20 Iconic Coastal Homes Made Famous in Shows and Movies

Shannon Quinn - May 26, 2020
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20 Iconic Coastal Homes Made Famous in Shows and Movies
Photo: Credit: YouTube

Summer will be here before we know it, so warm weather and sunshine is on the horizon. With everyone cooped up inside, we might not be able to enjoy going to the beach this year. Most of us can never own an ocean or lake-front property, but we can still dream. If you’re looking for a way to escape reality, you might as well watch some of these movies and TV series that are famous for their epic beach houses. Here at Home Addict, we wanted to share some insider info on these famous houses you see in films. But for the sake of privacy, we’re going to leave out their addresses. Yes, you can find them online if you dig hard enough, but we would rather respect the home owners and admire from afar. 

20. Grace and Frankie

The real-life home from Grace and Frankie. Credit: Zillow

Newly single Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein have something in common. Their husbands were secretly gay, and fell in love with each other. Now, they want to divorce their wives and get married in their 70’s. Grace only wanted one thing in the divorce, which was the beach house that was once split between the Hansons and the Bergsteins. Even though they’re both in a lot of pain, Grace and Frankie need one another’s friendship to get through their new life together. In the show, the beach house is in La Jolla, California, but it’s actually shot in Broad Beach, Malibu.

The kitchen is often featured in Grace and Frankie. Credit: Hooked on Houses

For the characters, a beach house in La Jolla would have cost roughly $1 million if they purchased it 10 years ago. While this is still expensive, it’s more realistic that two retired couples could afford to pool their lifelong savings to buy it. In reality, the house where the TV show was filmed sold for $15 million in 2006. This is probably why the house gives us such a “dream home” quality that seems too good to be true.

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19. Nights in Rodanthe

The whimsical beach house from Nights in Rodanth. Credit: Uniq Hotel

Based on the Nicholas Sparks novel, Nights in Rodanthe is about a woman named Adrienne Willis who was betrayed by her ex-husband when he left her for a younger woman. Needing to get away, Adrienne goes on vacation to spend some time as the new innkeeper at a hotel in Rodanthe, North Carolina. She meets a surgeon named Paul who is fighting demons of his own. They help to heal one another, and fall in love. Romance lovers everywhere have swooned about this gorgeous inn on the water, wishing they could have a similar getaway.

Nights in Rodanthe is based on the book by Nicholas Sparks. Credit: Pop Sugar

In reality, the location was filmed at The Inn at Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, North Carolina. The 6-bedroom inn was originally built in the 1980’s just 500 feet from the Atlantic Ocean. After a lot of concern that it would become damaged during the storm, the house was finally moved further away from the ocean in 2010, but it still has the same magnificent views. So this is great news for fans of the movie who want to go there for a romantic weekend getaway. The only downside is that the going rate is $3,000 to $5,000 per night!

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18. Sleepless in Seattle

The house boat in Sleepless in Seattle is a focal point for the main characters. Credit: Biz Journal

A young boy named Jonah Baldwin calls a radio station in Seattle looking to find his widower father a new wife. Annie Reed from Baltimore hears this message, and becomes totally fascinated by the man she heard over the radio. So, she decides to fly to Seattle to check up on Jonah’s father, Sam Baldwin. Kind of creepy and stalker-like? Yes. But plenty of people think that Sleepless in Seattle is incredibly romantic, because of the idea that you could fall in love with someone you never met. And if the Netflix show Love is Blind is any indicator, people still love those stories to this very day.

The real house is located in a Seattle neighborhood called Lake Union. Credit: The Travel Channel

In the movie, Sam lives in a small lake house with his son Jonah, which is located in the real-life community called Lake Union, Seattle. Actually, this can be classified as a “house boat”, since it’s floating on the water. In the movie, we get the impression that Sam had to downsize to a more modest house, now that he’s a bachelor again. Typically, house boats are more affordable than ones on land. However, since this is located in such a nice area, it’s surprisingly expensive. The real-life house sold for $2.5 million in 2008, which is probably way out of the price range for your average single dad. 

