Hyatt Westlake Plaza from “The Karate Kid”

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2014 was definitely the year of The Karate Kid.  Not only did the flick turn thirty, but two of its missing locations were finally found – Mr. Miyagi’s house, which I blogged about here, and the fictional Encino Oaks Country Club, which, as it turns out, was actually the Hyatt Westlake Plaza hotel in Thousand Oaks.  The latter was only brought to my attention recently thanks to this June LA Weekly article.  So while I was in the area one (very rainy) day a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by to investigate further.

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I had actually stalked the Hyatt Westlake Plaza once before, way back in February 2010, because of its appearance in the Season 1 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Palm Springs Weekend.”  (You can read that post here.)  I later came to find out that the hotel was also used for some interior filming in the Season 5 episodes titled “P.S. I Love You: Part I” and “P.S. I Love You: Part II,” which were also set in Palm Springs.  As I said in that post, which you can read here, Hyatt Westlake Plaza was obviously 90210’s go-to Palm Springs hotel stand-in.  But more on that in a bit.

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In The Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) heads to the Encino Oaks Country Club to pick up Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) for a date.  Ali tells Daniel that she will meet him outside at 9:30, but she winds up being late.  According to the LA Weekly article, Daniel waited for her just outside of the Hyatt Westlake Plaza’s main entrance.  Thankfully, that information was easy to verify as the hotel’s entrance looks exactly the same today as it did in the fall of 1983, when The Karate Kid was shot.

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In the scene, Daniel stood in front of the easternmost beam of the hotel’s porte-cochère.

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You can even see the Hyatt’s tiled lobby fountain in the background, which was also visible in the “P.S. I Love You” episodes of 90210.

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Today, the fountain is no longer tiled, but its shape remains the same as it was when 90210 was filmed in 1995.

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Once Daniel gets tired of waiting for Ali in The Karate Kid, he heads inside the country club to try to see what is holding her up.  He sneaks in through the kitchen and eventually sees Ali in a luxe ballroom kissing his nemesis, Johnny (William Zabka).  According to LA Weekly, filming of that scene took place in the Hyatt’s Grand Plaza Ballroom, so I headed inside to check it out.  Sadly, due to the fact that the hotel has been remodeled several times over the past thirty years, it no longer looks anything like it did onscreen, which gave me some pause.

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The most notable change was that of the chandeliers.  In The Karate Kid, the ballroom chandeliers were made of ornate crystals, while the room’s current chandeliers are almost Mediterranean in style and feature iron accents.

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I did notice that the ballroom’s recessed ceiling squares and positioning of heating vents did appear to be a direct match with what appeared in The Karate Kid.  Despite that fact, though, I started to have doubts about the location.  It was hard for me to believe that the hotel would do away with such fancy crystal chandeliers, especially considering that the new chandeliers make the room much less elegant and far more casual.  I thought it was more likely that filming had taken place at a different spot, one that still had those chandeliers in place.

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I also was unable to locate the set of double doors that led to the kitchen in the movie, which only gave me further hesitation that the Grand Plaza Ballroom was the ballroom from The Karate Kid.  I know, I know.  I was definitely nitpicking, especially considering that it has been thirty years since filming took place.  What can I say?  I don’t like to be 95% sure, or 99% sure, or even 99.9% sure about locations I present on my blog.  Before reporting anything, I want to be 100% certain about all of my assertions.

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This past Monday, I started searching for other ‘80s productions filmed at the hotel, hoping one might show the Grand Plaza Ballroom.  If I could find some sort of image of the ballroom and those crystal chandeliers were indeed in place, then I could verify that it was the same spot used in The Karate Kid.   Thanks to IMDB, I learned that Hyatt Westlake Plaza had been featured in two Season 6 episodes of Knots Landing, “Vulnerable” and “The Long and Winding Road.”  The episodes were filmed in 1985, just two years after The Karate Kid was shot.  I spent hours searching for them online, but, sadly, Knots Landing is not available to watch anywhere!  I finally managed to find a (rather dramatic) scene from the “Vulnerable” episode on YouTube and, miraculously, it took place in the Grand Plaza Ballroom!  Eureka!  You can watch it by clicking below.

Maddeningly though, the cameras never panned high enough in the scene to show the chandeliers.  I did spot some similarities between the Knots Landing ballroom and The Karate Kid ballroom, though.  As you can see below, the single and double wood frame décor elements were present in both productions.

