Flamingo Road Filming Locations

[TJP]

# 2.10 "Heatwave":

The episode intro with a view over Truro is stock footage of Capitola, CA again, like in # 2.02, but from the reverse angle; Soquel Creek in the center:



# 2.12 "Explosion":

The establishing shot of Flamingo Road (also partly reused in later episodes) was filmed on Oakmont Drive in Brentwood, CA. Oakmont Drive has a particularly nice section with a median with palm trees. The street light and the street sign are props, of course (screen grab 1 below). It was installed on the northernmost point of the median on Oakmont. On screen grab 2 from that episode, you can see the gate to a mansion that will be seen in # 2.13.
In # 2.13 "Chance of a Lifetime", parts of this footage were reused and additional footage from Oakmont Drive was presented (screen grabs 3 and 4): the first mansion used to sit at 5 Oakmont Drive. The second mansion is the one whose gates were seen in the street view from # 2.12 (screen grab 2).

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.01 Pilot - Part 1:

Exteriors and interiors of the Weldon mansion from the pilot (which is different from the usual one in the later series) was filmed at a private residence located at 2186 East Crary Street, Altadena, CA 91104. It sits on a huge lot and is not visible from the street. No idea why it was replaced after the pilot.


Titus' Place:
It is called "Parker House" (as the setting on the show) in the script and shooting schedule. I can't remember if that term was ever used in the series. Does anyone recall? I always thought the show was a bit vague as to where TItus lived. It seems to be some kind of rental place, maybe a boarding house. Does anyone know what it was supposed to be?
The filming location for the exteriors is the historic Leven Oaks Hotel at 120 South Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia, CA 91016, which is nowadays an assisted living center. Screen grabs 1 through 3 are from the first part of the pilot; screen capture 4 is from the second part; screen capture 5 is from # 1.02 and shows the replica of the exteriors built on the sound stage at The Burbank Studios (Warner Bros.) — this is also where the cast group portrait for season 2 was photographed.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.01 Pilot - Part 1 (continued - 1):


The Eagle Cafe Restaurant (interiors and exteriors) was filmed at the what sued to be Roady's Restaurant at 160 West Bonita Avenue, San Dimas, CA 91773. The structure is still there and pretty much unchanged, but houses a different business nowadays.



The interiors of the Truro Sheriff's Department (unlike the exteriors) were filmed inside the building at 151 West Bonita Avenue, San Dimas, CA 91773.


It was already addressed that Lute-Mae's saloon / bordello was portrayed by the former San Dimas Mansion Restaurant at 121 North San Dimas Avenue, San Dimas, CA.
That location was not only used as the exteriors of Lute-Mae's saloon, but also the interiors of Lute-Mae's saloon (i.e. entry hall, stairway, bar / dining area and office as well as Sam's room — poker scene only).

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.01 Pilot - Part 1 (continued - 2):

The scene with Field and Lane at night (kiss) was shot in Playa Del Rey, CA.


The scene with Field and Lane in Panama City (Field gets the envelope, they buy hot dogs from a street vendor) was filmed at Rivo Alto Canal in Naples Bay, Long Beach, CA. In this screen capture, they are on the bridge over East Neapolitan Lane with Rivo Alto Canal below them.


The beach scene with Lane and Field was photographed in Playa Del Rey, CA.


FIeld's house (which was also recast for the series with a similar, but different Victorian) was portrayed in the pilot by the house located at 329 Melrose Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016. They shot the establishing clip, the veranda scene with Field and Lane as well as the scenes in the entry and study there.



Interiors and exteriors of the Clarion were shot at 128 West Bonita Avenue, San Dimas, CA 91773. The structure has been rebuilt since.


The interiors of Annabelle's apartment were filmed inside the same house that served as Field's place, the Victorian at 329 Melrose Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016.


Where Lane is arrested and Titus looks at the scene from the distance at night was shot near the location that posed as the Sheriff Department's interiors, 151 West Bonita Avenue, San Dimas, CA 91773.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.01 Pilot - Part 2:

Sam's room at Lute-Mae's — i.e. the bedroom and bathroom (but not the poker room; for that, see the details in part 1 above) was, just like Annabelle's apartment, filmed in different rooms of the same house that served as Field's place, the Victorian at 329 Melrose Avenue, Monrovia, CA 91016.



