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


1990-1991


- One of the most charming things about the 1991 Steve Martin
romantic comedy
"FATHER OF THE BRIDE,"
(besides Kimberly Williams, of course) was the home where 'George Banks'
and his family lived. In the movie, it was supposed to be in San Marino,
CA. In fact, it was actually a few blocks northwest of that town,
in the southern section of Pasadena. The address is 843 S. El Molino Ave.,
in Pasadena. The house
was also used in the 1995 sequel, "FATHER OF THE BRIDE 2."


- And speaking of Steve...Remember the scene in the
1991 comedy "L.A. STORY,"
where Steve Martin roller skated
through the marble halls of an art museum? Well, that museum was the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA),
in Hancock Park (5905 Wilshire).
In that same movie ("L.A. STORY")
Steve Martin later roller-skated through a second museum, this one
filled with abstract art. That was the Museum
of Contemporary Art (MOCA),
at 350 S. Grand, in downtown L.A. 

- "L.A. STORY"
also features both interior and exterior shots of the Hard Rock
Cafe (at the Beverly Center),
during the scene where a nervous Steve Martin
first dates the much younger Sandy (Sarah Jessica
Parker). It's the glitzy burger restaurant where she writes
her name on the palm of his hand ("SanDeE*") while munching french fries.


- In "HOT SHOTS,"
the 1991 spoof of "Top Gun," with Charlie Sheen,
the funeral scene
was
shot at the lake in Hollywood
Memorial Cemetery, next to Paramount Studios (at Santa Monica Boulevard
and Bronson Avenue) in Hollywood.
A scene from Steve Martin's "L.A. STORY"
(involving a funny gravedigger and a "Hamlet" take-off)
was also shot there.
And recently, a 1999 episode of the TV sitcom "FRAISER"
was shot there; in the scene, Fraiser's dad surprises Fraiser and his brother
Niles by buying them cemetery plots. (Look close, and you can see the back
wall of one of the Paramount Studio buildings behind the Cranes in that
scene.) 

In
that same movie ("HOT SHOTS"),
the aircraft carrier (which was supposed to be out at sea) was actually
a large outdoor set built on dry land, on the former site of the old Marineland
of the Pacific theme park, a hilltop location which overlooks
the ocean (on Palos Verdes Drive, south of Hawthorne Boulevard, in Rancho
Palos Verdes).
The
old "SEA HUNT" TV series
with Lloyd Bridges was also filmed
there - back when Marineland was still open. And
scenes from the current "CHARLIE'S ANGELS" movie
were shot there recently (just southeast of Point Vincente Park, which
is at 31501 Palos Verdes Drive West.) 

 The
Beverly Center mall
in west Los Angeles (8500 Beverly Blvd.) pops up in movies now and
then, in part because of its eccentric exterior, conspicuous for its twisting,
glass-tube escalators.
Most notably, the mall starred in the Woody Allen
/ Bette Midler
1991 comedy, "SCENES FROM A MALL."
The exterior shots were done there, but the interior scenes were
shot at Stamford Town Center in Connecticut, chosen because it resembled
the Beverly Center. 


Speaking
of malls, during the opening credits of the 1990 action/comedy "KINDERGARTEN COP,"
Arnold Schwarzenegger stands atop a
bridge in an upscale shopping mall and looks down at a blue pool below.
Then he follows the bad guy through the mall and eventually busts him.
That scene was shot at the MainPlace/Santa Ana
mall, near Disneyland (2800 N. Main Street, Santa Ana). 

- That same MainPlace
mall in Santa Ana was the setting for an early scene in the 1994 sci-fi
thriller "TIMECOP, " starring
Jean-Claude Van Damme, where he
follows his wife up an escalator while the two flirt as if they didn't
know each other.



- Remember the fancy restaurant in 1990's "PRETTY WOMAN,"
where Julia Roberts accidentally
tossed an escargot shell across the dining room - only to have it caught
by a waiter ("slippery little devils!") ?
Well, that posh restaurant was Rex Il Restorante,
one of the city's most expensive restaurants (at 617 Olive Street), in
downtown L.A. Its space now houses Cicada restaurant,
owned by Elton John's lyricist, Bernie Taupin.



- And speaking of "PRETTY WOMAN,"
the final scene of that movie saw Richard Gere
returning to 'rescue' Julia Roberts,
Cinderella-style, from the balcony/fire escape of the shabby Hollywood
motel where she was living. That rundown motel was exactly that - in real-life
it's called the Las Palmas Hotel,
and it's located at 1738 N Las Palmas Ave, in Hollywood, just a block
north of Hollywood Blvd (right before Yucca St.).


 In
1990's "BAD INFLUENCE,"
Rob Lowe and James Spader
are seen talking near theactual La Brea Tar Pits
and walking through the nearby Page Museum. Later in the movie, Spader
dumps a woman's body into the Tar Pits, which are located in Hancock Park
(5801 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles) 
1920's
- 1930's - 1940's
- 1950's - 1960's
- 1970's - 1980's
- 1990 - 1991
- 1992 - 1993
- 1994
1995 - 1996
- 1997 - 1998
- 1999 - 2000
- 2001 - 2002
- 2003 - 2004
- 2005 - 2006
- 2007
- 2007
2009 -
2010 -
2011 -
2012 -
2013
* Locations marked by an asterisk (*)
may be located in areas with high crime rates.
Exercise reasonable caution.
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