N.W.A in a 1988 press photograph: Arabian Prince, MC Ren, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, DJ Yella and Dr. Dre. Ruthless Records, Priority Records · Public domainN.W.A, 1988: Arabian Prince, MC Ren, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre · press photograph
F. Gary Gray · 2015 · filmed in Compton and Los Angeles
Straight Outta Compton
The director’s theme, his location manager says, was palm trees and power lines. The crew went back into the neighbourhoods to find them. Dress the block · Skate the rink
Leimert Park Village · standing in for Crenshaw
Dress the block.
Crenshaw Boulevard no longer looks the way it did when it was the place to cruise on a Saturday night. Degnan Boulevard, nearby in Leimert Park, still had the same bones. The location team made five changes to it. Make them yourself.
4327 Degnan Boulevard in Leimert Park Village, June 2021, when it was Eso Won Books. Nicolet1327 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Degnan Boulevard at 43rd Street, Leimert Park Village
Degnan Boulevard, Leimert Park
Played Crenshaw Boulevard on a Saturday night
For the Crenshaw cruising scene the crew used Degnan Boulevard, because Crenshaw Boulevard no longer looks as it did in the late 1980s.
They took out the parking meter heads, changed the street lamps, took down the street signs and dressed the shop fronts, then put low riders on the block.
Leimert Park Village is Leimert Plaza Park, the shops on 43rd Street and one block of Degnan Boulevard, and the centre of African American art, music and culture in Los Angeles.
Walter Leimert began the development in 1928, to a master plan by the Olmsted Brothers.
The free Art Walk runs along 43rd Place and Degnan Boulevard on the last Sunday of the month; the World Stage, founded in 1989, is on the block.
A shopping street in Leimert Park Village. Walk it; come on the last Sunday of the month for the Art Walk.
Where we read itLeimert Plaza Park, at the end of Degnan Boulevard, March 2026. Jengod · CC BY-SA 4.0
Leimert Plaza Park, at the end of the block. The Olmsted Brothers designed it as the centre of the neighbourhood; the Sunday drum circle still meets there.
The film opens in 1986 with a police raid on a house; Eazy-E gets out over the roofs. Gray wanted houses close together, palm trees and power lines, and an empty lot next door. Ice Cube, one of the producers, was against the street at first. The technical adviser Cle “Bone” Sloan went out on the streets and offered local people work on the film, and the crew prepared the corner for a month before two nights of filming.
The houseThe copy
The house: The real house at 104th and Budlong. The crew shot the interiors inside it and kept base camp and crew parking in one place, so the unit never had to move.
Who had to say yes
The production designer and the director
Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, as producers
Universal
Where we read it
The two houses, base camp, the month of preparation and the approvals.
West 109th Street in Westmont, February 2024: the neighbourhood a few blocks south of 104th and Budlong, not the house used in the film. Jengod · CC BY-SA 4.0
104th Street and Budlong Avenue, South Los Angeles
The opening street, 104th and Budlong
Played A house in Compton, 1986
The film opens on a house at 104th Street and Budlong Avenue, found by the location scout Sam Gomez.
Gray asked for a lower-income neighbourhood of the late 1980s, with houses close enough for a character to cross the rooftops, and an empty lot next door.
On that lot the crew built a copy of the house to be broken into by the police battering ram, so the interiors could be shot in the real one.
Ice Cube, an executive producer, worried about the crew’s safety there. With the technical adviser Cle “Bone” Sloan, the Sheriff’s Department and the LAPD, the team prepared the location for a month and filmed all night for two nights without a problem.
The sequence lasts just under five minutes.
A residential corner where people live. It is named by its streets and not mapped; the photograph is 109th Street, a few blocks south, not the house.
Where we read itA Compton street at dusk, July 2012: the city, not the house used in the film. peter boy12qq12 · CC BY 3.0
126th Street and Willowbrook Avenue, Compton
Dr. Dre’s mother’s house, 126th and Willowbrook
Played Dr. Dre’s mother’s house
The location for Dr. Dre’s mother’s house was at 126th Street and Willowbrook in Compton, and Cle Sloan says it was the hardest to clear.
The block was African American when Dre was a boy and is Latino now; Sloan explained to the neighbourhood what the film was about before the crew came in.
A private house on a residential block. Named by its streets and not mapped; the photograph is a Compton street, not the house.
Where we read it
Day one
Dale’s Donuts on South Atlantic Avenue, Compton, March 2024. Jengod · CC BY-SA 4.0
Compton, Los Angeles County (pinned at City Hall)
Compton
Principal photography began on location in Compton on 5 August 2014.
N.W.A was formed in Compton in 1987, and Eazy-E and Jerry Heller founded Ruthless Records there on 3 March 1987.
