Oscars 2027 Weekend in Los Angeles: Film Locations to Visit

Every spring Hollywood turns into a film set for one night, and the 99th Academy Awards will do the same in March 2027. The Academy has scheduled the ceremony for Sunday, March 14, at the Dolby Theatre, and that date anchors the whole week. Most of the show itself is out of reach for the public: the seats go to members, nominees, presenters and their guests. What the public can reach is the city the films were shot in, and that is the subject of this guide.

We built the week around film locations that are open, free or affordable. We also separated them from the places that look reachable on a map but are private, closed, or were never filmed where the legend says. Each section gives the hours and the price where one is published, along with the caveat we could not resolve.

Everything here was checked on October 21, 2026, against the Academy’s own release, official venue pages and film records. Two things are still open. The Academy says every date for the 99th and 100th ceremonies is subject to change, and no 2027 street closure plan has been published. Treat the dates as a plan and recheck the closest ones in February. Prices are in US dollars, and times are US local times unless we say otherwise.

What is confirmed about the 2027 ceremony

The Academy and ABC announced the dates on April 7, 2026. The release names Sunday, March 14, 2027, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood, live on ABC and in more than 200 territories, with the start printed as 7 p.m. Eastern and 4 p.m. Pacific. It also says all dates for the 99th and 100th Academy Awards “are subject to change,” so this guide says “scheduled,” not “confirmed.”

The rest of the season follows the same published calendar. Nominations are announced on Thursday, January 21, 2027. The nominees luncheon is on Tuesday, February 16. Final voting runs from Thursday, February 25, at 9 a.m. Pacific to Thursday, March 4, at 5 p.m. Pacific. Those are the moments to recheck your plan, since the release already fixes them.

The Dolby Theatre opened in 2001 as the Kodak Theatre, was renamed in 2012, and has hosted the ceremony since 2002, with 2021 as the exception. According to TheWrap, 2027 and 2028 are the last two ceremonies held there, and from 2029 the show is due to move to the Peacock Theater at L.A. Live and to YouTube. A March 2027 visit therefore falls in the second-to-last year the ceremony will be held at the Dolby.

The timing is awkward if you plan to follow the show from France. US clocks have already moved to daylight time that Sunday, while France stays on winter time until March 28. Four o’clock in the afternoon in Los Angeles is therefore midnight on Monday, March 15, in Paris.

Getting into the ceremony, and the public routes around it

No public ticket route to the ceremony appeared on any official page we checked. Seats go mostly to Academy members, nominees, presenters and their guests. Older articles describe bleacher seats and a lottery run by a ticketing company. Neither is confirmed for 2027, so plan the week without them.

The public routes sit around the ceremony rather than inside it. The Academy Museum hosts an Official Oscars Watch Party. For the 98th ceremony, a third-party listing gives $125 general admission, and that edition sold out. For 2027, a retail promotion offers one loyalty member and a guest the chance to attend a watch party. That is a sweepstakes, not a sale, and we found no official 2027 event page. Check the museum site in early 2027 before you count on it.

The museum’s Oscars Experience, an immersive simulation, costs $10 for adults on top of general admission. Many visitors assume it is included. It is not, so budget for it separately.

The street is the other public stage. For Oscars week, Hollywood Boulevard is closed from Orange Drive to Highland Avenue. In 2026 the closure ran from 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, March 5, to 6 a.m. on Wednesday, March 18. The 2027 plan is not yet published. The closure map is at oscars.org/closures, and the 2026 notice gave no policy for residents, hotel guests or ticket holders. Ask your hotel how it handles deliveries and access that week.

Getting around Los Angeles that week

Metro is the cheapest way to cross the city. A single ride costs $1.75, the daily cap is $5 and the seven-day cap is $18, applied when you tap a card or a phone. Cash on the bus needs exact change and does not count toward the caps. The B Line stops at Hollywood/Highland, which opens onto Ovation Hollywood, and it links Hollywood to downtown. In 2026 the station was skipped for part of the Oscars weekend, so check Metro service alerts that week.

