Red Carpet Wine & Spirits from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

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A couple of weeks ago, a fellow stalker named Emily wrote a comment on my post about the Weaver house from fave movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. in which she informed me that the liquor store that appeared in the flick was Red Carpet Wine & Spirits (what a great name!) in Glendale.  As fate would have it, I had been looking for that wine shop for what seemed like ages and could NOT have been more excited to read Emily’s comment.  So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a few days later and, amazingly enough, our visit turned out to be one of the best stalks of my entire “career”!  Thank you, Emily!

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As soon as we set foot in Red Carpet Wine & Spirits, owner H.K. Hedlund walked up to us to ask if he could help us find anything.  When I explained the reason behind our visit, he immediately directed us to the exact spot where filming took place and then proceeded to fill us in on tons of behind-the-scenes information.  (And yes, I was definitely pinching myself!)  H.K. ended up chatting with us for well over an hour, showed us photographs he had taken of the Crazy, Stupid, Love. shoot, dished on some of the celebs who have been spotted in his shop over the years, and told me that I could take all of the pictures of the place that I wanted.  Um, yes please!  As you can imagine, I was in absolute heaven!

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Red Carpet Wine & Spirits was originally founded in 1964 by a man named John Vincenti.  Twenty-three years later it was purchased by a retailer named David Dobbs, who, after deciding he wanted to move to Bakersfield, put the place on the market once again in late 2006.  Hearing the shop was for sale, many of Dobb’s longtime employees quit and, in a twist of fate, H.K., who at the time owned an importing and wholesale beer business, was brought on to help out during the busy holiday season.  H.K. ended up liking the place so much that he purchased it, along with his wife, Lisa, in October 2007.  After taking over, the duo, who both grew up in nearby Arcadia, added an adorable wine-tasting room (pictured below) featuring three Enomatic wine dispensers which offer 2-ounce pours for as little as $2.  Red Carpet, which boasts a huge and loyal following, hosts numerous onsite events in the wine room each year, including a book signing in July 2010 which featured Jennifer Aniston’s private chef, Jewels Elmore, who authored “The Family Chef: Make Your Kitchen the Heart of your Family”.  So incredibly cool!  The wine-tasting room can also be booked out for private parties which run from $10 to $20 per person.

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Red Carpet, which WineSeller Magazine deemed “One of California’s most renowned wine shops”, currently carries over 1,200 different wines, 1,500 different spirits and 800 different beers, procured from all over the world.  Unlike most run-of-the-mill wine stores, the oenophiles who work there actually sample every single libation that lines their shelves, so when I asked for a dry, average-priced champagne recommendation, H.K. was able to speak from experience.  The champagne he directed me towards, which I enjoyed on my birthday, was fabulous!  H.K. prides himself on his staff’s superior customer service, which I was lucky enough to witness firsthand.  When I inquired about the most recent vintage of Marilyn Merlot wine (which you may remember me blogging about here), H.K. informed me that they were sold out, but that he would track down a bottle for me and deliver it right to my door.  When I told him that was not necessary, being that I live about ten minutes from the shop and could easily come by to pick it up, he insisted and informed me that home delivery was just one of the many services that he and his team offer, free of charge mind you!  Red Carpet is an amazing wine shop and I honestly cannot more highly recommend stalking it – or throwing a party there!

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In Crazy, Stupid, Love., Red Carpet Wine & Spirits was where Jacob Palmer (cutie Ryan Gosling – sigh!) and Hannah (Emma Stone) shopped for wine before heading to Hannah’s mom’s house for dinner.  According to H.K., one of the movie’s producers is a long-time customer of the shop, which is how it came to be used in the flick.

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It was while there that Jacob made a phone call to his friend Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) and confided in him that he had met a girl who was a “game-changer”.  So I , of course, just had to imitate Jacob talking on the phone while I was there.  Smile

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H.K. and Lisa even appeared briefly in the background of the scene!  How lucky are they?!?  You can check out some fabulous photographs that H.K. took during the filming here.

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H.K. informed us that Red Carpet Wine had also appeared in the Season 5 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Crime Doesn’t Pay”, in the scene in which Dave Williams (Neal McDonough), while shopping for wine with his new wife, Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), ran into Father Drance (Don Moss), the priest who performed his then-wife and daughter’s funeral a few years prior.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Red Carpet Wine & Spirits, from Crazy, Stupid, Love., is located at 400 East Glenoaks Boulevard in Glendale.  You can visit the store’s official website here.

