A smiling lifeguard in red shorts walks out of the surf carrying a red rescue can — Gregory J. Bonann, the lifeguard who created Baywatch, on duty at Will Rogers State Beach in 1989, the year the show began. Kim Carlsberg · CC BY-SA 4.0

Los Angeles County · O‘ahu · 1989–2001

Baywatch

Made by a working lifeguard on his own beach, then shown in 145 countries. On the left, Gregory J. Bonann on duty at Will Rogers in 1989, the year it began. Write its name in the sand

145 countries · more than 42 languages

Write it in the sand.

By 2001 the Guinness book listed Baywatch as the most widely watched series in the world, with a weekly audience of more than 1.1 billion. Most of them knew it by another name. Pick a language and write the one they used.

About the audience and the titles

Smooth sand. Pick a language.

Nothing written yet.

Written 0 of 10. The titles come from Wikidata; the English meanings are rough.

17700 Pacific Coast Highway · Pacific Palisades

The real headquarters.

The station on screen sat on top of the real one. Bonann had started on this beach in 1970, and the county let him build a working set above its lifeguard headquarters.

A wide sandy beach with the Santa Monica Mountains behind — Will Rogers State Beach, Pacific Palisades, in 2011. JCS · CC BY-SA 3.0

17700 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles

Will Rogers State Beach

Will Rogers State Beach was the main beach location for Baywatch; some scenes were filmed at Long Beach and in Malibu.

The county lists Baywatch among the television shows and films made on its shores.

Bonann’s ties to the LA County Lifeguards let him build a working set, inside and out, above the real lifeguard headquarters on this beach.

Bonann started here in 1970 as a city lifeguard, in tower 18, close to his family home. In 1977 he rescued children caught in a rip current; their father worked for MTM, and became the man he pitched the show to.

The beach has over 3 miles of frontage and about 103 acres, and the county has run it since 1975.

Bonann created the show with Michael Berk and Douglas Schwartz. NBC dropped it after one season, 73rd of 103 shows; Grant Tinker sold the rights back to Bonann for ten dollars, and in 1991 he, Berk, Schwartz and David Hasselhoff, who played Mitch Buchannon, revived it in syndication, Hasselhoff as an executive producer.

It was seen in 145 countries and translated into more than 42 languages, and the 2001 Guinness book listed it as the most widely viewed series in the world, with a weekly audience of more than 1.1 billion.

A free public beach run by LA County; paid lots along the highway. One lot was closed for wildfire recovery work when checked.

Cleared sources

1970Bonann starts as a lifeguard in tower 18, Will Rogers
1977He rescues a TV executive’s children and pitches the idea
1989Baywatch starts on NBC
1990Cancelled after one season, 73rd of 103 shows
1991Back in first-run syndication; the rights had been sold back for ten dollars
1999Off to Hawaii
2001The last episode; that year’s Guinness book names it the most widely watched series
2003Hawaiian Wedding reunites the cast

Sources for the run

Santa Monica Bay

The name on the boats.

Before it was a show, Baywatch was the name painted on the county’s rescue boats. Two of them still work out of Marina del Rey, 10 km (6 miles) down the bay from Will Rogers.

Rows of moored yachts in a large harbour — Marina del Rey harbour, May 2016. P. Hughes · CC BY-SA 4.0

Marina del Rey, Los Angeles County

Marina del Rey harbour

Bonann first called the show Aquatic Corps for Emergency Service, ACES. He changed it to Baywatch, the name of the rescue boats that patrolled Santa Monica Bay.

Two county rescue boats, Baywatch Del Rey and Baywatch Santa Monica, still work out of Marina del Rey.

The Los Angeles County Lifeguards are the largest professional lifeguard service in the world; in 2021 they had 174 full-time and 614 recurrent lifeguards.

The service was the model for the series, which one of its own recurrent lifeguards created.

Abroad the show went out under other names: Alerte à Malibu in French, Słoneczny patrol in Polish, Спасатели Малибу in Russian, Sahil Güvenlik in Turkish, 沙灘拯救隊 in Hong Kong.

A public harbour; walk the quays and parks round its basins.

