Want to find Andy Griffith’s fictional Myers Lake? Don’t go to rural North Carolina. Look in the Hollywood Hills, just east of swanky, exclusive Bel-Air.
That’s right! The fictional “fishin’ hole” made famous in the opening credits of The Andy Griffith Show is preserved today as Franklin Canyon Lake at 2600 Franklin Canyon Drive in — get this — Beverly Hills. That’s the official address.
It’s a strange place to find fictional Mayberry, North Carolina, setting for what I think is still one of the funniest comedies ever to grace the airwaves.
The lake is close to what is now the geographic center of Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest city of more than 4 million people. International flights hover overhead. As the crow flies, the Playboy Mansion and the Hollywood Walk of Fame are maybe three miles away in opposite directions.
To be fair, this place was a bit more remote when the Griffith show crews arrived to film the show open at the start of the 1960s. This same three-acre lake appears in other major television show snippets, such as The Waltons and Bonanza.
It was an easy place to reach from Studio City and other places where television shows were filmed in those days. If you look closely today, though, it might require some special effects to make such a shoot work. In the distance, some mansions and residential areas can be seen on a clear day (insert your favorite LA smog joke here).
Thankfully, this area that could have been overrun with development remains largely undisturbed. It is part of the larger Franklin Canyon Park. Nearby is the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom within the Sooky Goldman Nature Center. Sylvia “Sooky” Goldman (1922-2014) was a civic leader in Beverly Hills, working to preserve Franklin Canyon and a high quality of life in Beverly Hills. Don’t laugh — upscale neighborhoods can lose their natural beauty, too!
Her Los Angeles Times obituary states it this way: the nature center and outdoor classroom “provides an educational resource for thousands of children annually and an unspoiled nature refuge for all.” That fits the iconic image of Opie throwing a stone into Myers Lake, doesn’t it? Suddenly, the strange geographic anomalies of this location start to make more sense.
The park is 605 acres, and includes five miles of walking trails such as the one you see Andy and Opie traverse. Students who visit from local school districts learn about duck ponds, marshlands and forest preservation. Despite its close brush with nature, all the trails are ADA accessible.
It isn’t easy to find this place, but you’ll be rewarded for your effort on a nice day. In Beverly Hills, take eastbound Mulholland Drive and turn right onto Franklin Canyon Road. If you pass Fire Station 108, you’ve gone too far. Franklin Canyon Road is a narrow, winding trail, so proceed with caution. Parking is free.
Be warned: the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority has positioned cameras near stop signs in the area. If you roll through one, even in an area with no traffic, someone “witnesses” it later and sends you a $100 ticket in the mail. It’s one of those operations that claims to be local, but the address for paying the fine reads Cleveland, Ohio. My alleged infraction was “witnessed” by an officer on video more than a month after my visit. Here’s hoping the revenue from this operation somehow benefits efforts to keep the area pristine and well-preserved.
The moral: come to a complete stop. Don’t be in a hurry. Enjoy Franklin Canyon as a convenient escape from the Los Angeles hustle and bustle. It is indeed a surprising travel find that will take you back to the fictional outskirts of Mayberry.