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17. Big Little Lies

The California housewives in Big Little Lies all live in goregous mansions. Credit: Malibu Luxury Vacation Homes

A group of upper-class mothers living in a California beach town get tangled up in a murder mystery in the TV series Big Little Lies. Since all of these women are wealthy housewives who love to one-up one another, they live in gorgeous beach homes. When you watch the series, you can expect to see California coast eye candy in almost every scene. It’s easy to get invested in the lives of these characters, because the settings and the drama all seem so real.

Get ready for home decor eye candy in Big Little Lies. Credit: Malibu Luxury Vacation Homes

In the show, they say that the story takes place in Monterey, California. The truth is that all of the houses featured in the series are a 5 hour drive away in Malibu. One of the houses in the series used for Reese Witherspoon’s character is actually available for rent for your next vacation, but they charge $3,000 to $5,000 per day. We snuck a peak on Zillow to see the going price for both towns. In Monterey, you can expect to pay $2 to $3 million for a house like that. But in Malibu, expect to pay anywhere from $10 to $50 million.

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16. Royal Pains

Oheka Castle was used for the exterior shots of Shadow Pond. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In Royal Pains, Hank Lawson is a former ER doctor from Brooklyn who escapes his troubles by spending a weekend in a Long Island community known as “The Hamptons”. This is one of the most expensive places to live in New York, with beach houses selling for tens of millions of dollars. Hank meets a billionaire named Boris who lives in a castle called Shadow Pond. After saving a woman’s life during one of these parties, Hank gains Boris’ trust. Boris invites Hank to live in his guest house on the castle property for free, in exchange for treating his mysterious illness. It turns out that people in The Hamptons need a doctor who can make house calls. Every single episode of Royal Pains features incredibly gorgeous beach houses, so it’s perfect for anyone who loves architectural eye-candy.

In Royal Pains, Boris lives in a massive castle in The Hamptons. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In reality, Boris’ home is a historic property in Huntington, New York called Oheka Castle. Some people speculate that it could have served as the inspiration for The Great Gatsby, which is why a lot of fans love to visit. Today, it’s open to guests as a hotel, wedding venue, and historic landmark. Oheka Castle has also been used for a filming location in several other movies and TV series like Citizen Kane and Succession.

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15. Practical Magic

This gorgeous Victorian mansion was modeled after New England lighthouses. Credit: Hooked on Houses

In Practical Magic, the Owens family is filled with powerful female witches who live in a gorgeous Victorian mansion in New England. The only problem is that they’re cursed by their ancestors so that any man they love is destined to die. Fans of the film loved this house sitting on seaside cliffs so much, pretty much everyone wanted to know where they could find it. Even Barbara Streisand contacted the producers, because she desperately wanted to buy the property. Unfortunately, though, the house never actually existed, and everything was filled on San Juan Island in Washington.

A fan perfectly recreated the kitchen from Practical Magic for their own home. Credit: Hooked on Houses

The exterior of the home was built as an empty shell by an architectural firm called Roman and Williams. Director Griffin Dunn asked the architects to build something that looked as if it was a hybrid between an east coast lighthouse and a mansion owned by multiple generations of witches. The shell was used to shoot the scenes where they’re outside in the garden, or having picnics near the sea. All of the interior shots were all filmed on sets in Los Angeles made to look like the inside of a house. Tragically, these sets would have been dismantled once the movie was over. One fan actually built their own kitchen to be a replica of the house in Practical Magic by using screen caps from the movie. It truly might be one of the most gorgeous kitchens ever created.

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14. The OC

This house was used for the exterior shots of the Cohen house. Credit: EW

Ryan Atwood is a good kid from the wrong side of the tracks. His lawyer, Sandy Cohen, takes pity on him and allows Ryan to stay in his mansion in Ocean County, California while he completes High School. This is where Ryan meets Sandy’s son, Seth, and the two teenage boys live in the pool house overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Throughout the series of The OC, we see some amazing mansions in Ocean County, but none were as prominently featured as the Cohen house.