Taylor calls Compton a big city, around 100,000 people, and much more Latino than in the 1980s.
The crew looked for houses without the iron fences and window bars that came later, and the designer says the producers backed filming in the neighbourhoods the characters grew up in.
A city of streets you can walk and drive. Dale’s Donuts on South Atlantic Avenue is in the photograph.
Where we read it
Viator · Ad / affiliate
Los Angeles hip-hop history tours
Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for hip-hop history tours of Los Angeles. None is made with the film; check each itinerary for Compton and South LA stops.
Before the record deals, one of Compton’s stages was a roller rink in a converted bowling alley. It was open for barely four years. Go round it once for each chapter.
SKATELAND
Skateland U.S.A., North Central Avenue. Skate a lap to start.
1962· · ·
16 November 1984· · ·
Saturdays· · ·
The first single· · ·
11 March 1988· · ·
25 December 1988· · ·
2014· · ·
Now· · ·
Where we read it
The bowling alley, the opening, Saturdays, the first single, March 1988, the closing and the building now.
The poster for Eazy-E and N.W.A at Skateland U.S.A., Friday 11 March 1988, promoted by Uncle Jamm’s Army. The rink itself has no free photograph. Craig Schweisinger / Cooley Poster Printing Company · Public domain
1950 North Central Avenue, Compton
Skateland U.S.A.
Built as the Woodley Lewis Sportsman Bowl, a bowling alley, in 1962. Craig Schweisinger opened it as the Skateland U.S.A. roller rink on 16 November 1984.
Eazy-E first performed “The Boyz-n-the-Hood” at Skateland, with Dr. Dre behind him; N.W.A’s first appearance together there was in March 1988.
The poster for Friday 11 March 1988 billed Eazy-E and N.W.A at 135th and Central, promoted by Uncle Jamm’s Army.
The rink closed after a Tone Lōc concert on Christmas Day 1988. The building now holds a hair-tools wholesaler’s stock, and its sign still stands with a blank face.
The film brought a crowd back to its door: the location team photographed it gathering in front of Skateland U.S.A.
A private warehouse now. See it from North Central Avenue; the picture is the rink’s 1988 poster.
Where we read it
The South Bay, the Verdugos and Melrose
Torrance was Glendale.
N.W.A made their first records in Torrance, a quiet suburb in the South Bay. The film shows police stopping the group outside the studio there, because, as the location manager puts it, they looked as if they did not belong. The street on screen is in Glendale. The real studio cost them $12,000 for an album; we could not find a published address for it.
On screen
Torrance
Salem Street, Glendale · Conway, Hollywood
Really
Audio Achievements
Torrance · 1987–1988
Downtown Glendale, July 2024, a few blocks from Salem Street. Alexis Doine · CC0
Salem Street, Glendale
Salem Street, Glendale
Played The street outside the Torrance studio
Salem Street in Glendale played Torrance, the quiet suburb where the group records.
Taylor says the point was the contrast between the neighbourhoods where they grew up and the suburb, where the police stopped them because they looked as if they did not belong.
A residential street near downtown Glendale. Walk it on the pavement; the photograph is downtown, a few blocks away.
Where we read it
The real one
Torrance City Hall on Torrance Boulevard, April 2022. No free photograph of the recording studio exists. Thurifer · CC BY-SA 4.0
Torrance, South Bay (the studio’s street address is not published)
Audio Achievements, Torrance
In 1987 Eazy-E brought a New York group to the Audio Achievements studio in Torrance to record “The Boyz-n-the-Hood”. They turned it down, and Dr. Dre talked Eazy into rapping it himself.
N.W.A recorded the album Straight Outta Compton at Audio Achievements in the summer and autumn of 1988, for $12,000.
It came out on 25 January 1989 on Priority and Ruthless.
The studio is not mapped: we found no published address. The photograph is Torrance City Hall.
Where we read itMelrose Avenue at Alexandria Avenue, January 2022: palm trees and power lines on the avenue Conway stands on, not the studio itself. Downtowngal · CC BY-SA 4.0
5100 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood
Conway Recording Studios
Played The recording studios
Conway was the location the crew stayed at longest. There are several studios there, and the film used a few of them.
The studio is at 5100 Melrose Avenue and has three rooms, Studios A, B and C.
It began as a mastering studio in the early 1970s and is owned by Buddy and Susan Brundo, with gardens across its 54,000-square-foot grounds.
A working studio, not open to visitors. Named but not mapped; the photograph is Melrose Avenue further east, not the studio.
Where we read it
The Hollywood Roosevelt
The Hollywood Roosevelt
Hollywood, Los Angeles
A 300-room Spanish Colonial Revival hotel that opened in 1927 at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, a short drive from Melrose Avenue and the Valley studios. Pictured: Melrose Avenue.
