The tour and gallery will begin at the east end of Gone With The Wind's "Atlanta" town (east with respect to real world geography)...on the residential street...and proceed west through this principle shooting area of "40 Acres" until reaching the large railroad depot set built for the film. The images in this gallery depict the sets as they appeared primarily in the 1960's and as portrayed in such television series' as The Andy Griffith Show, Star Trek, Batman, Mission Impossible and Land of the Giants. There are also a few images from the 1950's, from TV's The Adventures of Superman, The Untouchables and The Real McCoys. Enjoy!

Near the eastern end of the 40 Acres backlot was a relatively short residential street, with a row of houses lining its north side. The street was on a slight hill which rose eastward from the town square, and the most famous house on this street was a brick, flat-roofed Victorian-style two-story house near the top of the rise which served as Aunt Pittypat's residence in Gone With the Wind. Alongside and to the left of this house (and constructed well after the filming of Gone With the Wind) were four wooden houses of 1930's and 1940's vintage appearance. Immediately left of Pittypat's house was the house featured in the Andy Griffith Show as Andy Taylor's residence.

It was not by chance that the principal structures along the residential street were situated on its north side, as this design allowed for frontal illumination by sunlight. Indeed, in the Andy Griffith Show, it was seldom that the camera was pointed southward across the street, but on the few occasions when this did occur, we could see the side of a single-story house at the east end of the street, as well as the north side of the church, including its side entrance (the front of the church faced west, into the town square). On even more rare occasion was the camera pointed eastward from Andy Taylor's residence, namely because the buildings and utility lines of Culver City were visible from this vantage point. Also, in the early 1960's, remnants of an earlier set stood in the eastern tip of 40 Acres...a set that from aerial photos appears to have represented a bombed-out European town. This set had been razed and removed by 1965, but in at least one early episode of The Andy Griffith Show, a large 3-story facade from this set is visible in the background at the top of the residential street (see Additional Images below).

The east end of the residential street, as seen in Land of the Giants

Originally constructed as Aunt Pittypat's house for Gone With the Wind, the brick home in the background was the 40 Acres residential street's first home (seen here in Land of the Giants)

The same home, as the lair of "Black Widow" in Batman, with its side porch converted to a secret entrance.

The "Aunt Pittypat" house as seen in TV's The Untouchables.

The same home, re-dressed as a haunted house in The Andy Griffith Show.

A view to the right of the "Pittypat" house, including the (only) house to its east (from Batman).

Andy Taylor residence from The Andy Griffith Show... immediately to the left of the Gone With The Wind "Pittypat" house.

view west down residential street (from The Andy Griffith Show)

view east up the residential street, from The Untouchables.

view east up residential street. Andy Taylor's house is just right of center in this image.

nighttime view of residential street, from The Untouchables.

If one were on foot in the latter days of 40 Acres, and descending the slight incline of the residential street sidewalk and approaching the town square from the east, directly ahead one would see a multi-facaded, polygonal shaped two-story structure, situated like an island in the paved square (below middle). This building had replaced what was originally a large, brick chuch/hospital in Gone With the Wind, and it was surrounded by a mix of storefront facades, sidewalks, side streets and other buildings/facades, some of which were constructed for the film, and some of which were constructed in later years. A better view of this central building is in store from the west side, but in the meantime, looking to the left and beyond the central building, one would see an unusual facade resembling an old western hotel (below left). Turning and looking to the right of the central building, one would immediately spot a familiar columned structure on the opposite corner...the Mayberry Courthouse (below right).

view southwest through residential street intersection of Western-style hotel facade (from The Andy Griffith Show)

view west down residential street (from The Andy Griffith Show)

view northwest through residential street intersection of the Mayberry Courthouse from The Andy Griffith Show

Arriving in the residential street intersection and looking to the left, past the church, the street would drop down out of view, leaving a view of Culver City's Baldwin Hills immediately to the south of 40 Acres (see below left). Looking to the right, one would see a short street of building & storefront facades.

