, the 1959 tear-jerker starring Sandra Dee and Troy Donohue, was set in Maine, but its scenes of pine woods and secluded beaches were actually filmed on the Monterey Peninsula. Ditto for National Velvet, where scenes depicting Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney galloping across the English countryside were actually filmed on the Pebble Beach Golf Course.
Monterey’s starring role in over 200 films is the focus of Monterey Movie Tours, imaginative three-hour excursions in a 32-seat motorcoach equipped with DVD monitors that play scenes from movies at the exact moment when the coach approaches the sites where the filming took place.
Old landmarks take on a new twist during the tour. Colton Hall, where California’s first state constitution was created, and a nearby hilltop home are shown in scenes from A Summer Place.
Turning onto Cannery Row, the DVD monitor shows Marilyn Monroe as a sardine cannery worker walking along the row in blue jeans and a headscarf in a scene from Clash by Night. Rounding the corner outside the Sardine Factory restaurant, Clint Eastwood and Jessica Walter, in a scene from Play Misty for Me, are shown having an altercation at the restaurant entrance.
Heading along the 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, the coach drives by the Spanish-style beachfront cottage that starred in One-Eyed Jacks with Marlon Brando, and a castle-like mansion where My Favorite Brunette was filmed with Bob Hope.
The tours, which start in front of the Portola Plaza Hotel in downtown Monterey, are available to groups and can be customized to include options such as lunch in Pebble Beach, a visit to a Carmel Valley winery or exploring Carmel-by-the-Sea, says Doug Lumsden, owner of the firm.
“If groups are too large for the coach, we can rotate people between a visit to Monterey Bay Aquarium and the tour, or we can offer several tours during the meeting program,” he says.
For More Info
Monterey Movie Tours 800.343.6437
www.montereymovietours.com
