clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
Buena Vista Pictures

The Ultimate Pretty Woman Location Map of Los Angeles

View as Map

Los Angeles was a very different place back in 1990. Hollywood was seedy. Beverly Hills was desirable. Over-the-knee boots and sideless tops were considered horrifyingly trashy. That's the place Pretty Woman showed audiences when it was released 25 years ago today—the tonally odd romantic comedy tells the story of a very nice sex worker named Vivian (Julia Roberts), who is forced to spend a week providing social cover for a soulless corporate raider named Edward (Richard Gere), all the while being condescended to and humiliated by snooty shopgirls and George Costanza.

In JF Lawton's original script, which was called $3,000 for the amount of money Edward pays Vivian to spend the week with him, Edward literally drags Vivian out of his car onto Hollywood Boulevard, then drives away as she picks her money out of the gutter. While the finished movie—directed by Happy Days creator Garry Marshall—makes offhand allusions to murdered prostitutes, abusive boyfriends, and controlling pimps, it's overall just a heartwarming fairytale of a woman so charming —she's Julia Roberts—that she can make a man completely forget that the whole reason he hired a sex worker in the first place is that he's too selfish for an actual girlfriend. Awwww.

Pretty Woman was twisted and molded from the original into the classic Los Angeles fantasy, where a gal from Georgia can get off the bus in Hollywood and end up in Beverly Hills, who cares the exact route she took to get there (Melrose Avenue, weirdly)—in the last lines of the movie, some random dude walks down the street muttering: "This is Hollywood. Always time to dream, so keep on dreamin'." Here, mapped on this anniversary, are the Los Angeles places of Pretty Woman:

Read More

Edward's party

Copy Link

Edward gets both welcomed to Los Angeles and dumped as Pretty Woman opens at a mansion in Bel Air.

Alleyway

Copy Link

In one of the few realistically depressing moments in Pretty Woman, a prostitute is found dead in an alley, which is played by the lobby of Hollywood's 1927 Outpost Building, as brilliantly spotted by I Am Not a Stalker.

Blue Banana Club

Copy Link

Vivian and Kit hang out in this club adjacent to the Egyptian Theater, right across from the Outpost Building on Hollywood Boulevard.

"Sylvester Stallone’s house"

Copy Link

A homeless man assures Edward he's in Beverly Hills: "That's Sylvester Stallone's house right there!"

Vivian and Kit's turf

Copy Link

Vivian and Kit, they work Bob Hope, they work the Ritz Brothers, they work Fred Astaire, they work all the way down to Ella Fitzgerald. This is their turf.

Regent Beverly Wilshire

Copy Link

The famous hotel, where Edward stays in the penthouse even though he's afraid of heights. Most of the interiors were actually shot at the Ambassador, though.

Hotel lobby, ballroom, lounge

Copy Link

The hotel lobby, lounge where Vivian first reveals her big makeover to Edward, and ballroom where the pair bone on a piano were all in the famous Ambassador Hotel, which was demolished in 2005 to make way for a school.

Bitchy boutique

Copy Link

The saleswomen at this boutique, played by what was then Boulmiche, didn't think they had anything for Vivian, which ended up being a BIG mistake. Big. Huge.

Giorgio Beverly Hills

Copy Link

They're much nicer at Giorgio Beverly Hills, where Vivian is able to procure a cocktail dress for dinner.

The Voltaire

Copy Link

Vivian wrestles with salad forks and snails at the Art Deco restaurant at the Oviatt Building, which is today called the Cicada.

Edward's office

Copy Link

Edward plots his corporate takeovers at what's supposed to be the Bank of America Plaza (only the exterior is used).

Polo match

Copy Link

Divot stomping and Jason Alexander being gross at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

Opera house lobby

Copy Link

Edward takes Vivian on a plane for the first time to take her to San Francisco to see the opera for the first time. The lobby is LA's Natural History Museum, but the exterior is Pittsburgh's Carnegie Music Hall, as identified by I Am Not a Stalker.

Day off

Copy Link

Vivian and Edward decide to grab a snap dog in front of the Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain, then cop a squat under a tree, both of which are part of what is now Grand Park.

Barb’s Quickie Grill

Copy Link

At the end of their big day off, Edward and Vivian laaaaaugh and presumably eat at Barb's Quickie Grill, which closed in 1999.

Hotel pool

Copy Link

Kit and Vivian hang by the pool (played by the W in Westwood) and debate whether it's a good idea for a sex worker to shack up with a John.

Vivian's apartment

Copy Link

Vivian sneaks out the fire escape to avoid paying the rent at what is in real life the Hotel Las Palmas. At the end of the movie, Edward climbs in for the big romantic finish. EVEN THOUGH HE'S AFRAID OF HEIGHTS.

Loading comments...

Edward's party

Edward gets both welcomed to Los Angeles and dumped as Pretty Woman opens at a mansion in Bel Air.

Alleyway

In one of the few realistically depressing moments in Pretty Woman, a prostitute is found dead in an alley, which is played by the lobby of Hollywood's 1927 Outpost Building, as brilliantly spotted by I Am Not a Stalker.

Blue Banana Club

Vivian and Kit hang out in this club adjacent to the Egyptian Theater, right across from the Outpost Building on Hollywood Boulevard.

"Sylvester Stallone’s house"

A homeless man assures Edward he's in Beverly Hills: "That's Sylvester Stallone's house right there!"

Vivian and Kit's turf

Vivian and Kit, they work Bob Hope, they work the Ritz Brothers, they work Fred Astaire, they work all the way down to Ella Fitzgerald. This is their turf.

Regent Beverly Wilshire

The famous hotel, where Edward stays in the penthouse even though he's afraid of heights. Most of the interiors were actually shot at the Ambassador, though.

Hotel lobby, ballroom, lounge

The hotel lobby, lounge where Vivian first reveals her big makeover to Edward, and ballroom where the pair bone on a piano were all in the famous Ambassador Hotel, which was demolished in 2005 to make way for a school.

Bitchy boutique

The saleswomen at this boutique, played by what was then Boulmiche, didn't think they had anything for Vivian, which ended up being a BIG mistake. Big. Huge.

Giorgio Beverly Hills

They're much nicer at Giorgio Beverly Hills, where Vivian is able to procure a cocktail dress for dinner.

The Voltaire

Vivian wrestles with salad forks and snails at the Art Deco restaurant at the Oviatt Building, which is today called the Cicada.

Edward's office

Edward plots his corporate takeovers at what's supposed to be the Bank of America Plaza (only the exterior is used).

Polo match

Divot stomping and Jason Alexander being gross at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center.

Opera house lobby

Edward takes Vivian on a plane for the first time to take her to San Francisco to see the opera for the first time. The lobby is LA's Natural History Museum, but the exterior is Pittsburgh's Carnegie Music Hall, as identified by I Am Not a Stalker.

Day off

Vivian and Edward decide to grab a snap dog in front of the Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain, then cop a squat under a tree, both of which are part of what is now Grand Park.

Barb’s Quickie Grill

At the end of their big day off, Edward and Vivian laaaaaugh and presumably eat at Barb's Quickie Grill, which closed in 1999.

Hotel pool

Kit and Vivian hang by the pool (played by the W in Westwood) and debate whether it's a good idea for a sex worker to shack up with a John.

Vivian's apartment

Vivian sneaks out the fire escape to avoid paying the rent at what is in real life the Hotel Las Palmas. At the end of the movie, Edward climbs in for the big romantic finish. EVEN THOUGH HE'S AFRAID OF HEIGHTS.