Crime & Safety

Photos: 'Southland' Shoots on Silver Lake Boulevard

The police drama known for its realistic look really fooled us this time when it took over a retail strip housing Mikron Liquors, Stephanie Beauty Salon and the Thrifty Wash.

 

If you live in Silver Lake or Echo Park, you know the real and the fake hang in a delicate balance these days with camera crews and cops co-mingling in our collective consciousness and on street corners.

Tuesday's Southland shoot really pushed that envelope, with a passle of cops and extras looking seriously gangster sighted just beyond the corner of Silver Lake Boulevard and Dillon Street.

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Absolutely everyone, however, was an actor or crew member.

Check out the photos to see the highly authentic look on the set, where dozens of extras were hanging out, some around a  makeshift shrine of a kind we're very used to seeing in our neighborhood.

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A crew member tells us they were shooting an episode based loosely on the riots in Anaheim in July.

She also noted that Southland's extras are known for their authenticity. They're apparently provided by Homeboy Industries, which has created a lot of steady work for a number of former gang members this way.

They definitely had the look. Fooled us, frankly, for a bit.

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