In 2006, Tim Burton joined LA Times journalist Scott Timberg on a journey through the places around LA that comprised the filmmaker’s childhood.
Distorted images of suburbia, finding beauty in the macabre, and feeling gloomy while everyone else seems to be soaking up the sunlight are themes that permeate much of Burton’s work—and their roots can be traced back to Burbank, California.
With Beetlejuice Beetlejuice set to release September 6 and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The Afterlife Experience popping up in LA starting August 23, let’s take a look at the LA spots that helped create Tim Burton’s style.
The suburbs of Burbank
“I still get the creeps, I still get a funny feeling driving over to Burbank,” said Burton as he and Timberg drove through the San Fernando Valley. “I get freaked out just coming here: It’s all flat. There’re even less seasons here in the San Fernando Valley, aren’t there?”
“The thing about Burbank was, life sorta ended at the Smoke House [a restaurant near the southwest end of Warner Bros studio]. You didn’t venture outside. You didn’t get a lot of residents making that trip over the hill to Hollywood.”
Burbank’s drive-in movie theaters
“There were five or six great movie theaters, including a couple of drive-ins on Burbank, all gone. There was this one called the Cornell, my favorite, which showed triple features for 50 cents…. You could see Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, a Godzilla movie and Scream Blacula Scream. Or three Japanese science-fiction movies.”
Burbank High and Luther Burbank Middle School
On revisiting Burbank High School, Burton commented that the place “looks more like an airport terminal now. Everybody said, ‘These are the best years of your life….’ Are you kidding me?”
And after pulling up to his Luther Burbank Middle School, closed for the day and covered in caution tape, the filmmaker commented: “Is this a school or is it some sort of strange prison camp? All you need is a little barbed wire on the fence and you could shoot a new ‘Dirty Dozen’ film here.”
Studying the school’s gym, he said that it had “a sinister quality to it. Like, ‘This is where we hold our executions.’” He tells Scott Timberg that he could not bring himself to enter the school even if it was open. “It’s like a vampire entering a church. You can’t do it.”
Forest Lawn Cemetery
Forest Lawn Cemetery was just 12 houses down from Tim Burton’s childhood home, and he would often play in the grassy 63-acre space. He said of it, “There’s an energy to it; not creepy or dark. It’s like all of that Day of the Dead imagery. It’s a celebration.”
Hollywood Toys and Costumes
At a time when Tim Burton was dabbling in magic, creating costumes, and seeing just how far he could stretch his imagination, the legendary Hollywood Toys and Costumes was one of his favorite spots. As he and Scott Timberg passed the building, Burton told him: “Look inside. It’s every mask you could ever hope for.”
Hollywood Wax Museum
Tim Burton has had a lifelong fascination with wax museums and wax figures. When the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park closed, he even bought a Sammy Davis Jr. wax figure off of them.
Wax museums were his first exposure to any type of museum, but Burton still can’t nail down what exactly he finds so appealing about them, saying, “I don’t know why I get so excited.”
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The Afterlife Experience
Fast-forward to today, and Tim Burton is returning to the world of Beetlejuice. A pop-up officially licensed by Warner Bros called Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The Afterlife Experience is coming to Los Angeles August 23. You can get your tickets to the limited-time event below, and celebrate the ways that Los Angeles and Burbank have shaped the artist’s imagination.
Tim Burton, like all of us, has a complicated relationship with his hometown. And it’s true that Burbank has some darker connotations for the filmmaker. When once asked what it was like to grow up in Burbank, he responded: “Have you ever seen Dante’s Inferno?”
But the timelessness of the area—tortuous to return to as it may be for him—seems to also be a source of nostalgia for Tim Burton:
“Actually, I’m quite affectionate towards it. Because it’s where you grow up and I think that it’s part of your life. Burbank hasn’t really changed much; it’s sort of like in its own bubble. Most places change quite a bit, but Burbank hasn’t.”
Author’s Note: The 2006 article “Tim Burton revisits his old L.A. haunts” by Scott Timberg was immensely helpful in writing this piece.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice: The Afterlife Experience