24 December · Century City2121 Avenue of the Stars34 floors · one missing
Die Hard
One building, one night, and the building is real. Nakatomi Plaza, the tower McClane fights his way through, is Fox Plaza at 2121 Avenue of the Stars in Century City.
Bruce Willis at the Academy Awards Governors Ball, March 1989, eight months after Die Hard opened. Photo: Alan Light. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0Bruce Willis John McClane
Alan Rickman at the stage door of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, January 2011. Marie-Lan Nguyen · CC BY 3.0Alan Rickman Hans Gruber
Bonnie Bedelia in a 1974 publicity photograph for The New Land. Warner Bros. Television · Public domainBonnie Bedelia Holly Gennero
Arrivals · LAX
The ride in.
McClane lands in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and is driven to Nakatomi Plaza by a limo driver, Argyle, who offers to wait for him in the garage.
LAXCentury City
0.0 km
At the kerb outside arrivals, Christmas Eve.
The distance is a straight line between the two places on our map; the road is longer.
Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, April 2026. Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 4.0
Los Angeles International Airport
Two years later LAX was back: its terminals served as interiors for Die Hard 2, which is set at Washington’s Dulles airport. Live Free or Die Hard filmed at LAX as well.
You will probably land here. The terminals are public; the drive to Century City is about half an hour without traffic.
Where we read it
2121 Avenue of the Stars
Take the stairs.
It has 34 storeys, stands about 150 metres tall, and was completed in 1987 to a design by the architect Scott Johnson. Filming in the half-finished building came with two conditions: no filming during the day, and no damage from explosions.
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L · The lobby
For the 30th anniversary in July 2018 Fox took journalists round the lobby’s marble walls, the riveted lifts, the stairs, the loading dock, the roof and the helipad.
Thousands of dollars of Italian marble had to be imported to replace Fox marble chipped in the climax.
Lit floors have a story; floor 30 is dashed.
Where we read it
Fox Plaza, 2121 Avenue of the Stars, September 2024. Alexis Doine · CC0
2121 Avenue of the Stars, Century City
When the effects team set off C-4 down a lift shaft to stop the SWAT assault, they blew out every window on one floor. Thousands of dollars of Italian marble had to be imported to replace Fox marble chipped in the climax.
A working office tower. See it from Avenue of the Stars and the plaza in front; the lobby and floors are for tenants.
Where we read it
The missing floor
Crawl the duct.
One floor of Nakatomi was never in the tower: it was built on Stage 15 of the Twentieth Century Fox lot, a three-storey set costing $1.5 million.
Stage 15
Into the shaft at Fox Plaza. 360 metres to Stage 15.
Not a real duct: a straight line on our map from the tower to the studio lot across the street.
The studio lot entrance on Pico Boulevard, August 2014. Coolcaesar · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Fox studio lot, Stage 15
A painted backdrop 350 feet long and 30 feet high hung outside its windows to give the view of the city. The 30th floor, where the hostages are held, was one of the few sets, with a recreation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater.
For the 25th anniversary, in 2013, a Bruce Willis mural was painted on a Fox sound stage.
A working studio behind a wall, with no public tours. See the gate from Pico Boulevard.
Where we read it
Outside the tower
Twinkies, and a radio.
Sergeant Al Powell is the man on the other end of the line all night. Tune the radio through his Christmas Eve.
CH 1The shop
He stops at a service station to buy Twinkies for his wife, who is expecting, and gets the call to check on Nakatomi Plaza.
Where we read it
Fox Plaza from the street, August 2024. Alexis Doine · CC0
Bonnie Bedelia and Reginald VelJohnson introduced the anniversary screening, and Fox parked an ’80s police car outside with Twinkies on the dashboard.
Where we read it
Set on Christmas Eve
Is it a Christmas film?
It is a Christmas film34%
It is not44%
Never seen it13%
Vote, then see how 1,500 Americans answered in December 2020.
In 2018 Willis said it is not a Christmas film; the screenwriter, Steven de Souza, says it is. Either way, it is set at an office Christmas party on Christmas Eve.
