Los Angeles: Self-Guided Tour of Iconic Filming Locations

This intersection was the shooting location for the tragic climax of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, one of the greatest films noir ever made. A staple of Hollywood cinema since the 1940s, film noir blended the cynical, hardboiled American crime fiction of the 20s and 30s with striking, moody cinematography inspired by German Expressionist filmmaking. Film noir stories often follow highly flawed protagonists who find themselves embroiled in conspiracies and complicated investigations far beyond their reach.

Note: This 33+mile-long tour covers the essentials of LA Filming in 2-3 hours

• Admission Ticket Free

Look on your right is Union Station, the busiest train hub in the entire western United States. It has been featured in dozens of films and television shows over the decades, but only occasionally as an actual train station!

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included

The center of government in LA and a frequent shooting location in the city. Unlike Union Station, City Hall often plays itself, most famously in the 1953 film adaptation of War of the Worlds, where it was eventually blown up (in miniature form.) However, it has also doubled as other locations, such as in the old 50s TV show The Adventures of Superman, where it played the Daily Planet building.

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See that brown, Victorian office building on your right? That’s the Bradbury Building, one of LA’s National Historic Landmarks. The Bradbury has been used in a ton of movies, including Double Indemnity and (500) Days of Summer, but it’s most well known as the location for reclusive genetic designer J.F. Sebastian’s apartment in the original Blade Runner. The film returns to this location a number of times, including for the climactic rooftop showdown between human detective Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, and his Replicant quarry Roy Batty. After an extended chase, the expiring Roy delivers one of science fiction’s most famous monologues:

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On the ground floor of this tower to your right is The Last Bookstore, the largest used book store in Los Angeles. Once a bank, this space has been transformed into a wonderland for book lovers, with awe-inspiring displays in every nook and cranny of the two-story atrium. It’s also a popular spot for photoshoots and music videos, having hosted artists like The Kid LAROI and the late Kobe Bryant.

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This bank was featured prominently in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 as the location for one of the most thrilling action sequences in superhero history. In the scene, the villainous Doctor Octopus attempts to rob the bank and battles Spider-Man up and down the sides of the building. Filming a special effects heavy scene like that can be extremely difficult, and often takes days to pull off. The scene involved shots filmed here on location as well as footage shot in front of a green screen on a studio lot, all seamlessly edited together in post-production.

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The Palace Theater, most famous for doubling as the mysterious Club Silencio in David Lynch’s surrealist masterpiece Mulholland Drive. One of Lynch’s finest works, Mulholland Drive is both a love letter and a scathing indictment of Hollywood itself, created by an artist who has spent the majority of his career on the outside looking in.

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Look to your left for a vintage, Art Deco looking place on the bottom floor of this building. See the carefully crafted iron grills over the windows? You’re looking at the Cicada Club, a night club that’s been a Hollywood staple since it opened in the 20s. In film, it’s most famous as the location where Julia Roberts flung a snail across the room in Pretty Woman, although it’s also been featured in other movies like Bruce Almighty and Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood.

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The Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, also known as the fictional Hotel Sedgewick in Ghostbusters. In the film, the Ghostbusters capture their very first ghost here at the hotel, and accidentally destroy the ballroom in the process.

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As you approach the intersection of West 5th St and Flower St, keep an eye out for any bank robbers in armored vans. This spot was the location for the famous shootout scene in Michael Mann’s Heat, one of the most riveting action sequences of all time. In the scene, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, and their crew of bank robbers are trapped by the police, leading to a nearly 10 minute long gunfight.

• Admission Ticket Not Included

This cute little diner on your left is the Pacific Dining Car, a prime Hollywood lunch location since the 1920s. Because of its central location here in downtown LA, the Pacific Dining Car has hosted all kinds of Hollywood royalty, from Mickey Cohen and Mae West to Nicolas Cage and Johnny Depp. It’s also been featured in films and television shows, most notably in Training Day.

• Admission Ticket Not Included

That small body of water to your left is Echo Park Lake, one of the many urban lakes that dot the LA landscape. Look out over the water at some of the islands. Do they look familiar at all?

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

The Music Box is a Laurel and Hardy short film comedy released in 1932. It was directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film, which depicts the pair attempting to move a piano up a long flight of steps, won the first Academy Award for Best Live Action Short (Comedy) in 1932. In 1997, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.'”

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1920s-style saloon with ornate, throwback decor offering haute classic cocktails.

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You’re approaching a tricky intersection, but as you go through it, try to catch a glimpse of the big red movie theater on the far corner. You can’t miss it – just look for the big, lit up sign!

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John Marshall High School is a public high school located in the Los Feliz district of the city of Los Angeles at 3939 Tracy Street in Los Angeles, California. Marshall, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

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Sleek & modern indoor-outdoor gastropub serves elevated American comfort food & inventive cocktails.

• Admission Ticket Free

The Ennis House is a residential dwelling in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States, south of Griffith Park. The home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for Charles and Mabel Ennis in 1923 and was built in 1924.

• Admission Ticket Free

Griffith Observatory is a facility in Los Angeles, California, sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. It commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including Downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest.

• Admission Ticket Free

Holy Toledo, Batman, we’re coming up on Bronson Canyon! This series of caves has been used in Westerns and sci-fi films since the 30s, but it’s most famous as the location of the original Batcave in the 60s Batman TV show. See that little tunnel up ahead? By using carefully chosen camera angles, the mouth of that tunnel was transformed into the entrance to Bruce Wayne’s underground lair. Because the “cave” was really the mouth of a tunnel, the Batmobile could be filmed shooting out of the Batcave at high speeds that wouldn’t have been safe with a real cave.

• Admission Ticket Free

The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It is situated on Mount Lee, in the Hollywood Hills area of the Santa Monica Mountains.

• Admission Ticket Free