So, this subject always gets brought up a lot in my inner circle. What has been filmed in the valley? Well, there is a lot?
There are numerous of television shows and movies that have been filmed in the San Fernando Valley whether it be on location or at the studios itself.
5 films out of many filmed in the valley + a bonus
• Back to the Future (1985)
• ET the Extra- Terrestrial (1982)
• Fast times at Ridgemont High (1982)
• Karate Kid (1984)
• Valley Girl (1983)
• The Bad News Bears (1976)
The 70s & 80s were a rad time! So much freedom, so much coolness! So many fun movies were made in the 1970s & 1980s, I’ve lost track of how many. These 5 films plus the bonus were all filmed in the early-mid 80s. the bonus was made in the late 70s. All 1980s ones were close together in years as well, so this makes this a perfect top 5 plus bonus to talk about. Let’s get into it!
Since there are 6 subjects, I am dividing them into 3 and 3
———————————————————————————————————————————-
PART 2:
The Karate Kid (1984)
WAX ON, WAX OFF!
The Karate Kid was a well-known movie back in the 80s and to this day, it still resonates with audiences since they had a TV show called cobra Kai starring the actual 2 actors that were in the movie The karate kid. The Karate Kid is about a teenager, his name is Daniel LaRusso, he moves with his mother from New Jersey to reseda, Los Angeles. Like normal, he has trouble adjusting to his new home and school. He is interested in a popular girl from Encino, Ali mills but of course her ex-boyfriend, Johnny Lawrence is a skilled karate student and the leader of the cobra Kai group and of course Johnny notices it and begins bullying Daniel. So, Daniel eventually meets this dude named Mr. Miyagi. He is a handyman at his apartment complex and Miyagi is a secretly skilled material arts guy and teaches Daniel karate, throughout the movie Daniel gets tart that everything Mr. Miyagi knows but he wasn’t initially what Daniel expected. However eventually Daniel realizes that Me. Miyagi has been teaching him muscle memory, defense movements, discipline and balance. The story ultimately builds towards the whole valley karate tournament, where Johnny and Daniel faced each other and of course the cobra Kai students are there too.
This movie came out on June 22nd, 1984, it was directed by John G. Avildsen, written by Robert Mark Kamen, Produced by Jerry Weintraub,distrbuted by Columbia pictures, the genre was material arts, coming of age, drama and its runtime was 126 minutes, the principal photography began in Los Angeles in October of 1983 and according to AFI notes that most of the locations were concentrated in the San Fernando Valley, the well-known actors in it are Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and William Zabka.
2 Fun facts:
1. Pat Morita’s performance as Mr. Miyagi earned him an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
2. William Zabka went to El Camino Real in Woodland Hills, and my mom and uncle knew him, mom and Zabka were on the track team together, and they were friends with him.
Valley Filming Locations:
Reseda:
– 19223 Saticoy St. Reseda, this Daniel’s apartment. It happens to be one of the most popular locations here in the valley and one of the most important ones in the entire movie since this is where it all began for Daniel and where he met Mr. Miyagi. According to AFI, specifically identifies the intersection of Saticoy St. and Tampa Ave. in reseda as the location used for Daniel’s apartment building and as of today it is still standing.
Canoga Park:
– 20924 Gault St. Canoga Park, this is where Mr. Miyagi lives, this is his house. This is where Daniel receives many, if not all his lessons and where most of the recognizable Miyagi scenes take place. And unfortunate news though, the original house was demolished so this isn’t 1 we can visit today in the same form according to IMDb
Woodland Hills:
– 5607 Capristrano Ave, Woodland Hills, Charles Evans Hughes junior high school, this was the school that was used as Daniel’s fictional school, West Valley high school where Daniel encounters Johnny and the other cobra Kai students. According to AFI catalog, the school building is now associated with the Hughes adult Learning Center.
