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Vasquez Rocks

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Located in the Agua Dulce Valley north of Los Angeles, California, Vasquez Rocks has served as a backdrop for countless films, TV shows, and music videos over the years. Perhaps most notably, it featured in the original Star Trek series during the iconic episode where Captain Kirk battles the Gorn—a green, lizard-like alien species—leading some to nickname it “Kirk’s Rock.” The site also doubled as the surface of Vulcan in subsequent Star Trek films. Other memorable productions filmed here include Blazing Saddles (1974), The Muppet Movie (1979), Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991), Army of Darkness (1992), and the 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes. It even inspired Pride Rock in Disney’s The Lion King, with hundreds more productions shooting there since the 1930s. For a more complete history of the area and its Hollywood roots, check out “The Agua Dulce History Project”.

(Photo Copyright © Chad Fahs)

 
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Merchants of Malta

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(Photos Copyright © Chad Fahs)

 
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Dragons of Catalonia

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Pictured are the roof of Gaudí's Casa Batlló in Barcelona, Spain (top), and Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, which is perched in the mountains to the northwest (bottom). St. George is the patron saint of Catalonia, and legend says that the jagged mountains of Montserrat - whose name literally means "serrated mountain” - are the remains of the slain dragon. The back of that great beast can also be seen in the design of Gaudí's arched roof and scale-like tiling.

(Photos Copyright © Chad Fahs)