Universal Studios Hollywood
The studio that charged five cents and a boxed chicken lunch to watch real movies being made in 1915 still has cameras rolling today.
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Carl Laemmle opened this working farm-turned-studio on March 14, 1915, drawing 10,000 guests over two days. The original tours let visitors buy fresh produce from the on-site farm while watching live shoots. Sound films ended that format around 1930 — the stages were never soundproofed for it. The backlot kept going, caught fire nine times since 1932, and in 2024 pulled in 8.7 million visitors, ranking it 16th among the world's most-visited theme parks.
What to look for
- The backlot, which has burned nine times since a 1932 brush fire destroyed four sets and caused over $100,000 in damage
- The seven-story IMAX theater at Universal CityWalk, alongside an 18-screen cinema
- Active broadcast facilities for KNBC and KVEA, still operating on the Universal lot
Universal CityWalk — accessible separately from the theme park — holds shops, restaurants, an 18-screen cinema, and a seven-story IMAX theater.
Universal Studios Hollywood is one of 33 sights worth the detour in Los Angeles, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Los Angeles pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Los Angeles
- Hollywood Walk of Fame2,850 names pressed into pink terrazzo underfoot — actors, inventors, fictional characters, all at six-foot intervals for 1.3 miles.
- Dolby TheatreThe red carpet runs up these stairs every awards season — where Hollywood officially crowns its year.
- SoFi StadiumA million-square-foot canopy embedded with 27,000 LED pucks bright enough to be seen from planes descending into LAX.
- Hollywood SignA 1923 real-estate billboard that refused to come down — and ended up owning the word "Hollywood" itself.
- U.S. Bank TowerLA sold the sky above a fire-gutted library to fund its own rebuilding — and got its second-tallest tower in the bargain.
- Rose BowlA century-old sunken oval where the 1994 World Cup Final was settled — and the 2028 Olympics will return to do it again.