Liberace’s Penthouse from “Behind the Candelabra”

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Back on May 27th, the day after the HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra first aired, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, emailed me to let me know that he had tracked down the penthouse belonging to Liberace (Michael Douglas) in the flick.  He also informed me that, in a very cool twist, the penthouse used in the movie was actually owned by the legendary pianist for almost a decade in real life.  Love it!  And while I immediately added the site to my To-Stalk list, for whatever reason, I did not make it out there until this past Saturday morning, when the Grim Cheaper and I were in L.A. for a weekend visit.

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Liberace did not just own the penthouse suite, but the entire 24,586-square-foot building which houses it.  The five-story structure was designed in 1958 by renowned Netherlands-born theatre muralist Anthony Heinsbergen and cost $650,000 to complete.  “Lee”, as he was called, purchased the property for just under $1 million in 1978 and continued to own it until his death in February 1987.  It was then sold by the pianist’s estate in December of that same year for $2.55 million (in an all-cash deal!) to developer Larry Taylor.

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The building, which sits on a 0.37-acre plot of land, consists of three floors of office space (there are 18 separate offices in total), a bottom-level retail site, and a 5,000-square-foot penthouse that boasts a 14-foot by 28-foot rooftop swimming pool, a gourmet kitchen, several fireplaces (which were not original to the unit, but were added by Liberace during his tenure), and, of course, mirrors galore.

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I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the Grecian statue that flanks the building’s entrance was also Liberace’s doing.  Winking smile

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The penthouse showed up numerous times in Behind the Candelabra, most notably as the place where Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) moved to after being dumped by Liberace.  The interior of the pad hosted most of the filming, with scenes shot in the living room, master bedroom, hallway, and by the rooftop pool.  For the shoot, the property, which currently serves as an event space, was painstakingly restored to look as it did in Liberace’s day – right down to the furniture.  A July 2013 The Hollywood Reporter article says, “The current owner had photographed the entire apartment before Liberace’s furnishings were removed, allowing the production to re-create the black lacquer, animal print and chrome decor to the last detail.”  So incredibly cool!

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The same article goes on to state that the mirrored piano on display in the living room in the flick had to actually be hoisted up to the penthouse via the exterior of the building for the shoot due to the fact that the elevator on the premises was too small to transport it!  Man, I would have loved to have been there to watch that!  And while the Behind the Candelabra production slideshow claims that said piano belongs to Deborah Gibson in real life, the instrument that appeared in the movie does not match the one pictured in these photographs of Deborah’s house, so I am fairly certain that information is incorrect.

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You can catch a great aerial glimpse of Liberace’s former pool area via Google Maps.  According to the production slideshow, the fiber optic tree wall sculpture with “hand painted clay birds that spouted water” that appeared in the movie is original to the unit.

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The exterior of the building showed up only once in Behind the Candelabra, in the scene in which Scott returned to the property after being kicked out to pick up his belongings – which Liberace’s manager, Seymour Heller (Dan Aykroyd), had gathered together in large plastic garbage bags.  LOL  That scene took place in the rear parking lot.

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The building’s back entrance . . .

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. . . and lobby area were also shown once in Behind the Candelabra, in the scene in which Seymour arrived at the penthouse to inform Scott that he had to vacate the premises.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location.  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Liberace’s former penthouse, which was used in Behind the Candelabra, is located at 7461 Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles.  The parking lot where Scott picked up his belongings in the film is located in the back of the building and can be reached via North Vista Street.

The “Punky Brewster” Building

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Back in early July, a fellow stalker named Charles posted a comment on my Challenge Lindsay page asking me to track down the building where Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) lived with her adoptive father, curmudgeon Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes), in the 1980s television series Punky Brewster. Now this stalker absolutely LOVED herself some Punky B! Like loved, loved, loved it! Yes, I wore different colored high-tops in the third and fourth grade. Yes, I donned a skate key around my neck. And yes, I had a Punky Brewster doll. Still do, in fact. It was one of my most prized possessions! So when I received Charles’ challenge I couldn’t help but wonder why I had never thought to track the place down myself! I immediately got on the case, though, and, thankfully, found the building quite quickly. Once I had the address, I was absolutely chomping at the bit to stalk it, but, unfortunately, had to wait until the Grim Cheaper and I were in L.A. this past weekend. Good things come to those who wait, though.

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I found this locale thanks to the fact that in the Season 1 opening credits of Punky Brewster an address number of 2520 was visible on the front door of the apartment building, as you can see below. And while the series was set in Chicago and Henry and Punky were said to live at 2520 Pierce Street in the Windy City (a location which doesn’t actually exist), I had a feeling that their building was actually located somewhere in Los Angeles, most likely in the downtown area. So I did a Google search for “2520”, “Los Angeles” and “apartments” and, sure enough, one of the results turned out to be Henry and Punky’s building! Yay!

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I literally could NOT have been more excited to see the building in person, especially being that it still looks EXACTLY the same as it did in 1984 when it first appeared on Punky Brewster – in the pilot episode which was titled “Punky Finds a Home: Part 1.”

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Even the “2520” address marker has not been altered since filming took place. LOVE IT!

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As soon as we pulled up to the building, I couldn’t help but belt out the Punky Brewster theme song, much to the GC’s chagrin. (Actually he’s lucky I didn’t make him lie down in the street so that I could walk over him a la Henry in the opening credits. ;)) And yes, I still know the whole thing by heart. “Maybe the world is blind . . . or just a little unkind. Don’t know. Seems you can’t be sure . . . of anything anymore . . . although, you may be lonely and then, one day you’re smiling again. Every time I turn around . . . I see the girl who turns my world around, standing there . . . every time I turn around . . . her spirit’s lifting me right off the ground. What’s gonna be? Guess we’ll just wait and see.”

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In real life, the building is named the Trebor Apartments and it was originally built in 1909.

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In the opening scene of “Punky Finds a Home: Part 1”, Punky is shown putting her dog, Brandon, in a bag and pulling him up onto the apartment’s fire escape using a rope pulley.