Where we read it
The Prince Charles Cinema in December 2023. Matt Brown · CC BY 2.0
The Prince Charles Cinema
In December 2026 the Prince Charles Cinema is showing it ten times, from 4 to 24 December, under the title “Die Hard [is a Christmas Movie]”; two of the screenings are in 4K. Evening and weekend tickets are £11.50 to £14.50; weekday matinees £8 to £11.
A working repertory cinema off Leicester Square. Book online; there is a 75p booking fee.
12 July 1988 · Westwood
The people, the premiere.
Bruce Willis at the Academy Awards Governors Ball, March 1989, eight months after Die Hard opened. Photo: Alan Light. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0
Bruce WillisJohn McClane
Alan Rickman at the stage door of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, January 2011. Marie-Lan Nguyen · CC BY 3.0
Alan RickmanHans Gruber
Bonnie Bedelia in a 1974 publicity photograph for The New Land. Warner Bros. Television · Public domain
Bonnie BedeliaHolly Gennero
Bruce Willis was paid $5 million to play McClane and did some of his own stunts. Alan Rickman, already in his early forties, made his screen debut as Hans Gruber. Reginald VelJohnson played Al Powell.
Where we read it
Willis’s $5 million salary; Willis and Rickman did some of their own stunts; VelJohnson played Sgt Al Powell.
Die Hard had its world premiere at the Avco Center cinema on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, on 12 July 1988. It opened on 15 July in 21 theatres, on 70mm prints with six-track Dolby Stereo; by 9 August it was on 1,750 screens.
The Avco opened in 1972 with 2,200 seats in three auditoriums and closed in December 2011. It reopened in 2014 as iPic Westwood and is now The Cinemas Westwood.
Still a cinema, with six small screens. Book on the cinema’s own site.
Where we read itBruce Willis’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, June 2007. Justin Moore · CC BY 2.0
Bruce Willis’s star, Hollywood Walk of Fame
Bruce Willis’s star, the 2,321st on the Walk of Fame, was unveiled in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in October 2006. At the ceremony he said he used to come down and look at the stars, never quite sure what you had to do to get one.
On the pavement outside the Chinese Theatre, among the busiest stretch of the Walk. Go early.
Where we read it
Fairmont
Fairmont Century Plaza
2025 Avenue of the Stars, Century City
Not a filming location: a hotel open since 1966, a few hundred metres along Avenue of the Stars from the tower. 400 rooms and suites, all with private balconies.
Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX, April 2026. Don Ramey Logan · CC BY-SA 4.0
1 World Way, Westchester
Los Angeles International Airport
Two years later LAX was back: its terminals served as interiors for Die Hard 2, which is set at Washington’s Dulles airport.
You will probably land here. The terminals are public; the drive to Century City is about half an hour without traffic.
Where we read it
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Liberty Street, December 2025. Kidfly182 · CC BY 4.0
33 Liberty Street, Financial District
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
In Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) the gold heist was filmed at the Federal Reserve Building, at William and Liberty Streets. The New York Fed runs free visits for school and student groups, Tuesday to Friday at 10am and 1pm; a look at the gold vault is not guaranteed.
See the fortress front from Liberty Street. Inside visits are for school and student groups only, free, Tuesday to Friday.
Where we read itThe central knoll in Tompkins Square Park, August 2008. David Shankbone · CC BY-SA 3.0
Avenue A and 7th Street, East Village
Tompkins Square Park
Die Hard with a Vengeance filmed one of its riddle scenes in Tompkins Square Park, at Avenue A and 7th Street.
A public park, open daily.
Where we read itThe 1904 control house of the 72nd Street station, August 1978. David Sagarin · Public domain
72nd Street and Broadway, Upper West Side
72nd Street station, Broadway
The pay-phone scene in Die Hard with a Vengeance was filmed at the subway entrance at 72nd Street and Broadway.
A working subway station on the 1, 2 and 3 lines; the old control house stands on the traffic island.
Where we read it
The Tommy Trojan statue on the USC campus, September 2024. Lchung9779 · CC0
University Park campus, Los Angeles
Hahn Plaza, University of Southern California
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) filmed at Hahn Plaza on the University of Southern California campus.
An open campus plaza. Respect classes and events in term time.
