Shooters Bar & Grill from “Melrose Place”

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One location that had been on my “To Stalk” list pretty much ever since I first moved to Southern California over twelve years ago was Fellini’s “Old Country” Italian restaurant – the Hollywood-area eatery that stood in for Shooters Bar & Grill on the 1992 Beverly Hills, 90210-spinoff Melrose Place.  And while I was never a huge fan of the series (I think I was a bit too young for it as most of the storylines went right over my head), I did watch the entire first season and the pool hall/bar where the characters regularly hung out was a place that I had always wanted to see in person.  For whatever reason, though, I had just never made it out there.  So, while Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were out doing some stalking in the Hollywood area two weeks ago, I suggested that we stop by.  Sadly, this was a bit of a disappointing stalk for both of us, though, as the site has changed drastically since filming took place and is virtually unrecognizable from its weekly onscreen appearances as Shooters on Melrose Place.

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Unfortunately, I could not find much information online about the history of Fellini’s, which is surprising being that the establishment seemed to be something of a Hollywood landmark and was around for almost two full decades.  According to this December 1987 Los Angeles Times article, Fellini’s, which was named in honor of the legendary Italian film director Federico Fellini, was founded in 1976 by a man named Gary Michael Gilson.  The portion of the building that stood in for Shooters was not actually a part of the original restaurant, but was added in 1982 when Gilson decided to expand into a vacant former antique shop located next door.  During its heyday, such stars as Bonnie Raitt and Dennis Quaid were said to not only have hung out there, but were even known to jump up on the eatery’s tiny stage and sing a few tunes from time to time.  Fellini’s ended up shutting its doors sometime in the late ‘80s, at which point it was transformed into a short-lived nightclub named Trinity that closed after less than a year.  The establishment was then purchased by new owners and was reopened once again as Fellini’s, but not until 1993, so it seems that at the time Melrose Place was first filmed, the site was vacant.  I am not sure when Fellini’s officially closed for the second time, but in mid-2010 the place housed a furniture store, as you can see in these photographs on the Daveland blog here.  The storefront, which has since been painted a drab blue-grey color, currently houses MUSE Atelier hair salon.

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The exterior of Fellini’s showed up weekly on Melrose Place throughout the series’ seven-season run.  You can check out some pictures of what Fellini’s used to look like when it was still in business here and a close-up of its doors here.  As you can see in the photographs, not much was changed for the filming of Melrose Place.  Sadly, that is not the case today.  Gone are the familiar black awning, peach-colored paint, and arched double windows.  Today, the storefront is a bleak reminder of its former self.  As Mike said to me while we there, “This place looks like a morgue!”  LOL  Why the new owners would take a formerly very cute façade – not to mention a historic filming location – and turn it into something dismal is beyond me.

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While we were there, Mike did notice that some markings from the former arched double windows were still visible on the exterior of the building.  I SO love when there is some remnant, no matter how small, still in existence on filming locations that have been drastically altered.  So incredibly cool!

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While scanning through episodes of Melrose Place to make screen captures for today’s post, I noticed that something was not quite right about the close-up shots of Shooters’ front doors, and I came to the conclusion that a set of the entrance area had been created for all of the close-up filming.

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As you can see in the above screen captures, the wall just to the left of the Shooters’ awning is popped out in the close-up view, but not in the faraway shot.

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And in the close-up shot, the window to the left of the awning has no ornamentation surrounding it, but in the faraway shot it does.

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Being that, in real life, the façade of the building is flat and does have ornamentation surrounding its side window, the only explanation is that a replica of the entrance was created on a soundstage at Santa Clarita Studios in Valencia where the series was lensed for all of the close-up shots.  (You can see a pretty cool picture of the original Melrose Place apartment set on the Santa Clarita Studios website here.)

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The interior of Shooters was also just a set and, from what I read online, it did not at all resemble the dark wood-paneled, Old World-style of the real life Fellini’s.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have been able to have seen that place in person!