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And while I had assumed that the scene was most likely shot elsewhere – quite possibly on a studio lot – as it turns out, I was wrong. While I was stalking the place, I decided to venture around to the side of the building to see if there was a fire escape there. Sure enough, there was – and it still bears the same ornate ironwork that appeared in the episode, which I could NOT have been happier to see! (And believe me, if I could have figured out a way to get up on that fire escape to pose for a picture, I so would have! ;))

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The interior of Henry and Punky’s building was, of course, just a set built on a soundstage – first at NBC Studios (now The Burbank Studios) in Burbank and then later at the now defunct Metromedia Square in Hollywood. (Metromedia Square, which later became Fox Television Center, was demolished in 2003 and is now the site of Helen Bernstein High School, aka William McKinley High School from Glee, which I blogged about here.)

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The interior of Henry and Punky’s apartment was also just a set. LOVE the Michael Jackson poster in the second screen capture below. 🙂

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You can watch the Punky Brewster opening theme, in which the Trebor Apartments are featured quite extensively, by clicking below.

Thanks to the Silent Locations blog, I also learned that the Trebor Apartments appeared briefly in the 1926 silent film The Strong Man, as the spot where ‘Lily’ of Broadway (Gertrude Astor) hailed a cab with Paul Bergot (Harry Langdon).

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Charles for challenging me to find this location! 🙂

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Punky Brewster apartment building is located at 2520 West 7th Street, just west of MacArthur Park, in Los Angeles.

My Los Angeles Must-Stalk List

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If I had a nickel for every time a fellow stalker wrote to me asking for my top ten favorite locations in all of Los Angeles, I would have a whole lot more Louis Vuitton in my closet than I do right now. Winking smile Over the years, in response to that repeated question, I compiled a list of sorts of my fave Southern California locales. Because this stalker loves the City of Angels pretty much more than life itself, though, I was never able to narrow it down to just ten spots, and the more I discover L.A., the more locations I add. As of right now, my list hovers at 23 places, but I am sure that by next month, that number will have grown.  Anyway, after sending out my list yet again just last week, I figured that I might as well write a blog post on it. So, without further ado, I present my Los Angeles Must-Stalk List.

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1. Disneyland – While not necessarily a stalking location, per se, The Happiest Place on Earth is one of my favorite spots in the entire world, let alone Southern California. It is DEFINITELY a Must-Stalk for anyone visiting the area, especially for the first time. If you have only one day to spend in L.A., I would spend it here. You can read my post on Club 33, the theme park’s legendary restaurant, here. Disneyland is located at 1313 Disneyland Drive in Anaheim.

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2. Casa Walsh from Beverly Hills, 90210 – If you know anything about me at all, then this location pretty much goes without saying. Winking smile You can read about my experience of going inside the Walsh house (which I just got to do again and will be blogging about soon) here. Casa Walsh is located at 1675 East Altadena Drive in Altadena. Dylan McKay’s house is located a block away at 1605 East Altadena Drive.

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3. The Father of the Bride House – One of the most iconic (and picturesque) movie houses in cinematic history. You can read my post on the property here. The Father of the Bride house is located at 843 South El Molino Avenue in Pasadena. Don Draper’s house from Mad Men is located right across the street at 675 Arden Road. Afterwards, be sure to hit up The Slaw Dogs (720 North Lake Avenue) for lunch – they have the best hot dogs EVER; Lula Mae (100 North Fair Oaks Avenue) for shopping – it is my very favorite gift store; and the Blo Out Lounge (62 North Raymond Avenue) – my fave salon – for a fabulous blo out!  Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for the photograph below.

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4. The Bradbury Building – The interior of this architectural landmark in Downtown Los Angeles is nothing short of stunning – like jaw-droppingly stunning! One of the most unique properties that I have ever laid eyes on. You can read my post on the Bradbury Building here. The structure is located at 304 South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles. The building’s first floor and lobby area are open to the public daily. Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for the picture below.

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5. The John Ferraro Building – One of my favorite buildings in all of L.A. The huge water fountains that surround the property are overwhelmingly gorgeous and, when coupled with the stellar views of the Los Angeles skyline in the background, one’s breath can easily be taken away. You can read my post on the structure here. The John Ferraro Building is located at 111 North Hope Street in Downtown Los Angeles.

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6. Scranton Business Park from The Office – This location is particularly cool because not only is it used in establishing shots of Scranton Business Park, where the Dunder Mifflin gang reports to work each day, but it is actually the exterior of Chandler Valley Center Studios, where The Office is filmed. You can read my post on the location here. Chandler Valley Center Studios is located at 13927 Saticoy Street in Van Nuys.

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7. Torrance High School from Beverly Hills, 90210 – Another no-brainer for those who know anything about this stalker. Winking smile Torrance High School is located at 2200 West Carson Street in Torrance. You can read my post on the location here.

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8. Yamashiro Hollywood – I have three things to say about this restaurant – views, views and views. While the food is most-definitely spectacular (especially the Butter Lettuce Wraps and Crispy Chicken), the place serves up some of the best views in all of Southern California. Little known fact – the spire on top of the Capital Records Building, which is visible from Yamashiro, intermittently spells out Hollywood in old Morse Code each night. Be sure to head to the eatery right around sunset so that you can catch glimpses of both the daytime and nighttime views. You can read my post on the restaurant here. Yamashiro Hollywood is located at 1999 Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood.

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9. The Huntington Library – Hands down one of my favorite spots in Southern California. Aside from being an oft-filmed-at locale, the place is just spectacularly beautiful. One could easily spend an entire day just walking the grounds. Along with Disneyland, if I only had one day to spend in L.A., I would spend it here. I would skip the Library area, though, and head straight to the spectacular and extensive gardens. You can read my post on the location here. The Huntington Library is located at 1151 Oxford Road in San Marino.

