Skip to content
Search

Where will your curiosity take you?

Bones

Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz at Comic-Con, July 2012. Fox, 2005–2017: almost every episode is called the something in the something.

A Washington lab made in Los Angeles. Fill the blanks

The something in the something

Fill the blanks.

Almost every Bones title follows one pattern. Five real ones are hidden in these words. Pair them up and each one shows you where it was made; pair them wrong and Brennan answers the way she answers every pop-culture joke.

About the titles

Pick a word for each blank.

Titles found: 0 of 5.

10201 West Pico Boulevard · Century City

Stage 6.

The Jeffersonian’s lab, its platform and its glass were built inside one sound stage on the Fox lot. The diner and the bar where the team ends up are sets a few streets away on the same lot.

Built
1930
Bones on the stage
2005–17
Square feet
28,274
A studio gate behind a black retaining wall on a wide boulevard
The entrance to the Fox lot on Pico Boulevard, seen from passing traffic, August 2014. The lot is closed to the public. Coolcaesar · CC BY-SA 4.0

10201 West Pico Boulevard, Century City, Los Angeles

Stage 6, Fox Studio Lot

The Jeffersonian lab lives on Stage 6 of the Fox lot, one of its largest sound stages, built in 1930 and the show’s home from 2005.

The studio lists Bones (2005–2017) among the series made on Stage 6, with Starsky and Hutch; the stage covers 28,274 square feet.

The Royal Diner and the Founding Fathers, where the team goes after a case, are sets on the same lot; between takes the diner stands bare and the bar has no sign.

Unlike some Hollywood studios, the Fox lot is not open to visitors.

A working studio, closed to the public. Pico Boulevard outside is public.

Cleared sources

Exposition Park

The Jeffersonian in the Rose Garden.

The museum and the garden sit side by side, 0.2 km (0.1 miles) apart. The squints ate lunch on the steps; Booth and Brennan married among the roses.

A Beaux-Arts museum building with domes behind a garden
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park, May 2008. Los Angeles · CC BY-SA 3.0

900 Exposition Boulevard, Exposition Park, Los Angeles

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

In the pilot the squints eat lunch on steps at the Rose Garden; the building behind them is the Natural History Museum.

Inside the museum, in the same episode, Brennan, with Zack behind her, confronts Dr Goodman about being lent to the FBI.

Wikipedia names the Natural History Museum among the Jeffersonian’s exteriors.

It opened on 6 November 1913 and holds nearly 35 million specimens and artefacts.

Open daily, 9.30am to 5pm, with an admission ticket.

Cleared sources
Rose beds and paths in a large sunken garden
Exposition Park Rose Garden, May 2008. Los Angeles · CC BY-SA 3.0

701 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles

Exposition Park Rose Garden

The Jeffersonian’s exteriors have been filmed at the Rose Garden since the first season.

Booth and Brennan marry here in the ninth season’s “The Woman in White”, aired on 21 October 2013.

The Old Armory Building on the garden’s eastern edge appears in establishing shots of the Jeffersonian.

The sunken garden was planted in 1927 with 15,000 bushes, and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

A public garden in Exposition Park; walk in.

Cleared sources
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Exposition Park, Los Angeles

The Jeffersonian’s museum, at 900 Exposition Boulevard, open 9.30am to 5pm. Tickets on the museum’s site; the Rose Garden is next door.

Plan a visit
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Collections Revealed

Exposition Park, Los Angeles · Thursdays, 11am

A close look at the rarely seen collections the museum studies and cares for, in the NHM Commons Theater.

See the programme

Downtown Los Angeles

An argument, a verdict, a Metro exit.

Three places from three seasons, a short walk apart: the firehouse and the station are 0.6 km (0.4 miles) apart, with City Hall between them.

  1. A small two-storey brick firehouse on a corner at night
    The Old Plaza Firehouse, built in 1884, on the plaza near Olvera Street, April 2011. Eot1986 · CC BY-SA 3.0

    126 Plaza Street, by Olvera Street, Los Angeles

    Old Plaza Firehouse

    In the pilot Booth and Brennan have one of their first arguments in front of it.

    Built in 1884, it is the oldest fire station in the city, and served as one until 1897.

    It reopened as a museum in 1960, with helmets, photographs and equipment of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

    A small firefighting museum on the old plaza, Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 3pm.

    Cleared sources
  2. A tall white stepped tower above downtown buildings
    Los Angeles City Hall from the west, seen from the Disney Concert Hall, March 2012. Tim Ahem · CC BY 3.0

    200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles

    Los Angeles City Hall

    The show often uses City Hall, inside and out, as its courthouse.

    The last scene of “The Verdict in the Story”, aired on 5 May 2008, was filmed here.

    Works in front of City Hall have since changed the plaza where the hundredth episode ends.

    A working city hall; see it from Spring Street and Grand Park.

