On Location : A Close-Up of Some of L.A.’s Screen Veterans

It costs filmmakers only $300 a day to rent Los Angeles City Hall, a bargain compared with Long Beach, which charges $200 an hour, and Santa Monica, which charges a hefty $1,000 a day to film on its pier.

But in Los Angeles it’s those a la carte costs that’ll get you: $160 for a film permit and approximately $600 to have a fire inspector on duty all day. Two security guards will run you a total of about $720 a day, a fee of about $50 will be charged to post “no parking” signs and possible labor charges for an elevator operator and custodians to move furniture may also be added in. The total cost of filming at City Hall ranges from $1,500 to $5,000 per day, officials say. That’s still cheaper than filming at Beverly Hills’ Greystone mansion--which costs about $9,090 a day--or private homes, which can go for as much as $12,000 a day.

Profits from City Hall filming go to the city’s Motion Picture Television Coordinating Office and other city departments.

Here are just a few Los Angeles County locales featured on film.

City Hall

City Hall has starred in more movies and television series than most Hollywood actors. From October, 1989, to October, 1990, City Hall, inside and out, appeared in almost 100 productions. And City Hall has proved itself to be a star with real lasting power. Just after its completion in 1928, the year “talkies” were introduced, actor Lon Chaney starred in MGM’s whodunit, “While the City Sleeps,” which featured several City Hall shots.

Through the years, City Hall continued to play supporting roles, appearing in such films as “Mildred Pierce” (1945), “War of the Worlds” (1953), “D.O.A.” (1949), and more recently in “Protocol,” “Seems Like Old Times,” “48 Hours,” “Another 48 Hours” and “Death Warrant.”

On the smaller screen, it served as the Daily Planet building in the “Superman” television series. Although it was destroyed by Martians in “War of the Worlds,” it somehow survived to portray the U.S. Capitol in “The Jimmy Hoffa Story” and the Vatican in “The Thorn Birds.” In the movie “LBJ: The Early Years,” Mayor Tom Bradley’s office became the Texas office of the former President. You might also have caught a glimpse of City Hall in the series “Kojak,” “Cagney and Lacey,” “The Rockford Files,” “Matlock,” “Hill Street Blues,” “L.A. Law,” “Equal Justice,” “The Trials of Rosie O’Neill” and, most recently, “The Big One: The Great Los Angeles Earthquake.”

Wayne Manor, Batman’s Haunt

Hidden behind a 6-foot-high wall in the 300 block of South San Rafael Avenue in Pasadena is the 3-story Tudor mansion--complete with massive mahogany stairway and butler’s pantry--that was known as Wayne Manor in the “Batman” television series. In 1966, at the beginning of the show’s two-year run, external shots of the house were filmed, but most of the action occurred on a sound stage. The cost was $1,500 a day for the three days of filming. The most recent filming there was for “Dead Again.”

The Beverly Hillbillies’ House

From 1962 to 1970, this home on Bel Air Road near Beverly Hills served as the stomping grounds for the Clampett clan, an Ozark Mountains family that struck it rich with an oil well in their front yard and moved to Beverly Hills, looking for “swimming pools, movie stars.” It’s now owned by Hollywood entrepreneur A. Jerrold (Jerry) Perenchio, who co-produced “Driving Miss Daisy.” Perenchio is renovating his home--which happens to be next door to former President Ronald Reagan’s--at an estimated cost of more than $9 million. Other neighbors include Zsa Zsa Gabor and Elizabeth Taylor.

Greystone Park

The Doheny Mansion at 905 Loma Vista Drive, also known as Greystone Park, is by far the most popular mansion ever filmed in Beverly Hills. This magnificent 55-room, gray limestone building, with walls 3 feet thick, was built by oil magnate Edward L. Doheny in 1928 for his only son, Edward Lawrence (Ned) Doheny Jr. The estate once occupied 415 acres. Just a few months after the younger Doheny moved into the humble 46,054-square-foot abode with his wife and five children, both he and his male secretary were found dead in Doheny’s bedroom. Some say the secretary shot Doheny because he was denied a raise, then turned the gun on himself. But published reports at the time suggested that Doheny and his secretary were lovers and that Doheny fired both shots because he was afraid his family would find out about his affair.

In 1965 the city of Beverly Hills bought Greystone mansion and 18.3 surrounding acres. The rest of the land was purchased by Paul Trousdale, developer of Trousdale Estates. The mansion has served as a backdrop in such 1980s films as “The Golden Child,” “Ghostbusters II,” “Jumping Jack Flash,” “The Witches of Eastwick,” “Native Son” and “The Marrying Man.” Television viewers may have seen it in “The Winds of War,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “MacGyver,” “General Hospital” or “Dark Shadows.”

Approximately 30 films are shot at Greystone annually, according to a mansion spokesman. To film the exterior and interior at Greystone costs roughly $9,090 per day. The Beverly Hills Department of Parks and Recreation reaps the benefits.

Griffith Park Observatory

The teen-age outlaw of a previous generation, legendary actor James Dean, gave it his all in “Rebel Without a Cause” in 1955. In the film, Dean loitered at the Griffith Park Observatory, and today a bust of Dean stands on the west front lawn. The observatory was also the home of several key scenes from “The Terminator,” “Dragnet,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Earth Girls Are Easy” and “The Rocketeer.” Scenes for television’s “The Colbys,” “Bionic Woman” and “Wonder Woman” were also filmed there.

Queen Anne’s Cottage

The cottage was built 106 years ago by the flamboyant millionaire E. J. (Lucky) Baldwin, then 56, as a wedding present for his fourth bride, 16-year-old Lillie Bennett. But the house was not completed until after the pair had married and separated.

It starred in “Fantasy Island,” from 1978 until 1984, when the studio built its own replica.

The Los Angeles State and County Arboretum in Arcadia, where the cottage is located, has provided a setting for more than 200 films. Johnny Weissmuller swung through the arboretum trees in five Tarzan films. Such oldies as the “Road to Singapore” and “Safari” were also filmed there. Television shows that have recently filmed scenes there include “L.A. Law,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Unsolved Mysteries,” “Dallas,” “Falcon Crest” and “MacGyver.” On a sliding scale, studios are charged $1,500 to $3,900 per day and commercials run $1,500 to $2,500 per day.

Union Station

With its black walnut beams, ancient Venetian blinds, multicolored tiles adorned with parrots, 3,000-pound chandeliers and marble mosaic walkway, Union Station at 800 N. Alameda St. remains remarkably intact after a little more than half a century. The film that used the station most extensively was the aptly named 1950 movie “Union Station,” which starred William Holden. Other well-known films shot there were “The Way We Were” (1972), “Gable and Lombard” (1975), “Oh God! Book II” (1980) and “Blade Runner” (1982) and the TV series “Hunter” (1990).

Sources: “Movie Lover’s Guide to Hollywood,” by Richard Alleman, Cast Locations, City Hall, Leslie Halliwell’s Film Guide and film coordinators from various cities.