Revel in the GLORY of the Kennicut home in the Columbo locations map!
Columbo fans know that the series’ epic and intricate locations contribute greatly to its authentic drama and sense of place.
From the Lieutenant sitting alone amidst the seats at the LA Coliseum and the stately grounds of the Carsini Winery to the many grand estates of California’s richest and most devious killers, Columbo’s producers and crew didn’t treat locations and backgrounds as an afterthought; instead the series revelled in the detail and personality of Los Angeles and its surrounding region, providing a wonderful snapshot of mid-century life in one the world’s most iconic cities.
In an effort to help organize, share, and relive the magic of Columbo’s legendary and lesser-known locations alike, I’m delighted to be able to present an interactive Google map of nearly 200 Columbo locations from the series’ original run from Prescription: Murder in 1968 to The Conspirators a decade later.
Ken Franklin’s lakeside cabin is still alive and well!
I’d like to take the credit for this, as I believe it’s an invaluable resource for fans, but I must doff my cap to Jason Clarke – a regular reader of the blog who pitched this suggestion to me several weeks ago. Jason is the project lead here, and I was happy to play a support role in using my spare time to find locations and source images in order to make this map as useful as possible. Jason, you’re an absolute hero!
The ultimate Columbo locations map – key features
The lovingly created map includes:
- Addresses, photos, and detailed notes on the locations and the scenes in which they appear
- In some cases, the current state of the 40+ year old locations (some of which no longer exist or have changed)
- Colour-coded icons to indicate type of location (residence, business, etc.)
- Both plot-specific locations (such as the Travel Town museum, where Columbo meets the CIA director inside a train in Identity Crisis) as well as real-life filming locations (such as The Citadel in South Carolina, a stand-in for Haynes Military Academy in By Dawn’s Early Light). We even include locations used in London and Mexico for Dagger of the Mind and A Matter of Honor
- Miscellaneous points of interest, including Peter Falk’s former home in Beverly Hills and the Columbo statue in Budapest
The Columbo locations map is a great way to relive some of your own favorite scenes from the show, or can even be used as a travel guide if you’re visiting or live in the LA area (or some of the other regions provided) and want to take a real-life tour of Columbo’s world.
“Being able to explore the show’s stunning locations via Google Maps 3D has been addictive and endlessly entertaining.”
Personally, I’ve found this project fascinating. Being able to explore the show’s stunning locations via Google Maps 3D has been addictive and endlessly entertaining. It’s pleasing that many of the show’s original locations can still be recognised today. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. It’s even just interesting seeing where locations are in relation to each other, and noting how many hang-outs of the rich and famous were actually used for shooting.
The map will also be accessible in the Resources section of this site. If you have verified information for some of the many locations we still haven’t added, please contact Columbophile so we can keep the map updated. In particular, we can’t find the Van Wick residence from Playback, thought to be in the Holmby Hills area of the city.
And of course, if we’ve erred in the positioning of any of these locations please also drop me a line and we can update accordingly.
The map is mobile responsive, but may best be viewed in a separate browser tab / window. You can access the standalone map right here. Happy viewing!
Jason and I would also like to pass on our sincere thanks to French ace Jean-Pierre Ghera, who has tracked down hundreds of locations for the show and was invaluable in pinpointing many elusive locations for us. Merci beaucoup, Jean-Pierre!
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Who lives in a house like this?
I was watching A Stitch in Crime the other night. When Dr. Barry Mayfield (Leonard Nimoy) goes to an apartment building to kill Harry Alexander (Jared Martin), I was shocked to see it was MY old apartment building. Nimoy checks the apartment number, comes in the entrance, walks through the courtyard and up the stairs (passing my front door, albeit 30 years before I lived there), opens a window and breaks into an apartment. The Colfax Palms still looks very much the same, and is located 4300 Colfax Ave, Studio City, 91604. I’ve recognized many locations in 70s tv shows — it’s part of the fun of watching them — but never one that hit this close to home. It was especially cool because Star Trek is my favorite show ever.