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The chair railings that run across both rooms are also a match.

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As is the shaping of the doorframes.  The wallpaper also seems to be the same in both films, though it is hard to tell.

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I still was not convinced that the two rooms were one and the same, though.  I wanted to see an image of those chandeliers!  That would clinch things for me.  Then, like a lightning bolt, it hit me!  I suddenly remembered that in “P.S. I Love You: Part II,” Donna Martin (Tori Spelling) made a speech to her fellow sorority sisters – wait for it – in a ballroom.  I immediately popped in my DVD of the episode and, sure enough, the crystal chandeliers from The Karate Kid were visible!  I finally had my confirmation!

While I was at it, I figured I might as well also chronicle all of the productions filmed on the premises.  In the 1985 movie Tuff Turf, Hyatt Westlake Plaza once again masqueraded as a country club, this time the El Canyon Country Club that Morgan Hiller (James Spader), Frankie Croyden (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Kim Richards) and their friends snuck into.  The front exterior of the property . . .

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. . . and the lobby area were used in the flick.

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Oddly though, the ballroom featured in the movie was actually the Riviera Country Club’s Crystal Ballroom in Pacific Palisades.  You can see pictures of it here.

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As I mentioned above, Hyatt Westlake Plaza appeared in two episodes of Knots Landing, Season 6’s “Vulnerable” and “The Long and Winding Road.”  In the episodes, the hotel was where Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson) and Karen MacKenzie (Michele Lee) confronted the shady Dr. Ackerman (Laurence Haddon) while he was participating in a bridge tournament.  After the confrontation, Dr. Ackerman runs outside to the Hyatt’s parking lot and shoots himself.

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In the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills 90210 titled “Palm Springs Weekend,” which aired in 1991, the Hyatt Westlake Plaza masked as two hotels.  It first stood in for the Desert Palm Mirage, where Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) thought she was supposed to meet Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) for a romantic rendezvous.

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“I had to sleep in a broom closet!”

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And it also played the Desert Mirage, the hotel where Brenda later caught Dylan with another girl.

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I so love that the elevators still look exactly the same today as they did when 90210 was filmed 24 years ago.

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In Season 5’s “P.S. I Love You” episodes, the Hyatt was used as the interior of the hotel where the KEG/Alpha Convention was being held.

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The Hyatt’s hot tub was also used in the scene in which Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) and Valerie Malone (Tiffani Thiessen) almost rendezvoused.  The hot tub is denoted with a yellow arrow in the photograph below (which I got off of the hotel’s website).  It is located just beyond the pool.  As you can see, the tiered shaping of the top of the pillar visible behind Brandon on 90210 matches that of the Hyatt’s pillars.  And the boulders situated near the pool are also a match to what appeared onscreen.

Hyatt Westlake Plaza has also appeared on The Bachelor.  For a time, it was where contestants were put up prior to moving into the mansion.  I do not believe that it has been used in the show’s more current seasons, though.  The screen captures below were taken from the first episode of the series’ 14th season, which starred Jake Pavelka.

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On a side-note – my dad has a couple of doctor appointments in L.A. this week and I am heading out there with him.  While I will have a new Los Angeles magazine post for tomorrow, I will not have a new post for Friday.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Hyatt Westlake Plaza, aka Encino Oaks Country Club from The Karate Kid, is located at 880 South Westlake Boulevard in Thousand Oaks.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

The Haunted Mansion from “The Three Sisters” Episode of “Knots Landing’

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Way back in January of this year, a fellow stalker named James posted a comment on my site challenging me to find the haunted mansion which appeared in the Season 3 episode of Knots Landing titled “The Three Sisters”.  James had found an interview on the Knots Landing website in which Kim Lankford, who played Ginger Ward on the long-running nighttime soap, stated that the estate featured in the episode was located somewhere in Pasadena.  And even though I had never seen “The Three Sisters” episode, nor any episode of KL for that matter, I figured that because the house was so large and historic-looking, it would not be that hard to track down.  Oh, how wrong I was!  I cannot tell you the countless hours I spent looking for this place, all to no avail!  Then last Thursday morning, I decided to enlist the help of fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, and, amazingly enough, he was able to track the place down in thirty minutes flat!  Halleluiah!

