Although this movie didn't click with me right away, I always like films that are love letters to Los Angeles. This post is a mix of many different location visits both in Los Angeles and Atlanta.
The first location we'll visit is the house Russel Crowe punches out a guy having relations with an underage girl. It is located at 3975 Kenway Avenue in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles.
For the shots looking down the street, they did use some CGI to not only create some 70's smog, but to ensure they had the correct downtown skyline for that time.
Next we go to a popular filming spot in Echo Park. Russell parks across the street from 1003 Everett Street. The house that appears directly behind him when talking to the girl has already been demolished. (The main house from Drag Me To Hell is just up the street at 1031 Everett.)
We have a few LA beauty shots including The Comedy Club at 8433 Sunset Boulevard and the Sunset Tower at 8358 Sunset Boulevard.
The gas station (66-cents per gallon!) is located at 3160 Riverside Drive in Los Angeles.
We now switch to Atlanta standing in for Los Angeles. The adult theater supposed to be on Hollywood Boulevard, but is actually located at 103 Peachtree SW in Atlanta.
The hill up to the neighborhood and the empty lot is located at 5245 Veronica Street. Thanks to Tony Hoffarth for finding this spot!
At last, we get to the main house where Ryan Gosling lives with his daughter. Although the house number appears as 1271, it is actually 4255 Enoro Drive in the Baldwin Hills area of Los Angeles. I was able to track this location down by seeing a neighboring house number seen later in the film.
Next we move to city hall located at 200 North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. This scene was shot on the southwest side of the building. I didn't make a special trip to get screen specific shots, but used some from a previous visit for John Carpenter's They Live.
For the burned down house, they used a lot next to 6222 Echo Street in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles. I was able to find this spot using house numbers seen across the street later in the scene.
Next we are back on Sunset Boulevard near Horn Avenue, where they recreated Tower Records and CGI'd some great movie billboards.
They stop the car when they see the billboard. This is approximately in front of the Comedy Club on Sunset Boulevard.
A quick visit back to the house on Enoro Drive...
When they drive to the party, they pull into the Bel Air entrance at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Bel Air Road.
The party house is actually located in Atlanta. Location fail here, they were filming the day that I tried to go to this spot. It is at 5335 Northside Drive NW.
When the nice guys visit Kim Bassinger at the district attorney's office, they are actually at another popular filming spot, the John Ferraro Building, formerly known as the LA Department of Water & Power building, located at 111 North Hope Street. Some of the shots are not screen-matched as I am using pictures from a previous visit.
As they look for the apartments, to round the corner of Georgia Avenue SE and Fraser Street SE in Atlanta. The empty lot is next to the building located at 39 Georgia Ave SE. (This same intersection is featured in a flashback scene in Netflix's Ozark series.)
Not sure why I didn't get this one, so it is a Google Streetview image, but this is the same spot on North Hollywood Way in Burbank seen later in the film, but looking the opposite direction towards the airport.
The Burbank Airport Western Hotel was an easy find as this is the usual hotel I stay at when traveling. It is actually the Holiday Inn located at 150 East Angeleno in Burbank, California.
We return to Atlanta as they speed out of the parking garage located at the corner of Williams Street NW and Cone Street NW.
The alley is just west of the intersection on Williams Street NW.
For the next driving scene, the guys are driving on the East 4th Street bridge into downtown LA.
Another driving shot was pretty familiar to me as it's right by the Burbank Airport. This shot is on North Hollywood Way approaching the North San Fernando Boulevard bridge.
You would think the underpass would be the same one we were just approaching in Burbank, but no. My quick search determined that "Foothill Freeway" was a prop as none of the bridges matched up. Upon closer inspection, you can see "SOUTHERN" on the bridge, indicating it was likely in Georgia. I found the bridge just north of CNN and Olympic Park. This is the westbound North Avenue NW as it crosses under Marietta Street NW in Atlanta.
We are back at 4255 Enoro Drive for the scene where Matt Bomer shoots everything up.
We are back on the hill on Veronica Street where Amelia makes a bad decision...
Going back home in the cab, Ryan Gosling looks up at the Hollywood Tower as seen from Yucca Street.
The next day, we come back to the house. As you can guess, the palm trees at the front of the house were fake.
One of my favorite actors, Lois Smith, has a great part in this movie. It was this scene that helped me locate the house as you can clearly see the numbers behind her on the garage, at 4259 Enoro Drive.
As they unravel the mystery they drive up this street to...
... the house with the big picture window, located at 5003 Parkglen Avenue in Windsor Hills, California. Thanks to Tony Hoffarth for finding this spot!
The finale takes place at the car show. We are back in Georgia for this on at the Hilton at 255 Courtland Street NE. I took the opportunity to stay here for part of my visit to get some good pictures. Unfortunately, the area where the car show took place has been completely renovated.
I took the next shot from my hotel room window. I have also included an old aerial show to show where the pool used to be located.
Here are several more shots of the location. I did my best to screen-match, but all the additions made it difficult.
The fight continues in the conference area of the hotel, just beneath the main concourse of the Hilton.
Next we are at the front of the hotel as Ryan goes through a window and on the top of the sky-walk. Needless to say, I couldn't actually go out on top of the skywalk and as you can see, they built a platform on top of it for the movie.
More shots in front of the hotel....
....and even more shots....
And finally we return to West Hollywood, where Ryan drives down North Olive Drive to the back of the former House of Blues, located at 8430 Sunset Boulevard.
I will try to hit up more locations on future trips!
