It’s rare for Angelenos to venture to local tourist spots. Whether it’s the avoid-at-all-costs Hollywood Boulevard or something more accessible and enjoyable like The Getty Museum, we tend to only visit these locales when family is in town or there’s a spark of adventure on a day off.
While it might feel silly engaging in your own town’s tourism, there’s one particular outing that is well worth your time and it’s just a light breeze away from Toluca Lake! The Warner Brothers Studio Tour offered daily on their Burbank lot, is an immersive, entertaining, and welcoming experience.

Many of you reading this might be members of the entertainment industry thinking, “Oh, Tolucan Times Writer, I’ve worked on that lot before, I don’t need a tour!”. Fair enough, but what you may not know is that this tour offers a charming, educational look back at Hollywood history allowing visitors to take a leisurely stroll down cinema’s memory lane. Giving not only a look at sets and props, The WB Tour, led by a thoroughly knowledgeable guide, provides an enthusiastic lesson in cinematic history that not only enlivens the magic of filmmaking but inspires a craving for both creating and consuming film and television.

In the span of two hours, you are taken in small groups on a comfortable tour cart, rolling past massive soundstages, learning where great films like “Casablanca” (1942), “My Fair Lady” (1964), and beloved series “Friends” and “ER” were filmed, feeling an immediate sense of history on this hallowed ground.
One major portion of the studio lot, a city square and small neighborhood, most notably featured in “Gilmore Girls,” transports you from Burbank straight to the fictional town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut. By allowing tour goers to exit the cart and walk around, enter the houses, take photos in the gazebo, you’re swept up in the illusion of this all encompassing set. The rolling Valley hills slip away feeling as though you’re in an idyllic New England small town.

For those not so interested in that particular TV-fare, or perhaps for those who haven’t been on this tour since their massive update in 2021, a number of interactive exhibits are included in your excursion, namely a large space dedicated to the DC Comics Universe and the Harry Potter franchise.

Last but certainly not least are a pair of dazzling gift shops, one for the Friends fanatics (which includes a free photo-op in the real “Central Perk” set) and the other a WB wide store chock-full of exclusive merchandise.

As for this writer’s personal experience of the tour, I can say I had nothing short of a blast! On a sunny day back in May I, along with a friend and fellow TV enthusiast, enjoyed walking the streets of Stars Hollow (or Bluebell, Alabama as we are also fans of the WB shot series Hart of Dixie). We peered around recognizable homes, the cafe from “La La Land” (2017), traveled down “New York Street” up to the “Friends” fountain, walked the halls of a meticulously decorated high school set currently being used for the series “All-American,” finishing up at an exhibit where we gazed at Old Hollywood wardrobe, iconic props, screenplays, and coveted award statuettes.
We also learned of a longer version of this tour, dubbed “The TCM Classic Films Tour”, that takes the experience a step further giving Golden Age of Hollywood fans an indepth look into early Warner Brothers films–might have to check that one out next!

There is so much Hollywood history surrounding us here in Toluca Lake, whether it’s the quiet notes of the past alongside our adored tinseltown streets or something as forward and dynamic as this Warner Brothers Tour, what a privilege to be able to be so immersed in it all!