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Geoff said that he vaguely remembered coming across aerial views of the mansion while looking for a different location a few months prior and figured that since I had already conducted an exhaustive search within the city limits of Pasadena, that the property must be located in a neighboring environ.  He decided to begin his hunt in Altadena and, after noticing the large palm tree denoted with a pink circle in the above screen capture, realized that there were only a couple of places in the Altadena area where the home could be located.  And, sure enough, he was right.  Yay!  Thank you, Geoff!!!

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So I ran right out to stalk the place the very next morning.  And I have to say that the mansion is pretty darn majestic in person!  According to Zillow, the estate, which was originally built in 1915 and sits on over half an acre of land, boasts 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, and 7,176 square feet of living space.

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As you can see in the above aerial view, the mansion is so huge that it pretty much dwarfs everything which surrounds it.  And while I was fairly certain that the property had to be historic in some way, amazingly enough, I could find absolutely no information whatsoever about the place online.  I did manage to find some fabulous interior photographs of the property, though, which you can check out here.

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In “ The Three Sisters” episode of Knots Landing, realtor Laura Avery (aka Constance McCashin) takes the Seaview Circle wives, including Ginger, Val Ewing (aka Joan Van Ark), Abby Cunningham (aka Donna Mills), and Karen Fairgate (aka Michele Lee), to look at an estate that she is currently selling that is rumored to be haunted.  After touring the property and becoming quite spooked, the women get back into their car to head home only to discover that it will not start.  They are subsequently forced to spend the night in the house, whereupon strange things begin to happen.  It is absolutely AMAZING to me that the mansion still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did almost three full decades ago when the Knots Landing episode was filmed.  So incredibly cool!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker James for challenging me to find this location and to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for being the one to find it! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The haunted mansion from “The Three Sisters” episode of Knots Landing is located at 1366 East Palm Street in Altadena.

Church of the Angels

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A few weeks ago, my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry, who was a HUGE fan of  the show Knots Landing  during her high school years, set about to locate the church where the characters Joshua and Cathy got married in the Sixth Season episode of the series entitled “For Better, For Worse”.  And it wasn’t long before she found it.  That church turned out to be none other than Church of the Angels, a place that is no stranger to the silver screen.  So, last weekend I dragged my boyfriend right out to stalk it.

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Church of the Angels, which was built in 1889, has the distinction of being Pasadena’s oldest church.  The church was built by the widow of one of the first settlers of the Pasadena area, Mrs. Frances E. Campbell Johnston, in memory of her husband, Alexander Robert Campbell Johnston.  In 1883, the Campbell-Johnstons, who were natives of Great Britain, purchased 2,000 acres of what is now known as Pasadena and named it San Rafael Ranch.  Alexander passed away only five years later in 1888 and his wife decided to build a church in his honor on their land.     The church was designed by English architect Arthur Edmund Street and was based on Holmbury St. Mary’s Church in Surrey.  The cornerstone of the church was laid in place on April 20, 1889 by Frances herself and construction was completed a short six months later on September 29, 1889.  Originally named Mission of the Church of the Angels, the Episcopalian church is now simply called Church of the Angels.

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When Frances passed away in November of 1893, her sons had a large sundial placed at the front of the church in her memory.

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Church of the Angels is an absolutely idyllic place.  It honestly looks like it came right out of the pages of a fairy tale.  As we walked up to it I felt like I was in the middle of Disney’s Fantasyland – the sun was shining, the sky was bright blue, and (no joke) birds were chirping everywhere.  I half expected Snow White to stick her head out of a window and start singing “Someday My Prince Will Come”.  LOL  It’s really no wonder why the church has been featured in hundreds of productions over the years.  It’s a simply magical place.

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Practically everywhere you look there is some small, but exquisite detail that adds to the church’s charm.  The tiny wooden doors, the sandstone walls, the arched walkways, the three acres of beautifully maintained landscaping.  It’s like no other church I’ve ever seen.

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The interior of the church is just as beautiful as the exterior.  The first thing you notice upon entering is the amazing stained glass window located behind the altar.  The window, which illustrates the resurrection of Jesus, was built in London and, according to the Church of the Angels website,  is said to be “one of the finest examples of stained glass in America”.  Frances Campbell-Johnston actually commisioned the church to be built facing the West, so that the sun would better radiate through the amazing window.

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The church’s walls are made of red pressed brick and the peaked ceiling is made entirely out of redwood, giving the interior the feeling of a medieval castle.  The church is actually much smaller than it appears – it can accomodate only 130 patrons – thus creating a very warm, intimate atmosphere.

