Travelin' Tuesday~ San Francisco & Lucasfilm

All photos copyright: Kirsten Steen

After years of wondering exactly where this filmmaking haven was located, I happened to 'stumble' upon it after taking recent photos of the nearby Palace of Fine Arts.

Once you've found it, there's nothing to tell you that you've arrived, nothing announcing your location, no big signs giving clues as to who's property this belongs to...

...Just a few statues to the favorite medium. This one is of Eadweard James Muybridge (1830-1904), "The Father of Cinema".

And some scrumptiously landscaped lawns with views indicating money the Presidio most likely has not seen in decades, if ever.

...But then you find the office location where things come into a bit more focus and clues abound.

The gorgeous lobby...

...is filled with Star Wars memorabilia and paraphernalia including books, statues, props used in the films and lifesize replicas.

My niece and nephew from Paris do their thing...She, true to form, makes friends with Vader. He, with a masculine come-uppance of testosterone, gives him a warning, facing him down with the Evil Eye.

My nephew being enamored of ALL things with a screen, I tried to get us in to a couple of buildings so he could glimpse the process of filmwork being done behind closed doors. Watching several of those building doors open with young, bleary-eyeds emerging, I was disappointed to find that each building entrance has a front desk checkpoint where all must show ID.

Ah well, it was enough to finally find the place and be able to show it to the kids. Though I did have visions of standing in the middle of the lobby hollering his name until the God of Lucasfilm came out to give us a guided Behind-the-Scenes tour, 3-month passes to the next film set and a gracious invitation to his home in Marin for lunch.

Next time!