Poquito Mas on the Sunset Strip

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Last month, fellow stalker Ashley, from The Drewseum website, wrote a comment on my Pinches Tacos post which stated that her girl, Miss Drew Barrymore, was often spotted at another West Hollywood-area taqueria, this one named Poquito Mas.  So, because I am always on the lookout for celeb hangouts, and good Mexican food, I immediately added the eatery to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there for lunch a few weekends ago.

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Poquito Mas, which has the look and feel of a Baja Fresh, but with better food, actually boasts ten locations in the Southern California area – including one on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, which Wil Wheaton was apparently thrilled to no end about.  (And I would be remiss if I did not mention here that the WB lot also has a Starbucks onsite.  Um, yes please!  Count me in!  But I digress Winking smile). Drew Barrymore’s favorite branch, though, is the one located right on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.

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I have to say that Ashley’s recommendation was spot on, because Poquito Mas serves up some FABULOUS food!  I ordered a World Famous Chicken Tostada, which I absolutely loved (and, as I have mentioned before, I am very picky about my chicken), while the GC opted for a Classic Chicken Taco and a Classic Steak Taco, both of which he devoured.  While we were dining, we sat on the eatery’s patio area, which is situated facing the Sunset Strip, and had an absolute blast counting the numerous Hollywood tour buses that drove by.

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Besides Drew Barrymore, just a few of the stars who have dined at the West Hollywood Poquito Mas include Bonnie Hunt, Kelly Brook, Jonah Hill, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, Nicky Hilton, Britney Spears, Keanu Reeves, Kris Allen, Adam Lambert, Rebecca Gayheart, and Eric Dane.  And Ashley has spotted Fred Durst, Dyan Cannon, Kelly Osbourne, and Art Alexakis from Everclear during her various visits.  The chain is such a celebrity hotspot, in fact, that the outposts in Thousand Oaks and Westwood post signs that read, “Please no autographs.  No photographs.  Cameras, videotaping, filming & recording devices of any kind are prohibited from use on these premises.”  WOW!  “No shirts, no shoes, no service” is one thing, but no autographs?  Puh-leeze!  The place is a fast food taco stand, not The Ivy!  Winking smile I did not spot any such “no photography” signs at the Sunset Strip branch, though, so I happily snapped away while I was there.

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We did spot the sign pictured below, though, which I cannot even being to understand.  10:05?  Really?  Why not 10:07 or 10:09?  Winking smile

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Big THANK YOU to Ashley, from The Drewseum website, for telling me about this location.  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Poquito Mas is located at 8555 West Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood.  You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

The Redbury Hotel from “Entourage”

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Last July, while doing some cyber-stalking, I came across an article on the USA TODAY Travel website about the numerous Southern California hotels and restaurants featured in the eighth and final season of the hit television series Entourage.  One of the spots mentioned in the blurb was Tinseltown’s newly-opened The Redbury Hotel, which appeared in the episode titled “The Big Bang”, and, thanks to its dark crimson walls, unique architecture and old Hollywood vibe, I immediately became enamored of the place.  I, of course, added the locale to my “To-Stalk” list right then and there, but, for whatever reason, did not make it out there to actually do so until three weekends ago.

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And I am very happy to report that the place did not disappoint!  To say that I am in love with The Redbury would be a gross understatement.  The 57-room boutique hotel, which first opened in November of 2010, was the brainchild of sbe Entertainment Group founder/CEO Sam Nazarian and photographer/music video director Matthew Rolston.  The 5-story structure was originally conceived as a high-end, $50 million condominium project by the Palisades Development company, but that venture was forced to be scrapped during the real estate downturn.  In February of 2010, at which time the building was about 80-percent complete, it was purchased by the CIM Group, who re-envisioned the locale as an upscale hotel and hired Nazarian and Rolston to manage and design it, respectively.

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The name Redbury comes from a combination of “red”, the hue that Palisades Development had already painted the building, and “bury”, in honor of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.  According to an August 2010 Los Angeles Times article, the hotel’s eclectic style is a mix of “bohemian, 1960s flower power and old Hollywood”.  Apparently, Rolston wanted the locale to feel “’theatrical’, a little bit like actually being in one of my photographs or music videos”.  And, as you can see above, he succeeded with that vision – in spades!  The Redbury is honestly like nothing I have ever seen before and absolutely does feel like a movie set come to life.  I so loved it that I was even tempted to book a room while we were there for a spontaneous little stay-cation, but the Grim Cheaper was, of course, having none of that.

