Episode 7

The actual Southern California locations where
"True Detective" was filmed.

Episode 1  -  Episode 2  -  Episode 3  -  Episode 4
Episode 5  -  Episode 6  -  Episode 7  -  Episode 8

At 12:21, the kidnapper/killers' car pulls onto the freeway, with Caspere inside.

At 30:05, Detective Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams) and Ray go to visit her oddball father at
"The Panticapaeum Institute", where he appears to be some kind of spirtual leader / guru.

She warns him that his other daughter (her sister) is getting into porn, but he doesn't
really seem to care.  It's clear that the two of them do not get along.

In real life, this is Wayfarer's Chapel, a wonderful little glass & wood church built
into the side of the forested, rolling hills of Palos Verdes, overlooking the Pacific.

Although it is depicted on the show as the home of an Eastern cult, in reality, the
church was built by a small Christian denomination known as Swedenborgianism.

Its address is 5755 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula is an affluent area located in the South Bay
section of Los Angeles, in the hills west of the L.A. harbor.

Not surprisingly, this chapel has been used in quite a few Hollywood
productions.  You can read more about it here.

Here is a Google StreetView of the Chapel's steeple.
(The chapel itself is hidden in a cluster of redwoods.)

At 31:45, we see Ray follow an L.A. Times reporter to his apartment house.

The reporter has written an exposé about Vinci, angering its bosses.

The apartment house seen above is at 15464 Moorpark Street, in Sherman Oaks.
(That's in the San Fernando Valley.)

Here is a Google StreetView of that first apartment house.

Ray puts on a mask, warns an addict nearby to stay quiet, then follows the reporter
up to his room, where he beats him up and puts him in the hospital.

But if you check out the scene below carefully, you'll note that the reporter doesn't
actually go into the apartment house seen above.  Instead, he climbs the stairs
of another apartment house, nearby.

The apartment house where the reporter climbs the stairs is actually
on the opposite side of the street, at 15445 Moorpark Street.

And here is a Google StreetView of that second apartment house.

[ Warning: These are private apartments.  Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their doors, or do anything that might disturb the residents. 

At 44:18, Ray once again shows his violent side.

Angered that his son was bullied by a boy at school, Ray shows up at the kid's house,
and beats the hell out of the boy's father, in front of the family.

This house is located at 19825 Needles Street, in Chatsworth, CA.

That's also in the San Fernando Valley, but near the northwest corner of it,
about 10 miles northwest of the reporter's apartment 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 Google StreetView of the house.

At 49:00, we see the interior of a dark dive bar where Ray and Frank meet regularly
to discuss their violent business, get drunk, and listen to gloomy songs
(such as My Least-Favorite Life) sung by a female balladeer.

At 57:29, we finally glimpse the outside of the bar (below).

It sits right next to a railroad crossing,
and a sign on the building's exterior reads "The Black Rose".

But in real life, the "Black Rose" doesn't exist - the sign is fake.

That brief glimpse of the outside of the building actually shows us a small building at
2465 East 53rd Street, in (where else?) Vernon, CA, right next to a railroad
crossing, at the northwest corner of Malbar Street & 53rd Street.

(That's about a mile southeast of the Vernon water tower.)

And, oh yes, it's not really a bar.

This small building used to sport a sign on its side reading "Central Electric Motor".
But that sign has since been removed, and there are currently no markings on the building.

(I have no idea where they filmed the interiors of the Black Rose
- that may well be just a studio set.)

Here is a Google StreetView of the exterior location.

Finally, at 59:01, we see spot where the police find the body of Vinci City Manager
Ben Caspere, just off a beach highway, up near Ventura.  His body is propped up in
a sitting position. His eyes have been burned out, and his genitals are missing...

This investigation brings together our three cops: Ray (who represents the city of Vinci, from which
Caspere is missing), Paul (who found Caspere's body while out on his motorcycle),
and Ani (who represents Ventura, the place where the body was found).

The camera pulls back from the murder scene to show an aerial view of the location:

This actually is in Ventura County, up the coast about 30 miles northwest of the Malibu Pier.

This spot is Point Magu.  Not the Point Magu State Park or the Point Magu Air Station,
but Point Magu: the actual point (as you can see above).

The spot is located around 799 Pacific Coast Highway,
 just south of the town of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard.

(It's about a mile west of the spot where Paul pulled over the actress.)

Here is a great Google StreetView of the exact spot.

And here is a matching Google Earth aerial shot.