The Sony Pictures Studio sits at the site of the original MGM Studios, and the two-hour tour takes you deep into the Hollywood tradition of both studios. (And you thought they just made Walkmans!)

Since the early 1990's the lot has been home to the Sony Pictures Entertainment (that's SPE) owned Columbia Pictures. Columbia is responsible for recent popular films like Ali, Black Hawk Down, Panic Room, Men in Black II and Stuart Little 2. The studio, founded way back in 1924, also has produced some classics such as Bridge on the River Kwai, Dr. Strangelove and Lawrence of Arabia. Now that is serious filmmaking.

Today the sound stages are used for both motion picture and television show production, and have recently housed films productions including Spider-Man and Planet of the Apes. (Though why anyone thought Planet of the Apes needed to be remade is a mystery.)