Culver City's Baldwin Hills as viewed looking south from 40 Acres residential street intersection (from Mission Impossible)

view north from residential street intersection (from The Adventures of Superman)

Walking across the intersection toward the courthouse and turning back, one would see a two-story brick facade adjacent to the first house on the residential street, diagonally facing the intersection (below left). Turning slightly to the right, one would see a wooden, white, steepled church (below right).

view of building/facade adjacent to residential street houses (from The Andy Griffith Show)

view of residential street intersection and church (from The Andy Griffith Show)

Facing the courthouse from the residential street intersection, and looking down the short street to the right, one would see a large wooden fence blocking the view of Culver City buildings immediately to the north (below left). Further right, one would see a few storefront and other facades, including a large arched doorway with a wooden door.

view down short street to north of residential street intersection (from The Andy Griffith Show). The courthouse is immediately to our left, and Culver City's Higuera St. is just beyond the fence and vegetation.

a view of the courthouse and the short street seen left, with the top of a large Culver City building visible beyond the fence.

view of facades at north end of short street, looking right of angle seen in previous photo (from Star Trek episode "Miri")

view of facades on side street to right of courthouse

One of the most familiar filming areas in 40 Acres is the Atlanta set from Gone WIth The Wind, specifically the eastern area of this set, most commonly known as "Mayberry" from The Andy Griffith Show. The building fronts along the street were used almost exclusively for exterior shooting, with an occasional view shot through one of the windows into the square. On rare occasions, including in one early episode of The Andy Griffith Show, an interior set was constructed behind one of the facades, with the actual exterior street visible through the window. In almost all other interior scenes, all background views through windows and doors were painted or photographic backdrops.

aerial view of 40 Acres "town square" circa 1957 (from Desilu/Westinghouse sponsor film)

wide-angle view of town square as seen in the Star Trek episode "Miri"

view of shops and Courthouse from The Andy Griffith Show

north side of town square as it appeared in the early 1950's (from The Adventures of Superman)

view east of town square (from Batman)

similar angle to previous view...roughly fourteen years earlier (from The Adventures of Superman)

southeast view of town square (from Star Trek episode "Miri")

A behind-the-scenes photograph shot during filming of Star Trek in "40 Acres."

40 Acres church - front view. The porch of the western-style hotel facade which faces the church, is seen to the right (from The Andy Griffith Show)

closeup of church as seen in Land of the Giants

a rare use of the Western-style hotel facade in The Andy Griffith Show

high-angle view east through town square (from Land of the Giants)

high-angle northwest view of town square (from The Untouchables)

scene from rare interior set filming on the 40 Acres backlot (from The Andy Griffith Show)

This corner building with its columned portico was the most commonly seen exterior set in The Andy Griffith Show. The interior (studio) set was constructed to roughly to conform to the exterior set, and the illusion was enhanced by use of door and window backdrops matching the 40 Acres exteriors surrounding the courthouse. In the first season of the series, the interior set was missing one of two large windows on each side of the exterior set's front door, but this inconsistency was quickly remedied. The exterior set also had a second, seldom-used door down the right side of the building.

view of Mayberry courthouse

another view of the Mayberry courthouse from The Andy Griffith Show

courthouse side door and dirt road to rear (from The Andy Griffith Show). Culver City's Higuera Street is immediately behind the vegetation seen in the background.

Roughly triangular in shape, and across the street from the court house, this building featured several different facades, and could be filmed from a variety of angles and in ways that suggested it was several different buildings. The building normally served as a backdrop in The Andy Griffith Show, but in the first season, a door at its west-facing point served as the entrance to "Walker's Drugstore." (The drugstore set itself was a studio set).

view of town square central building and church (from Batman)

low-angle view of central building, labelled as "Rusk Hotel" in Star Trek episode "Miri"

side of central building (from Land of the Giants)

The central building and town square in earlier years (view east, from The Untouchables)

This door of the central building had multiple uses in The Andy Griffith Show, including serving as the entrance to "Walker's Drug Store" early in the series.

