Valli Tropics from “Wicked City”

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Locations, locations, locations!  Aside from Ed Westwick, locations were easily the best aspect of the now cancelled ABC series Wicked City.  The show took place in Los Angeles circa 1982 and the location manager did a fabulous job of securing spots evocative of that era.  None was more spectacularly retro than the apartment building where Betty Beaumontaine (Erika Christensen) lived.  I became obsessed with the place, and all of its pink-accented glory, while watching Wicked City’s pilot episode, but, unfortunately, had a heck of a time tracking it down.

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In the pilot, a sign with the name “Valli Tropics” was prominently shown posted outside of Betty’s apartment.  Because the complex had somewhat of a tropical aesthetic, I figured the name might be legitimate and did a Google search for “Valli Tropics” and “Los Angeles.”  It yielded nada, though, so I abandoned my hunch that the name was real and began searching for images of tropical-style apartments in L.A.  I poured through countless photographs, but none was of the right spot.  I then looked through all of my local architectural guidebooks to see if the complex was pictured, but came up empty-handed.  So I abandoned the hunt for a bit.

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When the third episode, titled “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” aired and Betty’s apartment was featured prominently, I decided to start the pursuit up again.  I revisited my original hunch that the name might be legit and this time did a search for “Valli Tropics Apartments” and “Los Angeles,” which led me to a yelp review written by the manager of a Valli Tropics in Studio City.  From there, the complex was a snap to find.  I honestly cannot believe that I spent so many fruitless hours searching for the place, when the name of it was right in front of me the entire time!  The blonde factor was strong with this one.

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In person, Valli Tropics did not disappoint!

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Every square inch of the place was just begging to be photographed.

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And the vintage signing was to die for!

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I was floored to see that the retro-ish sign that had been so prominently featured in Wicked City was a real life element of the building.

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Surprisingly, other than the fact that it was built in 1956, I could find virtually no information online about Valli Tropics.

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The complex is actually situated in an odd way, with the front entrance running diagonal to the street.  One could easily drive right past it without noticing its architectural splendor.

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Valli Tropics was featured repeatedly throughout the three episodes of Wicked City that made it to the airwaves.  Besides the front exterior, the courtyard was also utilized on the show.

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I am fairly certain that the interior of a real life Valli Tropics unit was used for the filming of the pilot . . .

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. . . and that a set re-creation appeared in the other two episodes.

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Oddly, while a brief shot of the exterior of Valli Tropics was shown in Wicked City’s second episode, which was titled “Running with the Devil” . . .

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. . . a scene that was supposed to take place there was actually shot about five miles away, on the corner of Kittridge Street and Wilkinson Avenue in Valley Glen.

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Thanks to the Litany of Schist blog, I learned that the Valli Tropics masked as the apartment of murder victim Jason Devereaux (Ben Feldman) in the Season 10 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled “Working Stiffs.”

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In the episode, Jason was said to live at 1120 Marapasa Parkway in Las Vegas, the numbering of which meshes with Valli Tropic’s real life address of 11120 Acama Street.  The crew failed to remove the extra “1” from the building’s address placard, as well as from the Valli Tropics sign for the shoot, though, so the scripted address didn’t end up gibing with what appeared onscreen.  Whoops!

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Valli Tropic’s courtyard was also used in the filming of CSI.

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As was the interior of one of the apartment units.

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In the Season 11 episode of Criminal Minds titled “A Badge and a Gun,” the Behavioral Analysis Unit investigates a murder at the Valli Tropics, which is said to be in Atwater Village.

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For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Valli Tropics, aka Betty’s apartment from Wicked City, is located at 11120 Acama Street in Studio City.

Carondelet House from Maroon 5’s “Sugar” Music Video

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I am a sucker for any kind of choreographed dance, especially if a wedding is involved.  So when my mom sent me a link to this video of an epic seven-minute wedding dance, in which all 250 guests were included in on the action, I was all over it!  In one portion of the video, a white curtain was lowered to reveal the groom, accompanied by a microphone and back-up band, lip-syncing a rather catchy song that I surmised was named “Sugar.”  I had never heard the song before (I know, I know – my musical knowledge is limited at best), but immediately loved it and got to Googling so that I could download it.  Turns out, the song, which is indeed titled “Sugar,” is by Maroon 5 and, when I came across the music video during my online search, I practically started drooling.  In it, Adam Levine and the rest of the group crash several weddings in one evening in order to perform “Sugar” live.  While watching, I happened to recognize Carondelet House, one of the wedding venues Adam crashed, which had me even more floored.  I had walked by the location last October while on my way to stalk the American Cement Building and thought it was one of the prettiest facades I had ever seen.  Even though I had no idea at the time what the property was or what it housed, I figured it had to have been used in a production at some point.  Little did I know that I would later spot it in what has now become one of my favorite music videos of all time.