I love this site! Thank you for putting it together. I grew up in Los Angeles but moved out of state in my 20s. I LOVE seeing familiar locations and watching a really excellent, classic show. I think that the Wagner residence near Belair was also Ken Franklin’s home in Murder By the Book.
Does anyone know what park Columbo and Mr Brandt are walking in the The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case episode?
Yes, it’s Lafayette Park.
Oh wow! We live really close. I told hubs I thought it was that area. So much development since that episode that it’s almost unrecognizable. Thanks!
I recently found 2 other locations.
The penthouse apartments in ‘Publish or Perish’ where Eileen McRae lives are the Wilshire Comstock Condos on Comstock Avenue near the Westwood border. I’ve added this to IMDb’s filming locations for the episode recently as well.
Also, the Italian restaurant seen in ‘Murder Under Glass’ is none other than the old famous Bruno’s Ristorante that was located at 3838 South Centinela Ave., which closed in 2000. Here’s the old site where you can see the story and old photos of it. https://www.westsidevineyard.com/story-of-building. Not sure if the exteriors were shot there, though the parking lot where Paul Gerard pulls up into after the murder does look like it is at that corner of Centinela Ave. and Venice Blvd. I think it’s possible the restaurant added on or remodeled the entrance not too long after the Columbo was filmed. Or they used a neighboring building for the restaurant’s exterior entrance. That location was also used for 2 of the new Columbo’s, ‘Strange Bedfellows’ and ‘Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo’.
This is so fabulous. I was curious why there is no pin at 937 Skyvirw Drive, Altadena?
And please please please can someone set up Columbo tours one day?
Hello, great job on the site.
I was just visiting LA and discovered that the Peter Faulk residence pin on the map is incorrect. His home is actually two blocks up , at 1004 North Roxbury drive in Beverly Hills. Could you please update the map for others?
Does anyone know where the exterior were shot for the Hayward residence (not the beach house) in Candidate for Crime?
Good question! I am convinced it’s in the Valley, just not exactly sure where in the Valley. I’m leaning towards Studio City, Toluca Lake or Burbank though. I’m going to try and see if I can find it though!
My thoughts are with you and your family and I am wishing you all the luck that your daughter is able to get through this.
I know you probably won’t get to updating this for quite some time, but figured I would leave another location update. For Death Lends a Hand, the location given where Columbo is pulled over is incorrect. He actually gets pulled over at the corner of Acama St and Lankershim at the 4200 block (you can see the Acama St street sign in this shot). Later as he is escorted away to the crime scene, they are seen on Lankershim right before it becomes Cahuenga. You actually see the Cahuenga bridge as they cross over the LA River and the Toyota dealership in the background. I also noticed as Columbo pulls away you can spot the old ‘Universal City’ sign that used to be on top of the hill above Universal Studios.
Wonderful map! I noticed an error in the map for the episode ‘Now You See Him’. The location for the exterior of the ‘Cabaret of Magic’ was not in Malibu where you have it listed, it was actually a set building on the back of the Universal lot. It was also used for the funeral home scene in ‘Swan Song’. A lot of Universal shows in that time period shot scenes there at that same location. I know a few episodes of Emergency! were also shot in that same spot. I am not positive where on the lot it was, but I believe it was either where CityWalk is currently located or possibly the south, lower portion of the the theme park now.
I can’t tell you how excited I am to find your website. My husband surprised me with a trip to Cali in May and we are so excited to see some of the places his favorite show was filmed! You are freaking amazing! He is going to love this trip even more now!!!!
So I’ve actually been to the Van Wick house. It’s been used in exteriors before in TV especially the front gate house the way the driveway veers and the street that approaches it. The address is 1130 Schuyler Rd Beverly Hills, California. It was owned by Marvin Davis when I was priveledged to attend a Christmas Party there in 2001.
Hi, love your website! I read it after I finish every episode to see what subtle clues I missed. I just watched Murder in Malibu (it was rough) and noticed at 39mins in the exterior shot of the author’s sister/agent is at UCLA sculpture garden!
