bond caught a glimpse of endless miles of palm-lined avenues , of sprinklers whirling over emerald lawns in front of gracious homes , of sprawling aircraft factories , of the outside lots of film studios with their jumble of gimcrack sets-city streets , western ranches , what looked like a miniature motor-racing track , a full-size four-masted schooner planted in the ground-and then they were in the mountains and through them and over the interminable red desert that is the backstage of los angeles .