A Cinematic Tour of Destruction Via a Guide to Los Angeles Movies

There are people of a certain disposition who think only in terms of destruction. These people love it when stuff gets blown up, when volcanoes erupt, when aliens take over the world, or when earthquakes destroy cities. For those types of people, who love action and thrills in the form of destruction, I present to you a cinematic guide to the destruction of Los Angeles, which features famous movie places that were "destroyed" in the movies.

The War of the Worlds

Do you remember the 1950s film, The War of the Worlds? It originally started as a novel by H.G. Wells, which when it was adapted as a radio program scarred the crap out of radio listeners everywhere. In the movie, the town, Linda Rosa, serves as the main points of action. You'll need to rent a car to get there. The town is based on the city Corona, California in Riverside County. The movie features the destruction of Los Angeles in the form of an atomic bomb being set off by the U.S. government in the hopes of stopping the aliens.

Earthquake

The 1974 film, Earthquake, was a huge box office success. The main gist of the movie is the survival of the cast after a massive earthquake destroys most of Los Angeles. The idea was directly inspired by an earthquake that hit in 1971, so actually, the destruction in this film isn't so far-fetched as the aliens destroying everything. This movie was filmed at Universal Studios in Los Angeles, and required the destruction of an entire backlot set, using a revolutionary camera technique called Shaker Mount. Take a bus to Universal Studios and take a tour. I dare you to try not to think about earthquakes.

The Terminator

Okay, so in The Terminator, Los Angeles has already been destroyed by a nuclear holocaust, but humanity is still kicking, so a group of would-be genocidists send by Arnold, a cyborg who wants to kill everyone who gets in the way of him killing some chick named Sarah. Believe it or not, O.J. Simpson was originally on the short list to play the Terminator, so just think, it could have been Simpson as the governor of California! Visit the court house of Los Angeles (you can get there by bus) and think about that one for a minute. The Terminator was supposed to be filmed in Toronto, but instead, it was filmed in Los Angeles in 1984, which is just fine with me.

Independence Day

In Independence Day, it's aliens that lay waste to Los Angeles. Most of the action scenes were filmed at Hughes Aircraft in Culver City, California, which you can tour for free if you make an appointment in advance and claim to be a very important person. The whole city of Los Angeles was built, tilted, and destroyed via explosion. Various other scenes were filmed throughout downtown Los Angeles, which you can easily via by tour, but I don't recommend walking unless you don't like your wallet.

Volcano

Finally, no visit to Los Angeles would be complete without a mention of the San Andreas fault. In the 1997 movie, Volcano, an earthquake hits Los Angeles, and Tommy Lee Jones goes to work even though his daughter is visiting. A bunch of workers are killed by a hot air blast and soon it's discovered that, kick ass!, a volcano is forming underneath the city. Los Angeles is destroyed by a volcano, which is wicked cool. Visit the San Andreas faultline and think about that.