The Figueroa Hotel from “90210”

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A couple of years ago, while perusing through an issue of AAA’s Westways Magazine, I spotted an article about Southern California’s nicest most reasonably –priced hotels and, because I was dating the Grim Cheaper at the time, I figured I’d best read through it.  Of the ten properties featured in the column, the Moroccan-themed Figueroa Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles immediately caught my eye and I dragged the GC right on over there to grab a cocktail just a few nights later.  The two of us pretty much fell in love with the place’s unique architecture and exotic décor on sight and have returned there a couple of times over the years to grab a drink or just hang out.  So imagine my surprise when the Fig, as it is commonly referred to, popped up on fave show 90210 as the Cabo San Lucas resort where Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), and the rest of the West Beverly gang spent their Spring Break in the recently-aired Season 3 episode titled “The Enchanted Donkey”.  Because I had not taken many pictures of the hotel during our past visits, I immediately added the place to my Re-Stalk list and dragged the GC right on back over there this past weekend.

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The Figueroa Hotel, which was designed by Stanton, Reed, & Hibbard at a cost of $1.25 million, was originally built in 1925 by the YWCA as a hotel/residence for businesswomen and their families.  Shortly following the Great Depression, the 12-story, 409-room structure was turned into a public hotel and it later served a brief stint as housing for troops during World War II.  The property fell into disrepair in the years following, until the late 1990s when it was purchased by Uno Thimansson, who immediately set about renovating the place, giving it a Moroccan theme.  And, let me tell you, he did an incredible job.  Walking through the hotel’s front doors, one is quickly transported from the busy streets of Downtown L.A. into a Casablanca-esque oasis.  Every time I am there, I half expect to see Sam tickling the ivories while Bogie puffs away on a cigarette somewhere nearby.  True to Westways Magazine’s word, despite the hotel’s fabulous ambiance and location directly across the street from Staples Center and L.A. Live, it still boasts extremely reasonable room rates.  And while the reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp are quite mixed, in this stalker’s never-to-be-humble opinion, the Figueroa looks like an extremely cool place to vacation.  Not to mention that the poolside bar is something of a celebrity hotspot, with everyone from Keanu Reeves to members of Depeche Mode dropping by for a cocktail throughout the years.

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The Figueroa Hotel was used quite extensively in “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210 in which it masqueraded as the “Hotel Burro Encantado” (aka the Enchanted Donkey Resort) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Areas of the hotel which appeared in the episode include the main entrance;

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the poolside bar, where Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) met up for drinks with former schoolmate Tripp Wallison (aka Alan Ritchson);

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and the pool area . . .

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. . . behind which producers had an image of the Cabo San Lucas skyline superimposed.  In reality, the Figueroa Hotel pool boasts views of several massive Downtown L.A. skyscrapers.  I was literally cracking up taking the above photograph while envisioning  the way the pool appeared on 90210Winking smile

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And while I had assumed that one of the hotel’s real life hallways had been used in the episode, the GC and I ventured upstairs to take a look at one and, as you can see above, it does not at all match up to what appeared onscreen.  It seems that producers built a fake hallway set for the filming.

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I had also assumed that some of the Figueroa’s actual rooms had been used in the episode, as well, but as you can see on the hotel’s website, that does not seem to be the case.

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The super-nice front desk clerk also informed us that the Figueroa’s lobby restaurant, the Fig Street Café, stood in for a supposed Cuba-area eatery in the Season 7 episode of fave show CSI: Miami titled “The Deluca Motel”.

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The hotel was also featured in the Season 4 episode of Chuck titled “Church Versus the Seduction Impossible” as the Marrakesh, Morocco-area hotel where Chuck Bartowski (aka Zachary Levi), Colonel John Casey (aka Adam Baldwin), and Sarah Walker (aka Yvonne Strahovski) were sent to rescue Roan Montgomery (aka John Larroquette).

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In the Season 2 episode of Make It or Break It titled “Worlds Apart”, the Fig stood in for the Rio de Janeiro-area hotel where Kaylie Cruz (aka Josie Loren) and the rest of her teammates stayed during the World Gymnastics Championships.

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In the Season 2 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Harm’s Way”, the Figueroa stood in for the Blue Oasis Hotel in Sana’a, Yemen, where Sam Hanna (aka LL Cool J) and G. Callen (aka Chris O’Donnell) stayed while trying to capture the leader of a terrorist group.

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One of the hotel’s real life rooms – one that the GC, randomly enough, just so happened to snap a photograph of – also appeared in the episode.

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I find it highly ironic that NCIS: Los Angeles filmed at the Figueroa as I have always thought that the hotel’s lobby bears a striking resemblance to the NCIS headquarters on the series.

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Some filming of the yet-to-be-released James Cameron flick Battleship, which stars Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, and Brooklyn Decker, also took place at the Figueroa Hotel this past February.

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And on a Matt Lanter side-note – a couple of weeks ago the cutie actor tweeted that he was going to be featured on the cover of the June 2011 issue of Metro Magazine.  Well, I took one look at that tweet and ran right over to Vroman’s Bookstore to purchase a copy.  Sadly though, Allen, the man who runs the Vroman’s newsstand (and yes, I know his name because I shop there FAR too often) told me that not only did the store not carry Metro Magazine, but it was apparently not even available from their distributors.  So I marched on home and started searching for the publication online, but came up completely empty-handed.  I could not find it anywhere and I am a pretty good Googler!  Over the past few weeks I have also visited several newsstands and bookstores in search of the mag, but no one, it seemed, had ever even heard of it.  Flash forward to last night when the GC came home from work with the above pictured laminated photograph in his hands.  My birthday is today and he has been gifting me with little presents every night this week.  Last night’s present, as it so happens, was a copy of Matt Lanter’s issue of Metro Magazine.  As it turns out, Metro is published in the Philippines and not only was the GC able to figure that out, but he somehow managed to track down a man in the Philippines via eBay whom he had go purchase a copy for him!  It is currently being shipped to me and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on it!  When the man heard why the GC had gone to such trouble to purchase the magazine, he said that he had inspired him to be a better husband.  How cute is that????  Best.present.ever!  Thank you, GC!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Figueroa Hotel, from “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210, is located at 939 South Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  You can visit the Figueroa’s official website here.

