Liv Tyler – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 6, 2017January 6, 2017

Orange Army-Navy from “That Thing You Do!”

Another day, another That Thing You Do! locale. It is one of my all-time favorite movies, after all! In early December, the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves in the O.C. and decided to head out to Old Towne Orange to do some Christmas shopping. While perusing the charming streets and boutiques, I was reminded of a few spots from the 1995 film that I had stalked, but had yet to blog about, namely the Starbucks/Wells Fargo where Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) broke his arm, which I posted about on Monday, and the Army-Navy store where Faye Dolan (Liv Tyler) rather enthusiastically told T. B. Player (Ethan Embry) that his group’s song was playing on the radio for the first time.

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I was especially interested in the latter locale because, unlike several of the other Old Towne Orange spots used in the movie (you can read about a few of those sites here and here), it was not a vacant storefront dressed for the shoot, but was, and still is, an Army-Navy shop in real life.

Orange Army-Navy has been an area staple since originally opening in 1955.

Run by the same family since its inception, the shop sells military-related items in addition to clothing and camping supplies.

Orange Army-Navy was only featured briefly in That Thing You Do!, but it appeared in what is hands-down my favorite scene in all of moviedom – the famous “We’re on the radio!” scene, which you can check out a clip of here. Though I’ve seen it a gazillion times, it makes me deliriously happy – and tear up – each and every time I watch!

For those who have not seen That Thing You Do! and did not click on the link above, the film centers around a local Erie, Pennsylvania garage band named The Wonders during the year 1964. Towards the beginning of the flick, The Wonders secure themselves a manager who claims he can get their single, “That Thing You Do,” some radio play. While out and about in downtown Erie a few days later, Faye, the girlfriend of the group’s lead singer Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathon Schaech), finally hears the song playing on her junior radio. As soon as she realizes what she is hearing, she begins screaming and runs down the street, right into band member T. B., who is leaving the local Army-Navy store. Faye enthusiastically squeals at him, “We’re on the radio!,” while pushing him into the shop’s front doors. The two then race down the sidewalk to find the other members of the band to tell them the good news. Liv Tyler is sheer perfection in her delivery and the scene is so full of energy and excitement that the characters practically jump off the screen. As I said, it is one of the best moments in movie history.

Had to do it!

Orange Army-Navy also masked as Brad’s Sporting Goods in a brief scene in the 2006 comedy The Benchwarmers.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Orange Army-Navy, from That Thing You Do!, is located at 131 South Glassell Street in Old Towne Orange. You can visit the store’s official website here.

January 4, 2017January 1, 2017

The Old Towne Orange Starbucks from “That Thing You Do!”

“We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks, but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other.” So says Meg Swan (Parker Posey) about meeting her husband, Hamilton (Michael Hitchcock), in the 2000 comedy Best in Show. (You can watch the hilarious scene here.) Meg might well have been describing the two outposts of the coffee giant in Old Towne Orange, which are situated across the plaza from each other. As fate would have it, both are filming locations! I blogged about one – the 44 Plaza Square site, which was featured in the 2004 Yuletide comedy Surviving Christmas – last December, and promised to do a post on the second – which can be found at 101 East Chapman Avenue – but never got around to it. So I figured now was as good a time as any. Here goes! The second Starbucks, which is housed alongside a Wells Fargo in a 1928 bank building, made a brief cameo in fave movie That Thing You Do!

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The city’s first bank, the Bank of Orange, was originally established in 1886. The following year, the company constructed offices, a two-story brick building, on the northeast corner of Chapman Avenue and Plaza Square. You can see what it looked like here. The site has been home to a bank ever since.

The Bank of Orange underwent an ownership change in 1905 and was eventually consolidated with another local financial institution, becoming the First National Bank of Orange in 1927. The brick offices were torn down shortly thereafter to make way for a new headquarters building. That property, which was designed in the classical style by architects Morgan, Walls & Clements, opened its doors in 1928.

