In 2017, I had a great time visiting MacGyver filming locations in Los Angeles, and I ended that post with "Next stop....Vancouver." Nine years later, the train has finally pulled into the Canadian station. The sky in the Vancouver episodes is often overcast and so I was hoping for at least one cloudy day to set the mood, but alas every day was bright and sunny. Better luck next time!
RUNNERS: SNAKESKIN APARTMENT
I wonder if anyone living in this apartment building knows that it's the former site of Snakeskin's prostitution ring. Probably not.
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MAMA COLTON HOUSE
It was great to retrace the footsteps and stand on the same ground as the GOAT himself. Of course, I'm speaking of Frog Dog.
Also the lighting on my Day 1 pictures is not the best. I have an old-school digital camera that hadn't been used in many years, and turns out the lens was smudged.
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DEADLY DREAMS: PSYCH WARD
I stopped in and said hello to Dr. Zito, he sends along his regards.
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CLEO ROCKS: THEATER
Murder is in the air
Under the Temple of
Ra.
Death awaits (Nick for taking such a terrible photo)
On the final
Curtain.
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COURTHOUSE
This building functioned as a courthouse in several episodes but is actually the Vancouver Art Gallery.
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CLOCK: OPENING CREDITS
In my Los Angeles Location Adventure, I bought an ice cream cone and asked the vendor to take multiple pictures of me to try and get the right shot to match the opening credits. He was very nice and likely thought that I was a lunatic. This time around, it was very crowded and I didn't have the nerve to recreate the ice cream shot again, so just the clock photo will have to do.
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I'm partial to this shot of MacGyver running with the Ming Dragon because it was often shown on USA Network during the commercial break ("MacGyver will return right after this.")
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RUNNERS: CONVENTION CENTER
This location (Canada Place) also features in Lost Love: Part One.
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LOST LOVE PART ONE: ESCALATORS
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CHILDREN OF LIGHT: CHINESE CONSULATE
I chanted "Free Mei Jan, Free China!" as I walked by. OK, maybe I only chanted it in my head.
This building also served as the exterior of the Helman Club in Halloween Knights.
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THE SPOILERS: BALCONY
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PHOENIX FOUNDATION
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HOUSEBOAT
The houseboat is no longer in this location (it's in a different area on the outskirts of Vancouver), and this spot looks a lot different now. But standing here was still very special for me.
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THE WALL: TOY STORE
Mercifully, this is the last picture I took with the smudged lens.
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THE VISITORS: MOTEL
The staircases didn't quite line up with the motel like they did in the show, so they might have been remodeled at some point. I did though see an alien disguised as a vacuum cleaner salesman, so that was fun.
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JACK IN THE BOX: SMILEY
I was on my best behavior here -- no jaywalking for me, because I had no interest in being forcibly arrested by a corrupt southern lawman.
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THE SECRET OF PARKER HOUSE
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This seafood restaurant is right across the street from the Smiley cafe.
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FAITH, HOPE & CHARITY
This was one of the highights of the trip, getting to be on the grounds and actually walk inside the house -- just had to watch out for wolf traps. It's a historic home called London Farm, and it's open to the public. There were several people volunteering there as guides. I told them that I was there seeing the MacGyver filming location, and none of them had any clue that an episode was filmed there. They were very excited to learn that, and they said they were going to go back and watch the episode right away!
I also asked the guides if they knew about the Underground Railroad secret passage in the house and they were not aware of that either.
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The hammock and shed are no longer there.
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The Sweet Dreams sign is currently in the room across the hall from his bedroom in the show.
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BACK FROM THE DEAD: CANNERY
I hate to defile this blog post with a picture of Ralph, but it was a good shot of the cannery in the background. I wish I could have been here 40 years ago to whoop his ass, but at least I can take solace knowing that he's still recovering from the steam to his eyeballs.
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MACGYVER'S WOMEN
The village museum was closed when I got there, so apologies to loyal reader Mark for not getting a better shot of his favorite episode. But I was able to get a photo of one of the buildings through a fence.
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CEASE FIRE
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The photo below is of a different building from the previous shot but is in the same general area. The boathouse from the episode no longer exists.
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HELL WEEK
Too bad there's no more dinosaur.
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The elevator is no longer at the same spot at the end of the hall.
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THE SECRET OF PARKER HOUSE
The mansion is now a community center which is open to the public, and it was amazing to go inside (though I had to stay on the first floor). As with the Faith, Hope & Charity house, the guy who worked here had no idea that it was part of a MacGyver episode.