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10. The Studios at Paramount – I love this place so much, the GC and I almost got married here! Hands down the best studio tour in Los Angeles (and I should know – I’ve been on it seven times!). You can read about one of my many Paramount experiences here. After your tour, grab lunch at the fabulous Lucy’s El Adobe Café, which is located right across the street. Paramount Studios is located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Reservations are highly recommended as tours tend to sell out quickly and far in advance. Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for the photograph pictured below.

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11. The Rooftop Bar at The Standard, Downtown L.A. – A fabulous restaurant/bar that offers unparalleled, 360-degree views of Downtown Los Angeles. The menu is spectacular, as well. The Standard Hotel is located at 550 South Flower Street in Downtown Los Angeles. You can read my post on The Rooftop Bar here.

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12. The Terrace at the Sunset Tower Hotel – Another café/bar that offers spectacular views, these of Century City, Downtown L.A. and West L.A. Can you tell that this stalker is into views? Winking smile The Sunset Tower Hotel is located at 8358 West Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can read my post on the Sunset Tower Hotel here.

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13. The Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles – One of L.A.’s most spectacular, beautiful and historic properties. Rates are extremely reasonable and I would recommend spending a night at the iconic location. If it is not possible to do so, then set aside at least a few hours to explore the 85-year-old hotel and be sure to try to sneak a peek at the spectacular art deco indoor pool, which was used in Cruel Intentions. When you are done, grab a drink at the beautiful Gallery Bar. The Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles is located at 506 South Grand Avenue in Downtown L.A. You can read my post on the hotel here.  Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for the pictures below.

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14. The View of the Hollywood Sign from Canyon Lake Drive – Ironically enough, the best place to view the legendary Hollywood Sign is not in Hollywood at all, but on Canyon Lake Drive in the hills above Burbank. You can get so close to the iconic sign at this location that it almost feels as if you can reach out and touch it. You can also catch a spectacular glimpse of the Hollywood Reservoir from this spot. For the best views of the Hollywood Sign, head to where Canyon Lake Drive meets Mulholland Highway in Los Angeles. You can read my post on this location here.

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15. The Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine Temple – One of the most peaceful and unique spots in all of SoCal. Hard to believe it is situated right on Sunset Boulevard. The Lake Shrine Temple is located at 17190 Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades. You can read my post on the site here.

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16. The Prince – Hands down, one of the coolest restaurants I have ever been to!  The eatery first opened in 1949 and has not been altered since.  Thanks to its historic aesthetic, dark red walls and wood-paneled booths, the place has been the site of countless filmings over the years.  It currently serves as Jess (Zooey Deschanel) and the gang’s main hangout on fave show New Girl.  You can read my post on the location here.  The Prince is located at 3198 1/2 West 7th Street in Koreatown.  You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

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17. Olvera Street (aka The Birthplace of L.A.) – A bustling, open-air Mexican marketplace located on the site of the very spot where Los Angeles was originally founded on September 4th, 1781. The center features some of the oldest structures in L.A., tiny shops selling handmade goods, and fabulous restaurants at every turn. I challenge you to find better taquitos anywhere else in the world, including Mexico! The official address for the entrance to Olvera Street is 845 North Alameda Street in Downtown Los Angeles. You can read my two posts on the location here and here. The Pico House, which serves as CBI Headquarters on The Mentalist is located right around the corner from Olvera Street at 430 North Main Street. You can read my post on that site here.

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18. The Old Place Cornell – A fabulously rugged old eatery that serves up some stellar gourmet comfort food. The restaurant, which was originally founded in 1969, seems so far removed from civilization, you will find it hard to believe you are actually in Los Angeles, just steps from the 101 Freeway. The Old Place is located at 29983 Mulholland Highway in Cornell. You can read my post on the eatery here.

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19. The Hotel Bel-Air – One of the most beautiful and serene hotels in all of Los Angeles. The quiet, intimate space, which is located right off of Sunset Boulevard, boasts a huge swan-filled pond, meandering pathways and countless tucked-away terraces. Not only was my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe known to frequent the location, but one of her very last photo shoots also took place there. And while I much preferred the look of the place prior to its recent remodel, Hotel Bel-Air is still one of the most picturesque spots in all of Southern California. Warning – the hotel is most-definitely NOT a good place for kids. The Hotel Bel-Air is located at 701 Stone Canyon Road in Bel Air. You can read my post on the location here.

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20. Paradise Cove – A beautiful, private beach located right in the heart of Malibu. This spot features a picturesque pier (where Britney Spears once danced), a fabulous restaurant (Bob Morris’ Paradise Cove Beach Café), and an outside bar area where you can dip your toes in the sand while sipping cocktails and watching the sun set. Don’t let the $25 parking fee scare you off – the Beach Café validates. Paradise Cove is located at 28128 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. You can read my post on the site here.

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21. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre – Yes, the place is a tourist trap, but it is also a Hollywood landmark and I am of the firm belief that everyone should see it at least once. And besides, it is FUN to walk around and look at all the hand and footprints of your favorite celebs. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can read my post on Grauman’s here.

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22. The Pawnee Pit from Parks and Recreation – While some may say that this place is simply a vacant plot of land, I say it is one of the coolest stalking sites that I have ever been to – most likely because not only was the Sullivan Street Pit practically a character on the series, but it was also once an actual hole in an actual neighborhood and not a manufactured set piece.  You can read my post on Lot 48 here.  The Parks and Recreation pit is located at the southeast corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Collins Street in Van Nuys.  Ann Perkins’ house from the series is located directly behind the Pit at 5655 Murietta Avenue in Van Nuys.  You can read my post on that location here.

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23. A Free View of Universal Studios’ War of the Worlds Set – Quite possibly my favorite “only in L.A.” spot, one can catch a fabulous and free glimpse of the plane crash set from the 2005 flick War of the Worlds from a residential street just south of Burbank.  To check out the massive set, head to the 3400 block of Blair Drive, just off of Barham Boulevard, in Los Angeles

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I had so much fun blogging about my Los Angeles Must-Stalk List that I am going to do a similar post on New York locations in the very near future.

