The Tate Mansion from “Soap”

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I have a pretty amazing memory, especially when it comes to things most people find useless, such as filming locations and movie quotes.  I’m like a vault.  Or an elephant.  Once something enters my brain, it locks in and I don’t forget it.  So I was shocked when I received an email a couple of weeks back from a fellow stalker named Andrew who wanted some assistance in tracking down the mansion belonging to the Tate family on Soap.  My parents and I watched the 1977 ABC series religiously during my childhood years and The Major (Arthur Peterson) is still one of my favorite television characters of all time.  I mean, a guy who regularly walks around with a stuffed dog that he thinks is still alive tends to stay with you.  Somewhere along the way, though, I inexplicably forgot about the show and upon moving to L.A., never thought to look for any of its locations.  So I was thrilled to receive Andrew’s email and immediately told him I was up to the task!

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At the time I began the hunt, I had no recollection whatsoever of what the Tate residence looked like, so I did a Google search for “the Soap mansion” and was led to this image of a Tudor-style dwelling that someone had snapped on the Dearly Departed tour.  Now Dearly Departed is run by my friend Scott Michaels and while I could have easily emailed him for the address, I figured finding the pad on my own would be a snap due to the fact that, because of its stately appearance, I was 99.9% certain it was located in Hancock Park.  After quite a bit of time poking around the area, though, I came up completely empty-handed and started to doubt my instincts.  So I sent a message to Scott and he wrote back immediately with an answer.  As it turns out, the Soap mansion is located in Hancock Park – at 511 South Muirfield Road to be exact.  While I was glad to know my hunch was correct, I was at a loss as to how I missed the place during my searching.  So thank you, Scott, for leading me to the right spot!

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The Grim Cheaper and I headed over to stalk the manse while visiting L.A. two weeks ago and I could not have been more excited to see it in person.

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I was floored to discover that very little of the 8-bedroom, 6-bath, 7,426-square-foot property, which sits on 0.41 acres, has been altered in the 36 years since Soap has been off the air.  (Please pardon the low-res screen captures featured in this post.  I purchased the series on DVD, but unfortunately the discs will not play on my computer.  They will play on my regular DVD player, though, so I was forced to snap photographs of my television screen in lieu of making screen grabs.  Guerilla blogging at its finest!)

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As you can see, the 1929 estate, which was said to be located in Dunn’s River, Connecticut on the series, aka a “neighborhood known as ‘Rich’,” looks exactly the same today as it did onscreen when the show first premiered in 1977.

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Soap is not the only production to have been lensed at the handsome brick property. The site portrayed the home of Olivia McKenna (Melissa Newman) in the 1982 horror film One Dark Night.  (Huge thank you to Scott Michaels for providing the screen captures below.)

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Ian Gallagher (Cameron Monaghan) and Mickey Milkovich (Noel Fisher) robbed the residence in the Season 3 episode of Shameless titled “The Sins of my Caretaker,” which aired in 2012.  The Tate mansion was only used for exterior shots in the episode, though.  A house around the corner at 434 South Rossmore was utilized for interiors.  You can check out what the inside of the Tate dwelling actually looks like here.

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The property masked as a church in the Season 1 episode of Grace and Frankie titled “The Funeral,” which aired in 2015.

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The residence’s interior was also featured quite extensively in the episode.

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The interior of the mansion appeared very briefly as the home of Rose Brady (Rosemarie DeWitt) in the pilot of the new Amazon series The Last Tycoon, which is the only episode of the show that has yet to air.

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According to OnLocationVacations, The Last Tycoon has filmed at the residence several times over the past few months, so you can expect to see it pop up regularly as future episodes are released.

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In the Season 2 episode of the Netflix series Love titled “Back in Town,” which aired in 2017, one of the mansion’s rooms masqueraded as a therapist’s office.

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The estate portrayed Denny’s (Donal Logue) house in the Season 1 episode of The Unicorn titled “The Client,” which aired in 2020.

And it is currently being featured as the home of Elena Richardson (Reese Witherspoon) and her family on Little Fires Everywhere.  Of choosing the property for the Hulu series, production designer Jessica Kender told Architectural Digest, “We saw this big beautiful Tudor-esque house built in the 1920s.  It was in this little pocket on top of a hill with a fountain in the middle.  Everything about it read very old money, it has this beautifully moneyed perfection type of vibe.”  And don’t worry – the mansion wasn’t really burned down for the shoot.  Instead, producers had the facade re-created inside of a soundstage for the fire scenes.

