Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
Burbank, California
The lot where Rick’s was built. The tour shows props and costumes from the studio’s films, including costumes from Casablanca.
Book the tourWarner Bros. · Burbank, California · 25 May – 3 August 1942
Casablanca
Everybody comes to Rick’s.
It was built on a soundstage in Burbank. Many of the people in the room had already made the journey.
Follow the trail ↓Dooley Wilson and Bogart, publicity still, 1942 (Warner Bros. (photographer unrecorded)) · Bergman and Bogart, publicity still, 1942 (Warner Bros. (photographer unrecorded)) · Bogart at the airport, from the 1942 trailer (Warner Bros. (1942 trailer)). Public domain in the United States.
I · The trail
The film opens on a globe.
A newsreel voice walks the route the war forced on Europe’s refugees: Paris to Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Oran, then by train, car or foot along the rim of Africa to Casablanca. From there the lucky go on to Lisbon, and from Lisbon to the New World.
Drag along the route.
Sources
II · Rick’s
Every arch was built for the camera.
Wartime rules kept most of the picture on soundstages, so Casablanca’s most famous room was a set on the Warner lot. The lamps, the lattice shadows, the roulette wheel: all made in Burbank in the summer of 1942.
The piano knows things. Press a key.
Eight keys. Eight true things.
III · The guest list
nationalities among the actors, by the studio’s own count.
They played refugees.
Many of them really were.
RéservéTable 1
Yvonne
played by Madeleine LeBeau
Turn over
RéservéTable 2
Emil, the croupier
played by Marcel Dalio
Turn over
RéservéTable 3
Ugarte
played by Peter Lorre
Turn over
RéservéTable 4
Conrad Veidt and Corinna Mura, from the 1942 trailer. Warner Bros. (1942 trailer) · PD-US-not renewed · Public domain in the United States Major Strasser
played by Conrad Veidt
Turn over
RéservéTable 5
Jan Brandel
played by Helmut Dantine
Turn over
RéservéTable 6
Technical advisor
played by Robert Aisner
Turn over
Where the count comes from
IV · Two maps
The film’s route stops at Casablanca. Theirs all ended in Burbank.
- Dalio & LeBeau France, 1940 · Portugal by July · the Quanza from Lisbon · refused at New York and Veracruz · landed in Virginia
- Peter Lorre Germany 1933 · Vienna · Paris · England 1934 · Hollywood, July 1934
- Conrad Veidt Germany 1933 · Britain · Hollywood 1940
- Robert Aisner escaped a camp by way of Casablanca; the rest of his route is not recorded
Schematic and city-level. Lines join places the sources name; they are not ships’ tracks or flight paths.
Sources
V · Paris
“We’ll always have Paris.”
The flashback is the only time the film leaves Casablanca. It never leaves California.
Ilsa in Paris, from the 1942 trailer, and Ingrid Bergman drawn by Samuel Johnson Woolf four years later.
The Warner lot in Burbank. Today the studio associates its French Street backlot set with Casablanca. Which shot was made there, and whether any 1942 façade survives, nobody has yet shown.
Sources
VI · The airfield
Night. Fog. A plane for Lisbon.
Arrival · real
Major Strasser lands at a real airfield: Metropolitan Airport, Van Nuys, in the San Fernando Valley. It was renamed twice and is now Van Nuys Airport.
Sources
Farewell · built
The goodbye everyone remembers was made inside the studio. Wartime rules kept most of the picture on soundstages. The fog that hides the edges of the world is part of the set.
So this World has one pin: the only location the record puts outside the studio gates.
A reference point for the airfield, not the spot where the camera stood in 1942. Look from outside: there is no airside visit.
General reference · Access unconfirmed · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. No visitor route or permission inferred from film or departmental association.
Sources
Late editionThe real Casablanca arrives firstHeadlines written for this page
25 May 1942
Cameras roll in Burbank
Shooting begins on the Warner lot. It will run until 3 August, almost all of it on soundstages.
A sequel was announced in January 1943: Brazzaville, set at the Free French headquarters in Africa, with Bogart returning. It was never made.
Sources
VIII · Passage
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Ilsa boards with Laszlo. Rick and Renault walk off into the fog towards the Free French at Brazzaville. The plane goes to Lisbon.
5 stamps still missing from your papers. Nobody checks.
