A bar that reportedly hosted Richard Nixon and Robert F. Kennedy, even gangster Mickey Cohen. There, so many Los Angeles Times editors, reporters, and photographers hung out that the newspaper used to pay for a direct line phone so they could call from a block away to get a hold of a staffer. That’s Redwood Bar & Grill where Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tom) and Zooey Deschanel (Summer) sang their hearts out in the karaoke scene in the indie hit, (500) Days of Summer.

The bar on Second Street, which still has that red phone hanging on its wall (no longer live), is one of many memorable locations in that Marc Webb-directed film which is as much a paean to love, friendship, and break-up as a love letter to downtown Los Angeles’ landmarks and little-known spots.

Countless films are set in Los Angeles but very few are dedicated to downtown the way 500 Days of Summer is. Released in 2009, the sleeper hit was based on a real romance of the film’s co-writer, Scott Neustadter, who was recovering from a bad breakup in the US when he met Jenny Beckman at the London School of Economics.

Neustadter fell head over heels in love again, recounting in a piece he wrote for The Daily Mail: “When I met this girl in London, my depression lifted, my heart filled with love again and I felt that this could only be the result of divine intervention.”

That romance also ended badly. Neustadter penned the screenplay with Michael H. Weber based on that experience. The resulting film memorably begins with a “hate note” to Beckman who inspired Deschanel’s Summer character.

 

The story was originally set in San Francisco but was changed to Los Angeles. Told in a non-linear narrative, (500 ) Days of Summer’s scenes begin with a title card indicating which of the 500 days the scene is from.

Aside from the film’s blithe, charming spirit, witty script, and Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel’s thoroughly engaging performances, the other star is downtown LA itself.

After the release of the film, which earned acclaim including two 2010 Golden Globe nominations (Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for Gordon-Levitt), people began visiting the location sites.

The most visited by the film’s fans was Angel’s Knoll on Olive Street, the small, slopy green space where Tom and Summer sat on a bench and gazed at downtown LA. A plaque was even installed on the back of the bench stating that it was featured in the film.

That was how popular the bench and the pocket park became – the film’s followers, coming from all over, made pilgrimages to the grassy knoll, took photos, and posted them on social media.

Sadly, Angel’s Knoll was fenced off when the park’s owner, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) was dissolved by then-California Governor Jerry Brown in 2013. Even sadder, the knoll, one of the few remaining green open spaces downtown, will give way to more concrete and steel – two towers were approved to rise on that site.

Fans of (500) Days of Summer hope that the bench will be preserved and given a prominent spot in the development.

A short walk away is the Bradbury Building, one of downtown’s most iconic and favorite film locations. Tom goes for his job interview in an architecture firm in – fittingly – LA’s great architectural landmark on the corner of South Broadway and Third Street.

Many film lovers also know the skylit building, designed by George Herbert Wyman and opened more than a century ago (1893), as the utopian setting of the final scenes in Blade Runner.

Designated as an LA historic-cultural monument, state landmark, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building and its Victorian court, open cage elevators, and ornate railings were tapped in other films, including Chinatown, Lethal Weapon 4, and The Artist.

 

Being an architecture buff, Tom takes Summer on walks to appreciate downtown LA’s old buildings and asks her to “look up” to see the beautiful facades, and design flourishes on the windows, walls, and ledges above the cluttered storefronts.

Tom points out that the Continental Building on Spring Street is one of his favorite buildings and that it is “LA’s first skyscraper.” Also listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Continental Building is 13 stories tall and completed in 1903.

When the downtown couple watches a film, they don’t drive to a suburban cineplex but stay in the ’hood. They walk to the Million Dollar Theater on Broadway whose marquee announces that it is playing Vagiant (the writers’ playful concoction) and screams “Part Vampire, Part Giant.”

Opened in 1917, the theater, built by legendary showman Sid Grauman, is one of the oldest movie houses in the US. It is one of the majestic movie palaces lining Broadway.

Also on Broadway and making an appearance in the film is the Eastern Columbia Building, a world-famous Art Deco landmark noted for its turquoise color and a clock on each side of its tower. Back in 2017, Johnny Depp bought five penthouses in Eastern Columbia which was converted into a residential structure.

The Fine Arts Building on 7^th Street, built-in 1927, also makes a cameo as another favorite of Tom’s. He and his friends hang out in the lobby of the Beaux-Arts style Barclay Hotel (formerly the Van Nuys Hotel), which opened in 1897 and is LA’s oldest continuously operating hotel.

The only scene showing Tom driving is when his car enters the Second Street Tunnel, probably one of, if not the most, filmed and photographed tunnels. The photogenic structure under Bunker Hill has appeared in countless advertisements, commercials, music videos, TV shows, and movies from The Terminal Man to Kill Bill.

 

After finally spending a night with Summer, Tom wakes up in a scene reminiscent of that famous seduction scene in The Graduate, walks to his work ecstatic, and breaks into a full-blown dance number to Hall & Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.”

This flash mob-style dance, complete with an animated bird and a marching band, took place in the Civic Center Mall, now renamed and completely renovated as Grand Park on Grand Avenue.

This uplifting scene brings us to the bittersweet ending which triggered debates that raged on for several years since the film’s release. Was Tom the antagonist and Summer the protagonist or the other way around?

In later interviews, Gordon-Levitt sided with Summer rather than Tom. Whatever side you are on, next time you are in downtown LA, remember Tom’s admonition to “look up” and admire the majesty of those old buildings. And maybe even drop by Redwood Bar & Grill to sing your favorite karaoke breakup song.