CHiPs – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 13, 2020May 14, 2020

Mary-Kate and Ashley’s House from “The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley”

One Hollywood factoid that always manages to shock me no matter how many times I hear it is that Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are fraternal twins! Though the women look – and have always looked – identical, they aren’t! Don’t believe me – you can hear it straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, here. I know, I know – it’s almost unbelievable! As Catriona Harvey-Jenner stated in this 2016 Cosmopolitan article, “During one of my daily travels around the great expanse that is the internet, I stumbled across a piece of information so shocking, so life-altering, that it shook me to my very core. Are you ready for this? Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, as in the identical-looking twins from our childhood TV movies, AREN’T identical twins. It’s okay if you want to just take a moment to sit down after hearing that. Practice some deep breathing and stuff.” Equally as surprising, at least to those who know me and my MK & A obsession well, is the fact that I never watched The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley, the girls’ 1994 mystery/musical video series. Nevertheless, I was thrilled when fellow stalker Chris (who you may remember from this post) let me know the address of the house the twins called home in the pilot episode, titled “The Case of Thorn Mansion.” As it turns out, it’s in Cameron Woods, the quarter-mile stretch of Van Nuys’ Orion Avenue that is one of L.A.’s most oft-filmed spots. So I had to run by while I was in the area a couple of months ago.

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In real life, the traditional 1-story residence, which was built in 1947, boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,825 square feet, a fireplace, a 0.49-acre lot, and a detached garage with what appears to be an in-law unit. You can check out some interior pictures of the place here.

With its white picket fencing, large setback from the street, green and white color scheme, and dotting of tall trees, the dwelling, like all of the others in Cameron Woods, is extremely idyllic.

Even the mailbox, fashioned to look like a house, is picturesque!

So it is no surprise that the place is a favorite of location scouts! I mean, look at that walkway!

The stately pad pops up twice in “The Case of Thorn Mansion,” first at the beginning of the episode as the twins return home from a day at school.

Though we don’t get a full view of the residence, what is shown looks much the same today as it did when filming took place over 2 and a half decades ago. (And yeah, I did the math – Mary-Kate and Ashley are currently 33! How’s that for making you feel old?!?)

The property also appears in the episode’s “B-U-T-T Out” musical number, which you can watch here. (That’s a very young Elizabeth Olsen wearing overalls in the caps below.)

Coincidentally, the house figured into another production featuring twins! In the Season 1 episode of CHiPS titled “Green Thumb Burglar,” Officers Frank Poncherello (Erik Estrada) and Jon Baker (Larry Wilcox) pull over a set of identical twins in front of the residence, which I learned via IMDB. But thanks to the large tree out front, little of the place can actually be seen. I was thrilled to spot the two white benches that still flank the front pathway (denoted with blue arrows below), though. “Green Thumb Burglar” aired way back in 1977, so those things have been in place virtually forever!

The same property portrays the home of Elaine Spencer (Jessica Walter), said to be at 1227 Lakeview in Cleveland, in the 1993 thriller Ghost in the Machine.

A digital version of the pad is even shown in the movie!

And it pops up as the supposed Wisconsin-area childhood home of Alison Parker (Courtney Thorne-Smith) in the Season 2 episode of Melrose Place titled “The Two Mrs. Mancinis,” which aired in 1994.

The actual interior of the home was utilized in the episode, as well.

Thanks to fellow stalker Mimi, I learned that Meghan Trainor’s 2015 “Dear Future Husband” music video was also shot at the pad.

The dwellilng’s interior appeared in the video, as well.

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

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-Kate and Ashley’s house from “The Case of Thorn Mansion” episode of The Adventures of Mary-Kate & Ashley is located at 6332 Orion Avenue in the Cameron Woods neighborhood of Van Nuys. Pete’s (Brian Petsos) residence from Bridesmaids can be found across the street at 6309 Orion, as can Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) and Love Quinn’s (Victoria Pedretti) new pad from the Season 2 finale of You at 6301 Orion.

December 7, 2018December 6, 2018

Nick’s Cafe from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”

It is not everyday that a one-minute clip gets me hooked on an entire television series, but that is exactly what happened with Brooklyn Nine-Nine. A few months back, my friend Kate texted me a hilarious highlight from a Season 5 episode in which Detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) leads a group of criminals in a rousing acapella rendition of the Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” during a police lineup. I had never heard of the show at that point, but, let me tell you, as soon as the first strains of “You are my fire . . . “ hit my ears, I was done for! Any procedural that incorporates boy band music into its storyline is guaranteed to be a surefire favorite with me! The Grim Cheaper and I started watching the series that very night and have been binging it ever since. Not only is the acting superb and the dialogue laugh-out-loud funny, but (bonus!) it is shot in L.A., which means plenty of stalking for me. One of its locales, the small Chinatown eatery Nick’s Cafe, I first spotted in Season 3’s “House Mouses” and then again just a few weeks later on yet another series we are obsessed with, Bosch. So I decided I just had to run out and stalk the place.

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A veritable city institution, Nick’s Cafe (not to be confused with Nick’s Coffee Shop & Deli on Pico) was founded way back in 1948 by Navy vet Nick Viropolous.

In an unusual move, Nick chose to operate the place sans a name for the four decades that he owned it. As longtime waitress Lois Fuentes recalled in a 1995 Los Angeles Times article, “We went 41 years without a name. People would call it the Corner Cafe, the Ham House, all sorts of things. Nick was afraid if he gave it a name it might bring in more people. ‘Then you gotta hire more help,’ he’d say.”

