Horror's Hallowed Grounds: The Lost Boys By: Sean Clark
The Lost Boys
By: Sean Clark
In 1986 director Joel Schumacher was approached to direct a children’s film called The Lost Boys. The title taken from the children’s classic Peter Pan was about a group of Cub Scouts who encounter vampires living in their little town. The project was originally brought to director Richard Donner but he had to pass because he was working on the film Lethal Weapon. It was Donner’s wife who suggested Schumacher for the job however he wasn’t interested in making a vampire flick for kids. He had the script rewritten to make the characters older and turned this G rated tale into an R rated one. The rest is history and the result is arguably Schumacher’s best film to date.
Schumacher thought that if there were ever a place a young hip group of vampires would live unnoticed it would be at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California and that is where he wanted to film. However the city of Santa Cruz didn’t want to be known as the “Murder Capital of the World” so they changed the name in the film to Santa Carla.
The boardwalk in Santa Cruz officially opened in 1907 and celebrated its 100th Centennial Birthday in 2007. A lot has changed on the boardwalk since 1987 when the Lost Boys was filmed. Several rides and attractions are gone but the basic structure and trademark roller coaster the Giant Dipper still stand today. This famous boardwalk has been used in several films and TV shows including Clint Eastwood’s Sudden Impact and Killer Klowns From Outer Space. The actual address for the boardwalk is 400 Beach Street in Santa Cruz, California.
First we start at the famous Merry-Go-Round which is the oldest ride on the boardwalk having opened in August of 1911. This is where we are first introduced to the Lost Boys in the film. The Merry-Go-Round is indoors which helps preserve it from the harsh ocean air. As you can see it has changed very little since filming in 1987.
The parking lot where the Lost Boys attack the security guard and get a little payback for kicking them off the Merry-Go-Round is the River Lot near the corner of Beach Street and Third Street.
Several of the rides on the boardwalk have changed over the years or moved around but it is nice to see that Hot Dog on a Stick is still in the same spot.
Behind Neptune’s Kingdom Miniature Golf, Pool Hall & Arcade is where David and the boys first meet up with Michael and challenge him to a motorcycle ride.
Michael follows them as they ride down the stairs and on to the beach.
At the end of the boardwalk there is a very small railroad bridge. A lot of Lost Boys fans believe this to be the bridge that they hang off of in the film but that is incorrect. The bridge they actually used is over 300 miles away in the city of Valencia, California. Just off of the 5 Freeway at Magic Mountain Parkway and only a few hundred feet away from the exit stands the old railroad bridge.
Now we head back to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz and check out a few locations that sadly no longer exist or where never really there to begin with.
The outdoor amphitheater where Michael first sees Star and we are all treated to the muscle bound anthem “I still believe!” was badly damaged in the 1989 earthquake and had to be destroyed.
The comic shop that the Frog brothers worked at was an actual comic book store called Atlantis Fantasyworld. However it really wasn’t located on the boardwalk. It was about a quarter of a mile away at 707 Lower Pacific Avenue. Owner Joe Ferrara explained to me that the location manager liked the look of the store’s interiors with its wooden floors that had originally been a family owned grocery store. The store front faced a busy street so to give the illusion that it was on the boardwalk they added a fake wall in front of the store and graffiti.
If you look closely and listen during this scene you can see and hear the Laughing Sal that was sitting in front of the fake wall. This is an old time animatronic figure that was produced between 1930 and 1950. Less than 300 of these were ever made and currently one is on display at the Santa Cruz boardwalk. Perhaps this could be the very same one seen in the film. As rare as these figures are it is very likely.
Opened in 1976 the comic shop was also a casualty of the 1989 earthquake. Today there is nothing left but an empty lot where the building once stood. Still owned and operated by Joe Ferrara, Atlantis Fantasyworld relocated to 829 Front Street in Santa Cruz. They can also be visited on-line at www.atlantisfantasyworld.com.
Just across the water from the boardwalk is the Santa Cruz Wharf. On the Wharf is the restaurant where Lucy and Max have dinner. In 1987 the restaurant was called the Sea Cloud but today is known as Olitas Cantina & Grille located at 49-B Municipal Wharf.
Also on the Wharf is Max’s video store where Lucy gets a job.
Today the video store is a gift shop called the Santa Cruz Bay Company located at 17-D Municipal Wharf. The only time the front of the video store is seen is in one of the film’s deleted scenes available on the 2-disc special edition DVD.
The next location was by far the most difficult to find and that was the cave that served as the lair of the Lost Boys. Much like the railroad bridge in Santa Cruz many Lost Boys fans believe that a cave located off of Empire Grade Road near the eastern entrance of UCSC is the cave from the film but it is not. The real cave is over 350 miles away in Palos Verdes, California. This is actually the former location of California’s very first theme park called Marineland.
Marineland opened in August of 1954 and closed its doors for good in 1986. Most of the area has stood pretty much vacant ever since but is currently being developed. The Lost Boys cave itself shouldn’t be affected by this development but access to the cave by the general public could become off limits depending upon the new construction happening in the cliffs above. The former address of Marineland was 6610 Palos Verdes Drive South, in Rancho Palos Verdes. Until the new construction is complete this is the best reference for a location address.
The area under construction is a little ways away from the cliff and cave below but it is the only accessible way to get to the cave. This was the former parking lot of Marineland. Currently you can park there and follow the trail down to the beach below where you can access the cave.
There are no stairs that lead from the top of the cliff down to the cave’s entrance. That cliff is so steep I doubt there ever was a real set of stairs. In fact if you take a close look at the photo above the stairs appear to stop less than half way up. My guess is these were just constructed for the film.
The cave is much bigger than it appears on screen or in photos. Below is a photo of me standing in front of the entrance of the cave just to give you an idea of the actual size.
The interior of the cave in the film was all a set built on Stage 12 at the Warner Brother’s lot in Burbank.
Above and to the left of the cave entrance you can see where Grandpa’s car almost went over the edge of the cliff.
Now we go up above the cave entrance to where the boys parked the car. The location where you see the boys drive along the edge of the cliff heading towards the stairs is near the corner of Sea Cove Drive and Coastsite Drive.
Just above the cave is the peak where the fake staircase began. This is closest to Sea Cove Drive and Nantasket Drive.
The church that Sam and the Frog Brothers go to was a set on the Warner back lot for both interior and exterior shots.
Our last location takes us to Grandpa’s house. The house is the Clubhouse at the Pogonip which is a square mile Greenbelt property located between UCSC and Highway 9 in Santa Cruz. Once you find the closest area to the Clubhouse to park it is about a half mile hike up an old road to the house. Along the way you can see the same view of Santa Cruz as shown in the film.
The clubhouse hasn’t been in operation since 1993 and it originally opened in 1936. The house is really rundown now and is completely boarded up and fenced off. However it is perfectly legal to go up and look at it through the fence. For more information on the Pogonip visit www.pogonip.org.
The garage where Grandpa kept his car was built for the film. It was sitting on top of a filled in swimming pool while hiding the tennis court right behind it.
The interior of the house was all shot on sets built on Stage 15 at Warner Brother’s Studios in Burbank, California.
If you are a fan of the film I highly suggest you go visit the Pogonip while you can. By the looks of it I really doubt anyone will ever attempt to restore it and my guess is eventually it will most likely get torn down.
Make sure to visit www.horrorshallowedgrounds.com for more pictures from this article. Until next time the hunt continues!
