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Rob on Location
  • Home
  • About
    • About Me
    • Location Hunting – Getting Started
    • Location Hunting Guidelines
    • FAQs
    • Contact
  • TV Shows
    • American Housewife
    • The Big Bang Theory
    • The Brady Bunch
    • Cobra Kai
    • Coronation Street
    • Dance Academy
    • Dog The Bounty Hunter
    • The Drew Carey Show
    • The Fosters
    • Fresh Prince of Bel Air
    • Friends
    • Full House
    • Fuller House
    • The Goldbergs
    • The Golden Girls
    • Grey’s Anatomy
    • Hawaii Five-0
    • I Love Lucy
    • The Jeffersons
    • Jeopardy
    • Leave It To Beaver
    • Lost
    • Married… with Children
    • Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
    • Modern Family
    • The Office
    • Perfect Strangers
    • Schitt’s Creek
    • Seinfeld
    • Stranger Things
    • Tiny Pretty Things
    • The Tom Green Show
    • The Walking Dead
    • Will and Grace
    • The Wonder Years
    • Young Sheldon
  • Movies
    • 50 First Dates
    • A Christmas Story
    • Back To The Future
    • Billy Elliot
    • Blades of Glory
    • Blue Crush
    • Blue Hawaii
    • Dance Academy: The Comeback
    • Elf
    • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
    • Forgetting Sarah Marshall
    • Forrest Gump
    • From Here To Eternity
    • Ghostbusters
    • Ghostbusters 2
    • Hairspray
    • Home Alone
    • Home Alone 2
    • Isn’t It Romantic
    • It: Chapter One
    • Jurassic Park
    • Jurassic World
    • Kindergarten Cop
    • Lords of Dogtown
    • Love Actually
    • Love Simon
    • Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
    • Mrs. Doubtfire
    • My Big Fat Greek Wedding
    • Napoleon Dynamite
    • Notting Hill
    • Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
    • Pretty Woman
    • Sister Act
    • The Sum Of All Fears
    • Uncle Buck
    • Undercover Angel
    • Warm Bodies
    • Wayne’s World
    • The Wizard Of Oz
  • Film Studios
    • CBS Studio Center
    • The Jim Henson Studios
    • Kualoa Ranch
    • Lucasfilms
    • NBC Studios
    • Paramount Pictures
    • Sony Pictures Studios
    • Universal Studios Hollywood
    • Warner Brothers Studios – Hollywood
    • Warner Brothers Studios -The Making of Harry Potter
  • Live TV Tapings
    • The Big Bang Theory
    • Late Night with Conan O’Brien
    • The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
    • The Late Show with David Letterman
    • Live with Kelly and Ryan
    • Mom
    • The Price is Right
    • Saturday Night Live
    • The Talk
    • Will & Grace
  • Museums
    • CBC Museum
    • Lucy-Desi Museum
    • The Smithsonian
    • Star Trek Original Series Set Tour
    • The Walt Disney Family Museum
  • Destinations
    • Atlanta
    • Chicago
    • England
    • Hawaii
    • Los Angeles
    • New York City
    • Toronto
  • Famous Graves
    • Benjamin Harrison
    • Billy Wilder
    • Buddy Rich
    • Carl Wilson
    • Carroll O’Connor
    • Colonel Sanders
    • Daniel Boone
    • Dean Martin
    • Dino Bravo
    • Don Knotts
    • Donna Reed
    • Doris Roberts
    • Eva Gabor
    • Fanny Brice
    • Florence Henderson
    • Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    • Grace Kelly
    • Harry Truman
    • Heather O’Rourke
    • Jack Lemmon
    • Jackie Collins
    • Jeanne Sauve
    • Joanne Carson
    • John Abbott
    • Johnny Rougeau
    • Leonard Cohen
    • Lester B. Pearson
    • Lucille Ball
    • Marilyn Monroe
    • Maurice “The Rocket” Richard
    • Mel Torme
    • Minnie Riperton
    • Miss Elizabeth
    • Muhammed Ali
    • Owen Hart
    • Peter Falk
    • Rene Angelil
    • Richard Dawson
    • Robert Borden
    • Rodney Dangerfield
    • Roy Orbison
    • Roy Rogers and Dale Evans
    • The Titanic Victims
    • Thomas Darcy McGee
    • Tommy Douglas
    • Truman Capote
    • Vaslev Nijinsky
    • Walter Matthau
    • Wilfred Laurier
    • William Shakespeare
    • Yousef Karsh
  • Interviews
    • Stephanie Davy – Ottawa Film Office
    • Tim Dolan – Broadway Up Close
    • David Morgan – Kualoa Ranch
    • Bill Sindelar – Warm-Up Comedian
  • Extras
    • Billy Elliot The Musical
    • McDonald’s
    • Location News
    • Books
    • Links

CBS Studio Center

CBS Studio Center is located in Studio City, California, just west of Burbank.  This studio lot is not as large as some of the other lots in the area, but has a lot of history.  It is commonly referred to as CBS Radford, due to it’s street address being on Radford Avenue.

