If they gave out Oscars for best use of Southern California locations, we know who the big winner would be at this year’s Academy Awards.
Because even if you haven’t seen “Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood,” writer-director Quentin Tarantino’s ode to the film industry’s company town circa 1969, you probably know it’s a non-stop travelogue through the town of the title and surrounding environs.
But it’s not the only locally shot film with a nomination: There are three up for a best picture Academy Award — not to mention plenty from Oscar’s 91-year history. (That said, if you came to this article looking for “Parasite” and “1917” locales, you’ll be lost.)
Some of these locations you can find and use as backdrops for your Instagram selfies, others are more difficult to access, but all of them are there for the finding on screens.
So we’ll look at this year’s nominees before scrolling back through the years at some of the other best picture winners shot in Southern California.
The 2020 nominees
‘Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood’: The film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt uses many real-life locations, and some are places where you can still get a cocktail and a meal. Musso & Frank Grill (6667 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood) probably gets the most screen time of any of these places but you can also visit Casa Vega (13301 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks), and El Coyote Cafe (7312 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles).
Of the non-noshing locations, you can visit include the Cinerama Dome (6360 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles), now part of the ArcLight Cinema; the Cameron Nature Preserve at Puerco Canyon (3501 Puerco Canyon Rd., Malibu) where DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton films an episode of “The FBI”; and Corriganville Park (7001 Smith Rd., Simi Valley) stands in for the Manson Family’s old HQ at Spahn Ranch, which was destroyed in a fire though you can still visit that actual location inside the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park.
‘Marriage Story’: Noah Baumbach’s bicoastal divorce story sends Scarlett Johansson to Los Angeles where estranged husband Adam Driver soon follows. There are residential settings, such as the Altadena street that provides the final shot. As well, Driver’s character goes in search of a divorce attorney at 2000 Avenue of the Stars in Century City, which in real life is home to the Annenberg Foundation. And when Johannson and her divorce attorney played by Laura Dern are seen outside a divorce judge’s chambers? Well, that’s the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown L.A.
‘Ford vs. Ferrari’: The story includes scenes set in Los Angeles, but Southern California also stands in for far-flung locations including Detroit, Daytona, Florida, and Le Mans, France, thanks to clever production design. A 100-year-old steel plant in downtown Los Angeles was transformed into the Ford River Rouge assembly line in Dearborn, Michigan. Christian Bale as test driver Ken Miles is seen at home and his auto shop near Avenue 64 in Highland Park, though the real shop was on Lankershim Boulevard in the Valley. And for the movie’s biggest set, filmmakers recreated the La Mans race track art the Agua Dulce Airpark in Santa Clarita.
Previous Best Picture winners
‘Argo’: For the 2012 film about the Iranian hostage crisis, L.A. provides backdrops real and imaginary. The exterior of the VA Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills doubled for the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and a terminal at Ontario International Airport stands in for the Tehran airport. The former Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles provided sets for conference rooms and offices at CIA headquarters on the opposite coast. And if you want a meal like the one Ben Affleck and John Goodman share, well, head for the Smoke House restaurant (4420 Lakeside Dr., Burbank) and ask for the booth they used in the movie.
‘The Artist’: This 2011 ode to the silent movie era used a variety of locations that still survive from a century or so ago. The Bradbury Building (304 S. Broadway, Los Angeles), famous from films such as “Blade Runner” among others, is where the fictional Kinograph Studios is located. The 1928 art deco building that’s now home to Cicada Restaurant (617 S. Olive St., Los Angeles) is where the film’s stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo dine in one scene. And the interiors of both the Orpheum and Los Angeles theaters, two of downtown L.A.’s surviving movie palaces, are also used in the film.
‘Crash’: This 2005 L.A. story was shot in and around the city with Westwood, Santa Monica, Studio City and Wilmington all featured prominently. Brendan Fraser’s character works downtown in L.A. City Hall (200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles). Matt Dillon’s cop stops to make a phone call from the distinctive yellow train-car restaurant Carney’s (12601 Ventura Boulevard, Studio City) and then he and his partner played by Ryan Phillipe pull over and harass married couple Terrence Howard and Thandie Newton at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Radford Avenue in Studio City. And that’s just a bit of the L.A. you’ll see in this film.
