Clueless

Clueless is a 1995 American teen comedy written and directed by Amy Heckerling, loosely based on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma. Alicia Silverstone stars as Cher Horowitz, a wealthy Beverly Hills teenager who spends much of her time shopping, negotiating better grades and attempting to improve the romantic lives of her friends and teachers. When she decides to give new student Tai Frasier (Brittany Murphy) a complete makeover, her matchmaking efforts become increasingly complicated, particularly when she begins to recognise her own feelings for her former stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd). The film also stars Stacey Dash as Dionne Davenport, Donald Faison as Murray Duvall, Jeremy Sisto as Elton, Wallace Shawn as Mr Hall and Twink Caplan as Miss Geist.

Clueless (1995) was filmed across Los Angeles County, California, including Beverly Hills, Eagle Rock, Encino, Granada Hills, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Burbank and Long Beach. Principal photography began on 21 November 1994 and continued into February 1995, with the production using private homes, colleges, shopping centres, restaurants and streets throughout Southern California. Occidental College provided most of the exterior locations for the fictional Bronson Alcott High School, while Ulysses S. Grant High School was used for several interiors. Other important locations included the Westside Pavilion, Fashion Square, Circus Liquor, Rodeo Drive and the historic Spadena House. Although the story takes place largely in Beverly Hills, many of the most recognisable buildings were actually located in the San Fernando Valley.

Cher Horowitz’s family mansion was filmed at 5148 Louise Avenue in Encino, a residential neighbourhood in the San Fernando Valley. Built in 1993, the large Mediterranean-style property features an imposing columned entrance, extensive living areas, a sweeping staircase and landscaped grounds with a swimming pool. In the film, Cher lives here with her wealthy lawyer father Mel (Dan Hedaya), while Josh frequently visits the household. The property appears throughout the story, beginning with Cher selecting her clothes using a computerised wardrobe system before leaving for school. The house is also the setting for her attempts to seduce Christian (Justin Walker), the fashionable new student she mistakenly believes is romantically interested in her. Their evening together includes watching Spartacus (1960) in the living room, although Christian remains completely oblivious to her advances.

The mansion returns during the development of Cher’s relationship with Josh. Several scenes take place in the kitchen, dining room and living areas, where their arguments and conversations gradually reveal how much they care about one another. Near the end of the film, they finally kiss beside the grand staircase. The gardens and swimming pool also provide the setting for the wedding of Mr Hall and Miss Geist, whose relationship Cher helped arrange earlier in the story. Despite its fictional Beverly Hills address, the real property is situated several miles northwest of the city, behind a gated entrance that makes much of the house difficult to see from the street.

Dionne Davenport’s home was filmed at 705 North Sierra Drive in Beverly Hills. Unlike Cher’s mansion, the property really is located in the wealthy residential district where the characters supposedly live. The large Tudor-style residence appears near the beginning of the film, when Cher arrives in her white Jeep Wrangler to collect Dionne for school. Dionne emerges from the house wearing an elaborate hat, and the two friends begin discussing their relationships before driving away. The property was originally built in 1930 and underwent substantial renovation after being sold in 2008, including changes to its entrance, gates and landscaping. Its appearance today differs considerably from the brief exterior shot seen in the film.

The journey to school includes several residential streets around Beverly Hills. One identifiable location is the intersection of Elevado Avenue and North Hillcrest Road, where Cher’s questionable driving skills are demonstrated as she approaches a stop sign. Additional footage was filmed around North Bedford Drive, where her white Jeep passes through the neighbourhood. These streets provide the setting for the opening scenes in which Cher and Dionne travel through Beverly Hills, establishing the residential surroundings of their supposedly privileged everyday lives.

The fictional Bronson Alcott High School was largely created at Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road in Eagle Rock. Founded in 1887, the private liberal arts college occupies an extensive campus with Spanish Colonial Revival buildings, landscaped courtyards and covered walkways. The production filmed there between 20 December 1994 and 6 January 1995, taking advantage of the winter holiday break when regular classes were not in session. Numerous parts of the campus appear throughout the film, beginning with the entrance near Johnson Student Center, where students arrive for school and move between classes. The central quadrangle provides the setting for several conversations involving Cher, Dionne and their classmates, including the moment when Cher dismisses an unwanted admirer with her famous expression, “As if!”

The college’s McKinnon Family Tennis Center appears when Tai first arrives at Bronson Alcott and is introduced to Cher and Dionne. The girls are attending a physical education lesson, but Cher finds ways to avoid participating while assessing the new student’s appearance and social prospects. The nearby lawns and courtyards become the setting for Tai’s introduction to the school’s different social groups. Cher points out where the popular students gather and identifies the less fashionable teenagers, including Travis Birkenstock (Breckin Meyer) and his friends. The area around Samuelson Campus Pavilion provided the grassy spot where Travis and the other students spend their free time.

