Wednesday, September 24, 2014

River's Edge (1986) Shooting Locations [UPDATED]

River's Edge is without a doubt one of my top ten favorite movies of all time. I took some time and searched out the areas in Tujunga, California where it was mostly filmed. However, the river scenes were actually shot in Carmichael, California – those are included in the update (scroll to the bottom).

Matt's home on Redmont - still looks pretty similar.

Most of the film was shot on, or off of, Foothill Boulevard. Most of the stores, gas stations, and other places shown in the film are located on Foothill. The homes are located right off of Foothill. Some of the locations were literally across the street from the other.

Sadly a few of these locations are now closed and probably set to be demolished in the very near future. The home used for Feck's house was demolished not long after shooting and is now replaced by a new home. 

Here are a few of the locations, but I have a lot more at my Flickr account - please check them out.



The school used in the film is located on Plainfield and is called Verdugo Hills High School. It was also used in The Craft, Heathers, and 187 with Samuel L. Jackson.


The liquor store in the beginning of the film (was also used in the film again) is on Foothill Boulevard and still open. It has been remolded, but still has a similar layout. 


The restaurant that "Mike" worked at is now closed. During the Christmas season it is used as a lot to sell trees. It was called Rudy's Bean Pot and is located on the 6000 block of Foothill Boulevard. 


This is from the scene where Tim goes to Moko's home, to get Feck's gun. The house where Moko lived was at the end of Wentworth and literally across the street from the home used as Clarissa's home in the film. 



In the film, the characters Layne, Clarissa and Tony wind up at an arcade where they talk about the death of Jamie and everyone keeping their mouth shut. Although the exteriors of the arcade was never shown, it was called The Enterprise (which was Wil Wheaton's local arcade as a kid!) and located at 3810 Foothill Blvd. in La Crescenta, California – right outside of Tujunga.

Please check out the rest of the location photos.

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UPDATE: Sept. 24, 2014

After a bit of research, I found the filming locations for the river scenes. I was told that those scenes were shot in Sacramento, California, but that wasn't entirely true. Those scenes were actually shot right outside of Sacramento in Carmichael, California at the River Bend Park – formerly Geothe Park – alongside the American River. 

Since I can not make it to this area, I searched the internet for some photos of the approximate shooting areas.

Bottom photo ©LocalWiki
Bottom photo ©TahoTruckee
The river-side scenes were most likely shot on the William B. Pond Recreation Area side of the river, since the "look" matches up better than the River Bend Park side. The movie was filmed in midst of a rainy season, so the river looks higher and muddier in the film.
The bridge used in the film is a pedestrian/bicycle bridge that seems to look the same as it did in 1986. It's now called the Harold Richey Memorial Bridge and links the River Bend Park with the William Pond Recreation Area via the American River Parkway/Bicycle Trail.

Bottom photo ©LocalWiki 
Bottom photo ©LocalWiki
Bottom photo ©Unknown






15 comments:

  1. THIS MOVIE RULES!!!!!!
    GREAT DETECTIVE WORK!!!!!

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    1. Thanks! Some spots were hard, still can not find a few locations from the movie.

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    2. dude thank you I love this film. I believed it was Oregon but now im happy

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  2. RAD AS ALWAYS MAN KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK FINDING THESE PLACES

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  3. Do you mind if I repost this on another blog? I think it is pretty amazing that you found all of these spots. I tried to find them many years ago and could only locate the high school.

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  4. do u have the exact addresses for these place?

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    1. I put them on the IMDB page for this movie. I think all of them that I found are on there. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091860/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt

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  5. looks like you found most of the places. what about the police station??

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    Replies
    1. I think I know where it is at, have to check it out.

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  6. JasonHarrisonNicholsOctober 10, 2014 at 8:41 PM

    SOMETIMES I WISH I LIVED IN CALIFORNIA

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  7. What is wrong with people that have to look up every film location from every favorite movie? Am I neurotic or what?! Thank you for great detective work!

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    1. These were sort of easy for me to find. Just took a knowledge of the area, and the house numbers from the film.

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  8. This was literally how I grew up in Oak View, Ca. We swam everyday in the river bottom in the early 80's. This movie brings back the memories of living so carefree, minus the killing. I miss the 80's.

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