Woodbury University from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

Today’s locale, Woodbury University, was originally going to be included in this year’s Haunted Hollywood postings.  I first learned about the Burbank college thanks to its appearance in the 2018 horror flick Truth or Dare and ran right out to stalk it, figuring it would fit in perfectly with my annual October theme.  It was not until I sat down to research the place that I discovered its incredibly extensive film resume.  The school easily has to be one of the San Fernando Valley’s most oft-used locations!  From The Wonder Years to The Office, the site has popped up in countless notable productions over the years, including my and the Grim Cheaper’s latest favorite, Brooklyn Nine-Nine.  Anytime a college is needed for an L.A.-area shoot, it seems, cast and crew head straight to Woodbury.  How I had never heard of the place is beyond me!  Thinking the university was better suited to a non-horror-related post, I back-burnered it and am thrilled to finally be writing about it now!

Woodbury Business College, as it was originally known, was founded by entrepreneur F. C. Woodbury in 1884.  Initially housed in single-room space at 316 North Main Street in downtown L.A. with a staff of two, the school offered four classes, all related to practical business skills – bookkeeping, English, spelling, and penmanship.  It was not long before high enrollment brought about a need to expand and the college took over an entire floor of the Stowell Building located a few blocks away at 226 South Spring Street.  The structure, sadly, has since been demolished.  In 1924, Woodbury received charter status from the state and expanded its curriculum to include business administration, foreign trade, and marketing courses.  As the student body continued to grow, the school moved numerous times until 1937 when it finally set up shop at a Streamline Moderne building designed by Claud Beelman at 1027 Wilshire Boulevard, where it remained for the next fifty years.  Sadly, that property was also since razed.

In 1961, the school received full charter status.  That same year, its name was officially changed to Woodbury University.

When the need to expand arose once again in the 1980s, administrators acquired the former Villa Cabrini Academy Catholic girls high school, a 22.4-acre Burbank site that was initially built in 1927 as a summer home for orphans and underprivileged youth.

The new Woodbury campus, which opened to students in the fall of 1987, featured landscaped grounds, a gym, a pool, an athletic field, and dormitories.  Additional facilities were also built in order to accommodate an eventual prospective enrollment of 2,500.

Woodbury University continued to flourish in its new home and today the school boasts two additional campuses (in Hollywood and San Diego) and offers degrees in over twenty subjects including business, computer information systems, and design.

The college is absolutely beautiful with gorgeous landscaping . . .

. . . tucked away spots . . .

. . . a tree-lined central quad . . .

. . . and both modern design elements . . .

. . . as well as Italian Romanesque, which harken back to the site’s secular roots.

So it comes as no surprise that Woodbury is a frequent screen star.  And what fun I had putting together a comprehensive list of its many cameos!

The school’s original gym was used extensively in the 1989 action flick Best of the Best as the spot where Alexander Grady (Eric Roberts) and the rest of the Team USA martial artists regularly practiced.

In 2001, that gym was transformed into the university’s Design Center.  Though completely remodeled, the basketball court markings are still intact today, as you can see in photos here and here.

The exterior of the gym also made an appearance in Best of the Best . . .

. . . as did one of the school’s parking lots.

That same year, the gym popped up as the Kennedy Junior High School gymnasium, where Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) took a stand against his best friend, Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano), constantly being picked last for team sports, in the Season 2 episode of The Wonder Years titled “Loosiers.”

In 2001, Woodbury masked as the fictional University of Northeastern California in two Season 1 episodes of Undeclared – “Eric Visits” . . .

. . . and “Hell Week.”

In the Season 5 episode of The Office titled “Business Trip,” which aired in 2008, Woodbury poses as New York’s Pratt School of Design, where Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) tearfully tells Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) that she failed her art class.  Filming took place outside of Woody’s Café and the Cabrini Gallery, though very little of either building can be seen.

Woodbury University appears very briefly in the Season 6 episode of Criminal Minds titled “Middle Man,” which aired in 2010, in the scene in which the Behavioral Analysis Unit canvases college campuses in search of a group of serial killers.

In the Season 3 episode of Workaholics titled “Flashback in a Day,” which aired in 2012, Woodbury poses as RC Polytechnic.

The school’s gorgeous library (which originally served as Villa Cabrini Academy’s chapel) masquerades as the Brooklyn Public Library, where Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) chase down a suspect in a deleted scene from the Season 1 episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine titled “The Tagger,” which aired in 2013.  You can watch that scene here.

Sadly, the library was closed when we visited Woodbury, so we only got to see its exterior.

During the fourth season of Shameless, which started airing in 2014, Woodbury was utilized regularly as the interior of Chicago Polytechnic, where Lip Gallagher (Jeremy Allen White) attended school.

That same year, Woodbury’s School of Business popped up in an establishing shot of the Raviga Capital Management offices in two Season 1 episodes of Silicon Valley – “Articles of Incorporation” and “Third Party Insourcing.”

Colette Kimball-Kinney (Fortune Feimster) and Jody Kimball-Kinney (Garret Dillahunt) attend a Physicians on the Front orientation in Woodbury'”‘”‘s auditorium in the Season 6 episode of The Mindy Project titled “Danny in Real Life,” which aired in 2017.

That same year, the school portrayed Danton College, where JJ DiMeo (Micah Fowler) shot a guest part in Bikini University 3, in the Season 2 episode of Speechless titled “B-I– BIKINI U-N– UNIVERSITY.”

Woodbury popped up as Long Beach Tech in another episode of Speechless, Season 3′”‘”‘s “THE S-T-A– STAIRCASE.”

In the 2018 horror flick Truth or Dare, Woodbury was used extensively as Westlake University, where Olivia Barron (Lucy Hale) and the rest of her doomed friends attend college.

The movie’s first freaky truth or dare challenge – which was featured in the trailer – takes place in the school’s library.

Actor Hayden Szeto, who played Brad Chen in the flick, posted the image below, of the Truth or Dare cast posing on the campus’ fountain, to Instagram the day that filming wrapped in July 2017, so I of course had to replicate it while I was there.

Said fountain can be found in the center of campus in the Alumni Quad.

That same year, Woodbury masked as the Mumbai university where Bravo team rescued a group of American students who had been taken hostage in the Season 2 episode of Seal Team titled “Say Again Your Last.”

The school portrayed Howard University, Dre Johnson'”‘”‘s (Anthony Anderson) alma mater, in the Season 4 episode of Black-ish titled “Black Math” that same year.

Woodbury'”‘”‘s library makes an appearance in 2019′”‘”‘s Booksmart.

The school pops up in the Season 4 episode of Lucifer titled “Super Bad Boyfriend” as Callaway Prep, where Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) and Chloe Decker (Lauren German) investigate the murder of a beloved teacher.

And the library is where Poppy Scoville-Parnell (Octavia Spencer) checks out books for her uncle in the Season 1 episode of Truth Be Told titled “No Cross, No Crown.”

Woodbury has also been featured in episodes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Community, Felicity, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and Just Add Magic, though I am unsure of which episodes in particular.  If anyone happens to know, please fill me in.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Woodbury University, from “The Tagger” episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is located at 7500 North Glenoaks Boulevard in Burbank.  You can visit the school’s official website here.

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