May 2011 – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 17, 2011May 16, 2011

Toby’s House from “The Office”

The night of April 28th, 2011 was one of the saddest nights I have experienced as of late due to the fact that it marked Steve Carell’s final appearance on fave show The Office. In the days leading up to the airing of his last episode, which was titled “Goodbye, Michael”, I had a fairly large pit in my stomach as I felt like I was gearing up to say goodbye to a good friend, which, in a way, I guess I was. Michael Scott is one of my all-time favorite characters in television history and the fact that he will no longer be visiting my living room each and every Thursday night is seriously depressing. I felt the exact same way when Sex and the City went off the air in February of 2004, but I digress. Anyway, even though I was absolutely dreading it, I was hoping that Michael’s last episode would be a spectacular one, but I have to say that I wound up being sorely disappointed. I felt that both Michael Scott and Steve Carell deserved a much bigger, much more sentimental send-off than what they actually received. I did, however, absolutely LOVE the episode titled “Michael’s Last Dundies”, which aired the week prior to “Goodbye, Michael”, in which the Dunder Mifflin team gathered together to attend the annual Dundie Awards. I thought the episode was a much more appropriate farewell for a man who meant so much to so many people during the past seven years that The Office has been on the air. So when fellow stalker Owen told me that he had tracked down almost all of the locations featured in it – including the house belonging to Michael’s nemesis, Toby Flenderson (aka Paul Lieberstein) – I just about died of excitement and ran right out to stalk them all that very weekend.

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In the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, Michael Scott and Deangelo Vickers (aka Will Ferrell), Dunder Mifflin’s new Scranton Branch manager-in-training, venture out to all of the Dunder Mifflin employees’ houses – at six in the morning, no less! – to deliver the much-coveted Dundie Award Nominations. After waking up Jim Halpert (aka cutie John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer), and seriously angering the series’ resident grouch Stanley Hudson (aka Leslie David Baker), Michael and Deangelo head to Toby’s house. When they arrive, instead of ringing the doorbell and presenting the human resources director with a nomination certificate, Michael yells out, “Toby, you suck!” and then proceeds to throw eggs at his front porch, which causes Deangelo to ask, “Is this an employee of ours?” LOL LOL LOL

During the episode, Owen had spotted an address number of “5752” on the wall of Toby’s house and figured the property had to be located somewhere in close proximity to Jim and Pam’s residence in Van Nuys. And, sure enough, he was right! He ended up finding Toby’s house just a few blocks southwest of Jim and Pam’s.

Sadly, the real life owner of Toby’s house recently installed a rather large fence around the perimeter of the property, which not only completely changed the look of the place, but also made it quite difficult to take pictures. So I must say that this was one stalk that ended up being quite disappointing. I did get to talk to the owner of the property while I was there, though, and he truly could NOT have been nicer and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of the episode. He informed me that it took about two hours to film the segment, which ended up lasting about ten seconds onscreen.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Toby Flenderson’s house, from the “Michael’s Last Dundies” episode of The Office, is located at 5752 Calhoun Avenue in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location. Jim and Pam’s house is located just a few blocks northeast at 13831 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. Here is a map link to that location.

May 16, 2011May 19, 2011

Palm Springs Weekend!

This past Friday morning the Grim Cheaper and I headed out to Palm Springs for a little three-day getaway and, while I did manage to sneak some stalking into the trip, I was unfortunately not able to write a blog post for today. But I will be back tomorrow with a whole new location, so . . .

. . . until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

May 13, 2011May 12, 2011

Marco Salazar’s Pretend House from “90210”

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, located directly across the street from the house belonging to Marla Templeton (aka Sally Kellerman) on fave show 90210 is the mansion where Marco Salazar (aka Freddie Smith) pretended to live in the Season 3 episode of the series titled “Women On The Verge”. So after stalking Marla’s home this past Saturday afternoon, the Grim Cheaper and I walked right on over to Marco’s faux abode to snap a few pics of the place. I found this location, yet again, thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, who somehow managed to track the residence down long before the “Woman On The Verge” episode even aired. How did he do that, you ask? Well, this past March, one of the directors of 90210, whom Geoff follows on Twitter (@90210director), tweeted a photograph of the mansion while he was doing some editing of the show. Geoff took one look at that photograph and immediately set about trying to find the place. And find it, he did – that very day. Being that the picture that @90210director tweeted showed an extremely limited view of the property, I was absolutely SHOCKED when Geoff emailed me to let me know that he had found it. Especially considering that he found it in Bel Air, which is the absolute LAST place on earth that I ever would have thought to look. Due to the mansion’s newer-looking construction, I would have assumed that it was located somewhere in the Encino area, so my hat is DEFINITELY off to Geoff on this one!

