June 2009 – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

June 17, 2009August 17, 2009

The “Joey” Apartment Building

For quite a while now I have been begging Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to locate the apartment building where Joey Tribbiani lived with his nephew, Michael, on the Friends spin-off Joey. So, imagine my surprise when I came across the address randomly in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book. In the book, the address is listed as an almost after-thought, which is why it took me so long to notice it. LOL Apparently, most stalkers aren’t as interested in finding Joey filming locations as I am. 🙂 LOL Being that the show was canceled after only 14 episodes, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. But, because Joey was always my favorite Friends character (besides Rachel, of course!), I absolutely loved that show! “How you doin’?” 😉

On the show, Joey lived in a large apartment building named Monroe Manor, located directly beneath the Hollywood sign. Apparently, production designer John Schaffner chose the 50s style building because of its mid-century appeal. He said, “I didn’t want to do another Los Angeles show in a Spanish house or Craftsman cottage. I was more inspired by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, who worked in natural materials that create a more casual feeling.” Monroe Manor definitely has a unique appearance to it and evokes a feeling of old time Hollywood.

The Monroe Manor complex was constructed in 1949 and is made up of ten terraced, duplex-type units built right into a Hollywood hillside. Each of the twenty apartments in the complex is entirely different in size and style. A side view of the building, which shows its tiered design, is pictured above. As you can see in the above photograph, the building is actually much larger than it’s front exterior would lead you to believe and much larger than it appeared onscreen in Joey. I read online that Monroe Manor was supposedly modeled after my girl Marilyn Monroe, but – call me crazy – I just don’t see the resemblance. 😉 LOL I think it is safer to say that the building was most likely just named after her. 🙂

In an interesting side note, after Joey was cancelled in 2004, a paramedics company in Charlotte, North Carolina purchased the entire set from the show (pictured above) to be used for their training simulations! Apparently, simulations are acted out on the former Joey set and recorded for later review and evaluation. How incredibly cool is that?? I so think I need to go work for that company!!!! North Carolina, here I come! 😉

In an even more interesting side note, when Matt LeBlanc first came to Hollywood, long before hitting it big with Friends, he actually lived at Monroe Manor!!!!! It was a complete coincidence years later when production designer John Schaffner chose the building to be used as the residence of struggling actor Joey Tribbiani. This was definitely a case of art imitating life! 🙂 Ironically, my good friend Maura has been asking me to find Matt LeBlanc’s house for some time now – so, Maura, this one’s for you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Joey apartment building, aka Monroe Manor, is located at 2232 North Beachwood Canyon Drive in Hollywood. Joey lived in Apartment #7. In real life, Matt LeBlanc lived in #16.

June 16, 2009December 6, 2013

Miceli’s Restaurant

After watching Kyra Sedgwick’s Star Ceremony last week, my friend Blaze and I headed over to Hollywood’s oldest pizzeria, better known as Miceli’s Restaurant, to grab a bite to eat. Miceli’s – pronounced Micheli’s – opened its doors way back in 1949 and has the distinction of being known as Hollywood’s first pizza house. The restaurant was started by an Italian couple named Carmen and Sylvia Miceli, along with four of their siblings, who brought their family recipes all the way from Sicily to Los Angeles. The restaurant is still owned and operated by the Miceli family and apparently, most nights, Carmen, himself, is on hand to great his guests! Because of the restaurants’ storied Hollywood history, I just HAD to stalk the place. 🙂

And I wasn’t disappointed!! The second you walk through Miceli’s front doors you are immediately transported back in time! With its dimly lit interior, red leather booths, and black and white photographs of celebrities of yesteryear lining the entryway, the restaurant definitely gives off an Old Hollywood vibe. It is such a cool place!!!! My favorite part of Miceli’s had to be the intricately carved wood and red leather booths. I’ve never seen booths like that in my entire life! Ironically, the booths originally belonged to the old Pig N’ Whistle restaurant, which I blogged about yesterday. When the Pig N’ Whistle closed its doors in 1949, its gorgeous wooden booths were sold to Miceli’s, where they remain to this day.