‘Million Dollar Baby’: Director Clint Eastwood’s 2004 movie about an aspiring boxer played by Hilary Swank establishes her as a waitress first at On The Waterfront Cafe (205 Ocean Front Walk, Venice Beach), which is now the Waterfront Venice, and later at now-gone Shelly Cafe in Hollywood. The boxing gym was a set built inside an old warehouse, and the film’s fight scenes were shot at locations including the former Olympic Grand Auditorium (1801 South Grand Ave., Los Angeles), the Hollywood Athletic Club (6525 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles), and the Hollywood Palladium (6215 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles).
‘American Beauty’: This 1999 film about unhappily married Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey was shot mostly in California; Spacey’s scenes as a Mr. Smiley burger joint attendant were filmed at a Carl’s Jr in the Valley (20105 Saticoy St., Canoga Park). The scenes where Spacey’s character goes in search of Mena Suvari were shot at South High School in Torrance and Long Beach Polytechnic High School.
‘Forrest Gump’: Much of the 1994 release was shot in South Carolina, but occasionally director Robert Zemeckis let Forrest run around Southern California. Weingart Stadium at East Los Angeles College (1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Los Angeles) was used as the faux University of Alabama. College scenes for Robin Wright’s Jenny were shot on the USC campus. And when Forrest is supposedly recuperating in a Saigon hospital that’s actually the Ebell of Los Angeles (4400 West Eighth St., Los Angeles).
‘Rain Man’: This Tom Cruise-Dustin Hoffman movie from 1988 is essentially a cross-country road trip, but it still includes local locations. The train station in the final scene is the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center (1000 E. Santa Ana Blvd., Santa Ana). The Pink Cadillac Cafe where they eat pancakes is now the Toast Bakery Cafe (8221 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles), and Wattles Mansion (1824 N. Curson Ave., Hollywood) is the setting for Cruise’s custody battle over Hoffman’s care.
‘Ordinary People’: The 1980 drama is almost entirely set in and around the Chicago suburbs but there’s one tiny piece of California in the mix: Donald Sutherland is seen playing golf in what’s supposed to be Houston, but it’s actually the Apple Valley Country Club.
‘Annie Hall’: Woody Allen almost never shot in California but a classic scene from this 1977 film was shot at The Source, a hippy-ish vegetarian joint — he orders alfalfa sprouts and mashed yeast — that today is a Cabo Cantina (8301 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood).
‘Rocky’: This 1976 boxing flick is as Philly as cheesesteak but a number of key scenes were shot in Los Angeles. That boxing venue with the religious mural on the wall? That was the old Resurrection Gym, which is now known as the Oscar de la Hoya Boxing Youth Center (1114 S. Lorena St., Los Angeles). The scene where Sylvester Stallone is punching sides of beef? That was the former Shamrock Meats in Vernon. The final fight with Apollo Creed was filmed at the former Olympic Grand Auditorium (1801 South Grand Ave., Los Angeles).
‘The Godfather I & II’: Sure, you think it’s all New York City for the Godfather movies, but there’s a scene or two in the 1972 original shot in Southern California. One of the entrances to Paramount Studios doubled as the film’s Woltz Studio, where hapless studio head Jack Woltz refuses Don Vito Corleone’s request to cast Johnny Fontaine in a movie. A massive estate that once belonged to William Randolph Hearst (1011 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills) is the exterior setting for the home where Woltz learns what it means to turn down a simple request from the godfather. And in the 1974 sequel, the FBI stashes mafioso-turned-witness Frank Pentangeli at the California Institute for Men state prison in Chino (though it’s supposed to be a military base).
‘The Sting’: The 1973 con caper is set in Chicago but that didn’t stop Hollywood from using its own backyard. Much was shot on the Universal Studios backlot, but the carousel run by Paul Newman’s character is on the Santa Monica Pier. The casino that’s supposed to be in New York City was shot at the Castle Green Apartments in Pasadena, and the bank scene in the movie was filmed close by that at the former Commercial and Savings Bank (225 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena), which today is occupied by a real estate firm.
