Burlesque Filming Locations (with Cher and Christina Aguilera)
Part 1
The
Actual Southern California Locations where the
2010 musical, "Burlesque",
was filmed.
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They really had me going, for
a while, when it came to the location of the main burlesque club in this
movie...
When Ali (Christina Aguilera)
first spots the Burlesque Lounge, they
show her across the street, and the address
on the building behind her reads "8083 Sunset Boulevard". So
that's it, right? Wrong! It's a fake address.
They wanted us to think it
was on the Sunset Strip. But it isn't.
They even inserted the usual
Sunset hilltop view of the cityscape behind the club. (Another fake.)
But I had no way of knowing
that, at first, so naturally I spent ages searching up and down the Sunset
Strip,
looking for that tale-tale stairway on the right side of the building.
Of course, I didn't find
it on the Strip.
I finally tracked it down about
3 miles across town, in the old heart of Hollywood.
The building is actually the
Ricardo Montalban Theatre,
located just south of the famous corner of Hollywood & Vine,
at 1615 Vine Street, in Hollywood.
Both the staircase and the parking lot (where Cher and Kristen
Bell get into a fight) are real, and are
on the north side of the building. Even that arched, wrought-iron
sign is real (but not the neon name).
What is today the Ricardo Montalban
Theatre was built in back 1926 by director Cecil B. De Mille, and was
known as the Vine Street Theatre. In 1936, it became the CBS/Lux Radio
Playhouse. In the 1950's, it
was renamed The Huntington Hartford Theatre. In the '60s, it became the
Doolittle Theatre. It stayed
the Doolittle until 2004, when the late actor Ricardo Montalban
(think "Fantasy Island" and
"Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan") bought it, in an effort
to encourage young Hispanic actors.
Remember the first
hotel that Ali stays at when she arrives in L.A.?
The one where she hides her money in the toilet tank (and later returns
to find it stolen)?
When she looks out the hotel
window, she see's Grauman's Chinese Theatre
right across the street. So it's on Hollywood Blvd, right? Wrong.
This is actually the Hotel Rosslyn,
located at 112 W. 5th Street
(at Main), in downtown Los Angeles,
a good 8 miles southeast of Grauman's Chinese...
The fake view of Grauman's
was probably really shot from the Hollywood
Roosevelt Hotel, which is right across the street from Grauman's, and which somewhat resembles
the Rosslyn.
Built in 1913, the Rosslyn
was a prime hotel in the 1920's, but by the 60's had degenerated into a
skid row dump.
In 2010, they renovated the old hotel and turned it into "The Rosslyn
Lofts". The hotel has appeared in a number of
other Hollywood productions, such as "No Ordinary Family", "Life
on Mars" and "Moonlight", and even had
the starring role in a lesser-known Mel Gibson movie, "Million Dollar
Hotel".
In a later scene, 'Jack' (Cam
Gigandet) gets into a long-distance fight with his old girlfriend, Natalie,
during a wedding party, in a very opulent
setting that may remind some of a Catholic church.
The reason is that it was a Catholic church.
In fact, it was the main Cathedral of Los Angeles for over 100 years.
This used to be Saint Vibiana's Cathedral,
located at 214 S. Main Street,
in downtown Los Angeles.
St. Vibiana's was built in 1876, at the corner of Main & 2nd Street,
and served the community well.
However, the section of the city where it stood eventually became part
of Skid Row. And when
the church was damaged by earthquakes, they gave up on it. The Church built
a new, modern
Cathedral nearby, and (shame on them) tried to tear down the beautiful
old Cathedral.
Fortunately, after many protests, the historic building was saved.
But it's no longer a church.
It was deconsecrated and is now simply called "Vibiana".
It is available for event rentals - such as this movie shoot. (See its
website at vibianala.com)
[ Warning: This
is a private home. Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything else that might disturb the residents.
]
The Spanish-style apartment
shared by Ali & Jack (Christina and Cam Gigandet)
looks real, doesn't it? I thought it was. But we got fooled
again....
Turns out this building isn't
real. It was a temporary set built against the side of a sound
stage at Sony Studios, in Culver
City. (It has since been redone to look like a New York street.)