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BLOW OUT: POST OFFICE
I'm probably the only person on earth who would go out of his way to visit the Blow Out post office and take photos from multiple angles.
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BLIND FAITH: TRAIN STATION
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MASK OF THE WOLF: EDUCATION CENTER AND TWO EAGLES' HOUSE
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So there you have it. I didn't have a car and relied on public transportation, so I missed out on some of the more wilderness-related sites that I would have liked to see, but that will give me something to do for next time. Thanks for reading!
Excellent Adventure. Were you able to see the totem poles?
ReplyDeleteThanks! I actually biked in Stanley Park on my last day but I stuck to the seawall and missed the totem poles and the GX-1 building, unfortunately.
DeleteYou did an amazing job. I'm trying to wrap my head around all of the scouting you needed to do to get these locations. Or were you following the playbook of others who visited the location?
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming you didn't discover until the end of Day 1 that your lens was smudged. Unfortunate but we super-fans can still recognize the locations and enjoy the display.
Disappointing that so many people that work in these places had no idea that a "MacGyver" episode was filmed there. It's pretty crazy that that "Sweet Dreams" sign is still hanging about the bed in the "Faith, Hope, and Charity" mansion 35 years later.
Did you ever share the photos of you eating an ice cream cone in Los Angeles? I don't recall seeing them and I think I'd have remembered that!
I had never noticed that the Chinese consulate from "Children of Light" was the same building used for the exterior shot of "Halloween Knights". It kind of makes sense as a shortcut since the two episodes were filmed back to back.
Was the building for the Swiss school from "Cease Fire" the same building used as "Aspenhaus"??? in "GX-1"?
The train station from "Blind Faith" was a cool location. I'm surprised they only used it once.
I never noticed there was a "seafood" restaurant in Smiley, Arkansas, on the episode. Seems a little against type to imagine Bull Bodine and Warden Renfrow eating crab legs.
The boarding house from "Mask of the Wolf"....where the hell did that tree come from? For a tree that large to be there now is a good reminder of how long it's been since 1988!
I know they filmed part of "MacGyver's Women" and "Serenity" in Calgary. Didn't realize they had the standing set of the town in Vancouver.
I think the cannery from "Back from the Dead" was the same location--or at least adjacent to--the fish processing plant from "The Black Corsage".
Great job again. I'd like to know what your secret was to finding all of those locations. How many days were you there again?
*Thanks! I relied on the filming locations on rdanderson.com and macgyveronline, also the forums on macgyveronline.
Delete*Yes, not until end of day did I realize there was a smudge.
*The ice cream shot is in the LA blog post, but I realized later that the shot was in the wrong direction.
*The Aspenhaus is a different building in Stanley Park, I was in Stanley Park but I missed it and the totem poles.
*The trainyard part of Blind Faith was also used in Early Retirement, but it wasn't open. The station was desolate, maybe it's not used much anymore.
*The Seafood restaurant shot is from Parker House, but it's across the street from the Smiley shot.
*I think MacGyver's Women was exclusively filmed in Vancouver in that replica town which is now a museum, but Serenity was in Calgary.
*I was there for 4 full days.
You definitely know some stuff I didn't even before you got there for pics. At least in 1990, RDA said they'd be "returning to Calgary" to film another Western episode. Maybe that fell through or perhaps they just did a couple of days shooting in Calgary and the remainder close to home.
Deletei've been to/past a few of these locations on visits to Vancouver for RDA's other show - Stargate SG-1. XD i've been down to Gastown and we drove through Steveston (it was at night, so kinda dark). was down at Canada place once - near it anyway.
ReplyDeletetypically we were down in Richmond for the con itself, but had excursions up into Vancouver proper. but a couple years we were at the Sheraton Wall Centre - which isn't far from Snakeskin's apt and, iirc, is pretty close to Zito's hospital. and is on the same couple of blocks as the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Great job. I watched High Control last night. Was that warehouse in Vancouver or LA? Also, the warehouse had to have been used for other episodes. It looks very familiar.
ReplyDeleteThat would have been Vancouver because it's season 6, but I'm not sure of the exact location. It does look a bit like the one from Birth Day, but that one was season 2 LA.
DeleteAmazing! No wonder you had blisters! Clever summary too. :) ~Liney
ReplyDelete