Be sure to “Like” the IAMNOTASTALKER Facebook Page here and “Friend” me on my personal Facebook page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And if you are not already following me on Twitter, you can do so here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

The Historic Mayfair Hotel from “The Office”

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Fellow stalker John Bengtson, from the SIlent Locations blog, sent me an email last week after reading my post on Red Studios Hollywood from The Artist (a location that I had learned about from his website) informing me that he had tracked down some locales from Season 7’s “The Search” episode of The Office that I might be interested in stalking, most notably The Historic Mayfair Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles where Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Holly Flax (Amy Ryan) shared a rooftop kiss.  Ironically enough, my good friend, fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, had also sent me this location on February 4th of last year, the day after the episode had originally aired, along with a list of all of the other places featured in “The Search”.  And while I did stalk a few of them – Kung Pao China Bistro and Larry’s Chili Dog – for whatever reason, I never made it out to The Mayfair.  So, this past weekend, I decided to change that and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there.  (I am not sure what happened with the above photograph, but somehow it turned out a bit wonky and neither the GC nor I realized it at the time.)

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The Historic Mayfair Hotel was originally designed in 1927 by Alexander E. Curlett and Claud W. Beelman, the same architecture team who gave us the Park Plaza Hotel near MacArthur Park (an extremely popular filming location that I have stalked, but have yet to blog about), the Cooper Arms condominium building in Long Beach, and the Los Angeles Board of Trade Building in Downtown L.A.  The 13-story hotel, which at the time was named simply The Mayfair, was commissioned by Texas oil tycoons and was constructed at a cost of $1.5 million – and we’re talking 1920’s dollars!  In its heyday, the luxury property hosted such luminaries as Mary Pickford and John Barrymore.  Raymond Chandler even wrote and set his 1939 short story “I’ll Be Waiting” at The Mayfair, although he dubbed the place the “Windermere Hotel” in the tale.

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The property, which originally boasted 350 rooms, but now has just 304, was the largest hotel west of the Mississippi at one time and featured an immensely popular supper and dance club known as the Rainbow Isle Room, from which George Eckhardts, Jr. and the Rainbow Isle Orchestra would broadcast a live radio show each night.  In 2004, after suffering from a long period of neglect, the structure underwent a massive and much-needed $40 million renovation, at which point it was renamed The Historic Mayfair Hotel.  You can check out some great photographs of the place during its early days on The Mayfair’s Facebook page here.

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In “The Search” episode of The Office, after being stranded at a supposed Scranton, Pennsylvania-area gas station, Michael Scott goes on a walkabout which ends on the rooftop of The Historic Mayfair Hotel.  When Holly finds him there and Michael tells her how much he has missed her, the two finally kiss, ending several years worth of will-they-or-won’t-they-get-together storylines and allowing  audiences to finally breath a long-overdue sigh of relief.  Not surprisingly, the roof area of The Mayfair is closed to the public, so I was unable to snap any pictures of it.

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Mike, from MovieShotsLA, figured out that The Mayfair stood in for the supposed Chicago, Illinois-area The Addison Hotel where Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) attended her 15-year high school reunion in 1999’s The Deep End of the Ocean.

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It was from the lobby of The Mayfair that Beth’s 3-year-old son, Ben Cappadora (Michael McElroy), was kidnapped.

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As you can see above, despite the renovation, the lobby still looks very much the same today as it did back in 1998 when The Deep End of the Ocean was filmed.

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The super-nice front desk clerk that we spoke with while we were there informed us that both the interior and the exterior of the property had also appeared in 1994’s True Lies, as the supposed Washington, D.C.-area Washington Mayfair Hotel where Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger), on horseback, chased motor-cycle-riding religious zealot Salim Abu Aziz (Art Malik) through a lobby.

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The Mayfair lobby was actually one of three different lobbies used in that particular scene.  Harry is first shown chasing Salim across the length of The Mayfair’s lobby.

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The two then turn a corner and are magically transported to the now-defunct The Ambassador hotel, the same lobby of which was used as the Regent Beverly Wilshire in 1990’s Pretty Woman.

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The duo then heads outside, “across the street” and into The Westin Bonaventure Hotel.  In reality, when the Ambassador was still standing, it was located a good two miles away from The Bonaventure.  Ah, the magic of Hollywood!

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Thanks to the Richard Dean Anderson Website, I learned that The Historic Mayfair Hotel was also used in the 1986 Season 1 episode of MacGyver titled “The Assassin”.

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I am fairly certain that only the exterior of the property appeared in the episode, though, and that all of the interior hotel scenes were filmed on a set.  And while IMDB states that The Mayfair was also featured in 2009’s Don’t Look Up, I scanned through the flick yesterday while doing research for this post and did not see it pop up anywhere.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalkers John Bengtson, from the SIlent Locations blog, and Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for informing me of its appearance in The Deep End of the OceanSmile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Historic Mayfair Hotel, from “The Search” episode of The Office, is located at 1256 West 7th Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

The Milbank Mansion – aka Chapman Academy Preschool from “Daddy Day Care”

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A couple of weeks ago, Tony, my friend and fellow stalker who has the fabulous On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream (seriously, it’s amazing – go check it out!), asked me for some help in tracking down the ginormous Mediterranean mansion that stood in for the prestigious Chapman Academy Preschool in the 2003 comedy Daddy Day Care.  Tony had informed me that the residence was used regularly for filming and that it had also been featured recently in the Season 10 episode of fave show CSI: Miami titled “By the Book”.  So I started doing some research on oft-filmed-at Mediterranean estates in Los Angeles and, amazingly, fairly quickly came across a photograph of a gorgeous Country Club Park property named the Milbank Mansion that, sure enough, was the right spot.  So, while Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were out doing some stalking in the area this past Monday morning, we stopped by the place.  And I have to say that it is pretty darn incredible in person!  Not to mention pretty darn huge!

