The Incredible Time Tunnel

You no doubt know that 2016 is the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek hitting the airwaves.  But it is also the fiftieth anniversary of Irwin Allen's The Time Tunnel which premiered on Friday September 9, 1966.

 

 

 

The Time Tunnel was one of four popular sci-fi series of the 1960’s that included Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space and Land of the Giants each created, produced and sometimes directed by Irwin Allen.  Allen later went on to produce and direct the action sequences of the hit disaster movies The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno that garnered him the nickname “Master of Disaster”.

Project Tic-Toc is a top secret U.S. government effort to build an experimental time machine, known as "The Time Tunnel" . The base for Project Tic-Toc is a huge, hidden underground complex in Arizona, 800 floors deep and employing over 36,000 people.

The directors of the project are Dr. Douglas Phillips (Robert Colbert), Dr. Anthony Newman (James Darren), and Lt. General Heywood Kirk (Whit Bissell). The specialists assisting them are Dr. Raymond Swain (John Zaremba), a foremost expert in electronics, and Dr. Ann MacGregor (Lee Meriwether), an electro-biologist supervising the unit that determines how much force and heat a time traveler is able to withstand. The series is set in 1968, two years into the future of the actual production.

 

Project Tic-Toc is in its tenth year when United States Senator Leroy Clark (Gary Merrill) comes to investigate in order to determine whether the project, which has cost 7.5 billion dollars ($51 billion 2016 dollars), is worth continuing. Senator Clark feels the project is a waste of government funds. When speaking to Phillips, Kirk, and Newman in front of the Time Tunnel, he delivers an ultimatum: either they send someone into time and return him during the course of his visit or their funding will cease. Tony volunteers for this endeavor, but he is turned down by project director Doug Phillips. Defying this decision, Tony sends himself into time. Doug follows shortly after to rescue him, but they both continue to be lost in time. Senator Clark returns to Washington with the promise that funding will not be cut off to the project, leaving General Kirk in charge.  The stage is set for the progress of the series as Tony and Doug are now "switched" from one period in history to another, allowing episodes to be set in the past and future.

 

The show's score was composed by a young composer by the name of Johnny Williams who would later in his career go by the one and only John Williams.

 

 

Additional musical scores would be lifted from the Fox vault such as this score from veteran composer Bernard Herrmann.

 

As a seven year old I found the program very exciting and was particular fascinated with the Time Tunnel complex itself.  That illusion was accomplished with a number of tricks including a forced perspective set of the tunnel itself, huge miniatures with lived action plates added, matte paintings and lots of pyrotechnics.

 



 

 

My Cortez Motorhome nicknamed the EM-50 has served to relocate me not only in space but time as well.  Using the Cortez last fall made it possible to revisit the series even though the sets had been struck nearly five decades earlier. 

 

 

First stop was Coyote Dry Lake outside of Barstow, California (coincidentally on the road to Fort Irwin) the filming location of the desert sequences above the Time Tunnel complex for the pilot episode "Rendezvous with Yesterday".  note the Cortez even has the appropriate Project Tic-Toc logo.

 



 

 

   

 

Next onto a small prop warehouse in North Hollywood where the control consoles to the Time Tunnel still exist.

 

 

 

 

These consoles have had more screen appearances over the years than most successful actors!

https://www.wired.com/2012/10/movie-computers/

 

 

The Time Tunnel complex set was located on the Twentieth Century Fox lot.

 

 

Here on Soundstage #18 and extending into soundstage #19 next door.

 



 

Hope that enjoyed this trip back in time!

 



This is the City...Los Angeles, California.

Left my beach front spot last Friday and headed toward the city.  First made a couple of stops in Inglewood including the iconic Randy’s Donuts.  LA loves donuts and nothing says it better than a building with a giant donut on top!

Mmmm...Donuts!

Inglewood City Hall exterior filming location of the television shows "Quincy" and "Wonder Woman"

I must digress for a moment, Los Angeles must have the worst drivers of any city in the United States.  They all drive like rejects from a stunt driving school.  Way too fast and very distracted, talking and texting on every device conceivable.  They’re involved in accidents everywhere regardless of circumstances.  Driving a vintage motorhome on the area’s freeways and avoiding these maniacs at every turn can be nerve wracking.  I managed to avoid involvement in their mayhem until today that is.  After getting a donut and coffee at Randy’s and taking some photos I was walking back to the Cortez when CRASH!!   I ran to the front of my rig to see it now had a 2014 Ford Explorer hood ornament!  My instantaneous presence prevented this wayward motorist from retreating.  Made an amiable information exchange but my souvenir of this visit included a dent, bent bumper and broken grille.  The unique Cortez grille will present the greatest challenge to repair or replace.  Fortunately no one was hurt, the motorhome was still drivable and he had insurance.

