|
The
location:
"Chino" in Lawndale.
Q. What is it supposed to be on the show? A. Ryan's former
home town of Chino.
Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show? A. Chino, California. Chino is a small city located east of Los Angeles, south of Pomona. (Here is a map link to the real Chino. And a map to that city's official website.) But the show
wasn't really filmed in Chino.
Q. When did we see it on the show?
A. For this location of "Chino":
Q. What is it actually in real life? A. A lower income
residential neighborhood.
Q. Where can I find it in real life?
A. It's not in the real Chino. The O.C.'s "Chino"
is actually made up of several different locations around L.A., including
Venice, East
L.A., and Sun Valley. These
particular scenes were shot in the city of Lawndale, which is located
in the South Bay, less than a mile east of Manhattan
Beach Studios (where The O.C. is filmed). (There is something
of an economic sea change as you pass from Lawndale into Manhattan Beach,
but the two towns do border each other.) Here's a map
of Lawndale. Warning:
Remember
that these are private homes. Don't trespass on their property,
(I shot
the two photos below in 2006.)
Warning:
Remember
that these are private homes. Don't trespass on their property, Other "Chino" scenes in other episodes were shot in other parts of L.A., including Venice, East L.A. & Sun Valley.
Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was? A. The Lawndale homes were difficult to locate. I got lucky, insofar as the "church", when seen on the show, had a visible house number on the outside (14916). But I didn't know which street or in what city. Since it is no longer a church (if it ever was), Googling didn't work. Fortunately, the way L.A. is laid out, virtually all homes with house numbers in the 14900's are located just south of 149th Street. Now that isn't a huge help, because 149th Street runs all the way from Compton to the ocean. But many of the neighborhoods it passes through are too upscale to qualify for these scenes - including most of those west of the 405. So I decided to start close to the Manhattan Beach Studio and work my way east. And sure enough, after lots of looking, I managed to track them down. A personal drive past the homes confirmed that they were the same ones. Finding Theresa's family home was even more difficult. I knew the house number, but not the street or the neighborhood. Since most of the Chino scenes in that episode were shot in East L.A., I spent most of my time looking there for her house. Eventually, I decided to look in Lawndale, but I only had a few clues to go on. I knew there was a white picket fence across the street, but the aerial photos of the area were too small to show that detail. Fortunately, I also spotted a mail box on a corner (behind Marissa's head) in one house scene, and a yellow line on the street in front of the house. So I scoured aerial maps of Lawndale for a mailbox on a street with a broken yellow line, and eventually found that mailbox at the corner of 127th and Mansel. Then I went there in person to confirm that it was the right place.
By
Episode - By Category - By
Geographical Location - Clickable Map - Aerials THE
O.C. screenshots from the show and all related characters & elements
are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. |
|