clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
Still with coach and four football players in blue uniforms on lighted field at night
Seems just like yesterday that Friday Night Lights debuted
NBC via Getty Images

15 'Friday Night Lights' filming locations, because football

Scenes from Texas, forever

View as Map
Seems just like yesterday that Friday Night Lights debuted
| NBC via Getty Images

While the critically acclaimed cult television series Friday Night Lights went dark a few years ago, the passion for high school football in Texas continues to burn brightly. In the spirit of the season, we mapped some of the most recognized locations from the beloved series.

Based on a book by H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger that followed the state-championship run of the formidable and well-funded 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team from Odessa, Texas (they were known to take private jets to away games, many of which, to be fair, were hundreds of miles away from the West Texas oil town), FNL was made into a film directed by Peter Berg in 2004.

Berg also created the TV series in 2006 and, while it is set in the fictional small town of Dillon, Texas, it was filmed in and around Austin. (Technically, there is a ghost town that used to be Dillon, Texas, but it has nothing to do with any of this.) These are some of the most memorable locations, though certainly not all of them. Texas forever, y'all.

Map points are ordered north to south.

Read More
Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

Kuempel Stadium, Pflugerville High School

Copy Link

The stadium at Pflugerville High School, just north of Austin, stood in for the Dillon Panthers' field in the show's pilot. Conveniently, the school's mascot is also the Panthers.

Crestview Minimax IGA

Copy Link

The Crestview Minimax is a beloved neighborhood grocery in Crestview. As for many of the places on this map, thing have changed for the store since the series wrapped. Family-owned for 63 years, the store was recently purchased by a Texas chain and is now called Arlan's.

NBC via Getty Images

Tim Riggins house

Copy Link

Riggins' house he shares with his brother was apparently as down-at-the-heels as it looked, with mold causing health problems with some cast members. Presumably, it's all better now. It now appears regularly as Riggins' Cabinet of Curiosities, on the Austin Weird Homes Tour.

The Taylor house

Copy Link

Located in the University Hills neighborhood adjacent to Windsor Park, where much of the show was also filmed, the Taylor home is typical of the modest but solid family homes in the area.

NBC via Getty Images

EZ's Brick Oven & Grill

Copy Link

EZ's was another set for many of the teenage hamburger fests in the show. Sadly, it has burned down and probably won't be rebuilt.

Alamo Freeze (Dairy Queen)

Copy Link

The Alamo Freeze where Saracen and Smash work (and the scene of many an intense conversation between characters) is actually a Dairy Queen in the Windsor Park neighborhood, where several of the characters' houses are located. Sadly, it was recently renovated and no longer has its classic 1950s look. Fun fact: According to Wikipedia, Texas is the U.S. state with the most Dairy Queens.

East 12th Street

Copy Link

When the troubled and talented Vince Howard enters the picture, several establishing shots near Sam's BBQ (the place where people got barbecue before Austin became a real barbecue town and supposedly Stevie Ray Vaughan's favorite), Marshall's Barber Shop, and surrounding street activity signify that Howard comes from a rough neighborhood.

Smash Williams' apartment

Copy Link

Booker T. Washington Terraces, an East Austin public housing project, is home to the Brian "Smash" Williams character in seasons 1-3.

The Saracen house

Copy Link

The house where Saracen lived with his grandmother looks a lot less depressing on the outside than it did in the suffocating inside scenes.

Tim Riggins' land

Copy Link

This is an approximate location of the bucolic land that Riggins buys with money acquired by questionable means (helping his brother operate a chop shop) and the place where he reiterates his "Texas forever" motto, which he declares in the pilot, wrapping up the series finale in a neat little bow.

NBC via Getty Images

Horseshoe Lounge

Copy Link

Another longtime Austin drinking establishment/dive bar, the Horseshoe has relocated from its longtime South Lamar location. When Buddy Garrity and Coach Taylor raised a Lone Star or two there, though, it was still open, proudly displaying its neon horseshoe sign out front.

Broken Spoke

Copy Link

Austin's most legendary extant honky-tonk and dance hall was Tim Riggins' hangout for a while, and, if memory serves, where his dad gets whooped in a fight.

An elderly white man and a young white woman dancing on a wooden dance floor with other people dancing in background.
Broken Spoke dance floor
Shutterstock

Ray's BBQ

Copy Link

Ray's was a frequent set throughout most of the show after it moved its focus to East Dillon and was operational the whole time. Unfortunately, it's closed now.

NBC via Getty Images

The Landing Strip

Copy Link

The Landing Strip is a real, live strip club located just outside the Austin airport, and FNL is not its first cinematic moment: it was also in Varsity Blues and Planet Terror.

