Alhambra filming locations

September 8, 2010September 8, 2010

The “Thirteen Days” House

While I mentioned last week that today’s blog would be most likely be about the Cabo San Lucas rocks where Jennifer Aniston posed for her recent Jennifer Aniston Perfume advertisement, I’ve actually decided to postpone that post until a later date and instead write about a location that can be found right here in Los Angeles – the supposed Washington, DC-area home where top presidential aide Kenny O’Donnell (aka Kevin Costner) lived with his family in the 2000 movie Thirteen Days. I found this location thanks to my one of my mom’s co-workers, Teresa, who attended last year’s Alhambra Historic Home tour, which is put on annually by the Alhambra Preservation Group. One of the stops on the tour just so happened to be the residence located at 504 North Almansor Street, and when the tour guide mentioned the property’s cinematic history, Teresa wrote down the address so that my mom could pass it along to me. The place has been on my ever-growing To-Stalk list ever since. So, when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, mentioned that he wanted to do some stalking in the Pasadena-area this past Tuesday, I told him that we first had to head over to Alhambra so that I could finally stalk the Thirteen Days house.

The Thirteen Days house was originally built in 1924 and boasts 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and 3,383 square feet of living space. Because of its distinct “All-American” feel, it’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use it as the Washington D.C.-area residence of one of John F. Kennedy’s top-ranking aides.

Even though Thirteen Days was set in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, not much of the residence was changed for the filming. In fact, it looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did in the flick. Love it! 🙂

And, as you can see in the above photographs, which I got off of the home’s real estate website, the real life interior of the residence, right down to the window curtains hanging in the kitchen, were also used in the flick. So darn cool!

And, as you can see in the above photograph of the real life bedroom which stood in for the Connelly’s master bedroom in the flick, the owners even have a Thirteen Days poster out on prominent display. Love it!

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The very same residence also appeared in the 2006 made-for-television movie Though None Go With Me, where it was used as Will Bishop’s (aka David Norona’s) home.

Ironically enough, the Thirteen Days house is located right next door to the residence where Percy Jones (aka Bernie Mac) and his family lived in Guess Who, which just so happens to be the very same residence where the backyard scenes from both Father of the Bride movies were also filmed. So darn cool!

Big THANK YOU to Teresa for finding this location for me!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Thirteen Days house is located at 504 North Almansor Street in Alhambra, directly next door to the Guess Who/Father of the Bride house, which is located at 500 North Almansor.

March 9, 2010March 8, 2010

Bun ‘N Burger Restaurant from “An American Summer”

I must apologize in advance for today’s fairly short blog post as I just got back from spending pretty much the entire day (over seven hours – not kidding!) on the set of CSI: Miami yet again. And while I promise to write a detailed post about my experiences there in the very near future, I’ve unfortunately gotta keep this particular column short and sweet. So, without further ado . . . a few weeks ago Mike, from MovieShotsLA, took the day off from work so that the two of us could do some stalking in the Malibu area. But before heading over to the ‘Bu, Mike told me that he was taking me out to breakfast – at a filming location, of course. That filming location turned out to be a little place named Bun ‘N Burger restaurant that was featured very briefly in a movie called An American Summer. Before that day a few weeks ago I had never actually heard of An American Summer, which premiered in 1991, but as fate would have it, the flick starred a very young actor by the name of Brian Austin Green, aka David Silver from Beverly Hills, 90210. So, of course, once I learned that little tidbit of information, I just had to run right out and buy myself a copy of the movie.

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Bun ‘N Burger restaurant shows up in one very brief scene in An American Summer, the very cheesy (but in a good way) and very 80’s plot of which revolves around a young Chicagoan named Tom (aka Michael Landes) who is begrudgingly sent to live with his aunt in California for the summer while his parents go through a divorce. While in Los Angeles, Tom ends up befriending a young surfer named Fin (aka Brian Austin Green) who not only teaches him how to sell sunglasses, deliver newspapers, and surf, but also how to pick up girls. At the very beginning of the movie, right after the boys first meet, Fin takes Tom to Bun ‘N Burger restaurant for some “java”, because as he says, “Every grown-up drinks java!” LOL

Amazingly enough, Bun ‘N Burger restaurant still looks very much the same today as it did back in 1991 when An American Summer was filmed. As you can see in the above screen captures and photograph, even the signs that appeared in the background behind Tom and Fin in the movie are still there in real life over 19 years later! A few more signs have been added since that time, but still so darn cool!

