Thank You To Mike From The Movie Shots LA Website For Tracking Down A Lot Of These Locations
Thank You To Mjc1959 And Tovangar2 For Finding And Pinpointing The Orchard Location
- (0:08) JJ Gittes Standing On A Bridge Looking At A Man Down Below / Foothill Blvd Bridge; 9630 Foothill Blvd, Sunland (Note: It Is Real Close To The Angeles National Golf Club. This Bridge Is Going Over The Big Tujunga Wash And The Camera Is Looking South)
- (0:09) Gittes Spying On The Man Down On The Rocks Next To The Ocean / He Parks In Front Of Walker's Cafe; 700 W. Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro (Note: The Park Is Called Point Fermin Park)
- (0:15) Gittes In A Row Boat On A Small Lake / Echo Lake At Echo Park; Echo Park Avenue At Park Avenue, Los Angeles (Note: He Is By The Bridge On The Northeast Part Of The Lake)
- (0:16) El Macondo Apartments / 1400 Havenhurst Drive, West Hollywood
- (0:25) Evelyn Mulwray's Mansion / 1315 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena
- (0:31) Oak Pass Reservoir / Stone Canyon Reservoir; North End Of Stone Canyon Road Off Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles
- (0:42) Gittes Having A Meal With Evelyn Mulwray At The Brown Derby / The Prince; 3198 W. 7th Street, Los Angeles (Note: They Used This Restaurant Because The Derby Is No Longer Around)
- (0:49) Gittes Telling Mulwray About What Is Going On With The Water / Biltmore Hotel's Limousine Ramp; Just South Of The Hotel Between S. Olive Street And S. Grand Avenue Just North Of 6th Street, Los Angeles
- (0:52) Gettes Going To An Island / Catalina Island Tuna Club; 100 Casino Way, Avalon (Note: The Building Seen In The First Screen Shot Is The Catalina Island Yacht Club)
- (0:58) Gettes Visits Noah Cross At His Estate / Portuguese Bend Riding Club; 40 Narcissa Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes
- (1:09) The Orchard Where Gettes Is Getting Shot At For Trespassing / Trident Ranch; 3240 Sunset Valley Road, Moorpark
- (1:15) Mar Vista Rest Home / Archer School For Girls; 11725 W. Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles
- (1:29) Gittes Spying On Why Evelyn Mulwray Is At The House / 1972 Canyon Drive, Hollywood
- (1:37) Gittes Goes To Visit An Apartment Complex And Discovers That Ida Sessions Is Dead / 848 1/2 E. Kensington Road, Los Angeles
- (1:55) Curly's House / 5030 Lemon Grove Avenue, Los Angeles
- (2:06) Evelyn Mulwray Shot And Killed As She Tried To Drive Away / Corner Of N. Spring Street And Ord Street In Chinatown, Los Angeles
After lunch, Jake Gittes & Evelyn Mulwray argue while the valet fetches their cars / Driveway between the Biltmore Hotel and the Pacific Mutual building (looking west)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi995951129/
thank you soooo much! It helped me a lot! Specially the comment from "tovangar2"about Biltmore hotel. I knew that one scene was shot at this hotel, but didn't know which one. I watched the movie twice but was unable to recognize this location. And I need tis information for the article. Thank you, thank you, thank you!:)
ReplyDeleteWas your article published? I'd love to read it. Pls post the link :-)
DeleteThank you for the nice comments. I will add the location of the Biltmore scene as soon as I get the time stamp. Thanks again Tovangar2 for that info.
ReplyDeleteOh Chas, I notice in your new description of this location you call it an "alley". It's actually the limousine lane. There's a sign on the lantern plinth on the Olive Street end that says "VIP Ramp" (check Google Street View to confirm).
DeleteBelieve me, the Biltmore is MUCH too grand for an "alley".
Also, it should be Olive STREET and Grand STREET (not Ave). That was my fault. I led you astray with my carelessness.
Hi again,
DeleteI corrected the way I described the location. Grand is Grand Avenue though but corrected the other street name to make that one correct.
Thanks
LOL, will I ever get anything right? I'm such a dolt sometimes. I worked twenty years in DTLA and I still can't get the street names right! Thanks for being on top of things Chas and thank you too, forever and always, for your wonderful site.
DeleteOh Chas, I just noticed that you included a great shot of the Grand Avenue end of the Biltmore Hotel limousine lane in your page on "Se7en" including one of the great plinth-mounted lanterns. The caption reads:
Delete"(0:29) Mills Running Out To His Car In The Rain / Behind The Biltmore Hotel; 530 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles".
