The 1988 Garry Marshall film “Beaches” filmed at Cottage 13 at Crystal Cove State Park in Newport Beach.  The cottage looks a bit different now than how it appeared back then, but there is still some resemblance.

Parking is tricky in this area.  While you can drop off and pick up fairly close to the beach, the closest proper parking lot (the Los Trancos Parking Lot) is across the street and charges a fee.  You’ll have to walk the rest of the way or wait for a shuttle, which also charges a fee.  There’s no exact address to the cottage, but some GPS systems do identify it as the “Beaches Film & Media Center.”  It’s the last cottage at the end, past The Beachcomber restaurant.

LOCATION: Beaches Film & Media Center, Newport Beach, CA 92657 (just past The Beachcomber restaurant at 15 Crystal Cove, Newport Coast, CA 92657)

Crystal Cove kindly honors their film history with a sign marking it as the cottage from the movie.  There a film museum inside, celebrating not only “Beaches,” but many other productions at the beach, which date all the way back to the silent era.

The cottage is owned by the State of California and is completely open to the public.