New Westminster Filming Locations: Vancouver Day Trip Guide

Most people treat New Westminster as somewhere you pass through on the way somewhere else. That’s a mistake, and a surprisingly common one for a city that has stood in for San Francisco, Japan, New York, and the St. Louis riverfront.

I visited my birth city as part of a Cineventure film tourism experience in partnership with Tourism New Westminster. We were joined by Trevor Cave, Film Coordinator for the City of New Westminster, who walked us through how these locations are scouted, prepared, and transformed for major productions.

The Cineventure team were with us too, filming the whole day. Having Trevor there made every stop land differently than it would on a solo walk. He knows exactly what happened, where and why productions keep coming back.

New Westminster is 25 minutes from downtown Vancouver by SkyTrain. Every location in this guide is walkable from the station.

Start here: New Westminster Station, Expo Line. Exit onto Columbia Street and head west. Anvil Centre is less than a five-minute walk from the station.

Stop 1: Anvil Centre

Anvil Centre looks like a civic building from the outside. Inside is a different story. A glass atrium, wide staircases, and clean contemporary lines that can pass as a corporate tower, a government facility, or a sci-fi headquarters with very little set dressing.

Gerardo Corro, the Tourism New Westminster Director, told us productions come back to it repeatedly because it’s so easy to transform. Standing at the bottom of those stairs looking up, I could see it.

What was filmed here:

• The Flash – appears as Tannhauser Industries
• Once Upon a Time – appears as Belfrey Towers
• His & Hers – stands in as a New York office tower
• The Good Doctor – the series finale filmed on the main stairs and the east exit
• Fifty Shades Darker – early scenes filmed at the front desk and in the elevators
• Also: Arrow, Lucifer, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, Nancy Drew, and Life Sentence

Anvil Centre also houses the New Westminster Museum and Archives, the New Media Gallery, and the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame. While we were inside, I noticed a Métis history exhibition in the museum space – fiddle, Red River cart, sweetgrass braid.

Worth slowing down for if you have time. If you want to dig deeper into what to do inside Anvil Centre and around New Westminster beyond the filming locations, I’ve covered it in my full New Westminster guide.

Address: 777 Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC Website: anvilcentre.com

Stop 2: The Paramount Theatre and Columbia Street

Walk west along Columbia Street from Anvil Centre. The Paramount Theatre is a few minutes on foot.

The Paramount Theatre has been on Columbia Street since the early 1900s. I’d seen it in IT and Twilight: New Moon before I ever visited in person, and when I turned the corner and saw the marquee, I recognized it immediately.

Columbia Street works because its architecture covers different eras. Trevor pointed out that it can read as small-town America, a mid-century city corridor, or a historic urban streetscape, depending on how it’s dressed. You can see it standing there.

The brick, the heritage details, the way the buildings sit together – it gives productions choices that a purpose-built set doesn’t.

What was filmed here:

• IT (1990) – the theatre appears as the Derry cinema, including the opening scene of the miniseries
• Twilight: New Moon – the exterior stands in as the Port Angeles cinema where Bella and Jessica watch Face Punch
• Godzilla (2014) – Columbia Street becomes a San Francisco Chinatown evacuation sequence
• Fire Country – used for a San Francisco cable car crash scene
• Timeless – a chase sequence along Begbie Street in Season 1, Episode 13
• Several Hallmark productions, including Sealed With a List and Once Upon a Holiday

We also had a surprise visit from the New Westmonster at the Paramount – New Westminster’s own Pennywise, complete with red balloons and a yellow raincoat. It’s a fun local character that Tourism New Westminster has built around the IT connection, and it got a lot of laughs on the day.

The Paramount is one of the oldest surviving theatre buildings in British Columbia and is still in use.

Address: Columbia Street, New Westminster, BC

Coffee Break: Delicia Cafe and Bakery

Before heading downhill to Front Street, stop in at Delicia Cafe and Bakery on Columbia Street. I’ve been here with my mum for coffee, pretzels, and cookies – and yes, everything we ordered is vegan.

For such a small city centre, New Westminster punches well above its weight for plant-based options, and Delicia is a good place to rest your legs before the next stretch.

Stop 3: Front Street and Antique Alley

Head downhill from Columbia Street to Front Street. This is the stop I didn’t expect to be my favourite. Brick walls, iron staircases, railway lines, and industrial buildings compressed into a few blocks under an elevated parkade. It doesn’t look like anywhere else in Metro Vancouver, which is the point.

