Teri Hatcher’s Red Carpet Charity Yard Sale

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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! 

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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 . . .

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

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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;

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

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

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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!

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Pig N’ Whistle Restaurant

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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