JC: We loved Saga because a lot of the architecture in the show was rooted more in the 1920s and ’30s—you know, the mansions, the estate, the club—so in West Palm Beach we could infuse more of this 1950s mid-century style. In March, 2022 before filming, Tate Taylor and I drove down South Dixie Highway in Palm Beach and earmarked a handful of hotels that felt “of the era” and this Pasadena motel could definitely stand in for them.
There are some scenes that I felt I could step inside, such as Dinah and Maxine’s Martini Bar. Is that a real venue?
JC: It’s a bar called The Prince in Koreatown.
ER: That space looks almost identical to what you see in the show. We changed out the art works—because we had to for clearance purposes—but your readers will actually get that feel when they go there.
JC: We were also very inspired by The Breakers—one party takes place there in the plot—so we shot many interior scenes at The Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, which has the same feel. Similarly, we referenced The Colony—our Palm Royale pool looks like theirs, very feminine and pink. Historically, The Colony Hotel held a lot of fashion shows poolside—Slim Aarons photographed them—so we picked up on the dominance of fashion in that space in the show.
How did you differentiate between West Palm and Palm Beach proper?
JC: It’s San Fernando Boulevard in San Fernando, just outside L.A.—it’s a jewel of a street that is mostly period-correct. We did build facades over real shopfronts for the Cuban restaurant and the Va-va Voom nail salon but that’s all. That street has the right foliage and the architectural style to match West Palm Beach in the 1960s.
Equally, the driving scenes. When Maxine is driving in West Palm Beach, we shot in areas of residential L.A. such as Mar Vista; it has the Ain Tract—a couple of blocks where the 1940s houses are all designed by Gregory Ain.
What’s your favorite scene?
ER: It’s a toss-up between Norma’s smoking room and—in the final episode—the Beach Ball [the climactic charity ball.] It was a stage and a half!
JC: It was kind of insane. But my favorite scene is Norma’s assisted-living apartment. I grew up in a midcentury ranch and there were a lot of architectural elements from my childhood house that I put into it. In fact, the exterior was genuinely shot in Palm Beach—it’s a condominium tower called The President of Palm Beach. There was a certain nostalgia when I went into that scene that felt right.
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