The A Team Filming Locations - A Small And Deadly War - 1983

[Music] if I asked you to think of an 80s TV show that was full of action fights explosions car chases gunfights and some of the meanest bad guys that you've ever seen yet nobody ever dies or gets seriously hurt what show would come to mind of course The A Team now the a team was an extremely popular show that was on from 1983 to 1987 and it was largely filmed in the streets of Los Angeles and so today we're going to begin our journey exploring the 18 filming locations and we're going to start with an episode from season 1 a small and deadly War so strap on your seat belt and let's go see what we can find [Music] the episode begins right here on Magnolia Boulevard at Valley Street in Burbank California we see Police Inspector Maloney passing by a shopping center that has a Baskin Robbins in it and believe it or not that Baskin Robbins is still here and still has the same sign all these years later Maloney continues down the street and the camera pans just a little bit to the right and we see a little bit more of the shopping center just a few blocks down the street at Magnolia Boulevard and uckan Avenue is where he looks in his rearview mirror and he sees that he's getting pulled over you can see this building on the corner on the right side and also this car wash across the street on the left side Maloney then turns off of Magnolia and on to clyborn Avenue which is back a couple of blocks in the other direction right next to the Baskin Robins that he had just passed by he then pulls his car over in front of this building which currently funny enough has an old police car parked in front of it so he gets out of his car and he's met by four SWAT officers and we find out that Maloney was planning to turn those officers in because they had been murdering people and right here in front of this tree is where the police officers were standing of course the tree has gotten a lot bigger but this tree is how we know where they were standing they then walk a few feet over to where Maloney is standing and they hand him a stack of pictures and the pictures are of his family and they tell him that he better think twice about turning them in okay so there is a lot going on with the locations in this next scene so after he has the run in with the SWAT officers Maloney goes to a bar to have a drink and while he's in there Hannibal comes in in Disguise and eventually asks Maloney if he still wants to hire the 18 now we we get a very quick establishing shot of the outside of the bar and a little bit longer establishing shot towards the end of the episode and in that longer shot you can see a little bit of the sign and you can make out the word Nova but pretty much all the other words on the sign are impossible to read so we spent a lot of time rewinding this scene pausing it watching it in slow motion trying to decipher the words on the sign eventually we figured out that it said say Nova Armenian restaurant and so we started looking that up and we found that there was a scat Nova in Pasadena but when we went to check it out it didn't really match up with the restaurant that you see in the episode the restaurant that you see in this episode is on a narrow Street that's one way it has a lot of tall buildings around it and it looks like it's in the city the Pasadena location is on a much wider street with traffic flowing in both directions and it's in more of a suburban area so we continued to search and we found another scat Nova in Chicago and when we check this one out on Google Maps it was a pretty close match to the restaurant that you see in this episode it's on a narrow oneway street it's got a lot of tall buildings around it it appears to be in the city however the actual scat Nova building did not match with the restaurant in this episode and I'm pretty sure the restaurant in this episode the building next door is a parking garage so if this is the right location that parking garage has since been torn down and replaced with another building but after studying this scene and studying this location I'm about 95% sure that it was the Chicago location that they used in this episode they've just since remodeled all of these buildings and this was probably just stock footage that they had of cars driving by this building I'm actually pretty sure they used the same footage in an episode of Columbo now the Interiors of the restaurant that's in a completely different location now this right here is where they filmed the Interiors of the bar however it did have a different name back then and actually in the episode when they walk out of the bar you can see a sign behind them that says Dez Reagan's Irish pub and that was actually the real name of this bar at the time now I've come here a few different times trying to check it out every time I've come here it's been during the business hours that they have posted on their website but every time that I've come here it's been closed so I decided to do a little bit more research and according to what I found online apparently this bar shut down in 20 20 at the beginning of the pandemic and then it just never reopened but what's strange is all of the exterior lights are on there's mail sticking out of the mailbox I went around to the back of the building and there's a bar stool next to the door like where the door guy would be sitting so it looks like a functioning business but apparently it hasn't been open in the last four years and the rumors online is that it's never going to reopen now I was able to find some pictures online of what it looks like inside and it still looks pretty similar to how it did in the aam now there is one thing that I can show you on the outside of the building when Hannibal walks into the bar he opens the door and behind them you can see some glass bricks and if we look right here in the front of the