Michael Cera – IAMNOTASTALKER

November 16, 2010November 16, 2010

Little Dom’s Restaurant from “90210”

This past Saturday night, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Los Feliz to stalk Little Dom’s – an Italian eatery owned by Warner Ebbink and Brandon Boudet of the Eat Heavy Restaurant Group, the very same team that was responsible for founding the 101 Coffee Shop that I blogged about yesterday. The GC and I had actually breakfasted at the Los Feliz-area establishment once before a couple of years ago, but at the time I had no idea the place was a filming location or a celebrity hotspot, so I, unfortunately, did not take any photographs while there. Well, imagine my surprise when just a few months later the restaurant was featured in a Season 2 episode of fave show 90210. I recognized the place immediately, and, let me tell you, just about fell out of my chair. And then this past September, I just about had a heart attack when the eatery appeared on 90210 yet again. And then, last week, when I came across these November 4th paparazzi photos of the cast of Glee – including Lea Michele, Dianna Agron, Cory Monteith, Amber Riley, Harry Shum Jr., Kevin McHale, Jenna Ushkowitz, Naya Rivera, and Chord Overstreet – dining at the restaurant, I just about died and immediately informed the GC that Little Dom’s was where the two of us would be spending our upcoming Saturday night.

Little Dom’s first opened in January of 2008 on the corner of Hillhurst Avenue and Avocado Street in the heart of Downtown Los Feliz in the space that previously housed the French bistro La Belle Epoque. Warner Ebbink, who so ingeniously designed the 101 Coffee Shop interior, completely gutted the former Epoque property and created the Manhattan-esque decor of his new Italian eatery from scratch. The interior designer/restaurateur searched far and wide, and I mean that literally, for the items that now make up his eclectic establishment. He purchased and then transported the wooden bar, which dates back to the 1930’s, from a former saloon in Eaton, Pennsylvania; he found the authentic leaded-glass windows, which now make up some of the restaurant’s interior walls, at an about-to-be-demolished building in New York City, and the picture of Yosemite National Park which hangs above the bar area was requisitioned from none other than Warner Brothers Studios. As the Eater website so aptly stated in their January 2008 review of the restaurant, “Warner Ebbink is an ace at making an entirely new space feel like it’s been there forever.” I couldn’t agree more! Sitting at the antique bar and looking around at the dimly-lit, tin-ceilinged space, I found it very hard to believe that the place had not been around during the heyday of Hollywood catering to members of the Rat Pack.

Besides the spectacular ambiance, Little Dom’s also serves up some fabulous food! I absolutely gorged myself on the Brussels Sprouts with Shaved Parmesan side dish and the Truffled Chicken Salad with Arugula Sandwich entrée – both of which were divine! And I just about died from excitement when I saw that they featured my very favorite dessert, Affogato – vanilla gelato with a shot of espresso (pictured above) – on the menu! I never actually knew that my favorite dessert had a name, nor had I ever actually seen it featured on a restaurant menu before, but I have been ordering a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a shot of espresso on the side as dessert for just about as long as I can remember. So, the fact that Little Dom’s had it named on their menu was simply amazing to me! The restaurant also breaks down their wine list into three sections – ”Tried and True”, “Your New Best Friend”, and “Go Out on a Limb” – which I thought was just about the cutest thing ever. The eatery’s prices were also extremely, extremely reasonable, which, needless to say, the Grim Cheaper was thrilled about. We both absolutely LOVED the place and cannot wait to go back there for another stalking/culinary adventure.

It should come as no surprise that, in the three short years that it has been in operation, Little Dom’s has become a big time celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there recently include Drew Barrymore, Jason Segel, Katherine Heigl, Josh Kelly, Rachel Bilson, Joe Jonas, Pixie Lott, Conan O’Brien, Ryan Reynolds, Megan Fox, Kate Walsh, Zachary Quinto, Michelle Williams, Spike Jonze, Vince Vaughn, Gisele Bundchen, Ron Livingston and, as I mentioned above, most of the cast of Glee. And while the GC and I, unfortunately, did not spot anyone famous on this most recent trip to the restaurant, we did see actor Michael Cera, who played Paulie Bleeker in the 2007 movie Juno, during our first visit there.

