The Lost World: Jurassic Park | 1997
- Locations |
- Los Angeles, California; Hawaii
- DIRECTOR |
- Steven Spielberg
Discover where The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) was filmed on the island of Kauai, Hawaii; around the forests of Northern California; and in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, including Pasadena, Burbank, Granada Hills and San Pedro.
Funny, nobody in Jurassic Park mentioned ‘Isla Sorna’ – Site B.
And, if the T-Rex heading to San Diego was held below deck, what ran rampage on the ship and shredded the crew? Plot holes apart, the sequel to Steven Spielberg’s summer blockbuster is a hugely enjoyable ride.
The mansion of John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), where Dr Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) has his arm twisted to travel out to the previously unmentioned Isla Sorna, is actually a Catholic girls’school in Pasadena, Mayfield Senior School, 500 Bellefontaine Street (seen also in Devil in a Blue Dress, with Denzel Washington, the Steve Martin noir-pastiche Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid and the Eddie Murphy remake of The Nutty Professor).
Site B again used Jurassic Park’s main location on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, for scene setting. The beach, where the unfortunate family decide to hold a picnic, is Kipu Kai Beach, on Kauai’s south shore (accessible only by boat).
Much of the island's forest, though, was filmed on mainland USA, in northern California north of Eureka.
The basecamp, the cliffs and the InGen round-up were filmed in the 640-acre Patrick’s Point State Park, 4150 Patrick's Point Drive, on Highway 101 about six miles north of Trinidad. The overlook, from which the dino-chase is observed, is Ceremonial Rock, overlooking the clearing in the northern part of the park's loop road, west of Agate Beach. The rocky cliffs are Wedding Rock, yes, a popular place to celebrate nuptials: "Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming."
And a few miles further north on the 101 at Fern Canyon, near Gold Bluffs Beach in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, 127011 Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway, Orick. It's here that the heard of Stegosaurus is seen and where nasty Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare) is munched by a flock of tiny Compsognathus.
Transported back to mainland USA by ship, the T-Rex supposedly wreaks havoc on landing at ‘San Diego’, supposedly in the city’s Gaslamp district. But once again, there’s a bit of sleight of hand. San Diego only features in a bit of Second Unit aerial footage to establish the locale.
For convenience, Los Angeles stands in. The ‘InGen’ dock where the T-Rex boat crashes ashore is San Pedro Harbor, to the south of the city.
Most of the filming was much closer to the studios in the San Fernando Valley.
The house where T-Rex takes a drink from the swimming pool and snacks on a dog is 17917 Mayerling Street, part of the Greyhawk Ranch development, northwest of Granada Hills, a Valley suburb of Los Angeles.
In the heart of Granada Hills is the gas station where the trademark ‘76’ ball rolls down the street. It’s the 76 Filling Station, Balboa Boulevard at the corner of Rinaldi Street. It's been slightly remodelled over the years but is still recognisable and, yes, the giant ball is still in place.
Meanwhile, fake street signs turn familiar Burbank, at Golden Mall on San Fernando Boulevard between Palm Grove and Orange Grove, into ‘San Diego’, where the T-Rex rampages through traffic and screaming crowds.
The Starbucks coffee shop is at 300 San Fernando Boulevard. The bookshop where the screenwriter David Koepp, in a cameo as ‘Unlucky Bastard’ gets chomped by Rex, is Crown Books, 301 San Fernando Boulevard.