Q. What is it supposed to be on the show?

A. Brown University, an Ivy League school founded in 1764.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. In Providence, Rhode Island.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In the third season, Seth Cohen plans to go to Brown (after he graduates from the Harbor School), in part to get far away from Newport. (Ryan and Marissa plan to go to U.C. Berkeley.)

His girlfriend, Summer, decides to apply to Brown as well, so she can be close to Seth. But getting into Brown isn't easy, and it turns out that Summer is admitted, but Seth isn't. Fearing she will pass up her chance to go to the prestigious university, Seth doesn't tell her that he failed to get in. Instead, he pretends he no longer loves her, and that he has simply chosen not to go to Brown - all so she won't miss the opportunity because of him.

We first see the Brown campus in Episode 22 (of the third season) "The College Try", when Seth goes to Brown to try to talk them into admitting him. Seth fails to talk the Head of Admissions into letting him in. Summer spots him, and wants to know why he's at Brown, since he isn't supposed to be going there. While there, he accidentally bumps into Anna (an old flame), leading Summer to believe that he broke up with her so he could be with Anna. But he eventually confesses the truth to Summer, and gets admitted to an art design school near Brown (based on his comic book creations), so he and Summer can still be near each other.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A University campus - but no where near Rhode Island.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. Although they do throw in an occasional establishing shot of the real Brown campus, most of the Brown shots were really filmed on the campus of USC (the University of Southern California), in Los Angeles, most often near the middle of the campus.

The scenes of Seth strolling on campus (and his walking scenes with Anna) were shot on the north side of of the Bovard Administration Building, looking west across Associates Park, towards the Physical Education building, with Seth heading towards Founders Park.

USC is located south of downtown L.A., just north of Exposition Park (with its museums and Olympic Coliseum), and just south of the Shrine Auditorium. The exact address is 3535 S Figueroa Street. The USC campus is just west of the Harbor (110) Freeway, and is bounded by Exposition Blvd (on the south), Jefferson Blvd (on the north), Figueroa Street (on the east) and Vermont Avenue (on the west).



Here is a map link to the school's exact location. Here is an aerial shot of the campus from Live Local.

The campus is open to the public, so feel free to drop by for a visit. But be aware that, while the campus itself is safe, the areas surrounding USC may be unsafe, so exercise reasonable caution.

And here is a link to the USC's official website. (And to be fair, here is a link to the real Brown's website.)

( They originally planned to shoot the Brown scenes at Occidental College, but that fell through, so they moved on to USC. They considered shooting at Pomona College in Claremont, California (according to this article), and may yet return to shoot there. So not all future Brown scenes may be at USC...)

[ As O.C. fans know, when Seth & Summer went to Brown, Ryan opted to go to UC Berkeley. Well, as you might expect, the Berkeley scenes weren't really shot at Berkeley, either. They were shot at USC's cross-town rival: UCLA. ]

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. As a UCLA alumn, I've visited the USC campus, but not often enough to immediately recognize it. Fortunately, I have a friend named Barry Waite, who graduated from USC. So I sent him some screencaps from the show, and he confirmed my hunch that the "Brown" scenes were shot near the middle of the USC campus. (Thanks, Barry.)