    Cleared sources
  3. A metro station entrance on a downtown street
    Civic Center/Grand Park station, Los Angeles Metro, July 2022. Benoît Prieur · CC0

    Hill Street at First Street, Los Angeles

    Civic Center/Grand Park station

    In the hundredth episode, “The Parts in the Sum of the Whole”, Booth and Brennan come up out of this station on their way to see Sweets.

    The episode, written by Hart Hanson, aired on 8 April 2010.

    It ends on a plaza in front of City Hall that later works removed, so that spot can no longer be visited.

    The station sits under Hill Street at First Street; its art is Jonathan Borofsky’s I Dreamed I Could Fly.

    A Metro station on the B and D lines; ride in.

    Cleared sources
Viator · Ad / affiliate

Los Angeles film and TV location tours

Los Angeles

Live marketplace results for film and TV location tours of Los Angeles. None is built round the show; check each route for downtown and Exposition Park.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

Washington DC

The Jeffersonian does not exist.

It is a fictional Smithsonian, and its lab is Stage 6 on the Fox lot. The real museum on the National Mall is 3,700 km (2,300 miles) from the stage; in the story, Booth’s office at FBI headquarters is about 500 metres from the museum.

A grand domed museum with columns behind a lawn
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History on the National Mall, March 2016. Juliaquinn12 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Constitution Avenue NW at 10th Street, National Mall, Washington DC

National Museum of Natural History

The Jeffersonian is a fictional version of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

The premise reflects the historic relationship between the FBI and the Smithsonian’s scientists.

In the story the lab would be on the National Mall, about 500 metres from Booth’s office.

The museum opened in 1910, has free admission and is open 364 days a year.

A Smithsonian museum on the National Mall; free admission.

Cleared sources
A massive concrete office building across a wide avenue
The J. Edgar Hoover Building across Pennsylvania Avenue NW, October 2012. Tim Evanson · CC BY-SA 2.0

935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC

J. Edgar Hoover Building

In the show Booth’s and Sweets’s offices are here, at FBI headquarters.

Work on the building began in 1965 and finished in September 1975.

FBI offices, not open to visitors; see it from Pennsylvania Avenue.

Cleared sources
Viator · Ad / affiliate

National Mall walking tours

Washington DC

Live marketplace results for walking tours of the National Mall in Washington, where the story puts the Jeffersonian. Check each route for the Natural History Museum.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

Charlotte, North Carolina

The real Brennan.

A woman with short fair hair smiling at a book signing
Kathy Reichs at a book signing in Toronto, November 2010, while the series was in its sixth season. Raysonho @ Open Grid Scheduler / Grid Engine (crop by Atia) · Public domain

A novel by Kathy Reichs

starring the forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan

In real life, Kathy Reichs writes the Temperance Brennan novels, and the show borrows her heroine’s name.

About the books
  • Four members of the cast seated at a convention panel table
    Tamara Taylor, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin and John Francis Daley at San Diego Comic-Con, July 2008. watchwithkristin · CC BY-SA 2.0
    Tamara Taylor, David Boreanaz, Michaela Conlin and John Francis Daley, 2008
  • A woman with long dark hair smiling at a convention panel
    Emily Deschanel, Temperance Brennan, at San Diego Comic-Con, 13 July 2012, during the eighth season’s run-up. Genevieve · CC BY 2.0
    Emily Deschanel, 2012
  • A dark-haired man in a jacket at a convention panel
    David Boreanaz, Seeley Booth, at San Diego Comic-Con, 13 July 2012. Genevieve · CC BY 2.0
    David Boreanaz, 2012
Brick university buildings and trees on a campus
The UNC Charlotte campus, April 2013. chucka_nc · CC BY-SA 2.0

University City, Charlotte, North Carolina

UNC Charlotte

Kathy Reichs, whose life and novels the series is based on, is professor emerita of anthropology here.

She produced the show to keep the science honest, and wrote “The Witch in the Wardrobe”, aired on 6 May 2010.

In the show, Brennan writes mystery novels about a forensic anthropologist named Kathy Reichs.

Her first novel, Déjà Dead, won the 1997 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel.

An open university campus; walk round.

Cleared sources
A round domed library building in a stone square
The Radcliffe Camera, Oxford, December 2007: the city, not a filming spot. Mike Peel · CC BY-SA 4.0

London and Oxford, England

London and Oxford

The two-part fourth-season premiere, “The Yanks in the U.K.”, was filmed on location in London and Oxford.

In it Booth and Brennan are at Oxford University for a conference, then called to London to work with Scotland Yard.

It aired on 3 September 2008.

No filming site is named, so it is not on the map.

Cleared sources

Go there.

Where it is now

9 places you can visit: 2 in Exposition Park, 4 downtown and on the Fox lot, 2 in Washington and 1 in Charlotte. The English premiere has no named site, so it is listed here and left off the map.