Cleared sources

A broad beach seen from above with the ocean on the left — Venice Beach, Los Angeles, August 2014. Blake Everett · CC0

Ocean Front Walk, Venice, Los Angeles

Venice Beach

In 1989, scouting locations here with the producers and writers, Bonann was told a teenager’s friend was missing in the water. He found the boy and brought him round; the boy recovered in hospital.

Los Angeles County gave Bonann its Medal of Valor for that rescue.

Venice was one of the Central Section beaches Bonann worked as a county lifeguard, with Topanga, Will Rogers, Santa Monica and Del Rey.

A free public beach with the boardwalk behind it; walk on from Ocean Front Walk.

Cleared sources

Pacific Coast Highway

Malibu.

Up the highway from the pier to the point and the long sand of Zuma. The pier and Zuma are 14 km (9 miles) apart.

Malibu Pier and the beach beside it, February 2012. Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). · CC BY-SA 4.0
23000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
Malibu Pier
A county rescue boat called Baywatch Malibu works from Malibu Pier.
Some of the show’s scenes were filmed in Malibu.
A public pier and beach beside the highway.
Cleared sources
The path down to Point Dume State Beach, Malibu, April 2024. Cecilybreeding · CC0
Point Dume State Beach, Westward Beach Road, Malibu
Point Dume
In the fifth season’s eighth episode, Matt Brody rescues two contestants at Point Dume.
The bluff forms the northern end of Santa Monica Bay, with Zuma Beach immediately to its north-west.
State Parks posted on 28 August 2026 that the lower car park is unreachable while Westward Beach Road is closed; the beach is still open.
A state beach and headland. When checked, the lower car park was shut by the closure of Westward Beach Road; the beach stays open, sunrise to sunset.
Cleared sources
Zuma Beach, Malibu, in August 2018. Pimlico27 · CC BY-SA 4.0
30000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
Zuma Beach
Zuma was a frequently used site for the series.
It has 1.8 miles of beach frontage, 105 acres and eight car parks with about 2,000 spaces.
The county warns that its surf is rough and its rip currents strong; lifeguards are on duty in daylight.
Its water runs a little colder than at other Los Angeles beaches, and grey whales pass on their winter migration.
A county beach with eight paid lots; lifeguards on duty in daylight. Bus 534 stops at Pacific Coast Highway and Morning View.
Cleared sources

California State Parks

Point Dume State Beach

Malibu

Headland, cliffs, coves and whale watching from December. Day-use parking sunrise to sunset; when checked the lower lot was shut by the Westward Beach Road closure.

Plan a visit

Barrenjoey Road · Sydney · late 1990s

The world’s most watched show asked to move to Avalon Beach. Avalon said no.

The producers painted “Avalon Beach” across the surf club and planned Baywatch: Down Under. The town, 12,000 km (7,500 miles) from Will Rogers, turned it down.

A curving surf beach backed by houses and wooded hills — Avalon Beach, Sydney’s Northern Beaches, July 2006. Mike Funnell · CC BY-SA 3.0

Avalon Beach Surf Life Saving Club, 558A Barrenjoey Road, Avalon Beach, Sydney

Avalon Beach

With costs rising in Los Angeles in 1999, the producers filmed a pilot and planned to call the show Baywatch: Down Under.

An episode was shot at Avalon Beach in the late 1990s. The producers proposed moving the whole show here, promised to upgrade the surf club, and painted a huge “Avalon Beach” sign across it.

Residents complained, backed by the former world surfing champion Mark Warren, and the series went to Hawaii instead.

The opposition led Pittwater Council to ban the production from coming back.

A public surf beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches; the surf club stands at its southern end.

Cleared sources

1999–2002

O‘ahu.

Hawaii offered large incentives to have it. The last two seasons were made at the state’s own studio behind Diamond Head, with a tank built for the water work, and the cast came back to the North Shore in 2002 for a wedding.

A beach with swimmers and the green ridge of Diamond Head behind — Diamond Head seen from Waikiki beach. The state film studio sits on the crater’s far, inland side; this is the nearest open view. Alfred Adler · CC BY-SA 3.0

Lower Campus Road, Diamond Head, Honolulu

Hawaii Film Studio

The state studio at Diamond Head was the home of Baywatch Hawaii.

The production built a large water tank on the lot; in 2001 the film office was offering it, with the main stage and cottages, to a planned reunion film.

The state offered that film the studio at 20% under its standard rate of $10,000 a month.

