An Evening with “The Closer” at The Paley Center for Media

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While perusing my Picasa photo account yesterday, I realized that I have been seriously lagging on my Celebrity Sightings posts, as there are numerous events that I have yet to blog about, most notably one that I attended well over a month ago – The Paley Center for Media’s An Evening with The Closer in Beverly Hills.  As I have mentioned several times before, this stalker absolutely loves herself The Closer, so when I got an email from The Paley Center in July announcing that they would be hosting a screening and question and answer session with the cast and crew of the series on August 10th, I promptly bought tickets for me and the Grim Cheaper.  For those who have never heard of the place, the Paley Center for Media is a library/museum/cultural center that houses a collection of over 120,000 television and radio recordings which can be viewed in various screening rooms on the premises.  The center also hosts numerous celebrity events throughout the year, one of which I attended back in September of 2008 for fave show 90210.

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And while the 90210 event was an absolute BLAST with the celebrities in attendance mingling amongst the fans in order to sign autographs and take pictures both before and after the screening, sadly that was not the case with An Evening with The Closer.  The first actor to arrive at the Center was Anthony John Denison, who plays Lieutenant Andy Flynn on the series, and when he walked into the lobby I, of course, went up to him and asked for a photo.  Anthony could NOT have been nicer, gave me a HUGE smile, said, “Absolutely!  You’re so pretty, by the way!” and then proceeded to put his arm around me to pose for the pic.  Well, security took one look at us together and immediately came over and told John that he was not allowed to pose for any photographs.  Um, a security guard telling a celebrity what he can and cannot do?!?!  That was definitely a first for me!  Anyway, John gave the guy a look, said, “I am going to take this picture!”, and smiled once again at the camera.  After the GC snapped away, John introduced himself to both of us and shook my hand.  SUCH an incredibly nice guy!

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I was especially excited to get a photo with him being that the picture we took together at Kyra Sedgwick’s Walk of Fame Star Ceremony back in June of 2009 had been a major, major fail, as you can see above!  Anyway, after John walked away, the Paley security guard told me that I was not allowed to ask any of the other stars for pictures, even though I was a ticketholder for the event.  I asked if I would be able to take photos after the Q & A session was over and he told me that it would be very unlikely, which was shocking being that pictures have been allowed at every single screening I have ever been to.  I mean, what other reason is there to attend?  Ha!  Winking smile

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At that point, the GC and I decided to head outside to the public sidewalk in front of the venue where security would not be able to tell us what we could and could not do – although, believe me, they tried!  Anyway, shortly after we walked out who should arrive but Miss Brenda Leigh Johnson herself, Kyra Sedgwick!  I could NOT have been more excited to see Kyra in person and I am very happy to report that she was a complete and total sweetheart!  As soon as she got out of her car, she headed right on over to the few fans who were waiting outside and signed a bunch of autographs.  I was the only person who asked for a photo and she happily obliged.  Besides being super friendly, Kyra is also BEAUTIFUL in person.  Much prettier even than she appears to be onscreen.

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Shortly after Kyra arrived, Robert Gossett, who plays Commander Russell Taylor on the show and is the real life cousin of Louis Gossett Jr., showed up.  Robert also happily posed for a picture with me.

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Due to the fact that security was being so incredibly anal, the GC and I decided to skip both the screening and Q & A as we figured we would have a better chance of catching the rest of the cast on their way out of the venue after the event was over than we would inside the theatre.  And we were right!   After grabbing a quick dinner at the Farm in Beverly Hills, which was FABULOUS by the way, we headed back over to the Paley Center and caught all of the other actors who were in attendance as they made their way outside, including Raymond Cruz, who plays Detective Julio Sanchez;

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Michael Paul Chan, who plays Lieutenant Mike Tao;

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Jon Tenney who plays Agent Fritz Howard;

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Phillip P. Keene who plays videographer Buzz Watson;

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Jonathan Del Arco, who plays Major Crimes Division coroner Dr. Morales;

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and Mary McDonnell, who plays Brenda Leigh Johnson’s nemesis Captain Sharon Raydor.  All of the cast members were extremely nice and I could not have been more floored to meet them!  But I was a bit disappointed that we were not able to attend the screening and Q & A session as I had really been looking forward to hearing what the actors had to say about the series and it’s forthcoming spin-off, Major Crimes, which is set to debut sometime next year.  The GC, of course, was extremely pleased to have avoided the Q & A, though, so I guess all was not lost.  Winking smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking and Happy Voting – don’t forget to vote for me to be the new face of About Me!  There are only seven voting days left – you can vote once every 24 hours now through September 20th.  Smile

Stalk It: The Paley Center is located at 465 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills.  You can visit the Center’s official website here.