The stately site, which was expanded twice over the years (first in 1955 and then again in 1963), became a Wells Fargo in 1978. In more recent years, a Starbucks was added to the premises.

Due to the fact that the coffee shop is situated inside of the actual bank, its interior is quite unique.

And quite impressive.

Not a bad place to grab a cup of joe, eh?

I fell in love with the site’s ornate rounded inlaid ceiling.

As you can see below, it’s really quite something.

In That Thing You Do!, the exterior of the Starbucks/Wells Fargo building masked as the exterior of the main branch of The Erie Public Library. You can see a photo of it dressed for the filming here. It was there that, while Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathon Schaech) pontificated about naming his musical group “The Heardsmen,” Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) broke his arm during an attempt to hop over a parking meter. Though it was a short scene, it was significant in that it served as the catalyst for Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) joining the group to replace Chad, which in turn caused them to become famous.

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Filming of the segment took place on the building’s south, East Chapman Avenue side . . .

. . . where there are, unfortunately, no parking meters in real life, so I could not do a re-creation.

Being that I’m a klutz, though, maybe that’s a good thing.

The building’s other side (the west Plaza Square side) was seen briefly in the background of the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Partridge.”

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Old Towne Orange Starbucks/Wells Fargo from That Thing You Do! is located at 101 East Chapman Avenue in Orange.

January 27, 2014January 26, 2014

Villapiano’s from “That Thing You Do!”

One That Thing You Do! location that I had been trying to track down for what seemed like ages was the red-boothed Italian restaurant that stood in for Villapiano’s, the “spaghetti place out by the airport,” in the 1996 flick. Thankfully, a couple of months ago, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, tracked down and put me in touch with one of the movie’s crew members who informed me that the eatery I was searching for was the now-defunct Palomino Club in North Hollywood. While the hot spot closed almost two full decades ago and is currently operating as a special events venue, a quick gander at Google Street View showed me that the exterior was still recognizable from That Thing You Do!, so I ran right out to stalk it while visiting L.A. a few weeks back.

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The Palomino Club was originally founded in 1949 by country music singer Hank Penny. At the time, the space located at 6907 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood was a rundown, vacant former saloon named the Mulekick that Hank described looking like “death warmed over.” After driving by the abandoned site one day, he decided it would be the perfect spot to open a western bar/music venue. The name Palomino Club was inspired from the tag in a shirt Penny had recently purchased. The establishment took off and soon became far too popular for Hank, who was still a working musician, to manage, so he sold it to Bill and Tom Thomas in 1952. The brothers continued to grow the business and it wasn’t long before it became what the Los Angeles Times referred to as “country music’s most important West Coast club.” Just a few of the luminaries who played there over the years include Barbara Mandrell, Patsy Cline, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Linda Ronstadt, Dwight Yoakum, the Red Hot Chili Peppers (police had to shut the place down during that concert!), Elton John, Neil Young, Merle Haggard, Elvis Costello and Glenn Campbell.

After the passing of Bill in 1979 and Tom in 1985, the Palomino Club started to decline and it was finally shuttered in September 1995. At some point thereafter it became Le Monge Banquet Hall, an events venue specializing in continental, Mexican, Russian, Armenian and Persian foods.

The Palomino Club popped up twice as Villapiano’s, the spot where The Wonders played their first two paid gigs, in That Thing You Do!

The exterior of the site has changed a bit in the years since the movie was filmed, as you can see in the screen captures and photographs pictured above and below.

Although the shape of the signage remains the same, thankfully. (Nice graffiti! Winking smile )

As depicted in That Thing You Do!, the Palomino Club originally had two front doors, one of which has since been covered over. That door’s former location is denoted with a pink arrow below. You can almost still see the outline of it.