Ouch!!

Managed to shrug the incident off and continue my excursion into Los Angeles proper.  First challenge was to find parking.  Even the short Cortez was too big for the downtown parking lots.  Got chased out of the Union Station lot by a very excitable attendant.  After cruising around for about twenty minutes I found on street parking with a four hour limit nearby in Chinatown. 

Nothing says LA more than its iconic and historic city hall

View from City Hall's observation deck

The now closed LAPD headquarters Parker Center, where does Sgt. Friday work now?

Visited the landmark City Hall’s 27^th floor observation deck.  True to LA I had to use the rear entrance because Disney was on location at the main entrance filming.  Visited several other landmark buildings then on to Olvera Street and Chinatown.  Had a French dip sandwich dinner at Philippe’s, the disputed birthplace of the sandwich.  Then onto Union Station for a lively and entertaining slide show by showman, tour guide, food crafter and author Charles Phoenix celebrating classic and kitschy Americana with downtown Los Angeles as a theme park. A great program in another iconic location sponsored by the MTA.  After the program it was back to Philippe’s for desert before heading out and starting the northward trek home.

I get hungry just seeing this sign

Beachfront Property

After setting sail from the Queen Mary we headed over to the Dockweiler RV Park L. A. County's only recreational vehicle campground ON THE BEACH!  It’s operated by the County of Los Angeles Department of Beaches and Harbors.  A very clean and well maintained set up.  I opted for a spot on the front row next to the beach.  A little pricier at $65 a day.  The only drawback is the park sits under the departure flight path for LAX runway 25L, great for plane spotting but not sleeping in late.  The dogs loved the RV park’s off-leash area on the beach.

My very own palm tree

The view

Spent most of Wednesday and Thursday seeing the sights on my bike.  Wednesday rode the perimeter of LAX for some plane spotting and visited the Flight Path Museum.  Thursday I rode my bike to Marina del Rey, Venice and Santa Monica along the Marvin Braude Bicycle Trail.  Pedaled about twenty-five miles round trip.  Grilled a steak for dinner when I got back.  Packed up Friday and headed towards downtown Los Angeles.

LAX

Lots of A-380 action

DC-3 at the Flight Path Museum

Santa Monica hates RV's

From Studio City in Hollywood!

After last Sunday’s activities decided to overnight in Studio City next to the Los Angeles River but that area is now no parking after 1:30 AM.  Found a nice quiet spot a couple of blocks away next to a golf course.  That was home for Sunday and Monday nights.  Enjoyed dinners at Dupar’s and Jerry’s Famous Delicatessen.  Monday ventured into Hollywood and explored both Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard.  Had a lunch of Chili at Barney’s Beanery.  Also went to the Farmer’s Market and The Grove.

Tuesday headed down to Exposition Park and took a personal guided tour of the Los Angeles Coliseum.  The tours are new and very interesting.  My tour guide was Bob, aka “Mr. Coliseum”.  I think he could write a book.  The Coliseum is home to the USC Trojans and seats 94,000 for football.  The NFL doesn’t consider it acceptable as a venue since they can’t sell luxury boxes.  Got to go into the press box, the USC recruiting offices, the USC locker room and onto the field.

Built in 1923 and still going strong.  Kingdome?

I hear Howard Cosell!

 

Then to the California Science Center to see the Space Shuttle Endeavor.  A great attraction which is also free.  Ultimately the Endeavor will be displayed vertically with its launch main fuel tank and solid rocket boosters attached in a new building.  The process to move the shuttle here from LAX was so involved it was considered its 26^th mission.  Definitely filled up on Tang after this.

