0:56:12: After the bridge incident, we see the taxi driving over the crest of a hill, as Vincent
tells Max to go to the El Rodeo club. The hill is lined by some rather unusual streetlights.
This scene was shot with the camera looking down (east) from the Terminal Island Freeway,
but the street we're looking at is Anaheim Street, just east of that freeway, where it arches
over Anaheim Way, at approximately 3100 E. Anaheim Street, in Wilmington, CA.
They used a telephoto lens to make the streetlights seem closer together than they really are.
Here is a matching Google StreetView of the hill, zoomed in to
create the same foreshortening compression effect.
There is a latter shot, at 0:58:20, where we see the same type of odd streetlights.
This was shot on the same street, but it's about 3/4 of a mile to the west, in the
1800 block of E. Anaheim, where the street passes over the Dominguez Channel.
Note the three funnel-like load-out bins to the right.
( Here is a Google Streetview of those three funnels and the streetlights.)
0:58:01: As they continue their drive towards the El Rodeo, and Vincent tells Max a sob
story about his childhood, we see a row of steaming smokestacks in the background.
In real life, they are heading north on the 23600 block of Alameda Street
(just north of Sepulveda Blvd), in Carson, CA.
Those smokestacks are just west of Alameda, separated from the road by a freight train track.
They are part of the BP / ARCO oil refinery, at 1801 E. Sepulveda, in Carson.
(It's on the east side of Carson, near the Long Beach border.)
(In the screencap above, the camera is looking west.)
Here is a Google StreetView of that row of smokestacks.
1:03:53: Next, Vincent makes Max drive
to the "El Rodeo" club, where
he forces Max
to pretend that he is Vincent, go into the mob club, meet with the crime lord Felix, and
retrieve a lost computer flash drive containing the names of the last two targets.
A nervous Max manages to pull off the bluff, and returns with the flash drive.
This actually is the "El Rodeo", but in real life, it's a normal
night club/Mexican
restaurant, not a gangster hangout.
The El Rodeo is located
at 8825 E. Washington Blvd,
in the
Pico Rivera area of East L.A.
Pico Rivera is a good eleven miles east of downtown L.A.,
near the cities of Downey. Montebello and Santa Fe Springs.
Here is a Google StreetView of the club's exterior today.
The club's exterior was heavily remodeled a few years after this movie was shot.
But the exterior shots of Max entering the club through the front doors
(and dealing with the bodyguards) were also filmed here.
Here's an old photo of how it used to look, before the remodel:
However, a very brief, early shot of the club's exterior, when they first pull into
the lot (and we can see a nearby oil refinery in the background), may have
been shot elsewhere. There are no oil refineries near the El Rodeo.
( It's possible, of course, that they artificially inserted the refinery later.)
And now we come to the iconic coyote scene.
As you've noticed by now, director Michael Mann has the tendency to shoot a single short
scene in several different locations, and then splice them together to create the scene.
A perfect example of that is the movie's iconic scene where Max & Vincent
watch in amazement as a trio of coyotes stroll across an L.A. city street.
while Max & Vincent are waiting at a stop light.
(Mann says the scene was based on an actual experience he had once on Fairfax.)
There are four separate locations used in this short "coyote scene" (albeit, all on the same street).
First, at 1:15:36, we see an establishing aerial shot of the taxi driving through L.A.,
as it makes its way towards the coyote encounter:
That aerial shot is looking east on W. Olympic Boulevard, in the Koreatown section of L.A.
(Olympic is an east/west street that runs about a mile south of Wilshire Blvd.)
To be more precise, the taxi heading east, approaching the intersection of
Olympic and Serrano Avenue, at approximately 3200 W. Olympic Blvd.
Here is a Google StreetView of their location.
Then, at 1:16:22, we get an early reaction shot as the guys spot the coyote,
with a palm tree-lined street seen out the taxi windows:
This palm tree scene was also shot on Olympic Blvd, but near 2500 W. Olympic,
which is more than a mile to the east of that initial aerial shot.
That palm-lined street you see in the screencaps is Arapahoe Street,
and the camera is looking north up Arapahoe, from Olympic.
Here is a matching Google StreetView of those palms.
Then, at 1:16:32, we get the actual shot of the coyotes loping across the street.
This was a very difficult location to track down, but I finally found it at the intersection
of Olympic Blvd & Vermont Avenue, at approximately 2700 W. Olympic Blvd,
which is five blocks west of the palm-lined street (despite that the taxi is headed east).
The coyotes are walking across Olympic, from north to south.
The camera is looking east/northeast.
The white building partially seen to the left in the screencap above,
is the "Word of Life Plaza" at 2707 W. Olympic Boulevard.
(They were still building it when this scene was shot.)
The building seen behind the coyote, in the screencap below,
is an El Pollo Loco, at 986 S. Vermont, with the camera looking east.
Here is a matching Google Streetview of that corner.
Finally, at 1:17:05, as they pull away from the coyote corner, there is a shot of Vincent,
and in the background, you can see what appears to be a white neon cross, atop a steeple.
In real life, that cross is atop the Berendo Street Baptist Church, at 975 Berendo Street.
They are still headed east on Olympic, in Koreatown, and are about to pass Berendo Street.
They're roughly at 2768 W. Olympic Blvd, about two blocks west of the
coyote crossing corner (despite the fact that they were going east).
The Korean minimall seen in the foreground is at the NW corner of Olympic & Berendo,
and the camera is looking north from Olympic, towards the church.
Here is a matching Google StreetView of that church steeple & minimall.
The blue map link below will show you a map with all four locations
used in this coyote scene, in relation to each other.