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And while Fellini’s was used almost entirely for establishing shots on Melrose Place, some actual filming did take place there.  In the pilot episode of the series, Jake Hanson (Grant Show) takes Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) on a date at Shooters and the two are shown pulling up to the front of the restaurant on Jake’s motorcycle.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The former Fellini’s restaurant (now MUSE Atelier salon), aka Shooters Bar & Grill from the original Melrose Place, is located at 6808/6810 Melrose Avenue, just west of North Highland Avenue, in Hollywood.

Palace Costume – The Halloween Costume Shop from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

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One location that I have been wanting to stalk for close to two decades now is the costume shop that was featured in the Season 2 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Halloween”.  Not only was that episode one of my most beloved of the entire series, but, as has been made blatantly apparent by now, Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday and I was positively DYING to wander through the very same clothing racks that the 90210 gang had wandered through.  So when fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, tracked the place down a while back, I just about died of excitement and immediately added it to my Haunted-Hollywood-To-Stalk list.  Being that the store’s actual name – Palace Costume Company – had been visibly displayed in the episode, I am highly embarrassed that I was not able to find the place myself.  I mean honestly, what kind of a stalker am I?  Winking smile Anyway, I finally dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the store two weekends ago and, as you can imagine, I could NOT have been more excited!

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Palace Costume, which was originally a vintage clothing retailer, was founded in the 1960s by a woman named Melody Barnett in a storefront on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.  The shop was the very first vintage clothing store to be located on Melrose, a street that is now rife with thrift emporiums and vintage boutiques.  In 1970, Palace Costume moved to a 2,000-square-foot space on Fairfax Avenue and began exclusively renting out authentic vintage clothing to film and production crews.  According to this October 1998 Los Angeles Business Journal article, Barnett has become so successful in the entertainment industry that she has had to add about 1,000 square feet of space to her store every single year due to her rapidly growing collection.  Today, her 36,000-square-foot emporium houses over half a million different pieces, making it one of the largest vintage clothing collections in the entire country.  Melody’s costumes have appeared in thousands upon thousands of productions, including Titanic, Chinatown, A Beautiful Mind, Blow, Frida, Pleasantville, Boogie Nights, Evita, Forrest Gump, What’s Love Got to Do with It, and all three Austin Powers movies.  In 1998, Barnett had a wooden and stucco façade constructed around her store for security reasons, so the place looks quite a bit different today than it did onscreen on 90210.

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In the “Halloween” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty), Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth), Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry), and the rest of the 90210 gang head out to what they call “Hollywood Costume” to pick out some costumes for a Halloween party they are attending that night.  As I mentioned above, the name “Palace Costume Co.” is blatantly visible on the storefront in the scene.  Yes, I am a blonde!  Winking smile

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It is while there that Brenda and Dylan find their amazeballs Bonnie and Clyde costumes.  It has ALWAYS been my dream to dress up as Brenda and Dylan dressed up as Bonnie and Clyde for Halloween, but somehow I do not think the GC would go for that.  Although this year we are dressing up 90210-style, but I am saving that information for a future post!  Winking smile

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Sadly, Palace Costume is not open to the public, but is only open to industry professionals.  Words cannot express how heartbroken I was when we arrived and saw the “not open to the public” sign on the front door.  I was literally almost in tears (OK, not really, but I was pretty bummed) as I had so badly wanted to peruse through the countless racks of period clothing like Brenda and Donna had done on 90210.  And I had also wanted to verify if the episode had actually been filmed inside of the store or at a different location.

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Because I hate making phone calls (I know, I know – I am weird!), I enlisted the help of Mike, from MovieShotsLA (who is doing his own Halloween locations theme this month), to call Palace Costume and ask Melody if any 90210 filming had been done inside of the store.  She confirmed that indeed it had.  And if you look at the above screen capture from the episode and compare it to the photograph of the inside of Palace Costume, which I got off of the company’s website, you can see that the light fixtures and ceiling do, in fact, match.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to go inside of that place!  I am a member of SAG, doesn’t that count for anything??  Winking smile

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Palace Costume, from the “Halloween” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 835 North Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles.  You can visit the store’s official website here.  Palace Costume is sadly not open to the public, but is only open to members of the entertainment industry.