The El Torito Grill from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

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As I have mentioned numerous times before on this blog, this stalker has absolutely obsessed herself silly over the movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. So when I discovered, thanks to the flick’s exceedingly extensive production notes, that a couple of scenes had been filmed at the El Torito Grill in the Sherman Oaks Galleria, I immediately added the place to my “To-Stalk” list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to grab some lunch this past weekend.  And I could not have been more excited to do so because if there is one thing this stalker loves more than Crazy, Stupid, Love., it’s Mexican food!  And I would just like to mention here how much I appreciate the abundant efforts the author (or authors) of the CSL production notes put into writing them.  I am currently searching for the gorgeous bar that was featured in the opening scene of 2003’s Bad Santa and am having absolutely no luck whatsoever in finding it.  If only the filmmakers had followed Crazy, Stupid, Love.’s example and published some decent production notes, I would have been able to stalk the place in time for Christmas.  Hmph!  But I digress.

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Oddly enough, when the Grim Cheaper and I first ventured into the El Torito Grill, it did not look familiar to me at all.  In Crazy, Stupid, Love., the place appeared to be fairly small and intimate, but, as you can see above, in real life it is very large and consists of one huge open room with a smaller anteroom off to the side.  The restaurant was so unrecognizable, in fact, that I had to ask the bartender to pinpoint the exact area where filming took place so that I could take the proper photographs.  It was just slightly disheartening – I mean, am I losing my touch here?  Winking smile

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And while unrecognizable from Crazy, Stupid, Love., I am very happy to report that the El Torito Grill serves up some FABULOUS food!  I ordered the Tableside Grilled Fajitas Salad, which was mixed right in front me, and, ohmygod, was it delicious!  Honestly one of the best salads that I have ever had in my entire life!  Yum, yum, yum!  And contrary to what has been reported in numerous Yelp reviews, El Torito Grill does in fact serve chips and salsa, both of which are also fantastic!  Man, I am in love with this place!  And I am not the only one – such stars as Paula Abdul, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, and Miley Cyrus have all been spotted dining there at one time or another.

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The El Torito Grill in Sherman Oaks, which is made to seem as if it is located inside of the Westfield Century City Shopping Mall, shows up twice in Crazy, Stupid, Love. It first pops up in the scene in which Richard (aka Josh Groban) takes his girlfriend “Hannah Banana” (aka Emma Stone) and her friends and co-workers out for a pre-bar-exam dinner.  It is during this scene that one of my very favorite lines from the entire movie is uttered.  When Richard announces that he is also going to host Hannah’s post-bar-exam celebratory dinner at the El Torito Grill and that it is going to be a “special night”, Hannah turns to her best friend Liz (aka the hilarious Liza Lapira) to ask if she thinks Richard is planning on proposing to which Liz responds, “At the El Torito Grill?  God, I hope not!”  LOL LOL LOL  LOVE it!

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The El Torito Grill next appears in the scene featuring the aforementioned post-bar-exam celebratory dinner, during which Richard does not, in fact, propose, leaving Hannah in a hilarious state of shock.

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The exterior of the restaurant is also shown in that scene.

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Both of Hannah’s dinner scenes were shot in the very front of the El Torito Grill, just behind the main entrance, at a large table that is, for some odd reason, usually surrounded by a sheer circular curtain.  I would say that the curtain contains a VIP section of some sort, but because it is completely transparent and VIP sections are usually private, that would not make much sense.  Anyway, for the filming, which according to the Before the Trailer website took place on April 26th and 27th of 2010, producers removed the curtain and also attached some multi-color sombreros to the walls.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The El Torito Grill from Crazy, Stupid, Love. is located at 15301 Ventura Boulevard, inside of the Sherman Oaks Galleria, in Sherman Oaks.  You can visit the chain’s official website here.

The Skyline Residence – Jacob’s House from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

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Back in August, I received an email from a fellow stalker named Brandon who wanted to let me know that he had tracked down the ultra-modern abode where Jacob Palmer (aka Ryan Gosling) lived in Crazy, Stupid, Love.  At the time I had yet to see the movie, but added the address to my To-Stalk list anyway and am so glad that I did because, as I have mentioned more than a few times before in recent posts, I have since become just a wee bit obsessed with the flick . . . and its cutie leading man.  So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to the Hollywood Hills to stalk the place this past Saturday afternoon.

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Due to a slight snafu with my GPS, though, I was unable to get to the actual house and could only snap a few pictures of it from afar.  While I always research locations to make sure that they are accessible to the public before leaving to stalk them and while Jacob’s house was visible on Google Street View, for some reason, my navigational system just could not seem to get me there.

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It was not until I returned home that evening that I was able to figure out why.  As you can see in the above aerial view, Skyline Drive, where Jacob’s house is located, dead-ends at a certain point and then picks up again a short distance later.  My GPS, thinking Skyline Drive was a through-street, directed me to the wrong end of it, where the abode was nowhere to be found.

