Although some filmmakers use sets for their movies, others seek out unique locations to tell their stories. When it comes to filming locations, Los Angeles has some of the best and most recognizable options in the nation.
100+ Iconic Filming Locations in Los Angeles
From well-known landmarks to parking lots and junkyards, filmmakers can choose from a wide range of locations. Check out over 100 of the most iconic filming locations in the Los Angeles area.
101 Coffee Shop
- Featured in “Swingers.”
A & R Auto Dismantlers
- Featured in “Pulp Fiction.”
Scene from “Pulp Fiction”
AES Power Plant
- This Redondo Beach location appeared in Britney Spears’ “You Drive Me Crazy” music video.
Aero Theater
- Featured in “Donnie Darko,” “Get Shorty,” and “Training Day.”
Scene from “Donnie Darko”
Angels Flight Railway
- Featured in “La La Land.”
Scene from “La La Land”
ATM at 14400 Roscoe Blvd.
- This ATM appeared in “Terminator 2.”
Baldwin Village
- This jungle-like LA neighborhood has appeared in “Training Day.”
Beverly Hills City Hall
- Featured in “Beverly Hills Cop.”
Beverly Hills Hotel
- Featured in “California Suite.”
Beverly Wilshire Hotel
- Featured in “Pretty Woman.”
Bob’s Big Boy
- Featured in “Heat.”
Bradbury Building
- This futuristic structure has appeared in “500 Days of Summer,” “The Artist,” “Blade Runner,” and “Double Indemnity.”
Bronson Canyon
- Featured in the “Batman” TV series, which aired from 1966 to 1968.
Scene from “Batman”
Bull Creek Spillway
- Featured in “Terminator 2.”
Scene from “Terminator 2”
Cactus Jack’s Market
- Featured in “Terminator 2.”
Scene from “Terminator 2”
California State University – Northridge
- The campus was the location for exterior shots in J.J. Abrams’ “Star Trek.”
Chandler Valley Center Studios
- Featured in “The Office.”
Chateau Marmont
- Featured in “A Star Is Born.”
Chinatown Express
- This vintage restaurant has appeared in “Nightcrawler.”
Cicada Restaurant
- Featured in “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Scandal.”
Cindy’s Eagle Rock Restaurant
- Featured in “Aquarius.”
Circus Liquor
- Featured in “Clueless.”
City National Plaza
- Featured in “Marathon Man.”
Club Ed
- Featured in “Eye of the Storm.”
Crown Pawn Shop
- Featured in “Pulp Fiction.”
Scene from “Pulp Fiction”
Dinah’s
- Featured in “The Big Lebowski.”
The Dresden
- Featured in “Swingers.”
El Capitan Theatre
- Featured in “The Muppets.”
El Matador Beach
- Featured in “The Notebook.”
Elysian Park
- Featured in “Terminator 2.”
Ennis House
- Featured in “House on Haunted Hill.”
Fox Plaza
- Featured in “Die Hard.”
Frolic Room
- Featured in “LA Confidential.”
Scene from “LA Confidential”
Gamble House
- Featured in “Back to the Future.”
Godmother’s Saloon
- Featured in “This Is Us.”
Grand Central Market
- Featured in “La La Land.”
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
- Featured in “Singin’ in the Rain.”
Greek Theatre
- Featured in “A Star Is Born.”
Greystone Mansion Bowling Alley
- Featured in “There Will Be Blood.”
Griffith Observatory
- Featured in “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” ” Rebel Without a Cause,” and “La La Land.”
Hanco*ck Park
- Featured in “Happy Days.”
Heritage Square Museum
- Featured in “Legally Blonde” and “Saving Mr. Banks.”
High Tower Court
- Featured in “The Long Goodbye.”
Hollywood Bowl Self Storage
- Featured in “La La Land.”
Hollywood Palladium
- Featured in “Back to the Future” and “GLOW.”
Scene from “Back to the Future”
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
- Featured in “The Fabulous Baker Boys.”
The Hotel Cafe
- Featured in “This Is Us.”
Il Cielo
- This restaurant appeared in “Legally Blonde.”
Johnnie’s Coffee Shop
- Featured in “American History X.”
LA Times Building
- Featured in “Drive.”
The Last Bookstore
Scene from “You”
La Verne United Methodist Church
- Featured in “The Graduate.”
Scene from “The Graduate”
Laveta Terrace Strip Mall
- Featured in “Nightcrawler.”
