Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) white wood frame house, and the brown
wood & brick Craftsman house next door, are real homes, actually located
in the Echo Park section of L.A., just northwest of downtown, at
718, 720 and 722 E. Kensington Road. The dilapidated white garage in
between isn't really there - it seems to have been a temporary creation
for the movie. Remember, this is a private home, so
don't disturb the residents.
(The house is just one street east of the Victorian home
seen in the TV series "Charmed.")
![](TorettosHouse.jpg)
Toretto’s market & diner is nearby - it's located
just a few hundred yards south of Toretto's white house in Echo Park.
In the film, Toretto's is owned by
Vin Diesel and his sister; it's where they first meet Paul Walker when
he’s ordering a tuna sandwich - and it's where a fight breaks out
between Vince and Paul.
![](TorettosGrocery.jpg)
In real life, Toretto's is
actually "Bob's Market". It's a simple mom & pop market located on the
west side of a small triangle of streets, at the corner of
Kensington Road & Bellevue Ave, at 1234 Bellevue Avenue. *
"The Racer’s Edge", the auto parts store with the
race car on the roof (where Paul Walker works in the film), is located
in Hollywood on Orange Drive, at the southeast corner of of Santa Monica
Blvd and Orange Drive, north of Melrose Ave. While the building's
address actually faces Santa Monica Blvd., the filmmakers shot the
west side of the building, which faces Orange Drive.
![](RacersEdge.jpg)
The race car is no longer on
the roof, of course, and the signs are down, so it's now a rather
plain-looking warehouse-style building. It is immediately north of a
brick building (which is also seen in the film) - the address of that
brick building is 1046 N. Orange Drive.
![](LittleSaigonStatues1.jpg)
The Asian motorcycle gang scenes
were shot in an area of Orange County known as "Little Saigon" (because
of the many Vietnamese immigrants there), in the city of Westminster,
CA.
The scenes set in a
temple-like area with many white marble statues were filmed at the
Vietnamese Cultural Court, located behind the 99 Ranch Market, at
9221 Bolsa Avenue, in Westminster - across the street from the Asian
Garden mall. (The homes seen behind the statues in these photos were
built there after the movie was filmed.)
![](LittleSaigonStatues2.jpg)
The large Asian archway they drive
under in Little Saigon is not in exactly the same place as the
marble statues (although the movie would lead you to believe it was) -
it's a few blocks down the road to the east, at 9631 Bolsa Ave, in
Westminster, on the south side of the street. It had already
started to be repainted when this photo was taken.
![](LittleSaigonGate.jpg)
The movie starts out with a scene of Brian Spilner
(Paul Walker) testing out his green Eclipse race car in the empty
parking lot of Dodger Stadium, which is located just northwest of
downtown Los Angeles, at 1000 Elysian Park Ave.
The first big car rally & street
scene, where Paul Walker challenges Vin Diesel to a race and loses his
car, is staged as a party between two giant warehouses. This was
actually shot at the L.A. Produce Market, which is at 761 Terminal
Street in downtown L.A., or more generally, around "7th Street, from
Terminal Street to Alameda Street." *
But the race
itself (where Paul loses his car) was held on Prairie Avenue in the city
of Hawthorne, a good 15miles southwest of the Produce Market. The street
runs north and south, past the western edge of the Hawthorne Airport.
They were racing north on Prairie, starting at Prairie and 120th Street,
and finishing at Prairie and 118th Street (just south of the 105
Freeway). .
When Vin Diesel's sister Mia
(Jordana Brewster) goes out on a date with Paul Walker (in part, to
spite Vince), they go to a restaurant called "Cha Cha Cha".
![](ChaChaCha.jpg)
Cha Cha Cha is an actual
L.A. restaurant (and a quite popular one), serving Caribbean food in a
colourful atmosphere. It's located at 656 N. Virgil Avenue, in a
questionable neighbourhood at the east end of Melrose Ave., in the
Silverlake area of L.A. *
Another real restaurant (but about
45 miles away from the Cha Cha Cha) is Neptune’s Net. It’s the ocean
view, outdoor beach cafe where Vin Diesel and Paul Walker stop (after
they have outraced the obnoxious rich guy in his Ferrari on PCH) and
where Paul tries to get Diesel to disclose how he secretly makes the big
bucks. Neptune’s Net is located at 42505 Pacific Coast Highway in a
somewhat remote section of Malibu, about 10 miles west of Point Dume.
The final race with a train takes place down by the
Los Angeles harbour in San Pedro, or to be exact, across the Vincent
Thomas Bridge on Terminal Island. The moment of near-impact takes place
on the railroad tracks at Terminal Way & Earle Street (the tracks run
parallel to Earle Street and cross Terminal Way).
![](FastAndFurious-Train.jpg)
The train is heading north on
these tracks. The two cars are heading east on Terminal Way, starting
around Cannery Street and racing east past the railroad tracks at Earle
Street. Paul Walker and Vin Diesel wind up (after the truck accident)
out of their cars on the east end of Terminal Way, near Ferry Street,
where you can see the large pipe which (in real life) transports coal
and coke to waiting ships.
You can also catch a glimpse
of the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the background during the race. This
towering green bridge links mainland San Pedro with Terminal Island; it
has been seen in other movies, including "Charlie's Angels" and "To Live
& Die in L.A."
![](VincentThomasBridge.jpg)
After the Asian gang members
attack Vin Diesel’s house with machine guns (almost killing Jesse) and
speed off on motorcycles, Paul Walker chases them in his car, up and
down the hilly streets, exchanging gunfire. The very steep hill they
come racing down is Micheltorena Street, between Sunset Blvd and Lucille
Ave., in the Silverlake/Echo Park area.
The leader of the Asian
gang, Rick Yune, is shot from his bike and killed by Paul Walker in a
scene shot on Glendale Blvd., between Alvarado Street (on the north) &
Park Ave (on the south), just north of the actual Echo Park. It's just a
few blocks northwest of Vin Diesel's home in the film. *
The first (successful) truck hijacking at the beginning of the movie
takes place on the border of Wilmington and Long Beach, a rough,
deserted area down by the docks. The boundaries of the shooting area are
Henry Ford Avenue, Alameda Street, Pacific Coast Highway and the
Terminal Island (103) Freeway. (You can see the Texaco refinery in
the background.) *
The final truck vs. man
scene, a disastrous failure, has Vin Diesel and his cohorts trying to
hijack another truck but being surprised when when the truck driver
opens fire with a shotgun; Vince gets lashed to the truck’s side and
needs to be rescued. That truck scene was shot way out in the hills of
Hemet, California, a remote part of the world located about 90 miles
southeast of Los Angeles.
The huge desert "Race Wars"
rally was held out at the San Bernardino International Airport (which
the director says is mostly used by the fire department today. He also
says it was 120 degrees that day). It’s located at E. 3rd Street & Del
Rosa Drive, in San Bernardino, which is about
60 miles east of Los Angeles.
The spot where Paul Walker gets
"arrested" by the police (the scene where it’s first revealed that he’s
really an undercover cop), is west of downtown, just past the corner of
7th St. & Valencia St., which is east of MacArthur Park and south of
Wilshire Blvd. *
Unfortunatly, I don't have an address for the house, which Tanner uses
for an undercover crib.
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