Downtown L.A. – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 10, 2020January 3, 2020

Ugo Café from “The Morning Show”

The Season 1 finale of The Morning Show might have been one of the finest hours of television ever created! It left me equal parts heartbroken, disgusted, and hopeful, with the last few minutes propelling me out of my seat, literally jumping for joy and teeming with spit and vinegar, ready to take on the world! It was a whirlwind of emotion, to say the least. I was also ecstatic to see Ugo café, yet another location I previously stalked, pop up onscreen. I learned of the DTLA eatery’s use on the freshman Apple TV+ series a while back thanks to an anonymous reader who works in the area and witnessed the filming. So I, of course, had to pop by while in town for a doctor appointment for my dad shortly before Thanksgiving.

[ad]

Ugo is a relative newcomer to the DTLA restaurant scene.

The charming coffee shop opened in early 2016 in a West 6th Street space that formerly housed a casual diner named Bruno Cafe.

Its sister eatery in Culver City has been an area staple since 2006, though. Per Ugo’s website, that location is “the only Italian restaurant on the westside of Los Angeles that is VPN certified for authentic Neapolitan pizza.” For those not well-versed in all things Neapolitan, such certification has only been granted to 94 spots in the entire U.S. and guarantees the pizza offerings are “prepared and served according to traditional standards with authentic ingredients. The same way the first pizza was created hundreds of years ago in Naples, Italy.”

The DTLA outpost offers Italian-inspired bites, including fresh-baked pastries, paninis made in-house, salads, pasta (they even have gluten-free noodles!), pizza, soups, coffees, teas, and homemade gelato, which is crafted daily on the premises.

Though I only popped by for a quick looksie and did not get to sample any of the fare, Ugo is an adorable little spot that seems a perfect addition to the neighborhood. Just steps from several hotels, including the Millennium Biltmore, Hilton Checkers, and Westin Bonaventure, not to mention countless office buildings, it makes for an inviting pit stop. And it does have a very New York feel to it, so it is no surprise that it wound up on the NYC-set The Morning Show.

It is at Ugo that Chip Black (Mark Duplass) brings his assistant, Rena (Victoria Tate), in on the plan to stage a secret on-air interview with Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell) in the series’ finale, titled “The Interview.” Only the exterior of the restaurant is featured onscreen, though the interior is quite visible through the windows behind Chip and Rena throughout the segment.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Ugo popped up onscreen again in other productions in the months to come. Who knows, it may even feature in the second season of The Morning Show, which, thank goodness, has been given the green light!

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: Ugo, from “The Interview” episode of The Morning Show, is located at 502 West 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

December 9, 2019April 23, 2020

611 Place from “The Morning Show”

I hope y’all aren’t sick of The Morning Show locations yet, cause I’ve got a few more up my sleeve, namely the site that portrays UBA Studios, where the titular show-within-the-show is filmed on the new Apple TV+ series. At first blush, I thought the locale was most likely in New York, where the program is set and partially filmed. But once I identified the Starbucks at 6th and Grand in downtown L.A. as the spot where Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) is invited to a birthday party in episode 4, “No One’s Gonna Harm You, Not While I’m Around,” I quickly realized that the UBA scenes were lensed right across the street at a towering structure known as 611 Place. Fortunately, I happened to be in DTLA just a few days after my discovery, so I popped by to check it out.

[ad]

Constructed as the headquarters for Crocker-Citizens Bank in 1969, the building originally went by the name Crocker-Citizens Plaza.

The formidable modernist structure was designed by architect William Pereira, who also gave us Fox Plaza (aka Nakatomi Plaza from Die Hard), Farralone (aka the former Frank Sinatra estate), and the Disneyland Hotel.

The 42-story cross-shaped tower, which sits atop a four-level block base, boasts vertical steel beaming, 715,000 square feet of office and retail space, a marble-clad lobby, and a ground-floor bank complete with a vault.

At 620 feet, Crocker-Citizens Plaza was the tallest building in Los Angeles at the time of its completion (and only the second to surpass the height of City Hall), a record it held briefly until ARCO Plaza (now City National Plaza) was constructed in 1972.

When Crocker-Citizens Bank vacated the locale in 1983, it was purchased by AT&T and renamed AT&T Center, though many referred to it (and still refer to it, in fact) as the AT&T Building.

AT&T’s tenure ended in 1999, at which point the Chetrit Group, a New York-based development firm, acquired the building and it was re-named once again, this time to 611 Place, in honor of its 611 West 6th Street address.

Per the Urbanize Los Angeles website, the upper floors have been mostly vacant for a decade and, while Chetrit is said to have obtained entitlements way back in 2007 to transform the office spaces into condos, those plans have yet to come to fruition. When I was stalking the place, though, I saw plenty of people coming and going from the elevators, making their way through the large lobby, so I am not sure how empty the building actually is. Regardless, filming is definitely one way the site is bringing in revenue.

611 Place repeatedly pops up as UBA Studios on The Morning Show.

The series makes use of the building’s Grand Avenue side.

Unfortunately, a UPS truck was parked right in front of the Grand Avenue entrance when I attempted to take a matching shot of the screen capture below, so Google Street View imagery will have to do.

It is not hard to see how 611 Place wound up on The Morning Show as it does very much have the look and feel of a New York building, especially with its brass revolving door which Bradley, Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) are regularly seen entering and exiting.

Some CGI trickery was employed to add to the building’s NYC feel in episode 4, “That Woman.” As you can see, imagery of the iconic Cartier Mansion on Fifth Avenue was superimposed in the background of a scene taking place outside of 611 Place.

The special effects team wasn’t very thorough, though, because seconds later, the Edwards & Wildey Building, the actual structure located in that spot, is clearly visible where Cartier stood just moments before.

The lobby of 611 Place also regularly appears on The Morning Show.

The friendly security guard on duty during my stalk was nice enough to allow me to snap interior photos of the lobby and even pointed out which areas of it were used! As you can see below, some turnstiles were added to the premises for the shoot, as were sconces above the elevator.

The interior of the actual studio where the show-within-the-show is shot was nothing more than a set built inside of a soundstage on the Sony lot in Culver City.

611 Place is actually a longtime screen star.

Way back in 1973, William Dorn (Chuck Connors) set off a bomb outside of the building, killing himself in the process, at the end of The Police Connection, aka The Mad Bomber.