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Andrew for asking me to track down this location and to Scott Michaels, of the Find a Death website and the Dearly Departed tour company, for finding it!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Tate mansion from Soap is located at 511 South Muirfield Road in Hancock Park.

Royal Dale Townhouses from “The Ropers”

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Michael, our resident The Brady Bunch filming locations expert, is back once again with a non-Brady locale.  (You can check out his TBB columns here, here, here and here, and his non-TBB columns here and here).  Today’s location is one from way back when, so enjoy!

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One summer when I was in middle school, I vividly recall watching a daily programing block of Three’s Company reruns. Those familiar with the show know that in the final episode of the third season, Jack, Janet, and Chrissy’s landlords, the Ropers, sell their rental building. But, in real life, ABC executives were hoping to capitalize on the popularity of Stanley and Helen Roper and create a new sitcom centered around those characters.

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During the fourth season of Three’s Company, The Ropers premiered and lasted a 6-episode first season and a 22-episode second season before cancelation. The series’ first episode, “Moving On,” begins with the Ropers in their old apartment while Helen dreams of a move to Cheviot Hills. After Stanley capitulates, we’re treated to a location shot of the Ropers pulling up to their prospective townhouse in the fictional condominium complex, Royal Dale Townhouses, “for the discriminating homeowner.”

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Stanley quickly makes a bad impression by driving up in his jalopy while potential new neighbor and real estate agent Jeffrey P. Brookes III (Jeffrey Tambor) watches on. Brookes tries to keep the Ropers from buying the unit, but by the end of the episode, they’ve purchased the townhouse.

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Location-filming with the actors was limited to the pilot, but additional footage of the townhouse can be seen throughout the series in establishing shots and the closing credits.

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Many of the Three’s Company opening title filming locations have been known for years. Even the rare exterior apartment footage location was more recently uncovered by Lindsay’s friend Owen, however the townhouse from The Ropers has remained a mystery.

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In researching the location, I came across a comment online from someone purporting to have frequently driven by the complex in Cheviot Hills, but no specifics were given. And others centered their searches around Cheviot Hills, but had come up dry. Adding to the confusion, even the Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association lists The Ropers as one of the many television productions filmed in the area. I wasn’t so trusting—just because the fictional townhouse was located in Cheviot Hills, I wasn’t ready to believe that the footage was also filmed in that neighborhood.

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I decided to try a different method and looked up where The Ropers was produced. Once I found out that the sitcom was taped at CBS Television City, in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, I started looking at townhouse complexes relatively near the studio. My thinking was that since it was rather uncommon for a 1970s sitcom to do any location filming, perhaps the scene was filmed close to the studio. Using this search criteria, I quickly zeroed in on the right spot, Wilshire Country Manor, located only 2.5 miles from the studio. And when I was in Los Angeles last month, I ventured out to see it for myself.

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Remarkably, not much has changed since the series was taped nearly 40 years ago, even the distinctively gnarled tree near the curb is still recognizable. The planter near the entrance however, now contains a large tree that obscures a pair of windows and some of the mansard roof, while larger shrubs have absorbed most of the iron fence. The fire hydrant and red curb seen in the screen grab below were only props used in a first-episode gag.

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Wilshire Country Manor was constructed in 1973 and as its name hints, it’s located in Hancock Park—a neighborhood which surrounds the Wilshire Country Club. Early ads mention you could buy an “elegant townhouse condominium” starting at $62,500. “A home, in the place, amidst a cultural happening.” I think Mrs. Roper would approve.

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Editor’s Note – Big THANK YOU, once again, to Michael for this fabulous – and fabulously retro! – post!  Smile

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Stalk it: Wilshire Country Manor, aka Royal Dale Townhouses from The Ropers, is located at 646 Wilcox Avenue in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park neighborhood.

Olivia Pope’s Apartment from “Scandal”

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While Scandal has fallen a bit out of favor with me (for reasons mentioned here), there are two parts of the series that I will never get over – Olivia Pope’s (Kerry Washington) wardrobe (Gah!  Her clothing is amazing!) and her apartment.  I recently did a bit of research on said apartment and was floored to discover that a real unit in a real building was used for a time as Olivia’s pad.  So yes, that means that Olivia’s apartment actually exists!

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Thanks to a 2013 Hooked on Houses blog post, I learned that the set of Olivia’s apartment had been based off of real units at the El Royale in Hancock Park.  Upon doing further research, I came across this CurbedLA article from 2011 which mentioned that the series had also done some filming inside of the building during its inaugural season, angering residents in the process.

