Page 1
Grid H3
555 West Fifth Street at Olive Street, Los Angeles
- The film
- A downtown office lift
- Filmed at
- The Gas Company Tower
Jack’s first job: a lift full of people and a bomb. The building is real; the shaft was an 80-foot model.
Jan de Bont · 1994 · filmed in Los Angeles, 1993
Speed
One journey that never stops, made from places that were never one journey. Turn the pages · The gap
The bus’s day · ten pages
Continued on page.
In a street atlas a road runs off the edge of one page and carries on somewhere else. So does this film. The bus never stops, but its route was put together from corners of Los Angeles miles apart. Turn to wherever it carries on.
Page 1, grid H3. The film: A downtown office lift. Filmed at The Gas Company Tower.
Where we read it
The address behind every page.
The lift shaft model and the airport stand-in.
The freeway before it opened.
Mojave, 100 miles north of Los Angeles.
I-105 west to I-110 north · autumn 1993
The gap.
The most famous shot in the film is a bus clearing a missing stretch of freeway. It took two buses, cost a camera, and the missing stretch was never missing.
An unfinished ramp, a bus, and a hole in the road. Run the first take.
Where we read it
Two buses, the harness, one take, the lost camera, the camera 90 feet from the ramp, the gap added with Sony Pictures Imageworks.
The ramp the jump used; the crew’s access before opening.
The gap added later.
Grid G6
Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, South Los Angeles
The I-105 and I-110 interchange
On screen An unfinished freeway with a hole in it
A five-level stack over 130 feet high, it opened with the I-105 in 1993. The film crew had it shortly before it opened.
The bus jump was filmed on the unfinished ramp from the I-105 westbound to the I-110 northbound, not the top-level ramp people often point to.
De Bont saw the unfinished sections on a location scout and suggested putting a jump in the script.
Harbor Freeway station, three levels inside the interchange, came later: its C Line platform opened on 12 August 1995.
Metro’s regular one-way fare is $1.75, capped at $5 a day.
Five levels of working freeway. Harbor Freeway station, at 11500 South Figueroa Street, sits inside it; a Metro ride costs $1.75.
Where we read it
LA Metro
Ride the C Line through the interchange
Harbor Freeway station, 11500 South Figueroa Street · $1.75 a ride · $5 daily cap
The C Line runs down the middle of the I-105 and stops at Harbor Freeway station, inside the five-level junction where the bus jumped. Regular fare $1.75, never more than $5 a day.
Fares and passesDowntown · Los Feliz · Venice · Santa Monica
Before the bus.
A lift in a downtown tower, a night out in an old drive-in, a coffee in a converted fire station and a bus stop up the coast. Four pages a long way apart.
Grid H3
555 West Fifth Street at Olive Street, Los Angeles
The Gas Company Tower
On screen The office tower with the lift
The opening elevator crisis was filmed at the 52-storey Gas Company Tower, on the north-west corner of Fifth and Olive.
Its lobby appears in the film’s opening scene. The tower, by Richard Keating with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, was finished in 1991 and stands 749 feet to the roof.
The falling lift itself was not filmed in the building: the crew built an 80-foot model of a 50-storey shaft.
An office tower. See it from Fifth Street or Olive Street, across from Pershing Square.
Where we read it
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Downtown Los Angeles walking tours
Downtown Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for architecture walks downtown, round Pershing Square, Fifth Street and Bunker Hill.
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Compare toursGrid G1
4500 Los Feliz Boulevard at Hillhurst Avenue, Los Feliz
The Derby, 4500 Los Feliz Boulevard
On screen The bar for Jack’s award
Jack celebrates his award at what was then The Derby, at Los Feliz Boulevard and Hillhurst Avenue.
The site began as a service station in 1923 and was a drive-in by 1930; in the 1940s it was the Los Feliz Brown Derby, then Michael’s restaurant until 1993.
The Derby nightclub opened in Michael’s space in 1993, the year Speed was filmed. The building is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument 843.
Chase Bank and the Mess Hall restaurant are there now.
The domed building is still there; a bank and a restaurant use it now. The second photograph is the boulevard today.
Where we read it
Grid A4
213 Rose Avenue at Main Street, Venice
The Firehouse, Rose Avenue and Main Street
On screen The morning coffee
Jack talks to the bus driver at the Firehouse restaurant, 213 Rose Avenue.
The restaurant is in Ocean Park’s old fire station, home of Engine Co. 62 until the 1950s; it opened as the Firehouse in 1986.
The bus that blows up at the start of the chase was filmed on Main Street just south of Rose Avenue, across the junction from the Firehouse.
The payphones Jack uses there were set dressing, not real phones.
