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Filming San Diego: Hollywood’s Backlot
The northern and eastern areas of San Diego County have presented filmmakers with sufficient open space to film both big-budget and low-budget movies in a variety of genres, including science fiction, westerns, military, gangster, and horror movies. Ironically, it is this part of San Diego County that usually depicts a different location. Oceanside has been the location of many old-time Westerns; the desert has been utilized to enact a number of imaginary battles; D.W. Griffith used Fallbrook as the French countryside in Orphans of the Storm; and a Julian ranch appeared as Texas in a Dean Martin movie. Conversely, many locations and landmarks were featured in films exactly the way they were, such as the Del Mar Racetrack, the Palomar Observatory, and a Warner Hot Spring ranch in the 1936 version of Ramona. The U.S./Mexican border area has also provided filmmakers with an unlimited opportunity for documenting the challenges faced by communities on either side of an international border.
Other Films Made in North and East County locations:
The Viriginian; Tess of the Storm Country; Stablemates; The Pride of Palomar; Red Lights; Beggars of Life; Invaders from Mars; Slaughterhouse, Frankenstein Island, Crater Lake Monster; A Time of Destiny; Bugsy; Scorpion King.
