Lindsay

July 17, 2020July 17, 2020

The “Zathura” House

It is no secret that the San Gabriel Valley is chock full of gorgeous Craftsman homes. Never have I come across a neighborhood more saturated, though, than Oaklawn, the tiny enclave in South Pasadena that I blogged about on Wednesday. The 0.2-mile curved street, made up of 27 stunning houses, features some of the prettiest Arts and Crafts properties I have seen, including the one at 216 Oaklawn Avenue, which portrayed the residence of the Browning family in Zathura: A Space Adventure. My friend/fellow stalker Owen alerted me to the home last December, saying it was basically a main character in the 2005 family film and would make for a good post. I had never seen the movie at the time, but one look at the screen caps included in his email and I knew I had to stalk the place! I finally made it out there a couple of weeks ago in what amounted to a stalking twofer as Mary’s residence from Why Women Kill is right next door. Just a few days later, my mom and I sat down to watch Zathura. Owen was right. Though the movie is just OK (it’s basically a mediocre version of Jumanji set in space), the house is undeniably the star and definitely worthy of a post.

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There seems to be quite a bit of confusion floating around online regarding the residence’s provenance as well as its amenities.

From what I have been able to gather, though, the Craftsman boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,805 square feet, wood detailing throughout, a fireplace, an upgraded kitchen, French doors, a pool, a hot tub, and a 0.45-acre lot.

Per some documents on the City of South Pasadena website, 216 Oaklawn was a speculative home constructed for builder G. W. Stimson in 1908 at a cost of $6,800. Known as the F.N. Finney Residence, the property is said to have been designed by prolific architects Charles and Henry Greene. Other sources, though, assert that the home is known as Villa Dora and that it was built in 1912 by architect G. Lawrence Stimson.

Regardless of its history, there’s no debating the pad is architecturally incredible!

It is not hard to see how it got chosen to appear in Zathura. The house belongs on the screen!

Even the driveway is picturesque!

And the tree out front? Come on!

In Zathura: A Space Adventure, two young brothers, Danny (Jonah Bobo) and Walter Browning (Josh Hutcherson), discover a retro board game packed away in their basement while being babysat by their inattentive older sister, Lisa (Kristen Stewart). They, of course, start to play the game, which immediately rips their house from the ground, sending it into outer space where they have to battle various otherworldly adversaries. The actual exterior of the Oaklawn home is only shown twice, in the movie’s opening and closing scenes.

The residence in the Chris Van Allsburg book on which the film is based is much more traditional in style, as you can see here. But for the movie, producers zeroed in on using a Craftsman to keep the story visibly compelling. The production notes state, “Since Zathura: A Space Adventure takes place in one location, the house had to be as visually interesting and integral to the film as any of the characters. This was a major challenge for [production designer J. Michael] Riva who worked closely with the filmmakers to select just the right style and look for the house. After much discussion, they decided to go with a classic California Craftsman-style home. ‘We didn’t want the audience to feel trapped in a house for the whole movie,’ says [director Jon] Favreau. ‘So we decided to make it as interesting to look at as we could, something so spectacular than when it comes apart in the course of the film, you really feel like it’s a tragedy that this beautifully restored Craftsman-style house is being destroyed.’” They certainly succeeded to that end. My heart broke a little each time a piece of the residence was damaged.

An exacting scale model was constructed for the scenes in which the Browning residence is shown floating through space.

You can see images of the model on the Hooked on Houses website.

The miniature is also featured on the movie’s poster.

Josh Hutcherson and Jonah Bobo in Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

The interior of the Browning residence was nothing more than a studio-built set – an exquisite and elaborate studio-built set – which becomes quite obvious as it gets destroyed into virtual oblivion throughout the film. The actual inside of the Oaklawn house is much smaller and much less Craftsman-y than its big-screen counterpart, as you can see in these interior images.

Of the set, the production notes state, “The filmmakers also wanted the house to stand out against the coldness of deep space and the metallic materials used for the spaceship. The Craftsman style lent itself perfectly to that end and Riva was also able to fashion a welcoming interior. ‘The idea was to create a hospitable environment, using warm tones and colors with lots of wood,’ explains Riva, ‘in direct counterpoint to the coldness of space — a womb-like environment that the characters could all survive in. As that got destroyed, like an island being swallowed up by the high tide, the world they inhabited became smaller and smaller, as if the life-giving sustenance of the house, which protects them from oblivion, was diminishing. We just loved the contrast in the colors to suggest that.’” Riva did a spectacular job! The set was so intricate, it truly had the look and feel of a real home, which is exactly what Favreau was going for. He says, “I came up through independent film, where you’re usually shooting on location. I hate when it looks like you shot on a set instead of on location.” So realistic was the set, in fact, that until the destruction began, I was convinced filming had taken place inside the Oaklawn property.

Inspiration for the set came from some real residences. Favreau explains, “We really wanted the house to feel like something, and feel old, and like it had some character. All the details were chosen from different famous houses, even the fireplace and the fixtures.” Well I, of course, read those words and got right to identifying exactly which pads in particular inspired the design. It was not too hard to pin things down. The production team looked no further than two of Pasadena’s most famous Craftsmans – the Gamble House and the Blacker Estate, both of which I am very familiar with. The Brownings’ two fireplaces were modeled after one at the Gamble House. You can see an image of it here.

The front door was likely inspired by that of the Gamble House, as well, though it was built on a much smaller scale.