Marco’s faux residence is actually not just a filming location, but a former celebrity home as well. According to my good friend E.J. over at The Movieland Directory website, the property was where legendary singer Peggy Lee, of “Fever” and “Why Don’t You Do Right” fame, lived during her later years and was also where the crooner sadly passed away on January 21, 2002 after suffering from a heart attack.

Sadly though, as you can see in the above aerial view, the property has been extensively remodeled in recent years and no longer looks the same as it did when Peggy Lee lived there. In real life, the Tuscan-style mansion, which was originally built in 1969, boasts 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, and a whopping 6,052 square feet of living space.

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The property first popped up towards the beginning of the “Woman On The Verge” episode of 90210, in the scene in which Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) picks up his new boyfriend, Marco, whom he believes lives on the premises, for a date.

Later on in the episode, Teddy returns to the mansion in order to confront Marco after discovering that he has been lying to him about his whereabouts. It is then that Teddy meets the home’s actual owner and learns that Marco does not, in fact, live there at all, but that his mother is employed at the property as a housekeeper. Can you say drama?!?

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Marco Salazar’s pretend house from 90210 is located at 11404 Bellagio Road in Bel Air. Here is a link to the property’s location on Bing Maps. (Special thanks to fellow stalker John, from the Bay Area, who suggested that I include a map link in all of my posts, which I will be doing from this point forward. Smile ) Marla Templeton’s house from 90210 is located just across the street from Marco’s at 542 Bellagio Terrace. Here is a map link to that location.

May 12, 2011May 12, 2011

Marla Templeton’s House from “90210”

Last week, fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, emailed me to let me know that he had just tracked down the home where actress Marla Templeton (aka Sally Kellerman, who is best known for playing the role of Major Margaret “Hot Lips” O’Houlihan in the 1970 movie MASH) lived in the Season 3 episodes of fave show 90210 titled “Nerdy Little Secrets” and “Women On The Verge”. Marla’s house had such a fabulous sense of charm and almost seemed to be a character in and of itself in the episodes that I fell in love with the place pretty much upon site and was absolutely dying to know of its real-life location. So you can imagine my excitement when I read Geoff’s email and discovered that he had somehow managed to track it down. Geoff had actually first tracked down the home where Marco Salazar (aka Freddie Smith), the new love interest of Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan), had pretended to live in the “Woman on the Verge” episode – a location which I will be blogging about tomorrow – and, as fate would have it, while looking at aerial views of the place, happened to spot Marla’s abode located directly across the street. Yay! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place this past weekend.

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Sadly, as you can see in the above photographs, Marla’s house is located at the end of a very long, very secluded driveway and not much of the property is visible from the street. But, as I’ve said before, that is why God created real estate listings! The mid-century-modern-style residence, which was built in 1964 and boasts 3 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3,998 square feet of living space, an elevated dining room, an outdoor bar complete with flat screen TV, wood-beamed ceilings, a large pool, and amazing views of the city of L.A., was recently listed for sale for a cool $5,995,000. You can check out the listing, which has some fabulous close-up and interior photographs of the property, here.

In the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “Nerdy Little Secrets”, Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), who is looking for a way to make some money before heading off to college, applies for a job as a personal assistant to a glamorous elderly woman named Marla Templeton. Marla is a bit of a hoarder and she winds up hiring Annie – at $1,000 a week! – to organize and catalog the many items that she has collected over the years. Annie later finds out that Marla was, at one time, an extremely famous actress and the two women end up bonding over their shared love of old Hollywood.

Both the interior and the exterior of Marla’s house were used quite extensively in the episode.

And the property’s A-MA-ZING backyard also made an appearance.

The dwelling then popped up again in the following week’s episode of 90210 titled “Women On The Verge”, in which Annie not only finds out that Marla is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, but that she is also planning on committing suicide in the very near future.

