Hollywood’s movie making history makes it one of the most popular destinations for travelers to California. In fact, the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman’s Chinese Theatre are two of the most popular tourist attractions in Los Angeles and usually at the top of visitors’ “must-see” list.
Just about wherever you travel to in the state, however, you can enjoy a bit of movie making history. From a visit to its northern-most point – Crescent City, where the Endor forest scenes in ‘Star Wars: Return of the Jedi’ were filmed in the nearby Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park – to a San Diego vacation in the south, a film location for many movies over the years, from ‘Citizen Kane’ to ‘Top Gun’ – the entire Golden State is replete with locations from popular films.
A San Diego neighbor-city, Oceanside, celebrated the 25th anniversary of ‘Top Gun’ over the 2011 Memorial Day weekend. (The timing for the celebration was especially fitting since the movie’s storyline focuses on a group of Navy fighter pilots stationed at Miramar Naval Air Station.) The video clip below shows then-and-now views of the house where “Charlie” (played by actress Kelly McGillis) lived in the film, which is located at 102 Pacific Street in Oceanside. Sadly, the house is slated to be torn down soon as part of Oceanside’s waterfront redevelopment initiative, although there is talk of relocating it inland to retain its tourist attraction value. Check it out below!