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The lit dome and long arcaded front of Pasadena City Hall at dusk
Pasadena City Hall, Pawnee’s, at dusk, 2008. David Wakely · CC BY-SA 2.5

Pawnee, Indianareally Pasadena, CaliforniaNBC 2009–2015

Parks and Recreation

Pawnee is on no map. Its places are.

Pawnee, Indiana does not exist. The show made it out of Pasadena’s City Hall, a Los Angeles zoo that closed in 1966, a Highland Park police station and a cafeteria on Broadway, and went to the real Washington and a real Scottish island when the story did. It began with a hole in the ground. Fill it.

Grab a shovel
Where we read it

Lot 48 · Sullivan Street · really Van Nuys

Fill
the pit.

The show opens on a hole: an abandoned pit behind a nurse’s house, and a deputy parks director who wants a park in it. The pit was real: the crew dug it on an empty lot in the Valley. Fill it the Pawnee way, one place at a time, from the bottom up.

LOT 48

An empty pit, about the size of a city lot. Shovel something in.

A cream domed tower over an arched entrance, under a blue sky with clouds
Pasadena City Hall from Garfield Avenue, 2010. RBerteig · CC BY 2.0

Nothing in yet · the top layer will be · 100 North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena

Pawnee City Hall

Every working day Leslie Knope walks under the arch of Pawnee City Hall to the Parks Department. The arch is Pasadena’s; the offices were on a stage.

The California Film Commission’s location catalogue lists Parks and Recreation in the building’s filmography.

A working city hall. Find the arch on Garfield Avenue; city services answer weekdays, 8am–5pm.

Where we read it
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And the real pit?

Fill the pit to the top to find out what happened to the real one.

Where we read it

100 North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena

Pawnee kept
its head down.

Every working day Leslie Knope walks under the arch of Pawnee City Hall to the Parks Department. The arch is Pasadena’s; the offices were on a stage.

The arch lettered CITY HALL: Pawnee, as the show framed it.

Chaplin got there first

The same City Hall stands behind a rally in Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, seventy years before Pawnee. John Bakewell and Arthur Brown designed it after Palladio; it was finished on 27 December 1927, and its highest point is 206 feet up.

The Parks Department offices and the courtyard were sets on a sound stage. The California Film Commission’s location catalogue lists Parks and Recreation in the building’s filmography.

A working city hall. Find the arch on Garfield Avenue; city services answer weekdays, 8am–5pm.

Where we read it
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A cream domed tower over an arched entrance, under a blue sky with clouds
Pasadena City Hall from Garfield Avenue, 2010. RBerteig · CC BY 2.0

Washington, DC · July 2012 · 3,680 km from Pasadena City Hall

Ms. Knope
has a binder.

The season five opener takes Leslie to Ben in Washington. The crew filmed there in July 2012, and the episode went out on 27 September. Amy Poehler (Leslie Knope) and Adam Scott (Ben Wyatt) came for the shoot; at the end of the season before, Ben had taken a campaign job in Washington.

Six people in suits and dresses smiling in a hotel ballroom, a blonde woman in a pale blue suit at the centre
Nick Offerman, Michael Schur, Amy Poehler, Jim O’Heir, Adam Scott and Retta at the Peabody Awards, May 2012, two months before the Washington shoot. Peabody Awards (Anders Krusberg) · CC BY 2.0
Three actors and Joe and Jill Biden standing together in a hallway, smiling
Plaza, Scott and Poehler with Jill and Joe Biden, finale night, 2015. The White House · Public domain

Tab one. Bring the binder.

The White House north portico behind a fountain and red flower beds
The White House from the north, 2007. Nishkid64 · Public domain

Tab 1 of 5 · 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

The White House

The season five opener takes Leslie to Ben in Washington. The crew filmed there in July 2012, and the episode went out on 27 September.

Seen from the fence on Pennsylvania Avenue and from Lafayette Square.

Where we read it

Los Angeles, Burbank and Highland Park

Pawnee,
Los Angeles.

Pawnee’s names, as the show used them.

