George’s Childhood Home from “Blow”

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This past Saturday morning, after waking up to a torrential downpour and then waiting a few hours for it to pass, the Grim Cheaper suggested that we head south to the city of Whittier to do some stalking of Whittier High School, aka Hill Valley High School from Back to the Future, which, amazingly enough, in all my years of stalking I had yet to visit.  And I should mention here that while I do absolutely love me some BTTF and have stalked quite a few of its locales, I have yet to blog about any of them as The Big Waste of Space Photologue features a Back to the Future Tour in which each and every one of the movie’s sites is painstakingly documented.  I have long been of the opinion that, unless I have something to add to the mix, there is no reason to blog about places that have already been reported on and since BTTF has been done, and done quite well, I figure my stalking “talents” are best left to more uncharted territory.  Anyway, the GC and I had an absolute blast stalking Whittier High School and while I might do a blog on my experiences there sometime in the future, for now I thought I would write about the other places we visited, one of which was the childhood home of George Jung (Johnny Depp) from the 2001 movie Blow.

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While doing some stalking on Painter Avenue in the Whittier Historic Neighborhood Association area, I happened to run into a homeowner who informed me that one of the properties on a nearby street had been used as George’s childhood home in Blow.  And while she did not remember the exact property used, she pointed me in the right direction.  From there, I contacted Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to see if he would email me some screen caps of the residence in question so that I could attempt to track it down while I was in the area.  Mike’s response?  “Oh, I know where that house is – it’s at 6216 Friends Avenue.”  LOL  I really should have known – if a property has anything to do with filming and is located anywhere in the vicinity of greater Los Angeles, chances are Mike is going to know about it.  So, with the address firmly in hand, I immediately dragged the GC right on over there.  On our way, I just had to pull over and take a picture with the Friends Avenue street sign – for reasons that should be imminently clear to all of my fellow stalkers.  Winking smile LOVE IT!

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George’s childhood home, where he lives with parents Ermine Jung (Rachel Griffiths) and Fred Jung (Ray Liotta) and which is said to be located in Weymouth, Massachusetts, shows up quite a few times in Blow.  It first pops up at the very beginning of the movie in the scene in which George is describing his background to the audience.

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It is next featured in the scene in which George skips bail to go see his parents after the death of his girlfriend, Barbara Buckley (Franka Potente).  While there, Ermine calls the police on him and he winds up being rearrested.

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It later appears in the scene in which George visits his parents yet again in order to tell them that he is going on the lam and might not be in touch for a while.

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And it lastly pops up towards the end of the movie in the scene in which Fred listens to a message that George has tape-recorded for him.

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In real life, the Blow house, which was originally built in 1924, boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,734 square feet of living space.  And while it does look similar to how it appeared onscreen, I actually much prefer the color scheme from the movie to the colors it is currently painted.

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And while I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the residence was also used in the filming, I was unable to find any interior photographs of the house online with which to verify that hunch.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: George’s childhood home from Blow is located at 6216 Friends Avenue in Whittier.

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ Former Mansion

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I recently finished reading Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography which was written by Andrew Morton, the legendary celebrity biographer who also penned Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words, and I have to say that it was absolutely FABULOUS!  I honestly cannot more highly recommend it.  Not only was the book, which became a 2008 bestseller, a fascinating read, but it also got me completely obsessed with Dawson’s Creek once again and I just started re-watching the series from the beginning last week.  SUCH a great show and one of these days I have GOT to get myself to Wilmington, North Carolina to do some stalking of the locales, but I digress.  Anyway, one of the locations talked about in Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography was the Beverly Hills manse that the actor called home when he first started dating Katie Holmes and which Katie also later moved into.  So I, of course, just had to drag the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place as soon as I finished reading the book.

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Sadly though, as you can see above, virtually no part of the mansion is visible from the street.

