Palos Verdes Location Used For Hollywood Movies
Recently, I attended a presentation by Joshua Peck, Librarian for the Palos Verdes Library District, entitled, “The Peninsula: Through The Lens Of Hollywood.” Joshua shared that Hollywood has been filming movies here in Palos Verdes for over 100 years beginning with “The Unchanging Sea” which was filmed in San Pedro in 1910. Palos Verdes with its dramatic shoreline “could be anywhere the movie tells us.” Below are some interesting facts from the presentation. The Palos Verdes Library has a complete list of movies/television shows that were filmed in Palos Verdes. Palos Verdes Library is located at 2400 Via Campesina, Palos Verdes Estates.
- “Blackbeard” was filmed in Redondo Beach in 1911.
- “Ten Commandments” produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille was partially filmed in Palos Verdes in 1923.
- “Half A Man” with Stan Laurel was filmed here in 1925.
- “The Girl From Montmartre” was filmed here at La Venta Inn in 1926.
- “The Bad One” was filmed in the San Pedro area in 1930.
- “Merely Mary Ann” was filmed here in 1931.
- “Here Rookie,” “This Is The Army,” and “Mr. Winkle Goes To War” were filmed at Fort MacArthur early 1940s.
- “Rebecca” directed by Alfred Hitchcock was filmed here in 1940.
- “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” was filmed here in 1947.
- “The Invisible Boy” was filmed here in 1957 at the Nike site and radar station.
- “Rebel With A Cause” filmed in 1955, the “chicken sequence” where the car went over the cliff was filmed here.
- “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World: filmed in 1963, the “Big W” palm trees were filmed here.
- “Chinatown” key scenes were filmed here in 1974.
- In 1968, several TV shows were filmed here – Rockford Files, Moonlighting, Bay Watch, The Munsters and others.
- “Lethal Weapon” famous helicopter scene was filmed here in 1987.
- “The Big Leboski” was filmed here in 1998 at the Sunken City.
- “Life As A House” was filmed here in 2001 at the old Marineland (now Terranea) site.
- “Hildago” was filmed here in 2004 at the old Marineland (now Terranea) site.
- “Pirates of the Carribean,” “Fifty First Dates,” and “Inception” were filmed here in 2005.
- “Dunkirk” just finished filming here in 2016.
Above photo of filming “The Girl From Montmarte” courtesy of Palos Verdes Homes Association Photograph Collection