And the staircase is a copy of one at the Blacker Estate, which you can see here.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend/fellow stalker Owen for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Browning residence from Zathura: A Space Adventure is located at 216 Oaklawn Avenue in South Pasadena. Mary’s house from Why Women Kill can be found right next door at 224 Oaklawn Avenue.

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July 15, 2020July 16, 2020

Mary’s House from “Why Women Kill”

Today marks the third time I’m blogging about Why Women Kill, which is a bit surprising considering I’ve barely watched any of the 2019 CBS All Access series. But while scanning through episode 6, “Practically Lethal in Every Way,” making screen captures for my recent post on Bistro Garden, the image of a massive Craftsman home came into view, and my heart was set aflutter! I stared in awe at the home, which belongs to Mary (Analeigh Tipton) and her abusive husband, Ralph Vlasin (Scott Porter), on the 1963 portion of the show, and decided to track down it right then and there. Thanks to its Arts and Crafts architecture, I had a feeling the pad was located in the Pasadena area, though I had never come across anything quite like it in all my years living there. I did a Google search for “Why Women Kill,” “filming,” and “Pasadena,” which garnered no fruitful results. Firm in my assertion that the house was in Crown City and knowing that productions sometimes shorten or abbreviate longer titles, I did a second search for “WWK,” “filming,” and “Pasadena,” and, sure enough, an article came up which stated that in June 2019 the series spent two days shooting on the 200 and 400 blocks of Oaklawn Avenue in South Pasadena. I headed right on over to the 200 block via Street View, dropped down the little yellow man, and there was Mary’s Craftsman at 224 Oaklawn!

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I had never visited the street before and, in fact, only first heard about it last December thanks to my friend/fellow stalker Owen who emailed to alert me to another of its famous Craftsmans – 216 Oaklawn, aka the Browning residence from Zathura: A Space Adventure. (I’ll be covering that property in a later post.) The enclave, which consists of a small 0.2-mile curved stretch of road with a smattering of about thirty dwellings at South Pasadena’s northern edge, was established in 1904. Oaklawn was the brainchild of the South Pasadena Realty and Investment Company and Henry and Charles Greene, the prolific architects responsible for the vast majority of the area’s landmark Craftsmans. The brothers designed the layout of the street, which was initially centered around a large oak tree that no longer stands (hence the name), as well as a reinforced concrete footbridge leading to Fair Oaks Avenue (where residents could access local streetcars) and a waiting station. Lots were sold undeveloped. The subdivision was referred to in early advertisements as “Suburb de Luxe” and the homes eventually built there certainly lived up to the hype! I was flabbergasted wandering the neighborhood, gawking at the massive, architecturally stunning properties surrounding me. From Craftsman homes to Tudors to mid-century manses, each one is more spectacular than the last! Two that caught my eye during my visit are pictured below.

As Owen pointed out to me last December, Oaklawn also boasts a striking entrance feature. He wrote, “When making screenshots, I noticed something in the background that I couldn’t ID. I was like, ‘What the hell are boulders doing on a residential street?!’ I went to Google’s street view to check it out, and I came across something interesting and unusual that I had never known about. You may be well aware of it, of course, but at the end of Oaklawn Avenue in South Pasadena, near the Zathura house, are rustic portals on each side of the street. These picturesque portals, which look like something straight out of a lifestyle magazine, were also designed by Greene and Greene.” I had not been aware of the portals – as I said, I had never even heard of the street before! – but was intrigued and had to take a look while stalking the neighborhood.

The elaborate stone structures, initially designed to frame the central oak, were constructed long before any homes lined the street and, per the South Pasadena Preservation Foundation, “served as advertisements to the undeveloped lots.”

Today, they welcome visitors to the picturesque idyll.

Despite their substantial influence on Oaklawn, there’s no concrete evidence that Greene and Greene designed any of the enclave’s homes (though one resident speculates the street boasts as many as four properties that can be attributed to the brothers). The majority of the lots were sold off in 1907 to various builders, including G.W. Stimson. His son, architect G. Lawrence Stimson, is credited with designing many of the houses, including Mary’s from Why Women Kill.

In real life, the 1910 home features 5 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,930 square feet, a dining room with a cast aluminum ceiling, a carriage house designed by Frederick L. Roehrig, a fireplace with Grueby Faience Company tile, intricate Craftsman detailing, hardwood flooring, built-ins galore, a butler’s pantry, a 0.45-acre lot, and a backyard pond.

You can check out interior photos of the massive abode here.

The property pops up numerous times on Why Women Kill, first in the scene in which Beth Ann Stanton (Ginnifer Goodwin) introduces herself to Mary and Ralph, her new neighbors, in episode 6, “Practically Lethal in Every Way.” The residence is said to be situated across the street from Beth Ann’s supposed Pasadena estate, so it is rather ironic that neither property is actually in Crown City. Mary’s pad is, of course, in South Pas and Beth Ann’s, the mansion at the center of the series’ storyline, is a good 15 miles away at 113 Fremont Place in Hancock Park.

Mary’s house goes on to appear in the episodes “I Was Just Wondering What Makes Dames Like You So Deadly” and “Kill Me as if It Were the Last Time.”

The home is just as incredible in person as it is onscreen.

The interior, namely the living room with the Grueby tile fireplace, is also featured on the show, as you can see in the screen capture below as compared to the MLS image from 2012, when the pad was last on the market.

On Why Women Kill, Mary’s staircase (which is visible just beyond the front door) is very Craftsman in style with a natural wood finish, but, per the listing photos, at the time it was on the market it was painted white.

