Rumble Fish Locations

Locations Manager(s): Paul Tompkins

Rumble Fish Filming Locations:

Riverside Park, located on Riverside Drive right on the waterfront of the Arkansas River was used. At the time the park did not stretch that far to the south, and only intersected with two overpasses. It was either at 31st and Riverside (a park is there now) or at 51st and Riverside. [Thanks to Drake Adams]

Bader's Supply Store at 13 Brady Street was the location of "Benny's Poolhall". It is still there and looks pretty much the same. Today it is a video production business.

Rusty-James apartment was located at 103 1/2 E. Dewey St. in Sapulpa, Oklahoma (approximately 20 minutes west of Tulsa).

The bridge sequences were filmed at the 23rd Street Bridge, which crosses Riverside and goes over the Arkansas River. At the time, there was bridge construction going on. The renovation was completed in 1985 and the name changed to the "21st Street Bridge". Still looks pretty much the same though.

"Garish Strip" - Greenwood Ave. (at Archer Street). This was the "Sin City" section visited by the boys when Rusty-James learns his brother had seen their mother in California. The area was desolate at the time. Today it has been built up with new businesses. Looks pretty much the same. *The pet store where the "rumble fish" existed was a converted building front at 1023 N. Greenwood Ave.

Patty's House (where Diane Lane's character lived) was located on the NW corner of Owasso and 14th Street.

Knife Fight Location (where Biff Wilcox and Rusty-James have there knife fight) was located beside the train tracks, beneath the overpass at Archer and Boulder - downtown. The area still looks pretty much the same, but is now gated off property owned by the Williams Company.

Rusty-James' high school was Webster High School at 1919 W. 40th Street in Tulsa.

The school Patty attended was located at 15th Street and Quincy Ave. Patty boards the school bus at the beginning of the film (when the boys are walking up) at the intersection of Quincy and 16th Street - one block south of 15th Street. Still looks the same.

Alley Scene (where Rusty-James and Steve are confronted by two thugs) was located in a downtown alley between Fifth and Sixth Streets and Main and Boston. This area has been built up quite a bit since then and original alley may no longer exist. [Thanks to Kyle J. Wood]

The drugstore scene with the magazine rack was at 201 E. Dewey in Sapulpa. That location is no longer a drugstore.

The scene where the conversation occurs on the fire escape is in the alley north of Dewey between Water and Park streets in Sapulpa. [Thanks to Mark]

My parents were paid for the use of our blue and white Ford truck. They parked the truck on the West side of the bridge of the Arkansas river, going into Bixby. It was a tiny scene, and the only thing they did with the truck was bust out the lights and use it for a prop. [Thanks to Candy Encarnacion]

When Rusty (Matt Dillon) and Steve (Vincent Spano) stumble in to the primarily African-American pool hall, they enter through the back door of Pat's Place. This pool hall was located at 201 E. Hobson Ave, in Sapulpa, OK. If you look in a shot change shortly after the duo stumble in, you will see a single sink hanging from the wall. That is just how the place was set up. The closet like toilet (not shown) was so small they hung the sink on the wall outside of the toilet to make room. The first pool table, nearest to the sink, was actually a snooker table. If you look closely you will see graffiti covering the walls. The graffiti was mostly names and dates of people that visited and was written with chalk from the score boards, or pool table chalk. The front of the house, where Rusty passed out, had some domino tables that, like the pool tables, you could rent for time. Although gambling was illegal the games were openly bet on as long as no strangers were present. These games were often comprised of local officials and thus went overlooked. I bought my first beer there with lawn mowing money around the age of fourteen. Pat would sell us one a day as long as we did not act foolish. If I remember correctly it was 85 cents an hour and a quarter would get you three plays on the jukebox. Pat's Place changed owners a few times after he passed away and the regulation pool tables and snooker table were replaced with coin op bar tables. I thought it would survive the ages, but it closed a few years ago and a new place has opened under the name in a different location. [Thanks to Eric]

3rd Street between Lansing & Kenosha was the location for the scene where Mickey Rourke and Matt Dillon have the near miss on the motorcycle. The same stretch of street was seen earlier in the film when Matt Dillon and Vincent Spano are walking in the street just before they get jumped in the alley. [Thanks to Anonymous]

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