A white castle-like hotel with a tower, palm trees in front — Chateau Marmont above Sunset Boulevard, October 2014. Tony Hisgett · CC BY 2.0

REC00:02:03FOUND FOOTAGE · SUNSET BLVD

Lizzy Grant, later

Lana Del Rey

In 2011 she made her own video for Video Games: herself on a webcam, cut with old clips and footage of the Chateau Marmont. Here, her places are the footage.

Clip 1 and 2 · the Adirondacks and the Connecticut hills

A lake village,then a school in the hills.

A lakeside village with wooded hills behind, across still water — The village of Lake Placid seen across Mirror Lake, 2007. Aaron danielg at English Wikipedia · Public domain

Lana Del Rey with long auburn hair, looking to one side — Lana Del Rey in Cologne, 12 November 2011. André de Saint-Paul · CC BY-SA 3.0

00:00:14 · MIRROR LAKE

Mirror Lake, Lake Placid

She was born Elizabeth Grant in New York City in 1985; as a baby she moved with her parents upstate to Lake Placid.

She went to Catholic school there. When she broke through, W magazine introduced her simply as the 25-year-old from Lake Placid, New York.

A lake in the middle of the village, beside Main Street: free to walk round, any time.

Sources

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A school entrance with stone gateposts and trees — The main entrance of Kent School, Kent, Connecticut, October 2012. SamuelHaack · CC BY-SA 4.0

00:00:41 · THE SCHOOL GATE

Kent School

Then she went away to boarding school, to Kent School in Connecticut.

MOJO says she was sent there to deal with an alcohol problem. She was sober by 18.

A working boarding school, not open to casual visitors: see the entrance from Macedonia Road.

Sources

Clip 3 and 4 · the late 2000s

Philosophy in the Bronx,Lizzy Grant in the clubs.

A Gothic stone hall with a tall tower behind a lawn — Keating Hall on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx, July 2014. John Perry · CC BY-SA 2.0

00:01:07 · ROSE HILL

Fordham University, Rose Hill

She studied philosophy at Fordham University in the late 2000s.

She told W she lived in the Bronx for three years. With her first record advance she moved to a trailer park in New Jersey and kept commuting to the Bronx to finish her degree.

A working university campus: see Keating Hall from the Rose Hill grounds; check fordham.edu for visitor access and campus tours.

Sources

A Brooklyn street corner with shops and low brick buildings — Bedford Avenue at North 7th Street, Williamsburg, November 2014. LWYang · CC BY 2.0

Lana Del Rey on stage, singing — Lana Del Rey at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 10 November 2011. nvivo.es, 5gig · CC BY 2.0

00:01:36 · BEDFORD AVE

~~Lizzy Grant~~
~~Lana Del Ray~~
Lana Del Rey

Williamsburg

As Lizzy Grant she played clubs around the Lower East Side and Williamsburg.

She began with open-mic nights and club gigs. In 2007 she reached the final round of a local talent contest in Brooklyn; one judge worked in A&R for 5 Points Records, which signed her.

Her first album, Lana Del Ray AKA Lizzy Grant, was taken off the internet by her managers in 2010. Her label boss remembers the change from Lizzy Grant to Lana Del Ray; the spelling settled later as Lana Del Rey.

Public streets: the clubs have no named addresses in the sources, so walk Bedford Avenue from North 7th Street.

Sources

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Chateau Marmont · 8221 Sunset Boulevard · summer 2011

Make the video.Webcam in the corner, the Chateau in the cut.

She made the Video Games video herself, editing it in iMovie: clips from old films and cartoons, cut with shots of herself singing on her webcam.

Clip bin is empty.
Webcam only.

REC00:00:00WEBCAM

Lana Del Rey smiling, her hair up — Lana Del Rey promoting Born to Die in Seattle, March 2012. Mike Monaghan · CC BY 2.0

Clip bin · her places

CAM

Just the webcam so far. Add clips from the bin; she wanted the Chateau in it.

Chateau Marmont

She said she wanted different clips of the Chateau in it because it was one of the most beautiful places, and that the hotel had inspired many of her videos.

The video went viral on YouTube in August 2011, which led to a deal with Interscope. On 8 December 2011 she played an intimate show at the hotel on her Mulberry Mix Tape Tour. Born to Die, her first major-label album, followed in 2012.

A working hotel of bungalows and suites: book a room or a restaurant table through its own site.

Sources

Chateau Marmont

8221 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles · Book direct · rates on the booking page

The hotel in her Video Games footage, with bungalows and suites above Sunset Boulevard. Rooms and the restaurant are booked through its own site.

Check rooms

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Greenwich Village, West Los Angeles, Santa Monica · 2013 to 2017

Three rooms,three records.

A curved studio frontage on a Greenwich Village street — The front of Electric Lady Studios on West 8th Street, October 2016. WarrenG313 · CC BY-SA 4.0

ULTRAVIOLENCE · 2013–14

Electric Lady Studios

She spent four weeks working on Ultraviolence on her own at Electric Lady before reworking the songs with Dan Auerbach.

Then she flew to Nashville and spent another six weeks reworking the same songs with Auerbach and musicians.

A working recording studio, not open to the public: see its curved front from West 8th Street.

Sources

A pale studio building on a quiet Los Angeles street — The Village recording studio in West Los Angeles, April 2021. DocFreeman24 · CC BY-SA 4.0

LUST FOR LIFE · 2015

The Village

Her engineers Dean Reid and Kieron Menzies say the first session for the song Lust for Life was at the Village, straight after Honeymoon.

