After I finished high school I lived in Southern California for a year and visited most of the iconic locations in and around Los Angeles. Most of those L.A. landmarks can be seen in hundreds of films and tv shows because, well, Hollywood is there and Universal Studios and it’s the movie and tv capital of the world. But even though I fondly remember streets and buildings like the Capitol Records Tower and the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park, when I visited them they had yet to be in any big films or tv shows. Since then, I can often get distracted from a plot of a show or movie by recognizing those familiar landmarks, but it’s not the same as making a concerted effort to visit a location that was a scene in a favourite movie or tv series.
Perhaps the most filmed location I’ve ever visited was one summer when I spent a week in New York City. My friend and I were just walking down the street when I noticed a plaque on the side of one of the big buildings. It was the Empire State Building! We immediately bought tickets and went to the observation deck on the top, and enjoyed the panoramic views of the Big Apple. No building (except perhaps the White House) has been in as many films as the iconic Empire State building. It actually featured as part of the plot of Sleepless in Seattle, but our visit was before that film came out, so at the time there was no reference point.
Strangely enough, the only film and tv locations I’ve made a concerted effort to visit are all local. After seeing Dolores Claiborne I had to visit Blue Rocks and Chester and the many other South Shore locations that were featured in the film. Then I became a big fan of Haven so all those buildings in Lunenburg County that filled in for New England in the Haven story were big on my list. I’ve only seen a couple of the Jesse Stone films, but I know which house was supposed to be his home and I’ve driven by a couple of times and got a bit of a thrill and a big sense of pride that I live in one of the most scenic parts of the world.
