Earth Girls Are Easy | 1988

Filmed around a candy-coloured Los Angeles, this attempt at an instant pop cult, from the director of Absolute Beginners, didn’t really take off, despite the cast – and an early appearance by a pre-stardom Jim Carrey.

Jeff Goldblum, Damon Wayans and Carrey are three furry aliens who plop into the backyard swimming pool of Valley Girl, Valerie (Geena Davis), at 19625 Bryant Street at Bothwell Road in Northridge.

‘Our Lady of the Valley’ hospital, where Davis’ two-timing husband-to-be intends to dissect the aliens, is the Olive View Medical Center, 14445 Olive View Drive in Sylmar, just north of the Foothill Freeway, I-210. The facility is also seen in movies such as Beverly Hills Cop II and the Sylvester Stallone arm-wrestling clunker Over The Top.

The ‘Blondes’ number beach, with its ‘No Brunettes’ sign, is Zuma Beach on Route 1, six miles north of Malibu. The freeway chase following the unintentional gas station ‘hold-up’ filmed in San Dimas – supposed hometown of Bill And Ted – east of Los Angeles along Foothill Freeway.

There's an appearance from that great icon of Los Angeles culture, Randy’s Donuts, 805 West Manchester Avenue, down in Inglewood. It’s the donut store shaped like – what else? – a giant donut. You may have seen it more recently in Iron Man 2.

A neat bit of location work is the ‘Deca Dance’ disco, where Jeff Goldblum plays piano on a terrace overlooking a twinkling nightscape of Los Angeles. Beneath all the neon dressing, the art-deco exterior of the nightclub is the stair, the terrace and the eastern dome of the Griffith Observatory, 2800 East Observatory Road, in Griffith Park. The observatory is, of course, a major location for Rebel Without A Cause – which happens to be showing on Geena Davis’ TV in the movie – as well as Bowfinger, Devil In A Blue Dress, Transformers and, of course, Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

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