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The El Royale was originally designed in 1929 by architect William Douglas Lee, who also built the famed Chateau Marmont hotel.

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The 12-story Spanish Renaissance Revival-style property, which houses 56 units, has been a celebrity magnet from the very beginning.  Just a few of the luminaries who have called the place home over the years include Harry Cohn, Clark Gable, George Raft, Loretta Young, Harry Langdon, William Faulkner, Huell Howser, Cameron Diaz, Ben Stiller, Uma Thurman, Jack Black, Ellen Page and Katie Holmes.

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Olivia Pope’s apartment first showed up in the Season 1 episode of Scandal titled “Hell Hath No Fury.”   The apartment featured in that episode – as well as all of the subsequent episodes of Season 1 – is an actual unit inside of the El Royale.

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Scandal was initially picked up as a mid-season replacement in 2012 and, due to that fact, its inaugural season was a short one that consisted of only seven episodes.  I am guessing that is why a set of Olivia’s apartment was not built until Season 2.

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You can check out some photographs of what a few different El Royale units look like here.

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By the beginning of Season 2, a set modeled after the El Royale apartment had been built.  Of the set, production designer Corey Kaplan said in a 2013 People magazine article, “We took the basic elements of the El Royale apartments to stage.  We loved the moldings and the embellishments, but we made it a little bit larger scale with larger arches.”

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The exterior of the El Royale also appeared in a couple of Season 1 episodes of Scandal.  The Rosewood Avenue side of the building was where Olivia ambushed David Rosen (Joshua Malina) to ask for dirt on one of his colleagues in “Hell Hath No Fury.”

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And the building’s large courtyard was where the supposed “New Hampshire” Veteran Pancake Breakfast was held in “The Trail.”

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According to my buddy E.J. of The Movieland Directory website, the El Royale also served as Steven Carrington’s (Jack Coleman) apartment building on Dynasty.

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And according to fave book Los Angeles Attractions, the building was also featured in Switch and Other People’s Money.

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For whatever reason (most likely those angry residents mentioned in the Curbed LA article), from Season 2 onward The Gaylord Apartments building in Koreatown was used for all on location filming supposedly taking place at Olivia’s apartment.

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The Gaylord Apartments was originally designed by the Walker & Eisen architecture firm in 1924.  At the time, the 13-story Italian Renaissance-style property, which was named in honor of land developer Henry Gaylord Wilshire, was the city’s tallest building.

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Celebrities also flocked to The Gaylord over the years.  A few of the stars who have lived onsite at one time or another include John Barrymore, Constance Talmadge, Kevin Dillon, and Lance Robertson, aka “DJ Lance Rock” from Yo Gabba Gabba.  Richard Nixon is also rumored to have spent some time there.

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I have blogged about The Gaylord once before, back in March 2011, after a visit to its historic ground level restaurant, HMS Bounty.

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To me the building has a very East Coast feel to it and it is not hard to see why producers chose it to stand in for Olivia’s Washington, D.C.-area apartment.

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The exterior of The Gaylord has appeared in several episodes of Scandal, including Season 4’s “Run.”  During filming, the building’s signage is changed to read “Barrington Court.”

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The interior of the building also occasionally makes an appearance onscreen.  The Gaylord’s lobby was featured in the Season 2 episode “White Hat’s Back On.”

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And an almost-naked Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) ran down The Gaylord’s main stairwell in “Run.”  You can check out a photograph of that stairwell here.

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The Gaylord has appeared onscreen several times over the years.  In the 2015 thriller Insidious: Chapter 3, the building was where Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) lived with her father, Sean Brenner (Dermot Mulroney).

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The Gaylord was also featured in Sparkle and The Master.

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

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The El Royale Apartments, aka Olivia Pope’s apartment from the first season of Scandal, is located at 450 North Rossmore Avenue in Hancock Park.  You can visit the building’s official website here.  The Gaylord Apartments, aka the exterior of Olivia Pope’s apartment building from Season 2 on, is located at 3355 Wilshire Boulevard in Koreatown.  You can visit the building’s official website here.

Nat King Cole’s Former House

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My good friend Lavonna is all about Christmas.  So when she came out to SoCal for a visit, along with Kim, Melissa and Maria, last month, she had a few suggestions of holiday-themed locations for me to stalk.  One of the locales was the former Hancock Park home of Nat King Cole, the African American crooner who was the very first artist to record Bob Wells and Mel Tormé’s immensely popular carol “The Christmas Song” in 1946.   So we ran right over to stalk the place on the ladies’ last day in L.A.

