Where Was ‘Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F’ Filmed? Discover the Filming Locations for Eddie Murphy’s New ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ Movie

The fourth movie in the Beverly Hills Cop movie—aka Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F—is now streaming on Netflix, just in time for the 4th of July holiday. Eddie Murphy is back as Detective Axel Foley, and he’s going to take viewers on one helluva ride-along.

It’s been over 40 years since the original 1984 action comedy opened in theaters, to massive financial success. This time around, Axel is a father hellbent on protecting his estranged daughter, played by Taylour Paige, from a dangerous dirty cop conspiracy. Father and daughter reunite, and team up with a new partner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and old pals Billy Rosewood (Judge Reinhold) and John Taggart (John Ashton), to save the day.

You don’t have to Google to know where a movie titled Beverly Hills Cop takes place—it’s all there in the name. But what about where Beverly Hills Cop was filmed? After all, quite a few movies don’t film in the same location where they take place.

Decider has the answer for you, so read on to learn all about the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F filming locations.

Where was Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F filmed?

Beverly Hills Cop 4 was filmed on location in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and San Bernardino in California and the surrounding area; as well as on location in Detroit, Michigan.

According to the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F press notes, director Mark Molloy was determined to film in the real Beverly Hills, despite the fact that many productions these days are lured away to Atlanta or New Orleans by tax incentives. But they don’t call it Atlanta Cop!

According to locations manager Dan Cooley, in an interview for the press notes, “We had 48 locations and it was as complicated as you can imagine, and then multiply that by infinity.” And those were just the location in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. There was also a “15-day second-unit stunt unit and another six days of filming” in Detroit, for the movie’s opening sequence.

The film’s biggest set piece involved flying a helicopter down Beverly Hill’s Rodeo Drive and landing that helicopter in front of Beverly Hills City Hall. In order to do that, the production shut down the bustling shopping destination, Rodeo Drive, between Wilshire and Brighton avenues. The film also worked closely with the real Beverly Hills police department to film in their workspace.

“I still remember the first day we walked into the Beverly Hills police department” Molloy said in an interview for the film’s press notes. “We weren’t sure what was going to happen. We walked in there and then behind the desk was a cardboard cutout of Axel Foley, standing right there. We knew we were in the right place.”

The director added, “It was wonderful to be able to come to this town that’s so ingrained into all of our memories of cinema and to be able to shoot scenes like that on location. There is almost a sense of nostalgia about that too.”

Other recognizable Los Angeles landmarks, according to the movie press notes, include the Beverly Hills sign; the Millennium Bitmore Hotel in downtown LA (which doubled as the “Beverly Palms Hotel,” where Axel stays; Norm’s, a 24-hour-diner on La Cienega; the Eastern Columbia Building in downtown LA (which doubled as “El Rodeo Club” in the movie); and Hope St., between 3rd and 4th Avenue.

As for the Detroit shoot, which happened in November 2022, locations included Washington Boulevard, from State Street to Grand River Avenue; the alley between Shelby Street and Washington Boulevard, from State Street to Grand River Avenue; and State Street, between Washington Boulevard to Griswold Street. (This is according to the street closures reported by the Detroit Free Press.)

Several Detroit landmarks are featured in the opening sequence of the movie, including the Renaissance Center, the Joe Louis Fist, and the Little Caesars Arena where the Detroit Red Wings play (the locker room, however, was a set). However, according to another report from the Detroit Free Press, Eddie Murphy himself never came to the Motor City to film. Instead, the on-location footage was edited it in later. Hey, that’s movie magic for you. Not everything is what it seems!