Psycho (1960)

The Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 horror classic “Psycho” filmed largely in California, but some of the early scenes shot in Phoenix, Arizona.  Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh, takes her lunch break to meet a man she’s having an affair with at this hotel.

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LOCATION: 101 S Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004

The car dealership where Marion changes her vehicle can be found in North Hollywood, California.

LOCATION: 4270 Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA 91602

The iconic house from the film can be found on the Universal Studios lot, as part of their studio tour.  It is indeed the actual house from the film, although the back part of the house, not seen on camera in the film, was added later on by the studio, after the film had been released.  There is also a Bates Motel set on the tour, but that set is actually from the sequel film, not the original.

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LOCATION: 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA 91608

Another view of the side of the house.

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This was Alfred Hitchcock’s office on the Universal lot, which is commemorated with a drawing of the director’s famous silhouette.

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Randy’s Donuts

Arguably the most famous donut shop in movies, Randy’s Donuts has been featured in countless television shows and films.  Robert Downey Jr. famously sat inside the building’s giant donut hole in “Iron Man 2.”  Even “The Simpsons” famously depicted a donut shop in their fictional town of Springfield, which strongly resembled Randy’s Donuts.

There are actually several donut shops which use the giant donut atop a drive-thru, however Randy’s is by far the most well-known of the bunch.  The building was built in 1953 and has been going strong since.  It’s been seen in such films as “Get Shorty,” “2012,” “Crocodile Dundee In Los Angeles,” “Dope” and “The Golden Child,” as well as television shows such as “Californication,” “Arrested Development,” “Entourage” and many more.  It’s worth mentioning as well that their donuts are quite good!

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LOCATION: 805 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood, CA 90301

The Devil’s Rejects (2005)

Like most of Rob Zombie’s films, “The Devil’s Rejects,” which is arguably his finest, shot around Southern California.  The opening standoff at the Firefly house was shot at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, California, which is not open to the public.  Quite a number of buildings at Sable Ranch were lost, due to a wildfire in 2016.  The Firefly house, however, was one of the buildings which survived the fires.  In case you’re wondering, the Firefly house is not very visible from the road, if you were to drive up to the ranch entrance. The same location appears in OutKast’s music video for “Ms. Jackson.”

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LOCATION: 25933 Sand Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita, CA 91387

Captain Spaulding’s house can be found in Lancaster. No address seems to show up on GPS, but the house can be found on E Ave J, between 60th St E and 65th St E. Exact GPS coordinates are listed below.

LOCATION: E Ave J, between 60th St E and 65th St E, Lancaster, CA 93535 (GPS coordinates: 34.689478, -118.018095)

On the run, Baby, played by Sheri Moon Zombie, makes a phone call to Captain Spaulding from this gas station.  It’s never seen in a wide shot in the film, which is why it may not look immediately recognizable.  The gas station is located right beside the motel location seen later in the film.

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LOCATION: 42848 150th St, Lancaster, CA 93535

Otis and Baby make their way to the “Kahiki Palms Motel,” where some unsuspecting guests have the unfortunate luck of crossing their paths.  The real location is the Club Ed movie set, out in Lancaster, California, in an area of mostly desert terrain.  The building is not an actual running business and is used strictly for filming purposes today.  This too is private property and closed to the public.  However, unlike Sable Ranch, these locations can be seen quite easily from the road.

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LOCATION: 42848 150th St, Lancaster, CA 93535

Another angle of the motel, including the rooms to the left, where many scenes with the hotel guests were shot.  Club Ed has been in many films, including “The Fabelmans,” “Nothing To Lose,” “Rubber” “Woman of the Hour” and “Eye Of The Storm.”

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After Captain Spaulding’s truck runs out of fuel, he stops at Buck’s Grab ‘N Go, where he steals the vehicle of a mother and her son. The same location appeared in the film “The Last Starfighter.”

LOCATION: 9411 Soledad Canyon Rd, Santa Clarita, CA 91390

The film’s climactic standoff with the police was filmed on a closed section of Golden State Hwy in Castaic. We’ve provided GPS coordinates below.

LOCATION: Golden State Hwy, Castaic, CA 91384 (GPS coordinates: 34°37’21.6″N, 118°44’40.6″W)

The police set up a barricade at this bridge, which runs over Piru Creek.

