The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “The Bad Mother”

Turmoil abounds in the sixth episode of Big Little Lies’ second season, “The Bad Mother.”  Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) face off in court, Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositions Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott), Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) has a deathbed confession with her mom, Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox), and Renata Klein (Laura Dern) finds out about husband Gordon’s (Jeffrey Nordling) affair with the nanny!  Phew!  Read on for a list of where it all happened.  (Note – as was the case with my posts about the locales from “What Have They Done?,” ”Tell-Tale Hearts,” “The End of the World,” “She Knows,” and “Kill Me,” 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 some crossover should be expected.)

1. Corey’s House (263 Old Ranch Road, Sierra Madre) – “The Bad Mother” opens with Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) storming over to Corey Brockfield’s (Douglas Smith) home to find out if he’s working with the police.  A small Sierra Madre cottage was utilized in the short segment and both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior were seen, albeit very briefly.  (Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Peter for identifying this location for me! )

2. The Monterey 5’s Beach Meet-Up (White Point Park Parking Lot, 1801 West Paseo Del Mar, San Pedro) – Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) and the gang have yet another secret parking lot meeting, this time at White Point Park in San Pedro, during which the cracks in their armor start to show.  This locale also appears in episode 5, “Kill Me.”

3. Cypress Community Hospital (Lanterman Developmental Center, 3530 Pomona Boulevard, Pomona) – Bonnie makes several startling bedside confessions to her mother while sitting vigil in her room at Monterey'”‘”‘s fictional Cypress Community Hospital.  Filming actually took place at the shuttered Lanterman Developmental Center in Pomona, which also popped up in “The End of the World,” “She Knows” and “Kill Me.”  The facility, closed since 2014, formerly provided housing for the developmentally disabled, but currently sits vacant, which means I need to stalk it for a Haunted Hollywood post!  There’s even a carousel situated on the grounds of the abandoned property – can you think of anything more eerie?  (Insert scream face emoji here!)

4. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Madeline attempts to reconnect to the person she was on her wedding day by trying on her wedding dress (“It doesn’t fit, but we’re not talking about that!”) at her gorgeous home – which is just the magic wand Ed needs to repair their marriage.  Both the interior and exterior of Madeline and Ed’s Cape Cod-style pad are featured extensively throughout Seasons 1 and 2.  I dedicated a post to the house – which is actually located in Malibu and serves as a vacation rental in real life – back in 2017.

Interestingly, the front of the Mackenzie residence, the driveway of which appears briefly in “The Bad Mother,” is a different location entirely.  That property can be found at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel.

5. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – The gorgeous home where Celeste lives with her twin boys, Max (Nicholas Crovetti) and Josh (Cameron Crovetti), is one of the few Monterey 5 residences actually located on the Central Coast.  The rear patio and kitchen of the Carmel Highlands property appear in “The Bad Mother,” as well as in most Seasons 1 and 2 episodes, but the boys’ room and master bedroom were just studio-built sets.

6. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Renata and Gordon call a humongous mansion in Malibu home on the series, though due to their bankruptcy proceedings, it sits largely empty, much like their marriage.  In “The Bad Mother,” the backyard and living room of the property are featured.

7. Monterey Bay Aquarium (886 Cannery Row, Monterey) – Jane brushes off Corey’s attempts at a reconciliation at the Rocky Shore touch pools exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, where they both work as educators.

8. Monterey Superior Court (Superior Court of California, Marina Division, 3180 Del Monte Boulevard, Marina) –  Celeste and Mary Louise’s custody hearing gets underway at an actual Monterey courthouse – the Superior Court of California, Marina Division.  The site’s unique exterior is only briefly shown in the episode, though we catch a better glimpse of it in “I Want to Know.”

The building’s real life lobby (where Renata has more trouble with a metal detector!), hallway and an anteroom are also featured in “The Bad Mother.”

But I am fairly certain that the courtroom itself was a studio-built set.

9. Jane and Ziggy’s Bodysurfing Beach (Del Monte Beach, 653 Del Monte Avenue, Monterey) – Corey interrupts Jane’s bodysurfing session with her son, Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage), at Del Monte Beach in order to tell her that he is not going to give up on their relationship easily.

10. Tori and Ed’s Starbucks Meet-Up (1 Kersting Court, Sierra Madre) – Tori makes a major pass at Ed – and tells him about a rather disturbing diary that she keeps – at a Starbucks outpost in downtown Sierra Madre.  You can read a post about the locale, which also pops up in “I Want to Know,” here.

11. Mary Louise’s Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – The actual interior of a unit at Monterey’s picturesque Ocean Harbor portrays the new apartment of Mary Louise, where Jane goes to confront her about her custody war with Celeste in “The Bad Mother.”  Jane also calls the complex home on the series.

12. Bankruptcy Hearing (Spring Street Courthouse, 312 North Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – I am fairly certain that the scene in which Renata and Gordon’s nanny, Juliette (Nelly Buchet), seeks $160,000 in restitution for “other services rendered” – ahem, “stress management” – during a bankruptcy hearing was shot in a room at the Spring Street Courthouse in downtown L.A.  The same spot also portrayed Gordon’s jail in “Tell-Tale Hearts” and was the site of another of the couple’s bankruptcy hearings in “She Knows.”

Be sure to check back Monday for my post on Big Little Lies’ season 2 finale, “I Want to Know.”

‘