Downtown Los Angeles - Pop Culture

Pop Culture

Downtown Los Angeles is naturally one of the most popular film locations in the world. Because it looks like a typical North American city, for audiences across the globe it is both instantly recognizable and somewhat generic. Movie makers have been able to make downtown L.A. look like just about any other city in any historical era. For example, on streets with older buildings developed in the early part of the 20th Century, downtown is often a stand-in for old New York. On other streets with modern developments, downtown has been the backdrop for stories taking place in the future. It is also a very popular location for filming television commercials, especially for cars.

• The 1971 film, The Omega Man is set in downtown Los Angeles after a biological war leaves a sole human survivor. Figueroa Blvd., Wilshire Blvd., Third Street, Broadway and Eighth Street are prominently shown, along with several prominent towers under construction, notably the ARCO Towers, AON Tower, and the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Courts building.
• In the film Collateral downtown is the main setting for the film with a climactic car crash that happens on Figueroa street.
• In the film The Day After Tomorrow downtown is destroyed by an F-6 tornado while other tornadoes destroyed the rest of the city. Also one of downtown's buildings, the 611 Place, is seen in the New York Skyline later in the movie.
• In the film Independence Day the U.S. Bank Tower is destroyed, along with the rest of downtown Los Angeles by an alien invasion.
• In Power Rangers: Wild Force, Animarium is setting by downtown Los Angeles.
• In the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles you can drive around anywhere you want all around downtown Los Angeles, which is used along with other areas of Los Angeles for the overall map in the game of Los Angeles.
• For the filming of Daredevil (2003), 20th Century Fox intended to go to Canada in order to save money. This plan was contended by director Mark Steven Johnson, and the film's cinematographer, Ericson Core, after they found a preferred area for shooting around downtown Los Angeles' Arcade Building. Core noted that the appeal came from the "beautiful, old brick buildings and great rooftops," which they felt was perfect for a depiction of Daredevil's character setting in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, in comparison to the studio's choice where the filming would be done in Montreal or Vancouver. Due to their insistence, coupled with Ben Affleck's disinterest in filming in Canada (after having filmed there for his previous film, The Sum of All Fears (2002)) they were able to overturn the studio's mind.
• In the film Transformers a climactic battle is waged between the Autobots and the Decepticons in a fictional city mostly portrayed by recognizable Los Angeles streets and buildings, with some scenes shot in Detroit.
• In the film Dragon Wars, dragons destroy downtown Los Angeles, and one dragon hangs onto the US Bank Tower.
• In the video game Grand Theft Auto San Andreas an area of the city Los Santos is based on downtown Los Angeles.
• In the music video "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton, she is seen performing on her piano through the streets of downtown Los Angeles in the latter part of the video. In a preceding shot, she is seen performing on a segment of the Sixth Street Viaduct with a view of the downtown skyline in the distance.
• The film Blade Runner is set entirely in and around downtown Los Angeles, although its futuristic vision bears almost no resemblance to the modern Los Angeles.
• The video game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines uses downtown Los Angeles as a setting.
• The Terminator movies take place in Los Angeles, with several scenes filmed in downtown locations, such as the Second Street Tunnel.
• The TV miniseries 10.5 shows the skyline collapse during the big magnitude 10.5 earthquake.
• In 2012, the skyline including the U.S. Bank Tower collapses due to disastrous earthquakes and crust displacement.
• In the music video "Never Too Busy" by Kenny Lattimore, he is seen singing and performing in front of a panoramic picture view of the downtown Los Angeles skyline, as well as in busy street view scenes.
• In the 2002 film Phone Booth with Colin Ferrel, most of the film was shot in downtown Los Angeles. The titular phone booth was placed on Fifth Street just west of Spring Street, and Keifer Sutherland's sniper character was located in the Alexandria Hotel on that corner.