For a show built on explosions, cannonballs and crash tests, MythBusters needed two things: a workshop to build in and a lot of empty space to blow things up in. It found both around the San Francisco Bay – a city warehouse for the builds, and a decommissioned naval air station for the days when things needed to go bang.
Where was MythBusters filmed?
MythBusters was made in the San Francisco Bay Area. The builds happened at Jamie Hyneman’s workshop, M5 Industries, in San Francisco, while the large-scale, dangerous tests were staged out at the former Naval Air Station Alameda and other open sites across Northern California – Vallejo’s Mare Island, Tracy, and the Central Valley.
That split – a cramped city workshop plus wide-open testing grounds within driving distance – is what let the show build intricate rigs one day and detonate them the next.
Every MythBusters location, explained
Alameda – the blast site
The go-to spot for anything explosive or high-speed was the decommissioned Naval Air Station Alameda, including its huge hangars and runways (Hangar 12 on West Tower Avenue). Its empty airfield gave the team room for rocket cars, cannon tests and controlled explosions.
San Francisco – the workshop and the city
The builds were centred in San Francisco, and city landmarks appear too – the Grand Staircase of San Francisco City Hall shows up among the locations.
Mare Island and the North Bay
The historic Mare Island naval yard in Vallejo and sites around Solano County (Vacaville) gave the team more industrial space for larger experiments.
The Central Valley and beyond
Bigger tests ranged out to Tracy, Modesto, Oakland and airports across the Central Valley, wherever there was room to run a myth safely – occasionally reaching as far as Los Angeles and Alaska.
Planning a visit
The former Naval Air Station Alameda is now partly open – its waterfront, breweries and the USS Hornet museum make it a fun day out, and it’s where much of the show’s spectacle happened. Across the bay, San Francisco City Hall is a grand public building worth a look, and Mare Island in Vallejo offers historic-shipyard tours.
