Species | 1995
Enjoyably daft monster movie, with visuals by HR Giger, designer of Alien. Scientist Xavier Fitch (Ben Kingsley) combines alien and human DNA to produce a speed-growing supermodel who, in the space of a few days, learns language, reading, dress sense and how to follow the instructions on a bottle of hair dye.
Alien messages are first received at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, about ten miles south of Arecibo in Puerto Rico, a familiar movie star seen in GoldenEye and Contact. You can visit the observatory’s Angel Ramos Visitor Center, Wednesday to Sunday.
The escape of young alien Sil (Natasha Henstridge) filmed at the Tooele Army Depot, Tooele, about 30 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, northern Utah. The Victorian railway station is Brigham City, also Utah.
She arrives, grown up and with an urge to mate, conveniently in Los Angeles, at Union Station, 800 North Alameda Street. Heading into the heart of downtown, Sil picks up a little something to wear from a bridal store at the intersection of Fifth Street and Broadway.
And where would a new arrival in LA head to next but Hollywood. The motel Sil checks into is the Saharan Motor Hotel, 7212 Sunset Boulevard at Alta Vista Boulevard, which is also where the body of the murdered prostitute is discovered in Michael Mann’s LA Takedown, his TV dry-run for Heat and the motel to which Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) takes a hooker before leaving LA in Leaving Las Vegas.
You won’t be able to pick up at the ‘Id Club’, to which Sil is directed in search of a man, as it’s a fictional venue. You can see the elaborately decorated location though. It’s the foyer of the Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Boulevard, a movie palace now turned musical showcase, and frequent location seen in seen in Batman Forever, The Bodyguard and Tim Burton’s Ed Wood.
The entrance to the Id uses the building’s rear entrance on Yucca Street – that’s the striking blue-and-white frontage of the Hollywood Palace Theater and the base of the Capitol Records Tower in the background.
The team of oddball specialists on Sil’s tail, almost literally, are based in the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, 506 South Grand Avenue, downtown LA – a frequent location, seen in loads of films, including Beverly Hills Cop.
Sil's search for a partner to mate with sees her leaving the Id Club with a studly pick-up who takes her back to his swanky home. This is 1500 Blue Jay Way in the Bird Streets area of Beverly Hills. This is the very fancy area above the Sunset Strip where the streets have names such as Oriole, Thrasher and Nightingale, and home to plenty of celebs.
Beatles fans may recognise the name from George Harrison's song Blue Jay Way on the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour EP:
"There's a fog upon L.A.
And my friends have lost their way…
Soon will be the break of day
Sitting here in Blue Jay Way"
The car park where Sil is knocked down, and picked up by her next victim, is on Appia Avenue at Seaview Terrace, in Santa Monica alongside the Santa Monica Pier. The lavish house he takes her to is just to the north in Pacific Palisades.
The car and helicopter chase was filmed in the hills near Elysian Park just above the Dodger Stadium and alongside railroad yards at Union Station.
