The Beginning and Ending Scenes of The Pilot Episode

[one_man]

There is already a fantastic thread "Locations ?" on this forum.
Here, I want to post the locations of the beginning and ending
scenes in the pilot episode. I thought they were very meaningful,
especially the desert ending scene, where 'One Man Can Make A
Difference!'

# Beginning scene (not the street scenes of Las Vegas):
The scene where Michael Long ran out of the casino and
kickstarted the Knight Rider series!

It's not surprising that the same locations appeared at different perspectives
in different episodes. This hotel also appeared in "The Topaz Connection"
and "Goliath Returns".

Actual location:
Sheraton Gateway Hotel
6101 West Century Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90045

(lower left: from KR scene)

Casino

beginning.jpg (46.32 KiB) Viewed 47448 times

# Ending Scene:
"One man can make a difference Michael.
Michael Knight, a lone crusader in the
dangerous world, the world of the Knight Rider."

The desert ending location is almost impossible to find.
In brief, I found other scenes on Big Pines Highway, which
leads to the discovery of this remote location.
I always thought it was an endless road in the desert.
Well, now we know where this road is heading!

KR-Desert Ending

desert_ending.jpg (37.53 KiB) Viewed 47445 times

Actual location:
Latitude: 34°28'6.33"N, Longitude: 117°49'34.98"W
Bobs Gap Road, between Valyermo & Llano, CA

Google Earth

BobsGapRd.jpg (43.16 KiB) Viewed 47450 times

[1982]

Rats, you beat me to it. Good find.

Try looking toward the southwest from the same location on Bob’s Gap road toward the San Gabriel Mountains for the location below.



From the picture, looking at the shadows from the car, it could only be traveling between west and north. Figured it was around either the San Gabriels or San Bernadinos. Only east and west mountains around and in the area of other filming locations.

[Knight Rider Archive]

That is a great find! Well done!

[Joe Huth]

The fact that you found this location is simply amazing!! Now, who has a Trans Am and a helicopter so we can recreate this scene???

Joe

[Sky_Blue_Civic]

Great find! I wish I noticed that...

[Sue]

Uh, yeah, wow!

[1982]

An aerial view of the above picture:

[one_man]

The fact that you found this location is simply amazing!! Now, who has a Trans Am and a helicopter so we can recreate this scene???
Joe

Hi, Joe,

How about mounting a camera on a remote controlled helicopter

Here is a video filmed in the same desert (not the same location) using RC helicopter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXLLLFkqoQ8

There is also a "GREAT WESTERN SOARING SCHOOL" one mile north of the KR scene
(Bobs Gap Rd ends and becomes 165th St).
http://www.greatwesternsoaring.com/id79.htm

I asked them about the filming location, never got reply. However, people soaring there
must have a good aerial view of the desert ending scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41kYI5KWP3s
between 0:16 and 0:19, you can see the same mountain ridges in KR-scene

[one_man]

Rats, you beat me to it. Good find.

Try looking toward the southwest from the same location on Bob’s Gap road toward the San Gabriel Mountains for the location below.



From the picture, looking at the shadows from the car, it could only be traveling between west and north. Figured it was around either the San Gabriels or San Bernadinos. Only east and west mountains around and in the area of other filming locations.

I have a LA region map at hand. They are part of San Gabriel Mountains.
Possibly include Mt Williamson (EL. 8214), Pallette Mtn (EL. 7780), Bare Mtn. (EL 6388)
Pleasant View Ridge, ... we need someone who knows the geography of this region
see also http://www.greatwesternsoaring.com/id79.htm

Here is another view on Bobs Gap Rd using Google Earth:

BobsGap_ridges.jpg (67.3 KiB) Viewed 47101 times

Here is a comparison of ridges in the background:
(Top: KR scenes; Bottom: pictures took on Valyermo Rd. of my last trip (so close!)

ridges.jpg (40.37 KiB) Viewed 47103 times

[Lost Knight]

Interesting that the mountains had snow back in the '80s and now they appear not to. Global warming, perhaps?

[one_man]

Interesting that the mountains had snow back in the '80s and now they appear not to. Global warming, perhaps?

According to Joe Huth:
"The Pilot was filmed July 8-26 and August 18, 19 and 26, 1982...HOWEVER, that footage of the ending desert scene features KITT's stock looking nose...so that means that footage was shot for the one hour Presentation video that Larson had made to sell the series to the networks....I believe that was shot earlier in the year, perhaps as early as March."

This is one major mystery when I tried to identify the location. Because the pilot was aired in Sept., you
would think they filmed in the summer, where there was no snow. I took the pictures on June 21, 2008.
If I visit there again Mar-May next year, I may see some snow!