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Cole and his wife, Maria, purchased the sprawling 6,831-square-foot home in 1948.  Reports vary as to what the couple paid for the property – some say $65,000, others say $75,000, and still others claim $85,000.  Whatever the case, the Coles’ new neighbors were not happy about the sale.  The Hancock Park Property Owners Association even stepped in, at one point offering Nat $25,000 plus the purchase price of the residence to walk away from the deal.  Nat declined, causing one homeowner to approach the singer and inform him that he didn’t want “undesirables” living in the area.  Cole responded, “Neither do I.  If I see any, I’ll let you know.”  Despite the opposition, Maria and Nat and their adopted daughter, Carole, moved into the Tudor-style residence on August 13th.

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The massive 1924 property, which sits on a 0.7-acre corner plot of land, boasts five bedrooms, five baths, maids’ quarters, a library with a fireplace, a master suite with a fireplace, a tennis court, a guest house, a pool house, a pool and two patios.

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In a May 2014 interview with The Wall Street Journal, Nat and Maria’s second oldest daughter, singer Natalie Cole, recounts growing up in the home as an idyllic experience.  The holidays were an especially magical time.  She says, “Christmas was a big holiday in our house.  My dad was always home for the holiday and would have the fireplace going and music playing.  We had a huge tree on the front lawn that must have been 40 feet tall.  We’d decorate it and the lawn with lights and a Santa Claus that waved, and reindeer that rocked back and forth to simulate running.”  You can see a photo of the Coles in front of the dwelling during the time that they lived there here.  Today, much more foliage surrounds the property.

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In 1951, federal agents seized the home from Nat for non-payment of $146,000 in back income taxes.  He quickly paid the amount owed and reclaimed the property.  The singer passed away in 1965, and Maria continued to live at the residence until 1972, at which time she sold it to a family friend and moved to the east coast.  Of the home’s sale, Natalie says, “My sister and I were so upset.  It was all we had left of our childhood and our dad.  From time to time, I drive past the house today, but I’ve never stopped to surprise the owners with, ‘Hi, sorry to bother you.  I used to live here.’  Seeing it is so bittersweet.  From what I can tell, it’s still a beautiful home.  Only black families have lived there since we left, and all have taken wonderful care of it.  I would love to buy it someday.  I’m curious to know what it’s even worth at this point.”  Well, Natalie, here you go – according to Zillow, the pad is currently valued at a whopping $5,228,372!

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You can watch a video of Nat King Cole singing “The Christmas Song” by clicking below.  An interesting bit of holiday trivia for you – apparently Bob Wells and Mel Tormé had not set out to write a classic carol when penning “The Christmas Song.”  Instead, during one particularly hot day in the summer of 1944, the two were simply trying to keep cool by jotting down terms having to do with cold weather.  Forty-five minutes later and one of the most popular Christmas songs in history was born, boasting those classic lyrics we all know and love like “Jack Frost nipping at your nose.”

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

Big THANK YOU to my good friend Lavonna for telling me about this location and suggesting that I blog it!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Nat King Cole’s former house is located at 401 South Muirfield Road in Hancock Park.

The Mystery of the “Melissa & Joey” House

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In February, I received a challenge from a fellow stalker named Jill who wanted to know about the home belonging to Melissa Burke (Melissa Joan Hart) on the ABC Family sitcom Melissa & Joey.  The residence looked familiar to her and she was fairly certain that it had been used previously in another series.  She was not alone in that belief.  One quick Google search of “Melissa & Joey house, same as” led me to several message boards in which commenters queried about where they had seen the property before.  I had never actually watched an episode of Melissa & Joey, but was immediately intrigued, so I streamed the show on Netflix.  The Burke residence did not look at all familiar, though.  Thus began the mystery of the Melissa & Joey house.  And y’all know how much I love myself a good mystery!  Fellow stalker Geoff, of the 90210Locations website, did manage to track the dwelling down shortly after Jill posted her challenge and while I ran right out to stalk it, I have yet to figure out why the place looks so familiar to so many viewers.

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Several of the message boards I came across featured commenters asking if the Melissa & Joey house was the same property used in Reba, Step by Step or Boy Meets World.  As you can see in the collage pictured below, though, the Melissa & Joey residence bears virtually no resemblance to the Reba or Boy Meets World house.  And while it does look similar to the Step by Step house, they are clearly not one and the same.

