Santa Monica and the wider LA Westside are a filming magnet - 184 titles in our database map to the area, from Pulp Fiction and Forrest Gump to True Detective and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Its palm-lined beach, the century-old pier and the bluffs above the Pacific Coast Highway stand in for sun-soaked California again and again.
The Santa Monica Pier is one of the most-filmed piers in the world, and the surrounding Westside - Venice, Culver City and the studio neighbourhoods - fills in for everywhere from small-town America to the open road. Most of it is public and walkable; the map shows exactly where each scene was shot.