Palácio Estoril
Palácio Estoril Hotel
Estoril, on the Lisbon coast
At the end of the real route to Lisbon: in the Second World War the hotel sheltered exiled royal families, and British and German spies drank at its bar.
View the hotel
Lisbon Walker
Lisbon, City of Spies
Lisbon · Tue 10am · Fri 2.30pm · 2½ hours · €25
A walk through wartime Lisbon: the spy hotels, the refugees waiting for passage, the consul who signed visas in Bordeaux.
Book the walk
Sixty-two years later, the city built the café.
Kathy Kriger came to Casablanca as a US commercial attaché and was surprised that nobody had made a Rick’s. On 1 March 2004 she opened one, in a 1930 courtyard house in the old medina. The piano still plays every night.
In 2014 the film was shown inside it: the picture playing in the room it had imagined.
Sources
Where it is now
Every place below is real and can be seen today. Pick a city.
Where Casablanca was made, and where its people are remembered. From Bogart’s star to the Chinese Theatre is about 1.2 km of one pavement.
Pins mark places you can see today. Stars are mapped to their block; the studio and airfield are seen from outside or on the studio tour.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working studio. You go in on the ticketed studio tour; the water tower is the landmark.
General reference · Access unconfirmed · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. No visitor route or permission inferred from film or departmental association.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: area · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Forecourt on Hollywood Boulevard; check the theatre for hours.
The Warner water tower, Burbank, 2020. Chris Yarzab · CC BY 2.0 Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank
Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank (the water tower)
Rick’s, Paris, the fog and the farewell were all made on this lot in the summer of 1942.
A working studio. You go in on the ticketed studio tour; the water tower is the landmark.
Sources
Van Nuys Airport from the air, July 2015. Don Ramey Logan · CC BY 4.0 Metropolitan Airport / Van Nuys Airport
Metropolitan Airport / Van Nuys Airport
Major Strasser’s arrival: the one scene the record puts outside the studio gates.
A working airport. Look from outside; there is no airside visit.
Sources
Bogart’s star, Hollywood Boulevard, 2007. Tobias Kierkegaard · CC BY 2.5 Humphrey Bogart’s star
South side of the 6300 block, Hollywood Boulevard
Rick.
Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
Sources
Claude Rains’s star
South side of the 6400 block, Hollywood Boulevard
Captain Renault.
Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
Sources
Peter Lorre’s star
North side of the 6600 block, Hollywood Boulevard
Ugarte.
Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
Sources
Bergman’s star, Hollywood Boulevard, July 2022. Benoît Prieur · CC0 Ingrid Bergman’s star
North side of the 6700 block, Hollywood Boulevard
Ilsa.
Public pavement. Look down: the pin marks the block.
Sources
Bogart’s slab in the Chinese Theatre forecourt, 1993. R-E-AL · CC BY-SA 3.0 Bogart in cement, Chinese Theatre
TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt, 6925 Hollywood Boulevard
Bogart’s hands, his shoes and a joke in the wet cement: “Sid, may you never die till I kill you.”
Forecourt on Hollywood Boulevard; check the theatre for hours.
Sources
Stay and dine
A table at Rick’s.
The café the city finally built, and the hotel at the end of the real road to Lisbon.
Rick’s Café
Rick’s Café
Boulevard Sour Jdid, Casablanca · Lunch 12–3pm · dinner from 6.30pm
Dinner in the café the film imagined, opened in 2004 against the old medina walls. The resident pianist plays every night from 8pm.
Book a tablePalácio Estoril
Palácio Estoril Hotel
Estoril, on the Lisbon coast
At the end of the real route to Lisbon: in the Second World War the hotel sheltered exiled royal families, and British and German spies drank at its bar.
View the hotelGo there
Walk the lot, walk the route.
The studio where Rick’s was built, wartime Lisbon on foot, and Casablanca itself.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
Burbank, California
The lot where Rick’s was built. The tour shows props and costumes from the studio’s films, including costumes from Casablanca.
Book the tourLisbon Walker
Lisbon, City of Spies
Lisbon · Tue 10am · Fri 2.30pm · 2½ hours · €25
A walk through wartime Lisbon: the spy hotels, the refugees waiting for passage, the consul who signed visas in Bordeaux.