Several other Occidental buildings were used for scenes involving Cher’s efforts to improve the lives of those around her. The walkway behind the Booth Music and Speech Center appears as she observes the lonely Mr Hall, while an area outside Johnson Hall is used when she gives him a cup of coffee supposedly prepared by her father. Cher hopes that the gesture will encourage him to approach Miss Geist, with whom she is attempting to arrange a romance. Their eventual first kiss was filmed in the college’s admission and visitor parking area, between Newcomb Hall and Collins House. The courtyard beside the Booth Music and Speech Center also appears during Tai’s makeover, when Cher photographs her beside a fountain while comparing her appearance to a figure from a Botticelli painting.

The Arthur G. Coons Administrative Center provided another location for Tai’s transformation. Its interior was used as an art museum during a montage in which Cher and Dionne introduce their friend to a more sophisticated lifestyle. The college’s Weingart Center for the Liberal Arts became the exterior of the university residence where Josh’s girlfriend Heather (Susan Mohun) lives. Cher visits the building after the disastrous party in the San Fernando Valley and attempts to explain her problems to Heather, who is more interested in discussing her own academic concerns. Occidental also supplied the location for the Pismo Beach disaster relief collection, where Cher finally begins taking a genuine interest in helping others. The production used the area around Johnson Student Center, with students contributing food and household goods to a collection organised for people affected by the fictional disaster.

Although Occidental College appears extensively, the production used Ulysses S. Grant High School at 13000 Oxnard Street in Valley Glen for several of Bronson Alcott’s interiors. The school provided the recognisable corridor with orange lockers and orange-and-white floor tiles, where Cher and her classmates gather between lessons. Classrooms were also filmed at Grant, including scenes involving the teachers’ attempts to control their students. The existing school buildings were combined with the outdoor architecture of Occidental to create a single fictional campus, even though the two institutions are separated by approximately fifteen miles.

Shopping plays a prominent role in Cher’s life, and the film combines two different shopping centres to represent her favourite mall. The exterior was filmed at the Westside Pavilion, 10800 West Pico Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Opened in 1985, the large enclosed shopping centre appears in an establishing shot when Cher and Dionne decide to go shopping after receiving disappointing grades. Cher considers the mall a place where she can escape her problems, and the shopping sequence moves inside what appears to be the same building. However, these interiors were actually filmed at Fashion Square, 14006 Riverside Drive in Sherman Oaks. The Westside Pavilion closed as a conventional shopping mall in 2019 and was subsequently redeveloped for other commercial uses.

Fashion Square supplied the escalators, upper-level walkways and shopfronts seen in the later shopping sequences. One of the most memorable takes place when Cher and Christian are looking for a leather jacket and discover a group of teenagers holding Tai over an upper-floor railing. After being rescued, Tai exaggerates the incident into a dramatic near-death experience, attracting the attention and sympathy of their classmates. The sequence was filmed beside an escalator in the eastern section of the shopping centre, with the confrontation taking place across from the escalator on the upper level. The same mall also provided the former Contempo Casuals clothing store where Cher and Dionne shop. The store’s narrow interior and distinctive glass frontage were incorporated into the film, and its former position within Fashion Square has been identified through comparisons with the original storefront.

Another identifiable business was the former Crocodile Café at 201 North San Fernando Boulevard in Downtown Burbank. The restaurant appears briefly during the opening montage and returns when Cher and Dionne take Tai out for lunch after she discovers that Elton is not romantically interested in her. During the meal, Cher attempts to console Tai while the girls discuss relationships and the difficulties of attracting the right person. The restaurant’s booths, entrance and colourful interior decorations appear throughout the conversation. Crocodile Café had opened at the Burbank location in July 1994, only a few months before the film was shot. It subsequently closed, and the property became a branch of Kabuki Japanese Restaurant, which retained elements of the original dining-room layout.

The party where Tai becomes more involved with Cher’s social circle was filmed at 16401 Knollwood Drive in Granada Hills, deep in the San Fernando Valley. The private residence provided the setting for a gathering attended by Cher, Dionne, Murray, Tai, Elton and numerous other students. The party includes the game of “kiss and blow”, during which Elton makes advances towards Cher, and an incident in which Murray shaves his head, much to Dionne’s annoyance. Tai also suffers a minor head injury after being struck by a shoe, prompting Elton to help her recover. The production used the actual house, including its kitchen, bathroom, living areas and backyard swimming pool. The owners later recalled that filming the party sequence occupied approximately two weeks. The original residence was subsequently demolished and replaced by another building.