Encino:
– 4072 Alonzo Ave. Encino, Ali Mills, house, Daniel’s crush, Johnny’s girlfriend. This is where the movie establishes Ali as coming from the more affluent in sinusoid contrasting somewhat with Daniel’s life in reseda. According to AFI catalog, reseda versus Encino contrast is an interesting little piece of valley geography embedded into the story. IYKYK
Northridge:
– 18111 Nordhoff St. Northridge, Cal State University of Northridge aka CSUN, The Matadome. This is where the whole valley karate tournament took place, the gymnasium where Daniel and Johnny have their famous final showdown which includes the iconic crane kick.
– Fun fact– I graduated here, class of 2022!
Chatsworth:
– Another well-known place that we all know in the valley is the Chatsworth reservoir slash Chatsworth nature preserve, these scenes happened where Mr. Miyagi and Daniel trained near the water, these are some of the quieter and more reflective scenes between the two of them. According to AFI, Chatsworth among the film’s valley locations and identifies the Chatsworth area as a filming location.
North Hollywood:
– There isn’t a specific address however some of the Cobra Kai dojo material was filmed in NoHo on Lankershim Blvd.
The Karate Kid is a perfect symbol of the valley’s entertainment pop culture theme for sure! It will forever have a huge impact of the valley and why we love it here.
——————————————————————————————————————
Valley Girl (1983)
Oh Valley Girl, a true symbol name of the valley. My name on here but spelled with a U replacing the i. Valley girl came out in the year of 1983 on April 29. It was directed by Martha Coolidge, written by Wayne Crawford and Andrew Lane, distrubted by Valley 9000 Productions, the genre is a teen comedy slash romance, and its runtime is about 95 minutes. According to AFI, it’s basically a loosely Romeo and Juliet but instead of Verona, you’ve got the 1980s Southern California specifically the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood it describes it as a Romeo and Juliet story with the 80s twist. It’s about a girl named Julie Richmond who is a popular teenage girl who lives in the valley who loves to shop, party, loves being with her friends, loves fashion, has a popular boyfriend, hangs out at the mall goes to school and plans prom. If that’s not a stereotypical valley girl I don’t know what is. Especially in those days. However Julie doesn’t really like the fact of being with her current boyfriend Tommy, it isn’t what she wants, she really likes this other guy from Hollywood named Randy, played by Nicholas cage, we all know who Nicolas Cage is, I don’t have to go into details about him National Treasure dude . So basically, this movie is about valley girl versus Hollywood punk. It’s basically like two different worlds however they’re right next door to each other as I have referenced in my last few blogs. Yes, there are two different worlds, Julie comes from the valley, Randy comes from Hollywood and you could tell by their fashions and their interests, their personalities, they’re different but their worlds collide however Julie’s friends don’t approve of Randy because he’s different from the preppy valley crowd. He’s from Hollywood so Julie must decide whether she wants to follow what her friends think of her and what she should do or follow her heart, follow her feelings period now you know why this is a modern-day Romeo and Juliet to say the least.
This movie pretty much helped define the valley girl stereotype because the movie came out right around the time the phrase valley girl was becoming a major part of the American pop culture, there was a song released in 1982 which helped popularize the exaggerated valley girls’ stereotype by Frank Zappa and his daughter moon Zappa. It was definitely a cultural moment back in the 1980s and to this day it still resonates we still have the mall culture, the slang, the social status and somewhat fashion but we don’t really have the parties like they used to, we have more technology now and life has changed dramatically but we still have the malls and certain slang and social statuses now let’s get on to the valley locations.
Valley Locations:
Sherman Oaks:
– 3907 Dixie Canyon Ave is where Julie’s house is located. According to IMDb, it’s one of the most recognizable valley locations in the movie. So many scenes involve and take place at this house.
Canoga Park/ West Hills:
– 23727 Posey Lane. This is where the big party scene takes place at Suzi’s party house, the Brent family home. This is one of the movies major locations due to the party and it’s where Julie meets Randy. SEE people?!! One of the options out there was that people socialized and met each other at parties, that’s how people got together and mingled, not just from social media and meeting online somehow. I met my fiancé at a Valentine’s Day party in person 11 1/2 years ago and that’s exactly the way we wanted it. My fiancé and I are old fashioned like that yet we’re only 30.