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The Redbury staff was BEYOND friendly and, even though none of the hotel’s restaurants were open while we were stalking the place, I was allowed to go inside to take a peek at each of them and told that I could snap “all of the photographs you want” – six little words that I absolutely LOVE to hear.  The areas of the hotel that we visited included the Library Bar – which honestly feels more like the ultra-cozy living room of a very stylish friend’s house than a public bar;

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The Glade courtyard lounge – a huge terrace garden complete with teak decking, Moorish-style lanterns and outdoor couches and daybeds;

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and Cleo – an ultra-hip Middle-Eastern-style restaurant that is dominated by a large 1917 movie poster of actress Theda Bara dressed as Cleopatra.  The Library Bar, Glade and Cleo are all major celebrity hotspots.  Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at the one of the three watering holes include my girl Kristin Cavallari, my man Matt Lanter (sigh!), Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, Jamie Foxx, Hilary Duff, Joe Jonas, Ashley Greene, Audrina Patridge, Emma Roberts, Hayden Panettiere, Sam Trammell, the entire Kardashian/Jenner family, Courteney Cox, Josh Hopkins, Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Adam Brody, Neve Campbell, Carla Gugino, Nia Vardalos, Jesse Williams, Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth, Whitney Port, Busy Phillips, Stacey Keibler, David Beckham, Kirstie Alley, Cheryl Burke, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Jessica Lowndes, Gillian Zinser, Sarah Hyland, Salma Hayek, Mila Kunis, and Ali Fedotowsky.

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In “The Big Bang” episode of Entourage, Cleo restaurant was where Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) ambushed Vanity Fair reporter Sophia Lear (Alice Eve) and tried to convince her that he was not a womanizer.  And while the USA TODAY Travel article stated that the series had filmed scenes “throughout the hotel, including its Library lounge”, I did not spot any other areas of the property in “The Big Bang” or in other episodes from Season 8, so I believe that information is incorrect.

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The yet-to-be released movie Between Us, which stars Julia Stiles, Melissa George and Taye Diggs, also did some filming at The Redbury.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Redbury Hotel, from “The Big Bang” episode of Entourage, is located at 1717 Vine Street in Hollywood.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

Café-Club Fais Do-Do from “Crossroads”

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One location that I blogged about way back in March of 2009 and had been dying to re-stalk ever since – in order to snap some interior pictures – was Café-Club Fais Do-Do, the supposed New-Orleans-area karaoke bar that appeared in the 2002 movie Crossroads.  (For those who did not catch my original post on the place, in the Spring of 2001 I was an extra in Crossroads and spent a full three days filming at the Fais Do-Do – a magical experience that I will never forget.)  Because the club is typically only open at night for concerts and events, though, and because the Grim Cheaper has a major aversion to paying any sort of a cover charge, since the filming I had never been able to get back inside.   Until last Wednesday afternoon, that is, when I tagged along with fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, on a scouting expedition.  A couple of months back, Mike actually joined the Location Managers Guild of America under the title of Apprentice and, when I heard that he was in the process of building his portfolio, I immediately (and a bit selfishly) suggested that he visit Café-Club Fais Do-Do – with me accompanying him, of course.  Don’t get me wrong – the place is incredibly unique and visually stimulating and I knew that he would not only shoot some incredible photographs of it, but that it would also be a highly useful locale to have in his scouting arsenal.  But mostly, I just really wanted to stalk it myself.  Winking smile

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The Art Deco building which currently houses Café-Club Fais Do-Do was originally constructed in 1930 and is actually comprised of two separate sections – The Club (pictured above) and The Ballroom.  In its original incarnation, The Club was a branch of the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, which explains the structure’s uniquely rich and ornate interior.  Sometime in the 1960s, the bank was converted into a jazz bar/underground club, but thankfully most of its architecturally and historically significant detailing was kept intact.  During its years as a jazz club, such musicians as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, BB King, Pearl Bailey, John Coltrane, and Billy Preston were all said to have hung out there.

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The Ballroom (pictured above) was originally constructed as the single-screen Variety Movie Theatre and was where the filming of Crossroads took place.  I am unsure of when exactly the Variety ceased showing movies, but in 1990 the entire building was purchased by a new owner who, while still keeping the two distinct areas separate, decided to turn the venues into a nightclub and bar which collectively would be known as Café-Club Fais Do-Do – “Fais Do-Do” meaning “nighty-night” in French.  And while this post on the Lon’s Place blog states that The Club area was sold to a new owner in 2010, according the film liaison that we spoke with, the same person who bought the building back in 1990 still owns it to this day.

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While we were stalking the Fais Do-Do, I was extremely sad to discover that the huge two-story bar that used to be located in the center of The Ballroom and on which I had sat in Crossroads had since been removed.  To me, that bar, which had a dance floor on top of it, was the coolest, most unique aspect of the entire club and I cannot believe the owner did away with it!  So incredibly sad.

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In Crossroads, Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used for the interior of Club Bayou, where Lucy Wagner (Britney Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) competed in a karaoke contest in order to win money to fix their car which had just broken down.

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That’s me in the blue pants standing next to Ben (Anson Mount) in the above screen capture.  Smile

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The Fais Do-Do dressing room, which you can see a photograph of here, was featured in the scene in which Kit, Mimi and Lucy get ready to go onstage.  Sadly, a film crew was using that area at the time that we were stalking the club so we were unable to take any pictures of it.

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The GC and I recently started watching fave show The O.C. again from the beginning and, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Café-Club Fais Do-Do pop up in a Season 1 episode.  In “The Escape”, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom stood in for “Boom Boom”, the supposed-Tijuana-area club where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) caught Luke Ward (Chris Carmack) cheating on her.