The Mercury capsule that was "manned" by Ham the space chimp

When you have to go in space

The Space Shuttle Endeavor

The future display building for Endeavor

 

In memory of those space travelers that did not return

Apollo 1

January 27, 1967

Gus Grissom, Edward White II, Roger Chaffee

Soyuz 1

April 24, 1967

Vladimir Komarov

Soyuz 11

June 30, 1971

Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev, Vladislav Volkov

STS-51-L Space Shuttle Challenger

Jan. 28, 1986

Greg Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee

STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia

Feb. 1, 2003

Rick D. Husband, William McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel B. Clark, Ilan Ramon

Free Cortez parking!

HMS Queen Mary

On to Long Beach where we overnighted in the Queen Mary Hotel parking lot.  Took a guided tour of her on Wednesday.  Unfortunately the old girl isn’t looking as good as when I visited her in the 1980’s when the Wrather Corporation was managing the property.  Then she was polished and ship shape.  The Hughes Flying Boat had just opened up next door and there was a village of shops all around.  Well the Spruce Goose is gone, the dome that housed it is a cruise ship terminal, stained and run down looking.  The shops are all closed.  The Queen’s paint is now faded and peeling.  The Russian Scorpion submarine closed indefinitely for repairs.  There are some that have said publicly that the Queen Mary may have only 10 – 15 years left at best. 

Should you want to visit the actual S.S. Poseidon which was based on the Queen Mary the 22 foot filming miniature is on display nearby at the Los Angeles Maritime Museum.

Sunday...Sunday...Sunday!

Overnighted again at the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris.  Started off at o’dark thirty to make our way to the Pomona for the Pomona Swap Meet and Classic Car Show at the Fairplex which starts before sun-up.   Touted as over 15 miles of cars and vendors.  My feet believe it.  Saw a vendor using a 1971 Cortez for a base that he said he was going to put up for sale at the next meet.  No Cortez parts but got a source book on Oldsmobile parts (My Cortez has a Olds Toronado 455 motor and a GM 425 transmission).  From the looks of things here the most popular classic car in Southern California is any air-cooled Volkswagen.

1951 Ford UPS truck

Look! Another Cortez!

VW's everywhere

 Then headed over to the Sherman Oaks Street Fair.  A dog friendly event with my two making lots of friends.  Got to see The Batmobile, or at least one of the “authentic” copies built by legendary customizer George Barris.

Holy flashback Batman!

 

Then headed over to Studio City for some window shopping and lunch at Carney’s Express, a hamburger/hot dog joint in an old rail car. 

Best burgers and dogs in Studio City

 

Railman's Holiday

After a tasty meal Friday night at one of the finest restaurants in Perris – Chez le Sizzler we headed over to the Orange Empire Railway Museum parking lot to overnight.  After a good breakfast onboard Saturday morning headed into the museum.  The museum is the largest railway museum in the western United States covering about 90 acres with over 200 railcars.  On weekends they run a steam train, a Pacific Electric Interurban and several Los Angeles yellow cars (streetcars).  Spent the day riding the trains and viewing the collection of railway cars and artifacts. 

Ventura County Railway #2, a 1922 Baldwin 2-6-2

Pacific Electric #717, a 1925 J. G. Brill "Hollywood" car.  Basis for the car in the movie "Roger Rabbit".  The five county red car line folded in 1961

Yellow car carbarn

L.A. Railway #1201, a 1921 St. Louis Car Co. "California" car

 

L.A. Railway #3100, a 1943 St' Louis Car Co. PCC car.  Streetcar service in Los Angeles ended in 1963

 

Got another phone call from work (that makes three so far this vacation).  Seems there was still some confusion about my return date in spite of all the arrangements that were made prior to my departure.  Good grief!

Cu...camonga

Thursday morning left out from our teepee and headed out past Barstow to Coyote Dry Lake (more on that in an upcoming post).  Then to Kramer Junction and visited Kramer Antiques and Darr Military Rentals which has quite a collection of old military vehicles(operational), signs and petroliana. On the way south made a run by at Southern California Logistics Airport where several hundred airliners are sitting, most being parted out and junked.

Kramer Junction

The "Pep Boys" at Darr Military Rentals

Southern California Logistics Airport, quite a name for an airliner junkyard

Overnighted at … no not a Walmart, but a Sam’s Club in Moreno Valley.  Spent Friday running errands.  Did stop by the newly restored 1915 Richfield service station on Route 66 in Rancho Cucamonga, now a museum.  Then headed down to Perris.  Every freeway down here is under construction, there’s an accident about every five miles and California drivers seem to have a death wish.

Century old Route 66 landmark restored