"It ain't no
trip to Cleveland."
Update: July 11 2012

Jonathan Frank posted a Google Maps custom map of some of the shooting locations in and around Hillsboro, Texas, to the Facebook page for the 2nd Annual Bottle Rocket Motel Get-together (being held on Jul 21, 2012). For the record, the "Save the Bottle Rocket Motel" phenomenon was the brainchild of Andy and Chris of reservoirgeeks.com - and, yes, of course I was at the first one...why ask such a silly question). A few of the locations below are pinned in his map, as well as some that are not listed above. This is an awesome resource, and much more modern than this list that I made and originally posted in April 2001. (My lawnwranglers Yahoo! group email announcing this page can be found here. Although my original desire for such a list was stated in December of 1998, in my first message to the lawnwrangers list, viewable here.)
 
Anyway, without further ado, here is a link to Jonathan's custom map:
 

Please feel free to continue using the information below about shooting locations not in and around the Hillsboro, Texas, area though. Maybe one of these days I or someone else will make a Google map of the rest of these locations...
 
The Mental Hospital
The mental hospital was actually the Camarillo State Mental Hospital, located in Camarillo, California.
The Pinball Machine
The business where the pinball machine is is located near Dallas. It's in Grand Prairie, Texas, in the Western Union office.
The List
The scene where Anthony and Dignan are walking down the street and Dignan says, "You know there's nothing to steal from my mom and Craig!" was actually shot at the corner of Murray and Commerce, just a few blocks west of Hinckley's Cold Storage in Dallas.

Grace's School
Grace's school is St. Mark's School of Texas, a private school in the Highland Park area. It's on Preston Road a few miles north of downtown.

ADDRESS INFO:
St. Mark's School of Texas
10600 Preston Rd.
Dallas, TX 75230-4000
Phone: (214) 363-6491


Bob's House
Bob's house is located in north Dallas, off of NW Highway. Incidentally, it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

ADDRESS INFO:
9400 Rockbrook Dr.
Dallas, TX 75220-3948

The Bookstore
The bookstore is at Northpark Mall. If you're travelling north on 75/Central Expressway (this is what I45 becomes north of downtown), exit and turn left on Northwest highway. The mall is immediately on your right. The bookstore was not in the main mall building, but in one of the satellite buildings out by the street. If you notice in the movie, the door has J-1500 above it.

NOTE: the bookstore has been closed since 2000 or longer.

ADDRESS INFO:
Northpark Center
1030 Northpark Ctr.
Dallas, TX 75225-2213
Phone: (214) 363-7441


The Gas Station
The gas station off the highway (where Dignan makes the comment "On the run from Johnny Law...") is located in Hillsboro. It was a no-name gas station.

The Fireworks Stand
The fireworks stand was in Hillsboro. They put it there for the movie.

Jordon Blake from the lawnwranglers e-mail list wrote to say: "We also found the Fireworks stand that the guys buy their fireworks at, however it is now closed. The stand looks nearly identical, however the sign and lettering at the top of the stand are smaller. But, looking at the surrounding area and the driveway and the Zenith sign right out front, we were 99.99% sure that it was the right fireworks stand. It is located on Highway 22 about 3 or 4 miles west of Hillsboro."
The Motel
The motel is just east of I-35 in Hillsboro. (Hillsboro is about an hour south of Dallas/Fort Worth on I-35.) I don't know what the exit number is, but it's the corner of Highway 22 and I-35. There's a big "Love's" truck stop right next to it. The motel is visible from the interstate. It used to be a Ramada Inn, but now it's named the Windmill Inn.

Jordan Blake from the lawnwranglers e-mail list wrote to say: "Be sure to ask the desk clerk at the Ramada about Bottle Rocket. The part-owner we talked to seemed to love to talk about it. He even gave us some memorabilia from when the movie was shot. I got to go inside room 212, but we stayed in room 111. When I had called two weeks beforehand, I was told that room 212 was on long-term rental. Now I feel ripped off, because the room was empty when we went in to it."

ADDRESS INFO:
Windmill Inn
Highway 22 & I-35
Hillsboro, TX 76645
Phone: (254)582-3493 ?



The Barbershop
The Barbershop (the place where Dignan and Bob almost got haircuts) is located one block away from the pinball scene.

The Tejano Club/Bar
The Tejano Club/Bar is located on Harry Hines Blvd. in Dallas.

Mr. Henry's Hideaway
Mr. Henry's hideaway is in the west end, near downtown Dallas. It has green doors. It's three blocks east of the White Swan building.

Hinckley Cold Storage
Hinckley Cold Storage (that was its real name when they filmed the movie) is on Commerce Street just east of downtown. Commerce is a major street in Dallas and runs right downtown.

NOTE: back in 2001 or so it got changed to the Texas Ice House. And they painted the building a maroonish color. But the building is still there, along with the green-roofed walkway, last I checked.

Check The Pinball Machine entry for another scene shot near Hinckley.

ADDRESS INFO:
Texas Ice House
4008 Commerce St.
Dallas, TX 75226-1794
Phone: (214)823-8171 ?



The Schlotsky's
If any of you have ever seen the poster or movie cover then you'll notice an old school Schlotzky's in the background. If and when you visit the motel in Hillsboro... look across the freeway (west side).

NOTE: Back in the day you'd have seen it -- unfortunately, it got upgraded back in 2001 or so and it now looks like any other modern Schlotsky's.

ADDRESS INFO:
Schlotsky's Deli
200 NW IH 35
Hillsboro, TX 76645
(254) 582-5155

Special thanks to numerous people over the years that have helped provide info, additions, corrections, etc., including Jordan Blake, Wes Anderson, and others I've lost track of over time. My apologies.
Questions? Comments? Additions? Corrections?
Please e-mail them to me: slacker@failure.net
Last Update: 12.14.03