Here’s a wider view of where the car speeds towards the police.

While this last shot is not seen in the film, this is the furthest point you can drive on Golden State Hwy before the road is blocked. The road to get to this point from the 5 freeway is a bit rough, but it is also a scenic drive, free from traffic. It is permissible to continue on foot or bike from this point and its about a half mile to reach where the scene was filmed. The path is flat and a modest walk for most.

Related articles: House Of 1000 Corpses (2003), 3 From Hell (2019), Halloween (2007), Halloween II (2009)

Wayne’s World (1992)

Based on the classic “Saturday Night Live” skit, “Wayne’s World” is set in the town of Aurora, Illinois.  However, while a small bit of the film did shoot in Illinois, the majority was filmed in California.  Wayne’s house can be found in a neighborhood of Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.

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LOCATION: 7105 Texhoma Ave, Van Nuys, CA 91406

Garth’s house is located directly across the street.  However, in the time that has passed since filming, the house has undergone such heavy remodeling, it no longer bears any resemblance to how it appeared in the film.

LOCATION: 7102 Texhoma Ave, Van Nuys, CA 91406

The music store where Wayne sees his dream guitar can be found in San Fernando. The store is still in business and has photos from the film, as well as a signed guitar on display, although it is not the one seen in the film. This same location appears in the 2025 film “Obsession.”

LOCATION: 901 N Maclay Ave, San Fernando, CA 91340

The diner where Wayne apologizes to Garth can be found in Inglewood. The hockey player on the roof was added by the production.

LOCATION: 1220 N La Brea Ave, Inglewood, CA 90302

Wayne’s actual guitar from the film can be found on display at Planet Hollywood in Florida.

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LOCATION: 1506 E Buena Vista Dr, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830

Avengers: Age Of Ultron (2015)

Film locations are of course not limited only to the United States and neither are we!  Several sequences in Marvel’s “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” were shot in Seoul, South Korea.

Ultron tries to force Dr. Helen Cho to make him a new body at U-Gin Genetics Research Lab, where Captain America later shows up.  The research lab is in fact a cultural building used for restaurants, exhibitions, conferences and performances on the Some Sevit Floating Islands.  The islands were man-made on the banks of the Han River, in an effort to bring more cultural activity to the area.  There are three islands there, which are all interconnected.  The research lab building is on the largest of the three islands; Some Gavit.  The building was designed to resemble a flower in full bloom.  All three islands can be easily accessed by foot, don’t be mislead by the “island” distinction.

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LOCATION: 683 Olympic-daero, Seocho-gu, Seoul, 06500, South Korea

Later in the film, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow are in pursuit of Ultron in an action piece that takes place all over the streets of Seoul.  It would be exhaustive trying to cover every street piece, so instead we’ll highlight one key area.  Hawkeye and Black Widow soar in a jet over this sculpture in front of the MBC building.  MBC is one of the major broadcast stations of South Korea.  Several other broadcast stations’ headquarters can also be found in this area.

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LOCATION: 267 Seongram-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul, 121-904, South Korea

They even commemorated the shooting of the film by placing a Captain America shield and Avengers plaque in the ground at the base of the sculpture.

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There is also a video monitor at the location, which plays the Seoul action sequences from the film on repeated rotation.  Below the video screen is information (in Korean) about the shooting of the film at this location.  It’s always a pleasure to see locations embrace and commemorate films in this manor.

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Related articles: The Avengers (2012)

Almost Famous (2000)

The house of Patrick Fugit’s character, where he lives with Francis McDormand and Zooey Deschanel in Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical film “Almost Famous,” is set in San Diego, California.  However, the real home used in the film is actually located in Santa Monica, California.

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LOCATION: 1047 Maple St, Santa Monica, CA 90405

Related articles: Say Anything… (1989), Singles (1992), Jerry Maguire (1996), Aloha (2015)

Training Day (2001)

Jake, played by Ethan Hawke, first meets Alonzo, played by Denzel Washington, at the Quality Cafe in Antoine Fuqua’s 2001 film “Training Day.”  The diner was a one-time staple of films, appearing in “Seven,” “Ghost World,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Another Day In Paradise,” “(500) Days Of Summer” “Million Dollar Baby,” “The Rules Of Attraction,” “What’s Love Got To Do With It,” “The Heartbreak Kid” and dozens more.  However, it was not an actual restaurant open to the public.  Instead it was used solely for filming.  Sadly, it ceased to function as a filming location and was completely renovated in 2014.  The interior of the property no longer bears any resemblance inside to how it appeared in so many films.

