John Stamos – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 8, 2016April 1, 2016

Sara’s House from “Grandfathered”

I always find it amusing when the exterior of a home is changed between a television show’s pilot and its subsequent episodes (which happens often, as I have mentioned numerous times on this site), but the interior is kept the same. Such was the case with the ranch-style residence where Sara (Paget Brewster, who I just realized played Kathy on Friends!) lives on Grandfathered. While watching the pilot, I recognized the dwelling used as Sara’s immediately as I had stalked and blogged about it way back in 2009. (More on that in a minute.) By the time episode two aired, a different house was being used for exterior shots, but the interior remained largely unchanged. Such is Hollywood, I guess.

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In Grandfathered’s pilot, Sara is shown to live in a charming double-peaked-roof home which I recognized on sight as the same dwelling where Wendy (Courteney Cox) lived in the 2008 comedy Bedtime Stories. You can read a post I wrote about the house here.

In the episode, Jimmy (John Stamos) heads to the home to confront Sara about the fact that she never told him she had his baby 26 years prior. While there, he says “I’m standing here on a porch in East Bumpkinville.” Sara corrects him by stating, “Pasadena,” to which he replies, “Oh, this is Pasadena?” The house is actually located in South Pasadena, though, at 800 Adelaine Avenue.

In real life, the adorable property, which was built in 1925, boasts 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,165 square feet of living space, and a 0.23-acre plot of land.

For one of the scenes in Bedtime Stories, some fake diagonal parking space lines were painted onto the street in front of the home.

Those lines were still visible, albeit faintly, when I stalked the place in 2009.

And they are apparently still visible today! I was absolutely floored to see them when Jimmy parked his car in front of the house in Grandfathered!

The actual interior of the home also appeared in Bedtime Stories.

And it was utilized in the Grandfathered pilot, as well. Then, once the series got picked up, that interior was re-created on a soundstage at CBS Studio Center in Studio City where the show is lensed.

Though some minor changes were made, for the most part the set looks very much like the actual house. Which is amusing because . . .

. . . by Grandfathered’s second episode, titled “Dad Face,” a different property, one located at 12660 Kling Street in Studio City, was being used for exterior shots. I am guessing the move was made due to the fact that the new residence is much closer to CBS Studio Center than the South Pasadena pad and therefore much easier for the cast and crew to travel to for shoots.

With its peaked roof and light green coloring, the Kling Street house does bear some resemblance to the Adelaine Avenue home.

In real life, the 1939 property boasts 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2,183 square feet, and a 0.20-acre plot of land.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sara’s house from Grandfathered is located at 12660 Kling Street in Studio City. The home used in the pilot episode can be found at 800 Adelaine Avenue in South Pasadena.

April 4, 2016April 5, 2016

Jimmy’s Restaurant from “Grandfathered”

The Grim Cheaper and I were inundated with new shows we love during the Fall 2015 television season. Virtually every single one we sampled became must-see TV for us, including Blind Spot, Limitless, The Grinder, Quantico, The Family (which technically didn’t start until early 2016), Oil (really bummed that one was cancelled), Wicked City (ditto on the cancellation), Rosewood, and Lucifer. Considering we already had a fairly long list of can’t-miss shows, our DVR is now on overload. Though we have yet to see every episode, we also have a soft spot for the FOX comedy Grandfathered. I was especially thrilled while watching the pilot to spot Hatfield’s from Chef pop up as the interior of Jimmy’s, the restaurant owned by Jimmy Martino (John Stamos) on the series. I immediately started searching for the eatery used in exterior shots of Jimmy’s and fairly quickly found it – Faith & Flower at 705 West 9th Street in downtown Los Angeles. Though I added the info to my Hatfield’s post to reflect the new information shortly after the pilot aired in September, I did not make it out to stalk Faith & Flower until recently.

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Faith & Flower is located on the ground level of the Watermarke Tower. The luxury 214-unit apartment building was originally built in 2009 and was set to be a condominium complex, but its developer, Meruelo Maddux, declared bankruptcy shortly before construction was completed and the site remained vacant for a time.

In April 2010, the 35-story, 254,000-square-foot property was purchased by Watermarke Properties for a whopping $110 million and transformed into an upscale apartment complex.