611 Place served as the headquarters of MacGregor Oil in the 1983 drama Uncommon Valor.

That same year, it popped up as the office building where Caroline Butler (Teri Garr) worked in the comedy Mr. Mom.

Pinball’s (Dave Chappelle) body is tossed from a plane and lands on a car in front of 611 Place in the 1997 thriller Con Air.

It is seen briefly as the casualty of an earthquake in the 2000 disaster flick Epicenter.

The now vacant bank space on the building’s lower level is where Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) heads to empty his safety deposit box in 2003’s Matchstick Men.

Leland Van Lew (Bryan Brown) base jumps off the neighboring KPMG Center at 550 South Hope Street in the 2004 romcom Along Came Polly, giving audiences a brief view of 611 Place during his descent.

And it recently popped up as the FBI office Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) and Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector) visited in the Season 6 episode of Bosch titled “Good People on Both Sides.”

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: 611 Place, aka UBA Studios from The Morning Show, is located at 611 West 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles. The Starbucks featured in the series’ fifth episode, “No One’s Gonna Harm You, Not While I’m Around,” is right across the street at 523 West 6th Street.

December 6, 2019April 1, 2020

The Wolves from “The Morning Show”

My obsession with The Morning Show is no secret. I’ve blogged about its locations four times already (here, here, here, and here) and it isn’t even on its eighth episode! Readers have obviously taken note because I recently received an email from one who works in downtown Los Angeles informing me that some filming of the new Apple TV+ series had taken place at an area bar named The Wolves. One look at images of the watering hole had me absolutely drooling. Dark, old-timey and full of stained glass and rich woods, it was like no other spot I had ever seen. So to the top of my To-Stalk List it went and my mom and I headed out there just a few days later while in town for a doctor appointment for my dad. It wasn’t long after that The Wolves popped up on the series, appearing in the episodes titled “Open Waters” and “The Interview.”

[ad]

The spot that now houses The Wolves was previously home to the rather austere F Square Printing, which, per its signage, served as a copy/business center, art gallery, and karaoke venue all in one. The odd combo shop shuttered in 2013 and sat vacant for a time before being snapped up by restaurateurs Al Almeida, Daniel Salin, and Isaac Mejia, who saw potential in the stark storefront and spent the next two and a half years building it out to create an incredible Belle Époque-inspired bar. The two-story lounge opened its doors last September. Though the stunning exterior feels like a façade straight out of Paris, France, or perhaps Disneyland . . .

. . . the interior is the real sight to behold!

Knowing nothing of the site’s past prior to entering, I was convinced that the magical space, which is situated on the ground floor of the Alexandria Hotel, was some sort of historic ballroom. Owner Almeida, an incredibly friendly Jeremy Renner lookalike whom we had the great pleasure of chatting with, set me straight, though, regaling us with the complete lowdown on the design and background of the unique watering hole. It is incredible to think that just a few years ago it looked like this!

Though the Batchelder tiles that cover the floor are, amazingly, original to the space (you can even see them in this image of F Square Printing), the rest of The Wolves is the result of an incredible collation of antiques.

Inspired by turn-of-the-century Paris, Almeida, Salin, and Mejia sourced pieces from all over the globe to furnish the bar.

The mahogany booths that line the drinkery, authentic 1920s seating formerly situated in a restaurant in Seneca, New York, were a Craigslist find.

The mirrors situated at the back of each booth were also vintage discoveries.

The carved wooden doors are from Argentina circa 1890.

And the pièce de résistance, the dramatic domed ceiling, was an eBay score delivered in panels via flatbed truck that was procured from Paris, Illinois where it formerly canopied a train station.

Initially spanning 22 feet, to fit The Wolves’ 11-foot ceiling, the piece was split in half and the two sections installed adjacent to each other, forming a double arch atop the lounge’s main room.

The Wolves even boasts a secondary bar situated in the rear known as Le Neant (French for “the nothingness”), an intimate room cloaked in deep reds that is utilized for special events, as well as the many tastings and dinners hosted onsite.

Nothing about the bar is typical, not even the name, which is a nod to Martin Scorsese’s 2002 period drama Gangs of New York. Salin, a huge fan of the film, initially wanted to dub the watering hole in honor of one of the gangs portrayed in the story (my memory is failing me now – I’m going to blame the bubbly I consumed while speaking with Almeida – but I believe it was either the “Dead Rabbits” or the “Gopher Gang”), however the moniker just didn’t work for a saloon. So the owners brainstormed other animal names, eventually landing on “The Wolves.”

It is absolutely no surprise that the gorgeous bar found its way to the screen.

In the “Open Waters” episode of The Morning Show, Audra (Mindy Kaling) tries to poach Daniel Henderson (Desean Terry) for her own series over lunch at The Wolves.

The two journalists sit in one of the lounge’s antique booths in the scene.

And in the series season finale, Yanko Flores (Nestor Carbonell) drinks his troubles away at The Wolves after being dumped.

The Wolves was also featured in another recent Reese Witherspoon production! It is at the bar that a young Elena Richardson (AnnaSophia Robb) parties with her boyfriend Jamie Caplan (Luke Bracey) on their last night in Paris in 1976 in the Season 1 episode of Little Fires Everywhere titled “Duo.”

Per Almeida, a couple of photo shoots have also taken place at The Wolves and I have no doubt the bar will be popping up in many more productions in the near future.

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: The Wolves, from the “Open Waters” episode of The Morning Show, is located at 519 South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. It is open from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily. You can visit the bar’s official website here.

December 2, 2019November 28, 2019

The CalEdison from “The Morning Show”

L.A. never ceases to amaze! Case in point – the CalEdison. Built in 1931, the Art Deco masterpiece is not only a sight to behold, but its grand lobby is open to the public! Somehow though, I never knew about the place until last week when I was researching locations from The Morning Show.

[ad]

During my viewing of the new Apple TV+ series’ premiere episode, “In the Dark Night of the Soul It’s Always 3:30 in the Morning,” I became a bit mesmerized with what was said to be the Archer Gray Hotel in New York. With towering marble columns, ornate tile flooring, and intricate wrought-iron windows, the space was striking to say the least. Shocked I had never come across it in all my years of stalking, I immediately set out to track it down. Because The Morning Show is largely filmed in L.A., with only a few exteriors shot in NYC, I knew the Archer Gray had to be somewhere in SoCal. Its seemingly historic architecture led me to look first in the downtown area. But Google searches for “historic building,” “grand lobby,” and “marble columns” did not bring up images that even remotely resembled the place.

