Like many Netflix viewers, I was anxiously awaiting the premiere of Stranger Things and it did not disappoint! Although I binge watched it in one weekend, it took me nearly three times as long to get through it as I was constantly stopping and searching for locations. In retrospect, I should have waited and let other fans do the labor as many of the locations were eventually found by others and published, but I do love the thrill of the chase. Shot around Atlanta, the production used several different towns to create Hawkins. I hit up most of the exterior locations on my recent trip to the area a couple of weeks ago. I will try to put these in order of appearance, so we'll be going back and forth between some locations. Let's go!
Our first shot is of the Hawkins National Laboratory. It is located at the Fleet Solutions building on the Briarcliff campus at 1256 Briarcliff Rd NE in Atlanta, Georgia. A little more on that location visit later.
Next up is my favorite find, the Wheeler house, which was a pretty difficult to track down. I had a couple house numbers to use as reference, but eventually I had to follow the large electric towers out of Atlanta to find this elusive cul de sac. When I got to the house, the owner arrived at the same time and said I was the first to find and visit. The home is located at 2530 Piney Wood Lane in East Point, Georgia.
We'll come back to the house in a bit, but first let's check out Hawkins Middle School. The location actually serves as both the high school and middle school and is located at 109 South Lee Street in Stockbridge, Georgia.
The following scene with the boys by the field is also at the school. In these shots, all the buildings behind them are yellow. In subsequent scenes and in real life, they are dark blue with a white strip.
The police station is located at 45 Pray Street in Douglasville, Georgia.
Next we have our first look at Benny's Burgers which is actually Tiffany's Kitchen at 7413 Lee Road in Lithia Springs, Georgia. I didn't have time to eat there, but heard it is delcious!
We briefly return to the Wheeler house where Mike sees Steve climbing into his sister's window.
Here we have another establishing shot of the school. I highly recommend checking out this location. As you can see in my photos, I arrived very late and was getting the last bit of light. I have heard that if you go while they are open, they do allow visitors to take photographs inside.
We get our first shot of the town of Hawkins as Joyce Byers races to work. Joyce drives on South Mulberry Street turning and stopping at the drug store at 4 2nd Street in Jackson Georgia.
During my visit, the owner was gracious enough to let me take some pictures inside the store. With the exception of the window dressing and props, it looks the same.
We return to the diner where they have discovered the body of the owner.
Next, Jonathan Byers visits Lonnie's house. This was easy to find as I could easily spot "Terminus" in the background from The Walking Dead series. Lonnie's house is located at 930 Garibaldi St SW in Atlanta, Georgia.
The next scene shows the boys arriving back at the Wheeler house...
We return to Lonnie's house, but this time in the backyard.
The hunt for Will begins in the woods by the diner...
Next we go to Steve's house. The photos are ones I found on the internet when the house was for sale and gives you a good look inside the house as well as the pool area. This is located at 8253 Carlton Road in Riverdale, Georgia.
The Sheriff and deputies visit Hawkins Lab and sense something is amiss. As previous visitors have noted, there are gates to this building and parking lot, but always seem to be open. As it was near the end of the day, I quickly took some pictures of the main building and was on my way.
After discovering Will is trying to communicate with her through lights, Joyce returns to work to buy up all the Christmas lights. I didn't notice at the time that the nativity set had not moved an inch from when they filmed!
Next we have a quick shot of the house...
Hooper goes to the library to do some investigation. Located directly across from the drug store, this is the 2nd Street side of the Butts County building in Jackson, Georgia.
We are back at the school where Nancy utilizes something we used to call a pay phone, kids.
After the call, Nancy and Jonathan have a run in with Steve and his friends near the top of the hill by the school.
Eleven waits for her new friends by these powerlines, located adjacent to the Wheeler house in East Point.
The sheriff gets called away from the library and makes a hasty exit! They leave the building on second street and head west past the Hawk Theatre on the left.
A few more establishing shots here including the Wheeler house...
...and the school....
Jonathan follows his mother here on North Oak Street near 2nd Street in Jackson, Georgia.
Jonathan parks and follows his mom across the street where they argue in front of the Hawk Theatre at 2nd and Oak Street, which is actually not a theatre at all.
A typical 80's shot of panning down from the sky to the Wheeler house. I really need to come back in the fall to get these shots to match even better!
A quick establishing shot of the police station....
A little bit of location fail here, I forgot to grab some shots of Eleven's bike ride with the boys through town, but here it is on 2nd Street in Jackson.
And before the bar scene, we get another shot of the Jackson town square...
Will's funeral is held at the Bethany Cemetery in Fayetville, Georgia. The church seen in the background is Bethany United Methodist Church located at 607 Rivers Road.
Jonathan and Nancy have a discussion by these gated gravestones at the same cemetery...