Book the walk
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Casablanca city tours
Casablanca
Live marketplace results for tours of Casablanca. Check whether an itinerary stops at Rick’s Café and the old medina.
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See it where it was made.
Hollywood’s classic film festival, in the city that built the film.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Read it, hear it.
The making of the film, the script and Max Steiner’s score.
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
We’ll Always Have Casablanca
Noah Isenberg
The life, legend and afterlife of the film.
Find the book
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Round Up the Usual Suspects
Aljean Harmetz
The making of Casablanca, day by day.
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Casablanca: Script and Legend
Howard Koch
The screenplay, with the stories of how it was written.
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Casablanca: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Max Steiner · CD, Rhino, 1997
Max Steiner’s score for the film.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyDates, 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.
Dossier · Casablanca
Everything behind this page
Every place and moment, with its sources. Nothing here was filmed in Morocco.
18 of 18 places · 20 of 20 Moments
Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank
Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank (the water tower)
Historical or institutional association recorded; exact current site identity, survival and access remain separate research.
The fiction leaves pieces behind
Warner’s Burbank newsletter reports original Casablanca set pieces surviving in January 2009.
January 2009 · Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank; exact premises or set piece unestablished
A departure built indoors
The famous farewell was made in the studio, not on the airfield used for Strasser’s arrival.
1942 production · Warner studio production; exact soundstage unverified
The refugee trail
The film opens on a globe and a route: Paris, Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Oran, then the rim of Africa to Casablanca. Lisbon is where the lucky go next.
Released 1942 · Opening narration and globe sequence, made at the studio
Thirty-four nationalities in one room
Actors of thirty-four nationalities worked on the film, many of them refugees.
25 May – 3 August 1942 · Warner studio production; individual stages unassigned
The Marseillaise
When the café drowns out the German officers, Madeleine LeBeau’s tears are her own; France was still occupied.
Summer 1942 · Studio set of Rick’s; stage unassigned
Ugarte’s papers, Lorre’s road
Lorre leaves Germany in March 1933 for Vienna and Paris, works in England, and reaches Hollywood in July 1934.
1933–1934 · City-level: Vienna, Paris, London, Hollywood
Sam cannot play
Dooley Wilson was a professional drummer. The piano was played by someone else, off camera.
1942 · Studio set; stage unassigned
A face in the crowd
A 1943 Florida paper reported that Jack Benny, visiting the set, was caught in a nightclub shot that was never retaken.
Reported 3 February 1943 · Studio set of Rick’s
Metropolitan Airport / Van Nuys Airport
Metropolitan Airport / Van Nuys Airport
The historic Metropolitan Airport became today’s Van Nuys Airport through documented renaming and expansion. This establishes the airport identity, not survival of the filmed apron or unrestricted access.
An arrival on a real airfield
AFI identifies Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys as the location for Strasser’s arrival.
1942 production · Metropolitan Airport in Van Nuys; exact filmed apron/runway unestablished
Hollywood Theatre / Mark Hellinger Theater
Historic Hollywood Theatre, West 51st Street, Manhattan; current operator address 237 West 51st Street
The historic theatre is now the operator-identified home of Times Square Church. This verifies changed use and address identity, not unchanged 1942 auditorium fabric or cinema-tour access.
The film meets a changed world
AFI dates the New York opening to 26 November 1942; Isenberg identifies its venue as the Hollywood Theatre.
26 November 1942 · Hollywood Theatre in Midtown Manhattan; original screening entrance and auditorium arrangement unverified
Thanksgiving, Fifth Avenue
The Free French parade up Fifth Avenue; that night the film opens at the Hollywood Theatre.
26 November 1942 · Fifth Avenue; Hollywood Theatre, West 51st Street
Warner Bros. Honor Roll war memorial
Warner Bros. Honor Roll war memorial
Historical or institutional association recorded; exact current site identity, survival and access remain separate research.
The writers on the honor roll
The studio operator dates its war memorial to 1944 and lists the Epstein brothers among its names.
1944 memorial; operator account reviewed 2026 · Warner Bros. Honor Roll war memorial; exact premises or set piece unestablished
Warner Bros. Photo Lab — historic studio department
Warner Bros. Photo Lab — historic studio department
Historical or institutional association recorded; exact current site identity, survival and access remain separate research.
How the studio image becomes an object
Warner’s 2009 newsletter describes the studio Photo Lab’s early-1930s origins and publicity-print work.
