One of the best things about the SFV is watching television shows and movies that specifically feature or use the SFV as a filming location(s). I am such a big fan of it that I have a page dedicated for
Filming Locations used in popular movies and TV shows which is a constantly growing list.
So every movie or TV show obviously needs a filming location or studio to complete its story. But what about automotive needs? Almost every TV show or film uses a vehicle whether its completely customized like the Batmobile from the 1960's Batman TV show series to a modern day police squad car used in CSI.
So guess what? Most of those cars whether customized or standard vehicles are sourced right in the SFV. So not only is the SFV a major source for filming location needs (in addition to the many Studios) but the SFV is also a major source for all those vehicle you see on the big screen.
The list below shows where many of the vehicles you have seen on TV or film are housed including the customization shops. Its possible I may have missed one, so please let me know and I will update.
1.
Barris Kustom Industries 10811 Riverside Drive North Hollywood California 91602. Lets start with the one and only George Barris who I believe invented car customizing and is a legend, if not a god when it comes this category. Consider that he customized the Batmobile, The Munster Koach,
The Beverly Hillbillies "1928 Porter", an updated version of KITT for
Knight Rider, Black Beauty from
Green Hornet, and The General Lee from
Dukes of Hazard to name a few. Another car Barris customized that I talked about on this site is "Navin Johnson's" Pontiac Firebird from
The Jerk here. Barris has also customized cars for celebrities including Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Elton John, John Wayne, Sonny and Cher, and Elvis Presley. The shop is still open and George Barris is still doing his thing after more than 50 years. Simply amazing!
2.
Cinema Vehicle Services 12580 Saticoy St # A North Hollywood CA 91605. CVS was first started in October 1975 by Ray Claridge in a 2500 sqft Van Nuys shop and eventually moved to a 7.5 acre lot in NoHo with approximately 1000 vehicles available to rent. CVS also provides a state of the art facility for studio prep work. They claim to be the "oldest and only picture car company in the industry." Some of their well known vehicles they developed include Eleanor from
Gone in 60 Seconds, Torino from
Starsky and Hutch, Ecto1 from
Ghostbuster, and the Charger from
The Fast and The Furious. They also have an interactive website that lets you view their inventory so I definitely recommend viewing their website if you have time to look at 1000 vehicles. On a related note, CVS was recently featured in
LA Times for the renewal of their lease which allowed them to continue call North Hollywood home.
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| Image courtesy Google Maps |
3. Unknown. Approximately 14589 Titus Street Panorama City 91402. This next location I am not sure who operates it and the address but it definitely appears to be a movie car rental business. Its possible that this is an overflow parking lot for Cinema Vehicle Services. I am listing it separately just in case it is not operated by CVS. On a separate note, this is also the old parking lot for the now abandoned The Valley Federal Savings Building (see postcard
here). If anyone has any information on this location, please do share.
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| Above images courtesy Google Maps |
4.
Picture Car Warehouse 8400 Reseda Blvd Northridge CA 91324 (former Rydell and Neill Lehr Cadillac). Picture Car Warehouse was started by Ted Moser who has been a transportation and picture car coordinator since 1990. He has worked on numerous films including
2 fast 2 furious,
Rush Hour 2 and 3, and
The Great Debaters to name a few. PCW is similar to CVS mentioned above in that they provide a wide array of vehicles for rent as well as provide customization work. This location was also used for the 2011 movie,
Drive, which was
discussed on this site. They also have an interactive website that lets you view their inventory so I definitely recommend viewing their website if you have time to look at 100's of vehicles.
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| Above images courtesy PCW |
5.
Galpin Studio Rentals Hollywood 8353 Sepulveda Blvd North Hills CA 91343 (locations also in Hollywood, La Cienga, and Santa Clarita). From the man who made the Galpin Ford Dealership a huge success, Bert Boeckmann started Galpin Ford Rentals in May 1974 and later expanded to the Studio Rental business in November 1981. The rest they say is history as this department exploded for Galpin providing an inventory of vehicles greater than 600 that were used in movies like
E.T.,
Back To The Future, and
Nightmare on Elm Street. This company is a large provider of Ford vehicles, so if you are ever watching a TV show or movie and see a bunch of Fords, it most likely came from Galpin. Galpin also operates
Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) which customizes cars and provide aftermarket products that was featured in MTV's
Pimp My Ride hosted by Xzibit (Woodland Hills resident).
6.
Studio Picture Vehicles 7502 Wheatland Avenue Sun Valley CA 91352.
Ken Fritz started Fritz Custom Cars forty-two years ago. He then started H.K. Custom Cars. Owning the two businesses and building cars for the Motion Picture Industry, he decided to start Studio Picture Vehicles, which the City of Los Angeles awards for being "The oldest Picture Car Supplier in the Movie Industry".
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| Image courtesy Google Maps |
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| Image courtesy Google Maps |
You can view more SFV Filming Locations
here.
You can view more SFV history
here.