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But, as I’ve said before, that’s why God created aerial views.  As you can see above, Tom and Katie’s former house is absolutely gargantuan.  In fact, it would be more appropriate to call the place a “compound” rather than a “house”.  The English-Country-style abode, which was originally built in 1927, features a 6,685-square-foot main house with five bedrooms and five baths, a guest house which is comprised of three separate apartments, each with their own kitchen and bath!, a screening room, formal gardens, a sunken tennis court, a pool, a spa, and almost three full acres of secluded land.  According to the Berg Properties website, Tom Cruise first leased the residence in 2001, shortly after his separation from then-wife Nicole Kidman.  TomKat moved out of the home sometime in 2007, at which point it went on the market at a rental rate of $100,000 per month.  Not kidding!  According to fave website The Real Estalker, Russell Crowe may have lived there for a time after the Cruises left.  And it appears that the property is once again available for lease.  You can check out the real estate listing – and see some fabulous interior photographs of it – here.

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And, amazingly enough, not only was the abode once the home of one of the world’s biggest movie stars, but the place is also a filming location!  In 2001’s Blow, the mansion was where George Jung (aka Johnny Depp) lived with his wife, Mirtha (aka Penelope Cruz).  It was featured in the memorable scene in which George shows his father, Fred (aka Ray Liotta), his extensive collection of cars.  The home was also where George was arrested by the FBI during his 38th birthday party.

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The interior of the house was also used in the filming.

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In the Season 3 episode of Californication titled “Wish You Were Here” the mansion was the residence of Dean Stacy Koons (aka The O.C.’s Peter Gallagher) and his wife, Felicia (aka Embeth Davidtz), where Hank Moody (aka David Duchovny) attended a dinner party.

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The real life interior of the mansion also appeared in that episode.

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And the mansion also shows up each week on the ABC Family series Switched at Birth as the residence of the Kennish family – Bay (aka Vanessa Marano), Toby (aka Lucas Grabeel), John (aka D.W. Moffett), and Kathryn (aka Lea Thompson) – and the Vasquez family – Daphne (aka Katie Leclerc), Regina (aka Constance Marie), and Adrianna (aka Ivonne Coll).

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Although the interior is, I believe, just a set.  As you can see in the screen captures above, it does not look at all like the real life interior of the former Cruise home.

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But the backyard, pool, and guest house scenes all take place at the actual house.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ former house is located at 918 North Alpine Drive in Beverly Hills.

The 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition at FIDM

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As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the Buckland Auction House from Charmed, this past weekend I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk the 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition which is currently on display at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising Museum & Galleries in Downtown Los Angeles and which features costumes from twenty of last year’s most celebrated films, including Alice in Wonderland, Clash of the Titans, Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, Robin Hood, The Wolfman, Burlesque, Hereafter, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, The Last Airbender, Nanny McPhee Returns, Shutter Island, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, The Tempest, True Grit, and The Young Victoria.  I had been dying to stalk the exhibition ever since first reading about it on fave website Seeing Stars a couple of weeks ago and because admission was free, the GC did not pose any objections!  Yay!

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Upon arrival at the museum, we were given a 24-page booklet detailing the various costumes on display, which are on loan to FIDM for the 12-week exhibition from studio archives, wardrobe departments, and personal collectors.  The booklet also featured fascinating interviews with the twenty costume designers who created the varied cinematic looks.  Some of the tidbits shared in the pamphlet were the fact that for the movie Clash of the Titans, costume designer Lindy Hemming had to create special closed-toes shoes for the actors to wear during the fight scenes, so as to protect their feet from injury.  The tops of the custom-made shoes were painted to look like bare feet so as to appear as if the actors were actually wearing gladiator sandals onscreen.  So incredibly cool!

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For The Last Airbender, which was filmed on location in Greenland, costume designer Judianna Makovsky created latex gloves resembling bare human hands for the actors to wear during the filming, which often took place in temperatures that dropped to well below zero degrees.   She also created special shoes with insulated platform soles for the actors to wear so as to keep their feet as far away from the snow on the ground as possible.

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Penny Rose, the costume designer of Disney’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, used such varied tools as a cement mixer and a cheese grater to give her creations the weathered look that the production required. 

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The filming of Inception’s many zero-gravity scenes posed some challenges for costume designer Jeffrey Kurland.  He says, “The clothes in those scenes could not be hanging down because, without gravity, they would be floating.  We had to do things like wire shoelaces to make sure they were standing straight out and tack down the men’s ties so they didn’t flop around at random.”  Reading the booklet about the exhibition and seeing the actual costumes in person made me realize how much thought, creativity, engineering, problem solving, and detail goes into designing costumes for the big screen – so much more than I ever before realized.  It was all absolutely FASCINATING to read about.