This is a real treat – thanks Columbophile & Jason. How endlessly entertaining! Here is a funny and unexpected place for you which I had added a few years ago to the trivia page in IMDb : the funeral home exterior in A Friend In Deed is a stock shot from… the French Riviera. To the editors’ credit it looks just fine as a mansion in the Los Angeles hills. Precisely it is a remarkable place from the French mediterranean coast: Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. The interior had appeared in the independent James Bond movie Never Say Never Again and the exterior on pictures of a cut scene from the movie. I could not believe it when I saw it in Columbo! (GoogleMaps coordinates 43.697015197531435, 7.328381176040757)
Good intel on that French Riviera location! Who knew?
does anyone here know which episode had the “pussycat” bar in it? the sign from the bar is the light fixture upstairs in the house I’m renting the basment of.
And if my made-up name for this site is not a give-away, there are some great cars featured. They certainly use European sports cars as a way to underscore a character’s self-indulgence. “Short Fuse” has Roddy McDowel’s character driving a Silver Ferrari Daytona. “Lady in Waiting” features a blue Ferrari Daytona. One of the biggest clues in “Any Old Port in a Storm” is the fact that when character Ric Carsini’s Ferrari 330GTS was discovered, its convertible top was down yet the interior did not show any sign of the car being rained on. “The Greenhouse Jungle” has the idiot/murder-victim/nephew in a bright yellow Jaguar XKE with his murderous uncle (Ray Millan chewing up every piece of scenery available to glorious effect) driving a Bentley Continental. A Jaguar XKE also appears in “Etude in Black” but now playing the murderer’s (Cassavetes!) car. This episode also features a scene where the mechanic of a European sports car repair shop (that plays a part in the murderer’s alibi) tells Columbo that “there are limits” as a way to tell the lieutenant that, even though his car is indeed European, it is beneath his dignity – or talent – to repair. And there are indeed many Mercedes, as has already been mentioned. The quality of the cars seen in the show underscored the realism of the storytelling, as did the locations. All of which added a considerable amount to the production budget that other TV shows at the time did not have. I cannot think of another TV series that did this, especially considering that they had to get new houses and new cars for each episode (only occasionally “cheating” with a fake exterior on the Universal lot).
I’m also a HUGE Columbo car fan. Thanks for ID’ing McDowel’s car in Short Fuse, it’s a beaut! Love the red T-Corvette in Exercise in Fatality. Nice!
Thanks G.A.
As a Corvette owner myself (’68 vintage race car, etc.), I don’t know why Corvettes escaped my mention, but they are in several episodes, but only in the background. Another detail to get right that cost the production company some extra money – would be a mistake to tell a story taking place in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country (and actually shoot there), and only have the principle’s cars be expensive or flashy. (And things never change in LA – back then to right now, a European sports car will always make a Corvette seem very middle-class! Actually, it’s so incredibly perfect that Milo Janis drives a Corvette, perfect. I hope the senior level creative people appreciated how much thought the show’s “car wrangler” gave to these choices. “Casting” is such a wider net than just the actors…the wardrobe is casting, the locations is casting, the cars is casting, the art on the walls is casting…. And all you need is one weak link.
P.P.
Actually it’s Milo’s right-hand man Buddy Castle who drives the Corvette. Milo drives some sort of Rolls, which always seemed a bit incongruous to me. I felt he ought to have been in more of a muscle car to match his physique.
What about Forrest Tucker’s Eldorado with the underdash cassette deck?? Key piece of evidence in the “Blueprint for Murder” Episode. Country vs Classical Music. Seat Moved up for a tall guy. Carsini’s Clamshell Kingswood Wagon was great also.
did anybody knew the location of Vito’s Restaurant in the Murder under glass episode?
Vito’s was just a set at the Universal lot.
Dans l’épisode “Murder under glass” le restaurant de vittorio n’existe plus. Un immeuble a été construit à son emplacement. N°8511 Beverly Pl (immeuble blanc, entrée orange). Dans l’épisode “Murder, a self portrait” le restaurant Vito est situé 67 Windward Av Venice.