A restaurant in an old fire station. The photograph is a 1976 storefront on Rose Avenue, not the Firehouse.
Where we read it
Grid A4
Main Street at Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica
Main Street at Ocean Park Boulevard
On screen Annie’s stop
Annie gets on the bus at Ocean Park Boulevard and Main Street.
A shopping street. Stand on the corner; the photograph is the same corner in 1979.
Where we read it
Kern County · past the last page
Off the map.
The film sends the bus to LAX. A Los Angeles atlas would have the airport on one of its pages. The airport on screen is not in the book at all: it is Mojave, out in the desert.
Edge of the Los Angeles grid126 km from the jump · 112 km from the lift
Where we read it
Mojave is about 100 miles north of Los Angeles; the distances here are straight lines between our pins.
Off the map
1434 Flight Line, Mojave, Kern County
Mojave Air and Space Port
On screen LAX
When the bus is sent to LAX, the airport on screen is really Mojave.
Mojave is about 100 miles north of Los Angeles. Kern County opened the airport in 1935; it was renamed Mojave Air and Space Port in 2013.
SpaceShipOne launched from here on 21 June 2004.
The Voyager Restaurant is in the terminal building, with views of the runway; a Plane Crazy Saturday is held on the third Saturday of each month.
The flight line and the Voyager Restaurant in the terminal building are open to the public. Check before you go.
Where we read it
Mojave Air and Space Port
The Mojave flight line
1434 Flight Line, Mojave · Voyager Restaurant: Mon–Fri 7am–3pm, Sat 8am–3pm, Sun 8am–2pm
The flight line is open to the public, with the Voyager Restaurant in the terminal building looking over the runway. Plane Crazy Saturday is the third Saturday of each month, free, often with a tram along the flight line. Check with the port before you drive out.
Plan the tripMetro Red Line · 1993 to 2000
Tunnel ahead.
The chase goes down at Pershing Square, a real station on the first stretch of the Red Line. In 1994 that stretch ran out at Westlake. The film’s train keeps going and comes up on Hollywood Boulevard, where the real line would not arrive for six years. Run the line on.
- Union StationOpen 30 January 1993
- Pershing SquareOpen 30 January 1993
- Westlake/MacArthur ParkOpen 30 January 1993
- On to WilshireNot built yet
- On to Hollywood/VineNot built yet
- Hollywood/HighlandNot built yetThe film’s train comes up here, June 1994
June 1994: the line ends at Westlake/MacArthur Park. The film’s train comes up on Hollywood Boulevard all the same.
Where we read it
Opening dates of each section.
Pershing Square station opened 30 January 1993.
Hollywood/Highland opened 24 June 2000.
The station and the street; studio mock-ups underground.
Grid H3
Fifth and Hill Streets, Los Angeles
Pershing Square
On screen The money drop
Payne’s money drop was filmed by the steps at the north-east corner of Pershing Square.
The square had just been redone: closed in 1992 for a $14.5 million redesign by Ricardo Legorreta and Laurie Olin, with a ten-storey purple bell tower, it reopened in 1994.
A three-phase rebuild began in 2023, due to finish before the 2028 Olympics.
A public park, being rebuilt in phases until 2028. The money drop was by the north-east steps, at Fifth and Hill.
Where we read it
Millennium Hotels
The Biltmore Los Angeles
506 South Grand Avenue, Downtown Los Angeles
A 1923 hotel on Grand Avenue, opposite Pershing Square: the money-drop steps and the subway station are across the park, the Gas Company Tower a block away. Pictured: the square.
Check roomsGrid H3
500 South Hill Street, Los Angeles
Pershing Square station
On screen Down into the subway
The subway chase starts in the Red Line’s Pershing Square station, part of the line’s first section.
The station opened on 30 January 1993, under Hill Street between Fourth and Fifth.
Most of the underground scenes were shot on studio mock-ups, and most of the train shots used a one-eighth scale model.
A working Metro station on the B and D lines, across Hill Street from the square.
Where we read it
End of the line, 1994
Alvarado Street at Wilshire Boulevard, Westlake
Westlake/MacArthur Park station
The Red Line’s first section, Union Station to Westlake/MacArthur Park, opened on 30 January 1993. Westlake was the end of the line until July 1996.
A working Metro station on the B and D lines. Not a filming place: it is where the real line ended in 1994.
Where we read it
Grid E1
Hollywood Boulevard outside 6925, between Highland and La Brea avenues
Hollywood Boulevard at the Chinese Theatre
On screen The train comes up
The runaway train bursts up into daylight on Hollywood Boulevard outside the Chinese Theatre.
The street scene was filmed on the boulevard; the underground run was studio work.
