Call me juvenile, but I’ve been a fan of the ‘American Pie’ movie franchise since the beginning in 1999. A group of raunchy friends living their lives in Western Michigan, not all that far from my own home. Yep, just living those good ol’ Kid Rock style Lake Michigan summers vicariously through the American Pie gang.
But then, this past week, I looked past the classic acting while watching ‘American Wedding’ (aka American Pie 3) and really got into that Lake Michigan scenery. What an amazing hotel the wedding was held at and what amazing surf there was to be found on Lake Michigan. I live quite close to three of the Great Lakes and have never seen surf like that on any of those.
Well, it turns out, the hotel is not on Lake Michigan. In fact, pretty much no footage of any of the movies was ever shot in Michigan. The hotel is the Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco on the Pacific coast. Most of the movies were shot in the Los Angeles area. Jim’s house where it all began is located in Long Beach, California. East Great Falls High School is not in Michigan but also in Long Beach.
I experienced this once before. I’m a big fan of the Bill Murray film ‘Groundhog Day’. Back in 2004, I took my Mom and the two boys to New York City. On the drive back, way stopped in Punxsutawny, Pennsylvania. We had lunch in what I thought was the diner from the movie. We walked the town square where I thought the Groundhog’s Day celebration took place.
But then, we drove to Gobbler’s Knob. It was out of town and not in the middle of this quaint Pennsylvania burg. And man, it looked like nothing from the movie.
Once I got home and was able to get on the internet (no smart phone internet access back in 2004), I was blown away by what I found. The movie was shot in Woodstock, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay
Well, the hotel is still pretty spectacular, even if the drive time for me went from six hours to five days. Although built in a classic style that would suggest this building has been around since the since the 1920’s, it is actually from the new millenium.
The Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay covers nearly 300,000 square feet yet has a modest 261 hotel rooms plus 22 suites. On site, there is horseback riding, wine tasting, surfing and swimming, along with two world class golf courses. Mandatory on your tab is a $25 per night resort fee. This fee covers a welcome glass of wine upon arrival, wireless high speed internet throughout, but most importantly, full access to spa and wellness facilities which are expansive at this hotel.
The pinnacle of the hotel is the 2,000 square foot Ritz-Carlton Suite. This is a two bedroom and two and half bath suite with a dining table for eight, a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean and a full-sized private deck.
You get what you pay for, or you pay for what you get. This hotel is not cheap and it makes me wonder how the Levenstein – Flaherty wedding was even close to financially possible! Generally, using Expedia for some examples, pricing ranges in the off-season from $487 to $791 and for the summer months $623 to $927.
For current pricing through Travelocity: Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay Pricing
Half Moon Bay is a town on the Pacific coast, 23 miles south of San Francisco International Airport. Once known as Spanishtown, there are now around 11,000 residents with 20,000 in the general area.
American Pie Franchise
If you don’t know, American Wedding was the third of four theatrical movies in the American Pie series. The first movie came out in 1999 and the last was released in 2012, American Reunion. There have been several straight to video movies with the American Pie name but none of the main characters made an appearance.
The story is supposed to take place in the fictional city of East Great Falls, Michigan. It is based on the creator’s real life spent in East Grand Rapids near Lake Michigan on the western side of Lower Michigan. The main movies star Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Tara Reid, Seann William Scott, Eugene Levy and John Cho, among many others.