  • Artificial rock caves with barred openings along a dirt path under trees
    Rock enclosures at the old zoo in Griffith Park, 2013. Junkyardsparkle · CC0

    Pawnee Zoo, Pawnee

    Pawnee Zoo

    Leslie marries two male penguins at the Pawnee Zoo, in the ruins of the zoo Los Angeles left behind in 1966.

    Free. On the park’s eastern edge, off Griffith Park Drive; uneven ground in and around the cages.

    Where we read it
  • White hospital buildings above a landscaped car park
    Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, 2014. Junkyardsparkle · CC0

    Saint Joseph Hospital, Pawnee

    Saint Joseph Hospital

    Ann Perkins, whose house backs on to the pit, works as a nurse at Saint Joseph’s.

    A working hospital. See it from South Buena Vista Street; no visits for the show.

    Where we read it
  • A two-storey brick building with arched windows and an arched entrance
    The old Highland Park police station, now the Los Angeles Police Museum, 2014. Bruce Boehner · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Pawnee police station, Pawnee

    Pawnee police station

    In the second half of the Tammy two-parter, a dreadlocked Ron lands in a Pawnee police cell. The station was Highland Park’s.

    Wednesday–Saturday, 10.30am–3.30pm, last entry 2.30pm. Book or walk in; free parking beside it.

    Where we read it
  • A narrow red-brick building front with Clifton's Cafeteria lettered across it
    Clifton’s on South Broadway, downtown Los Angeles, 2017. Difference engine · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Jurassic Fork, Pawnee

    Jurassic Fork

    Pawnee’s dinosaur-themed restaurant is Clifton’s Cafeteria on South Broadway.

    Opening has been irregular since 2018. Check the venue before you go.

    Where we read it
Los Angeles Police Museum

Los Angeles Police Museum

6045 York Boulevard, Highland Park · Wed–Sat 10.30am–3.30pm · children 6–12 $5

Pawnee’s police station, where a dreadlocked Ron lands in a cell. The museum opens Wednesday to Saturday; book or walk in.

Tickets and hours
NW 1

Indiana’s smallest park

In season four, Leslie and Ben build a park on a leftover patch of concrete where phone booths had been taken out. The real spot was a parking space: the north-westernmost one in the rear lot of the Valley Stores Shopping Center in Studio City. It is a working car park, so it is not pinned.

One empty parking space. Build a park in it.

Where we read it
White distillery buildings with LAGAVULIN painted on the wall, beside a bay
Lagavulin on its bay, Islay, May 2019. Charlie Marshall · CC BY 2.0

Isle of Islay · 8,145 km from Pawnee City Hall

Ron, alone,
at last.

The Parks Department goes to London, and Ron’s side of the trip ends on Islay, at Lagavulin. The production asked the distillery to film it there in 2013. John Johnston founded the distillery in 1816. It is about two miles from Port Ellen on the A846.

Daily 10am–5pm to the end of October, then Monday–Saturday. Book tours ahead.

Where we read it
Lagavulin Distillery

Lagavulin Classic Distillery Tour

Port Ellen, Isle of Islay · 1.5 hours · from £22

An hour and a half round the distillery where Ron’s London trip ends. Book ahead; the Classic Tour is not suitable for restricted mobility.

Book a tour

The finished park

Where you
can go.

Where it is now

11 places you can visit, in Pasadena, Los Angeles, Washington and on Islay. The hospital, the White House, the Old Executive Building and the old Newseum are seen from outside. The pit lot is private and the smallest park is a working car park, so neither is pinned.

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 city hall. Find the arch on Garfield Avenue; city services answer weekdays, 8am–5pm.

  1. A cream domed tower over an arched entrance, under a blue sky with clouds
    Pasadena City Hall from Garfield Avenue, 2010. RBerteig · CC BY 2.0

    100 North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena

    Pasadena City Hall

    Pasadena City Hall is Pawnee City Hall, where Leslie Knope, Ron Swanson and the Parks Department go to work.

    A working city hall. Find the arch on Garfield Avenue; city services answer weekdays, 8am–5pm.

