Magnum P.I. Filming Locations - A Rubber Chicken Guide

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Artie Canoe · #46 Post by **Artie Canoe** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:35 am

Okay well maybe I just wish it was all of them. Anyways I'll stop by a few and happily post any pictures I can get and thanks!

rubber chicken · #47 Post by **rubber chicken** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 4:25 am

Rubber Chicken Guide to Magnum P.I. Filming Locations, version 1.2, Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays edition.

I meant to have this ready a few days ago, but it took longer than expected to finish up. Version 1.2 has 33 new placemarks, which brings the total to something like 383 placemarks and almost that many locations. Two previously existing text placemarks have also been completed (listed below).

Included are some special locations that I was quite happy to add, including...
- Two often seen places, the Navel Intelligence Headquarters, and one of the Honolulu Police Department locations.
- The gas station where Magnum gets whooped by the sumo wrestler and a "midget or a dwarf."
- I've also completed eight Walker Estate locations, that may or may not be all of them. It was fun getting to know that fantastic property better.
- But the best new location here has to be Higgins' boyhood home, Hall Barn, dating from 1675 or before. That was a location I was dying to know more about.

Also worth noting is that much of the Honolulu area has been updated with new aerial photos. That area can now be zoomed in closer and is much more detailed and clear. It also means some important things from the Magnum world could have been changed or erased, but I haven't noticed anything like that yet.

There are still dozens of known locations that still haven't been added, some of which have been mentioned here in the forums. Those will be gotten to hopefully sooner rather than later...

Here's the list of new locations:

Added Placemarks
2.1 - "Honolulu Police Department" - (the often seen location where the police car drives through a tunnel in the building - does anyone know the proper architectural term for this?)
2.5 - NAVAL INTELLIGENCE HEADQUARTERS
2.7 - "One of them was a sumo wrestler. And the other was a midget or a dwarf."
2.13 - "Bannister set up that bomb to throw security."

3.8 - "... one of the most prestigious public schools in all of England."
3.8 - Magnum meets with Carol Baldwin (beta test version)
3.8 - Higgins in jail (establishing shot looking NE)

3.11 - driving to home of Aiko Tamura
3.11 - Aiko Tamura
3.11 - "So what's a $60,000 car between friends? I mean they get lost all the time."
3.11 - "There are about 19 or 20 guys all over 250 pounds, let's go in."

5.18 - meeting with Laurie Crane
5.19 - staking out little Allison's kidnapper

5.22 - "Oahu Prison Farm"
5.22 - "Oahu Prison Farm" (pov)
5.22 - Never on Sunday lingerie - (thanks Mr. Romer)

6.1 - boyhood home of Jonathan Quayle Higgins III
6.1 - entrance gates to the boyhood home of Jonathan Quayle Higgins III

6.6 - Paradise Pedicab Co.
6.6 - Sammy Garns gets away

6.9 - The Treasure of KalanIopuu TREASURE HUNT
6.11 - "... what Keli'i had been trying to show me."
6.14 - 'Kahalana 'Nursery
8.10 - "The camp."

Walker Estate (placemark in Secondary Locations)
1.3 - "Chinese" garden
1.7 - Dr. Bernard Kessler (establishing shots)
1.11 - Sidney Dollinger
3.7 - "... the old King Kamehameha Club 50 years ago." (1936)
3.13 - Simon MacLeish
4.3 - William Skuler
4.18 - Sir Alec Ramsey
6.17 - Theo Wolff

Completed Placemarks
1.7 - Sol & Lena Greenberg
2.6 - meeting with Colonel Buck Greene on Falls of Clyde

Notable Placemark Updates
2.21 - "The Belvedere Club" --> "photo in which the home can be seen (at left)"
3.8 - Velma Troubshaw --> "photo in which the home can be seen (at left)"

And here is the new .kmz file: Magnum P.I. locations 1.2.kmz

For those who haven't used a .kmz file before, refer to either the instructions in the page which James has made, or in my original post.

Steve · #48 Post by **Steve** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 2:51 pm

Absolutely amazing RC.......Great job!!! Makes me want to go back to Oahu and truly do some Magnum location exploring! The Sun Times had a piece a while back on Obama's childhood in Hawaii with where he lived with his Grandparents, his Schools, etc. When I went on Google earth to look up the locations all I could think about was what Magnum filming locations were located around that area.........

SelleckLover · #49 Post by **SelleckLover** » Thu Dec 25, 2008 5:21 pm

What a great Christmas gift to all us Magnum-maniacs, rc! It is much appreciated!

golfmobile · #50 Post by **golfmobile** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:58 am

Wow!!! Amazing-er and amazing-er! Yep, now we all have to go back and take pictures and video for RC to add! Twist my arm!

Thank you, RC, for your dedication and generosity in sharing. Merry Christmas, all!

golf

IslandHopper · #51 Post by **IslandHopper** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 5:34 am

Awesome RC! Thank you for taking the time to create that list of places to see.

