RKO Forty Acres


RKO Forty Acres was a film studio backlot owned by RKO Pictures and later Desilu Productions, in Culver City, California. Best known as Forty Acres and "the back forty", it was also called "Desilu Culver", the "RKO backlot", and "Pathé 40 Acre Ranch", depending on which studio owned the property at the time. For nearly fifty years it was known for its outdoor full-scale sets, such as Western Street, Atlanta Street, and Main Street and was used in many films and Gone with the Wind ) and television series.
The property was a triangular parcel of, a few blocks from RKO-Pathe which was situated to the west. It was bounded by Higuera Street to the north, West Jefferson Boulevard, Ballona Creek and Culver City Park to the south, and Lucerne Avenue to the west. In 1976 it was razed for re-development. Today it is known as the southern expansion of the Hayden Industrial Tract. A number of the buildings in the industrial park have been converted to television studios. One of the shows produced at the park is Hell's Kitchen.

History

The property on which the backlot was located was originally intended to be a lease for Cecil B. DeMille’s production of the film The King of Kings. On it he constructed the historical City of Jerusalem, which remained for the RKO production of King Kong. By then it was known as Forty Acres and owned by RKO Pictures.
In 1935, David O. Selznick leased the property from RKO for his new studio, Selznick International Pictures. For his production of Gone with the Wind, the plantation Tara, the Atlanta Depot, and other Atlanta buildings were constructed on Forty Acres.
The depot and many of the Atlanta buildings became permanent fixtures on the property until its final days, while the set of Tara was sold in 1959 to investors who planned to open a theme park in the Atlanta area.
From 1943 to 1958, a separate part of the 28.5 ac known as the African jungle set, located on the opposite side of Ballona Creek, was used extensively for the Tarzan series by RKO, and later for The Adventures of Jim Bowie television series by Desilu.
Following years of turnovers by several owners, including Howard Hughes, the backlot was practically deserted and cinematic productions declined. It was purchased in 1957 by Desilu with the intention of filming for the burgeoning television industry.

Television

Forty Acres is best remembered for providing the backdrop for the fictional town of Mayberry on the television series The Andy Griffith Show. Many of the street scenes and buildings on the backlot were seen regularly on television screens across America and became quite familiar to viewers. The original Town of Atlanta set, comprising a New York style street, a town square and a residential area to the east, was situated in the center of the property and was used on shows like Adventures of Superman, Ozzie and Harriet, Batman, The Green Hornet, and '. The town square was also used on ' in three episodes titled "Miri", "Return of the Archons" and "City on the Edge of Forever", while another area of the lot, the "Arab village", was used in "Errand of Mercy" and the first pilot, "The Cage |The Cage". Sharp-eyed television viewers could note many visual cues that crossed over from one series to the next, including the structures themselves or signs on doors and windows. In Star Trek's "The City on the Edge of Forever" for example, a crossover from The Andy Griffith Show can be seen by noting a window sign for "Floyd's Barber Shop" in a particular scene involving Captain Kirk and Edith Keeler, who were strolling by.
Forty Acres was also the backdrop for an episode of My Three Sons entitled "The Horseless Saddle", and five episodes of the TV series Bonanza where the backlot’s Western Street, next to the Garden of Allah set, served as a trail town. An added feature was the fact that some portions of the backlot were occupied by fields and scrub and provided the ideal conditions for filming a western. The Tara set, which sat on a sloping rise at the north western corner of the property, was torn down in 1959 to eventually become the Stalag 13 set for Hogan's Heroes. Most of the sets, which included Camp Henderson on Gomer Pyle, were situated primarily in the center, south and west end of the property. The narrower east end was the site of a western town set at one time, and was later home to an unusual, narrow alley set lined by two long facades facing each other. The alley set was constructed for the Robert Wise film Star! with Julie Andrews in the lead role, and it also later made a brief appearance in the film Switchblade Sisters, as did the streets and buildings of the central town area.
Overall, the property was an undulating plateau with a southern slope that led to Ballona Creek. Trees screened the northern and southern perimeter of the property.

List of familiar backlot buildings

Core structures that stood for decades and appeared in many productions are listed here, most of which were constructed to represent, in Gone with the Wind, the antebellum Town of Atlanta, and later used for the fictional Mayberry. This portion of the backlot was the most permanent, and thus the most repeatedly recognizable, existing from 1939 until 1976. Other structures like the Jerusalem set, which was torched to make room for the Atlanta set, or Tara, which was replaced with the Hogan's Heroes stalag set, did not survive as long. The western/European set at the east end of the backlot also did not survive past the mid sixties.
The two main arteries that traversed the Atlanta/Mayberry set were Atlanta or Main Street, which ran east/west and opened at one point onto a town square, and North Street, a cross street that bisected it at the four corners just west of the square.
ImageStructureflrsLocationyearsSeen onSeen as
church2SE end of town square1947–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • The Untouchables
  • All Souls Church
    • courthouse2NE of town square1947–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • The Untouchables
  • '
  • Mayberry Courthouse
    • residence2across from church1939–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • The Untouchables
  • the Taylor home
    • bank2SE corner Atlanta/North1939–76
  • Adventures of Superman
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • The Untouchables
  • Gone with the Wind
  • ' #28
  • Mayberry Bank
  • National Hotel
  • where Kirk & Spock emerge
    • store/cafe3NW corner Atlanta/North1939–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • Gone with the Wind
  • Weaver's Department Store
  • Norcross Merchandise
    • main hotel2center, town square1945–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • The Set-Up
  • ' #8
  • Walker's Drug Store
  • Hotel Cozy
  • Rusk Hotel
    • tall hotel4NW of town square1947–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • The Long Night
  • The Set-Up
  • Star Trek #28
  • ' #8
  • Mayberry Hotel
  • Allegheny House
  • fire escape overlooking alley
  • ...where Kirk steals clothes
  • where Kirk finds Miri
    • theatre2NW of town square1939–75
  • Adventures of Superman
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • The Untouchables
  • The Set-Up
  • ' #28
  • Adventures of Superman
  • Grand Theatre
  • Paradise City Arena
  • 21st Street Mission
  • Smallville depot/Daily Planet
    • buildings2rear of courthouse1955–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • ' #8
  • feed grain store
  • Bartlett stable
    • shop2E of town square1955–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • ' #8
  • Biggs used furniture
  • Onlie's hideout
    • store plaza2N of town square1955–76
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • ' #28
  • Floyd's Barber Shop
  • Still labeled "Floyd's Barber Shop"
    • depot1west of town1939–71
  • Gone with the Wind
  • Atlanta Railroad Depot
    • store/cafe3SW corner Atlanta/North1939–76
  • Gone with the Wind
  • Lake & Lewis Hardware
    • Tara2NW portion of backlot1939–59
  • Gone with the Wind
  • The O'Hara plantation
    • office3NW end of Atlanta St1939–76
  • Gone with the Wind
  • ' #28
  • Atlanta Examiner
  • where McCoy emerges
    • cafe2S side of Atlanta St1938–76
  • The Set-Up
  • ' #28
  • Ringside Cafe
  • Walt's Restaurant
    • hotel2SW of town square1938–76
  • The Long Night
  • The Set-Up
  • Adventures of Superman
  • Travellers Hotel
  • Bijou Theatre
  • Hotel Silsby / hospital
    • townhouse2top of North St1950–76
  • ' #21
  • Reger's home
    • town hall2bottom of North St1950–76
  • One Minute To Zero
  • ' #21
  • Headquarters 5th Air Force
  • "The Red Hour" clock

    • List of known productions at Forty Acres

    Film