The train’s leap out of the tunnel was the one subway shot not done with the model.
A busy pavement. Stand outside the Chinese Theatre and look along the boulevard.
Where we read it
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Hollywood film-location tours
Hollywood
Live marketplace results for film-location tours round Hollywood. None is made with Speed; check each route for the Chinese Theatre and Hollywood/Highland.
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Compare toursThe real line, 2000
6815 Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue
Hollywood/Highland station
The real subway reached this corner on 24 June 2000, six years after the film; the station sits under Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue.
It was not built when Speed was shot.
A working B Line station a short walk from the theatre. Ride in underground, where the film’s train never could.
Where we read it
Credits · with the year of each photograph
Who made it.
- Dennis HopperHoward Payne · seen in 1990
Dennis Hopper (Howard Payne) at the Academy Awards in March 1990, three years before filming. Alan Light · CC BY 2.0 - Sandra BullockAnnie Porter · seen in 1996
Sandra Bullock (Annie Porter) at the Cannes Film Festival, 1996, two years after the film. Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 3.0 - Keanu ReevesJack Traven · seen in 2006
Keanu Reeves (Jack Traven) at a London premiere in September 2006, twelve years after the film. Caroline Bonarde Ucci · CC BY 3.0 - Jan de BontDirector · seen in 1975
Jan de Bont at a film premiere in Amsterdam in 1975, when he was a cinematographer, nineteen years before he directed Speed. Anefo / Nationaal Archief. Rob Bogaerts for Anefo · CC0
Keanu Reeves plays Jack Traven of the LAPD, Dennis Hopper the bomber Howard Payne and Sandra Bullock the passenger Annie Porter; Joe Morton plays Lieutenant McMahon and Jeff Daniels Detective Harry Temple. Graham Yost wrote it, and it was Jan de Bont’s first feature as director.
Shooting ran from 7 September to 23 December 1993. Twentieth Century Fox released the film in the United States on 10 June 1994, and it won two Academy Awards, for its sound and its sound effects editing.
Where we read it
Cast, writer, director, shooting dates, release and the Oscars.
Map key: which place played which
- The lift
- The Gas Company TowerH3
- The award
- The Derby, 4500 Los Feliz BoulevardG1
- The coffee and the first bus
- The Firehouse, Rose Avenue and Main StreetA4
- Annie’s stop
- Main Street at Ocean Park BoulevardA4
- The freeway
- The I-105, Glenn Anderson FreewayH6
- The jump
- The I-105 and I-110 interchangeG6
- LAX
- Mojave Air and Space PortOff the map
- The money drop
- Pershing SquareH3
- The subway
- Pershing Square stationH3
Where we read it
Every address in this key.
The whole route.
Where it is now
12 places you can visit: 4 downtown, 2 on the coast, 2 on the freeways, 3 in Hollywood and Los Feliz and 1 in the Mojave desert. The freeway pin is a Metro station in the I-105’s median; the tower is seen from the street.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. An office tower. See it from Fifth Street or Olive Street, across from Pershing Square.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public park, being rebuilt in phases until 2028. The money drop was by the north-east steps, at Fifth and Hill.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working Metro station on the B and D lines, across Hill Street from the square.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working Metro station on the B and D lines. Not a filming place: it is where the real line ended in 1994.
The Gas Company Tower on West Fifth Street, 2007. Josh Goodman (uploaded by Nikkul) · CC BY-SA 2.0 555 West Fifth Street at Olive Street, Los Angeles
The Gas Company Tower
The opening elevator crisis was filmed at the 52-storey Gas Company Tower, on the north-west corner of Fifth and Olive.
An office tower. See it from Fifth Street or Olive Street, across from Pershing Square.
Where we read it
Pershing Square in June 2012, with the purple bell tower of the 1994 redesign. Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress. Carol M. Highsmith · Public domain Fifth and Hill Streets, Los Angeles
Pershing Square
Payne’s money drop was filmed by the steps at the north-east corner of Pershing Square.
A public park, being rebuilt in phases until 2028. The money drop was by the north-east steps, at Fifth and Hill.
Where we read it
The platform at Pershing Square station, 2016. Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 3.0 500 South Hill Street, Los Angeles
Pershing Square station
The subway chase starts in the Red Line’s Pershing Square station, part of the line’s first section.
A working Metro station on the B and D lines, across Hill Street from the square.
Where we read it
MacArthur Park Lake drained and dug out for the subway, about 1993. LA Metro. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority · Public domain Alvarado Street at Wilshire Boulevard, Westlake
Westlake/MacArthur Park station
The Red Line’s first section, Union Station to Westlake/MacArthur Park, opened on 30 January 1993. Westlake was the end of the line until July 1996.
