When I originally heard this story I had to pause for second, mostly because Modesto is my hometown. With the population at around 200,000, you’d expect there to be more stories of success, yet the only ones that come to my mind are George Lucas, and Jeremy Renner. It turns out we have one other star in our midst: Macklemore’s 100 year old grandma who just so happens to call Modesto home. In his new music video, the two can be seen cruising around the town in gold cadillac, going to Boomers, a thrift shop, winco, Turlock Lake, a bar, and tattoo shop. At one point there’s even a party happening for Helen, his grandma, where a male stripper is invited and begins dancing on some of the women.
Shooting for the music video happened during mid-June, yet Helen doesn’t actually turn 100 until later this fall. One big sign, pun intended, that this was filmed in Modesto is the flash of the gateway sign that reads “Modesto:Water, Wealth, Contentment, Health”. From there the two proceed to make a day out of it and egg someone’s house, go thrift shopping, do karaoke, and end it with a drive down to Turlock lake. Music video down below:
Other Notable Songs Featuring Modesto
Retro Dance Record- Mac Dre
Mac Dre is a bay area legend, but it’s well known that he got around to many areas of California. In his song Retro Dance Record, he recites the line “For you, I’d walk to Modesto”. This is in reference to him being from the Bay Area, so to walk to Modesto for someone would be pretty damn crazy.
St.Modesto- Chris Walla
The other half of Death Cab For Cutie, Chris Walla, made one song which alludes to the valley, and Modesto. He mostly talks about the Altamont, and San Francisco, but at least we got to be featured in the title.