On The OC, Ryan lived in a pool house that was constructed specifically for the show. Credit: Hooked on Houses

In the show, the house is supposed to be located in Crystal Cove or Pelican Hill, which is in lower Newport Beach. The real house was actually built in 2002 in Malibu, which is 80 miles away from where the story takes place. In 2011, the house went on the market for $6.25 million. However, the “Cohen House” was just used for exterior shots, including a pool house that was only built for the sake of the show, and torn down by the owners once filming for the series was done. Interior shots were taken in other homes in Malibu. So, in a way, the house that we imagine in our minds doesn’t exist, but it’s rather a collection of

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13. Bloodline

The Rayburn House is actually a hotel called Moorings Village. Credit: Bustle

The Netflix original series Bloodline is centered in a tropical hotel called Rayburn, named after the family who owns it. In the series, we see a lot of this hotel on the beach, as it serves as the backdrop of the entire thrilling storyline. Fans of the show are equally captivated by the tropical setting as they are the family drama. Just like most Netflix series, people say that they breeze through binge-watching this before moving on to season 2.

Moorings Village is open for guests to stay on their next Florida vacation. Credit: The Moorings Village

Lucky for you, this hotel really does exist in real life. Moorings Village, the real-life hotel located in The Florida Keys, is open for guests to visit. Unlike the series, the real hotel actually has a spa, so you can enjoy the full extent of your relaxing getaway. At the moment, you may not be able to book your vacation until 2021. On the company website, they ask that you call or e-mail them if you have any questions about pricing.

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12. Dirty Dancing

The real-life location of Kellerman’s is called Mountain Lake Lodge. Credit: Mountain Lake Lodge

Frances “Baby” Houseman travels with her family to Kellerman’s- a luxurious lakeside resort in the Catskill mountains of New York. Fresh outta High School, Baby is determined to go to an ivy league university and find a career helping people in need. But she soon realizes that she has grown up in a bubble of white privilege once she meets and falls in love with a dance instructor at the camp, Johnny Castle. Throughout the course of Dirty Dancing, we see a simpler time when summer vacation meant three months of dancing under gazebos, eating watermelon, and swimming in a lake. Aside from the huge hotel, there are also smaller cabins for both guests and employees. Fans of the movie have wanted to take their own families to spend a summer at Kellerman’s, if only it truly existed.

The famous scene where Baby and Johnny practice the lift in the lake. Credit: Visit North Carolina

In real life, Dirty Dancing was made in a shoe string budget. Filmmakers couldn’t afford to rent out a campground in the Catskills, and they needed to rent a campground in the fall, once tourists had gone home for the summer. So everything was filmed at the Mountain Lake Lodge in Pembroke, Virginia, where temperatures stayed warmer in the fall. Years after the movie was made, the lake was drained, but there is still a plaque commemorating the site where it once existed. While it might not be exactly the same, the lodge is normally open to visitors. If you want to see an in-depth documentary on the making of the film, check out The Movies That Made Us on Netflix.

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11. The Lake House

The famous Lake House was built as the movie was filmed. Credit: The SyFy Channel

Alex and Kate lived in the same lake house, only two years apart. The only way that they can communicate is through leaving letters in their mailbox that can travel through time. As they get to know one another, they begin to fall in love. The only problem is that they can never seem to be able to meet. Obviously, if the title of the movie is called The Lake House, you know that it’s a huge focal point for the story.

The Lake House is famously constructed of glass. Credit: Hooked on Houses

The house was built in Maple Lake Forest Preserve, which is in the suburbs of Chicago. This is why there is a maple tree growing in the center of the glass house. While the park gave the film crew permission to make the movie on their land, they wanted to make sure the natural scenery was restored back to its original state. So the glass house was built for the movie, only to be taken back down again. Sandra Bullock was heartbroken to see it taken down. She said, “I was so disappointed that I couldn’t keep it, move it, and at least use it as a guest house somewhere.”