Both the interior and the exterior of the property were featured in “Women On The Verge”, which, while depressing, was one of my favorite episodes of the entire season. In my never-to-be-humble opinion, I thought Shenae Grimes did some of her best acting to date in the episode, especially in the very last scene. Sigh! Love her! But I digress. Anyway 90210 costume designer Kime Buzzelli, whom I follow on Twitter (@kbuzzy), recently tweeted a photograph that she took of the living room area of the home while it was dressed for the filming of the show, which you can check out here. So incredibly cool!

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Marla Templeton’s house, from the “Nerdy Little Secrets” and “Women On The Verge” episodes of 90210, is located at 542 Bellagio Terrace in Bel Air.

May 11, 2011May 11, 2011

Laverne & Shirley’s Apartment Building

Back in August of last year, fellow stalker Don emailed me to inquire if I knew the location of the supposed Burbank-area apartment building where best friends Laverne DeFazio (aka Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (aka Cindy Williams) lived during the final three seasons of the hit 1970’s television series Laverne & Shirley. Sadly, because I had never really watched the show, I had no idea where the apartment building might be located. As fate would have it, though, I was scheduled to take a tour of Paramount Studios the day after receiving Don’s email and, because Paramount had produced the show, I thought one of the studio tour guides might know of the apartment’s location. Well, let me tell you, I spoke to anyone and everyone I could that day, but not a one of ‘em knew anything about the apartment building. Not only that, but they all told me they had never before been asked about that particular location! How that is possible, I’ll never know. Anyway, I gave Don the sad news after I got home from my tour and figured that would most likely be the end of the quest. So imagine my surprise when I awoke last Tuesday morning to find an email in my inbox from Don with the news that he had found the building! Yay! So I dragged the GC right on out to stalk the place this past Saturday morning.

In the first episode of the series’ Sixth Season, which was titled “Not Quite New York”, Laverne & Shirley, seeking a fresh start after losing their bottle-capping jobs at Shotz Brewery, leave their hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and head to Southern California. At the very beginning of the episode, the girls are shown moving into a typical 1970’s-style apartment building that was supposedly located at 113 1/2 Laurel Vista Drive in Burbank.

The apartment building was then shown regularly each week in both establishing shots and during the opening credits of each show.

I am EXTREMELY happy to report that the building still looks very much the same today as it did three full decades ago when the series was originally filmed. So incredibly cool! There are two trees which now block the view of the home from the street, but, other than that, remarkably little has changed over the years. Love it, love it, love it!

Even the apartment building next door still looks very much the same as it did on the series! Smile

Laverne & Shirley–Burbank Apartment Building Clip

You can watch the opening credits of the Sixth Season of Laverne & Shirley, in which the apartment complex is featured, by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Don for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The “Burbank” apartment building from the last three seasons of Laverne & Shirley is located at 419/421 North Sierra Bonita Avenue in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. Google Maps and the GPS in my car both recognize this location as being in West Hollywood, though, so keep that in mind when printing out a map of the building or inputting its address into a navigation system.

May 9, 2011May 8, 2011

The Piru United Methodist Church

Before the Grim Cheaper and I embarked on our Heritage Valley stalking trip three weekends ago, I did some cyber-stalking of the area and came across this page on fellow stalker Gary’s Seeing Stars website which detailed the Piru United Methodist Church’s appearance in the Season 1 episode of True Blood titled “Sparks Fly Out”. Now I have never seen even one episode of the vampire series, but while I was looking through the screen captures Gary had posted on his site, I realized that the very same church had also been featured in the Season 7 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Farewell Letter”. So, because I do love me some Desperate Housewives, I immediately added the place to my Piru Stalking List and dragged the GC right on over there while we were in the area.

The Piru United Methodist Church, which was designed in the Carpenter-Gothic-style, was originally built in 1888 by David Caleb Cook, the man who founded the town of Piru. When Cook first moved to the Santa Clara Valley in 1887, after migrating from Illinois due to health reasons, he purchased a 12,000-acre plot of land, which was then known as Rancho Temescal, and began to set up a community there. In 1888, he built a railroad depot, a school, a fruit packing house, and the United Methodist Church. Cook’s father had been a Methodist minister and Cook himself had made his fortune publishing religious books, so his faith was extremely important to him. And while it does seem that the parish is still in operation today, it was sadly closed when we showed up to stalk it, so we were not able to venture inside.