January 2009 account · Warner Bros. Photo Lab — historic studio department; exact premises or set piece unestablished
French Street — Warner backlot association
French Street, Warner Bros. Burbank backlot; historical footprint unverified
French Street is a listed working set. Continuity of any particular 1942 facade is unresolved; current presence is not proof of historic fabric.
The backlot behind a remembered city
Warner associates French Street with Casablanca. Which shot, which facade and how much original fabric remain separate questions.
1942 film association; operator listing reviewed 2026 · Named Burbank backlot street; original filming footprint unresolved
Casablanca, Morocco
Casablanca, Morocco (city)
A living city. No scene of the film was shot here.
The refugee trail
The film opens on a globe and a route: Paris, Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Oran, then the rim of Africa to Casablanca. Lisbon is where the lucky go next.
Released 1942 · Opening narration and globe sequence, made at the studio
By way of Casablanca
The film’s technical advisor, Robert Aisner, had escaped a concentration camp by way of the real Casablanca.
Before 1942 · Casablanca (city); route otherwise unstated
The real city takes the headlines
Allied troops land at Fedala, north of Casablanca. Warner moves the opening forward.
8–11 November 1942 · Fedala beaches; Casablanca
Roosevelt in Casablanca
Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Casablanca; on 23 January the film goes into national release.
14–24 January 1943 · Casablanca (city)
Fedala landing beaches
Fedala, about 12 nautical miles north of Casablanca
Historic landing area; present-day coastline use not assessed.
The real city takes the headlines
Allied troops land at Fedala, north of Casablanca. Warner moves the opening forward.
8–11 November 1942 · Fedala beaches; Casablanca
Rick’s Café, Casablanca
248 Boulevard Sour Jdid, old medina, Casablanca
Operating as a restaurant and piano bar, per its operator.
The city builds the café
Kathy Kriger, a former US diplomat, opens Rick’s Café in a 1930 courtyard house in the old medina.
1 March 2004 · 248 Boulevard Sour Jdid, Casablanca
The film, shown in the café
During a 2014 visit, Secretary of State John Kerry watches a scene from Casablanca inside Rick’s Café.
4 April 2014 · Rick’s Café, Casablanca
Lisbon
Lisbon, Portugal (city)
A living city; the film only ever points towards it.
The refugee trail
The film opens on a globe and a route: Paris, Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Oran, then the rim of Africa to Casablanca. Lisbon is where the lucky go next.
Released 1942 · Opening narration and globe sequence, made at the studio
The Quanza
Dalio and LeBeau reach Portugal, sail from Lisbon, are refused at New York and Veracruz and land in Virginia.
July – September 1940 · Lisbon to Hampton Roads by way of New York and Veracruz; city-level only
Figueira da Foz
Figueira da Foz, Portugal (town)
Town-level association only.
The Quanza
Dalio and LeBeau reach Portugal, sail from Lisbon, are refused at New York and Veracruz and land in Virginia.
July – September 1940 · Lisbon to Hampton Roads by way of New York and Veracruz; city-level only
Hampton Roads, Virginia
Hampton Roads / Norfolk, Virginia
Harbour-level association only.
The Quanza
Dalio and LeBeau reach Portugal, sail from Lisbon, are refused at New York and Veracruz and land in Virginia.
July – September 1940 · Lisbon to Hampton Roads by way of New York and Veracruz; city-level only
Fifth Avenue, New York
Fifth Avenue, Manhattan
Public street.
Thanksgiving, Fifth Avenue
The Free French parade up Fifth Avenue; that night the film opens at the Hollywood Theatre.
26 November 1942 · Fifth Avenue; Hollywood Theatre, West 51st Street
Humphrey Bogart’s star
South side of the 6300 block, Hollywood Boulevard
In the pavement of the Walk of Fame.
Claude Rains’s star
South side of the 6400 block, Hollywood Boulevard
In the pavement of the Walk of Fame.
Peter Lorre’s star
North side of the 6600 block, Hollywood Boulevard
In the pavement of the Walk of Fame.
Ingrid Bergman’s star
North side of the 6700 block, Hollywood Boulevard
In the pavement of the Walk of Fame.
Bogart in cement, Chinese Theatre
TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt, 6925 Hollywood Boulevard
The forecourt is still lined with stars’ prints.