Q. What is it supposed to be on the show?

A. A small Mexican market and gas station.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. Just outside of Ensenada, Mexico.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In Episode 2 (of season 4), "The Gringos".

Following Marissa's death, Ryan goes looking for Volchok in Ensenada, Mexico. Seth tags along to keep Ryan out of trouble, and leaves a cryptic note at home for the Cohens.

Along the way, they stop at a gas station and market on the outskirts of Ensenada.

We first see Seth inside the Mexican market, buying a soda, while he phones the Cohens and tells them what Ryan is up to.

We then see Seth exit the market (past a truck filled with watermelons), and walk out to the gas pumps, where he meets up with an angry Ryan, who asks takes his cell phone and throws it away in anger. Ryan asks him if he told Sandy about Volchok.  Seth admits that he did, saying he knows Ryan wants to kill Volchok. Ryan says he doesn't plan to kill Volchok, and the two head off for Ensenada.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. It really is a gas station and market, but far from Ensenada.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. It's really Jason's ARCO station (and adjacent mini-mart), located at 2211 S. Hoover Street, in Los Angeles.

That's about half a mile due north of Exposition Park & the USC campus, just a few yards south of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway. (I'm sure that most of the Spanish language signs were set dressing.)

It's on the west side of Hoover Street, between W. 22nd and W 23rd Streets. That's about six blocks north (and three blocks east) of the Ensenada bar location.

Here is a Bird's Eye view aerial photo of the gas station / mini-mart.

And here is a map link.


There are several other "Ensenada" locations in the same general area.

[ Warning: Some neighboring areas have experienced a high crime rate: exercise reasonable caution. ]

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. The street number (2211) was visible right above the door of the market (seen when Seth leaves the store), but I had no idea where the street was. I had a few minor clues. There was a rather handsome, red, two-story home behind the gas station, and a tile-roofed, yellow building across from the market. So if I knew that if found the place, it would be easy to identify it via aerial photos by those surrounding buildings. The problem was that I had no idea where to start looking...

Fortunately, when I blew up a screencap of the gas station, I could see a small red symbol on the gas pumps which looked like it could be an ARCO logo. So I Googled for "2211 and ARCO and CA", and it popped up the 2211 address on Hoover. I then took a look at the Hoover site via Live Local's aerial photos, and (voila!) there were the buildings I was looking for.