YouTube The Encino Oaks Country Club as it appears in season 1 of "Cobra Kai."
Fans of “The Karate Kid” and its spinoff series “Cobra Kai” have a keen eye for observation. Many might have noticed that the Encino Oaks Country Club, the setting of the legendary scene in the original film in which Daniel gets doused in a plate of spaghetti while spying on Ali, has since been re-used as a location in the series. But what is the background surrounding this location? Is it a real place, and is it the same as the one in “The Karate Kid”? Here’s everything fans need to know.
The Appearance of the Club in ‘Cobra Kai’ Is a Callback to ‘The Karate Kid’
In the original film, the Encino Oaks Country Club is a popular haunt of the story’s upper class families, such as those of Johnny Lawrence and Ali Mills. At one point in the film (shown above), Daniel and Ali are set to meet at the club for a date, and Daniel, while waiting, decides to wander in through the kitchen, only to spot Ali and Johnny dancing (much to Ali’s displeasure). As Johnny spots Daniel watching them, he kisses Ali. Ali promptly rejects this, though not before Daniel sees this and walks away, demoralized, causing him to bump into a waiter, spilling a plate of spaghetti all over himself and getting humiliated even further.
In keeping with the show’s tradition of revisiting elements from the original films, the “Cobra Kai” creators decided to take the audience back to the legendary country club early on in the show. This time, it returns, though now Daniel – whose single mother was of course not wealthy enough to afford membership there when he was younger – and his family are now members of the club, while Johnny Lawrence is a washed out has-been who has abandoned his son and struggles to make a living.
It first appears in episode 2 of season 1, during a party which the LaRusso family attends. Daniel’s young son Anthony, however, is more interested in his video games than the fancy club surrounding him, prompting Daniel to quip to his wife, “I would’ve killed to visit a club like this when I was his age.”
The country club reappears once again in season 3, episode 9, when Daniel, Amanda, Johnny, and, appropriately, Ali Mills end up going there for a Christmas party. There, the old peers re-hash familiar events from the 1980s.
The Encino Oaks Country Club Was Shot in Two Different Locations
YouTubeThe Encino Oaks Country Club in “The Karate Kid” (1984).
The Encino Oaks Country Club was shot on real sets on location for both “The Karate Kid” and “Cobra Kai;” however, in reality they were two different “clubs.”
According to Movie-Locations.com, the country club in “The Karate Kid” was shot at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel, in Westlake Village, California, near where the majority of the film was shot in Los Angeles.
In “Cobra Kai,” according to Reel to Real, the club was shot at Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia. Apart from some exterior shots in Los Angeles, Georgia is also where most of the series is shot, according to Atlas of Wonders.
Whether or not the club will make another appearance is currently up in the air, though many fans will undoubtably recognize it if it does return to our screens. Make sure to catch season 4 of “Cobra Kai” when it is released on Netflix December 31.