Shannen Doherty Tributes Extend to Torrance High School Where ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ Filmed

The death of actress Shannen Doherty on Saturday at age 53 from cancer sent many of her fans looking for comfort and community. Some connected on social media over their love of her ’90s shows Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed . One wrote “Thank you for being there when I was a little boy running home from school to watch you on my favorite show,” on her Instagram . Another lamented, “A piece of my childhood has died with you.”

Devoted local fans took time this weekend to remember Doherty at a few of the real-life Los Angeles-area places connected to her iconic shows.

Torrance High School was the filming location for exterior scenes of 90210 set at the fictional West Beverly High. "I was an extra [on the show],” Tanaya Kaufmann, class of 1994 tells Los Angeles. “After years seeing these actors around campus, they felt more like classmates than stars. The death of Shannen Doherty kinda hit hard this weekend, it oddly feels like losing a close friend.”

Kaufmann spent time with all the cast members, but remembers Doherty being very approachable, despite all the "I hate Brenda" merchandise popular at the time.

The landmark Mediterranean-style main building at Torrance High is over a century old and was created as part a master plan for the city crafted the Olmsted Brothers, America’s greatest landscape architects of the era. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Glendale TV producer Jeptha Storm is a superfan of 90210 and made the pilgrimage to Torrance last year. “I feel like every high school movie of the ’90s was filmed there,” he says. Indeed, Torrance High has more than five dozen film and TV credits including Buffy the Vampire Slayer , She’s All That , All-American High and The Hot Chick . It was even included in the parody Not Another Teen Movie .

This weekend, Storm and a group of film school friends met up Westwood’s Apple Pan restaurant . “One of the writers on the show grew up in Beverly Hills and went to the Apple Pan after school,” he says. “They came up with the Peach Pit inspired by the Apple Pan.” Next time you’re in Westwood, go raise a toast to Shannen Doherty and remember your TV heroes and the L.A. places where real life and reel life meet.