A working Metro station on the B and D lines. Not a filming place: it is where the real line ended in 1994.
Where we read it
Stay
A room on the square.
A 1923 hotel across Pershing Square from the money drop.
Millennium Hotels
The Biltmore Los Angeles
506 South Grand Avenue, Downtown Los Angeles
A 1923 hotel on Grand Avenue, opposite Pershing Square: the money-drop steps and the subway station are across the park, the Gas Company Tower a block away. Pictured: the square.
Check roomsGo there
Ride it, walk it, drive out.
A Metro ride through the interchange, the Mojave flight line, and tours from the marketplace.
LA Metro
Ride the C Line through the interchange
Harbor Freeway station, 11500 South Figueroa Street · $1.75 a ride · $5 daily cap
The C Line runs down the middle of the I-105 and stops at Harbor Freeway station, inside the five-level junction where the bus jumped. Regular fare $1.75, never more than $5 a day.
Fares and passesMojave Air and Space Port
The Mojave flight line
1434 Flight Line, Mojave · Voyager Restaurant: Mon–Fri 7am–3pm, Sat 8am–3pm, Sun 8am–2pm
The flight line is open to the public, with the Voyager Restaurant in the terminal building looking over the runway. Plane Crazy Saturday is the third Saturday of each month, free, often with a tram along the flight line. Check with the port before you drive out.
Plan the tripViator · Ad / affiliate
Hollywood film-location tours
Hollywood
Live marketplace results for film-location tours round Hollywood. None is made with Speed; check each route for the Chinese Theatre and Hollywood/Highland.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursViator · Ad / affiliate
Downtown Los Angeles walking tours
Downtown Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for architecture walks downtown, round Pershing Square, Fifth Street and Bunker Hill.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Nothing dated yet.
No screenings we could confirm.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
Two albums and two books.
The score, the songs, and two books on the city the freeways made.
eBay · Ad / affiliate
Speed: Original Motion Picture Score
Mark Mancina · CD, 1994
Mark Mancina’s score, released in the United States on 30 August 1994.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyeBay · Ad / affiliate
Speed: Songs From and Inspired by the Motion Picture
Various artists · CD, 1994
The songs album, released in the United States on 28 June 1994.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
Find a copyBookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies
Reyner Banham
An architectural historian’s portrait of the city, freeways and all.
Find the bookBookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate
Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight
Eric Avila
Fear and fantasy in suburban Los Angeles: a historian on the city the freeways made.
Find the bookDates, 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 index
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 15 of 15 Moments
The Gas Company Tower
555 West Fifth Street at Olive Street, Los Angeles
The elevator
Payne tries to bomb a lift full of office workers, and Jack stops him.
The Derby, 4500 Los Feliz Boulevard
4500 Los Feliz Boulevard at Hillhurst Avenue, Los Feliz
The award
Jack celebrates his award at The Derby.
The Firehouse, Rose Avenue and Main Street
213 Rose Avenue at Main Street, Venice
Coffee
Jack talks to a bus driver at the Firehouse.
The first bus
A bus is blown up on Main Street, south of Rose Avenue, and Payne calls Jack about the next one.
Main Street at Ocean Park Boulevard
Main Street at Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica
Annie gets on
Annie boards the bus at Ocean Park Boulevard and Main Street.
The I-105, Glenn Anderson Freeway
Interstate 105 through South Los Angeles, near Watts
Above fifty
The bus ride on an empty, unopened freeway.
The freeway opens
The I-105 and its interchange with the I-110 open to traffic.
The I-105 and I-110 interchange
Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange, South Los Angeles
The jump
The bus jumps a gap in an unfinished ramp; the gap was added digitally.
Mojave Air and Space Port
1434 Flight Line, Mojave, Kern County
The airport
The bus is sent to the airport the film calls LAX.
Pershing Square
Fifth and Hill Streets, Los Angeles
The money drop
The money drop by the north-east steps of the newly redone square.
The square reopens
Pershing Square reopens after the Legorreta and Olin redesign.
Pershing Square station
500 South Hill Street, Los Angeles
Underground
The chase goes down into the Red Line.
Westlake/MacArthur Park station
Alvarado Street at Wilshire Boulevard, Westlake
The first section
The Red Line opens from Union Station to Westlake/MacArthur Park.
Hollywood Boulevard at the Chinese Theatre
Hollywood Boulevard outside 6925, between Highland and La Brea avenues
Daylight
The train bursts out onto Hollywood Boulevard.
Hollywood/Highland station
6815 Hollywood Boulevard at Highland Avenue
The line reaches Highland
Hollywood/Highland station opens.