In Detroit in 1989 the police told the group not to play its protest song about the police. It played it anyway. The film tells that night one way; the people who were there tell it a little differently. The film’s concert was shot in Los Angeles; the arena itself has gone.
In the film, the police warn the group off one song. They play it, the concert stops, and the police arrest them, and the crowd’s anger gets them released.
Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, December 2015, the year the film came out. Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0
Steve Yzerman Drive, Detroit riverfront
The Joe Louis Arena site
N.W.A played Joe Louis Arena on 19 June 1989. Police had told them not to perform their protest song about the police; they did, and officers cut the amplifiers.
Bangs in the hall, which the promoter thinks were fireworks, panicked the crowd; the group left, and police found them later at their hotel, held them briefly and let them go. Nobody was charged.
The film’s Detroit concert was shot in Los Angeles; the editor, Billy Fox, came to the set only for that sequence.
The arena opened in December 1979 and closed in July 2017. The Residences at Water Square opened on the site in February 2024.
The arena is gone. A residential tower stands on the site, by the Water Square People Mover station.
Where we read itThe Residences Water Square on the arena’s site, August 2025. Michael Barera · CC BY-SA 4.0
The site now: a residential tower by the river, opened in February 2024.
The 1992 unrest was meant to be a few seconds of news footage on a television in the film. Gray wanted the characters in the streets, watching. The crew closed Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood for it, and many of the crew had lived in Los Angeles in 1992. Afterwards the film went a few miles away: to the Warner lot to be cut, and to Universal to be mixed.
A Laurel Canyon Boulevard street sign, February 2024. Jengod · CC BY-SA 4.0
Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood (the exact block is not given)
Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood
Played Los Angeles, 1992
The 1992 Los Angeles unrest was written as a quarter of a page and was meant to be news footage watched on a television. Gray wanted it re-created.
The crew had a closed-down commercial area off Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood; Gray moved the scene out onto the boulevard itself, which was closed with help from FilmLA and Councilmember Paul Krekorian’s office.
In early September 2014 the large post-unrest set was seen on Laurel Canyon Boulevard.
Fire and smoke were added afterwards as visual effects.
A busy main road. The pin marks the boulevard in North Hollywood, not a particular building.
Where we read it
The cut
Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, in 1987, the year N.W.A began. Images Alight · CC BY 2.0
Warner Boulevard, Burbank
Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank
The film was edited on the Warner lot; Billy Fox cut while Gray shot, and Universal gave Gray ten weeks for his cut.
The Studio Tour starts at 3400 Warner Boulevard and runs three hours; Stage 48 has a post-production workshop with Foley, ADR and a sound-mixing room.
A working lot. You can go in on the Studio Tour.
Where we read it
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood
3400 Warner Boulevard, Burbank · Studio Tour from $79 · 8:30am–3:30pm
Three hours on the lot where the film was cut, with a post-production workshop on Stage 48: Foley, ADR and a sound-mixing room.
N.W.A in a Ruthless Records and Priority Records press photograph, 1988. From left: Arabian Prince, MC Ren, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, DJ Yella and Dr. Dre. Ruthless Records, Priority Records · Public domain
MC Ren in Los Angeles, September 1990, photographed by Ithaka Darin Pappas, who also took the group’s 1988 Miracle Mile portrait. IthakaDarinPappas · CC BY-SA 4.0
MC RenHimself · Los Angeles, 1990
F. Gary Gray, the director, at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2015, a month before the film opened. Dominick D · CC BY-SA 2.0
F. Gary GrayDirector · July 2015
Corey Hawkins (Dr. Dre) in July 2016, a year after the film. Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Corey HawkinsDr. Dre · seen in 2016
Jason Mitchell (Eazy-E) in July 2016, a year after the film. Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 3.0
Jason MitchellEazy-E · seen in 2016
O’Shea Jackson Jr. plays his father, Ice Cube; Corey Hawkins plays Dr. Dre, Jason Mitchell Eazy-E, Neil Brown Jr. DJ Yella and Aldis Hodge MC Ren. Paul Giamatti plays their manager, Jerry Heller. F. Gary Gray directed, and appears as the KDAY DJ Greg Mack.
The shoot ran 50 days across nearly 50 locations, on a budget of $29 million, with 130 sets. Released by Universal on 14 August 2015, the film took $201.6 million worldwide and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
8 places you can visit: 3 in South Los Angeles and Compton, 4 among the studios and suburbs, and 1 in Detroit. The two family homes are named by their streets and are not on the map; Conway and the Torrance studio are named but not mapped.
