401 - Chuck Versus the Anniversary

Chuck and Morgan Walking Down the Street

After Chuck and Morgan fly all over the world, searching for Chuck’s mom, Mary Bartowski, and come up empty in a secret room in LA, they are walking down a street contemplating next steps.  The are walking at 131 N. Orange St, just north of Broadway in Glendale, CA. They are walking by the HealthCare Partners Medical Group and Medical Spa. The office is now an Optum Medical Office.

Chuck and Morgan walking down the street
131 N. Orange St in Glendale

Chuck's First Job Interview

Chuck decides he needs to get a job now that he is not a spy with the CIA. His first interview is at Vandalay Industries. The buildings shown are the Playa District located at 6080 Center Dr in Westchester, CA, near the LAX airport.

Chuck's first Job Interview - Valdalay Industries
Playa Ccnter in Westchester, Ca

Chuck and Morgan Go to Repo Lot for Chinese Menu

After Chuck flashes on the Chinese Dragon symbol on the briefcase, he and Morgan to go the repo lot to retrieve the Imperial Dragon menu. The repo lot is located at the corner of W. Wilson Ave and Brand Bl in Glendale. At the time of filming, it was a vacant lot. Now there is a lrage building there.

Chuck and Morgan go to repo lot for menu
Corner of W Wilson Ave and Brand Bl, Glendakle

Sarah and Casey Fly to Volkoff Industries in Venezuela

After Chuck flashes on the logo of the briefcase and identifies the EMP as being manufactured by Volkoff Industries in Venezuela, Casey and Sarah jet off there, or so they think in a Dassault Falcon 2000EX jet. The shots of this jet are used multiple times in the series. However, the pictures are stock footage from Getty Images. There is even FBI pictured on the front of the aircraft. 

The interiors were most likely shot in a studio with a private jet interior mock-up.

Sarah and Casey jet off to Venezuela

Casey and Sarah Tied Up in Volkoff Industries

Instead of heading to Venezuela, Casey and Sarah are gassed and hijacked to Volkoff Industries in Moscow, Russia. They are tied up there. The location for this shot is AES Redond0 Beach Power Plant located at 1100 N Harbor Dr in  Redondo Beach, CA. The plant was built in 1954. It was decommissioned on Dec. 31, 2023. The site is expected to be re-developed after demolition. There are not many pictures of the inside of the plant. We have a sample of what it looks like inside. The episode was filmed in a decommissioned portion of the plant.

Casey and Sarah tied up at Volkoff Industries
AES Redondo Beach Power Plant
Interior - AES power plant

Chuck and Morgan in the Control Room of Volkoff Industries

Chuck and Morgan find themselves at Volkoff Industries in Moscow, not knowing that Casey and Sarah are there. The scene is shot in the Control Room of the power plant.

Chuck and Morgan in the Conmtrol Room
AES power plant control room

Chuck and Morgan Race to Save Sarah and Casey

Upon discovering the Casey and Sarah are in Volkoff Industries, Chuck and Morgan race to save them. After leaving the control room, they run through the generator room of the power plant.

Chuck and Morgan race through the generator room
A Generator Room at AES Redondo Beach

The Team Escape on a Bus

After the shoot out with Volkoff’s men, the team escapes out a door to an awaiting municipal bus because Chuck had no money for a getaway car. The bus appears to be a 1950’s SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) bus. No telling if  is stock footage or a studio vehicle.

The bus outside of Volkoff Industries
A 1950's SEPTA bus

402- Chuck Vs the Suitcase

Scenes of Milan, Italy

The opening scene of the episode shows pictures of Milan, Italy.  Except neither of them are actually Milan. The first is of the Basilica of Santa Croce (Holy Cross) in Florence, Italy.

The second is The Westin Excelsior Hotel in Rome, Italy

Milan, Italy
Basillica Di Santa Croce, Florence, Ital
Milan, Italy
The Westin Excelsior Hotel, Rome, Italy

Scenes of Milan, Part 2

Chuck and Sarah get the assignment to recover the bullets from the model Sofia at  fashion show in Milan. Establishing shots of Milan are shown. However, the first shot is of the Arno River in Florence, Italy. The second shot is actually in Milan. It’s the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Italy’s oldest shopping center, built in 1877.

Milan, Italy?
The River Arno in Florence, Italy
Milan, Italy
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan

Another Scene of Milan

As Chuck and Sarah approach the hotel where the fashion show is being held, we see another scene of Milan. Except it is not in Milan, it is in Rome. It is Piazza Bonaparte, part of the Piazza Venezia. It is where all the main attractions of Rome are located.

Milan Piazza
{Piazza Bonaparte in Rome, Italy

Milan Fashion Show

Chuck and Sarah will be attending a Milan Fashion Show to find Sofia the model who has the smart bullets. The scene is actually the 2010 Fall/ Winter Milan Fashion Show held on January 16-19, 2010, which is close to when the episode was aired in September 2010. The models pictured are modeling Dolce & Gabbana clothing.

Milan Fashion Show
Dolce-Gabbana 2010 Fall/Winter Fashion

Yet Another Scene of Milan

Another establishing shot of Milan. But, it is a picture of St. Pauli Piers (St. Pauli Landungsbrücken) , the largest landing area in the Port of Hamburg, Germany

Scene of Milan?
St. Pauli Landing, Hamburg

Chuck and Sarah Arrive at Hotel for Fashion Show

After getting the assignment to go to Milan, Italy, Chuck and Sarah arrive at the hotel for the fashion show. the first shot is the stairs up to the reception area. If this looks familiar, it was the filmed in the same place as 303, Chuck Vs. the Tango. At the time, it was the Park Plaza Hotel located at 607 S. Park View St in downtown Los Angeles. It is now known as The MacArthur. The odd thing here is he is walking down to the reception area where he sees Sarah: However, he actually walking on the staircase which leads to the front door of the hotel.

