# What does Hollywood do with all the old stages/sets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2006, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124 "2006-05-17T17:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/21 "2006-05-18T01:28:21Z")
“Space Cowboys” and “The Core” both used the same space shuttle interior set. Mel Brooks used the same original props in “Frankenstein” in his “Young Frankenstein” spoof. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/22 "2006-05-18T01:45:32Z")
Here’s a [page](http://wbsf.warnerbros.com/soundstages/exteriorsets.html) that has shots of Warner Bros.’ various exterior sets (New York, Small Town USA, etc). If you were an observant Dukes of Hazzard fan like I was growing up, you saw Hazzard’s town square (“Midwest Street”) in a lot of other TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/23 "2006-05-18T02:11:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > At least one is: the ship built for the Marlon Brando version of **Mutiny on the Bounty** [is still afloat.](http://www.tallshipbounty.org/main.html) I was able to go on board a couple of years ago. The ship from Master and Commander is in San Diego next to authentic old ships as part of the San Diego Maritime Museum. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/24 "2006-05-18T02:53:27Z")
The ship from the Mel Gibson version of _Mutiny on the Bounty_ is also still afloat: [http://www.thebounty.com/](http://www.thebounty.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/25 "2006-05-18T06:34:33Z")
[Foxploration](http://www.foxploration.com/), a theme park in Baja California, Mexico, has the nearly life-sized _Titanic_ ship exterior (which has only one side). Many sets and props from the movie are also on display. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/26 "2006-05-18T12:13:32Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Specially made props and costumes will likely be stored, and sometimes used by other productions. For instance, I believe the TV show ‘Firefly’ re-used the army costumes from _Starship Troopers_ Or the Predator turning up in Voyager 😃 > [@Fish](#): > > Long-running projects like _Star Trek_ and its various TV incarnations are assigned a studio (or two). Their sets are made in pieces. The _Enterprise_ bridge was made in a pie-shape so bits could be removed to make way for a camera. I don’t know about the hallways, but they could easily have been modular pieces re-assembled in different configurations depending on need If you happen to have Western or Nazi props, they’ll end up in Star Trek at some point 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/27 "2006-05-18T16:29:57Z")
> [@Enola Straight](#): > > Mel Brooks used the same original props in “Frankenstein” in his “Young Frankenstein” spoof. Yeah, that’s true, but it was kind of a special case, if I remember correctly. The electrical doodads belonged to one man, Kenneth Strickfadden, and not to a studio per se. ---
**Author:** ![Southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@Southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southpaw)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/28 "2006-05-18T17:06:33Z")
> [@h.sapiens](#): > > I remember seeing a news story a few years ago that an enormous outdoor set from Cecil B. DeMille’s first film version of _The Ten Commandments_ in 1923 had been unearthed on the southern California beach where it was, apparently, simply abandoned when the film crew was done with it. IIRC, DeMille intentionally buried the set to keep other filmmakers from reusing it. Marcus Welby, MD’s house was the same as the Cleaver’s (Leave it to Beaver) second house. Which was right down the street from the Munsters’ house. Also existing interior sets are often used to film TV pilots. They don’t want to bother building a set if the show isn’t picked up by the network. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/29 "2006-05-18T17:36:26Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > A number of years ago a friend of mine and I visited the Hollywood Entertainment Museum (which is actually worth a visit anytime you’re in that neighborhood, by the way), and they had a special exhibit of props and sets from Star Trek productions. There were about 20-25 feet of TNG hallway set (where we found that the captions on all the little panels, nearly invisible in the series, read things like “55,000 light-years per nanosecond isn’t just a good idea…it’s the LAW!”) which apparently was the whole thing. That’s all they ever used. No offense, but that is not all they ever built or used. Moving at a normal pace of walk, a Steadicam shot traverses a length of 25 foot hallway in under 10 seconds. Many long shots were done in the “hallways” on TNG. What you saw was one section, with likely both linear parts as wild walls so you could have an opposing wall and ceiling showing but wild out one wall to get lights or a camera into. Hundreds of feet are made use of at times- but they all are construtcted the same way. That is NOT to argue with the idea that hallway and other generic look areas are reused and relit to make them look different. They are all the time. But, those hallways were extremely long sections, angled and set to each other to make for different feels and looks. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/30 "2006-05-18T18:11:30Z")
> [@Southpaw](#): > > Marcus Welby, MD’s house was the same as the Cleaver’s (Leave it to Beaver) second house. Which was right down the street from the Munsters’ house. Also existing interior sets are often used to film TV pilots. They don’t want to bother building a set if the show isn’t picked up by the network. Interesting you should mention this… a recent (this week?) Entertainment Weekly has an article on the “Desperate Housewives” street, and apparently it’s the same street that you mention above, with one of the housewives living in the re-done Munsters house. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/31 "2006-05-18T18:16:38Z")
> [@Southpaw](#): > > Marcus Welby, MD’s house was the same as the Cleaver’s (Leave it to Beaver) second house. Which was right down the street from the Munsters’ house. Also existing interior sets are often used to film TV pilots. They don’t want to bother building a set if the show isn’t picked up by the network. Interesting you should mention this… a recent (this week?) Entertainment Weekly has an article on the “Desperate Housewives” street, and apparently it’s the same street that you mention above, with one of the housewives living in the re-done Munsters house. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/32 "2006-05-19T01:47:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Interesting you should mention this… a recent (this week?) Entertainment Weekly has an article on the “Desperate Housewives” street, and apparently it’s the same street that you mention above, with one of the housewives living in the re-done Munsters house. And isn’t that the same street that Major Nelson and Jeannie lived on? ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/33 "2006-05-19T03:22:36Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > If you were an observant Dukes of Hazzard fan like I was growing up, you saw Hazzard’s town square (“Midwest Street”) in a lot of other TV shows. Or if you pass through Covington, Georgia, you’ll see the town they used for location shots at the begining of the show. 🙂 And if you pass through the park in Jasper, Georgia, you’ll see the water tower from “The War.” It was purchased from a local quarry, disassembled, moved to filming location, filmed, disassembled, donated to the city of Jasper and reassembled in the park. Walking by it on the jogging trail one day, I noticed something looked amiss. One of the rivet joints on one of the cross beams looked odd. I toom a closer look and noticed it and like a dozen others were just wood and plastic painted to look like rusted metal and glued onto the steel beams which were one whole piece. I guess it didn’t look “industrial” enough. -rainy ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124/34 "2006-05-19T04:57:45Z")
A friend of mine in New York City got the old Merv Griffin set, and set it up in his apartment. Then everytime we went to visit him we had to talk to him like we were on a talk show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-hollywood-do-with-all-the-old-stages-sets/357124.md?page=1)