The Karate Kid: Reseda, Encino and the Valley

Daniel and his mother Lucille arrive from Newark to start again in Reseda, and this is where the film drops them: apartment 20 at the South Seas. The complex is still standing at 19223 Saticoy Street, still carrying the name, and movie buffs still stop for a picture in front of the old LaRusso household. Miyagi's workshop was built into the eastern side of the parking lot, and the fence by the field is where he rescues Daniel from Johnny and the Cobra Kai.

The day after the move, Daniel goes to a beach party and meets Ali Mills, a cheerleader from Encino, which puts him straight in Johnny's sights. This Malibu beach is also where Daniel later sees Miyagi perform the crane technique he will use in the final. Leo Carrillo runs for 1.5 miles of sand along the Santa Monica Mountains, and it is still a working state park.

Visitor guidance: Leo Carrillo State Beach is at 35000 West Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Daniel's first days at West Valley High are a lesson in the local order: Johnny and his Cobra Kai gang constantly bully him, and the feud hardens here. The real building was Charles Evans Hughes Junior High. It is now the Hughes Adult Learn Center on Capistrano Avenue in Woodland Hills, pretty much unchanged from the outside.

Location precision: West Valley High is fictional; the pin marks the Hughes Junior High building used for its scenes.

Miyagi's house is where Daniel's training begins: days of chores that look like free labor until Miyagi shows they have taught Daniel his blocks. On his 18th birthday Daniel is given a karate gi and one of Miyagi's classic cars. The house was real, built on Gault Street in Canoga Park, but it was bulldozed long ago; only the street remains.

Location precision: The house was demolished; the pin marks Gault Street in Canoga Park, where it stood.

Daniel and Miyagi come here to make peace, and Kreese, an ex-Special Forces veteran, callously dismisses the offer. Miyagi answers by proposing that Daniel enter the Under 18 All-Valley Karate Championships, provided the bullying stops until the tournament. The storefront on Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood is now the Body Theory Fitness Center, at the North Hollywood Pedestrian Plaza.

Location precision: Cobra Kai is fictional; the pin marks the Lankershim Boulevard storefront used for its exterior.

Visitor guidance: The former dojo storefront is at 5223 Lankershim Boulevard, by the North Hollywood Pedestrian Plaza.

Ali Mills is a cheerleader from Encino, and her family home is where the film makes the class divide visible. The house at 4072 Alonzo Avenue, near Lake Encino Drive, was chosen precisely for its ostentatiously tacky appearance. It still stands west of the Encino Reservoir, a private home on a public street.

The date is a blast of go-karts and miniature golf, the one carefree afternoon Daniel and Ali get before the tournament. They drive out of the Valley to Norwalk for it, and the fun centre is still going strong all these years later. Golf N' Stuff sits at 10555 Firestone Boulevard, just west of the 605 freeway; the huge waterslide from the film has gone.

Visitor guidance: Golf N' Stuff is at 10555 Firestone Boulevard in Norwalk.

Miyagi takes Daniel fishing here and turns the quiet lake into a classroom, teaching him about balance. The water was the old Chatsworth Reservoir, drained in the Seventies, and it is now a wildlife sanctuary rather than a park. It is off limits to the public, apart from a once-yearly Earth Day celebration, so this is one Karate Kid location you cannot simply walk into.

The All-Valley tournament fills the Matadome, and Daniel fights his way to the semi-finals before Bobby is ordered to take out his knee with an illegal attack. He comes back anyway, ties the score at 2–2 and wins with a front kick from the Crane stance, the technique he first saw Miyagi perform on a beach. The arena is on the Cal State Northridge campus at 18111 Nordhoff Street; renamed the Premier America Credit Union Arena, it still seats 2,500.

Visitor guidance: The arena is on the Cal State Northridge campus at 18111 Nordhoff Street.