Do you remember the dim, hazy pool hall in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video? It shows up right as the song kicks in. Tough-looking young men crowd around the tables, and you can feel that trouble is on the way.
That room wasn’t built on a Hollywood lot. It was a real billiard hall in downtown Los Angeles, and the space is still there today.
Director Bob Giraldi filmed most of “Beat It” in March 1983, mainly along East 5th Street in downtown L.A. Michael asked real members of rival L.A. street gangs to be in the video, and he hoped the shoot might help bring them together. The whole thing reportedly cost about $150,000, and it premiered on MTV on March 31, 1983.
Keep an eye on the pool tables early on when you watch it again.
Michael Jackson’s original “Beat It” video
So where was that pool hall?
For years, a lot of fans guessed it was the old bar on 5th Street that you also see in the video. It wasn’t. The pool scenes were shot at the Brunswick Billiard Academy, which sat in the basement of the San Fernando Building at 400 South Main Street, on the corner of Fourth and Main.
The building itself is a piece of history. It opened in 1907 and is now an official city landmark.
Here’s the part almost nobody would guess. The business sitting on top of that old basement today is a Japanese restaurant called Suehiro DTLA.
Suehiro has deep roots in Los Angeles. Two women, Junko and Yuriko Suzuki, opened the first Suehiro Cafe in Little Tokyo back in 1972. The family moved the restaurant to this grand old building in 2024, and Kenji Suzuki runs it now.
Then this month, the restaurant did something special for Michael’s fans.
On Friday, October 16, Suehiro DTLA held a “Beat It” night, with a costume contest and a DJ on the schedule. The special guest was set to be Robert Vargas, one of L.A.’s best-known mural painters. He’s the artist who painted the giant mural of Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani on a hotel in Little Tokyo.
That night, a brand-new Vargas mural of Michael was unveiled. The first photos show Michael on stage during his BAD World Tour, his first solo world tour back in the late 1980s. One fan site even wondered if a “Beat It” scene would have suited the spot better. You can judge for yourself.
Earlier this month, a YouTube creator was given rare permission by the owners to step inside the old pool hall space.
Inside the real “Beat It” pool hall today
It’s a little strange to think about. People sit down for a warm bowl of rice and miso soup, and somewhere close by is the room where one of the most famous music videos ever made came to life.
If you’re ever in downtown L.A., head to Fourth and Main. Call the restaurant first and ask if the mural is open for visitors to see, since that can change.
Did you see “Beat It” on MTV when it first came out in 1983? We’d love to hear where you were when you first watched it.