Shrinking might be television’s best advert for Pasadena – Jimmy’s Craftsman house, Liz’s garden next door, the pickleball, the general leafy niceness that makes everyone’s grief look manageable. The show films exactly where it’s set: Pasadena, Altadena and the studios of greater Los Angeles.
Here’s where Apple’s therapy comedy actually lives.
Where was Shrinking filmed?
Shrinking is set in Pasadena and shoots in and around it for real – a rarity worth applauding. The neighbouring streets of Altadena provide the show’s residential heart, including Jimmy’s much-envied Craftsman house, with location work around Pasadena’s parks and civic spots and stage work in Burbank, where the therapy-practice interiors live.
A sad, important footnote: the January 2025 Eaton Fire devastated large parts of Altadena, including areas the show had filmed in. Production has continued around it, and the earlier seasons now double as a record of streets the fire took – worth keeping in mind if you go looking.
Every Shrinking location, explained
Jimmy’s house – Altadena
The Craftsman where Jimmy fails upward through grief – and Liz and Derek’s place next door, and Julie’s – were filmed on Santa Anita Avenue in Altadena, with one street doing triple duty for the show’s little cul-de-sac universe. These were real homes on a real street; post-fire, please treat the whole neighbourhood with extra care.
The pickleball courts – Altadena
Paul and Jimmy’s pickleball sessions shot around Concha Street in Altadena – peak Shrinking: middle-aged emotional breakthroughs at recreational racquet sports.
The park – Pasadena Lawn Bowling Club
The park scenes centre on the Pasadena Lawn Bowling and Croquet Club area on South Raymond Avenue, beside Central Park in Old Pasadena – a genuinely lovely public corner of the city.
Alice’s school – North Hollywood
School scenes filmed at a campus on Irvine Avenue in North Hollywood, over the hill from the show’s Pasadena world – a standard LA production shuffle.
The practice – Burbank stages
The therapy office where Jimmy, Paul and Gaby overshare professionally is a set in the Burbank studio district. No real Pasadena psychologist’s office looks this good, which is presumably the point.
Planning a visit
Old Pasadena makes the natural base: Central Park and the lawn bowling club are right there, and the area’s Craftsman architecture delivers the show’s aesthetic on every block. Altadena’s filming streets can be seen respectfully by car – support the rebuilding businesses along Lake Avenue if you’re passing through; they’ve earned it.