Immediately left (west) of the courthouse facade were three storefronts, the most commonly-featured one in The Andy Griffith Show being Floyd's Barber Shop, adjacent to the court house. The other two shops were most commonly depicted in the Griffith show as a TV repair shop and a grocery store, but the nature of these storefronts (as well as their window lettering) changed several times over the course of the series. In one of the more unusual TV "crossovers," these storefronts were seen in their Mayberry incarnations in a scene from the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," when Captain Kirk and Edith Keeler strolled down a sidewalk at night. One oddity about this row of shops is that the center shop (often dressed as "TV Repair") had no entrance door.

view of shops on north side of main street (from The Andy Griffith Show)

another view of the same shops as seen in later years of The Andy Griffith Show

In the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," Captain Kirk and Edith Keeler stroll by Mayberry's "Floyd's Barber Shop"

Just west of the row of shops on the north side of the street was located a brick structure most often portrayed in The Andy Griffith Show as a hotel. It was usually seen only in the background, but occasionally its front porch was featured in a scene. One aspect of this structure never seen in the Griffith show was its actual height...a surprising four stories. Instead, the building was always filmed in such a manner that suggested it was no taller than the surrounding buildings. Some of the images below reveal the true nature of this structure.

A typical shot from The Andy Griffith Show in which the "hotel" can be seen in the background.

A closeup of the same building from The Adventures of Superman circa 1951

This image from Star Trek's "Miri" reveals the true nature of the "Mayberry Hotel."

Another view of the four-story building as seen in the Star Trek episode "Miri." One can see how out-of-place this building seems alongside the adjacent buildings to the east. (to the left is the theater building - see below)

looking in same direction but at a lower angle, from The Andy Griffith Show. Note the alley between the 4-story building and the theater, which was featured in The Adventures of Superman as Superman's "take-off" alley in Metropolis.

In this image from the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," Captain Kirk steals period clothing left to dry on a fire escape attached to the four-story building.

Throughout most of the run of The Andy Griffith Show, the two-story building/facade at the northwest end of the main town area was depicted as a theater, and it featured a large overhanging marquee. Early in the series, the marquee read "Mayberry Theater," but soon changed to "Grand." In later years, the marquee changed again to "Palmerton." Eventually, the marquee was removed and the facades's recessed entrance was eliminated, converting it to another storefront, and ultimately to the home of the Mayberry Town Council. The location was also featured in the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever," where it served as the "21st Street Mission." In another Star Trek / Mayberry crossover...this time in reverse... the exterior can be seen in The Andy Griffith Show named as the 21st Street Mission. Prior to The Andy Griffith Show, this facade had a different appearance altogether, and included a columned overhang.

The "Grand" theater, from The Andy Griffith Show

Closeup of theater from The Andy Griffith Show

This image from The Andy Griffith Show reveals the theater exterior set with renovations in progress... the marquee already having been removed.

Here, the former "Grand" theater set appears as the "21st Street Mission" in the Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever."

In a TV "crossover" of sorts, the converted theater exterior with the "21st Street Mission" lettering appeared in the background in an episode of The Andy Griffith Show shot in the same time frame as the Star Trek episode for which the set was dressed.

Here is the same facade as seen in The Untouchables prior to its conversion to a "Mayberry" theater.

Across the wide street of the main town area are several facades, including one that served as the post office in The Andy Griffith Show.

view east of shops on south side of main town area (from The Adventures of Superman)

the Mayberry post office (from The Andy Griffith Show)

the same facade from the previous photo can be seen in the background in this Star Trek frame, as viewed from the alley between the 4-story building and the row of north-side storefronts.

