How Movies, Music and Magical TV
Help Form a US Holiday
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American culture has been such a big part of our entertainment lives, more people are basing their travel plans on favourite US films, shows & music that’s swept the world.
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We’ve seen the USA’s cityscapes, landmarks and culture on our cinema screens since we were kids.
We’ve sung and danced and fallen in and out of love to the songs.
Movies, music and TV have showcased the US to the rest of the world for more than a century. Immersing your travel plans in those sounds and stories and images today can serve as your compass, spotlight and soundtrack for any American vacation, from the Beach Boys’ California surf beaches to Billy Joel’s New York State of Mind, for a road trip from the backwoods byways of Easy Rider to the highways of Thelma & Louise.
Travellers are often captivated by the United States as a movie location, due to the country's diverse and iconic landscapes prominently featured in countless films. From the bustling streets of New York City to the breathtaking natural beauty of the Grand Canyon, the US offers a sprawling range of settings that bring to mind many cinematic stories.
On The Road
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There’s more than 5000km between East and West coasts and those great, wide-open
spaces - and the towns between - have been the backdrop to thousands of big-screen
movies and small-screen TV series.
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So, with increasing numbers of New Zealanders choosing a self-driving, self-catering holiday in the US, there’s a chance to theme a holiday in the tyre tracks of a favourite movie or TV show.
It’s easy to think of a dozen routes: in Rain Man, Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman drive from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Las Vegas and Los Angeles; in 2006’s double Oscar-winner, Little Miss Sunshine, the delightfully dysfunctional Hoover family drag their broken-down VW microbus from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to a child beauty pageant in Redondo Beach, California.
Follow a favourite actor, like Jack Nicholson on the Easy Rider trail and his later-life journey in About Schmidt, when he drove an RV from Omaha, Nebraska, through Kansas, to his daughter’s wedding in Denver, Colorado – a 1700km round-trip.
Some cities and states have been quick to cotton on to the opportunities presented when Hollywood comes calling, and have parlayed their scenery, climate and tax incentives into screen time.
One big winner is New Mexico, where more than 600 films
have been shot in the past 100 years.
The state boasts settings from desert landscapes and mesas to mountains and forests, providing filmmakers with versatile backdrops for various types of productions. It also helps that New Mexico offers financial incentives to movie makers – you’re bound to have seen The Grapes of Wrath, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or Crazy Heart; how about Get Shorty, No Country for Old Men, True Grit and superhero flicks like The Avengers?
The state’s capital city often stands in for other towns but Albuquerque was front and centre in the hit TV series Breaking Bad and its prequel, Better Call Saul.
Stages And Sages
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Anyone who’s played a record or downloaded a song could also craft a road trip around the United States’ great musicians or styles, from jazz to the blues, or hear the real thing live at great festivals.
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Coachella is an annual music and arts festival usually held in mid-April in the Coachella Valley in California – close to Palm Springs, favourite hideaway of stars since the 1950s (see below).
The festival has become a cultural phenomenon since its first edition in 1999, attracting more than 250,000 visitors each year. The lineup features a mix of established and emerging names from all musical genres, including rock, hip-hop, electronic, indie and more - an unforgettable experience.
Once you have explored the incredible desert, it’s also celeb-spotting heaven, because culture influencers flock there to network, promote their music, fashion and other projects – or maybe just join fans in enjoying the music, art, and culture.
Coachella’s large installations feature a variety of materials, including wood, metal, fabric, many designed to be interactive, so festivalgoers can climb, touch, and explore the works. Other activities include live painting and large-scale art sculptures, as well as film screenings.
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Burning Man is a week-long music and arts festival and “adventure in expressive communities” held in the Black Rock Desert, northwestern Nevada, around US Labor Day in late September.
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Burning Man is a week-long music and arts festival and “adventure in expressive communities” held in the Black Rock Desert, northwestern Nevada, around US Labor Day in late September.
Each year a temporary city—with named streets, villages, and camps—is erected. After the festival is over, the city is completely obliterated, in keeping with the “leave no trace” policy.
Every Burning Man festival has a theme, announced well in advance, and virtually all aspects reflect that. Anyone attending is expected to be an active participant, through the installation of art projects or involvement in one of the camps or villages.
Unlike most other festivals, Burning Man is virtually vendor-free. With minimal goods for sale, people are expected to bring whatever they need for a week in the desert and trade for any items they might lack.
