The Karate Kid - Then and Now

(more to come)

---------------------

The Valley as Seen in The Karate Kid — Then and Now

(by Jared Cowan laweekly.com 6-16-14)

The Karate Kid shot for 45 days in the fall of 1983 in Los Angeles, primarily on location in the San Fernando Valley. It was the perfect setting for a suburban-based film dealing with the class divide. The 1980s Valley receives a rich and detailed portrayal in the film, and it successfully conveys a strong sense of place. Referring to the locations, William Zabka, who played villain Johnny Lawrence in the film, says, "When you get on a set, all that you did in rehearsal, and all that you do to prep, takes on a new life because that location is almost a character itself and it adds to the energy of the scene, and you feed off that."

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of The Karate Kid, we visited the original L.A. filming locations to see how they look in 2014.

Special thanks to The Karate Kid's executive producer, R.J. Louis, and location manager Richard Davis Jr., as well as Chas Demster of ItsFilmedThere.com and Nick Alaway of Fast-Rewind.com, for providing information and addresses for The Karate Kid filming locations.

http://www.laweekly.com/slideshow/the-valley-as-seen-in-the-karate-kid-then-and-now-4790827

South Seas apartments

Daniel LaRusso's apartment building, the South Seas at 19223 Saticoy St. in Reseda. After driving around the Valley for a couple of days, director John G. Avildsen and location manager Richard Davis Jr. found the perfect building for Daniel and his mom. "It was the exterior feel [Avildsen] was after; sort of the bleakness," Davis says.

"The owner of the building couldn’t believe we actually wanted to make a movie there," Davis says of the South Seas.

The half-full pool of green water is an image many of the cast members and filmmakers recalled about the South Seas.

"I wanted a pool in the center so I could have dirty water in it and half full with the same swan that I used in Save the Tiger," Avildsen says, referring to his 1973 film starring Jack Lemmon, which also featured a pool with an inflatable swan.

Only a few scenes in the film were done on a soundstage, the interior apartment scenes included.

The apartment set was made to look like the real unit, pictured here.

Daniel goes to find the maintenance man's workshop.

This carport at the South Seas was transformed into Miyagi's workshop.

The South Seas apartment building near the corner of Saticoy Street and Tampa Avenue in Reseda.

Beach party

The south side of Leo Carrillo Beach in Malibu was used for all of the beach party scenes in The Karate Kid. This is where Daniel first meets love interest Ali, played by Elisabeth Shue.

 

Not only was this scene at Leo Carrillo Beach William Zabka’s first appearance in The Karate Kid (he played Daniel's nemesis, Johnny) but it also was the first scene he shot for the film, and was the first time he appeared on screen in either a movie or TV show.

The Cobra Kai make their entrance in the film at the top of this hill next to lifeguard tower No. 2.

 
The Cobra Kai pull up on the south side of Leo Carrillo Beach.

"No mercy, man." Elisabeth Shue recalls filming the night scene at Leo Carrillo Beach where Johnny breaks Ali’s radio. "I do remember hitting [Zabka] really hard," she says of the beach confrontation. "I felt like it was all real because I was so new to it ... the way [the Cobra Kai] treated [Daniel] really made me angry, personally, all the time."

West Valley High School

It’s a cruel, cruel, cruel summer." Daniel rounds the corner on his first day of school in the Valley.

In that first day of school scene, Daniel rounded the corner at Capistrano Avenue and Philiprimm Street in Woodland Hills on his Mongoose 24 BMX bike. Mongoose bikes were first manufactured in Chatsworth.

Charles Evans Hughes Junior High School, located at 5607 Capistrano Ave. in Woodland Hills, was used for Daniel's school. It was built in the early '60s and it closed in the early '80s before filming of The Karate Kid. The school also was used in Carl Reiner’s 1987 film Summer School.

Daniel and Ali in the courtyard at Charles Evans Hughes Junior High School.

The main courtyard at Charles Evans Hughes Junior High School.

Cobra Kai dojo and Oriental Express restaurant

Miyagi and Daniel outside of the Cobra Kai dojo on Lankershim Boulevard.

The exterior of what was the Cobra Kai dojo, located at 5223 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood. The building is now a workout gym called Body Theory.

Today, the main difference in the dojo space is that the room by the front door, which was Sensei Kreese's office, is no longer there. Kove has the original cardboard cutout of Kreese, which stood by the office.Kreese was based on a couple of karate instructors writer Robert Mark Kamen knew. "My first karate teacher was very much like John Kreese. He was a Marine ... tough as nails." The second teacher Kamen almost worked with would tell his students to break people’s noses. "He thought that in combat only one person should be left standing and the other person should be hurt," Kamen says of this instructor.

Lucille LaRusso, played by Randee Heller, and Daniel at the Orient Express on Wilshire Boulevard.

This space at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Cloverdale Avenue was used as the Orient Express restaurant where Daniel talks to his mother about Ali.

"There’s an interesting juxtaposition," location manager Davis says. "[His mom's] restaurant was supposed to have a view of [the dojo]." In reality there was a restaurant across the street from the dojo in North Hollywood, but the restaurant didn’t have a view of the dojo. Production ended up shooting in a restaurant on Wilshire Boulevard and re-creating the exterior of the dojo on the next corner.

The exterior of what was the Orient Express restaurant in the film.