It was not until episode 5, “No One’s Going to Harm You, Not While I’m Around,” aired that I was able to pinpoint it. In a scene at the close of the episode, Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) attempts to secure the room number of her boss Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) from an uncooperative Archer Gray front desk clerk, during which a massive mural is visible behind her, as well as what appeared to be a coffee bar of some sort. Adding those elements to my search terms led me straight to The CalEdison, a historic office building in the heart of downtown. I was elated to discover upon researching the place further that it is open to the public! My parents just happened to be heading into L.A. a few days after my discovery and had booked a room at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, located right across the street from The CalEdison. So I, of course, tagged along and ran right over to stalk the building immediately upon check-in.

The 14-story structure originally served as the headquarters of Southern California Edison and was known, appropriately, as the Southern California Edison Building.

Designed by the Allison & Allison architecture firm (who also gave us the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles and UCLA’s Kerckhoff Hall), the property’s gorgeous exterior features a limestone and terracotta façade, bas-reliefs sculpted by artist Merrell Gage, and a towering two-story entry portico.

It is the interior that is the real stunner, though!

The expansive lobby boasts over 17 varieties of marble, 30-foot coffered ceilings, a mural painted by Hugo Ballin, and stunning friezes above each elevator.

Even the trash cans are elegant! And those building directories!

The CalEdison is more than just a pretty face, though. As the first seismically-retrofitted building in L.A., as well as the first to be electrically heated and cooled, it was incredibly technologically advanced.

Boasting 250,000 square feet of office space, The CalEdison cost a whopping $2.5 million to construct.

When SoCal Edison sold the place in 1972 in order to relocate to Rosemead, it was renamed One Bunker Hill. Its stellar architecture was mutilated in the decade that followed – its ceilings dropped, walls removed, and large fourth-floor patios enclosed with glass casings. I actually really like the look of the latter, which have been described as “greenhouse-like structures.” You can see what they looked like here. Thankfully, the lobby was left untouched during the renovations.

In October 2015, the grand building was bought by Hermes Investment Management of London, Limestone Investments and Rising Realty Partners for $92 million. The group renamed it The CalEdison and set about bringing the site back to its original glory, as well as renovating the many upstairs office spaces into creative work sites. The patio casings were also removed as part of the project. Though I wish those casings had been left intact, the rest of the work performed can only be described as perfection.

GreekOak Real Estate bought out both Hermes and Limestone earlier this year for $140 million, though Rising Realty continues to hold on to its share of the property.

While walking around the vast lobby, I couldn’t help but think how fabulous is it that this masterpiece exists and that it is open to the public for Angelinos and tourists alike to enjoy.

On The Morning Show, the Archer Gray Hotel is where network exec Cory checks in upon arriving in New York to deal with the fallout from the firing of Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell). Bradley also moves there in episode 5 after being relocated from The Standard, where she was initially put up. Only the lobby of the building is featured on the series. (My photo below is a little off on the angling, but shows the same area of The CalEdison as is pictured in the screen capture.)

Bradley’s room . . .

. . . as well as Corey’s are both just studio-built sets.

And the exterior of the Archer Gray Hotel is a building in New York that I have yet to identify.

The Morning Show is not CalEdison’s only claim to fame!

The building is also seen briefly in the 1953 noir The Bigamist in the scene in which Mr. Jordan (Edmund Gwenn) first arrives in L.A.

The property was used for interior shots of the office building Davey Osbourne (Henry Thomas) and Kim Gardener (Christina Nigra) try to infiltrate in 1984’s Cloak & Dagger.

Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle) gets arrested for robbing a bank at The CalEdison before being rescued by Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) in the 2001 thriller Ocean’s Eleven.

Jack Bauer (Keifer Sutherland) almost gets arrested there in the Season 8 episode of 24 titled “11:00am-12:00pm,” which aired in 2010.

That same year, the building served as the office of Victor Racine (Michael Ironside) in the Season 2 episode of Castle titled “Den of Thieves.”

Narcy (Paz Vega) heads to the bank on The CalEdison’s lower level to empty her dead husband’s safety deposit box in the 2015 Lifetime television movie Beautiful & Twisted.

During the second season of Big Little Lies, which aired in 2019, the offices of Scheper Kim & Harris LLP, located on CalEdison’s 12th floor, portrayed the office of lawyer Ira Farber (Denis O’Hare), as I detailed in this post. (I learned this tidbit thanks to a reader, but because only the 12th floor appeared in the episodes, I never took a look at images of the lobby or the rest of the building, which is why I was unfamiliar with it prior to trying to track down the Archer Gray.)

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: The CalEdison, aka the Archer Gray Hotel from The Morning Show, is located at 601 West 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles. The building’s lobby is open to the public from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.

November 27, 2019April 23, 2020

The Starbucks from “The Morning Show”

I love a good Starbucks location! I mean, what’s better than stalking and being able to pick up a great cup of coffee at the same time? So I was thrilled to recognize an outpost of the java giant while watching the fifth episode of The Morning Show, titled “No One’s Gonna Harm You, Not While I’m Around,” recently. As it turns out, the café is a place I’ve visited countless times over the years and even blogged about once back in 2013. Situated on the corner of West 6th Street and Grand Avenue in downtown L.A., the coffee shop is just steps from the Millennium Biltmore Hotel, where the Grim Cheaper and I regularly used to check in when seeking a staycation while living in Los Angeles. As fate would have it, my parents booked a room at the property just last week, so I, of course, tagged along in order to do a little Starbucks re-stalk.

[ad]

The Starbucks at 6th and Grand has been a staple of the neighborhood for more than a decade.

Before that, the space, situated in the southwest corner of the ground floor of the picturesque PacMutual building, housed a Grand Central Coffee outpost and then a Tully’s Coffee.

The Starbucks looks quite a bit different today than when I originally stalked it six years ago thanks to an extensive remodel that took place in late 2017 during which the interior was gutted, the front doors moved from the store’s south to west side, and the café expanded into the unit next door which formerly housed a deli.

The result is a massive, modern space with plenty of seating, a huge front counter, and wraparound windows.