I did sure love the sign out front, though. Winking smile

And, amazingly enough, as you can see in the historic photograph pictured above, despite having a different steeple, the structure still looks almost exactly the same today as it did when it was first built over 123 years ago!

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Thanks to the church’s small-town, U.S.A.-feel, it is used quite regularly for filming. In the Season 7 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Farewell Letter”, it stood in for the supposed-Las-Colinas, Texas-area parochial school where Gabrielle Solis (aka Eva Longoria) confronted her former teacher, Sister Marta (aka Jill Larson), for not believing her when she told her she was being abused as a child. While there, Gabrielle also gave a few high school students this sage piece of advice, “Now girls, if it were up to me, I’d say avoid math and science. They cause serious frown lines.” When her husband, Carlos (aka Ricardo Chavira), suggests that she is just kidding, Gabrielle says, “No! Young girls today need to know the dangers of long division.” LOL

In the Season 1 episode of True Blood titled “Sparks Fly Out”, the United Methodist Church stood in for the supposed-Bon-Temps, Louisiana-area church where Bill Compton (aka Stephen Moyer) spoke to a group of Civil War enthusiasts, including Sookie Stackhouse (aka Anna Paquin) and Sam Merlotte (aka Sam Trammell), about his life as a vampire.

The church also popped up in the 2000 comedy Space Cowboys as the supposed-Oklahoma-City-area parish where Tank Sullivan (aka James Garner) was a minister.

In the Season 2 episode of Justified titled “The Spoil”, the church was the site of the town hall meeting during which the citizens of Harlan, Kentucky, including U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (aka Timothy Olyphant), discussed the pros and cons of allowing Black Pike Coal Company to mine in their area.

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, for finding this location!

Stalk It: The Piru United Methodist Church, from the “Farewell Letter”episode of Desperate Housewives, is located at 3875 Center Street in Piru.

May 6, 2011May 5, 2011

Double A Cafe from “Charmed”

Another Charmed location that fellow stalker Chas, from the ItsFilmedThere website, told me about prior to the Grim Cheaper’s and my recent stalking trip to the Heritage Valley two weekends ago was the service station/mini-mart where the Charmed Ones – sisters Prue (aka Shannen Doherty), Piper (aka Holly Marie Combs), and Phoebe Halliwell (aka Alyssa Milano) – stopped for gas in the Season 2 episode of the series titled “How to Make a Quilt Out of Americans”. That property is actually no longer a service station, but is, of all things, a full service restaurant named the Double A Café and it is located on the corner of Santa Clara Street and Central Avenue in the tiny city of Fillmore, just off of Highway 126. Chas found this location thanks to a very helpful Charmed crewmember he had managed to track down and, even though at the time I had yet to watch the “How to Make a Quilt Out of Americans” episode, because my girl Shannen Doherty had once been there, I just had to stalk the place.

In the episode, the Charmed Ones stop for gas at the Double A Café while on their way to visit their evil Aunt Gail (aka Anne Haney) in the fictional Northern-California town of Santa Costa. While Piper fills the car with gas, Phoebe asks a couple of older gentleman for directions to her aunt’s mansion. (Filming of the mansion scenes took place at the Newhall Mansion in Piru which I blogged about last week.)

Later on in the episode, the girls return to the gas station while chasing after Cryto, the Demon of Vanity [aka Cameron Bancroft, who also played Donna Martin’s (aka Tori Spelling’s) All-star-quarterback boyfriend Joe Bradley on Beverly Hills, 90210], whereupon they find that the older gentlemen Phoebe had previously asked for directions have since been transformed into young men.

At the time of the filming, the Double A Café was an actual service station/mini-mart named Gasoline Alley. I could not find much information about the history of the place online, but at some point the property was converted from a gas station into a restaurant, as odd as that may sound. Subsequently, in October of 2011, a professional chef and Fillmore native named Dustin Anderson opened up an upscale eatery in the space which he named the Double A Café. And, amazingly enough, even with the vast transformation, the property still looks very much the same today as it did back when Charmed was filmed!

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A few other parts of Fillmore were also featured in the “How to Make a Quilt Out of Americans” episode of Charmed. The establishing shot of the supposed-Santa-Costa-downtown-area which was shown just before the Halliwell sisters pulled into the service station was actually a view of Downtown Fillmore’s Central Avenue. The shot was taken from the intersection of Sespe and Central Avenues and the camera was facing south, looking towards Santa Clara Street.