‘Lawrence of Arabia’: Nearly all of this David Lean 1962 classic was shot in Spain, with some magnificent desert scenes filmed in Jordan and possibly Morocco. But a tiny bit of Southern California sneaks into the picture via extra desert footage shot at the Imperial Sand Dunes in El Centro near the Mexican border.
‘Gigi’: This 1958 musical was set and mostly filmed in France, but bad weather on the beaches of Trouville, France meant the seaside scenes were ultimately filmed at Venice Beach.
‘Around the World in 80 Days’: Given that the 1956 release was literally shot around the world it’s almost surprising there wasn’t much shot in Southern California. Near the end, though, the good ship Henrietta is partially dismantled to feed fuel to its furnace — that bit was filmed in the ocean off Newport Beach.
‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’: Released in 1946 just after World War II end, this drama about the problems servicemen faced on coming home included a few key Southern California locations including an airplane scrapyard near the Ontario Airport, as well as the Long Beach Airport and Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden in Arcadia.
‘Going My Way’: This musical-comedy starring Bing Crosby as a priest freshly transferred to a Catholic church in New York used Saint Monica’s Catholic Church (715 California Ave., Santa Monica) as a location for the 1944 release, as well as Lakeside Golf Club in Burbank and the Shrine Auditorium parking lot.
‘Casablanca’: No, it wasn’t actually shot in Morocco, but almost entirely on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank. One location survived for years after the 1943 film arrived — the old Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys — but over time the vintage tower and pair of airplane hangers have been demolished.
‘How Green Was My Valley’: Surprise! That’s no Welsh coal-mining village; it’s the Santa Monica Mountains, especially around Brent’s Crag in what today is Malibu Creek State Park, where 20th Century Fox recreated a village over 80 acres.
‘Rebecca’: Cornwall, England? No, it was almost entirely filmed on soundstages at Selznick International Studios, today’s Culver Studios. However, some of the beach exteriors seen in this 1940 Alfred Hitchcock classic were filmed at Catalina Island.
‘Gone With The Wind’: This 1939 extravaganza also was shot at Selznick International at 9336 Washington Blvd., Culver City, where the formal grounds at the studio entrance were used in shots of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler’s fancy house in Atlanta. Other scenes were shot all around Southern California. The Twelve Oaks barbecue was shot at the long-gone Busch Gardens in Pasadena. When Scarlett vows that she’ll never be hungry again — that got filmed at Lasky Mesa near Calabasas, part of the current Ahmanson Ranch.
‘The Life of Emile Zola’: Set mostly in France and its holdings, this film was shot almost entirely on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, though scenes in the 1937 movie of the infamous prison colony known as Devil’s Island were shot at Goff Island, a tall pyramid-shaped rocky outcropping near Treasure Island in Laguna Beach.
‘Mutiny On The Bounty’: The 1935 seafaring drama with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton was shot on different shorelines but a substantial amount of filming took place on Catalina Island with representations of everything from England’s Portsmouth Harbor to native Tahitian villages to the hut where Gable as Christian Fletcher lived on Tahiti for part of the film.
‘It Happened One Night’: This charming 1934 romantic comedy with Clark Cable and Claudette Colbert used a variety of Southern California locations in place of the East Coast settings of the film. Busch Gardens in Pasadena is the estate of Colbert’s rich girl character’s father. Some of the rural travel scenes were shot in Thousand Oaks.
‘Cimarron’: The 1931 western was shot on locations mostly in the San Fernando Valley when it was still mostly open spaces. A western town and main street were built on 89 acres purchased by RKO in what today is Encino — approximately Balboa and Burbank boulevards — and used as the main location for the fictional Oklahoma town of the film.
‘All Quiet on the Western Front’: This World War I story was shot largely on studio lots but scenes of trench warfare were filmed on the Irvine Ranch in Orange County, and forest scenes were shot near Lake Sherwood in the Santa Monica Mountains.
