Rocketeer, The (1991)

This fun Disney adventure film features Billy Campbell as daredevil pilot Cliff who gets caught up in the theft of a top-secret rocket pack and ends up using it to prevent German-spy-disguised-as-famous-actor Neville Sinclair (Timothy Dalton) from giving the technology to the enemy. 

The fictional "Bigelow Aeronautical Corp." hangar and airfield were filmed on a special-built set off an old runway at Santa Maria Airport. This included the main "hero" hangar with tower, several other large hangars,  several outbuildings and the grandstands and refreshment stand for the racing scenes.  After filming, the main hangar building was relocated to the north side of the property, slightly reconfigured (the tower is in a different spot now) and became the Santa Maria Museum of Flight. 

Original location (approximate): 34.893714, -120.459969

Address: 3015 Airpark Drive, Santa Maria CA

The other buildings were destroyed except "Hangar 1" (visible in the above shots), which was moved across town to be used as a garage at a private residence. 

You're probably wondering as I was what happened to Cliff's Gee Bee after filming? This was a replica Gee Bee Z built in 1978 by Bill Turner which is now hanging on display at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA. 

The aerial scenes and ensuing car chase were shot in the rural area to the west of Santa Maria Airport and Piru Canyon and the area surrounding Newhall, CA. Using Google Earth I was able to locate one of the distinctive background spots but it is in an unaccessible location anyway. 

The massive stark-white Howard Hughes hangar was filmed inside the old Harbor Star Stage, a float plane hangar converted to film production use, on Terminal Island in Long Beach, CA. This was also famously used for The Abyss. It was eventually torn down and is now just part of the freight storage yard. 

Neville Sinclair's lavish mansion was filmed inside the Ennis House, a privately-owned Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece at 2655 Glendower Avenue in Hollywood. This has been featured in numerous film productions, most notably as Deckard's residence in Blade Runner. 

Jenny's dorm was filmed at the Mary Andrews Clark Home at 306 Loma Drive in Westlake, Los Angeles. This historic building is off-limits to the public but can be seen from the street. It also played the orphanage in Twins. 

The old movie house where Cliff and Jenny (Jennifer Connelly) catch a Neville Sinclair picture (and a zeppelin newsreel) was filmed at the Rialto Theatre at 1023 Fair Oaks Avenue in South Pasadena (not to be confused with the other Rialto in downtown LA) - which has since been turned into a church called "Mosaic." 

The iconic Bulldog Cafe was a replica built by the film crew of the real one that once stood at 1153 West Washington Street in West Adams, Los Angeles. The replica was built on private property at Newhall Orchards (Approx. 34.402722, -118.738167). Almost inconceivably, after filming the structure (used for interiors as well) and Gee Bee #5 plane were relocated to the "backlot" at Disney MGM Studios in Orlando and could be visited on their backlot tour, along with several other famous vehicles from Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Flight of the Navigator. Sadly, this area was demolished to make way for their new stunt show and the Bulldog was likely scrapped at this time. 

BUT there's a fun little bar in North Hollywood called Idle Hour (4824 Vineland Avenue) that has a another (smaller) Bulldog Cafe replica which was built by the Petersen Auto Museum. 

Peevy's house was filmed at the Highland-Camrose Bungalow Village next to the Hollywood Bowl, which is adjacent to Highland Camrose Park and is one of several historic bungalows used for city offices. Address: 2112 Woodland Way, Hollywood CA. 

Scenes at the movie studio were shot on stage at Disney Studios in Burbank, along with all of the other large interiors such as the South Seas Club. 

The aerial scenes of The Rocketeer coming to the rescue during the air race were filmed around the instantly-recognizable citrus orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, specifically along Piru Canyon Road between Piru and Lake Piru. Obviously most of this land is on private property but you can clearly make out the rolling hills in the background from the road, as well as the farm where he buzzes the woman hanging laundry (34.433860, -118.760529). 

The flying shots of the Rocketeer were done with a combination of live-action filmed against bluescreen and a stop-motion puppet filmed at ILM in San Rafael, CA. 

Downtown city shots, including exteriors of the South Seas Club, were done on the New York Street backlot of Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank. This area can be visited as part of their backlot tour.

One quick shot of the movie premiere shows the outside of then-Grauman's Chinese Theatre (now owned by TCL) at 6925 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood. 

The big showpiece ending takes place at the iconic Griffith Observatory at 2800 East Observatory Road in Griffith Park, Los Angeles. 

You'll be glad to know that during the Observatory's open hours you can head up the stairs to the roof where they boarded the zeppelin and enjoy the spectacular view of downtown LA. 

Shots of the zeppelin were done utilizing a massive miniature built in the model shop and filmed on bluescreen at ILM in San Rafael, CA. The explosion was filmed outside the hangars at the old Hamilton Air Force Base in Novato, CA. GPS Coordinates (approx.): 38.060743, -122.515298

For the action footage atop the zeppelin, a massive set was constructed on an old airfield at a site called "Indian Dunes" just west of Six Flags Magic Mountain. This former movie ranch has since been converted back to farm fields. Additional model work was also done at ILM. 

GPS Coordinates (approx): 34.423583, -118.636394

The miniature recreation of the sign where Neville makes his lasting mark on Hollywood was filmed at ILM. Timothy Dalton was filmed on the bluescreen stage here as well. 

Thanks to Stanley Foss's video on Youtube for tracking down some of these harder-to-find spots!