NBC News moving into Conan's old studio

[TheBigA]

The current facade was added on later, including the area that was used as the Leno audience lobby.

That's what I was thinking of. It had a 70s add-on feel to it. Like an old carport on a rural house. Had a strange smell to it too.

Strikes me as odd if NBC leaves that corner, with Johnny Carson Park and Bob Hope Drive hanging out to dry.

 

[KentBrockman]

Just the fact that NBC is now paying to lease the property from somebody else gives them even more incentive to move operations out to Universal to save money. No need to flush money down the toilet on a lease when they can operate at Universal for free. The Burbank lot has history to it, but I wonder what the developers will end up doing with it once NBC moves out. Will it stay a production facility or will something else occupy the site?

Besides, this: http://nbcuniversalevolution.com/ is on the table too. And with Comcast coming into the picture, who knows what else will happen.

 

[1069_KIFR]

They will probably rip it down and build a Super Wal*Mart there.

 

[Biffstunt]

I was thinking the exact thing when you said the pre-Conan Leno studio was empty. If I remember correctly, that portion of the building was added on, and wasn't well built. If it's not being used, it's probably ripe for demo. At some point even Leno will have to move. I think they have to amortize the costs of the studio he's in.

The pre-Conan Leno studio was Studio 1, one of the two mirror-image studios on the Alameda Avenue side of the building. As the number might indicate, it was part of the initial core of the complex circa 1950-whatever it was. (The current facade was added on later, including the area that was used as the Leno audience lobby.)

The adjacent studio, 3, is being used for Access Hollywood.

Those are still good, useful studio spaces in a great location. I suspect they're less likely to be demolished than to be adaptively reused by someone other than NBC.

Unless some things changed since I was there last, I think this is reversed. Johnny's studio was Studio 1, which is now Access Hollywood. Leno originally used that studio for "Tonight" before moving to Studio 3 a year or two into his run, before moving to Studio 11 for The Jay Leno Show/Tonight.

 

[searadiofreak]

My educated guess is the NBC studios at Burbank will eventually be sold off once the economy recovers. This most likely will be prime real estate at that time. While a Wal-Mart is certainly possible, my best bet would be high-end residential with entertainment offices, as this address will continue to be prestigious. Don't forget this also is the neighborhood of Warner Brothers corporate, though little is filmed there anymore. As for the Carson park, and Bob Hope Drive, in most cases these type of original names are rarely changed. In fact, they can become a benefit in the longterm.

 

[TheBigA]

As for the Carson park, and Bob Hope Drive, in most cases these type of original names are rarely changed. In fact, they can become a benefit in the longterm.

New Yorkers often wonder about things like Times Square, since the New York Times is now about ten blocks away, and Madison Square Garden, now located 15 blocks from Madison Square.

The Burbank corner of Alameda and Olive was once filled with video production companies. Dick Clark was just across the street. He sold off his company a year ago, and now I see that space in the tudor style building is available for lease.

 

[fybush]

As for the Carson park, and Bob Hope Drive, in most cases these type of original names are rarely changed. In fact, they can become a benefit in the longterm.

New Yorkers often wonder about things like Times Square, since the New York Times is now about ten blocks away, and Madison Square Garden, now located 15 blocks from Madison Square.

Ten blocks? More like one long one - the new Times building is at 40th & 8th, on the east side of 8th (there's an entrance on 41st, too). The old Times building at 229 W. 43rd was even closer, between 7th and 8th.

The building names remain, too, even after the tenants are gone: the Daily News Building at 220 E. 42nd is still the Daily News Building even though the News is now at 33rd and 10th (and is, I think, moving again soon).

And Herald Square remains, many decades after the demise of the Herald.

Back to NBC Burbank: I do indeed stand corrected - yes, it was Carson in 1, which is now Access Hollywood, and then Leno in 3.

 

[MattParker]

The more things change... Before Burbank (and Television City) network production used to be centered around Hollywood and Vine. Now those sites are either converted to other uses or facing the wrecking ball.

Who knows what Comcast will do but I wouldn't put money on NBC staying in Rockefeller Center long-term.

 

[TheBigA]

Who knows what Comcast will do but I wouldn't put money on NBC staying in Rockefeller Center long-term.

That building was the RCA Building, and became the GE Building in the late 80s when GE bought RCA. But Comcast isn't buying GE, just NBC. So it's possible that Comcast will pull NBC out of 30 Rock.

 

[ShawnHill1]

The more things change... Before Burbank (and Television City) network production used to be centered around Hollywood and Vine. Now those sites are either converted to other uses or facing the wrecking ball.

Who knows what Comcast will do but I wouldn't put money on NBC staying in Rockefeller Center long-term.

Not Television City, but you're thinking of Columbia Square, which housed the local CBS radio/TV operations...TV City is a couple miles to the southwest.

ABC's old Prospect Street studio in the east end of Hollywood (in the Franklin Heights/Los Feliz neighborhood) is standing, but ABC's West Coast offices (including a separate office in Century City) moved to the Disney lot in Burbank, while KABC-TV moved right down the 134 freeway to its own facility in Glendale. The old Fox Television/Metromedia Square complex on Sunset and Van Ness did indeed meet the wrecking ball, and is now a public high school.

 

[TheBigA]

ABC's old Prospect Street studio in the east end of Hollywood (in the Franklin Heights/Los Feliz neighborhood) is standing,

I was wondering about that. I went there many years ago, and I thought it was very quaint. I figured it had been plowed and turned into expensive homes. What do they do there?

 

[Mike Sheridan]

All this seemed so much more important and so much bigger "when I wore a younger man's shoes". Nothing lasts forever!

 

[ShawnHill1]

ABC's old Prospect Street studio in the east end of Hollywood (in the Franklin Heights/Los Feliz neighborhood) is standing,

I was wondering about that. I went there many years ago, and I thought it was very quaint. I figured it had been plowed and turned into expensive homes. What do they do there?

I work a couple of miles south of Prospect, and I've went by there a couple times last year, just to see what it looked like. General Hospital still tapes there, as well as Grey's Anatomy. ABC still uses the facility for occasional specials, and I think Regis & Kelly did a week of shows while visiting L.A. last year. Since Disney bought ABC, they've always been pretty much an auxiliary studio to the Disney lot in Burbank.

 

[searadiofreak]

ABC's old Prospect Street studio in the east end of Hollywood (in the Franklin Heights/Los Feliz neighborhood) is standing,

I was wondering about that. I went there many years ago, and I thought it was very quaint. I figured it had been plowed and turned into expensive homes. What do they do there?

Quaint? Well, not sure about that...many ABC shows originated there in the 60's and 70's. This was also KABC's home up to 1999 when they moved to Glendale. This is an important lot, but admittedly perhaps outdated. The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, and countless sitcoms were filmed at Prospect. It was THE center of ABC in L.A. up until the move to Disney in Burbank.

 

[TheBigA]

It was THE center of ABC in L.A. up until the move to Disney in Burbank.

I thought they built their main TV center in Century City in 1964. Or was the just offices?