Filming Locations of Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy

The Actual Southern California Locations where 2004's
"Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" was filmed.

Although "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" is supposed to be set
in San Diego, it wasn't filmed there. As usual, the majority of the scenes were filmed
in greater Los Angeles, mostly in Long Beach, CA. Oh, they drop in an occasional
view of San Diego to set the stage, but then quickly cut back to L.A.

Here's an early example: Just as the movie starts, a Channel 4 news
helicopter hovers over the real San Diego, but when it lands in
the very next scene, it lands on Ocean Blvd in Long Beach.

That interesting round tower we see in the background when the copter
is landing, is actually Long Beach's International Tower building,
a condo located at 700 E. Ocean Blvd. It somewhat resembles
the Capitol Records Building.

[That same International Tower was seen at the start of the original "Lethal Weapon",
in the scene where a girl jumps out a window to her death.]

In the same landing scene, right in front of the copter is a building with a sign reading "Esquire Hotel". That's a fake sign. The building is really the Long Beach Towers apartments, at 600 E. Ocean Blvd.

And the street sign that reads "Main Street"?
Also fake. That side street is actually Atlantic Ave. (in Long Beach).

Next, we come to the scene where Ron (Will Ferrell) and the Channel 4 newscasters
are walking in a park, discussing the new co-worker (Christina Applegate),
when they encounter the rival Channel 9 news team and exchange silly insults.
That scenw was filmed in "Shoreline Aquatic Park", an oceanside park at
Shoreline Drive & Aquarium Way, in Long Beach.

The park is next to the Aquarium of the Pacific, and is across a narrow channel from
Shoreline Village, a Long Beach entertainment center. The red-roofed building
you see in the background (behind the green knoll) is Parker's Lighthouse,
a large restaurant at 435 Shoreline Village Drive.

(The location is not far from where they filmed the helicopter scene.).

Shoreline Village and Parker's Lighthouse

The memorable scene on the bridge, where the biker (Jack Black) throws
Ron's dog ('Baxter') off the bridge, was shot on the Queens Way Bridge,
also in Long Beach.

This bridge leads from the Shoreline Park area, across the bay, to the Queen Mary
(which is now permanently docked in Long Beach as a hotel & tourist attraction).

Hence the name "Queens Way".

The Old Zoo in Griffith Park - seen in Anchorman

Now, about those "San Diego Zoo" scenes and the insane finale
involving a battle with kodiak bears...

Forget the signs saying "San Diego Zoo", it wasn't filmed there.
It wasn't even filmed at the Los Angeles Zoo. Neither zoo
would let them shoot there for as long as it would take.

But before the current Los Angeles Zoo existed, there was an older Zoo nearby in Griffith Park
(which had opened in 1912, and closed down when the new Zoo opened in 1966.)

The Old Zoo is still with us. It's located about amile south of the modern L.A. Zoo,
just northwest of the Grifith Park Merry-Go-Round, off Griffith Park Drive.

For the movie's zoo scenes, they just brushed off the old zoo,
put up some fake signs, and shot it there.

There is a picnic area there now, with tables placed around the obsolete zoo cages.
Old Zoo Trail can be reached from the parking lot of the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round.

[ Griffith Park's main entrance is located at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive.
And the modern L.A. Zoo is located at 5333 Zoo Drive. ]

So what about all those indoor shots of the Channel 4 Newsroom?

The entire News Station set was built inside the Seeley Furniture Warehouse,
which is located at 1800 S. Brand Blvd (at San Fernando Road), in Glendale, CA.
(Not surprisingly, that is only about two miles southeast of the L.A. Zoo, and
a stone's throw away from the entrance to Forest Lawn.)

"I'm Ron Burgundy. You stay classy, San Diego."

The photos on this page are stills from the DVD of "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy "
(which you can buy by clicking here) and are copyright Universal Pictures.