The spot where the girls hid from Cryto, the Demon of Vanity was the alcove area of the historic Fillmore Town Theatre, which has sadly since closed.

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While scanning through the 2002 movie Enough to make screen captures for last week’s post on the Piru Creek Bridge, I spotted the Double A Café space standing in for the supposed-Northern-Michigan-area roadside diner where Slim Hiller (aka Jennifer Lopez) and her daughter, Gracie (aka Tessa Allen), stopped for a bite to eat while on the run from Slim’s ex-husband, Mitch (aka Bill Campbell).

And while not much of the interior of the café was shown in Enough, I immediately recognized Fillmore City Hall, which is located directly across the street from the restaurant, through the window where Slim and Gracie sat in the scene. As you can see in this photograph, the real life view from the window of the Double A Café perfectly matches the view that was shown in the movie.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the ItsFilmedThere website, for finding this location! Smile You can check out Chas’ ultra-detailed Charmed filming locations page, which covers Seasons 1 through 6, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Double A Café, from the “How to Make a Quilt Out of Americans” episode of Charmed, is located at 501 Santa Clara Street in Fillmore. You can visit the restaurant’s Facebook page here. The Fillmore Town Theatre, where the Charmed Ones hid in the episode, is located at 338 Central Avenue in Fillmore. And the shot of the downtown area that appeared at the beginning of the scene was taken at the intersection of Sespe and Central Avenues in Fillmore.

May 5, 2011May 4, 2011

Carmine’s II Restaurant from “Modern Family”

This past Saturday night, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk a historic restaurant named Carmine’s II, which was featured prominently in the recently-aired Season 2 episode of Modern Family titled “Boys’ Night”. Carmine’s has been a virtual West-L.A.-institution for almost four decades now, having originally been founded in 1972 by New York native Carmine Competelli, Sr. The eatery, which featured authentic Italian recipes from the “old country”, became an instant success and, thanks to its close proximity to both The Culver Studios and Sony Pictures Studios (formerly MGM), was extremely popular with the showbiz set. Just a few of the luminaries who dined there regularly during the heyday of Hollywood include Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Linda Ronstadt, Robert DeNiro, Milton Berle, Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall, Ronald Reagan, and Governor Jerry Brown. Carmine became such close friends with members of the Rat Pack, in fact, that according to this article written by original Saturday Night Live cast member Laraine Newman, Dean Martin drove Carmine’s eldest son, Carmine Jr., to his senior prom! When Carmine Sr. passed away in 1982 at the tender age of 52, Carmine Jr., who was then only 19 years old, took over management of the restaurant. At some point shortly thereafter he shuttered the property and then re-opened it in 1995 under the new name Carmine’s II. And it is still going strong to this day.

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In the “Boys’ Night” episode of Modern Family, Mitchell Pritchett (aka Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (aka Eric Stonestreet) go for a boys’ night out at Carmine’s II along with their friends Pepper (aka Nathan Lane), Longinus (aka Kevin Daniels), and Crispin (aka Craig Zimmerman). While there, they run into Mitchell’s dad, Jay (aka Ed O’Neill), and much to Mitchell’s dismay, his friends invite Jay to join them for a few drinks. A good time ends up being had by all, though, and Mitchell ends up seeing a whole new side of his father.

While watching the episode, I had noticed a neon sign in the window of the restaurant that read “Carmine’s”.

So, I wrongly assumed that filming had taken place at Carmine’s Restaurant and Bar in South Pasadena (pictured above), an eatery that I had driven by countless times over the years, but had never dined at. It was not until I walked through the establishment’s front doors that I realized how wrong that assumption was! Oh, how to put this nicely? The Carmine’s in South Pasadena is a complete and total dive! Now I am not the type of girl who necessarily dislikes dive restaurants. Quite the contrary, in fact. But this was more of a duck!-cause-a-bar-fight-is-about-to-break-out-type of place than the we-serve-chicken-strips-and-ranch-dressing-in-a-casual-setting kind of establishment that I so adore. Upon our arrival, the GC took one look at our surroundings and said, “We are SO out of here!” It was not until I got home and did some online research later that night that I discovered that there was another, completely unrelated restaurant named Carmine’s located in the West-L.A.-area. (And yes, I am such a huge dork that I actually posed for the above photograph before realizing I was in the wrong place! As Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, would say, “MAJOR FAIL!”)