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Along the sides of the church, there are several tiny, little doors built into the brick walls.  The doors lead to stairways, offices, and restrooms.  As is stated in the Church of the Angels’ informational brochure, the stairways are “steep and narrow.  People in 1889 were smaller than we are today.”  How cute is that???  🙂

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Church of the Angels has one of the biggest pipe organs I have ever seen!!  It was built in 1889 at the Roosevelt Organ Works in New York City and is still in use today.

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Amazingly enough, Church of the Angels still looks exactly the same today as it did when Knots Landing was filmed there back in 1985.  You can watch Cathy and Josh’s wedding scene here.

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Besides Knots Landing, the church was also featured in the Season 5 episode of Desperate Housewives  entitled “The Story of Lucy and Jesse”, as the location of Carlos’ boss, Bradley’s, funeral.

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It was also where Ashton Kutcher married Brittany Murphy in Just Married. 

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screenshot971  And it was the location of the many funerals in the 1988 movie Heathers.  Yes, that’s Shannen Doherty in the above screen capture.  🙂

It was also recently featured in the Season 7 episode of The Office titled “Christening”, as the location where Jim and Pam Halpert (aka John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer) had their baby baptized.

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Church of the Angels was also featured in the Season 9 episode of The X-Files  entitled “Hellbound”, the Season 4 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer entitled “Who Are You”, several episodes of JAG, The West Wing, Lawnmower Man, Mick Jagger’s “God Gave Me Everything I Want” music video, and an episode of TLC’s A Wedding Story.

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I HIGHLY recommend stalking Church of the Angels.  It is literally one of the most beautiful  and unique places I have ever seen!  My boyfriend even enjoyed stalking it!  I have to say it is one of the very few places he didn’t mind being dragged to.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Church of the Angels is located at 1100 Avenue 64 in Pasadena.  You can visit their website here.

The Knots Landing Cul-De-Sac

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 The first time I heard about the wildly popular 80s primetime soap opera Knots Landing  was when it was referenced in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210  entitled “Wild Fire”.  In the episode, after getting into a fight with Brenda over Dylan McKay’s affections, Emily Valentine announces “This isn’t Beverly Hills, it’s Knots Landing! When I got to school they should have given me a scorecard instead of a class schedule so I could keep track of everyone’s boyfriends.”  LOL  Love it!  But for my good friend and fellow stalker, Kerry, during her teenage years  Knots Landing was her 90210.   She loved the show so much, in fact, that one day she actually called up the production company and asked where the famous cul-de-sac from the series was really located.  And they told her!  See why we’re such good friends?  🙂  So, since I was in the area this weekend, I decided to stalk it!   

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The Knots Landingseries, which has the distinction of being one of the longest running primetime dramas in the history of television, centered around the happenings of a group of families living in a beachside cul-de-sac named Seaview Circle.  In real life that cul-de-sac is known as Crystalaire Place and it is not located anywhere near the beach.  It’s actually in Granada Hills in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.  Producers actually edited the beach into the series opening credits to make it appear as if the cul-de-sac overlooked the ocean.  LOL  

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Even though I’ve never seen even one episode of the series, I was still super excited to be stalking the famous Knots Landing  cul-de-sac.  All I could think about while I was there was how cool it would be if  Wisteria Lane from TV’s Desperate Housewives  was a real life residential street that fans could visit.  🙂  I realize that people can stalk the Wisteria Lane set at Universal Studios, but somehow it’s just not the same.  screenshot884

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All in all, five houses on Crystalaire Place were used in the filming of Knots Landing, including the Ewing house;

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the Mackenzie house;

 

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the Cunningham house; 

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the Avery house;

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and the Ward house.

I am happy to report that aside from some minor changes like paint color, all of the houses are very recognizable from the series.  🙂  If you were at all a fan of Knots Landing, I highly recommend stalking Crystalaire Place.  And please excuse some of my photos.  I stalked the cul-de-sac on a very bright day and in some of the pictures my camera picked up quite a glare.  🙁

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Knots Landing  cul-de-sac is really Crystalaire Place in Granada Hills.  Gary Ewing’s house is at 16966 Crystalaire Place.  Karen Mackenzie’s house is at 16972.  The Avery house is number 16975.  The Cunningham house is at 16969.  And the Ward home can be found at 16961.