Seeing Stars: Where the Movies Were Shot (on Location)



PART  11

Filming locations of TV Shows,
Made-for-TV Movies & Music Videos.

If you've seen the Fox sitcom "NEW GIRL" (with Zoey Deschanel),
you've probably noticed the unusual apartment house where
Jess and her three guy friends live.

You'll find that brownstone building at 837 Traction Ave, in the
warehouse/arts district on the east side of downtown Los Angeles.

That's at the east/northeast corner of Traction Ave and Avery Street,
just east of Alameda, between 3rd & 4th streets - east of Little Tokyo.

Built in 1906, the building (like many in downtown) has been converted into lofts & offices.
They're called "Binford Lofts", and you can see a YouTube video tour of them here.

You can see for yourself in this Google StreetView panorama.

The Fox show "GLEE", takes place at the fictional 'McKinley High School', but in reality, the
pilot episode was filmed at two different Southern California high schools, about 30 miles apart.

The outdoor scenes (such as the football field, cheerleading practice, and parking lot scenes)
were filmed at Juan Cabrillo High School, at 2001 Santa Fe Ave, in Long Beach, CA.

The indoor scenes (such as the school hallways and the auditorium scenes) were filmed at
John Burroughs High, at 1920 W. Clark Ave, in Burbank, CA.

In the 2010-2011 seasons, they have also filmed outdoor scenes on the campus of the new
Bernstein High School, at 1309 N. Wilton Place, in Hollywood.

And the mall scenes (from the 2011 season) were shot at the Eagle Rock Plaza,
at 2700 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles (where the Ventura & Glendale freeways meet).

At the end of the 2011 season of the Fox show "HOUSE", Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) drove his car through the front of his ex-girlfriend's (Lisa Cuddy's) house.

Cuddy's house, like the rest of the show, is supposed to be in (or near) New Jersey.  But it's not.

This particular house is actually just a few blocks southeast of LACMA and the La Brea Tar Pits, at 925 Dunsmuir Ave, Los Angeles.

Here's a Google StreetView panorama of the house.


[ Remember: this is a private home. Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything else that might disturb the residents. ]

Here is the shot of the Sunshine Center, as seen in the commercials for the show:

And here is the shot of the Sunshine Center, as seen in the show's (2011) pilot episode:

Notice anything different?

Besides the fact that it shifted from green & aqua, to red & blue, that is?

Well in both instances, those top hats are just CGI additions anyway, plunked down
by a computer on top of an image of a real arena.  But which real arena?

Well, the first photo shows us the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena,
in Exposition Park, at 3939 S. Figueroa Street, south of downtown, L.A.

The second photo shows us The Forum, at 3900 W. Manchester Blvd, in Inglewood.

The two arenas are "only" about eight miles apart...

But wait, there's more Hollywood trickery afoot.

Remember that early shot where Matthew Perry is driving to work and turns into a driveway
that leads under the Sunshine arena? That shot first shows an ocean view across the street.
Don't be fooled. More CGI. There's no ocean view anywhere near this street.

The street he's driving down is the 3800 block of W. 90th Street (AKA Pincay Drive), in Inglewood,
which runs past the south side of the Forum. He's heading west on 90th St (towards Prairie Ave)
when he turns right (north) into the Forum's driveway. As you can see from the two photos above,
they used the same Forum driveway for both Sunshine Arena shots.

See for yourself:

Here's a Google StreetView panorama of the same street view.

And here's a Google StreetView panorama of the Forum driveway.

Not only did they insert a fake ocean across the street, but they also seem to have added the
palm trees lining the driveway - there are none at the Forum (maybe they borrowed them
from the Sports Arena). And that wave-shaped fence along both sides of the driveway is
nowhere to be seen in photos of either area. So it appears to have been added it as well.

Talk about a mash-up...

(The interior shots of the arena?   They appear to have been filmed inside the Forum.)

You can find the first three seasons' filming locations
for the HBO series "TRUE BLOOD" by clicking the image above.

You can find the first five seasons' filming locations
for the Showtime series "DEXTER" by clicking the image above.

             

* Locations marked by an asterisk (*) may be located in areas with high crime rates.
Exercise reasonable caution.