Rad Locations

Locations Manager(s): Tom Benz

Rad Filming Locations:

The qualifying races were held in Bowness park and Bowness High School was used in filming the in school scenes. Both are in Calgary. [Thanks to Dave Herr]

Many scenes were filmed in Cochrane, Alberta, basically a smaller suburb just West of Calgary. [Thanks to Kyle Channing, Kurt Alksne and Brad Snell]

Although mostly filmed in Canada, at the opening credits of the movie there are scenes at "The Pipeline" in Upland California. The Upland Pipeline skatepark has since been rebuilt to scale, including the pipe! [Thanks to Steven Mullins]

Brian Blyther, Mike Dominguez, Ron Wilkerson, and Eddie Fiola were regulars here. "The Pipeline" is the pool scenes and, of cource, The Pipe. Unfortunately due to insurance "The Pipeline" was demolished and now the land is a storage place. [Thanks to Al Duque]

Some of the scenes were also shot at Cochrane High School - I was a student back then and in one of the scenes. It was a scene where they are in a gymnasium and people are dancing and clapping all around and there is the "send me an angel" song in the background. [Thanks to Sheralea Nadeau]

The first scenes of the movie were filmed in the world's first skate park, named PIPELINE in Upland, CA. This was, since 1977, the world's first vertical park. In 1988, it was closed for structural problems and in 2002, was re-opened with a brand new concrete base, night lights, security and a bigger street style ramp place. Today, it's called Upland's Pipeline skate park. It's located: From the I10 near the Ontario Airport exit Euclid Ave. Head North for a minute and turn right onto Arrow Highway. Stay along that street and take the left road when it splits in a Y. This is San Bernardino Rd. It's just past the hospital on the north side of the street. It was redesigned by the world famous skater Steve Alba.

Helltrack was constructed for the climactic race in a large empty open grass area in Bowness Park, Calgary, next to the amusement park then removed afterward. [Calgary Herald / AFI]

The newspaper delivery scenes were filmed in the heart of Bowness where a number of large homes with big yards back onto the Bow River. The papers were picked up by the actor at the start of their "route" behind the old Bowness Hotel (known for the Hells Angels patronage)---the large "H-O-T-E-L" letters were taken down around 1993.

The home that featured the pink elephant sprinkler (Cru rode through with his sister on the bike I believe) is located off Bowness road beside Parkway elementary. The house no longer has the sprinkler but puts together a big Christmas light display each year.

The highway/field that Cru turns down into to go into the jump/slide into water scene is the highway turn just east of Cochrane Alberta and a new "Eagle Ridge" community has recently been built on the field. The actual jump/slide into water was filmed in a lagoon off the Bow river beside Bowness Park (the Helltrack).[Thanks to Scott]

The pink elephant sprinkler was located in Bowness until 1995. I guess the owners of the house didn't know just how special their sprinkler was. Margaret Nemeth kindly wrote in to add that the pink elephant sprinkler was given to Jerry Kendall in the late 80s. It now sits at the Crossroads Market, in Calgary, at the entrance, greeting customers. Few know the significance. It is rumored that the house it once sat at, was one of Bowness mayors, back in the day...

The scene where Cru and Christian share the ice cream cone was filmed in McKay's ice cream shop in Cochrane, Canada. McKay's is definitely top 5 places around Calgary to get ice cream and have been making all their flavors themselves for over 50 years. [Thanks to Brooke from Calgary]

My memory is kinda fuzzy on this but when I was a teenager in 1986, my family owned a BMX track in Lake Worth, TX named Casino Beach BMX. During the filming time of the movie RAD, Bart Conner visited our track and if I remember correctly (my mother says yes) a very small part of the movie was filmed there. Any way to get 100 percent confirmation on that? [Thanks to Tonya]

Dan Green kindly wrote in to say that the closing credits were not filmed in Santa Monica or Venice Beach. The closing credits were filmed in Redondo Beach, California. The bike path is still there, and it runs parallel to Esplanade. The lifeguard house is still there on the beach, where Ave F meets with Esplanade. I ride there about twice a week, and it always brings back memories! -AND Special thanks to John Mc for updating:- I'm a cinematographer, so I wanted to find THE precise spot. It is in fact Redondo beach, but not at the Avenue F intersection... It's about 3/4 mile south. The spot where Martin and RL rode was at a widened section of the bike path at the bottom of the parking lot beach access ramp/stairs at 387 Paseo De La Playa. The guard shack behind them is the "Ramp" shack. The camera filming this shot was on the beach (on a telephoto lens) approximately where Perry's Cafe and Beach Rentals currently sits. [Thanks to John Mc]

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