[Knight Rider Archive]

The first round of photoshoots involving Hasselhoff, Mulhare and the 1st-Generation K.I.T.T. (which was used in that sequence) took place in May, 1982. It's possible that the 2nd Unit were filming around this time, as the driving footage didn't require Hasselhoff's presence.

[one_man]

Supplementary info for the pilot episode.

Latitude: 34°26'9.35"N, Longitude: 117°50'12.69"W

This is a location just 3.7 miles south of the "desert ending" scene.
This contextual info in the pilot episode (and other locations on
Big Pines Highway) leads me to find the "desert ending" location.

A.
(left) bridge scene in the pilot episode; you can see some snow on the peaks
(right) picture taken on Bobs Gap Rd. (a little bit north to the bridge)
B. C. Appeared in Season 2, "Silent Knight"

Bridge.jpg (85.87 KiB) Viewed 46842 times

The location of the bridge is indicated by a red circle in the following map.
(desert ending location marked as "A"). The blue circle indicates the location
of a 'hairpin' switchback location posted in the other "Locations ?" thread.

Maps

BobsGap_GoogleMap_s.jpg (203.99 KiB) Viewed 46841 times

(note that Valermo Rd. becomes Big Pines Highway)

[one_man]

one man's dream ...

This is my field trip to the desert ending location. It was one hour before the sunset,
so the lighting in the photos was not ideal. It's still Oct. and there was no snow over
the ridges yet.

If you are not in S. California, you can take a virtual tour (street view) on Google Maps:
simply enter: 34°28'6.33"N 117°49'34.98"W

desertending1.jpg (95.26 KiB) Viewed 46577 times

desertending2.jpg (88.61 KiB) Viewed 46575 times

desertending3.jpg (87.82 KiB) Viewed 46573 times

[one_man]

desertending4.jpg (70.75 KiB) Viewed 46564 times

desertending5.jpg (84.36 KiB) Viewed 46565 times

desertending6.jpg (74.61 KiB) Viewed 46564 times

check out the plants in the circles!

[Sue]

Very cool

I wonder if those could really be the same plants after all these years. Its probably just a fun coincidence.

[one_man]

I wonder if those could really be the same plants after all these years. Its probably just a fun coincidence.

Yes. IMHO, the following figure (google steet view) suggests that they are the same.
The major cue is the 'dirt road' branch next to the plant (maybe yucca tree) in the lower right
part of KR scene above. It's amazing that the terrain and vegetation didn't change much
after 25 years!

plants.jpg (25.17 KiB) Viewed 46540 times

[Sue]

Oh wow, thats cool! I guess those desert plants live a long time.

[one_man]

I finally found the location of a classic scene in the pilot episode.
It appears at 28 min 26-35 sec right after Michael took off with KITT,
and briefly at 1:34:42 right before the 'One man can make a difference' desert ending.

Approximate address:
29212 Bob's Gap Rd, Llano, CA

coordinates:
34°26'57.32"N 117°49'55.71"W



(black arrows indicate matching cues; also pay attention to the cues inside red ellipses)


Note that the perspective on Google Map -- Street View was limited to one side of the road,
so the bend on the road doesn't match exactly.


If you enter the address and rotate 90 degrees to your left, you can see where the cameraman was standing!



Finally, this location (A in the following map) is on the road of the final desert ending scene (red ellipse)!

[Joe Huth]

Amazing find!!! I won't even ask how you did it

Joe

[one_man]

Amazing find!!! I won't even ask how you did it

Joe

I started the search two days ago with the assumption that this 'Yucca tree' location could
have been near the final 'desert ending' scene. So I began google street view from the lower
end of the road in the map above, and found it in a few minutes.

The matching cues (arrows) can be attributed to the 360-degree street view, even though
it was in a different perspective from the original KR scene.

I actually passed this location on the way to the final 'desert ending' location two years ago,
but I was not aware of it.

case closed

[simon_a6]

Amazing. I get the impression from a lot I read about the KOTP that it was made in a bit of a hurry in stages, so it would make sense that they put a lot of the road scenes together, in a fairly close-nit area. That said, they were great shots.

I bet when you drive down Bobs Gap (I live in the UK) past that right turning and the large left plant, that it does feel special in a way, but because you cannot see the perspective from the helicopter shot, that it feels sort of empty too.

I hope to get back to CA sometime in the next year or so. If I do, I aim to drive down that very road. And even see if I can stop by those yukkas and take some shots.

Has anyone here ever done that - parked up and tried to get that shot, with the original in hand?

[knightbrazil]

the serie´s images could be uploaded to panoramio, so, found in googleearth later.