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And, while scanning through “The Escape” to make screen captures for this post, I was shocked to discover that the little bar where Marissa almost overdosed on pain pills later in the episode was none other than the Fais Do-Do’s Club!  The Club was remodeled in 2010 (as you can see in these photograph on the Lon’s Place blog) and looks a bit different now, but, amazingly enough, the actual bar where Marissa sat still looks exactly the same today as it did when the episode was filmed back in 2003!

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After reading my original post on the Fais Do-Do back in 2009, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, figured out that The Ballroom also stood in for Delloser Hall, the reggae club where Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) got stoned after inadvertently eating a pot-laced cake, in fave movie Never Been Kissed.

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In the extremely odd 2006 film The Gymnast, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used extensively as the place where Jane Hawkins (Dreya Weber) and Serena (Addie Yungmee) learned aerial fabric acrobatics.

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In the flick, you can clearly see the club’s former bar . . .

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. . . as well as the dance floor above it.

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Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s dressing room also appeared in The Gymnast.

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And in one scene, a business card featuring the club’s actual address, fax number, and website was even shown.  So incredibly cool!

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Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, also let me know that the Fais Do-Do had appeared in the Season 2 episode of Arrested Development titled “Queen for a Day”.  In the episode, the exterior . . .

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. . . as well as The Ballroom stood in for The Queen Mary, the bar that Tobias Funke (David Cross) purchased.

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The Club was also used in that episode as the restaurant where Byron “Buster” Bluth (Tony Hale) took his new girlfriend, Starla (Mo Collins), out for a milkshake.

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And the dressing room stood in for the Hot Cop stripper club, from which Lindsay Bluth Funke (Portia de Rossi) hired strippers to scare her husband into selling The Queen Mary.

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Back in February of 2011, while doing research for my post on The Little Door restaurant, I discovered that Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Club room was used in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which the boys – Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) –  gather together to watch Saigon perform.

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I was shocked to discover (thanks to the Ron’s Place blog) that in 1994’s Reality Bites, The Club stood in for the bar where “Hey, That’s My Bike!”, Troy Dyer’s (Ethan Hawke’s) band, regularly played.  The room was heavily dressed for the filming, though, and is almost unrecognizable in the movie.

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The Fais Do-Do Club was also featured in the Jane’s Addiction video for “Underground”.

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As was the dressing room area.

Jane’s Addiction “Underground” Music Video–Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “Underground” video by clicking above.

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The Club also appeared in the Destiny’s Child “No, No No, Part 1” music video.

Destiny’s Child–”No, No, No Part 1” Music Video Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “No, No, No, Part 1” video by clicking above.

This Is 40, the yet-to-be released sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up, also did some filming in Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom in 2011.  And while the Ron’s Place blog stated that The Big Lebowski and American Gangster were also filmed at the Fais Do-Do, I scanned through both movies while doing research for this post and did not spot the place anywhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Café-Club Fais Do-Do, from Crossroads, is located at 5253 and 5257 West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles.  You can visit the club’s official website here.

The “Doppelganger” Mansion

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Another location from the 1993 thriller Doppelganger that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk this past weekend was the mansion where Holly Gooding (aka Drew Barrymore) grew up in the flick.  I found this locale, once again, thanks to Tony, my friend and fellow stalker who has the amazing Flickr photostream which I mentioned yesterday.  Incredibly enough, Tony has somehow managed to track down almost every single location featured in Doppelganger and he was kind enough to share them all with me so that I could blog about them during my Haunted Hollywood month well, every location that is except for the supposed-Arcadia-area Our Lady of Mercy Psychiatric Institute which I have now become just a wee bit obsessed with finding.  But I digress.  Anyway, last weekend, after stopping by the apartment building featured in the movie, the GC and I headed a short two miles north to Los Feliz to do some stalking of the mansion.

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The Doppelganger mansion is featured twice in the flick.  It first pops up in the scene in which Holly and her new roommate, struggling mystery writer Patrick Highsmith (aka George Newbern), meet with Holly’s family lawyer, Mike Wallace (aka George Maharis), in order to get the keys to her former home which has been locked up and sealed since her father’s murder four years prior.  While there, Patrick says that the abode is “right out of a Bette Davis movie” – a line which I, of course, loved.  Winking smile

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The large, English-country-style abode later pops up in the movie’s climactic, rather odd, and definitely spooky final scene in which Holly returns to her childhood home in the middle of the night to confront her evil doppelganger and finally end the nightmare in which she has been living.

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Patrick, of course, follows Holly and, carrying a baseball bat, climbs up the side of the house and through a second story window in the hopes that he can save her.

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I believe that the interior of the mansion that was shown in the movie was just a set and not the home’s real life interior.

