Parks and Recreation Galore
- Payton Heyman
- Mar 26, 2018
- 3 min read
Parks and Recreation first aired in 2009 and ran until 2015. It had seven seasons and a total of 125 episodes. The show takes place in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana, but it is actually filmed in and around Los Angeles, especially in Studio City.
Similar to The Office, the television show is filmed using documentary-style techniques. It is filmed with only a single-camera in a cinéma verity style and has no studio audience or laugh track. Each of the episodes of Parks and Recreation are scripted; however, the actors were always encouraged to improvise. Typically, they were able to shoot enough for a 35 or 40-minute long episode, but they would be cut down to 22 minutes and the dialogue or performances the actors made up during filming often made the final cut.
The first location that we visited was Ann Perkin's house, which was actually first featured in the pilot episode of Parks and Recreation and has made countless appearances since. The home is located at 5655 Murietta Avenue in Van Nuys, but the pit behind it is actually located a block down at the southeast corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Collins Street.
April and Andy's house is located at 12718 Valley Spring Lane in Studio City. The home was first featured in Season 3 in the episode "Fancy Party," where the couple invites their friends over for what seems to be a dinner party but is actually a surprise wedding. It is featured again in the episode "Jerry's Painting," when their roommate moves out and Ben takes their place and attempts to teach the newly weds how to be adults.
The exterior of the home was not changed in the slightest; however, the inside was disgustingly decorated with April and Andy's trash.
Jerry Gergich's (Jim O'Heir) house is located at 11800 Kling Street in Valley Village, just outside of Los Angeles. The house was featured in the fifth season of the show in the episode called "Ron and Diane" and honestly looks straight out of a Folger's commercial.
The characters of the show all gathered here for a Christmas party, so naturally both the interior and exterior were covered with decorations for the holiday. The entrance was lined with candy canes and lights, the windows had wreaths and more lights, and the yard was decorated with inflatable snowmen and, of course, even more lights!
Finally, we visited the smallest park from the eighth episode of the fourth season. This is located on the edge of a parking lot at 4378 Kraft Avenue in Studio City. I find the screenshots from the show absolutely hysterical and going and seeing the spot for myself was really enjoyable.
For the show, the area of asphalt was completely destroyed, but since filming it has returned back to its mundane state. In other words, when I went, as you can see in the photographs, it is just a parking lot and you would never know that this specific corner was once used for one of the most iconic shows on television.
The show and individual actors were nominated for and won many awards during its time on air. Each of these locations were super fun to visit and it is a hilarious show to watch.
Parks and Recreation did occasionally use sound stages for filming, but they also used countless real world locations, which makes the show just that much more fun!
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