The Biltmore VIP ramp was also used in the film "Dave" which was set in D.C.
DeleteAww, I'm glad to be of service. I should have added that the drive runs from Grand Ave on the west to Olive Ave on the east through the block bound by 5th St on the north and 6th St to the south. In the film one can see the Checkers Hotel across Grand Ave in the distance with a completely incongruous modern building just to its left.
ReplyDeleteThere's a nice shot of the Grand Avenue end of the drive here:
http://www.urbanspoon.com/u/photo_list/71461?photo_id=352834
showing one of the distinctive lanterns, raised on plinths, that decorate either end of the drive.
When I worked downtown I just to cut through the block here all the time. However, it was gated in the 1990's (I think it was). Nowadays the drive is often used as a setting for wedding photos of couples married at the Biltmore. Here's one of the Goo Goo Dolls drummer and his band mates and other groomsmen: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_CxNd4TBdK4k/SOzdzcHVaEI/AAAAAAAAAC0/eq-1dTxHmMo/s1600-h/photo07.jpg
I was watching tonight and never really realize I used to live next door to Ida Sessions, you can see the window of my living room on the first floor of the house set back in the left of the frame. Foliage is different now and it has a low chain link fence around the front yard.
ReplyDeleteOrchard scene in Chinatown was filmed in Moorpark, California. This orchard was on the actor Walter Brennan's ranch, and personal residence. The house and orchard are still there. Sunset Valley Road/Read Road on Google Map--You'll see the orchard and swimming pool near Brennan's house. P.S.-The day they were filming this scene I was on the school bus, and we went right by the location.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGREAT info. Who'd ever have thought such a nondescript location could be so precisely identified!
DeleteI checked on Google Maps. It's called Trident Ranch and is located at 3248 Sunset Valley Road
Thank you :-)
P.S. I also noticed, in the film when Gittes comes to on the porch of the ranch house, after the "Oakies" beat him up, one can see a very circa 1974 refrigerator through the window behind him. A curtain would have avoided the gaffe.
DeleteChas, to confirm mjc1959's info go to 3248 Sunset Valley Road on Google Maps Street View. "Stand" next to the left side of mailbox plinth (it's got the street number on the north side of it) at the main driveway gate (which is actually 50-100 yards to the right, or south, of where Google Maps first takes you - "Trident Ranch" signs are posted on either side of the gate, you can't miss it). Facing the driveway entrance, notice that the ridge line of the hills south of Read Road to one's right is an identical match with the screen shot you posted of Gittes in his car (above).
DeleteThanks again mjc1959 for your sterling info :-)
Whoops, sorry Chas, I made a typo in the above reply. The address for Trident Ranch is 3240 Sunset Valley Road, not 3248.
DeleteThe Cross Estate has been mentioned (here and elsewhere) as having been filmed at the Wrigley Ranch on Catalina, but the building/architecture is nowhere near the same. Any idea where this scene was actually filmed?
ReplyDeleteThe Cross estate is the Portuguese Bend Riding Club, 40 Narcissa Dr, Rancho Palos Verdes 90275 according to http://ccla.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/the_ultimate_chinatown_filming_location_map_of_los_angeles.php
DeleteI think that's it. Thank you.
DeleteSure Bob. Check the photo at this page to confirm: http://activerain.trulia.com/blogsview/4530953/palos-verdes-horse-property--favorite-photos-of-the-week
DeleteThis is a great site; thanks to all who make it possible. "Chinatown" is my favorite film; I had no idea of its historic relevance to Los Angeles, where I now live.
ReplyDeleteJust one additional location: When Gittes and Evelyn meet in an elegant restaurant for drinks (formerly The Windsor, standing in for the Biltmore), that's the Prince Restaurant at 3198 W. 7th St., behind the former Ambassador Hotel (now RFK High School) in Koreatown, a few blocks off of Wilshire.
http://www.theprincela.com/
Yep, that's the Prince. It NEVER changes. Sort of grand and baronial plus garish at the same time:
Deletehttp://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/restaurants/the-prince
Fascinating info.! One of my questions was always why that kid on the horse would take it into such a rocky area. not the most earth-shaking question, but here's another: is the Archer School For girls the private school in the film "Spanglish"? It looks very much like the place where Tea Leoni gets Flor's daughter a scholarship and takes her on a tour with the school's actual principal.
ReplyDelete"Spanglish" had some great locations too!
I've been to each of these locations but one Chinatown location I've never been able to locate is the elevators where Gitter runs into Mulvehill.
ReplyDeleteMight have been filmed on Paramount lot...Lot of in teriors were
Delete