A working recording studio, not open to the public: see it from Butler Avenue.

Sources

Santa Monica rooftops with the beach and ocean beyond — Downtown Santa Monica and the beach, September 2017. Cayambe · CC BY-SA 4.0

LUST FOR LIFE · 2015–17

The Green Building

The engineers say roughly 85 per cent of Lust for Life was written or recorded at Rick Nowels’ Green Building in Santa Monica, and all of it was mixed there.

Rick Nowels’ private studio, with no published address: named here, not mapped. Pictured: Santa Monica.

Sources

Two accounts of one meeting

Auerbach later remembered meeting her at Electric Lady; her own earlier account says they met at a club.

Both are kept here; neither is settled.

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A big festival stage under a white canopy with a crowd in front — The Other Stage at Glastonbury Festival, June 2019. zzuuzz · CC BY-SA 4.0

Worthy Farm, Pilton · June 2023

Midnight on the Other Stage.The crowd has the chorus.

Lana Del Rey on a festival stage in 2023 — Lana Del Rey on stage at the MITA festival, São Paulo, 2023. Raphaelp18 · CC BY-SA 4.0

She was due on the Other Stage at 10.30 pm in June 2023 and came on about 30 minutes late.

The stage had a midnight curfew. Before the end she apologised in case they cut the power.

The Other Stage, June 2023. She came on about half an hour late, and the curfew is midnight.

A working farm: the Other Stage stands only during Glastonbury Festival, so you need a festival ticket.

Sources

The footage, catalogued

Every clipis a real place.

Where it is now

8 places you can visit, from Lake Placid to Pilton. The Green Building is a private studio and is named, not mapped; the studios, the school and the campus are seen from outside, and the Other Stage stands only at festival time.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A lake in the middle of the village, beside Main Street: free to walk round, any time.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working boarding school, not open to casual visitors: see the entrance from Macedonia Road.

The village of Lake Placid seen across Mirror Lake, 2007. Aaron danielg at English Wikipedia · Public domain
Village of Lake Placid, Essex County, New York
Mirror Lake, Lake Placid
She was born Elizabeth Grant in New York City in 1985; as a baby she moved with her parents upstate to Lake Placid.
A lake in the middle of the village, beside Main Street: free to walk round, any time.
Sources
The main entrance of Kent School, Kent, Connecticut, October 2012. SamuelHaack · CC BY-SA 4.0
1 Macedonia Road, Kent, Connecticut
Kent School
Then she went away to boarding school, to Kent School in Connecticut.
A working boarding school, not open to casual visitors: see the entrance from Macedonia Road.
Sources

Stay

Sleep in the footage.

The hotel on Sunset Boulevard she cut into her first video.

Chateau Marmont

8221 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles · Book direct · rates on the booking page

The hotel in her Video Games footage, with bungalows and suites above Sunset Boulevard. Rooms and the restaurant are booked through its own site.

No future dates were checked for this page.

No current dated events are listed. Check providers for the latest programme.

Take it home

Two records.

The album with Video Games on it, and the one begun at Electric Lady.

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Born to Die

Lana Del Rey · CD, Interscope / Polydor, 2012

The first major-label album, with Video Games on it.

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Ultraviolence

Lana Del Rey · 2 × LP, Polydor / Interscope, 2014

Begun alone at Electric Lady, reworked in Nashville.

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Find a copy

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The full record

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

Search all places and Moments Current state Sort

9 of 9 places · 15 of 15 Moments

Mirror Lake, Lake Placid
Village of Lake Placid, Essex County, New York
- Up to Lake Placid
  As a baby she moves with her parents from New York City to Lake Placid.
Kent School
1 Macedonia Road, Kent, Connecticut
- Kent School
  She is sent to boarding school in Connecticut and is sober by 18.
Fordham University, Rose Hill
East Fordham Road, the Bronx
- Philosophy in the Bronx
  She studies philosophy at Fordham, commuting in from New Jersey to finish.
Williamsburg
Bedford Avenue and North 7th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
- Lizzy Grant in the clubs
  As Lizzy Grant she plays open mics and clubs on the Lower East Side and in Williamsburg.
- The Brooklyn contest
  The final round of a Brooklyn talent contest leads to a deal with 5 Points Records.
- The album comes down
  Lana Del Ray AKA Lizzy Grant is taken off the internet.
Chateau Marmont
8221 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
- The home-made video
  She edits Video Games herself in iMovie: webcam shots of her singing, old film clips, cartoons and the Chateau.
- Viral
  The video goes viral on YouTube; Interscope signs her.
- A show at the Chateau
  An intimate show at the hotel on the Mulberry Mix Tape Tour.
Electric Lady Studios
52 West 8th Street, Greenwich Village, Manhattan
- Four weeks alone
  Four weeks on Ultraviolence on her own at Electric Lady, then six weeks in Nashville with Dan Auerbach.
- Two accounts of a meeting
  Auerbach places their meeting at Electric Lady; her earlier account says a club.
The Village
1616 Butler Avenue, West Los Angeles
- The first Lust for Life session
  The title song is begun at the Village straight after Honeymoon.
The Green Building
Santa Monica, California
- Eighty-five per cent
  Most of Lust for Life is written or recorded, and all of it mixed, at the Green Building.
The Other Stage, Worthy Farm
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset
- The midnight curfew
  Thirty minutes late on the Other Stage, she loses the power after White Mustang.
- The crowd’s chorus
  With the microphone dead, the crowd sings the chorus of Video Games for her.

Lana Del Rey