RAD (1986)
The most radical movie ever made about the sport of BMX, RAD follows Christopher "Cru" Jones (Bill Allen), a small-town boy growing up in the fictional town of Cochrane, Oregon. Cru dreams of becoming a BMX star, and as luck would have it race promoter Duke Best (Jack Weston) is bringing the ultimate BMX race to town: "Helltrack." Despite the misgivings of his mom (Talia Shire), Cru signs up and now must face off against the best BMXers in the world! Though set in rural Oregon, the filmmakers ended up choosing Cochrane, Alberta and Bowness (a suburb of Calgary) due to budgetary concerns. What follows is the most comprehensive guide to the locations you'll find anywhere (the only 4-pager on this site)!
This video tour also shows off many of the locations, hosted by Eddie Fiola at the 25th Anniversary event in 2011.
The opening and closing credits feature a montage of some of the best freestyle BMX riders of the day doing tricks at "The Pipeline" skate park in Upland, CA and on Torrance Beach, CA. The Pipeline was demolished in the late 80s, but a replica has since been built near the original location.
Pipeline Skatepark (replica)
1325 San Bernadino Road
Upland, CA
This scene is commonly mistaken for Manhattan or Venice Beaches, when in fact the smokestacks of the power plant in Redondo Beach are clearly visible in the background, putting it on Torrance Beach south of there. The opening titles sequence was filmed by 2nd Unit Cinematographer John Schwartzman - son of Talia Shire and producer Jack Schwartzman. At the time, he was fresh out of USC film school but he has since gone on to shoot many Michael Bay movies including The Rock, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor.
GPS Coordinates: 33.816309891519445, -118.39084946392305
We are introduced to Cru and his friends as they begin their paper route at the corner of Bow Crescent NW & 63 Street NW in Bowness.
In the reverse angle, Becky (actually stunt rider Pat Romano) is seen riding off down 63 St. NW behind the old Bowness Hotel.
Cru starts down his route on Bow Village Crescent NW (in Bowness), heading east. They used some really funky red-tinted camera filters to make it appear early morning.
He throws a paper to an old man, who is angered that it never lands on the porch. This house was 31 Bow Village Crescent NW.
He then rides past a house under construction, at 7327 Bow Crescent NW and jumps into the backyard to give a dog a paper.
As the scene switches to follow Luke (Jamie Clark), he ducks into an alley near the intersection of Bowness Road NW & 67 Street NW. It is in this back alley where he has the run in with the mom in a station wagon and says "gnarly!"
The scene then switches to Becky, who rides off the John Hextall Bridge (now a pedestrian bridge) in Bowness and tosses a paper to the fishermen below.
Cru stops by the 7-11 at 6304 Bowness Road NW.
Luke rides down 2 Street West near its end at 3 Avenue in Cochrane (looking at what is now Subway), and hands off a paper to the old Cochrane fire engine, which is still owned & operated by the Cochrane Fire Department.
The house with the pool in the backyard that Cru jumps through was at 7028 Bow Crescent NW, near the river.
It is the alley behind The Cash Store at 6413 Bowness Road NW in Bowness where Cru "catches a lift" on the garbage truck to the back of the hardware store.