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I was also pretty obsessed with the ceilings at Miceli’s. 🙂 I don’t know what it is with me and ceilings lately, but every time I walk into a historic building my eyes always go directly up to the roof. Nine times out of ten, the ceilings of old buildings are like works of art. And Miceli’s ceiling certainly did not disappoint. Intricate wrought iron chandeliers hang from gorgeous carved wooden beams throughout the restaurant. Unfortunately, because Miceli’s is so dimly lit, my photographs of the interior did not come out very well. 🙁

Not surprisingly, Miceli’s Restaurant has always been popular with celebrities. During Hollywood’s Golden Era, stars like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, my girl Marilyn Monroe, and Presidents Nixon and JFK all dined at Miceli’s. In more recent years, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler, The Beatles, and Julia Roberts have all been spotted at the eatery.

And, yes, Miceli’s is also a filming location! In 2007’s Knocked Up, Seth Rogan takes his baby momma, Katherine Heigl, to the historic restaurant on a date.

I HIGHLY recommend stalking Miceli’s! The place is worth a trip just for the ambiance alone! But besides the decor, the food at Miceli’s is also EXCELLENT and the portions are ginormous! I just about died over the restaurant’s garlic toast!! Sadly, though, since we ate at Miceli’s during lunchtime, we missed the “singing waiters” which the Italian restaurant is famous for. 🙁 Every night, the Miceli servers step up to the piano to serenade diners with authentic Italian arias, show tunes, and the standards. Sometimes patrons are even invited to get up and sing a note or two themselves. Since karaoke is one of my very favorite past times, I am definitely planning on dragging my fiance there for a nighttime visit! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Miceli’s Restaurant is located at 1646 North Las Palmas in Hollywood.

June 15, 2009June 14, 2009

Pig N’ Whistle Restaurant

Last week, before seeing the Dirty Dancing stage show, my fiance and I grabbed a bite to eat at the historic Hollywood restaurant named the Pig N’ Whistle. I had wanted to visit the celebrated Hollywood eatery ever since it appeared on a Fourth Season episode of The Bachelor back in 2003. 🙂 And, let me tell you, it was well worth the wait. 🙂

The Pig N’ Whistle first opened it doors on Hollywood Boulevard on July 22, 1927. The restaurant was part of a small chain of twelve cafes that dotted the West Coast from Los Angeles to Seattle. The Hollywood location was designed by renowned architectural firm Morgan, Walls & Clements, who were also responsible for building the El Capitan, Wiltern, and Old Globe Theatres. The restaurant was built in an elegant Gothic style, featuring hand-painted tiles, carved wooden ceilings, and stained glass windows. The Pig N’ Whistle was so beautiful that it was even featured in a 1928 issue of Architectural Digest. The restaurant, which was built before the days of movie theatre concession stands, was located directly next door to the famed Egyptian Theatre. It became popular with theatregoers who wanted to grab a pre- or post-show ice cream or drink at the restaurant’s soda fountain or some candy at it’s candy counter.

During its heyday, which ran from 1927 to 1949, the Pig N’ Whistle was extremely popular with the Hollywood set. Stars like Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, Spencer Tracy, Howard Hughes, Loretta Young, Jane Wyman, and even Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dhalia, were spotted dining there.

But that all changed when the restaurant closed its doors in 1949. The former Pig N’ Whistle space went through a succession of different owners, including a Numero Uno pizzeria and a clothing store, and a succession of remodels until two restaurateurs decided to rescue it and restore it to its former grandeur. In 1999, Chris Breed and Alan Hajjar (the team who was also behind the wildly popular Sunset Room restaurant and bar) masterminded a two year, $1.5 million restoration of the former restaurant. The duo unearthed the building’s original hand-carved ceilings, stained glass windows, and molded sconces. The new Pig N’ Whistle opened its doors once again in March of 2001. And it is an absolutely beautiful place!!!!!

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The restaurant is also no stranger to the silver screen. 🙂 On the Fourth Season of The Bachelor, the Pig N’ Whistle hosted a group date for Bachelor Bob Guiney and five female contestants. The group partied in the restaurant’s back room and even competed in a small karaoke contest. 🙂 According to our waitress, the Hollywood restaurant is featured constantly in productions, but, unfortunately, she could not remember which ones. Isn’t that always the case?? What is wrong with these people? LOL

The Pig N’ Whistle is a FABULOUS restaurant and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it. Besides the beautiful Old Hollywood ambiance, the restaurant serves up some GREAT food in HUGE portions. The French Fries and Cobb Salad were to die for!! I absolutely cannot wait to eat there again!!!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pig N’ Whistle is located at 6714 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. A DJ is on hand every Thursday through Saturday night from 9 p.m. onward, so if you were hoping for a quiet meal, make sure you arrive before that time. 🙂 You can visit the Pig N’ Whistle website here.

