As 'Purple Rain' turns 40, a tour of its Minnesota filming locations

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through this thing called Purple Rain's 40th anniversary.

This Saturday marks four decades since The Purple One stormed the silver screen with one of Minnesota's all-time greatest cultural exports. Although it being Hollywood, a chunk of the movie was filmed in California, there still remains the majority of what we see onscreen filmed in unmistakably Minnesotan locations – many of which are still there.

Even with all that’s happened over the last 40 years (who among us hadn’t at one point changed their name to an unpronounceable symbol in that time?) there are still places in Minnesota that look just about as they did during the filming of Purple Rain. There are also places that, while they may look different, still have that same energy.

Dig, if you will, these picture of Purple Rain’s filming locations 40 years later!

1. The Kid’s House

Location: 3420 Snelling Avenue South, Minneapolis.

Many of Purple Rain’s biggest emotional beats happen here - “The Kid’s House.” or - as it’s known locally – "The Prince House." It’s said that Prince secretly purchased this house shortly before his death and his estate is currently renovating it.

2. Crystal Castle

Location: Wells Fargo in the IDS Building, 80 S 8th St., Minneapolis

What better place to get to know someone in 1984 than at the Mall? Prince and Apollonia’s playful flirtation takes place here, with the padded jagged corners of the ledges a direct giveaway for where this scene was shot. It’s now a Wells Fargo, a bank whose logo and promotional imagery occasionally depicts animals striking curious poses. Coincidence? Yes.

Related: Prince musical 'Purple Rain' will premiere in Minneapolis

3. The Taste

Location: 119 N 4th St, Minneapolis.

As found by the knowledgeable obsessives on the Prince.org forums, this now empty space is the club where Morris Day has The Apollonia 6 perform to get them ready for their First Avenue audition. Today it’s next to a Pizza Luce and – while it may not be anything at the moment – it would be a cool place to see restored.

4. Not Lake Minnetonka (The Minnesota River)

Perhaps Purple Rain’s most famous film and line where The Kid challenges Apollonia to purify herself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka, only to discover she didn’t make her attempt in Lake Minnetonka - that body of water is The Minnesota River. Located about 48 minutes outside of Minneapolis near Henderson – whose dirt road trail is identifiable as where Apollonia and The Kid had their bike ride – you can’t miss the exact spot in the middle of one of Minnesota’s most beautiful spots where cinema history was made.

Related: Why Henderson is the place to celebrate Prince's 60th birthday

5. The Warehouse

Location: Levata office, St Louis Park.

While this isn’t a place you *saw* in Purple Rain, it’s an important location that you probably *heard*. Yes, where the Levata office now stands used to be a warehouse affectionately called "The Warehouse" that Prince and the Revolution wrote, rehearsed and recorded music in. In addition to the basic tracking for Let’s Go Crazy and Computer Blue having been recorded here, it’s the very location where Wendy and Lisa first conceptualized Purple Rain’s title theme.

6. First Avenue

You knew this was going to be where we concluded. It’s where Purple Rain begins and ends, a legendary night club that generations of musicians have aspired to perform at, largely thanks to Prince pushing its status into the stuff of legend. The Tokyo, Japan Tower Records location sells First Avenue merchandise, and it’s far from the only store thousands of miles from Minnesota to do so. While the paint and the logos may have evolved over the years, the classic style and song remains the same.