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So THAT's where the movie was shot | The LA film location map 2026

The movie you've seen a dozen times may have been shot on a totally ordinary LA street. From Blade Runner's white-tiled tunnel to Doc's house in Back to the Future, sorted by area with a route for each, and only places anyone can walk into.

Translated from Jasmine’s original Chinese. The illustrated slides are on the interactive reader.

Key points

Full text

  1. 00 | LA's streets can play any city

    Watching movies in LA, you often suddenly sit up: 'Wait, I just drove through that tunnel last week.' I've lined up for premieres, and streets near my place have been closed off for shoots.

  2. 01 | Film-set etiquette

    'At the shops in movies, be a customer; leave the homes in movies inside the movie.' Admire schools, churches and office buildings from outside; if you run into a film crew, detour as the crew directs.

  3. 02 | Blade Runner: the future, built in 1924

    Deckard's flying car goes through the white-tiled 2nd Street Tunnel; driving through it hits hardest, so don't stand in the lanes for photos. The Million Dollar Theatre's sign is in the film too.

  4. 03 | (500) Days of Summer: the bench is gone, the karaoke bar is still there

    Redwood Bar & Grill, where Tom and Summer sing, is still open, and Tom dances through Grand Park. Angels Knoll, where that bench sits, has been fenced off since 2013.

  5. 04 | Fast & Furious + Laurel and Hardy

    Bob's Market in Echo Park is the Toretto family's little grocery, and it doesn't sell sandwiches now; the Music Box Steps in Silver Lake have 133 steps, where someone hauled a piano up in 1932.

  6. 05 | Rebel Without a Cause: Griffith Observatory

    The James Dean bust on the west side has the Hollywood Sign behind it. Go up in the late afternoon and watch the sunset, then the lights; closed Mondays.

  7. 06 | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood: the 1969 spots are still open

    Dinner at El Coyote, then walk to Tarantino's New Beverly for a classic; the Cinerama Dome is exterior only for now, expected to reopen in early 2028.

  8. 07 | Pretty Woman: Big mistake. Huge.

    The Beverly Wilshire lobby really was filmed here, while the presidential suite was built on a soundstage. That boutique is long gone, but Rodeo Drive still looks like the movie; the Greystone gardens are free.

  9. 08 | Four at the beach

    Forrest Gump turns around at the Santa Monica Pier, Barbie sees the real world for the first time in Venice, Neptune's Net is in The Fast and the Furious, and Iron Man eats breakfast sitting in Randy's Donuts' giant donut.

  10. 09 | Back to the Future: you can buy a ticket to tour Doc's house

    The Gamble House in Pasadena is Doc's 1955 home, now a museum; Twin Pines Mall is Puente Hills Mall, mostly empty now, with redevelopment proposals in the works, so the sooner you go, the better.

  11. 10 | The Valley and further north

    Casa Vega is the bar where Rick and Cliff drink, and it turned 70 in 2026; Vasquez Rocks has been in everything from Dracula to Star Trek, with almost no shade, so go in the morning.

  12. 11 | Four routes

    Downtown → Echo Park → Silver Lake; Hollywood for half a day plus the evening; Beverly Hills → the beach → the airport; Pasadena or the Valley. 'PCH is jammed in the late afternoon, so pick either Malibu or the airport.'

  13. 12 | Please don't go to these

    The Toretto house, Deckard's Ennis House and the Witch's House from Clueless are all private homes. To see the homes from movies, go to the Gamble House and the studio tours.

  14. 13 | Two-city mirror

    After Monga wrapped, the sets at Bopiliao came down, but the old street is still there. 'In Taipei, the set is a real old street; in LA, the set is a street that can play anything.'

  15. 14 | What about La La Land?

    I deliberately left all of these out of this post; those locations are all in my new book, Los Angeles + Las Vegas.

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An original JSLALALAND field guide by Jasmine Chang (@jslalaland).