The Ham House moniker, which is still sometimes used today, came about thanks to the bone-in ham, sliced to order, that Nick displayed daily on the eatery’s U-shaped counter.

Amazingly, the original counter is still intact today, seventy years after the restaurant first opened!

In the mid-90s, Viropolous sold the eatery to two LAPD homicide detectives who finally gave the place a name – Nick’s Cafe, in honor of its founder. The duo also installed a train track around the perimeter of the ceiling with a running model train that would circle the diner during open hours. Those tracks remain on display today (you can see them in the photos below), though the locomotive cars no longer operate.

Considering the profession of the new owners, it is not surprising that Nick’s became immensely popular with local police following the change of hands. As such, the restaurant has since been featured on numerous detective shows. But more on that in a bit.

In 2009, the cafe was taken over by a man named Rod Davis and it is still going strong today, largely thanks to the fact that little has been altered over the years. Not only is much of the décor original, but many of Nick’s recipes are still in use today.

I opted for a grilled cheese sandwich during my visit and it was honestly one of the best I’ve ever had. Granted, a grilled cheese is pretty hard to mess up, but the one served at Nick’s is stellar, with perfectly buttered toast and thick layers of two different kinds of cheese.

Most hours of the day at Nick’s are standing-room only, due to both its popularity and small size – the only available seating is at the counter, which is lined by a scant 25 stools, though the outside patio can accommodate an additional 25.

In the Season 3 episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine titled “House Mouses,” which aired in 2016, Jake convinces fellow detectives Hitchcock (Dirk Blocker) and Scully (Joel McKinnon Miller) to take over his drug case by buying them lunch at Nick’s.

The restaurant’s filming history far pre-dates Brooklyn Nine-Nine, though.

In 1997, Nick’s was the setting for the Depeche Mode video “It’s No Good,” which you can watch here.

Kensi Blye (Daniela Ruah) and Marty Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) visit Nick’s Cafe while investigating a terror suspect in the Season 3 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Patriot Acts,” which aired in 2012.

That same year, on yet another procedural, Detective Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) counsels Officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) about not getting emotionally attached to cases while standing in line at Nick’s in the Season 4 episode of Southland titled “Risk.”

The diner is the site of an armed robbery in DJ Snake and Justin Bieber’s 2016 “Let Me Love You” music video, which you can watch here.

Fellow stalker Geoff, of the 90210Locations website, informed me that the same year Ian Gallagher (Cameron Monaghan) and Lip Gallagher (Jeremy Allen White) lunched outside of Nick’s in the Season 7 episode of Shameless titled “Swipe, F***, Leave.”

As I mentioned earlier, Nick’s also appeared on Bosch. In Season 3’s “Clear Shot,” which aired in 2017, Detective Santiago Robertson (Paul Calderon) discusses a recent case with Terry Drake (Barry Shabaka Henley) at the eatery.

And in yet another police-related production, Ponch (Michael Peña) meets some local CHP officers at Nick’s in the 2017 comedy CHIPS.

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: Nick’s Cafe, from the “House Mouses” episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, is located at 1300 Spring Street in Chinatown. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. The eatery closes at 3 p.m. each day, so please plan accordingly.

July 28, 2009July 27, 2009

Paco’s Tacos Cantina From Jerry Maguire

Last Friday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I spent an entire twelve hours stalking together!!! Yes, you read that right – an ENTIRE TWELVE HOURS!!! I’m not exaggerating!! The two of us literally drove from one end of L.A. to the other – we covered Pasadena, Redondo Beach, Eagle Rock, El Segundo, and even Santa Monica – and back again! It was FABULOUS! 🙂 One of the places at the top of our day’s stalking list was a little restaurant called Paco’s Tacos Cantina, which was featured in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire.

Mike discovered this location back in the ’90s. At the time he worked just a few blocks away from Paco’s and used to frequent the restaurant regularly for lunch. One day he noticed a poster of Jerry Maguire hanging on the wall (pictured above) and asked the owner about it. Well, it turns out that a pretty major scene from the movie had actually been filmed at the Cantina. So, of course, I made Mike take me there for lunch so I could stalk the place! 🙂

In the movie, Paco’s Tacos Cantina is the restaurant where Jerry Maguire, aka Tom Cruise, takes Dorothy Boyd, aka Renee Zellwegger, on their very first date. It is before that date that Jerry says one of my very favorite movie lines ever – well, besides “You had me at hello”, of course! 🙂 When Dorothy walks out in her LBD (that’s Little Black Dress for all of you guys out there), Jerry says, “Wow! That’s more than a dress. That’s an Audrey Hepburn movie!” LOL Love it! Please excuse the above photographs as I wasn’t able to take them from the exact same angles from which the scene was filmed.

And, of course, Mike and I just had to sit next to the fish tank like Jerry and Dorothy did in the scene. 🙂

I HIGHLY recommend stalking Paco’s Tacos! As I’ve mentioned before, I am a VERY picky eater, but I have to say that I absolutely loved Paco’s! The tacos were to die for – with all white meat chicken, no less!!!! And the chips and homemade tortillas were pretty amazing, too! While there, Mike and I got to meet Paco himself, who really could not have been nicer! He was even sweet enough to pose for a couple of pictures with us. 🙂 Paco told us that his Cantina was also featured numerous times in the ’70s television series CHiPs.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Paco’s Tacos Cantina, aka the Jerry Maguire restaurant, is located at 4141 South Centinela Avenue in Los Angeles. You can visit their website here.