The Fosters was set in San Diego, but where was the show really filmed? Freeform family drama The Fosters premiered back in 2013 and introduced viewers to its titular clan – a family headed by same-sex couple Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum). Together, police officer Stef and high school principal Lena live in suburban San Diego and raise a blended brood of biological and adopted kids – Brandon (David Lambert), Callie (Maia Mitchell), Jude (Hayden Byerly), Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Jesus (Noah Centineo).
The Fosters ran for five seasons between 2013 and 2018, airing over 100 episodes and garnering critical acclaim for its tackling of issues including immigration, sexuality and adoption rights. The drama was particularly praised for its representation of LGBTQ characters and a non-nuclear family that was both blended and multi-ethnic, receiving two GLAAD Media Awards and an NAACP Image Award nomination in its first season alone.
Although much of the action on The Fosters took place in the suburbs of San Diego, the show was actually filmed in Los Angeles at the Warner Brothers Studio in Burbank with exterior scenes shot mostly in the coastal communities of Long Beach and San Pedro. The gorgeous Craftsman-style home in which the Foster family reside is a real house located on East 1st Street in Long Beach while the building that serves as Anchor Beach Community Charter School – the high school Lena works at – is the historic Cabrillo Beach Bath House in San Pedro near the Port of Los Angeles.
Some episodes of The Fosters featured filming locations outside of Los Angeles too. The show’s three-part series finale saw the family travel to the beautiful Turks and Caicos Islands to attend Brandon and his bride-to-be Eliza’s (Abigail Cowen) wedding. The cast and crew of The Fosters flew out to Turks and Caicos with filming taking place primarily at the luxury Beaches Resort near Grace Bay on the island of Providenciales – not a bad way to celebrate shooting the final episodes of the show.
While The Fosters may be over, the legacy of the series lives on through its spinoff Good Trouble which also airs on Freeform and was renewed for a third season in early 2020. Starring Maia Mitchell and Cierra Ramirez, the spinoff follows Callie and Mariana as they move to Los Angeles and take their first steps into adulthood. Like The Fosters, Good Trouble is filmed in and around the Los Angeles area and features plenty of recognizable DTLA locations.