Watermarke is considered one of downtown’s most luxurious apartment buildings and boasts amenities that seemingly never end, including a 20-seat theatre, a private wine cellar and tasting room, a spin room, two gyms, a yoga studio, a game room, a dog run, a basement lounge complete with a pool table and flat screen TVs that most residents refer to as a “nightclub,” a 75-foot infinity pool, a hot tub, two conference rooms, gardens, a ping pong room, BBQs, and a 24-hour concierge. Thrown in 24-hour room service and I’d be set!

In July 2012, a massive 7,000-square-foot, 200-seat eatery named Towne Food & Drink opened on the bottom floor of the building. Prior to Towne setting up shop, Watermarke’s ground level looked quite a bit different, as you can see in the Google Street View image from May 2011 pictured below as compared to my photograph. Restaurateur Armen Shirvanian spent $4 million building the space out. Of the exterior patio area he said, “We poured that terrace. There was nothing there. We built what we think is a European-style terrace that’s really inviting.” Sadly, despite the no-expense-spared construction, Towne Food & Drink shut its doors in March 2013, after only a scant eight months in operation.

Faith & Flower opened in the space, which sits at the intersection of West 9th and South Flower streets, in March 2014. The eatery’s name is derived from the fact that Flower Street was originally known as “Faith Street”.

Faith & Flower was designed with Old Hollywood in mind and features large booths, Chesterfield sofas, translucent curtains, and mid-century modern chandeliers. One of Bob Hope’s former dressing room doors is even on display.

On Grandfathered, the exterior of Faith & Flower is used in establishing shots of Jimmy’s restaurant.

Some on location filming has also taken place at the restaurant. In the pilot episode, Jimmy runs out of Faith & Flower, makes a left onto Flower Street, and then heads north while rushing his sick granddaughter to the hospital.

Interestingly, there is another exterior that is occasionally (and rather haphazardly) used in establishing shots of Jimmy’s. In fact, sometimes both exteriors appear interchangeably in the same episode!

That exterior is located on the CBS Studio Center lot, where Grandfathered is lensed. It is the eastern side of Building 2.

Fellow stalker Richard was nice enough to share a photograph he took of Building 2 while on a visit to CBS Studio Center. As you can see, the area where Jimmy’s restaurant was built is a carport in real life. The structure actually once served as offices for Mark VII Limited, the production company belonging to actor Jack Webb. According to Richard, Webb transformed the top level into an apartment, complete with a kitchen, sound studio, and air conditioning. In fact, it was the first spot on the lot to have AC capabilities. Big THANK YOU to Richard for this!

As I mentioned earlier, Hatfield’s was used as the interior of Jimmy’s restaurant in the pilot.

Once the series got picked up, that interior was re-created (with some changes) on a soundstage at CBS Studio Center.

The Watermarke Tower is also where Jimmy lives on Grandfathered.

The interior of one of the building’s actual units was utilized in the pilot episode.

As was the case with Hatfield’s, that interior was then re-created on a soundstage once Grandfathered was picked up.

The Tower has appeared onscreen in several other productions. Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) lived in one the Watermarke’s units the 2013 movie Her.

That same year, Towne Food & Drink was featured in the Season 5 episode of Castle titled “The Squab and the Quail” as the spot where Arthur Felder (Robert Craighead) was poisoned.

The building has been used twice – for virtually the very same date – on The Bachelor. It first popped up in the Season 15 episode titled “Week 4: Radio Show Date” during Bachelor Brad Womack’s one-on-one with Michelle Money. The two flew via helicopter to the Watermarke and then proceeded to rappel down it to the pool area where they ate a romantic dinner. In the Season 18 episode titled “Week 2: Book Cover Photo Shoot,” Bachelor Sean Lowe and Sarah Herron flew via – you guessed it – helicopter to the Watermarke and then – yep! – proceeded to rappel down it to the pool area where they drank champagne. Unfortunately, The Bachelor is not available to stream anywhere so I could not make screen captures of the episodes for this post. The building also apparently appeared several times on America’s Next Top Model, but again, the episodes weren’t available for streaming.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The exterior of Jimmy’s restaurant from Grandfathered is the exterior of Faith & Flower, which is located at 705 West 9th Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The interior of Jimmy’s is a set based upon the interior of the former Hatfield’s restaurant, which was located at 6703 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.

