A Visual Anal Retentive Tour of
"Xanadu's Shooting Locations"
by Don-O
Now what can be more appropriate for an ultimate look of ANY
film without a photographic guide of it's shooting locations?
On August 8th, 1998, yours truly took to the sweltering Los Angeles
streets and, armed with a cheap-o camera, took pictures of various
Xanadu locations and related 'spots'.
We start off with Xanadu itself, the sight of the old Pan Pacific
Auditorium. Actually, it's what's left over of this poor landmark;
two sets of floodlights that lit up the front entrance. The street
in front of the place was torn out and there's a fence surrounding
where the building used to stand. To the south of this area is
the Pan Pacific Park. The park's official entrance is on Third
Street, next to Farmer's Market, which is at the corner of Third
& Fairfax. To reach the Auditorium itself, you would have
to enter through the park's rear entrance at Beverly Blvd. and
Curson. Go down the grave road between the Post Office and parking
lot and you should find the light and the gated property to you
left.
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The only place where you can still personally
see the old Pan Pacific roof columns is on top of this stupid
Blockbuster Music store in the UCLA/Westwood at the corner of
Westwood Blvd. and Kinos Ave. Yes, I did say "stupid"
'cos this store SUCKS!!! |
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We hit the corner where "Big Al"
gives Sonny that ride behind his van. It's located in the Main
Street section of beautiful Santa Monica. Yep, I said "beautiful",
Santa Monica is my hometown. |
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We now travel to Palisades Park along Ocean
Blvd. at the heart of Santa Monica. This was were Sonny first
"bumped" into Kira near the beginning of the film.
By the way, the scene when Sonny first met Danny was shot between
parts of this park, Malibu Pier (the coffee shop and Sonny's
nose dive) and in the Muscle Beach area in Venice Beach. I don't
know where they shot the rock scenes. |
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We Can't even THINK of ending this tour
without mentioning Venice Beach! Possibly the heart and soul
of Xanadu! This area has such a rich incredible history; it's
worth to search and read the book "Venice of America"
by Jeffery Stanton (Donahue Press/ISBN 0-9619849-0-2) for the
amazing details! Where was I? Oh, yea, Xanadu! We find ourselves
at the corner of the famous Venice Beach Boardwalk and Dudley
Ave. where the mural was superimposed over a picture of this
short street.
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P.S.: Unfortunately, I couldn't find
that corner where they built and filmed "Platinum Palace"
record store. I've had a long suspicion that it was on the corner
of Arizona Blvd. and the old 3rd Street (outdoor) Mall in Santa
Monica (which is now been Yuppified as the 3rd Street Promenade,)
but after watching the movie fairly recently, I'm beginning to
have my doubts. As for the "Fiorucci" store, it was
located on Little Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Sadly,
that too, is closed.
Sweating over the details,
Don-O |
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