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According to fave website Zillow, the Doppelganger mansion, which was originally built in 1923, boasts 5 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 3,500 square feet of living space, although I would have guessed it to be much, much larger.  And amazingly, the property still looks almost exactly the same today as it did 18 years ago when Doppelganger was filmed.  Even the three large circular trees which flank the home’s front door and front window still look exactly the same.   Love it!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Tony for finding this location!   You can check out Tony’s FANTASTIC Flickr photostream, which features countless filming locations, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Doppelganger mansion is located at 2421 Glendower Avenue in the Los Feliz section of Los AngelesDonna Martin’s house from the B.Y.O.B. episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located just two doors south of the Doppelganger mansion at 2405 Glendower Avenue.  And the so-called “Los Feliz Murder House”, which I blogged about back in January, is located just around the corner at 2475 Glendower Place.

The “Doppelganger” Apartment Building

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Last week, while perusing through my friend and fellow stalker Tony’s Flickr photostream – which is comprised of an absolutely AMAZING collection of pictures of hundreds upon hundreds of filming locations – I came across his photographs of the apartment building that was used in the thriller Doppelganger. And while I had absolutely loved me some Doppelganger when it first came out way back in 1993, I had not seen the movie in such a long time that I had somehow forgotten Drew Barrymore was even in it!  So I decided it was most definitely time for a re-watch and ran right out to rent the flick that very night.  Unfortunately, it was not nearly as good as I had remembered it to be, especially the ending which I did not understand at all.  But I, nevertheless, still had to drag the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the apartment building that very same weekend – especially since it fit in so perfectly with my Haunted Hollywood theme!

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In Doppelganger, Holly Gooding (aka Drew Barrymore) migrates from New York to Los Angeles after being cleared of a murder charge, whereupon she moves into an apartment building with a struggling mystery writer named Patrick Highsmith (aka Father of the Bride’s George Newbern).

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In the movie, the idyllic little building, which has a central courtyard, a two-tiered fountain, and a communal birdcage, is named “Angel’s Court” and it is supposedly located at 1167 North Orange Grove Avenue in the Hollywood area.

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In reality, the building is located just east of Hollywood and south of Thai Town and is, sadly, not nearly as inviting or picturesque in person as it appeared to be in Doppelganger.  Don’t get me wrong, the building is by no means unattractive, but the neighborhood where it is located is, unfortunately, a bit on the iffy side and the courtyard that seemed so charming onscreen is rather bare in real life.  I am guessing that the fountain and birdcage that appeared in the movie, along with the archway that was situated over the front gate, were just props that were brought in solely for the filming as they are no longer there.

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In Doppelganger, Patrick and Holly lived in Apartment #2 and I am guessing that the real life interior of that particular unit was also used in the filming.

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And, according to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory website, the building, which was originally constructed in 1922, was once also home to a few celebrities – cinematographer Harry Zech lived there during the 1920s and silent film actress Frances Deamer lived there in the 30s.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Tony for finding this location!   You can check out Tony’s FANTASTIC Flickr photostream, which features countless filming locations, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Doppelganger apartment building is located at 1165 North Hobart Boulevard in Los Angeles.  In the movie, Patrick and Holly lived in Apartment 2 and FBI Agent Stanley White (aka Dan Shor) lived in Apartment 6.

Jackie Robinson Stadium from “Never Been Kissed”

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One location that I attempted to stalk far more times than I actually care to admit is the supposed Chicago, Illinois-area Municipal Stadium where Sam Coulson (aka Michael Vartan) kissed Josie Geller (aka Drew Barrymore) for the very first time during the final scene of fave movie Never Been Kissed.  Fellow stalker Owen had long ago informed me that the filming of the stadium scene had taken place at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium and the GC and I had ventured out to the school several times to try to stalk the place, but unfortunately we had absolutely zero luck in finding it.  I cannot tell you how many wasted hours the two of us spent walking the campus grounds looking for that darn stadium, but I think it is safe to say that we stalked just about every stadium at the University – and there are quite a few of them! – except for the one from Never Been Kissed.  What we had failed to realize at the time was that while Jackie Robinson Stadium is a part of UCLA, it is not in fact located on the UCLA campus, but about two miles west of it on Constitution Avenue near the 405 Freeway.  It was not until Owen sent me a detailed map that denoted the stadium’s exact location that I realized our mistake.  And it wasn’t until a couple of weekends ago that I was finally able to drag the GC back out there to stalk it.

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Jackie Robinson Stadium was named in honor of legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson who enrolled in UCLA after graduating from Pasadena Junior College, which is coincidentally just around the corner from where I live.  While studying at UCLA, Robinson became the very first student to ever letter in four sports – football, basketball, track, and, of course, baseball.  Robinson left UCLA during the spring semester of his senior year, shortly before he was to graduate, and took an assistant athletic director job with the National Youth Administration.  He, of course, went on to become one of the greatest baseball players to ever live and was the first African American to play for the Major Leagues since the 1800s.  The Jackie Robinson Stadium was originally constructed just over three decades ago thanks to a large donation from one of Robinson’s former classmates at UCLA, a successful businessman and philanthropist named Hoyt Pardee.  The stadium was dedicated on February 7th, 1981 and has served as UCLA’s home baseball field ever since.  In 2006, the structure underwent an extensive renovation process whereupon the field surface, lighting system, fan seating, perimeter net, and scoreboard were all upgraded and changed. 

