Hawthorne · Hollywood · the coast road · 1961–2025
A band in wool shirts, waiting for its first record.
Early on they were the Pendletones, after the wool shirts they wore. Stack five voices over a street in Hawthorne, then follow them down the coast, into Studio 3, past the goats and on to London.
On the boards: Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Dennis Wilson on the beach in 1967 and for Capitol in 1964 (Capitol Records); Brian at the desk and a Pet Sounds session, 1966 (Cashbox). All public domain. Behind them: Paradise Cove, Malibu, 2014, Kristin Campbell, CC BY-SA 2.0.
West 119th Street, Hawthorne · Labor Day weekend 1961
The family moved from Inglewood to Hawthorne when Brian was two. Brian, Dennis and Carl sang as a trio, and Brian taught his brothers their harmony parts. Add each voice to the stave. When all five are in, the chord locks.
Add Brian, Carl, Al, Dennis and Mike to the stave.
3701 West 119th Street, Hawthorne
On Labor Day weekend 1961 the Wilson brothers, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine recorded their first song, Surfin’, at or near this spot.
The Wilson family home was knocked down to make way for the 105 freeway.
A monument on the pavement of West 119th Street, open to look at any time. The house itself has gone.
Hawthorne High School · music
F A
Brian Wilson went to Hawthorne High School, where he was quarterback of the football team. He wrote an early version of Surfin’ here for a music class and was given an F. In 2018 he came back, and the school changed the F to an A.
A working school, not open to visitors.
The coast road · Malibu to San Diego
Riding past Malibu.
Ken Veeder photographed the band here in 1962 for the cover of their first album, Surfin’ Safari.
Veeder usually photographed singers such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. Outtakes from the shoot ended up on Surfer Girl the next year.
A cove below the Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. Check parking on the cafe’s site before you go.
6000 Sunset Boulevard · Western Recorders
An empty room. Add a player.
Brian Wilson made Studio 3 his favourite room, and Pet Sounds was made there.
Its live room is about 40 square metres. He fitted 15-piece groups into it, with drums, organ, a baby grand and sometimes strings.
11 February 1966 · Don’t Talk · vocal inserts
Record take 1 with Chuck Britz.
Western Recorders opened at 6000 Sunset in the early 1960s, a car park away from its sister studio, United. After Cello Studios went bankrupt in 2005, EastWest took over the building. Its three Western rooms are still studios.
A working studio, not open to visitors. See the building from Sunset Boulevard.
1800 Argyle Avenue, Los Angeles
A Hollywood hotel with a rooftop pool and views of the hills, a short walk up Argyle from Sunset Boulevard and the old Western Recorders building.
Check roomsLos Angeles
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Compare tours6252 Santa Monica Boulevard · Gold Star
Hand near the antenna: the note is rising.
I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times, made here, used a theremin on a pop record for the first time.
Brian Wilson was a client for years: Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Do You Wanna Dance and the first Heroes and Villains were made here, and a small part of the first Good Vibrations session.
Gold Star was built in 1950 at 6252 Santa Monica Boulevard. Stan Ross said the building had been a dentist’s office. Phil Spector made nearly all of his 1958 to 1966 sessions here.
A fire destroyed the property in 1984. The studio closed, and the site became a mini-mall.
Gone: a mini-mall stands on the site.
His house · 1966
An empty room and a piano.
In 1966 reporters asked Brian Wilson why he had filled a room of his house with sand. He said he just wanted a sandbox.
In 1976 he told Creem it was true: a sandbox the size of a room, with a piano in the sand. There is no hard proof that he wrote songs in it.
A private home: named here, never mapped.
San Diego Zoo · 15 February 1966
0 pieces of apple in your hand · 0 of 5 goats fed.
George Jerman photographed the Pet Sounds cover in the zoo’s petting paddock on 15 February 1966. Brian Wilson said they fed the goats apples cut into small pieces.
Mike Love suggested the title, Pet Sounds: the album ends with a dog barking at a passing train. Al Jardine thought the goats were too obvious.
Brian · Mike · Dennis · Carl · Al
Six went to the zoo. Five are on the front.
Since 2022 the site of the old Children’s Zoo has been Wildlife Explorers Basecamp, 3.2 acres in four zones. A one-day pass costs $78 for adults and $68 for children aged 3 to 11, and includes a guided bus tour.
A ticketed zoo in Balboa Park.
Balboa Park, San Diego · Adults $78 · children 3–11 $68 · cheaper on value days online
The one-day pass includes a guided bus tour and the Skyfari aerial tram. The Pet Sounds cover was shot here in February 1966.
Buy tickets1964 · 1972 · 1976
Baambrugge, summer 1972.
In the summer of 1972 the band recorded at the Baambrugge Centraal 2 studio, with Steve Moffitt engineering and Jon Parks assisting.
Funky Pretty vocals were recorded here on 11 August; the parts of California Saga on 14 and 15 August.
Overdubs and mixing followed at Village Recorders in Los Angeles. Sail On, Sailor was recorded there on 28 and 29 November 1972.
