Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Cobra Kai’ brings back the world of ‘The Karate Kid,’ but the rivalry has extended to the next generation this time. Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence find themselves at odds with each other, but even when they resolve their issues, they have a bunch of teenagers going through their own problems, creating rivalries between them. Over the course of five seasons, we see loyalties shift, old friendships break up, and new alliances forged as the teenagers try to fit in with the help of one dojo or another. All of them going to the same school, West Valley High, also complicates things.
West Valley High in the Cobra Kai Series is a Fictional School
‘Cobra Kai’ is a fictional series that extends the story of ‘The Karate Kid’ series. It takes place in the San Fernando Valley, where West Valley High School is located, becoming one of the main locations of the story. However, this is a fictional school and is not a real place.
Being a somewhat generic name, West Valley High is the name of several schools all over America. You will find one in Yakima and Spokane, Washington. Hemet and Cottonwood in California also have schools of the same name. A school in Fairbanks, Alaska, also goes by the same name. None of these schools, however, have any connections whatsoever with the institution portrayed in the Netflix series.
The events in the fictional school in ‘Cobra Kai’ are filmed in real schools, but they are not in California, let alone San Fernando Valley. The production employed Atlanta as one of the primary locations, and this is also where the scenes regarding the school were filmed. In the first season, C.T. Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center in Adamsville, Atlanta, doubles as West Valley High School. For the second season, the location shifted to the Atlanta Technical College. Several other locations were employed to film additional scenes. For example, the junior prom was filmed in The Biltmore Ballrooms of the Biltmore Hotel in Midtown Atlanta.
The school remains particularly prominent in the first couple of seasons as the teenagers are more localized there. At school, they spend most of their time getting to know each other and becoming friends or enemies. However, with each season, the dojos take precedence over the school, and it becomes a secondary location. In one season that takes place in summer and explores the stories of the characters from a different lens, the school doesn’t appear at all. In the sixth and final season, we see the fictional West Valley High fade into the background as the teenagers become more focused on their college applications and the Sekai Taikai tournament that can change their lives.
Read More: Cobra Kai: Is Reseda Heights a Real Apartment Complex in LA?
