A lot of folks think I travel a lot, and I suppose I do – I just always go to the same places. I’m sure this won’t come as a major surprise given the content I write about, but I love Los Angeles. It is straight up my favourite city to visit, and despite having been there more than a handful of times now I never run out of things to check out.
Now, I know this doesn’t need a big introduction or anything, but my boyfriend and I decided we needed to lurk some film locations before gearing up for a cruise this past October. We had a couple hours to kill, no plans… Throw a dart on a film list, see where it lands, go from there… On a whim we went with True Romance (1993) – A mutual favourite of ours, and truthfully we’ve been compared to Alabama and Clarence on more than occasion (I’m blonde, he wears Tiki shirts), but I digress!
We only managed to squeeze in two spots, but they’re basically unchanged… Y’all must know how rare that is to come by nowadays. First up…
Rae’s Restaurant (Santa Monica, CA)
Forgive me for sounding like a complete and total wimp, but the scene shot here is one of the cutest – This is where Clarence and Alabama get to know each other over pie after meeting in a movie theatre. Luck was on our side and we even go seated in the booth of all booths… I had my Elvis sunglasses on me, so I’m going to assume that was the source of our good fortune.
Address: 2901 Pico Blvd, Santa Monica, CA
Safari Inn (Burbank, CA)
This was major bucket-list stuff for me. As I’m sure y’all know, this is the motel Clarence and Alabama check into when they first arrive in Hollywood. I always thought it was the raddest place on earth, I mean even when Alabama gets beaten half to death y’all can’t help but be mesmerized by those palm trees… Just me? Okay.
As aforementioned, this baby is pretty much unchanged. I know a handful of other things have been filmed here as well, and to save y’all the trouble – Only the exterior was used in True Romance. That tropical honeymoon suite was on a set. Heartbreaking, I know.
Address: 1911 W Olive Ave, Burbank, CA
So, there ya have it. This isn’t a definitive list, there are totally a few more True Romance locations kicking around the Los Angeles area, but these two made for a nice little morning trip. As aforementioned (numerous times), little has changed here and it was pretty wild to see that. Maybe if ya dish out some cash on Elvis shades, y’all will get lucky too. Until next time!