Downtown works best on foot. The Bradbury Building and Grand Central Market sit a few minutes’ walk apart on Broadway. Griffith Park is a separate trip: the Observatory has paid parking closest to the building, the lots fill early, and street parking is the fallback. Pick a morning arrival or leave the car at home and use a ride service.

If you would rather spend one day on a single bus, the full-day tour covers the most ground. It is seven hours long, with four one-hour stops, and the listing puts them at Santa Monica Pier, the Farmers Market, Griffith Observatory and the Walk of Fame. Pickup is at 6609 West Sunset Boulevard, and the listing gives a paid all-day parking option nearby.

La La Land: the Observatory, the overlook and the bridge in Pasadena

La La Land won six Oscars from 14 nominations at the 89th ceremony, including Best Actress, Best Director, Cinematography, Original Score, Original Song and Production Design. The film’s couple stops at Griffith Observatory after a projector failure during a screening of Rebel Without a Cause. Wikipedia describes the scene, and the Observatory is one of the few film locations on this list that costs nothing to enter.

The building and its grounds are free. Planetarium shows carry a nominal fee. Hours are Tuesday to Friday from noon to 10 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Observatory is closed on Mondays, so plan your visit for another day and treat the planetarium as an optional extra.

The famous dance is not inside the building. “A Lovely Night” is staged on the overlook called Cathy’s Corner, on Mount Hollywood Drive, a walk away from the Observatory. Gates and signs keep vehicles out, so you walk or ride a bike to reach it. Accounts differ on how much of the planetarium was shot on location, so check the film before you go in looking for a specific shot.

Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena is the other La La Land stop, and it is a separate trip from downtown. Mia and Sebastian take an evening stroll across it. A fence has lined the sidewalk since 2016, and the city has planned permanent barriers. A pedestrian-access project exists, but we found no completion date. Check the current status before you make the trip.

Downtown: the Bradbury Building and the staircase that won

The Bradbury Building, at 304 South Broadway, is the film location where winners and nominees sit side by side. The Artist, the 2011 silent film, won five Oscars at the 84th ceremony, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. Its staircase is where George Valentin and Peppy Miller pass each other, one climbing and one going down. Blade Runner (1982) was also filmed in the building, for its climax. It earned two nominations, for Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects, and it won neither. Many guides list it among the winners, so keep it in the nominee column.

The ground floor and the staircase are free during building hours. The upper floors are offices and are not open to visitors. Sources disagree on the hours, with one listing 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and another 9 to 6 on weekdays and 10 to 5 on weekends, so confirm the day’s schedule before you walk over.

Grand Central Market, at 317 South Broadway, is a few minutes away, and Time Out LA places Mia and Sebastian’s dinner there in La La Land. It is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., but each stall sets its own hours, so pick the stall in advance if you have a particular meal in mind.

Chinatown: the most documented set in Los Angeles

Chinatown (1974) won one Oscar, for Robert Towne’s original screenplay, from 11 nominations at the 47th ceremony. The AFI catalog lists more of the film’s Los Angeles locations than any other guide we read. It also contains a warning: about 65 percent of the footage was shot on Paramount soundstages, so “shot entirely on location” is wrong.

Several sites are public and walkable:

• Echo Park Lake, where Jake and Duffy photograph Hollis rowing with a young woman. It is a public park.
• The Olympic Boulevard bridge, which stands in for the Hollenbeck Bridge.
• Los Angeles City Hall, where the aqueduct hearing is staged in the council chamber. Check the building’s access rules on the day.
• The Pacific Dining Car on West Sixth Street, the stand-in for the Pig ‘n Whistle. It is a restaurant, so you can book a table.

Other sites are street-view or exterior only:

• El Macondo Apartments on Havenhurst Drive in West Hollywood, where Jake photographs from a roof. The building is private.
• The bungalow court at 848 East Kensington Road in Angelino Heights, where a body is found. It is a residential street, so look from the sidewalk and keep moving.
• Point Fermin Park in San Pedro, where Gittes places pocket watches under wheels.

The Pasadena, Rancho Palos Verdes and Hollywood Hills houses used in the film are private residences. Do not approach them. Echo Park Lake, the Olympic bridge and City Hall are the easiest group to combine in one afternoon, and Angelino Heights is a short drive away.

