Los Angeles · 1998 · league night
The Dude’s week, frame by frame. 13 real places behind it: an alley that is now a school, a mansion that is really two houses, and a concrete house in the hills.
Ten pins, one ball.
League night · ten frames
It had manual scoring tables, and looked a little retro but not run-down. It was demolished in 2002 to make way for Kingsley Elementary School. So keep score here, by hand: ten frames, one for each stop on the Dude’s week, each marked by whether you can visit it today.
Ready. Frame 1 is the supermarket.
Running total 0
Frame 1 · X · 1745 Garfield Avenue, South Pasadena
The film opens with the Dude in a Ralphs that the story places in Venice, near his home. It was shot at the Ralphs in South Pasadena, 1745 Garfield Avenue.
A working supermarket on Garfield Avenue, South Pasadena: a long way from Venice, whatever the film says.
The running order of the frames is our reading of the film. Scoring is ten-pin: an open frame is five pins then a gutter ball, a spare seven then three, and the tenth frame’s bonus ball goes in the gutter.
Frame 1 · South Pasadena, playing Venice
The film opens with the Dude in a Ralphs that the story places in Venice, near his home. It was shot at the Ralphs in South Pasadena, 1745 Garfield Avenue.
11 Sept 1991
Pay Ralphs
$0.69
sixty-nine cents
He buys a quart of half-and-half and pays by cheque: 69 cents, dated 11 September 1991.
A working supermarket on Garfield Avenue, South Pasadena: a long way from Venice, whatever the film says.
Frames 2 and 3 · Venice, Holmby Hills, Beverly Hills
Two thugs ruin his rug, the rug that tied the room together. He goes to the other Jeffrey Lebowski for a new one, at a mansion that is really two houses.
Private
Venezia Avenue, Venice
The Dude lives on Venezia Avenue in Venice, in a one-bedroom flat in a court of six. In 1996 an average home there cost $251,000; the six-unit court sold in 2012 for more than $1.5 million.
A private home in a small court. It is not on our map: please leave the neighbours in peace.
Private
Charing Cross Road, Holmby Hills
The outside of the Big Lebowski’s mansion is a 1931 estate on Charing Cross Road in Holmby Hills, off Sunset Boulevard. It stands next door to the Playboy Mansion.
A private estate. It is not on our map, and there is little to see from the street.
905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills
Greystone supplied the rooms of the Big Lebowski’s mansion; the outside is a different house. Oil heir Ned Doheny built it between 1927 and 1930: 55 rooms and 46,000 square feet of Tudor Revival. Doheny was shot dead there in 1929. It became a Beverly Hills city park in 1971.
The grounds are open daily, 10am to 6pm (5pm in winter). Free, with free parking and no booking. The house itself opens only for events.
1697 Pacific Avenue, Venice
Not a filming location: a beachfront hotel in the Dude’s Venice, steps from the boardwalk, with 86 rooms, 33 suites and a rooftop bar.
Check roomsFrames 4 to 8 · Walter’s errands
6101 Wilshire Boulevard at Fairfax Avenue
Johnie’s is the coffee shop where the Dude and Walter argue about the toe, and Walter is told to keep it down. Louis Armet and Eldon Davis designed it in 1956: an angled, striped roof, a huge neon sign and glass walls.
It opened as Romeo’s Times Square, became Ram’s, then Johnie’s in 1966. The restaurant ran until 2000. The city made it a Historic-Cultural Monument in 2013. It is now mostly a film location, and was Bernie Sanders’s Los Angeles headquarters in 2016 and 2020.
Closed as a restaurant since 2000. See the roof and the sign from Wilshire Boulevard, across from the Academy Museum.
A murmur.
Frame 4 · 5227 Santa Monica Boulevard at North Kingsley Drive, East Hollywood
The league games were filmed at Hollywood Star Lanes, 5227 Santa Monica Boulevard at North Kingsley Drive. It was built in 1962 in the Googie style.
