Bronson Canyon

Bronson Canyon, or Bronson Caves, is a section of Griffith Park in Los Angeles that has become known as a filming location for many films and television series, especially Westerns and science fiction, from the early days of motion pictures to the present.

The East Portal

Location and history

Bronson Canyon is located in the southwest section of Griffith Park near the north end of Canyon Drive, which is an extension of Bronson Avenue. 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–carried out of the quarry by electric train on the Brush Canyon Line.[1] The quarry ceased operation in the late 1920s, leaving the caves behind. The caves became known as the Bronson Caves after the nearby avenue and a hill of that name, giving the area its more popular name of Bronson Canyon. The same street may have indirectly provided the stage name for actor Charles Bronson, as the former Charles Buchinsky is believed to have chosen that name in 1954 after seeing it on a street sign in Hollywood.

The craggy quarry remains pockmarked by what appear to be cave openings create an ideal backdrop for filming scenes meant to take place in a lonely southwestern wilderness. 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 its use as the entrance to the Batcave in the 1966–68 Batman television series.[2]

So many films, in practically every genre, have been filmed there over the last 100 years, that the impression of a wide mountainous area has been created in film viewer's minds; when in fact the canyon, with the caves in the middle apex, is actually a V-shape no larger than two city blocks.

Media filmed or set in the canyon

Films
The West Portal that was used as the entrance to the Batcave in the 1960s TV series Batman

TV series

Novels

Music Videos

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
  1. "Western and Franklin Avenue Line". Electric Railway Historical Association. Electric Railway Historical Association. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  2. "Supermobile" Face Off, Season 3, Episode 5. Syfy, September 18, 2012.
  3. Rothel, David (1991). Ambush of Ghosts: A Guide to Great Western Film Locations. Madison, WI: Empire Publishing. pp. 39, 150–55. ISBN 978-0-944019-10-8.
  4. "The White Buffalo (1977) - IMDb".
  5. Cowan, Jared (February 4, 2016). "Your Complete Guide to the L.A. Filming Locations of Hail, Caesar!". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  6. Blake, Lindsay (2021-02-23). "Andy Samberg Gets Stuck in a Time Loop at Two Agua Dulce Houses In 'Palm Springs'". DIRT. Retrieved 2021-08-29.

34.12287°N 118.31550°W / 34.12287; -118.31550

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