I love the muted green color scheme and concrete design elements which give it a bit of a different feel than a typical Starbucks.

It is at the coffee shop that Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) runs into her co-workers Hannah Shoenfeld (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Claire Conway (Bel Powley), who invite her out to celebrate Claire’s birthday, in “No One’s Gonna Harm You, Not While I’m Around.”

By only showing one small corner of the café in the scene and none of the familiar Starbucks signage, it seems that producers went out of their way to make the place appear to be a random coffee house and not an outpost of the retail giant. Had it not been for the green umbrellas visible outside the window, as well as the view of the Edwards & Wildey Building (now known as Milano Lofts) across the street, I might not have recognized the location. It’s a good thing I know my Starbucks!

The 6th and Grand outpost is actually a frequent film star.

It appeared very briefly in the background of the 1999 drama Fight Club in the scene in which The Narrator (Edward Norton) and Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) blew up an electronics store.

Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) and Amy Gardner (Mary-Louise Parker) discussed welfare reform at the site back when it was a Tully’s Coffee in the Season 3 episode of The West Wing titled “Posse Comitatus,” which aired in 2002.

Though the Tully’s signage was left intact on the front doors, the space was utilized to portray the fictional “Phil’s Bar” in the 2004 romcom Little Black Book. In another odd move, the imagery of the bar’s exterior was also flipped in the scene, as I detailed in my 2013 post.

The 6th and Grand Starbucks is also where Martin Bohm (Kiefer Sutherland) tried to talk to Walter King (Robert Patrick Benedict) in the Season 1 episode of Touch titled “Safety in Numbers,” which aired in 2012.

Recently, Jerry Edgar (Jamie Hector), Brad Coniff (David Marciano), and Detective Julie Espinosa (Jacqueline Pinol) grabbed coffee there and discussed a case in the Season 6 episode of Bosch titled “Good People on Both Sides.”

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: The Starbucks from the “No One’s Gonna Harm You, Not While I’m Around” episode of The Morning Show is located at 523 West 6th Street in downtown Los Angeles.

November 8, 2019November 18, 2019

Cicada from “The Morning Show”

I don’t know what all the hullabaloo regarding The Morning Show being terrible is about. The Grim Cheaper and I trepidatiously tuned in earlier this week and, considering all the jeers reviewers are spewing, were shocked at how much we enjoyed the new Apple TV+ series! We devoured the three episodes that have aired so far in one sitting and literally loved every second! So artfully done and intriguing is the show that it even managed to pull one over on me, locations-wise! Set in NYC, I assumed all filming had taken place there as well. While I did have a few “That looks like L.A.” moments throughout episode 1, it was not until Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) walked up the instantly recognizable split staircase of downtown’s iconic Cicada restaurant at the start of episode 2 that I realized my mistake! A quick look at the drama’s Wikipedia page confirmed that it was largely lensed in Los Angeles, with a few exteriors shot in the Big Apple. Hoping to throw a little love The Morning Show’s way, I figure it is the perfect time to blog about Cicada, a spot I stalked ages ago (while scouting wedding venues prior to my 2010 nuptials!) but somehow have yet to write about.

[ad]

Any article about quintessential Los Angeles restaurants will undoubtedly feature Cicada. Initially established as Rex iI Ristorante in 1981, the landmark eatery sits on the ground floor of the Oviatt Building in the heart of downtown. The 13-story structure was the brainchild of James Oviatt, a famous clothier who outfitted the likes of Clark Gable, John Barrymore, and Gary Cooper during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Originally employed as a window dresser at Desmond’s Department Store, Oviatt partnered with fellow employee Frank Alexander in 1911 to open their own haberdashery, the exclusive Alexander & Oviatt. It was an instant success. A 1925 visit to Paris’ International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (which introduced Art Deco to the world) inspired James to construct a gilded architectural marvel of his own in L.A. Thus the Oviatt Building was born in 1928.

Designed by Albert Walker and Percy Eisen, the exquisite structure featured maillechort detailing, hand-carved wood paneling, more than 30 tons of glass artworks created by René Lalique, and an arcade with an ornate frosted-glass ceiling courtesy of artist Gaetan Jeannin (pictured below).

Sadly, much of both Lalique and Jeannin’s pieces were later sold off and have since been replaced with facsimiles, though some of their original works remain, like the doors below.

The building’s pièce de résistance was easily its street-level salon which housed the new Alexander & Oviatt haberdashery. Gilded, grand and absolutely striking, the boutique featured a large open sales floor flanked by wooden cabinets filled with the finest clothes money could by, a magnificent split staircase, a mezzanine which was home to the women’s department (aka the Salon des Elegances), and an outdoor palm grove, where patrons could experience the wares in natural light.

Though L.A.’s premier place to shop for fine clothing for decades, Alexander & Oviatt saw a decline in patronage in the 1960s and closed its doors in 1967. The once-popular boutique subsequently sat vacant for years. By that time, the building was showing its age. Enter Wayne Ratkovich and Don Bowers, developers who, seeing potential in the once-grand structure, made an offer to buy it in 1977 and subsequently dedicated $5 million into a major renovation. A huge part of that renovation was a reimagining of the former Alexander & Oviatt space, which was transformed into an exclusive eatery courtesy of Mauro Vincenti. Because the Oviatt had been declared a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1978, the nuts and bolts of the boutique’s interior, thankfully, couldn’t be changed, but the Rome-born restauranteur outfitted it with décor and design elements inspired by a dining room from the 1930s-era Italian cruise ship the SS Rex. Mauro dubbed the place “Rex il Ristorante,” which translates to “Rex the Restaurant.” The gorgeous site was soon the spot to dine in L.A.

Vincenti sadly passed away in August 1996 at the untimely age of 53. His widow kept his famed eatery open until the following January when the lease on the site expired. Stephanie Taupin subsequently took over the 14,000-square-foot space and re-located her West Hollywood restaurant Cicada there.

Though the interior was given a bit of a facelift, the ceiling painted with gold leaf and much of the décor swapped out, thanks to its Historic-Cultural Monument status, the former boutique still looks not only much as it did when Rex was in operation but Alexander & Oviatt as well!

It is easily one of the most gorgeous places in L.A.!

I mean!

