The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “She Knows”

The fourth episode of Big Little Lies’ second season is pretty much when the show jumped the shark for me.  Though there were some captivating moments – a pumpkin carving party, a disco soiree and that slap! – the majority of “She Knows” was just meh.  Nevertheless, I proudly present to you its locations!  (Note – as was the case with my posts about the locales from “What Have They Done?”, ”Tell-Tale Hearts” and “The End of the World,” because I have already extensively detailed BLL’s inaugural season, I will not be covering flashbacks.  And places that appear in multiple episodes will be noted as such, so expect some crossover.)

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1. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – At the top of “She Knows,” the Monterey 5 and their children enjoy a brief respite from the drama surrounding them thanks to a pumpkin carving party hosted by Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) at the gorgeous home she shares with her husband, Ed (Adam Scott).  An unexpected visit from Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) cuts the festivities short, though– and results in a slap in the face from Celeste (Nicole Kidman).  Don’t go looking for the idyllic beachside pad where filming took place in Monterey as Madeline and Ed’s residence (my favorite of the series) can actually be found in Malibu.  And it’s a vacation rental in real life!  You can read a post I wrote about the dwelling, which appears throughout Seasons 1 and 2, here.

Interestingly, when the front of the Mackenzie home is shown later in the episode, a different spot is used.  That pad, which is also seen a couple of times in Season 1, is actually on the Central Coast.  It’s at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel.

2. Jane and Corey’s Surfing Beach (Del Monte Beach, 653 Del Monte Avenue, Monterey) – During a surf session at Del Monte Beach, Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) invites her new love interest, Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith), to Amabella Klein’s (Ivy George) disco-themed birthday party.  Though he accepts, he is not especially enthused about the costume aspect of the event because of the huge “opportunity for embarrassment.”  A man who doesn’t like costume parties?  Jane, you can do better!  This locale is also where Jane and Corey run into each other in “What Have They Done?” and where Corey gives Ziggy (Iain Armitage) surf lessons in “The End of the World.”

3. Blissful Drip Café (Lovers Point Park, 631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – Mary Louise and Celeste discuss the respective ways they deal with grief at Monterey’s newest hot spot, Blissful Drip Café.  As I detail in this post, the eatery is not a real place, but was a set constructed solely for the Big Little Lies shoot in Pacific Grove’s Lovers Point Park.  Though featured religiously throughout episodes 1 through 4, “She Knows” marks the coffee shop’s last Season 2 appearance.

4. Bankruptcy Court (Spring Street Courthouse, 312 North Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – Renata Klein (Laura Dern) attends a bankruptcy hearing with husband Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling) at downtown L.A.’s Spring Street Courthouse where she gets into more trouble with a metal detector and is forced to relinquish her wedding ring.  The same spot also served as Gordon’s jail in “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

As was the case in that episode, signage reading “Los Angeles” is visible in the background giving away the courthouse’s true location as a non-Central Coast site.

5. Renata and Gordon’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Despite their financial woes, Renata and Gordon throw a lavish, over-the-top disco-themed costume party (headlined by Earl Young and The Trammps!) for their daughter Amabella’s 8th birthday at their massive home, which, like Madeline’s, can be found in Malibu.

6. Ira Farber’s Law Office (Scheper Kim & Harris LLP, The CalEdison, 601 West 5th Street, 12th Floor, downtown Los Angeles) – An actual law firm housed on the 12th floor of DTLA’s CalEdison building serves as the office of Mary Louise’s cutthroat custody lawyer, Ira Farber (Denis O’Hare).  You can check out some interior photos of the space, which also pops up in “Kill Me,” here.

7. Cypress Community Hospital (Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona) – Pomona’s Lanterman Developmental Center portrays the Monterey-area hospital where Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox) is admitted following the stroke she suffers at Amabella’s party.  The massive 309-acre facility, closed since 2014, housed the developmentally disabled while in operation, but currently sits vacant.  This is the same spot Amabella was taken post anxiety attack in “The End of the World” and it makes additional appearances throughout the rest of Season 2.  (Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for identifying this location!  )

8. Jane and Celeste Grab Cocktails (City Tavern, 9739 Culver Boulevard, Culver City) – After Amabella’s party, Jane and Celeste head to City Tavern to debrief.  The cozy Culver City bar is also seen in episode 5, “Kill Me.”

9. Pizza Parlor (Bean Town, 45 North Baldwin Avenue, Sierra Madre) – Mary Louise takes the twins, Josh (Cameron Crovetti) and Max (Nicholas Crovetti), for the “best pizza in the woooooooorld” at Bean Town, a popular Sierra Madre coffee house.  Because the eatery was heavily dressed to appear like an upscale Italian restaurant, not to mention barely shown, it is, unfortunately, not very recognizable in the scene.  You can read a more in-depth post on the locale, and see photos of it decked out for the shoot, here.

10. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – While dropping the twins off at their gorgeous oceanside home, Mary Louise catches Celeste with a one-night stand and promptly slaps her with a custody suit.  Celeste’s residence, which is featured in both Season 1 and 2, is one of the few Monterey 5 pads that can actually be found on the Central Coast.  In real life, it sits perched atop a rocky cliff in Carmel.

11. Café Descanso (Descanso Gardens, 1414 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge) – Madeline and Renata have a terse run-in with Detective Adrienne Quinlan (Merrin Dungey) at their regular Season 2 hangout, Café Descanso.  Like Blissful Drip, the eatery, which pops up repeatedly in episodes 1 through 4, makes its last Season 2 appearance in “She Knows.”  Unlike Blissful Drip, this spot is a real place, located on the grounds of Descanso Gardens.  I wrote about it here.

12. Mary Louise’s New Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – Jane confronts Mary Louise about her custody battle with Celeste at her new apartment in Monterey’s Ocean Harbor, the same beachside complex where Jane also lives.

While Jane’s apartment was a studio-built set, the actual interior of an Ocean Harbor unit was utilized as Mary Louise’s.  Little of the space can be seen in “She Knows,” but you can check out some behind-the-scenes imagery of it here.

Be sure to check back Wednesday for a look at episode 5, “Kill Me.”