See What Famous Movie Locations Look Like Today With This Nifty App

The developers of SCENEPAST combed through more than 20,000 hours of footage to let you see what famous film locations look like today.

Like many innovative business ventures before it, the idea for SCENEPAST—a new iPhone app that lets you see what famous film locations look like today—began with five little words: "Wouldn’t it be cool if…"

In this case, the conversation in question was between longtime friends Michael Bernstein and Craig Bryan. They're not software developers by any stretch—Bernstein is a supply-chain management professional and Bryan is an entertainment marketer—but as the evening wore on and that hypothetical question turned to time travel, the two went from being friends to business partners. "We thought, Wouldn't it be cool if you could use movies and TV shows to take you back in time?’" says Bernstein. "So we decided to build an app around the theme of time travel and marry it with film and television."

A screengrab of the app.

Image courtesy of SCENEPAST

Launched in December, SCENEPAST presents you with a time-travel interface to dial in exactly where—or when—you want to go. Filter by year, zip code, or just choose "Nearest." A "Watch Now" button even lets you download the film or TV show directly from iTunes right on the spot. (How meta is that?)

SCENEPAST’s current library comprises more than 650 specific filming locations throughout New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Miami; some, like Double Indemnity and It’s a Wonderful Life date back nearly 70 years. "We like to mix it up, trading between different TV shows, films, cities, genres, and decades," Bernstein says of how they decide which projects get added. "We may add a 1950s New York City-set film like Sweet Smell of Success, then start on a 1990s TV show like Beverly Hills, 90210." But while new content is being added all the time, you’ll have to find The Peach Pit on your own—at least for now.

Already, Bernstein and Bryan have sifted through more than 20,000 hours of footage, and they’re always looking for that next compelling location to add to the SCENEPAST library. "Once we isolate a cool location, we hope [that] there is a distinguishing street sign or building address," Bernstein says, though he admits that it’s usually not so easy. "On bigger films, like Back to the Future, locations are well documented, so you can easily figure out where Marty McFly lived. However, less popular films like 1983’s Crackers, set in San Francisco, can be challenging to figure out—but also enormously rewarding." Best of all, there’s no flux capacitor required. Just don’t blame us if you end up taking your mom to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.