We’re all familiar with numerous movies and TV shows that have been shot right here in Santa Cruz. Some notable examples include “The Lost Boys,” “Us,” “Bumblebee” from the Transformers franchise, “Dangerous Minds,” “Killer Klowns from Outer Space,” and many more, with over 500 entries on IMDB. However, when it comes to music videos, it’s a bit more challenging to identify those filmed in Santa Cruz County. Some have been shot on local sets or within locations that don’t immediately reveal their local origin. Thus, we embarked on a quest to unearth ten music videos that prominently showcase the Santa Cruz scenery.
One of the most surprising discoveries for me was the music video for “If This is It” by Huey Lewis & The News. I vividly remember watching this video countless times during my MTV-watching days as a child, yet I had no idea it was filmed right here in Santa Cruz.
We’ve also included a few local favorites to the list, such as James Durbin, Cement Ship, and Chris Rene. As for the tenth video on our list, we must apologize in advance for including it, but trust us, it’s so bad that it’s actually good, and you won’t want to miss it 😆.
Do you know of any other videos we missed? Please share them in the comments below. Enjoy the journey through Santa Cruz’s cinematic and musical history!