In the first episode of The Morning Show, titled “In the Dark Night of the Soul It’s Always 3:30 in the Morning,” Corey Ellison (an absolutely brilliant, but utterly unrecognizable Billy Crudup) and Chip Black (Mark Duplass) dine at what is supposedly the Archer Gray Hotel in New York, where they discuss future strategy for their program after one of the hosts, Mitch Kessler (Steve Carell), gets fired for sexual harassment. It is the top screen capture below that gave me that initial “That looks like L.A.” moment while watching and I actually turned to the GC and said, “Wow, that place is the spitting image of Cicada.” Facepalm!

It took Bradley venturing up the staircase and around Cicada’s mezzanine at the top of the second episode, “A Seat at the Table,” for the pieces to fall into place for me.

The Morning Show is hardly the only production to feature Cicada. In fact, the restaurant is practically royalty when it comes to Hollywood! So much so that it would be impossible for me to chronicle all of its cameos here, but read on for a list of some of the more significant.

In easily its most famous appearance, Viviane Ward (Julia Roberts) tosses an escargot shell across the Rex il Ristorante dining room in the 1990 classic Pretty Woman.

Rex also served as a locale in another Richard Gere film – the 1992 thriller Final Analysis. It was there that Heather Evans (Kim Basinger) suffered from an extreme bout of pathological intoxication while out to dinner with her husband, played, ironically enough, by Julia’s brother, Eric Roberts.

David Murphy (Woody Harrelson) confronts Diana (Demi Moore) and John (Robert Redford) outside of Rex in the 1993 drama Indecent Proposal.

Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler) takes Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder) on a romantic date at Cicada that ends in a massive fight with other diners in the 2002 comedy Mr. Deeds.

The following year, Cicada popped up as the spot where Bruce Nolan (Jim Carrey) brought girlfriend Grace Connelly (Jennifer Aniston) to tell her that he was finally given the anchor job in Bruce Almighty.

Charlene Morton (Queen Latifah) teaches Peter Sanderson (Steve Martin) to dance there in the 2003 comedy Bringing Down the House.

John (Brad Pitt) and Jane (Angelina Jolie) share a seductive tango at Cicada in 2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Mad Men utilized the restaurant in no less than three episodes. In Season 1’s “New Amsterdam,” which aired in 2007, it was both the restaurant where Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) dined with his wife and her parents . . .

. . . and where he later met clients for a drink.

The following year, Roger Sterling (John Slattery) tried to convince his daughter to have a big wedding over dinner at Cicada in Season 2’s “Three Sundays.”

And Don Draper (Jon Hamm) won a Clio Award at the restaurant in Season 4’s “Waldorf Stories,” which aired in 2010.

George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) overhears some unkind words from Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) while at Cicada in the 2011 film The Artist.

In 2015, the exterior of Cicada, as well as that of the Oviatt Building, portrayed the outside of Hotel Cortez in American Horror Story: Hotel.

Though no filming actually took place inside, Hotel Cortez’s lobby was very closely modeled after the interior of Cicada.

Cicada occasionally masked as the entrance to Lux nightclub during the third season of Lucifer, which began airing in 2017.

Cicada also masquerades as the restaurant where Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) dines while filming on location in Italy in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (which is not yet out on DVD so I am unable to make screen captures of that scene), as well as the bar from which Marvin Schwarz (Al Pacino) calls him (which is shown briefly in the trailer as pictured below).

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: Cicada, aka New York’s fictional Archer Gray Hotel from The Morning Show, is located at 617 South Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

August 28, 2019August 27, 2019

The Sharper Image from “When Harry Met Sally”

Movies don’t typically surprise me, as far as locations go. But When Harry Met Sally has me absolutely shocked as of late! Ever since first seeing the romcom when it debuted back in 1989, I had been under the impression that it was lensed entirely in New York. The city is so woven into the fabric of the film – it is practically a character in the story! – that I couldn’t imagine even one frame of it being shot elsewhere. That all changed in 2016, though, when I contacted a crew member regarding a locale from a different production – the crab restaurant from A Few Good Men. As I chronicled in this post, said crew member not only informed me that the eatery I was looking for was in the San Pedro area, but that it had also appeared in When Harry Met Sally! Gobsmacked, I immediately started researching the matter further and discovered several more WHMS sites in Los Angeles, one of which being The Sharper Image where Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) karaoked with Harry Burns (Billy Crystal). Sadly, it’s no longer in business, but I figured it was still blog-worthy nonetheless.

[ad]

As has long been documented online, the exterior of The Sharper Image store at 4 West 57th Street in New York (which today houses an Ermenegildo Zegna boutique) was shown in an establishing shot at the top of the When Harry Met Sally karaoke scene. I had always assumed interior footage had been shot there, as well.

During my deep dive into the film’s L.A. locations, though, I was stopped in my tracks by a comment from a man named Colin Stone on the On the Set of New York’s When Harry Met Sally page who stated, “The interior scene of The Sharper Image was actually filmed at the Los Angeles (Wilshire and Grand) store.” A quick Google search for further information on the shop yielded absolutely nothing, which told me it was long since out of business. So I hopped over to Newspapers.com in the hopes of pinpointing its exact former address and found several ads (like the one below from 1986) noting its location as 601 Wilshire Boulevard, right on the corner of Wilshire and Grand, as Colin had said. (Also noted? The fact that it was a non-smoking store! Were people honestly allowed to smoke in retail shops back then??? I certainly don’t remember that as a kid!)

I ran out to stalk it shortly thereafter. At the time (July 2018), the site housed a print shop named LA Grafix.

Per Google Street View, it sits vacant today.

But back in the ‘80s, it was home to the mecca of all-things-yuppie, The Sharper Image. It was there that Harry and Sally headed to find a housewarming gift for their respective BFFs, Jess (Bruno Kirby) and Marie (Carrie Fisher). While shopping, the two test out a “singing machine” with a duet of “The Surrey with the Fringe on Top” and, in the process, run into Harry’s ex-wife, Helen Hillson (Harley Jane Kozak), and her new boyfriend, Ira Stone (Kevin Rooney), thereby setting Harry on a downward spiral. Quite a lot of the interior is shown in the scene (which you can watch here). Sadly though, other than the store seeming quite large (which goes against it being located in New York City), there really aren’t any identifying factors like doors or windows visible which would have helped me verify its use in the film. So I, of course, went straight to the source and tracked down Colin! As it turns out, he couldn’t have been nicer or more informative! Currently, he is a professional relaxation therapist and composer, but during The Sharper Image’s early days, he worked in the DTLA store creating health and fitness products, which is how he knew of its big-screen cameo.

