Hill Valley, California · filmed 1985, 1989 and 1990

Back to the Future

A smiling young man in a dinner jacket and bow tie — Michael J. Fox at the White House, 8 October 1985, the year the first film came out. White House Photographic Office · Public domain

Christopher Lloyd in a brown jacket, smiling on a red carpet — Christopher Lloyd, 2015. Gabriel Tyner · CC BY 2.0

Destination time

Present time

Last time departed

One town, four years. Key one in.

01Time circuits

Key a year.
Reach 88.

The DeLorean leaves at 88 miles per hour from the car park of Twin Pines Mall. Set the circuits, work the throttle and the real places filmed for that year come up on the board.

Destination time

Present time

Last time departed

mph

Tap, or press and hold.

Key a destination year: 1885, 1955, 1985 or 2015.

Arrivals board · waiting for a time jump. Four years are on the circuits: 1955, 1885, 1985, 2015.

A wide empty car park in front of a mall with a Macy’s store and palm trees — The Puente Hills Mall car park, 2019. Mark Yasuda · CC BY-SA 4.0

02Puente Hills Mall · City of Industry

A mall car park
with two names.

Twin Pines Mall. Same car park.

The mall played Twin Pines Mall, also known as Lone Pine Mall, where Marty accelerates the DeLorean to 88 miles per hour. It is a public shopping mall at 1600 S Azusa Avenue.

A green Twin Pines Mall sign on the edge of a mall car park, with shops behind — A Twin Pines Mall sign put up for fans at Puente Hills Mall, 24 October 2015. Tertiary7 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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A pale classical courthouse with a clock tower behind a lawn, seen past the heads of tram passengers — The courthouse set on the Universal backlot, seen from the Studio Tour tram, 2006. Jcx at English Wikipedia · Public domain

03Universal Studios backlot · Universal City

One square,
three decades.

1955. A major section of the Universal backlot was turned into an old-fashioned town square for 1955 Hill Valley.

This is the Hill Valley courthouse where Doc Brown hangs off the clock to send Marty back to the future; it is part of the Universal Studios Hollywood tour.

The courthouse facade on the Universal backlot in 1991 — Courthouse Square on the Studio Tour, 1991. stephansanders (Stephansanders) · CC BY-SA 2.0

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Universal Studios Hollywood

The Studio Tour, Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal City

The tram tour of the working backlot passes Courthouse Square, the Hill Valley courthouse of all three films.

See the tour

04Pasadena · South Pasadena · Whittier · Hollywood

Home, school
and the dance.

A wide two-storey Craftsman house of dark shingles and timber beams behind a lawn — The Gamble House, Pasadena, 2016. Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Doc’s house, 1955

The Gamble House

Doc Brown’s 1955 home was filmed at two Greene and Greene houses in Pasadena: the Gamble House and the Blacker House.

Discover Los Angeles calls the Gamble House the home of Doctor Emmett Brown, where he has the idea for the flux capacitor after slipping in his bathroom.

Walk the exterior and gardens free. The house itself is seen on docent-led tours, Tuesdays and Thursday to Sunday; book ahead online.

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The Gamble House

Gamble House docent tour

Pasadena

One-hour guided tours inside Doc’s 1955 mansion, plus a free wander round the exterior and gardens. Closed Mondays and Wednesdays.

Book a tour

A white wall painted with the words Whittier Cardinals and a red cardinal mascot — Whittier High School, 2015. Ormr2014 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Hill Valley High

Whittier High School

A high school in Whittier served as Hill Valley High in the first film. Whittier High School again doubled for Hill Valley High in Part II.

A working school. Look from the street; going on campus may need permission.

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A white Gothic church tower rising above a busy Hollywood junction — Hollywood United Methodist Church at Franklin and Highland, 2014. Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Enchantment Under the Sea

The church hall, Hollywood

Discover Los Angeles places the Enchantment Under the Sea dance here, where Marty “invents” rock and roll. For Part II, the gymnasium of the First United Methodist Church in Hollywood hosted a second Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

An active church at Franklin and Highland. Ask the church office about visiting the hall.

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A wide, quiet street lined with tall trees and lawns — A residential street in South Pasadena, 2014. The Bushnell Avenue houses are private and not shown. Ken Lund · CC BY-SA 2.0

Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena

A private house on Bushnell Avenue, South Pasadena, is where Marty first speaks to his mother, Lorraine, and calls himself Calvin Klein. A few doors along the same street, George McFly’s house is where Marty dresses as an alien to scare George. Both are private homes: they are named here, never pinned.

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Small shopfronts and parked cars on a sunny boulevard — Shops on Victory Boulevard, Burbank, 2008. Doc’s garage set has gone. Cbl62 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Gone: Doc’s 1985 home was a rustic shack squeezed between a Burger King and an office building on Victory Boulevard in Burbank, built for the film and later demolished.

A red sandstone butte rising from desert scrub under a pale sky — West Mitten Butte, Monument Valley, 2007. Tobi 87 · CC BY-SA 4.0

05Tuolumne County, California · Monument Valley, Navajo Nation

For 1885,
they left the backlot.

Part III did not use the Universal backlot for its western town. The 1885 Hill Valley was built over several acres near Sonora, about 350 miles north of Los Angeles, with a main street, square, saloon and a courthouse still under construction.

The drive-in that was never there

The Pohatchee Drive-In, where Marty leaves 1955, was a set built on Navajo land in Monument Valley. Monument Valley gave the audience its first image of 1885, as Marty arrives.

After filming the drive-in was demolished, its materials removed and the ground replanted.

It was 12 degrees at 6am, and rarely above freezing all day.