I am not sure if the new owners changed the coloring back to the original wood or if the show’s production team did, but either way, it was a good move! The natural wood is so much more appropriate to the architecture of the home, not to mention infinitely prettier.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Mary’s house from Why Women Kill is located at 224 Oaklawn Avenue in South Pasadena. The home from Zathura: A Space Adventure can be found right next door at 216 Oaklawn.

July 13, 2020July 13, 2020

The “Gangster Squad” Secret Base

Little known fact about me – back in June 2011, I was approached by Warner Bros. Studios’ art department asking for my location advice for a movie set in 1949 Los Angeles that was then in pre-production. My dad was in the hospital for a lengthy stay at the time and I’ll never forget putting together a composite of suggestions for the eight spots the team was looking for while sitting by his hospital bed over the next few days. I was ecstatic when, about a year and a half later, Gangster Squad hit theatres and I saw that a couple of my recommendations made it to the screen! The whole experience was not only one of the highlights of my stalking career but a bright point in an otherwise tough time. Just being asked for my location guidance on any production, let alone one that turned out to be a major motion picture, was enough to send me into a tailspin of excitement! One spot I did not propose but was recently tipped off to was the site that portrayed the secret base where Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin), Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), and the rest of the titular Gangster Squad clandestinely met to plan their takedown of mobster Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) in the 2013 film. As a fellow stalker named Michael informed me in May, a rustic property on a dusty lot in Sylmar was utilized as the hideout, with a bit of Hollywood magic employed to slightly alter its look. Thrilled at the tip, I ran out to stalk it shortly thereafter.

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In real life, the 0.73-acre hilltop site that masked as the Gangster Squad’s secret base is comprised of two small dilapidated structures.

Currently for sale for a cool $279,000, the real estate listing notes that the property contains a “small bunkhouse in tear-down condition” and “a garage-type structure in poor-to-tear-down condition.” It goes on to state that the bunkhouse is filled with bees, cautioning “Do not enter!”

The listing also mentions “top of the world views,” which is not hyperbole.

The locale pops up a couple of times in Gangster Squad. Interestingly, only the north side of it is ever shown in the flick.

The roofline of the “garage-type structure” was quite a bit different at the time of filming.

As you can see in the 2017 Google Street View image below, the garage formerly had some sort of peaked-roof façade attached to its northern edge. It is that roofline that was visible in Gangster Squad.

Later Google Street View imagery reveals that the façade collapsed in 2018, leaving behind the flat-roofed structure shown in my photos.

The sprawling Mediterranean mansion situated on the hilltop across from the secret base no longer remains intact, either. In fact, it never actually existed! Amazingly, the large estate and its smattering of palm trees were just CGI creations added to the landscape in post-production! In real life, the hill behind the house is nothing but rolling greenery.

It is not hard to see how the site wound up in the mid-century-set flick. Its remoteness, lack of neighboring residences and views of a seemingly sparse city below all make for a great throwback to the Los Angeles of yesteryear, not to mention the perfect place for a group of cops to set up a secret shop to plan a takedown of one of the country’s most notorious gangsters.

Only the exterior of the property was used in Gangster Squad. The interior of the group’s secret base was nothing more than a studio-built set.

The outlined diamond design of the actual garage door was carried over into the design of the set, though – a detail which I love!

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Michael for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Gangster Squad secret base is located at 11901 West Trail Avenue in Sylmar. The Hideaway Bar and Grill, from the “Misery Loves Company” episode of 90210, is just around the corner at 12122 Kagel Canyon Road.

July 10, 2020July 9, 2020

The “Maude” House

I am a true television aficionado, even when it comes to series that were before my time, like Soap, which began airing just a few months after I was born. Yet when fellow stalker Brad emailed back in August 2017 asking if I knew the whereabouts of the home belonging to Maude Findlay (Bea Arthur) and her husband, Walter (Bill Macy), on Maude, I was at a loss. Sure, I’d heard of the 1970s sitcom, but had never so much as seen even a portion of an episode. Regardless, I accepted the challenge of IDing the place, which Brad informed me was said to be in Tuckahoe, New York, and was only seen in Maude’s opening and closing credits. After some unsuccessful digging, though, I pushed the hunt to the back burner and promptly forgot about it. Flash forward to June 9th of this year. Brad wrote to me once again inquiring if I had ever managed to find the Maude house. Coincidentally, my friend Owen had just embarked upon a massive endeavor to pinpoint all of the key yet-to-be-found locations from popular television shows that aired from the early 1970s through the early 1990s. I emailed him to see if Maude was included on his list. It wasn’t, but he was kind enough to look into the matter for me and, on June 10th, just one day later, wrote back with an address! The Findlay residence from Maude can be found at 1011 Harvard Avenue North in Claremont.

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How did he do it, you ask? I asked the same thing! As it turns out, a curb led him to the location. But first, while viewing the opening credits, Owen spotted an address number of “101” above Maude and Walter’s front door, something I had failed to notice during any of my searches for the place!

As he explained, “Because some of the intro was filmed in NY — and there are 100 blocks there — I started looking in Tuckahoe. I was coming up empty, and I was starting to wonder if a fourth digit was hidden behind the tree branches, so I turned my focus to that very distinctive curb, which I had never seen before.” He’s talking about the unique curb with embedded stonework visible in the screen capture below.