LA LA Land
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You can see all the stars as you walk down Hollywood Boulevard,
picking up Good Vibrations.
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The City of Dreams is the global – even the galactic – capital of entertainment, from the first days of the talkies to the golden age of movies in the 50s and 60s, right up to today’s superhero blockbusters; and in music, from the Beach Boys’ always-sunny days of Surfing USA and watching California Girls to contemporary hip-hop.
For film buffs, there’s any number of tours featuring a glimpse of the glitz, glamour and celebrities of Hollywood – movie studios, the Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, Mulholland Drive, stars’ mansions in Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Strip and the Hollywood sign.
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On the music scene, the hotspots are Sunset Strip, famed for its colourful rock ‘n’ roll history since the 1960s. David Bowie, Jimmy Page, Jim Morrison and others played and hung out at clubs like Whisky a Go Go and the Roxy, which are still around today. Visitors can relive the glory days (in a slightly less raunchy way) and see live music at the Viper Room and the Troubador. On Sunset Boulevard, a special section of the Walk of Fame is reserved for rock musicians.
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There’s preserved rock history at the Hollywood Bowl and the Grammy museum, which explains how music is made, as well as the awards’ history.
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If hip-hop is more your thing, new tours and walks explore record stores, bars and neighbourhoods linked to the genre. One leading exponent is James McCall; renowned as the underground rapper Nocando, he grew up in South LA and explains the culture in an intimate and real way.
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For film buffs, there’s any number of tours featuring a glimpse of the glitz, glamour and celebrities of Hollywood – movie studios, the Walk of Fame, Chinese Theater, Mulholland Drive, stars’ mansions in Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Strip and the Hollywood sign.
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There’s preserved rock history at the Hollywood Bowl and the Grammy museum, which explains how music is made, as well as the awards’ history.
Palm Springs
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Three hours’ drive from Hollywood in California’s Coachella Valley, Palm Springs flourished in the 1950s and 60s as the favourite and rather discreet retreat for celebrities and moguls.
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Its close proximity meant Hollywood execs could keep a close eye on their charges while they took a break from filming. Many movie identities invested their wealth and need for privacy in real estate, hiring daring architects who created dramatic and ostentatious estates that have become an attraction in themselves.
While many of these homes can be seen on a city tour, some can also be rented for a luxe overnight stay.
Frank Sinatra’s Twin Palms, created in the 1940s, is one of the most well-known properties, not only for the mansion but also its piano-shaped pool. Elvis Presley both owned and rented homes here, famously his Honeymoon Hideaway for wife Priscilla and the more traditional Graceland West.
Built in the 60s for TV star Dinah Shore, Leonardo DiCaprio’s property features six bedrooms and 7.5 bathrooms, with massive walls of glass to show off the surrounding mountains. In the upscale gated and guarded Madison Club community, the Kardashians picked up a $US12 million, seven-bedroom, nine-bathroom doer-upper from Sylvester Stallone. The Bob Hope House stands out: a 10-bedroom, 13-bathroom mansion with waterfall, pool and tennis court which may be a replica of a UFO. Or a volcano.
Still Sleepless
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Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan captivated audiences in their 1993 rom-com Sleepless in Seattle, celebrating its 30th anniversary and drawing lovers of 90s nostalgia to the US’ largest northwestern city.
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For Sleepless in Seattle movie tragics, the sites and sights are all over town: Sam’s floating bachelor pad on Lake Union; Gas Works Park and its New Year’s Eve fireworks display (sorry, a bit of artistic licence there); Pike Place Market; dating spots like the Athenian Inn and Dahlia Lounge, or Alki Beach, where Annie watches Sam and his son Jonah play.
Seattle has an important role in pop culture as its significance in music history is often over-shadowed by the likes of Nashville, New York, LA and San Francisco.
The jazz scene nurtured Ray Charles, Quincy Jones and others; rock acts Jimi Hendrix, Foo Fighters, Heart; then turned that trend on its head with the pioneering grunge bands Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Ain’t done yet: Brandi Carlile, Macklemore and Death Cab for Cutie are in the mix too. The city could easily host a self-configured music tour.
Look, listen and learn how music, science fiction and pop culture all come together at the fascinating Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP). The Frank Gehry-designed building looks like a smashed guitar from above; inside, colourful exhibits cover everything from the history of indie video games and horror films to Nirvana, the Seahawks NFL team and more.
