A Look At Real-Life Locations Of Netflix’s Stranger Things That Brought Hawkins To Life

Netflix’s Stranger Things is set in the fictional Midwestern town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s. Despite this setting, the production filmed most of the series in Georgia. Below is a list of well-known locations that feature many of the show’s most iconic places.

Although the production stitched the town together using different parts of Georgia, the first two seasons created the version of Hawkins that viewers truly fell in love with. Each time the crew returns, the buildings in Jackson’s charming town centre, including Melvald’s and the local library, quietly stand in as familiar Hawkins landmarks.

East Point houses the well-known family homes that shaped the early seasons. Apart from the Upside Down slime leaking through a few portals, they look exactly as audiences remember them. The team recreated most interior scenes on studio sets, which means those cosy, Christmas-lit living rooms with patterned wallpaper were built with extra care and strict fire safety in mind.

The production filmed Hawkins High and Middle School in a former school in Stockbridge, making it a perfect setting for empty corridors finally getting their moment on screen.

Season three dropped viewers straight into the harsh fluorescent glow of Starcourt Mall, filmed entirely inside Duluth’s once-thriving Gwinnett Place Mall. With neon lights, roller-style ice cream, and long-forgotten shop brands, the crew transformed the space into a full-blown shrine to 1980s consumer culture.

Like the Byers’ home, the Wheelers’ house, especially the basement, captures some of the series’ most cherished moments.

The Hawkins National Laboratory sits at the centre of nearly every disaster across all five seasons of Stranger Things. Eleven first opens the gate to the Upside Down there, and later, Soviet agents swarm the site while trying to reverse her efforts to seal it. Trouble follows the lab at every turn.

The production filmed the lab on Emory University’s 42-acre Briarcliff campus, using buildings from the former Georgia Mental Health Institute, which remained operational until Emory acquired the property in 1998.

In season four, authorities send Hopper to a Soviet prison after suspecting him of being an American spy with knowledge of the Upside Down. Inside, he uncovers a far darker truth: the prison also serves as a research centre where the Soviets keep a living Demogorgon captive.

Filmmakers also used a real former prison for these scenes, though it stands in Lithuania rather than Russia. Lukiskes Prison operated for more than a century and gained notoriety for holding political prisoners in harsh, filthy conditions. All this information is mentioned in the people's report.

Also Read: Ikkis Box Office Collection Day 1: Agastya Nanda, Dharmendra's War Drama Makes A Promising Start On Opening Day, Earns ₹7 Crore