    Where we read it

Stay

A bed in Pasadena.

A 1914 landmark a short drive from City Hall.

The Langham Huntington

The Langham Huntington, Pasadena

1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue, Pasadena

Not a filming location: a Pasadena landmark hotel, opened in 1914, a short drive from City Hall. Book a morning on Garfield Avenue before the crowds.

Check rooms

Go there

A museum, a distillery, three ways round.

The Police Museum in Highland Park, Lagavulin’s Classic Tour, and tours of Griffith Park, Pasadena and the Mall.

Los Angeles Police Museum

Los Angeles Police Museum

6045 York Boulevard, Highland Park · Wed–Sat 10.30am–3.30pm · children 6–12 $5

Pawnee’s police station, where a dreadlocked Ron lands in a cell. The museum opens Wednesday to Saturday; book or walk in.

Tickets and hours
Lagavulin Distillery

Lagavulin Classic Distillery Tour

Port Ellen, Isle of Islay · 1.5 hours · from £22

An hour and a half round the distillery where Ron’s London trip ends. Book ahead; the Classic Tour is not suitable for restricted mobility.

Book a tour
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What’s on

Nothing on the calendar.

No Pawnee events are listed at these places this autumn. City Hall, the zoo and the Mall are there any day.

No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.

Take it home

Two books.

Amy Poehler’s memoir and Nick Offerman’s first book.

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Yes Please

Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler’s memoir, published in 2014 while she was still Leslie Knope.

Find the book
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Paddle Your Own Canoe

Nick Offerman

Nick Offerman’s first book, published in 2013, between seasons five and six.

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.

Where we read it

The minutes

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources, as the Parks Department would file them.

11 of 11 places · 12 of 12 Moments

  • Pasadena City Hall

    100 North Garfield Avenue, Pasadena

    • Pawnee City Hall

      Every working day Leslie Knope walks under the arch of Pawnee City Hall to the Parks Department. The arch is Pasadena’s; the offices were on a stage.

    • Chaplin got there first

      The same City Hall stands behind a rally in Chaplin’s The Great Dictator, seventy years before Pawnee.

  • The Old Zoo, Griffith Park

    Griffith Park Drive, Griffith Park

    • A wedding at the zoo

      Leslie marries two male penguins at the Pawnee Zoo, in the ruins of the zoo Los Angeles left behind in 1966.

  • Los Angeles Police Museum

    6045 York Boulevard, Highland Park

    • Ron in a cell

      In the second half of the Tammy two-parter, a dreadlocked Ron lands in a Pawnee police cell. The station was Highland Park’s.

  • Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center

    501 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank

    • Nurse Perkins

      Ann Perkins, whose house backs on to the pit, works as a nurse at Saint Joseph’s.

  • Clifton’s

    648 South Broadway, downtown Los Angeles

    • Jurassic Fork

      Pawnee’s dinosaur-themed restaurant is Clifton’s Cafeteria on South Broadway.

  • The White House

    1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

    • Ms. Knope goes to Washington

      The season five opener takes Leslie to Ben in Washington. The crew filmed there in July 2012, and the episode went out on 27 September.

  • The Old Executive Building

    17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, beside the White House

    • Next door to the President

      The Old Executive Building, beside the White House, was on the same July 2012 list.

  • The former Newseum

    555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

    • At the Newseum

      The crew filmed at the Newseum, a museum of journalism on Pennsylvania Avenue, which closed seven years later.

  • The Capitol Reflecting Pool

    Union Square, east end of the National Mall

    • By the reflecting pool

      The Capitol Reflecting Pool, at the foot of the Hill, was on the crew’s list.

  • The Lincoln Memorial

    West end of the National Mall

    • Up the Lincoln steps

      The Lincoln Memorial was on the crew’s list for the Washington episode.

  • Lagavulin Distillery

    Lagavulin, near Port Ellen, Isle of Islay

    • Ron goes to Islay

      The Parks Department goes to London, and Ron’s side of the trip ends on Islay, at Lagavulin. The production asked the distillery to film it there in 2013.

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