Cobra Kai, the karate sequel series to the Karate Kid movies, has taken the world by storm. The show was originally launched in 2018 as a Youtube Premium series, and ran for 2 seasons. Despite being renewed for a 3rd season, Youtube would not commit to continuing beyond that. So the show looked for a new home, and found it at Netflix. Cobra Kai’s first 2 seasons were brought to the new streaming home, and was quickly renewed for a 4th season, before the 3rd season even debuted. The wide availability of Netflix helped the series find new viewers, and it quickly became one of Netflix top series.
While some filming did occur in the Los Angeles area (the show’s setting), most of the production takes place in Atlanta. Of course, there is an obvious difference in the landscaping and fauna, but the show has done a good job of making the locations blend together relatively seemlessly.
I haven’t had the chance to visit Atlanta since the pandemic, but I was able to visit a few locations in Los Angeles when I visited in May 2022.
Johnny’s Apartment
Johnny’s Apartment can be found at 18555 Burbank Boulevard in Tarzana, California. Only the outside of the building is used in the show. The interiors and the garage are filmed a soundstage.
Daniel’s Childhood Apartment
Daniel’s apartment from his childhood was seen extensively in The Karate Kid Parts I and III. It pops up again in Cobra Kai when Daniel and Johnny visit.
Robby’s Skatepark
The ninth episode of the first season opens with a montage of Robby skating at a local skatepark. The skate park is actually located in the Los Angeles area. Other than some graffiti, it mostly looks the same as it appears in the show.
Miyagi Do Karate
The Karate Kid – Mr. Miyagi House Locations
The location of Mr. Miyagi’s house in the first two Karate Kid movies was located in Canoga Park, California. This made sense as the movie was filmed in LA. Lindsay from IAMNOTASTALKER did a lot of research into the location, and her page has a lot of info about the location. You can find her article here.
By the time The Karate Kid Part III was filming, the house had been torn down. As it was still a location in the plot, the house was rebuilt on the Warner Bros. Ranch in Burbank. After filming, the house was demolished.
Cobra Kai – Mr. Miyagi House Locations
When Cobra Kai launched, Mr. Miyagi’s house again played into the plot. The crew once again built a replica of the house, including the intricate front yard and garden in the back. While minor differences are noticeable, the house is a very faithful recreation.
The location of the house has been elusive since the series first debuted on Youtube. A number of click-bait sites claimed to have found the location, only to present no actual information. Despite their lack of any real info, I knew the house had to be located somewhere.
I pulled up the film studio on Google maps, and searched the surrounding area, in case I could spot anything. There seemed to be no open area where they could recreate a house and yard of that size. That’s when I went back to the studio location, and spotted a weird looking building in the parking lot.
I decided to zoom in a bit and use Google’s 3D imaging, and voila! The Miyagi Do house, built right in the parking lot of the studio. The show really does a wonderful job of hiding the suburban Atlanta surroundings. It must also be very handy for the cast and crew to not have to go out and film on location.
Other Cobra Kai locations
Anyone looking for info and photos from the Atlanta Cobra Kai filming locations, you only need to look in one spot. My friend Brian runs the Reel to Real Movie and TV Filming Locations website. He has done an excellent job of tracking down all the Cobra Kai locations, and has them all well documented on his page.
