Filming “Hotel California” – 2008 – Photos
The last of the three music videos we shot during our summer vacation to California back in 2008 was the Eagles’ “Hotel California” (watch it here).
As with the other songs, we filmed the video in the US and later recorded the audio back in our dad’s studio in Austria – two opposite sides of the planet!
Let us tell you, it was the weirdest shoot of all our California videos!
Michaela did a bit of research beforehand so we knew there was a “Hotel California” in Los Angeles and one in San Francisco that we could potentially use as a video backdrop. With regards to the latter several people warned us of the “area” it was located in. As far as we understood, the former hotel was used as a shelter for the homeless and drug addicts by then, but we didn’t have a single bad interaction with the curious “hotel guests”. Maybe it was our optimism and enthusiasm but everyone was kind and respectful and we filmed our scenes there in a matter of a short afternoon.
We then started looking for a “dark desert highway” as well as a fitting car for the music video.
Our rented Buick family van really didn’t fit the bill (you can see that in the photos below) so we made a plan:
From a visit the year prior, Michaela remembered the Palmdale area to offer some promising filming spots of long, straight roads and a few car dealers showing pickup trucks. So we planned to drive to the desert city and look for someone who would rent us out an old car, and to do the rest of the shoot right then and there. A pretty loose plan and we had no idea if it would work … but boy, it did!
As we were scouting the area, we saw an old rusty truck parked at the side of the road. An older man was packing up pottery that he’d been selling there. And his van was PERFECT. A big old, white beaten-up pickup truck!
Dad jumped out the car and struck up a conversation that consisted of a lot of pointing, pantomime and broken English (he was Mexican, we were Austrian). Fast forward 30 minutes and we were following this guy on some dusty dirt roads back to his home in the middle of nowhere. He lived in one of several shacks tucked away in the desert. So we waited by the cluster of old mobile homes, rusty cars, some wooden huts, a dozen of goats and (we swear) a carcass that was lying in the sand, while he unloaded the pots and vases from his car and got his son to help us with the impromptu video shoot adventure.
His son then led us to the perfect spot! It had just rained a bit so the sky looked incredible, the car looked amazing and we were stood on a completely empty paved road in the middle of the desert with not a single other car or human in sight!
He drove us up and down the highway while dad and we were sitting in the back of the truck filming. We had never met that man before, could hardly communicate but had a fantastic evening, and the scenes we filmed became our favourite clips we used in the finished video! We wish we knew the guy’s name so we could give him the proper thanks he deserved!
It was such a surreal and crazy experience, and it still boggles our mind that we actually did that. Sometimes approaching strangers with an open attitude can lead to the most fascinating experiences and that day was the perfect example of that.
Huge kudos to Dad and Michaela for the guts and creativity to do something like that and to the pottery man for going along with it. Of course, we always felt safe throughout the whole experience or we wouldn’t have done it but there was definitely an element of crazyness about it. But that’s how you get the best shots and make the most incredible memories 🙂
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That’s a great story..
People warn about the Tenderloin, the “bad” neighborhood in San Francisco, but across the street from it is the luxury retail district on Market Street. And real estate is less than the rest of the city, but not really cheap. Not sure how that works.
Cool pictures and story. No matter where you go in the U.S. you will find good people who are glad to help you and not ask for anything in return. I know in my area in the midwest it seems the people that have the least are willing to help the most. Sometimes we just like the adventure. Sure, you may run into a psycho killer here and there but it’s not too often.
Great backstory! Especially like the pix in cowgirl boots/western hats – two 14 year old Sweethearts of the Rodeo.
As others have pointed out, the video is blocked on Youtube. However, I just found it on Dailymotion. It just boggles my mind how young you were when you made this rendition of the song and filmed the video. Unglaublich!
Great story and pics!
I would really love to say something about a certain person and or persons behind this but I will be kind, it’s not MLT or U tube. Stay Groovy!!!!!!!!!!! Walt Music
Wow! What a really cool Adventure. Especially for two Star Struck 13 year-olds. An adventure of a lifetime that could not have worked out better. Sometimes you need er know what will work unless you ask.
How was your English then?
Could not watch the video. It was blocked.
Can’t play Hotel California on YOUTUBE here is what you get if you try: Video unavailable
This video contains content from UMPG Publishing, who has blocked it in your country (CA, USA) on copyright grounds.
Hotel California – MonaLisa Twins (The Eagles Cover)947,335 views•Feb 3, 2009
I guess your cover was Sooo much better than the Eagles original that the Publisher complained and YOUTUBE caved!
Charles, I found that if you enter the name of the song and the name of the group in a search engine, you can get the video from another source.
From Canada we can view the video OK on youtube. Must be blocked in the USA.
If MLT post it on Vimeo, I wonder if it will work OK for viewers in the USA.
Thank you for sharing.
What an adventure you had. I too was on the edge of my seat reading this. I could almost hear the music rise and fall as your journey took you into the middle of nowhere. I was waiting for someone too jump out and say Boo!
There is no stopping you when you get an idea – true artists. As friendly as you all are, it’s no surprise new friends are more than willing to assist you on your mission. They probably have a great story about this Austrian family that was making a video for “Hotel California”. That tale from their point of view is probably just as exciting.
This video is awesome. It’s a nice tribute to this classic. (I think we can watch it on a different platform ???? )
You never said what kind of carcass that was?
JP
What a setting and plot. Your ‘dark desert highway’ story and write up felt just like being on the edge of the seat reading a super exciting novel! Meeting a total stranger in a desert town, following him to an unknown mysterious place, rusty cars, carcass lying in the sand! The drama and suspense builds with such vivid imagery! You could be quite the writer, Mona or Lisa? I’m sure both, always love your write ups.
Hotel California is one of your stand out videos for sure, with all the desolate desert scenes and lonely road which was perfect, and the guitar work is one of my favourites of yours, truly superb! I honestly think it’s as good as the Eagles, and with your style, I enjoy it more. Really enjoyed seeing these back story pictures, and I always wondered where that “Hotel California” in your video was, now I know. The building has a lot of character. Thanks for this, the backstory and photos are awesome!
I wonder whether the U.S. copyright issue on this video could be bypassed if MLT posted a version without the sound, and then we just synced it manually with the audio from the jukebox.
Thank you for sharing.
Great photos and not only did you “check out”, you did indeed “leave”! Lucky us!
Perfect is right… The research, and the matter of being at the right place, right time, how it all worked out… Beautiful…The location spots, photos you shared here, all summed it up perfectly, Thankyou for taking us along on the dark desert highway…????????
I would love to see your video, in the U.S. the video is blocked from viewing even from your website.
In the Eagles song Hotel California, the Hotel is an abstract, or imagined paradise where people of greed and lust go to gather. The song is really about the loss of values in society.
The actual Hotel used for the song and photography was the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard In Beverly Hills, California.
I had the good fortune to visit and spend a couple of nights at the Beverly Hills Hotel, of course the staff was only to glad to give the History of the Hotel in relation to the photo on the album cover as well as inside album photos and to the song.
Who knows, one day maybe I can come to London and tour all places made famous by the MonaLisa Twins.
Anyway, Thank’s for sharing those great photos, sorry if I shared to much about my Hotel California experience.
Gary Bergen