Gran Torino, 2008
Director
Cast
visit the film locations
Detroit: Flights: Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW)
Visit: Michigan
Trivia
Although set in the Detroit suburb, the 1997 black comedy Grosse Pointe Blank, with John Cusack, was almost entirely filmed in the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles.
Gran Torino location: Walt Kowalski’s house, Rhode Island Street, Highland Park, Detroit
Photograph: Jim Kirkpatrick
The original story of curmudgeonly widower Walt Kowalski finding an unexpected degree of kinship with the Hmong community was set in Minneapolis, but director Clint Eastwood felt Kowalski's past as an auto worker made the Motor City itself, Detroit, the ideal backdrop.
An added bonus was the new tax incentive package offered to film productions by the state of Michigan (this was the first film to benefit). And since the production crew spent more than $10 million in town during the 33-day shoot, well, everybody’s happy.
Walt Kowalski’s home is in the Highland Park neighbourhood, to the north of Detroit, at 238 Rhode Island Street, between Oakland Parkway and Brush Street (this is a private home so – as ever – please respect the occupants' privacy)
Gran Torino location: Walt Kowalski attends his wife’s funeral: St Ambrose Catholic Church, Hampton Road, Grosse Pointe Park, Detroit
Photograph: flickr/Patricia Drury
Kowalski seethes as his grandkids' show disrespect at his wife’s funeral at St. Ambrose Catholic Church, 15020 Hampton Road in Grosse Pointe Park, east of Highland Park – and this is also where the film ends.
The persistent Father Janovich (Christopher Carley) badgers Walt for a chat about life and death in his local bar, which is the Veterans of Foreign Wars Richard Menge Post No. 6756, 25500 Sherwood Avenue in the Center Line district.
Gran Torino location: man talk at ‘Martin’s’ barber shop: Widgren's Barber Shop, West 11 Mile Road, Royal Oak, Detroit
Photograph: flickr/Nick Kenny
‘Martin’s’ barber shop, where Walt attempts to coach the naive Thao (Bee Vang) in man-talk, is Widgren’s Barber Shop, 204 West 11 Mile Road in Royal Oak.
It’s outside 13140 Charlevoix Street, at Drexel Street, Grosse Point Park, that Kowalski sees off the three toughs giving Sue (Ahney Her) a hard time.
Gran Torino location: Thao gets kitted out: Pointe Hardware & Lumber, Kercheval Avenue, Grosse Pointe Park, Detroit
Photograph: Pointe Hardware & Lumber
The ‘CM Young Hardware’ store, where Walt gets Thao kitted out for his first job, is Pointe Hardware & Lumber, 15020 Kercheval Avenue in Grosse Pointe Park. Belatedly, Walt gets his first made-to-measure suit at Artona Custom Tailoring, 17834 Mack Avenue, Grosse Pointe Park.
A little further east, in the classy suburb of Grosse Pointe Shores on Lake Saint Clair, Kowalski’s son Mitch (Brian Haley) and his ghastly family live on Ballantyne Road.
Kowalski ultimately faces up to the Hmong gang in front of the house at 217 Pilgrim Street, between Hamilton Avenue and Third Street, in Highland Park, northwest of Kowalski’s home.