a view slightly to the left of the "post office" facade, looking south across town square (from The Andy Griffith Show)

looking slightly further to the left from previous angle (from The Andy Griffith Show)

looking slightly to the right of the "post office," and southwest toward corner facades (from The Andy Griffith Show)

view from alley between theater building & 4-story building of same facades visible in previous image (from Star Trek)

the same alley as seen in The Adventures of Superman fourteen years earlier

Continuing west on foot in an imaginary walking tour, the main town pavement tapers to a normal two-lane city street width, and one finds themselves at a four-way intersection. To the left and right runs a facade-lined cross-street, with additional facades at each end, facing the intersection.

view west from main town area, through 4-way intersection. Visible in the distance is the roof of the railroad station from Gone With the Wind.

a more elevated view from the same location, from Star Trek episode Miri

aerial view of 40 Acres "downtown" and 4-way intersection circa 1957 (from Desilu/Westinghouse sponsor film). The building/facade to the far right of the image is the theater exterior in an earlier incarnation and with a covered porch area arcing around it.

view of northwest corner of 4-way intersection, from Star Trek episode "The City on the Edge of Forever." Note the streetcar tracks, a permanent fixture of the relatively short cross-street which ran north and south of the main street.

view north through 4-way-intersection, from The Andy Griffith Show episode, "Man in the Hurry."

The Batmobile on the short street north of the 4-way intersection.

looking northeast through 4-way intersection...former "Grand" theater facade in b.g., along with 4-story building (partially obscured). corner bldg. in foreground appeared in the Griffith show as the Mayberry bank.

a view north through the 4-way intersection (from the Star Trek episode "Return of the Archons")

view of northeast corner of 4-way intersection, from the "Ghost Town" episode of Land of the Giants

Ronnie Howard as "Opie Taylor" strolls along a sidewalk at the north end of the cross-street.

around the corner and to the left from the location seen in the previous photo was a dirt road paralleling Culver City's Higuera St. located just over the hill in the background (from The Andy Griffith Show)

east side of north cross-street, dressed as China-town (from Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.)

a view south through the 4-way intersection, featuring an unusual large facade at the south end of the cross-street, and Culver City's Baldwin Hills in the background (from the Star Trek episode "Return of the Archons")

a closeup of the large facade at the south end of the cross-street (from the Star Trek episode "Return of the Archons")

view southeast of 4-way intersection and southern facade from Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.

a nighttime view of the 4-way intersection, looking southwest, from Mission Impossible

view west from 4-way intersection (from Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.)

van crashes into facade at northeast corner of 4-way intersection (1 of 3, from Mission Impossible)

van crashes into facade at northeast corner of 4-way intersection (2 of 3, from Mission Impossible)

van crashes into facade at northeast corner of 4-way intersection (3 of 3, from Mission Impossible)

Continuing west beyond the 4-way intersection, one would walk along what had the appearance of a typical downtown city street, with two and three-story facades to either side. At the end of the street on the southwest corner stood another theater facade, with an alley running to its left. On the northwest corner stood the facade which was constructed as home to"The Atlanta Examiner" in Gone With The Wind.

Immediately across the T intersection to the west was a single-story row of facades facing east and designed to be filmed only from a distance, and just behind these facades sat the large railroad depot set built for Gone With the Wind.

west end of the 40 Acres main street, as seen in Mission Impossible. The Gone With The Wind railroad depot roof is visible just beyond the single-story facades in the background. The film's exterior for the Atlanta Examiner office building was on the corner seen just right of center above. In the background, beyond the depot roof, is visible the water tower at Desilu Studios just west of 40 Acres.

looking east back toward the main town area from west end of downtown main street (from Mission Impossible)

same area as in photo to left, in one of rare scenes in The Andy Griffith Show filmed in this area of the 40 Acres town.

elevated view east from the west end of the main street (from Batman)

view of facades on south side of west end of the main street (from The Untouchables)

the southwest corner facade as a closed-up theater (from Mission Impossible)

a view from the alley to the left of the downtown theater building. the facade visible across the street sat on the northwest corner at the west end of the main street, and served as "The Atlanta Examiner" building in Gone With The Wind (from Star Trek)

