📍Houston, Texas, USA
1969 – 1987“Wes Anderson was born in Houston, Texas, in May 1969, the second of three brothers. His father, Melver, ran an advertising and public relations company, and his mother, Texas Anne, worked as an archaeologist and later in real estate. He grew up in Houston's leafy inner suburbs, and his brothers, Eric and Mel, were his first collaborators. When he was eight, his parents divorced, an event he later called the most crucial of his and his brothers' childhood, and broken families became a recurring theme of his films. After the divorce he struggled and misbehaved at school, and a teacher found a way to channel his energy, letting him put on plays. He wrote and staged ambitious, elaborate productions, and made Super 8 films starring himself and his brothers. He was a voracious reader, loved books with maps and illustrations, and imagined himself as a writer. He went to St John's School, an elite private school in Houston, whose wood-panelled halls, uniforms and traditions later inspired the school in his film Rushmore. He studied philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he met Owen Wilson, and together they made Bottle Rocket, set in Texas. Rushmore, filmed partly at St John's, followed in 1998, then The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Asteroid City, with their distinctive symmetry, colour and melancholy. In 2024 he won an Oscar for his short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. His Houston childhood, his brothers and his parents' divorce run through nearly everything he has made.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today