Just a short drive from the
Sonora Desert Museum is
Old Tucson, a movie set originally built in 1939 as a replica of 1860's Tucson for the Hollywood western
Arizona. Since then over 300 film and television productions have been shot at this location. So many, in fact, Old Tucson is also known as "Hollywood in the Desert."
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| Turn off for Old Tucson |
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Here's a list of some of the movies and TV programs shot here:
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| Old Tucson from the parking lot |
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Just inside the main entrance is a museum dedicated to the productions made here.
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| Old film cameras |
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Even though Old Tucson is only a movie set and not a real western town, it does a surprisingly good job of recreating what Tucson might have looked like in the 1860's.
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| Main Street of Old Tucson |
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| Railroad station |
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As befits old Western towns, a variety of places to live are available for the residents, including:
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| Hotel Del Toro (mid range) |
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| Grand Palace Hotel and Saloon (high end) |
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| Virgina Hotel (budget) |
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In fact, a whole array of services are available in old Tucson covering birth to the grave.
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| Bath house (25 cents with soap, 15 without) |
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| Dentist |
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| Blacksmith for general fabrication & fix-its |
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Transportation during the 1860's is also well represented.
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| Wagons of course |
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| Steam locomotive driven trains |
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| Stagecoach service still going |
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Several demonstrations and shows are available including in the price of our admission. The first one we try is one of Hollywood stunts.
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| Stunt stage of an old mission church |
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| Crowd assembles |
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| Hey - let's get this show going |
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| Choreographed fights |
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| Bad guy climbs up |
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| and get tossed to earth by the good guy. |
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The stunts end with a bang and we move onto the next event, a talk about saloons.
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| Ka-BOOM! |
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| Bartender serves up info |
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No self respecting saloon in business ever goes without booze and this one has barrels of it.
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| In fact this saloon even has it's own still - in case they run out |
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| Even food is provided |
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The grounds are fun to just wander around and take in the sights.
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| Even a Chinatown section |
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The people who work here are very friendly and seem to really enjoy their jobs. In a small deli we meet Robert who's worked here over 30 years and loves it. He especially likes Halloween when Old Tucson puts on a great ghost town show. We also meet Maggie from Texas who gives us some great tips of places to see on our way to and from San Antonio/Austin.
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| Modern show girls glam it up for the camera |
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| Robert at the bar |
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| Maggie from Texas |
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As the sun signals the afternoon is wearing on, we drive into Tucson before the 5pm traffic rush. We are visiting friends who live close to the downtown area not far from the
University of Arizona. On the way we cross over the scenic
Tucson Mountains before dropping into the modern city of
Tucson.
Al and Julie have recently moved back to the States from Germany. Al is now a part of the regular faculty in Astronomy.
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| Al & Julie's living room |
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| Al's bike commuting to the U |
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| Julie's house shoes from Germany. |
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After a delightful evening including dinner under the stars, we put our own traveling shoes back on and head east towards Texas.
