Ruby Sparks - Filming Locations

The Southern California locations where
"Ruby Sparks" was filmed.

"Ruby Sparks" was filmed entirely in Los Angeles, most of it in the Los Feliz and Hollywood areas.

The modern, white home where the writer 'Calvin' (Paul Dano) lives (and where he creates 'Ruby') is
located in the hills above Los Feliz Blvd, below Griffith Park, at 4822 Glencairn Road, Los Angeles.

Likewise, the scene where Calvin & Ruby go swimming in their clothes appears to have
been filmed at the narrow swimming pool in the back of this same Los Feliz house.

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

Here is a matching Google StreetView of the house.

'Calvin' first meets 'Ruby' (Zoe Kazan) in Griffith Park, where he walks his dog.

In fact, while he is still just imagining her at his typewriter, there is a scene where
she is riding a bicycle. That scene was shot in the Ferndell section of Griffith Park.

This same Ferndell trail was used for the scene of 'Calvin' and his brother
out jogging and walking his dog.

Ferndell is one of the most pleasant parts of Griffith Park, a gentle half-mile trail winding its
way though a narrow, shady, man-made oasis of dense lacy ferns, meandering brooks,
small bridges, trickling waterfalls, stone planters, and towering redwood and maple trees.

The walking path runs parallel to Ferndell Drive (on its west side). You'll find the
entrance to the Ferndell Trail at the northeast corner of Black Oak Drive
& Ferndell Drive, behind a wrought-iron gate.

Here is a Google StreetView of the entrance to the Ferndell trail.

Calvin finds out that Ruby is real during a date with a book groupie at a sidewalk café.

Ruby approaches their table, sees that Calvin is meeting another woman,
and understandably reacts negatively. Calvin assumes that Ruby is just
in his imagination, and that other people can't see her - so he is shocked
to discover that everyone can see Ruby.

This scene was shot at the Figaro Café, at 1802 N. Vermont Ave, in the Los Feliz district.
That's on the east side of Vermont, between Franklin & Prospect.

(The same café also appeared in the 2003 movie "S.W.A.T.")

Here is a Google StreetView of the restaurant.
And here's a rare Google inside view - feel free to move around.

The scene where they go watch an outdoor screening of a campy zombie movie was
shot at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd, in Hollywood,
the final resting place of many stars, from Rudolph Valentino to Douglas Fairbanks.

And yes, they really do hold outdoor movie screenings at the cemetery.
The program is known as Cinespia, and the movies are projected on
the side of the mausoleum where Valentino is buried.

(Here is a Google StreetView of the gates to the park.)

His mother's eccentric house is supposed to be in Big Sur, but its actually in
the Hollywood Hills, at 7710 Woodrow Wilson Drive, Los Angeles.

The wacky roof slide and treehouse seem to be real (take a look at the aerial photos).

That's not surprising, when you consider that the house once belonged to Sid Krofft
(of "Sid & Marty Krofft" fame), who produced wildly fanciful TV shows for kids back
in the '70s & '80s, including "H.R. Pufnstuf", "Lidsville" and "Land of the Lost"

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

After Calvin tweaks his new creation so that she will want to spend more time with him,
he finds that she is now ridiculously clingy, paranoid and dependent.

In one scene, they are walking together in a crowd, with her holding his hand,
when they come to an intersection. After he crosses the street, he realizes
that she is no longer with him. He looks back to see that she is still on the
other side of the street, semi-hysterical because he let go of her hand.

That intersection is none other than Hollywood & Highland, the new center of Hollywood.

They are walking west on the south side of Hollywood Blvd, and they cross
Highland Ave from the southeast corner of that intersection to the southwest corner.
(In the screenshot above, the camera is looking east.)

(That's from Ripley's Believe it or Not museum to the large Souvenirs of Hollywood store.)

Here is a Google StreetView panorama of the intersection.

The movie theatre where they try to buy tickets (just prior to that crosswalk scene) is
none other than the historic Egyptian Theatre, at 6712 Hollywood Blvd, in Hollywood.

Here is a Bing StreetSide view of the theatre.

Langdon Tharp's party house - where Ruby is about to go for a swim in her underwear with the author,
when Calvin interrupts them and gets jealous - was shot at the landmark John Sowden House, a 1926
eccentric creation of architect Lloyd Wright. It resembles a Mayan temple.

The house is located at 5121 Franklin Avenue, in the Los Feliz district.

( You can see photos of the interior here. )

Here's a Google StreetView for the location.

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

Near the end, there is a scene in a book store where Calvin is reading his new novel (The Girlfriend) aloud
to an appreciative audience. There appears to be a tree growing in the middle of the bookstore.

This scene was filmed inside Skylight Books, at 1818 N. Vermont Ave, in Los Feliz.

(And yes, that tree is actually there, inside Skylight Books.)

Here's a Google StreetView of the shop.

Other filming locations in the movie include:

The arcade where they play: Family Amusement Corp, at 876 N. Vermont Ave.

The restaurant where Calvin and his brother talk: El Coyote Restaurant, at 7312 Beverly Blvd.

The golf course where Calvin & his brother play golf: Harding Golf Course, at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive.

The traffic jam: created in the Los Angeles Zoo parking lot, at 5333 Zoo Drive, in Griffith Park.

Calvin's Q&A Session: inside a theater at the Hammer Museum, at 10899 Wilshire Blvd.

The photos on this page are stills from "Ruby Sparks"
(which you can buy by clicking here) and are copyright Paramount.