And the place is also a filming location! Little Dom’s appeared in the Season 2 episode of 90210 titled “Women’s Intuition”, in the scene in which Debbie Wilson (aka Lori Loughlin) confronts Sasha (aka Mekia Cox) about what she suspects is her fake pregnancy. That scene was filmed in the booth located closest to the restaurant’s front door.

Little Dom’s was also used in the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “2021 Vision”, in the scene in which Mr. Cannon (aka Hal Ozsan) “accidentally” bumps into Erin Silver (aka Jessica Stroup).

In the scene, Silver sat in the booth located third in from the restaurant’s front door. That particular booth was, sadly, occupied while I was stalking the place, so I had to settle for taking a photograph in the one directly next to it.

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Silver’s Vespa was parked just outside of the restaurant, on Avocado Street, in the scene. And I just have to say here that I am absolutely hooked on 90210 this year. The series started getting pretty good last season, but I think it is just now finally beginning to hit its stride and I absolutely love it, love it, love it. Especially the brewing romance between Liam Court (aka my latest celebrity crush Matt Lanter) and Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes). Those two are SO darn cute together!!!

Little Dom’s also appeared in the 2010 movie The Kids Are All Right, in the scene in which Nic (aka Annette Bening) and Jules (aka Julianne Moore) discuss the fact that their children’s biological father Paul (aka Mark Ruffalo) is now a part of their lives.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Little Dom’s restaurant from 90210 is located at 2128 Hillhurst Avenue in Los Feliz. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

June 28, 2010June 27, 2010

Eric Hamber Secondary School from “Juno”

The third and final Juno filming location that I stalked while in Vancouver last month was the supposed Minneapolis-area Dancing Elk High School – the learning institution attended by Juno MacGuff (aka Ellen Page), her dorky baby-daddy Paulie Bleeker (aka Michael Cera), and her absolutely hilarious best friend, Leah (aka Olivia Thirlby). In real life, Dancing Elk High School is known as Eric Hamber Secondary School and it is located a good 1,400 miles away from Minneapolis in the Shaughnessy neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, directly next door to the VanDusen Botanical Garden. The school, which was named after a former Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, was originally founded in 1962 and currently boasts 1,690 students in grades eight through twelve. I found this location, once again, thanks to fellow stalker Owen, who in turn tracked it down thanks to this trusty Flikr page. Thank you, Owen!

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Eric Hamber Secondary School is featured numerous times throughout Juno, most notably in the beginning scene in which Juno is shown riding her bike to Dancing Elk and then locking it up at a bike rack located in front of the school’s east-facing entrance. Sadly, in real life that bike rack does not exist, but aside from that, I am very happy to report that Eric Hamber Secondary School looks much the same in person as it did onscreen in the movie.

Quite a bit of the school’s interior also appeared in Juno, but, unfortunately, the buildings were all locked up while we were there, so we were not able to take a peek inside.

The school’s outdoor track and field area was also featured in the scene in which Paulie leaves his track meet early in order to go to the hospital to be with Juno after she has her baby. That is another area of the school that we, unfortunately, were not able to see, though.

According to Wikipedia, Eric Hamber’s parking lot also made several appearances in the ‘80s television series 21 Jump Street, which was filmed exclusively on location in Canada. The school also boasts quite a long list of notable alumni, including Smallville actress Kristin Kreuk, Disney animator Robert Bennett, The Daily Show writer Eric Drysdale, and former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers Steve Wilson.

