8.11.06

F I R S TP R E V419NEXTLAST

Empire Walkers, Alameda Dockyard
These structures my strike you as oddly familiar, that's because these enormous shipyard cranes located on the Alameda docks were George Lucas' inspiration for the Empire's lumbering AT-AT Walkers in the STAR WARS films. Lucas, born in Modesto, enjoyed frequent family trips to San Francisco as a boy and eventually moved to the Bay Area in the late 1960s. Many of his films have been shot here dating back to his first feature in 1970, THX 1138, which was filmed in San Francisco, Marin, Berkeley, as well as here in Alameda.

Years later this dockyard was also the setting for another futuristic film, The Matrix Reloaded. This was the location for a number of that film's sequences including the freeway chase scene in which 300 cars donated by GM were demolished.
[ MAP L-12 ]


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