The Brief

It may not have qualified for The Los Angeles Times’ new list of the 101 best L.A. movies, but as far as we’re concerned here at LAist, House Party is an L.A. movie.

Or maybe more accurately, we just really want to be able to claim the 1990 teen comedy starring hip-hop duo Kid ‘n Play as friends looking to throw the party of the year. Because while House Party isn’t set in Los Angeles, it’s also not set in any specified location in America. And since it was filmed here, can’t we call dibs?

LAist host Julia Paskin didn’t pose that question directly to House Party writer/director Reginald Hudlin (Boomerang, Marshall), but she did ask him why he chose to shoot in L.A. and about House Party’s legacy — in light of the film’s new 4K UHD and Blu-ray release through The Criterion Collection.

Below are some highlights from the conversation, and an extended version of the interview is available here.

‘We very much avoided it looking like LA’

House Party centers on Kid ‘n Play, who were based in New York and played versions of themselves in the film, and the story is partially based on Hudlin's experiences growing up in Illinois. So why film in L.A.?

 ”We shot it in L.A. because it was basically a cheap, efficient way to make the movie,” Hudlin says. “But we very much avoided it looking like L.A. We wanted it to be ‘America.’”

The moment Hudlin says he knew he’d succeeded in hiding the L.A. filming locations was when a Queens newspaper was fooled.

For Hudlin, it showed that no matter where someone was from — Queens, Detroit, Atlanta or Oakland — ”you'll watch this movie and you will project your life, your childhood, onto this. I think that's one of the reasons why it resonates so well.”

‘This is everything people don’t want to see’

Even before the filming location was a question, just trying to get a feature-length version of House Party greenlit (Hudlin first made a short film, also titled House Party, as a Harvard undergrad) wasn’t easy.

“I remember one studio said, ‘There's two things that no one wants to see: a teen movie and a Black movie. You have a Black teen movie. This is everything people don't want to see.’”

And it’s the kind of disappointing feedback Hudlin says he’s had to work against continuously in his career.

But fortunately for House Party, after a woman of color who was a junior executive at New Line Cinema saw a screening of Hudlin’s short, she successfully made the case for the film to her bosses.

‘They blew us off’

After signing on with New Line, the studio suggested that Hudlin cast DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince (aka Will Smith) as the leads. Their argument? Because the studio had sued the duo for sampling a portion of Nightmare on Elm Street without permission and won, Smith owed them a film as part of the settlement.

Hudlin met with the duo’s manager, who at the time was Russell Simmons, and, “Russell was like, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no. We got big Hollywood projects. We're working with big Hollywood producers,’” Hudlin says. “So they blew us off.”

Hudlin only knew Kid ‘n Play from their music videos, but he talked to someone who worked at their management company and asked, “‘Are they hardworking? Do they show up on time?’ They're [like], ‘Oh yeah, yeah, those guys are great.’ So we met with them and offered them the movie.”

Danielle Brooks and Lewis Pullman presented the nominees for the 98th Academy Awards this morning. The awards ceremony will be held on March 15. You can watch the announcement above, or check back soon for a full list of nominees.

Copyright 2026 NPR

After a warm spell, winter weather has returned to Southern California.

Thursday's rainfall will be on the drizzly, scattered end of things. The National Weather Service forecasts around a quarter inch of rainfall through Friday. Any snowfall will stick to the 8,000-foot elevation range Thursday, and drop down to around 6,000 feet by Friday.

As for temperatures, it's going to be another relatively cool day.

We're looking at highs in the mid 60s from the coasts to the valleys, and up to 68 degrees in the Inland Empire. In the Antelope Valley, temperatures will range from 54 to 63 degrees. And in Coachella Valley, expect daytime highs from 69 to 74 degrees and dry conditions.

The Sundance Film Festival begins for the last time in Park City, Utah, before heading to Boulder, Colo., next year. It's a bittersweet finale for the country's premier independent film festival, founded by Robert Redford in 1978.