LOCATION: 1238 W 7th St, Los Angeles, CA 90017 (since closed and remodeled)

Later in the film, Jake finds himself set up inside this drug dealer’s house.  The house can be found perched on a hill in the Everett Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.  The home was used again in the 2009 Sam Raimi film, “Drag Me To Hell,” as the residence of Alison Lohman’s character.

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LOCATION: 1031 Everett St, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Knocked Up (2007)

Ben Stone, played by Seth Rogan in the 2007 comedy “Knocked Up,” lives with his buddies at this house in Northridge, California.  Unfortunately, the house has somewhat limited visibility from the road.  You can see this view from the driveway.  The rest of the property is obscured by a large wall covered by plants.  Another Seth Rogen comedy, “Superbad,” filmed scenes of a party house on the same street.

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LOCATION: 17800 Community St, Northridge, CA 91325

Alison visits her sister Debbie, played by Leslie Mann at this Brentwood home.  Debbie and her husband Pete, played by Paul Rudd, would become the subject of their own spin-off to this film, “This Is 40.”  The same house was used in both films.  This property is also gated, with a wall running along the street, so while it’s likewise not easily visible, it too can still be seen from a couple angles.

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LOCATION: 531 N Bristol Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90049

Related articles: The 40 Year-Old Virgin (2005), This Is 40 (2012)

It (2017)

To promote the release of the film “It,” Warner Bros. built a a haunted house on the corner of Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood, California, in which visitors could go inside the Neibolt house, where actors and haunted house theatrics would do their best to scare you.

The real house seen in the film was also a creation of the production.  It was built in the town of Oshowa, Ontario, Canada, on the corner of Eulalie Ave and James St.

“The IT Experience: Neibolt House Hollywood” pop-up exhibition was on display for one month, during August and September, 2017.  It has since closed.  In 2019, the studio built a pop-up for “It Chapter Two” at the same location.

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Related articles: It Chapter Two (2019)

The Usual Suspects (1995)

The 1995 film “The Usual Suspects” was filmed mostly in Southern California, with a few scenes shot in New York City.

Keaton, played by Gabriel Byrne, needs to catch a flight from New York to California. At the Flatiron Building in Manhattan, he wants to tell his attorney girlfriend goodbye, but Verbal Kint, played by Kevin Spacey, pushes him to leave without doing so, as they are running late. The building has appeared in countless films, such as “Spider-Man,” “As Good As It Gets,” “I Am Legend” and many more.

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LOCATION: 175 5th Ave, New York, NY 10010

The suspects meet up with Redfoot at the Korean Bell of Friendship in San Pedro, California.  Perched right in front of a spectacular ocean view, it’s a great place to visit, even if you’re not a fan of the film. The bell was given as a gift by South Korea to celebrate the U.S. bicentennial in 1978. It has also appeared in the films “It’s Pat: The Movie,” “Brink!” and the 2023 remake of “White Men Can’t Jump,” as well such TV shows as “Alias,” “Wonder Woman” and “Street Hawk.”

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LOCATION: 3601 Gaffey St, San Pedro, CA 90731

The flashback scenes of Keyser Söze’s Turkish home, where his family is attacked, were actually filmed at the McNally House in Altadena. The home has been featured in such films as “Elizabethtown,” “Beautiful Boy” and “Kingdom Come,” as well as such TV shows as “Entourage,” “Hacks,” “Ghost Whisperer” and more. The house is only seen from interior views in the film. The home was destroyed by wildfires in 2025.

LOCATION: 654 E Mariposa St, Altadena, CA 91001

The police station seen in the film is the San Pedro Municipal Building. The same building appeared in the film “C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud.”

LOCATION: 638 S Beacon St, San Pedro, CA 90731

Near the end of the film, after he posts bail, Verbal Kint walks down this sidewalk out front.

Dave Kujan, played by Chazz Palminteri, just misses a vehicle as it turns down W 6th St in San Pedro.