I am absolutely kicking myself now for not having ventured inside LA Grafix during my stalk. I (wrongly) assumed that due to the passage of thirty years and the change in occupancy, the space would no longer look anything like it did onscreen. But as Colin wrote in his email, “I popped over to the location maybe 4 years ago and saw that it was a printing place (it was a Saturday and it was closed, but still in business then) and I was totally surprised and amazed to look in the windows and see they still had all the grey and burgundy fixtures, counters, displays, slatwall, everything, still intact from the TSI days!” Talk about a fail on my part!

I did manage to dig up some interior images of the place from a past real estate listing which corroborate Colin’s observations. As you can see, some of The Sharper Image’s grey slatwall, visible in When Harry Met Sally, was held over when the store closed.

There’s some more of it pictured below, though it is no longer grey.

The Sharper Image’s decorative triangular ceiling lining was retained by LA Grafix, as well.

You can also make some of it out here.

The Wilshire & Grand Sharper Image, which was the fifth of the company’s brick and mortar stores, opened its doors on November 12th, 1984. Founder Richard Thalheimer chose the location in a rather unconventional way. As he told the Los Angeles Times, “I just stand on street corners and count the number of people who walk by wearing suits and ties.” Though he looked at spots in Westwood, Beverly Hills and Century City, the corner of Wilshire and Grand fit the bill for his SoCal venture. As the article states, “There among the skyscrapers, he figured, were throngs of young professionals with a potential soft spot for gold-plated dumbbells, sculptured pillows designed to look like Porsche and BMW cars, guns that fire pulses of infrared light and even tummy exercisers, among other things.” Colin said the methodology was backed by the “San Franciscan logic that people shop where they work,” which turned out not to be the case in L.A. At least, not at the time. Today, DTLA is a bustling live/work community, but in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and even the early 2000s, the city virtually cleared out as soon as offices closed. And on weekends, it was practically a ghost town. Not exactly a fertile environment for retail. The downtown Sharper Image was apparently the lowest-performing in the entire chain. Per Colin’s recollection, the store closed in late 1992/early 1993, though the other outposts in Sherman Oaks and Beverly Hills remained open for a time. The company filed for bankruptcy in February 2008 and by the end of that same year, all of its retail stores had, sadly, closed, truly marking the end of an era.

Huge THANK YOU to Colin Stone for identifying this location and providing so much of the intel that appears in this post.

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: The Sharper Image from When Harry Met Sally was formerly located at 601 Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles. The space is currently vacant, but was home to the print shop LA Grafix when I stalked it last year.

July 12, 2019July 11, 2019

Grand Hope Park from “All About Steve”

The Hills are alive and well once again thanks to the recent MTV reboot The Hills: New Beginnings which debuted late last month. I actually did not have high hopes for the show, despite loving the original, but I have to say that the Grim Cheaper and I are really enjoying it. More mature and realistic than its predecessor, though no doubt just as engineered and produced, watching it feels like coming home again. There’s nothing quite like a revisit to the highly-stylized world of Audrina, Spencer, and Heidi! And thanks to a recap special the GC and I viewed prior to the premiere episode, I was reminded of Grand Hope Park, an oft-used site from the OG series that was also featured in the 2009 romcom All About Steve. Though I peripherally covered the picturesque spot in blogs about the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and the Renaissance Tower in 2008 and 2011 respectively, I thought it was time the place got its due with a full-fledged post of its own.

[ad]

Situated on land that formerly housed a parking lot, Grand Hope Park was completed in 1993.

Designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, the 2.5-acre site was commissioned by the Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency as part of the city’s Open Space Network, a collection of lush public areas dotted along downtown’s Hope Street.

Grand Hope Park, the first major park built in Los Angeles since Pershing Square in 1870, boasts large grassy expanses, a children’s playground, vine-draped pergolas, meandering pathways, numerous terraces, a plethora of trees, and a collection of art installations that includes sculptures, fountains, and a mosaic clock tower.

My favorite area of the property, though, is easily the unique sunken water court featuring a startling blue pool and geometric-shaped elements.

A protected serene little space in the heart of the city, Grand Hope Park is flanked by FIDM to the east and the Renaissance Tower apartment complex to the South, all of which have appeared onscreen.

One look at the bucolic site and it is not very hard to see why location managers have continually flocked there.

Grand Hope Park pops up twice at the beginning of All About Steve in establishing scenes that show Mary Horowitz (Sandra Bullock) on her way to and from her job as a cruciverbalist at what is supposedly The Sacramento Bee newspaper. Both the park . . .

. . . and its unique water court appear in the segments.

As I mentioned earlier, thanks to the fact that several cast members attended FIDM, Grand Hope Park regularly cameoed on The Hills. In a myriad of episodes, including Season 3’s “A Date with the Past” which aired in 2008, Lauren Conrad and friends were seen gossiping over coffee at the picturesque site.

Numerous other productions have made use of the place, as well.

Renaissance Tower regularly appeared as Buckland Auction House where Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) worked during Seasons 1 and 2 of Charmed.

Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) and her ex-boyfriend Clay (Victor Browne) also walk in the park in Charmed’s Season 1 episode titled “Feats of Clay,” which aired in 1999.

FIDM and Grand Hope Park popped up regularly as the exterior of the supposed Santa Monica-area St. Ambrose Hospital on the television series Private Practice.

In 2009, the park masked as the entrance to an FBI field office in the Season 7 episode of 24 titled “Day 7: 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.”

Thanks to the Castle Wiki website, I learned that Grand Hope Park was featured on the ABC series no less than nine times (“Nine times?” “Nine times!” “I don’t remember him being sick nine times.” Ferris Bueller reference – anyone, anyone?). In Season 1’s “Nanny McDead,” which aired in 2009, Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) and Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) interview a nanny named Chloe Richardson (Sarah Drew) at the park.

In 2011, it popped up in Season 3’s “Poof, You’re Dead,” as the spot where Beckett and Castle tracked down magician Chuck Russell (Chadwick Boseman).

That same year, Beckett told Castle about her recent break-up at Grand Hope Park in Season 4’s “Rise.”