June 12, 2009June 11, 2009

Robbie Hart’s House

Thanks to fellow stalker Owen, last week Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were able to stalk Robbie Hart’s house from the 1998 romantic comedy The Wedding Singer. I had actually been wanting to find The Wedding Singer house for quite a while now, so when Owen told me that he knew where it was located, I just about died!!! And Mike and I literally ran right out to stalk it. 🙂

I am very happy to report that Robbie’s house looks EXACTLY the same today as it did when The Wedding Singer was filmed there over eleven years ago. I mean, even the paint colors are still the same!! LOVE IT! The home was originally built in 1908 by one of Pasadena’s first major landowners and prominent citizens, David MacPherson, who was a design engineer for the Mt. Lowe Railway.

In The Wedding Singer, the home actually belongs to Robbie’s sister and her husband. Robbie lives in the basement area, which, as you can see in the above screen captures, is reached through a little side door marked 1075 1/2. LOL In reality, though, that door and basement area do not exist – they were built solely for the filming of the movie.

Robbie’s house, especially the front porch area, is featured numerous times throughout The Wedding Singer. It is a very cute and very unique, almost barnlike, structure and I highly recommend stalking it!

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location!!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Robbie Hart’s house from The Wedding Singer is located at 1075 East Topeka Street in Pasadena.

June 11, 2009June 10, 2009

The Bedtime Stories School

Last week, while searching for the Bedtime Stories house, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I decided to also try to find the school featured in the movie. We started our search by looking at street views of different elementary schools in the Los Angeles area, but pretty much came up empty-handed. So, I decided to once again ask my friend who had worked on the movie if she happened to remember where the school was located. She, of course, did not, but what she did remember was that the school from the movie wasn’t actually a school at all, but a public library. She said that the exterior of the library had been changed quite extensively for the filming and made to look a lot bigger than it actually is. Two whole wings were actually added to one side of the building to make it look more like an elementary school. So, armed with that little bit of information, off I went to search local libraries. And, sure enough, it wasn’t long before I found the right one! 🙂

In real life, Daniel Webster Elementary School is, in fact, the Los Angeles Memorial Branch Library which was constructed in 1930. It was built to honor twenty alumni of Los Angeles High School, which is located directly across the street, who had lost their lives in the first World War. Students had originally purchased a small parcel of land across the street from the high school in 1922 and turned it over to the Park Commission with the decree that a memorial park, in honor of all alumni who had fought in the war, would be built on the premises. Today, that park is known as L.A. High Memorial Park. The following year, students and alumni purchased an additional parcel of land adjacent to the park. In 1929, the City of Los Angeles decided to build a library on that adjacent piece of land and commissioned the architecture firm Austin and Ashley, who had also designed the high school, to build it. The library was designed to match the English Tudor style architecture of the high school, which had been built twelve years beforehand. A stained glass window, designed by Judson Art Studio, with the names of the twenty alumni who had lost their lives, was installed in the adult reading room. The library officially opened to the public on April 29, 1930.

Sadly, the original Los Angeles High School building was badly damaged in the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake and was quickly condemned by the City of Los Angeles. Preservationists tried to stop the demolition of the beautiful building, but a mysterious fire gutted the school, thereby sealing its fate. The building was completely demolished later that same year and a huge blue and gold cement monstrosity was built in its place (pictured above). That monstrosity even pops up in Bedtime Stories, in the scene when Adam Sandler picks his niece and nephew up from school. You can see pictures of what Los Angeles High School used to look and pictures of its demolition here and here. So sad!!!!

Ironically enough, the original Los Angeles High School building was a frequent filming location, showing up in A Kiss Before Dying (1956), Compulsion, and the television series Room 222. You can watch the intro to Room 222, in which the school is featured prominently, here.

As you can see in the above screen capture and photographs, the Los Angeles Memorial Branch Library looks much different and much smaller in person than how it appeared onscreen. You can also see the wing that was added to the right side of the building.

