Show a friend a scene from Fargo, tell them it’s Minnesota, then walk them down a Calgary street and watch their face.
The FX series made Calgary its home for much of its run. Travel Alberta says seasons one, two, three and five were shot in Alberta, in whole or in part, and Visit Calgary credits Inglewood in particular with standing in for the show’s Midwest. It’s an old neighbourhood with brick storefronts and a main street that’s happy to play a different decade. Fargo’s first season also visited Drumheller, the same town that played Nevada in Shanghai Noon.
Many of the sites are heritage buildings, which Heritage Calgary has catalogued. Inglewood Pizza, tucked into the Fraser Block, became Norm’s Pizza in the pilot. The building is real, the slices are real, and the trouble was strictly fictional. The Carson Block, home to Swan’s of Inglewood, served as a bar in season three, and the Fraser and Seabloom Block turned up in a season three storyline too.
Other neighbourhoods got a turn. The exterior of the W.R. Castell Central Library was used as the FBI headquarters in season one, which is a grand way to treat a library. Over in Kensington, the Plaza Theatre appeared in season two, covering scenes set in Sioux Falls, Kansas City and Luverne. One little theatre played three towns.
Heritage Park in Calgary lists Fargo among the Emmy-winning productions it has hosted, and counts Emmy wins for Fargo in 2014 and 2016 among its credits.
Calgary works as the Midwest for a few reasons. The city kept a good number of early twentieth century blocks, and they photograph like a place where everyone knows everyone’s business. Add a Calgary winter, which delivers all the snowbound gloom a crime story could ask for, and crews can shoot in a real, working neighbourhood where the coffee is good and the sidewalks cooperate.
To make an afternoon of it, start in Inglewood, grab a slice, drift to the Central Library downtown and finish at the Plaza in Kensington. That covers three neighbourhoods and half a television series without a ticket. Our Calgary cinema map will keep you busy afterwards, and this look at the city on screen adds some context.
Heritage Calgary’s film list is worth a browse on its own. It also flags the Anderson Apartments in Lower Mount Royal and the Congress Apartments as appearing in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, so a single city block of old brick can carry a whole filmography. Next time you pass a handsome heritage building, remember it may have a résumé.
Fargo famously insists it’s based on a true story, and Calgary can say with a straight face that the streets are real. Go find them.
Also on the site, read about SAIT and UCalgary as starting points for a film career and how the Calgary Fringe found its home in Inglewood.
Quick answers
Fargo was filmed in Calgary and other parts of Alberta, with Visit Calgary crediting Inglewood in particular for standing in for the show’s Midwest. Travel Alberta says seasons one, two, three and five were shot in Alberta, in whole or in part.
Inglewood Pizza, in the Fraser Block in Calgary’s Inglewood, became Norm’s Pizza in the Fargo pilot. In season three the Carson Block, home to Swan’s of Inglewood, served as a bar, and the Fraser and Seabloom Block turned up in a storyline.
Beyond Inglewood, the exterior of the W.R. Castell Central Library downtown was used as the FBI headquarters in season one. In Kensington, the Plaza Theatre appeared in season two, covering scenes set in Sioux Falls, Kansas City and Luverne.
Heritage Park in Calgary lists Fargo among the Emmy-winning productions it has hosted, and counts Emmy wins for Fargo in 2014 and 2016 among its credits. Heritage Calgary has also catalogued many of the heritage buildings used as locations.
Sources: Heritage Calgary, Calgary heritage on film; Visit Calgary, 9 famous filming locations; Heritage Park, long history in the film industry.
If this one hooked you, we think CSIF Calgary Has Backed Independent Filmmakers Since 1978 and When Hollywood packed up for Banff and Jasper in 1953 are a good next read.
