Blowing L.A.’s cover

A group of SWAT officers swarms before a run-down house on 36th Street in southwestern Los Angeles. Yet the residents on the street barely blink an eye.

No wonder. This is L.A., after all, and the most anxious people on the scene aren’t the cops, but the young men and women carrying walkie-talkies and dressed in Hollywood casual attire.

Since the city’s canyons and brushlands figured prominently in early westerns and since Laurel and Hardy fruitlessly tried to move a piano up a steep staircase in Silver Lake, Los Angeles has served as a backdrop for film, and then television.

This season, however, the old perennial locations just don’t cut it. The premiere this fall of three new cop shows all set on the streets of L.A. -- “Robbery Homicide Division” on CBS, “Boomtown” on NBC and “Fastlane” on Fox -- has prompted a high-stakes scramble to capture unfamiliar views of one of the most filmed cities anywhere.

The three productions are practically falling over each other on city streets, filming within blocks and hours of each other in the search for unique sites that have previously escaped Hollywood’s attention.

Residents in poorer areas of East and South-Central Los Angeles may complain occasionally about police inattention, but the TV cops are there in force. The other actors, directors and crews that accompany them are mixing with the homeless denizens of skid row, turning their bright lights on the almost invisible garment manufacturers underneath the Santa Monica Freeway, and zeroing in on the artist community of Leimert Park. Seedy streets populated by gang members and vagrants also have been overrun by film crews and star trailers.

Even a familiar filming location like the Los Angeles River is getting viewed in a different, decidedly less romanticized light. Don’t look for John Travolta drag-racing in “Grease”; the nooks and crannies of the ditch and its unseen populace living in caves and holes around its concrete banks have been invaded by “Boomtown.”

The dreadlocked owner of a reggae music store on Crenshaw Boulevard has reluctantly allowed crews to film in his shop. One producer bragged about filming a scene high in an abandoned wing of City Hall that had never been filmed before.

“I’ve been shooting L.A. for 20 years, trying to make it not seem like Los Angeles,” says Flip Wylly, a location manager for “Robbery Homicide Division.” “Now, we’re going out of our way to show the bittersweet beauty of Los Angeles.”

Or, in the case of this night’s shoot on 36th Street, the aim is to satisfy producer-director Michael Mann’s quest for realism, using real SWAT personnel. And as sirens wail nearby and police helicopters occasionally pass overhead, the glamorous Hollywood machinery comes nose-to-nose with the often grimy reality of city life.

“L.A. is a fascinating and unique three-dimensional city,” Mann says as he sits in his trailer. “There’s this fusion of cultures that you don’t have in other places. We’re trying to approach L.A. as realistically as we can. Everything is loaded with color here, but there’s this patina of corrosion on top of it all.”

Mann, who created the pastel look for TV’s “Miami Vice” and who directed “Heat,” a feature film that showed L.A. in a stylized light, is aiming for a grittier feel with “Robbery Homicide Division.” Although many of the city’s picturesque vistas are shown, the production also is centered in lower-class communities. That’s posed some problems: Gang members have threatened crew members in some areas, and equipment has been stolen. Yet there’s a creative payoff: Mann is overseeing some filming in the middle of the night to capture a more ominous feel, instead of shooting in early evening.

In NBC’s “Boomtown,” each week’s crime is examined “Rashomon”-style, from the viewpoints of cops, district attorneys, paramedics and journalists. They bring their distinct perspectives, filtered through their experiences in such a diverse city.

“I’ve been told I have this romanticized view of Los Angeles,” says Graham Yost, creator of “Boomtown.” As a screenwriter, he previously offered a street-level perspective on L.A. -- notably the then-incomplete 105 Freeway -- in his breakthrough project, “Speed.”

“I love all the odd stuff about the city, the juxtapositions,” says Yost, a Canadian by birth. “I remember years ago when I was here with my girlfriend, who is now my wife, and I was looking up at this palm tree that was blowing in the breeze and I thought it was the greatest thing. Then my girlfriend pointed to this other palm tree, and said, ‘Notice how that one is not moving?’ I said yes, and she said, ‘That’s because there’s rats up in there.’ And that really summed up L.A. for me, the whole irony of it.”

New angles, reliable favorites

“Fastlane” is a flashier, more neon-flavored valentine to L.A.’s fast life. The series prominently showcases sandy beaches, large hillside homes and hipper-than-hip nightclubs where the two protagonists, undercover cops Van Ray (portrayed by Peter Facinelli) and Deaqon Hayes (Bill Bellamy), investigate cases.

Says executive producer John McNamara: “This show was always conceived as a love letter to L.A. Before, there wasn’t really a show that showed the city for what it is. For all its problems and annoyances, it still has the surf culture, the great clubs, all the multiethnic culture. Our show is all about heightened realism. No other show has been this way about Los Angeles.”

