Tarantino's Los Angeles: Three Films, One City

The diner where Pumpkin and Honey Bunny launch their hold-up was a real one: the Hawthorne Grill, a diner known for its Googie architecture, at 13763 Hawthorne Boulevard in Hawthorne, south of Los Angeles airport. In the story the thieves demand the briefcase from Jules, who overpowers Pumpkin, defuses the stand-off and lets them leave with only the money from his wallet. Filming began on 20 September 1993. The grill has since been demolished to make way for an auto parts store, so only the address remains.

Butch's fight night is the point where he double-crosses Marsellus by killing his opponent in the ring. The boxing venue he escapes from was filmed at the Raymond Theatre, 129 North Raymond Avenue in Pasadena. The auditorium dates from around 1921 and was long known as the live-music venue Perkins Palace. In 2009 the exterior was restored while the interior was converted to mixed residential and retail use.

Visitor guidance: The restored exterior can be seen on North Raymond Avenue in Pasadena; the interior now holds residential and retail space.

Jackie's plan for Ordell's money turns on a shopping mall. She enters a department store dressing room to try on a suit, tells the agent Nicolette the exchange will happen in the food court, and leaves the rest of the cash for Max to pick up. She takes $5,000 and places it on top of the bag she gives to Melanie. The scene was shot at Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, during a shoot that ran from May to August 1997. The mall is still there, and is the seventh largest in the United States.

Visitor guidance: Del Amo Fashion Center is a working three-level mall at Hawthorne Boulevard and Carson Street in Torrance.

The mall swap goes badly for Melanie: she is uncooperative during the exchange, and in the parking lot, after she makes fun of Louis Gara (Robert De Niro) for forgetting where they parked, he fatally shoots her. After the money drop Louis picks up Ordell from a strip joint, filmed at Sam's Hofbrau, 1751 East Olympic Boulevard at McGarry Street in Los Angeles. Tarantino came back to the same club for Kill Bill Vol. 2.

With Bounty Law cancelled, Rick Dalton realises his career is in freefall. At Musso & Frank Grill, agent Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) floats the dread idea of making Westerns in Europe. Tarantino called the restaurant a place that "exists now exactly how it has always been". It opened in 1919 at 6667-9 Hollywood Boulevard, is the oldest restaurant in Hollywood, and its neon sign and intact interior are cited in its National Register listing.

Visitor guidance: Still a working restaurant at 6667-9 Hollywood Boulevard.

In one scene Sharon Tate walks into Larry Edmunds Bookshop and buys a copy of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. The bookseller who sells it to her is Milton Luboviski, the shop's real-life proprietor, played by Clu Gulager. For filming the production designer reproduced the original storefront sign. The shop opened in 1938 and stands at 6644 W. Hollywood Boulevard; it specializes in film, television and theater, and is the last of many bookstores that once lined the boulevard.

Visitor guidance: An independent film bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard.

Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) goes to see The Wrecking Crew at the Fox Bruin Theater, and convinces the staff she stars in it after they fail to recognise her. Tarantino said the scene came from his own life: when True Romance was released he saw it at the same theater and eventually convinced its employees that he wrote the script. The Bruin is a Westwood movie palace opened in 1937 with a Streamline Moderne marquee; the film team restored its marquee, and the Fox Village's.

Visitor guidance: The Bruin closed in July 2024 when its lease expired; check whether it is open before you go.

Cliff drives hitchhiker Pussycat to Spahn Ranch, a former Western film set where he did stunt work, and checks on its nearly blind owner, George Spahn. A wildfire destroyed the real ranch in 1970, so the crew recreated it in detail over about three months at Corriganville Movie Ranch in Simi Valley. That working movie ranch, owned by stuntman Ray "Crash" Corrigan, is now Corriganville Park, a public park.

Location precision: The real Spahn Ranch burned down in 1970, so the film rebuilt it elsewhere; the pin marks the Corriganville park used as its stand-in.

Visitor guidance: Corriganville Park is a public park in Simi Valley.