Brenda Leigh Johnson’s House from “The Closer”

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I thought I’d take a little break from writing about my nuptials today as I figure there are more than a few stalkers out there who are not at all interested in reading about wedding planning, even when there is a filming location element tied in to it.  Anyway, a few days ago I was going through some old photographs on my computer when I came across a location that I stalked way back in November of 2008, but for whatever reason had completely forgotten to blog about – the adorable Craftsman-style house where Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (aka Kyra Sedgwick) lived during the first three seasons of the TNT drama The CloserWhen my dad and I saw the series being filmed in Pasadena back in October of 2008, I happened to ask one of the crew members if he knew where Brenda’s house was located.  And while he couldn’t remember the exact address, he did tell me that the property could be found on Gramercy Place in Hollywood, not too far from Raleigh Studios where the series is lensed.  Even with that detailed information, though, it took me quite a while to track down the house.

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Gramercy Place actually begins at Marathon Street, just one block north of Melrose Avenue where Raleigh Studios is located, so I decided to begin my search there.  Because I happened to be in the area at the time, this particular stalking venture took place in person in my car, rather than via Google Street View.  Armed with a screen capture of the house, I drove south on Gramercy Place keeping my eyes peeled for the brown bungalow and was quite shocked to discover that, after only three blocks, the street ended – and, sadly, the property was nowhere to be found.  I immediately called up Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to ask if there happened to be two streets in Hollywood with the name Gramercy, but he said there were not. He also informed me that Gramercy was a long street, which only added to my confusion, as I was ON Gramercy at the time and could only drive three blocks. So, a bit deterred, I returned home and set about doing some cyber-stalking on my computer. What I soon discovered was that Gramercy WAS, in fact a fairly long street, as after it stops at Maplewood Avenue it picks up again four blocks later at Beverly Boulevard.  Because I am absolutely TERRIBLE with directions (my mom says I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag), that thought had never even occurred to me!  And, yes, I really am that blonde!  Anyway, once I figured out that bit of information, it didn’t take me long to locate Brenda’s house and I dragged the Grim Cheaper right out to stalk the place just a few days later.

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Brenda moved into the Craftsman-style home pictured above in the Season 1 episode of The Closer titled “The Big Picture”, after the previous owner was found dead inside of it.  After deciding that she and her fiance, Fritz Howard (aka Jon Tenney), need a larger abode a few seasons later, she moved out of this location and into a duplex located two miles away.   

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While we were stalking Brenda’s house, some people happened to be standing outside and I asked them if they were the owners. They weren’t, but, as it turns out, they knew the owner quite well.  I, of course, immediately started asking them all sorts of questions about The Closer being filmed on the property and, amazingly enough, not a one of them had any idea what on earth I was talking about.  Then, one of the guys said, “Oh wait, a couple of years ago a TV show did film here, but I have no idea what it was.”  Then as the group walked away I heard one of the ladies say to the other, “What in the heck is The Closer ?” LOL Some people, I swear!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Closer house is located at 133 S. Gramercy Place in Hollywood.

Eagle Rock Plaza from “Glee” and Michael Buble’s “Crazy Love” Photoshoot

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This past Monday morning, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called me up to ask if I wanted to do some stalking with him in the San Gabriel Valley.  As it turns out, Monday was a holiday – although I hadn’t realized it beforehand – and Mike had the day off from work.  So, after first loading up on some Starbucks coffee (but of course) the two of us headed right on over to Eagle Rock, where the first item on our stalking agenda – Eagle Rock Plaza mall – was located.  I had been dying to stalk the mall ever since May 18th of this year when it appeared in the Season 1 episode of Glee titled “Dream On”, in the scene in which Artie Adams (aka Kevin McHale) starts a flash mob in the middle of a supposed Ohio-area shopping center.  My good friend and fellow stalker Kerry’s daughter, Jen – who is a total Gleek – had challenged me to find this location the day after the episode aired and, amazingly enough, it wasn’t too hard to track down at all.  I just simply used Google Images to search through interior photographs of Los Angeles-area malls and fairly quickly came upon one of Eagle Rock Plaza, which I recognized immediately.  And even though I live only a few miles outside of Eagle Rock, for whatever reason it has taken me this long to get out there to stalk the place.  Oh well, better late than never, right?  [And yes, I am pretending to dance like Artie in the above picture.  ;)]

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In the “Dream On” episode of Glee, Artie visits a local mall with his girlfriend Tina Cohen-Chang (aka Jenna Ushkowitz), and while she is in line buying a hot pretzel, he daydreams about being able to get up out of his wheelchair and dance.  He ends up starting a huge flash mob to the 80’s song “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats. 

