Independence, CA - 5 Years After Electroma

[ifcwdjd]

Yay, I can haz internet for my documenting efforts. Thank you for all the kind responses everybody.

wow thats really neat that you did that, i guess they baically used the town as is and didnt change....anything

You are right, I'm pretty sure all they did was put in a few benches around the courthouse and populate the town with robots. I wonder how many of the extras were just hired or were residents? Now I really want to go back and talk to some people there, maybe I will next year. But there really was nobody around, except a few kids hanging out and wondering why I was taking pictures.

[Daniel_Rider]

My dad went there before the movie was filmed. I showed him once and he was like "Oh yeah, I've been there. I drove right through." And I was all *jawdrop*.

You get super rep for replicating the stills, you are very fortunate to have been there!

[ifcwdjd]

My dad went there before the movie was filmed. I showed him once and he was like "Oh yeah, I've been there. I drove right through." And I was all *jawdrop*.

You get super rep for replicating the stills, you are very fortunate to have been there!

Haha, the same thing happened to me when I told my mom where we were going. I was being sort of vague and just said Owens Valley, then she said "Oh yeah, your dad and I drove through there before, Bishop, Independence, etc..." and I was like EXACTLY.

[ifcwdjd]

Sorry about the double post, but remember how I found just about every location in Independence, except for that abandoned service station where they tear off their melted human masks? While I was taking some screencaps from Electroma recently, I was able to figure out where it is...



There's the market on the far left, which is sort of across the street from the Pines Cafe...



So the service station is on the south side of town, for some reason I thought it was on the north side: just wasn't looking in the right place. Unfortunately I didn't really pay much attention to that area at the time, but maybe I'll go back there someday and see if it's still there, haha.

[captain_britain]

Sorry about the double post, but remember how I found just about every location in Independence, except for that abandoned service station where they tear off their melted human masks? While I was taking some screencaps from Electroma recently, I was able to figure out where it is...



There's the market on the far left, which is sort of across the street from the Pines Cafe...



So the service station is on the south side of town, for some reason I thought it was on the north side: just wasn't looking in the right place. Unfortunately I didn't really pay much attention to that area at the time, but maybe I'll go back there someday and see if it's still there, haha.

Ever considered a career as a PI?

If not... reconsider.

[ifcwdjd]

Well, I've been thinking of going back to Independence for a while, and last weekend I finally did. Even though I saw quite a few locations the last time I was there, I've always felt that I didn't have long enough to really look around, so there was stuff that I missed. But on this trip I had more time and was better prepared, not only to get more locations in town, but also some along the highway outside of Independence.

All of the pics below are just re-sized, so if you want to look at the originals (plus some extra pics that I didn't post here,) you can download them in this zip folder.

Everything in town was pretty much as I'd remembered it (now 7 years after Electroma, heh heh,) like the courthouse...







Administrative Center...



Pines Cafe (still boarded up, but they painted it so it looks a bit nicer)...





Pioneer Memorial Church...



Rosedale Street (behind the elementary school)...



And Inyo Elementary School (I got some much better pics this time because I wasn't shooting into the sun)...



Now for the places that I didn't get last time. Here is the Commander's House, a historical landmark on the corner of Edwards St (US 395) and Main...





If you take a look at the picket fence in the front, you should recognize it from the robots' arrival in town when they drive by a dude in a Guy-Man helmet and a lady in a Thomas helmet working in the yard...



This is the Independence post office, on the corner of Edwards & Market Streets, which is right across from the Pines Cafe...



When Hero Robot #1 looks over to the other robot in the Thomas helmet reading the newspaper, this is the building he is standing in front of...



I walked all the way down Market Street toward the elementary school and found this swingset at Clay Street...



It is the one that the robots drive past on their way to the lab...



I also got a bit closer to the elementary school so I could get a photo of the double doors that the robots enter through to be transformed...





Finally, this is the location in town that I most wanted to go back and find on this second trip, M&N Towing on the corner of Edwards and E. Payne Streets...



This was the service station where the robots hid after being chased by the townsfolk...



And here are the two doors leading to the restrooms (sorry, I couldn't get inside - they were locked and it was Sunday, so nobody was there)...



So those were the pics that I took while exploring Independence, but I also drove further south on Highway 395 (I ended up going all the way down to Los Angeles) to look for some of the places from the opening driving scene. Just south of Independence is Owens Lake, which is mostly a dry lake...



This is visible in the background during the opening driving scene...



About 50 miles south of town is Red Hill Cinder Cone, a volcanic formation that is very recognizable from the movie...





Just a little further down the road from that is an area called Little Lake, which is a small body of water with cliffs rising above it (although I ended up taking my picture a little too far down the highway)...



These cliffs are also shown in the movie for a moment...



But by far probably the best find of the whole trip is the following location. On the way to LA, you have to get off 395 onto Highway 14. Along this route, about 100 miles south of Independence, there is an area called Red Rock Canyon State Park. While driving through it, I started to notice some very familiar rock formations. So I pulled off the highway onto a road called Abbott Drive where there's a turnout, and found myself facing this...





These are the rocks from the very beginning of the film, before the robots go on their journey...



Looking north from the turnout...





I couldn't resist...





Actually, after driving through this area, I've come to the conclusion that the first 4 minutes of Electroma were filmed in Red Rock Canyon...



This same curve is at the entrance to the park on the northbound side of the highway (I couldn't get a pic because I was driving.) Also, during the shot filmed from the back seat of the Ferrari, if you look at the landscape, you can tell they're driving further up Abbott. The rest of the opening driving sequence was filmed in the Owens Valley.

So that was my second trip to Independence and the surrounding areas. Although I didn't get quite the same surreal feeling of excitement as I did the first time, it was nice to be able to drive around a bit and see more locations. I'm sure I'll go back again at some point, and next time my goal is to continue on Highway 395 further south into the desert to visit places like Ridgecrest and the Glamis Dunes to see if I can find the places from the latter half of the movie (and if anyone is able to go with, you're welcome to come along )

[Crank729]

That is so cool! Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!

[zer0g]

Those are some neat shots. I would love to see these up close one day.

[something awesome]

That's literally breathtaking..I will go there some day.

[M3311]

This is mind blowing and amazing. I commend you on your research.

ALL MY REPS.