This site is fantastic. I moved to LA in 1982 as an “adult” freshly-minted college graduate. We never think that where we are, at any given time, will actually become “classic” or “vintage”. And the amount of change there was in a mere decade in L.A. is fairly stunning. The LAX airport in 1972’s “Most Crucial Game” looks like a regional airport in comparison to what it would look like only 10 years later. It is also amazing how many of the house locations remain standing considering the extreme amount of houses in Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills and Holmby Hills have been torn down and replaced with architectural nightmares. It also underscores how vital the city of Los Angeles – and the fact that they did so much shooting on location – was to the show. If they had faked everything on the Universal lot, the show would have suffered immeasurably, regardless of the quality of the writing and acting. Thanks for this.
I lived and worked in The Valley for many years and filled up at the 76 often in episodes. I am wondering if any body knows the Name of the Church Peter Faulk is stood outside in at least on episode.
There is a poorly marked place on the map. The port in each was filmed Columbo Conspirators to Berth 54. I showed this place on the map. Please correct the map. Tomek from Poland Regards
This guide and map completely rocks! I love Columbo and love the sets, beautiful homes and location shooting in LA and elsewhere. Makes me want to book a trip to LA for the purpose of an exclusive Columbo “tour” itself! Thanks so much. Just as entertaining and informative as the site, ReelSF, which examines all the locations for movies filmed in the SF Bay Area then and now. Thanks again!
This is yet more awesomeness from Columbophile! To see everything laid out so clearly is fantastic. I’m hoping to visit LA in 2022 for my 50th. I’ll see how many of these I can find. Thank you so much 😀
Happy travels! I do hope the map will be useful to you on the ground!
Love watching Columbo’s California settings, as I lived in that area from ’64 through ’69. Very nostalgic. Sadly, it is now Paradise Somewhat Lost.
milo janus’s house backs onto a golfcourse…almost….this is a tayriffic website…..i believe without doubt thats the adjective LT Columbo would use to describe this site…..really tayriffic.
This is truly amazing and endlessly entertaining. An absolute must-have during your next Columbo binge.
Love the map. Small typo on St Matthew Mission. Murdered should read murderer I think?
I LOVE this and book marked the page!
I visit Los Angeles a handful of times per year and always tell my husband that I wish there was some sort of “Columbo” location tour. We just returned from an LA trip on June 2–the day this article was posted! Waaaaahhhhhhhhhh! Well, now we just have an excuse to return. I cannot thank you enough for putting this together!!!
Before I view the map, I want to give a thank you to Jason, Jean-Pierre, and of course, Columbophile for doing this. You three have taken time out of your lives to do this and it’s much appreciated. One thing. How did I not know that Columbo was filmed at The Citadel in South Carolina? I live there off and on for 23 years up until 2016. lol I must have known and just forgot that I knew. Or maybe I didn’t know at all. lol Thanks, again!
Thank YOU! It’s worth the time put in if people find it useful!
Bonjour. Si vous avez vécu plusieurs années à Charleston, vous devriez reconnaître dans l’épisode tourné à la citadelle, à 1h05’26” de début de l’épisode, le portail de la scène tournée au Ashley Hall 172 Rutledge Av à Charleston, coordonnées sur google earth 32°47’11.13″N / 79°56’43.90″O. Cordialement.
Hi! I actually lived in Columbia which is 80 miles from Charleston. But I have seen the Citadel on TV plenty of times. Apparently not enough to recognize it on Columbo. lol Thank you!
Hello
There is a place that needs to be changed: CARSINI WINERY. Indeed there is a website on the internet that says it is located in San Jose, it’s a mistake. To view the buildings remaining today from the location where several scenes were shot, see Google Earth at the following coordinates 34 ° 3’48.97 “N / 117 ° 35’20.70” O Address 2880E Airport Dr. Guasti. By positioning the index of time in October 2007 we can see the buildings that no longer exist today.
cordially
Thanks JP, I will update that once I get a chance.