The "Atlanta Examiner" again as a backdrop (from Batman)

view northeast looking back at the western end of the main street. The "Atlanta Examiner" building is just left of center, and the theater building is across the street, in the center of the image (from Batman)

The huge railroad depot set constructed for Gone With The Wind stood for over 35 years as the backlot's centerpiece, both figuratively and literally. The depot set was designed to be filmed only from the south and the east, and it had no west roof. Occasionally over the years, the depot was used as a filming location or backdrop in other productions.

aerial view of Gone With The Wind railroad depot circa 1957 (from Desilu/Westinghouse sponsor film)

With a perpendicular archway attached to it, the long east wall of the railroad depot is seen in the background here in a 1959 episode of TV's The Untouchables

In November of 1965, some exterior and interior scenes for The Andy Griffith Show episode "The Legend of Barney Fife" were filmed at the railroad depot, which served as a hideout for an escaped convict.

A scene from interior filming in November 1965 at the railroad depot (from The Andy Griffith Show)

The Batmobile passes the Gone With The Wind railroad station set. As also revealed in the previous distant view, the station was an eastward-facing set, with mostly supporting framework on the western side, and no covering on the western slope of the roof.

The imaginary walking tour has ended at the railroad depot, and hopefully, it was an enjoyable virtual walk. Presented below are a variety of additional locations around the lost backlot, including but not limited to filming locations beyond the depot. Southwest of the station was a western town area as well as an Arab village. The western town area expanded and contracted over the years, and made numerous film and TV appearances, including in several episodes of Bonanza as well as stints in My Three Sons and Batman. The Andy Griffith Show also saw filming in this area at a barn and shed, as well as at one of the sets of railroad tracks located there. Further up the road from the railroad depot was "Wally's" service station from The Andy Griffith Show, as well as the quonset huts used for exterior filming in Gomer Pyle, USMC. The Gomer Pyle set was constructed on the former site of the exterior set for TV's The Real McCoys. Up a hill just northwest of the railroad station stood Scarlet O'Hara's "Tara" mansion from Gone With the Wind, which was dismantled in 1959. In the mid-to-late-1960's, the northwest corner of the backlot was home to "Stalag 13" of TV's "Hogan's Heroes."

Wally's Service Station from The Andy Griffith Show

view southeast from Wally's Service Station, with Culver City's Baldwin Hills in the background (from The Andy Griffith Show)

aerial view and guide to 40 Acres southwest corner from 1965, featuring the exterior set for Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.

westward view of the set of Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., directly across the road from "Wally's Service Station," with Culver City residences visible in the background.

view south of the Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. set and Culver City's Baldwin Hills in b.g., from just north of the fence and small shack (see aerial view for orientation)

view from The Andy Griffith Show, northwest from Wally's Service Station, in which the corner of a quonset hut from the Gomer Pyle, USMC exterior set is visible to the left. The fence and small shack seen in the previous photo are also visible in the distance.

view southwest along grassy slope immediately to the northwest of the Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. set

In The Andy Griffith Show, the grassy slope to the north of the Gomer Pyle quonset huts served as a football field. This image from a scene at the field is looking northeast at the fence and small shack, but also notice in the distance one of the several 40 Acres western-town facades

this image from Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. is from the same vantage point as the previous photo, however, the distant western-town facade is significantly more obscured.

earlier view (circa 1962) northwest from "Wally's Service Station" with barn & sheds from The Real McCoys in b.g.. these structures were removed by 1964, and the Gomer Pyle quonset huts were constructed immediately south of the barn (from The Andy Griffith Show)

a view of the same barn seen in the background in the previous image, five years earlier, from The Real McCoys

The Real McCoys' house, located just south of the barn

the water tower seen here to the southwest of the barn would several years later be re-used in the "Stalag 13" set for Hogan's Heroes (from The Real McCoys)

another view of same barn from The Andy Griffith Show, looking south. The tree seen in both this and the view from "Wally's" was preserved when the Gomer Pyle quonset huts were constructed, and can be seen in their midst a few images back.

