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



2011

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





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 WClark Ave, in Burbank, CA.

Starting in 2010, they also filmed outdoor scenes on the campus of the new
Bernstein High School, at 1309 NWilton 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. ]

House from House




On the show "BONES", the exterior shot above is often shown before they cut to a scene in
Bones' forensics lab. That Jeffersonian lab is supposed to be located in Washington DC,
but what you're looking at is actually the Exposition Park Rose Garden, in Los Angeles.

( Exposition Park that is home to the L.A. Olympic Coliseum and the same
Los Angeles Sports Arena seen (below) in "Mr. Sunshine". )

We're looking east in this shot, and the building in the background is the
Museum of Science & Industry (AKA the California Science Center).
at 700 State Drive, Los Angeles.


( If you turned around and looked west, across the rose garden, you would see
the Museum of Natural History, which has also appeared in a number of movies. )

( In fact, virtually all of "Bones" is filmed in L.A., not D.C.)

[By the way, Emily Deschanel, who plays "Bones", is the
older sister of
Zoey Deschanel, who stars in "New Girl".]





On the 2011 ABC sitcom, "Mr. Sunshine", Matthew Perry ('Ben') works as the manager of the fictional "Sunshine Arena", in San Diego. And it is a prime illustration of how the increased use of computer generated imagery (CGI) is making tracking down filming locations more difficult...

Naturally, it's not really in San Diego.

(In Hollywood, that almost goes without saying.)

It's in Los Angeles, of course. But where, you might ask?

Well, that depends upon which Sunshine Center you're looking for.

Confused? You should be.


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.)




             

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



For information about watching TV sitcoms being taped live in the studio, see the separate page about getting tickets to live TV tapings.











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