I cannot tell you how ecstatic I am that I was eventually able to track the correct Carmine’s down, as it was honestly one on the BEST restaurants that I have ever had the pleasure of dining at. Both the GC and I loved, loved, loved it! The setting is intimate and cozy with a definite Rat-Pack-vibe, the staff is some of the friendliest I have ever encountered, and the food . . . oh, what do I even say about the food? It was magnificent! When our bartender found out that it was our very first visit to Carmine’s, he informed us that we were not allowed to leave without first sampling some of the restaurant’s famous deep-fried calamari and I can honestly say that it was, hands down, the BEST fried calamari that I have ever eaten in my entire life! OMG! I’m salivating right now just thinking about it! The Chicken Milanese entrée that the GC and I split was also nothing short of incredible. I honestly cannot say enough good things about this place! Carmine Sr. always prided himself on the fact that he made his diners feel “at home” and Carmine Jr. has definitely upheld that tradition. After just one meal there, I can honestly say that Carmine’s II is my new favorite restaurant.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Carmine’s II restaurant, from the “Boys’ Night” episode of Modern Family, is located at 10463 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

May 4, 2011May 3, 2011

Teri Hatcher’s Red Carpet Charity Yard Sale

This past Sunday morning, Miss Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, called me up to let me know that she had just found out about a celebrity fundraising event in Santa Monica that was being hosted by actress Teri Hatcher. So, much to the Grim Cheaper’s chagrin, I immediately hopped right out of bed, ran a brush through my hair, threw on some make-up, grabbed my car keys, and dragged him right on over to the West Side to stalk it. To say that my life has changed for the better since meeting Pinky this past Valentine’s Day would be a rather gross understatement! I have met more celebrities and gone to more celebrity events in the past three months since knowing her than in the previous ten-plus years that I have lived in Los Angeles put together! And I have made a great friend in the process, to boot!

Teri’s fundraiser, which took place at the Tiato Market Garden Café, was a celebrity yard sale benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (my girl Jen Aniston’s favorite charity) and the RockSTAR music education program, and featured for sale “gently used” clothing, handbags, and furnishings formerly owned by such celebrities as Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba, actress Goldi Hawn, Glee’s Jayma Mays, and reality star Kourtney Kardashian. The yard sale was a very relaxed, low-key event and while there were several journalists on hand to document the goings-on, the only stalkers in attendance were me, Pinky, our friend Mike, from the Mike the Fanboy website, and his friend Erica. The autograph hounds, or the “graphers” as Pinky likes to call them, were thankfully nowhere to be found, which meant that I did not get pushed or shoved once the entire morning! Yay!

The first celeb to arrive on the scene was reality star Bob Guiney, who was a contestant on Trista Rehn’s season of The Bachelorette in 2003 and then later starred on the fourth season of The Bachelor. Bob was SUPER nice and remembered Pinky from when he had met her a few months prior and even joked with her about how he had kissed too many women during his Bachelor stint.

Next up was James Denton whom I have heard on countless occasions is one of the nicest celebrities out there and I am very happy to report that he did NOT disappoint! James was an absolute sweetheart and was very outgoing and friendly. Love, love, love him!

The next celeb to arrive was Mark Moses, aka Desperate Housewives’ Paul Young, and he was also SUPER nice and friendly in person, which was quite the shock to my system being that his character is so completely cold and devious. My brain almost could not process talking to him because he had a smile on his face the whole time which was such a huge departure from how I am used to seeing him on TV.

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Also in attendance was Tamra Barney from The Real Housewives of Orange County . . .

. . . who was GORGEOUS in person (she reminded me a lot of Emily Maynard from this past season of The Bachelor);

Natasha Alam from True Blood, whom I met a couple of weeks ago at the Decisions Movie Premiere and Celebration of Corey Haim’s Life event;

and Estella Warren from the 2001 Planet of the Apes re-make . . .

. . . whose dress I was absolutely obsessed with! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE dresses that have pockets!!!! And the color! Sigh! So incredibly adorable.