I love watching Colombo.
This is great. One correction: At the opening of Swan Song, while the story had the concert in Bakersfield, the film location was actually the Universal (now Gibson) Amphitheatre which was on the Universal property. It is now enclosed but was originally open-air when Swan Song was filmed.
I mis-read the Google map legend for the Purple pin…so, my comment is an addition rather than a correction.
Thanks Dave, I’ll add that location in!
Interesting, in the episode the Benedict house looks like a grand manse on the scale of the Kennicuts’, but the street view image suggests it’s more modest, like a little neoclassical toy. And in scaled-down, old-money Pasadena!
Great app! From Google Street View, I see that Aunt Edna still has the same fence and gate, almost 50 years later. They look to be in great shape. New roof, though. Nicer than her old one. I checked to see if the hill behind her house was safe for a ditzy old bat to be wandering around on. Some of those canyon slopes are quite steep However, it looks doable to me. Can’t get a good street view of Uncle Rudy’s house at the top of the hill because of the long driveway, but the satellite view says it’s time to think about a new roof. It’s not surprising that it hasn’t been kept up. It was a rental. (And what are people saying about YOUR house on Google maps?)
You said it yourself: this is really good! That map feels like a playstore to me, and a place to wander endlessly. Many thanks to all the contributors!
Griffith Park From How To Dial a Murder was Also referenced to a Few years later in a Photograph at the End scene from Columbo goes To College .
Ohhhhhh myyyyyyy goddddddddddd! Everytime I watch an episode I am googling, googling, googling the location. Often times it is unsuccessful. I am soooooooo excited about this!!!!
I’ve told you how much I love before but now it’s ridiculous!!!!!
I am so happy!!!
Thank you!
Elizabeth
On Sun, Jun 2, 2019 at 12:40 AM The Columbophile wrote:
> columbophile posted: ” Columbo fans know that the series’ epic and > intricate locations contribute greatly to its authentic drama and sense of > place. From the Lieutenant sitting alone amidst the seats at the LA > Coliseum and the stately grounds of the Carsini Winery to the many ” >
Thanks Elizabeth, I’m delighted you’re finding it of use. I’m very happy with it, plus we’ll keep adding locations as we identify them. I’ve realised we could add Peter Falk place in Ossining to the map as Peter’s hometown!
Thank so much!! Very interesting and fun to look at! (Please…more episode reviews, I really love your style!!)
There’ll be another episode review up next weekend!
A Matter of honor Up Next Weekend , Great ,Although it is one of My Least Favorite episodes , But I am sure the Review will be Fair and Honest , It Has been a long time since I watched it in Full as it Is one that dosent appeal to me and I dont enjoy much I have Skipped to the ending once or twice on you tube and it seems to have a decent conclusion and It may be on the whole better than I remember it but I still think its going to be rubbing shoulders with those current basement episodes such as short Fuse, Dagger of the mind ( which at the Moment is Rock bottom ), lovely but Lethal and mind over mayhem . I am betting that Last salute to the Commodore in 2 reviews time might be rated lower and even knock dagger off its spot , well have to wait and see , also In between those 2 we have The Much Much Better Now You see Him with Jack Cassidy;s 3rd and final appearance, we look forward to it columbophile .
RE-posted on twitter @trefology
I haven’t had the pleasure of immersing myself in this wonderful-looking resource YET but am really looking forward to it, you kick b*tt CP
Map link doesn’t work.
This is a real treat – thanks Columbophile & Jason! There’s a few around me that I didn’t know about, but will be visiting now. Another suggestion is the distinctive Pasadena City Hall, used in Agenda For Murder, in the ‘Call that a lining’ joke scene.
And I’m certain a scene in one of the later eps was filmed at Huntington Gardens in East Pasadena.
This is great. Many questions answered. Thank you.
What’s really interesting is that at least 75% of all the murderers portrayed on Columbo episodes drove Mercedes Benz cars.
Jason Clarke is our hero and a kindred spirit
My wife and I often joke, normally during an episode, that we will move to LA and open a Columbo Tour of locations.
