The slightly surreal sense of déjà vu — that you've lived through the moment you're experiencing already, or you've called upon a particular place before — is a phenomenon so many of us know well.
But in Los Angeles? It's a sudden sensation that can grow especially cinematic: We'll sometimes find ourselves in a shop, park, or other destination that feels familiar to us because we've seen it on the big screen.
Film-fancying author, dedicated cinephile, and "locationologist" Harry Medved has been chronicling many of these movie locations around Los Angeles and California for years in books like "Hollywood Escapes."
Now the movie maven has a new PBS SoCal digital series exploring some of the most celebrated works of the silver screen and the Southern California places where legendary directors called "action!"
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"Locationland" debuts Jan. 27 with a look at a particularly storied segment of the LA River, the place where souped-up hot rods rolled in "Grease."
Mr. Medved chats with "Grease" director Randal Kleiser in the episode, which will venture to the iconic urban waterway as well as other instantly recognizable locations featured in the hit 1978 musical.
A chance to chat with other film fans on Instagram during the Jan. 27 is adding to the show's community spirit.
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Upcoming adventures include a spectacular stop-by focused on our city's superstar signage — the Hollywood Sign, of course — and a sci-fi-tastic exploration of where filmmaker Ed Wood's incredible "Plan 9 From Outer Space" landed around LA, UFO-style.
Producer Harry Pallenberg, of the beloved "California's Gold" with Huell Howser, is helping to bring this cinematic love letter to LA's unforgettable corners, parks, signs, and buildings.
TV shows will also receive the spotlight, and there are a few "glimmers of hope" for viewers to anticipate as the series unfolds: "Locationland" will honor those Altadena and Pasadena film locations that remain standing after the Eaton Fire.
Will your favorite film be featured in "Locationland"? It might be. It's a series celebrating our city's enduring role in the shimmering stories of the last century or so, and those local places that add so much panache to a movie.
The places that we always feel as though we've visited before, though, quite often, we've only ever seen them on screen.
That is movie magic, for sure, with a location-lovely, oh-so-Los-Angeles dimension, one that "Locationland" will elevate in the weeks to come.
