The movie "Collateral" opens at
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX),
where 'Vincent' (Tom Cruise) and his contact
"accidentally" exchange briefcases.

LAX is located near the interchange of the
405 & 105 freeways, west of Inglewood.

When cab driver 'Max' (Jamie Foxx) first pulls out of the his taxi company in his cab,
we see the mural of a headless cowboy (or vaquero) and a bull.

This unfinished mural was painted in 1974 by an anonymous artist,
and is located on an outside wall at "Estrada Courts", a federal housing project with
dozens of murals on the sides of the buildings. The address of the vaquero mural
is 3356 1/2 Hunter St., in East L.A.*.
[Caution: this is an area with known gang activity.]

When Max picks up 'Anna' (Jada Pinkett Smith), the female prosecutor, he supposedly drops
her off at 312 Spring Street, in downtown Los Angeles. That is the address of the
old Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles, near City Hall. 

However, in the film, Max is actually shown dropping her off at the corner of 5th & Grand,
about half a mile away.That is the location of the Gas Company building, at 555 W. 5th Street
(at Grand). That's also where he picks up 'Vincent' (Tom Cruise) at the same corner.

After Max picks up 'Vincent' (Tom Cruise) in his cab, their first stop is at an apartment building, where the body of Vincent's first murder victim comes crashing out of a window and smashes down on top of Max's taxi.

The actual address of this apartment building is 1039 S. Union Avenue. (between Olympic Blvd & 11th Street).

That's just three blocks west of the Staples Center, just southwest of downtown L.A., northwest of the
intersection of the 110 (Harbor) and 10 Freeways.

( I originally had this listed as 1839 S. Union, which is what Michael Mann said in his DVD commentary,
but it's actually 1039 S. Union. Thanks to Maurizio Giorgelli and his Collateral Fans' Forum for the tip! )

Next, Vincent then tells Max to go to 7565 Fountain Ave., but along the way they are pulled
over by a police car. Vincent threatens to kill the police if Max can't convince them to go away.

This police pull-over scene was not filmed on Fountain Avenue. Rather, it was filmed about
two miles to the northeast of that address, near the corner of Franklin Ave and Cahuenga Blvd.
In the scene, we can clearly see the "Patio Furniture" store behind them, which is located at
6440 Franklin Ave. The Shell gas station, which we can glimpse behind them, is located at
6420 Franklin Ave. This corner is located two blocks northwest of Hollywood & Vine.

Vincent has Max park in a dark alleyway, where he handcuffs Max to the steering wheel of the cab,
while Vincent attends to "business". When Max attempts to escape, he encounters a group of thugs
who rob him. Unfortunately for them, Vincent returns, catches them in the act, and kills them.

I had a very hard time finding the location of this allleyway. Fortunately a fan, Chas Demster,
managed to track it down using Live Local, and let me know where it was. (Thanks, Chas!)

It turns out that the N/S alley is located just south of Wilshire Blvd, and north of 7th Street,
between Vermont Ave (on the east) and New Hampshire Ave (on the west).
The building on the right side in the top photo (with Tom Cruise) is the north tower
of the Wilshire State Bank (which houses ICT College), which is located at
3200 Wilshire Blvd., about two miles west of downtown L.A.