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The first costumes on display that really caught my eye were those from the movie Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, which were designed by Chattoune Bourrex and Fabien Esnard-Lascombe, aka Chattoune & Fab.  The costumes were incredibly detailed, yet simple and classic, much like Coco Chanel herself.

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I loved, loved, loved the white dress pictured above, which was worn by Anna Mouglalis in the flick.

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There were several costumes on display from Alice in Wonderland, which was the winner of the 2011 Academy Award for Costume Design.  Colleen Atwood, the movie’s designer, says she collaborated quite a bit with actor Johnny Depp when creating the wardrobe for the character of the Mad Hatter.  She says, “Every time Johnny and I hooked up, he took it to another place.  We kept pushing it.  We talked about him having all the tools of his trade apparent, so they aren’t just on a shelf but part of his costume.  So he’s got his thimbles and his pincushion ring, the bandoleer of silk thread spools, the fun ribbons.  All these things help make the Hatter otherworldly and magical, but still real in a sense.”  She also said it was Depp who came up with the idea of the Hatter’s clothing changing color depending on his mood, an effect which was created digitally in post-production.  How incredibly cool is it that an actor of his caliber is so deeply involved in the creation of all aspects of his character, including the costumes?  Love it!

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And while I was quite impressed with the Mad Hatter’s costume, I was not at all impressed with the gown worn by the White Queen (aka Anne Hathaway) in the flick – which I unfortunately do not have a photograph of as pictures were not allowed in the exhibition hall, something the GC and I did not realize until we had already taken the first few photos which appear in this post.

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As you can see above, while the White Queen’s gown is quite detailed and appeared magical and ethereal onscreen, in person it was actually a bit disappointing.  For lack of a better word, the dress appeared cheap, much like a child’s Halloween costume one would find at a five-and-dime store, which only made me further realize how difficult and complex a costume designer’s job truly is.  Costume designers have to be concerned with how their designs come across onscreen, which is apparently quite a bit different than how they come across in real life.  I cannot even imagine how much work it must take to determine that and my hat is definitely off to them! 

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The costumes that I was most excited about seeing in person – and they did not AT ALL disappoint – were those from Burlesque, all of which were designed by Michael Kaplan.  Those costumes included the dress worn by Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) during the movie’s “Show Me How You Burlesque” final dance number.  For the costumes worn in that scene, Kaplan came up with the idea of using absolutely no fabric, but rather gold chains that had been linked together.  After designing several dresses using real gold links, however, he realized that they did not have enough “give” and did not move on the dancers’ bodies the way he had envisioned.  So he opted instead to swap out the gold with rubber washers that he had purchased at a local hardware store and then painted gold.  And the effect is nothing short of amazing!  Even up close, it is impossible to tell that the links are rubber!  Kaplan also used over 250,000 individual Swarovski crystals in the creation of the “Show Me How You Burlesque” costumes, which is absolutely mind-boggling to me!  Talk about some serious bling!

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The pearl-chained costume that Christina wore during the “Guy What Takes His Time” dance number was also on display.   To create the “illusion of nudity” in that and other scenes, Kaplan designed a body-suit that was dyed to match the exact skin color of each individual actor.  Of the bodysuit he says, “It let us keep our rating and provided something to anchor the chain.” 

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Kaplan also designed a skirt made solely out of garter belts for the “E.X.P.R.E.S.S.” dance number.  Of the design, he says, “It was a lot of fun to do that one – it was one of my favorites.”

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For the dancers’ wardrobe in the “I Am A Good Girl” scene, Kaplan went to the Western Costume Company and found costumes that had been deconstructed and taken apart.  “There was something that really attracted me to them, the history or the colors or the silhouettes,” he explains.  “I talked to the people at Western Costume and told them that I wanted to take these broken-down costumes and revamp them.  I took them apart and then put them all back together again as different costumes.  We had all this beautiful, old lace and fishnet and feathers.” 

