YouTube enshrines Universal Studios' lost attractions

Several of Universal Studios' workhorse sets and rides went up in smoke Sunday, but their images live on -- online.

In one of its curious and vaguely morbid capacities, YouTube now functions as a de facto memorial to Universal Studios' lost rides and buildings. Shaky tourist videos from the theme park that would otherwise be of little interest have been transformed into (still shaky) historical artifacts.

Since some or most of the areas burned in the fire are unlikely to be rebuilt exactly as they were before (and when you see the cheesy but beloved old King Kong ride below, you'll see why), these videos are the closest we're likely to come to riding them again.

"King Kong" (1986)

Here's some cellphone footage of the Hill Valley Courthouse from "Back to the Future," now firmly part of the past. The building also appeared in "To Kill a Mockingbird," "War of the Worlds," and "Bye Bye Birdie," among others.

The New York Street area was used, as the tour guide in the (very shaky) video says, for "Spider Man 2," the "Transformers," "Ghost Whisperer," "Crossing Jordan" and many more.

As a bonus, here's a little amateur video I shot of the fire.

Around midday Sunday I climbed up on the roof of a building across the Cahuenga Pass from the Universal Studios fire and recorded a few seconds of the main smoke plume. You can see in the foreground that traffic on the 101 was mostly unaffected. At restaurants in the area, you had the strange sight of people talking and eating lunch as the blaze burned outside the windows.

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