Trevor explained how Godzilla used this area as both San Francisco and Japan in the same film. The reason it works is the texture – nothing here is clean or neutral, so productions can dress it in different directions, and the bones support whatever they’re building.

I, Robot was filmed here too. Will Smith’s chase scene ran along these stairs. There used to be a commemorative poster on the wall marking the spot, but someone took it home as a souvenir, so it’s gone now.

For The Last of Us Season 3, Trevor described how they brought in a low loader – a flatbed trailer that carries a car so it looks like it’s driving while the camera films alongside it – to shoot in this corridor just weeks before our visit. The same stairs, the same walls, a completely different world on screen.

What was filmed here:

• I, Robot (2004) – Will Smith’s chase scene on the Antique Alley stairs
• Godzilla (2014) – doubled as San Francisco and Japan, including the Janjira quarantine zone
• Rumble in the Bronx (1995) – Jackie Chan’s motorcycle chase, set in New York
• Shooter (2007) – a Sixth Street escape scene
• IT (1990) – Columbia and Sixth appear as part of Derry
• The Last of Us Season 3 – filmed weeks before our visit

Stop 4: Westminster Pier Park and River Market

Continue downhill to the Fraser River waterfront. The walk from Antique Alley to the pier takes around ten minutes.

The Fraser River boardwalk is wide, open, and easy to dress for different settings, which explains why it keeps showing up in productions that have nothing to do with British Columbia.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians used it as the St. Louis riverfront near the Gateway Arch. Hallmark Christmas productions come back every year and cover it in lights and fake snow.

The painted orca sculpture on the pier is a New Westminster landmark and photographs well with the river behind it. River Market is right here – take a breather on the boardwalk before deciding where to eat.

What was filmed here:

• Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Disney+) – appears as the St. Louis Gateway Arch riverfront
• You Me Her – multiple waterfront scenes
• Fifty Shades Darker – a grocery shopping scene inside Donald’s Market at River Market
• Several Hallmark Christmas productions

Westminster Pier Park: New Westminster, BC
River Market: 810 Quayside Drive, New Westminster, BC
Website: rivermarket.ca

Where to Eat in New Westminster

Angelina’s Dutch Corner

Angelina’s Dutch Corner is inside River Market on the waterfront. Dutch pannekoeken, brunch dishes, and views across the Fraser. We had lunch here after the tour. Check the menu directly for current plant-based options before you go.

Address: 960 Quayside Drive, Unit 115, New Westminster, BC Website: angelinasrestaurant-hub.com Instagram: @angelinasdutchcorner

The Old Spaghetti Factory

If you have time for a proper sit-down meal, the Old Spaghetti Factory is worth the walk. It’s a New Westminster institution with a genuinely fun atmosphere – stained glass, statues, and an old train car you can eat inside. It’s also vegan and vegetarian-friendly. I usually order the penne with marinara and the minestrone soup, with balsamic vinegar and olive oil for the bread.

This is also the former workplace of Hudson Williams, known for his role in Heated Rivalry. The restaurant is up a steep hill from the waterfront, but it’s less than a block from New Westminster Station if you’re heading back to the SkyTrain.

Note: The set meal includes ice cream, which is not vegan.

How to Get to New Westminster

New Westminster is 25 minutes from downtown Vancouver by SkyTrain on the Expo Line. Exit at New Westminster Station onto Columbia Street. Every filming location in this guide is walkable from the station, with the route running downhill from Columbia Street to the Fraser River waterfront.

The full day trip takes around three to four hours at a comfortable pace, not including lunch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Practical Tips for Visiting New Westminster

• Exit New Westminster Station onto Columbia Street. Anvil Centre is less than five minutes on foot.
• Wear comfortable shoes. The route runs downhill from Columbia Street to the waterfront, with some uneven surfaces around Antique Alley.
• Anvil Centre is free to enter. The museum exhibitions inside are worth a look, even if you’re just there for the filming locations.
• Stop at Delicia Cafe and Bakery on Columbia Street for a vegan-friendly coffee break before heading downhill.
• Angelina’s Dutch Corner doesn’t take reservations. Arrive early on weekends.
• The Old Spaghetti Factory is up a steep hill from the waterfront but less than a block from New Westminster Station – worth knowing if you’re planning to eat before heading home.
• The Paramount Theatre exterior is viewable at any time.

Plan Your Visit

New Westminster is 25 minutes from Vancouver and one of the most filmed cities in British Columbia. Most people drive past it on the way somewhere else.

This visit was part of a Cineventure experience in partnership with Tourism New Westminster.

For more on what to see and do in New Westminster beyond the filming locations, read my full New Westminster guide.