fbpx Visit Favorite Movie and TV Show Sets on the Pasadena Film Tour - Hey SoCal. Change is our intention.
The Votes Are In!
2023 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
View Winners →
Nominate your favorite business!
2024 Readers' Choice is back, bigger and better than ever!
Nominate →
Subscribeto our newsletter to stay informed
  • Enter your phone number to be notified if you win
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Home / Neighborhood / San Gabriel Valley / Pasadena Independent / Visit Favorite Movie and TV Show Sets on the Pasadena Film Tour

Visit Favorite Movie and TV Show Sets on the Pasadena Film Tour

by Alex cordero
share with

The Gamble House was the exterior location of Doc Brown’s mansion. – Photo by Alex Cordero / Beacon Media News

Filming locations of shows such as “Beverly Hills 90210” and movies like “Back to the Future,” “Legally Blonde” and “La La Land,” may be part of this fun excursion

By Alex Cordero

Have you ever fantasized about visiting the place where a popular television show or famous movie was filmed? My Valley Pass, a network guide that headlines entertainment, is proudly presenting Pasadena Film Tour on Sept. 29. The special three hour driving tour will be featuring iconic locations in the City of Roses where TV shows and movies have been filmed.

The tour will be guided by Jared Cowan, a film enthusiast, photographer and camera operator. Filming locations of shows such as “Beverly Hills 90210” and movies like “Back to the Future,” “Legally Blonde” and “La La Land,” just to name a few, may be part of this fun excursion.

One of the places that you might get to see is the Gamble House. This place was the exterior location of Doc Brown’s mansion in the film “Back to the Future.” However, the interior scenes were filmed in a different house called the Blacker House. Both houses designed by the same architects, Charles and Henry Greene. Other houses featured throughout the movie were also filmed not far from one another in the City of Pasadena.

The Pasadena Public Library was transformed to look like Harvard in “Legally Blonde.” – Photo by Alex Cordero / Beacon Media News

Recreating environments to match the description of what is taking place in a movie is all part of the fun that comes with film making. For example, a movie may display taking place in Boston, Massachusetts when in reality the filming took place in Pasadena, California. The movie “Legally Blonde” displays scenes taking place at Harvard University but in fact some of the scenes were actually filmed in Pasadena. Places like Rose City High School, All Saints Church and the Pasadena Central Library were transformed to appear to be Harvard University in the movie.

Rose City High School also served as a stand-in for Harvard in “Legally Blonde.” – Photo by Alex Cordero / Beacon Media News

The same concept applies to the filming of the famous television show of the nineties called “Beverly Hills 90210.” The Peach Pit was a restaurant often featured on the show that was supposed to be taking place in Beverly Hills but was in fact filmed in the City of Pasadena.

If you have always dreamed of visiting places where your favorite television shows or movies were filmed this is a great opportunity to do so. You will be enjoying a ride and will be guided by an expert in film locations throughout your experience. Travelers will meet at Memorial Park to board the tour bus on Saturday, Sept. 29. The tour will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. General admission is $49.95. For more details please visit visitpasadena.com.

More from Arts

Skip to content