CBS Studio Center Gate A

Studio Use

Opened in 1928, this studio passed through several owners until the 1960s. That is when CBS leased and eventually purchased the lot.  Since then, it has been one of the primary lots for production of CBS shows.  Other networks also regularly rent space to produce shows here, primarily sitcoms.  

The lot is not open to the public for tours. However it is possible to get tickets to be in a studio audience at the CBS Radford lot.  Many of the sitcoms filmed here use live studio audiences, as well as shows like The Talk and Big Brother.  Tickets for these shows are free, but can be hard to get, depending on the popularity of the show.

I have personally attended two shows on this lot.  The first time was in 2004, on my first trip to Los Angeles.  We were able to get tickets to a taping of Will & Grace.  The name of the episode was Ice Cream Balls and it aired on Feb 10th, 2004.  The second time visiting the studio was in early 2019 to see The Talk.  I have articles about my experiences at both these shows here on the site.

I also had the chance to visit the studio as the guest of an employee. It was a real treat to visit the various areas of the lot.

Soundstages

The studio has a number of soundstages on it’s property. It is home to shows like Big Brother, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, American Housewife, Man With A Plan, and The Talk. It has also been home to many famous past shows like Seinfeld, Mary Tyler Moore, and Will & Grace.

  • CBS Studio Center soundstage
  • Studio 4 at CBS Studio Center
  • The Talk Studio at CBS Studio Center
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine Soundstage
  • American Housewife soundstage at CBS Studio Center
  • CBS Studio Center soundstage

Residential Street

In addition to the soundstages, there is also a residential backlot.  It consists of two short streets with a few residential house facades.  These houses actually double as offices for the various productions. There is also a building that can appear to be an office, motel, school, or a variety of other appearances.

  • CBS Studio Center residential backlot
  • CBS Radford residential street
  • CBS Studio Center residential backlot
  • CBS Radford residential street
  • CBS Radford residential street
  • CBS Radford residential street
  • CBS Studio Center residential backlot

The most well known house is currently featured on the ABC comedy American Housewife.  The house is featured in every episode for establishing shots. It is also often used for filming scenes as well. Because the house is on the lot instead of in public, the crew can film whenever they need. 

  • American Housewife house
  • me at the American Housewife house
  • American Housewife house
    American Housewife

Next to the American Housewife house, there is a small greenspace which can be dressed to appear as a garden or park. It was used on Seinfeld to appear as Central Park, and is used on American Housewife as the backyard.

  • garden lot at CBS Radford

New York Street

CBS Radford also has a New York Street.  Other studios that have a whole neighbourhood as part of their New York backlot. However CBS has just one short street.  This street was created for the show Seinfeld, which was filmed here on the CBS Radford lot. 

The street has a few brownstone-style houses and some shops on one side. Across the street is a line of shops on the other.  There is also a fake subway entrance. 

Most of the exterior shots filmed for Seinfeld were filmed along this street, unless something unusual was needed.  While the street is small, you can feel the history here.  It’s a magical feeling to stand on the spot where Jerry had his footrace, George crossed the street with his Frogger machine, Elaine lined up for the Soup Nazi, and where Kramer strutted down the street in the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.  

  • CBS New York City backlot from Seinfeld
  • me at the CBS New York City backlot from Seinfeld
  • me at Tuscadero's Pizza from American Housewife
  • CBS New York City backlot from Seinfeld
  • New York City backlot from Seinfeld
  • CBS New York City backlot from Seinfeld
  • CBS Studio Center New York City backlot from Seinfeld
  • CBS New York City backlot from Seinfeld

The Lagoon

One of the legendary spots that existed on the CBS Studio Center lot was the lagoon from Gilligan’s Island. This lagoon was filled in years ago, and a parking garage currently sits in the same location.

  • CBS Studio Center parking garage

The Parking Garage

The first time I visited CBS Studio Center was to attend a taping of Will & Grace in 2004. Unfortunately I didn’t backup my digital photos, and ended up losing everything. However my cousin did take these two photos with her disposable camera. These are taken from the top of the parking garage.

  • CBS Radford Parking Garage
  • CBS Radford Parking Garage

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