Behind Stars Hollow

We are all very familiar with Stars Hollow and its fascinating characters. However, few of us have been beyond the images of our television screens. Trisha, a Regular Collector for Little Corner, has accepted to share her experiences on the WB Backlot Tour, along with photos she has taken.

The following text is composed of quotes from three emails written by Trisha concerning the Tour. These quotes are copyrighted to Trisha. All the photos were taken by Trisha and are copyrighted to Trisha. It is illegal to take and modify them. They may be saved for personnal use only. Trisha can be reached at pbrown7[a]lsu.edu.

The Exterior Set

"You don't get to choose where you go on the tour. However, it has been my experience that the guides ask you what you would like to see, and they try to make it happen (depending on clearance, where things are filming, where other groups are, etc). I have been on the tour more than once, and every time I have gotten to see the outside Stars Hollow set (we are annoying to the guides about how much we want to see Gilmore Girls stuff, [but] I don't mind embarassing myself for that). They like to take groups to it because it's not a soundstage, and you can take pictures there (where as with the soundstages, you cannot). [...] You cannot go inside the actual buildings of the outside set (like Luke's Diner). Most of them are false buildings anyway. You do get to get off the cart and walk around the set (and take many pictures). You can go walk into the gazebo, things like that."

Kim's Antiques and Sookie's house	The Town, with Doose's Market
Stars Hollow sign	Luke's Diner

"Now, with Stars Hollow, every time I have been on the tour we have been taken to the outside set. We haven't always gotten to walk around, because one time they were preparing to film on one side, but we've always gotten to take pictures. I have pictures from a few visits, and all of them are different because of what we've gotten to see. I have some of Luke's diner, Kim's antiques, Miss Patty's, Doose's Market, Stars Hollow Video, Stars Hollow High, the gazebo, and various houses. I also have a picture of the annoying crosswalk sign that was featured in one episode. An interesting note, Sookie's house and Lorelai's house are on the same structure, just two different sides, even though they are supposedly not right next to each other on the show."

Miss Patty's dance studio	Weston's Bakery
Stars Hollow High

The Soundstage

"[Y]ou go to a drama set, which is completely different [from a sitcom set]. I've seen Gilmore Girls every time except once, when they showed us a pilot show that never aired. Until this most recent visit, I had only seen the Grandparent's house. You get to walk around and everything, but unfortunately you cannot take pictures."

"Note that the entire house is in a soundstage, even the driveway. So when you see Rory and Lorelai drive up and go to the front door, it was all inside. We got to see most of the rooms, like the foyer, the dining room, living room (where they have drinks), etc. It was surreal, really. [...] It's interesting because all of the brick exterior is not actually brick. Most of the materials are not real, but lighter reproductions of them (ie, the Grandparent's mantle was not really marble, the area rug is painted on)."

"We saw the whole [Yale] campus set, with the dining area (where Logan and Rory stole cereal, I was stoked), courtyard, halls, and Rory's dormroom (all of which, again, is inside). We spent a lot of time in there, and it was interesting because they said it's one of the first tv sets to be built for High Definition. This means that all the wood, marble, rugs, and everything is NO LONGER fake, because it would be more obvious now. They said it was monumentally more expensive to build (think 1 million vs. 50,000 dollars), which is a comfort to me because I think that means they are willing to invest a lot in the show, that it's going to stick around. At least that's what I hope it means. I think the best part was being inside the dorm common room, because we see that so much now. It looks different, more colorful than on tv. And there are so many more details than I would have expected. I guess we just don't pay attention to that stuff when we're watching. You are allowed to touch everything if you want, pick stuff up (just put it back!)."

Museum And Props

"Then you are taken to the Prop department, where they keep all furniture, decorations, etc. It is basically rooms and rooms of furniture and stuff layed out so that set decorators for shows and movies can go through and pick out what they want. There are usually hold tags on a number of items with show names on them."

"Finally, you are taken to the museum, which houses many recognizable costumes and props from famous movies and tv shows. The items in here change every time I have gone, so you rarely see the same stuff more than once. There are two floors, and you are allowed to walk around freely at your own pace and look around. [...] They had two different Gilmore Girls costumes in there, as well as a Luke's Diner menu, and the fuzzy hammer that Lorelai decorated."

Outfits worn by Lorelai

Dressed-up hammer and Luke's menu

About the Tour

"The tour as a whole I would recommend to anyone visiting LA. I think it's one of the best things to do there if you really want to see stuff, and I've found that it's not very well known."

Trisha mentionned in her emails that the Museum and Props departement display costumes, objects and pieces of sets from many movies and TV shows, including the Harry Potter movies and the show Friends. Here are links that she provided, with some information on the Tour and the Museum: Warner Bros Studio Facilities, Seeing Stars: Warner Bros VIP Tour and Seeing Stars: Warner Bros Museum.

"Behind Stars Hollow" assembled on August 20 2005.
Photos and quoted text © 2005 Trisha