Scene from “Nightcrawler”
Leo Carrillo State Beach
- Featured in “Grease.”
Scene from “Grease”
Linda Vista Hospital
- Featured in “Terminator 2.”
Los Angeles Central Library
- Featured in “Heat.”
Los Angeles Metro
- Featured in “Collateral.”
Scene from “Collateral”
Los Angeles River
- Featured in “Grease” and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”
Los Feliz
- Featured in “LA Confidential.”
Lovell House
- Featured in “LA Confidential.”
Lower Grand Avenue
- Featured in “The Dark Knight,” where it represents Gotham City.
Marshall High School
- This classic campus has appeared in “Boy Meets World,” “Can’t Hardly Wait,” “Grosse Pointe Blank,” “Pretty in Pink,” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
Mavericks Flat
- Featured in “Insecure.”
The Mayan
- Featured in “GLOW.”
Scene from “GLOW”
Merkato Ethiopian Restaurant
- Featured in “Insecure.”
Millennium Biltmore Hotel
- Featured in “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Cruel Intentions,” “Ghostbusters,” “Heat,” and “Splash.”
Monrovia House
- Featured in “Bird Box.”
Mulholland Drive
- Featured in “Twin Peaks.”
Musso & Frank Grill
- Featured in “Ed Wood.”
Nickel Diner
- Featured in “This Is Us.”
Niles Henman House
Featured in “Face/Off” and “Gone in 60 Seconds.”
Openaire
Featured in “Insecure.”
Orange Grove Avenue
The houses featured in “Halloween” still stand in Hollywood.
Pacific Design Center
- This colorful complex has appeared in “Demolition Man,” “Her,” and “Westworld.”
Pacific Electric Building
- Featured in “Face/Off, ” “LA Confidential,” and “Se7en.”
Scene from “Se7en”
Paramount Studios
- Featured in “Sunset Boulevard.”
Park Plaza Hotel
- Featured in “Drive.”
Pat & Lorraine’s
- Featured in “Reservoir Dogs.”
Pink Motel
- Featured in “Drive.”
Pink’s Hot Dogs
- Featured in “Mulholland Drive.”
Point Dume State Beach
- This waterfront location has appeared in “The Big Lebowski,” “Iron Man,” and “Planet of the Apes.”
Scene from “The Big Lebowski”
Point Fermin
- Featured in “Crash.”
Scene from “Crash”
Private LA Residence – Hamilton House
- This private pool appeared in “Fast Times at Ridgemont high.”
Scene from “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”
The Prince
- This bar has appeared in “Chinatown,” “Mad Men,” and “Thank You for Smoking.”
Puente Hills Mall
- This “Back to the Future” scene features the famous DeLorean.
Rabbit Slim’s
- Featured in “Pulp Fiction.”
Randys’s Donuts
- Featured in “Dope.”
Rodeo Drive
- This picturesque street has appeared in “Beverly Hills Cop,” ” Clueless,” and “Pretty Woman.”
Rosslyn Hotel
- Featured in “Se7en.”
Rucker House
- Featured in “A Star Is Born.”
Scene from “A Star Is Born”
Sam’s Hofbrau
- Featured in “Jackie Brown.”
San Gabriel Mountains
- Featured in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
Sanctuary Adventist Church
- Featured in “Kill Bill.”
Scene from “Kill Bill”
Santa Monica Pier
- This waterfront amusem*nt park has appeared in “2012,” “Falling Down,” “Forrest Gump,” “Hanco*ck,” ” Hannah Montana,” “Iron Man,” “Not Another Teen Movie,” “Pacific Rim Uprising,” and many others.
Schaeffer Residence
- Featured in “A Single Man.”
Second Street Tunnel
- This downtown LA location has appeared in “Independence Day” and “Kill Bill.”
Sheats-Goldstein Residence
- Featured in “The Big Lebowski” and “Charlie’s Angels.”
The Smokehouse
- Featured in “Argo” and “La La Land.”
Set from “La La Land”
Snow White Cottages
- Featured in “Mulholland Drive.”
South Bay Beaches
- Featured in “Jackie Brown.”
Sowden House
- Featured in “Drive.”
Stahl House
- This popular house, which has a glass wing, has appeared in “Galaxy Quest,” “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?,” and “The First Power.”
Sunken City Trail
- Featured in “The Big Lebowski.”
Super A Foods
- Featured in “A Star Is Born.”
Scene from “A Star Is Born”
Tio Pepe
- Featured in “East Los High.”
