True Detective Filming Locations (Season 2) (Episode 3)

Episode 7

The actual Southern California locations where
"True Detective" was filmed.

Episode 1 - Episode 2 - Episode 3 - Episode 4
Episode 5 - Episode 6 - Episode 7 - Episode 8

At 13:45, we see Ani & Paul go to the home of the Mayor of Vinci.

Despite being the mayor of a crappy, little industrial town, it turns out he
lives in a very flamboyant mansion in Bel-Air, evidence of Vinci's graft.

Once inside, Paul speaks with the Mayor's young, drugged-out wife,
while Ani roams the large house. While snooping, she runs into
other members of the very eccentric Chessani family.

The show says the house is in Bel-Air, but it's actually in Beverly Hills.

The estate is up for sale, for a "mere" $18 million, so you'll find a good
webpage about it here, complete with multiple photos such as this:

According the article: "The exterior is inspired by a wing of The Louvre that was never
completed, with a Louis XV replica door — in blue, Glosman’s favorite color — and an
exterior staircase inspired by the Chateau de Fontainebleau in Paris."

The address is 1091 Laurel Way, in Beverly Hills.

(That's about three miles east of the actual Bel-Air.)

[ Warning: This is a private home. Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything that might disturb the residents. ]

Here is a Google StreetView of the gate where Ani & Paul enter.

At 19:40, Frank goes to a construction site (more or less a pit in the ground, at this point).

There, he intimidates the owner (who apparently bought it from Frank) into paying him a
monthly sum - threatening to disrupt the project, and perhaps harm the man's family.

You'll find this parcel at the southwest corner of W. 6th Street & S. Bixel Street,
(around 1150 S. 6th Street), just west of downtown Los Angeles.

So, what are they building there? On the show, it's "a vertical mall".
In real life, it will be a primarily residential project, with 600 new
apartments, in two 7-story buildings. (Read more about it here.)

Here is a matching Google StreetView of the site
from around the time they filmed the scene.

At 32:59, we see Paul attending a motocross race, with a veteran friend from the war,
with whom, it is suggested, he may have had a clandestine gay relationship.

When his old friend hints at what happened in those days, Paul storms off in anger.

I thought I knew all of the arenas in the L.A./O.C. area, but this turns out to be
a place I've never even heard of: The Grand Arena, in Industry Hills.

It's part of the Industry Hills Expo Center, which is located atop a
former landfill, at 16200 Temple Ave, in the City of Industry, CA.

Although they do indeed hold motorcycle races here, the primary interest
at this arena seems to be horse shows, and the complex contains
several red stable buildings to house these equine stars.

The City of Industry is about 20 miles due east of downtown L.A.,
and about 15 miles north of Disneyland.

There's a certain irony to this location, because the City of Industry, like
True Detective's fictional Vinci, CA, is a city literally built around industry,
with thousands of businesses, but a very tiny resident population.

The arena "can sit 5,000 spectators, and boasts a 45,000 square foot floor, a scoreboard
with four 70” projector screens, and a 10,000 watt fully equipped JBL/QSC sound system."

It's apparently been around since 1981, so I don't know how it
managed to fly under my radar for this long...

Here is a Google Earth view of the arena.

At 36:58, after discovering that the car that dropped off Ben Caspere's body was registered
to a movie transportation company, Ray & Ani visit the set of a movie being filmed.

It turns out to be a low-budget Road Warrior rip-off, with the set limited to some tents
built atop a giant pile of concrete rubble. They learn that Caspere used to come to
the movie set, and that he invited at least one of movie's honchos to his hooker parties.

The key here is the bridge seen behind them in both screencaps (above).

That is the Caesar Chavez Ave. Bridge, where it crosses the Los Angeles River,
in downtown L.A. The camera is looking west/southwest.

That giant pile of rock/concrete is real. You'll find it at the north end of Richmond Street.,
around 598 Richmond Street. That's behind (north of) a row of businesses on the north
of Mission Street, and just east of the bridge, in an industrial area
less than a mile east of Olvera Street & Union Station.

Here is a Google StreetView of that giant pile of rubble.

And here's a StreetView of the Caesar Chavez Bridge.