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The Milbank Mansion was originally built in 1913 for prominent local businessman Isaac Milbank and his wife, Virginia.  The 12-bedroom, 5-bath, 10,059-square-foot home, which sits on 1.79 acres of land, was designed by G. Laurence Stimson, the very same architect who also gave us the legendary Wrigley Mansion, now the Tournament of Roses House, in Pasadena.  The estate is located in the heart of Country Club Park – a historic 250-acre neighborhood situated on the site of the original Los Angeles Country Club, which closed its doors in 1905.  The area was developed and subdivided  by none other than Isaac Milbank himself, along with a business partner named George Chase, beginning in 1906.  The Milbank Mansion, which, according to a June 1988 Los Angeles Times article, is “considered to be the most substantial surviving estate built for a single family in the city of Los Angeles before World War I”, became a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument on December 13, 1989.  You can see some interior photographs of the property here.

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In Daddy Day Care, both the exterior . . .

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. . . and the interior of the Milbank Mansion were used as the Chapman Academy Preschool.

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In the Season 10 Halloween-themed episode of CSI: Miami titled “By the Book”, the mansion stood in for the island estate where a female body that had been entirely drained of blood was found hanging upside down.

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The interior of the estate was also used in the episode.

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In the 1929 silent film Wrong Again, the exterior of the Milbank Mansion was used as the residence where stable hands Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy mistakenly returned a horse named “Blue Boy” thinking they would be able to collect on some reward money being offered for a missing painting also known as “Blue Boy”.

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In the 1975 film noir Farewell, My Lovely, both the interior and the exterior of the Milbank Mansion stood in for the brothel belonging to “L.A.’s famous madam” Francis Amthor (Kate Murtagh).  Of the estate, detective Phillip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) says, “It was an old house, built as they once built them and don’t build them anymore.  Fitting and proper for housing the world’s oldest profession.”

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In 2006’s Running with Scissors, the interior of the mansion stood in for the home where Dr. Finch (Brian Cox) lived with his crazy family – wife Agnes (Jill Clayburgh) and daughters Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood).  The property was dressed rather heavily for the production, though, and is virtually unrecognizable onscreen.

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As you can see above, for the exterior of Dr. Finch’s mansion a different location was used.

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The Milbank Mansion was also supposedly featured in Harold Lloyd’s 1922 silent film Dr. Jack, the 1971 movie Hit Man, and the reality series Beauty and the Geek, but unfortunately I could not find copies of any of those productions to verify that information.  And while several websites have stated that the property also appeared in the 2001 biopic Ali, I scanned through the movie yesterday while making screen captures for this post and did not see it anywhere.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Tony for asking me to find this location!   You can check out Tony’s FANTASTIC On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Milbank Mansion, aka the Chapman Academy Preschool from Daddy Day Care, is located at 3340 Country Club Drive in the Country Club Park section of Los Angeles.

Charlie Babbitt’s Apartment from “Rain Man”

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A couple of weeks ago, I read on fellow stalker Lisa’s Finding the Famous blog that the apartment building where Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise) lived in the 1988 movie Rain Man was located somewhere in the Hollywood Hills.  I, of course, immediately started trying to track down the building’s exact location and fairly quickly found the information I was seeking thanks to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory.  E.J.’s website has actually been on a “hiatus” since January 8th of this year, while it is being updated from its previous database of 20,000 movie locales and celebrity addresses to one of over 90,000.  And while that all sounds well and good, this stalker has been simply lost without the website, as I use it almost daily as a resource.  When I emailed E.J. to tell him of my plight, he immediately sent over an extremely large Excel spreadsheet containing all 90,000 of his extensively-researched addresses for me to refer to at will.  Um, how do I even begin to say thank you for that???  Needless to say, the gesture was GREATLY appreciated.  And while I have to admit that I am, for whatever reason, supremely Excel-challenged, I have been using his database regularly and was able to find the location of the Rain Man apartment building with sufficient ease.  Thank you, “Ctrl-F” and thank you, E.J.!  So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend.

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Charlie Babbitt’s apartment building shows up only once, and very briefly, towards they end of Rain Man, in the scene in which Charlie brings his newly-found autistic brother, Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman), home to Los Angeles after a long road trip across America.  It is at the building that Raymond freaks out after setting off the fire alarm while attempting to cook Eggo Waffles in a convection oven.

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The area of the apartment building shown in Rain Man is not the front exterior, but the west side, which, thankfully, still looks much the same today as it did when the movie was filmed in 1988, despite the fact that almost two and a half decades have since passed.  The only difference I could spot is that the chain link fence which once surrounded the pool has since been replaced with a wooden fence.  But otherwise, the place looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.  So incredibly cool!

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The front exterior of the building is pictured above.  According to fave website Zillow, the dwelling was originally constructed in 1926 and measures 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,201 square feet.  And while I could not find much information about the place online, I am guessing that it is comprised of 3 separate apartment units.  I also learned from E.J.’s extensive files that actor Brad Pitt once lived on the premises sometime during the ‘90s, so the property has quite an extensive claim to fame!

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the building was also used in the filming of Rain Man, although I, unfortunately, could not find any interior photographs of the place online with which to verify that hunch.  And, legend has it that a lithograph of Tom Cruise, that was given to him during the production, still hangs in the property’s laundry room to this day.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to get in there to see that!

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Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lisa, from the Finding the Famous blog, for informing me of this location and to my friend E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, for tracking it down.  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Charlie Babbitt’s apartment building from Rain Man is located at 8800 Evanview Drive/1599 Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollywood Hills.  The area of the building that was shown in the movie can be seen from Evanview Drive, just west of where it intersects with Sunset Plaza Drive.