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Christina’s outfit for the “I Am A Good Girl” number was also on display at the museum and it was by far my favorite out of the entire collection.  The outfit was nothing short of incredible and I must have gone back to look at it at least five different times.  I literally could not get enough of it, especially the shoes!  Oh, the shoes!  They were cream-colored high heels that had been emblazoned with hundreds upon hundreds of different-sized Swarovski crystals.  The detail that went into those shoes was ASTONISHING and they were breathtaking to look at!  I was absolutely SHOCKED to discover after leaving the museum that Michael Kaplan had not been nominated for an Academy Award.  All the creativity, innovation, and beauty that went into those costumes and the guy was not even nominated for an Oscar????  How is that possible??????  You can see some great photographs of the shoes, as well as some of the other Burlesque costumes on the Hollywood Movie Costumes & Props website here.

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The other costumes that I was most impressed with were those of Nic (aka Annette Bening) and Jules (aka Julianne Moore) from The Kids Are All Right, which you can take a look at on the FIDM Museum blog here.  While the costumes were not especially detailed or unusual, they were extremely realistic – clothing I believed an actual 2010-era couple would be wearing.  What struck me the most, though, was the women’s jewelry.  While each woman wore strikingly different jewelry, they both had matching red and gold beaded bracelets, which was a touch that I absolutely LOVED.  Those bracelets were not mentioned in the movie, but upon seeing them I conjured up a whole back-story in my mind – I could see the women purchasing them while on vacation together in some exotic locale and then wearing them daily as a reminder of that vacation.  All that thought and detail put into an accessory that I am sure was not even widely noticed onscreen.  It just goes to show how much costume can add to the backstory and history of a character. 

I honestly cannot more highly recommend stalking the 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibit at FIDM!  It was a fabulous experience for me (although the GC did not enjoy it all that much Winking smile) and I cannot wait to do it again next year!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It:  The 19th Annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition is open through April 30th, excluding the week of April 22nd through 25th, at FIDM’s Museum & Galleries, which is located at 919 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles.  The exhibit is open each Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and admission is free!  For more information, you can visit the FIDM Museum & Galleries official website here.

Boardner’s of Hollywood from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

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Another destination included on the Grim Cheaper’s Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt was Boardner’s of Hollywood, a historic bar which was recommended to me by fellow stalker John who lives in the Bay Area.  John had emailed me quite a few months back to let me know that the legendary watering hole had been featured in countless productions over the years, including my fave show Beverly Hills, 90210, and that it was a very cool place to hang out.  So, because the GC loves anyplace with a history, I decided to add the bar to his hunt and we headed out there to grab a cocktail this past Saturday evening.

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The space which now houses Boardner’s was first opened in the 1930’s by legendary singer Gene Austin in a Moorish-style, L-shaped building designed by architect Norman Alpaugh and was known at the time as the “My Blue Heaven” night club.  After Austin sold the watering hole, it went through several different incarnations, including a restaurant named Padres and a gay bar named Cherokee House, until January of 1944 when a young man named Steve Boardner purchased the place and renamed it Boardner’s.  Boardner’s became an immediate success with the Hollywood crowd and such luminaries as Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields, Walter E. Scott (aka “Death Valley Scotty”), Elizabeth Short (aka “The Black Dahlia”), Robert Mitchum, Mickey Cohen, Jack Dragna, Andy Griffith, Donald Sutherland, Ed Wood, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio all hung out there.  Steve remained the proprietor of Boardner’s for just over three decades, until 1980, when he retired to Palm Springs and sold his beloved bar to a man named Dave Hadley. Sadly, the place was completely remodeled with an Art Deco-theme in March of 2006 and, despite being known as “one of the oldest bars in Hollywood”, does not look anything like it did back in the heyday of Tinseltown.

