A few weeks ago, we took Allie on a tour of filming locations from the show Stranger Things. We love the show and we did this for her as an early Christmas present. We had so much fun and only had a couple of disappointments. I received a ton of questions and feedback asking how we found the spots and things like that. Everyone apparently LOVES the show… so I figured that I would share my research. Now you can go on your own adventure!!

My Planning-

We did not purchase tickets with a tour group or anything like that. Stranger Things tours do exist though!! We had other plans during our weekend trip and so we wanted to be able to make things work with our schedule. All of this research was simply done online by google searches or on pinterest. I did find at least three different sources verifying each address (who wants to drive all over Georgia just because someone posted the incorrect address). I went into the weekend with a notebook full of my plans with triple verified addresses. I was feeling quite confident. The filming locations were scattered all over the Atlanta area of Georgia. I thought that we would get to see everything on my list in one day. Needless to say, I did not take into account the crazy traffic!! For example, two stops were supposedly twenty five minutes apart and it took us over an hour and a half to get from one to the other. So my advice would be to allow yourself plenty of time and to not get frustrated. We ended up seeing a few things per day off of my list over the course of three days. It was great and we had so much fun!

The locations-

The first stop we visited was Starcourt Mall from season 3. This is an actual mall (Gwinnett Place Mall). The day that we went they were filming that night , so there were lots of tents and equipment outside. We got as close as we could without being approached by the security guard who was carefully watching us 😂😂. We could see Hawkins police cars and the station wagon that belongs to Mike and Nancy in the parking lot. We drove around to the next entrance and they had the actual Starcourt sign up. We walked right in the mall and wandered over to where the barricades were set up for filming. We could peak through and see how the store logos were changed to the eighties logos. The mall is located at 2100 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth, Georgia.

We also had addresses for all of the homes used during filming. Most of the homes are right in the same neighborhood, so you can see them all in a matter of minutes.

The Wheeler’s House is locates at 2530 Piney Wood Lane in East Point, Georgia. This home did have signs in the yard that said no trespassing- pictures from the street only!

Lucas’s House is just one house over and is located at 2550 Piney Wood Lane.

Dustin’s House is actually the first House we saw when pulling into the neighborhood. It is located on 2886 Piney Wood Drive in East Point.

Barb’s House is also on the same street. It is at 2980 Piney Wood Drive.

We visited the scene of El flipping the Hawkins Lab van. It is located between the houses at 3782 and 3788 Sarah’s Lane in Tucker, Georgia.

The last house that we visited was Max and Billy’s home. As I followed the navigation directions to this address, my husband thought that my research was wrong. You literally pull into a cemetery. There is a dirt road that takes you around to the left and then you can see that there are homes back there. The house is located at 5280 Moore Street in Stone Mountain, Georgia.

We had to find Hawkins Lab and get a picture there! This spot was also being filmed at on the day we went. We saw tents, catering trucks, and equipment. You can actually drive all the way around this building to get the view or picture that you want. Hawkins Lab is a building on Emory University’s Briarcliffe Campus. The address is 1256 Briarcliffe Road NE in Atlanta.

The arcade was a fun spot to see in person. There was a security guard sitting in his car on site, but we got out, took pictures, and looked inside the windows with no problems. Although the sign isn’t up, we could see the arcade sign inside. It was all pretty empty on the inside except for the infamous Dragon’s Lair video game! The arcade is located at 6501 Church Street in Douglasville, Georgia.

Benny’s Burgers from season one was also on our list. This place is an actual cafe (Tiffany’s Kitchen) and the parking lot was pretty full on the day we went. The location is 7413 Lee Road in Lithia Springs, Georgia.

We wanted to visit the grocery store that El goes into and steals waffles. It is a tiny little place in a pretty small town. I could see the employees watching us walk up through the windows and as soon as we walked in they said, “Stranger Things?” We all laughed and they welcomed us to come right in. We were told to grab some waffles and take as many pictures as we wanted. Everyone was super friendly. We even bought a box so that we could take a pic walking out. The address for the store is 504 Center Street in Palmetto, Georgia.

Hawkins Middle School and Hawkins High School are the same actual school. It is just two different entrances. We made sure to visit this location on Saturday when there was no school in session. There were actually other fans wandering the property that day and taking pictures as well. The actual school is called Patrick Henry and is located at 109 South Lee Street in Stockbridge, Georgia. We looked through windows and could see familiar hallways. We may or may not have climbed up on a bar to get a glimpse inside the gym!

Our last stop was at Melvad’s General Store where Joyce works. From standing in front of the store, you can see the courthouse and also the radio shack is right next door (RIP Bob). The location of this spot is 42 S. Mulberry Street in Jackson, Georgia.

The misses of our trip-

I can only think of three things to mention that we’re misses on this adventure. Number one- Bellwood Quarry. Although I had read conflicting reports on this location, I figured to give it a try. After all, those would have been beautiful pictures!! The address led us to basically a ditch. Not only a ditch, but it was in a dead end sketchy area. This was the only time of the trip that I felt slightly unsafe and that was only because someone turned around when they saw us turn and started driving toward us which could’ve blocked us in. Of course, we made it out safely!! From my research, it sounds like the state owns this land and they are turning it into a park. The side that is used for filming ( it’s been in several other movies/shows besides Stranger Things) is not accessible from public roads. That being said, if you find an address…. just be safe!

Number Two- Hawkins Police Station. We didn’t get to visit this location. The day we went there, the town was having some sort of festival and all of the roads were blocked off. We tried to drive around to the other side, but of course it was blocked off completely. There were tons of people and not a lot of parking, so we didn’t think it was worth it to try and park to find it on foot. This festival was not show related. So if you go on a trip of your own… the address for the police station is 8485 Courthouse Square West in Douglasville, Georgia.

Number Three- Lucy Lu’s Coffee. This little shop is not in the show. It is just right by the location of Melvad’s General Store. From everything that I’ve read, their menu is Stranger Things inspired and they have a drink called The Upside Down. We arrived 15 minutes after closing and so we were just bummed that we didn’t get to try it out. If you are going on this trip, plan around their hours- it sounds like it is worth it!

We had so much fun! This is the kind of stuff that I love to do!! If you live close enough to make a trip, I would highly recommend that you do!! We all enjoyed it and are now even more pumped for season three so that we can see all of the places we have been!!