Owen next headed over to Google and performed a slew of different keyword searches. One finally led him to page 111 of the book Claremont (Images of America), which detailed the city’s unique stone curbs typically referred to as “elephant toes.” The curb pictured in the tome indeed resembled the one visible in the Maude credits. Owen furthered, “I pretty much knew right away that I was on the right track. I did a “Maude Claremont” Google search and quickly found this page. The answer presented itself at the very bottom of the replies section, thanks to a Mark Z. Mystery solved. P.S. If you blog about this place — and you should blog about this place — I’d mention those ‘elephant toes’! I think that’s such an elephant-astic description of that curb style.” Your wish is my command, Owen!

I was dismayed to find the place undergoing a renovation when I showed up to stalk it a few weeks later.

At least the fabulous elephant toes were still intact and visible, though!

Despite the extensive scaffolding, certain elements of the house are still recognizable. At the time Maude was filmed, the front porch was screened in, giving it quite a different look, but as you can see, the fluted pillars, rock wall flanking the front steps, and peak-roofed portico all remain the same.

Thankfully, Google Street View provides us with some pre-renovation imagery of the home that shows some additional matching detail.

As Owen noted, “The crumbling portion at the corner of the driveway that is visible in the opening credits is still like that! Love it!”

The residence appears throughout both the opening and closing credits of Maude, which ran on CBS from 1972 through 1978.

The American Foursquare-style property was originally designed in 1905 for land developer and Claremont pioneer C.C. Johnson. It is one of the city’s oldest houses. In real life, it boasts 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,920 square feet, coved ceilings, crown moldings, a tiled wood-burning fireplace, a formal dining room, and 3 lots totaling 0.48 acres. The pad last sold in March 2018 for $1.2 million. A real estate listing from the time even mentions the home’s use on Maude!

Only the exterior of the property appeared on the series. The interior of the Findlay home was just a set, built first at CBS Television City and then at Metromedia Square, the two studios where Maude was lensed.

1011 Harvard Ave, Claremont, CA 91711

As you can see in the MLS images as compared to the screen captures above and below, the set does not resemble the inside of the actual house in the slightest. Maude’s home boasted a much more open floor plan than that of the Claremont residence. You can check out some more interior images of 1011 Harvard here.

1011 Harvard Ave, Claremont, CA 91711

Per the plans submitted to the Claremont Architectural Commission, only the rear of the home is being significantly altered during the renovation. Here’s hoping that when all is said and done the front is left largely intact for stalkers to enjoy for years to come.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Brad for asking me to find this location and to my friend Owen for tracking it down! Smile

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Findlay house from Maude is located at 1011 Harvard Avenue North in Claremont.

July 8, 2020July 7, 2020

Malaga Cove Plaza from “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story”

They say the ocean is good for the soul. So I was thrilled to head out to Palos Verdes Estates last week on a gorgeous Southern California morning to do some stalking. It is the second season of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story that led me out that way. Not only is the supposed La Jolla Shores house Betty (Amanda Peet) moved to post-separation from her philandering husband, Dan (Christian Slater), located in the beach city, but so is Malaga Cove Plaza, where Betty Christmas shopped with her friend Karen Kintner (Missi Pyle) in the episode titled “More to It Than Fun.” I first stalked the Italianate complex years ago after it appeared in a Season 2 episode of The O.C and have been back numerous times since. So I recognized it on sight when it popped up on Dirty John. Strolling through the sprawling marketplace on my recent visit, with striking blue skies overhead, salt from the nearby ocean crisp in the air, and the warm sun beaming down on my face, was indeed good for my soul! There’s a reason Malaga Cove has long been one of my favorite places to spend a breezy afternoon.

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Malaga Cove Plaza saw its beginnings in 1924 with the construction of the Gardner Building. The Spanish Renaissance-style structure, designed by Webber, Staunton and Spaulding, sits at the complex’s western edge and is pictured at the far right of the photos above and below. Palos Verdes’ first commercial building, it initially housed the local post office, as well as a few other businesses. You can see what it looked like in its early days here.

Six additional buildings, each designed by a different architect, were added to the complex in the decades that followed. Malaga Cove Plaza, as it stands today, was completed in 1963. Considering that seven different individuals had a hand in its design, the center is surprisingly cohesive and beautiful.

Declared a historic site by the Rancho de Los Palos Verdes Historical Society in 1981, the marketplace is easily one of Southern California’s most picturesque shopping centers.

Featuring exquisite brickwork,

sweeping archways,

countless adorable decorative elements,

well-placed greenery,

a plethora of tucked-away spots to sit and relax,

a smattering of charming shops and restaurants,

and a gorgeous mountain backdrop,

Malaga Cove Plaza is an idyllic venue to shop, dine and wander.

And at the center of it all is a towering fountain representing Neptune, Roman god of the sea.

The Carrara marble effigy, inspired by the Fountain of Neptune in Bologna’s Piazza del Nettuno, was constructed in the 1700s and initially stood at a villa in Venice, Italy. It was acquired by a Los Angeles gallery in the 1920s and then later by Malaga Cove Plaza developers, who dedicated it on February 16th, 1930. Sadly, Neptune soon became a favorite of vandals who broke, trashed and desecrated the piece to the point that it was removed in 1968. A smaller replica stood sentry in the years that followed, until 1999 when the original sculpture was returned to its post after an extensive $103,000 repair project spearheaded by the Malaga Cove Plaza Beautification Project.

The group gave the complex itself a facelift around the same time, performing much-needed repairs, planting new foliage, and generally upgrading the sexagenarian site.

Today, Malaga Cove Plaza is a gorgeous marketplace bustling with cute shops, restaurants and cafés.

It is there that Betty and Karen do some window shopping on Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story.