The high profile of the city in these new shows -- not to mention returning shows such as “24,” “Alias” and “The Shield” -- is something of a mixed blessing for local boosters.

“When tourists come here, one of the first things they want to do is see the beaches where ‘Baywatch’ was filmed. Now it’s being used as the central focus of crime shows. We would prefer these series not show all this crime,” said Carol Martinez, associate vice president of the Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau. “But it’s still a great commercial for Los Angeles.”

Out on the streets, meanwhile, the race is on to find that rare L.A. setting that hasn’t been overexposed on film or TV.

“Robbery Homicide Division” scores a coup when it takes over, for a brief scene, a Jamaican record store on a strip of Crenshaw Avenue dominated by barbershops and hair salons. The store, owned by a man who identifies himself only as Natty Bob, is cluttered with posters and CDs of Bob Marley and other reggae artists. In the scene, Tom Sizemore questions a suspected criminal selling marijuana.

“I didn’t want them to film anything negative here -- no hard drugs,” says Natty Bob, who wears a knit hat over his dreads. “I hope they show me the show before it airs.”

While the search is on for fresh locations, an old perennial, skid row, is enjoying a brisk business from the new shows. “Boomtown” recently took over a Mexican restaurant on 7th Street in an area shared by vagrants and large industrial complexes. On the evening of the shoot, car traffic is sparse. But the sidewalks are alive.

A bearded man in torn rags finds a resting place in a doorway. Two youths swear at each other as they hurriedly move toward train tracks.

Donnie Wahlberg and Mykelti Williamson, two of the stars of “Boomtown,” look briefly at a woman with dirty rags covering her head as she maneuvers a shopping cart filled with cans and debris over a multitude of wires and moves around the mass of chairs, lights, technicians and extras in front of the run-down Terminal Hotel. The actors, who play detectives on the drama, then go back to talking with crew members as they wait for their cue.

A few doors down, dozens of members of the “Boomtown” production staff are crammed into the El Troquero cafe, which is being used as the scene of a Russian mafia hit. A large man with fake blood on his shirt lies on the floor. Plates of uneaten steaks and sausages are scattered on tables and counters.

Yost, one of the show’s executive producers, surveys the scene, then dashes back outside to the relative coolness. He is pleased with the scene and location. He darts across the street to his trailer, situated in front of a warehouse loading dock.

When Yost first pitched the series more than a year ago, he thought it would be the only new show set in Los Angeles. “Then I found out all these other shows were coming,” he says. “We were ahead of the curve, I guess. But we’ll still find cool places, and they’ll find cool places.”

One of L.A.’s most ironic features has gotten star treatment in “Boomtown” -- the Los Angeles River. It was featured in the drama’s pilot; one character stands above it and says: “London has the Thames. Paris has the Seine. Vienna has the blue Danube. Los Angeles has a concrete drainage ditch. But it’s all we’ve got. It will have to do.”

Says Yost, “On one hand, it’s a real cool place. But on the other hand, it’s got the most vile water around.”

Williamson, who plays Det. “Fearless” Bobby Smith, says he felt a sense of fear when wandering around the river to get the feel of it before filming. “It’s not the kind of place a person would or should visit under normal circumstances. It’s the underbelly of L.A. People live there, in the concrete. When I was there, I could feel all these eyes watching me. I quickly got back in my car. That place is no joke.”

The following day, the “Fastlane” crew sets up nearby in an industrial area, around a street dock of battered-looking sweatshops and garment manufacturers underneath the Santa Monica Freeway.

Traffic in the alley repeatedly comes to a halt as clothing trucks try to maneuver past vans and cars bring cast and crew members to the temporary set in an adjacent vacant lot.

Facinelli and Bellamy, the stars of “Fastlane,” walk around the alley and surroundings with their shirts off, talking with production members as employees of the industrial shops look on.

“We’re showing every side of L.A.,” Bellamy says. “But what we want people to see most are the slick sunsets and the beautiful people. We want viewers to really want to come here.”

“Yeah, let ‘The Shield’ show all the dirty stuff,” Facinelli chimes in. “You won’t see any litter on our show.”

The location shooting on streets such as Sunset Boulevard and watering holes such as the Chateau Marmont has made the “Fastlane” production more costly, but McNamara says it’s essential to capturing the flavor of the city. “It’s how we show the fun,” he says. “You just can’t get that on a soundstage.”

And so far, he says, “Fastlane” is managing to avoid its competitors out on those mean streets.

“Bill Bellamy and Tom Sizemore haven’t faced off yet,” he says. “Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if that does go down one day.”

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Tuning in the city

“Boomtown” is shown at 10 p.m. Sundays on NBC.

“Fastlane” is shown at 9 p.m. Wednesdays on Fox. The series is being preempted while the network carries major league baseball’s playoffs; it will return after the World Series ends.

“Robbery Homicide Division” is shown at 10 p.m. Fridays on CBS.