The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey from “90210”

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Way back in July of last year, the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves on the West Side of Los Angeles with a few hours to kill, so we decided to head down to Marina del Rey as I had never before done any stalking there.  I ended up absolutely falling in love with the seaside community, especially its downtown shopping area where I know I could have done some serious damage to my credit cards had the GC not been with me.  Anyway, one of the area locations that had long been listed in my trusty stalking notebook was The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey hotel, which had made an appearance in the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. So I dragged the GC right on over there as soon as we got into town.  Flash forward to this past February when I was checking out fellow stalker Geoff’s 90210Locations website and, let me tell you, I just about fell out of my chair when I saw that the hotel had been featured prominently in a recent episode of the series.  Now, as you all know, I watch 90210 religiously and am always keeping my eye out for locations, but, for whatever reason, I had somehow not recognized the place at all!  Am I losing my touch here?  Winking smile

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The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey is situated on a 5.6-acre plot of land directly overlooking the picturesque marina from which the town gets its name.  With its dark paneled walls, marble floors, and huge floral arrangements, the beautiful hotel reminded me quite a bit of The Langham Huntington in Pasadena, which, not so coincidentally, was formerly owned by the Ritz-Carlton Corporation.  Needless to say, I fell in love with the place on the spot and so wanted to book a room and spend the night there, but the GC was having absolutely none of that.  Shocking, I know.  Winking smile

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The Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, which is Los Angeles’ only waterside AAA Five Diamond hotel, features 304 guest rooms, each with its own “Juliet” balcony, tennis courts, marina and city views, over 30,000 square feet of event space, a fitness center, and a Michelin-recommend restaurant.  According to the hotel’s website, it also boasts “L.A.’s only waterfront pool and whirlpool” (pictured above).  Besides being a filming location, the place is also a big-time celebrity hot spot.  Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Adrian Grenier,  John Travolta, Johnny Depp, Bridget Marquardt, Brooke Shields, Chris Henchy, Zac Efron, The Bachelorette’s DeAnna Pappas and then fiancé Jesse Csincsak, Brad Garrett, Mary Hart, Halle Berry, Hulk Hogan, Dave Annable, Odette Annable, Jason Lewis, Jason Mraz, Scott Caan, Paul Bettany, and Steve Carell.  Snoop Dogg and childhood sweetheart Shante Taylor got married there in 1997.  And pop star Britney Spears is a regular guest.  In fact, these famous (and oh-so-classy) photos of BritBrit and then fiance Kevin Federline were taken on one of the hotel’s balconies.

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In the Season 4 episode of 90210 titled “No Good Deed”, the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, popped up twice.  The hot tub area was first used as the spot where Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord), wearing a very skimpy, blue cut-out bathing suit (and I’m telling you, if I had that body, I’d be wearing that bathing suit every single day of my life!), convinced movie star Mitchell Nash (Will Kemp) to let her throw a party for him.

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That spa area is pictured above.

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Later in the episode, the hotel’s pool area was the site of the Hillingsbrook Foundation’s “Clean Up Castillo Bay” charity event which Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes) hosted.

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The spot where Liam Court (my love Matt Lanter) rescued the drowning girl is located just outside of the pool area, in the Marina del Rey harbor.

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The scene where the event’s silent auction was held was also most likely filmed at the Ritz, although I did not see any areas which resembled the screen captures above while I was there, nor can I find any similar-looking rooms on the hotel’s website.

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In the 1998 remake of The Parent Trap, the Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey’s pool stood in for the pool of the fictional “The Stafford Hotel”.  Interestingly enough, two other spots were also used to masquerade as The Stafford in the flick – the exterior was the Treasure Island Administration Building in San Francisco and the interior scenes were filmed at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.

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The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey was also used extensively in the Season 5 episode of Dexter titled “Take It”, as the hotel where Jordan Chase (Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband Jonny Lee Miller) hosted his “Take It” convention.  Quite a few areas of the hotel were used in the episode, including the exterior;

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The Ritz-Carlton Ballroom, which you can see a photograph of here;

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one of hotel’s outdoor terraces;

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The Ritz-Carlton Suite, which you can see a photograph of here;

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and two neighboring 7th floor suites.