building just to the right of the front door these are the very same glass bricks that you see behind Hannibal apparently this was a pretty happening place to go to watch live music so hopefully it will eventually reopen and then 18 fans will be able to come here have a drink and check out the bar that was used in this episode face and Amy head over to the police station disguised as exterminators so they can sneak into the locker room and sew buttons onto their uniforms that have tiny microphones hidden inside now I'm bummed to say that I wasn't able to find the building that's used for the police station there just wasn't enough Clues the building looked familiar to me and I felt like I knew the area but I just couldn't find the building now once they get those microphones sewn onto the uniform they meet back up with the rest of the A Team who's parked in the van across the street from some apartment buildings and those apartment buildings are located right here at 4200 via Dolce in Marina del re California now these apartments have had a makeover but there's still some stuff you can match up starting with the stairs with the lamp post on either side now like I said they've been remodeled but you can see right here the stairs with lamps on either side and then if you look at the placement of Windows and balconies you'll see we have big Square Windows and you've got a set of window Windows balcony balcony another set of Windows and balcony here we've got big Square Windows that have been changed but you've got a set of Windows balcony balcony set of Windows balcony and then last but not least if you look at the railings on the balconies those are still exactly the same so they're sitting in the van discussing what they're going to do and they decide that they're going to need Murdoch's help on this one and it's time to go get them out of the hospital so right now we're in West LA and we're headed over to the old VA hospital that's off of saula and Wilshire because it's my belief that the building that they use for the psychiatric ward that uh that they get Murdoch from is at this facility now the only problem is they've torn some buildings down they've built some new buildings um I looked on Google Maps and the building was there or at least the building that I think it is was there but the picture is a year old uh and in that picture there's some construction stuff going on right around that building so I'm a little nervous I think it might be this building and if it is that's not good cuz it's all construction fences yeah it's this building all right so good news and bad news uh the bad news is the building is completely gated off and we can't get that same shot that we see in the show uh the good news is it looks like they're not tearing it down they're just renovating it making it look nice so hopefully in the future we can come back here and we'll be able to get that same shot that we see on the show uh I can show you what it looks like on Google Maps can't get the exact same shot but pretty close but yeah right here on the other side of this fence that is the building that was used for Murdoch's psychiatric hospital where the atam goes to get Murdoch this right here is pretty close to the shot that we get in this episode you can see the buildings are still the same they're just renovating them and making them look nice that tree's gone but the structures are still the same luckily when they're on their way to stop the hit on Delgado we see the van passed by this building at 950 Kanga Boulevard in Hollywood now they passed by the building pretty quick but if you pause the scene you can see that the building still looks pretty similar to how it did in 1983 it even has the same lamp post out front they continue on and you see the building on the corner and then eventually you see the self storage building which is still there but yep now blocked by trees we see Mr delgado's shop and he's out front bringing in the trash cans the camera then pans over to the right and we see the aam van come whipping around the corner and speeding down the street and as you can see that building on the corner has since been torn down and replaced with a school the van continues down the street and then pulls into this driveway right here they get out and approach Mr Delgado and tell him a bunch of lies about how they're trying to catch some robbers that have been working the area and they need his help and since he's such a good citizen he agrees to help him and this gives Hannibal an excuse to dress up we once again see the shop and Mr Delgado is approaching it to open up the gates the camera then zooms out and we see that one of the SWAT officers is already in Sniper mode ready to take out Mr Delgado now he would have been on the second story of that building that was torn down and replaced with the school but this is pretty much the shot that you would have got from that second story he takes his shot and Mr Delgado falls down to the floor the SWAT team guys then take off and all of these buildings have been torn down this is where the school now is they chase them right towards Mr delgado's shop and force them up onto the sidewalk where they end up crashing they try and run away but Mr Delgato jumps up and it turns out that it's of course Hannibal they hold the two SWAT guys at gunpoint and tell them they know what they're up to and they need to turn themselves in the A Team then gets in their van and drives off this way down the alley and the two SWAT guys stand right here complet completely dumbfounded trying to figure out what the heck is going on so after talking to him on the phone Hannibal decides that he wants to mess with Captain Stark just a little bit more and so he's going to send him some flowers and so they stop at a flower shop that was inside of this building located at 564 Washington Boulevard in Marina Del