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To me, the Melissa & Joey house is reminiscent of both the Mama’s Family and Old School homes, but, again, is obviously not either one.

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So I will put it out there to my fellow stalkers.  Do any of you recognize the home from another production?

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Melissa & Joey is set in Toledo, Ohio, but the Burke residence can actually be found in Hancock Park.  Of the property, series’ executive producer Boy Young said, “Her house is a house here in Los Angeles that we selected because it’s architecturally believable from Toledo.  Our production designer basically surveyed architectural styles of Toledo and tried to find something here in L.A. that resembled that.”

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In real life, the picturesque, two-story dwelling, which was originally built in 1914, features four bedrooms, three baths, 3,005 square feet of interior space, and a 0.22-acre plot of land.  It last sold in April 2008 for $1.795 million.

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Several message board commenters also stated their beliefs that the interior set – which exists inside of a soundstage at CBS Studio Center in Studio City – was recycled from another series, as well, although it does not look at all familiar to me.  So I will once again put it out there to my fellow stalkers – does anyone recognize the interior of the Melissa & Joey house from another production?

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On a side-note – I am BEYOND excited to announce that I wrote a small article about the Double Indemnity house for the April 2014 issue of Los Angeles magazine, which is on newsstands now.ScreenShot538That’s me buying out the Palm Desert Barnes & Noble of every copy of the magazine that they had on Saturday.

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For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.  And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Jill for challenging me to find this location and to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for tracking it down!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Melissa & Joey house is located at 102 North Norton Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.

The “Some Kind of Wonderful” Party House

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While I was stalking Steff’s mansion from Pretty in Pink, which I blogged about last Thursday, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, texted me to let me know that the party house from another classic John Hughes-penned ‘80s movie, 1987’s Some Kind of Wonderful, was located literally just around the corner on Hudson Avenue.  So I, of course, dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there to stalk the place.  I have to admit that I had actually not seen Some Kind of Wonderful in years, so as soon as the GC and I got home that evening, I popped in my DVD of the flick and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  I had completely forgotten what a cute movie it is.  Smile

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In Some Kind of Wonderful, Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) takes his dream girl, Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson), on an uber-date all over the city of Los Angeles.  One of their stops is the mansion belonging to Amanda’s former boyfriend, mean-boy Hardy Jenns (Craig Sheffer), where a high school party is being held.

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the home was used in the filming of the party scene, as well, but I was unable to find any photographs of the place online with which to verify that hunch.

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In real life, the Some Kind of Wonderful party house, which was originally built in 1925, boasts seven bedrooms, six baths, 6,488 square feet, and almost half an acre of land.  As you can see below, the Tudor-style mansion is quite spectacular in person.  While the GC and I were outside snapping pics of the place, the owners happened to pull out of their driveway and, when they saw us, they waved with a look on their face which suggested that fans stalking their home was a regular occurrence.  Love it!  Smile

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As it turns out, Some Kind of Wonderful and Pretty in Pink share more in common than their writer, director (Howard Deutch), and Hancock Park filming locations.  According to IMDB’s Pretty in Pink trivia page, the original ending of the flick had Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) and Duckie (Jon Cryer) winding up together.  After a poor reaction from test audiences, though, the studio forced John Hughes to write a new ending in which Andie would choose Blaine McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy).  Hughes never apparently liked the way the flick turned out and, in response, wrote an almost identical story the following year, but with the ending he wanted.  That story turned out to be Some Kind of Wonderful.  While re-watching the flick, I was amazed at the many similarities it had to Pretty in Pink.  Excluding the ending, the two movies are virtually one and the same.  In another interesting twist, Hughes wanted Molly Ringwald to play Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful (a role that ultimately went to Lea Thompson), but, hoping to branch out from her teen princess roles, she turned down the part and Molly and Hughes did not speak for the next twenty years.

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My friend Owen let me know that the very same pad also portrayed the residence of Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) in the 1983 made-for-television movie The Day After.

On a stalking side-note – my good friend Nat set up an IAMNOTASTALKER Facebook page for me a few years back, but, for whatever reason, I never really did anything with it.  Well, all that is about to change!  I finally added a cover photo and will be regularly updating my News Feed.  So, if you get a chance, be sure to head on over there and gimme a “Like”.  Smile You can also “friend” me on Facebook page here.  I just created an IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page, as well, which you can check out here.  And if you are not already following me on Twitter, you can do so here.  Yes, my fellow stalkers, IAMNOTASTALKER is finally taking it to the next level!  Woot woot!  Winking smile

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And on another stalking side-note – while watching Extra being taped last Thursday afternoon at The Grove, I got picked to ask actor Colin Egglesfield an on-air question.  That is me with host Renee Bargh and Colin below.  Big THANK YOU to my girl, Miss  Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, for snapping the pics!  The episode should be airing sometime this week, so keep your eyes peeled!  I have been watching Extra over the past couple of days, though, and it does not seem as if the fan questions ever actually air, but fingers crossed that mine will!