While wandering the plaza in “There’s More to It Than Fun,” Betty informs Karen of how much her marriage with Dan is improving. But throughout the segment, the scenery intermittently shifts to Dan’s office, where he is simultaneously meeting with a divorce lawyer, discussing how to stiff Betty financially. The bit brilliantly showcases the lengths which Dan went to mislead Betty during his affair.

In the scene’s opening, the ladies are shown walking in front of Malaga Cove Ranch Market. They then proceed to make their way east along the plaza.

It’s not hard to see how Malaga Cove Plaza came to be used on the San Diego-set series as it looks very much like the shops in downtown La Jolla.

The complex boasts a couple of other onscreen appearances on its filming resume.

A group of young skateboarders washes their faces in the plaza’s fountain in the 1965 Academy Award-nominated short Skaterdater.

And, as I mentioned above, it also pops up in an episode of The O.C. In Season 2’s “The New Era,” Malaga Cove Plaza portrays the Newport Beach bus stop where Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) and Lindsay Gardner (Shannon Lucio) finally admit that they like each other.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Malaga Cove Plaza, from the “More to It Than Fun” episode of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, is located at the intersection of Palos Verdes Drive West and Via Chico in Palos Verdes Estates.

July 6, 2020July 7, 2020

Betty’s La Jolla Shores House from “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story”

Dirty John producers traveled far and wide across Los Angeles to shoot the second season of the true crime anthology series, which chronicles the 1989 double murder of prominent San Diego lawyer Dan Broderick (Christian Slater) and his new wife, Linda Kolkena (Rachel Keller), at the hands of his ex, Betty Broderick (Amanda Peet). The scenes involving Dan and Betty’s longtime family home were shot deep in the Valley in Chatsworth, the restaurant the couple regularly dined at during happier times is in Studio City, and Betty rammed her car into Dan’s post-divorce pad in Toluca Lake. But most of the action takes place at Betty’s supposed La Jolla Shores residence, where she grows more and more unglued following the separation. The sprawling seaside property is perhaps the show’s most prominent locale, popping up in the opening scene of the first episode and going on to appear in pretty much every episode that follows. So I, of course, was hot to track it down. Try as I might, though, I could just not find the place – until I enlisted the help of my friend/fellow stalker Owen, that is, who IDed it in no time!

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From what was shown onscreen, we knew the dilapidated ranch-style abode was situated on a corner lot across from a bluff overlooking the ocean. Since no discernible street signs or address numbers were visible in the background, Owen simply began scouring the Los Angeles coastline from the north to the south via Google aerial views and, voila, quickly pinpointed Betty’s home at 1400 Paseo Del Mar in Palos Verdes Estates. I ran out to socially-distant stalk it shortly thereafter on a gorgeous Southern California day. Those skies, amirite!

In real life, the 1966 property boasts 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, 3,962 square feet, 2 fireplaces, a massive 0.48-acre lot, a wraparound driveway, a pool, and a large front yard.

Oh, and views for days!

The Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story production team roughed the place up a bit for the shoot by dotting the front railings with rust stains and covering the roofline with chipped, peeling paint to make it appear to be in the same disrepair as Betty’s actual former La Jolla Shores home. The exterior was also painted a muted blue and the front door swapped out to give the property a more dated look.

In real life, the residence has a much cleaner and more contemporary aesthetic.

The set dressing coupled with the fact that the house was mainly shot from the driveway, a vantage point that is blocked from the street by large hedges, equals a very different-looking house in person. So much so that, when I first pulled up, I wasn’t entirely sure I was in the right place.

One glimpse of the side of the property, though, with the front stairway, large pane windows and ocean visible across the street, and it became instantly recognizable.

Dan put a $140,000 down payment on the house for Betty following their separation in mid-1985. (Though, as stated in Bella Stumbo’s 1993 book, Until the Twelfth of Never, “He would, of course, collect it back in full nearly four years later from her share of the community property in the divorce settlement.”) Per a San Diego Reader article, the place was in “poor repair” at the time. In fact, Betty, sure Dan was going to re-think the separation, considered the property a tear-down and had plans to raze it in order to build a dream house for the two of them. Dan had other ideas, instead buying a Colonial pad in Hillcrest and moving his mistress right in. Eventually Betty began fixing up the La Jolla Shores residence on her own, adding a pool, a Jacuzzi, a pool house, a new kitchen and bathroom, and gorgeous landscaping that she honed herself. By 1988, though, she was in seriously dire financial straits – whether through fault of her own or Dan’s depends on whose account of the divorce proceedings you believe – and could no longer afford the $4,000-a-month payment on the place or the cost of the many repairs it required. (Per the Reader, she spent $11,000 on home improvements in the first 5 months of 1988 alone!) She finally put the pad on the market in September 1989 and began moving into a small 2-bedroom condo at 3133 Morning Way, which cost her $200,000. Though she was splitting her time between the house and condo in November 1989, it was from the La Jolla Shores residence that she departed the morning of the murders.

Betty’s actual La Jolla Shores house, located at 8320 Calle Del Cielo, no longer stands. It was torn down in 2014 to make way for a newer modern manse. Thankfully, if you toggle Google Street View back to 2007 and 2008, imagery of Betty’s residence is still visible. As you can see below, it looks nothing like the pad chosen for Dirty John.

In fact, it is the only location on the series so far that does not closely resemble the site of the actual events. I’m guessing that is due to the tear-down. Either producers did not know what the residence looked like . . .

. . . or they figured that since it was gone audiences would have nothing to compare it to, so they had a clean slate to work with.