Rey California this is actually right around the corner from those apartments that they were parked in front of a little bit earlier in the episode now as you can probably tell all of the building in this shopping center have been remodeled and nothing looks the same but this is the door that the lady comes walking out of she then walks through the parking lot and you can see this lamp post you then see the a van coming down the street and it Parks right here next to this driveway and you can see those houses and the apartment building across the street now the main house that you can see is of course now completely covered by trees and bushes and the apartment building next door is now partially covered but you can still tell that this is the right building so I'm currently sitting in the exact spot where the 18 van was this is the view that ba would have had of Murdoch right before he goes into the flower shop there's a really quick shot of this building at 634 South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles it's used as an establishing shot when Ba's altering the headlights on the van you can actually see this tree in the show that's now blocking the front of the building and it looks like like it had just been planted at that time after meeting her in the parking lot of the police station Collins brings Amy to the sunset Lodge Motel where the a team is waiting inside for him of course the entire thing was a setup and on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Los Palomas Avenue this was the sunset Lodge motel and then for whatever reason the next part of this episode takes place inside of Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia California so let's go inside now everything for the aam was filmed in the back of the park pretty much between Colossus and the gold rusher the first shot inside the park is of the old crazy Barrel ride which used to be located right here where crazanity now is you can still tell where the entrance used to be now the crazy thing is is if you look at this area on Google Maps it still has the Gazebo from the crazy barrels that's how long it's been since they've updated it on Google the camera then pans to the left and we see a very different Six Flags Magic Mountain from the one that we know today it then stops at the games area and I didn't realize how much this area has changed since then we then get a really quick shot of freef fall which I really miss and that ride used to be located over here just beside tidal wave the SWAT gu is hiding at the far end of the building the camera then pans to the left and Hannibal is hiding at the very end at the last pillar pretending to be one of the statues he was standing right here in this [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] spot [Music] [Music] so they head inside to the game booth not realizing that they're about to be Ambush now keep your eye on Mr T look at his head I love that notice the monil track right behind face now on the other side of this fence right behind crazanity on that grassy Hill that's where face knocks out Collins now if we look right over here this is the last remaining piece of the old monil track just hidden in the bushes back here you can also see the monal track when Murdoch tackles the SWAT team guy that he's chasing over at the Grand Prix ride which used to be located in this area and the way that you can tell is by the observation tower up there on the hill the ride where Hannibal have having his battle that he eventually ends up dangling from was called Eagle's flight and the lower station used to be located right here somewhere in between food Etc and the magic moments theater as he's jumping in his car to get the heck out of here behind him you can see the Scrambler which is still here however I'm not sure if they're just repairing it or if they're about to get rid of it I think they're just repairing it I hope now the spot where ba jumps on the hood of the car that was on the back side of Colossus you can kind of see a little bit of Colossus right there so basically where Goliath now is that's where ba jumps on the hood of the car can't see the exact spot anymore but it was right down here see that hill right there for Colossus you can see that in the shot so it was right down here in this area The A Team Heads to the Irish Pub to say farewell to Maloney and give him some of his money back they hear that the military police are on their way so now they got to get out of there as fast as they can we then see The A Team come whipping out of the back parking lot of the bar and the way that we know where this takes place is by a very distinct roof line that you can see of course now that roof line is completely blocked by these trees but if I step over just a little bit you can kind to see it but if I come around to the front of the building now you can recognize that roof line and the parking lot that I'm currently standing in is the dairy from say anything definitely a lot of stuff filmed around here in the80s now the actual bar that they were just inside of is down the alley that way on the next block but I guess the directors like the look of this block better and this is actually where Maloney gets pulled over by the SWAT officers in the beginning of the [Music] episode stop this is what you get when you mess with the A Team well that's going to do it for my first aam video definitely not going to be my last though because there's still so many episodes to explore so I hope you liked this video as always thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time I prity the poor fool that don't subscribe to this channel

Channel: 80s Life

Views: 13,289

Keywords: Filming Locations, Then and Now, 80s Television, 80slife4ever, 80slife, The A team, Mr T

Id: qpu0Qm1zudQ

Length: 19min 6sec (1146 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 05 2024