It is the first state-owned film studio in the United States, and was the home of Magnum, P.I. from 1980 to 1988.

Hawaii offered large financial incentives to bring the show to the islands. The move carried conditions: a subtitle, a local crew, at least two years on location and 44 episodes, 60% of the cost spent in Hawaii.

A working state-owned studio, closed to visitors. Diamond Head is the nearest open view.

Cleared sources

A panorama of resort towers along a beach and lagoon — Hilton Hawaiian Village on Waikiki Beach, 2011. Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 3.0

2005 Kalia Road, Waikiki, Honolulu

Hilton Hawaiian Village

In 2001 the reunion’s producers, like the Baywatch Hawaii team before them, sought help with costs from Hawaiian Airlines, the Hilton Hawaiian Village and the state visitors’ bureau.

The resort opened in 1955 and has grown into the largest hotel in the Hilton chain.

The site was once the village of Kālia, and the childhood home of the surfer Duke Kahanamoku.

The hotel puts on a fireworks show on its beachfront every Friday evening.

A resort hotel on Waikiki Beach; the beach in front is public.

Cleared sources

A low resort building on a rocky point at dusk — Turtle Bay Resort on O‘ahu’s North Shore in the early evening, August 2009. Simon_sees from Australia · CC BY 2.0

57-091 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, North Shore of O‘ahu

Turtle Bay

Filming for the reunion film Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding began at Turtle Bay Resort in September 2002.

It brought the original cast back together and premiered on Fox on 28 February 2003.

The resort is now The Ritz-Carlton O‘ahu, Turtle Bay, 37.5 miles from Daniel K. Inouye International Airport.

A resort on the North Shore, now The Ritz-Carlton O‘ahu, Turtle Bay; about 37 miles from Honolulu’s airport.

Cleared sources

Hilton

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort

Waikiki, Honolulu

The Waikiki resort at 2005 Kalia Road that helped back the Hawaii years: five towers, five pools and the beach in front.

Check availability

Hilton Hawaiian Village

Friday Night Fireworks at Hilton Hawaiian Village

Waikiki, Honolulu · Every Friday evening

Every Friday evening the resort’s beachfront becomes the stage for a fireworks show; the beach is public.

See what’s on

Who made it

The lifeguard and the star.

Gregory J. Bonann created it with Michael Berk and Douglas Schwartz. David Hasselhoff played Mitch Buchannon and, when NBC dropped it after one season, helped bring it back and became an executive producer.

Cleared sources

Gregory J. Bonann, the lifeguard who created Baywatch, on duty at Will Rogers State Beach in 1989, the year the show began. Kim Carlsberg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gregory J. Bonann, 1989
On a Baywatch shoot in August 1993, photographed by a visitor who saw David Hasselhoff filming: the yellow lifeguard trucks parked under the bluffs. Marbus1966 · CC BY-SA 4.0
A Baywatch shoot, 1993
David Hasselhoff at the White House on 14 January 1986, three years before Baywatch, greeted by Nancy Reagan. White House Photographic Office. President (1981-1989 : Reagan). White House Photographic Office. 1981-1989 · Public domain
David Hasselhoff, 1986
Gregory J. Bonann in 2009, eight years after the last episode. Dave Keffer · CC BY-SA 4.0
Gregory J. Bonann, 2009

Go there.

Showing each place by its real name.

Where it is now

10 places you can visit: 3 on Santa Monica Bay, 3 in Malibu, 3 on O‘ahu and 1 in Sydney. The studio at Diamond Head is a working lot, so look from the road.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A free public beach run by LA County; paid lots along the highway. One lot was closed for wildfire recovery work when checked.
Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A free public beach with the boardwalk behind it; walk on from Ocean Front Walk.
Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public harbour; walk the quays and parks round its basins.

