The 1993 comedy “Grumpy Old Men,” starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, was filmed in Minnesota. The houses seen in the film can be found in St Paul. Here is the home of John Gustafson, played by Lemmon.
LOCATION: 1133 Hyacinth Ave E, St Paul, MN 55106
Here is the home of Max Goldman, played by Matthau.
LOCATION: 1137 Hyacinth Ave E, St Paul, MN 55106
The two houses are of course located side by side, as depicted in the film.
Directly across the street from those two houses is the home of Ariel Truax, played by Ann-Margret. All three homes appeared once again in the sequel, “Grumpier Old Men.”
Spike Lee’s seminal 1989 film “Do the Right Thing” was shot on a single block of Brooklyn, New York in the summer of 1988. You can walk Stuyvesant Ave today, between Lexington Ave and Quincy St and see all of the locations within minutes. Mister Señor Love Daddy, played by Samuel L. Jackson, works as a DJ for We Love Radio at this building, which has since been remodeled a bit.
LOCATION: 174 Stuyvesant Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
The Yes Jesus Baptist Church, while not immediately obvious, was filmed at this building. A facade was built around the first level to make it appear as a church. The upper levels, however, still match up to what was seen in the film.
LOCATION: 184 Stuyvesant Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Sal’s Pizzeria, the central location of the film, was a set built on an empty piece of land. The set was removed after filming and is currently a parking lot. It stood at the corner of Lexington Ave and Stuyvesant Ave.
LOCATION: Lexington Ave / Stuyvesant Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Here’s a couple more views of where the Pizzeria set stood.
This mural was seen in the film on the opposite side of Lexington Ave, in the background of many shots of Sal’s. A newer building now obscures the view, but the mural was repainted on the wall next to the parking lot where the set stood.
Directly across the street from Sal’s on Stuyvesant Ave is where the Korean fruit and vegetable store stood. Like Sal’s, this too was a set, which was taken down after filming and is currently a strip of empty land.
This mural paying tribute to the film is painted on the wall where the fruit and vegetable stand stood.
Here is the home where Mookie, played by Spike Lee, lived. It has since been updated a bit.
LOCATION: 173 Stuyvesant Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Here is the location where Radio Raheem, played by Bill Nunn, gives his famous love and hate speech. He is standing in front of Mookie’s home, located on the opposite side of the block from Sal’s, next to Quincy St.
Here is another view of where Radio Raheem gave his speech.
LOCATION: Stuyvesant Ave / Quincy St, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Here is the home where Mother Sister, played by Ruby Dee, lived. Mother Sister sat in the window next to the door on the right, although this home has likewise been updated a bit since filming.
LOCATION: 167 Stuyvesant Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Cee, played by Martin Lawrence, hangs out with his friends on the front steps of this home.
LOCATION: 165 Stuyvesant Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Directly in front of the same location, this fire hydrant was also used in the film, when they spray the man driving through the street.
The three older corner men sit in front of this building throughout the film, which was painted red specifically for the film.
LOCATION: 691 Lexington Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11221
Here’s a closer look at where the men sat. Some of the windows were also covered for the film.
The block has been named “Do the Right Thing Way” in honor of the film. This sign can be found at Lexington Ave and Stuyvesant Ave, in front of where the the Korean fruit and vegetable store stood.
Although some of the buildings have been updated and some of the sets are gone, you undoubtedly feel like you’ve walked into the same world the characters lived when standing on Do The Right Thing Way in Brooklyn. It is an important place not only in cinema, but in culture and we highly recommend a visit.
In the 2002 comedy-horror film “Bubba Ho-Tep,” Bruce Campbell plays an elderly man claiming to be Elvis Presley, who faces off against an ancient, evil mummy. Along with a black man claiming to be John F. Kennedy, the two stay at the Shady Rest Retirement Home, supposedly located in East Texas. The real location was an abandoned building on the grounds of the former Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, California.
Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center was founded back in the late 1800s. The hospital upgraded to a newer facility located nearby and abandoned a lot of their older buildings, with ownership transferred to the county. The buildings sat vacant for years. The site of the Shady Rest Retirement Home was located near the intersection of Consuelo St and Esperanza St.
The area was formerly patrolled by security, but some of the roads were still open to the public. In 2017, two buildings were burnt by fires, including the retirement home seen in the film, with the suspected cause being arson. Since then, fencing now blocks off all streets leading to the building, with a second fence surrounding the building itself. Here is an aerial view of what remained of the building after the fire. While it was not destroyed entirely, the damages were significant. The building and most of the surrounding buildings have since been demolished altogether.
This was the closest public location seen from the street, near the intersection of Consuelo St and Dahlia Ave.
LOCATION: Approximately 7608 Consuelo St, Downey, CA 90242 (GPS coordinates: 33°55’20.4″N, 118°09’43.5″W – now demolished)
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