There are plenty of films about Los Angeles, but few of them have fixed their gaze on the less-glamorized East Los Angeles as tightly as Hackford’s 1993 film. In the 30 years since its release, the three-plus-hour crime epic has become a cult classic and a hallmark film for Latino narratives in Hollywood.
The movie follows the lives of Mexican American relatives — Miklo, Paco and Cruzito — as they navigate life in East L.A. as members of the street gang Vatos Locos. Their lives ultimately head in very different directions, but their stories and fates stay forever intertwined.
Part of what has drawn so many people to the film is its authenticity in narrative and setting. Jimmy Santiago Baca, one of the screenwriters, based the script on his own life experiences of incarceration and rehabilitation. But what really sets the movie apart is its undeniable sense of place. It wasn’t shot in some backlot; it lives and breathes its East Los setting. The community’s vibrancy, seediness and geographical diversity pop out throughout, helping ground the story in reality.
So real are the places in the film that fans can actually go visit many of the shooting locations across Boyle Heights and East L.A.
Wander the same streets that Miklo so loved and fought for, or take in the same view of downtown that Tres Puntos leader Spider (RIP) can’t help but be impressed by. Just don’t expect to see Cruzito’s mural from the end scene; that painting is actually located in San Antonio, Texas (congrats, Shea Serrano).
Here’s a guide to some of the most iconic filming locations for “Blood In Blood Out.”