Someone on Reddit found the location of the Today opening scene w/ Google Street View

[amoergosum]

https://j.gifs.com/l5nrnV.gif

https://j.gifs.com/Oyr3wQ.gif

https://i.imgur.com/OnVwPpT.png

https://i.imgur.com/QbbnxlB.png

https://i.imgur.com/fNsMDcc.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8RpsvxP.png

https://i.imgur.com/17OwHcc.png

https://i.imgur.com/x4JbjwC.png

Instead of putting together 1000 piece puzzles, my tedious hobby is looking for photographed places, for which the exact location is unknown, with Google Street View. So for fun, I wanted to find the opening scene for the Today video. All that was known was that they video was shot in or around L.A., and after looking around for a few hours and even asking the Los Angeles subreddit for some tips, I finally happened upon it, in Taft, CA:

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.1401...7i13312!8i6656

And the building is still standing! And not only that, but the same signage is still likely in place, nearly twenty years after the video had been shot. It can be seen that the building directly to the south has been demolished as of 2012. Here is a wide view of the street https://i.imgur.com/3DF5pKF.jpg

Also in the video there is a short clip of a couple making out by a staircase, it can be seen that they are standing around the corner, against the north face of the same building.

The clue I received from the /r/LosAngeles that really helped was that someone noted that the location looked more like Bakersfield than Los Angeles, due to the fact that the streets were so "empty". It didn't turn out to be Bakersfield, but Taft, which is the next sizable town to the West. I had went so far as to email the director and the director of photography. The director Stéphane Sednaoui's assistant said to check back in a few months, while the director of photography Marco Mazzei said "It was a point on a map to me and I really didn’t give the geographical location of the set too much thought. I was caught up in the visuals, and they were good."

I then googled "Smashing Pumpkins Today Taft" to see if this was already known to the Internet, the only mention I could find is https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...oF41HpYnjWhdJa , someone compiled a "filmed in Taft" play list which includes the video, but I have no idea how they knew of this. Apparently the town is used for filming somewhat routinely though, and in this article from 2018 it can be seen that the same hardware building is still standing https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/loca...of-music-video It looks like a new music video was being filmed there, it would be cool to find out which one.

Also some has said that some of the desert scenes were filmed at Zabriskie Point, but my suspicion is that they never probably drove out that far, and that the rest of the video was probably filmed not too far from Taft. Knowing the general area where they filmed might make it possible to find other locations that were shot, although there are a lot less clues to work with.

You might say this was a lot of trouble to go through, but it was fun, and the payoff means I/we can possibly take some pictures there with ice cream cones before the building is inevitably demolished.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SmashingPum...ocation_found/

[Rocket Launcher]

Very cool!! Clever german fella

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by Rocket Launcher

german fella

He's not German. I added most of the screenshots.

[eviltimeban]

Amazing the shop signs are the same, 25 years later. (or whenever the street view photo was taken)

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by eviltimeban

Amazing the shop signs are the same, 25 years later. (or whenever the street view photo was taken)

The Google Street View photo was taken in May 2012.

[amoergosum]

He wrote that this might the location of the gas station:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ta...4d-119.4565078

https://j.gifs.com/rRwAyK.gif

https://i.imgur.com/8aeQxrw.jpg


Here's the distance between the two locations:

https://i.imgur.com/QJg496l.png

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/35.1...35.1493285!3e0

[T&T]

neat find.

[Shallowed]

cool.

[smashingjj]

But did he get head?

[Funbags]

To Taft!

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by Funbags

To Taft!

[amoergosum]

May 2016:


https://i.imgur.com/UBesrHN.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/o6nhR9V.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/25229906@N00/33368025646


May 2012:


https://i.imgur.com/93H6d25.png


March 2018:

https://i.imgur.com/GkowVQh.jpg

https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/loca...of-music-video

[eviltimeban]

I wonder if anyone here lives near there and can go out and sit in the spot Billy sat in at the start of the video?

[topleybird]

It's strangely awesome that someone tracked this down

Related bit of trivia: someone figured out what comic book Billy is reading at the beginning

[myosis]

how has that place not changed in 25 years?

[pale_princess]

love this!

[redbreegull]

As astonishingly pointless an endeavor as this is, I also kind of love this and it warmed my heart to see that it looks nearly exactly the same as in 1993. If I lived in the LA area I would definitely go take a photo there just because

[NovaFritz]

Originally Posted by myosis

how has that place not changed in 25 years?

It’s the Central Valley, isn’t it?

[Disco King]

Now we just need to find out what comic Corgan is reading at the beginning of the video.

[Zer0 Hour]

Originally Posted by Disco King

Now we just need to find out what comic Corgan is reading at the beginning of the video.

Billy the Egomaniac

[myosis]

Originally Posted by NovaFritz

It’s the Central Valley, isn’t it?

even if still abandoned, i'm simply surprised at the lack of apparent progress in the level of decay. talk about anti-senescence.

[topleybird]

Originally Posted by Disco King

Now we just need to find out what comic Corgan is reading at the beginning of the video.

You have made a powerful enemy this day

[Skradgee]

"I want to go to there."

[houseofglass11]

thank god netphoria is back. whew.

[amoergosum]

The Weeknd shot a video in the same place in Taft this year.

The YouTube video has 329 million views.



https://i.imgur.com/dubnnWs.png

[wHATcOLOR]

pretty great thread

[jpflori]

Thats cool as ice scream

[FoolofaTook]

Originally Posted by amoergosum

He's not German. I added most of the screenshots.

so your saying that... your german?

[NovaFritz]

Well, you gotta shoot where you gotta shoot. This is why so many music videos/movies shoot in the Joshua Tree Park area (see Iha's recent solo video for an example). Industry has to get back to LA before rush hour.

[amoergosum]

Originally Posted by FoolofaTook

so your saying that... your german?

https://pinnaclesalescoaching.com/wp...bo-660x400.jpg