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As it turns out, Eagle Rock Plaza is a very tiny mall and it wasn’t hard at all to track down the exact spot where filming had taken place.   Artie’s flash mob scene was shot in the very center of the property, right in between the mall’s two main escalators and directly in front of the Seafood City Supermarket. 

 

You can watch the “Safety Dance” number by clicking above.

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While we were there, Mike and I stopped by the Eagle Rock Plaza’s management office to ask about the filming that has taken place there over the years and the woman on duty literally could NOT have been nicer!  She spent quite a bit of time chatting with us and filling us in on some of the productions that have been shot on the premises, including the Season 4 episode of The Closer titled “Time Bomb”, in which Brenda Leigh Johnson (aka Kyra Sedgwick) and her fellow members of the L.A.P.D.’s Major Crimes Division investigate a bomb threat at a local mall.

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Ironically enough, only the interior of Eagle Rock Plaza appeared in that episode.  All of the exterior scenes were filmed at Los Angeles City College, in front of the campus’ Communications Center, which does actually look quite a bit like a mall.

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Eagle Rock Plaza was also featured in Avril Lavigne’s music video for the 2002 hit song “Complicated” . . .

 

. . . which you can watch by clicking above.

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One production that shot on location at Eagle Rock Plaza that the management didn’t know about, but that I recognized immediately was Michael Buble’s 2009 behind-the-scenes DVD titled “The Making of Crazy Love”.  In the documentary, Michael is shown posing for a photo shoot outside of a Macy’s department store during which he is made to run back and forth through a large parking lot.  Michael is a total goofball and EXTREMELY funny during the shoot, announcing to one passerby who drives by, “Welcome to Macy’s!”  LOL  I can only imagine if I had arrived at the mall on a random day to do some shopping only to find MICHAEL BUBLE standing at the entrance welcoming me!  I probably would have had a heart attack right on the spot.  But I digress.  Anyway, for whatever reason (most likely because MB was so darn funny in the spot – at one point he says, “The next shot is of me shopping at Macy’s . . . finding discounts . . . there is a pillow set that is to die for!”  LOL LOL LOL), I have been literally hell-bent on stalking that parking lot ever since watching the DVD late last year.  Trouble was, I couldn’t seem to find the darn place anywhere. 

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Until this past Monday that is, when Mike just happened to drive through the part of the Plaza’s parking lot that is located directly behind Macy’s and I recognized it immediately.  YAY!  Thank you, Mike! 

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And I, of course, just had to imitate MB running while I was there.  🙂

You can watch Michael’s absolutely hilarious photo shoot in the Macy’s parking lot by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Jen for challenging me to find this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for taking me there!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Eagle Rock Map

Stalk It: Eagle Rock Plaza is located at 2700 Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock.  You can visit the mall’s official website here.  Michael Buble posed for his running photographs in the southwestern portion of the Plaza’s parking lot, directly behind Macy’s department store, in the area depicted with the pink circle in the above aerial view.  The “Dream On” episode of Glee was filmed in the center-most point of the mall, in between the property’s two main escalators and directly in front of the Seafood City Supermarket.

Kyra Sedgwick’s Walk Of Fame Star Ceremony

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I found out a few weeks ago that Kyra Sedgwick would be receiving the 2,384th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the morning of Monday, June 8th.  So, I immediately called up my good friend Blaze and asked him if he wanted to join me in watching the ceremony.   He, of course, said yes, so today the two of us made our way out to Hollywood to watch Kyra receive her star.  And, even though  I had already seen the entire Closer  cast in person, I was still SUPER excited to attend this event because ever since Footloose  came out, I have absolutely LOVED me some Kevin Bacon.  🙂

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Kyra’s ceremony was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., and unlike Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony, this event actually started on time.  🙂  Amazingly enough, for some reason there weren’t that many people in attendance.  I’d say about forty-five fans and another fifty reporters and photographers were there.  Because there weren’t a lot of people in the audience, we were able to stand fairly close to the stage area, which I was thrilled about.  Up until just around 11:25, that is, when security guards led all of the media people into the area directly in front of the fans, completely blocking everyone’s view.  It was SUCH a bummer.  To make matters worse, many of the press photographers pulled out stepladders to stand on and propped their cameras up on huge tripods!  UGH.   So, even though I was standing right in the front row, I didn’t have the best view.  🙁  I have no idea why bleachers were not set up for the event, as this definitely would have rectified the situation.  Note to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce – next time you have an event like this, invest in bleachers!  LOL 

