Heidi Klum – IAMNOTASTALKER

October 26, 2010September 29, 2017

Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch . . . A Second Time

This past weekend, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to one of my all time favorite Halloween-themed stalking locations – Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch in West Hollywood. The family owned and operated patch, which is located on a vacant plot of land on North Doheny Drive in between Keith and Harland Avenues, has been serving L.A.’s west side since 1986 and each year during the month of October is the place to see and be seen in Southern California. And even though I’ve actually blogged about this location once before, way back in October of 2008, since it is a landmark Haunted Hollywood stalking venue, I thought it was only fitting that I write about it once again since we are just a few days away from Halloween.

For whatever reason – I am guessing due mostly to its centralized location – the patch has been a celebrity magnet ever since its inception almost two and a half decades ago. Anyone who’s anyone stops by there during the month of October for a bit of Halloween fun. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there recently include Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, The Girls Next Door’s Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt, Britney Spears, Marcia Cross, Scott Baio, Chris Noth, Sara Gilbert, Justin Chambers, Jessica Alba, Mark Wahlberg, Courteney Cox, Christina Aguilera, Laurence Fishburne, Halle Berry, Usher, Breckin Meyer, Dave Grohl, Victoria’s Secret-model Alessandra Ambrosio, and Cougar Town’s Busy Philipps. I could literally go on and on here, but that gives you somewhat of an idea of the patch’s extensive celebrity clientele. Unfortunately, the GC and I did not see any stars while we were stalking the place this past Sunday, but we did run into Heidi Klum and Seal during our first visit there back in 2007 (the two are pictured above) and last year we missed both Tori Spelling and Gwen Stefani by mere minutes! UGH!

And while I love Mr. Bones, I must admit that the Grim Cheaper isn’t too crazy about the place thanks to the fact that they charge a $4 entrance fee for each adult (kids are $2). That fee can later be applied to any pumpkins or Halloween merchandise that is purchased, but as the GC says, Mr. Bones has to be the only pumpkin patch on the planet that has a cover charge. 😉 Besides pumpkins, the patch also boasts plenty of activities to keep the kids (and those adults who want to join in on the fun) occupied, including a large pumpkin-shaped jump house, face painting, a super slide, a small straw maze, a petting zoo, and a pumpkin decorating station. The patch also offers catered lunches of pizza, kosher hot dogs, and sausages. And I can personally attest to the fact that the hot dogs there are fabulous. 😉

Mr. Bones also boasts quite a large paparazzi following. The paps have been a fixture there pretty much ever since the place first opened. As you can see in the above pictures, for a time Mr. Bones employees tried to thwart photographers’ efforts by surrounding the property with large black-out curtains which blocked views of the patch from the street. And each year it seemed that not only did those curtains grow taller and taller, but so did the paparazzo’s ladders.

But this year things changed considerably. I guess the patch has now resigned itself to the fact that as long as it is going to be there each year, so are the paparazzi, because they have now set up a cordoned off “press area” at the corner of the property in which the photogs are allowed to stand and take pictures. A pumpkin patch with a cover charge and a press area? Only in L.A., I swear! SO LOVE IT!

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I honestly cannot recommend stalking Mr. Bones enough! Be forewarned, though, its pumpkins do run on the expensive side – but, then again, you can’t put a price tag on celebrity sightings now can you? 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch is located at 702 North Doheny Drive in West Hollywood. You can visit the official Mr. Bones website here. The patch is open this year from October 2nd through the 31st. Mr. Bones charges a cover fee of $4 per adult and $2 per child during the weekends. That fee can later be applied to the cost of any pumpkins or Halloween merchandise that is purchased while there.

April 8, 2009April 7, 2009

Joe’s Pizza

Last week, on April Fools’ Day, CBS aired a television special entitled I Get That A Lot in which celebrities posed as normal, everyday people working in normal, everyday jobs. Hidden cameras captured customers’ reactions as stars like Jessica Simpson, Ice-T, LeAnn Rimes, and Jeff Probst waited on them and told them that they were not, in fact, famous, but that they “get that a lot.” 🙂 While the show was a bit on the silly side, I, of course, LOVED it! I so wish I could have been one of those customers! But since I wasn’t, I figured I’d at least stalk one of the locations where I Get That A Lot was filmed. 🙂

My favorite segment from I Get That A Lot involved supermodel Heidi Klum whose assignment on the show was to spend a few hours serving pizzas at a small pizza place in Santa Monica named Joe’s. Heidi was absolutely adorable in the segment and since I happened to be in Santa Monica this weekend, I just had to drag my boyfriend out to stalk the place. 🙂

Joe’s Pizza is a very cute, but super tiny shop located just off the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. In fact, it is so tiny I am surprised they were able to film inside of it at all. Joe’s was also extremely crowded – during the brief twenty minutes that we were there no less than fifteen people stopped in for a bite to eat – which is, I’m sure, why it was chosen for the hidden camera special. I am guessing that the producers wanted Heidi waiting on as many people as possible. The staff at Joe’s was extremely nice and answered all of my questions about the filming of I Get That A Lot,which took place almost a year ago. They told me that Heidi Klum was very down to earth and a lot of fun to work with. 🙂

