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K-fee Commercials: Part I
A car drives through a natural landscape, looping around rolling green hills, the viewer leans in close for the promise of something exciting when suddenly -- A ZOMBIE?
I'm sure you all remember this famous internet video from 2005, part of a trend of jump scares called "Screamers."
This ad, as well as 8 others with a similar style were aired in April of 2005 by a German beverage company called K-fee.
It has long been a discussion of where this video was filmed, with places such as New Zealand and Hawaii offered. However, no definite location has been found to this day.
Did I accidentally solve a 16 year old internet mystery?
I like to frequent the subreddit r/whereisthis, a sub dedicated to helping users identify a location from a picture, drawing, painting, or a description.
How does this relate to the car ad?
Recently a post on the sub caught my eye, a photo of a man standing in front of a rental car... it's the exact car from the K-fee coffee ad!
This feels like such a unique piece of internet history, so I couldn't resist looking into it more.
(photo from u/-Segatari- on r/whereisthis)
The reddit user who posted the photo was inquiring about where the photo was taken, as it could help lead to the discovery of where the driving scene was shot, so I immediately set to work on pinpointing the exact location in the photo.
Some notable things I initially found in the photo include the enclosed parking lot in which the car sits, the two buildings behind the car, and the sign on the far right side of the photo.
It turns out this sign would be the key to solving it all...
Rabbit hole deep dive, commencing!
The sign belongs to YMT Vacations, or Your Man Tours, a tour and cruise company based out of Los Angeles. Initially I thought the sign could just be a billboard, but then I thought perhaps the sign could actually indicate their headquarters location.
A quick Google search reveals that the current headquarters for YMT is located at:
Opening this address in maps doesn't seem to reveal a location where the photo could have been taken.
But that's not stopping me! This ad was filmed in 2005, and it is likely that their headquarters location has changed.
Back to searching it is... and a quick dig through the YMT site on the Wayback Machine reveals their 2005 headquarters to be located at a different address nearby:
Opening this address in maps is immediately rewarding; the entire area is littered with car rental lots! This significantly narrows down where the photo could have been taken.
Using the angle of the lot in relation to the sign, as well as the two buildings in the background of the photo, I instantly honed in on an Alamo car rental lot.
Could this really be it?
I was quite shaky with excitement as I clicked on the Street View option in order to match the surroundings and confirm my suspicions.
It really is!!
Once in Street View, it became apparent that I was standing in the exact location of the K-fee car rental photograph!
(area surrounding 1198 W Hillcrest Blvd, google maps)
(area surrounding Alamo rental lot, google maps)
(street view around Alamo rental lot, google maps)
(Alamo rental lot, where the photo was taken, google maps)
The exact coordinates of the photo are: 33°57'19.2"N 118°22'36.1"W
The deep dive is always fun, but there is nothing more satisfying than that moment of breakthrough or discovery.
So where does this put us on the path to finding where the car was actually filmed driving?
Well, a long way off still somehow.
Searching the local area on maps doesn't immediately reveal the famous winding road, and ultimately I need more details to feel confident in my continued search.
Luckily, there is a plethora of information on this ad campaign online, including a documentary as well as 8 other ads filmed around California...
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