The front door of the library is very recognizable from the film, though. 🙂

Because the real interior of the library looks nothing like an elementary school, the interior scenes were shot about 20 miles away at McKinley School in Pasadena. And, according to the librarian who I talked to while stalking the place, the interior of the Memorial Branch Library, but not the exterior, was featured in the 1987 movie Baby Boom. Go figure. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Bedtime Stories school is really the Memorial Branch Library located at 4625 West Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles. The interior school scenes were filmed at McKinley School located at 325 South Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena.

June 10, 2009June 10, 2009

The Pantages Theatre

As promised earlier in the week, I thought I would dedicate today’s post to the historic Pantages Theatre in Hollywood where I saw Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage last Tuesday night . And let me tell you, the Pantages Theatre is a site to see, in and of itself! The Art Deco landmark was built in 1930 by vaudeville theatre mogul Alexander Pantages for a whopping $1.25 million – and we’re talking 1930’s money!!!! It was designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, who conceived most of the theatres in the Pantages chain. But, in an ironic twist of events, when the theatre first opened to the public on June 4, 1930, it was not opened as a Pantages, but instead under the Fox Theatre name. In 1929, while the Pantages was being built, Alexander was knee-deep in a scandal involving another of his many theatres. It seems Alexander, who was in his sixties at the time, was accused and found guilty of raping one of his sixteen year old female ushers at his theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. After being sent to jail, he was forced to open his new Hollywood theatre under a different name. In 1931, Pantages appealed the case and was awarded a new trial. His defense in the second trial maintained that rival theatre company RKO along with Joseph Kennedy (yes, that Joseph Kennedy) had framed him in order to purchase his theatre chain at a low price. Since the broom closet where the rape had supposedly occured was too small a space for two people to fit in, the jury acquitted him and Alexander was released from prison. But Pantages never regained his luxor in Hollywood. Alexander Pantages passed away only two months after his release from prison, broke and broken.

The Pantages has gone through a succession of owners during its almost eighty year history. In 1949, Howard Hughes purchased the theatre and renamed it RKO Pantages. His offices were located above the theatre on the building’s second floor. During the RKO years, from 1949 to 1959 , the Pantages hosted ten Academy Awards ceremonies. It was also home to the Emmy Awards through 1977. In 1967, the Pantages was taken over by Pacific Theatres, who in 1977 joined forces with the Nederlander Theatre Organization to refurbish the property and turn it into a live theatre venue. In October of 2000, Disney opened its hit show The Lion King at the Pantages, which ran for over two years and almost 900 performances. Just prior to The Lion King’s opening, the Pantages underwent a painstaking $10 million renovation process, bringing the theatre back to her original splendor. Since that time, the theatre has been home to over 45 live stage productions including Mama Mia, Annie, Rent, Cats, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

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The Pantages is an absolutely beautiful theatre and a stunning example of Art Deco architecture.

From its sweeping staircases . . .

. . . to its sparkling Art Deco chandeliers, I was absolutely mesmerized by the architectural detail throughout. The Pantages is truly a wonder and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it, if you get the chance!

The Pantages is no stranger to the silver screen, either. It was featured in The Bodyguard, as the site of the Academy Awards ceremony where Whitney Houston was a presenter;

the exterior of it shows up very briefly in The Black Dhalia, as Josh Hartnett makes his way into the Frolic Room which is located right next door;

and in L.A. Confidential, as Kevin Spacey does the very same thing;

and its stage was featured in Michael Jackson’s music video for the song “You Are Not Alone”. The Pantages also showed up in Season Two of Ugly Betty (it’s the “New York” theatre where Henry takes Betty to see the musical Wicked), Paparazzi (it’s the site of Cole’s movie premiere at the very end), Ed Wood, The Jazz Singer, Money Talks, and Batman Forever.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pantages Theatre is located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story On Stage is currently running at the Pantages now through June 28th. Upcoming shows include Legally Blonde: The Musical and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

June 9, 2009June 9, 2009

Kyra Sedgwick’s Walk Of Fame Star Ceremony

I found out a few weeks ago that Kyra Sedgwick would be receiving the 2,384th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the morning of Monday, June 8th. So, I immediately called up my good friend Blaze and asked him if he wanted to join me in watching the ceremony. He, of course, said yes, so today the two of us made our way out to Hollywood to watch Kyra receive her star. And, even though I had already seen the entire Closer cast in person, I was still SUPER excited to attend this event because ever since Footloose came out, I have absolutely LOVED me some Kevin Bacon. 🙂