Panthers and Lions Field Houses

Copy Link

Both the Panthers' and the Lions' field houses were in the same building, adjacent to a no-longer-used field in Dell Valle, just southeast of Austin. One side of the building was painted as the Panthers' house, and the other for the Lions.

NBC via Getty Images

Capitol Chevrolet (Garrity Motors)

Copy Link

Champion booster, confused father, and small-town big fish, Buddy Garrity is the kind of big Texas stereotype that infuriates and endears in equal measure. That happens not infrequently IRL Texas, too.

Middle-aged white man in a suit, younger white man in dark long-sleeved shirt talking in front of a car-dealership window.
Brad Leland as Buddy Garrity, Zach Gilford as Matt Saracen on FNL
NBC via Getty Images

Kuempel Stadium, Pflugerville High School

The stadium at Pflugerville High School, just north of Austin, stood in for the Dillon Panthers' field in the show's pilot. Conveniently, the school's mascot is also the Panthers.

Crestview Minimax IGA

The Crestview Minimax is a beloved neighborhood grocery in Crestview. As for many of the places on this map, thing have changed for the store since the series wrapped. Family-owned for 63 years, the store was recently purchased by a Texas chain and is now called Arlan's.

NBC via Getty Images

Tim Riggins house

Riggins' house he shares with his brother was apparently as down-at-the-heels as it looked, with mold causing health problems with some cast members. Presumably, it's all better now. It now appears regularly as Riggins' Cabinet of Curiosities, on the Austin Weird Homes Tour.

The Taylor house

Located in the University Hills neighborhood adjacent to Windsor Park, where much of the show was also filmed, the Taylor home is typical of the modest but solid family homes in the area.

NBC via Getty Images

EZ's Brick Oven & Grill

EZ's was another set for many of the teenage hamburger fests in the show. Sadly, it has burned down and probably won't be rebuilt.

Alamo Freeze (Dairy Queen)

The Alamo Freeze where Saracen and Smash work (and the scene of many an intense conversation between characters) is actually a Dairy Queen in the Windsor Park neighborhood, where several of the characters' houses are located. Sadly, it was recently renovated and no longer has its classic 1950s look. Fun fact: According to Wikipedia, Texas is the U.S. state with the most Dairy Queens.

East 12th Street

When the troubled and talented Vince Howard enters the picture, several establishing shots near Sam's BBQ (the place where people got barbecue before Austin became a real barbecue town and supposedly Stevie Ray Vaughan's favorite), Marshall's Barber Shop, and surrounding street activity signify that Howard comes from a rough neighborhood.

Smash Williams' apartment

Booker T. Washington Terraces, an East Austin public housing project, is home to the Brian "Smash" Williams character in seasons 1-3.

The Saracen house

The house where Saracen lived with his grandmother looks a lot less depressing on the outside than it did in the suffocating inside scenes.

Tim Riggins' land

This is an approximate location of the bucolic land that Riggins buys with money acquired by questionable means (helping his brother operate a chop shop) and the place where he reiterates his "Texas forever" motto, which he declares in the pilot, wrapping up the series finale in a neat little bow.

NBC via Getty Images

Horseshoe Lounge

Another longtime Austin drinking establishment/dive bar, the Horseshoe has relocated from its longtime South Lamar location. When Buddy Garrity and Coach Taylor raised a Lone Star or two there, though, it was still open, proudly displaying its neon horseshoe sign out front.

Broken Spoke

Austin's most legendary extant honky-tonk and dance hall was Tim Riggins' hangout for a while, and, if memory serves, where his dad gets whooped in a fight.

An elderly white man and a young white woman dancing on a wooden dance floor with other people dancing in background.
Broken Spoke dance floor
Shutterstock

Ray's BBQ

Ray's was a frequent set throughout most of the show after it moved its focus to East Dillon and was operational the whole time. Unfortunately, it's closed now.

NBC via Getty Images

The Landing Strip

The Landing Strip is a real, live strip club located just outside the Austin airport, and FNL is not its first cinematic moment: it was also in Varsity Blues and Planet Terror.

Panthers and Lions Field Houses

Both the Panthers' and the Lions' field houses were in the same building, adjacent to a no-longer-used field in Dell Valle, just southeast of Austin. One side of the building was painted as the Panthers' house, and the other for the Lions.

NBC via Getty Images

Capitol Chevrolet (Garrity Motors)

Champion booster, confused father, and small-town big fish, Buddy Garrity is the kind of big Texas stereotype that infuriates and endears in equal measure. That happens not infrequently IRL Texas, too.

Middle-aged white man in a suit, younger white man in dark long-sleeved shirt talking in front of a car-dealership window.
Brad Leland as Buddy Garrity, Zach Gilford as Matt Saracen on FNL
NBC via Getty Images