Rydell HighThe yearbookReleased June 1978

John Travolta with his Golden Globe, 1979. Glenn Waggner · Public domain
John Travolta
Danny Zuko
Olivia Newton-John arriving at Schiphol, Amsterdam, November 1978. Bert Verhoeff for Anefo · CC0
Olivia Newton-John
Sandy Olsson
Stockard Channing in a CBS press photograph, 1979. CBS Television · Public domain
Stockard Channing
A long queue for Grease outside an Amsterdam cinema, 28 December 1978. Hans van Dijk for Anefo · CC0

GreaseRydell

Rydell was never one school. Its front, its gym and its carnival were three Los Angeles campuses up to 21 km apart, and the race ran in a concrete river under a bridge that has since been rebuilt.

Directed by Randal Kleiser. Olivia Newton-John died in August 2022.

Who was here

1Three schools

Three schools, one Rydell.

Sew on a patch for each scene to see which school it came from.

Rydell High

Sew on a patch

Venice High School stood in for Rydell High. The gym and the carnival came from two other schools.

Rydell records

A sunny beach with rocks and tide pools, people paddling and brown hills behind — The beach at Leo Carrillo State Park, Malibu. bahniuk · CC BY 3.0

2The beach

Summer on the beach

The opening beach scene was filmed at Leo Carrillo State Beach. The park has 1.5 miles of beach for swimming, surfing and beachcombing, with reefs, tide pools and coastal caves.

It is named after Leo Carrillo (1880–1961), an actor and conservationist who sat on California’s Beach and Parks Commission and played Pancho in the 1950s television series The Cisco Kid.

Open for day use 8am to 10pm. Park for $12 a day or $3 an hour. Camping books through ReserveCalifornia, 1-800-444-7275.

Rydell records

California State Parks

Camp at Leo Carrillo State Park

Malibu · Book on ReserveCalifornia · 1-800-444-7275

Tent and RV pitches, some with electric hook-ups, and hike-and-bike sites, a walk from the beach where the film opens.

See the park

3The lot

The Frosty Palace was a set.

The Frosty Palace was a set on the Paramount lot, where Greased Lightning and Beauty School Dropout were also filmed.

A cream arched studio gateway with wrought-iron gates, framed by tall palm trees — Paramount’s Melrose Gate, October 2014. Coolcaesar · CC BY-SA 4.0

Stage doors · Paramount Pictures

Open a stage door.

The two-hour Studio Tour runs daily for $71. The three-hour Premier Tour, weekdays only, adds the archives, the backlot and historic filming locations for $160.

Rydell records

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Studio Tour

5515 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood · $71 · 2 hours · daily

Two hours on the lot where the Frosty Palace set stood and Greased Lightning was filmed.

See the tours

4Thunder Road

Thunder Road

The drag race was filmed in the Los Angeles River. It ran in the concrete channel between the First and Seventh Street bridges. It is the race after which Sandy decides to change her image.

The race

Pick the river on screen or today, then start the race. Shift when the needle reaches the red.

A lit steel arch bridge over a concrete river channel at dusk, reflections on the wet floor — The old Sixth Street Viaduct over the river at night, June 2013, three years before demolition began. steve lyon from yosemite, ca, usa · CC BY-SA 2.0

The bridge in the race

The 1932 viaduct

The 1932 Sixth Street Viaduct appeared in films including Grease and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

It was demolished from 2016: an alkali-silica reaction was eating its concrete and it was not safe in an earthquake.

Open to walkers and cyclists as well as cars. The park underneath is still being finished. The channel is flood-control infrastructure. Look down on it from the bridge pavements; do not climb in.

Rydell records

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A long concrete bridge with arches and towers across a dry river channel and railway tracks — The First Street Viaduct across the river, April 2012. Downtowngal · CC BY-SA 3.0

The channel, car and bridges are drawn for this page, not to scale.

5The drive-in

The screen is a grocery store now.

The drive-in sequence was shot at the Pickwick Drive-In, 1100 West Alameda Avenue, Burbank.

Randal Kleiser told the Los Angeles Times in 1998 that he chose the drive-in to stage Sandy, and cut in vintage 1950s popcorn trailers.

A shopping centre now. Nothing of the drive-in survives.

Rydell records

6The premiere

Grease Day

A theatre facade like a pagoda, with a green roof, red columns and a carved dragon — The Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, photographed by Carol M. Highsmith. Carol M. Highsmith · Public domain

Mann’s Chinese TheatreAdmit oneFriday 16 June 1978

Tear the stub to go in.

The theatre opened in May 1927 at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard. Its Forecourt of the Stars holds nearly 200 celebrity handprints, footprints and autographs in concrete.

The forecourt is on the boulevard. The 30-minute tour runs seven days a week, except during special events.

Rydell records

TCL Chinese Theatre

Chinese Theatre tour

6925 Hollywood Boulevard · 30 minutes · seven days a week

Thirty minutes inside the theatre where Grease premiered, and out in the Forecourt of the Stars.

Read about the tour

People in winter coats queue along a wet street beside a cinema with GREASE on its canopy — A long queue for Grease outside an Amsterdam cinema, 28 December 1978. Hans van Dijk for Anefo · CC0

A young woman with fair, feathered hair and a fringe holding a bunch of red roses — Olivia Newton-John arriving at Schiphol, Amsterdam, November 1978. Bert Verhoeff for Anefo · CC0

On 8 August 2022, when Olivia Newton-John died at 73, fans laid flowers on her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The tribute

7The carnival

The carnival

The closing carnival sequence was filmed at John Marshall High School. The carnival finale, with You’re the One That I Want, was staged on the school’s sports fields.

Rydell records

A sunny suburban road with a tall green Pickwick Gardens sign and mountains behind — Riverside Drive by the Pickwick bowling centre, a short walk from the drive-in site, 2022. Downtowngal · CC BY-SA 4.0

Not on the map

The Pickwick Drive-In site 1100 West Alameda Avenue, Burbank. A shopping centre now. Nothing of the drive-in survives.

Rydell records

Where it is now

8 places on the map, 66 km from the beach to the river. The three schools are working schools: see them from the street.

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

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open for day use 8am to 10pm. Park for $12 a day or $3 an hour. Camping books through ReserveCalifornia, 1-800-444-7275.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working public school. See the front from Venice Boulevard; the campus is not open to visitors.

The beach at Leo Carrillo State Park, Malibu. bahniuk · CC BY 3.0
35000 West Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
Leo Carrillo State Beach
The opening beach scene was filmed at Leo Carrillo State Beach.
Open for day use 8am to 10pm. Park for $12 a day or $3 an hour. Camping books through ReserveCalifornia, 1-800-444-7275.
Rydell records
Venice High School, October 2024. Alexis Doine · CC0
13000 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles
Venice High School
Venice High School stood in for Rydell High.
A working public school. See the front from Venice Boulevard; the campus is not open to visitors.
Rydell records

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