Our research has been done!
I LOVE this! Now I know why I could never figure out where Ken Franklin’s “San Diego” cabin was. Also, considering where it actually is, Milo Janus would have had a heckuva a jog from the beach to his house 🙂
The Ken Franklin cabin question was driving me insane, as (to my knowledge) no lakes near San Diego look anything like that! Thanks, Columbophile!
A few years ago I was able to ride the Palm Springs aerial tramway and in the boarding area it proudly tell you that it was use in Columbo however the cars aren’t the same one used in episode the new ones spin as you move up and down the cables there is one of older car at the bottom of the tramway.
This map is an utter delight! It will bring enjoyment for many days to come. I appreciate all you do to keep our Columbophilia alive and well!
Donna
Hello columbophile Great New Post , I Have Never been To The States in the Flesh so I cant recognize too many locations but I Can Remember reading somewhere possibly on this Blog that in Dead weight whilst on the boat The Marina Home Used by General Holilster was Falks real home at the time , And as I live in London im assuming that the wax works museum in Dagger of the mind was madame Tussaud’s in Baker Street but was it actually Madame Tussaud’s and where is the pub that columbo met the male murderer , I forget his name and a lot else to do with Dagger of the mind as it is so long since I have watched it as it is right down in my 70s Ratings..
IMDB has it right: “The exterior building used as the “London Wax Museum” was in fact the Royal College of Music”
It’s on the back side of the Royal Albert hall down the stairs – still missing from the map, though.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068396/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
Brilliantly done!!! Until now I’ve had to track down this filming info all alone. Can’t thank you enough.
Bill
Thanks, Columbophile.
That’s a very good thing realised.
I suggest you to introduce also the JFK-airport in New York (an iconic building conceived by Eero Saarinen), which appears briefly in “Any Old Port in A Storm” (as briefly as Acapulco in “Prescription Murder”).
Your map makes it possible now to see if the locations are geographically consistent with the stories told (distances, time and so). However, Joan Hudson’s residence in “Prescription: Murder” is not consistent with the profile of the woman: a very, very expensive house for a little movie-star.
However living far away from L.A., I had already identified some spots. Such as (a later season) Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, L.A.; in “Sex and the Married Detective” and the Vincent Thomas Bridge in L.A. in “The Conspirators” (which is a more specific location than “the Port of L.A.”).
I hope the many readers of your beautiful website will complete your work. A lot of locations are still to be found (courthouses, as in “Lady in Waiting”, Columbo’s office, etc.).
Thanks Jeff, good idea to include JFK airport. The intention is for this map to grow based on reader feedback, and we may well do a separate one for the 1989-2003 episodes.
In the episode where he comes to London it is shown in a very dingy light lol the house or mansion where the dead body is found desd does not look English as it’s supposed to be, was that filmed in the US?
Yes, that was in California at the Greystone Mansion.
Thought so the style of the place and the changed light suggested that.
That looks like the mansion that was lived in by the cast of ‘Benson’.
I believe it was! Possibly also in Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
I looked up on IMDb, and it was indeed the exterior shot of the Benson mansion. I didn’t watch Fresh Prince, so I can’t confirm that.
Awesomeness 👍
Thank you! We’re very proud of it.
Hi columbophile ,, One of my all Time favorite scenes is on the pier in Try And Catch Me before Abigail Mitchell tries to Rid of the keys and the Exchange of words they have before the famous Don,t count on that line is delivered , Does Columbo Know the Exact location of that pier and what it was used for , I think i remember to people line fishing in the background and what its Called or any other shows it might have been in ? ,
“Santa Monica Pier”.
Part of Santa Monica Pier was demolished during the storm of January 27, 1983 see the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TmCGTQPyYw
We see this part demolished in the episode Columbo “The most crucial game” from 1972 to 53’28 ”
cordially
Thank JP, I wondered if it was the same location as Crucial Game. I’ll add it on to the map.
Yes three’s definitely a resemblance in the pier from The Most crucial game and Try and catch me.