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Thankfully though, even with all of those major alterations, the place where Josie Geller waited to be kissed for the very first time still looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen.

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In Never Been Kissed, the South Glen Rams’ team dugout was located on the eastern side of the stadium, as were the stairs that Mr. Coulson walked down to get to Josie.

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Oh, how I wanted to take a photograph standing on the pitcher’s mound where Josie awaited her first real kiss in the movie, but unfortunately there was a practice game going on when we showed up to stalk the stadium, so I could not venture down there.  And believe me, I tried, but the GC did NOT think it would be a good idea AT ALL if I disturbed that game by randomly running out onto the field.  He’s such a drag sometimes!  I mean, I would have waited until there was a break in play.  Geez!  Winking smile

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Sadly, the above photograph is the closest I got.  Ah well, it looks like I will just have to go back there and re-stalk the place again sometime in the near future.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Never Been Kissed Stadium Map

Stalk It: Jackie Robinson Stadium, aka the Never Been Kissed stadium, is located at the intersection of Constitution Avenue and Davis Avenue, one block west of the 405 Freeway, in Westwood.  Although it is a part of UCLA, the stadium is NOT located on the actual university campus, so do not make the same mistake I did by looking for it there.  The stadium’s location in relation to UCLA is denoted in the above aerial view.  You can visit the Jackie Robinson Stadium official website here.

Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe

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Two Mondays ago, after Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I finished our tour of Paramount Studios in Hollywood (which I still have yet to blog about), the two of us headed across the street to grab a bite to eat at a little restaurant that has been at the top of my To-Stalk list for close to a decade now – Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe.  I hadn’t actually heard much about Lucy’s before our recent trip there, but had passed by it countless times and figured it had to be something of a celebrity hot spot due to its close proximity to three different Hollywood studios – Paramount, Raleigh, and the now defunct KCAL/KHJ.  As it turns out, my hunch could not have been more spot on!  Lucy’s was originally founded over four decades ago and has been attracting film, television, and music stars and well-known politicians pretty much ever since.  Not only that, but Mike and I discovered that the restaurant is also a filming location!  And the food there is absolutely AMAZING, to boot.  As Mike said to me upon leaving the restaurant, “This place is a hidden jewel!”

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Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe was first founded in 1964 by Los Angeles native Frank Casado, who named the eatery in honor of his beloved wife Lucy.  Frank managed and worked at the restaurant, along with members of his family, for over two and a half decades until he passed away in 1990, upon which Lucy took over.  She still owns and runs the place along with their daughter, Patricia, to this day.  Amazingly enough, most of Lucy’s employees have also been there since the day the place opened, including our extremely nice waiter Ricardo, whom Lucy calls a “Juan-of-all-Trades”.  🙂  The Cafe originally consisted of only one single storefront – a tiny room lined with brown leather booths – but thanks to its immense popularity, the place has since expanded to include both the storefronts to the left and to the right of it. 

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Ricardo was so incredibly proud of the restaurant’s history and excited that Mike and I were so very interested in hearing about it that he ended up taking us on our very own thirty minute private tour of the property and told us countless stories about the many stars who have dined there over the years.  Included in our tour was Lucy’s large VIP/Private Party room, where most of their celebrity patrons dine.

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The VIP room also just so happens to be the spot where the restaurant displays the piano that was gifted to them by musician Phil Collins, who is a regular patron!  SO INCREDIBLY COOL!  There is even a picture displayed on the restaurant’s walls of Phil tickling the piano’s ivories.  LOVE IT!

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Ricardo also showed us the restaurant’s ultra-cool looking front patio area, which he says gets extremely crowded each Friday and Saturday night.  I am so going to have to take the Grim Cheaper back there to grab a drink in the near future.

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My favorite part of the tour, though, had to be when Ricardo showed us Lucy’s extensive wall of autographed celebrity photos, accompanied by quite a few of his personal anecdotes from his various dealings with them. 

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It would be impossible for me to name all of the celebs who have dined at the restaurant over the years, but a partial list includes celebrity siblings Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal (who ate there quite often as children), Lyle Lovett (who often thanks the restaurant in the liner notes of his albums), Ugly Betty’s Ana Ortiz (who first met husband Noah Lebenzon while at the Cafe), the cast of Family Ties (who were regulars during the series’ seven year run), Ronald Regan, Dolly Parton, Tom Selleck, Harland David Sanders (aka “Colonel Sanders”), Bernadette Peters, Magic Johnson, and all of the members of the Eagles rock group.  One of the restaurant’s most loyal patrons is former California governor Jerry Brown who has been eating at Lucy’s since the early 1970s and considers Lucy, Frank, and Patricia to be part of his extended family.  He even used the restaurant as an unofficial office during his tenure as governor.  And it was at Lucy’s that Jerry first met singer Linda Ronstadt. The Cafe now has an entree named after the former governor – the Jerry Brown Special, which consists of chicken and rice.

