Category: Simulated Places

Movie sets, trainers, simulators, fake cities, etc.

Volcano Redoubt in You Only Live Twice (Film – 1967)

The true face of the James Bond series, at least throughout the Sixties and Seventies, isn’t Sean Connery.  It’s a German-born set designer named Ken Adam. Born in Berlin in 1921, trained as an architect in London, Adam’s hand has influenced film style through movies such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Ipcress File, Goldfinger,… Continue reading Volcano Redoubt in You Only Live Twice (Film – 1967)

See the Fake White House in Suburban Maryland: James J. Rowley Training Center

James J. Rowley Training Facility Replica White House, Beltsville MD

In an April 5, 1982 TIME magazine article, it was mentioned that a fake White House and Blair House (the little auxiliary house across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House) were going to be built in Beltsville, Maryland: Thomas Jefferson, the architect President, designed parts of the White House. Now with Ronald Reagan, the thespian… Continue reading See the Fake White House in Suburban Maryland: James J. Rowley Training Center

Building the Matterhorn – Disneyland June 14, 1959

Let’s say right off the bat that it’s not the “Matterhorn.”  Official term for it was “Matterhorn Bobsleds, because the included roller coaster was a big deal.  Such a big deal:  the first steel roller coaster in the world. But we’re less interested in the bobsleds than in the mountain itself–a 147-foot fake mountain rising… Continue reading Building the Matterhorn – Disneyland June 14, 1959