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  Don’t get me wrong – Boardner’s is still a VERY cool place to hang out and the food is absolutely FABULOUS (especially the crab cakes!), but it would be an even cooler place to hang out if it had retained its historic interior.  As I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, I am not big on change, especially when said change involves altering a filming location in some way!  Sigh!  Boardner’s has remained popular with the Hollywood set despite the remodel, though, and just a few of the celebs who have been spotted there in more recent years include Drew Barrymore, Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson, Nicole Kidman, Slash, Axl Rose, Courtney Love, Scott Wolfe, Piper Perabo, Rose McGowan, Fran Dresher, Jason Patric, Tommy Lee, John Lennon, Ben Affleck, Paul Bettany, Jake Gyllenhaal, Vince Vaughn, Keifer Sutherland, Heath Ledger, Bela Lugosi Jr., Jared Leto, Tim McGraw, Lee Majors, Miley Cyrus, and Pete Wentz.

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The back of the bar boasts a super-cute little hearth area, complete with a plush couch, a coffee table, and board games.  So adorable!

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And, each Saturday night, Boardner’s Moroccan-tiled back patio area . . .

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. . . and its private events space, which is named the Casablanca Room, are transformed into an extremely popular gothic-themed nightclub known as Bar Sinister.  The Casablanca Room has also become a popular wrap party venue over the years.

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While stalking Boardner’s, I asked the bartender if she happened to know which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 had been filmed on the premises, but, unfortunately, because she did not work there at the time, she was not sure.  And because I only watched the first four seasons of the series, before the characters were of drinking age, I was absolutely stumped on this one.  So, I called on Geoff, from the 90210locations website, who pretty much immediately figured out that Boardner’s had been used in the Season 9 episode of the series titled “That’s the Guy”, as the spot where Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) sought out information about the man who raped Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth).

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The establishing shot of the bar which appeared in that episode was filmed at another location altogether, though, and looks nothing like the actual exterior of Boardner’s.

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Boardner’s also popped up in 1994’s Ed Wood, as the spot where fledgling film director Ed Wood (aka Johnny Depp) grabbed a drink just before meeting Bela Lugosi (aka Martin Landau) for the first time.  Interestingly enough, the real Ed Wood had been a regular at Boardner’s throughout most of his lifetime, which is most likely how the bar ended up being chosen as a filming location for the flick.

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Boardner’s was also the spot where Dudley Smith (aka James Cromwell) met up with Bud White (aka Russell Crowe) in order to return his badge and his gun towards the beginning of 1997’s L.A. Confidential.

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The exterior of Boardner’s was also used very briefly as the exterior of a cowboy-themed gay bar that Mick Dundee (aka Paul Hogan) and Jacko (aka Alec Wilson) attempt to visit in 2001’s Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

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In the 2003 movie Hollywood Homicide, Boardner’s was the regular hangout of Sergeant Joe Gavilan (aka Harrison Ford) and Detective K.C. Calden (aka Josh Harnett).  Boardner’s has also appeared in the movie Up Close & Personal and in episodes of the television series Alias, Numb3rs, and Cold Case.  Supposedly, Boardner’s was also featured in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas and in 1997’s Wag the Dog, but I scanned through both of those movies earlier today while writing this post and did not spot the bar in either one.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John for recommending this location to me and to Geoff, from the 90210locations website, for figuring out which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 it appeared in!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Boardner’s of Hollywood, from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 1652 North Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood.  You can visit the bar’s official website here.

The “13 Going On 30” Thriller Dance Location

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A few months ago, I enlisted the help of fellow stalker Owen in tracking down the location from fave movie 13 Going On 30 where Jenna Rink (aka Jennifer Garner) saved the Poise Magazine  party by performing her rendition of the Zombie Dance from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”, which, not surprisingly,  just so happens to be my very favorite scene in the flick.  From the beginning, I was absolutely convinced that the “Thriller” scene had been filmed in a building located somewhere in New York, but Owen had a hunch that it had actually taken place right here in Los Angeles.  And, as usual, Owen was right.  After doing a bit of cyber-stalking, he somehow managed to track down one of the movie’s location managers who told him that Jenna’s “Thriller” dance had actually been performed inside of an oft-used filming location in Downtown Los Angeles, one that I am ashamed to admit I was already very familiar with – the former Bank of American building located on the corner of 7th and South Spring Streets.  The building has been used in COUNTLESS productions over the years, but I am sad to say that, for whatever reason, I somehow failed to recognize it.

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Being that the former bank’s big ol’ safe is clearly visible in the background of the “Thriller” scene, I really should have figured this one out.  Man, I’m such a blonde sometimes! 

