Locations Guide - Battlestar Galactica Filming Locations

Litmus

8/14/2011

This episode has two locations.
The Woodwards Building (roof and parking garage), West Hastings Street, Vancouver

Travel Tips: The Woodwards Building has unfortunately been torn down, but we're including the address here since you can walk the street and see the same buildings that Doral, Six and Sharon saw. The parking garage under this same building was used for the area where Helo finds the injured Sharon and, you'll note from the cap above, that it was also the interior of the museum at Delphi (Kobol's Last Gleaming II).

2. Cylon Occupied Vancouver
650 West Georgia street, Vancouver

Travel Tips: This location can be easily made part of a downtown trip. Make sure you have a good map! Anne and I found it really easy to get disoriented downtown.

3. Helo's Fire Escape
340 Cambie Street (Gastown District)

Travel Tips: Steve Fronczek, of Galactiguise, and Valorie Hoye of The 13th Colony, scouted this location and report that it's in a very sketchy area of downtown Vancouver. It's the Pub 340 roof and fire escape. Considering that they saw spent needles on the ground there, we don't recommend visiting this site.

Six Degrees of Separation

8/14/2011

This episode has two locations.
1. Sharon and Helo on the Bridge/Sex Scene
Harbourview Park. The best access is by parking at Pet Smart, 1302 Cotton Drive, North Vancouver

Check out the story of the 13th Colony visiting this site on their blog.

Google Earth map courtesy of Kent Sponagle.

Travel Tips: The bridge and the sex scene were filmed in Harbourview Park. The bridge is currently being reconstructed, so there may be no reason to visit. Please contact us if you have any recent information. Thanks to the 13th Colony for the amazing pics!

2. Baltar's house
Tidewater Way, Lions Bay, BC

Travel Tips: Baltar's house at Lions Bay is another location not to be missed. Park in the public lot near the water, and use the public beach access. Don't be like us and spend at least half an hour taking pictures of the water, ourselves and the water, the rocks, ourselves and the rocks, and not notice the house behind! Near the washrooms is a raised grassy area where you can enjoy a spectacular view (the one on the bottom left) of the house and the water--perfect for a picnic (we've had two--one on each trip :D). Even the ~35-minute drive from Vancouver is amazing, with a postcard view around every turn.

Flesh and Bone

8/14/2011

Both locations in this episode were in the same park.
Robert Burnaby Park, at the south end near the baseball diamond, located off Edmonds and 4 Street

1. Roslin's Dream Forest

Travel Tips: There is a parking lot right in front of the baseball diamond. Follow the path on the right field (right side) of the baseball diamond into the woods. The tree where Leoben covers Laura's mouth appears right away. If you turn left and continue, in about 10-20 meters you'll come upon the location in the bottom photos. The location of the second photo is more difficult. The key is to find the tree in the foreground--it's much narrower in real life than it looks in the pictures, but it's intact, exactly as it was years ago when this was filmed. This site beats the Kobol sites for tree matching!

2. Six and Doral's Swingset

Photo courtesy of the 13th Colony

Location Notes: Kent indicated that the swing set was close to the entrance to the forest. The 13th Colony verified this at a meet up in Robert Burnaby Park. They were able to match the swing set area to a behind-the-scenes photo and shared their findings with us!

Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down

8/13/2011

Six and Doral on Nuked Caprica
Westbound on West Cordova Street right after Burrard Street, down the block from the 'Waterfront Centre.'

Travel Tips: Adjacent is a pic of the entrance. This tunnel leads to an underground parking garage on West Cordova Street. You will be taking your life in your hands to take a photo here (I lived, but Anne did point out the 'no pedestrians' sign that I didn't even notice until I came back). The owners of battlestarlocations.com take no responsibility for and advise against attempting to get this shot!

Hand of God

8/13/2011

This episode has three locations.
1. Helo/Sharon at stable
North Shore Equestrian Centre, 1301 Lillooet Road, North Vancouver, close to Capilano University
North Shore Equestrian Centre Website

Travel Tips: This is a private business, but very welcoming to visitors. Use the website above to contact the owners before you go. When planning a trip to North Vancouver, click on its category on the right to see all the locations you can visit. The sites here are within minutes of each other.

2. Six on the Gravel Road
Inter River Park (visible from the Equestrian Centre), North Vancouver

Travel Tip: This site is visible from the Equestrian Centre, virtually from where Sharon was using her binoculars. It has changed somewhat over the years (now paved instead of gravel). To get a better match to the screencap, you would have to go to the park.

3. Baltar's House

Tidewater Way, Lions Bay

Travel Tips: Baltar's house at Lions Bay is another location not to be missed. Park in the public lot near the water, and use the public beach access. Don't be like us and spend at least half an hour taking pictures of the water, ourselves and the water, the rocks, ourselves and the rocks, and not notice the house behind! Near the washrooms is a raised grassy area where you can enjoy a spectacular view (the one on the bottom left) of the house and the water, perfect for a picnic. We've had two, one on each trip. :D Even the ~35 minute drive from Vancouver is amazing with a postcard view around every turn.