The interior of the Palomino Club was also shown in That Thing You Do! Unfortunately, the woman working at Le Monge Banquet Hall at the time that I showed up to stalk the place would not let me take any photographs of the inside. You can check out what it currently looks like here, though. As you can see, the interior is not at all recognizable from its silver screen appearance.

That Thing You Do! was hardly the Palomino Club’s first brush with Hollywood. The property has been featured onscreen countless times over the years. In the 1971 film Minnie and Moskowitz, the establishment’s parking lot was where a reluctant Minnie Moore (Gena Rowlands) danced with her new paramour, Seymour Moskowitz (Seymour Cassel).

In the classic 1978 comedy Every Which Way But Loose, the Palomino Club was featured repeatedly as trucker/prize fighter Philo Beddoe’s (Clint Eastwood) regular hangout.

The interior was also shown throughout the movie.

The Palomino Club also popped up in Every Which Way But Loose’s 1980 sequel, Any Which Way You Can.

The interior of the bar was used in the sequel, as well. And yes, that is a chimpanzee drinking beer in the second screen capture below.

In 1978’s The Other Side of the Mountain: Part II, the Palomino Club played the local Bishop, California hangout of John Boothe (Timothy Bottoms).

The interior of the club was featured in the movie, as well.

The Palomino was where Jake Hanson (Grant Show) rescued Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton) from some rowdy bar patrons in the Season 3 episode of Melrose Place titled “And the Winner Is,” which aired in 1995.

The bar’s interior was also used in the episode.

In the 1996 comedy Sgt. Bilko, the Palomino Club stood in for the Rusty Spur where Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko (Steve Martin) took Rita Robbins (Gleanne Headly) dancing.

The interior of the club also appeared in the movie.

The Palomino Club was apparently featured in 1969’s From Nashville with Music and 1978’s Hooper, as well, but I could not find a copy of either production with which to make screen captures for this post.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for helping me to find this locale!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Villapiano’s (by the airport) from That Thing You Do! was actually the now-defunct Palomino Club, formerly located at 6907 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. The site is now a special events venue named Le Monge Banquet Hall. You can visit its official website here.

February 6, 2009February 13, 2009

The 90210 Pilot Church

A few days ago I sent Mike, from MovieShotsLA, a screen capture of the church featured in the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. I had a hunch he might know where it was located – and, sure enough, he did! He immediately called me and said “That’s the Spiderman church!” as it was also used in the filming of Spiderman 3. 🙂 God, he’s good! St. Brendan Church – or as Mike and I like to call it, the “pilot church” – was built in 1927 by Los Angeles area architect Emmett Martin.

In the pilot episode of 90210, Brenda, not wanting her new twenty-something boyfriend Jason to know that she is only sixteen years old and still living at home with her parents, lies and says that she is attending UCLA and living in a sorority house named Sigma Rho Tau. After their first date, Jason drops Brenda off in front of her fake sorority house, which just happens to be located next door to a church. That church is St. Brendan and that sorority house is not really a sorority house at all, but the church rectory. As you can see in the above screen captures, all the producers had to do was add a sign with the sorority’s name to the outside of the rectory and cover up the stained glass window with a bulletin board – and voila, they had themselves a sorority house!

While researching St. Brendan Church earlier today I remembered something very ironic from my past. I can’t even believe I’m admitting to this – in a public forum no less – but you only live once, so here goes! When I was in high school I receieved the Sacrament of Confirmation. At the time I was fifteen years old and deep in the throws of my 90210 obsession. So much so in fact, that I chose Brendan, after St. Brendan, as my confirmation name. In the Catholic faith, when ones receives the Sacrament of Confirmation, they are to adopt the name of a patron saint who is said to then guide and protect them. Confirmation candidates are supposed to study the history of the saints and find one that represents the type of Christian they want to become. But for me the choice was easy. Once I found out there was a saint named Brendan, that was it for me! Of course, the female version of the name Brendan is Brenda. 🙂 Yes, I was THAT obsessed. LOL Being that my mother wanted to kill me when she found out the saint name I chose, this little episode of my life has been a long running joke in my family. LOL So earlier today when I found out that St. Brendan was the name of the 90210 church, I just about fell out of my chair.

