Obsession | 2025

This chilling low-budget twist on the "Be careful what you wish for" story really took off, with music store assistant Bear (Michael Johnston) wishing the co-worker he's infatuated with would love him more than anything in the world.

Made for well under a $1 million in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles, it’s mostly indoors and sadly, several of the filming locations have closed.

The film opens in a coffee shop, with Bear clumsily rehearsing with his friends the opening lines he intends say to Nikki (Inde Navarrette). The eatery closed a long time ago.

It's Cadillac Jack's, 9457 San Fernando Road in Sun Valley, and it sits right alongside, and is part of, Pink Motel.

The motel opened in 1947 and its associated cafe, then called the Pink Cafe, opened two years later. Like Norman Bates’ establishment, visitor numbers fell when a new highway, in this case the I-5 route from LA to the north, opened.

Unlike Norman, the owners didn't pass their time with taxidermy but came up with a great business idea. Preserving the cool retro look – and with the addition of a fish-shaped swimming pool – the motel and cafe live on as a much-used period film set. The pool itself has become legendary for skateboarders, especially after appearing in Stacy Peralta's 1987 film The Search For Animal Chin.

Cadillac Jack's comes fully dressed in period and has a Rockola juke box, counter seating and booths. Outside, the diner is decorated with era-specific neon lighting and an outside car hop. To top off its attraction to moviemakers and advertisers, the motel now owns a fleet of 28 fully restored and functional classic 50s and 60s vehicles.

You can see it in the likes of Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 Drive, with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, House Of Sand And Fog, The House Bunny, Grease 2 and Destiny Turns On The Radio, among many other films plus loads of TV shows, including The OC and Dexter).

Go and admire its glorious pinkness, but don't expect to stay there or be served in the cafe.

A much more recent loss is the music store in which Bear and Nikki work. This was the real music store Cassell's Music, which stood at 901 North Maclay Street, north of Glenoaks Boulevard in San Fernando itself. You may have seen it before in Penelope Spheeris’s 1992 Wayne's World, where Wayne covets the ’64 Fender Stratocaster in Classic White with triple single-coil pick-ups and a whammy bar. It finally closed its doors in 2025.

‘Barker’s Bar’, scene of the trivia night was filmed in the wonderfully-named Roguelike Tavern, 11618 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. It boasted food, cocktails and “immersive entertainment” – yes, it did hold trivia competitions. It’s closed down, but only while it finds new premises.

Hurrah – something you can still visit, if you’re pretty secure with your date. It’s the cosy Italian restaurant where Nikki suddenly declares she loves Bear more than anyone in the world and goes on to throw a disturbing wobbly. This is Little Toni's, 4745 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood, which has been serving up pasta and pizzas here since 1956.

And last of all, the place you'll really want to visit, the store that sold the 'One Wish Willow'. This too is real,
The Green Man, 824 North Hollywood Way in Burbank.

It's a genuine mystical supply shop offering incense, herbs, candles and crystals, plus consultations and readings. The 'One Wish Willow' was pure invention for the movie but, if the US is half as enterprising as we're led to believe, I hope they're now being stocked. Just as collectibles, you understand.