April 21, 2015October 5, 2015

Hatfield’s Restaurant from “Chef”

Today’s location is a bit of a bummer, I’m afraid. Ever since seeing the movie Chef (one of my favorites of 2014), I was itching to stalk Hatfield’s restaurant, which appeared quite extensively throughout the flick. So when I discovered that it had recently closed, I was devastated. But I ventured on over to see the exterior of it in person, nonetheless, while I was in L.A. a few weeks ago.

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Hatfield’s restaurant was established by Karen and Quinn Hatfield in 2006. The fine dining eatery was originally located in a small space on Beverly Boulevard, but moved to 6703 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood in 2010.

The Melrose Avenue space had housed a restaurant named Citrus until 2001 and then went through a succession of different occupants, including Alex, Meson G, and Red Pearl Kitchen. When the Hatfields leased the site, they remodeled the interior, creating an open space filled with bright white accents. While I was hoping to get a peek of that interior via the front windows, due to the way the restaurant is set up, not much was visible, unfortunately.

For reasons that were not specified, Hatfield’s closed its doors in December 2014 and the property that once housed it currently sits vacant. Karen and Quinn have since opened Odys & Penelope Churrasco and Grill in the Fairfax district and they still operate The Sycamore Kitchen in that same neighborhood, as well.

In Chef, Hatfield’s masked as the Gaellic-style Brentwood eatery named Gauloises where Carl Casper (Jon Favreau) worked.

I fell in love with the restaurant’s open kitchen while watching Chef and was dying to stalk – and photograph – it. A place like that is just screaming to be photographed! I sincerely hope that whoever takes over the space leaves its design intact.

According to a May 2014 Eater LA interview with Favreau, who wrote, produced, directed and starred in Chef, the kitchen is what made him choose the site for filming. He says, “Cinematically it was wonderful. When you build a restaurant on a stage for a Hollywood film it looks so perfect. This one had a beauty to it and was very well laid out. I loved how the front and back of the house you could see the open kitchen – you could see in – that was fun for the cameraman. Kitchens aren’t usually aesthetically pleasing places in reality; they’re generally hot and crowded. The visual aspect of it isn’t a priority. This one is.”

The culinary scenes in Chef are absolutely beautiful – and not just because of the design of Hatfield’s kitchen. Eater LA characterizes the sequences as “food porn” and that’s a pretty accurate description. Roy Choi, the chef behind the immensely popular Korean taco food truck fleet Kogi, consulted on the movie. According to Jon, before coming onboard Choi said, “’I’ll do it but you have to get the kitchen right. Movies always get it wrong. I’ll do everything you need. I’ll train you, do the menus, look over your scripts, help you in the editing room. Whatever you want. But you have to promise you’ll get the details right.’ I said that’s all I ever want to do. That’s the way I work. That’s exactly what I had in mind as well.” Favreau even attended a French culinary school and worked in some of Choi’s restaurants prior to filming, which becomes obvious while watching the flick. Favreau’s hands move like an artist when handling his dishes. Check out this grilled cheese-making scene and you’ll see what I mean. Just make sure you have some sliced sourdough and cheddar on hand ‘cause cravings are sure to follow!

Hatfield’s was also where Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and Mellie Grant (Bellamy Young) sat through a terse staged lunch in the Season 3 episode of Scandal titled “Ride, Sally, Ride.”

The space also masks as Jimmy’s, the restaurant belonging to Jimmy Martino (John Stamos), in the new Fox series Grandfathered. The interior of the eatery . . .

. . . and the kitchen area are featured on the show.

Exterior filming, though, takes place at Faith & Flower, located in The Watermarke Tower at 705 West 9th Street in downtown Los Angeles. That same building is also where Jimmy lives on the show.

During the space’s stint as Meson G (which you can check out some photographs of here), it masked as New York restaurant Nolita for the pilot episode of the 2005 television series Kitchen Confidential. I had never heard of the show, which was created by Darren Starr and starred cuties Bradley Cooper and Owain Yeoman, prior to doing research for this post, but it looks great! You can check it out for free on Hulu.

Thanks to my friend Molly, from the fabulous DIY/lifestyle website Almost Makes Perfect, I learned that David Boreanaz was punked at Meson G during Season 6 of Punk’d.