Hollywood Boulevard: Musso & Frank and the Dolby

Musso & Frank Grill, at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard, is the restaurant where several important scenes of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood were shot. The film won two Oscars at the 92nd ceremony, for Brad Pitt’s supporting performance and for production design. The grill is open Tuesday to Saturday from 5 to 11 p.m. and Sunday from 4 to 10 p.m. It is closed on Mondays. Reservations go through OpenTable, so book before you travel.

Two popular claims do not hold up. The film’s Cielo Drive scenes were not shot on Cielo Drive, and the Tate house is a private residence. Rick Dalton’s house is a private home in Studio City. The Frolic Room is often linked to the film, but we found no film-specific source for that, so we left it out.

The Dolby Theatre runs guided tours on set dates. The listings we found give $25 for adults and $19 for seniors and youth, with children under three free, but they are third-party prices and the official tour page was not reachable when we checked. Tours are cancelled around ceremonies and rehearsals, so check the box office before you plan the day around one.

The photo tour we feature in the practical section runs about four and a half hours, and its listing says it starts and ends at the Dolby Theatre. For a more relaxed way to see the boulevard, the open-air bus runs through the neighbourhood with a live guide.

Beverly Hills and the star homes

Beverly Hills is the part of the trip where the film references are the most generic and the homes are the most visible. Film tours in this area usually show the houses from the street, so a good guide matters more than a good map. Ask whether the route covers the homes you care about and whether it includes film clips, since the listing for the small-group van says clips play on a screen inside the vehicle during the drive.

If you want the bus to yourself, the private option is the one to choose. The open-top bus stays with your party only, and it is chauffeured through the best-known parts of the city. The listing gives a 90 to 120 minute ride and a meeting point on Hollywood Boulevard, between the Scientology Center and the Pig ‘n Whistle. The tour runs on eight of the nine days in the window, and it is closed on Wednesday, March 10, 2027.

The coast: Malibu and the Santa Monica shoreline

If you have a spare half-day, the coast is a different film set. The Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Monica to Malibu gives you the beaches and the estates that the Malibu tour describes, and it is the easiest of the day trips to combine with a sunset.

Studio tours and the Warner Bros. lot

Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood is the only public way onto the studio lot where Mia works in La La Land. The official site lists the Studio Tour from $79, runs it from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and describes a tour of about three hours. It does not publish a child price, so check before you book for children. Backlot availability changes from day to day, so the set you see depends on the day.

Our tour selection requires a rating of at least 4.7, and the studio tours on Viator do not meet that threshold, so the Viator cards in this guide do not include one. Book the official tour directly.

Culver City and the Gone with the Wind gate

Gone with the Wind (1939) won 10 Academy Awards, eight competitive and two honorary, from 13 nominations at the 12th ceremony. Discover Los Angeles, the city’s official tourism site, places the gate and front walkway of the Culver Studios mansion, listed at 9337 West Washington Boulevard, as the entrance to Rhett and Scarlett’s Atlanta home. The Tara house was a façade on the Selznick back lot, which is the site of today’s Culver Studios.

Culver Studios is an active working studio, and we found no confirmed public tour. You can see the gate from Washington Boulevard. Admire it from the street and do not walk onto the lot.

Places the rumours get wrong

Some of the most repeated claims about this city do not survive a check against a primary source. We left these out of the plan:

• The Hollywood Sign. You cannot walk up to the letters. The viewing spots are the way to see it, and the access roads are restricted, so we did not include the sign walk from Viator.
• Smoke House in Burbank. Discover Los Angeles ties the steakhouse to Argo, but the film’s Wikipedia entry does not list it, so we did not feature it.
• The Grand Olympic Auditorium. Some guides place the Rocky fight here. The film’s filming note names Philadelphia and says only a few scenes were shot in Los Angeles, and the building belongs to a church, so public access is not assured.
• The La La Land planetarium. Accounts differ on how much of the scene was shot inside the Observatory, so we avoid the claim.
• Blade Runner as an Oscar winner. It won no Oscars. It is a location for a nominated film.

