My 1988 Ode to Universal Studios Hollywood In Recognition of Its 2021 Reopening
“Earthquake: The Big One” bested Freddy Krueger for #1.
My mom, the amateur archivist, saved every artifact from my childhood. I visited her yesterday. She’d been cleaning out some drawers and found an essay I wrote titled, “What I Did Over Spring Break.” I wrote it in 6th grade, 1988.
This was a joyous spring break.
I celebrated a birthday. One of my friends did a week-long sleepover at my house. I ate at Black Angus. I went to the costume shop “Would You Believe?” in South Pasadena and bought a Freddy Krueger mask, stage blood, and latex skin (I was a novice special effects artist then). And I visited Universal Studios Hollywood to experience Earthquake: The Big One on the Studio Tour.
Reading this essay brought back the thrill I felt at Universal Studios. I loved learning how movies were made. I loved watching the live shows that pulled back the curtain. I especially loved the tram ride through the backlot and its changing cityspaces. The ever-evolving theme park offered something new with each visit.
But apparently, I had been to Universal Studios at least nine times when I wrote this report and felt things were becoming predictable. Newly built, “Earthquake: The Big One” returned my thrill! Having lived through the terrifying 1987 Whittier Narrows temblor, I could honestly write of the soundstage attraction:
“EARTHQUAKE. It felt real.”