In the Season 5 episode “Cloudy with a Chance of Murder,” which aired in 2012, Beckett and Castle investigate the killing of weathergirl Mandy Michaels (Candice Mann) at the park.

Later that season, a heavily dressed Grand Hope Park masked as the snowy New York plaza where a man wearing a St. Nick costume plummeted to his death in the episode titled “Secret Santa.”

It is at Grand Hope Park that Castle proposes to Beckett in the Season 5 finale titled “Watershed” . . .

. . . in a scene that continued over into the Season 6 premiere, “Valkyrie.”

Beckett and Castle covertly meet up at the park later that same season in the episode titled “Veritas.”

And in Season 7’s “Hollander’s Woods,” which aired in 2015, Beckett tells Castle about her tentative plan to become a state senator while at the site. Phew! Castle sure does love itself some Grand Hope Park!

Grand Hope Park is also where Carl Creel (Brian Patrick Wade) meets with Sunil Bakshi (Simon Kassianides) and almost gets shot in the Season 2 episode of Marvel’s AGENTS of S.H.I.E.L.D. titled “Heavy is the Head,” which aired in 2014.

And in the Season 1 episode of Supergirl titled “World’s Finest,” which aired in 2016, Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) is kidnapped and taken to Grand Hope Park where a huge battle ensues.

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: Grand Hope Park, from All About Steve, is located at 919 South Grand Avenue in downtown L.A.

May 15, 2019May 14, 2019

The King Edward Hotel from “In Time”

I am a sucker for a grand staircase! My affinity likely stems from the movie Titanic, which I was obsessed with back in the day. Whatever the impetus, I am drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Case in point – while researching the Surfridge neighborhood for this 2013 post, I was led to a page on the Seeing Stars website detailing the filming locations of the 2011 sci-fi flick In Time. As soon as my eyes hit the image posted of the King Edward Hotel and its grand lobby staircase, I was transfixed. The historic downtown L.A. lodging went right to the top of my To-Stalk List and when I ventured out there shortly thereafter, fate stepped in. Though not open to the public at the time, a security guard happened to be standing by the front door and upon explaining that I was interested in seeing the space because of its In Time cameo, he welcomed me right in! Getting to pose for a photo on the staircase I had become so enamored with almost overwhelmed me with excitement. Though I sat on blogging about the hotel for years, when I learned that it sold recently and was undergoing a renovation, I decided it was high time to finally do so.

[ad]

The Beaux Arts-style King Edward Hotel, designed by architects John Parkinson and George Edwin Bergstrom, opened its doors in 1906.

Billed as an upscale “modern” lodging, at its outset the property featured a gleaming marble lobby, mosaic tile flooring, fire-proof construction, and a telephone and hot and cold water in every room. There was also a bar situated on the 6-story building’s lower level for those guests wishing to imbibe. A watering hole still sits in the same corner spot today. Currently known as King Eddy Saloon, legend has it that the space was home to a piano store that served as a gateway to a hidden basement bar during the Prohibition years.

At some point, the hotel and surrounding neighborhood began to fall upon hard times. The King Edward eventually transitioned into SRO housing and for many years sat largely vacant. It was during that time that I stopped by. Though no longer upscale by any means, the building’s elegance still managed to shine through. And its lighting was like nothing I had ever encountered! The lobby’s ethereal glow (which per the Esotouric tour company is caused by an abundance of magnesium on the windows) was absolutely magical, making the space and all who entered appear frozen in a past era. The effect is evidenced in all of the interior photos I took that day. (I promise, no filters were used on them!)

In 2018, the King Edward was purchased by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and is currently being refurbished, its 150 units transformed into affordable housing for the city’s homeless. Hopefully, the lobby will be largely left as is, not only for future Angelinos to appreciate, but so that it can continue to be utilized as a filming location.

In In Time, the King Edward portrays The Century hotel where Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) and Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried) attempt to hide from the Timekeeper.

The film does a masterful job of showcasing the site’s lobby and its gorgeous staircase.

I am unsure if the room where Will and Sylvia stay is an actual space at the King Edward, is located elsewhere, or was a set. Whatever the case, it is pretty spectacular. That ceiling!

In Time is hardly the only production to feature the King Edward. The 1972 horror/comedy Private Parts is largely set at the hotel.

Informant Ralph Macafee (Dan Hedaya) is put up at the King Edward in the Season 1 episode of Hill Street Blues titled “Fecund Hand Rose,” which aired in 1981.

Det. Sgt. Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) meets his new partner, Det. Sgt. Dee Dee McCall (Stepfanie Kramer), outside of the King Edward in the pilot episode of Hunter, which aired in 1984.

That same year, Lee Stetson (Bruce Boxleitner) and Amanda King (Kate Jackson) check out a murder scene at the hotel in the Season 1 episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King titled “Remembrance of Things Past.”

The exterior of the King Edward appeared in establishing shots of the hotel where Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) and Janet Sosna (Lindsay Price) hunted for ghosts in the Season 9 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Confession,” which aired in 1998. All actual filming took place at the Ambassador Hotel, though.

The hotel’s exterior was also used in an establishing shot of the lodging where Clay (Victor Browne) stayed in the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “Feats of Clay,” which aired in 1999.

The King Edward masks as the supposed New York hotel where Emil Slovak (Karel Roden) and Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov) stay at the beginning of the 2001 drama 15 Minutes. Only the exterior is shown, though. I am fairly certain the men’s actual room was just a set.

Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) spot a suspect outside of the King Edward in the Season 2 episode of Southland titled “Phase Three,” which aired in 2010.

In the Season 2 episode of Ray Donovan titled “Rodef,” which aired in 2014, the King Edward portrays the SRO where Mickey Donovan (Jon Voight) is staying, which gets blown up.

Joan Crawford (Jessica Lange) visits her brother, Hal LeSueur (Raymond J. Barry), at the hotel in the Season 1 episode of Feud: Bette and Joan titled “Hagsploitation,” which aired in 2017.

Det. Tony Baretta (Robert Blake) also lived at the King Edward on the television series Baretta, which ran from 1975 through 1978, but unfortunately I could not find any episodes of it available for streaming to make screen captures.

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: The King Edward Hotel, from In Time, is located at 121 East 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles.