Union Station
- Featured in “Blade Runner,” “Catch Me If You Can,” and “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Scene from “The Dark Knight Rises”
University of California – Los Angeles
- Featured in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “The Godfather,” “Gilmore Girls,” and “Legally Blonde.”
University of Southern California
- The campus has appeared in “Forrest Gump,” “The Graduate,” “Legally Blonde,” and “The Social Network.”
Scene from “Legally Blonde”
Van Nuys Airport
- Featured in “Casablanca.”
Velazut Ranch
- Featured in “Westworld.”
Venice Beach
- Featured in “American History X.”
Venice High School
- Featured in “Grease.”
The Virgil
- Featured in “A Star Is Born.”
Scene from “A Star Is Born”
Vista Theatre
- Featured in “Get Shorty” and “True Romance.”
Vivian’s Millennium Cafe
- Featured in “Battle Creek.”
Watts Towers
- Featured in “Colors.”
Westin Bonaventure
- Featured in the underground bunker in “Interstellar” and in “Heat,” “In the Line of Fire,” and “True Lies.”
Windward Avenue
- Featured in the famous tracking shot in “Touch of Evil.”
Becoming a well-rounded filmmaker starts with knowing the best techniques used in the industry today. Apply for the Cinema Production Diploma at Nashville Film Institute to begin your career.
Portrait Shots: Everything You Need to Know
Portrait shots are artistic photographs of people that capture the personality of a subject within the image. You need to take several key components into
Read More »
Screenplay Format: Everything You Need to Know
Screenplay format refers to the content elements and on-page style of a script using a standard format by the film, television, and commercial industries. Standard
Read More »
Storyboard Artist: Everything You Need to Know
A storyboard artist, also known as a story artist or visualizer, is a person who can take a script, or even just a concept, and
Read More »
Social Media Influencer – Everything You Need To Know
Social media influencers are a new wave of people getting more money than anyone has ever expected. Influencer marketing is a buzzword in the marketing
Read More »
Movie Synopsis: Everything You Need to Know
A movie synopsis summarizes the film’s storyline. It covers all of the screenplay’s acts and highlights key plot points and emotional components. A synopsis also
Read More »
Low Angle Shot: Everything You Need to Know
A low-angle shot is a shot in which the camera angle is positioned below the eye line of the subject, pointing upward. An extreme low-angle
Read More »
Sound Blanket – Everything You Need To Know
Sound blankets are materials worth spending that decrease the noise and sound around you. Known as sound dampening or sound deadening, you can use these
Read More »
Avant-Garde – Everything You Need To Know
The word “avant-garde” comes from the French for “advance guard,” as in the first person to see or experience anything new. When used about a
Read More »
Non-Diegetic Sound – Everything You Need To Know
Non-diegetic sound in filmmaking is sound that does not come from one of the actors or objects on the screen. Non-diegetic sound can be nearly
Read More »
Low Angle Shot: Everything You Need to Know
A low-angle shot is a shot in which the camera angle is positioned below the eye line of the subject, pointing upward. An extreme low-angle
Read More »
Technical Artist – Everything You Need To Know
Technical Artist is a creative and technical operator who communicates with the artist and programmer teams. He is an artistic genius or aesthete who is
Read More »
Alien Movies – Everything You Need To Know
What if you are watching a movie that has characters other than people? A movie featuring aliens with weird heads, abnormal eyes, multiple limbs, and
Read More »
Production Designer: Everything You Need to Know
A production designer is in charge of developing and implementing the visual concept of a theater, film, television, or other media production. They work closely
Read More »
Steadicam Operator: Everything You Need to Know
A Steadicam operator needs to know how to operate a camera that is simultaneously agile and smooth moving. This type of camera operator works on
Read More »
Auteur Theory – Everything You Need To Know
Auteur theory? You must’ve probably heard of it before, at least in reference. You might even have a viewpoint on whether or not particular filmmakers
Read More »
John Carpenter – Everything You Need To Know
John Carpenter, in full John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948, in Carthage, New York, U.S.), is an American filmmaker regarded as a master of
Read More »
Wedding Photography – All You Need to Know
Wedding photography is typically compared to other genres of photography because you will only have one chance to get the photographs right. Weddings only last
Read More »
Animator – Everything You Need To Know
Animators are digital artists who make designs or models that simulate movement in a sequence, frequently conveying a story or offering information. Consider this career
Read More »
