Explore Washington, DC through the places behind its cultural stories. Start with The Exorcist, Forrest Gump, Marvin Gaye, then follow the connections between the works, people and locations in this collection. Use the map to see how the documented locations fit together, and browse the place cards for the story behind each stop. A production location and the place it represents on screen can be different; each connection keeps those details separate. For something happening now, follow the official events programme and confirm dates and access with the organiser before travelling. Build your own route by choosing the stories that interest you most. Return to explore new stories as the collection grows.
filmBreath: breathe into a bedroom built inside a freezer, brush a demon out of the Iraqi sand, and walk the Georgetown steps nobody counts the same way twice.
6 places in Washington, DCG. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0 · Display-cropped · City context photograph
filmRun: from a Savannah bench to a Utah highway, counted in real miles, with a box of chocolates where every one is a real place.
1 places in Washington, DCcurlie_fryz · CC BY 2.0 · Display-cropped
musicKnit: work his 1973 cap band by band from the Watts Branch brim to the Ostend waves, slide his microphone to three duet partners, count thirty Moere cassettes into a box, slow the 1983 anthem until the Forum claps.
3 places in Washington, DCG. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0 · Display-cropped · City context photograph
38 places · 38 mapped locations
On 27 March 2015 Jon Hamm, cast members and Matthew Weiner gave the museum costumes, props, sketches and a script, including Draper’s grey suit and fedora.
A Smithsonian museum on the National Mall. Objects rotate: check what is on view before you go.
On 20 January 2009 she sang My Country, ’Tis of Thee at the Capitol, at the inauguration of Barack Obama.
See the West Front from the National Mall.
For the first time ever, the National Park Service let filmmakers shoot in the Reflecting Pool.
Free and open to the public. Walk the length of the pool from the Lincoln Memorial steps.
Filming began on 15 November 1989 in Washington, where the Secretary of Labor, Elizabeth Dole, lent her office for a scene set at FBI headquarters.
Government offices: see it from Constitution Avenue. Visitors on business go through security with photo ID.
Tom Hanks was the national spokesman for the World War II Memorial campaign.
Between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. The Mall is open 24 hours a day.
The film’s climax was shot here, on the stone stairway beside the old Capital Traction Company station.
A public stairway, open at all hours. Come down from Prospect Street, or up from M Street near Key Bridge. The steps are steep and narrow: hold the rail, especially after dark.
The Capital Traction Company built its streetcar terminal and car barn here in 1895–97.
See it from M Street, and from the steps that run down its west wall.
Scenes were shot on and near the campus in October and November 1972. The studio paid the university $1,000 a day.
A working university. See Healy Hall from the front lawn and the gates; its rooms are for students and staff.
Dahlgren Chapel is on the university archive’s list of campus places seen in the film.
The university chapel. See it from the quadrangle; services are the university’s own.
The steps of Lauinger Library are among the campus places seen in the film.
The university library. See the steps from Library Walk.
The world premiere was at the Uptown on 2 April 1968, before 1,120 people. Balcony seats cost 75 cents; the orchestra and loge, three dollars.
Closed and empty. See the front from Connecticut Avenue.
Formerly Watts Branch Park, it was renamed for him on 2 April 2006, what would have been his 67th birthday.
A public park with a trail its whole length. The mosaic is at the Lady Bird Johnson Meadows entrance, by Minnesota Avenue and Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue.
He went to Cardozo High School in Northwest Washington, and left before graduating.
A working school: see it from Clifton Street.
On 1 May 1972 he gave a concert here, on the day the mayor had named Marvin Gaye Day.
The main building closed in September 2026 and is fenced off: see it from the river path. Some programmes continue at the Reach.
In July 2012 the season five opener filmed at the White House and the Old Executive Building.
Seen from the fence on Pennsylvania Avenue and from Lafayette Square.
The Old Executive Building was on the crew’s Washington list in July 2012, with the White House next door.
Government offices. See the façade from 17th Street.
The Newseum was on the July 2012 filming list.
A university building now. See it from Pennsylvania Avenue.
