HERMOSA
BEACH PIER.
Where Sebastian walks into the Pacific dusk and sings “City of Stars.”
Sunset beside the pier. Sebastian’s City of Stars sequence takes place on the deck above.
Photography & credits
Hermosa Beach Pier at Sunset.jpg by Laura Alier · CC BY 4.0. Resized and converted to WebP. Display crops vary with screen size. The photograph retains the linked licence.
THE JAZZ CLUB
LEADS TO
THE OCEAN.
After leaving Mia at the Lighthouse Café, Sebastian walks onto the pier. The location turns two neighbouring real places into one continuous piece of film geography: jazz on Pier Avenue, then the solitary walk west over the Pacific.
The pier wasn't the original plan for the number. During the Hermosa shoot, the filmmakers saw the view and shifted the sequence onto the pier.
STORY POSITION · DIRECTLY AFTER THE LIGHTHOUSE CAFÉFIND THE
FRAME.
The pier photograph above provides location context; the landmarks below orient Sebastian’s dusk walk.
VISUAL LANDMARKS
A matched screen-to-location comparison is not available yet. Look for these features in the location view and scene notes.
- HORIZON
- PIER EDGE
- LAMP LINE
- CENTRE LINE
RECREATE
THE SHOT.
Walk west from Pier Plaza onto the pier. The recreation target is the central pier axis looking toward the ocean, matching Sebastian's dusk walk.
- POSITION
- Hermosa Beach Pier · centre line
- DIRECTION
- West · toward the Pacific
- TIME
- Dusk / blue hour
- ALIGN
- Horizon · pier edges · lamp rhythm
- IMPORTANT
- The film's blue lamps were production props, not permanent pier fixtures.
LIGHTHOUSE
→ PIER.
Experience the sequence in narrative order rather than jumping between pins.
- 01THE LIGHTHOUSE CAFE30 Pier Ave · Sebastian introduces Mia to jazz
- ↓WALK WESTAlong Pier Avenue toward the ocean
- 02HERMOSA BEACH PIERWalk onto the pier · City of Stars
THE BLUE
LIGHTS WEREN'T HERE.
The blue lamp posts were brought in by the production. The pier itself provides the setting, but those details of the film’s design are not permanent features to look for today.
NEARBY
IN THE STORY.
START WHERE
THE MUSIC BEGINS.
The pier is the second half of a two-stop Hermosa Beach sequence.
FOLLOW CITY OF STARS →