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10. The Truman Show

The town of Seaside, Florida was used for the Truman Show. Credit: Bloomberg

Truman Burbank has the perfect life. He’s a life insurance agent who is married to a beautiful woman, and everyone in town seems to love him. Everything was going so well, until he realizes that he is unwittingly the star of a reality TV show. The perfect little town he grew up in is actually fake, and he needs to figure out how to escape the soundstage. Most people who watch the movie assume that the town is filmed in a Hollywood studio, because it seems too good to be true. Since the town is fake in the movie, it would be easy to assume that the homes are, too. However, the town from the Truman Show really does exist, and it’s called Seaside, Florida.

In The Truman Show, the main character lives in the perfect fictional community. Credit: YouTube

The town of Seaside was founded in 1970 by Robert and Daryl Davis. They owned the land, so they were able to build homes that all looked almost identical, or at least cohesive together. This is a great example of the New Urbanist architectural movement of creating this small, walkable town where everything looked picture-perfect. In real life, the 3,000 square foot house where Truman Burbank lives sold for $11.8 million. Nearly every house in Seaside, Florida is over $1 million, and still looks picture-perfect.

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9. Revenge

Grayson Manor from Revenge. Credit: Hooked on Houses

Emily Thorne is angry, and she wants revenge on the people who ruined her father’s life. The entire course of the Revenge TV series surrounds how Emily befriends the Grayson family, as she navigates the upscale social life of people living in The Hamptons. There are several gorgeous beach houses in the show, but one of the most prominently featured is called Grayson Manor. Emily’s beach house is next door to the Graysons, so she spends a lot of time sitting on her front porch staring at their home. While it’s much smaller than the manor, Emily’s house is still gorgeous in its own right. 

The Graysons live like royalty in the Hamptons home. Credit: Hooked on Houses

In reality, the exterior of Emily’s house isn’t in New York at all, but in Southport, North Carolina. After filming the pilot in North Carolina, they rebuilt the front porch of the house on a soundstage in California, which has a blue screen in the background, and the beach is inserted later during editing. This is why so many scenes happen on the front porch, since the set was already complete. (As an audience, we assume it must be because of the gorgeous summer weather.) The exterior Grayson Manor, on the other hand, really does exist in East Hampton, New York. The only surprise is that it’s not on the beach at all! But here’s another twist…The interior shots were done in a mansion in North Carolina, too. In case you’re confused, check out this in-depth explanation from Hooked on Houses to see more side-by-side photos of these luxurious homes.

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8. 10 Things I Hate About You

The interior of the house was filled with luxurious, masculine wood paneling. Credit: Hooked on Houses

In the modern-day retelling of William Shakespeares’ The Taming of the Shrew, a popular teenager named Bianca is not allowed to start dating until her older sister Kat does. With Prom just around the corner, the teenage boys at school are scrambling to get Kat a boyfriend so that Bianca can go to the dance. Tough, cold, and smart, Kat resists dating anyone, until she falls in love with the school bad boy, Patrick. Kat and Bianca’s father is well-off, and they live in a gorgeous house that serves as the backdrop of this 90’s rom-com called 10 Things I Hate About You. All of their family fights take place in the home, as well as the happy ending where the girls finally go to prom.

The yellow house served as the location of the film 10 Things I Hate About You. Credit: Jeff Jensen Homes

The real life home of Kat and Bianca is located in Tacoma, Washington. In 2018, it went on the market for $1.6 million, after having the same owner for over 30 years.  It’s directly across the street from the waters of Puget Sound. The house is within walking distance of the High School where the characters in the story would have gone. So, while the story might have been fictional, almost everything used in the movie was actually real. This is one of the rare instances where both the interior and the exterior of the house actually look identical to what we see in the movie.

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7. What Lies Beneath

This gorgeous house was built in a state park for the sole purpose of being in the movie. Credit: YouTube

Claire and Norman Spenser are empty-nesters once their daughter moves out to start her adult life. At first, things are great for the Spencers, until Claire begins to believe that the gorgeous house on the water might be haunted. Throughout the rest of What Lies Beneath, the house becomes a central figure in the story as we try to figure out if Claire is truly haunted, or if she is going crazy. When you watch this movie, there is a strange mixture of feelings. You wish you could live in a beautiful house like this, but you’re also terrified at the same time.

The location where the house once stood has a historic marker. Credit: Vermonter

The movie leads us to believe that the home is located in Waterbury, Vermont. Several scenes from the movie, like the Adamant Cafe, were filmed in Charlotte, Vermont. The filmmakers did a very good job of capturing what this quaint, perfect lifestyle would be like. In real life, the house we see in the film was actually built for the movie at the DAR State Park in Addison, Vermont. Once the movie was complete, they had to tear the house down. Come to think of it, not many people would probably want to live in the “haunted” house anyway, right? Once the movie was complete, they built a brand new pavilion for people to sit and enjoy the view when they visit the location.

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6. Grown Ups

This real-life cabin served as the location for Grown Ups. Credit: Good Morning Gloucester

In Grown Ups, a group of best friends who haven’t seen one another in 30 years decide to rent a lake house together to have an epic summer vacation. But even though these men are all grown up, they still have their boyish tendencies that are getting them into trouble. A beautiful east coast lake house is the setting for the first movie, giving us childhood summer camp vibes. In the second movie, Grown Ups 2, they decide to reunite by moving back to the town where they grew up. Adam Sandler’s character moves his family to a gorgeous shore house on the beach. 

Grown Ups is about childhood friends coming together to have a joint family vacation. Credit: IMDB

The lake house from the first movie was located in Essex, Massachusetts. Fans try to speculate its exact address, but many of the waterfront cabins in that area look strikingly similar. Lake house rentals skyrocketed in Essex after the movie came out, because tourists wanted own family could enjoy a similar experience. The real-life home in Grown Ups 2 is called Marblehead Mansion, located on Ocean Avenue. According to realtors, the house has waterfront views from every single room, as well as its own pool. In 2016, it was listed for $6.5 million.

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5. The Proposal

The Proposal is about an employee who has to pretend to marry his boss. Credit: Hooked on Houses

Andrew Paxton has a problem. His boss, Margaret Tate, is a Canadian whose visa is about to expire. She is forcing Andrew to pretend that they’re engaged so that she can keep her job and stay in the United States. And all of this is happening at the worst (or best?) time, because Andrew has to go home for his grandmother’s birthday in Sitka, Alaska. Throughout the course of the movie, Andrew and Margaret have to pretend to be a couple, and actually fall in love in the process. In the film, Andrew’s parents are like Alaskan royalty, living in a mansion on a lake that can only be accessed by a boat or plane. The house is the focal point of The Proposal, since we see it in almost all of the scenes involving Andrew’s family.

In The Proposal, there is a gorgeous mansion on the water in Alaska. Credit: YouTube

In real life, the house isn’t in Alaska at all, but in Manchester, Massachusetts. The mansion is 9 bedrooms, with 10 bathrooms, owned by the real-life Kaneb family. The editors of the film inserted a fake lighthouse, trees, and mountains to make it look like an Alaskan mansion with some of the best views in the world. In real life, the house looked too much like it was from Cape Cod (because it was) so the set designers needed to create a facade to make it have more of an Alaskan style. The nearby town of Rockport, Massachusetts was used for the scenes where Andrew and Margaret stroll through Sitka.

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4. Moonrise Kingdom

Conanicut Point Island Light was used for exterior shots of Suzy’s home. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

On the island of New Penzance, a 12-year old orphan named Sam Shakusky is spending his summer at Camp Ivanhoe. He befriends a 12-year old girl named Suzy Bishop, and they become pen pals for a year. The next summer, the two 13-year olds decide to run away together, and spend time exploring the island of New Penzance. Suzy’s house is depicted as being this magically beautiful New England home, in a setting where almost anyone would love to live. Moonrise Kingdom does an amazing job to bring you into the mind of Wes Anderson, and plenty of people wish they could go there for beach vacation.

Suzy, bored with her younger brothers. Credit: Focus Features

During interviews, Wes Anderson said he was inspired to create this movie, because he wanted to capture his own childhood fantasies of love. While the movie is meant to take place in the 1960’s, many of us who went to scout camps in the summer can completely relate to the experience. New Penzance doesn’t actually exist in real life, so parts of the movie were filmed on Prudence Island, R.I. The red house used in the film as Suzy’s parent’s home is called The Conanicut Island Light, which was once a working lighthouse before it was converted into a private home. 

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3. The Notebook

The real-life house from The Notebook is located in South Carolina. Credit: Taylor Rae Photography

Yet another movie based on a Nicholas Sparks novel, The Notebook is about a young couple called Noah and Allie fall in love, only to be torn apart by World War II. In the film, Noah comes home after serving in the war. He buys a dilapidated southern mansion built in the 1600’s and restores it back to its former glory. He planned to make it the new home for him and Allie to live in, once they finally got married. Fans of the book and movie have often swooned, because they wish they had someone to remodel a waterfront property for them.

In The Notebook, Noah transformed an old southern house into a mansion. Credit: YouTube

In real life, this house is called the Martin Points Plantation on Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina. So while it might not be abundantly clear in the movie, it truly is waterfront property. This is just one of several houses that exist on the huge plantation. Believe it or not, the house was actually in amazing condition before the movie was made. Filmmakers made the plantation look older and dilapidated before shooting footage of Ryan Gosling “fixing” the mansion. On their website, it’s not clear if they’re open for visitors or not, so it would be a good idea to call or e-mail them ahead of time. 

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2. Hocus Pocus

Max and Danny’s house is actually on the water. Credit: Google Maps

The Sanderson Sisters were witches who kidnapped the children of Salem because they wanted to steal their youth. Thankfully, they were banished, but not before claiming young victims. Flash forward to the 1990’s, when a teenaged boy named Max accidentally awakens the witches on Halloween night. With the help of his little sister Danny, friend Allison, and a talking cat named Binx, Max has to defeat the witches and banish them once again. Anyone who grew up in the 90’s was likely to have seen Hocus Pocus every year on Halloween, but most of us never realized that this movie was filmed in a seaside community.

The Ropes Mansion was used as the location of Allison’s house, where the lavish Halloween party was located. Credit: City of Salem

Just like the film suggests, the houses are located in Salem, Massachusetts. The area which is famous for having magical folklore going back hundreds of years. So, you might be wondering- Why is this on a list of coastal homes? Most people won’t realize from watching Hocus Pocus that Max’s house in Beverly, Massachusetts was actually on the water. A quick peek on Google Maps shows that it’s actually a few hundred feet away from the shore line. The Ropes Mansion was used as the location for Allison’s fictional home. In reality, the house is actually a historic landmark in Salem that’s open to visitors.

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1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

The Ocean Surf Resort serves as a backdrop for a scene in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Credit: Google Maps

Clementine has broken up with Joel. With the help of a new technology, doctors are able to erase her memories of their relationship forever. Heartbroken by the fact that his ex no longer remembers him, Joel decides to undergo the same erasure of memories. The only problem is that by remembering why he loves her, he suddenly changes his mind. Now, he’s desperately trying to run from the procedure, and save what’s left of Clementine in his memories. Throughout Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, we see snippets of their relationship that was doomed to fail, only for them to find one another all over again on Montauk Beach in Long Island, New York. 

The beach house that Clementine and Joel break into. Credit: HGTV

In one of his memories, we see that Joel and Clementine originally meet at a beach party. It turns out that this is located at Kirk Park Beach in Montauk. Another scene shows Joel sitting on the beach in Long Island, and he discovers pages torn from his diary. Fans everywhere tried to track down the locations from the movie. The scene where Joel is looking through his diary was located in front of the Ocean Surf Resort in Montauk. The beach house that keeps recurring in their dreams is actually located in Wainscott, and a visual effect made it appear as though it was crumbling. While this house is still on Long Island, it’s actually a 30 minute train ride from Montauk.

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