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Once Owen had tracked down the location for me, I put the former bank building on my very long “To-Stalk” list and finally managed to visit the place in person while out doing some stalking in the Downtown Los Angeles area a couple of weeks ago.  The Spring Street Tower, as it is sometimes called, which was built in 1912 by the architectural firm of Schultze and Weaver, served as the Los Angeles headquarters for the Bank of America Corporation from 1930 to 1972.  After Bank of America vacated the twelve story high Beaux Arts style building, the upper floors served as offices for various companies throughout the years, while the marble clad lobby became an extremely popular filming location.  In recent years, SB Properties, a building development company, took over the building and converted the former offices into lofts.  And while the lobby area still looks much the same as it did during the time when it was operating as a bank, there are currently plans in the works for a restaurant and club to open up in that space, which is both good news and bad news.  Bad news because I am guessing that once the space becomes a restaurant, it will cease to be a filming location and will most likely be heavily remodeled and good news because if it does eventually become a restaurant that means that someday in the near future I will be able to stalk the area where Jennifer Garner danced, a place which is currently off limits to the public.  YAY!  🙂 

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When we first arrived to stalk the former Bank of America building, I did not actually have high hopes that I would be able to see any of the interior.  So, let me tell you, I just about passed out from excitement when I discovered that the lobby area, where the “Thriller” dance scene took place, was thoroughly visible through the former bank’s front windows.  From the windows you can see the vault;

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the main staircase;

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the second floor balcony;

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and several of the wood-paneled main offices.  You can also see some fabulous interior photographs of the bank building here.

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In 13 Going On 30, the former Bank of America building was the location of the Poise Magazine “Girls Night Out” party, during which Jenna’s boss, Richard (aka Andy Serkis) complains that the guests are leaving far too early and if someone doesn’t do something to liven up the joint – and quick – then the entire magazine might go down the drain.  So, Jenna immediately heads over to the DJ booth where she requests Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and then proceeds to lead the entire party in the famous Zombie Dance.  Oh, how I would love to do that dance at my wedding!  😉

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So I, of course, just had to imitate Jenna doing the “Thriller” dance while I was at the building.  🙂  I think it goes without saying that my fiancé was HIGHLY embarrassed while taking the above photographs of me. 

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The former bank is also where Robbie (aka Adam Sandler) tries to get a job to impress Julia (aka Drew Barrymore) in 1998’s The Wedding Singer.  When the bank’s manager, who was played by Kevin Nealon, turns him down, Robbie says, “You don’t even have to give me the job.  If you could just give me some business cards with my name on it, I think that might help.  How ‘bout this – I’ll give you ten singing lessons for one business card.  Please?”  LOL 

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In 1995’s Se7en, the bank building was dressed to look like a library and appeared in the scene in which Detective Lt. William Somerset (aka Morgan Freeman) researches the Seven Deadly Sins.

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In L.A. Story, the bank stood in for the Fourth Reich Bank of Hamburg where Steve Martin is forced to show his financial records to the owner of the impossible-to-get-into L’Idiot Restaurant in order to secure a dinner reservation there. 

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In 1994’s The Mask, the bank was used as Edge City Savings and Loan where Stanley Ipkiss (aka Jim Carrey) worked.

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In Spiderman 2, the bank appeared up as the spot where Peter Parker (aka Tobey Maguire) takes his Aunt May (aka Rosemary Harris) to apply for a loan from a bank teller played by none other than The Soup’s Joel McHale.  🙂  While the two are in the bank, Doc Ock shows up to rob the place and almost succeeds until Spiderman steps in and, of course, saves the day. 

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In Ghost, the bank was used as the place where Sam Wheat (aka Patrick Swayze) takes Oda Mae Brown (aka Whoopi Goldberg) to fill out a signature card under the false name of Rita Miller.

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In Blow, the former Bank of America building stood in for the Bank of Panama in one very brief scene.

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In The Prestige, the building shows up twice.  First, the bank lobby appeared as the courtroom where Alfred Borden’s (aka Christian Bale’s) murder trial is held.

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And second, the bank’s second floor mezzanine area stood in for the bar where Robert Angier (aka Hugh Jackman) shared a drink with Cutter (aka Michael Caine).