The Capitol Reflecting Pool was on the July 2012 filming list.
Free and open. Sit on the limestone steps and watch the Capitol in the water.
The Lincoln Memorial was on the July 2012 filming list.
The chamber and steps are free and open. Only the Undercroft needs a ticket.
Falcon meeting location.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Tidal Basin, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Gunship battle setting; effects and filming boundaries need review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Diana workplace setting.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Diana home setting.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Watergate Hotel, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Fictional metro station location; exact filming needs corroboration.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Georgetown Park, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Museum scenes.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Declaration threat scene.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
J Edgar Hoover Building, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Declaration setting; physical filming versus recreation needs review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
National Archives Museum, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Research setting; physical filming versus recreation needs review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Library of Congress, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Historic private-house exterior beside stairs; no public entry asserted.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Prospect Street, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
Station filming location.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Union Station, Washington, DC · Source-recorded site-centre position, pending geography review. Not a surveyed filming viewpoint or confirmation of current access.
MovieMaps lists Ben's Chili Bowl in its filming-location catalogue for State of Play. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Ben's Chili Bowl, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location jp llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
MovieMaps lists William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building in its filming-location catalogue for State of Play. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location 6qk llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
MovieMaps lists Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in its filming-location catalogue for State of Play. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location 6qn llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
MovieMaps lists H Street Northwest & Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest in its filming-location catalogue for National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
H Street Northwest & Black Lives Matter Plaza Northwest, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location byf llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
MovieMaps lists Willard InterContinental Washington in its filming-location catalogue for Contact. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Willard InterContinental Washington, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location 2pu llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
MovieMaps lists Path between Ohio Drive Bridge & Jefferson Memorial in its filming-location catalogue for Contact. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Path between Ohio Drive Bridge & Jefferson Memorial, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location c3x llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
MovieMaps lists United States Treasury Building in its filming-location catalogue for Contact. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
United States Treasury Building, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location c3z llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
MovieMaps lists Martin's Tavern in its filming-location catalogue for The Exorcist III. The production-site association and current access await review.
Confirm current access with the venue. Source documentation does not establish present visitor access.
Martin's Tavern, Washington, DC · MovieMaps location 775 llat/llng; source-recorded site centre, geography review pending; not a surveyed viewpoint.
Breath: breathe into a bedroom built inside a freezer, brush a demon out of the Iraqi sand, and walk the Georgetown steps nobody counts the same way twice.
Run: from a Savannah bench to a Utah highway, counted in real miles, with a box of chocolates where every one is a real place.
Enter the existing World ↗Knit: work his 1973 cap band by band from the Watts Branch brim to the Ostend waves, slide his microphone to three duet partners, count thirty Moere cassettes into a box, slow the 1983 anthem until the Forum claps.
Enter the existing World ↗Pit: shovel eleven real places into Lot 48 until it is level and a park grows on top, then find the real pit became apartments; tilt Pasadena City Hall up from the CITY HALL arch to the dome Pawnee hid, open Leslie’s Washington binder tab by tab, and build Indiana’s smallest park in one parking bay.
Explore Contact through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Explore National Treasure through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Explore State of Play through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Explore Captain America: The Winter Soldier through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Explore Wonder Woman 1984 through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Cut: throw the bone and the film hard-cuts to the next real place it was made, shown or kept.
Enter the existing World ↗Stops: slot the hymn board, flip seven tiles, fill the choir loft, then pull Detroit’s organ stops for full organ.
Enter the existing World ↗Explore Hannibal through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
The Carousel: turn a slide tray to project real places, then drop the falling man through New York into the Los Angeles rooms that played it.
Enter the existing World ↗Explore National Treasure: Book of Secrets through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Explore Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Explore No Way Out through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Tide: bring the tide in over Omaha, from a Wexford beach to the graves at Colleville.
Enter the existing World ↗Explore The Exorcist III through the Washington, DC locations documented by the linked sources.
Moth: mark up the case file in red and Memphis, Baltimore and Belvedere turn back into Pittsburgh.
Enter the existing World ↗City photograph: G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0 · Display-cropped for this layout.
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