The upcoming Hallmark movie set in Solvang

There’s a little town called Solvang in California, about an hour from Santa Barbara. It bills itself as an original Danish settlement, and gets a lot of tourists coming to its quaint shops and cafes and all. But a lot of people call it a bit overdone and kitschy.

I went with a friend during my swing through California by bus and train last winter. And we stumbled onto the set of a movie. I guess it’s not surprising, we were 2 or 3 hours from LA, but I’m not used to that kind of thing!

The movie was meant for either Hallmark or Lifetime. Let me tell you what happens. There’s a tall, handsome man called Sawyer, and there’s a shorter, very blonde, long-haired, pretty woman — I believe she was called Ms. Lane. Well, they are going to fall in love and get married (lucky guess), but we didn’t see that part. We saw the part where they were having an argument. Sawyer is from Solvang, or lives there, and is very attached to the town, and he is showing Ms. Lane around. Ms. Lane is a journalist and is writing a book.  The argument starts because Ms. Lane denigrates what Sawyer has been showing her — she wants the real Solvang, not the tired tourist traps. And Sawyer gets mad. “You know what! I don’t think I could ever show you the real Solvang! And it’s not Solvang’s fault! It’s because your heart is closed off to the true meaning of Christmas!” (It was just before Christmas, and the town was decked out!)

Then Sawyer turns on his heel and marches away. Ms. Lane sends a flabbergasted look after him.

They were filming all this right between the entrance of two stores with an extra dash of Christmas lights and decorations glistening over the doorways. During takes (they did at least 15), all the real tourists like us either had to stay inside the store we were in, or had to wait outside. So we waited and waited, switching our position between the two stores, and then playing audience outside, so we caught the scene from all angles.

In between takes, Ms. Lane, who was very fashionably and thinly dressed the better to catch her slim figure, covered up from the cold in a bulky puffy winter jacket. So really, what you see on TV is not real!!