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. A city of streets you can walk and drive. Dale’s Donuts on South Atlantic Avenue is in the photograph.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A private warehouse now. See it from North Central Avenue; the picture is the rink’s 1988 poster.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A shopping street in Leimert Park Village. Walk it; come on the last Sunday of the month for the Art Walk.
1
Dale’s Donuts on South Atlantic Avenue, Compton, March 2024. Jengod · CC BY-SA 4.0
Compton, Los Angeles County (pinned at City Hall)
Compton
Principal photography began on location in Compton on 5 August 2014.
A city of streets you can walk and drive. Dale’s Donuts on South Atlantic Avenue is in the photograph.
Where we read it
2
The poster for Eazy-E and N.W.A at Skateland U.S.A., Friday 11 March 1988, promoted by Uncle Jamm’s Army. The rink itself has no free photograph. Craig Schweisinger / Cooley Poster Printing Company · Public domain
1950 North Central Avenue, Compton
Skateland U.S.A.
Built as the Woodley Lewis Sportsman Bowl, a bowling alley, in 1962. Craig Schweisinger opened it as the Skateland U.S.A. roller rink on 16 November 1984.
A private warehouse now. See it from North Central Avenue; the picture is the rink’s 1988 poster.
Where we read it
3
4327 Degnan Boulevard in Leimert Park Village, June 2021, when it was Eso Won Books. Nicolet1327 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Degnan Boulevard at 43rd Street, Leimert Park Village
Degnan Boulevard, Leimert Park
For the Crenshaw cruising scene the crew used Degnan Boulevard, because Crenshaw Boulevard no longer looks as it did in the late 1980s.
A shopping street in Leimert Park Village. Walk it; come on the last Sunday of the month for the Art Walk.
Where we read it
Stay
Sleep in Hollywood.
A 1927 hotel on Hollywood Boulevard, a short drive from Melrose and the Valley studios.
The Hollywood Roosevelt
The Hollywood Roosevelt
Hollywood, Los Angeles
A 300-room Spanish Colonial Revival hotel that opened in 1927 at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, a short drive from Melrose Avenue and the Valley studios. Pictured: Melrose Avenue.
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 location log
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
12 of 12 places · 17 of 17 Moments
The opening street, 104th and Budlong
104th Street and Budlong Avenue, South Los Angeles
The opening
The film opens in Compton in 1986 with a police raid on a house; Eazy-E gets away across the roofs. Filmed at 104th and Budlong, with a copy of the house built next door.
Dr. Dre’s mother’s house, 126th and Willowbrook
126th Street and Willowbrook Avenue, Compton
At his mother’s
The house used for Dr. Dre’s mother’s, at 126th Street and Willowbrook.
Compton
Compton, Los Angeles County (pinned at City Hall)
Day one in Compton
Principal photography begins on location in Compton.
Ruthless and N.W.A
Ruthless Records is founded in Compton, and N.W.A forms there.
Skateland U.S.A.
1950 North Central Avenue, Compton
Outside Skateland
A crowd gathers in front of Skateland U.S.A. for the film.
Friday at Skateland
Eazy-E and N.W.A on the bill at Skateland U.S.A.
Last night at the rink
Skateland closes after a Tone Lōc concert.
Degnan Boulevard, Leimert Park
Degnan Boulevard at 43rd Street, Leimert Park Village
Crenshaw on a Saturday night
The late-1980s cruising scene on Crenshaw Boulevard, dressed on Degnan Boulevard in Leimert Park.
Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood
Laurel Canyon Boulevard, North Hollywood (the exact block is not given)
1992, re-created
The 1992 unrest re-created on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood.
Salem Street, Glendale
Salem Street, Glendale
Stopped in the suburb
The group is stopped by police outside the suburban studio; Salem Street in Glendale plays Torrance.
Audio Achievements, Torrance
Torrance, South Bay (the studio’s street address is not published)
The first single
Eazy-E records “The Boyz-n-the-Hood” at Audio Achievements.
The album
N.W.A record Straight Outta Compton at Audio Achievements for $12,000.
Conway Recording Studios
5100 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood
In the studio
The film’s recording-studio scenes, across several rooms at Conway; the longest stay of the shoot.
The Joe Louis Arena site
Steve Yzerman Drive, Detroit riverfront
Detroit, 1989
N.W.A play Joe Louis Arena; police stop the show after the group plays the song it had been warned off.
Detroit, on film
The film’s Detroit concert, set in this arena and shot in Los Angeles.
Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank
Warner Boulevard, Burbank
The cut
Billy Fox edits the film on the Warner lot.
The Hitchcock stage, Universal
Universal City, Los Angeles
The mix
Sound design and the final mix on the Hitchcock stage.
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