It has taken over two years, but I have finally visited the other film location sites on my bucket list for “Mulholland Drive” (2001), David Lynch’s masterpiece. This post (a follow-up to the one from January 2023) also acts as a tribute to Lynch who passed away on January 16 of this year. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that Winkie’s Diner on Sunset Boulevard plays a pivotal part in numerous scenes. In actuality, the restaurant used was called Caesar’s, on El Segundo Boulevard in Gardena. It closed roughly eight years ago.
Below are Naomi Watts and Laura Harring in a scene filmed outside the restaurant, which is now boarded up.
Another screenshot from the movie showing the steps that the police officers approach as they are looking for the creepy character from one of the detective’s dream.
The steps are still there, but a homeless person and all their possessions were blocking the way. If you’ve seen the movie, you would understand why I took that as a sign to turn around and leave.
An interior shot of the restaurant from the movie with Harring and Watts:
How the interior looks today:
The frame below shows the Paramount Studio gate, as Watts’ character approaches for her screen test:
How the gate looked when I was there in 2019:
Eagle-eyed film buffs will note that the classic car just inside the gate…
is the same one that Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) owned when she drove through the gates in the 1950 classic, “Sunset Boulevard.”
The biggie on my checklist was the vintage complex called the Sierra Bonita Apartments in the film:
How the storybook cottage looks today:
The front of the complex, which has been dubbed the Snow White Cottages, were built in 1931, just around the corner from the original Walt Disney Studio in Los Feliz (torn down, of course).
In the film, Harring and Watts’ characters approach this directory:
Since the complex is a real apartment building, I was a bit hesitant to nose around too much. Not sure if this is the “tunnel” that was used and the sign was added as a bit of movie magic or what.
Love that weather vane, so typical of this style of architecture.
The directory was created for the movie, and done very well, as the style makes it look as if it had been there originally.
Watts and Harring’s characters are looking for the apartment of the mysterious Diane Selwyn, #17. She is on the directory as #12, but her ex-roommate lets the two know that she moved.
How #17 looks today:
I prefer the style of numbering used in the film! Note how the exposed brick near the entrance matches the screenshot:
I may go back at some point to attempt a few more exact matches of screenshots from the movie, but for now, this will suffice.
If you’ve never seen “Mulholland Drive,” you should. It’s the kind of film that will leave you baffled after the first viewing, but entice you to watch it again…and again. Lynch has left the interpretation up to the viewer, and even then, what is a dream and what is reality is hard to tell.
See more Hollywood Movie Locations photos at my main website.
