A fire tore through Universal Studios in Hollywood yesterday, destroying sets familiar to Knight Rider fans and film lovers around the world. The blaze broke out on a sound stage featuring New York brownstone facades at about 4:30 a.m. and quickly spread to the backlot’s Courthouse Square, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman said. The fire was contained to the lot but burned for more than 12 hours before the final flames were extinguished.
The Courthouse Square set — most famous as Hill Valley in Back to the Future — appeared as White Rock in Season 1’s Good Day at White Rock, Alpine Crest in A Nice, Indecent Little Town, and Cactus, Arizona in Season 4’s Sky Knight. It also appeared in Trust Doesn’t Rust, and as itself in several scenes of the episode Fright Knight. The New York Streets were used in A Nice, Indecent Little Town, Knight of the Juggernaut and Knight Song.
Disconcertingly, a vault containing between 40,000-50,000 videos and film reels archiving Universal’s film and TV history also burned. “We have duplicates of everything,” said Ron Meyer, NBC Universal president and chief operating officer. “Nothing is lost forever.” Firefighters apparently managed to recover hundreds of titles.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. Damage was expected to be in the millions of dollars.