Will Rogers State Beach, Pacific Palisades, in 2011. JCS · CC BY-SA 3.0
17700 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles
Will Rogers State Beach
Will Rogers State Beach was the main beach location for Baywatch; some scenes were filmed at Long Beach and in Malibu.
A free public beach run by LA County; paid lots along the highway. One lot was closed for wildfire recovery work when checked.
Cleared sources
Venice Beach, Los Angeles, August 2014. Blake Everett · CC0
Ocean Front Walk, Venice, Los Angeles
Venice Beach
In 1989, scouting locations here with the producers and writers, Bonann was told a teenager’s friend was missing in the water. He found the boy and brought him round; the boy recovered in hospital.
A free public beach with the boardwalk behind it; walk on from Ocean Front Walk.
Cleared sources
Marina del Rey harbour, May 2016. P. Hughes · CC BY-SA 4.0
Marina del Rey, Los Angeles County
Marina del Rey harbour
Bonann first called the show Aquatic Corps for Emergency Service, ACES. He changed it to Baywatch, the name of the rescue boats that patrolled Santa Monica Bay.
A public harbour; walk the quays and parks round its basins.
Cleared sources

Viator · Ad / affiliate

Malibu coast tours

Malibu

Live marketplace results for tours along the Malibu coast. None is built round the show; check each route for Zuma, Point Dume and the pier.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

Stay

On O‘ahu.

The Waikiki resort that backed the Hawaii years, and the North Shore resort where the cast reunited.

Hilton

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort

Waikiki, Honolulu

The Waikiki resort at 2005 Kalia Road that helped back the Hawaii years: five towers, five pools and the beach in front.

Check availability

Marriott Bonvoy

The Ritz-Carlton O‘ahu, Turtle Bay

North Shore, O‘ahu

The former Turtle Bay Resort at 57-091 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, where the reunion film was shot in 2002.

Check availability

Go there

The coast, and the island.

Point Dume by the state park’s own page, and tours of Malibu and O‘ahu.

California State Parks

Point Dume State Beach

Malibu

Headland, cliffs, coves and whale watching from December. Day-use parking sunrise to sunset; when checked the lower lot was shut by the Westward Beach Road closure.

Plan a visit

Viator · Ad / affiliate

Malibu coast tours

Malibu

Live marketplace results for tours along the Malibu coast. None is built round the show; check each route for Zuma, Point Dume and the pier.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

Viator · Ad / affiliate

O‘ahu and North Shore tours

O‘ahu

Live marketplace results for tours of O‘ahu, from Diamond Head to the North Shore.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

Fridays at Waikiki.

Fireworks on the Hilton’s beachfront every Friday evening.

Hilton Hawaiian Village

Friday Night Fireworks at Hilton Hawaiian Village

Waikiki, Honolulu · Every Friday evening

Every Friday evening the resort’s beachfront becomes the stage for a fireworks show; the beach is public.

See what’s on

Take it home

In his own words.

Hasselhoff’s autobiography.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Making Waves

David Hasselhoff

David Hasselhoff’s autobiography.

Find the book

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The full log

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

Search places and stories What remains Sort

10 of 10 places · 10 of 10 stories

Will Rogers State Beach
17700 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles
- A set above the real headquarters
  The lifeguards’ headquarters on screen is built above the real one, on the beach where its creator started.
Venice Beach
Ocean Front Walk, Venice, Los Angeles
- Scouting Venice
  On a scouting day before the show began, its creator makes a real rescue.
Marina del Rey harbour
Marina del Rey, Los Angeles County
- The name on the boats
  The show takes its name from the county’s rescue boats on Santa Monica Bay.
Malibu Pier
23000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
- Baywatch Malibu
  Some scenes were filmed in Malibu, where a county rescue boat still carries the name.
Zuma Beach
30000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
- Zuma
  A wide county beach used again and again by the series.
Point Dume
Point Dume State Beach, Westward Beach Road, Malibu
- A rescue at Point Dume
  Matt Brody rescues two contestants off the point.
Avalon Beach
Avalon Beach Surf Life Saving Club, 558A Barrenjoey Road, Avalon Beach, Sydney
- Baywatch: Down Under
  A Sydney beach is offered the show and its residents turn it down.
Hawaii Film Studio
Lower Campus Road, Diamond Head, Honolulu
- Baywatch Hawaii
  The last two seasons move to a state studio at Diamond Head, where the production builds a water tank.
Hilton Hawaiian Village
2005 Kalia Road, Waikiki, Honolulu
- The Waikiki deal
  A resort hotel is among the backers that help pay for the Hawaii years.
Turtle Bay
57-091 Kamehameha Highway, Kahuku, North Shore of O‘ahu
- Hawaiian Wedding
  The original cast reunite on the North Shore for a television film.

Baywatch

Write it in the sand.