yet another view of the "McCoys'" barn and shed from The Andy Griffith Show, looking northeast

immediately north of the Real McCoys/Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C. exterior set location was a railroad track set including a small tower. one track ended here, while the other ran through the upper end of the adjacent western town set at a road crossing. the tower seen here later served as one of the guard towers for the Hogan's Heroes Stalag 13 set (dual-frame from The Andy Griffith Show)

aerial view of eastern tip of 40 Acres circa 1957. back side of church, and main town area are visible top center (from Desilu/Westinghouse sponsor film)

In this unusual view, we are in the eastern wedge of the backlot (now cleared of all sets seen in the previous view), looking west, and visible in the distance is the back side of the church (left), as well as the dilapidated houses at the east end of the residential street, along with the taller "Aunt Pittypat's" house (right) (with thanks to Jack Thompson)

view southwest from church lawn. the houses seen here back up to facades at the east end of the main town area, and are also visible in the preceding aerial, just to the left of top center (from Mission Impossible)

view west of a vintage set on the south side of the back lot, which was located just down the road seen in the previous view (from The Untouchables)

another use of the same set seen in the previous image, from a different episode of The Untouchables

view north from Baldwin Hills, with portion of 40 Acres backlot visible in background of a scene from The Adventures of Superman. The railroad depot structure is prominently visible to the left of the frame, seen end on from the south side. In the middle of the frame, the western end of the main street is visible, including the "Atlanta Examiner" building from Gone With The Wind. To the far right of the frame, the 4-story building in the main town area is also visible. Click here for a captioned view of the same image.

aerial view of Tara mansion from Gone With The Wind circa 1957, which was situated near the northwest corner of the backlot. This set was disassembled and removed in 1959, and the area ultimately was home to the "Stalag 13" set for TV's Hogan's Heroes (from Desilu/Westinghouse sponsor film)

in this still frame from The Adventures of Superman, the Tara Mansion can be seen in the distance, just to the left of and slightly below actor George Reeves' elbow (with thanks to Jerry Krumm whose definitive research several years ago confirmed the location of this scene as well as of the Tara mansion)

aerial view and guide to 40 Acres northwest corner from 1965, featuring the "Stalag 13" set for Hogan's Heroes. The buildings and facades on this set were situated to block views of Culver City residences on Lucerne Avenue immediately adjacent to the backlot. From the north to the east, high berms blocked views of the city.

view northeast from Stalag 13 set. telephone poles along Culver City's Higuera St. are visible just beyond the dirt berm

in this image from Hogan's Heroes, the water tower at the Desilu Studios complex just west of 40 Acres can be seen in the background.

immediately east of the Tara / "Stalag 13" area were a barn and others sheds and facades occasionally seen in The Andy Griffith Show as farm exteriors. a high berm protects the view northeast, but if the camera were to pan slightly left, one would see the guard towers of "Stalag 13" just up the dirt road.

By the early 1970's, the "40 Acres" backlot had fallen into disrepair and was seeing little use in TV or film. In 1976, the acreage was sold to industry, and bulldozers brought down the final curtain on the backlot. Of course, it wasn't truly the final curtain, as the streets and facades of 40 Acres are immortalized on film...which was in fact the only purpose of the backlot from its outset. That said, it's still a shame that this place so full of film and television history had to go.

more images and more of the tour coming soon...

Also be sure to visit the RetroWeb site:
40 Acres - The Lost Backlot Studio of Movie & Television Fame

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Acknowledgements
Bill Bernico
John Bertram (Culver Studios)
Julie Lugo Cerra (City of Culver City)
Jake Easton (Radok)
Randy Garrett
Jerry Krumm
Allan Newsome (The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club)
Jim Nolt (The Adventure Continues)
Joel Rasmussen
Jerry Schneider
Bob Stutzman (TrekCore)
Jack Thompson
and
Mark Wanamaker (Bison Archives)

The original version of this web page debuted on February 16, 2008.

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Comments / Questions ?

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