Yet another room in the same Victorian was used as Titus' living quarters at the Palmer House in the pilot:

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.01 Pilot - unused footage:

Here's an interesting tidbit:
This screen grab is from "Cheers" # 3.02 "Rebound" - Part 2: In this episode, a character has flashbacks and also presents videos from the past. One of them includes this shot...
It is actually a shot photographed for the pilot of "Flamingo Road". I think it was never used in the series, so Lorimar did the usual thing with "superfluous" footage — they added it to a stock footage library to make some money by licensing the footage to other productions, and "Cheers" apparently paid for it.
The shot (with appropriate set dressing for "Flamingo Road's" Truro — a prop Lorimar installed) was filmed on West Bonita Avenue in San Dimas, CA. The camera was placed on West Bonita (facing east on that street) at the intersection with Monte Vista Avenue.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 2.11:

The street in Truro where Michael drives in his Rolls-Royce was filmed on Electric Avenue at the corner of 12th Street in Seal Beach, CA. The camera is panning from the southeast to northwest on Electric, the background with the cross street is featured in southwestern direction.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.05:

Mike Druker's home is the mansion located at 627 South Windsor Boulevard in Hancock Park in L.A.

Unfortunately, the current owners put horrible dark green awnings on the windows / French doors on the second floor and repainted the front door dar brown, which does not do the ornate Italianate architecture justice.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.11:

The establishing shot for Lance & Sam's trip is stock footage. The dark highrise in the center is what used to be the Doral Hotel, nowadays the Miami Beach Resort & Spa at 4833 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33140. More hotels have been built in the area, so teh neighborhood looks a bit different from back then.

 

[TJP]

Update on the season 2 main title:

The aerial view of this house is stock footage. It shows the El Fureidis mansion (known from the movie "Scarface") located at 631 Parra Grande Lane in Montecito, CA 93108.

Not sure if the aerials of the other mansions are from that neighborhood, too. It might be worth looking around that area though.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 2.07:

The establishing shot of Truro at the beginning of the episode is stock footage from Moss Landing, CA. In the center is the Moss Landing power plant.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 2.19:

The establishing shot for the psychiatric clinic Lute-Mae was committed to is stock footage of a building on the grounds of the Hotel Hacienda Vista Hermosa, located at KM. 7 Carretera Alpuyeca Tequesquitengo, San José Vista Hermosa CP. 62670, Puente de Ixtla Morelos, Mexico.

This footage originated during filming the "Columbo" episode "A Matter of Honor" and was licensed from that production.

 

[Willie Oleson]

I always thought the show was a bit vague as to where TItus lived. It seems to be some kind of rental place, maybe a boarding house.

It seems to me that Titus wasn't very interested in earthly possessions, he wanted the power to corrupt other people's souls. And I think it was mostly this character that made Flamingo Road the only Soap Noir, as if he had stepped out of an Orson Welles film.
Which makes the boarding house the most logical explanation. Not a place to live, just a place to be not somewhere else.

That location was not only used as the exteriors of Lute-Mae's saloon, but also the interiors of Lute-Mae's saloon (i.e. entry hall, stairway, bar / dining area and office as well as Sam's room — poker scene only).

Oh yes, I really missed the original staircase in the post-pilot episodes.

The establishing shot for the psychiatric clinic Lute-Mae was committed to

I was going to say that psychiatric clinics in soap series almost never look like a clinic, but then I realised that I live only 500 meters away from a psychiatric clinic that looks like a Falcon Crest-y chateau so who am I to talk about plausibility.

 

[TJP]

Update on # 1.07:

The street in Truro in the scene with the reporter is Main Street in El Segundo again. The sign saying "Medical Center" marks the buildung at street no. 455, which was already featured in # 1.03. The Clarion is just across from it (street no. 444), as seen in # 1.05.





The scene with Eudora and Elmo was filmed in Library Park, El Segundo, CA. The concrete building in background is Richmond Street Elementary School:




This charming building is El Segundo Public Library. While the official address is 111 West Mariposa Avenue, El Segundo, CA 90245, this corner building's original entrance is on Richmond Street. The building looks pretty much the same, except that a horrendous concrete block was installed in front of this entrance, which takes away much of the building's charm: