Back to the Island

Aloha, friends. It’s been a while. Despite the fact I’m revisiting Lost, don’t expect another gargantuan blog post recapping the television action. Instead, I’m sharing a few pics I captured during a tour of O’ahu this past week highlighted by several sites you’ll recognize. Enjoy the tour.

The canal where Sun and Jin first meet.
The canal is in the middle of downtown Honolulu. Sun and Jin were walking along the canal’s edge on the right (picture taken as we were driving over the bridge).
Locke didn’t have much luck with dear old Dad.
Here’s John’s “crash site” (note the triangular grass and sidewalk) where he has his first fateful meeting with Jacob.
Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute where Hurley spent a good chunk of his time brooding over his seemingly cursed luck.
Despite how it appears from a distance, the location is actually pretty dilapidated at this point. Paint is peeling off the place and multiple windows are boarded up.
The show’s crew dragged the stone table and stools from across the street (directly behind me as I took the previous picture).
Sawyer shoots the Dharma polar bear in Season 1.
This was shot right off a paved road. Much of the ground foliage has been cleared out.
Sun’s oft-featured garden.
As with the polar bear site, much of the ground foliage has been cleared. The location is just off a well-worn path used to get to a public beach. There’s a public parking lot about 50 feet off to the right.
Among my favorite scenes…”PEE ON IT!”
Here’s the “Pee Beach.” This is a public beach about 50 feet from Sun’s Garden (behind me as I took this picture). You can match up the trees in the distance with the video.
You’ll recall Yemi’s (Eko’s brother) church during his flashbacks.
All of the Nigeria flashbacks were filmed on the grounds of a defunct sugar cane plantation and factory. It is now private property so this is as close as we could get.
And here’s the interior of the church as seen on the show.
The interior was actually shot in a church albeit about a half-mile away from the sugar cane plant. Above is the (functioning) church where the interior was shot.
The ill-fated plane laden with heroin-filled Virgin Marys and Yemi’s body taking off from the airstrip in Nigeria.
The real site is actually a functioning airfield: Dillingham Airfield not far from the sugar cane plant.
Pala Ferry, formerly a dock used by the Dharma Initiative and repurposed for The Others’ nefarious aims.
And here’s the location as it stands today. It’s hard to make out but all that’s left of the pier are the pilings that rise just above water level. Our guide tells us the pier was a constant victim of dry rot and would be reconstructed anytime a film or TV project needed the location. Good way for the owner to “maintain” it without footing the bill himself.
Our first meeting with the (apparent) “Others.”
Here’s the site in reality. You can see the rocks Jin runs from (chased by Eko and other tail section survivors) to the left of the trees.
Home to the Dharma Initiative, this village in the middle of the Island featured all the conveniences of modern living.
The filming location is YMCA Camp Erdman. We got lucky on the day as they do not allow visitors to walk around if kids are on-site and outside. Our driver bemoaned (as did we) that they recently painted all of the houses blue instead of keeping the yellow color featured on the show.
Ben during a scene of quiet reflection at his house alongside “Locke.”
Ben’s house as it currently appears flanked by our tour guide. The guide is leaning against a bathroom. So, in the scene above, the actor is looking directly at the door to the mens’ room about 10 feet in front of him.
Smokey having a pow-wow with one of the villagers.
And here’s the newly-painted gazebo in real life. We may or may not have re-enacted the scene above and captured pictures you’ll never see…
And we come to the grand finale…the original crash site of Oceanic 815.
The location did not disappoint. Aside from the distraction of a few scattered beachgoers, you could feel yourself transported into the show.
Looking down the beach in the other direction. This is where everyone who returned from a mission came around the corner and was greeted by the adulations of their fellow castaways.
Hard to forget the terrifying noises emanating from the jungle on the castaways’ first night on the Island.
The palm trees seen being trampled by Ole’ Smokey were actually all CG painted into the area above. The crash site beach is directly off of the paved road above (the beach is behind me as I took this).

I hope you enjoyed that quick look back. It was nice to immerse myself in this world again after being away for so long. Until next time!

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