Kyra’s ceremony was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., and unlike Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony, this event actually started on time. 🙂 Amazingly enough, for some reason there weren’t that many people in attendance. I’d say about forty-five fans and another fifty reporters and photographers were there. Because there weren’t a lot of people in the audience, we were able to stand fairly close to the stage area, which I was thrilled about. Up until just around 11:25, that is, when security guards led all of the media people into the area directly in front of the fans, completely blocking everyone’s view. It was SUCH a bummer. To make matters worse, many of the press photographers pulled out stepladders to stand on and propped their cameras up on huge tripods! UGH. So, even though I was standing right in the front row, I didn’t have the best view. 🙁 I have no idea why bleachers were not set up for the event, as this definitely would have rectified the situation. Note to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce – next time you have an event like this, invest in bleachers! LOL

Right at 11:30 a.m. on the nose, Kyra Sedgwick and husband Kevin Bacon arrived and the event got underway. Kyra looked absolutely adorable and I just about died over her salmon-colored dress. I have got to get me one of those!!!! What I was most impressed with, though, were her arms!!!! I couldn’t take my eyes off of them the entire time! As you can see in the above photograph, they are absolutely rock-hard! Not bad for a 44-year-old mother of two!!! I am so jealous! I mean, I’m 31 and have no children and my arms don’t look nearly as good as hers! LOL Anyway, Kyra was introduced by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, who gave us a brief background on Kyra and her career as an actress. One of the many tid-bits of information he told us was that, contrary to popular belief, Kyra was actually born in Manhattan, not the South, and yes, her Closer accent is a fake. 🙂

After Leron’s introduction, Lee Daniels, who produced the 2004 movie The Woodsman, which starred Kyra and her husband, got up to say a few words. And when I say “a few words”, I literally mean a few words. LOL I think the guy had maybe two sentences to say about Kyra. It was kind of disappointing. If you’re going to get up on a stage to honor someone during an awards ceremony, I’m of the opinion that you should spend a little bit of time writing your speech. Brief and to the point is nice, but so is saying something meaningful. LOL All Lee basically said was that while working with Kyra on The Woodsman, she had taught him to “live in the moment”. To quote Chelsea Lately, “What . . . a douchebag!!” LOL

Next up was Kyra’s Closer co-star, and my fave actor from the show, G.W. Bailey. G.W. gave a FABULOUS – and absolutely hilarious – speech about Kyra and their experiences starring together on The Closer. He started off his speech by listing the questions he most commonly gets asked about Kyra – such as is her accent real (no), is she really that tiny in person (yes!), is her hair real (yes), do she and Kevin Bacon really love each other that much (absolutely!), and what is she really like in person. In answer to that last question, G.W. had this to say, “Kyra is a mix of Mary Poppins and Cruella DeVil. If you come to the set on time and know your lines, she’s a spoonful of sugar. If you come to the set late and haven’t done your homework, she’ll skin you alive and make a jacket out of you. But then she’ll feel bad and end up giving the jacket to the homeless.” LOL I absolutely LOVED that quote, as one of my biggest pet peeves in acting class is lazy actors who don’t do their homework and don’t memorize their lines!!!! You go, Kyra! 🙂

G.W. called Kyra one of the most giving actresses he has ever worked with and said that the cast nicknamed her “Mama” early on because of the way she takes care of everyone. I was actually an extra on The Closer a few months back and was able to witness firsthand how Kyra takes care of her crew. At one point while I was there, Kyra held up filming for a few minutes in order to write out a grocery list of cold remedies and medications before sending someone out to pick them up for a make up artist who was feeling under the weather. She is definitely a “Mama”. 🙂 G.W.’s speech was so sweet that he ended up making Kyra cry. So cute!

Next up was Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who ironically enough is the son of The Closer’s consulting producer Gil Garcetti, who presented Kyra with a Hollywood Walk of Fame plaque.

Then Kyra came to the podium to make a speech. She announced at the very beginning that her speech would be brief due to the fact that her feet were already hurting from standing up for such a long time. 🙂 Kyra said that she wanted to be an actress since the age of 12, when she landed a role in a school production of Fiddler on the Roof. She said that acting in that production made her “soul dance” and she knew at that moment that she never wanted to do anything else.