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The bank also appeared in the movies Marathon Man, Traffic, Fatal Vision, Prizzi’s Honor, St. Elmo’s Fire, All of Me, and in episodes of 24, Cagney & Lacey, Hill Street Blues, Matlock, and Hardcastle & McCormick.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The old Bank of America building is located at 650 South Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  The best place to catch a glimpse of the interior of the property is through the windows located on either side of the building’s front doors, which are pictured above.

The Nightmare on Elm Street Houses

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While all of my friends and family are, for the most part, very supportive of my stalking endeavors, I still quite often get asked the question, “Do people really care about this stuff?” and “Can you explain your website to me, because I just don’t get it.”  LOL  One of the people who “just doesn’t get it” the most is my good friend, and fellow actor, Blaze.  So, the other day, while the two of us were out and about in Hollywood, I decided to show him what my website is all about.  🙂  Blaze has long been a huge fan of the horror movie genre, and when I say a huge fan, I mean a HUGE fan.  So, since we were in the area, I asked him if he wanted to see the two main houses from his very favorite horror movie,  A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Blaze was absolutely shocked – and appeared somewhat skeptical – that a) the Nightmare on Elm Street  houses were located in the L.A. area, and that b) I actually knew where to find them.   Oh ye of little faith! 

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As I drove up to the home which stood in for Nancy’s in the movie – with a very smug smile on my face, I might add! –  Blaze started SCREAMING his head off saying “OH MY GOD!   OH MY GOD!  OH MY GOD!  IT’S THE NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET  HOUSE!!”  LOL  He  hopped out of my car before I had even come to a complete stop and ran right up to the home’s front door to take a picture.  He truly could not have been more excited!!!  It’s stalking moments like this that I absolutely love – showing someone a location from a favorite movie and having it resonate with them just as much as it does with me.  It’s the whole reason I started my blog.  🙂  And I’m pretty sure that Blaze now “gets it”. 

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I am very happy to report that Nancy (aka Heather Langenkamp’s) house looks pretty much exactly the same today  as it did when A Nightmare on Elm Street  was filmed there back in 1984.  Blaze kept saying “Even the colors of the house are still the same!”  🙂  Nancy’s house also showed up in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge, as the residence of Jesse Walsh.

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Located directly across the street from Nancy’s house is the house that was used as Glen (aka Johnny Depp’s) in the movie.  And I am happy to report that Glen’s house also looks pretty much EXACTLY the same as it did in A Nightmare on Elm Street.  I find it amazing – and refreshing – that both Nightmare On Elm Street  houses look the same today as they did in a movie which filmed over twenty-five years ago!

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On a sidenote, it turns out that A Nightmare on Elm Street  was Johnny Depp’s very first acting role.   According to IMDB, Johnny was accompaning his good friend, actor Jackie Earle Haley, on an audition for the movie.  While there, he was spotted by director Wes Craven, who took one look at him, liked what he saw, and asked him to audition for the part of Glen.  Johnny won the role and the rest, as they say, is cinematic history!  🙂  Check out Johnny’s crop top in the above pic.  LOL LOL LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Nancy’s house from A Nightmare on Elm Street  is located at  1428 North Genesee Avenue in Hollywood.  Glen’s house is located right across the street at 1419 North Genesee.

The Oldest Restaurant in Hollywood!

Two weeks ago, while my mom and I were out stalking in Hollywood, we hit up Musso and Frank’s Grill, which has the distinction of being the oldest running restaurant in Hollywood. Opened in 1919, not only is Musso and Frank’s a top notch celeb hangout, but the restaurant has been featured in countless hit movies, including Ocean’s Eleven (pictured above).

Musso and Frank’s was started by John Musso and Frank Toulet. Ever since its opening almost 90 years ago, the restaurant has been hugely popular with Tinseltown’s elite. Back in the day Marilyn Monroe, Raymond Burr, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, Cecil B. DeMille, Raymond Chandler and Clark Gable were all Musso and Frank regulars. Since its opening the restaurant has only been remodeled once – in 1937 – and it is still extremely popular with the rich and famous. Today you might spot Robert Dinero, Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, James Woods, Johnny Depp, Keith Richards, Leonardo DiCaprio, Drew Barrymore, Sean Penn, Madonna, Harrison Ford, or Francis Ford Coppola sitting next to you in one of Musso and Frank’s plush red leather booths.