Mind the closing days, too. Griffith Observatory is closed on Mondays, the Academy Museum is closed on Tuesdays, and Musso & Frank is closed on Mondays. A plan that puts all three on the same Monday and Tuesday will fail on at least one of them.

Seven days, from Monday to the ceremony Sunday

The window of Viator availability runs from Monday, March 8 to Tuesday, March 16, 2027. This plan starts on Monday, March 8 and ends on the Sunday of the ceremony. Adjust it to your arrival day.

1. Monday, March 8: downtown. Start at the Academy Museum, open Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Wednesday to Monday). Lunch at Grand Central Market, then the Bradbury ground floor and staircase during building hours.
2. Tuesday, March 9: Griffith Park. Take the guided hike in the morning. The Observatory opens at noon on Tuesdays, so visit it in the afternoon or evening.
3. Wednesday, March 10: downtown and Chinatown. Take the downtown walk in the morning, then drive to Echo Park Lake and the Olympic bridge. Wednesday is also the one day in the window when the private bus tour is closed.
4. Thursday, March 11: Hollywood. Take the open-air bus, see the Walk of Fame and the TCL Chinese Theatre forecourt, and book Musso & Frank for dinner. The restaurant is open Thursday evenings.
5. Friday, March 12: the full-day tour. The full-day tour is seven hours, with four one-hour stops including Griffith Observatory, the Santa Monica Pier, the Farmers Market and the Walk of Fame. It is the most efficient way to see several sites in one day.
6. Saturday, March 13: Warner Bros. Book the studio tour for the morning, when the official window is 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and keep the afternoon free for rest.
7. Sunday, March 14: ceremony day. Keep the day close to your hotel and watch the broadcast. Expect Hollywood Boulevard closures and do not plan a Dolby tour, since tours are cancelled around ceremonies.

• Check the Academy's press room for any change to the 14 March date before you book flights
• Confirm Griffith Observatory, the Academy Museum and Musso & Frank are open on each day you plan to visit them
• Buy a Metro card and let the daily or seven-day cap work for you
• Book Musso & Frank and the Dolby box office tour before you travel, not on the day
• Keep the Griffith hike and the downtown walk on separate days, so one closure does not ruin both
• Check oscars.org/closures a few weeks before the trip for the Hollywood Boulevard plan

Budget for the week

A week in Los Angeles in March is mostly a hotel budget. The citywide average for hotel rates, based on public rates from May 2024 to April 2026, is about $169 a night before taxes and fees. Oscars week is likely to cost more, though we found no confirmed figure for it. At that average, seven nights come to about $1,180 before taxes and fees.

Three habits keep the budget under control. Use the Metro seven-day cap instead of buying single rides. Choose the Griffith hike or the downtown walk over a private option, since the private prices are several times higher. And book Musso & Frank early, so you do not end up paying for a table you cannot get.

Who should plan what

First visit. Follow the seven-day plan and keep the Observatory on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. That covers the Bradbury, the Chinatown sites and the Hollywood Boulevard basics in one week.

Families. The Academy Museum is free for children 17 and under, and the Griffith Park hike is the cheapest walk in this guide. Check each listing’s minimum age and pace before you book, since the guides we reviewed did not all state them.

Couples. Plan one evening around Musso & Frank and another around the e-bike ride. The ride is the more active option, so choose it for a clear day.

Budget travellers. The Metro seven-day cap, Griffith Observatory, Grand Central Market, the Bradbury ground floor and the Chinatown walk cost little. Skip the private bus, which starts at $195 per adult.

Visitors with limited mobility. Griffith Park is hilly, and the Hollywood Boulevard pavements are busy on closure days. Ask each operator about step-free access before you book, because we did not verify accessibility details for every site.

How we chose the tours

We started from 38 tours on Viator that meet a rating of 4.7 and at least 100 reviews, and kept nine that fit a film location or a clear use for the week. We excluded the Hollywood Sign walk because the sign itself cannot be approached, and we excluded the Cadillac car tour because its price basis was unclear in the listing.

Prices are for two adult travelers in US dollars and were checked on October 21, 2026, for the window from March 8 to 16, 2027. They are starting points, not quotes. The private bus tour is the one tour closed on any day of the window, which is Wednesday, March 10.