May 10, 2019May 9, 2019

The Western Union Office from “The Sting”

History in Los Angeles hides in the most unsuspecting of places. Back in 2013, I stalked a small edifice at 118 Winston Street in downtown L.A. that portrayed a Western Union office in the 1973 caper classic The Sting. I learned of the non-descript property via The Movie Tourist Blog and was thrilled at the fact that virtually none of it had changed since its cameo more than four decades prior. I had no idea until sitting down to write this post, though, the many stories the building had to tell.

[ad]

Built in 1887, 118 Winston Street sits on the northern edge of Skid Row on a tiny five-block road that current occupants Stephen and Jodi Zeigler note “has always been a gritty little stretch of urban real estate.” The couple moved into the building in 2008 and opened These Days LA, an art gallery/boutique/publishing office, on its second floor in 2014. Los Angeles natives and aficionados both, the duo comprehensively chronicle the colorful provenance of their home/workplace in a two-part write-up on their blog, Communiqué. You can check out it out here and here. TL;DR? The CliffsNotes version is below.

Initially owned by music dealer A. G. Gardner, in its early days the building operated as a piano store on its street level and transient lodging on its second and third. Per newspapers ads I was able to dig up, the highly esteemed A. G. Gardner Piano House appears to have remained on the premises through 1907, with the Catholic Knights of America fraternal order utilizing it as a hall after that. Its function in the time that followed was a bit less – ahem – holy. At some point, the property began serving as a brothel, or “disorderly house” as periodicals of the day referred to it. Known as The Yale, the site was shut down in 1911 and its proprietor sentenced to 180 days in jail. From an upscale piano shop to a religious hall to a den of inequity – all in the space of four years. Talk about a whirlwind! If those walls could only talk. And there’s more!

In the 1930s, the Communist organizations International Labor Defense and the Young Pioneers of America moved in. Following that, 118 Winston served as several different rescue missions, including Sister Sylvia’s Soul Patrol run by Sister Sylvia Cresswell, aka the “Angel of Skid Row.’ The building was eventually condemned by the city before being transformed into a labor hall/workers’ dormitory. Then, in 1975, it was acquired by Baba Cooper who established a treatment center for Native Americans known as the United American Indian Involvement (UAII) on the premises. I am unsure of the structure’s occupants in between UAII’s departure in 1999 and the Zeiglers’ arrival nine years later. But whatever its function, 118 Winston has remained an onscreen stalwart all along the way.

The alley that runs adjacent to the building, which looks like it’s straight out of a studio backlot, is also a frequent film star with an interesting history. Named Werdin Place in real life, the stretch is more commonly known to locals as “Indian Alley” thanks to the fact that it became something of a haven for impoverished Native Americans during the ‘80s thanks to its proximity to UAII.

Once an intensely harsh, bleak and gloomy spot (as you can see in images here and here), the alley is now a virtual outdoor art gallery. Deemed “one of the most famous unofficial public spaces in the country” by On the Rez author Ian Frazier, the site is known for the vibrant murals, sketches and sculptures that line it, all of which honor its Native American legacy. The colorful works were actually initiated by Zeigler, who has since become the unofficial steward of the neighborhood. Per a 2014 Los Angeles Times article, Stephen “cleaned the streets when no one else would, wrote positive messages on the walls, and painted the street poles gold. Curiosity about his home’s past has turned him into a sort of historian-in-residence.” A man after my own heart!

The dynamic edginess of both 118 Winston and Indian Alley caught the attention of location scouts early on.

The building’s best-known appearance is in The Sting in which it portrays the downtown Chicago Western Union office that Kid Twist (Harold Gould) and J.J. Singleton (Ray Walston) pretend to paint as part of the set-up to the con on Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw). Though Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) refers to its location as “110 South Wabash” in the movie, the site’s actual address number of 118 is clearly visible above the front doors throughout the scene.

When the flick was shot in 1973, the property was operating as A-Rent-A-Man labor hall. Amazingly, despite the countless changes in occupancy and the passage of over forty years, it still looks much as it did in The Sting. Yes, the entrance is now gated, the façade painted black and the windows altered, but all in all it is still entirely recognizable.

I am fairly certain that only the building’s exterior appeared in The Sting and that the interior of the Western Union office was just a set.

118 Winston and Indian Alley briefly appear at the beginning of the Season 2 episode of McCloud titled “Encounter with Aries,” which aired in 1971.

In the Season 1 episode of Kojak titled “Requiem for a Cop”, which aired in 1973, a policeman chases a suspect into Indian Alley and is subsequently killed.

The following year, the locale masked as St. Matthew Mission in the Season 4 episode of Columbo titled “Negative Reaction.”

I believe the building’s real life interior also appeared in the episode.

Detective Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (David Soul) gives a vagrant named Lijah (Douglas Fowley) a dollar outside of 118 Winston in the 1975 Starsky & Hutch pilot.

Later in the episode, Hutch and his partner, Det. Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser), race down Indian Alley while chasing a suspect.

118 Winston also pops up in the Season 2 episode of Starsky & Hutch titled “The Psychic,” which aired in 1977. It it outside of the building that Starsky shoots at a kidnapper’s car causing it to explode.

Mike Roark (Rick Springfield) gets pulled over in Indian Alley in the Season 2 episode of The Incredible Hulk titled “The Disciple,” which aired in 1979.

In the Season 4 episode of Quincy M.E. titled “Dark Angel,” which aired in 1979, an arrest goes wrong and a suspect dies outside of 118 Winston.

Kelly Garrett (Jacklyn Smith) and Jake Barnett (Norman Alden) drive out of Indian Alley and past 118 Winston in the Season 5 episode of Charlie’s Angels titled “Taxi Angels,” which aired in 1981.

Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) give a homeless man a ticket outside of the building in the Season 2 episode of Southland titled “Phase Three,” which aired in 2010.

118 Winston served double duty in the Season 1 episode of Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. titled “Tupac Amaru Shakur,” which aired in 2018. The building’s front exterior first popped up as the nightclub owned by Eric ‘Zip’ Martin (Garland Whitt), where Keefe D (Lahmard Tate) is sent to try to get information.

Later in the episode, the third floor fire escape area masked as the East Harlem apartment where young Tupac (Christian Isaiah) lived.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to The Movie Tourist for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Western Union office from The Sting is located at 118 Winston Street in downtown Los Angeles.