Next, we see motorcycle cop Paul Woodrugh out at night, showing
hookers photos of the late Ben Caspere, hoping that some of them will know
him as a customer, and be able to tell the police something useful.

This scene is actually a montage, made up of several different locations,
as Paul makes his way around the area, talking to various groups of hookers.

At 41:46, we see a busy night time street scene, where hookers blend with Halloween
revelers in costumes and average passersby, while young club-goers stand in line
outside what a sign tells us is "The Labyrinth".

A nearby street sign says "1900 N. Market St." But don't believe either sign.

This is actually the 5200 block of Hollywood Blvd, near Harvard Blvd.
(That street sign actually reads 1600 N. Harvard.)

The fake "Labyrinth Cocktail Lounge" is actually the Harvard & Stone bar,
at 5221 Hollywood Blvd., in east Hollywood.

The camera is looking east down the north side of Hollywood Blvd.

Here is a matching Google StreetView of that street.

( This isn't the usual stretch of Hollywood Blvd seen by tourists.
This section is a good two miles east of Grauman's Chinese, and is
east of the Hollywood Freeway. You won't find any Walk of Fame stars here. )

At 42:09, Paul has moved on to a park-like area, talking to another couple of hookers,
who are in a hurry to leave. He sits for a moment on a bench, and glimpses
what appears to be that same boy in angel wings (seen near the end of the
last episode) performing a sex act, off in the bushes.

We see a large double-billboard behind them.

This was tricky. I could see that there was a hospital across the street, and given those
unusual streetlights, I thought at first that this was the Metro station at Sunset & Vermont,
which has very similar lights, and a small grassy area. But there was no billboard there.

I finally found the right combination nearby, at Barnsdall Park (which is best-known as the home
of Frank Lloyd Wright's 'Hollyhock House'), located atop a knoll between Hollywood & Sunset.

This scene was filmed just inside the park's gates, at 4800 Hollywood Blvd.

(The camera is looking west/northwest.)

Here is a matching Google StreetView of that spot,

(And yes, that "American Sniper" billboard was actually up there
at the time of filming, as you can see here.)

At 42:48, Paul approaches another street corner full of hookers.
This time he finds a little success, when a male hustler tells him that he
had seen Ben Caspere at local parties, including at the local 'Lux Infinitum'.

(When Paul goes there later, it turns out to be Frank's former bar.)

This group is standing outside the Harvard House Motel, at 5251 Hollywood Blvd,
on the northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd & Harvard Blvd, in east Hollywood.

The camera is looking west.

(That "Red Corner Asia" sign in the background is at 5267 Hollywood Blvd.)

Here is a matching Google StreetView of that corner,

52:46: We see Ani & Ray are talking to an Hispanic women at a residential house
that appears to be located right under a freeway offramp.

That house is located at 11502 S. Broadway, in South Central Los Angeles.

[ Warning: This is a private home. Do not trespass on their property,
knock on their door, or do anything that might disturb the residents. ]

That ramp above them leads from the eastbound Century (105) Freeway
to the northbound Harbor (110) Freeway.

Here is a matching Google StreetView of the house & ramp.

But then they realize that someone has set fire to their parked car. So, they chase the guy,
who is wearing an odd white mask, and appears to be taunting them.

The burning car was parked just about where the van is parked in this Google StreetView,
on the east side of Broadway, between W. 115th & the 105 Freeway.

As the pursuit begins, they first run south on Broadway,
then head west across that street, into the area below beneath the
freeway interchange, and through a homeless encampment there.

They wind up chasing the masked perp onto a freeway offramp, where Ani gets
so obsessed trying to catch him, that she almost gets hit by an oncoming truck.
(Ray pushes her out of the way, at the last second.)

The ramp where Ani almost gets run over is supposed to be an offramp.
But it's actually a looping ramp which channels traffic from the northbound
Harbor (110) freeway to the eastbound Century (105) Freeway.

As such, the truck is really driving in the wrong direction. To make it look
like it's not, they appear to have reversed the yellow direction arrow signs.

The scene was shot about midway on that loop (the only real loop
in this interchange), which is on the northeast corner of the interchange.

Here is a Google StreetView of that exact spot on the ramp.

More "True Detective" locations!

The photos on this page are stills from "True Detective - Season 2"
(which you can buy by clicking here) and are copyright Showtime.