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Most amazing of all, though, is the fact that the Dalai Lama himself is a regular!  He has been eating at the restaurant at least once each year for well over a decade!

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Lucy’s is considered something of a lucky charm among celebrities, as many now-famous stars were regular patrons there long before becoming household names – the most notable of whom is Drew Barrymore who has been dining at Lucy’s since before she could talk.  In fact, Ricardo still remembers the day a young Drew told him that she had just been cast in Steven Spielberg’s latest movie.  😉

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The actress continued to dine at Lucy’s long after becoming famous and even held one of her childhood birthday parties at the Mexican restaurant (pictured above).

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And I just had to take a pic sitting in Drew’s favorite booth (which is the very first booth located on the right-hand side of Lucy’s main room) for fellow stalker and Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from the Drewseum website.  🙂

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Then-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy once dined at Lucy’s back in June of 1968, just a few short days before he was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel.  The above photographs were taken as the senator was leaving the restaurant through Lucy’s rear door.

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Lucy’s restaurant also appeared in the 2010 flick Greenberg, which was directed by Noah Baumbach, husband of Jennifer Jason Leigh.  According to this Los Angeles Times article from March of 2010, Jennifer has been a patron of Lucy’s ever since childhood, which is why Noah decided to feature the restaurant in his movie.

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Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe has become such a Hollywood landmark that in 2007 the Los Angeles City Council voted to name the intersection of Melrose Avenue and North Plymouth Boulevard as “I Love Lucy Square” in honor of both Lucy Casada, the restaurant’s owner, and Lucille Ball, who owned a portion of the Paramount lot back when it was known as Desilu Studios.  So amazingly cool!

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As I mentioned above – and despite what many Yelp reviews may state – both Mike and I thought the food at Lucy’s was absolutely spectacular!  I opted for the ground beef tacos, which were AMAZING, and Mike ordered the cheese quesadillas, which he said were fabulous.  I honestly can’t recommend stalking this place enough! 

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe is located at 5536 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, directly across the street from Paramount Studios.

The “Poison Ivy” Mansion

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Back in early August, Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from the Drewseum website, challenged me to find the large pink mansion belonging to the  Cooper family – Sylvie (aka Sara Gilbert), Darryl (aka Tom Skerritt), and Georgie (aka Cheryl Ladd) – in the 1992 thriller Poison Ivy.  But because I was just a few weeks away from my upcoming wedding at the time, I didn’t get a chance to do any research on it.  Thankfully though, fellow stalker Terri stepped in and managed to track down the location for us!  Terri had discovered a message board thread on the IMDB Poison Ivy page on which a commenter had stated that the Cooper mansion was located in a “section of Los Feliz called the Oaks”.  She then used Google Street View and managed to track down the massively large residence, which amazingly enough looks very much the same today as it did back in 1992 when the movie was filmed!  Thank you, Terri!

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In real life, the 13,000-square foot, 5 bedroom, 9 bathroom home, which sits on over a half acre of land, was first built in 1926 and, according to my buddy E.J. over at The MovielandDirectory, belonged to Geena Davis in the early 90s, although that is a claim that the Thelma & Louise actress denies.  The Geena Davis rumor was actually featured in a small blurb in the September 1997 issue of Los Angeles Magazine, which states that the extensive property was purchased for $1.3 million in 1992 by the “Sav-On Trust” (believed to be created by Geena) and that an extensive remodel of the residence was subsequently begun.  After the roof, windows, and doors had been removed from the estate, though, the remodel was abruptly stopped and the property left in ruins.  At one point, squatters even moved into the residence, which is located in a very affluent neighborhood.  Sav-On Trust sold the decrepit property to a new owner in 1995 for $1,050,000, with the trust actually carrying the majority of the loan.  When the new buyer defaulted on his payments, the home went into foreclosure, with Geena still denying that she had anything to do with the property.  Why she didn’t want to be associated with the home, I don’t know, but she doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on being that the trustee of the Sav-On Trust is none other than Greg Kress – Geena Davis’ business manager.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, the remodel on the property was finally completed in the late 1990s and the mansion is absolutely beautiful today.  The home, which you can see some fabulous interior photographs of here, currently boasts a 1,000-bottle wine cellar, a private gym, a game room, an infinity pool, a movie theatre, TWO elevators, a cigar room, a grotto, a spa, a library, and striking views of Los Angeles.  Talk about living the high life!

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The Cooper mansion figured quite prominently in Poison Ivy and both the interior and the exterior of the property appeared in the flick.

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The mansion’s garage area . . .

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. . . and main balcony were also used repeatedly in the movie, although both look quite a bit different now.  An addition to the house has since been added on to the garage area and a turret has been added next to the balcony.

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The exterior stairwell that was formerly located next to the garage has also since been removed.

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And the stairs that led to the front of the property in the movie have now been replaced by a sloping driveway.  Even with all of those changes, though, the home still looks almost exactly the same today as it did in Poison Ivy.  And I so love that it is still almost the same color pink!

