Adrianna’s New Rental from “90210”

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Back in July of 2009, fellow stalker Jennie wrote to me asking for some help in tracking down a location that appeared in both the 1996 Aaron Spelling television series Kindred: The Embraced and the current reality show Celebrity Fit Club.  Because I had never seen either of the shows, though, for this particular stalking venture I had to call in the team – aka Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and fellow stalker Owen – and, magically, Chas came through in record time.  He somehow managed to track down a Celebrity Fit Club crew member who told him that the show was primarily filmed at a convent in Los Feliz that belonged to the Los Angeles Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  I immediately added the place to my ever-growing “To Stalk” list, but, for whatever reason, never made it out to actually see it in person.  So, you can imagine my surprise when I recognized the property as the mansion Adriana Tate-Duncan (aka Jessica Lowndes) rented on the recently-aired Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “Holiday Madness”.  I literally just about fell out of my chair and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place that very weekend.

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From what I’ve been able to gather online, it appears that the property no longer belongs to the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, but is now owned by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and is known as the Cardinal Timothy Manning House of Prayer for Priests.  (Although there is a Facebook page which claims that the property is now the International Institute of Theological and Tribunal Studies and is owned by the Graduate Theological Foundation of Indiana, so I’m not really sure what the story is.)  Regardless of who currently owns it, though, the structure was originally built in 1928 as a private home for Los Angeles broadcasting/automobile tycoon Earl C. Anthony, a man who not only brought major league baseball to Southern California for the first time, but who was also part of the team that invented gas stations and the car radio.  The Anthony House, as it later came to be known, was designed by architect Bernard Maybeck, the same man who gave us the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.  Anthony had commissioned his previous abode to be built by the legendary Greene & Greene architecture firm, but once Anthony, who owned several Packard automobile dealerships at the time, caught wind of the fact that one of the Greene brothers had purchased a car made by a competing brand, he refused to work with the architects on any subsequent projects and hired Maybeck to build his Los Feliz home.  LOL!  Maybeck incorporated Italian Villa, French Chateau, Spanish Mediterranean, and Tudor elements into the design of the mansion and it wound up costing a whopping $500,000 to construct.  At the time it was the most expensive house in Hollywood.  After Anthony’s widow passed away in the early 1950s, the mansion was purchased by Sir Daniel J. Donohue and his wife, who, in 1971, bequeathed the entire property to the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who continued to own it until earlier this year. 

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Sadly, the 8.5-acre property is closed to the public and not much of it is visible from the street, but, as I’ve said many times before, that’s why God created aerial views!  And you can see some fabulous close-up pictures of the former convent on the I.I.T.T.S. Facebook page here.

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In the “Holiday Madness” episode of 90210, the former convent was used as Adrianna’s new, massively huge, $20,000-per-month rental.

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Both the interior and the exterior of the property were used extensively in the episode . . .

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. . . especially during Adrianna’s Christmas party scenes.

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As I mentioned above, the property is also used extensively each season on the hit reality television show Celebrity Fit Club.

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The Anthony House was also the site of the wine festival in the Season 4 episode of Brothers and Sisters titled “The Wine Festival”.

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The property has also appeared in episodes of The A-Team, Dirty Sexy Money, Knight Rider, Dynasty, Airwolf, Falcon Crest, The Greatest American Hero, and Hart to Hart.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Adrianna’s new house from 90210, aka the former Los Angeles Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary convent, is located at 3431 Waverly Drive in Los Feliz.

The Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa

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While stalking in Pasadena a few weeks ago I stopped into the Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa to snap some pics. The Langham has long been a Pasadena institution and it is an absolutely gorgeous place to spend an afternoon or grab an evening cocktail. It is also an oft-used Pasadena filming location and celeb hang out. 🙂

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The Langham Hotel was originally built in 1907 and was known as the Wentworth. Never gaining much popularity under its original ownership, the property was sold to Henry E. Huntington in 1911, who hired renowned L.A. area architect Myron Hunt to renovate, expand, and improve the hotel. Three years later, in 1914, the Wentworth was reopened under its new name – the Huntington Hotel. Architect Myron Hunt is also known for designing the Rose Bowl, Occidental College, the California Institute of Technology, and Henry Huntington’s private home, which later became the museum known as the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens. After Myron’s renovations, the Huntington Hotel became an overnight success and it remained that way for more than seven decades. But in 1985, while under the ownership of the Sheraton Corporation, the Huntington had to be closed due to earthquake code violations. In 1987, the Ritz-Carlton Corporation purchased the property and, with a $100 million upgrade, brought it up to code. In 1990, the new Huntington Ritz-Carlton Hotel & Spa opened its doors to the public. Just this year, the hotel was sold yet again – this time to Great Eagle Holdings who renamed it the Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa. Even with all of the ownership changes, the Huntington remains the finest hotel in the Pasadena area. It also remains a favorite of both celebrities and location scouts alike.

