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The locations of New Girl

TV show
Who's that girl? It's Jess! In the spirit of Friends, this band of crazy roommates lives many adventures in the beautiful city of Los Angeles. The locations of New Girl, a beautiful postcard from LA.

Los Angeles is the stronghold of roommates, the City of Angels is regularly featured in New Girl.

New Girl’s roommates building

Impossible to talk about New Girl without mentioning the famous building in which the housemates’ 4D loft is located! As in the series, the building offers many lofts for rent. In the first episode, the roommates are Schmidt (Max Greenfield), Nick (Jake Johnson) and Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.). In the second episode, Coach leaves and is replaced by Winston (Lamorne Morris), back from Latvia after a very shaky basketball career. In fact, this change of actor was made at the last minute. Damon Wayans Jr. thought the show he was on, Happy Endings, was not going to be renewed. Finally, to his surprise, just after shooting the New Girl pilot, his series was reprogrammed. Three seasons later, Happy Endings was cancelled and Coach reappeared in New Girl.

Address: 837 Traction Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

The Griffin, the bar of New Girl

The Griffin - New Girl
The Griffin – New Girl

Nick Miller works as a bartender at the Griffin. For the exterior, the series has appropriated a bar, also called the Griffin, located at 3000 Los Feliz Boulevard. On the other hand, when you enter, it is impossible to recognize the place. The interior is The Prince, located at 3198 West 7th Street. An establishment regularly used in filming, notably in Mad Men. From the outside, you can also recognize another place in the series. Indeed, the entrance to the residence represents Nick and Caroline’s entrance when they plan to live together at the end of the first season.

Addresses: Exterior at 3000 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA – Interior at 3198 West 7th Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Petersen Automotive Museum

Petersen Automotive Museum – Photo Wikimedia Commons by David Zaitz

Nick takes Abigail (Linda Cardellini), Jess’ sister, to this museum to keep her busy while Jess (Zooey Deschanel) visits apartments for her. She ends up getting into a car to force Nick to tell her the truth about Jess not being there. On the show, Nick is regularly mocked for his weight. However, his interpreter, Jake Johnson, had to lose 15 pounds (6 kilos) for this role.

In an interview with Advocate, the actor recalled an anecdote. On the way to a Mexican restaurant with his wife, he was thinking about what to order. “I was going to have French fries and guacamole, a blended margarita, a quesadilla for the table and a chicken burrito for me. I knew she was going to have tacos, so I figured we’d do a little mix and match. Then I got a call from my manager, who told me I had to lose 15 pounds before I could start shooting. So when I got to the restaurant, I had a chicken salad with no dressing.”.

Address: 6060 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, USA

Staples Center

Staples Center - Wikimedia Commons photo by Raging Panda
Staples Center – Wikimedia Commons photo by Raging Panda

When Cece (Hannah Simone) and Coach go out together, they go to a basketball game at the Staples Center. Since 1999, this sports hall has been the main residence of the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings. This is also where Michael Jackson was rehearsing for his tour in 2009. The King of Pop died on 25 June, and the company that owns the stadium and produced the tour, AEG, paid a final tribute on 7 July 2009 in the building in a huge ceremony to which 17,500 people were invited free of charge by means of a large Internet lottery.

Address: 1111 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California, USA

Aquarium of the Pacific

Aquarium of the Pacific - New Girl
Aquarium of the Pacific – New Girl

When Cece plans to marry through an arranged marriage with Shivrang (Satya Bhabha), Winston takes Schmidt to take his mind off his love for a scorpion fish. One of the beaches where they go to catch one of these fish is also in Long Beach. Regularly in the series, the roommates play an incomprehensible game, the “Real American”. 90% drinking game and with a vague goose game structure, the rules are never explained. According to the show’s creator, Elizabeth Meriwether, this omission is intentional. “Our goal is instead to make it harder and harder to understand.” The idea came up when one of the authors remembered playing a similar game in university but could not remember the rules.

Address: 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, California, USA

John O’Groats

John O’Groats – New Girl

In the second episode of the first season, Schmidt, Nick and Winston have lunch in the John O’Groats. Considered one of the best breakfast restaurants in Los Angeles, it was founded in 1982 by the Jacoby family. Originally located at the corner of Manning Avenue and Pico Boulevard, the family business is now run by their son, Paul Tyler. Schmidt’s interpreter did not want his character to remain a “badger” and tried to make him evolve with the seasons.