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Right at 11:30 a.m. on the nose, Kyra Sedgwick and husband Kevin Bacon arrived and the event got underway.  Kyra looked absolutely adorable and I just about died over her salmon-colored dress.  I have got to get me one of those!!!!   What I was most impressed with, though, were her arms!!!!  I couldn’t take my eyes off of them the entire time!  As you can see in the above photograph, they are absolutely rock-hard!  Not bad for a 44-year-old mother of two!!!  I am so jealous!  I mean, I’m 31 and have no children and my arms don’t look nearly as good as hers!  LOL  Anyway, Kyra was introduced by  Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, who gave us a brief background on Kyra and her career as an actress.  One of the many tid-bits of information he told us was that, contrary to popular belief, Kyra was actually born in Manhattan, not the South, and yes, her Closer  accent is a fake.  🙂

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After Leron’s introduction, Lee Daniels, who produced the 2004 movie  The Woodsman, which starred Kyra and her husband, got up to say a few words.  And when I say “a few words”, I literally mean a few words. LOL  I think the guy had maybe two sentences to say about Kyra.  It was kind of disappointing.  If you’re going to get up on a stage to honor someone during an awards ceremony, I’m of the opinion that you should spend a little bit of time writing your speech.  Brief and to the point is nice, but so is saying something meaningful.  LOL  All Lee basically said was that while working with Kyra on The Woodsman, she had taught him to “live in the moment”.   To quote Chelsea Lately, “What . . . a douchebag!!”  LOL 

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Next up was Kyra’s Closer  co-star, and my fave actor from the show, G.W. Bailey.  G.W. gave a FABULOUS – and absolutely hilarious – speech about Kyra and their experiences starring together on The Closer.  He started off his speech by listing the questions he most commonly gets asked about Kyra – such as is her accent real (no), is she really that tiny in person (yes!), is her hair real (yes), do she and Kevin Bacon really love each other that much (absolutely!), and what is she really like in person.  In answer to that last question, G.W. had this to say, “Kyra is a mix of Mary Poppins and Cruella DeVil.  If you come to the set on time and know your lines, she’s a spoonful of sugar.  If you come to the set late and haven’t done your homework, she’ll skin you alive and make a jacket out of you.  But then she’ll feel bad and end up giving the jacket to the homeless.”  LOL  I absolutely LOVED that quote, as one of my biggest pet peeves in acting class is lazy actors who don’t do their homework and don’t memorize their lines!!!!  You go, Kyra!  🙂

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G.W. called Kyra one of the most giving actresses he has ever worked with and said that the cast nicknamed her “Mama” early on because of the way she takes care of everyone.  I was actually an extra on The Closer a few months back and was able to witness firsthand how Kyra takes care of her crew.  At one point while I was there, Kyra held up filming for a few minutes in order to write out a grocery list of cold remedies and medications before sending someone out to pick them up for a make up artist who was feeling under the weather.  She is definitely a “Mama”.  🙂   G.W.’s speech was so sweet that he ended up making Kyra cry.  So cute!

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Next up was Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who ironically enough is the son of The Closer’s  consulting producer Gil Garcetti, who presented Kyra with a Hollywood Walk of Fame plaque.

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Then Kyra came to the podium to make a speech.  She announced at the very beginning that her speech would be brief due to the fact that her feet were already hurting from standing up for such a long time. 🙂  Kyra said that she wanted to be an actress since the age of 12, when she landed a role in a school production of Fiddler on the Roof.  She said that acting in that production made her “soul dance” and she knew at that moment that she never wanted to do anything else.

