In the footsteps of the Blade Runner

People seems to come to Los Angeles looking for beaches, palm trees and Botox. But not me. I’m chasing ghosts, cinematic ones with trench coats, neon glows and a synth-heavy Vangelis score.

“Los Angeles, November, 2019”. That is the opening line for the classic movie Blade Runner from 1982. Well, this is Los Angeles 2012, and I guess that replicants and flying cars are simply not going to happen within seven years. Some simple movie locations will have to do, and like any half-sane fan with a penchant for rain-soaked alleyways and existential dread, I went looking for them.

Bradbury Building.

I arrive at Bradbury Building, the 1893 building in downtown Los Angeles where the epic finale of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece was partially filmed. The iron railings are easily recognized even though the building was completely renovated in the 1990, and the stairs are spiraling upward like Escher’s fever dreams.

The interior of Sebastian’s apartment was a set built in Sound Stage 25 at Warner Bros, but I still insist on exploring the building by using the old open-cage elevators. The security guard is not amused at all.

The elaborate elevators are still working.

Apart from the Bradbury Building, there are other Blade Runner related locations nearby. I exit the Bradbury by the entrance used by Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), which today become a Subway restaurant. Just across the street is the Million Dollar Theater, which can also be seen in the movie. Unfortunately the big pillars were only part of the movie set, but it’s still fun to see the neon sign of the theater. A few blocks to the north is the Second Street Tunnel, where Deckard can be seen driving home.

Across the street I gaze up at the Pan-Am Building, which was used as the “Yukon Hotel” in the movie. It was also featured in Constantine (2005), where it was the apartment of John Constantine (Keanu Reeves). A glimpse of the exterior of the Bradbury can be seen from Constantine’s window in the movie. For another reference, the building was also the house where the comatose “sloth” victim was found in Seven (1995).

Waiting hall at Union Station.

A long walk to the east is the Union Station, the grand dame of transit teeming with constant departures and delayed dreams. The waiting hall was once dressed as the police station in Blade Runner, with the office of Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh). I roam the halls, listening for any Voight-Kampff machine warming up, but all I see are sleepy commuters, Starbucks in hand, staring blankly into phones.

Even further away is the Ennis House at 2607 Glendower Avenue, located on the slopes below the Griffith Park Observatory. This concrete Mayan temple-style home by Frank Lloyd Wright was used as Deckard’s apartment block in Blade Runner, and can also be seen as the home of mob chief in Black Rain (1989).

Los Angeles may not be a place for everyone, with its endless freeways and a culture obsessed with looks, but if you dare to venture off the beaten path, there are things that will glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate.