Retro 88 — Studio City Filming Location With Glass Walls, Pool Views and Layered Gardens

Retro 88 is the kind of Studio City filming location that gives a crew more than one look without feeling like a backlot. The mid-century modern house sits low into a wooded slope, with glass walls pulling the eye from the open living spaces straight out to the rectilinear pool. From the upper terrace to the lower lawn, the sunken fire-pit lounge and the mature trees, the property has several distinct camera worlds that still feel naturally connected.

Poolside Angles With a Classic California Read

From the pool side, the house has a clean, unmistakable mid-century profile: flat roof planes, deep cantilevered overhangs, slender posts and broad glass set against pale stucco. Because the wings step with the slope, the exterior never feels like one flat facade. You get composed elevations from the pool lawn, then a different read from the lower garden. The pool anchors the upper yard with narrow grass edges, light concrete coping and open views back through the glazing. The covered patio beside it is especially useful on shoot days, giving shade, a furnished outdoor frame and a natural indoor-outdoor sightline. It is easy to imagine wide establishing shots across the water, then tighter reverses tucked under the overhang.

Open Living, Dining and Kitchen for Clean Production Frames

Inside, the main floor keeps things open and usable, with pale large-format tile, white walls and a restrained palette that does not fight the shot. Sliding glass panels connect the dining area directly to the pool terrace, so the background can hold water, trees and architecture in one layered frame. The long dark dining table gives the room scale while still leaving workable depth around it for commercial, tabletop or editorial setups. The kitchen is bright and crisp, with a broad island, marble-patterned backsplash, stainless refrigerator and a large skylight overhead. It opens into a lounge with a deep blue sectional and low leather chairs, which gives the interior a more lived-in texture. Nearby, light wood millwork wraps a black brick corner fireplace, adding a warmer retro note while staying true to the house’s horizontal lines.

Natural Light and Long Interior Sightlines

The daylight is one of the strongest production advantages here. The pool-facing glass brings in bright, even lateral light across the dining area and tile floor, while the kitchen skylight adds a more direct top light when the sun is high. A crew can work the open rooms for expansive daylight scenes, then shift under the patio cover or into the internal office when the angle of the sun starts to move across the glass. Along the garden-facing corridors, the light softens under the deep eaves. Light wood floors lead to a large corner bedroom with wraparound glazing and curtains for control. The bathroom gives the house a polished contemporary insert, with a freestanding rectangular tub, dark stacked tile, a timber vanity and frosted glass.

Layered Grounds and Practical Production Flow

The grounds are set up with more range than you expect at first glance. Broad concrete steps move down to a large lawn framed by pines and mature branching trees, while planted terraces add foreground texture between the lower garden and the house above. The sunken gravel lounge, with built-in seating and a long linear fire feature, gives productions a completely different exterior mood without leaving the property. A lower glazed room opens directly to the grass and can read as a gym, garden studio or spare modern living area. On the opposite side, decomposed-granite paths, stepping slabs and ornamental grasses create a quieter courtyard feel. The wide concrete driveway at the garage gives teams a clear arrival and exterior setup area, and productions can coordinate Studio City permit planning through FilmLA. Between the driveway, pool terrace and lower lawn, this filming location has useful zones for keeping crew movement separate from the active frame.