Pulp Fiction (1994) is an American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, based on stories by Tarantino and Roger Avary. Rather than following a conventional chronological plot, the film weaves together several interconnected stories involving hitmen Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, boxer Butch Coolidge, crime boss Marsellus Wallace and his wife Mia, along with an assortment of drug dealers, petty criminals and other figures moving through the Los Angeles underworld. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames lead an ensemble cast whose characters repeatedly cross paths in unexpected ways. The film’s mixture of violent crime, mundane conversation, black humour and pop-culture references helped make it one of the defining American films of the 1990s. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, while its fractured structure, soundtrack and highly quotable dialogue had an enormous influence on independent and mainstream filmmaking that followed.
Pulp Fiction (1994) was filmed throughout Los Angeles County, making unusually effective use of ordinary diners, apartment buildings, suburban houses and commercial streets rather than the city’s more glamorous landmarks. The opening and closing restaurant scenes were filmed inside the Hawthorne Grill at 13763 South Hawthorne Boulevard in Hawthorne, a classic roadside diner that has since been demolished. Jack Rabbit Slim’s, where Vincent and Mia eat dinner and take part in the twist contest, was assembled from two very different locations: the exterior was the former Grand Central Bowl at 1435 Flower Street in Glendale, while the elaborate 1950s-themed interior was a purpose-built set. Lance and Jody’s chaotic home, where Vincent desperately tries to revive Mia after her overdose, is the house at 3519 La Clede Avenue in Atwater Village. Butch’s apartment was filmed around 11813 Runnymede Street in North Hollywood, while his unforgettable chance encounter with Marsellus Wallace takes place at the intersection of Fletcher Drive and Atwater Avenue. After their fight spills into Maynard’s shop, Crown Pawn at 20933 Roscoe Boulevard in Canoga Park becomes the exterior and main-floor interior of the fictional Mason-Dixon Pawnshop, with the basement material created separately. Pasadena’s historic Raymond Theatre provides the exterior of the boxing venue where Butch is supposed to throw his fight, while A & R Auto Dismantlers on Branford Street in Sun Valley becomes Monster Joe’s junkyard during the aftermath of the Bonnie Situation. Jimmie’s suburban house was filmed on Kraft Avenue in Studio City. Together, these locations give Pulp Fiction a very particular Los Angeles geography: not Hollywood Boulevard and luxury mansions, but coffee shops, pawn shops, modest homes, industrial yards and anonymous intersections where extraordinary violence can suddenly erupt in otherwise completely ordinary surroundings.
Crown Pawn Shop
Crown Pawn Shop appears in Pulp Fiction (1994). The location is used as Maynard’s pawn shop, where Butch Coolidge and Marsellus Wallace are captured.
Foster’s Freeze Atwater Village
Foster’s Freeze in Atwater Village, Los Angeles, has appeared in both "Pulp Fiction" (1994) and "GLOW" (2017–2019).