Harry Connick Jr. filming locations

Earlier this year, fellow stalker Lavonna informed me that she had just tracked down the temple where Grace Adler (Debra Messing) married Leo Markus (Harry Connick Jr.) in the Season 5 episode of Will & Grace titled “Marry Me a Little, Marry Me a Little More”. As it turns out, while the wedding supposedly took place on the island of Manhattan, in reality Leo and Grace tied the knot right here in Los Angeles – at Temple Israel of Hollywood. Because Lavonna has long been obsessed with the series (it is pretty much her Beverly Hills, 90210), she put in a special request for me to stalk the place. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there one (very cold) day in March. Sadly though, the temple was closed when we showed up, so we only got to catch a glimpse of its exterior . . .

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Flash forward to this past October when Lavonna and her good friend Kim came out to L.A. for a visit from Ohio. Lavonna was absolutely dying to see the interior of Temple Israel of Hollywood (natch!) and called up the main office to ask for a tour. Amazingly enough, they told us to come right on over! So we headed out there immediately after our Dearly Departed tour (which I will be blogging about soon) had ended. And I am very happy to report that the place did not disappoint!

Temple Israel of Hollywood was originally founded in 1926 by a small group of individuals, most of whom were involved in the entertainment industry. In fact, the place had such major Hollywood connections that it was quickly given the nickname “Filmland’s House of Worship”. Um, LOVE it! For its early meetings, members rented a now-defunct castle-like mansion that, at the time, belonged to Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa and stood on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Ivar Street. In 1930, the growing congregation purchased the former First Methodist Church on Hollywood Boulevard and proceeded to hold services there until 1948, when it was decided that a new and even bigger temple – the one that stands today – would be constructed about a mile west. The new synagogue was designed by architects S. Charles Lee (who also designed the Max Factor Building, the Los Angeles Theatre, and the Hollywood & Western Building) and Samuel Lunden.

Today, the Temple Israel of Hollywood congregation consists of over 950 families – and is still a major draw for the entertainment industry. Just a few of the celebrities who have attended services there at some point in time include Eddie Fisher, Tony Curtis, Marlon Brando, Bob Dylan, Al Jolson, Sammy Davis Jr., Eddie Cantor, Leonard Nimoy, Mike Todd, David O. Selznick, Lea Thompson, Amanda Peet, and Ben Stein. In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. gave a speech on the premises and, on March 27th, 1959, Elizabeth Taylor converted to Judaism there, taking the Hebrew name Elisheba Rachel. The place definitely deserves its “Filmland’s House of Worship” nickname! In fact, I think I may need to convert and start attending services there! Winking smile

In the two-part “Marry Me a Little, Marry Me a Little More” episode of Will & Grace, Grace and Leo decide to get married in a temple, after learning that their first wedding, in which they tied the knot on a whim while on The Today Show, was not valid. Only the interior of Temple Israel of Hollywood was featured in the episode, though. For the exterior of their wedding venue, Temple Emanu-El, located at One East 65th Street in New York, was used.

Grace and Leo’s wedding took place in Temple Israel of Hollywood’s Sanctuary area.

Visible in the episode is the temple’s real life Ark, which was constructed out of silver and white Italian marble and is flanked by two large lions representing strength, courage and majesty. The Ark was a bit covered over by a chuppah in the scene, though, as you can see below.

In a perplexing twist, while the real life altar area matches up to what appeared in the episode, the back half of the temple does not. Although it is not readily apparent in my photograph below, the temple’s actual ceiling is much shorter than what was depicted onscreen, due to the existence of a large mezzanine.

And while both the green rug underneath the aisle runner and the velvet and wooden seats match up perfectly to what was shown in the episode, the real life doors of the temple are completely different. I had Mike, from MovieShotsLA, call the temple’s main office for me (for some reason I am petrified of making phone calls to strangers – in person, I LOVE talking to random people, but on the phone I’m a total wuss) to ask if the Sanctuary had been remodeled in recent years and, as it turns out, there was a renovation done in 2009. But, while doing further research, I came across a black and white photograph (from an undetermined year) on the Paradise Leased blog which shows the Sanctuary in the exact same state that it is today. So a few different scenarios are possible here – the Paradise Leased photo may very well be a recent one that just happened to have been taken in black and white, making it possible that the back portion of the Sanctuary was drastically changed during the 2009 remodel OR Grace and Leo’s wedding ceremony was filmed partially on a set and partially in the actual temple. Hey, stranger things have been known to happen in Hollywood.

While I am unsure of the Sanctuary situation, I am almost positive that both the anteroom . . .

. . . and bride’s dressing room that appeared in the episode were sets built at CBS Studio Center, where Will & Grace was lensed.

And I, of course, just had to pose for a pic next to the chair where Will Truman (Eric McCormack) sat after he gave Grace away. Winking smile

On a Will & Grace side-note – I absolutely LOVE the shearling coat that Grace wore in the “Marry Me a Little, Marry Me a Little More” episode. I want, I want, I want! Oh, GC – are you listening? Winking smile

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Temple Israel of Hollywood, where Grace and Leo got married in the “Marry Me a Little, Marry Me a Little More” episode of Will & Grace, is located at 7300 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. Their wedding took place in the Sanctuary. You can visit the temple’s official website here.

