Monday, May 9, 2011

Fry's Space Ship

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Wow, I cannot believe I almost forgot this! This collection of pictures was on a different memory card, which I've just found again in my shockingly small accessory bag. (Seems you can lose anything in purses, however, no matter the size.)

On my visit to the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, I went all around the area of the Rose Bowl, which is La CaƱada Flintridge. There are many other attention-grabbers nearby, including Studio City, where we had a trendy meal; Griffith Park, where we deliberately skipped the Hollywood Sign and hoofed around the hills for a few hours anyway; and Fry's Electronics in Burbank.

Fry's Burbank
Tech Mecca

I'm quite likely to waste half a day in any Fry's store, regardless of theme... but it takes space ships for me to pull out my camera before I shop the miles of aisles of computer fluff and DVDs.

Last year, I featured the Fry's Space Station store near Johnson Space Center in Houston, and ended the post by inviting anyone who's seen the Burbank or Anaheim stores to send me photos. Little did I know I would be in California myself so soon...!

The Burbank branch displays 1950s science fiction movies... mostly space ships, as constructed on a huge scale both inside and out...

Fry's Electronics Aliens
I Want To Believe

...but they also feature characters such as Robby The Robot from Forbidden Planet (1956), GORT from The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951) and scattered giant Ants from Them! (1954). Quite the classic Sci-Fi theme park!

What, no Zombies of the Stratosphere (1952) ? Leonard Nimoy must be so bummed. About that and the prices in California stores. Good grief. I can't exactly give the in-house cafe a good review either. However, if you're playing tourist in the area (pretty funny, since I lived in Los Angeles for 2 years long ago, and never did a lick of sight-seeing back then!), the spaceships are worth a look-see.

See my JPL Picasa gallery for the entire set of pictures in the Burbank Fry's. Next up, the Anaheim store's Shuttle Flight Deck!