On a slow San Diego news day, we revisit a movie in which San Diego is not just a setting but a main character

If you like seeing your hometown in movies like I do, you must see Almost Famous, if you haven’t already. Mostly set in 1973 and shot throughout San Diego in 1999, the movie celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.

Released in 2000, the movie chronicles wide-eyed William Miller’s coming-of-age journey as the 15-year-old pursues his dream of becoming a rock-music journalist. Raised by a college professor single mother in San Diego, William is mentored by rock journalist/critic Lester Bangs, played by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Bangs, a fascinating subject in his own right, was born in Escondido and at 11 moved with his mother to El Cajon. According to one San Diego news report, the rock critic Jim DeRogatis referred to Bangs as “America’s greatest rock critic.”

In the movie, Rolling Stone editor Ben Fong-Torres gives William his big shot, a cover story about the fictitious band Stillwater, with which he becomes embedded as it tours the country.

The film, by Cameron Crowe, is semi-autobiographical. According to the San Diego Reader, Bangs and Crowe met when both were coining articles for The San Diego Door, a local underground newspaper devoted to politics and culture, or counter-culture, during the ‘60s and ‘70s. (Historically, it was one of the first alternative papers in the San Diego news industry.)

By the time he reached 16, Crowe was already an associate editor at Rolling Stone. Some 25 years later, in 2001, Almost Famous would be nominated for four Academy Awards, with Crowe winning an Oscar for best original screenplay.

Crowe, of course, is the same writer who went undercover, back in 1980, at Clairemont High School while conducting research for what would become Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

But unlike Fast Times, which was not actually filmed here, Almost Famous was set and partly filmed in San Diego, which is central to the story. In fact, in an article that appeared 25 years ago, San Diego Union-Tribune writer and critic David Coddon noted that “Crowe spent three weeks on location in San Diego, and says it was his ‘favorite part of the shoot.’”

Filming locations

Let’s review some of the San Diego neighborhoods, locations, and landmarks that can be seen in the movie, many in the opening scenes.

Ocean Beach:

In the second opening, there’s a brief shot of since-closed Rocky’s Surf Shop on Abbott Ave….

…and the iconic OB Pier, which, of course, needs repair.

Newport Avenue, in O.B., including the Strand theater, is used by Crowe early on to establish a sense of place. (I saw surf films there and my brother used to dress up for The Rocky Horror Picture Show…What are your memories? Post a comment and let me know!)

Balboa Park:

The California Tower at what is now the Museum of Us can be seen in one of the opening shots.

The musical adaptation of the film premiered at The Old Globe theater, in Balboa Park, before its 2022 run on Broadway.

University of San Diego:

On tour with the band, William is unable to attend his graduation. We see instead a shot of a high-school graduation ceremony, which was filmed on the USD campus.

In his interview with the UT’s Condon, Crowe shared memories of visiting his mother, Alice Crowe, a retired San Diego City College professor and guidance counselor who passed in 2019 (She is played in the film by Frances McDormand.).

Their routine was to walk around the USD running track, and it was here that the idea for what would become his highest-grossing film, Jerry Maguire, was germinated.

Crowe’s mother died on September 11, 2019, two days before the first preview of the Broadway musical adaptation of Almost Famous.

University of San Diego High School:

It was as a 15-year-old student (not undercover per Fast Times) at University of San Diego High School that Crowe experienced an epiphany of sorts, when he clearly saw his destiny as a rock critic. This moment of clarity is recreated in Almost Famous, when William gazes out from Uni’s hilltop campus.

San Diego Sports Arena:

In the opening sequence, to establish that William is a rock music fan, the camera scans over, among other items, a concert ticket in his bedroom; if you look quickly, you can make out the tiny print announcing an Allman Brothers Band show at the San Diego Sports Arena.  

And, it’s at a Black Sabbath concert at the Sports Arena that William meets Penny and the members of Stillwater (I saw many concerts at the Sports Arena around that same time. What bands or sporting events did you see at the old Sports Arena? Let me know in the comments sections below.)

If you saw the movie, then you remember the not-almost-famous but very famous scene on the tour bus when the band members break out into a sing-along to Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” Why that song? It turns out that Crowe once had a bad date at an Elton John concert at San Diego’s Civic Theater. “I knew ‘Tiny Dancer’ had to be in the movie,” he told Coddon.

Editor’s Note: Enjoy a locally produced parody of that memorable scene, by San Diego Film Consortium.

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