The Daily Grill at LAX from “Friends With Benefits”

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While watching Friends With Benefits this past July, I just about fell out of my theatre seat when I realized that one of the flick’s more pivotal scenes had been filmed at the Daily Grill restaurant inside of the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport – an eatery that I am very familiar with.  As I have mentioned previously on this blog, my best friend, Robin, lives in Switzerland and comes to visit me just about once a year.  He always flies in and out of LAX and every time we take him to the airport for his return flight, we grab one final cocktail together at the Daily Grill.  The eatery long ago came to be known as “the sad restaurant” in my family’s lexicon, as, knowing that the hour to say good-bye is near, we are all invariably in tears by the time the check arrives.  Flash forward to this past November when, as I mentioned three weeks ago in my post about The Grill on Main in La Quinta, Robin’s mom, Doina, who is my mom’s best friend, flew out to America to surprise my mom on her 60th birthday.  At the end of her eight-day visit, we made our regular pilgrimage to the Daily Grill (that is me and Doina pictured above), which I was extremely excited about as it meant that I could finally blog about the place.

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The Daily Grill at LAX, which opened its doors in January 1997, is actually the largest full-service airport restaurant in the entire United States (it measures 8,300 square feet!!!) and features a full bar, a private dining room, and what are easily the best chicken strips I have ever eaten in my entire life!  In fact, on this particular visit, we ordered three servings of them (!!!!) as we could just not seem to get enough.  Best of all, unlike other airport eateries where a single slice of take-out pizza can cost upwards of $7, the Daily Grill is very reasonably priced.  (On a random side-note – while doing research for today’s post, I discovered that there are SEVEN Starbucks stores located inside of LAX!  SEVEN!  According to the Expect Delays travel blog, Starbucks outposts can be found inside of Terminals 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8!  Now, that’s my kind of place!  Winking smile)

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In Friends With Benefits, the Daily Grill appeared in the scene in which Dylan (aka Justin Timberlake) and his father, Mr. Harper (aka Richard Jenkins), grab a bite to eat – sans pants – shortly after Mr. Harper arrives at what is supposedly Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.  It is actually pretty ironic that the Daily Grill masqueraded as an East Coast location in the flick, as Friends With Benefits poked quite a bit of fun at movies that try to pull one over on their audience by having locales in Los Angeles stand in for those in New York.

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In the scene, Dylan and Mr. Harper dine in the northeastern-most section of the restaurant in the area overlooking the ticketing counters.

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That area is pictured above.

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And I, of course, just had to pose for a pic in the spot where Dylan and Mr. Harper sat in the flick.  Smile

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Our super-nice waitress answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of Friends With Benefits and even informed us that the filmmakers had covered over one of the Daily Grill’s overhead lights during the shoot and had forgotten to uncover it afterwards.  As you can see above, it is still covered over today!  So incredibly cool!

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According to the Friends With Benefits production notes, the scene in which Jamie (aka Mila Kunis) hops on a baggage carousel and starts handing out luggage to various travelers was also shot at LAX, although I am unsure of exactly where.

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Our waitress also informed us that a scene from the 2005 flick Rumor Has It involving my girl Jen Aniston had been filmed on the escalators located just outside of the Daily Grill, which I could NOT have been more excited about.  Our waitress was working during the time the scene was filmed and said she watched Jen ride up and down those escalators for pretty much an entire day!  How incredibly cool is that?  I would have absolutely DIED!

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The escalators have been remodeled since the time Rumor Has It was filmed and no longer have palm trees planted in between them, but otherwise look much the same as they did onscreen.

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And I, of course, just had to pose for a pic in the spot where my girl stood in the movie.  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Daily Grill, from Friends With Benefits, is located at 380 World Way in Los Angeles, on the Mezzanine Level of the Tom Bradley International Terminal inside of the Los Angeles International Airport.  It is located outside of the security checkpoint, so you do not have to be traveling to dine there.  You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

Willy Beachum’s House from “Fracture”

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Back in early November, a fellow stalker named Eileen posted a comment on my site challenging me to find the residence where Willy Beachum (aka cutie Ryan Gosling) lived in the 2007 thriller Fracture, which is one of my all-time favorite movies.  In an extremely ironic twist of fate, at the exact moment that my site sent me an email alerting me to Eileen’s comment, I was sitting in front of the TV watching Fracture and thinking that I should try to track down the hilltop abode!  Talk about synchronicity!  So I set right out to find the place that very night.  I am leery to admit, though, that I actually “cheated” a wee bit in locating it.

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Based on the views of Downtown Los Angeles shown from Willy’s home in the flick, I figured that the property was most likely located in the Echo Park area and spent more than a few fruitless hours searching for it there.  Because this stalker is nothing if not impatient, though, after coming up completely empty-handed I decided to rent the film on Blu-ray as I had noticed a blurry street sign visible in the background of one of the scenes and hoped that I might be able to make out the name printed on it via high-definition.  Now, don’t get me wrong – I love a good hunt as much as the next stalker, but sometimes I just want to just find the place already and call it a day!  This was one of those times.   Smile

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And thankfully my hunch panned out.  As you can see in the screen capture pictured above, “Minnesota St” is clearly visible on the street sign shown in the Blu-ray version of the movie.  Yay!  Once I learned the street name, finding the exact location of the house was a snap and I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place later that same week.

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The exterior of Willy Beachum’s home shows up quite a few times in Fracture.

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It is most notably featured in the scene in which District Attorney Joe Lobruto (aka David Strathairn) speaks with Willy, his former deputy district attorney, about returning to the D.A.’s office.  Oddly enough, while all of the other Fracture filming locations are talked about extensively in the flick’s production notes, nothing is said about Willy’s residence.  I figured there would, at the very least, be a mention of the dwelling’s spectacular views, but, for whatever reason, filmmakers remained silent on the subject.  The production notes did state, “[Fracture director Gregory] Hoblit likes to make movies that look as though they are set in Anywhere, USA so that audiences can more easily identify with the characters.  He credits production designer Paul Eads and location managers Richard Davis and Mike Fantasia with helping to make that happen.”  I found that sentiment to be a bit ironic, though, as, in this stalker’s never-to-be-humble opinion, Willy’s house in the movie could not have been more “L.A.”  With its stunning views, hilltop location, and detached garage, the place just screamed “Los Angeles” to me.  But what do I know?  Winking smile

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Because very few sets were built for the filming of Fracture, I would venture to guess that the actual interior of the property was also used in the flick, but, sadly, I could not find any interior photographs of the place to verify that hunch.

