John Adams Middle School: Heathers

The auditorium at John Adams Middle School, located at 2425 16th St, Santa Monica, California, was used for the explosive ending of one of my personal favorite films, Heathers (1988.)

Based on the state of the school that I saw and photographed, only simple things changed for the making of Westerburg High School, set in ‘Sherwood, Ohio,’ in Heathers.

The most noticeable change about the school is the color of the door frames. The actual middle school has a grayish-blue color; however, in Heathers it is painted orange. For the film, a black and red covering was draped down the two middle sections of stairs, as well.

The school name and labeling was obviously changed too. The actual location is the auditorium of John Adams Middle School, but for the film it was simply changed to be a plaque that labeled the building as Westerburg High School, the exterior of the gym.

Fun fact: the name Westerburg is a nod to Paul Westerburg, the lead singer of lead actress Winona Ryder's favorite band at the time of filming, The Replacements!

Westerburg High, however, was actually a combination of several different schools throughout southern California. The main locations was Corvallis High School, Studio City in the San Fernando Valley, but it has was closed in 1987. Osaka Sangyo University of Los Angeles was also used, located at 2921 Laurel Canyon Boulevard at Maxwellton Road near Ventura Boulevard.

Sources:

http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/l/blank.html