After the party, Elton offers to drive Cher home, but their evening becomes uncomfortable when he reveals that he is interested in her rather than Tai. Cher rejects his advances, and Elton angrily abandons her in an unfamiliar part of the San Fernando Valley. The following scene was filmed outside Circus Liquor at 5600 Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood. The liquor store is immediately recognisable by the enormous illuminated clown sign standing above its parking lot. Cher, wearing an expensive red Alaïa dress, attempts to telephone for help before being confronted by an armed robber who orders her to lie on the ground. She protests because of the designer dress, but eventually surrenders her handbag and telephone. The location contrasts with the comfortable neighbourhoods and fashionable shopping areas seen earlier in the film, placing Cher in surroundings she finds frightening and unfamiliar.

Circus Liquor was established in the late 1950s and has remained a recognisable North Hollywood landmark, largely because of its unusual clown sign. The film uses both the actual parking area and the illuminated roadside structure, which dominates the background during Cher’s encounter with the robber. Following the mugging, she calls Josh for help, and he drives out to collect her. The sequence became one of the film’s most recognisable location scenes and is particularly associated with Cher’s exaggerated concern for her expensive clothes even while facing a dangerous situation.

Another party was filmed at The Geffen Contemporary at the Museum of Contemporary Art, 152 North Central Avenue in Little Tokyo, Downtown Los Angeles. Originally constructed as a municipal police garage, the large industrial building was converted into an exhibition space by architect Frank Gehry in the early 1980s. The production used the interior for the party featuring a live performance by the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Cher attends with her friends and dances while the band performs, with the large open space accommodating the audience, stage and surrounding party activities. The building’s industrial architecture creates a markedly different setting from the private homes and elegant shopping centres seen elsewhere in the film.

One of the film’s most memorable driving sequences was filmed on West Shoreline Drive in Long Beach. Dionne, who is still learning to drive, accidentally enters what appears to be the busy Interstate 405 freeway while accompanied by Cher and Murray. The three panic as vehicles surround them, and Murray desperately attempts to direct Dionne out of the path of an approaching truck. Although the scene is presented as a dangerous Los Angeles freeway, the production actually used Shoreline Drive, a divided road running along the Long Beach waterfront. The wide carriageway, exit ramps and surrounding structures allowed the location to resemble a major motorway without requiring the closure of an operating interstate. The particular stretch used for the sequence runs beneath Queens Way, near the Hyatt Regency Long Beach.

The Long Beach waterfront also supplied the location for Travis Birkenstock’s skateboarding competition. The event was filmed at Marina Green Park, beside Shoreline Village and the Rainbow Harbor waterfront. Tai attends the competition with Cher and begins recognising that Travis is someone she genuinely enjoys spending time with, despite his lack of social status at school. The scene features skateboarders performing tricks in an outdoor setting, with the park and adjoining waterfront visible. The area around Shoreline Village provided additional backgrounds, including its pedestrian walkways and recreational spaces.

Towards the end of the film, Cher experiences a crisis after failing her driving test and arguing with Tai, who has developed feelings for Josh. She attempts to clear her thoughts by walking through Beverly Hills, with the sequence beginning along Rodeo Drive. The famous shopping street, known for its international fashion boutiques, provides the setting for Cher’s solitary walk past expensive shop windows. She eventually descends the broad staircase at Two Rodeo, also known as Via Rodeo, a European-style shopping complex near the intersection of Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard. The surrounding buildings, ornamental railings and stone steps appear as she begins reconsidering her friendships and her own behaviour. The Beverly Wilshire Hotel at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard is also visible around the southern end of Rodeo Drive.

The walk continues past Spadena House at 516 North Walden Drive, a distinctive storybook-style residence better known as the Witch’s House. Designed by Harry Oliver and originally built in 1921 for Willat Studios in Culver City, the unusual property was moved to Beverly Hills in 1934. Its steep, irregular roof, small windows, crooked chimney and exaggerated cottage architecture make it quite unlike the large modern mansions associated with Cher’s neighbourhood. The house appears as Cher walks along Walden Drive, still attempting to understand why Tai’s interest in Josh has affected her so deeply. The property remains a private residence and retains much of the unusual exterior appearance visible in the film.

Cher’s moment of realisation takes place beside the Electric Fountain in Beverly Gardens Park, at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard. The fountain was installed in 1931 and features a large illuminated basin with a central sculpture created by Robert Merrell Gage. Standing beside the water, Cher finally understands that her feelings for Josh are romantic rather than simply those of a friend or former stepsister. The fountain’s distinctive architecture and water jets appear behind her as she reaches this conclusion. It is one of the film’s most recognisable Beverly Hills locations, bringing Cher’s personal transformation back to a real landmark in the neighbourhood where the story began.

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