With a gala, the festival plans to pay tribute to the late actor and director, who died of natural causes in September.

"Before he passed earlier this year, [Redford] shared with us this quote: 'Everybody has a story,'" says the festival's director, Eugene Hernandez. "This notion is such a great framing for a festival that has always been about finding and sharing with audiences the stories that come from all over the world."

This year, the festival will screen films that got their starts at Sundance, including Little Miss Sunshine, which went on to be nominated for best picture at the 2007 Oscars.

The festival will also screen a remastered print of the 1969 movie Downhill Racer, in which Redford plays a champion skier. Redford was also a producer on this indie film.

"He would tell this story year after year about getting Downhill Racer made," recalls Sundance senior programmer John Nein. "It became a way that he understood the notion of protecting independence and protecting the artistic voice of a film. He often used that when he talked to emerging filmmakers, to relate to the struggles that they had in getting their films made the way that they wanted to."

Nein says one way to recognize that legacy is by programming 40 percent of the slate from first-time filmmakers. More than 16,200 films were submitted from 164 countries. Throughout the year, the Sundance Institute hosts labs and programs and provides grants and fellowships for independent filmmakers.

Over the years, Sundance has been a launching pad for filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Ava DuVernay, The Coen brothers, Ryan Coogler, Chloe Zhao and Paul Thomas Anderson.

Another filmmaker whose career Sundance supported is Rachel Lambert, who says she was inspired by a film Redford directed: Ordinary People.

"It's a profound legacy a single human being can leave an entire nation's culture," she says of Redford. "It's remarkable."

Lambert will premiere her newest film, Carousel, a love story starring Chris Pine and Jenny Slate.

Also showing at Sundance: documentaries about Chicano theater pioneer Luis Valdez, singer Courtney Love, tennis star Billie Jean King, and South African leader Nelson Mandela.

Among the features in competition is The Gallerist with Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega.

Another is The Invite, with Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton. The Invite's producer, David Permut, has been faithfully attending Sundance since the late 1980s, when he was in the audience for Steven Soderbergh's breakout Sex, Lies, and Videotape. 

"I never miss Sundance. I've been going every year since," says Permut. "I stay for 10 days, I'm not in and out like a lot of people from Hollywood when they're there with their film. I love the second week because it's basically cinephiles from all over the world."

Permut showed his first film at Sundance — Three of Hearts — in 1993. Last year, his film Twinless won the festival's audience award.

"I have 57 movies I want to see this coming Sundance," he says. "For me, it's about discovery."

Actress Hana Mana in <em>The Friend's House Is Here</em>. The film was smuggled out of Iran to premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

(

Alma Linda Films

)

Some filmmakers have gone to great lengths to get their work screened this year — including the Iranian film The Friend's House is Here.

The drama—set in Tehran's underground art scene — was shot under the radar of Iranian authorities. Amid the country's recent political turmoil, members of the film's crew had to drive 11 hours to smuggle the film over the Turkish border to get it to the festival. According to the film's publicist, the film's two main actresses were not heard from for weeks during Iran's recent unrest. The publicist says the women are now safe but have been denied visas by the United States to attend Sundance.
Copyright 2026 NPR

Topline:

Why it matters: Pasadena’s claim to the cheeseburger is a significant part of Southern California's food history, with direct ties to car culture and roadside dining.

Who's participating: Nearly 50 restaurants are taking part, including Dog Haus Biergarten, Pie 'n Burger, the Taproom at the Langham Huntington Hotel and Magnolia House. There are also week-only specials, including Tardino Bros. Italian Kitchen's chili cheeseburger pizza and Burrito Express' smashburger taco.

Why now: It’s a perfect opportunity to explore some of those Pasadena spots that you've been meaning to try (and a good way to fire up your palate before LAist’s citywide Tournament of Cheeseburgers later this year!).