The Perks of Being a Wallflower filming locations are almost all within a short drive of each other in Pittsburgh’s South Hills, which is no accident. Stephen Chbosky set his novel in the suburbs he grew up in, and when he directed the film version in 2011 he shot it there. Most of the places are real and easy to find: a tunnel everyone in Pittsburgh has driven through, a public high school, a 1920s movie house, and one private home that should be seen only from the street. Here is where each scene was filmed and what is there now.
A hometown shoot
Patch reported on May 9, 2011, that filming had begun in Upper St. Clair, with traffic restrictions on several township streets that week. It described Chbosky as an Upper St. Clair High School graduate and the story as that of an introverted freshman living in Pittsburgh in the early 1990s. The SteelCityHistory guide to movies filmed in Pittsburgh dates the local shoot from May 9 to June 29, 2011, and IMDb lists filming in May and June 2011. One source gives a different hometown: Row House Cinemas’ history of the Hollywood Theater says Chbosky grew up in nearby Mt. Lebanon. Patch and the Post-Gazette tie him to Upper St. Clair.
The Fort Pitt Tunnel
This is the scene people come for. Sam, played by Emma Watson, stands in the bed of a pickup truck as it comes out of the Fort Pitt Tunnel and the downtown skyline opens up ahead, with David Bowie’s “Heroes” playing. IMDb lists the Fort Pitt Tunnel for the truck scenes and the Fort Pitt Bridge as a separate location. The Post-Gazette’s Pittsburgh Insiders Guide says the moment grew out of Chbosky’s many trips through the tunnel as a young passenger growing up in Upper St. Clair, and that he wrote in the soundtrack’s liner notes, “Please God stay in the car!”
That advice applies. You can recreate the view legally by driving inbound on I-376 through the tunnel with your seat belt on. The tunnel itself, according to the SteelCityHistory history of Pittsburgh road tunnels, opened on September 1, 1960. The bridge on the other side is part of the SteelCityHistory story of Pittsburgh bridges.
Charlie’s house, Upper St. Clair
The family home of Charlie, played by Logan Lerman, is a private home in Upper St. Clair, according to IMDb and the Movie Locations website. Look from the road, if at all, and do not walk onto the property.
The high school: Peters Township High School
The high school scenes were filmed at Peters Township High School, 264 East McMurray Road in McMurray, according to IMDb and the Movie Locations site. The Post-Gazette reported in June 2011 that the film featured “several scenes shot in the Peters Township School District.” The location-mapping site Metatake also lists Peters Township Middle School, which could not be confirmed elsewhere. It is a working school, so it is a drive-by, not a visit.
The Rocky Horror nights: the Hollywood Theater, Dormont
The late-night Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings where Charlie joins Sam and Patrick were filmed at the Hollywood Theater, 1449 Potomac Avenue in Dormont. The theater’s own history, now published by Row House Cinemas, says it opened in September 1926 as a silent-picture house, that it was closed when the film crew arrived, and that Chbosky offered $5,000 to use the space. That money, it says, became seed funding for a nonprofit that reopened the theater. Row House Cinemas, which runs a single-screen theater in Lawrenceville, bought the Hollywood in the summer of 2023. Of all the locations, it is the one you can actually walk into and buy a ticket for. Check its schedule for current showings.
The diner: Kings Family Restaurant
The restaurant where Charlie, Sam and Patrick hang out was a Kings Family Restaurant at 155 McMurray Road, according to IMDb and the Movie Locations site, which places it in Upper St. Clair. The location guide Giggster says that branch has since closed and been replaced by a different business. What occupies the building now is unconfirmed, so check before you go.
Seeing them in one trip
The South Hills locations along McMurray Road, including the high school, are close together, and Dormont is on the way back toward the city. Finish with the Fort Pitt Tunnel inbound after dark, as in the film. For more films shot in the region, see the SteelCityHistory Pittsburgh movie locations guide.
