The drive from Anaheim to Burbank was only 45 minutes, but despite that, it was easily the longest drive of my life. A typical Californian summer’s day, the sun was shining and my family was playing cliché Beach Boys music in our rented Ford Taurus. Our GPS system (which we had named Phyllis) told us to make a left, and there it was, the WB Studio Walls, lined with humongous billboards of all the TV shows it films or had filmed. We parked, and I could hear and feel my heart pounding thorough my chest. We were finally here.
As we walked into the lobby-gift shop combo, every WB TV show or movie one could think of had a product we could ever want there. DVD’s, shirts, key chains, watches mugs, and more! But, despite my fascination, there was no more time to waste! The tour tickets my dad had preorderd read our names and times, and we were off! A quick movie about the history of The WB, and it was off to the trolley that was to take us around the studios in a timely two hour tour.
Out first stop, the set of ER, was an interesting experience, seeing the hospital that always looked so real now actually looking so fake. Then we saw a long stretch of road made to look like New York City, in which scenes of the movie “Vanilla Sky” with Tom Cruise was filmed. We saw the Harry Potter ford Anglia, The Batmobile, and the Mystery Mobile from “Scooby Doo”, and in that room with the cars, a quick glance at the oh so sexy leg of Brad Pitt. I was enjoying my time, but there was something missing.
As we climbed back inside of our trolley, our cameras at the ready, we turned a corner and my visit finally began. Since January 3, 2005 I had been mesmerized, in fact crazed about the Gilmore Girls, my favorite TV show of all time. The set of Stars Hollow was right in front of me. The sign that read when Stars Hollow was founded and its miniscule population, Luke’s the every episode diner, Lorelai Gilmore’s (my favorite character) house, Rory’s (Lorelai’s daughter) study tree, and the list goes on and on. How badly I wanted to get out and be part of the set, but I wasn’t allowed.
Every comment about Gilmore Girls that the tour guide made I knew the answer to, and I had to contain myself to keep my mouth shut. I was so awed and amazed that I was where so many of my favorite episodes had been filmed; I didn’t even realize my journey had only just begun. That May, the sixth season had concluded, and now the seventh season (and what I know now was its last) filming had started. New storylines were everywhere around me, I couldn’t contain it any longer. Then, when our trolley stopped in from of sound stage six, we were told we were going into the set of Yale, where Rory attends college. And to my disbelief, even more excitement took a hold of me.
In we went, and I was standing where I had only witnessed my favorite actress (Lauren Graham who plays Lorelai Gilmore) stand, where I had only seen on TV, and even seeing what was supposed to be outside was actually inside, everything still felt real. Remembering episodes that had taken place where I was standing was and still is unimaginable. As we headed out (much against my wishes) we were told to be very quiet, for the cast of Gilmore Girls was filming in the Gilmore Mansion soundstage right next door! As we passed by, parking spaces of the actors were seen, trailers were viewed, and I hoped with all my might that the actors I loved would walk out, so I could revel in their greatness! But we passed by, and though time stood still, no one was seen, and we left the set where I had been in heaven.
Our tour was wrapped up with a museum, where inside Gilmore Girls had its own display. Nothing was to be touched, but with Lauren Graham’s outfit from season four’s “The Fundamental Things Apply” (one of my favorites) how could I resist? I brushed the white collared blouse with my shoulder so indiscreetly if I saw someone do what I did I’d laugh. But despite the badly executed stealth, it was worth it, and I’ll never forget any minute of my Gilmore Girls trip.
When we arrived back to our starting point, I practically sprinted to where the Gilmore Girls memorabilia was and finally decided on a watch which had the Gilmore Girls logo on the face. I was so thrilled to now be the owner of an official WB Gilmore Girls watch only available through the tour I had just taken. As we left the Studios, I let the day settle within my, I took a breath, and hoped that this feeling would never subside.
Looking back I find it funny to think that I was that excited, but then I remember what an impact this show had on my adolescent life. I’m aware that not everybody can relate or even understand why this visit meant so much to me, not everyone has had something affect their life this much. I look back and wish that I had seen an actor from the show, and realize I might never have that chance again, and how close I actually was to meeting people I look up to. When my family traveled to California I knew we were going to be visiting The WB studios, but I didn’t know it would’ve affected my life as much as it did. Being with my family in a place that meant so much to me also helped my experience become what it is to me today. This trip to Burbank, California on July 25, 2006 was easily the best day of my teenaged life, and it will never be forgotten.
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3 comments:
Peer Review:
I would like to start by saying you have made this assignment incredibly hard for me. I really think it's going to be difficult for me to critique your memoir all that much. I felt like you did a really good job in showing how much this meant to you. The part about this that I enjoyed the most was how enthusiastic you were throughout it. You showed how much this trip really meant to you. I know I need to be critiquing this in addition to complementing you on it so that you can improve it. The biggest problem I had with this story was that I couldn’t connect with the majority of it. I liked when you talked about seeing things from ER, Scooby Doo, and Batman. However, when you talked about Gilmore Girls, I was clueless. I haven’t ever seen the show. I don’t have any idea who Lauren Grahm, Lorelai Gilmore, or Rory are. The hard part for me, criticizing this, is that you said in your memoir that everybody would not get it. You defiantly have a specific audience that you are speaking to, which is really good for them, but hard for me. What I would suggest for you in order to allow me, as somebody who doesn’t watch the Gilmore Girls, to do is explain the characters more. If you told me about them and showed me why these people meant so much to you, I would be able to relate to the feeling you had a little more. Like I said, this was difficult. Our teacher said there would be tons of room for improvement on the first drafts, but I disagree in this case. If you tell me a little more about the characters that are important to you, I think this will be a very good memoir not only for Gilmore Girls fans, but for everybody else as well.
Ok, where do I begin, just like Matt said it is going to be incredibly difficult for me to critique this memoir. First of all let me begin by saying that this memoir is very well written. I have reviewed and read many of my peers and friends papers, essays, and articles, from freshman to seniors in college and this has to be up there with the best of them. I have never seen a freshman in college write this well. But just as Matt said this is supposed to be a critique, so the one thing that I could find to critique in your memoir was the fact that throughout the whole memoir you are telling about this amazing experience and how you were so excited and how you were glad that your family was there to share it with you,but you never really told us why it ment so much to you, ya you said that the show had an effect on your adolescent life but never once do you tell us how it impacted your life. I know that describing everything to a “T” is not what your supposed to do in a memoir but I think that in this situation if you want the readers to understand the excitement behind your trip, you might want to tell us how the show impacted you or your life.
Other than that one small thing honestly Rachel, I enjoyed reading your memoir very much. Very wonderfully written, and awesome job of using excellent vocabulary to make the reader feel like they were there with you at that exact moment.
Oh my gosh!!! i LOVE Gilmore Girls!!!!! Love it sooooo much!!!!! When it ended, I actually cried. NO joke. I cried. It was sooooo sad when it ended. Man I wish I could've been you. You were RIGHT NEXT DOOR to THE VERY Gilmore Girls cast!! Holy crap!!! LUCKY!!!!!! Oh my gosh I would die if I ever get the chance to go there!! I should go there! Great blog
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