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

  • Building reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open daily, 9.30am to 5pm, with an admission ticket.

  • Site reference · Public access · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public garden in Exposition Park; walk in.

  1. A Beaux-Arts museum building with domes behind a garden
    The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park, May 2008. Los Angeles · CC BY-SA 3.0

    900 Exposition Boulevard, Exposition Park, Los Angeles

    Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

    In the pilot the squints eat lunch on steps at the Rose Garden; the building behind them is the Natural History Museum.

    Open daily, 9.30am to 5pm, with an admission ticket.

    Cleared sources
  2. Rose beds and paths in a large sunken garden
    Exposition Park Rose Garden, May 2008. Los Angeles · CC BY-SA 3.0

    701 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles

    Exposition Park Rose Garden

    The Jeffersonian’s exteriors have been filmed at the Rose Garden since the first season.

    A public garden in Exposition Park; walk in.

    Cleared sources
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Unearthed: Raw Beauty

Exposition Park, Los Angeles · Daily, 9.30am to 5pm, until 18 April 2027

An exhibition of rare mineral and crystal specimens in their natural state, some on view for the first time, at the Jeffersonian’s museum.

See the exhibition

Stay

Downtown, near the courthouse.

A Broadway hotel a short ride from City Hall and Exposition Park.

The Hoxton

The Hoxton, Downtown LA

1060 South Broadway, Los Angeles

Not a filming location: 174 rooms on South Broadway with a rooftop pool, a short ride from City Hall and the old plaza, and from Exposition Park. Pictured: City Hall.

Check rooms

Go there

The museum, and the Mall.

The Jeffersonian’s museum in Exposition Park, and tours of Los Angeles locations and the National Mall.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Exposition Park, Los Angeles

The Jeffersonian’s museum, at 900 Exposition Boulevard, open 9.30am to 5pm. Tickets on the museum’s site; the Rose Garden is next door.

Plan a visit
Viator · Ad / affiliate

Los Angeles film and TV location tours

Los Angeles

Live marketplace results for film and TV location tours of Los Angeles. None is built round the show; check each route for downtown and Exposition Park.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours
Viator · Ad / affiliate

National Mall walking tours

Washington DC

Live marketplace results for walking tours of the National Mall in Washington, where the story puts the Jeffersonian. Check each route for the Natural History Museum.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

At the Jeffersonian’s museum.

A minerals show and a weekly look into the collections.

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Unearthed: Raw Beauty

Exposition Park, Los Angeles · Daily, 9.30am to 5pm, until 18 April 2027

An exhibition of rare mineral and crystal specimens in their natural state, some on view for the first time, at the Jeffersonian’s museum.

See the exhibition
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Collections Revealed

Exposition Park, Los Angeles · Thursdays, 11am

A close look at the rarely seen collections the museum studies and cares for, in the NHM Commons Theater.

See the programme

Take it home

Where Brennan began.

Kathy Reichs’s first Temperance Brennan novel.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Déjà Dead

Kathy Reichs · Pocket Star

Kathy Reichs’s first Temperance Brennan novel (1997), winner of the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel.

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.

Every place, every source

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

10 of 10 places · 10 of 10 stories

  • Stage 6, Fox Studio Lot

    10201 West Pico Boulevard, Century City, Los Angeles

    • The lab on Stage 6

      The Jeffersonian lab is built on a 1930 sound stage at the Fox lot.

  • Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

    900 Exposition Boulevard, Exposition Park, Los Angeles

    • Lunch on the steps

      The squints eat lunch on the steps with the museum behind them, and Brennan confronts Goodman inside.

  • Exposition Park Rose Garden

    701 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles

    • The Woman in White

      Booth and Brennan marry in the Rose Garden.

  • Old Plaza Firehouse

    126 Plaza Street, by Olvera Street, Los Angeles

    • An early argument

      Booth and Brennan argue in front of the firehouse.

  • Los Angeles City Hall

    200 North Spring Street, Los Angeles

    • The Verdict in the Story

      City Hall plays the courthouse for the season-three trial’s last scene.

  • Civic Center/Grand Park station

    Hill Street at First Street, Los Angeles

    • The Parts in the Sum of the Whole

      Booth and Brennan come up out of the station on their way to see Sweets.

  • National Museum of Natural History

    Constitution Avenue NW at 10th Street, National Mall, Washington DC

    • The Jeffersonian, on paper

      The story puts the lab on the National Mall, modelled on the Smithsonian.

  • J. Edgar Hoover Building

    935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC

    • Booth’s office

      In the story Booth and Sweets work at FBI headquarters.

  • UNC Charlotte

    University City, Charlotte, North Carolina

    • The real Brennan

      The anthropologist whose life and novels the series is based on.

  • London and Oxford

    London and Oxford, England

    • The Yanks in the U.K.

      The fourth season opens on location in London and Oxford.

Privacy