BSG Shooting Locations – Downtown Vancouver

One of the earliest decisions made by the members of The 13th Colony was to seek out the publicly accessible shooting locations in and around Vancouver. Last summer, we did a series of Scouting Missions around town. We even got a write-up over at wired.com Since then, I’ve had requests from many people who are planning vacations to Vancouver this year and want to re-create what we’ve done. So, over the next several weeks, I’ll be making regular blog posts on how to get where we’ve been and what we’ve got planned for this year.

Since visitors to Vancouver often end up in the downtown area to see the tourist sights and it also just happens to be full of many familiar backdrops from Season One of BSG, we’ll start there.

At the start of Bastille Day you get to see one of Vancouver’s most famous landmarks, the Central Library. The view is from the corner of Homer and Robson in downtown Vancouver. It is also a damn fine library and surrounded by many of Vancouver’s fine coffee establishments, so well worth your time.

Later on, when Helo is on his own in Litmus, being watched from above by Sharon, Six and Doral, he goes down a fire escape into a graffiti covered alleyway. This alley is located north of the Pub 340 at 340 Cambie Street. Currently, the area is under construction and you might not be able to get to that actual doorway. We got close, and we blogged about it. Alas, the old Woodwards building with its familiar W sign, where the Cylons were standing, is gone now.

Later on, Sharon and Helo hide out in a restaurant to take a rest, and that is The Alibi Room at 157 Alexander Street. Note that the storefront was quite compressed in the shot used for the show so it looks a bit different in reality.

The ramp where Six and Doral talk in Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down is on Cordova between Thurlow and Burrard.

The Orpheum Theatre is one of Vancouver’s finest theatres, dating back more than 80 years. The interior of which is where Six led Baltar to see “their” baby, where D’Anna saw the Final Five and where Roslin, Sharon and Six all shared a vision at the end of Season Three. Theatre tours are available in the summer and we are certainly planning to take in one of those this year.

Below is a map showing the relative proximity of all of these locations. Have fun!