The alley is gone and a school stands on the site: look from Santa Monica Boulevard and leave the school be. For a game, Shatto 39 Lanes on West 4th Street is open every day.
6521 Sepulveda Boulevard, Westchester
The nihilists eat pancakes at Dinah’s Family Restaurant, 6521 Sepulveda Boulevard. Dinah’s opened in 1959 and was known for fried chicken and lingonberry pancakes. It served its last meal on Sepulveda on 30 April 2024, when a development closed the building.
The old diner closed in April 2024. Dinah’s Kitchen, run by the same family, is a few blocks away at 4130 Sepulveda Boulevard, Culver City.
Frame 6 · Torrey Road over the Santa Clara River, near Piru
The briefcase goes over the side of a bridge on Torrey Road, across the Santa Clara River south of Highway 126, near Piru. It is not a wooden bridge: the set dressers laid planks over the tarmac. Walter’s case is a ringer, filled with his laundry.
A public road bridge south of Piru, in Ventura County. Drive over it; don’t stop on it.
Frame 8 · Stearns Drive, between Pico Boulevard and West 18th Street
Walter takes a crowbar to a red Corvette outside Larry’s house. The story puts Larry in North Hollywood. It was filmed on Stearns Drive, between West Pico Boulevard and West 18th Street. The house has since been remodelled, and its front door moved.
A private home. It is not on our map.
Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for Los Angeles film-location tours. Check each itinerary: several of the film’s places are private, closed or gone.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursFrame 9 · Benedict Canyon
A drink at Jackie Treehorn’s. It has been spiked.
Angelo View Drive, Benedict Canyon · private
Jackie Treehorn’s house is the Sheats-Goldstein Residence by John Lautner. It was built in 1963 and remodelled from 1980 to 1994. Poured-concrete shapes are set into the side of the hill. James Goldstein promised the house and its estate to LACMA in 2016, the museum’s first piece of architecture.
A private home, promised to LACMA. It is not on our map.
End of Westward Beach Road, Malibu
Jackie Treehorn’s beach party was filmed at Point Dume State Beach in Malibu. The party is a Tiki night on the sand near Malibu.
The headland has cliffs, rocky coves and a trail to an ancient bluff dune, with views to Santa Monica Bay and Catalina Island. From December to mid-April it is a lookout for migrating grey whales.
Open sunrise to sunset. Two hours’ free parking at the top of the point and more at Westward Beach. No dogs on the trails or beaches.
Frame 7 · 630 South Broadway, Downtown
Maude’s loft is above the Palace Theatre, and its auditorium plays the stage where the landlord dances. The Palace opened in 1911, designed by G. Albert Lansburgh. Houdini, Will Rogers, Fred Astaire and a young Rita Hayworth all played it. It seated nearly 2,000; now about 1,000.
Opens for special events: check before you go. The front is on Broadway, any time.
Frame 10 · San Pedro
Donny’s ashes are scattered at Sunken City, by Point Fermin in San Pedro. Sunken City lies in Point Fermin Park; a landslide made it in 1929.
Point Fermin Park is public. Sunken City, on the cliff below it, is off limits.
Credits
Jeff BridgesJeffrey “the Dude” Lebowski
John GoodmanWalter Sobchak
Julianne MooreMaude Lebowski
Joel and Ethan CoenWriters and directors
And afterwards, a religion. Dudeism, which takes its lead from the film without any link to its makers, ordains priests online for free and counts more than 800,000 of them.
Joel and Ethan Coen made The Big Lebowski, with Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey “the Dude” Lebowski, John Goodman as Walter Sobchak and Julianne Moore as Maude.
Focus Features: Movie City, Los Angeles: The Big Lebowski (27 August 2020)
Dudeism offers free ordination, says it has more than 800,000 priests worldwide, and is not affiliated with the film or its makers.
9 places you can visit. The Dude’s bungalow, the mansion’s outside, Treehorn’s house and Larry’s house are private homes: named here, never mapped. Their cards show the neighbourhood or a public view.