Interestingly, Betty’s TV home looks a lot like a neighboring house on Calle Del Cielo – the one at 8333 (pictured in the top image below) – leading me to wonder if the production team drove around Betty’s old neighborhood, saw the residence and its large second-floor balcony, exterior staircase, big pane windows and ranch-style elements, and became inspired to find a similar property for the shoot. That’s a completely unsubstantiated hunch, though.

As mentioned earlier, the Palos Verdes house pops up regularly on Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story. Besides the front of the residence, Betty is also shown eating with friends on the balcony overlooking the ocean in the episodes titled “No Fault” and “The Twelfth of Never.”

The interior of Betty’s home is just a set, though – one with a very run-down ‘80s feel.

I am sure the interior of the actual Palos Verdes property is much more swanky and updated, though I could find no photographs with which to verify that.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Betty’s house from Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story is located at 1400 Paseo Del Mar in Palos Verdes Estates. Betty’s real former home was located at 8320 Calle Del Cielo in La Jolla Shores, but it was torn down and a new dwelling now stands in its place.

July 1, 2020July 1, 2020

Jack’s House from “Wicked City”

Some locations are so arresting they almost become a character in a production. Such was the case with the spectacular mid-century modern pad where LAPD detective Jack Roth (Jeremy Sisto) lived with his wife, Allison (Jaime Ray Newman), and daughter, Vicki (Anne Winters), on the 2015 ABC series Wicked City. Though its exterior was only featured once on the short-lived show, the interior seriously made an impression! I found myself looking forward to its appearance week after week, even more so than I did any of the actors. So I was thoroughly bummed to discover said interior was just a set that only ever existed on a soundstage and was dismantled after filming wrapped. Regardless, I figured the residence used in the lone exterior shot of Jack’s home was still worthy of a stalk. Thankfully, I didn’t have to look far for it.

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The sole exterior shot of the house popped up in Wicked City’s seventh episode, “Destroyer,” in the scene in which Jack moves out after disclosing to Allison that he has been having an affair. Its mid-century architecture and large, flat front yard led me to believe the property was likely located deep in the San Fernando Valley. After initially searching Granada Hills, I remembered coming across a smattering of unique MCM homes near Shoup Park in Woodland Hills years prior while stalking the neighboring residences where Ryden Malby (Alexis Bledel) and David Santiago (Rodrigo Santoro) lived in the 2009 romcom Post Grad. So I headed over to the area via Google Maps and, wouldn’t you know it, right next door to Ryden’s house at 22210 Tiara Street was Jack’s pad!

It truly is a shame the exterior wasn’t featured more prominently on Wicked City because it.is.fabulous.

The mid-century stunner was designed by architect Charles DuBois in 1960.

In real life, it boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,084 square feet, a double fireplace, a vaulted ceiling, a 0.37-acre lot, a large pool, a spa, and a fire pit.

It also features incredible mid-century detailing including a low gabled roofline;

a tiered front walkway;

large bright double doors;

and a stone and wood façade.

The property last sold in 2009 and, per the MLS images featured on Realtor.com, looked extremely different at the time. Kudos to the new owners and their superb exterior renovation!

Sadly, the MLS photos did not include any inside shots aside from the rather murky one below.

22210 Tiara St, Woodland Hills, CA 91367

The interior as it was imagined by production designer Craig Stearns for Wicked City, though, was spectacular! I fell in love with the clean lines, beamed ceiling, and 1960s feel. That screened entry, amirite? You can check out some more images of it here.

Interestingly, the ceiling of the set, which slopes toward the front and back of the house, doesn’t match the roofline of the Tiara Street residence, which peaks above the front door and slopes to the sides. The discrepancy, coupled with the fact that an exterior is not shown until the series’ seventh episode, leads me to believe that Wicked City producers never intended to feature the outside of Jack’s home. Then when a scene unexpectedly came up requiring an exterior shot, location scouts had to scramble to find a dwelling that matched the set, eventually settling on 22210 Tiara Street even though it didn’t entirely line up with Stearns’ design. That is just a hunch, though.

While the pad’s exterior didn’t get much love on Wicked City, it did pop up fairly regularly as the residence of Sabrina (Shannon Woodward) and Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff) on the Fox sitcom Raising Hope.

The interior of Sabrina and Jimmy’s place was also just a set, but a gorgeous one at that!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Jack Roth’s house from Wicked City is located at 22210 Tiara Street in Woodland Hills.

June 29, 2020June 28, 2020

The Chapel of the Gardens from “Hollywood”

Altadena’s Mountain View Mausoleum may not be Southern California’s most well-known mausoleum, but it’s certainly one of its prettiest. A true hidden gem, the place remained off my radar the entire time I lived in nearby Pasadena. I only learned about it in May 2019, years after I moved to Palm Springs, thanks to its appearance in a Season 4 episode of Lucifer. When I finally stalked the stunning site, the Grim Cheaper and I spent hours exploring its every nook and cranny, wandering the vast lower-level chambers, and admiring each inch of stained glass. So when its onsite bethel, The Chapel of the Gardens, popped up in the final episode of the new Netflix series Hollywood, I recognized it immediately. Though I blogged about Mountain View last October, I figure a write-up on the chapel itself is now due. (Warning: if you have yet to watch Hollywood – and really, what’s stopping you? – avoid this post as it is rife with spoilers.)

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I covered Mountain View Mausoleum’s history in my October column, but I’ll give you a brief recap here. The gorgeous sanctuary was designed by architects Clarence L. Jay and Cecil E. Bryan in 1925.

