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South of the California Institute for Women
Chino-Corona Road · Chino, CA |
As the sun rises on the new day — or the old day, however you choose to look at it — Marty tries to comprehend the situation at hand. What really clinches it for him, though, is the scene he discovers next. The housing community he came from just a couple of hours ago is gone. But, not only isn't it there, it hasn't even been built yet.
In actuality, the distance between the Twin Pines Ranch and the road Marty has stopped on is a good 70 miles. And since it was almost that distance from my home, I had originally intended not to bother with this location at all. As luck would have it, though, I was staying with some friends one weekend just a few miles from Chino and made the effort to get up appropriately at dawn and head out there.
As I discovered, Chino is dairy country. And your nose lets you know it. But, apparently, dairy farming is a lucrative business, as evidenced by the near-palatial homes at the center of these farms. But, I'm just not sure five bedrooms and 4 baths are ample compensation for enduring the pervasive odeur d'manure. Still, I suppose if you lived there long enough, you might get used to it. Maybe.
The ones I really feel sorry for, though, are the inmates at the nearby California Institute for Women, a correctional facility just downwind of it all. Well OK, as someone who feels our penal system can be a bit lax, I don't really feel sorry for them. But, I'm surprised there aren't more escape attempts by prisoners just wanting to avert the smell.
I mention the prison because that's our marker for this location. You see, the water tower visible in the background as Marty begins walking toward Hill Valley is the water tower at the prison. The spot where Marty stops is due south down Chino-Corona Road, the road that runs past the detention center. Chino-Corona Road turns into Cucamonga Avenue for a few yards, then becomes private property. Unfortunately, it's beyond the resulting gate where the scene in question was filmed. Luckily (I seem to have encountered quite a bit of luck with this tour), there was some kind of model-airplane fest going on there that day and I was allowed entrance to the grounds to find what I was looking for.
I don't know why, but I always get more excited about finding these obscure sites than I do finding the more important ones. I suppose it's the difficulty in locating the exact spot I'm looking for — the gathering of visual clues to pinpoint the location of the camera in a scene. There's that point when it all comes together and I realize I've found it. Naturally, when you're just looking for a bit of road, it isn't all that difficult. But, it's still enthralling to discover that the nondescript strip of pavement I'm standing on is the site of a significant movie scene. Anyway, I guess that's why I like doing this.
Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to find the precise location where Marty parked the DeLorean, but there is a dirt road leading off to the east which may or may not have been the road that was soon to become Lyon Estates. I tend to believe it was; a well-bulldozed trench could certainly last fifteen years, especially if those who make use of the land decided to employ it as an access road for themselves. It's hard to judge from my photograph, I'll admit. The sun had just come up in that direction, causing a great deal of glare and forcing me to shoot it from the wrong angle. And I was just too tired to wait around another hour or more for it to climb out of the way. And, of course, there was that smell.
Next: Lorraine's, George's and Biff's Houses
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