Back to the Future

Go ‘Back to the Future' at the Bowl (and Around Town, Too)

Great Scott! The Hollywood Bowl is paying tribute to the time-traveling classic, but there are more ways to rock your inner Doc.

alex_brown/Ron Crabtree/Education Images/Contributor

What to Know

  • "Back to the Future with the LA Phil" at the Hollywood Bowl, Aug. 5 and 6
  • The Gamble House, seen as Doc Brown's house in the 1985 film, is open for tours in Pasadena
  • The World-Famous Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood frequently visits the film's Hill Valley set, home to the story's celebrated clocktower

We're not sure where we can come across something capable of delivering 1.21 gigawatts, nor a working flux capacitor, but finding a red puffy vest?

That we can probably do, even if locating a Walkman to finish our rad ensemble, complete with a cool cassette tape and spongy earphones, might be slightly trickier.

Still, we don't need any of those things to connect with LA's time-travel-iest classic, a story that's set in the fictional Hill Valley but remains associated with a number of Southern California locations.

The Hollywood Bowl is McFly-ing into our deepest movie dreams on the first Friday and Saturday of August, giving fans of "Back to the Future" the cheerful chance to see a favorite flick with live LA Phil accompaniment (the celebrated score was composed by the great Alan Silvestri, of course).

Tickets are still available to the shows, and if you're hoping a DeLorean will be parked at the 100-year-old music venue, which is celebrating its own future-past milestone this year, you're in luck: The gull-winged decade-hopping machine will pay the Bowl a visit, so plan on a snapshot or two.

(Here's hoping, of course, that you don't slowly fade from your photo due to some sort of time-travel mishap.)

Need more Back-tastic action in your stuck-in-the-present life?

There's the Gamble House in Pasadena, also known as Doc Brown's 1955 abode, and while an interior tour will reveal that the story wasn't filmed inside the landmark, the exterior looks, well, exactly the same as when the movie was made in 1985.

Further? The bookstore, found on the Gamble House grounds, has several "Back to the Future" items for sale, including vintage-looking OUTATIME California license plate.

Not too far from Pasadena is Universal Studios Hollywood, home to The World-Famous Studio Tour. The iconic tour trams will often roll by the Hill Valley set, if filming isn't taking place and the area is open to visitors.

Good news: The clocktower building is still there, even if it is slightly changed by, well, time.

And connecting with some of the creative spirit and inventive inspiration that went into the memorable production design behind "Back to the Future II" and "Back to the Future III"? Rick Carter, the production designer on both films, currently has an art exhibit called, oh yes, "TIME" on view at ESMoA in El Segundo.

"Heavy," as Marty McFly might say.

Universal Studios and NBC-owned TV stations operate under the same parent company NBCUniversal.

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