Address: 10516 W Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA

Santa Monica State Beach

Santa Monica State Beach - Photo Wikimedia Commons by Alexander Migl
Santa Monica State Beach – Photo Wikimedia Commons by Alexander Migl

Convinced that he has cancer, Nick tries to prove to himself that he’s alive and well. After having the idea of a midnight swim, the roommates set off for the beach where Nick tries to get into the water and comes out cold. Probably one of the most famous beaches, Santa Monica State Beach, near the famous amusement park Pacific Park, appears on the cover of Owl City’s Umbrella Beach album and is located near the “End of the trail” sign of the emblematic Route 66. One of Nick’s best friends is Tran, a Vietnamese guy he met in a park who doesn’t speak English. This addition of character and comic situation comes from actor Jake Johnson himself. He suggested it to the show’s creator, who approved it.

Address: 1335-1325 Ocean Front Walk, Los Angeles, California, USA

Cheviot Hills Recreation Center

Cheviot Hills Recreation Center - New Girl
Cheviot Hills Recreation Center – New Girl

Roommates came to play football in this park. Jess dumps Nick, causing him severe back pain. Among the guests appearing in New Girl, Prince is probably the best known. A fan of the show, the singer absolutely wanted to make an appearance. However, the filming of the episode was not without its difficulties. In this one, Jess and Cece are invited to a party at Prince’s. They meet a lot of people there and Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner were to appear on the screen.

While Zooey Deschanel was rehearsing her script, an assistant appeared, almost tearing her hands off and burning her script, as well as all the others. Moments later, a member of Prince’s team appeared on stage and asked “What celebrities do we have on stage? I hope there’s no Kardashian!”. So Khloe and Kris were quickly driven to the exit without running into Prince. The latter had a grudge against the Kardashians. In 2011, the singer had even taken Kim Kardashian off the stage at a concert at Madison Square Garden.

Address: 2551 Motor Ave, Los Angeles, California, USA

House of Spencer

Jess’s ex-boyfriend Spencer (Ian Wolterstorff), who cheated on her in the very first episode, lives in this house in Century City. Built in 1923, it is valued at $1,917,000. Mainly known for her role in New Girl, Zooey Deschanel also played in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Elf, Yes Man, Bones, with her sister Emily, as well as the clips She’s Got Issues from The Offspring and Jimmy Fallon’s Idiot Boyfriend.

Address: 2045 Pelham Ave, Los Angeles, California, USA

If the main action of New Girl takes place in Los Angeles, New York also invites itself in the adventures of Jess, Schmidt, Winston and Nick as we mentioned in our guide New York of the 1000 cult places of films, series, music, comics and novels.

23rd Street Subway Station, New York in New Girl

23rd Street Subway Station - New Girl
23rd Street Subway Station – New Girl

Jess is visiting New York when a man commits suicide in front of her on the tracks at 23rd Street station. Opened in 1918, this metro station was the scene of a similar drama. In 1999, a schizophrenic man pushed the young journalist and photographer, Kendra Webdale, onto the tracks as a train passed by. On trial for manslaughter, the defendant was remanded in custody. This prompted legislators to pass the Kendra Act, allowing judges to order people with psychological disorders to undergo regular treatment.

Address: 23rd Street Subway Station, New York, USA

The Fantrippers Buying Board

Cult! movies: 100 mythical places of cinema [French Edition]

Since the dawn of cinema, films have invaded the world and highlighted sometimes unexpected places. Every film location has its secrets. The latter are sometimes as exciting as the feature films themselves.

Did you know that the cemetery where the final duel of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was built from scratch and that no body lies there? Or that the bus ofInto The Wild has been moved to discourage fans from spending the night there? From the story of the construction of The Bridge on the River Kwai to the incredible encounter during the shooting of the last scene ofIndiana Jones and the Last Crusadeembark on an exciting world tour with the greatest stars of the seventh art. Shiver in the real haunted house ofAmityville and discover the terrifying anecdotes of the making ofApocalypse Now in the Philippines. Visit the building of Blade Runner before stopping at Hogwarts and finally landing in Jurassic Parkin the middle of the Hawaiian archipelago. What if we also took you behind the scenes of the making of the Hobbits’ village of Lord of the Rings ?

Produced by a team of pop-culture specialists and enhanced by numerous anecdotes, Cult! movies tells the secrets of the places that made the history of cinema.

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By Damien Duarte

Friday, May 15, 2020

Passionné par la culture pop depuis son enfance, ses références vont de Donald Duck à Batman en passant par Marty McFly. Fantripper dans l'âme, voyager sur les traces de Ghostbusters, James Bond ou des héros de romans comme Cotton Malone fait partie d'un séjour idéal et réussi !

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