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



Part III




  • In the original "NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION" (1983) with Chevy Chase, the Griswolds' home was (and still is) located at 2310 NVermont Avenue, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.
    • (Thanks to Owen for finding the house and letting us know.)  


  • You'll recall the scene in the same movie where Chevy and his long-suffering family have driven half-way across the country to visit "Wally World," only to find the parking lot empty and the amusement park closed. That scene was shot at Six Flags Magic Mountain, (26101 Magic Mountain Parkway) in Valencia.







  • The house used as the Freeling family home, where most of the action took place in Steven Spielberg's classic 1982 horror/thriller "POLTERGEIST," is actually located in the Simi Valley, just northwest of L.A. The address of the house is 4267 Roxbury Street (north of Walnut, between Rachel Ave. & Tapo St.)
  • As you may remember, in the movie the house was haunted because it had been built upon an old burial ground. But the real home is located in a normal residential suburb - no skeletons in the swimming pool here!

  • (Photo courtesy of Kevin Sandoval.
    Click on the photo for a closer look.)



    However, the neighborhood that is seen in the opening credits of "POLTERGEIST" is not the same one where the main house is located (Simi Valley), but is in fact located in about one mile north of the 101 Freeway at the Kanan Road exit in Agoura Hills. (That's about 20 miles southwest of the Simi Valley house, as the freeway crawls.)

    The streets seen in the opening of the movie are Kanan Road (which is the road seen with the center divider and a single car driving on each side), Shadycreek Drive (shown in the first neighborhood scene and the scene where a red car is driving down it), Rustling Oaks Drive (where the large oak tree in the middle of the street is), and Calmfield Avenue, Calabria Drive and Gleam Court (seen in a couple of shots just before and after the guy heads out of the cul-de-sac on his bike carrying the beer). After that, the camera cuts to the neighborhood in Simi Valley where the house is located.

    Click here to see more photos and a map of the neighborhood.

    (Photos courtesy of Kevin Sandoval.
    Click on the photos for a closer look.)





  • Meanwhile, the house used as Elliot's home, where a kindly little extra-terrestrial took refuge in Steven Spielberg's classic 1982 fantasy "E.T.," is actually located on the other side of town, in the hills of the Tujunga Valley, northeast of the San Fernando Valley.
  • The address is 7121 Lonzo Street, in Tujunga, CA

    The real home is located at the end of a cul de sac in a residential neighborhood, with that familiar mountain peak towering behind it.

    (Photo courtesy of Steve Bernardo - steve@bernardomail.com.)





  • The 1982 comedy hit "FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH" was shot on two high school campuses in the San Fernando valley: Canoga Park High School (6850 Topanga Canyon Blvd., at the corner of Vanowen Street, in Canoga Park) , and Van Nuys High School, about eight miles due east of Canoga Park (at 6535 Cedros Avenue.) *






  • The mall scenes in "FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH" were shot in the food court of the former Sherman Oaks Galleria (15301 Ventura Blvd., at Sepulveda) in the San Fernando Valley. So was 1985's "COMMANDO," with Arnold Schwarzenegger.






   

  • Meanwhile, the mall scenes in 1983's peppy "VALLEY GIRL" (the film which helped launch Nicolas Cage's career) were filmed about 25 miles south, at one of Southern California's largest malls: Del Amo Fashion Square, at the corner of Hawthorne Blvd & Carson Street, in Torrance, CA. (Scenes from "Jackie Brown" were also shot in the same Del Amo food court.)




    • The Murphy Sculpture Garden on the UCLA campus was the scene of some serious flirting by Richard Gere & Valerie Kaprisky in 1983's "BREATHLESS." The historic Royce Hall at UCLA, and the UCLA campus in general has served at backdrop to countless films and TV series including the chase scenes in the movie "GOTCHA!," and as the college scenes from "THE GRADUATE," "THE SURE THING," and 1998's "DR. DOOLITTLE" (with Eddie Murphy.)






1920's - 1930's - 1940's - 1950's - 1960's - 1970's - 1980's - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996
1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007- 2008

2009 - 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - 2013



             



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




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