MILLARD HOUSE (Pasadena): Arnold’s house.
“I need you to see how it began”. With this sentence Ford (the Park Director) welcomes Bernard (an android) into Arnold’s house. In other words, the place where the androids were first created.
In the series, this “house” is an isolated building protected by a great wall. But in reality this building is actually quite close to the main street of Pasadena, a city located in the northwest area of Los Angeles County. And this building has its own name: Millard House.
To be true, inside Millard House there hasn’t been any revolutionary technological discovery such as the creation of self-aware robots, but this building is a real architectural treasure.
This is the first house where the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright used concrete blocks as a building material. Millard House, also known as ‘La Miniatura’, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976.
THE LANGHAM HUNTINGTON (Pasadena): The Raj. Park number 6.
The Raj is another theme Park at Delos Destinations introduced in season two of the show. And this one is set in the period when the British Crown ruled over the Indian subcontinent.
This colonial theme park was recreated in a luxury resort that dates back to the Gilded Age: The Langham Huntington in Pasadena.
This hotel has had several names changes during the decades but the American flag had always flown on its rooftop. This is something Westworld changed, and in the series the American flag is replaced by the British Raj one.
THE HUNTINGTON GARDENS (Pasadena): Shōgunworld. Park number 2.
As we’ve already seen, Westworld is not the only theme park that exists in this dystopian world. It is clear that, in the future, humans are not quite satisfied with being able to live their most obscure fantasies in the Wild West and in The British Raj that they feel the need to create yet another park inspired in the Edo period in Japan: Shōgunworld.
Here, cowboys are replaced by samurai and revolvers by katanas. And it is the perfect destiny for those who want to experience something (even more) wild. Shōgunworld is a recreation of Japanese history and culture so filming its scenes in California and not in actual Japan had, somehow, lots of sense.
Finally, the chosen filming location was the Japanese Garden in the Huntington Library. A library and Art Museum that also has within its facilities a Botanical Garden are divided in 14 theme gardens.
Other films such as Memoirs of a Geisha or Charlie’s Angels have also been filmed in the Huntington Botanical Gardens.
If you click on the ‘Activities’ button you will find further information about the opening hours and entry fees to The Huntington so you can explore various cultures around the globe in your trip to California!