#52 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Fri Dec 26, 2008 4:53 pm

rubber chicken wrote:Rubber Chicken Guide to Magnum P.I. Filming Locations, version 1.2, Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays edition.

Included are some special locations that I was quite happy to add, including...
- Two often seen places, the Navel Intelligence Headquarters, and one of the Honolulu Police Department locations.
- The gas station where Magnum gets whooped by the sumo wrestler and a "midget or a dwarf."
- I've also completed eight Walker Estate locations, that may or may not be all of them. It was fun getting to know that fantastic property better.
- But the best new location here has to be Higgins' boyhood home, Hall Barn, dating from 1675 or before. That was a location I was dying to know more about.

Awesome RC! I can't wait to check it out!!

#53 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Sun Dec 28, 2008 4:03 pm

Great work on this addition rubber chicken!

Hall Barn has a fascinating history. Designed and owned by the 17th century poet Edmund Waller! How did you manage to ID it?

rubber chicken · #54 Post by **rubber chicken** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 4:16 am

I was afraid someone would ask that.

I spent I don't know how many hours over the course of a month or two looking at literally thousands upon thousands of photographs of historical English properties. I searched in every way I could think of: through google with web pages and images with every manner of search terms, on various English historical properties web sites, on wikipedia's historical English estates lists, on flicker photo searches, etc. etc.

Eventually I decided to give up. When searching flicker photos I was coming across many photos of English historical properties taken by a member named buildings fan. So when I called it quits I thought I'd ask him and see if knows anything about it, and I made him with a web page with screencaps of the place. A short time later he responded saying "I Think its possibly Hall Barn near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, it gets used for a lot of TV and film stuff. Best wishes." After all the time I put into it, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

At least I know I did the best I could. Hall Barn estate is off the webs radar unless one knows it's name to start with. Even then there isn't a whole lot. If I remember correctly, I put just about all the links I found about the estate into the google earth placemark. And that isn't much.

But I did learn a lot concerning historic English estates, which is an interesting subject to me. It's amazing how many estates have been lost to time, fire and decay. There were some enormous estates and manor houses that would be famous today, and all that's left of them are drawings.

I think that's the only time I folded and asked someone if they could tell me the name of a location. But I should have provided a link to his flicker page in the placemark, that's been fixed now.

And thanks everyone for the kind words!

#55 Post by **J.J. Walters** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 4:41 pm

Wow RC, what a story! Sometimes you just need a little friendly help.

rubber chicken wrote:Also worth noting is that much of the Honolulu area has been updated with new aerial photos. That area can now be zoomed in closer and is much more detailed and clear. It also means some important things from the Magnum world could have been changed or erased, but I haven't noticed anything like that yet.

This is great! The resolution and clarity around Honolulu is just amazing. Makes you almost feel like you are there!

rubber chicken wrote:2.5 - NAVAL INTELLIGENCE HEADQUARTERS

2.7 - "One of them was a sumo wrestler. And the other was a midget or a dwarf."

Great finds! And they are almost right next to each other. Do I want to know how you found the "Gas & Go"? No, probably not....

rubber chicken wrote:3.11 - "There are about 19 or 20 guys all over 250 pounds, let's go in."

Cool, a maintenance building for the Omega Transmitter Station!

rubber chicken wrote:5.22 - "Oahu Prison Farm"

Another Bellows Air Force Station location, this one right smack in the middle of the air field! Love all the info you put in the guide RC. Very interesting history!

rubber chicken wrote:Walker Estate (placemark in Secondary Locations)

Wow, so the total number of episodes to use the Walker Estate is now at 8!

Thank you again for this unbelievably-amazing, multimedia MPI filming location guide rubber chicken! It's just incredible!

rubber chicken · #56 Post by **rubber chicken** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 1:27 am

Thanks James,

rubber chicken wrote:2.5 - NAVAL INTELLIGENCE HEADQUARTERS

2.7 - "One of them was a sumo wrestler. And the other was a midget or a dwarf."
Great finds! And they are almost right next to each other. Do I want to know how you found the "Gas & Go"? No, probably not....

Hehe, that one was pretty straight forward, with the ridges and condo building visible in the background. But it took me longer than I think it should have, partly because the gas station structures seen in the show had been torn down and rebuilt.

rubber chicken wrote:5.22 - "Oahu Prison Farm"
Another Bellows Air Force Station location, this one right smack in the middle of the air field! Love all the info you put in the guide RC. Very interesting history!

I thought so too. Learning about things like this is one reason why I enjoy doing this so much. Searching for Magnum P.I. locations is often just the launching off point on the way to broadening my knowledge of Oahu, which has a combined history unlike any other place in the world. Much of what I come across isn't closely enough related to show to include in placemarks.