But the best part of Kyra’s speech was when a Hollywood tour bus drove by!!!! The tourists on board went absolutely crazy, so, Kyra stopped her speech and said hello to them using her Brenda Leigh Johnson accent! LOL LOL LOL Only in L.A.! 🙂

Then, Kyra’s star was unveiled. But, unfortunately, thanks to the press standing in the way, fans see couldn’t see it at all. 🙁 Such a bummer!!! Kyra seemed absolutely thrilled to be receiving her star, though, and it made me tear up to think how special it must be to be honored as an actress in that way. 🙂

Kyra was also given a plaque with a replica of her star on it. Oh, how I want one of those!!!!!!! With my own name on it, of course!!!! 🙂

Then, the press asked if Kevin Bacon would come onstage and I just about died!! During most of the ceremony, Kevin had been standing in the audience laying low. I am pretty sure he didn’t want to steal any of his wife’s thunder during the event, so he just remained on the sidelines the entire time. I had been trying to snap a photograph of him throughout the ENTIRE ceremony, but for some reason could just not get a good shot. So, when he finally came onstage, I was FLOORED! KB is still a total cutie after all these years and I could not have been more excited to see him in person. 🙂

Also on hand to celebrate with Kyra were her Closer castmates Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett, Anthony John Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Phillip P. Keene, and Jonathan Del Arco, along with series consulting producer Gil Garcetti.

Also in attendance was series creator James Duff.

After the ceremony was over, all of the stars – including Kyra and Kevin – came out into the audience to sign autographs and take photographs with the fans. And I could not have been more excited!!!!!! So, of course, I just had to ask my two favorite actors from the show for a pic – G.W. Bailey,

and Anthony John Denison. Unfortunately, I was using my dad’s huge paparazzi style camera at the event, and Blaze couldn’t figure out how to zoom out to take the above photograph. LOL LOL LOL Can you say “extreme close-up”?? Oh well, at least I got a pic. 🙂

I so wanted to take a picture with KB, but, unfortunately, wasn’t standing near him when he came out into the audience. But I did manage to snap the above pic of him as he was walking to his car. Sigh!!!!

About an hour after the ceremony, I returned to see Kyra’s star unveiled, at last. 🙂

As you can see in the above photograph, because it’s brand new, Kyra’s star is much shinier than any of the others on Hollywood Boulevard.

Kyra’s star is right next to husband Kevin Bacon’s, which makes them the only married couple in history to have side by side stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 🙂

If you find yourself in the Hollywood area during a Walk of Fame Star Ceremony, I HIGHLY recommend attending one! I had an absolute blast seeing all of the stars, listening to the speeches, and being a part of a historic Hollywood event! It was definitely a better experience for me than the Hand and Footprint Ceremony and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kyra Sedgwick’s star is located in front of Cinespace Nightclub, which is located at 6356 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

June 8, 2009June 24, 2009

Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage!

Don’t miss your chance to catch Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage live! Dirty Dancing Pantages Theater Tickets are available at Barry’s Tickets now!

As I have mentioned several times before, Dirty Dancing is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time. The coming of age flick had such a profound effect on me, in fact, that I can still remember exactly where I was when I saw it for the first time. That was the summer of 1988 :), I was eleven years old and was on a plane by myself flying to visit some family friends. Dirty Dancing had been released in movie theatres the previous summer and, to my chagrin, my mom had banned me from seeing it, saying I was far too young. So, imagine my excitement, when I got on the airplane and opened up my in-flight magazine to see that the movie being shown was none other than Dirty Dancing! Ha, ha, my mother had been outsmarted yet again!!! 🙂 I can still remember sitting there on that airplane, over 21 years ago, being absolutely mesmerized by the movie and the dancing. Since that time, I’ve probably watched Dirty Dancing over one hundred times. I’m pretty sure I could easily recite the entire movie, word for word, from start to finish, from memory. So, a few weeks ago, when I saw a flyer on a bulletin board at my acting school advertising the new Dirty Dancing stage show, I just about had a heart attack! HOW HAD I NOT KNOWN ABOUT THIS???? LOL I immediately drove home and purchased tickets to the show for the night of June 2nd, which honestly could not have come soon enough! Finally, last Tuesday night, my fiance and I got to see Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage! And let me tell you, I could not have been more excited!!!

