Catacombs of Paris | Les Catacombes de Paris

The Catacombs of Paris are a fascinating and eerie underground ossuary located beneath the streets of Paris, France. They house the remains of over six million people and stretch for miles beneath the city, offering a unique glimpse into Paris’s history and its relationship with death.

In the late 18th century, Paris faced a serious problem: its cemeteries, particularly the Cimetière des Innocents, had become overcrowded, leading to health concerns. 

In response, city officials decided to relocate human remains to abandoned limestone quarries beneath the city. Starting in 1786, bones were carefully transferred and arranged in these underground tunnels, a process that continued for decades.

The catacombs were not merely used for storage. Over time, workers arranged the bones in decorative patterns—stacking skulls and femurs in intricate, haunting walls. Today’s visitors can walk through a section of this subterranean labyrinth, about 1.5 kilometers long, which begins at a small entrance in the 14th arrondissement.

The entrance is marked with a foreboding inscription: “Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la mort” (“Stop! This is the empire of death”), setting the tone for the experience. Inside, the temperature drops, and the narrow, dimly lit passageways are lined with bones, evoking a solemn and contemplative atmosphere.

Over the centuries, the catacombs have inspired legends, ghost stories, and even served as secret meeting places during times of war. Today, they are a popular yet haunting tourist attraction, offering a macabre but deeply historical journey into the underworld of Paris.

Visiting the Paris Catacombs is not just about seeing bones; it’s about confronting the past, mortality, and the hidden layers of a city known more for its light than its shadows.

Twin Pines Mall: Back to the Future Location

Located in City of Industry, California, the Puente Hills Mall served as the location for the Twin Pines Mall (and Lone Pine Mall) in the 1985 film, Back to the Future. This is the parking lot where Doc Brown first performs the time travel experiments with his custom DeLorean. As such, the mall has long been a popular site for fans of the iconic trilogy.

We visited before news broke about the sale of the mall and its intended closure. The full plans are yet to be revealed, but with much of the Puente Hills Mall already vacant it's expected that the site will be completely redeveloped, likely destroying the lot where the movie was filmed.

One of the few remaining attractions here was a replica of the Twin Pines Mall sign located inside. A small collector's shop was also the perfect spot to pick up a few Back to the Future souvenirs. I'm just glad we had the opportunity to see it before it disappeared for good.

 

The Last Remnant of the Roxy Theatre

A few more clues have emerged following the premiere screenings of my documentary "Your Cinema Needs You" at the Monarch Theatre in Medicine Hat, Alberta.

The owners of the building that once housed the Roxy Theatre in downtown Medicine Hat were in attendance at one of the debut screenings and sent me a message about something they'd found in the basement of their building. Keeping in mind that the Roxy closed in 1960 and was immediately renovated, it seemed incredibly unlikely that anything from its history had remained after so many decades and businesses that followed.

But sure enough, tucked away in the very back corner of the basement was one last remnant. A single lamp house from one of the Roxy's projectors has been hiding out here for over 60 years since the cinema was dismantled. To add to this, I found a picture of the Roxy's projection room featuring who we believe to be Bev Botter's father, Tony Botter. Bev appeared in my documentary and shared her memories of her father when he was a projectionist.

So, within the span of a week an image of this projector when it was newly installed at the Roxy Theatre in 1941 emerged and I was able to see that a piece of it had still been hiding in the same building all of these decades later.

This is essentially how the documentary research progressed over 2 years throughout the entire production. Little clues would eventually link up and paint a larger picture of what had happened. And if you're now thinking I'd really like to see "Your Cinema Needs You" at the Monarch for myself - good news! I'll be formally announcing new February screening dates next week.

Bombay Beach Drive-In at the Salton Sea

Part art installation, part scrapyard, I can appreciate the fact that the abandoned aspect of the Salton Sea's Bombay Beach has continued to evolve over the years. The Bombay Beach Drive-In is quite obviously not a working theatre, but its collection of classic wrecks is both playful and haunting in its junkyard depiction of the drive-in aesthetic in the middle of the blistering California desert. There's actually quite a bit to see. In my opinion, worth the stop.