$10 a person. The 17-mile Valley Drive runs 8am–5pm in winter, last entry 2:30pm; some areas need a licensed Navajo guide. No drones.

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Navajo Parks and Recreation

Monument Valley with a Navajo guide

Monument Valley · Park entry $10 a person

Drive the 17-mile Valley Drive yourself, or go with a licensed Navajo operator to the places the loop doesn’t reach.

Plan a visit

The View Hotel

Monument Valley

Rooms and rim cabins inside Monument Valley, looking out over the buttes where Marty arrives in 1885.

View the hotel

Engine 131 is really No. 3

Sierra No. 3, built 1891.

Engine Number 3, a Rogers locomotive built in 1891, was cosmetically restored and credited as Engine Number 131 in the film. Movie crews produced the railroad sequences in Back to the Future Part III at Railtown.

A black steam locomotive with a red number 3 on its smokebox, inside a timber roundhouse — Sierra No. 3 in the Railtown roundhouse, 2011. Cullen328 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Open 9:30am–4:30pm April to October, 10am–3pm November to March; adults $5. Roundhouse tours daily; steam excursions on set days.

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California State Parks

Railtown 1897 roundhouse tour

Jamestown · Daily · park entry adults $5

Guided tours of the working roundhouse where Sierra No. 3, the film’s Engine 131, is kept and repaired.

Plan a visit

A stainless-steel DeLorean with gull-wing doors open, fitted with cables and vents, in a white gallery — The DeLorean time machine at the Petersen Automotive Museum, 2024. TaurusEmerald · CC BY-SA 4.0

066060 Wilshire Boulevard

The first one
is parked on Wilshire.

Discover Los Angeles lists the original DeLorean DMC-12 here, the first of three Time Machines built for the trilogy, on permanent display.

Dark.

Open daily 10am–6pm; adult tickets $52. Film cars are on the third floor; ask at the desk where the DeLorean is before you go up.

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Petersen Automotive Museum

Wilshire, Los Angeles · Daily 10am–6pm · adults $52

Film and television cars on the third floor; the first time machine is listed on permanent display.

Plan a visit

07Back in 1985

Back home.

The film-makers and the two stars, as themselves. Their town is still out there, address by address.

Robert Zemeckis in a suit and tie, smiling — Robert Zemeckis, 2010. David Shankbone · CC BY 2.0

Bob Gale in a red baseball cap and glasses, smiling — Bob Gale, 2024. Johnmaxmena2 · CC0

Where it is now

8 places you can visit, by area. The Bushnell Avenue houses and the Blacker House are private homes, and the 1885 town set near Sonora was open country: they are named, not pinned.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Seen from the tram on the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood; the backlot is a working lot, so what is dressed and open changes.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An active church at Franklin and Highland. Ask the church office about visiting the hall.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open daily 10am–6pm; adult tickets $52. Film cars are on the third floor; ask at the desk where the DeLorean is before you go up.

The courthouse set on the Universal backlot, seen from the Studio Tour tram, 2006. Jcx at English Wikipedia · Public domain
Hollywood & the Valley
Courthouse Square, Universal Studios
For the first film, a major section of the Universal backlot was turned into an old-fashioned town square for 1955 Hill Valley.
Seen from the tram on the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood; the backlot is a working lot, so what is dressed and open changes.
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Hollywood United Methodist Church at Franklin and Highland, 2014. Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hollywood & the Valley
Hollywood United Methodist Church
Discover Los Angeles places the Enchantment Under the Sea dance here, where Marty “invents” rock and roll.
An active church at Franklin and Highland. Ask the church office about visiting the hall.
Logbook
The DeLorean time machine at the Petersen Automotive Museum, 2024. TaurusEmerald · CC BY-SA 4.0
Hollywood & the Valley
Petersen Automotive Museum
Discover Los Angeles lists the original DeLorean DMC-12 here, the first of three Time Machines built for the trilogy, on permanent display.
Open daily 10am–6pm; adult tickets $52. Film cars are on the third floor; ask at the desk where the DeLorean is before you go up.
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Stay

Somewhere to park the car.

A Pasadena hotel near Doc’s street and rooms on the rim of Monument Valley.

The Langham

The Langham Huntington, Pasadena

Pasadena

A 1914 hotel on 17 acres in Pasadena’s Oak Knoll, across town from the Gamble House and the Greene and Greene streets around it.

View the hotel

The View Hotel

Monument Valley

Rooms and rim cabins inside Monument Valley, looking out over the buttes where Marty arrives in 1885.

View the hotel

Book a way in

See it with the people who run it.

The backlot tram, the Gamble House, the car, the roundhouse and the valley.

Universal Studios Hollywood

The Studio Tour, Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal City

The tram tour of the working backlot passes Courthouse Square, the Hill Valley courthouse of all three films.

See the tour

The Gamble House

Gamble House docent tour

Pasadena

One-hour guided tours inside Doc’s 1955 mansion, plus a free wander round the exterior and gardens. Closed Mondays and Wednesdays.

Book a tour

Petersen Automotive Museum

Wilshire, Los Angeles · Daily 10am–6pm · adults $52

Film and television cars on the third floor; the first time machine is listed on permanent display.

Plan a visit

California State Parks

Railtown 1897 roundhouse tour

Jamestown · Daily · park entry adults $5

Guided tours of the working roundhouse where Sierra No. 3, the film’s Engine 131, is kept and repaired.

Plan a visit

Navajo Parks and Recreation

Monument Valley with a Navajo guide

Monument Valley · Park entry $10 a person

Drive the 17-mile Valley Drive yourself, or go with a licensed Navajo operator to the places the loop doesn’t reach.

Plan a visit

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