Where we read it
Viator · Ad / affiliate
New York film-location tours
New York
Live marketplace results for New York film-location tours, for the city of Die Hard with a Vengeance.
10 places you can visit, from Century City to Leicester Place. The tower and the studio lot are working buildings: you see them from the street.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working office tower. See it from Avenue of the Stars and the plaza in front; the lobby and floors are for tenants.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working studio behind a wall, with no public tours. See the gate from Pico Boulevard.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Still a cinema, with six small screens. Book on the cinema’s own site.
1Fox Plaza, 2121 Avenue of the Stars, September 2024. Alexis Doine · CC0
2121 Avenue of the Stars, Century City
Fox Plaza (Nakatomi Plaza)
Nakatomi Plaza, the tower McClane fights his way through, is Fox Plaza at 2121 Avenue of the Stars in Century City.
A working office tower. See it from Avenue of the Stars and the plaza in front; the lobby and floors are for tenants.
Where we read it
2The studio lot entrance on Pico Boulevard, August 2014. Coolcaesar · CC BY-SA 4.0
10201 West Pico Boulevard, Century City
The Fox studio lot, Stage 15
One floor of Nakatomi was never in the tower: it was built on Stage 15 of the Twentieth Century Fox lot, a three-storey set costing $1.5 million.
A working studio behind a wall, with no public tours. See the gate from Pico Boulevard.
Die Hard had its world premiere at the Avco Center cinema on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood, on 12 July 1988.
Still a cinema, with six small screens. Book on the cinema’s own site.
Where we read it
Stay
Sleep next to the tower.
Not a filming location: a hotel a few hundred metres along Avenue of the Stars.
Fairmont
Fairmont Century Plaza
2025 Avenue of the Stars, Century City
Not a filming location: a hotel open since 1966, a few hundred metres along Avenue of the Stars from the tower. 400 rooms and suites, all with private balconies.
The tower and the studio gate are seen from the street; New York’s places are public.
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Los Angeles film-location tours
Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for film tours of Los Angeles. Check each itinerary: the tower is seen from the street, and the studio lot has no public tours.
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 building file
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
10 of 10 places · 15 of 15 Moments
Fox Plaza (Nakatomi Plaza)
2121 Avenue of the Stars, Century City
The Christmas party
Hans Gruber’s team seizes the tower during the Nakatomi Corporation’s Christmas Eve party.
The lift shaft
C-4 down a lift shaft blows out every window on one real floor.
Twinkies and the radio
Sgt Al Powell, who had stopped to buy Twinkies for his expectant wife, is sent to the tower and talks McClane through the night by radio.
Reagan’s office
Ronald Reagan keeps his office on the 34th floor.
Thirty years on
Fox opens the tower to journalists and screens the film for its 30th anniversary.
The Fox studio lot, Stage 15
10201 West Pico Boulevard, Century City
The missing floor
The hostages’ floor is built as a three-storey set on Stage 15.
The Avco cinema (now The Cinemas Westwood)
10840 Wilshire Boulevard, Westwood
The premiere
The world premiere of Die Hard, in Westwood.
Los Angeles International Airport
1 World Way, Westchester
The ride in
McClane lands in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and Argyle drives him to Nakatomi Plaza.
Die Hard 2 at LAX
LAX terminals stand in for Dulles airport.
Bruce Willis’s star, Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Boulevard, in front of the Chinese Theatre
A star on the pavement
Bruce Willis gets his star on the Walk of Fame.
Hahn Plaza, University of Southern California
University Park campus, Los Angeles
Hahn Plaza
Live Free or Die Hard films at Hahn Plaza.
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
33 Liberty Street, Financial District
The gold
The gold heist at the Federal Reserve.
Tompkins Square Park
Avenue A and 7th Street, East Village
A riddle in the park
A riddle scene in Tompkins Square Park.
72nd Street station, Broadway
72nd Street and Broadway, Upper West Side
The pay phone
The pay-phone scene at 72nd Street and Broadway.
The Prince Charles Cinema
7 Leicester Place, London
The Christmas question
Willis says it is not a Christmas film; its screenwriter, Steven de Souza, says it is; in a 2020 YouGov poll more Americans sided with Willis.
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