Gangster Squad - Filming Locations - part 2




Gangster Squad - Filming Locations
Part 2

 The Southern California locations where
"Gangster Squad" was filmed.



0:24:23:  O'Hara begins recruiting members for his Gangster Squad.

First, he goes to the Club Alabam, "on Central Avenue", where he recruits an African-American
cop named 'Coleman Harris' (Anthony Mackie), who is handy with a knife.

 Club Alabam

The 'Club Alabam' is actually two different places (neither of them on Central Avenue).

For the exterior (above), they used the front of the Highland Swap Mall, at 5615 N Figueroa Street,
in the Highland Park section of Los Angeles (between downtown & Pasadena).

Here is a matching Google StreetView of that storefront (without the facade).

         


Club Alabam interior

For the club interior (above), they used the Catch One disco/club at 4067 W. Pico Blvd,
two blocks east of Crenshaw, in the Mid-City district of Los Angeles.

Here is a Google StreetView of the club.
(And here's the club's website.)

         




0:25:59: Next, he goes to Cafe Caliente, where he recruits two members of his squad:
'Max Kennard' (Robert Patrick), a grizzled sharpshooter with a pistol, and
Max's young partner, 'Officer Navidad Ramirez' (Michael Peña).

This scene was shot inside a local favorite, Lucy's El Adobe Cafe, across the street from
Paramount Studios, at 5536 Melrose Ave, in Hollywood.  (They added the stained glass window.)

(You can read more about it here.)


Here is a Google StreetView of the restaurant.

         



0:28:05: A meeting between 'Mickey Cohen' (Sean Penn) and his mob rival, 'Dragna' (Jon Polito) takes
place at the Club Figaro, where Cohen shocks Dragna by declaring he plans to rule the city.


This was also shot at two different locations.

The exterior, seen above, was the front of an art gallery (GR Works) at 114 W. 4th Street,
in the old bank district of downtown L.A.  (Note the ornate columns in this StreetView.)

         


The club's interior, on the other hand, was shot inside the old Tower Theatre,
at 802 S. Broadway, in downtown.  The theatre was built in 1927, and the premiere
of the first talkie, The Jazz Singer, was held at the Tower.  The ornate interior remains,
but the floor seats have been removed, so the producers were free to recreate the space.

(As you can see from this StreetView, the Tower Theatre indeed has a tower.)

         





0:31:57:  The scene of the squad meeting  for the first time, under a bridge, was shot
under the 6th Street bridge, on the east side of downtown L.A.

The bridge spans the Los Angeles River, linking downtown to East Los Angeles.

They are standing on lower 6th, just west of Mesquit Street, the camera looking east.

  
(Here is a matching Google StreetView of the view.)

         

[ Update: the 6th Street Bridge was torn down In 2016, and is being rebuilt.
The new bridge is scheduled to re-open, with a different look, in 2022. ]




0:00:00:  0:34:49: So what of the Burbank Police Station, where two of the squad members are jailed
after they are busted during a raid on Cohen's casino?  (They later manage to escape.)

Burbank Police Station

That brownstone building is actually the Los Angeles Police Museum, at 6045 York Blvd,
in Highland Park (not far from the exterior of the 'Club Alabam').

The museum is located inside the former Highland Park Police Station,
which was active from 1925 to 1983.  (Read more about it here.)

(Here is a matching Google StreetView. 

         





0:35:30:  A major shoot out takes place in front of the Cabana Club. While Jerry is talking to a
shoeshine boy, Cohen's men roll up and open fire on the club, killing the kid and several other bystanders.

This scene was shot outside Boardner's bar, at  1652 N. Cherokee Ave, in Hollywood.
Dating back to 1942, it is just south of Hollywood Blvd - near Musso & Frank.

(They changed the look of the exterior, adding black bricks, posters, etc.)

Here is a Google StreetView of the bar.  (Read more about it here.)

         




0:00:00:

0:43:37:  Dragna doesn't last long.  Cohen's men break into his Dragna's house, in the
middle of the night, and shoot him, his wife, and their maid.

(It's mostly an interior scene, with just a glimpse of the
outside pool & patio, as the men break in.)

Draga's house

They shot this at the 22-room Paramour Mansion (AKA The Canfield-Moreno Estate), at
1923 Micheltorena Street, in the hilly Silver Lake district of Los Angeles.

Built in 1923 for a silent film star (Antonio Moreno) whose wife was killed in an accident, in
1933, when her car plunged off Mulholland Drive. It has since been a school and a convent.
More recently, it has served as a recording site (for artists like My Chemical Romance)
and as a location for both movies and TV shows.

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

         



0:46:04: The Gangster Squad bugs Mickey Cohen's mansion, so they can find out in
advance what he's planning, and disrupt his business.

Cohen's house

This Spanish Colonial mansion is located at 1146 Tower Road, in Beverly Hills.

The 14,000-square foot home was built in 1927, and has a price tag of $38 million.

Tower Road is no stranger to Hollywood stars. Spencer Tracy, Jack Lemmon,
Jennifer Jones and Jay Leno have all owned homes on this road.

(You can see more photos of it here.)

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

         








         

The photos on this page are stills from "Gangster Squad"
(which you can buy by clicking here) and are copyright Warner Bros.

The rest of the page is Copyright © 2020-Gary Wayne / Seeing-Stars.com