The Hyatt Huntington Beach from “90210”

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One location that I have been absolutely DYING to stalk for over a year and a half now is the Hyatt Huntington Beach Hotel, the spot which stands in for the Beverly Hills Beach Club, the regular hangout of Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord) and the rest of the West Bev gang, each week on fave show 90210.  So when the Grim Cheaper and I were discussing where to spend his upcoming birthday weekend a couple of weeks back, I casually mentioned the Hyatt as a possible destination and, amazingly enough, despite the hotel’s hefty nightly room cost, he readily agreed!  Yay!  So the two of us, along with my parents, headed down there bright and early this past Saturday morning.  And, let me tell you, I could NOT have been more excited!  I was literally bouncing out of my seat the entire drive from Pasadena down to the South Bay.

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Thankfully the hotel did not disappoint!  The Hyatt Huntington Beach is absolutely HUGE – I honestly don’t think I have ever in my life seen a hotel even remotely that big! – and features a retail plaza complete with a grocery store and coffee bar, spa grottos with 3 tucked away spa pools, 6 different on-site restaurants, a water playground for kids, over 100,000 square feet of meeting and event space;

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517 guest rooms (ours is pictured above);

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a large lagoon-style swimming pool;

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lush grounds with meandering koi ponds;

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several sparkling fountains;

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and a 20,000 square foot spa.

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For all of its grandiosity, though, there were a lot of small touches, as well, that gave the hotel an intimate feel; my personal favorite being the mini-outdoor living room that was tucked away in an alcove near our room.

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And on Sunday morning when it rained, the hotel put out umbrellas for guests to use.  Love it!

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The area of the hotel that I was most excited about seeing was the front entrance, which is used in establishing shots of the Beach Club each week.

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Pictured above is what the entry-way columns look like when not sporting the “Beverly Hills Beach Club” signs that are shown on the series. 

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Besides appearing weekly in establishing shots, filming has also taken place on location at the hotel on two different occasions.  The Hyatt was first used in the Season 2 episode of 90210  titled “New Beginnings”.  In that episode, filming took place at the front entrance of the hotel;

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in the main fountain area;

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and by the pool.

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And in the Season 3 episode titled ”Mother Dearest” filming took place once again at the hotel’s front entrance; 

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by the pool;

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outside of the spa;

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in one of the exterior courtyards;

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on the bridge that connects the hotel to the beach;

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and in the beach parking lot located directly across the street from the hotel.

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None of the interior filming of the Beverly Hills Beach Club takes place at the hotel, though.  Sadly, the interior of the Club is just a set that exists only on a soundstage at Manhattan Beach Studios where the series is lensed.

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But I was very excited to see some similarities between the interior of the Hyatt hotel and the Beach Club set.  As you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, the Hyatt has a set of three surfboards hanging on the wall behind the concierge desk, much like is the case with the check-in desk at the Beach Club!  I cannot tell you how excited I was to spot those surfboards!

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There is also an outdoor fire pit located in the patio area of Mankota’s Grill, the hotel’s poolside restaurant, that looks very similar to the Beach Club’s outdoor fire pit.

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A SUPER nice concierge that we spoke with while checking out also let us know that in the Season 3 episode of Chuck titled “Chuck Versus the Beard” the Hyatt stood in for the Malibu Vista Hotel where Devon Woodcomb (aka Ryan McPartlin) and Ellie Bartowski (aka Sarah Lancaster) vacationed . . .

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. . . and where Sarah Walker (aka Yvonne Strahovski) and Daniel Shaw (aka Brandon Roth) were sent to track down a spy.

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The Hyatt Huntington Beach also stood in for the Turks & Caicos hotel where married CIA agents Steven and Samantha Bloom (aka Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw respectively) conducted a sting operation in the Season 1 episode of Undercovers titled “Instructions”. 

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According to a column on the Surf City News website, a large green screen was set up at the north end of the pool during the filming of Undercovers so that it could be made to look as if the hotel was located on the beach.  In reality, the Hyatt is located across the street from the beach.

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The hotel’s Red Chair Lounge also stood in for a Caracas bar in the “Instructions” episode.

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And one of its exterior hallways and courtyards were also used.

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The Hyatt was also featured in an Orbitz commercial in which the Orbitz hovercraft is shown landing in a hotel pool.

Orbitz Commercial filmed at the Hyatt Huntington Hotel

You can watch that commercial by clicking above.

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The concierge also told us that the Hyatt was featured in the Season 3 episode of My Fair Wedding titled “Monopoly Bride” in which wedding planner David Tutera coordinates a Monopoly-themed wedding for a board-game obsessed bride and groom.  And she informed us that a production with Hills star Audrina Patridge was filmed by the hotel’s pool, but she was not sure exactly what production it was.  And finally she told us that the hotel will be featured as a venue in an upcoming episode of Tori & Dean: sTORIbook Weddings, which is set to premiere on the Oxygen Channel on April 6th.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Hyatt Huntington Beach, aka the Beverly Hills Beach Club from 90210, is located at 21500 Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.