Best LA Famous Film & TV Locations

This self-guided tour of real Los Angeles film and TV locations is for movie buffs, from first-time visitors to lifelong Angelenos. Most stops are downtown around Broadway, Bunker Hill, Pershing Square and Union Station, with others in Griffith Park, Inglewood and Santa Monica. Griffith Observatory is the knife-fight terrace from Rebel Without a Cause, complete with a James Dean bust. The Bradbury Building's skylit atrium of iron railings is the climactic set of Blade Runner. In La La Land, Sebastian and Mia ride Angels Flight Railway, which you can board at the Hill Street station across from Grand Central Market. Forrest Gump ended his run at the Santa Monica Pier, where the 'End of the Trail' Route 66 sign makes the classic shot.

Arrive at the observatory in late afternoon to catch the city lights, and keep quiet in the Bradbury, where the upper floors are working offices.