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According to the Redfin website, the 3-bedroom, 1-bath, 1,248-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1904, sold this past February for $307,000.  And I am happy to report that it looks very much the same in person as it did in Fracture.

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As do the views, which are nothing short of spectacular!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Willy Beachum’s house from Fracture is located at 3101 Minnesota Street in the Lincoln Heights area of Los Angeles.

The Old Plaza at El Pueblo de Los Angeles from “90210”

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Last week, after reading my post on the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank in which I mentioned that I had actually stalked the iconic restaurant way back in November, fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, sent me a text asking, “If you did not stalk ever again, how many blogs could you write before you ran out?”  My response, “I don’t know . . . but A LOT!”  If I had to guess I would say there are at least 200 locales stored away in my stalking back log.  In fact, there are still quite a few spots from my trip to the Pacific Northwest last May that I have yet to post.  So not to worry – even if I were to never stalk again, I would still be cranking out posts for a very long time to come!  Smile Anyway, Chas’ text got me to thinking about all of the locations that I have pushed to the back burner in recent months – one of which was The Old Plaza at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, which appeared in the Season 3 episode of fave show 90210 titled “The Enchanted Donkey” and which I had dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk back in July.  Speaking of 90210, I would just like to state here, for the record, that I am NOT AT ALL happy about the latest developments in the “Lannie” saga.  But I digress.

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El Pueblo de Los Angeles, or the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District as it is also called, is the oldest surviving section of the city and serves as a monument to L.A.’s September 4th, 1781 founding.  On that day, at a site located along the L.A. River just northeast of the Plaza, eleven families, consisting of 22 adults and 22 children, arrived from the Gulf of Mexico and established a small pueblo with mud huts and a village square.  In 1815, a flood washed away that original settlement and it was later rebuilt in 1825 at its current location, which sits on higher ground.  The Plaza immediately became the social, commercial, and cultural center of Los Angeles and remained that way throughout most of the 19th Century.  By the 1920s, the area had sadly fallen into serious disrepair and was set to be largely demolished to make way for a railway station.  Thankfully, a woman named Christine Sterling came along in 1926 and, with help from Harry Chandler and several local businesses, transformed the site into a bustling marketplace and popular tourist attraction.  Today, the 44-acre property, which is considered to be the “birthplace of Los Angeles” and is a State Historic Monument and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, consists of five separate museums, a church dating back to 1861, the Mexican marketplace known as Olvera Street, 27 historic buildings, including L.A.’s oldest firehouse, and a central plaza, aka The Old Plaza.

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In “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210, The Old Plaza stood in for the supposed-Cabo-San-Lucas-area marketplace that Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes) and Liam Court (aka my love, Matt Lanter – sigh!  Winking smile) visited while in Mexico during Spring Break.  It is there that Annie gets bitten by a rabid monkey which lands her in the hospital.  Because the BEST Mexican restaurants in all of Southern California can be found there, the GC and I have visited El Pueblo de Los Angeles countless times over the years.  So when The Old Plaza popped up on 90210, I recognized the place immediately.

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In “The Enchanted Donkey” episode, the rock that the monkey is sitting on is located in the northern-most section of The Old Plaza, under one of the site’s four historic Moreton Bay Fig trees.  Ironically enough, as you can see above, that rock bears a plaque which reads “Los Angeles Plaza”, which, being that the scene was supposed to have taken place in Mexico, explains why it was covered over with a blanket for the filming, .  Ah, the magic of Hollywood!

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While watching the scene, I also immediately recognized the leather clip that Annie was wearing in her hair as being from Murillo Leather, a store that is located about twenty feet from the Old Plaza and that I mentioned in my post about Olvera Street way back in May of 2009.  I have visited the shop, which is owned and operated by Armando Murillo, who made all of the purses and belts worn by Jessica Simpson in the movie The Dukes of Hazzard, countless times over the years and even have a belt that was made by the second-generation leather craftsman.

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So while we were there I just had to stop by to ask Armando if my hunch about Annie’s barrette had been correct.  He confirmed for me that not only did his hand-crafted hair clip appear in the episode, but that Shenae Grimes herself had come into his shop to pick it out.  I was literally drooling hearing Armando talk about meeting Shenae and how incredibly sweet she was.  (This was before I was fortunate enough to meet the actress myself this past August.)  And while I SO wanted to buy a Shenae-style hair clip while we were there, the GC immediately ixnayed the idea, noting that my hair was far too short to ever be able to get any use out of it.  Hmph!

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As I mentioned in my post about Olvera Street back in May 2009, The Old Plaza was also featured in Lethal Weapon 3 as the spot where Martin Riggs (aka Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (aka Danny Glover) were assigned to work patrol after being demoted for blowing up a building.  It is there that Riggs and Murtaugh threaten to shoot a man for jaywalking and also witness an armored-car robbery.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

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Stalk It: The Old Plaza at El Pueblo de Los Angeles, from “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210, is located at 1 Olvera Street, across from Union Station, in Los Angeles.  In the episode, Annie and Liam stood in front of the large rock located under the huge Moreton bay fig tree in the northern-most section of The Old Plaza, in the area depicted with a pink arrow in the above aerial view.  Murillo Leather, where Annie’s hair clip was made, is located just up the street from The Old Plaza at 6 Olvera Street in Los Angeles.