The sprawling Neo-Mediterranean-style site boasts countless deep corridors, a myriad of stained glass windows fabricated by Judson Studios, murals hand-painted by artist Martin Syvertsen, and a small blush-colored chapel known as The Chapel of the Gardens.

Though small, the space is serene, warm, and inviting.

Its mid-century feel notwithstanding, I am fairly certain the chapel is original to the mausoleum’s 1925 design.

Producer Ryan Murphy has long been familiar with Mountain View Mausoleum, having featured it in both 2015’s American Horror Story: Hotel and 2018’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. That, coupled with its decidedly 1950s aesthetic, must have made its use in Hollywood a no-brainer.

The Chapel of the Gardens only appears once on Hollywood, in the final episode titled “A Hollywood Ending.” It is there that the funeral for Tinseltown executive Dick Samuels (Joe Mantello) takes place. Though the name of the chapel is shown in the scene . . .

. . . I would have recognized it regardless. I’d know those pink walls anywhere!

Thanks to its retro look, the production team did not have to change much for the shoot.

The Chapel of the Gardens was not the only area of Mountain View utilized in the scene. Following the funeral, Henry Willson (Jim Parsons) approaches Ace Studios head Avis Amberg (Patti LuPone) and asks her to greenlight his film in the vestibule outside the mausoleum’s offices.

That room can be found at the eastern end of the Great Gallery.

The décor was swapped out for the filming in order to “retro”-fit the space, so to speak, and make it appear a bit more fancy.

Despite the changes, it is still very recognizable from its cameo.

Considering Mountain View Mausoleum’s popularity as a filming location (you can read about its many onscreen appearances here), I’d think The Chapel of the Gardens would have been used in additional productions, but I have been unable to unearth any.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Chapel of the Gardens, where Dick Samuels’ funeral was held in the “A Hollywood Ending” episode of Hollywood, is located inside Mountain View Mausoleum at 2300 North Marengo Avenue in Altadena. Both the chapel and mausoleum are open to the public daily.

June 26, 2020June 25, 2020

Bistro Garden from “Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story”

The ‘80s were, without a doubt, garish, splashy, and over-the-top. But the second season of the true crime anthology series Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, which covers the 1989 murders of Dan Broderick (Christian Slater) and his mistress-turned-wife, Linda Kolkena (Rachel Keller), at the hands of his first wife, Betty (Amanda Peet), sure makes the era look good! I am obsessed with Betty’s clothes – her oxford shirts, navy flats, ever-present gold chain, and, of course, that headscarf from episode 3’s beach scene! The locations are pretty chic, as well, none more so than the swanky restaurant Dan and Betty dine at in “Marriage Encounter,” which I recognized on sight as Bistro Garden. One of Studio City’s most oft-filmed spots, I stalked and blogged about the eatery way back in 2010 (hence the dated photo above), but figured it was time for a re-do.

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Bistro Garden was founded by Carolyn Pappas, daughter of famed restauranteur Kurt Niklas, and her husband, Gregory, in 1990. The establishment was an offshoot of Niklas’ two popular Beverly Hills eateries – The Bistro in Beverly Hills, which opened in 1963 at 246 North Canon Drive, and The Bistro Garden, which opened in 1979 just up the road at 176 North Canon. To distinguish the Studio City site from its similarly-named BH counterparts, it was originally given the name “The Bistro Garden at Coldwater.”

The stunning space, inspired by European winter gardens (aka large glass conservatories built to house tropical plants year-round), features two airy dining rooms, a handsome wood-paneled bar, thirty-foot ceilings, skylights, latticework, French doors, and trees strung with twinkle lights. It is easily one of Los Angeles’ most gorgeous restaurants.

Considering that little of the interior has been changed since its opening thirty years ago, the eatery’s use in Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story must have been a no-brainer!

In “Marriage Encounter,” Bistro Garden poses as the fancy La Jolla restaurant Dan and Betty begin frequenting after Dan finally lands a high-paying job at a law firm. It actually pops up three times in the episode, first in the scene in which Betty embarrasses Dan by mentioning to a friend they run into that they used to be on food stamps.

The couple dines there again later in the episode and Dan complains about having already grown bored with the place.

And finally, it is at Bistro Garden that Betty, after showing off her new Oscar de la Renta dress to friends at the bar, overhears Dan describing Linda to a co-worker as “just so beautiful.”

Dirty John is hardly Bistro Garden’s first onscreen foray.

Jerry (Cary Elwes) proposes to Audrey (Maura Tierney) there in the 1997 comedy Liar Liar.

That same year, Cooper Hargrove (Christopher Orr) presented Valerie Malone (Tiffani Thiessen) with a diamond necklace at Bistro Garden in the Season 8 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Toil and Trouble.”

The restaurant masks as New York’s Plaza Hotel, where Lexi Sterling (Jamie Luner) meets with three ex-fiancés of Ryan McBride (John Newton) in the Season 7 episode of Melrose Place titled “How Amanda Got Her Groove Back,” which aired in 1999.

Andy (Steve Carell) and his pals attend a speed-dating event there in the 2005 comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

Bistro Garden portrays the country club where Gabrielle Solis (Eva Longoria) catches a news report that leads her to believe her husband, Carlos (Ricardo Chavira), has been killed in the Season 2 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Remember: Part 1,” which aired in 2006.

Gabrielle returns to the restaurant the following year in Season 3’s “Not While I’m Around” in order to meet her secret admirer, who turns out to be Zach Young (Cody Kasch).