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So the next morning, paper map in hand, I dragged the GC back on out to the Hollywood Hills to re-stalk the property.  As you can see above, it was POURING rain at the time, which I was none too happy about.  You see, there is nothing in this world that this stalker hates more than rain, except for maybe Kyle Richards.  Winking smile But once I remembered that it was also raining in the scene in Crazy, Stupid, Love. that took place at Jacob’s house, me being there during a downpour seemed quite apropos.  The GC could not stop laughing at me posing for the above picture, though, as he said that I looked as if I was dressed for “the tundra”.  Hmph!  I happen to like my rain coat, thankyouverymuch!

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In real life, Jacob’s house is known as the Skyline Residence and it was built in 2007 by Hagy Belzberg, of Belzberg Architects, to be used as his private residence.  According to this fabulous Architectural Record blog post, several previous owners had tried to build a home on the narrow plot of land on which the Skyline Residence now stands, but had not had any luck in securing permits.  Belzberg said, “I decided that instead of trying to fight the topography I would work with it and create a very narrow building that sits lightly on the land with minimal to no grading.”  The architect’s design called for a 20- by 120-foot structure made out of concrete, glass, marble, and wood.

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As you can see above, the finished product is nothing short of magnificent!  As Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, would say, it is “amazeballs”!  Love it, love it, love it!  The property is pretty much my dream abode.

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From the view pictured above, which I got off of the home’s former real estate website, the dwelling is extremely reminiscent of the Stahl House, or Case Study House #22, which I blogged about way back in March of 2009.  The Skyline Residence, which according to fave website CurbedLA was sold to new owners for a cool $5.995 million on December 21, 2009, boasts 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, a 1-bedroom, 1-bath detached guest house, a 65-foot long infinity pool, a spa, floor-to-ceiling glass windows, a large, open kitchen and dining area, outdoor terraces, sweeping views, and a whopping 5,200 square feet of living space!

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My favorite aspect of the house, though, has to be the outdoor movie deck, which sits atop the garage and in which films are projected onto a wall of the detached guest house.  How amazing is that????  A girl I was friends with in high school had an actual full-sized movie theatre located inside of her home and at the time I thought it was just about the coolest thing ever, but I can honestly say that this pretty much blows that right out of the water!  I mean have you ever seen anything more incredible???  You can check out some more fabulous interior and exterior photographs of the Skyline Residence on The Contemporist website here.

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Jacob’s house only shows up briefly in Crazy, Stupid, Love. in one of the best scenes of the movie in which Jacob brings Hannah (aka Emma Stone) home and tries to seduce her by showing her his “big move”.  Of the property, the Crazy, Stupid, Love. production notes state, “Jacob’s home also reflected his current lifestyle.  To serve as his stunning, if stark, bachelor pad, the filmmakers chose the renowned Skyline Residence designed by internationally recognized architect Hagy Belzberg.  Located off the Sunset Strip in the Hollywood Hills, the glass-enclosed, ultra-modern home is considered a prime example of world-class contemporary architecture.  As no one was residing in the home at the time, it was easy for [production designer William] Arnold and his team to make the few necessary adjustments.  ‘We just removed what we didn’t need, and put in a few of our own signature furnishings, leaving it somewhat austere,’ he says.  ‘Jacob’s house is a comment on the character’s own emptiness, really.  He rattles around in there; it’s very impersonal, yet very tasteful.’”

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The main area of the property used in the film was the living room and it appears as if the home’s hanging Fireorb fireplace was removed for the shoot, which was a good call as I personally think the space looks much better without it.

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The kitchen area also made a very brief appearance during the montage scene towards the end of the movie.

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A photograph of that kitchen is pictured above.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Brandon for finding this location!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Skyline Residence, aka Jacob’s house from Crazy, Stupid, Love., is located at 8520 Skyline Drive in the Hollywood Hills.  A great view of the property can be seen from Crest View Drive, just south of where it meets Skyline Drive.  As I mentioned previously, Skyline Drive dead-ends at a certain point and then picks up again a short distance later.  Because of that, my GPS took me to the wrong location when I inputted the address “8520 Skyline Drive”.  If you have the same problem, I would suggest inputting the intersection of Skyline Drive and Greenvalley Road into your navigational system and then following Skyline Drive west until it dead-ends.  Jacob’s residence is the last house on the east side of the street.