The Figueroa Hotel from “90210”

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A couple of years ago, while perusing through an issue of AAA’s Westways Magazine, I spotted an article about Southern California’s nicest most reasonably –priced hotels and, because I was dating the Grim Cheaper at the time, I figured I’d best read through it.  Of the ten properties featured in the column, the Moroccan-themed Figueroa Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles immediately caught my eye and I dragged the GC right on over there to grab a cocktail just a few nights later.  The two of us pretty much fell in love with the place’s unique architecture and exotic décor on sight and have returned there a couple of times over the years to grab a drink or just hang out.  So imagine my surprise when the Fig, as it is commonly referred to, popped up on fave show 90210 as the Cabo San Lucas resort where Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), and the rest of the West Beverly gang spent their Spring Break in the recently-aired Season 3 episode titled “The Enchanted Donkey”.  Because I had not taken many pictures of the hotel during our past visits, I immediately added the place to my Re-Stalk list and dragged the GC right on back over there this past weekend.

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The Figueroa Hotel, which was designed by Stanton, Reed, & Hibbard at a cost of $1.25 million, was originally built in 1925 by the YWCA as a hotel/residence for businesswomen and their families.  Shortly following the Great Depression, the 12-story, 409-room structure was turned into a public hotel and it later served a brief stint as housing for troops during World War II.  The property fell into disrepair in the years following, until the late 1990s when it was purchased by Uno Thimansson, who immediately set about renovating the place, giving it a Moroccan theme.  And, let me tell you, he did an incredible job.  Walking through the hotel’s front doors, one is quickly transported from the busy streets of Downtown L.A. into a Casablanca-esque oasis.  Every time I am there, I half expect to see Sam tickling the ivories while Bogie puffs away on a cigarette somewhere nearby.  True to Westways Magazine’s word, despite the hotel’s fabulous ambiance and location directly across the street from Staples Center and L.A. Live, it still boasts extremely reasonable room rates.  And while the reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp are quite mixed, in this stalker’s never-to-be-humble opinion, the Figueroa looks like an extremely cool place to vacation.  Not to mention that the poolside bar is something of a celebrity hotspot, with everyone from Keanu Reeves to members of Depeche Mode dropping by for a cocktail throughout the years.

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The Figueroa Hotel was used quite extensively in “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210 in which it masqueraded as the “Hotel Burro Encantado” (aka the Enchanted Donkey Resort) in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Areas of the hotel which appeared in the episode include the main entrance;

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the poolside bar, where Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) met up for drinks with former schoolmate Tripp Wallison (aka Alan Ritchson);

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and the pool area . . .

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. . . behind which producers had an image of the Cabo San Lucas skyline superimposed.  In reality, the Figueroa Hotel pool boasts views of several massive Downtown L.A. skyscrapers.  I was literally cracking up taking the above photograph while envisioning  the way the pool appeared on 90210Winking smile

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And while I had assumed that one of the hotel’s real life hallways had been used in the episode, the GC and I ventured upstairs to take a look at one and, as you can see above, it does not at all match up to what appeared onscreen.  It seems that producers built a fake hallway set for the filming.

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I had also assumed that some of the Figueroa’s actual rooms had been used in the episode, as well, but as you can see on the hotel’s website, that does not seem to be the case.

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The super-nice front desk clerk also informed us that the Figueroa’s lobby restaurant, the Fig Street Café, stood in for a supposed Cuba-area eatery in the Season 7 episode of fave show CSI: Miami titled “The Deluca Motel”.

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The hotel was also featured in the Season 4 episode of Chuck titled “Church Versus the Seduction Impossible” as the Marrakesh, Morocco-area hotel where Chuck Bartowski (aka Zachary Levi), Colonel John Casey (aka Adam Baldwin), and Sarah Walker (aka Yvonne Strahovski) were sent to rescue Roan Montgomery (aka John Larroquette).

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In the Season 2 episode of Make It or Break It titled “Worlds Apart”, the Fig stood in for the Rio de Janeiro-area hotel where Kaylie Cruz (aka Josie Loren) and the rest of her teammates stayed during the World Gymnastics Championships.

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In the Season 2 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Harm’s Way”, the Figueroa stood in for the Blue Oasis Hotel in Sana’a, Yemen, where Sam Hanna (aka LL Cool J) and G. Callen (aka Chris O’Donnell) stayed while trying to capture the leader of a terrorist group.

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One of the hotel’s real life rooms – one that the GC, randomly enough, just so happened to snap a photograph of – also appeared in the episode.

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I find it highly ironic that NCIS: Los Angeles filmed at the Figueroa as I have always thought that the hotel’s lobby bears a striking resemblance to the NCIS headquarters on the series.

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Some filming of the yet-to-be-released James Cameron flick Battleship, which stars Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, and Brooklyn Decker, also took place at the Figueroa Hotel this past February.

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And on a Matt Lanter side-note – a couple of weeks ago the cutie actor tweeted that he was going to be featured on the cover of the June 2011 issue of Metro Magazine.  Well, I took one look at that tweet and ran right over to Vroman’s Bookstore to purchase a copy.  Sadly though, Allen, the man who runs the Vroman’s newsstand (and yes, I know his name because I shop there FAR too often) told me that not only did the store not carry Metro Magazine, but it was apparently not even available from their distributors.  So I marched on home and started searching for the publication online, but came up completely empty-handed.  I could not find it anywhere and I am a pretty good Googler!  Over the past few weeks I have also visited several newsstands and bookstores in search of the mag, but no one, it seemed, had ever even heard of it.  Flash forward to last night when the GC came home from work with the above pictured laminated photograph in his hands.  My birthday is today and he has been gifting me with little presents every night this week.  Last night’s present, as it so happens, was a copy of Matt Lanter’s issue of Metro Magazine.  As it turns out, Metro is published in the Philippines and not only was the GC able to figure that out, but he somehow managed to track down a man in the Philippines via eBay whom he had go purchase a copy for him!  It is currently being shipped to me and I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on it!  When the man heard why the GC had gone to such trouble to purchase the magazine, he said that he had inspired him to be a better husband.  How cute is that????  Best.present.ever!  Thank you, GC!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Figueroa Hotel, from “The Enchanted Donkey” episode of 90210, is located at 939 South Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  You can visit the Figueroa’s official website here.