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Carondelet House was originally constructed in 1928 as a private residence.

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The 7,683-square-foot site, which boasts Spanish and Italian design elements, also once served as the administration building of the prestigious Otis College of Art and Design.

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In 2011, Alan Dunn, owner of the Tres L.A. catering company, toured the property and, figuring it would make a beautiful event space, purchased it and transformed it into Carondelet House.

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The site features two courtyards, brick detailing throughout, a fireplace, hand-painted vaulted ceilings, exposed beams and ductwork, and hardwood flooring.  You can check out some interior photographs of it here.   It is easily one of the prettiest properties I have ever laid eyes on, both inside and out.

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Its picturesque brick façade stands out from all of the other buildings on the street.

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Though Carondelet House has hosted everything from fashion shows to celebrity events, it is most often used as a wedding venue – which made it the perfect spot to film “Sugar.”

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A wedding was actually taking place when we showed up to stalk it.  I love the below image of guests arriving at the nuptials.

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In the “Sugar” music video, which was shot on December 6th, 2014, Adam and his bandmates crash several weddings at a string of venues around L.A., surprising guests with a spontaneous performance.  The video opens with Maroon 5 leaving the Carondelet House and hopping into Adam’s convertible to drive to the first venue.

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One of the weddings that was crashed also took place at Carondelet House, so the property’s interior was featured in the video, as well.

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I am not typically cynical by nature, but I was a little skeptical about Maroon 5’s performances being a surprise.  So much goes into a film shoot, like securing a permit, paying location fees, shutting down traffic, hiring police officers, etc., etc., etc., that I just found it very hard to believe that the production was done on the sly, without the knowledge of anyone associated with the various weddings.  But it pretty much was!  While researching the video, I came across a blog post about the December 4th wedding of Ryan and Melanie, which took place at the Carondelet House.  As it turns out, Maroon 5 coordinated with each venue prior to the shoot and, in this particular case, Ryan knew about the performance ahead of time, though no one else did – not the bride, not the wedding planner, not the photographer, not the videographer, not the guests.  So outside of the groom, the performance was a complete surprise to all involved!  Such a cool idea for a video!  And can we just take a moment to talk about how beautiful Ryan and Melanie’s wedding was?  Love the wine bottle “guest book.”  Love the rustic place settings.  LOVE the guest seating “game.”  And those Edison bulbs strung against the brick wall are uh-ma-zing!  I would like to do that in my home!  Two thumbs up on all of it!

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You can watch the “Sugar” video by clicking below.  It has such a feel-good vibe, not to mention that Adam Levine just seems like the coolest, most down-to-earth guy ever in it!  I could watch it on repeat all day, every day.

Carondelet House portrays the Baltimore Blade newspaper offices, where Mary (Drew Barrymore) works, in the 2009 romcom He’s Just Not That Into You.

 

One of the property’s courtyards also appears in the ending scene in which Conor (Kevin Connolly) announces that he loves Mary.

Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel) and Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) unload Jess’ car in front of Carondelet House in the Season 1 episode of New Girl titled “Bells,” which aired in 2011.

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It is never stated what the property is supposed to be in the episode, but I believe it is intended to mask as the exterior of Jess and the gang’s loft.  The building that typically serves as the loft on the series is located about three miles to the east, but because the “Bells” episode also made use of MacArthur Park, which is less than a block away from Carondelet House, I am guessing it was more economical to shoot there on that one occasion.

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Carondelet House is the site of a wedding in the Season 3 episode of You’re the Worst titled “The Inherent, Unsullied Qualitative Value of Anything,” which aired in 2016.  (Thanks to Molly, from Almost Makes Perfect, for telling me about this one!)

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Nick Viall took some of his girls to Carondelet House during a group date – the best group date ever, in my opinion (hello, Backstreet Boys!) – on the Season 21 episode of The Bachelor titled “Week 3,” which aired in 2017.

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For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

 Stalk It: Carondelet House, from Maroon 5’s “Sugar” music video, is located at 627 South Carondelet Street in Westlake.  You can visit the venue’s official website here.