While stalking Joe’s, my boyfriend and I just had to sample a few slices of their pizza. And let me tell you, it is some of the best pizza I’ve ever had! The Joe’s Pizza chain originated in New York in 1975 and has continuously been credited as New York’s best pizza. In fact, New York Magazine stated that “the quintessential New York slice is at Joe’s”. The Santa Monica branch, which opened in 2007, is just as good as its New York counterpart and I am sure I will be frequenting it quite often. Being that I am diabetic, a big ol’ slice of cheese pizza is probably the last thing I should be eating, but, hey, life’s short – sometimes you’ve gotta live it up. 🙂

Other famous fans of the restaurant, besides Heidi Klum, include Brooke Shields, Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, and Everybody Loves Raymond’s Doris Roberts. Pictured above are photographs of Joe’s celebrity fans which line the walls of the small restaurant. Love it! Think someday they’ll put my photo on the wall? 🙂

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The original Joe’s Pizza, which is located in Manhattan, has long been a favorite of location scouts. It has appeared in Spiderman 2 (Peter Parker worked as a Joe’s pizza delivery boy), Sex and the City, Along Came Polly, and a Nike Commercial. You can bet that Joe’s is at the top of my list of places to stalk on my next trip to NYC. 🙂

I HIGHLY recommend stalking Joe’s Pizza! It’s a really fun place to grab a bite to eat and the pizza is to die for! It’s truly like having a little piece of New York right here in L.A. 🙂 You can watch some clips from the I Get That A Lot special, including Heidi Klum’s stint as a Joe’s Pizza girl, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Joe’s Pizza is located at 111 Broadway in Santa Monica. The original New York location can be found at 7 Carmine Street in Manhattan. You can visit the Joe’s Pizza website here.

October 6, 2008September 29, 2017

Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch

I cannot tell you how excited I am that October is finally here! Halloween has always been my very favorite holiday, most probably because I love nothing more than to dress up in costume. For the past three years during the month of October and in honor of Halloween, I have dragged my boyfriend out on my very own “Haunted Hollywood Tour”. Our tour consists of visiting houses from famous scary movies, sites of famous Hollywood deaths, and rumored haunted hot spots in the L.A. area. Since I have accumulated a fairly large list of scary spots from these yearly tours, last night I decided that, in honor of my favorite holiday, I would blog about all things spooky in Hollywood from now until October 31st.

But I can’t very well do that without first writing about my fave Halloween location – Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch. I dragged my boyfriend out to Mr. Bones last October after seeing the West Hollywood patch appear countless times in US Magazine. For those of you who don’t read US, during the month of October Mr. Bones is THE place to be seen in L.A. and literally anyone who’s anyone makes an appearance at the famous patch. Last year Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Marky Mark, Tobey McGuire and his jewelry designer wife Jennifer Meyer, Sarah Gilbert, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Lisa Rinna, Corey Feldman, and Lindsay Lohan all got their pumpkin on at Mr. Bones. It is literally the Les Deux of pumpkin patches. So, of course, I had to stalk it!

Last year, as my boyfriend and I walked up to Mr. Bones, I was floored to see at least forty paparazzi standing around the perimeter of the fenced in patch, long lense cameras in hand. The paps were going absolutely agro – some standing on top of cars or on ladders trying to see over the patch’s high fences for the perfect photo op.

Due to the sheer amount of photogs stationed around the patch, I was absolutely convinced that TomKat and Suri or BritBrit and her kids were inside. But it turns out the paps were actually snapping photographs of Heidi Klum and Seal and their three children. This was actually Heidi and Seal’s second trip to Mr. Bones in less than a week and the two hung out at the patch with their kids and nanny for over an hour. They definitely seemed to be enjoying all of the attention, too, and were most certainly hamming it up for the cameras – kissing and hugging and what not. I could not have been more excited! 🙂

Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch, which has been a family-owned and operated business for over 15 years, is the perfect place to get you in the mood for Halloween. I highly recommend stalking the patch as much for the celeb sightings as for the Halloween festivities. There are pony rides, face painting, great food, a Halloween store, and, of course, lots and lots of pumpkins. It is pricey, though. The pumpkins cost far more than they would at other local pumpkin patches – and there’s a cover charge! Yes, you read that right. Only in L.A., I swear! You will have to cough up $2 per person just to gain entry to the legendary pumpkin patch. But the entry fee can be applied to any pumpkin or Halloween merchandise purchase while there, so it’s not all bad. What you’re mostly paying for, though, are the Halloween spirit and atmosphere – which Mr. Bones definitely has in droves. You’ll love it! It’s the perfect place to get into the Halloween spirit. 🙂

And, of course, I just had to take a pic of me in front of all the paps. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch is located at 702 N. Doheny Drive in West Hollywood. This year Mr. Bones opens for business this upcoming Friday, October 10th, and they will remain open through Halloween day. Their hours are from 9am to 8pm daily. You can visit their website here. Another great place to get into the Halloween spirit is Lombardi’s Ranch. They are located at 29527 Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus, near Santa Clarita. Their pumpkin patch is currently open for business. You can visit their website here. Lombardi’s has live music, a petting zoo, awesome pumpkin pie, a sunflower patch, and acres upon acres of pumpkins. It is a great place to spend a day with kids, though you probably won’t spot any celebs.