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I am a big fan of the television series LOST. I watched the first season when it debuted on TV, but then started travelling and haven’t really been able to follow it on the air. Working on ships creates a great opportunity to watch TV shows on DVD however, so I’ve watched the subsequent seasons that way. Important note: I am NOT watching the current final season on TV, so please don’t tell me anything!!
So what’s all this to do with travel? LOST films around Oahu which is where we are currently in port. A couple girls that I work with were interested in seeing where LOST and various movies had been filmed on the island. We found ourselves a tour and today was the day for it. We spent this morning exploring on our own the North Shore of Oahu. Then late mid-way through the afternoon, it was time for our tour.
The tour was at Kohuloa Ranch, a privately owned ranch with lots of history that has hosted many film crews over the years. I pulled into the ranch’s parking lot and found a spot. The girls were sorting out there things and I’d just turned
off the car. A man was getting into the SUV parked right in front of us. I had this brief moment where I realized I knew him . . . then I slapped Jenny’s arm beside me and shouted “It’s Ben Linus!” It was Michael Emerson, one of the actors from LOST (his character is Ben Linus). Then he was in the car and they were gone. But that sighting made it all sink in, we were really at the film location!
When we were checking in and waiting for our tour, we asked the staff at the ranch if they were filming LOST that day. They all said they weren’t sure. I knew that they were close to filming the final episode, but didn’t know anything other than that.
Time for the tour to begin. We were loaded onto an old school bus. We were among a pretty small group considering the size of the bus. Our guide turned out to be a big fan of LOST herself, so she was able to give us lots of details. Turns out that last Saturday before (less than a week ago), they finished filming LOST. The show’s “end of
From LOST
Dr. Jack entered this "darma bunker" show” party had been held in the ranch (we later saw where). Michael Emerson had just been at the ranch that day to film an interview. What lucky timing on our part!
So we didn’t see anything being filmed . . . so what did we see? The ranch itself is very pretty. Filled with those big green mountains that are everywhere in Hawaii and I can’t get enough of. Wonderful views of the ocean. The tour gave us lots of history about the ranch itself, but it was the movie stuff we were interested in.
We saw a couple of old buildings that had served as Dahrma bunkers for LOST. One of them we went into. They have a small display showing the different films and television shows that had filmed on the ranch. The road outside of this building had also been used in a brief scene in the movie Pearl Harbor.
Then we headed into one of the ranch’s valleys. It seemed like every corner of that valley had been used in one film or another . . . 50 First Dates, Jurassic Park, Windtalkers, Mighty Joe Young, You Me and Dupree, Godzilla, Pearl
From LOST & Pearl Harbor
Another Darma building from LOST. An army guy rode a 4 wheeler along this road in Pearl Harbor. Harbor . . . others that I hadn’t seen or heard of.
We stopped at one point and were able to get out to take photos of us “on location”. The giant footprints that had been made for Godzilla were still in the ground (though they’d filled them so they weren’t as deep as they’d originally been). So we stood in Godzilla’s footprints. And we walked up the hill to where Hurley played golf in the first season of LOST. (That same spot is also where Hurley first drove the Dahrma van in the first season.) That was fun.
Back on the bus, we looped around more through the valley. We passed some more LOST spots. We saw the area where the hydrogen bomb had been originally; that was fun for me, because that happened in the 5th season which I’d only just watched a couple weeks before we came to Hawaii. Our guide pointed out where they’d thrown the show’s wrap party. What a party that must have been! We passed by a house that had been used in a recent episode from the current season. I plugged my ears and hummed to myself when the guide
started talking about that - I don’t want to know what happens! One mystery has been ruined for me due to tour commentary, but I won’t get into specifics . . . Yes, I realize I’m a bit nuts when it comes to wanting to keep things a surprise!
The tour was short, but it fit our financial and time limitations. There were countless other things that would have been cool to see from the show. But I tried to focus on what we did get to see. It was fun to just play a total tourist and step into the movies for a bit.
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swills82
Sarah Willett
Lost with Lost
Netter, I AM currently watching the last season of Lost and that building means nothing to me. lol. That show is SOOOOOO freaking confusing. I'm constantly lost with lost - really! Still love it though. Very cool that you saw all these places. I totally recognize many!