Where To Watch
Here's where the opening credits for these 9 shows were filmed
Fantasy Island is a lot closer than we think.
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We've seen them hundreds of times, and know every lyric by heart. But do we know where our favorite opening credits were filmed?
Here's a look at nine unlikely locations featured in memorable opening credits sequences.
1. Gilligan's Island
The passengers were going on a "three hour tour" in Hawaii, but the opening credits were actually filmed at the Alamitos Bay Marina in Long Beach, California.
2. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Mary Richards tosses her hat in the air at the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis at its intersection with 7th Street. Today, you can find an 8-foot tall bronze statue of Mary Tyler Moore at that intersection — along with countless others mimicking that famous move.
3. Welcome Back, Kotter
No one knows what happened to the original "Welcome" sign, but it was displayed on the Verrazano Bridge connecting Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York. The sign also gave borough president Sebastian Leone some surprising name recognition.
4. The Bob Newhart Show
The opening credits show Dr. Robert Hartley crisscrossing downtown Chicago on his commute home from work, right by the Wrigley and Tribune buildings along the river. In one scene, he walks on a pedestrian bridge over Rush and Hubbard streets.
5. Laverne & Shirley
The sign "Welcome Milwaukee Visitors" welcomed viewers every week to Laverne & Shirley. The message appeared on the south side of Milwaukee City Hall, which was once the tallest inhabitable building in the United States. Unfortunately, the sign was removed in the 1980s due to costly maintenance.
6. Fantasy Island
It turns out Fantasy Island wasn't on an island. Instead, Tattoo shouted "de plane, de plane!" from the bell tower of the Queen Anne cottage at the Los Angeles State & County Arboretum in Arcadia, California.
7. The Andy Griffith Show
Mayberry, North Carolina, sure does look at lot like Los Angeles. That's because the opening credits for The Andy Griffith Show were filmed at Franklin Canyon Park in Beverly Hills, California.
8. Cheers
Cheers used the Bull & Finch Pub for its exterior shots. It was renamed Cheers Beacon Hill after the extremely popular TV show in 2002. You can visit the bar at 84 Beacon Street in Boston.
9. Taxi
The Queensboro Bridge, which connects Manhattan and Queens in New York, is the main star of Taxi's opening credits. If you've ever watched the credits carefully, the same shot is looped over and over until the taxi drives away.
6 Comments
The color season 2–3 opener is not Marina del Rey.
It is a combination of Los Alamitos Bay Harbor in Long Beach CA when the boat is at the docks and it is the Newport CA Harbor channel rock jetty at “the Wedge” when it’s going out to sea.
Marina del Rey, Los Angeles was not operational until April 10, 1965 when it was formally dedicated.[13]
