10 On-Site California Film Locations That Aren’t in LA or SF
WHILE MUCH MOVIE MAGIC happens inside large studios and enormous environmentally controlled warehouses, California has a special advantage that makes it the ideal home for the movie industry: an incredibly diverse landscape. With such a variety of terrains, it’s no surprise the Golden State has been such a titan on the silver screen for the past century. Just
You might think the entire industry is situated in Los Angeles (Hollywood), and perhaps in a satellite location like San Francisco, and for the most part you’d be right. Yet, there’s a whole lot of California (163,696 square miles to be exact), which means a multitude of other places those cinematographers visit when they need to get the perfect shot, be it of desert landscapes, less-recognizable cityscapes, plains, or prisons. Places like these.
1. Lone Pine
If you haven’t heard of Lone Pine, that’s probably because you’re either not native to the area, or aren’t filming a Western. Located in Inyo County, in eastern California square between Sequoia and Death Valley National Parks, Lone Pine is home to only 2,035 people and is considered “frontier” land by the US Census Bureau.
Historically a mining town, Lone Pine (and its “Alabama Hills”) became a key location for major motion pictures about the Old West in 1920, during the filming of The Round-Up, and subsequently was used as the backdrop for hundreds of commercials, television shows, and films. Recent films shot in Lone Pine include The Lone Ranger (2013), Gladiator (2000), and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009).
2. San Diego
When I think of
This makes it painfully apparent that I’ve never personally been to San Diego. On the coast of Southern California, San Diego is home to approximately 1.33 million people, seating it as the eighth-largest city in the United States, and the second largest in California. Some key films shot in San Diego include: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013) (coincidentally, the first Anchorman, set in San Diego, was actually filmed in Long Beach), cult classic Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978), Top Gun (1986), and True Lies (1994).
3. Auburn
Nicknamed the “Endurance Capital of the World” (thanks to Auburn State Recreational Area, the premier location for endurance-based sporting events),
Due to its frontier landscape and the old-timey feel of Old Town, Auburn has been an ideal filming location for such films as: The Phantom (1996), Phenomenon (1996), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000), xXx (2002), and The Ugly Truth (2009).
4. Sonora
The only sizable settlement in Tuolumne County, in east-central California,
Described by the Tuolumne County Film Commission as “one of the country’s most versatile locations,” and as the backdrop to over “300 film and television series,” Sonora has been the go-to location for everything from the A-Team series to The Man from U.N.C.L.E., with a majority of the film traffic being television shows from the ’30s to ’70s.
5. Sonoma
Sonoma and
Due to the diversity of its landscape, both the city and county became key shooting locations for classics like Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963), cult horror film Scream (1996), American Graffiti (1973), and The Farmer’s Daughter (1947).
6. Monterey
Located on the southern edge of
Over 200 films have been shot in Monterey, from pieces of cinema history like Hotel Del Monte (1897), to movies set in Monterey like Turner and Hooch (1989), to those that take advantage of Monterey’s resemblance to other places, like Louisiana in The Muppet Movie (1979).
7. Guadalupe
I’m not going to lie — despite my extensive love for California and all the research I’ve done about the state, I had literally never heard of this place. Apparently located in the northwestern tip of Santa Barbara County, and with a population of just over 7,000,
The dunes alone draw filmmakers to the area, and are featured in The Ten Commandments (1923), The Odd Couple II (1998), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007), and Hidalgo (2004).
8. Ventura
The 100,000 or so residents of
Home of the Ventura Film Festival, it has been the site for the partial and/or complete filming of such titles as: The Rock (1996), The Aviator (2004), Erin Brockovich (2000), Chinatown (1974), Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and Swordfish (2001).
9. Orange
So much more than a color and a fruit, the city of Orange, in
It’s exactly that “old-timey” feel that much of the film industry comes to take advantage of, though Orange is also home to Chapman University, which draws a different group of filmmakers. As a result, some of the films shot in the city include: Gumball Rally (1976), Crimson Tide (1994), Black Sheep (1996), Small Soldiers (1998), Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (1999), Big Momma’s House (2000), American Wedding (2003), and Accepted (2005).
10. Barstow
Barstow, in
As an oasis of civilization surrounded by miles of desert, it’s a key base camp for long shots of flat red sand and tumbleweeds, such as those in: The Time Travelers (1964), Roadside Prophets (1992), Broken Arrow (1996), Power Rangers in Space (1997), and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004).