Teri Hatcher came out to walk the red carpet towards the end of the media portion of the event and she was ABSOLUTELY MOBBED by photographers and journalists, making it impossible to get close enough to her to ask for a picture. She was STUNNING in person, though, and SO INCREDIBLY TINY!

After about thirty minutes of watching Teri get mobbed by media people everywhere she went, Pinky and I resigned ourselves to not getting a photograph with her. But, as fate would have it, when we stepped inside of the restaurant to use the bathroom before leaving the event, we encountered Teri standing all by herself! Pinky and I each quickly posed for a pic with her and then she was off! Talk about your perfect timing! Had we been five seconds earlier or five seconds later we would have missed her entirely. This was one celebrity photograph that was definitely meant to be! Smile

I also randomly ran into Josh Sussman, who plays blogger/Rachel-Berry-lover Jacob Ben Israel on Glee, this weekend just after hitting up a Starbucks in Burbank. Unlike all of my other encounters with actors from Glee, Josh truly could NOT have been nicer and happily posed for a pic with me and even waited patiently while I dug around in my purse trying to find my camera. Yay! All in all, it was definitely a FABULOUS weekend. Smile

On a stalking side note – Marci, the SUPER sweet owner of Lula Mae, my very favorite store, just gifted me with the notebook pictured above, which I think is just about the cutest thing ever! I stop by Lula Mae at least four times a week (what can I say, I am addicted to the place!) and spend quite a bit of time chatting with Marci about my various stalking adventures, so while she was out shopping this past weekend she spotted the “Actors I Met and Liked” notebook and immediately thought of me. Love it, love it, love it! I think I am going to have to add an “Actors I Met and Disliked” section to the book, too, as there are quite a few of those, as well. Winking smile

Big THANK YOU to Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, for telling me about this event!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Tiato Market Garden Café, where Teri Hatcher’s Red Carpet Charity Yard Sale was held, is located at 2700 Colorado Boulevard in Santa Monica. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

The Julien’s Auctions Hollywood Legends Exhibition

This past Saturday afternoon I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk the Hollywood Legends exhibition currently being hosted by Julien’s Auctions, a Beverly Hills-area auction house which specializes in entertainment memorabilia, celebrity artifacts, and high-profile estates. Prior to each auction it hosts, Julien’s opens up its exhibition hall to the public offering them a free and extremely rare opportunity to view unique and priceless Hollywood memorabilia in an exceptionally up-close-and-personal manner, which I think is just about the coolest thing ever! For those who have been reading my site for a few years, you will remember that back in April of 2009 my father and I attended the Michael Jackson: The Collection of the King of Pop exhibit which was put on by Julien’s Auctions at the former Robinsons-May building on Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills. To say that my dad and I both absolutely LOVED the MJ exhibit would be a gross understatement. Seeing all of the King of Pop’s Neverland Ranch effects laid out in the same exact manner in which they were once laid out in his actual home was one of the coolest experiences of my life. So when I heard that Julien’s would be hosting a Hollywood Legends exhibition featuring items once belonging to Marilyn Monroe, Lady Diana, and Lucille Ball and props and memorabilia from such productions as Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Batman & Robin, The Brady Bunch, and Heroes, I jumped at the chance to stalk it.

And I have to say that I was NOT disappointed. The people at Julien’s Auctions truly could NOT have been nicer and the GC and I were invited to wander quite freely around the exhibit hall and take all of the photographs of the place that we wanted. Quite a bit of the auction is made up of items of clothing once owned by legendary Sunset Boulevard actress Gloria Swanson. Most of the outfits were purchased by Swanson during the 1930’s and it was absolutely amazing to me to see how stylish they still are to this day, over eight decades later!

There were several ensembles I could even see myself wearing, including the black Givenchy cocktail dress pictured above and to the left. Which just proves that some things, no matter how old, never go out of style!

Also on display was a vintage, early-20th-century, flat-top Louis Vuitton steamer trunk that once belonged to Swanson, which I just about died upon seeing! Oh, what I wouldn’t give to own one of those trunks!!!

Two of Lady Diana’s dresses are featured at the forefront of the exhibition, which I was BEYOND thrilled to see. The gown on the left, which was designed by Diana’s longtime fashion designer Catherine Walker, was worn by the Princess while on a state visit to India in 1992. You can see a poster of Diana wearing the dress in the photograph that is pictured above and to the left.