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Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Some Kind of Wonderful party house is located at 516 South Hudson Avenue in Hancock ParkLiam Court’s (cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!) house from fave show 90210 is located just up the street at 401 South Hudson AvenueSteff’s mansion from Pretty in Pink is located right around the corner at 366 South June Street in Hancock Park.  The Erle M. Leaf House, aka the Residence of the Los Angeles British Consuls-General where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, stayed in July 2011, is also located right around the corner at 450 South June Street.

Steff’s House from “Pretty in Pink”

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This past Saturday afternoon, a fellow stalker named “Pookie” posted a comment on my site in which she mentioned that the mansion where Steff (James Spader) lived in 1986’s Pretty in Pink was located just up the street from the the Residence of the Los Angeles British Consuls-General where Kate Middleton and Prince William stayed in July 2011, which I blogged about last month.  As it turns out, Pookie’s parents live right around the corner from the Pretty in Pink dwelling and she was lucky enough to have witnessed some of the filming of the iconic 80s flick when it took place back in 1985.  Well, as you can imagine, I was extremely excited about learning the location of Steff’s house, and, since we were only a few miles away at the time, asked the Grim Cheaper to take me right on over there to stalk the place.

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In real life, Steff’s house is absolutely stunning and looks like it belongs in a neighborhood somewhere on the East Coast and not in the heart of Los Angeles’ Hancock Park.  The French chateau-style property, which was originally designed in 1927 by the Webber, Staunton & Spaulding architecture firm, boasts seven bedrooms, a whopping eight baths, 7,140 square feet of living space, over half an acre of land, four fireplaces, original chandeliers and wall sconces, formal gardens, a reflecting pond, a three-car garage, a separate guest apartment, and (according to a comment left by Evan on The Houses of Hancock Park blog) a third floor that inexplicably houses a disco.  The mansion was recently sold, in May of last year, for a cool $5 million.  You can check out the real estate listing here.

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One odd thing I noticed about the house, though, was that one of its windows has been completely cemented over, as you can see below.  Even odder still is the fact that the cemented-over space still remains flanked by shutters.

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Most odd of all, though, is the fact that the window even appears to have been covered over way back in 1985 when Pretty in Pink was filmed.  Why in almost three decades worth of time did the homeowners not remove the shutters?  Or re-install the window?  Very, very strange.

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Steff’s mansion, which is supposedly located in Elgin, Illinois, shows up three times in Pretty in Pink.  It first pops up towards the beginning of the movie in the scene in which Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) and Duckie (John Cryer) are shown driving through a ritzy neighborhood late at night.  As Andie stops to admire the residence, she announces that it is her favorite on the whole street and then poignantly says, “ You know what the really sad thing is, though?  I bet the people that live there don’t think it’s half as pretty as I do.“

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The mansion next shows up in the scene in which Blane McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy) brings Andie to a party at his best friend Steff’s house.

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As you can see from the screen captures and photographs (which I got off of the property’s real estate listing) below, the home’s actual interior was used in that scene, as well.  It is amazing how little the residence has changed over the past 27 years.  Love it!

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It even appears that the very same headboard that was used in the movie is still there in real life!  So incredibly cool!

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Finally, the mansion’s library area popped up towards the end of Pretty in Pink in the scene in which Steff tells Blaine that he will stop being friends with him if he continues to date “trash” like Andie.  As you can see in the screen capture and photograph below, the very same curtains, chair, desk, and stool which appeared in the movie are still there in real life.  INCREDIBLE!

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Thanks to the Scarecrow and Mrs. King forum, I learned that Steff’s house also appeared extensively in the Season 1 episode titled “Waiting for Godorsky” as the supposed Washington, D.C.-area mansion of Princess Sophia Valosky (Hildegard Knef).

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As you can see, the window was even covered over way back in early 1984 when the episode was filmed.

