Where was The Sandlot filmed?
1993
City Locations
Salt Lake City, Utah; Midvale, Utah; Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California; Ogden, Utah
Location Types
American, House, Sports, Schools
Location Styles
Americana, Cabin, 70’s, School
About The Sandlot
The Sandlot is a 1993 comedy, drama, teenage, and family film that follows the story of a new kid in town, Scott Smalls, and how in the summer of 1962 he forges unbreakable bonds with his fellow friends. Scotty is a shy, nerdy, fifth-grader who moves to a small neighborhood in Los Angeles with his mother and stepfather.
His mother encourages him to go outside, have fun, and make new friends. He desperately wants to fit in, so he tries his luck with the local sandlot team that plays baseball daily. But the problem is Smalls can’t play baseball for the life of him and has a black eye as proof. He is so far away from the sport that he doesn’t even know who Babe Ruth is!
However, he is taken under the wing of Benny Rodriguez, the team leader and baseball prodigy who teaches him the basics of the game.
The boys become the best of friends in the whole world and do what they are best at, playing baseball and pranks, and living their lives carefree. But good days come to an end when Benny loses the only ball, and Smalls borrows his stepfather’s prized ball that is signed by Babe Ruth himself. Ironically, Smalls also loses the ball in his first home run and sends the ball flying over the ledge where the neighborhood’s monstrous dog ‘Beast’ resides.
When the boys learn the value of the ball, they come up with different tricks to recover it, often leading to disastrous results. In retrieving the ball, the boys learn some valuable lessons and responsibilities while at the same time becoming friends with Beast whose name is revealed to be ‘Hercules’. And its owner Mr. Mertle turns out to be a good pal of Babe Ruth, who asks the kids to visit him every week to learn more about baseball. He also trades the chewed-up ball with one signed by the entire 1972 New York Yankees team.
In the end, we see the sandlot kids go their separate ways, with Scott becoming a sports commentator, Benny playing for LA Dodgers, and DeNunez coaching his own team of kids. It’s a film about friendship, childhood, and summertime that reminded us of our 12-year-old selves and how simple life really is when you are but, just a kid.
The Sandlot Locations
The primary filming location of The Sandlot was almost entirely in Utah. According to the director and story writer David Mickey Evans, the beehive state was the ideal place for the shooting of a film that was fictionally set in 1962 in San Fernando, California. The city perfectly depicted the summertime atmosphere that the director wanted in the film. Unlike the teenage movies of today, The Sandlot features actual kids that act and look like kids of the 60s. The whole film is reminiscent of the good old days when life was easier without the invention of mobile phones and other gadgets.
We could not help but be transported back to that summer of our lives while watching the movie. All the child actors did a marvelous job of playing their particular roles reminding us of the carefree, innocent days of our youth.
All the adventures of Scotty Smalls and The Sandlot action scenes were mainly shot in Midvale, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah. The director stated that Salt Lake City was the one that reminded him the most of his childhood based on his memories as a kid living in LA Basin with the San Gregorio Mountains in the background. Even the buildings and homes matched the period the movie was set in. Add in the extra benefits of filming in Utah, the location was a done deal.
Since we know why you are here, we have compiled some of the best scenes in The Sandlot (spoilers alert) and the places where they were filmed. Visit The Sandlot film shoot locations and take lots and lots of pictures of the places that were a big part of our childhood!
Fun Fact:
The older and younger version of Benjamin Rodriguez are played by real-life brothers! Mike Vitar plays the younger version and Pablo Vitar plays the older version of Benny the Jet.
The get into trouble scene in The Sandlot
Smalls Residence 1556 S 2000 E Salt Lake City
The scene takes off with Scotty’s mother entering his room. He is portrayed as the nerdy kid who is smart but shy, with no friends to go out with. Since the family just moved into the neighborhood, Scotty is a little anxious and needs just the smallest of a push by his mother. His mother does a wonderful job of steering him in the right direction. In an admonishing voice, she asks “Scotty, have you made any friends yet?” to which a dejected Scott says “No”.
She asks him why he has not made any friends when Scotty tells her that he is still new. We all know that it is just a sad attempt at trying to avoid confrontation from his side. So does his mom. She gives him a valuable lesson that day by delivering a powerful and encouraging speech that starts with “I do not want you sitting around in here all summer fiddling with this stuff like you did the one before. I know you are smart, and I am proud of you. I want you to get out and make some friends.” “Get into trouble. Not too much. You have my permission.”
It’s a powerful mother-son moment that Scotty takes to heart and applies. In that fateful summer, he makes best friends for life. His mother rocks, how many mothers say that to their kids? This scene takes place in Scott’s home which is situated at 1556 S 2000 E Salt Lake City. Several buses pass by the area.
The chase scene in The Sandlot
1388 Glenrose Dr. S Salt Lake City
The ball has been lost! When the kids’ plans to retrieve the ball fail, Benny decides to go in for the ball himself because he has a dream in which Ben Ruth appears to him and tells him to retrieve the ball himself. Babe tells him “Heroes are remembered, but legends never die” and “Follow your heart kid, and you will never go wrong”.
Benjamin climbs over the fence and tries to get the ball by challenging the Beast to a cowboy or more like a dog-boy fight. Both opponents stare into each other’s eyes for a long time. And then Beasts throws the Babe Ruth ball from his mouth, waiting for Benny to pounce and make a run for it.
He does, he grabs the ball and leaps over the fence and reaches the other side in the arms of his friends, who pat him on the back. But wait, the fight doesn’t end there as Beast jumps over the fence and makes straight for Ben.
He power-runs all over the block, trashes a wedding party, and comes back to the sandlot. His friends await, gaping at what the poor guy is going through. Ben jumps back in Beast’s territory but the dog breaks right through the fence this time, tearing the whole fence down, leaving a whole lot of mess in its wake!