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Randomly enough, just a few days after stalking it, I spotted this very same location while watching the pilot episode of the new series Law & Order: Los Angeles.  The residence showed up in the very beginning of the episode, which was titled “Hollywood”, as the burgled home of teenaged actor Colin Blakely (aka Travis Van Winkle) .  Being that I had just stalked the place a few days beforehand, I literally just about fell over when I saw it. 

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Especially when I noticed the home’s real life address plaque pass by in the background of one of the scenes.  So darn cool!

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The real life interior of the estate was also used in the episode.

Big THANK YOU to Ashley, from the Drewseum website, for challenging me to find this location and to Terri for actually tracking it down!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Poison Ivy mansion is located at 2208 West Live Oak Drive in Los Feliz.

The “E.T.” House

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Although I consider myself somewhat of a master stalker (not as good as fellow stalkers Owen, Mike, from MovieshotsLA, or Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, of course), for whatever reason, up until this past weekend I had yet to visit one of the most famous movie locations of them all – the home where Mary (aka Dee Wallace), Elliot (aka Henry Thomas), Michael (aka Robert MacNaughton), and Gertie (aka Drew Barrymore) lived in the 1982 classic film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.  I am not sure how, or even why, I avoided the location for as long as I did, but my best guess is that it is due to the fact that it is located in Tujunga, which is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, far from the areas I usually drag my husband out to stalk.  In fact, up until this past Saturday afternoon, I had never actually set foot in the Crescenta Valley suburb, which is situated just north of Glendale and just east of Sunland.  But, this weekend, while on our way home from doing some stalking in the Valley, a light bulb went off in my head and I asked my fiancé to take a little detour on the 210 Freeway so that I could finally, finally stalk the E.T. house.

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It is absolutely amazing to me how iconic the E.T. home still is – almost thirty years after the movie was filmed!  As the Grim Cheaper and I drove up the hill where the residence is located and the property came into view, we both immediately recognized not only the actual house, but the cul-de-sac and neighboring residences which surround it.  Being that I haven’t seen E.T. in almost three decades (I only watched it once, when it first came out, and I became so hysterical when E.T. left Elliot that my parents had to drag me out of the auditorium kicking and screaming and I’ve never been able to re-watch it since), I find that to be absolutely amazing!  The long, sloped driveway, the cul-de-sac, the mountains in the background – for better or for worse, those images of the house are indelibly engraved in my memories.

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Thankfully, the residence still looks extremely similar today to how it appeared back in 1982 when E.T. was filmed.  The only real difference I noticed was the fact that the property is now dotted with large trees and shrubs, which wasn’t the case thirty years ago.  At the time of the filming, the house was newly-built and therefore had very little foliage surrounding it.  I cannot tell you how awesome it was for me to stalk a place I haven’t laid eyes on since 1982 and have it still look almost exactly the same now as it did then.  Love it!

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According to director McG’s DVD commentary, the house was also used in another Drew Barrymore flick – 2000’s Charlie’s Angels, as the residence where the character of Dylan Sanders falls after being shot by Eric Knox (aka Sam Rockwell).  I find it incredibly cool that McG decided to shoot a scene at this location!  Such a nice nod to the home’s iconic cinematic history. 

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The sliding glass door that Dylan knocks on in Charlie’s Angels can also be seen in several scenes in E.T.

For those who haven’t seen the above YouTube video, which chronicles most of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial’s filming locations, you really need to check it out!  The video, which was put together by fellow stalker/filmmaker Herve Attia, artfully morphs clips of the movie with footage of how the locations look today.  It is simply amazing to watch!

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The E.T. house is located at 7121 Lonzo Street in Tujunga.

Griffith Observatory

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A couple of months ago I dragged my parents and my then-fiancé/now husband out to Los Feliz to do some stalking of the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park – a place which I had never before visited despite having lived in Los Angeles for over a decade.  I had actually wanted to stalk the Observatory for close to 18 years –  ever since November of 1992, to be exact – thanks to the fact that it was featured in a Season 3 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210.  But more on that later.

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The land that now encompasses Griffith Park was donated to the City of Los Angeles by Welsh industrialist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith (and no, that was not a typo – the guy’s first name was actually the same as his last!) on December 16, 1896.  Griffith stipulated that the donated parcel of land, which measured 3,015 acres, was to be used as a public park.  He said, “It must be made a place of rest and relaxation for the masses, a resort for the rank and file, for the plain people.  I consider it my obligation to make Los Angeles a happy, cleaner, and finer city.  I wish to pay my debt of duty in this way to the community in which I have prospered.”  When Griffith passed away 26 years later, in 1919, he bequeathed the majority of his $1.5 million estate to the city for the purposes of building a theatre and an observatory inside of the park.  Construction on the observatory, which was designed by architect John C. Austin and engineer Russell W. Porter, began on June 20th, 1933 and the building opened to the public just under two years later, on May 14, 1935.  

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The Griffith Observatory, which sits high atop Mount Hollywood, features a 300-seat state-of-the-art planetarium, a 2,700-square foot multimedia theatre, a Zeiss refracting telescope, an exhibit hall, and, as you can see above, views which are nothing short of incredible.

