The Untold Truth Of The Lost Boys

You don't have to be from California to know that Santa Carla, the town where The Lost Boys takes place, doesn't exist. However, locals can easily recognize The Lost Boys' location as the South Bay beach town Santa Cruz, thanks to shots of its Giant Dipper Roller Coaster.

Director Joel Schumacher fell in love with the locale as soon as he scouted it. "The movie didn't come together until I saw [Santa Cruz]," he told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. "At the time, there was an enormous amount of transient kids moving through Santa Cruz. This is exactly where I would come if I was a teenage vampire." After reversing a couple of letters in nearby Santa Clara, he even had a locally inspired new name for his movie's dream spot.

The cast enjoyed filming in the scenic beach town, too. "We had such a great time there," actor Corey Feldman recalled. "Being kids and having the opportunity to be at the Boardwalk every day, getting to ride on the Giant Dipper and being at the beach, it was such a fun experience."

However, securing Santa Cruz as the film's location wasn't all smooth sailing. The town's authorities were wary of the Boardwalk being portrayed in a bad light, especially after 1983's violent Sudden Impact—filmed partially in Santa Cruz—took them by surprise. Even worse, Santa Carla's title as "the murder capital of the world" wasn't fictional, as Santa Cruz earned that moniker after years of serial killings. But the authorities read The Lost Boys' script, loved it, and ended up giving Schumacher the green light.