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The interior of the mansion also appeared briefly in Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

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Back in June 2010, the Before the Trailer website mentioned that Dior was filming at the residence and, after doing some digging online, I discovered that the filming was actually for the Miss Dior fragrance campaign that starred actress Natalie Portman.  Ironically enough, while the spot was supposed to take place in Paris and the vast majority of it was, in fact, lensed in the City of Light, a small portion of it was shot at Steff’s mansion!  As you can see below, the awning and wading pool which appeared in the Dior commercial match up exactly to those which can be seen on the home’s real estate listing, although a fountain was added to the pool for the shoot.

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The statues affixed to the plant pots that can be seen in the background of the shoot also match up to the statues that appear in the listing.

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And finally, the large swan statue that is visible in the background of the ad matches the one that appears in the home’s listing.

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You can watch the Dior ad by clicking below.

Natalie Portman Dior Ad Filmed at Steff’s Mansion from “Pretty in Pink”

On a Pretty in Pink side-note – my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, and I were lucky enough to meet James Spader a couple of weeks ago after we randomly spotted the star leaving a movie theatre.  And while we had heard that he could be unfriendly, I am very happy to report that he was extremely nice and seemed quite amused at our excitement over seeing him.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

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Stalk It: Steff’s mansion from Pretty in Pink is located at 366 South June Street in Hancock Park.  The Erle M. Leaf House, aka the Residence of the Los Angeles British Consuls-General where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, stayed in July 2011, is located right down the street at 450 South June Street.

The Hancock Park House Where Prince William and Kate Middleton Stayed In July 2011

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While Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were out stalking two Thursdays ago, I asked him to take me by the Hancock Park-area mansion where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (the former Miss Kate Middleton), stayed while visiting Los Angeles last July. Mike had found the property a few months prior thanks to fave website CurbedLA, which had done extensive reporting on the Mediterranean-style pad shortly before the royal couple touched down in La La Land on July 9th, and had stalked it shortly thereafter. Not surprisingly, I had been absolutely drooling over the pictures he snapped while there and was dying to do some stalking of the place myself. So, on our way out to Franck’s wedding coordinator shop from Father of the Bride, which I blogged about last Thursday, we took a detour to the William and Kate house.

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William and Kate’s holiday homestead is known as the Erle M. Leaf House and it was designed in 1928 by Wallace Neff, the prolific Southern California architect who also designed the estate where Amanda lived in The Holiday, Villa del Sol d’Oro from Passport to Paris, and Viola’s mansion from Monster-in-Law, as well as countless other famous movie abodes. According to Zillow, the Leaf House, which sits on almost half an acre of land, measures 7 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, and 7,247 square feet. But there seems to be a discrepancy somewhere because the Ronald Chang Architecture team, who did a recent remodel of the dwelling, states on their website that, after the latest add-on, the residence measures 10,000 square feet. Either way, the property is quite gorgeous, but far more average than I had expected it to be.

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It is amazing to me that the heir to the British throne and his new wife stayed in such a “normal” home while visiting L.A. Yes, it is a beautiful estate and quite large, but there is no gate, no wall, no tall hedges to block it from public view. Granted, the entire street and surrounding area was barricaded by police officers and private security during the Duke and Duchess’ three-day stay, but still. I would have expected a much more private and exclusive abode to have housed them. Being that the British government purchased the property in 1957 to be used as a residence for the British Consuls-General, though, I guess it makes sense. You can check out some fabulous interior photographs of the Erle M. Leaf House and its recent remodel here. As you can see, the “before” kitchen was pretty atrocious, but the new one is absolutely to-die-for.

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On a random side-note – My girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, did some stalking of The Lucky One premiere this past Monday evening and who should she run into while there, but the love of my life, Matt Lanter (sigh!). Pinky asked Matt for a photo, to which he happily obliged (because he’s the sweetest!), and she then mentioned my rooftop encounter with him last April. Well, in an amazing twist, Matt said he REMEMBERED ME! UM, HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE???? DYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pinky then reiterated how much I loved him, that he is one of my “Top Three”, that I want to bear his children (just kidding about that last part Winking smile) and he said to tell me “Hi”! Um, HI, MATT! When Pinky texted me the news shortly thereafter I just about hyperventilated from excitement and am still pretty much glowing over the whole thing! Best. Night. Ever.

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Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for taking me to this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Erle M. Leaf House, aka the Residence of the Los Angeles British Consuls-General where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, stayed in July 2011, is located at 450 South June Street in Hancock Park.

