American Graffiti, San Rafael Location

American Graffiti, (1973). George Lucas'  classic about cruising in the early sixites that was nominated for 5 Academy Awards. The cruising scenes were originally planned to be shot in downtown San Rafael, Ca. but because of disruptions to local businesses the San Rafael City Council revoked permission after one night of shooting and the rest of the movie was shot in Petaluma, Ca. Nonetheless there are several classic scenes that were shot that first night on Fourth St., San Rafael.  Fourth St. is actually a two-way street but for the movie it was made one-way going West, which make the scenes shot in San Rafael easy to distinguish from the ones shot in Petaluma.

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