Plaza in

Universal City, California Universal City is an unincorporated area within the San Fernando Valley. Approximately within and immediately outside the area is the property of Universal Pictures NBCUniversal's film studio, one of the five major film studios in the United ...

, and is part of the entire Universal Studios complex, which also includes the adjacent

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and Amusement park, theme park located in Universal City, California, near Hollywood, Los Angeles. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketin ...

theme park. It is the production site of

Universal Studios Universal Studios may refer to: * Universal Studios, Inc., an American media and entertainment conglomerate ** Universal Pictures, an American film studio ** Universal Studios Lot, a film and television studio complex * Various theme parks operat ...

and is owned by Comcast through its subsidiary

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...

. The lot officially opened the gates of Universal City on March 15, 1915. The lot began offering its modern studio tour in 1964, which eventually evolved into the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. Today the Universal Studios Lot is made up of 400 acres, which includes more than 30 sound stages, the Brokaw News Center and 165 other separate structures.

Background

On March 15, 1915,

Carl Laemmle Carl Laemmle (; born Karl Lämmle ; January 17, 1867 – September 24, 1939) was a German-American film producer and the co-founder and, until 1934, owner of Universal Pictures. He produced or worked on over 400 films. Regarded as one of the ...

opened Universal City Studios on a 230-acre ranch in the

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...

and called it "Universal City". The site later became known as Universal Studios Lot and Universal City was considered the first self-contained community dedicated to making films. In 1950, Universal Studios Lot increased its overall size to 400 acres after Universal acquired additional land at the southern border of the studio. Music Corporation of America ( MCA) bought the Universal Studios Lot in 1958. Universal then leased back its property from MCA until MCA and Universal merged in 1962. Shortly after the MCA–Universal Pictures merger, accountants suggested that a new tour in the studio commissary would increase profits. On July 15, 1964, the modern Universal Studios tour was established to include a series of dressing room walk-throughs, peeks at actual production, and later, staged events. This grew over the years into a full-blown

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

now known as

. Over the next decades, numerous television shows and movies were filmed in Universal Studios Lot, notably at the Courthouse Square and

Colonial Street Colonial Street is one of the backlot street sets at the Universal Studios Lot in Universal City, California. The street set has a long history, spanning over 60 years of movies and television. From 2004 to 2012, it was used in the filming of the ...

sets. This includes ''Psycho'' (

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

), ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...

'' (

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

), ''The Perfect Storm'' (

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

), ''War of the Worlds'' (

/ DreamWorks), ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Marc Cherry, and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a tota ...

'' ( ABC), and ''

The Good Place ''The Good Place'' is an American fantasy-comedy television series created by Michael Schur for NBC. The series premiered on September 19, 2016, and concluded on January 30, 2020, after four seasons consisting of 53 episodes. Although the pl ...

'' (

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

). Today, Universal Studios Lot is one of the largest full-service production facilities. It has continued to modernize and grow with plans to expand by adding additional soundstages and building facilities. Since 2016, the NBC show ''

American Ninja Warrior ''American Ninja Warrior'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''ANW'') is an American sports entertainment reality show based on the Japanese television reality show ''Sasuke (TV series), Sasuke,'' which also serves as a successor of ''American Ninja C ...

'' has filmed their

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

city qualifiers and finals courses on the lot.

Studio stages

Current studio stages

Former studio stages

Studio Tour

The Studio Tour is a public attraction both as a VIP and at the adjacent

theme park that offers visitors a behind-the-scenes look at the historic studio lot. The tour first opened in 1915 when Carl Laemmle invited visitors to see the studio in action. The Universal Tour was halted in the late 1920s and revived in 1964. Since then, it has evolved through countless iterations, including new tour hosts, movie sets, and experiences.

References

External links

Universal Studios Lot
{{2028 Summer Olympic venues Universal Pictures NBCUniversal Television studios in the United States Culture of Hollywood, Los Angeles Tourist attractions in Los Angeles County, California 1915 establishments in California Olympic International Broadcast Centres Venues of the 2028 Summer Olympics