Boyz N The Hood | 1991
- Locations |
- Los Angeles, California
- DIRECTOR |
- John Singleton
23-year-old John Singleton’s film, about the vicious circle of black-on-black violence, was filmed in the area he grew up in, the South Central district of Los Angeles.
South Central has a bit of a reputation, but it’s a huge and varied collection of diverse neighbourhoods. If you’re not familiar with the area, there are undeniably places you’d be better off not to wander around looking lost, but it’s certainly not the fearsome ‘no-go’ zone portrayed in some more melodramatic Hollywood productions. As you would anywhere, just use your common sense.
The focus of the movie is Inglewood, an area just east of LA International Airport. The opening scene, where a pool of blood becomes a source of fascination to the schoolkids, takes place at the junction of Lawrence Street and Woodworth Avenue, just south of Hollywood Park, the street John Singleton grew up on.
The home of Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne) and his son Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr) is a couple of miles to the north in Park Mesa Heights. It’s 5918 Cimarron Street, between 59th and 60th Streets. A few doors to the north, Brandi lives at 5906 Cimarron Street.
This seems to be quite a personal project, as young Tre attends director Singleton’s old school, Clyde Woodworth Elementary School, 3200 West 104th Street, Inglewood. A block east is the north-south cruising strip of Crenshaw Avenue, the setting for the piddling slight that soon escalates into tragedy.
The rather bland-looking ‘Westside’ restaurant, where Furious Styles and Reva Deveraux (Angela Bassett) have a heart-to-heart, was Coley’s Kitchen Jamaican Restaurant at 4335 Crenshaw Boulevard, a much more colourful Jamaican restaurant. It’s now Dr Q Barbecue Cuisine.
