A new face of Los Angeles, the movie capital, revealed through carefully selected filming locations for “(500) Days of Summer”

“Summer of (500) Days” Synopsis

Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a writer and aspiring architect who works for a greeting card company, is a herbivore who loves music. On his first day, he falls in love with Summer Finley (Zooey Deschanel), who has joined the company as his boss's assistant. On the fourth day, Summer hears a song leaking from Tom's headphones in the elevator, and the two start talking. On the 28th day, at karaoke, Tom learns that Summer doesn't have a boyfriend. He starts dating a girlfriend who says, ``I don't want a girlfriend,'' as friends. On the 34th day, the two enjoy playing ``just married'' with the furniture on display at IKEA. To Tom's excitement, Summer says, ``I don't want to get into a serious relationship,'' and Tom can't help but reply, ``I'm fine with a casual relationship.'' On the 109th day, Summer invites Tom into her room for the first time, and it seems that their relationship will quickly develop...

Index

• Is downtown LA the most attractive part?
• “Blade Runner” and “Summer of (500) Days” share the same filming locations.
• An ever-increasing number of works that reflect the unknown of LA

Is downtown LA the most attractive part?

In New York, the Empire State Building and Times Square. In London, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. Paris is the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. By showing famous symbols, such as Red Square in Moscow, the audience is told that the story takes place in that city. This is a common feature in movies.

On the other hand, even though the story is set in a famous place, you don't really know where it is. There are also many works that consciously avoid the typical spots from the image, trying to immerse you in the story itself.

``(500) Days of Summer'' is set in Los Angeles (LA). Speaking of LA, the sun-drenched beaches of Santa Monica, the tourist-filled Hollywood Boulevard, the upscale residential areas of Beverly Hills, and the ``HOLLYWOOD'' Signs hung on the mountainside are often featured in movies. However, such landmarks do not appear in ``Summer of (500) Days''. Downtown is often used for filming, and the scenery, which is far from the typical image of LA, changes the fate of the main characters, Tom and Summer, in love.

A scene in which Tom and Summer view downtown from a bench on a small hill is inserted at the beginning and climax of the film. The hill that was Tom's favorite place and the one that made their memories together was a park called ``Angels Knoll.'' It is a hill that you can climb by riding the cable car ``Angel's Flight'', which is said to be the shortest railway in the world in terms of operating distance (approximately 90 meters) (it is also possible to climb on foot, of course). You can see palm trees in the distance, so you can imagine that it's the West Coast of the United States, but at first glance, it's far from the traditional image of LA. By using such landscapes that can be found anywhere, it may be possible to convey a realistic sense of the people who live there. It is a location that conveys the intentions of the creators.

“Blade Runner” and “Summer of (500) Days” share the same filming locations.