Explore the real-world places that appear in Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include Dolby Theatre, Paramount Pictures Studios, Warner Bros. Studio Lot, Hollywood Sign (Lake Hollywood Park viewpoint), Griffith Observatory and 5 more.
6801 Hollywood Blvd — Home of the Academy Awards
Misha's Oscar nomination is the career peak he has chased for years, and it is the lever the studio pulls on him. This is the real-world stage where that moment would happen. The prize dangles in front of him while executives press him to kill off the gay characters in his series. Refusing means risking the award, his future, and his safety.
The theater opened in 2001 as the Kodak Theatre and was renamed the Dolby Theatre in 2012. It has hosted the Academy Awards ceremony since 2002.
The Dolby Theatre is a working performance venue in the Ovation Hollywood complex. Guided tours show the main auditorium and Oscar-related displays.
Visit: Dolby Theatre (theater)
5555 Melrose Ave — Stand-in for the streaming studio's lot
The novel's studio executives belong to a fictional company, so this lot is the real-world equivalent for their power. The executives tell Misha to kill off the gay characters in the season finale "for the algorithm." His refusal marks him as a problem. Soundstages and offices like these are where the pressure on him and his friends builds.
Paramount is the only major studio still based in Hollywood proper, and its lot dates to 1926. Its Bronson Gate is one of the most photographed entrances in the film industry.
Paramount is an active studio. Guided studio tours are offered, and the Melrose and Bronson gates remain well-known landmarks.
Visit: Paramount Pictures Studio Tour (tour)
3400 Warner Blvd, Burbank — Streaming-era studio power
This is the real-world stand-in for the corporate world behind Misha's long-running streaming series, where decisions about characters are made by data and fear. The "for the algorithm" demand sums up the industry pressure he fights. The setting shows how a creative career can turn into a trap.
Warner Bros. moved to its Burbank lot in 1928. It has produced film and television for nearly a century.
The lot is a working studio with a popular behind-the-scenes tour. Visitors can see soundstages, sets, and a studio museum.
Visit: Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood (tour)
Lake Hollywood Park — The skyline of the hills
The hills above Los Angeles are where the monsters from Misha's horror movie days stalk him and his friends. The Hollywood Sign looms over them as a symbol of the dream Misha chased and the machine that now threatens him. The ambition and dread of the story both converge on this skyline.
The sign first read "Hollywoodland" in 1923 as a real estate advertisement. The last four letters were removed in 1949, and the sign was restored in 1978 and again in later decades.
Lake Hollywood Park offers one of the best public views of the sign. Access to the sign itself is restricted.
Visit: Lake Hollywood Park (park)
2800 E Observatory Rd — Overlook above the city
The hills above Los Angeles frame the novel's horror, and Griffith Park is the most iconic stretch of them. Its dark trails and sweeping views of the city fit Misha's feeling of being hunted while the glittering industry sits below. The place suits the chases and confrontations between him, his friends, and the monsters of his past.
Griffith Observatory opened in 1935 on land donated by Griffith J. Griffith. It has appeared in countless films, including Rebel Without a Cause.
The observatory is a free public science museum with telescopes, exhibits, and views of the Hollywood Sign and downtown.
Visit: Griffith Observatory (museum)
2000 N Fuller Ave — Trails in the Hollywood Hills
Wooded canyon trails like these stand in for the hillside terrain where Misha and his friends are pursued. The monsters from his horror movie days emerge from the brush and darkness. The isolation of the canyons, so close to the city's glamour, adds to the sense that there is nowhere safe to run.
The land was once the estate of Carman Runyon and later hosted other owners, including a planned Hollywood resort. It became a city park in the 1980s.
Runyon Canyon Park is a popular public hiking area with city views. It is open daily and heavily used by locals.
Visit: Runyon Canyon Park (park)
6925 Hollywood Blvd — Premieres and monster movie glamour
This legendary movie palace represents the silver screen that made Misha's name and now haunts him. Horror films of the sort he once starred in would premiere in venues like this. The monsters stalking him are the nightmares that screens once contained and that now step into his real life.
Sid Grauman opened the theater in 1927. Its forecourt of celebrity handprints and footprints began with the stars at the opening.
The theater is a working cinema and one of Hollywood's biggest tourist attractions. The forecourt is open to visitors.
Visit: TCL Chinese Theatre (theater)
6000 Santa Monica Blvd — Where the film industry's dead rest
A cemetery full of film pioneers suits a story in which the horrors of Misha's past come back from the dead. The place stands for the buried history of the industry, including the long tradition of queer characters being killed on screen. It echoes the title's trope and the fear that Misha will be buried too.
The cemetery opened in 1899 as Hollywood Memorial Park. It is the resting place of many early film stars, and it was saved from decline in the late 1990s.
Hollywood Forever is an active cemetery and event venue, known for summer outdoor movie screenings. Visitors can walk the grounds and see historic monuments.
Visit: Hollywood Forever Cemetery (landmark)
8221 Sunset Blvd — Hollywood hideaway
A gothic hotel on Sunset is the kind of place where industry insiders drink and bargain, and it fits the book's world of backroom deals. It stands in for the spaces where Misha and his friends gather and where the studio's pressure follows them. The castle-like silhouette also suits the horror that haunts the story.
The hotel opened in 1929, modeled on a French château. It has long been a retreat for actors, writers, and directors.
Chateau Marmont is a private-feeling luxury hotel with a restaurant open to guests and reservations. It remains an emblem of Hollywood nightlife.
Visit: Chateau Marmont (landmark)
Santa Monica Blvd & San Vicente — The heart of queer LA
West Hollywood is the community at the center of Misha's fight, the queer world that he refuses to sacrifice for his career. Its bars and streets stand for the friends and audience he is protecting when he says no to the studio. The threat of monsters and corporate cruelty both land hardest on the people he loves.
West Hollywood incorporated as a city in 1984 and has been a hub of LGBTQ+ life since the mid-20th century. It elected a pioneering LGBTQ+ city leadership early on.
Santa Monica Boulevard is lined with gay bars, restaurants, and shops. The city hosts LA Pride events and remains a major queer destination.
Visit: Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood (landmark)
More by Chuck Tingle: All Chuck Tingle books
More novels set in Los Angeles: Browse all Los Angeles books on Map A Story
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