Scene Stealing
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It’s not only the big cities that have backdropped great cinema. The US’s vast interior and dramatic landscapes lend themselves to telling stories that “could only happen in the movies” – like South Dakota.
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One of the largest states, it’s an expansive, sparsely populated midwestern region where rolling prairies give way to the dramatic Black Hills National Forest and two monuments carved into granite peaks: Mt Rushmore, the iconic depiction of four revered presidents, and Crazy Horse Memorial, a tribute to the leader of the Oglal Lakota Nation.
For lovers of cinema history, Mt Rushmore is the star – literally. It’s the stage for the climax of an Alfred Hitchcock classics, the 1959 spy thriller North by Northwest, which ends with a life-or-death chase across the presidents’ features for the era’s biggest stars, Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.
That wouldn’t be the last time this off-the-beaten-track state made it to the movies. You’ve seen it in Kevin Costner’s epic western Dances with Wolves, Into the Wild, Dante’s Peak and Leonardo DiCaprio’s triple Oscar-winner The Revenant.
Their Kind Of Town
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Fondly known as the Windy City, cool and vibrant Chicago has been the setting for smash movies and TV shows, a spawning-ground for influential musicians – and must be the only city to give its name to a musical and one of the biggest rock bands of the 70s.
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Sitting on the banks of Lake Michigan, Chicago is the US’ third-largest city, known for jaw-dropping architecture, amazing food — including deep-dish pizza — and buzzy neighbourhoods.
The city has featured on the big screen for over a century, including starring roles in classics like The Blues Brothers, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Dark Knight. Grab your fedora and sunglasses and make for the brothers’ Soul Food Cafe and Ray’s Music Exchange or charge the bat-phone and head downtown – aka Gotham City in The Dark Knight.
Ferris Bueller had an action-packed day off in Chicago, including the Art Institute, Wrigley Field, and Dearborn St while Home Alone is centred around Chicago city suburbs. Supporting cast: The Color of Money, The Untouchables and many more. Chicago movie tours can be themed, like The Art of Ferris Bueller, Dark Hollywood in Chicago, or Chicago Movie Highlights. The city’s place at the US’s commercial, industrial and railway crossroads made Chicago a hotbed for live and recorded music in the early 20th century. The sheet music of the country’s songbook was written its recording studios, nightclubs and dancehalls, from early jazzmen like Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver and Louis Armstrong and their white counterparts, Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa.
No genre of music is as closely identified with Chicago as the blues, developed in the rural South and transplanted north by Big Bill Broonzy, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon.
Chicago was home to the large African American churches that used electric amplification and large choirs to create the gospel style and its secular sibling, soul music. More recently, house music originated in a local club called The Warehouse.
Nashville Cats
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Named one of the “Best Places to Travel” by Travel + Leisure and one of the “Friendliest Cities in the US” by Condé Nast Traveler, Nashville has to be the ultimate destination for lovers of the US’s homegrown culture.
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Tennessee’s riverside state capital, teeming with Southern hospitality, charm and tradition, offers an electrifying music scene, award-winning cuisine, historic homes, world-class art and myriad attractions.
Music remains at its heart. Long recognised as the capital of country music, Music City is also home to pop, rock, gospel, Americana, bluegrass, jazz and classical, with visitors packing 180 live venues including the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium and Country Music Hall of Fame and museum.
Thousands tour RCA Studio B where Elvis, Charley Pride, Dolly Parton and more recorded hits. A couple of more recent stars lived and became world-famous here – a Pennsylvania girl named Taylor Swift and that famous Australian from Whangārei, Keith Urban. Recognising its deep contributions, Nashville recently opened the National Museum of African American Music.
Dubbed “The Coolest, Tastiest City in the South” by Bon Appetit, Nashville’s creative spirit has infiltrated its kitchens. Nashville Hot Chicken and hearty “meat and threes” are notable culinary creations.
The movies get a look in, too, starting with Robert Altman’s 1975 hymn to the city, Nashville, follows characters in the country music scene, as does Coal Miner's Daughter, the Loretta Lynn biopic. Crazy Heart is a bleaker view of a washed-up country singer, while Walk the Line reflects the city's role in Johnny Cash's career.