Nancy feebly attempts some bat swinging in her garage when Steve stops by....
Steve returns to the Wheeler house that night to make a startling discovery...
Jim and Joyce stop by this phone booth, located near the corner of Dogwood Trail and Ellison/Flower Road in Fayetville, Georgia.
Dustin arrives at the Wheeler house to visit Mike...
Together they go to visit Lonnie a couple houses down at 2550 Piney Wood Lane in East Point, Georgia.
Here, Eleven is seen walking from an old Coin laundry to probably one of my favorite location visits ever, Bradley's Big Buy...
The store is actually Bradley's Piggly Wiggly Express, located at 506 Center Street in Palmetto, Georgia. The store manager and employees were super nice and even offered to take pictures of me holding Eggos outside the store, which I did of course. But I had to buy some while I was there, who wouldn't want to eat Eggos from the actual store where Eleven steals them!?!
And here is the exterior of the store. The manager said he was there for the shot of the exploding glass door. Thank you all for being kind to fans!
Lonnie is seen here leaving his house at 2550 Piney Wood Lane when he sees a mysterious van by the Wheeler house...
I wish I had a crane to replicate this shot of Lonnie biking down the street...
Next week have Dustin and Mike on their bikes. They are on Menefee Street in Palmetto, Georgia riding from Dey Street to West Street.
They stop between West and Center Street and look directly down at Bradley's Big Buy....
Although I haven't found the ammo shop yet, immediately after, Nancy runs up this sidewalk on 2nd Street in Jackson.
She runs across the street to the theatre at 2nd and Oak Street in Jackson. (You may notice that I have purposely put some of the matching shots out-of-focus to better match up the screenshot.)
Lisa confronts Steve in the alley behind the theatre. I was surprise how much the alley has not changed, I assume they would have brought in more set dressing, but everything looks nearly identical with the exception of a few things that were hidden to maintain the 80's environment.
Jonathan steps in and the fight begins...
And the police arrive to break it up....
Lonnie does some spying at the Hawkins Lab...
Next is a shot of the kids walking to the Wheeler house by a van parked by an electric pole. It was this shot that gave me the address for the house at it clearly states 2530 on the pole.
The bad men are on the move as they leave the lab!
The bad men arrive at the Wheeler house!
In true 80's/Spielberg form, we have vans chasing kids on bikes! The first shot is around 1871 Joppa Lane looking north towards Ramah Lane in Tucker, Georgia.
The chase continues as they bike down the driveway of 1855 Joppa Lane in Tucker, Georgia.
They bike toward the end of the street between 1832 and 1838 Joppa Lane.
In a strange occurrence, they streets match up to the reel continuity as Lonnie is biking down Sarahs Lane from Gloucester Drive when he meets up with the others...
The bad men continue their pursuit of the kids down Sarahs Lane in Tucker, Georgia....
Eleven flips the oncoming van in between the houses located at 3782 and 3788 Sarahs Lane.
Safe for now, the kids continue down Sarahs Lane...
Meanwhile, Joyce returns to the police station...
Sadly, one of the locations is already gone! The Fair Mart is no more, but was located at 7703 US-78 in Winston, Georgia. Below are a couple pics I snapped as well as a Google view of how the location looked before it was torn down.
Back at the Wheeler house, the bad men are taking stuff in true E.T. style...
Joyce, Jim, Nancy and Jonathan watch the proceedings from several houses away at 2461 McApline Terrace in East Point, Georgia.
Back at the Hawk Theatre, Steve tries to make goo on his bad behavior...
For most of the finale, we return to the school in Stockbridge. You can still see the outline of Hawkins Middle School lettering on the building.
For the shed that Nancy and Mike break into, we head to the back of the school by the athletic field.
Back to the front of the building where Joyce and Jim leave to go to the upside-down...
The bad men (and woman) leave the lab...
Those pesky bad men arrive at the school, but Eleven takes care of most of them...
And after the big showdown, the parents arrive to retrieve the kids...
The hospital is actually a church located at 2813 E Point Street in East Point, Georgia.
And finally, all is well as Christmas arrives in Hawkins. A few of the last shots of the Wheeler house...
UPDATE: After my visit, I was finally able to track down one of the most elusive locations yet, the Byers' house! The shots are just from aerial views, but the house and two sheds all line up. It is located at 149 Coastline Rd in Fayetville, Georgia; less than a mile from the cemetery!
Whew! That's it for now. There are still a handful of missing locations that people are working on finding, but we'll get them soon. You may also notice a key missing location is the Bellwood Quarry. Currently it is not open to the public (legally), but I hope to get to it on a future visit. Any questions, feel free to email me or leave a comment below. I was lucky enough to meet one of the stars, David Harbour, a few years ago at the Sundance Film Festival. See you all in Season 2!
