A paved ocean boardwalk runs past high rise towers, with low Mediterranean stucco blocks in the West End.
What Long Beach looks like
The boardwalk runs for more than two miles along the ocean, rebuilt in concrete plank and hardwood after Superstorm Sandy wrecked the old one in 2012. It is wide enough for a bike lane down the middle, with black metal railings and lamp posts spaced evenly along both sides.
Apartment towers face the boardwalk at six to ten storeys. Some fronts are beige brick, others red brick or white stucco, with glass balconies stacked toward the water. On , two nine storey condominium buildings and a ten storey rental tower stand over a shared parking deck, with ground floor retail reached straight from the boardwalk.
West of the streets narrow and the buildings drop to one and two storeys, in white stucco walls and red tile roofs dating from 1907. Small bungalows sit close to the sidewalk on these blocks, with a few larger houses mixed in.
Long Beach Boulevard crosses Reynolds Channel to Island Park on a steel drawbridge set on concrete piers, its deck lined with streetlights and a waist high rail. The bridge dates from the 1950s. Each direction of traffic uses its own span.
Shot in Long Beach
For the pilot of The Blacklist, NBC closed the northbound span of the bridge to Island Park for a weekend. The production staged fire, smoke, gunfire and a car collision. Actors repelled off the span, and the bridge doubled for one in the capital.
The Blacklist, 2013
Played a drawbridge over Reynolds Channel, Washington, D.C., present day
The NBC pilot used the drawbridge to Island Park for an action sequence with actors repelling off the span. The northbound side was closed for the whole weekend while the production worked. Street View
Asbury Park's own paved boardwalk and oceanfront towers are a close match for Long Beach, and a production has already treated the two as interchangeable from the other direction. City by the Sea is set in Long Beach, but its own end credits say the film was not shot there, since its boardwalk scenes were filmed in Asbury Park instead. Asbury Park's boardwalk is still mostly wood where Long Beach's was rebuilt in concrete, so a close shot of the decking gives it away. Try searching oceanfront boardwalk towers now.
Seaside Heights in Seaside Heights, New Jersey
Seaside Heights keeps the same elevated boardwalk and arcade front that Long Beach's rebuilt stretch has, with mid rise motels standing in for the apartment towers here. Both boardwalks were rebuilt after 2012 storm damage, so the decking and railings are about the same age in both places. Seaside Heights runs lower overall, so a wide shot needs Long Beach's taller towers kept out of frame to hold the match. Try searching boardwalk arcade now.
Hollywood Beach in Hollywood, Florida
Hollywood Beach's Broadwalk dates from the 1920s in white stucco and red tile, the same Mediterranean Revival look Long Beach's own blocks date from in the same decade. Both still keep low hotels and apartments in that style close to the water. Keep the palm trees and the beach itself out of frame, since Long Beach's narrower sand and dune grass give away the latitude. Try searching stucco Mediterranean Revival now.
