Reservoir Dogs, 1992
Director
Cast
visit the film locations
Los Angeles: Flights: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
Pat and Lorraine's, 4720 Eagle Rock Boulevard, Eagle Rock (tel: 323.257.7926), northeast of downtown Los Angeles, not far from Occidental College
Trivia
Johnie’s (now, sadly) closed is a popular location, seen in Miracle Mile and American History X
For more Quentin Tarantino, check out Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown
Reservoir Dogs location: Madonna lyrics: Pat and Lorraine’s, Eagle Rock Boulevard, Eagle Rock, Los Angeles
It seems unbelievable that the Reservoir Dogs warehouse was torn down, but I guess no one realised the significance at the time. Just imagine the tourist bucks, $5 entrance, Stealers Wheel CDs, souvenir rubber ears.... missed opportunity or what?
Well you can still worship at the site (it was a flattened lot when I visited) or check out the alleyways of the bloody shootout after the robbery, but best of all is breakfast at Pat and Lorraine's, 4720 Eagle Rock Boulevard, Eagle Rock, northeast of downtown Los Angeles, which is where the Dogs gather to discuss Madonna lyrics and the ethics of tipping.
The robbery of ‘Karina’s’ (named after Jean-Luc Godard’s muse, and one-time wife, Anna Karina) filmed a little to the east in the Highland Park district. More movie references abound – Mr Blue is “Dead as Dillinger” and Laurence Tierney (gangleader Joe Cabot) played Dillinger in 1945 for Monogram Pictures, the company to whom Jean-Luc Godard dedicated A Bout de Souffle.
Reservoir Dogs location: Mr Orange gets the bloody wound: Marmion Way, Highland Park, Los Angeles
Mr Brown (Tarantino himself) gets shot, while Mr White kills the cops, in the alleyway between 55th and 56th Avenues here. Mr Orange (Tim Roth) receives his bloody gunshot wound by 5518 Marmion Way, near Avenue 56. Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi) shoots his way out and heads down Figueroa Street (play Spot-the-camera crew in the shop windows in this scene), south of, and parallel to, Marmion Way. He gets hit by a car at the corner of York Boulevard and 57th Avenue, commandeers the motor and makes off on 57th.
Reservoir Dogs location: Mr Orange meets up with his superior: Johnie’s, Wilshire Boulevard, midtown Los Angeles
The café, where Mr Orange meets up with his superior, is Johnie’s Coffee Shop, 6101 Wilshire Boulevard at Fairfax Avenue (a familiar location – it’s where Anthony Edwards receives news of impending apocalypse in Miracle Mile, Eds Norton and Furlong stop off in American History X and where the Dude discusses the severed toe with friend Walter in The Big Lebowski.
Reservoir Dogs location: Mr Orange meets up with his superior: Johnie’s, Wilshire Boulevard, midtown Los Angeles
The graffiti-covered walls, where Orange rehearses his druggy cover story, could – until 2006 – be seen at the junction of Beverly Boulevard and Second Street and Toluca Street, just northwest of downtown, but no more. The location was a platform on LA’s original metro train line, dating from the early 1900s, which ran through a tunnel under the hill to the south. A huge apartment complex called Belmont Station has been built on the site – into which a section of the Belmont Tunnel/Toluca Substation has been integrated.
Reservoir Dogs location: Mr Orange rehearses: Beverly Boulevard at Second Street, downtown Los Angeles; now the site of the Belmont Station apartment complex.
He retails the story to the other Dogs in The Lodge, 4923 Lankershim Boulevard (tel: 818.769.7722) between Vineland and Magnolia, which is in reality a North Hollywood gay bar, and flashbacks to the toilets of the Park Plaza Hotel, 607 South Park View Street, midtown Los Angeles.
Reservoir Dogs location: Mr Orange tells his drug story: The Lodge, lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, San Fernando Valley
“The hotel has been featured many times in films,” claimed Tarantino, “but I’m the only director that has used only its bathroom.”. Maybe, but it’s a close thing. The Park Plaza supplied the men’s room at ‘Capitol Pictures’ for the Coens’ Barton Fink, but it was also used for the USO dance scene. One of the most popular locations in Los Angeles, the Park Plaza has been given a major makeover. See Steven Spielberg’s Hook for more details.
Reservoir Dogs location: site of the Dogs' warehouse: Figueroa street at 59th Avenue, Highland Park, Los Angeles
The Dogs’ warehouse has sadly been demolished, but you’re sure to recognise the (currently empty) site at Figueroa Street and 59th Avenue in Highland Park. Fittingly, it was a former mortuary, and was also used for Mr Orange’s scuzzy hotel room.