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BronsonCave eastportal
The East Portal

Bronson Canyon, or Bronson Caves, is a section of Griffith Park in Los Angeles that has become known as a filming location for many films and television series, especially Westerns and science fiction, from the early days of motion pictures to the present. Its craggy and remote-looking setting, but easily accessible location, has made it a prime choice for filmmakers, particularly of low-budget films, who want to place scenes in a lonely wilderness.

Location and history

Bronson Canyon is located in the southwest section of Griffith Park, and thus is easily accessible from Hollywood.

In 1903, the Union Rock Company founded a quarry, originally named Brush Canyon, for excavation of crushed rock used in the construction of city streets–carried out of the quarry by electric train on the Brush Canyon Line.

The quarry ceased operation in the late 1920s, leaving the caves behind. The caves became known as the Bronson Caves after a nearby street, giving the area its more popular name of Bronson Canyon (the same street indirectly provided the stage name for actor Charles Bronson, who chose the name of the Bronson Gate at Hollywood's Paramount Studios, which in turn derived its name from Bronson Ave).

Scenes of the main cave entrance are normally filmed in a manner that shows the entrance at an angle because the cave is actually a very short tunnel through the hill, with the rear opening easily visible in a direct shot. The most well-known appearance of the tunnel entrance is likely its use as the entrance to the Batcave in the 1966–68 Batman television series. Because the "cave" was actually a tunnel, it was possible to film the car shooting out of the entrance at high speed.

Media filmed or set in the canyon

Films

  • Lightning Bryce (1919)
  • Riders of the Purple Sage (1925)
  • The Lightning Warrior (1931)
  • The Hurricane Express (1932)
  • I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
  • White Zombie (1932)
  • Sagebrush Trail (1933)
  • The Three Musketeers (1933)
  • The Vampire Bat (1933)
  • Mystery Mountain (1934)
  • The Phantom Empire (1935)
  • Flash Gordon (1936)
  • Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (1936)
  • Zorro Rides Again (1937)
  • Dick Tracy Returns (1938)
  • Hawk of the Wilderness (1938)
  • The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939)
  • Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)
  • Call of the Canyon (1942)
  • Pirates of Monterey (1947)
  • Silver River (1948)
  • Atom Man vs. Superman (1949)
  • Flame of Araby (1951)
  • Unknown World (1951)
  • Carson City (1952)
  • Robot Monster (1953)
  • Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953)
  • Killers from Space (1954)
  • Day the World Ended (1955)
  • Crashout (1955)
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
  • The Lone Ranger (1956)
  • It Conquered the World (1956)
  • The Searchers (1956)
  • Men in War (1957)
  • Night of the Blood Beast (1957)
  • The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)
  • The Cyclops (1957)
  • Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957)
  • The Bride and the Beast (1958)
  • Earth vs. the Spider (1958)
  • Monster from Green Hell (1958)
  • The Return of Dracula (1958)
  • Teenage Caveman (1958)
  • The Jayhawkers! (1959)
  • Invisible Invaders (1959)
  • Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)
  • The Cape Canaveral Monsters (1960)
  • Eegah (1962)
  • Invasion of the Star Creatures (1962)
  • The Magic Sword (1962)
  • Ride the High Country (1962)
  • The Gun Hawk (1963)
  • They Saved Hitler's Brain (Madmen of Mandoras) (1963)
  • The Human Duplicators (1965)
  • Batman: The Movie (1966)
  • Mondo Bizarro (1966)
  • Flaming Frontier (1968)
  • Head (1968)
  • The Mighty Gorga (1969)
  • Equinox (1970)
  • Octaman (1971)
  • Lost Horizon (1973)
  • Flesh Gordon (1974)
  • The Human Tornado (1976)
  • The Choirboys (1977)
  • The White Buffalo (1977)
  • Raise the Titanic (1980)
  • The Return (1980)
  • The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)
  • The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982)
  • Dreamscape (1984)
  • The Evil That Men Do (1984)
  • Thrashin' (1986)
  • Munchies (1987)
  • The Wizard of Speed and Time (1989)
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)
  • The Roller Blade Seven (1991)
  • Army of Darkness (1992)
  • Guns of El Chupacabra (1997)
  • La Cucaracha (1998)
  • George of the Jungle (film) (1997)
  • The End of Violence (1997)
  • The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2001)
  • Cabin Fever (2002)
  • Fangs (2002)
  • The Scorpion King (2002)
  • Return to the Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt (2003)
  • Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004)
  • Vampire Blvd. (2004)
  • Diabolical Tales (2007)
  • D-War (2007)
  • Princess of Mars (2009)
  • Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2010)
  • Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus (2010)
  • The Whisperer in Darkness (2011)
  • Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories (2013)
  • B.C. Butcher (2016)
  • Hail, Caesar! (2016)
  • Time Trap (2017)
  • Under the Silver Lake (2018)
BronsonCave westportal
The West Portal that was used as the entrance to the Batcave in the 1960s TV series Batman

TV series

Novels

  • Lost Light by Michael Connelly

Music Videos

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