On May 14, 1944, George Walton Lucas, Jr. was born in Modesto, CA. The son of a stationary store owner and a homemaker, Lucas lived in the area until he attended film school at USC. While never a stellar student during his primary education, Lucas absorbed the action/adventure TV shows of his youth and the car culture of the small town as fodder for his later creative material.
Lucas was originally much more interested in cars than filmmaking. He was a dedicated gearhead, and seriously considered racecar driving as a vocation until a serious car crash changed his career path.
Lucas used Modesto as the basis for his enormously successful film, American Graffiti. This film sparked a revival of 50’s era stories, Happy Days and Grease being the most obvious. Lucas recognized the desire for a conflict-weary American public to feel good and nostalgic about something entertaining, and he delivered. Here are a number of locations in Modesto, CA relevant to the life of George Lucas.
Modesto, CA locations
- L.M. Morris & Co.– The stationary store that George Lucas, Sr. used to run.
- George Lucas’s boyhood home– The house where George Lucas grew up in Modesto, CA.
- John Muir Elementary School– Lucas attended elementary school here.
- Roosevelt Junior High School– Lucas’s junior high.
- Laguna Seca Raceway– George Lucas used to race cars here when he was in high school.
- Thomas Downey High School– The high school of George Lucas.
- George Lucas car crash– The location of the 1962 Lucas car crash.
- Modesto Junior College– After getting into a car accident, George Lucas shifted his focus. He attended this community college and received an Associate of Arts degree.
- George Lucas Plaza– In 1997, this intersection had a statue dedicated to American Graffiti and was renamed George Lucas Plaza.
Other CA locations
- Skywalker Ranch– The utopian filmmaking compound of George Lucas.
- Letterman Digital Arts Center– The Bay Area home of Industrial Light and Magic and Lucasfilm, Ltd.