Mike found this location thanks to the fact that he used to work directly across the street from it in the late 80s and would frequently take his lunch breaks there. So, when he saw An American Summer for the first time in the movie theatre he recognized the place immediately. 🙂

Bun ‘N Burger restaurant, which was first established in 1941, is a super cute little roadside diner which features red leather booths, authentic ‘50s style furniture, a sit-down countertop, black-and-white checkered flooring, and countless old time photographs papering the walls. It is such an adorable little spot, in fact, that I am actually quite shocked it hasn’t been featured in more productions over the years. And despite what some online reviews have stated, the place serves up some fabulous food, including Mike’s personal favorite – the famous Bun ‘N Burger breakfast burrito. Unfortunately, though, because I am still on my new low carb diabetic diet, I didn’t get to sample the breakfast burrito, but instead opted for three hardboiled eggs. Mike was a bit flabbergasted over my menu selection and, after I ordered, said , “I take you out to breakfast and you order three hardboiled eggs?????” LOL What can I say – diets are absolutely NO fun. But, let me tell you, his burrito looked fabulous and if I ever get the urge to cheat, you know where I’m heading. 😉

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bun ‘N Burger restaurant from An American Summer is located at 1000 East Main Street in Alhambra.

February 24, 2010February 23, 2010

The “Liar Liar” Towing Yard

A few weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I spent an entire day stalking in and around the Malibu area. But before actually heading west to the ‘Bu, Mike made a little surprise pit stop in Alhambra so that the two of us could stalk the towing yard that appeared in fave comedy Liar Liar. Mike had actually told me about the yard, which is called Henry’s Towing in real life, the first time we met and even though I had long been dying to stalk the place, for whatever reason, I had yet to do so. So, I was BEYOND elated when he pulled up to the yard a few weeks ago and told me what it was. Mike found this location thanks to the fact that he grew up in the Alhambra area, not too far from Henry’s, and had driven by the place countless times during his youth. So when he saw Liar Liar for the first time back in 1997, he recognized the yard immediately. Yay! Thank you, Mike!

Henry’s Towing appeared in my absolute favorite scene in Liar Liar (well, besides the HILARIOUS “The pen is blue!” scene, of course), in which Audrey Reede (aka Maura Tierney) takes her ex-husband Fletcher Reede (aka Jim Carrey) to pick up his Mercedes which has just been towed.

After retrieving the car, Fletcher notices that there is a scratch on it, causing him to have a completely hilarious meltdown consisting of one of my favorite movie monologues of all time! During the meltdown he says, “You know what I’m gonna do about this? NOTHING! Because if I take ya to small claims court it’ll just drain eight hours out of my life and you probably won’t show up and if I finally got the judgment you’d just stiff me anyway. So what I’m gonna do is piss and moan like an impotent jerk and then bend over and take it up the tailpipe!” To which the towing attendant says, “You’ve been here before, haven’t you?” LOL Love it!

You can watch the tow yard scene by clicking above.

Unfortunately, though, thanks to a large fence which now surrounds the property, the majority of the towing yard is not visible from the street. 🙁

But you can see a good view of the place in the above aerial image.

Ironically enough, according to one of the workers we spoke with, the cashier’s window featured in Liar Liar is not actually Henry’s real life cashier’s window. Instead, producers chose to use a different window located deeper inside the property, behind the exterior fence.

The window which appeared in the movie is denoted with the pink arrow above and, sadly, if you aren’t visiting Henry’s to pick up a towed car, you won’t be able to see it. 🙁 Such a bummer!

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The real life cashier’s window – which is a part of Henry’s main office – does appear very briefly in Liar Liar, though, towards the end of the towing scene when Fletcher walks Audrey to her car. The two walk past the perimeter fence – which at the time did not have black tarp covering it – and towards the real life cashier’s window while she tells him about the wish his son made the previous evening.

The window looks a bit different today than it did during filming, though, as the little wooden awning which appeared above it in the scene has long since been removed. Henry’s main office has also been painted a different color in the years since filming took place.

The back side of the main office can also be seen in the background during Fletcher’s meltdown.

While not much of Henry’s Towing Yard is visible from the street, I still absolutely loved seeing it in person and the memories of the movie that being there brought back. I do have to admit, though, that the guys working the counter thought Mike and I were BEYOND weird for stalking the place. And even though I explained to them that we were big fans of the movie Liar Liar and were taking the pictures for our respective stalking websites, I am fairly certain they thought we were angry patrons whose cars had been recently towed and that the photographs were for a pending lawsuit, as they kept a VERY close eye on us the whole time. LOL Don’t they know a stalker when they see one? 😉

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Liar, Liar towing yard, aka Henry’s Towing Service, is located at 1100 Westminster Avenue in Alhambra.