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Hollywood location scouts took notice of the property right from the very beginning when it was chosen to appear in the 1935 movie The Phantom Empire shortly after its opening.  Since that time, the Observatory has been featured in hundreds upon hundreds of productions – far too many for me to be able to properly catalog here, but I’ll do my best to give my fellow stalkers a broad overview.

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As I mentioned above, the Observatory was featured in a Season 3 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.  That episode was titled “Rebel With A Cause” and it was, ironically enough, one of my least favorite episodes in the entire history of the series.  The episode centers around the break-up of longtime couple Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) and Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty), immediately after which Dylan puts the moves on Brenda’s best friend Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth).  Mind you, Dylan and Kelly had also been seeing each other behind Brenda’s back for an entire summer at that point in the series.  Dylan then decides to take Kelly out on a date – just two nights after his break-up with Brenda! – and when Brenda randomly catches the two of them together in a restaurant, she calls Kelly a “bimbo” and Kelly actually has the nerve to be mad at Brenda.  I mean, HELLO, Kelly!  Not only did you spend an entire summer making out with your BEST FRIEND’S boyfriend, but when said best friend and said boyfriend break-up, it’s not 48 hours later that you are out on a date with him.  With friends like that, who needs enemies??  Let me tell you, had that happened to me, I would have been calling Kelly a whole lot worse things than “bimbo”.  And yes, I realize Beverly Hills, 90210 is just a television show and that the “Rebel With A Cause” episode aired almost two decades ago, but the whole thing still seriously upsets me!  But I digress.  Anyway, in the episode, before taking her out to dinner, Dylan brings Kelly to the Griffith Observatory, where they watch a show in the planetarium.

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After the show, the two little home-wreckers head outside for a heart-to-heart chat and, even though I was strongly opposed to the whole Kelly/Dylan romance, for whatever reason, it was the location of that chat that I was most interested in stalking. 

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I had a very difficult time locating the wall where Dylan and Kelly sat, though, as it is not in an easily-visible part of the building.  It actually wasn’t until we were heading back to our car that I finally spotted the right place.

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As it turns out, Kelly and Dylan’s wall is located in the eastern-most section of the Observatory.  It is actually the wall to a ramp which leads to the back of the building and is located on the left-hand side of the Observatory (as you are facing it) and is denoted with a pink arrow in the above aerial view.

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The Observatory’s most famous onscreen appearance was, of course, in the 1955 James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause, which, amazingly enough, I have never actually seen!  In the beginning of the flick, Jim (aka James Dean) and Judy (aka Natalie Wood), along with the rest of their high school class, go on a field trip to the Observatory where they watch a show in the planetarium.

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And the very same wall from 90210 also appears in that scene. 

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Rebel’s final scene also takes place at the Observatory, but I do not want to post any screen caps of that scene as they would spoil the ending.

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There is a statue of James Dean on display on the Observatory’s front lawn which commemorates the historic filming that took place there in 1955.  So darn cool!

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Griffith Observatory was also the site of the climatic scene in 1999’s hilarious comedy Bowfinger, in which renegade, wanna-be movie director Bowfinger (aka Steve Martin) and his ragamuffin film crew secretly tape Daisy (aka Heather Graham) and Kit Ramsey (aka Eddie Murphy) fighting off a fictitious band of aliens.

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In the first Transformers movie, Mikaela Banes (aka Megan Fox) and Sam Witwicky (aka Shia LaBeouf) are at the Observatory when they witness a group of Transformers crash landing on earth in the form of meteorites.

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In The Terminator, the Observatory is the spot where the Terminator (aka Arnold Schwarzenegger) first emerges from a time warp and begins his mission to kill Sarah Conner (aka Linda Hamilton).

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In 2008’s Yes Man, the Observatory is the location of Allison’s (aka Zooey Deschanel’s) weekly jogging/photo class, during which Carl (aka Jim Carrey) crashes after drinking waaaaaaay too many Red Bull energy drinks.

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It is also where Carl professes his love to Allison at the very end of the movie.

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And it is during that ending scene that Carl and Allison run right by the exact spot where Beverly Hills, 90210 was filmed 16 years beforehand.  🙂

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The scene in which Natalie Cook (aka Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (aka Drew Barrymore) and Alex Munday (aka Lucy Liu) discover that Madison Lee (aka Demi Moore) is actually a fallen angel in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle takes place at the Observatory.

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The observatory was also featured in the music video for Paula Abdul’s hit single “Rush Rush”, which was an homage to the movie Rebel Without a Cause.

You can watch the full video, which starred Keanu Reeves, by clicking above.

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Griffith Observatory has also appeared in the movies Dragnet, Devil in a Blue Dress, The Rocketeer, House on Haunted Hill, Nancy Drew, and Earth Girls are Easy, and in episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles, 24, Star Trek Voyager, Alias, MacGyver, Melrose Place, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Colbys.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Griffith Observatory is located at 2800 East Observatory Road, inside of Griffith Park, in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.  You can visit the observatory’s official website here.  Admission is free.  The observatory is closed to the public on Mondays and Tuesdays.