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

The 2014 series opens in East Los Angeles, with a scene set on the Fourth of July of 1998,
with a shot of fireworks in the night sky bursting over Dodger Stadium:

The locals on Peacock Hill are celebrating the holiday with sparklers in the street.

We see friends Ryan Lopez & Daniel Acosta there, as children, when Ryan is suddenly confronted
by Daniel's older brother (Carlos Acosta). Carlos attempts to steal the watch given to Ryan by
his dead father, and beats him when he resists.  The attack is stopped by Javier Acosta,
the powerful boss of the Los Angelicos gang, and father of the two Acosta boys.

Ryan is an orphan, and after the elder Acosta befriends him, a grateful Ryan
becomes an unofficial part of the Acosta family, and winds up working for him.

This isn't really East L.A.  It was actually shot just north of downtown,
near where Chinatown, Echo Park and Eylsian Park all touch borders.

This scene was shot at the top of the hill on the 1100 block of White Knoll Drive,
in Los Angeles, where the street turns left and goes west to a dead end.

You can indeed see Dodger Stadium from up here, if you look northeast.
In fact, the field sits stop a steep cliffside overlooking Dodger Stadium.

You can also see the skyscrapers of downtown L.A. - when you look southwest.


Sixteen years later, we see Ryan & Daniel together again (below), all grown up.
standing in an empty lot atop that same Peacock Hill, looking at the L.A. skyline.

That empty lot ("Peacock Hill") appears often on the show.

You'll find it at 1035 White Knoll Drive, Los Angeles.
The camera is looking south/southwest, towards downtown L.A.

And here is a Google StreetView of that empty lot in real life:

[ Warning: As you can see from the StreetView, the area boasts its share of
graffiti, which is sometimes a bad sign.  Exercise reasonable caution. ]

Another familiar location on the show is also introduced in the pilot episode:

The port building used as the headquarters for the LAPD's Gang Task Force,
headed by Sam Chapel, where Ryan works undercover as part of the team.

This building is located at 700 Pier A Way, down at the port of Long Beach, CA.

In the real world, it belongs to SSA Marine Terminals, and, as part of a major shipping
container facility, it houses the company's vessel operations group.

The building sits just west of the Terminal Island (47) Freeway, just before the
freeway crosses the bridge over the Cerritos Channel onto Terminal Island,
near the border between Wilmington and Long Beach, CA.

That large, green, steel structure (with the giant X), seen near the building, is
the Commodore Schuyler F. Helm Bridge (sometimes mistakenly referred to
as the Henry Ford Bridge, a railroad bridge which actually runs next to this bridge).

 On the show, a sign on the building reads "Port of Los Angeles Customs and Trade".
But real-life views of the building don't show that sign, so it was probably added.

(After that episode, they most likely built a lookalike set at the studio.)

Here is a Google StreetView of the building.
(as seen from the Terminal Island Freeway)


         

Another location seen more than once on the show is Ryan's house.

We first see it in the pilot episode, when he is brought back home
from the hospital, in a police squad car:

This house is located at 1445 Mohawk Street, in Los Angeles.
That's at the southwest corner of Mohawk & Scott Ave, on the
border between the Echo Park & Silver Lake neighborhoods.

It's about a mile northwest of the "Peacock Hill" location.

Here is a Google StreetView of the house:

[ Warning: this is a private home.  Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything to disturb the residents. ]

Finally, we come to the home of the family patriarch and gang boss, Javier Acosta.

His Spanish hacienda is seen in the pilot episode, during a family party on the patio.
A pig is roasting on a spit over the barbecue and Ryan samples his uncle's tamales.

His friend, Daniel Acosta, goes down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend, Sylvia
(for whom, it is clear, Ryan had feelings of his own).

Ryan tips his father figure, Javier, to the fact that the police know that a rival gang
are trading "fishscale" (cocaine) in Palmdale, and that it slipped through the port.

Built in 1940, on a large lot, this beautiful Spanish home is hidden away
at 1801 Country Lane, in the foothills above northeast Pasadena, CA.

The city of Pasadena, well-known for its annual Rose Bowl and Rose Parade,
is located about 15 miles northeast of downtown L.A.

         

( The house is so well camouflaged by large trees that even aerial photos don't show us much
of the estate, just enough of its red tile roof and distinctive chimneys to allow us to identify it.
 Google StreetView shows us even less, just a tiny glimpse of the red tile roof. )


[ Warning: this is a private home.  Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything to disturb the residents. ]

For information about watching TV sitcoms being taped live in the studio,
see the separate page about getting tickets to live TV tapings.