American Pie (film) - Location

Location

Much of the film is based on the writer's days at East Grand Rapids High School in Michigan. In the film, the town is called "East Great Falls", and the high school sports the same school colors — blue and yellow — along with a similar mascot — the Trailblazers instead of the Pioneers. The restaurant hangout, "Dog Years", is based on Yesterdog, a popular hot dog restaurant in the nearby Eastown neighborhood of Grand Rapids. The "Central Chicks" and "Central" Lacrosse team that East Great Falls plays against is an amalgam of nearby Forest Hills Central High School and Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School.

The film was actually shot in Southern California, most notably in Long Beach using Long Beach Unified School District area high schools. Robert A. Millikan High School, whose school colors are blue and gold, was used for exterior shots, and Long Beach Polytechnic High School was used for interior shots. Located in Los Cerritos, Long Beach, California, both schools are within five miles of the Virginia Country Club and Los Cerritos Neighborhood (where Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Donnie Darko were filmed).