In 1980 Avco Embassy Pictures released The Fog. This would be the sixth film and fourth feature by director John Carpenter. Expectations were high after the success of his prior film Halloween that had just become the highest grossing independent film of all time.
The idea of The Fog came to John while on vacation with co-writer & producer Debra Hill at Stonehenge. John saw a fog bank in the distance and imagined what if something was alive inside it. John and Debra decided to turn the idea into a screenplay that would be an old fashioned ghost story loosely based on true events that took place off the coast of Santa Barbara in the 1700’s.
The Fog was shot entirely in California during the months of April & May 1979 for a modest budget of $1.1 million dollars. In this article we will be examining the locations used to create this horror classic and show how a film like this is put together in the editing room. Additionally, we'll also look at how some of these locations look today.
The opening shot where John Houseman is telling children a story by the camp fire was shot on a soundstage at Raleigh Studios on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.
The opening title sequence was shot looking North along Stinson Beach.
The grocery store where the telephones in the booths outside start ringing is the Laurel Canyon Country Store located at 2108 Laurel Canyon Blvd in the Hollywood Hills.
The interior and exterior of this location were both used. However, if you do go there today I recommend that you pay for the orange juice before you drink it.
This location was picked by John because he lived right up the street at the time of filming and was a regular to the store. An interesting side note; about 50 feet from the store is 1812 Rothdell Trail, the former residence of Jim Morrison of The Doors. He wrote the song Love Street about this particular street.
The road where Tom Atkins picks up Jamie Lee Curtis hitchhiking is Bear Valley Road in Olema. All of the shots of the truck driving on a dark empty road were shot there. The interior shots in the cab of the truck were shot sitting parked in a garage using the poor mans process of shaking the vehicle and moving lights to give the appearance that the truck is in motion. The garage was a Chevron station in Inverness.
A location I doubt anyone will ever get to visit, that is if it still exists, is the boat used for the Sea Grass. It was a real boat docked in the harbor in San Pedro. Most of the interior an exterior of the boat was used with the exception of a few shots added in later which include George "Buck" Flower and John Goff’s death scenes on the deck as well as when Tom and Jamie discover the body in belly of the boat. Both of these scenes were shot on a small sound stage in San Fernando Valley as last minute additions to the film.
The home of Nick Castle, aka Tom Atkins, was shot using two different locations. The bedroom scene where Tom does what he does best was shot at a house on the water in Inverness. When Tom hears a knock at the door and walks into the living room it cuts to John Carpenter’s old house on Paramount Drive just 2.5 miles away from the Laurel Canyon Country Store. The exact addresses of both of these locations are unknown.
The weather station where Charles Cyphers works was completely shot on a sound stage at Raleigh Studios and doesn’t really exist.
The beach where Ty Mitchell discovers the piece of driftwood is Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore. To see a really cool 360-degree virtual picture of how it looks today click here.
The home of Stevie Wayne aka Adrienne Barbeau is located on Tomales Bay in Inverness about ¼ mile north of the Inverness Market.
The exact address is not known but this location is pretty easy to find. The interior and exterior of the home was used in the film with the exception of the scenes where Ty wakes Adrienne up to show her the driftwood which was shot on a sound stage at Raleigh Studios.
When Tom and Jamie are walking out on the dock to go searching for the Sea Grass this was shot at Bodega Bay in the same location used for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.
In fact in the very beginning of the shot you can see the restaurant where the people are trapped in The Birds behind Tom and Jamie as they are walking up.
The location used for the town ceremony was shot at the Olema Farm House Restaurant and Bar formerly known as Jerry’s Farm House in Olema.
It is open to the public and is located at 10005 State Highway 1, Olema, CA 94950. For more information you can call (415) 663-1264.
The road we see Adrienne driving is Sir Frances Drake Highway and it does in fact go to the Lighthouse which makes visiting this location even more magical.
Everything that you see from her driving down the road to parking at the lighthouse in reality is exactly as you see it in the film.
The lighthouse used in the film is Point Reyes Lighthouse at Point Reyes National Seashore.
There are more than 300 stairs between the observation platform at the lighthouse station and the actual lighthouse below. Walking back up again is equivalent to walking up the stairs of a 30-story building.
The lighthouse is open to the public but is closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On other days, it opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m. although the rest of the lighthouse station remains open until 5 p.m. For information call (415) 669-1534. To see a really cool 360-degree virtual picture of the lighthouse, click here.
To reach the Point Reyes Lighthouse from Highway 1, head west on Bear Valley Road from Olema or west on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard from Point Reyes Station. In Point Reyes Station, the turnoff from Highway 1 is located at the Green Bridge on the south end of town. The driving time from Point Reyes Station or Olema is about 40 minutes.
The interior of the lighthouse was shot on a soundstage at Raleigh Studios.
When Tom and Jamie are on the small boat out looking for the Sea Grass, that scene was shot in the harbor of San Pedro.
The scene in the clinic where the corpse rises off of the operating table was a scene added in later after principal photography had wrapped to add another scare to the film. It was shot at a small clinic in the San Fernando Valley. The exact address is not known.
The scene inside the bar where Tom Atkins calls Adrienne Barbeau at the radio station was shot inside of the Olema Farm House Restaurant and Bar. This works well within the fictional continuity of the film because Janet Leigh and Nancy Loomis leave the bar and head right outside for the ceremony which would be taking place in the parking lot there.
The church used in the film was in reality about 450 miles from most of the other locations. It was shot at Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Sierra Madre just walking distance from a couple of locations used in the first three Halloween films.
Both the interior and exterior of the church was used. The church is located at 25 East Laurel Avenue, Sierra Madre CA 91024. If you wish to see the interior of the church I would recommend attending a service. Services are on Sunday at 8:00 and 10:00 am. I was given special permission to photograph after hours so please be very courteous and respectful if visiting this location. It is a church after all. For more information you can call at (626) 355-1133.
There are several interesting facts about the way this location was filmed. First off is how the exterior of the church is filmed. The church is right on the corner of two busy streets, neither of which you can see in the film. The road they travel up to the church in the film while passing the large crucifix is actually a hill in Inverness. This is why the front of the church is shot so tight. The driveway they park their cars on in the film is just a gravel path next to the church and right next to a busy street.
Notice that everyone enters from the rear of the church and not the actual front doors. That is why when you see people enter the church they are right near the alter. It would have been more difficult to hide the busy street having filmed them entering the front. The stained glass windows you see the hands break through behind the alter are actually about fifteen feet off of the ground on the outside of the building. If you look closely you can see them when Janet Leigh and Nancy Loomis first enter the church in the film.
Everything inside the church is as it appears in the film with the exception of Father Malone’s chamber. The door to the room is there, however the room itself was a set built at Raleigh Studios.
The scene where John Carpenter is working as a handy man in the beginning of the film is actually right next to the front door of the church.
Carpenter has said the reason they filmed at the church near Los Angeles was because they couldn’t afford to pay actor Hal Holbrook, aka Father Malone, to go on location in Inverness. So they shot all of his scenes at once in Sierra Madre and on the set at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood.
When we as fans visit these locations it is not unlike returning to a childhood home we haven’t seen in decades. They hold a special place in our lives. A piece of nostalgia from a classic moment in time. Even though you may have never been there before, you feel at home.
I hope you have enjoyed this look back at John Carpenter’s classic film The Fog. Until next time the hunt continues for Horror’s Hallowed Grounds!
