Forrest Gump (1994)

dir. Robert Zemeckis

This only covers the parts filmed in Savannah, Georgia and Washington, D.C. The film was also shot in South Carolina, California, Arizona and Maine.

The flying feather sequence – Madison Square, Savannah, Georgia. We see St. John’s Episcopal Church and the corner building is the Scottish Rite Temple that now hosts shopSCAD, a boutique that features artwork and designs created by Savannah College of Art and Design artists.

Bull Street at Hull Street, Savannah, Georgia. The feather flies past the Independent Presbyterian Church towards Chippewa Square, with the First Baptist Church visible on the far corner.

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) telling his story to anyone who will listen – Chippewa Square on the Hull Street side, Savannah, Georgia. The platform and the bench were put up there for the filming and later removed. According to one source, there were four benches made for the film. One of them is on display at the Savannah History Museum, 303 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Another bench stands at Paramount Studios. Both locations claim this is the very bench used in the movie. The fate of the other two benches is unknown.

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) at the anti-war rally – Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln Memorial Circle SW, Washington, DC.

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) runs to Jenny (Robin Wright) – Reflecting Pool, Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C..

Forrest and Jenny walking by the White House – 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C..

Forrest and Jenny walking – Tidal Basin path, Washington, D.C..

Forrest complaining about the disturbance at his hotel – Watergate Hotel, 2650 Virginia Avenue NW, Washington, DC. The hotel underwent an extensive renovation a few years ago, and the facade looks slightly different now.

The cafe where Jenny works – 6 W State Street, Savannah, Georgia. Debi's Restaurant was there until a few years ago. Since then it has closed, the storefront has been remodeled and it's unrecognizable now.

Jenny tells Forrest that she is sick and asks him if he would marry her – Forsyth Park, Savannah, Georgia.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

dir. Frank Capra

Despite the title, most of the film was shot on the West Coast. The Washington footage, with the exception of a couple of episodes, was provided by the second unit, and rear-projected on a Hollywood set. Capra was not allowed to film inside the U.S. Senate chamber at the Capitol, so it was meticulously reproduced in Hollywood.

Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) arrives in Washington – Union Station, 701 1st Street NE, Washington DC. The film offers a rare glimpse of the original station, when up to 200,000 people were passing through it on a single day. Union Station went into decline in the 1960s, and was repurposed into the National Visitor Center in the 1970s. The center was never popular, and the deteriorating structure was declared unsafe and closed to the public in 1981. The same year, Congress decided to restore Union Station rather than demolishing it. The station was closed for restoration for most of the decade and reopened in its present form in 1988.

Smith's tour of Washington:

U.S. Supreme Court, 1 First Street NE, Washington, DC.

The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC.

U.S. Capitol, East Capitol Street NE and 1st Street SE, Washington, DC.

Washington Monument, National Mall, Washington, DC.

Tomb of the Unknowns, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

Smith visits the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln Memorial Circle SW, Washington, DC. The National Park Service didn’t allow Capra to film inside the Memorial. The director sent a big crew to a different site to distract the NPS, and then took James Stewart and a small crew with a hand-held camera into the Memorial to quietly film this scene.

U.S. Capitol (east side), between Northwest and Southwest Drives, Washington, DC.

National Press Club, National Press Building Leasing, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC. Although the Washington press corps was initially enthusiastic about the film, and even allowed Capra and his crew to reproduce the interior of the club in full detail, many DC reporters later took offense at the rather unflattering depiction of the press in the movie.