AFI’s Warner Bros. Building – aka the Hospital from “The Artist”

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Another locale from The Artist that I found thanks to John Bengtson’s fabulous Silent Locations blog was the Warner Bros. Building on the American Film Institute campus in Los Feliz, which stood in for the exterior of the hospital where George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) was admitted after being injured in a fire towards the end of the Academy Award-winning flick.  Amazingly enough, despite the fact that I have lived in Southern California for over twelve years now, for whatever reason, while I had heard of the legendary film school, I had never before visited it.  So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place two weekends ago, shortly after we stopped by Red Studios Hollywood, aka Kinograph Studios from The Artist which I blogged about yesterday.

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The American Film Institute, or “AFI” as it is more commonly known, was founded in 1967 by the National Endowment for the Arts in order to “preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers.”  Such luminaries as actor Gregory Peck, director Francis Ford Coppola, historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., actor Sidney Poitier, and longtime Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti sat on the organization’s original Board of Trustees.  The institute was first headquartered inside of the famous Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, but moved to its current location, an eight-acre property which formerly housed Immaculate Heart College, in 1983.  AFI Conservatory, the establishment’s fully accredited graduate film school which, in 2011, was named the #1 film school in the world by The Hollywood Reporter, boasts such notable alumni as David Lynch, Edward James Olmos, Darren Aronofsky, Terrence Malick, Amy Heckerling (the writer/director of fave movie Clueless!), Marshall Herskovitz (one of the Executive Producers of fave show My So-Called Life!), Edward Zwick (another of My So-Called Life’s Executive Producers!), and Gary Winick (the director of fave movie 13 Going on 30!).  Talk about a Who’s Who of the film industry!  The Warner Bros. Building (pictured above) is AFI’s main facility and houses classrooms, a soundstage, screening rooms, computer labs, and production offices.

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Thanks to AFI’s hilltop location, the place boasts some rather incredible views of Downtown Los Angeles, as you can see above!

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The Warner Bros. Building only shows up once in The Artist – in the scene in which Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) arrives at the hospital to check on George.  According to the Los Feliz Ledger website, the short, one-day shoot took place on November 14th, 2010.

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Only the exterior of the Warner Bros. Building was used in the filming.  All of the interior hospital scenes were shot about four miles away at The Ebell of Los Angeles, a private women’s club that I have stalked twice, but have yet to blog about.  And while hundreds upon hundreds of movies have been filmed at the historic property over the years, for today’s post I would like to concentrate on The Artist.  A few different areas of The Ebell appeared in the flick.  When Peppy runs through the hospital hallway and asks a nurse where she can find George’s room, she is actually running through the site’s Garden Arcade.  And while I do not have a photograph of the actual Arcade, the area where it is located is denoted with a pink arrow above.  (You may recognize the courtyard pictured above from the prom scene in fave movie Never Been Kissed.)

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Peppy is then shown running through The Ebell’s Solarium Hallway into the 3rd Floor Terrace (both of which were also used prominently in Forrest Gump).

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John at Silent Locations was lucky enough to speak with Carol Kiefer, the Art Department Coordinator for The Artist, who informed him that The Ebell had also appeared in several other scenes in the movie.  The club’s Art Salon was used as the auction house where George sold all of his belongings after his career took a downturn.

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When leaving the auction, George is shown walking down The Ebell’s Lounge Stairway, followed by his loyal chauffer, Clifton (James Cromwell).

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The club’s Dining Room masqueraded as the storage room in Peppy’s mansion where George discovered all of his former possessions.

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And while the Dining Room was made to appear much smaller than it actually is for the filming and is virtually unrecognizable from its appearance onscreen, I recognized this location thanks to the unique circular-shaped decoration above the window that was visible in the background of the scene.

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Supposedly, the Kinograph Studios office of director Al Zimmer (John Goodman) was also located somewhere inside of The Ebell, but I did not see any areas of the property on either tour that looked even remotely like the screen captures pictured above.  So I am guessing that a room of the property was either completely redone for the filming or that that information is incorrect.

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The anteroom to Zimmer’s office is located at The Ebell, though.  In actuality, it is a small room located on the building’s third floor.

Big THANK YOU to John Bengtson, from the Silent Locations blog, for finding these locations!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Warner Bros. Building at the American Film Institute, aka the exterior of the hospital from The Artist, is located at 2021 North Western Avenue in Los Feliz.  You can visit the official AFI website here.  The Ebell of Los Angeles is located at 743 South Lucerne Boulevard in Hancock Park.  Sadly, The Ebell is not currently open to the public, but you can visit the property’s official website here.