A small village in the province of Utrecht. The studio building is not marked: come for the village, not a plaque.
Royal Festival Hall, London · 20 February 2004
Good Vibrations has just finished. Stand row 1 up.
On 20 February 2004 Brian Wilson, then 61, premiered Smile here.
He had shelved it in 1967, saying the songs were not commercial; over the years it became a lost masterpiece to fans. He led an 18-piece band through Beach Boys hits, then played Smile in full, ending with Good Vibrations.
A working concert hall on the South Bank. Book a concert to go into the auditorium.
Huntington Beach Pier · June 2025
Brian Wilson died on 11 June 2025, aged 82. His family asked for privacy.
That June, Visit Huntington Beach organised a paddle out for him off the north side of the pier. The plan: P.T. Townend, the 1976 world surfing champion, as host, Beach Boys music playing, and Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean telling stories at the end. It was free. People were asked to bring a beach chair or a surfboard.
Paddle out to join the circle.
A public pier, free to walk, with the beach either side.
500 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach
A boutique hotel steps from the sand on Pacific Coast Highway, with an open-air patio and fire pits; many rooms look out over the pier where surfers paddled out for Brian Wilson.
Check rooms9 places you can visit. The house with the sandbox is private and not on the map; Gold Star is gone; Hawthorne High and Brother Studio are not open to visitors.
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 monument on the pavement of West 119th Street, open to look at any time. The house itself has gone.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A public pier with places to eat, free to walk.
3701 West 119th Street, Hawthorne
On Labor Day weekend 1961 the Wilson brothers, their cousin Mike Love and their friend Al Jardine recorded their first song, Surfin’, at or near this spot.
A monument on the pavement of West 119th Street, open to look at any time. The house itself has gone.
Redondo Beach
On a fishing trip at Redondo Pier, Dennis Wilson suggested the band write a song about surfing.
A public pier with places to eat, free to walk.
Stay
A hotel steps from the sand at Huntington Beach, and one a short walk from Studio 3.
500 Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach
A boutique hotel steps from the sand on Pacific Coast Highway, with an open-air patio and fire pits; many rooms look out over the pier where surfers paddled out for Brian Wilson.
Check rooms1800 Argyle Avenue, Los Angeles
A Hollywood hotel with a rooftop pool and views of the hills, a short walk up Argyle from Sunset Boulevard and the old Western Recorders building.
Check roomsGo there
A day at the San Diego Zoo with its bus tour, and Los Angeles music tours on the marketplace.
Balboa Park, San Diego · Adults $78 · children 3–11 $68 · cheaper on value days online
The one-day pass includes a guided bus tour and the Skyfari aerial tram. The Pet Sounds cover was shot here in February 1966.
Buy ticketsLos Angeles
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Compare toursWhat’s on
Two nights at EPCOT in Florida, then the last listed date of the 2026 run in Bristol, Virginia.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
Brian Wilson’s own book, a short book on Pet Sounds, and four records tied to these places.
Brian Wilson with Ben Greenman
His own account, from Hawthorne to the stage again.
Find the bookJim Fusilli
A short book on the album made in Studio 3.
Find the bookThe Beach Boys · LP, Capitol T 1808, 1962
The first album; the cover was shot at Paradise Cove.
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Find a copyThe Beach Boys · LP, Capitol T 2458 (mono), 1966
Made at Western and Gold Star; the cover at the San Diego Zoo.
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Find a copyThe Beach Boys · LP, Brother/Reprise MS 2118, 1973
Recorded in Baambrugge in the summer of 1972.
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Find a copyBrian Wilson · 2LP, Nonesuch 7559-79846-1, 2004
The studio version of what he premiered at the Royal Festival Hall.
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Find a copyDates, 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.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
13 of 13 places · 13 of 13 Moments
3701 West 119th Street, Hawthorne
The brothers, Mike Love and Al Jardine record Surfin’ at or near the family home.
The monument is unveiled on the site of the family home; Brian performs.
West El Segundo Boulevard, Hawthorne
Hawthorne High changes his F for Surfin’ to an A.
Redondo Beach
Dennis Wilson tells his brothers to write a song about surfing.
6000 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood
Eight vocal inserts for Don’t Talk are recorded; none reaches the record.
6252 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood
I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times uses a theremin on a pop record for the first time.
Brian Wilson’s house, Los Angeles
He fills a room of his house with sand and puts a piano in it.
UCLA campus, Westwood, Los Angeles
Santa Monica
Brian previews songs for Love You on piano at Brother Studio.
28128 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu
Ken Veeder photographs the band on the sand for Surfin’ Safari.
Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway, Huntington Beach
Surfers paddle out for Brian Wilson off Huntington Beach Pier.
2920 Zoo Drive, Balboa Park, San Diego
George Jerman shoots the Pet Sounds cover in the petting paddock.
Baambrugge, province of Utrecht, Netherlands
The band record the parts of California Saga in a Dutch village.
Southbank Centre, London
Brian Wilson premieres Smile, shelved since 1967, and gets a five-minute ovation.