On a side note – Owen also managed to track down several other filming locations from Juno that we, unfortunately, did not have time to stalk while we were in the area. Those locations include the following: the house belonging to Mark (aka Jason Bateman) and Vanessa (aka Jennifer Garner), which can be found at 13926 23 Avenue in Surrey; the Honey and Milk convenience store where Juno writes a note to Vanessa on an old Jiffy Lube receipt, which is located at 9-1449 Prairie Avenue in Port Coquitlam; the Coquitlam Centre Mall where Juno and Olivia run into Vanessa while shopping, which can be found at 2929 Barnet Highway in Coquitlam; and Victoria Park where Juno and Olivia look at adoption ads in the Penny Saver, which is located on Victoria Drive & Kitchener Street in Vancouver.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding all of the Juno locations! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Juno high school, aka Eric Hamber Secondary School, is located at 5025 Willow Street in Vancouver, British Columbia. In the beginning of the movie, Juno is shown entering the school from its Willow Street entrance and then locking up her bike at the bike rack located in front of the school’s east facing doors, as depicted in the map above. Please remember that this location is an educational institution that is currently in use. I would not recommend visiting it while classes are in session, but would instead recommend stopping by after hours or on a weekend.

June 23, 2010June 22, 2010

Bleeker’s House from “Juno”

Another Vancouver location that fellow stalker Owen managed to track down was the supposed Minnesota-area house belonging to dorky high school track-star Paulie Bleeker (aka Michael Cera) in the 2007 breakout dramedy Juno. And even though I was not a big fan of the flick – it was funny and all, but not especially spectacular and, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, dealt with the issue of teenage pregnancy far too cavalierly for my taste – because it was such a huge hit and because I was in the area three weeks ago, I just had to stalk the house where Paulie lived. I should mention here that I did love Ellen Page’s performance in the movie – she was absolutely adorable, not to mention the fact that her acting was phenomenal. So, I guess there’s that. 🙂 But I digress. Owen managed to find the Bleeker family residence thanks to a Flikr page which posted a number of photos of locales featured in Juno, along with a rather vague description of where they could be found. From there, he did a bit of cyber-stalking and was fairly quickly able to pin down the exact location of Paulie’s house. Thank you, Owen!

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According to the blog written by Academy-Award-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody during the filming of the flick, Bleeker’s house was the very first location that the cast and crew shot at. Sadly, though, the owners of the property gave the exterior of their home a slight facelift after filming wrapped, so the residence looks a bit different today than it did on February 14, 2007, when the filming of Juno began. Boo!

The most notable difference, for me at least, was the fact that the mailbox which Juno filled with Tic Tacs candies in order to surprise Bleeker was not actually there in real life.

Nor was it there in the movie’s final scene, though, which was a fairly big gaff on the filmmakers’ part.

Because Bleeker’s mailbox was M.I.A. in the movie’s closing scene, I am fairly certain that it was, in actuality, just a prop that was brought in for the filming. As you can see in the above photograph, the home’s real life mailbox is located just to the left of the front door.

And I, of course, just had to sit in the same spot where Bleeker and Juno sat while singing The Moldy Peaches’ “Anyone Else But You” in that final scene.

Amazingly enough, while we were stalking the house, the owner happened to walk outside – well, truth be told, she actually came outside to investigate why I was sitting on her front stoop 😉 – and she truly could NOT have been nicer. She answered all of my silly little questions about the filming and didn’t even mind at all that I was sitting on her property. She explained that her home has become a frequent stalking destination ever since Juno premiered back in 2007 and that visitors frequently stop by to pose for photographs on her front stoop. She said she doesn’t really mind the massive attention her home draws as the majority of the picture-takers are all very respectful. 🙂 She also told us that some filming of Juno did take place inside of the house, which was redecorated slightly for the movie, and that she and her family even had to relocate to a hotel for a brief period of time during the shoot. She also got to meet actors Ellen Page and Michael Cera, whom she said were both extremely nice. 🙂 Love it!

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bleeker’s house from Juno is located at 3961 36 Avenue West in Vancouver.