Studio 55 — Studio Filming Location in Boyle Heights
Studio 55 works best as a filming location when you let its scale show. The studio is furnished and built around a double-height concrete hall, an open working kitchen and upper levels that look back over the main floor. The white-painted bowstring trusses, worn concrete and polished metal submarine give it that adapted warehouse feeling, while the lounges, long table and kitchen keep the space usable for scenes that need more intimacy. A crew can shoot wide, find tighter corners and build several distinct looks without leaving the property.
Double-Height Filming Floor
The main floor is the part of Studio 55 that immediately gives a production room to breathe. A wide stretch of worn concrete sits under a high pitched roof with exposed white steel trusses, so there is space to frame the chrome submarine with real depth around it. With its riveted metal skin, circular ports, finned tail and red cockpit seat, the submarine reads more like a retro-futurist hero piece than strict military hardware. At one end of the hall, the tone softens into a lounge area with white upholstered seating, slatted wood screens, hide rugs and oversized monochrome art. From there, you can hold long views through the room and connect the lounge to the submarine, kitchen pass-through and upper railings. That makes the main floor useful not just for big establishing shots, but for layered blocking with action happening above, below and across the space.
Working Kitchen And Service Counter
The kitchen has a completely different feel, which is part of what makes the property useful as a filming location. It is a compact, dark-toned working space tucked behind a broad pass-through counter, with black framed glass cabinets, stainless-steel work surfaces and appliances, hanging pans, open shelves and a large range. The cookware and lightly worn finishes give it texture on camera, so it feels lived-in rather than overly polished. From the concrete hall, the serving opening naturally frames anyone working inside the kitchen, and the wood counter gives talent an easy foreground to play against. Inside, the tighter footprint and dark cabinetry make it one of the more controlled areas for lighting. It can read as the back kitchen of a restaurant, while the adjacent long timber table can support prep, dining coverage or a practical production beat.
Mezzanine Lounges And Camera Angles
The upper levels shift the visual language again. One mezzanine is a vivid game lounge with red-and-black patterned carpet, pool tables, a foosball table, a curved white bar, low red banquettes and cascading crystal chandeliers. It is especially strong for a music video or stylized photo shoot, giving the production saturated color, built-in activity and elevated angles back into the main space. Across the studio, the wood-floored catwalks and compact white lounge bring a quieter modern look. Tufted chairs, pale hide rugs and frosted-panel walls keep that area lighter and cleaner, while the black railings preserve open sightlines to the floor below. Straight steel stairs and a spiral stair both create natural entrances between levels, which gives directors and photographers more ways to move talent through the location.
Production Light And Crew Flow
The light at Studio 55 gives crews a few different ways to work. Tall side glazing and bright roof panels bring lateral and overhead light into the white double-height hall, and the upper white lounge also catches strong side light that bounces across its pale walls and wood floor. When daylight needs to be controlled, the enclosed kitchen offers the opposite mood, with track lights, pendants and chandelier fixtures adding practical sources across several zones. For a Boyle Heights filming location, the property is easy to think of in connected layers: the concrete floor, the long worktable, the kitchen pass-through and the upper walkways. Crews can coordinate with FilmLA while planning staging around those zones. Since the studio is furnished and available for productions, the widest setups can be built around the submarine or aimed through the kitchen counter, while smaller scenes can move into the lounges without a full company move.