The show was being held at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, an absolutely beautiful Art Deco venue and oft-used filming location which I will have to devote an entire blog post to in the near future. 🙂 When we arrived at the Pantages, you could literally feel the excitement in the air! In the lobby girls were singing “Hungry Eyes”, fans waiting in line for the bathroom were comparing their favorite scenes from the movie, and everywhere I turned I kept hearing people say “I am SO excited to see this show!” I can’t tell you how much fun it was to be in a theatre full of people who loved the movie as much as I did and who had so much excitement to see a live performance of it over twenty-two years after its original release! It was incredible!!

Before seeing the show, I honestly had no idea what to expect. I was actually a little worried that some aspects of the movie might be changed or modernized for the stage production, but I really needn’t have fretted. Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is exactly what its title professes it to be – a real life stage show of the movie. It is pretty much an EXACT, word for word, replication of the movie performed on-stage right before your very eyes! Every single aspect of the movie was re-created for the stage show – right down to Baby’s many costumes!!!! It made me want to run right out and buy some white Keds and denim cut-off shorts! 🙂

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Quite possibly, the most incredible part of the production – besides the dancing, of course! – was the use of the stage. I was absolutely AMAZED that they were able to re-create the scenery from the movie in the way that they did for a live stage production. In the show, scenes take place in Kellerman’s Lodge, outside during the big rain storm, driving in Johnny’s Chevrolet, and on the fallen log in the forest where Baby and Johnny dance. Even the “practicing the lift in the water” scene was included in the show!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t want to give too much away here, but to see Johnny and Baby onstage in the water practicing the lift was incredible!!!!! Through the unique set design – which includes hydraulic lifting panels and a huge LCD projection screen – it was as if the movie came to life right before my very eyes. The Dirty Dancing set is actually so big that – for the first time in history – the Pantages had to remove the first three rows of seats in the audience to accommodate it AND the orchestra had to be moved from the pitt area to a room underneath the stage!!!! It truly is incredible to see!!!!! I was on a huge high throughout the entire performance and once again became that eleven year old girl on the airplane. The show is A-MA-ZING andI can’t recommend going to watch it enough! If you were AT ALL a fan of the movie, you will LOVE this show!!! You can watch a preview of Dirty Dancing by clicking in the box above.

And, just when I thought my night couldn’t possibly get any better, I also go to go BACKSTAGE! Yes, you read that right! I GOT TO GO BACKSTAGE at Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage !!! In a very lucky twist of fate, while planning my surprise engagement party, my mom just happened to meet the mother of one of Dirty Dancing’s ensemble cast members, Jamie Bayard. So, I just had to ask to be put in contact with him in the hopes that he could possibly take me on a backstage tour after the show. And, sure enough, he did!!! Besides starring as a dancer in Dirty Dancing, Jamie is a United States and World West Coast Swing Champion, a Latin/Ballroom Champion, a Salsa and Musical Theatre professor at Loyola Marymount University, and he was a top twenty finalist on Season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance. 🙂 You can visit his website here. Jamie honestly could NOT have been nicer and spent a good twenty minutes talking with us about the show and showing us around backstage.

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On our tour, we got to see Jamie’s dressing room;

the outdoor “green room” complete with plasma TV where the actors hang out while not onstage;

the costumes;

Johnny’s car;

and the Dirty Dancing stage!!!!!!!!!!!! I was absolutely freaking out over the fact that I was STANDING ON THE DIRTY DANCING STAGE! I mean, who the heck am I to be standing on the DIRTY DANCING STAGE???? LOL

Of course, I just HAD to have my fiance take a picture of me standing on the stage, but for some incredibly odd reason, beknownst only to him, he decided to zoom in for a close up while taking the photograph! So, basically, since no part of the Dirty Dancing stage is visible in the above photograph, I have what amounts to what might as well be a picture of me standing in my own living room! LOL Men, I swear!!!!

Seeing the show and going backstage was an absolutely incredible experience for me. A big THANK YOU to Jamie for affording us the opportunity!!! 🙂 And, as I said before, if you are in the area, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is a MUST-see!!!!

UPDATE:

Sadly, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage will be ending its Los Angeles run this upcoming Sunday, June 28th. So, you know what that means! There are only five days left to catch this phenomenal stage show before it leaves Southern California for good. In other news, just last week, on June 17th to be exact, Dirty Dancing welcomed its 5 MILLIONTH audience member worldwide. The award winning show first premiered in Sydney, Australia in 2004 and has since opened in thirteen different cities across the world including Hamburg, Berlin, London, Toronto, Boston, and Los Angeles. Don’t miss your opportunity to see what all the fans are raving about. Visit Barry’sTickets.com today to book your tickets before it’s too late!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is playing now through June 28th at the Pantages Theatre, which is located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the official Dirty Dancing website here. Tickets are available at Barry’sTickets.com.