In 2008, when the site housed Red Pearl Kitchen, it appeared in the Season 4 episode of The Hills titled “We’ll Never Be Friends” as the spot where Doug Reinhardt took Lauren Conrad on a date.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hatfield’s restaurant, from Chef, was formerly located at 6703 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. The space is currently closed and awaiting a new tenant.

September 26, 2014September 26, 2014

Griffith Park from the “Full House” Opening Credits

Growing up, I was obsessed with ABC’s TGIF series Full House. Like obsessed! Because my Uncle Tim lived with my family during my younger years, I related closely to the show – and thought it was insanely cool that I had my very own “Uncle Jesse.” So I was thrilled when fellow stalker Michael contacted me recently to let me know that he was in the process of hunting down the park used in the opening credits of Full House’s first three seasons. I had always been under the impression that the credits had been filmed in San Francisco, where the show was set. As Michael informed me, though, it was not until Season 4 that the cast was flown out to the City by the Bay to shoot on location. During Seasons 1 through 3, the opening segments featuring the series’ actors were lensed in a Los Angeles park and a B-roll team was sent to SF to film similarly-dressed doubles for all of the wide-angle shots. As you can imagine, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by Michael’s quest.

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I gave Michael a few of my best guesses as to where filming could have taken place. Those guesses included Lacy Park in San Marino, Johnny Carson Park in Burbank and Griffith Park in Los Feliz. Not able to pinpoint the location via Google aerial views, he ventured out to do some in-person recon and quickly discovered that Griffith Park was the right spot. Now I should mention here that Griffith Park is one of the largest parks in America. It measures 4,310 acres! So the fact that Michael was able to track down this locale – on foot, no less! – is pretty darn amazing. My hat is off to him.

As Michael discovered, all of the park scenes from Full House’s Season 1-3 opening credits (which you can watch below) were shot in Griffith Park’s Park Center area, just southwest of where Griffith Park Drive meets Crystal Springs Drive.

Amazingly, despite the passage of almost thirty years, that area of the park looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when Full House originally aired in 1987.

The opening credits park scenes included a shot of the Tanner family playing a friendly game soccer;

a shot of Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) and Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) ditching Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) to hit on some female fellow park-goers;

and a shot of the group running down a hill. It was that hill that was most exciting for me to see. The Full House opening was so ingrained in my memory that as soon as I stepped into that spot, my head filled with the words to the theme song, “Everywhere you look (everywhere), there’s a heart, (there’s a heart), a hand to hold onto.”

The structure seen in the background of the hill segment is the Park Services Building located at 4800 Griffith Park Drive.

Prior to this search, I had no idea that a different actor – John Posey – had played the Tanner family patriarch in Full House’s original pilot. Once the series got picked up, Bob Saget was hired to replace Posey and the episode was reshot. You can watch the original opening with Posey by clicking below and you can read an interview with him in which he talks about losing the Full House gig here.

You can watch all of the Full House opening credits (Season 1-8) by clicking below.

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 fellow stalker Michael for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The opening credits of Full House’s first three seasons were filmed in Griffith Park’s Park Center, which is located at 4730 Griffith Park Drive in Los Feliz. A detailed aerial view of the area denoting where each segment of the credits was filmed is pictured below.

September 9, 2009September 8, 2009

Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn & Suites from Bring It On

The second item on my Bring It On stalking agenda from last weekend was a little hotel named Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn & Suites, which is also located on San Diego’s Shelter Island, just down the street from the Marlin Club which I blogged about yesterday. This is one location that I actually hadn’t planned on stalking when I first headed down to San Diego last Friday. But – thanks to fellow stalker Owen – I had the address written down in my trusty stalking notebook, so when my dad mentioned that he wanted to look at a boat store that was in the same area as Humphrey’s, I asked if he would be so kind as to also take me by the hotel. Well, as you can probably imagine, that request did NOT go over well AT ALL! My dad promptly reminded me that I had originally promised I would only be dragging him to two stalking locations that weekend. He was more than just slightly peeved that I was all of a sudden adding previously unmentioned locales to the list. In his defense, though, he hadn’t really been feeling well all weekend and, being that he just barely tolerates my stalking habit on a good day, perhaps this is one request I shouldn’t have made. But since we were going to be in the area, I just HAD to ask. Well, my dad did end up – very relunctantly – taking me by the hotel and, as fate would have it, as soon as we got there he absolutely fell in love with the place! He took about a million pictures, walked the entire hotel grounds, and even suggested to my mom that they stay there during their next San Diego trip. LOL LOL LOL See, as I’ve always said, good things come to those who stalk!! 🙂 You simply just never know what cool spot is waiting right around the corner for you to discover!

