In Nobody Wants This, there’s more than one romance bubbling up. While the Netflix series, created by Erin Foster, centers on the relationship between an agnostic podcaster, Joanne (Kristen Bell), and a rabbi, Noah (Adam Brody), it’s also an ode to an unfamiliar side of Los Angeles. “We wanted to show almost a bit of a love [letter] to L.A.,” production designer Claire Bennett tells House Beautiful. “In the end, we didn’t actually build anything. It was all location based.”

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The camp scenes were filmed at Calamigos Ranch, an event venue in Malibu that the production design team transformed.

Since L.A. is no stranger to the screen, the challenge for Bennett and location manager Derek Alvarado was to find areas of the city that haven’t been shot as frequently—and especially recently. Initially, the plan was to film in more restaurants and bars. “We didn’t actually think we were going to be inside the houses as much,” Bennett says.

For Joanne, it felt right for her to live in Hollywood, so Bennett says they found an apartment there “off Hollywood Boulevard, sort of Nichols Canyon Road” with more of a “Beachwood Canyon feel” to show a side of Hollywood that’s “perhaps different than what we’ve seen before.”

Noah’s house, which was the hardest location to find, is portrayed by a contemporary home in Eagle Rock. “I think the east side is just such an interesting place that doesn’t get necessarily photographed as much, architecturally, as it should,” Bennett says. “Eagle Rock’s probably quite a trendy place as well at the moment and a very evolving place, which we liked with the underline that [Joanne and Noah’s] love story’s evolving.”

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Noah in his sleek kitchen.

Floor-to-ceiling glass windows and doors, fluted detailing, and a neutral, contrasting color palette stand out in the airy home. “We all just had a great feel walking into that house,” Bennett says of the stylish space, which hints at how Noah might’ve had professionals or his family help decorate. “It has a beautiful feel, flow of space.”

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Noah and Joanne throw a dinner party for his brother Sasha’s family.

In Sherman Oaks, the team found a home with ornate interiors to depict Noah’s parent’s residence and to contrast the more modern styles of Joanne’s and Noah’s homes. In real life, the property is owned by a Jewish family. “Not that that was necessarily a requirement, but it just happened to be the case, so it felt just very true to our story,” Bennett says. “They had the menorah at the front already, which was kind of amazing to see when [Joanne and Noah] walk up.”

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The Roklov family house.

Careful consideration went into balancing the interior design with the way the show depicts religion. “The house that we ended up going to was perhaps more orthodox than the family that we have in our show,” Bennett says. “And so it was making sure that we got that appropriate within the dressing.” In the end, most of the furniture and decor was swapped out.

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Noah at his parents

Since Judaism is a major part of the story, Bennett and the production team consulted rabbis to ensure accuracy when filming at a few temples. “We consulted a rabbi from the Sinai Temple on Wilshire, so I had several conversations with him about what should be there just to make sure that we were accurate,” Bennett says. “In the opening scene, we had rabbis just come and check the set dressing to make sure that we weren’t either missing something or if there was a different way to reflect it.”

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For one character’s bat mitzvah, the setting of this season’s climactic moment, it was imperative to balance accuracy, show off a different side of L.A, and generate a grande finale. The location needed to respect that it was a religious ceremony and traditional event while fueling a big, romantic moment for Joanne and Noah. “We thought at one point it should be on the beach,” Bennett says. “What’s more iconic than the beach?”

But they went with something even better: the Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Koreatown and the Audrey Irmas Pavilion, an event venue. “They’re right next to each other, and [the pavilion is] an extremely contemporary piece of architecture next to the old temple,” Bennett says. “And I kind of just reveled in the nice contradiction, the architectural contradiction there, that was able to, again, kind of back up our story.”

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The setting of Miriam’s bat mitzvah.

The 55,000 square foot space—designed by Office of Metropolitan Architecture, a world-class architectural firm—takes on an angular form with hard edges. Anyone looking for symbolism would note that Joanne is edgy and trendy and trying to find her role in an unfamiliar tradition. Founded in 1862, the domed temple on the other hand, is more reflective of Noah, who is steeped in tradition. “For [those buildings] to be side by side, for me, just said it all in terms of our two characters,” Bennett says.