The gown on the right-hand side was also designed by Catherine Walker and was worn by the Princess on three occasions – first to the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, then for a 1987 portrait sitting with photographer Terrance Donovan, and finally to a September 1989 performance of Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal in London. The two chairs pictured in front of the dresses were used during the 1937 coronation of King George VI (aka the man upon whom the movie The King’s Speech was based).

There were also several of Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s Christmas cards on display.

The clothing that I was most excited to see, though, was that which formerly belonged to Miss Marilyn Monroe, including the dress pictured above which the actress wore to a party at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1958.

The dress was made famous thanks to that fact that a photograph of Marilyn wearing it was used as the cover of Michael Ventura’s 1997 book Marilyn Monroe: From Beginning to End.

Also on display was a black mohair sweater vest once owned by the actress;

a swimsuit worn by MM in an unknown Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production;

a two-piece silk jersey ensemble designed by Pucci, one of Marilyn’s favorite designers, and a satin slip;

a white umbrella that the starlet used as a prop during a 1949 photoshoot with famed photographer Andre de Dienes, which you can see a picture from here;

and a tan corduroy skirt. Because Marilyn is always described as being “curvy”, it was shocking for me to see how tiny her clothing actually was. While I am a small girl, I am fairly certain that there is no way in HECK I could fit into the skirt pictured above, which means that the actress had to have been much smaller in real life than she was typically conveyed.

Another huge portion of the Hollywood Legends auction is made up of memorabilia from fave show The Brady Bunch, which I was absolutely floored to see!

Included in the display was Cindy Brady’s (aka Susan Olsen’s) costume from the pilot episode of the series titled “Honeymoon”;

the dress Cindy wore to Mike (aka Robert Reed) and Carol’s (aka Florence Henderson’s) wedding;

Cindy’s jacket from “The Voice of Christmas” episode;

Bobby Brady’s (aka Mike Lookinland’s) Silver Platters costume from my FAVORITE episode of the series ever, the Season 4 episode titled “Amateur Night”;

performance outfits worn by Bobby and Cindy . . .

. . . which most fans will recognize from the “It’s a Sunshine Day: The Best of The Brady Bunch” album cover;

and the outfits worn by Bobby and Cindy during their American Bandstand performance in 1972.

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There were quite a few Lucille Ball items featured at the exhibit, as well, including a 12-piece vanity set once owned by the actress;

a set of four ashtrays that the actress had on display at her Manhattan apartment, which can be seen in the May 1984 Architectural Digest issue about her home;

an unfinished gown that was being made for her at the time of her death and the tartan blazer she wore in the 1949 film Sorrowful Jones.

Other movie memorabilia included the Edith-Head-designed straw hat worn by Audrey Hepburn during the “How Long Has This Been Going On?” number from the 1957 movie Funny Face;

Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl costume from Batman & Robin;

a shirt worn by the T-1000 (aka Robert Patrick) during the chase scene in Terminator 2: Judgment Day;

one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s costumes from Terminator 2 . . .

. . . which has a damaged pant leg from the Terminator’s liquid nitrogen truck accident, which I thought was SO cool to see;

a prop head from Terminator 2, which was SO incredibly lifelike;

Angelina Jolie’s costume from Girl, Interrupted . . .

. . . which, as you can see, is so incredibly tiny that it does not even fit the ultra-teensy mannequin on which it is displayed;

countless set pieces from Cleopatra;

Tom Cruise and John Voight’s costumes from the first Mission: Impossible movie;

the 35-carat diamond necklace Angelina Jolie wore to the Seoul premiere of Salt in 2010;

an original drawing by James Dean, which was sketched on a napkin while the actor was at his favorite restaurant, Googies Coffeeshop, which was sadly demolished in 1989;

and an incredibly realistic-looking “frozen” prop safe which appeared in the Season 3 episode of Heroes titled “Dual”.

I honestly cannot recommend stalking the Julien’s Auctions Hollywood Legends exhibition enough! I had an absolutely FABULOUS time while there and, amazingly enough, the GC even found a few items that piqued his interest, as well.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Julien’s Auctions Hollywood Legends Exhibition is taking place now through Friday, May 6th at 9665 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 150, in Beverly Hills. It is free to attend. The actual auction will take place on Saturday, May 7th and Sunday, May 8th. You can learn more about the auction on the official Julien’s Auctions website here.