St. Brendan actually has quite a rich filming history. Besides the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, the church was also featured in Armageddon as the location of Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler’s wedding.

You can watch the wedding scene below:

It was the location of Stephanie Seymor and Axl Rose’s wedding in the Guns N’ Roses music video for the song “November Rain”.

On a side note – I must say that I absolutely LOVE Stephanie Seymour’s wedding dress from the video (pictured above). I am gonna have to get me one of those for my wedding! LOL As if!! 🙂 You can watch the “November Rain” music video below:

In the Season Four episode of CSI: Miami entitled “From the Grave”, my fave Horatio Caine confessed his sins at Saint Brendan.

The church was also featured in the 1953 version of War of the Worlds (as the location where the residents of L.A. gather during the final scenes of the movie), Spiderman 3 (the interior is where Topher Grace prayed for God to kill Peter Parker), Fight Club (Edward Norton’s cancer support group was held there), and an episode of Unsolved Mysteries. You can see interior pics of the church on the Saint Brendan website.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Beverly Hills, 90210 pilot church, aka St. Brendan, is located at 310 South Van Ness Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.

July 25, 2008February 13, 2009

That Thing You Stalk!

That Thing You Do has always been one of my very favorite movies. Liv Tyler could not have been more adorable in that movie! The scene where she is running down the street screaming with joy while listening to the Oneders song on the radio for the first time is one of my favorite scenes in all of moviedom! And I do love me some Tom Everett Scott, too. 🙂 So when I read on Pasadena’s Filming Website that a house on Prospect Boulevard in Pasadena was used in That Thing You Do, I, of course, ran right out to stalk it.

I must say that working backwards, or stalking backwards I should say, ie. trying to find the scene in a movie where a certain home or place was featured, proved to be almost as difficult as normal stalking. I had to fast-forward through That Thing You Do twice before I spotted the house in a scene. In actuality only the garage of the home was used, and it was only used briefly in the very beginning of the movie. The home was featured in the scene when Guy Patterson practices with the rest of the band for the first time. It is in this scene that Liv Tyler comes up with the name for the band – “The Oneders”.

I actually had to go back and stalk this house a second time, as the first time I stalked it I didn’t get a photo of the garage, which was the only part of the house used in the movie. The front of the home is never actually shown. The clapboard-style residence is super cute in person and was very reminiscent of the Father of the Bride house, but on a slightly smaller scale. I am actually very surprised the front of the house was not shown in the movie. You’d think that since they were already there filming in the garage, they would have taken some stock footage of the front of the house to use in the movie.

The Prospect Historic District of Pasadena, where the That Thing You Do home is located, is a beautiful neighborhood with absolutely gorgeous homes on tree covered streets. The neighborhood, which was started in the year 1906, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. One of the homes on Prospect, number 657, is known as the Bentz House and was built by the famous architects Greene & Greene, with whom Craftsman style architecture is most commonly associated. Greene & Greene built the Bentz House in 1906 and it still stands today. Jennifer Lopez’ dream house from the movie Enough can also be found in the Prospect Historic District. It is pictured to the left. According to Pasadena’s Filming Website the Enough house was also used in That Thing You Do, but I never saw it. Quite possibly only the interior of the house was used, and therefore I didn’t recognize it, or, also quite possible, the Pasadena website just got it wrong.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The That Thing You Do house is located at 490 Prospect Boulevard. The garage that was used in the movie is to the left rear of the house and is very visible from the street. JLo’s house from Enough is located right around the corner at 445 Prospect Square. The most famous Greene & Greene home, the Gamble House, is located just off of Prospect Square at 4 Westmoreland Place. The Gamble House was used as Doc Brown’s home in the movie Back to the Future, but I’ll save that one for a future post. 🙂