There were three (count 'em, three) different schools appearing in the role
of the fictional Brookside High School in filming this movie.

And only one of them was an actual high school. The other two were middle schools.

All three, of course, were in the Los Angeles area, but spread out
(as Randy Newman might say) "from the South Bay to the Valley..."

The most obvious one in the movie's trailer, what seems to be the main school front
of Brookside High is John Burroughs Middle School, at 600 S. McCadden Place,
(between Wilshire & 6th St), in the Hancock Park section of Los Angeles.

(In the screencap above, the camera is looking east/southeast from McCadden, at the Administration Building.)

(Here is a Google StreetView panorama of the same view.)

The hallways scenes with the green woodwork (seen below) were also shot at John Burroughs.

This is the location for the first scenes in the movie where Nova walks in the front door
of the school and talks to her friends (about the prom) in front of the lockers.

But hold on, we're about to shift locations - moving about 27 miles to the southwest...

The classroom interview scenes (one example is seen below), were shot in the English teacher's
classroom at Lakewood High School, 4400 Briercrest Ave, in Lakewood, CA.

It's the only one of the three schools in this film that is an actual high school.
Quite a few other scenes were shot at Lakewood High as well... Stay tuned.

(Here is a Google StreetView panorama of the school's exterior.)

(For those unfamiliar with the city of Lakewood, it's just north of Long Beach.)

But look out, here comes the third school...

For this one, we need to travel about 47 miles northwest of Lakewood, to the San Fernando Valley.

See the athletic field scene below?  The field with the tall trees in the background?

Those outdoor scenes were filmed at Holmes Middle School,
at 9351 Paso Robles Ave, in Northridge, CA.

That cheerleader scene was shot on the grassy field on the west side of the school.
In that screenshot, the camera is looking south/southwest towards that cluster of trees.
(The street seen through the chain link fence is Wish Avenue.)

This is the same football field where the shed (full of prom decorations) burns to the ground,
and where the principal tells Jesse he has to help Nova rebuild everything.

(Here is a Google StreetView panorama of the school's athletic field.)

So... it can get a little confusing, distinguishing three different school locations in one movie...

Take, for example, the high school auditorium seen below.

That was shot in the auditorium at Lakewood High School.

(Here is a Google StreetView panorama of LHS auditorium's exterior.)

And so was the scene below, the brief glimpse (through a blue filter) of the kids running through a kitchen.
That was shot in the cafeteria kitchen at Lakewood High School. (The scenes of Jesse & Nova sneaking
into the rival school prom - and being chased through the halls by the janitor - we all at Lakewood.)

But then, we're suddenly back in the Valley, for an outdoor scene with Jesse  on a motorcycle.
That scene was shot on the same athletic field at Holmes Middle School.

No doubt, you're seeing a pattern emerge here...

But, for better or worse, it's not quite that simple.

The hallway scenes, for instance, were divided up between both Burroughs and Lakewood.
The halls at Burroughs have green doors and woodwork, and slightly arched ceilings.
The  halls at Lakewood have tile walls, and the lockers are flush with wall.

And the outdoor quad scenes, where you see students milling around in back of the school,
were also split between Burroughs and Lakewood. You can easily tell them apart because
Burroughs is brick while the more modern Lakewood High isn't.

Obviously, this final quad scene (below) was shot at Burroughs.

And then, of course, there are the scenes not shot at any of those schools...

Like this funny scene of the truck ripping down Lloyd's banner:

This filming location is nowhere near the other three. It's way over near Pasadena, CA.

Less than two miles north of the Rose Bowl (yes, that Rose Bowl), just above the Foothill (210) Freeway,
you'll find a divided street named Oak Grove Drive, in the town of Altadena. At one point, Oak Grove
passes under a small road named Yucca Lane. And it's here that they filmed the truck scene.

Lloyd is standing up on Yucca Lane, on an overpass, looking down west at Oak Grove Drive below. The truck
is heading west on Oak Grove Drive, and Lloyd's would-be prom date (Jen) is driving east on that same street.

In real life, the truck and the car couldn't pass each other like that, since they are both on the same
(south) side of a divided road - and traffic in both lanes of that side of Oak Grove can only go east.
But for the sake of the scene, they pretended it was a two-way street...

In the screencap above, Lloyd is looking west, and the camera is looking east, up from Oak Grove.
(Here is a matching Google StreetView panorama.)

In the screencap below, he's still looking west, but now the camera is also down looking west, from Yucca.)
(Here is a matching Google StreetView panorama.)

That's the end of the first trailer...

But here are some extra location shots from the second "PROM" trailer:

In the second trailer, they stuck with John Burroughs Middle School, but opted for a slightly different opening
shot, using the school's 6th Street side (the North Building) this time, instead of the Administration Building.

(Here is a Google StreetView panorama of the same view.)

Below is a night shot with prom-goers entering what would seem to be the dance in the gym.
That brick building is also at Burroughs, but is actually the school Auditorium,
which faces west onto McCadden (just south of the Administration building).

(Here is a Google StreetView panorama of the same view.)

And, obviously, the outdoor quad shot below is at Burroughs. It was shot behind the Administration
building, near the northwest corner of the school campus. (The camera is looking west).

(Here's an aerial photo of the quad.)

They stay at Burroughs for this hallway scene (note the green woodwork and lockers).

But then they shift again to the Valley and Holmes Middle School, for this outdoor shot.
(The camera seems to be facing south, across that same athletic field.)

The art studio seen below, where Jesse and Nova are forced to work together to construct
prom decorations, was filmed in the art teacher's classroom at Lakewood High School.

And we stay at Lakewood High (the science classroom) for this funny scene in the science lab.

Lakewood is on a roll, now, as this library scene was also shot at LHS (in their library, of course),
It's the scene where Lloyd meets Betsy (and gets shot down again).

How about this somewhat mysterious fountain shot? That fountain eventually winds up in the prom,
but this particular scene was filmed back in the art teacher's classroom at Lakewood High.

This final shot (below) isn't in either of the trailers, but was on the official Disney "PROM" website:

It's an outdoor quad shot, but doesn't appear to be Burroughs. So what do you think?
Lakewood High or Hughes Middle School?
.
.
.
.
.

If you said Lakewood High, congratulations!

Next, now that the DVD is out, we'll take a look at the scenes which weren't in the trailers...
including the party house, Jesse's house, Simone's house,
the motorcycle scenes, the malt shop, and the Stick Hippo concert...

The photos on this page are stills from "PROM"
(which you can buy by clicking here) and are copyright Walt Disney Pictures.

The rest of the page is Copyright © 2020-Gary Wayne / Seeing-Stars.com