Prop Sets at the Dunes - The Escape From New York & LA Page - A ...

: the prop building from the classic 1981John Carpenter film “Escape from New York”Here are a few pages that don’t tell us enough about it. But we do get tofind out where it was, what was near it, and where we can see it againTom “CHAIRWoLF” HIggInson, AuTHoR oFThe Airwolf Guidebook: WWW.airwolf.tv

Two great sequences from “Escape from New York” were filmedhere: the glider stunt and the Chock full o’ Nuts scenes“WTC Roof”. A paved squarewas built to accommodatethe WTC roof props. Theglider actually landed here“Chock full o’ Nuts”prop buildingThis is where it was (1982 aerial)Indian Dunesairstrip. The glidertook off from here

Location of fatal Hueycrash during filming of“Twilight Zone” movie“Chockfull o’ Nuts” Building (Circled)Shadow GlenMX trackQuonset HutsOval TrackView looking southEntrance to Indian Dunes

Although they were never used or seen in “Escape from New York”, some BlackSheep sets remained standing at Indian Dunes for many years, even after theshow was cancelled. They were modified over time and used in other projects.For example, the “Sheep Pen” (the boozy building where all the Black Sheeppilots hung out when not on a mission) accommodated a bizarre series ofstructural additions as seen in both the “A-Team” and “Airwolf”“TheSheep Pen”Black Sheep (1976) Airwolf (1986)

The heavily modified “Sheep Pen” was used extensively in the Airwolf episode“Dambreakers” (1985). Hawke frees a bunch of hostages from the building priorto taking off in Airwolf to chase after the bad guys. The A-Team episode“Skins” (1985) uses this set for an establishing shot (below), but this time wesee the other side of the building. Fortunately, this angle is almost identical toan angle of the Sheep Pen that was used in the Black Sheep series . . .

Without a doubt, whatwe are seeing in theMacGyver shot belowis the backside of thewindow that Snakeclimbs through to getout of the Chock fullo’ Nuts shopThe piece of wood that blocked the otherwindow in EFNY is gone. Snake now has achoice of either window to climb through inorder to get onto the fire escape

The only shot we get that shows the entire length of the building is a blurry shot of it in thebackground when MacGyver’s boss runs past it in the episode. With a little bit of voodoo, however,we can visualize what it looked like. I re-added all of the window frames as seen in EFNYSnake walks in hereThe two signs wereattached here and here

Follow Snake out the window, upthe fire escape, onto the balcony,and--BAM!--back into the building

I took some artistic license with the montage below by adding a large wood panel thatcovered a section of the building that once had additional windows in EFNY. Thatsection is barely visible in the MacGyver episode because the van obscures most of itwhen it speeds away. Comparing screenshots with “Dambreakers” reveals that thebuilding was slightly modified for another project. Do you know which one? I don’t!

That MacGyver episode isgreat to watch, but cruel.We never get a reallyclear and lasting view ofthis classic EFNY set,despite the bad shape itwas in by 1986If you come across better setphotos, do share!Unfortunately, not even theoriginal property ownershave good photographs ofthis EFNY set as it stoodback in the day. Good luck!

Get ready to squint.Check out thebackground structureway off in the distanceas the “Fall Guy” castand crew film a sceneon the Indian Dunesrunway. Yep, there’sthe north side of the“Chock full o’Nuts”building. Hey, you’rewelcome! The Fall Guy episode “Ready, Aim, Die” (1982)

We get another teaser shot of the building in the backgroundof a scene in the Knight Rider episode “Knight of a ThousandDevils” (1986). We are on the outside of the fence line thatsurrounded the prop sets. The set was adjacent to the widelyused Shadow Glen race track at Indian Dunes

That same Knight Rider episode lets us see the backside of those other prop buildingsthat make up Western Town. These same buildings were also used in Airwolf's “AndThey Are Us” (1984) and the A-Team episode “The Only Church in Town” (1983)Western Town

Cool, so that’swhere Hawkeand Santini ranout of in theepisode “AndThey Are Us.”The hotel signswere notinstalled on thebuilding in thephoto at leftThe A-Team drive into WesternTown from the east and park by theformer “Sheep Pen”, now dressedas ‘Casa De Petrol’

A-Team “The Only Church in Town” (1983)There is a nice hand held camerashot from inside the car as the A-Team pull into town. We can easilyconfirm that Western Town servedthe Airwolf crew well as Limbawe.Everything matches up pretty well,even the trees in the background,despite the seasonal changes . . .

In “Dambreakers”, stuntman ChadRandall (as Hawke) runs the exact samedirection JMV and Ernie did in ATAUThe edge ofthe modified“Sheep Pen”

Black Sheep Squadron “Small War” (1976) Airwolf “Dambreakers” (1985)There is literally a perfect fit between this shot of the“Sheep Pen” in Black Sheep Squadron and the “SheepPen” as used years later modified in Airwolf. Airwolfcreator Donald Bellisario considered “Black Sheep”star Robert Conrad for the role as Stringfellow Hawke.Would it have been an equally perfect fit?

Randall isn’t running out to dodge hand-tossed mortars. This time, the Lady is picking him upIt’s still there: 34.422603° -118.630836°

DambreakersCool, the exactsame spot againAnd They Are Us

These goofballs (at right) runthe opposite direction fromthe tall prop building, as seenin MacGyver’s “”SilentWorld.” Since Western Townwas supposed to be a proptown used to test a newmissile system anyway, weget to see that it was just afaçade. Hawke and LeaLogana almost smooched inthere? Really???

This is a montage of an aerial sequence that was used by both the A-Teamepisode “Dishpan Man” and the MacGyver episode “Bushmaster”. The greatthing about this aerial shot is that we can see all of the prop buildings inrelation to one another. There are several large vehicles park adjacent tothese prop buildings that give the appearance of being more buildings. Butyou should still be able to make out the prop buildings. Sweet, check out theShadow Glen race track. What a cool place to play! To bad it is all gone . . .

There were additional prop structures on theproperty. So stay tuned for more info! SceneryStorageBuilding

Many, many thanks go out to Mr. Weldon Sipe. A trueprofessional in the film and television business andthe singular reason why this building survived formany years at Indian Dunes. Thanks, Weldon!I hope you enjoyed this quick trip to the westcoast’s Chock full o’ Nuts store. Of course, itonly lasted for a few days at Indian Dunes in1981 during Escape from New York filming.But the building itself remained standing formany, many years afterwards. If you knowabout a production that utilized this propbuilding in film or television, do share. I haveyet to see one that actually made direct use ofit in a storyline. But keep your eyes peeled!