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But the best part of Kyra’s speech was when a Hollywood tour bus drove by!!!!   The tourists on board went absolutely crazy, so, Kyra stopped her speech and said hello to them using her Brenda Leigh Johnson accent!   LOL LOL LOL  Only in L.A.!  🙂

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Then, Kyra’s star was unveiled.  But, unfortunately, thanks to the press standing in the way, fans see couldn’t see it at all.  🙁  Such a bummer!!!   Kyra seemed absolutely thrilled to be receiving her star, though, and it made me tear up to think how special it must be to be honored as an actress in that way.   🙂

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Kyra was also given a plaque with a replica of her star on it.  Oh, how I want one of those!!!!!!!  With my own name on it, of course!!!!  🙂

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Then, the press asked if Kevin Bacon would come onstage and I just about died!!  During most of the ceremony, Kevin had been standing in the audience laying low.  I am pretty sure he didn’t want to steal any of his wife’s thunder during the event, so he just remained on the sidelines the entire time.  I had been trying to snap a photograph of him throughout the ENTIRE ceremony, but for some reason could just not get a good shot.  So, when he finally came onstage, I was FLOORED!  KB is still a total cutie after all these years and I could not have been more excited to see him in person.  🙂     

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Also on hand to celebrate with Kyra were her Closer castmates Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett,  Anthony John Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Phillip P. Keene, and Jonathan Del Arco, along with series consulting producer Gil Garcetti.

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Also in attendance was series creator James Duff. 

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After the ceremony was over, all of the stars – including Kyra and Kevin – came out into the audience to sign autographs and take photographs with the fans.  And I could not have been more excited!!!!!!   So, of course, I just had to ask my two favorite actors from the show for a pic – G.W. Bailey,

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and Anthony John Denison.  Unfortunately, I was using my dad’s huge paparazzi style camera at the event, and Blaze couldn’t figure out how to zoom out to take the above photograph.  LOL LOL LOL  Can you say “extreme close-up”??  Oh well, at least I got a pic.  🙂

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I so wanted to take a picture with KB, but, unfortunately, wasn’t standing near him when he came out into the audience.  But I did manage to snap the above pic of him as he was walking to his car. Sigh!!!!

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About an hour after the ceremony, I returned to see Kyra’s star unveiled, at last.  🙂

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As you can see in the above photograph, because it’s brand new, Kyra’s star is much shinier than any of the others on Hollywood Boulevard. 

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Kyra’s star is right next to husband Kevin Bacon’s, which makes them the only married couple in history to have side by side stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  🙂

If you find yourself in the Hollywood area during a Walk of Fame Star Ceremony, I HIGHLY recommend attending one!  I had an absolute blast seeing all of the stars, listening to the speeches, and being a part of a historic Hollywood event!   It was definitely a better experience for me than the Hand and Footprint Ceremony and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Kyra Sedgwick’s star is located in front of Cinespace Nightclub, which is located at 6356 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

The Closer Duplex

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As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of TNT’s crime series The Closer.  As is my whole family, actually.  So, a few weeks ago when my mom challenged me to locate Brenda and Fritz’s duplex apartment building from the series, I accepted the challenge!  🙂  And it didn’t take me long to find it at all.  

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Actually, I can’t really take credit for this one.  I happened to show my boyfriend a screen capture I had made of Brenda’s building to see if he might have an idea of where it was located, and, sure enough, he did!  He told me that there is a certain area of Hollywood that is chock full of duplexes just like Brenda’s and that I should start my search there.  And that’s exactly what I did.  That area is South of Beverly Boulevard, in between La Brea and Fairfax.  And sure enough, that’s exactly where I found the building!  It was actually on the second street I searched.  🙂

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Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson and her fiance Fritz Howard move into this duplex on the Season 4 series opener, entitled “Controlled Burn”.  Brenda spends most of the episode, which guest-starred Life On Mars  cutie Jason Mara, fretting about what to do with her cat, Kitty, as her new landlord has a strict “no pets” policy.   “Controlled Burn” actually featured some on location filming at the duplex, when Brenda brings home a reporter who is writing a story about the squad (pictured above).  The duplex is shown throughout the rest of Season 4 in establishing shots of Brenda and Fritz’s home.

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The Closer  duplex looks EXACTLY the same in person as it does on TV, right down to the wind chimes hanging from the second story balcony and the decorative plaque located above the carport.  Oddly enough, though, producers changed the address number of the duplex during filming.  As you can see in the above screen capture, the address number on The Closer  is 130/132.  The real address, though, is 126/128.  Which makes absolutely no sense to me!  If you’re going to change the house number for whatever reason – most likely to ward off stalkers like myself 🙂 –  shouldn’t you change it more significantly than that?  LOL  Because, to tell you the truth, when searching for the duplex, I was only looking at buildings with 130/132 address numbers, but quickly noticed The Closer  duplex located right next door to a building that was numbered 130.  LOL   🙂

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The other inconsistency I noticed about the duplex is that in The Closer there is only one exterior door. You can see in the above screen capture that to enter her apartment, Brenda has to go through the main front door, which then leads into an anteroom.   