Jessica’s House from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

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Another Crazy, Stupid, Love. location that I stalked recently was the residence where the Riley family – babysitter Jessica (aka Analeigh Tipton) and her parents, Bernie (aka John Carroll Lynch) and Claire (aka Beth Littleford) – lived.  And I just have to say here that now that the flick has been released on DVD, I have watched it about 100 times!  OK, OK, I am exaggerating slightly, but I do have a serious problem!  If anyone out there knows of a support group for Crazy, Stupid, Love. addiction, please, please let me know!  But I digress.  Anyway, I was informed of this particular location thanks to a helpful Crazy, Stupid, Love. crewmember and, even though it appeared only briefly, because I thought Analeigh Tipton was absolutely phenomenal in the movie, I just had to go stalk it.  Truth be told, though, every actor in Crazy, Stupid, Love. was phenomenal!  In most movies there are certain roles in which an actor seems to be perfectly cast, but in the case of Crazy, Stupid, Love., everyone – right on down to the bit players – seemed tailor-made for their role.  If only there were Academy Awards for casting!

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In Crazy, Stupid, Love., the Riley house first appears in the scene in which Cal Weaver (aka Steve Carell) drops Jessica off after an evening of babysitting and she tells him that his wife is “bat-sh*t crazy” for wanting a divorce.

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The abode next shows up in the scene in which Cal’s 13-year-old son, Robbie (aka Jonah Bobo), delivers some second-hand flowers to Jessica’s front door, while she is making an, ahem, present for Cal.

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And lastly, the home was used in the scene in which Bernie finds out about Jessica’s present for Cal.  I do not want to say anything else about that particular scene as I do not want to spoil the movie for those who have yet to see it.

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In real life, the Riley home, which was built in 1947, is absolutely adorable and boasts a whopping 7 bedrooms, 4 baths, and 3,875 square feet of living space.

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And while I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the house was also used in the flick, I could not find any interior photographs online with which to verify my hunch.

Analeigh Tipton from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” on “America’s Next Top Model”

On an Analeigh Tipton side-note – while researching this post, I discovered that the actress starred in the Eleventh Season of America’s Next Top Model, during which she placed Third.  You can watch a clip of her on the show by clicking above.  As you can see, she is much more mature, confident, and wise than the character she played in Crazy, Stupid, Love. Like I said, the woman is phenomenal!

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Jessica’s house from Crazy, Stupid, Love. is located at 2564 Boulder Road in Altadena.

The Weaver House from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

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Back in August, on the recommendation of my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. and I can honestly say that it was one of the best movies I have seen all year.  In fact, I might even go so far as to say that it was one of the best movies I have seen ever!  And while I have long thought that Ryan Gosling is one of the most gifted actors of our generation, he entered a whole new level in Crazy, Stupid, Love. and blew all of his past performances right out of the water!  The guy is simply phenomenal!  And can you say “heartthrob”?!  I also absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Emma Stone and she, too, was nothing short of fabulous.  If you have yet to see the movie, I cannot more highly recommend doing so!  Like now!  Stop reading this post, in fact, and go right out and rent it!  Seriously!  Anyway, because I loved the flick so much, I could absolutely NOT wait for it to come out on DVD  – which it finally did last week – so that I could start tracking down some of its locations.  And one of the first that I found, thanks to a very helpful crew member, was the residence where the Weaver family lived.  So I ran right out to stalk it – Grim Cheaper in tow, of course – just a few days later.

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In Crazy, Stupid, Love., recently-separated Emily Weaver (aka Julianne Moore) and her two children, Robbie (aka Jonah Bobo) and Molly (aka Joey King), live in the two-story Anywhere, U.S.A.-style house pictured above.

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The backyard was the area of the property that actually appeared most often in the flick, most notably during Cal Weaver’s (aka Steve Carell’s) late-night gardening sessions.  According to the Crazy, Stupid, Love. production notes, of the residence, production designer William Arnold said, “We were really lucky to find that house, which had this beautiful back sun porch. The owners graciously let us tear down their old glass doors and put in windows and doors that opened the house up to the backyard, lending itself to Cal’s late-night ‘visits’ to his garden. He could see almost all the way through the house, but was, tellingly, on the outside looking in.”

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The backyard also appeared in my very favorite scene from the movie, in which Cal’s surprise for Emily goes a bit haywire.  I will not say anymore than that, as I do not want to spoil the scene for those who have yet to see the movie – and if that is the case, then you really should not be reading this post!  You should be out renting Crazy, Stupid, Love. like I told you to before!  Winking smile

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The real life interior of the house was also used in the flick.  Amazingly, according to the production notes, almost all of Crazy, Stupid, Love. was filmed on location at actual sites.  Only two sets were constructed for use in the movie – Cal’s post-separation apartment and Plus, the bar where Jacob Palmer (aka Ryan Gosling) taught Cal the finer points of seducing women – which I found shocking!

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In real life, the 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,270-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1949 and sits on over half an acre of land, looks much the same in person as it did onscreen, except for the cement front walkway, which appears to have been swapped out for a stone one during the filming.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Weaver residence from Crazy, Stupid, Love. is located at 2002 Minoru Drive in Altadena.