I’m actually not at all surprised that my dad was so taken with Humphrey’s, as it is a really beautiful hotel which boasts a private marina, picturesque ocean views, a fitness center, a heated pool and jacuzzi complete with a poolside bar, a putting green, a spa, large lawns, meandering ponds, and a waterfront restaurant which was recently named “San Diego’s Finest Restaurant with Live Music Venue” by the California Restaurant Association.

Humphrey’s also has quite a large celebrity connection. Besides being a favorite of television star John Stamos, whose E! True Hollywood Story was filmed in part at the hotel, each summer Humphrey’s is also the site of a very successful outdoor concert series named Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay. I literally almost fell over when I read a list of the many famous names who had recently graced Humphrey’s stage. Those names include The Soup’s Joel McHale (so LOVE him!), Joe Cocker, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, LeAnn Rimes, Joan Baez, the Indigo Girls, Tori Amos, Jewel, Chicago, Tears for Fears, the Moody Blues, Earth, Wind, & Fire, Lyle Lovett, Tracy Chapman, Tower of Power, Dave Koz, Sinbad, Air Supply, Christopher Cross, Wanda Sykes, the Beach Boys, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Loggins & Messina, and Chris Botti. Whew! What a lineup!

Ironically enough, while my parents and I were perusing the hotel grounds (before we had learned about Humphrey’s A-List concert series), we happened upon a rock group setting up in a backstage area. As we were walking by, one of the band members put his arm out to block my path and said “Hey, are you with the band?” I was a bit taken aback at the man’s rude tone and said “No, I’m sorry, I’m actually not with the band. Am I not supposed to be walking through here?” The guy laughed and said “Aw, I’m just joking with you. Unless, of course, you want to volunteer to help these guys set up the stage.” To which I said, “If you make me the star of your next music video, I might stick around to help.” LOL Well, the guy just laughed at me and that was that. Until a few minutes later when I noticed a large crate with the words “RatDog” and “Grateful Dead” stenciled across the front. I immediately grabbed my mom and said “Oh my God, I think we were just talking to members of the Grateful Dead!” She looked at me like I was absolutely crazy and said “No, Lindsay, trust me, the Grateful Dead would not be playing here.” Well, come to find out, former Dead guitarist Bob Weir and his band, RatDog, were, in fact, playing at Humphrey’s that night and not only had we walked right past some of the band members, but I had actually unknowingly spoken with one and asked him to put me in his next music video! LOL LOL LOL When we went back later to ask the band if they’d take a picture with me, they were, unfortunately, nowhere to be found. 🙁

In Bring It On, Humphrey’s stood in for the Daytona Beach Tiki Adventure Suites hotel where Kirsten Dunst and the rest of the Toros stayed during the Universal Cheer Association Nationals Competition towards the end of the movie. I’m actually quite surprised that producers chose to use Humphrey’s to represent a Florida area hotel, as the place looks more like it belongs in Waikiki than Daytona Beach. Although its close proximity to the Marlin Club must have made it the easy choice for filming.

Several areas of the hotel were featured in Bring It On, including the front entrance;

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the exterior of some of the rooms,

the pool area,

and the interior of one of the rooms.

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Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn & Suites is a really beautiful place and I highly recommend stalking it! I am very much looking forward to my parent’s next trip down to San Diego, as it looks like they will most likely be staying at Humphrey’s, so you can bet I’ll be tagging along with them once again!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Bring It On hotel, aka Humphrey’s Half Moon Inn & Suites, is located at 2303 Shelter Island Drive on Shelter Island, just outside of Point Loma, in San Diego. You can visit their website here. Humphrey’s is located just down the street from another Bring It On location – the Marlin Club – which can be found at 2445 Shelter Island Drive.