When I came across this photograph (from this page) of P-47 fighter planes lined up for inspection with (presumably) their pilots, and the towering Koʻolau Mountain Range in the background, I had to stop for awhile and think about it. It sent shivers down my spine. How many of those men would live through the war? What must it have been like to experience what they did?

I have a suspicion that Bellows was used a number of other times in the show for various outdoor locations, but it's likely that many of those scenes don't show anything that would make a positive ID possible.

rubber chicken wrote:Walker Estate (placemark in Secondary Locations)
Wow, so the total number of episodes to use the Walker Estate is now at 8!

I had my own screen captures reminding me of Walker Estate locations from certain episodes, and I also have to thank you and those who told you of other episodes where the Walker Estate was used. I combined what I already had and the info on your episode pages to come up with that number of episodes. If there are any other episodes where it was used, it may have to wait until I re-watch all the seasons. But this *could* be it.

I was very happy to find the location of the "Chinese" garden (Japanese in real life) from China Doll (1.3). I had first tried to find that location a year or more ago. But being private property there isn't very much info online. I'd love to sit for awhile in that garden. Interestingly, the entrance door or gate seems to have been made and put in place just for this episode. In other episodes it can be seen in the distance as being open, but still framed by the hedge archway. (I've now added this to the placemark.)

At some point during my life I'd also like to watch all the Hawaii Five-0 episodes and compare locations used in both shows. As Rick Romer said (second to last on that page) in his letter to editor (link included in the "Walker Estate" placemark), the Walker Estate was also the most used location in Hawaii Five-0 (presumably he meant the most used location for a home). I'd also like to see more of the Carriage House, seen in Holmes Is Where the Heart Is ( 4.18 ).

PhatCat · #57 Post by **PhatCat** » Tue Dec 30, 2008 3:37 pm

I just want to thank Rubber Chicken for all the work you've put in to this. And thanks for sharing it with us. Amazing work!

Bill

IKnowWhatYoureThinking · Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:25 pm

I second that. RC has done an amazing job of compiling this information!

Mano · #59 Post by **Mano** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:41 pm

Thanks for the guide; it is great fun to explore. I have one addition you may consider. During the opening credits Magnum is shown driving down a narrow road on a ridge. I am fairly sure that this was filmed on the road to the old nike missile site. The road is gated; it starts at Kamehame ridge and goes to the nike missile site, a police safe house and hang glider platform. You have KTDE radio listed near there. I believe that Mad Buck may have taken off from the hang gliding platform, but would have to check the DVD.

rubber chicken · #60 Post by **rubber chicken** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:27 am

Thanks for your kind words guys.

Yep, you're right, Mad Buck did use the hang gliding platform. That has a placemark in the guide. The platform (with railings built for the episode) was also used in The Look (4.9) for the scene with Holly Hudson on the edge of the cliff, just a short ways from the "KTDE Radio" location you pointed out.

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I looked into the ridge location where Magnum is driving and - I'm pretty sure - it's the narrow access road on Koko Head, not the Kamehame Ridge access road. I made a photo collage below to better illustrate, hope you don't mind. I noticed you mentioned this topic in another thread, so I thought I'd lay out my thoughts in detail.

The first clue is in the opening sequence of the pilot episode, where Magnum is shown a number of times driving on the Koko Head road (best shown in screenshots 1 & 2, but also 3 & 4). In that opening sequence it also shows a brief shot (screenshots 3 & 4) similar to the one we're really talking about (I think), which is shown in screenshots 5 & 6 (taken from the opening sequence of No Need to Know (1.5).

In screenshot 4 a patch of white pavement is seen at lower right. I'm pretty certain that's the driveway to the water storage tank just off the road. So that places the 3rd & 4th screenshots on Koko Head (in addition there's the circumstantial evidence of this shot being next to the others that are clearly on Koko Head). Also, in the 3rd screenshot a fence is seen in the upper part of the keyhole (hard to see at 50% size) and that matches with the fence which surrounds the water storage tank. In the 4th screenshot a fence is also visible, and more clearly. I don't think a fence in that position exists on the Kamehame ridge access road. For these reasons I'm thinking that the 5th & 6th screenshots were filmed just 50 feet (give or take) above the 3rd & 4th screenshots.

I may be wrong but I don't think these Koko Head access road shots were ever used in an actual episode. (If anyone knows differently, please say so). So I'm thinking that before the pilot was made, the show's creators decided to go up on this road and do a number of different Ferrari action shots to be included in the opening sequence, and the 5th & 6th screenshots were also filmed at that time (but not used in the original opening sequence).

That's my take on it right now at least. Sorry if I've been longwinded.
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With James' comment about the Mano in Kapu (7.10), I realized there were actually two Mano characters that appeared in Magnum P.I. - the other being the Mano from Thank Heaven for Little Girls and Big Ones Too (1.4). Were you thinking of a particular Mano? Just curious.