Colors - High Top Chase (1988) - Filming Locations

Watch the Quick Preview Video below, and scroll down to read about the filming locations.

Featured Filming Location Photo

Sean Penn on Speedway in Venice (Los Angeles), looking to the east up 18th Place.
Sean Penn on Speedway looking toward 18th Place and Pacific Avenue
In this one frame from the movie, we see several eras of Venice history represented:
  • The large brick building in the background is 1802 Pacific Avenue built in 1923.

  • Just to the right of the telephone pole closest to the camera, the left part of a window of 41 19th Avenue is visible. This is one of the original structures in Venice, built in 1906.

  • The other buildings on either side of 18th Place represent the mid-20th century, primarily built in the 1950s-1970s time period.

Colors - High Top Chase (1988) - Filming Locations

Film Title Colors (1988)
Starring Sean Penn, Robert Duvall, Glenn Plummer
Featured Location Venice Beach (Los Angeles, CA)
Specific Streets Windward Avenue, Pacific Avenue, Venice Beach Speedway
Era Captured Late 1980s streetscapes & historic early 1900s architecture
Current Status Highly evolved; many historic structures removed, selective buildings remaining

Production Note: This high-energy chase scene serves as a gritty historical document of the Venice Beach neighborhood as it looked in 1988, capturing several original turn-of-the-century buildings before modern redevelopment.

The Plot

Los Angeles police officers Robert Duvall and Sean Penn vs street gangs in Los Angeles

Historic Venice Beach As Filming Location - Then And Now

Going back as far as the early 1900s, Venice Beach has been a favorite filming location for the movies. Charlie Chaplin filmed his comedy short By The Sea here in 1915 and Buster Keaton filmed here a few years later for his movie The High Sign. In 1933, Our Gang / The Little Rascals filmed the entire second half of their comedy Fish Hooky here as well.

In this scene from Colors, we see Robert Duvall chasing a local hood through the streets of Venice Beach, while his partner Sean Penn takes an alternate route down the aptly named Venice Beach Speedway to try and head him off. This Quick Preview of the complete filming locations then and now video shows the beginning of the chase scene, starting off at Windward Avenue at the beach and continuing over to Pacific Avenue.

While many of the historic Venice Beach buildings are now gone, the movie does capture several of the original early 1900s buildings while they were still standing, and the current views as seen in the video show a few of those original structures remaining intact today. This scene from Colors documents this part of the Venice Beach neighborhood as it was in the late 1980s.

Member Exclusive - The Full Then and Now Filming Locations Documentary Video and Photo Gallery

If you have made a small donation and are a current member, you can view the ENTIRE filming locations video by clicking here to Login and then clicking here:

Colors - High Top Chase - Venice Beach Filming Locations Then and Now - Complete Documentary Video

And don't miss the complete photo gallery of filming locations then and now here:

Colors - High Top Chase - Complete Filming Locations Photo Gallery


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