A mile of Italianate and Second Empire storefronts along East Carson Street, and the saloon Jack Reacher used for a bar fight.
What South Side Flats looks like
runs in a straight line for close to a mile, its two and three storey brick buildings holding storefronts under bracketed cornices and segmental arched windows. Italianate and Second Empire detailing repeats from block to block, one of the largest runs of nineteenth century commercial buildings left in the city. Most of it dates from the late 1800s.
Behind Carson Street the blocks narrow into rowhouses. On , two storey wood sided houses stand shoulder to shoulder in blue and tan paint, black cars parked along the curb. is narrower still, a paved lane of brick and vinyl sided houses strung with overhead wires.
At 1514 East Carson Street, occupies the corner storefront. Above the rooftops to the west, the holds a lit beer sign sixty feet across. The spans the Monongahela at the neighborhood's eastern edge, its steel trusses open to cars, bikes and pedestrians.
The former Jones and Laughlin mill site at the east end is now , a mix of apartments and chain stores on a modern street grid. runs along the water there, a paved promenade and open lawn facing the river.
Shot in South Side Flats
East Carson Street has stood in for its own city and for someone else's. A League of Their Own dressed a storefront near South 14th Street as 1940s Rockford, and Jack Reacher shot a bar fight inside a saloon two blocks east.
Jack Reacher, 2012
Mario's South Side Saloon
The interior of Mario's South Side Saloon, at 1514 East Carson Street, is where Sandy comes onto Reacher and starts the fight. The exterior shown in the same scene was filmed at a different building in the Strip District.
A League of Their Own, 2022
Played a 1940s storefront, Rockford, Illinois, 1943
The old Schwartz Market building at 1317 East Carson Street was dressed with period signage to stand in for a 1940s storefront in Rockford, Illinois. The production closed the 1300 block of East Carson Street and parts of South 14th and South 15th Streets during filming.
What South Side Flats can double for
Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati, Ohio
Vine Street's Italianate storefronts under bracketed cornices are close in scale and material to Carson Street, both mile long runs of nineteenth century brick commercial buildings. Over-the-Rhine's buildings run taller and closer together, so a wide shot needs careful framing to hide the extra floors. Try searching Italianate brick storefronts now.
East Passyunk Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
East Passyunk Avenue has the same mix of brick rowhouses behind a commercial spine of two and three storey storefronts, roughly the same period as Carson Street's own buildings. Passyunk's diagonal street grid and narrower sidewalks show up in a wide shot, so tighter framing keeps the comparison working. Try searching brick rowhouses storefronts now.
Larimer Square in Denver, Colorado
Larimer Square's two and three storey Victorian storefronts share Carson Street's scale and cast iron shopfronts, though the block runs only a few hundred feet rather than a mile. Denver's mountain backdrop and wider streets show up in any shot past a single block, so this works best in tight storefront coverage. Try searching cast iron shopfronts now.
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