In the Season 6 episode of The Office titled “Double Date,” which aired in 2009, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) takes his new girlfriend Helene Beesly (Linda Purl) to Bistro Garden to celebrate her birthday and then promptly dumps her upon learning her age.

Julia Fitzpatrick (Jennifer Garner) poses as a waitress there to get back at her boyfriend, Dr. Harrison Copeland (Patrick Dempsey), whom she has just discovered is married, in the 2010 romantic comedy Valentine’s Day.

And in the Season 1 episode of Why Women Kill titled “Positively Lethal in Every Way,” which aired in 2019, Simone Grove (Lucy Liu) celebrates her daughter’s engagement at Bistro Garden.

While IMDB claims that the second episode of the 1985 miniseries Hollywood Wives was lensed at the Studio City Bistro Garden, being that the restaurant did not open until 1990, we know that is not true. Filming actually took place at the Beverly Hills Bistro Garden. In fact, the BH outpost inspired Jackie Collins to write the novel on which the drama was based! Of the restaurant, which shuttered in 1996, Jackie is quoted as saying, “There’s a story at every table. It’s almost like Le Cirque in New York: a place to see and be seen, to get dressed up before you go, to wave across the room at your friends when you arrive.”

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Bistro Garden, from the “Marriage Encounter” episode of Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story, is located at 12950 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

June 24, 2020June 23, 2020

Michelle’s House from “Dead to Me”

The TV gods have blessed audiences the past few months with a plethora of stellar new shows! Hollywood, Home Before Dark, Upload, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector – the list goes on and on. The timing has been rather fortuitous considering the quarantine. Several sophomore series have also come back strong, namely Dirty John and Dead to Me. I was thrilled to recognize a few locations from the latter that I already stalked and blogged about, including Cindy’s Restaurant, where Jen Harding (Christina Applegate) and Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini) made a pit stop on the way home from Angeles National Forest in “Between You and Me,” and the Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel, which portrayed the Antelope Valley lodging the ladies checked into in the same episode. One spot that I wasn’t familiar with, but promptly set out to find was the house where Judy’s new girlfriend, Michelle Gutierrez (Natalie Morales), lived with her ex, Detective Ana Perez (Diana Maria Riva).

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Though Michelle’s residence pops up several times on Dead to Me, the first – and only – full shot of the exterior shown is in episode 8, “It Had to Be You.” Thankfully, an address number of “13113” was also visible in the scene. (Aren’t the number placards gorgeous? I love the Art Deco-themed font!) The unique cupola pitched atop Michelle’s roof, a common decorative feature of San Fernando Valley homes, told me that it could most likely be found in the Sherman Oaks or Van Nuys area. I hit up Sherman Oaks first, doing a Google search for properties with 13113 address numbers, and the top result kicked back was for 13113 Weddington Street. I was thrilled when I headed over to Street View and saw that it was, indeed, the right spot!

In real life, the dwelling, which was built in 1951 and is located in Sherman Oaks’ North Hidden Woods neighborhood, boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,900 square feet, an open floor plan, a living room with vaulted ceilings, crown moldings and hardwood flooring throughout, a barn door, a laundry room, a 0.15-acre lot, a large deck, a pool, a spa, and a carport.

Oh, and a swing in the front yard, which I found absolutely idyllic!

Completely remodeled in 2016, the abode is stunning inside, as these MLS images attest to. You can check out what the home looked like pre-remodel here. Quite a difference! Though the place was put on the market in August 2018, it did not sell and was delisted three months later.

As I learned from the real estate listing, Michelle’s house is Mellenthin Traditional, a style I’d never heard of before. It denotes what Antonio Pacheco in The Architect’s Newspaper describes as the “birdhouse ranch” properties built by William Mellenthin throughout the San Fernando Valley in the mid-20th Century, many featuring dovecotes or cupolas atop their peaked roofs. Though I may not have been familiar with Mellenthin’s name, nor did I know what a dovecote was (turns out it’s a structure that houses doves), I was highly familiar with his homes and their most prominent decorative element. I’ve even blogged about a couple of Mellenthin-style residences, including the pad where Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) lived on The Office. In my 2010 post on that locale, I characterized the cupola feature as an “extra little roof gable above the garage.”

Though Mellenthin was responsible for over 3,000 homes in the SFV, the roof adornments can be found on countless more area properties thanks to the many architects who copied his style.

Calling the dovecotes in the region “ubiquitous,” Pacheco states, “Today there are hundreds of ‘Birdhouse’ homes throughout the Valley—many by builders who borrowed the cupola style. But there is only one original, and that is William Mellenthin.” Upon reading those words, I headed over to the City of Los Angeles Building and Safety website to look up the building permits for Michelle’s house. It turns out it is no imitator – the pad was, indeed, designed by Mellenthin!

As I mentioned earlier, we only get one full view of the outside of the residence on Dead to Me, though we do see the front door/carport in a scene that continues over from “It’s Not You, It’s Me” to “Where Do We Go From Here” in which Jen confesses to Detective Perez that she killed Steve Wood (James Marsden).

While the exterior shots are limited, the inside of Michelle’s home pops up several times. As you can see in the screen capture below as compared to the 2018 MLS image, the actual interior of 13113 Weddington was utilized on the series.

I am not sure if the tilework in the kitchen was redone after the MLS photos were taken or if the swap from white to blue was a change made specifically for the Dead to Me shoot. Otherwise though, the house looks much the same in the images as it did onscreen.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Michelle’s house from Dead to Me is located at 13113 Weddington Street in Sherman Oaks.