Colonial Day

8/13/2011

All locations in this episode were filmed on the campus of the University of British Columbia.
UBC, 6265 Crescent Road, Vancouver

1. Interior, Interim Meeting of the Quorum of Twelve
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

Location Notes: UBC is another must-see location. Most of the areas are open to the public with the exception of the main theatre (the top photos). Hours are Tues-Saturday, 12 pm-5 pm. Sunday and Monday it is open around show times. There is pay parking right near The Chan Centre that is ideal for seeing all the sites on campus. They're all quite close together.

2. Exteriors, Interim meeting of the Quorum of Twelve
Exterior, The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts and nearby Rose Garden

Click 'Read More' for more Colonial Day locations, including the dance!

Scattered

8/10/2011

This episode has three locations.
1. The Opera House
850 block, corner of Smithe and Seymour Streets, Vancouver (downtown)

Travel Tips: Appearing in numerous episodes, The Opera House is an amazing spot to visit. In July and August, The Orpheum Theatre provides public tours that cost about $10 per person. The tour is two hours long and you get to explore the Orpheum from basement to attic! An article about tours in 2011: Orpheum Tours.

2. Kobol - Raptor Crash Site
Facility run by Metro Vancouver--no public access

Travel Tips: The road to this area is private and gated--there is no public access. As a side note, the Twilight series filmed here as well.

3. Delphi Museum

The West Mall building, Simon Fraser University
Entrance is where Burnaby Mountain Parkway meets Gaglardi Way.
Simon Fraser Campus Map

Travel Tip: Used in many episodes, Simon Fraser University doubles as nuked Caprica in 'Scattered.' The West Mall Building (right across from parking) was used to represent the facade of the Delphi Museum. Finding a map on campus can be difficult, so use an online map like the one at the beginning of this post to help you plot your route through campus (or bring it up on your phone while you're there).

3. Interior Delphi Museum

This set was constructed in the old Woodwards building in downtown Vancouver. This building's roof is also where you see Six, Doral and Sharon standing on in Litmus. It was torn down several years ago.

Valley of Darkness

8/10/2011

This episode has two locations.
1. Kobol - Raptor Crash Site and Area
Facility run by Metro Vancouver

Travel Tip: The road to this area is private and gated; there is no public access. As a point of interest, the Twilight series also filmed here.

2. Kara's apartment + parking
The Waterfall Building, 1540 West 2nd Avenue, Vancouver

Travel Tips: Used in many episodes, The Waterfall Building contains Kara's apartment in both 'Valley of Darkness' and the 'Daybreak' arc. Parking is an issue--there is a gravel pay lot just across from the building that is best. There is also, appropriately, a Starbucks nearby!

Resistance

8/9/2011

Resistance Base Camp
541A Street, Maple Ridge, BC (has been demolished)

Behind the Scenes

Photographs taken by Kent Sponagle when scouting this location.

Location Notes: The base was at the old PVI (Pacific Vocational Institute) in Maple Ridge, at the north end of 251A Street. This was a facility to teach young offenders a trade. It was torn down immediately after BSG shot there in season 2. It was slated to become a new subdivision, but as of 2012, it hadn't been developed yet. Have you been to this area? If so, please contact us with an update!

The Farm

8/9/2011

This episode has three locations.
1. Nuked Caprica - Kara gets shot
Robert Burnaby Park, Edmonds and 4 Street, Burnaby

Travel Tips: The location is at the south end of Robert Burnaby Park, near the baseball diamond. Enter the forest beside right field. The truck and Kara's shooting were filmed along the path, and Roslin's dream sequence from 'Flesh and Bone' was filmed in the forest on the left.

Our photos above may not be perfect matches as we didn't have a lot of time to search for this particular location. Did you find it? Please contact us with stories and pics!

2. Resistance Base
Pacific Vocational Institute, north end of 251 A street, Maple Ridge (site has been demolished)

Behind the Scenes

Below are a set of reference photos taken by location manager Kent Sponagle when scouting the site!

Location Notes: The base was at the old PVI (Pacific Vocational Institute) in Maple Ridge, north end of 251A Street. This was a facility to teach young offenders a trade. It was torn down immediately after BSG shot there in Season 2. It was slated to become a new subdivision, but nothing has been developed as of 2012. Have you been to the area? If so contact us with an update!

3. Kara's Hospital
Riverview Hospital, 2601 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam
A good interactive map is here.

Travel Tips: We passed Riverview Hospital on our way to the Breeder's Canyon site in Coquitlam. Traffic can be bad here, so we'd suggest going on a weekday. This location used to be a mental institution and is now used exclusively for filming. A security vehicle drove the grounds when we were there. We didn't make any effort to hide what we were doing, and the driver simply smiled and waved at us as he drove by. The resistance base camp used for 'The Plan' is also in this complex--The Northlawn Building.

The interior scenes from The Farm were filmed on stage.