Middlesex, Virginia · Los Angeles, California
Where Donnie Darko was filmed
Middlesex, Virginia, is a fiction; the film was shot in and around Los Angeles in the summer of 2000, in twenty-eight days - the length of its own Tangent Universe. These are the places you can still stand in.
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A private house in the Virginia Country Club neighbourhood, Long Beach
The Darko house
The house the jet engine falls into, the lawn Elizabeth stands on in the last scene, and the kerb where Rose waves at Gretchen. It is a family home: look from the street, and leave the mailbox alone.
Virginia Country Club, Long Beach
The golf course
Where Frank first speaks to Donnie, and where Donnie wakes the next morning while the engine sits in his bedroom. The course is private; the fairways are visible from Country Club Drive.
Loyola High School, Los Angeles
Middlesex Ridge School
The corridors of the Head Over Heels steadicam shot, the classroom where Gretchen sits next to Donnie, the gym where Donnie calls Jim Cunningham the Antichrist, and the courtyard with the bronze Mongrel. A working school.
Aero Theatre, Santa Monica
The cinema
Where Gretchen falls asleep during The Evil Dead, Frank takes off his mask, and a portal opens over the screen. The Aero is still a cinema, run by the American Cinematheque; it shows Donnie Darko most Octobers.
Angeles Crest Highway, San Gabriel Mountains· approximate
Carpathian Ridge
The mountain road where Donnie wakes at dawn in the first scene and where, at the end, he watches the Vortex form over Middlesex. The exact turnout is not recorded; the views along the first miles of the highway match the film.
Frequently asked questions
Where was Donnie Darko filmed?
In and around Los Angeles, California, over 28 days in the summer of 2000. The Darko house is in Long Beach, the school is Loyola High School in Los Angeles, the cinema is the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, and the mountain road is the Angeles Crest Highway. The film is set in the fictional Middlesex, Virginia.
Can you visit the Donnie Darko house?
It is a private home on Country Club Drive in Long Beach. You can see it from the street; please do not go onto the property or open the mailbox.
Is the Aero Theatre from Donnie Darko still open?
Yes. The Aero Theatre on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica is run by the American Cinematheque and regularly screens Donnie Darko, often around Halloween.