Chuck walking to reception area
Entry stairway to the Park Plaza Hotel

Another View of Milan

There is another video of Milan that isn’t actually Milan at all. The video showing a street with a steep hill and you see the light trails from the vehicles driving by. It is a scene somewhere in the UK, perhaps Scotland, with a Waterstones Book Seller in the lower right hand corner of the photo. We have not been able to nail down the exact location. We spent hours with the AI applications, but none of them could specify the actual location.

Another scene from Milan?

Chuck and Sarah find Sofia at the Reception

As Chuck comes down the staircase and sees Sarah, they are looking for Sofia, the model with the smart bullets. They are in two different places at the Park Plaza Hotel. The reception room is the Grand Ballroom at the Park Plaza, but then they are seen in the lobby of the hotel. When Sofia escapes, she heads up the stairs at the end of the lobby..

Sarah in Grand Ballroom
The Grand Ballroom
Chuck and Sarah in the reception area
Sofia goes up the stairs
Lobby in the Park Plaza

Milan Fashion Show

When Chuck and Sarah return to Milan for the Fashion, it is held in the Grand Ballroom of the Park Plaza Hotel. There are a few additional props in the room, but it is the same place.

Milan Fashion Show
The Grand Ballroom

403 - Chuck Vs. The Cubic Z

Chuck, Sarah and Casey on Buy More Roof with Heather Chandler and Hugo Panzer

Chuck, Sarah, Casey and Heather make their way to the roof of the Buy More to try to stop Hugo from escaping by helicopter. The “roof” is actually the top floor of a parking garage at Warner Brothers. It appears to be the parkage Garage for the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. You can see the lines indicating the parking spots. Also, it appears the two power generators are props and not installed on the roof. They appear to be in the top  left corner of the parking garage.

Sarah, Chuck, Heather and Hugo on the roof of the Buy More
Warner Brothers Stuudio Tour parking garage

404 - Chuck Vs. the Coup d'Etat

Sunset in Costa Gravas

Devon and Ellie get invited down to Costa Gravis as a thank you for saving Premier Alejandro Goya’s life. Chuck and Sarah are invited to tag along and they are flown to the island of Costa Gravis. A view of Costa Gravas appears. Actually, the photo is of Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport, Maine. As known as the Bush Estate, it served as the summer White House for George H. W. Bush. It;s been in the Bush Family since the early 1900’s.

Sunset in Costa Gravas
Walker's Point, Kennebunkport, Maine

Party at Costa Gravas

The reception in Costa Gravas is in honor of Devon saving the Premier’s life, It is actually held in the historic Ebell Theater, located at 743 S Lucerne Blvd in LA. The first scene is in the Garden area and then in the Lounge. Other parts of the theater campus were also used and some scenes appear to be filmed on a set at Warner Brothers.

Costa Gravis Reception - Garden Area
Ebell Theater Garden Area
Reception
Ebell Theater Lounge

405 - Chuck Vs. the Couch Lock

Casey's Fake Funeral

In order to lure Casey’s former platoon members, the team stages a funeral for Casey, while giving him a drug to temporarily paralyze him so he doesn’t move in his casket. The outside of the church is St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, located at: 5244 Tujunga Ave in North Hollywood. 

Church where Casey's funeral is held
St Paul's Lutheran Church, North Hollywood

The interior of the church was filmed at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church located at 310 S Van Ness Ave in Los Angeles. Obviously, when the explosion happens, it is CGI. It is pretty certain they didn’t blow a hole in the floor of the church.

St. Brendan's Catholic Church
Casey's men at front of Church
Front of St. Brendan's Church
Chuck and Sarah sitting in pew
Chuck and Sarah's pew

The Search for Casey

After the explosion in the Church with Casey now missing, Chuck and Sarah head back to Castle to try to locate him. Chuck first puts up a map that seems to indicate a tracker pinpointing Casey's location. The map does, in reality pinpoint the location where the filming took place. When the SWAT team arrives, they are at 625 S. Anderson St. in downtown LA. The bridge is the old 6th Street Bridge, which was demolished and replaced.

Image in Castle of Casey's location
Actual satellite image of filming location

Casey Escapes From His Captors

After leaving the room to eat a pizza, Casey escapes from his three captors by jumping out a window onto a bunch a trash bags. He lands on the side of 516 S. Anderson st, down from where the SWAT team arrived. Directly across the street is the back of the Ace Beverage Company warehouse. 

Casey falls out of window
Side of 516 S. Anderson St.
Back of Ace Beverage warehouse

Casey and Morgan Go to Rescue Chuck and Sarah in Iranian Desert

Casey discovers that Chuck and Sarah have been taken captive and are imprisoned in the bunker in the Iranian desert. The opening shot is that of the Ruins of Tel Aran in the Negev desert of Israel.

Iranian Desert
Ruins of Tel Aran, Israel

Casey and Morgan arrive at a door in the desert. It is unknown where the door in actually located. It is clear that CGI was used to build the background. It has been verified that the whole scene was filmed at the AES Redondo Beach power plant. The same place that served at the Volkoff Headquarters in Russia. Interesting to me is the use of a old Hewlett-Packard test instrument in the scene.

Casey and Morgan at the entrance to the bunker
Casey and Morgan setup for the rescue
Sarah and Casey held captive

406 - Chuck Vs. The Aisle of Terror

Chuck Meeting His Mom, Mary

Chuck receives a call from his mother, Mary Bartowski to meet him at Griffith Park. He is sitting on a picnic table. The picnic table is not actually in Griffith Park, but in a park located at