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The interior of the Langham stood in for the Stratford Hotel in the 1998 Lindsay Lohan remake of The Parent Trap. The exterior of the Stratford, however, was a different location altogether. For that producers used the Administration Building on Treasure Island in Northern California, located a few hundred miles away from the Langham. The Langham also appeared in Beverly Hills Ninja where it stood in for the Beverly Hills Hotel. The hotel was also featured in Seabsicut , America’s Next Top Model, Charlie Wilson’s War, and Brothers and Sisters. And just a brief list of the hotel’s past celebrity guests: Teddy Roosevelt, Bill Clinton (shortly after winning the ’92 election), Albert Einstein, the Dalai Lama, Prince Philip of England, musician Pete Townsend, Salyma Hayek, Bachelorette Trista Rehn, and Judd Hirsch. Marcia Cross’ wedding reception was held there, as was the wedding for Taboo from The Black-Eyed Peas. Shannen Doherty is a reported frequent guest of the hotel, and especially loves their premiere restaurant, The Grill, and their piano bar. I actually saw Shannen once during one of my many visits the to the Langham. She was doing some press for her former reality show Breaking-Up With Shannen Doherty. Shannen was super tiny in person and seemed very sweet, although I did not go up to her.

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The Langham is an absolutely beautiful resort, with sprawling lawns, meandering pathways, koi ponds, a dark wood paneled bar, and excellent food. I had the pleasure of staying at the hotel a while back, when it was still owned by the Ritz-Carlton. The service at the time was impeccable. One night at the bar I ordered my fave soda, Dr. Pepper. The bartender told me that while Dr. Pepper isn’t served at the hotel, he thought there might be a vending machine in the employee break room that had some. Despite my protests, he ran downstairs to the breakroom and returned a few minutes later – Dr. Pepper in hand! I also attended the Ritz-Carlton employee Christmas party a few years ago with a friend who used to work for the hotel and it was one of the best parties I’ve ever been to!

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I highly recommend stalking the Ritz and grabbing a nightcap in their piano bar. Time and time again it is mentioned as one of the most romantic places in Pasadena.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Langham is located at 1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit their website here. Rooms start at $269 per night.

The Brothers and Sisters House

Got a challenge last week from Britney who wanted me to do some stalking of the house used in the ABC series Brothers and Sisters. I’d actually gotten this challenge once before, but since I had never really watched the show, I hadn’t put much effort into stalking it. But then I saw the house on Tony’s Los Angeles Filming Locations Flickr page and he directed me to this link on The Movieland Directory, which listed the address of the Walker Family home from the series. So, for Britney’s sake, I ran right out to stalk it. 🙂

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The Walker home is located in a gorgeous neighborhood in the eastern section of Pasadena. It’s funny because from the bits and pieces I had seen of Brothers and Sisters over the years, I had a feeling the house was located in Pasadena. It just looks like a very Pasadena style home. In person, the Walker house is very beautiful and absolutely humongous! It almost has a New Orleansean feel to it, as well. It wasn’t very recognizable in person though, as from what I can tell, it seems that producers usually shoot only one section of the house, not the whole thing. But once I went back and watched some clips of B&S on YouTube, I could definitely see that it was the right house. I highly recommend stalking the place, even if you are not a fan of the show, as it is just beautiful. I need to keep my eyes peeled, too, because I am sure B&S is not the only production the home has been used for.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:The Brothers and Sisters house is located at 1640 Lombardy Road in Pasadena. According to the Movieland Directory, the former Ritz Carlton (now the Langham Hotel) at 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave. in Pasadena, was also featured in Brothers and Sisters, but I am not sure which episode was filmed there.