If you've seen my older page about the filming locations of the original "Roswell" TV series, you know that show was filmed on location in Covina, California.
So, when this new reboot premiered on the CW, I decided to try
and track down the location of the NEW "Crashdown Cafe".
But since I
live in L.A., and I knew that this new series was shot in
New Mexico, I thought my chances of finding the new location were slim
and none.
Fortunately, I surprised
myself and found it, simply by going to Albuquerque, New Mexico, via Google
StreetView, and searching through town until I spotted it.
In real life, the new Crashdown Cafe is an actual diner, called
Lindy's Diner
at 500 Central Avenue, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
That's at the southwest corner of Central Ave & 5th Street.
And here is a map link.
Originally, its walls
weren't green (a Google StreetView from 2017 shows it was mostly a light
brown, with green trim), so the producers painted it green and put up those fake
"Crashdown Cafe" signs - including a neon sigh over the main corner
entrance, which covers up the actual Lindy's name.
Here is that 2017 Google StreetView of the Cafe:

However, I've seen some
recent photos (2019) that show it still painted green, so perhaps the
owners opted to keep it that color to attract fans of the show (or maybe
the producers needed to keep it green so they could return and shoot
there again).
Lindy's Diner occupies the
key corner position in what is known as the Bliss Building. Way back in
1929, it was called the Coney Island Cafe.
It became Lindy's Diner
in the 1960's, and is still going strong.

As for the interior shots of
the Crashdown Café, I'm not sure whether these were shot inside Lindy's
diner, or at some other location. It's typical for a new show to shoot the pilot
episode on location, and then for the studio to build an identical set
on a sound stage to use for the rest of the show's run.

On the one hand, I see some shots in the pilot that look like they were shot
from inside Lindy's diner, showing what looks like their ornate
ceiling, and identical views out the windows (that perfectly match what I
see in the Google StreetViews).

But if they did shoot inside Lindy's, the set decorators really did a job on the interior,
because it doesn't look much like the usual inside of Lindy's.
It's been
redone in a '50s diner effect, complete with red stools at the counter, a
checkerboard floor, neon tubes, different tables and chairs, and a jukebox.
In other words, it doesn't look at all like the regular interior of
Lindy's diner, as you can see for yourself in this photo:

But never underestimate the magic of Hollywood when it comes to remaking an interior to look the way they want it to look
So, given the matching views, my hunch is that they did indeed film
those interior pilot-episode scenes inside the diner, but I can't
guarantee it.
Here is the diner's Facebook Page

Now, what about the Sheriff's Office?
That was filmed right around the corner from the cafe, on 5th Street, in an empty storefront along the east-facing side of the same Bliss Building.
The simple storefront is between 109 & 111 5th Street.
They added a vertical
"Sheriff" sign just to the right of the doorway, added a fake "sheriff's parking" sign, and put up venetian
blinds on the windows to block the view inside - and that was about it.
Instant Sheriff's Station.
Here is a Google StreetView of that Sheriff's Office storefront:
A later scene in the
pilot episode, of a car's windows suddenly exploding (thanks to the powers of Michael), was also shot right here,
in the middle of 5th Street, with the camera looking northeast.

The brick building in the background, with all the windows, is at
420 Central Ave, although were looking at the 5th Street side of it
Here is a matching StreetView:

But wait.
Just when I thought I had firmly established the location of the Crashdown Café, they went and moved it on me!
When
I watched the second episode of the show, I immediately noticed that
the Crashdown Café seen was not the same Crashdown Café. It didn't
even have green walls this time, it had pink ones, as you can see in the screencap below: I
had heard that after the pilot episode was shot, the show had moved
production from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Las Vegas, New Mexico. So,
that's where I started looking for the new Crashdown Café.
Fortunately,
that first establishing shot of the new building made it easy for me,
because you could also see the name of a business right across the
street from the café: "Korte's". So all I had to do was Google for that
name and its address, then use StreetView to look at that general area.
And sure enough, the building used as the new Crashdown Café was right across the street. 
In real life, it turned out to be "Plaza Drugs", a vintage drugstore, which can be found at 178 Bridge Street, in Las Vegas, New Mexico (not Las Vegas, Nevada).
( That's about 50 miles northeast of Albuquerque. )
Here is a Google Street view of the new Crashdown Café exterior:
In that establishing shot above,we are looking at the west-facing side of the building.
It is located on the east side of a traffic circle, which surrounds Plaza Park, the center of Las Vegas's Old Town district.
(
As an L.A. resident, it reminds me a lot of Old Town Orange,
California, which is also seen in a number of productions, including
"That Thing You Do" and "American Horror Story: Cult". )
.
The drugstore is located on the east/northeast side of that traffic circle, at a three-way intersection of Bridge Street, S. Gonzalez Street, and Plaza Street.
A little research shows that this plaza dates all the way back to before
the Mexican-American war, when the town was part of Mexico,
before American troops arrived in 1846 arrived to seize it from Mexico.
But, since this location is a drugstore and not a restaurant, in real
life, it would at first appear that there would be no possibility that they actually could shoot any
interior scenes in the store. Instead, no doubt they will use the
building only for exterior shots, and then shoot the interiors on a set at the studio.
However, I later learned that
(like Watson Drugs in Old Town Orange), this vintage drug store also
includes a retro dining area, complete with an old-fashioned soda
fountain:
But doesn't look much like the
Crashdown interior (it has wood floors, and even a wooden "cigar-store
Indian"), so I still doubt that they'll use it for interiors - but it's
worth mentioning.
|