Los Angeles, Through the Eyes of "Bosom Buddies"

I recently received the season one DVD of "Bosom Buddies," and I gotta say, the Peter Scolari/Tom Hanks classic sitcom still holds up. The comedic duo of Scolari and Hanks manage to turn an extremely contrived premise into something believable and funny.

The show takes place in New York, but it's not hard to make out Los Angeles in the show's opening credits and establishing shots.

I assume the producers figured most viewers would see the opening credits and assume it was shot in NYC's Central Park (growing up, that's what I figured). Nope -- try L.A.'s Lafayette Park (at Wilshire and Commonwealth) in the Wilshire Center neighborhood. Some screengrabs:



Scolari and Hanks play basketball in the park (those hoops still exist today). On the left in the background, you can see the Superior Court building (built in 1970 as the CNA Building). Also, on the right, you can see the spires of the grand gothic 1st Congregational Church (6th and Commonwealth).



You probably remember this clip from the "Bosom Buddies" opening credits: Scolari sticks a coin in a parking meter, then plops down to continue sunbathing in the street with Hanks. As you can see, they're on Wilshire, in front of Lafayette Park. In the background on the right is the Town House, while on the left is the unmistakable architecture of Bullocks Wilshire (now the Southwestern Law School). Just think -- when this was filmed, Bullocks Wilshire was still 13 years away from being closed.


The boys exit their work building -- which happens to be the front entrance of the Superior Court building (then, i assume, it was the CNA headquarters).


Here's an establishing shot in the pilot to show where Hanks and Scolari's characters work. If this building looks familiar, it's because it's actually the General Petroleum building -- once home to Mobil, now home to the Pegasus development.