Way back in mid-June, while trying to track down the Irish pub that masquerades as Scully’s bar on fave show Parks and Recreation (a location that I still have, maddeningly, yet to find, by the way), I came across a website for a Fairfax District-area watering hole named Molly Malone’s. The website mentioned that the historic establishment had been featured in several movies over the years, including Patriot Games, Leaving Las Vegas and Life Without Dick. And even though I am not particularly a fan of any of the three flicks, I just about died of excitement upon reading the news and immediately added the place to my To-Stalk list. Why, oh why, do more bars and restaurants not post similar such information on their websites? It would make my job so much easier! Winking smile And while I was not able to drag the Grim Cheaper out to stalk Molly’s until two Saturdays ago, I have to say that the place was most-definitely well worth the wait.

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Molly Malone’s, which is located at 575 South Fairfax Avenue, was originally founded sometime (I believe) during the 1960s. In 1970, the place was taken over by a Dublin-born homemaker named Angela Hanlon, who had come to Los Angeles via Baltimore with her entertainer husband. Finding herself homesick for her native land, Hanlon one day ventured in Molly’s and quickly became a regular. And although there are several differing reports as to how Hanlon came to own the watering hole, the story I like best, which was chronicled in a 1997 Los Angeles Times article, is that, on one very fateful day, Hanlon loaned Molly’s then-owner money and when he skipped town shortly thereafter, the place wound up in her hands. Molly Malone’s has been owned and operated by the Hanlon family ever since.

The space at 575 South Fairfax housed bars long before Molly Malone’s was ever founded, though. According to a 1995 Los Angeles Times article by Hillary Johnson, legend has it that the 575 Club, one of the many watering holes to precede Molly’s, was actually one of the first to be given an alcohol license after Prohibition.

Molly Malone’s dark walls are covered with over seventy original paintings – almost all of them renderings of the bar’s regular customers – created by legendary oil painter Neil Boyle, who was a loyal patron of the drinkery for decades until he passed away in 2006. Lorraine Devon Wilke writes in a 2011 Huffington Post article, “For an artist whose pieces command phenomenal fees, who was always in demand for murals and commissioned work, and whose work hangs in galleries and museums around the country, the prestige of showcasing such valuable art was undeniable to Molly’s. Some patrons came in simply to view Neil’s paintings. It was a draw. Literally.”

In the 1995 LA Times article that I mentioned above, author Hillary Johnson states, “A sign on the wall says, ‘Dublin, 40 km.’ Some would say it’s closer.” And I would have to agree with that sentiment. As soon as we walked through Molly Malone’s dark wooden front door, we were welcomed like old friends. And when I asked the bartender on duty about the various movies filmed on the premises, he came out from behind his post, grabbed me by the hand and proceeded to take me on a tour of the place. And he even introduced me to Molly’s former longtime manager, who just happened to be on site that day, to see if he could answer any more of my questions! Talk about hospitality! Love it!

Besides being a filming location, Molly Malone’s has also long been popular with the Hollywood set. According to the former manager that I spoke with, Lenny Kravitz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Mickey Rourke, and Ralph Fiennes have all been spotted there. The place is also a live music venue and boasts a large back room, complete with a stage, where many young musicians have gotten their start.

The band Flogging Molly not only cut their teeth at the bar, but named themselves in honor of it. Of the name, front-man Dave King said, “We used to play there every Monday night and we felt like we were flogging it to death, so we called the band Flogging Molly.” Love it!

In 1992’s Patriot Games, Molly Malone’s was the Irish pub where Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) threatened to destroy Paddy O’Neil (Richard Harris) after O’Neil refused to tell him the whereabouts of Sean Miller (Sean Bean) and Kevin O’Donnell (Patrick Bergin).

While numerous websites state that either Boardner’s of Hollywood (which I blogged about here) or Cock ‘N Bull British Pub in Santa Monica was the bar featured in the opening scene of 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas, that information is actually incorrect. The bar in question was actually Molly Malone’s and it popped up twice in the flick, first in the scene in which Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) rather aggressively purchases a random woman named Terri (Valeria Golino) a drink before inviting her home with him.

It next appeared in the scene in which the “L.A. Bartender” (Graham Beckel) urged Ben to stop drinking once and for all.

Molly Malone’s also popped up twice in 2002’s Life Without Dick. It first appeared in the scene in which hitman Daniel Gallagher (Harry Connick Jr.) asked his friend Rex (David Cross) to get rid of a gun. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior were used in that scene.

Molly’s next popped up in the scene in which Daniel finally admitted to his new girlfriend, Colleen Gibson (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker), that he was a hitman.

The exterior of Molly’s also appeared in that scene, as well.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my latest post – about a nightmare experience at the DMV – on my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Molly Malone’s, from Patriot Games, is located at 575 South Fairfax Avenue in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. The bar is a 21-and-over establishment, so, if you are going to stalk it, you will have to leave the kiddies at home. You can visit Molly Malone’s official website here.

Tag: Harry Connick Jr. filming locations

Temple Israel of Hollywood from “Will & Grace”

Molly Malone’s from “Patriot Games”