Sherman Oaks:
– 14543 Ventura Blvd. This is a location that was used for the health food business belonging to Julie’s parents.
– 15052 Ventura Blvd., this is where the exterior part of the theater that was filmed at this location. It brings out the Ventura Blvd. slash Sherman Oaks atmosphere.
Granada Hills:
– 17921 Chatsworth St. So, this location was used for scenes involving Julie and Randy’s first date. Other interactions involved Julie and her friends there as well the business shown in the film has since gone out of business and has something else Which happens to be T-Mobile, before that there was a restaurant that I used to go to a lot that was called Bakers Square Restaurant and Pies. Dang, good times!
Studio City:
– 3700 Coldwater Canyon Ave., Harvard – Westlake School; this is where the prom scenes were captured on the school’s campus.
The MALL:
So, the movie strongly associates with the Sherman Oaks Galleria which is by far probably the most cultural mall in the San Fernando Valley. However, the actual mall interiors for valley girl were filmed at Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, not the Sherman Oaks Galleria. This is just the fact that must be known since I’m sharing locations and fax with you guys. But yes, although the Sherman Oaks Galleria is strongly associated with the movie, the interiors were not filmed in the valley at all, it was in Torrance CA which is near Long Beach.
Valley girl is just one of those movies that every valley local native needs to watch at least once, I’ve seen it once, but I must rewatch it again. That goes for all the movies I just listed, every valley native should see all these movies at least once. I believe I’ve seen most of these movies at least once, but I’ve seen back to the future a few times or more. I didn’t realize how much was filmed in the valley especially in the 1980s.
The Bad News Bears (1976) THE BONUS*
My bonus movie is The Bad News Bears a well-done classic movie about Little League baseball that so happened to be filmed in the valley. The movie was released April 7th, 1976, directed by Michael Ritchie, written by bill Lancaster, produced by Stanley R. Jaffe, distributed by Paramount Pictures, the genre of the movie is sports comedy and its rated PG, and its runtime was 102 minutes. The movie was filmed from August 4th through October 13th, 1975, beginning in Chatsworth. According to AFI. AFI specifically noted that the production was dealing with the heat and smog of the San Fernando Valley, which is not an entire surprise because back in those days, the valley and Los Angeles in general had some smog issues. The movie stars Walter Matthau as Morris Buttermaker, he is a washed up former minor League Baseball pitcher who works as a swimming pool cleaner and drinks beer at every chance he gets. Every scene almost, you see a Miller light or type of beer from back in those days in his hand. He wasn’t the best Little League coach, he had some temper issues, and he just wanted to win sometimes but he taught his team not to give up. So basically, he’s hired to coach a newly created Little League team called the bears, but the bears are basically the kids nobody else wanted. In the story they’ve been assembled after a legal dispute over the north valley league’s exclusion of less talented players. Walter Matthau’s character initially doesn’t take coaching seriously which by the first game, they get crushed. After that, he recruits 2 kids, Amanda Whurlitzer and Kelly Leak. Amanda is the gifted young pitcher, and Kelly is a talented but rebellious baseball player. These kids are played by Tatum O’Neal and Jackie Earle Haley. To this day they are famous actors. They were very young when this movie came out, around 11 – 14 years old. As the movie goes on, the bears gradually become competitive and make their way toward a championship showdown. They do not like their opposite opponent/ coach Roy Turner played by Vic Morrow. Overall, this movie is about underdogs, competition, teamwork and learning to believe in yourself, no matter what life throws at you, NO PUN INTENDED.
Fun fact: The character, Miss Cleveland come on played by Joyce Van Patton is in it as well, she is the manager slash administrator of the Southern California Little League in the film. She is responsible for the adults who are running the league and is initially against the bears being allowed to participate due to concerns of the leagues about having less talented players to compete. The reason I’m sharing this is because I personally met and know Joyce van Patten, she was a resident at the retirement home where I currently work at however she moved to New York a couple years ago and I haven’t seen her since but she’s really a nice person and I absolutely loved her period I hope she is doing well.