My mom and I had an absolute blast dining at Musso and Frank’s!! The restaurant definitely projects an Old Hollywood vibe, with its large oak-paneled, red leather booths, wood beamed ceilings, and vintage style bar. Musso’s also serves up some really great food including chicken pot pie, filet minon, lamb, and cheese raviolis, but be prepared as it’s a bit on the pricey side. The price is worth it, though, as you are paying for the vintage ambiance as much as anything else.

I literally could have sat there all day listening to the stories our waiter had to share about his 40 plus years working at Musso and Frank’s. It seemed every waiter and bartender had a story to tell about the countless famous names that have dined at the establishment over the years and I have to admit I was completely mesmerized.

Besides being a celeb hangout, Musso and Frank’s is a frequent filming location, as well. The restaurant’s kitchen was featured as the kitchen in Disney’s Enchanted where Nathanial speaks to Queen Narissa’s reflection in a pot of soup on the stove.

The Grill was featured not once, but TWICE in Ocean’s Eleven. Both scenes were with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. The restaurant first shows up in the scene when Danny Ocean first tells Rusty that he is thinking of robbing a Vegas casino. That scene was filmed in a booth in the Grill’s front dining room. A bit later on in the movie, Rusty and Danny have a drink at Musso and Frank’s bar and Danny says his famous monologue about needing one more person for the heist – “Ten oughta do it, don’t you think? You think we need one more? You think we need one more. All right, we’ll get one more.”

The restaurant was also used in the movie Swingers during the parking lot fight scene. In the scene, Vince Vaughn and gang get into a fight with their rivals “House of Pain” in the parking lot behind Hollywood club the Dresden, but in reality filming actually took place in Musso and Frank’s back lot. Producers simply changed the awning over the back door of Musso and Frank’s to read “The Dresden.” Musso and Frank’s also showed up in Ed Wood as the location where Ed Wood meets Orson Wells. The restaurant has also appeared in numerous episodes of the TV show Shark.

Stalk It: Musso and Frank’s Grill is located at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard in Downtown Hollywood. I highly recommend stalking it for the great food, amazing ambiance, and the waiters’ legendary Hollywood stories!

Westin Bonaventure Hotel

Chances are, if you’ve ever taken the 110 Freeway through Downtown Los Angeles, you’ve noticed the futuristic, space-age style structure located on the west side of the freeway. That building is the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and it has been featured in countless movie and TV productions. The hotel, which is just as futuristic and space-age looking on the inside as it is on the outside, was most prominently featured in the Johnny Depp movie Nick of Time.

The ultra-modern cement and glass hotel was built in 1974 by architect John Portman and is the largest hotel in Los Angeles. The hotel stands 367 feet tall and has 35 floors. The top floor of one of the hotel’s towers is actually a revolving cocktail lounge and observation tower with INCREDIBLE views of Los Angeles. Step inside the Bonaventure and you’ll have no doubt as to why producers have returned to the hotel over the years for filming. The building is one hundred percent unique with tall glass towers and elevators, large cement pillars, beams and floors, and countless fountains and ponds located throughout the lobby area.

Besides Nick of Time, the hotel has also starred in countless other movie and TV productions including Forget Paris, Mission Impossible III, Hard to Kill, Escape From LA, Epicenter, This is Spinal Tap, CSI and In the Line of Fire. Arnold Schwarzenegger rode a horse into one of the glass elevators in the movieTrue Lies and the waitresses from the 80s TV show It’s A Living worked in the hotel’s revolving BonaVista Lounge located on the 34th floor. If you walk through the hallway leading from the parking garage to the hotel lobby, you will see the movie posters from each of the productions filmed at the Bonaventure. Each elevator also has a plaque notating which feature film was filmed there.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:The Westin Bonaventure Hotel is located at 6th Street in Downtown Los Angeles. Be sure to hit up the BonaVista Lounge while you are there – the views alone are worth the trip! 🙂