Where Is Mickey's House In The Lincoln Lawyer? - Where The Legal Drama Was Filmed

As the title of "The Lincoln Lawyer" suggests, defense attorney Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) doesn't like to be tied down by the trappings of commercial real estate. Call it a love of life on the road, or an insatiable appetite for (literal) nonstop work, but Mickey prefers to work from his Lincoln Navigator.

Mickey isn't entirely rootless, though. Much of the Netflix series – based on the books of Michael Connelly — takes place at Mickey's modern Los Angeles home. It deviates slightly from the house in the first of Connelly's "Lincoln Lawyer" books, which the author describes as "ordinary and outdated." The real thing is a stunning, angular building perched atop a street in South Los Angeles' Baldwin Hills neighborhood, with panoramic views of downtown LA. That part is at least true to the source material; as Connelly puts it, "The view right above Hollywood Boulevard could launch a million dreams."

The book version of Mickey's home features a huge front deck, and while the real-life house used for filming does not, it does have an enviable pebble stone deck that's seen repeatedly on "The Lincoln Lawyer."

Given that "The Lincoln Lawyer" takes place in part from a car, the city of Los Angeles is put on full display. But Mickey's mid-century LA home is just as emblematic of the city's architectural character. At 5245 El Mirador Dr., the Baldwin Hills residence used to shoot "The Lincoln Lawyer" was designed in 1958 by father-and-son architecture team Kemper Nomland Sr. and Kemper Nomland Jr., whose modernist designs can be seen all around Los Angeles. The former was part of the design team that designed LA's City Hall.

Writing for Forecast, Nomland Jr.'s daughter, Erika Çilengir, describes her father as "one of the lesser-known figures in Mid-Century Modern architecture." She continues, "That was by design. Dad was the antithesis of a self-promoter. He preferred to work quietly on what mattered to him, unfettered from external demands." 

Despite not having the same name recognition as designers like Charles and Ray Eames, the Nomlands' designs are increasingly being recognized as integral to the movement. "These days," Çilengir continues, "realtors are keen to capitalize on his name recognition when one of his homes comes on the market." Clearly, that newfound recognition has extended to location scouts as well, with the Baldwin Hills property serving as a quintessential LA home on "The Lincoln Lawyer."