Q.  Where is it supposed to be?

41:27: Leaving French Street, to continue their impromptu studio tour, Mia and Sebastian pass an open sound stage door (the sign reads "Stage 6")...



and they stop to look inside,



where they see a very colorful movie set, complete with searchlight effects,
 and bustling with Tinseltown activity.



( If that colorful movie set looks familiar, there's a good reason...
We will see it again later. )

It's another glimpse of the magical aspect of movie-making that entrances Mia.

This brief scene (which only lasts about 25 seconds) is almost completely without dialog, as the couple silently watch the Hollywood fantasy unfold.

But just before they walk away, Mia says: "I love it."




Q.  Where was it really shot?

This was a very difficult location to track down.

Every single stop in this informal tour of Mia's studio, before & after this one, had been shot at Warner Bros Studio, in Burbank.  So I naturally assumed that this sound stage would be on the Warner's lot as well. 

After all, when you're surrounded by dozens of giant sound stages (including those seen in the very next shot), why would you go anywhere else to shoot one? 

But oddly enough, they did.

According to the signs above the door, this is Sound Stage 6.

And, of course, there is a real Stage 6 at Warner Bros.

But this isn't it.

When I took a look at the real Stage 6 at Warner Bros, via Google Earth and  Google StreetViewView, it didn't look anything like the one in the movie.

There were just too many differences ( everything from the placement of a security camera to a burglar alarm ), and I soon came to realize that this sound stage had to be at another studio, other than Warner Bros.

So, I began the slow task of looking at all of the many different studios in L,A,, and comparing their own #6 sound stages to the one scene in  the movie.

And after a lengthy search, I finally found it.
 
This, it turns out, is actually Stage 6 at Hollywood Center Studios,
a small but historic studio at 1040 N. Las Palmas Ave, in Hollywood.

Here is a  Google StreetView of the studio gate:



( The studio was recently renamed "Sunset Las Palmas Studios". )

Here is a photo of that Hollywood Center Studios sound stage:



( The stage measures 90 feet wide by 119 feet deep, and is 26 feet high,
with 10,710 square feet. )

In the shot where we are looking into the sound stage,
the camera is looking north.

And here is a map showing the stage's location at the studio:
( the red arrow points to the studio door )




I managed to spot a significant number of matching details
between the two sound stages, and circled them in red.

For large, detail-by-detail comparison images (to see exactly
 how I matched it), just click on the small photos below...

  


They changed the #6 signs at the top of the stage door, to make it look more like the sound stages at Warner Bros, but otherwise, they left it more or less the same.


This studio has an interesting history. It was built in 1919, and Howard Hughes shot the silent classic "Hell's Angels" there in the 1920's, with Jean Harlow starring in her first movie. During those silent days, the studio saw the likes of Mae West and Harold Lloyd. At one time, the lot was home to Monogram Studios.

Other early movies shot here included "Pennies From Heaven" (1936, with Bing Crosby), "The Thief Of Bagdad" (1940), "The Jungle Book" (1942 with Sabu), and "Angel On My Shoulder" (1946, with Paul Muni).  Shirley Temple had her film debut at this studio.  More recent films include “The Karate Kid,” "The Player", "Misery" and “When Harry Met Sally”.  They even shot a few alien close-ups here for the famous Cantina scene in "Star Wars".

In the 1930's, it was known as General Service Studios, and produced countless b-movies and independent films. In the late 40's Cagney Productions (Jimmy, and his brother William), owned a large part of the studio.

In 1951, the studio turned to television. The first two years of "I Love Lucy" shows were shot here on Stage 2.

As a rental studio, numerous classic TV series were shot there, including "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Green Acres," "Petticoat Junction," "Mr. Ed," "Ozzie & Harriet," "Our Miss Brooks," "The Addams Family," "The Lone Ranger," "Baretta," "The Rockford Files", "Soul Train"... and more recently, "The Cosby Show," "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Boy Meets World", and "True Blood".

Along the way, it was briefly named Zoetrope Studios, owned by
Francis Ford Coppola, in a noble but failed experiment.

Recently, this small studio, has been renamed once again,
this time as "Sunset Las Palmas Studios".

As for the question of why  they filmed the scene at another studio (rather than at Warner Bros), it probably has to do with that glitzy set you see inside the sound stage. The colorful one with the searchlights.

Because this brief walk-by wasn't the only scene they filmed at this location.

Near the end of the film, there is a fantasy montage sequence , during which we see Mia & Sebastian dance their way through a colorful, abstract Hollywood set.

It's the very same set that they look at in this scene - through the open stage door.

Here is a 360º view of the inside of Stage 6.

Here is a link to a Google Earth 3-D view
of the sound stage at Hollywood Center Studios.


    

Move on to the next movie location seen in "La La Land".

    

"La La Land" and its images are copyright Summit Entertainment
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