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But in real life, the duplex actually has a second front door located just to the right of the main entrance.  Since Brenda’s unit is the one with the large plate glass window on the bottom floor, she should actually enter her home through that second exterior door, which is never shown on TV.  Ah, the magic of Hollywood!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Closer duplex is located at 126/128 North Detroit Street in Hollywood.

Just Another Day In L.A.!

On Monday, I decided to do a little stalking of the horror movie Scream 2, a movie which I am sad to say was nowhere near as good as its predecessor. But since I had found the address of the fraternity house used in the movie and since the location fit in with my Halloween theme, I had to run right out to stalk it. The fraternity house was featured in the beginning of Scream 2 as the location of the party Sidney and her friends attend. It is while everyone is at this party that Sarah Michelle Geller gets thrown from the balcony of a supposedly nearby sorority house. Unfortunately I have yet to locate that sorority house and from what I can tell, in real life it is nowhere near the party house. LOL Anyway, the Scream 2 party house looks pretty much exactly the same as it does in the movie, minus all of the fraternity signs, of course. In real life, it is just a normal privately owned residence and it is not located anywhere near a college campus. But it was actually after leaving the Scream house, that my day got a whole lot more exciting.

My mom is always telling me to trust in the universe and it is times like this past Monday morning that convince me that I need to listen to her. While leaving the Scream house, I got a bit lost, as I have been known to do (I have absolutely no sense of direction whatsoever!). So I put my address into my trusty GPS unit hoping that it would lead me home, but, instead, it led me right to the filming of one of my favorite TV shows ever – TNT’s The Closer. As I came around a bend after leaving the Scream house, I noticed some trucks and filming lights set up on the side of the road. Then all of a sudden, the next thing I knew, there were Kyra Sedgwick and G.W. Bailey (my fave actor on the show!) standing just a few feet from my car as I drove by! So, of course, I just had to pull over! 🙂

The policeman on duty at the set could not have been nicer to me and asked one of the A.D.’s if I could sit on the sidelines and watch the filming. The A.D. said no problem, so I got to sit down for about an hour and a half and observe the making of one of my favorite shows. And I have to say I could not have been more impressed with what I witnessed. Every single person on the crew was extremely friendly and it seems like a truly fun set to work on – and believe me, I’ve been on my fair share of sets and that is not always the case. The cast members were extremely friendly with each other – there was a lot of laughing and joking around in between takes. And I was super excited when the cast took a break and came to sit down right next to where I was sitting. Kyra’s director’s chair was set up very close to me, actually, and I could not have been more excited. I love me some Kyra! But instead of being starstruck by her, I was actually more struck by her level of professionalism. Out of all the actors and actresses that I have been fortunate enough to observe in person, she was by far the most focused on her work. During every single break, Kyra went straight to her director’s chair, took out her script, studied her lines and made notes in a notebook – much like I do in my acting classes. 🙂 As an actress, this was fascinating for me to watch and I could not have been more impressed. At her level, she could just as easily have goofed off during her breaks, or gone to grab an iced latte or something, but instead she was 100% focused on her work. I have always felt that I have learned far more from observing professional actors at work than I have from any of my acting classes and this was of course true yesterday as I watched Kyra. (I only took a couple of pictures of the filming as I did not want to disturb anyone – or get kicked off the set.) 🙂

After the producers wrapped up the filming and the actors were shuttled back to base camp, the policeman on duty told me they were moving to a new location and invited me to come along. So I immediately called my dad and asked him to join me, as he is a big fan of the show, too, and he has a better camera than I do. 🙂 The next location where The Closer filmed, also located in Pasadena, is a mansion that has actually been home to many a film shoot. Apparently the mansion has a resume as long as my arm, but unfortunately I don’t know the specifics of the filming that has taken place there. I do know, though, that it was used in the pilot episode of CSI: Miami, as the Las Vegas home of a swinging couple whose daughter is kidnapped during a party.

My dad took quite a few photos of the filming, but because we didn’t want to disturb anyone, unfortunately I didn’t get a pic with Kyra or any of the other cast members. 🙁 We had such a blast being on the set, though, and watching the filming! I can’t even believe I got to spend my day there! And to think, if I hadn’t gotten lost, I might never have experienced any of it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The party house from Scream 2 is located at 350 S. Grand Avenue in Pasadena. The Closer was filmed at 141 N. Grand Avenue, also in Pasadena, and on Arroyo Drive underneath the Colorado Street Bridge. Look for that Closer episode to air next January or February on TNT.