It’s set in suburban Michigan, but where was American Pie actually filmed? Teen comedy American Pie was the directorial debut of fraternal filmmaking duo Paul and Chris Weitz and hit the big screen back in 1999. The movie is a mix of coming-of-age comedy and gross-out gags and tells the tale of four friends – Jim (Jason Biggs), Oz (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas) and Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) – who make a pact to lose their virginity before they graduate high school.
American Pie was made on a relatively slight budget of $11 million but was a huge box office hit that grossed over $235 million worldwide. Thanks to its success, the film has spawned three theatrically released sequels to date plus five direct-to-DVD spin-offs produced under the American Pie Presents banner. A fifth entry in the main American Pie movie series is reportedly in the works after a long gestation period, although nothing concrete has been confirmed as yet.
The original American Pie movie is set in suburban Michigan in the fictional town of East Great Falls which is based on screenwriter and native Michigander Adam Herz’s hometown of East Grand Rapids. The school that Jim, Oz, Kevin and Finch attend is called East Great Falls High which was inspired by Herz’s alma mater East Grand Rapids High School, while the diner the friends hang out at (named Dog Years in the movie) is based on Grand Rapids’ famous hot dog eatery Yesterdog. However, American Pie was actually filmed in Southern California – mostly in the Long Beach area.
The first American Pie had scenes set at the fictional East Great Falls High which were mostly filmed at two Long Beach schools – Millikan High School for exteriors and Long Beach Polytechnic High School for interior shots. The house Jim lives at is a Colonial-style home located on Cedar Avenue in Long Beach’s Los Cerritos neighborhood, while his prom date Michelle (Alyson Hannigan) lives in a house located a block south on the same street. Other parts of American Pie were filmed around the greater Los Angeles area. The Dog Years diner, for example, is a business located on South Myrtle Avenue in downtown Monrovia that’s now home to a gastropub called Basin 141.
The Pacific Palms Conference Resort in City of Industry stood in for Michigan State University’s Music Hall in the scene that sees Oz abandon his lacrosse game to perform in his school’s jazz choir with love interest Heather (Mena Suvari, who skipped American Wedding). The climactic act of American Pie sees the four friends fulfill their virginity-losing pact at a prom after-party hosted by their classmate Stifler (Seann William Scott) at his mom’s cottage on Lake Michigan. However, the American Pie post-prom party scenes were actually filmed at a gorgeous waterside property in a small community called Lake Sherwood that’s nestled in the Santa Monica Mountains.