Anyways, let’s get into the valley locations avoid this fun movie filmed.
Valley Locations:
Chatsworth:
-10500 Mason Ave, Chatsworth aka Mason Park
– This is the big one, the big deal location for this movie. If you grew up particularly in the north valley or in the West Valley, you know exactly where this is. I’ve been in this park so many times throughout my lifetime. This park is fun, and it really brings out the valley vibes. This park is still here to this day. It gives off the bad news bears vibes. This is where the bears played their Little League games at in the movie. It’s the actual field where much of the movie’s baseball action takes place. Another cool production detail is the production modified the baseball diamond, including adding elements such as fencing, to create the movies field. The field was subsequently restored after filming according to AFI catalog. So, if you ever visit this park, think of this movie and rewatch it or watch it if you haven’t already.
– 20515 Devonshire St. The Pizza Hut
– this is the Pizza Hut location in Chatsworth that was used for the preseason league party period to this day this location is still here and exists however it is not the Pizza Hut anymore, it is Panda Express.
Sherman Oaks:
– 14661 Ventura Blvd, Flooky’s Bat-A-Ball
– This is where the bears practice their batting, a real valley batting cage business that existed at the time however this location doesn’t not exist anymore since the site has since been redeveloped, and it is now a general commercial office/ retail building.
Encino:
– 16916 Encino Hills Drive
– This location was used for butter maker cleaning a swimming pool, there are a few scenes here where he’s doing his day-to-day job.
Tarzana:
– 5540 Reseda Blvd, Tarzana
– This is where Amanda and Kelly play air hockey at the bonanza arcade to settle a bet. This scene gives off a lot of valleys 1970s teenage/ kid hangout culture. As of today, it’s completely different business and is now called Tarzana cleaners and tailoring.
Reseda:
– 19315 Saticoy St.
– This scene was located for sporting goods store where they went to in the movie. As of today, the original shopping center has since been substantially rebuilt so it looks very different today. It is now a commercial building that houses several businesses including Chase Bank and Premier America Credit Union. It also has a Fusion Smoke Shop and a Dollar King and Venus Massage.
The Bad News Bears is an excellent movie to watch whenever you want to have a laugh or get to know the San Fernando Valley back in the 70s. To this day, it’s still a classic, especially a spring baseball family oriented fun movie to watch. It’s one of the bests. And if you live in the San Fernando Valley, specifically grew up in the north valley, and even the West Valley, you’ll appreciate this movie and recognize a lot of the exterior and even the interior.
Final Thoughts:
Thank you for reading Part 1 and Part 2 of my journey through six films that were filmed in the San Fernando Valley in the early 1980s, along with one from the late 1970s.That’s one of the beautiful things about living in or growing up in the San Fernando Valley. It really has a way of taking you back. Nostalgia has a way of speaking to us, whether it’s through something we see, hear, or read. Watching a film can feel like opening a time capsule. It gives us a little escape from reality and takes us back to another time, whether it’s a movie you grew up watching and loved, or something completely new to you. And what makes these films even more special is that they were filmed right here in the San Fernando Valley. If you live here or grew up here, you might recognize a street, a neighborhood, a school, a park, or a building and suddenly realize, “Wait, I know that place!” That’s the fun part. No matter what movie or television show you’re watching, there’s something special about recognizing a familiar location on screen. It’s like discovering a little piece of home hiding inside a story. So, the next time you watch one of these films, keep an eye out for the locations. You might be surprised by what you recognize. And if you’re here in the Valley, why not visit some of these places yourself? Some locations are still here today, while others have changed or disappeared completely. But even when a building or business is gone, the location still holds a little piece of its history. That’s the beauty of exploring the Valley through film.
So go on your own journey, revisit the past, discover something new, and most importantly, have fun with it. 🌴🎬✨
valleygurlwrites 
Leave a comment