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. The alley is gone and a school stands on the site: look from Santa Monica Boulevard and leave the school be. For a game, Shatto 39 Lanes on West 4th Street is open every day.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Closed as a restaurant since 2000. See the roof and the sign from Wilshire Boulevard, across from the Academy Museum.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Opens for special events: check before you go. The front is on Broadway, any time.
5227 Santa Monica Boulevard at North Kingsley Drive, East Hollywood
The league games were filmed at Hollywood Star Lanes, 5227 Santa Monica Boulevard at North Kingsley Drive.
The alley is gone and a school stands on the site: look from Santa Monica Boulevard and leave the school be. For a game, Shatto 39 Lanes on West 4th Street is open every day.
6101 Wilshire Boulevard at Fairfax Avenue
Johnie’s is the coffee shop where the Dude and Walter argue about the toe, and Walter is told to keep it down.
Closed as a restaurant since 2000. See the roof and the sign from Wilshire Boulevard, across from the Academy Museum.
630 South Broadway, Downtown
Maude’s loft is above the Palace Theatre, and its auditorium plays the stage where the landlord dances.
Opens for special events: check before you go. The front is on Broadway, any time.
Stay
Not a filming location: a hotel by the boardwalk in the neighbourhood the Dude calls home.
1697 Pacific Avenue, Venice
Not a filming location: a beachfront hotel in the Dude’s Venice, steps from the boardwalk, with 86 rooms, 33 suites and a rooftop bar.
Check roomsGo there
Few tours cover these places, and several are private; the public ones are easy to reach yourself.
Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for Los Angeles film-location tours. Check each itinerary: several of the film’s places are private, closed or gone.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
No Lebowski screening or fest is dated yet. To bowl, Shatto 39 Lanes is open every day.
No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.
Take it home
The original 1998 one-sheet from our store, three books and the soundtrack album.
The original 1998 US one-sheet. 27 × 40 inches, rolled, mint.
In stock
View posterJoel and Ethan Coen · Faber
The published screenplay, Faber, 1998. 151 pages.
Find the bookBill Green, Ben Peskoe, Scott Shuffitt and Will Russell · Bloomsbury
A book about the film and its fans. Bloomsbury, 2007, 256 pages.
Find the bookJ. M. Tyree and Ben Walters · BFI
A short critical study from the British Film Institute, 2007. 123 pages.
Find the bookVarious artists · CD, Mercury, 1998
The soundtrack album on Mercury, released in the US on 24 February 1998.
Live marketplace search · listings and condition change
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
1745 Garfield Avenue, South Pasadena
The Dude buys half-and-half and pays 69 cents by cheque.
Venezia Avenue, Venice
Two thugs ruin the Dude’s rug at his bungalow.
Charing Cross Road, Holmby Hills
The Dude calls at the Big Lebowski’s mansion.
905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills
Inside the mansion the Dude talks his way to a replacement rug.
5227 Santa Monica Boulevard at North Kingsley Drive, East Hollywood
The Dude, Walter and Donny bowl.
6101 Wilshire Boulevard at Fairfax Avenue
The Dude and Walter argue about the toe over coffee.
6521 Sepulveda Boulevard, Westchester
The nihilists order pancakes.
630 South Broadway, Downtown
The Dude visits Maude above the theatre, and watches the landlord dance.
Stearns Drive, between Pico Boulevard and West 18th Street
Walter wrecks a red Corvette outside Larry’s house.
Torrey Road over the Santa Clara River, near Piru
Walter throws a case of laundry off the bridge.
Angelo View Drive, Benedict Canyon
The Dude visits Jackie Treehorn and is drugged; the dream that follows is the one Filmsite calls Gutterballs.
End of Westward Beach Road, Malibu
Jackie Treehorn throws a Tiki party on the beach.
Point Fermin Park, 807 West Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro
The Dude and Walter scatter Donny’s ashes at Point Fermin.
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