That is when the owner comes out and sorts out everything and Ben earns the name ‘the jet’ for his speed and stamina.
This scene takes place in the sandlot, which is actually located behind 1388 Glenrose Dr. S Salt Lake City. Bus 9 stops about a minute away. It’s private property and you may have to view it from afar.
The pool scene in The Sandlot
Lorin Farr Park, Canyon Road, Ogden
This whole scene leading to Squints getting kicked out of the pool was hilarious. Throughout the movie, we know that little Michael ‘Squints’ Palledorous has a huge crush on the lifeguard, Wendy Peffercorn. He vows to go to the pool daily just to get a glimpse of her radiant smile. One day when Wendy is slathering on oil, all the boys watch on and poor Squints loses it! He yells “I can’t take this no more”. And as narrated by Scotty, “he did the most desperate thing”. Which is a no-brainer!
Michael fakes drowning by swimming to the bottom of the pool when the lifeguard is notified, she jumps after him and pulls him out. We see her giving Squints the breaths of life and for some time even we are fooled into thinking that maybe poor Squints really went off the deep end this time!
But no, he comes back only after smothering poor Wendy, scarring her for the rest of her life! The lifeguard is enraged and grabs Michael and drag-shoves him out of the swimming pool area. All the sandlot-lot are following behind. Afterward, they are banned from the pool, but Squints is in seventh heaven! And the funniest part of it all? Squints actually ended up marrying Wendy the lifeguard. They lived happily ever after and had 9 kids!
This scene was filmed in the local pool in Lorin Farr Park at Canyon Road, Ogden, Utah. Visit this spot and enjoy a dip in the pool!
Uncover Filming Locations
The challenge scene in The Sandlot
Rose Park Field, Salt Lake City
This was one of the funniest scenes in The Sandlot! And we could not get enough of it! The straight-up cutting/scathing remarks from both sides were hilarious and genius at the same time. We have to give it to Hamilton ‘Ham’ Porter. He came up with some great comebacks within seconds when each team was facing off. Kudos to Ham’s friends for being an amazing support system as they cheer him on during the verbal fight.
It’s the classic poor team vs rich team, ego vs showboats, and sneakers vs cleats. The face-off between each team ends when Ham delivers a low blow by yelling, “You play ball like a girl” (emphasis on the girl!) and the rich kids are left dumbstruck and speechless. He leaves by challenging them to a game of ball the next day at their field.
The team takes up the challenge and Porter himself delivers the rich kids to their failure by whispering stupid stuff and ruffling the feathers on the field. The sandlot kids show them what they are made of and win the game with huge scores.
The scene was shot in the Rose Park Field, at 1490 W. 600 N., Salt Lake City where you can also go. But don’t forget to wear your sneakers to do it the real The Sandlot way! Bus 1 stops nearby; look for Rose Park Elementary School and you’ll know you are close.
Celebration and eating chaw scene in The Sandlot
Liberty Park, Salt Lake City
After winning big against the rich Little League Team, the children go to celebrate their success. They are at their highest and visit the fair to celebrate the mighty occasion. Ben throws out it’s on me guys when buying the tickets for the spinning wheel and everyone cheers him on. They distribute the tickets and are making a run for the ride when Bertram calls them back. And shows them chaw. He takes a huge whiff of it and says “big chief, the best”.
Each boy gets a piece of chewing tobacco, but poor Scotty is clueless and asks what chewing tobacco is. Ham makes fun of him and yells, “You’re killing me Smalls”. Oh, how that line backfires later.
As the boys are spinning on the wheel, they start feeling nauseous and start throwing up and heaving. Later it is revealed that instead of chewing and spitting chaw out, they were chewing and swallowing it! Plus the spinning wheel made it worse. Just as they begin to get sick, the song ‘Tequila’ starts playing in the background and the audience is left laughing their hearts out!
The Sandlot really is more American than a burger on the grill!
Their whole evening is ruined, and the kids all return to their homes and try to sleep the buzz off. No chaw for them anymore, we guess!
The carnival took place in Liberty Park, Salt Lake City. Several buses stop in the area. Why not visit Tracy Aviary and Botanical Gardens nearby?
Discover Video Shoot Locations
The ending scene in The Sandlot
1388 Glenrose Dr., The Sandlot
The ending scene really left us teary-eyed. It was amazing yet sad. We are shown what happened to the kids after that great summer of 1962. Scotty Smalls narrates the ending lines and tells us what happened to the whole gang.
Alan ‘yeah-yeah’ went to the military and became one of the pioneering developers of bungee jumping. Bertram started doing drugs and they never heard of him again. Timmy and Tommy became an architect and a contractor respectively, and eventually multi-millionaires by inventing mini-malls.
Squint finally fulfilled his dream and married his sweetheart, the lifeguard. Hamilton went on to become a professional wrestler, known as the great Hambino. DeNunez went to play Triple-A but never made it to the big leagues as he settled on being a coach. Benjamin ‘the Jet’ went to play for Los Angeles Dodgers because after all baseball was his life! Hercules, the dog lived a healthy 199 doggy years. And our Scotty became a sports commentator.
This narration takes place at The Sandlot land where we see each of the boys disappear, it’s depressing really, but we liked it!
Film Shoot Locations Guide
Conclusion
The whole film had nostalgia written over it and we could not help but remember our youth, the friends we lost to time, and the memories that faded away. The Sandlot was a teenage, coming-of-age movie that succeeded where most movies failed.
It left a mark that resonated with us all. We hope that reading this article will make you go and rewatch the movie as well as visit all the locations where the movie was filmed.