Red Dawn Filming Locations

Red Dawn filming locations.

The 1984 movie Red Dawn was filmed in and around Las Vegas, New Mexico.

The tour went looking for the spots in 2012, 2017 and 2018.

Oro the Doberman sitting in front of the tour van at the Welcome to New Mexico sign
Oro at the New Mexico line
Oro the Doberman standing beside the open side door of the white 1986 Chevy G30 tour van, 2016
The G30 and Oro, 2016
Tour van pulled over on a canyon highway between steep rock walls while driving through Wyoming, October 2018
Wyoming canyon drive, 2018

The 33rd anniversary trip, August 2017

For the 33rd anniversary of the movie’s release, the crew drove the van to Las Vegas, New Mexico: 1,576 miles round trip at 14.4 miles per gallon, 122 gallons of gas for $280.72.

  1. 1
    The Calumet billboard
    The “Calumet says howdy” billboard where the Great Plains meet the Rockies, painted in 1983 for the movie and redone for the town in 2005.
  2. 2
    The drugstore
    The scene where the boys go into town and are told to get out before the patrol comes by. The building is a bank now.
  3. 3
    The park
    Where one of the last scenes of the movie was filmed.
  4. 4
    The friendship center intersection
    The buildings from the explosion scene are gone, but the town welcome center helped pin down where it happened.
  5. 5
    The railroad hotel
    Scenes with the occupying troops and one of the final shootouts were filmed here.
  6. 6
    The road out of town
    Found on Google Maps with a friend late at night: the road where the boys load up at Robert’s dad’s station and head for the hills.

More visits

The 2018 GRPC run passed through Las Vegas, New Mexico again for the gas station with the tank and the drive-in theater used as the camp. Red Dawn fans can find more at The Chair Is Against The Wall.com and on the Gun Websites Red Dawn page.

Red Dawn Day is August 10, the movie’s release date in 1984. It is on Gun Calendars.com.
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