Walking In Memphis
“Long-distance information, get me Memphis Tennessee…” The city calls itself the "Home of the Blues & Birthplace of Rock 'n' Roll”. Others lay claim to the title but it’s hard to argue against the state capital on the Mississippi River banks.
Close to 25 per cent of the 100 earliest inductees in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame come from within a 150km radius. It’s the home of Beale St, the melting-pot that served up the blues and whose musical offerings - as lively today as ever - have seen it voted the United States’ second most popular entertainment district following Bourbon St, New Orleans.
It's the home of W.C. Handy, the turn-of-the-century songwriter and bandleader considered the "Father of the Blues" while the legendary Sun Studios, where B.B. King, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis recorded, is at 706 Union Ave, just outside downtown.
Elvis, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, made Memphis his home after his family moved to the city from Tupelo, Mississippi in 1948.
His mansion and grave at Graceland is the second most visited private home in the US, next to the White House.
George Hamilton and Justin Timberlake are locals; their hometown is mentioned in more songs than any other city in the world - more than 400, according to Billboard Magazine.
But if the music doesn’t move you, Memphis has been ranked alongside the Vatican, Costa Rica and Beijing among the World's 100 Best Vacations by Life Books.
Hard to argue against attractions like “pork barbecue capital of the world”, thanks to the Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest and more than 100 barbecue specialty restaurants.
It also has one of the US’ top urban park systems covering almost 3000ha and is the only five-time winner of the nation's cleanest city award.
Another nickname: Hollywood South, as the location for major productions including Mystery Train, Great Balls of Fire!, The Firm, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Cast Away and Walk the Line, and its ties to Kathy Bates, Morgan Freeman and Cybill Shepherd.
Sadly, you won’t be able to see one of Memphis’ greatest contributions to world cinema: Volney, the lion who roared at the beginning of all the old MGM movies, lived at the city zoo but died in 1944.
Can’t Stop The Music
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Music is New Orleans’ beating heart – especially during
Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest.
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Which is not surprising for a city that’s produced more than its share of musical giants: Louis Armstrong, Dr John, Allen Toussaint, Fats Domino, Wynton Marsalis, Mahalia Jackson, the Neville Brothers, Harry Connick Jr and Lil Wayne, and we should probably stop now.
New Orleans is the place for those looking to feel music billowing up from the streets. Literally, in the case of the second line, where a garish marching band leads a singing, clapping, dancing parade at virtually every funeral, picnic, sports event or carnival.
As the Village People’s song had it, you can’t stop the music nightly in iconic French Quarter venues like Preservation Hall, d.b.a. and the Spotted Cat, city clubs like Tipitina’s, or the Mother-in-Law Lounge and Candlelight Lounge in the Tremé.
With more National Historic Districts than any other city, New Orleans is
the perfect backdrop for visual storytelling.
Over the years, movies set or filmed in the Louisiana gem have ranged from classics like A Streetcar Named Desire and Interview with the Vampire to the Oscar-winner 12 Years A Slave. The Big Easy takes its title from the city’s nickname; Live and Let Die sends James Bond on a boat chase through its waterways.
Streets Of Philadelphia
Sylvester Stallone’s triumphant run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s steps in Rocky is one of the most memorable scenes in movie history, making the fictional boxer’s larger-than-life statue and the nearby “Rocky Steps” two of the city’s most popular attractions. A near-constant flow of people arrive at the stairs daily to snap a picture with the statue, created for Rocky III, which Stallone donated to the city when filming wrapped.
Visitors then often hustle up the museum’s grand stairway to try the famous two-arms-raised salute — while soaking up picture-perfect views of the Philadelphia skyline.
It’s not the only movie moment in the birthplace of the United States, where the nation’s Founding Fathers met to form a new country. Much of Philadelphia's history has been preserved and the modern city is rich in entertainment and culture, especially food.
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence’s outing — “not a date” — is a central part of the Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook; Tom Hanks’ AIDS drama Philadelphia also won Hollywood’s biggest prize in 1993 (the 1940 rom-com The Philadelphia Story was filmed in LA).
Grace Kelly, Will Smith, Tina Fey, M. Night Shyamalan and more grew up in Philly and have brought the city into their roles.
Philadelphia has made significant contributions to music, particularly in the realm of soul and R&B, with the city the birthplace of the influential Philadelphia soul sound in the 1970s, epitomised by artists like Gamble and Huff, and iconic groups like The O'Jays and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
Coast To Coast
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