Death Race 2000 | 1975
- Locations |
- Los Angeles, California
- DIRECTOR |
- Paul Bartel
Satirical low-budgetter from the dependable Roger Corman exploitation factory, which proved such an effective training ground for some of the best American directors of the 70s.
The start of the savage race, in which points are awarded for taking out hapless pedestrians, supposedly in ‘New York’ was Ontario Motor Speedway, North Milliken Avenue, Ontario. That’s not the Canadian province, but the city in Los Angeles.
Crazy futuristic 2000-style buildings were added with old-school special effects. Sadly, the track was demolished in 1980.
Interiors are filmed in what-was the oddly modernistic (OK, now it looks comfily retro) basement of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 East Green Street in Pasadena. You can see rather more of the auditorium in 1979 romcom 10, with Dudley Moore, and in Brett Ratner's Red Dragon.
The race ends at the imposing ziggurat of the Chet Holifield Federal Building, 24000 Avila Road, Laguna Niguel in Orange County, southeast of LA. Built in 1971 for the Rockwell defence company, who never actually moved in, the building was traded to the government and is now a courthouse for the Southern District of California.
It’s been seen since in Coma (1978) and Outbreak (1995).