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Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for informing me of the hotel’s 90210 connection!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey, from the “No Good Deed” episode of 90210, the “Take It” episode of Dexter, and The Parent Trap remake, is located at 4375 Admiralty Way in Marina del Rey.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

Tapas & Vino from “90210”

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Another location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk this past weekend while in the Redondo Beach area was Tapas & Vino restaurant which appeared in the Season 3 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Best Lei’d Plans”.  I found this location, as always, thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, and because Matt Lanter, the love of my life, had appeared in the scene that had been filmed there, I was absolutely dying to stalk the place!  So after hitting up the Yellow Vase Café, which I blogged about yesterday, for lunch, the GC and I headed just a few doors north to snap a few quick pics of the Spanish-fusion restaurant.

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In the “Best Lei’d Plans” episode of 90210, newly-famous pop star Adrianna Tate-Duncan (aka Jessica Lowndes) takes her publicist, Renee (aka Elaine Hendrix), hair-stylist, Ilon (aka Jeffery Self), and make-up artist, Ginny (aka Cassandra Church), as well as her (as she calls them) “normal, non-famous friends” Navid Shirazi (aka Michael Steger), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), Silver (aka Jessica Stroup), Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donnovan), Dixon Wilson (aka Tristan Wilds), Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord), and Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!) out for a celebratory lunch at Tapas & Vino.

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While the gang is dining, a few paparazzi show up and start snapping photos of Adrianna.  And while she feigns annoyance and calls the paps “vultures”, as we later come to find out, it was actually the wannabe starlet herself who tipped the photogs off in the hopes that it would generate publicity for her new singing career.  Oh, Adrianna!  Such a drama queen!

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While watching the episode, Geoff had noticed a sign reading “Curl Up & Dye” located across the street from the restaurant and he immediately got to work using Google to search for a salon by that name in the L.A. area.   And sure enough, he found it – almost directly across the street from the Yellow Vase Café.

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Unfortunately we did not have time to grab a bite to eat, or even a cocktail, at Tapas & Vino while we were in the Redondo area. The restaurant looks like a VERY cool place, though, and the GC promised to take me back there for a meal in the near future. Even though we weren’t actually dining there, Tapas & Vino’s SUPER-nice owner came out to chat with us and spent quite a bit of time answering all of my silly little questions about the filming. She said that both the cast and the crew of 90210 were EXTREMELY nice and that the filming was absolutely hassle-free and went off without a hitch. She also informed me that all of the cast members went outside after the shoot wrapped to snap pictures with the fans who were in attendance. Sigh! If only I had been there!!!!!  Not everyone, it seems, was pleased with the shoot, though.  You can read a rather negative article about the inconveniences the filming, which took place on October 20th, 2010, caused on the Redondo Beach Patch website here.  Apparently Redondo residents were beyond irritated that 90210 was filming in their town. Really? REALLY? I would be so incredibly floored if the cast and crew of 90210 came to Pasadena to film. They could shut down the street in front of my apartment building for an entire week and you wouldn’t hear one complaint from this stalker! Sheesh! What the heck is wrong with people? Honestly! Winking smile

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As you can see in the above photographs, all of the restaurant’s real life furnishings were moved out for the filming and new tables and chairs were brought in, which I thought was absolutely bizarre.  So in real life the restaurant looks quite a bit different than it did onscreen.  It is definitely a cool place, though, and I cannot wait to go back there to eat!

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On a stalking side-note – yesterday I attended a Read-In event to promote literacy at the school where my mom works.  Each guest of the event was assigned to an individual classroom where we were supposed to both talk about out careers and read a passage from our favorite book.  A few days before the event, each class decorated their particular room’s door in honor of their reader and my decorated door, as well as the two students who were in charge of designing it, are pictured above.  I thought the door was absolutely ADORABLE and had to share it with my fellow stalkers.

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Not only did the students post a photograph of me and Matt Lanter on the door, but they also created a fake pink computer out of construction paper, complete with a keyboard that popped out.  So incredibly cute!  Smile

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Tapas & Vino, from the “Best Lei’d Plans” episode of 90210, is located at 1729 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach.  You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.  The Yellow Vase Café, from the “What’s Past is Prologue” and “Another Another Chance” episodes of 90210, is located just a few doors south of Tapas & Vino at 1805 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach.  You can visit the official Yellow Vase Café website here.  Salon Riviera, from the “To the Future!” episode of 90210, is located nest door to the Yellow Vase Café at 1807 South Catalina Avenue in Redondo Beach.