June 5, 2009June 4, 2009

The Bedtime Stories House

Got a challenge last week from fellow stalker Owen who wanted me to find Courteney Cox’s house from the 2008 movie Bedtime Stories. And even though I had yet to see the movie, I was actually in luck with this challenge as one of my acting classmates had worked as a production assistant on the Adam Sandler flick. So, I immediately called her up to ask her where the house was located. But, sadly, as is often the case with this sort of thing, she could not for the life of her remember. UGH! But she did tell me that she thought the home might be in Pasadena. So, I got Mike from MovieShotsLA in on the hunt and we started our search there. And, as usual, it wasn’t long before Mike had found the house! He’s so the man!! 🙂 The Bedtime Stories house is actually located on a quiet, tree-lined street in South Pasadena, a few miles south of Pasadena proper. And yesterday, I ran right out to stalk it. 🙂

The Bedtime Stories house is absolutely adorable and looks much the same in person as it did in the movie. And, while I was there stalking the place, I was lucky enough to get to chat with the owner, who gave me some scoop on the filming! 🙂

She told me that some filming actually took place inside of the house, too. Filmed inside of her home were the living room scenes;

the kitchen scenes;

and the backyard party scene.

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The children’s room where Adam Sandler tells his bedtime stories, however, was built on a soundstage at Universal Studios. The owner said that producers changed the interior of her home quite a bit for the filming and that in real life it looks much different than how it appeared on screen. All in all, filming at her house took just about two weeks to complete.

A few months after the filming had been completed, producers returned to the home yet again to film one more exterior set-up shot. Apparently, long after filming had wrapped, it was decided that a shot of the home in the rain at night was needed. So, they brought in a huge rain machine and set it up behind the house. So cool!

What I found most interesting, though, was that for the scene when Keri Russell and Adam Sandler meet, producers actually painted fake parking spaces up and down the entire street in front of the house! Apparently, they so loved the idea of Adam taking up two parking spaces and Keri giving him a hard time about it, that they created fake parking spaces along an entire city block!! LOL When I watched that scene while trying to locate the house the other day, I remember thinking how odd it looked for a cute little house in a cute little neighborhood to have vertical parking spaces in front of it. LOL Ah, the magic of the movies! 🙂

Amazingly enough, the lines from the fake parking spaces are still visible in front of the house! So cool!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Bedtime Stories house is located at 800 Adelaine Avenue in South Pasadena.

June 4, 2009June 3, 2009

The Cellular House

Back in September of last year, while stalking the house from fave 80s movie License to Drive, I just happened to stumble upon another famous movie home – Kim Basinger’s residence from the 2004 flick Cellular. Well, truth be told, “stumble upon” isn’t exactly the terminology I should be using here. 🙂 The real story is that while taking pictures in front of the License to Drive house, the owner came outside and struck up a conversation with me. And while he had no idea that he was living in a famous home, he did tell me that the movie Cellular had been filmed on the street directly behind his! So, of course, off I went to stalk that house! But somehow, in all this time, I never got around to blogging about it. So, here goes. 🙂

In the very beginning of Cellular, Kim Basinger, aka Jessica Martin, is kidnapped out of the large, traditional style home pictured above. Her only hope for rescue lies in reluctant hero – and total cutie – Chris Evans, whose cell phone accidentally intercepts a 911 call Jessica is trying to make.

In the movie, we are told that Jessica’s home is located at 3270 Bonhill Road in Brentwood. And, while a Bonhill Road in Brentwood does actually exist, the street numbers there don’t go higher than 800. In actuality, the home where filming took place is located about three miles east of Brentwood.

And, as you can see in the above screen capture, producers even went so far as to paint the number 3270 on the curb in front of the home! Which would have made locating this house extremely difficult for stalkers!!!!! So, I definitely owe a big THANK YOU to the owner of the License to Drive house. 😉 If you haven’t seen the movie Cellular yet, I highly recommend doing so! While the campy thriller has to be one of the cheesiest movies ever made, I have to say that I absolutely LOVED it! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Cellular house is located at 527 Loring Avenue in Los Angeles.