Some Like It Hot (1959)

 

After jazz musicians Joe and Jerry witness a mob murder in Chicago, they escape the city dressed as women and join an all-female band heading for Miami.  On the train ride, they befriend and become smitten with bandmember and vocalist Sugar "Kane" Kowalczyk.  Joe poses as an oil heir to woo Sugar while actual millionaire Osgood Fielding III pursues Jerry aka Daphne.  Hijinks ensue when the mob catches up with them.  Jerry and Joe manage to escape with Osgood on his yacht and with Sugar in tow.  Love is in the sea air as Sugar's been on to Joe's duplicity and Osgood isn't completely bothered by Jerry's revelation.

Some Like It Hot's production was filled with drama, including tension between Marilyn Monroe and director Billy Wilder and Monroe's demand for multiple retakes.  The film includes a performance of one of Marilyn's signature numbers - I Wanna Be Loved By You.  The film heated up the box office and remained number one for three weeks.  Some Like It Hot was one of the first 25 films selected for the United States Film Registry.  

Location: The Seminole Ritz Hotel

Address: 1500 Orange Avenue, San Diego, CA

The Hotel del Coronado opened in 1888 and was the biggest resort hotel in the world.  It has been frequented by many presidents and celebrities and was the inspiration for The Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World...

Location Visited: March 2026

Locations Master List

Mariah Carey - Heartbreaker (1999)

 

By the late 90s, Mariah Carey's musical output had taken a bit of a nosedive.  One highlight was Heartbreaker, the lead single off her Rainbow album.  The song was a catchy blend of R&B and hip hop but seemed like a retread of earlier songs.  Taking a cue from Fantasy (1995), Mariah sampled an 80s song, this time Stacy Lattisaw's Attack of the Name Game providing the instrumental and Jay-Z providing a rap verse. 

For the video, Mariah is taken to the movies by her friends after finding out her boyfriend is cheating on her.  She spots the two-timer on a date and ends up having a knock-down, showdown drag out fight with her in the ladies room.  Heartbreaker is one of the most expensive videos of all time.  It was filmed at the historic Los Angeles Theatre and features Jerry O'Connell as Mariah's boyfriend.  The video was inspired by the movies Grease (1978) and Enter The Dragon.

Location: The Theater

Address: 615 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles Theater

Location Visited: June 2026

Related Location: 

Mariah Carey - Fantasy (1995)

Locations Master List

Meatloaf - I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That) (1993)

 

It had been sixteen long years since Meatloaf released his incredibly successful Bat Out of Hell album.  The first single off his follow up, Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell, was the Jim Steinman penned I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That).  The power ballad features vocals by Lorraine Crosby and has produced confusion and intrigue about what that is.  The song was a hit, spending five weeks at #1.  

The music video was directed by future filmmaker Michael Bay, known for a series of cinematic turds.  It's a mash up of Beaty and the Beast and Phantom of the The Opera with Meatloaf playing the beast, who encounters a woman after being chased by the police.  She follows him to a castle, where The Beast observes her.  When the police catch up to them, they flee and The Beast turns into his human form, before the two ride off into the sunset together.

Location: The Castle

Address: 905 Loma Vista Drive, Beverly Hills, CA

Greystone Mansion & Gardens

Location Visited: March 2026

Locations Master List

Nobody's Perfect (1990)

Stephen Parker has transferred to the picturesque Bramson College on a scholarship and as the potential star of the men's tennis team.  After he becomes smitten with Shelley Andersen on the girl's tennis team, Stephen's grades suffer and he's cut from the courts.  With the help of his friends, they transform Stephen into Stephanie Brown, an American exchange student from Switzerland, who replaces an injured player on the girl's team and becomes Shelley's roommate.  Stephen is able to keep up the charade for a while and eventually asks Shelley out.  But things come to a head when Shelly spies Stephanie with her pants down.  Humiliated, she kicks Stephen out, who is later accused of plagiarizing Stephanie's paper.  Thanks to his friend, Stephen is exonerated and Stephanie helps the girl's team win the finals, with Shelly forgiving him and professing her love.

Nobody paid any attention to Nobody's Perfect when it hit theaters in February 1990.  It quickly disappeared into obscurity but I happened to catch it over Christmas break on HBO and found it to be a really fun watch.  The movie could never be made today, but captures campus life in the late 80s very well.  The picturesque Pepperdine University provides some beautiful sunny scenery.  Chad Lowe and Gail O'Grady lead a no star cast, but most of the characters are likable.  No movie is perfect, but this one is for a rainy Saturday afternoon viewing.

Location: Bramson College

Address: 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA

Pepperdine University

This area has undergone major changes since filming, but the bookstore building, now hidden by trees looks the same...

The Payson Library

The Pendleton Learning Center

The stairs leading to the Stauffer Chapel

The Firestone Fieldhouse

Stephen and Shelley's date takes place on the golf course...

A couple of nice views...

Location Visited: May 2026

Locations Master List