Michael Jackson’s Childhood Home in Gary, Indiana

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Today’s blog is a major, major fail on my part as I had originally intended to write about this location on Monday, August 29th – the day that would have been legendary singer Michael Jackson’s 53rd birthday.  The suggestion to write about the King of Pop’s childhood home on the anniversary of his birth came from fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, who had stalked the Gary, Indiana-area property for me last August, after I had mentioned how badly I wanted to see it in person, and had then sent me photos of it as a surprise wedding gift.  As is the case with most wedding presents, this one was most definitely geared towards the bride.  Winking smile But I digress.  Anyway, for whatever reason, I completely forgot about the house when Monday rolled around and instead wrote about Vitello’s Italian restaurant from The Deep End of the Ocean.  Ugh!  I am such a blonde sometimes!  So, with the thought that all things are better late than never, I decided to blog  about the location today, in belated honor of my beloved MJ.

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As you can see in the photograph above, Michael Jackson’s childhood home, which was originally built in 1949, is miniscule.  The tiny abode, which Joseph and Katherine purchased in 1950 for $8,500, consists of only 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, 672 square feet of living space and measures about 100 feet deep by 50 feet wide.  When you consider that at one point in time all eleven members of the Jackson family – Joe, Katherine, Michael, Maureen (aka Rebbie), Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, LaToya, Marlon, Janet, and Randy – lived there, it is almost unbelievable.  According to J. Randy Taraborellli in his book Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, 1958-2009, of the house Michael once said, “You could take five steps from the front door and you’d be out the back.  It was really no bigger than a garage.”  Which, ironically enough, the property lacked.  Taraborrelli explains the living arrangements as such: “Katherine and Joseph shared one bedroom with a double bed.  The boys slept in the only other bedroom in a triple bunk bed; Tito and Jermaine sharing a bed on top, Marlon and Michael in the middle, and Jackie alone on the bottom.  The three girls slept on a convertible sofa in the living room; when Randy was born, he slept on a second couch.”  The whole thing is suffocating to even think about!  In August of 1969 Motown Records moved Joe, Michael, and the rest of the Jackson 5 out to Los Angeles where they were put up in various hotels.  In December of that year the rest of the family relocated to California whereupon they all settled into a Mediterranean-style house located at 1601 Queens Road in West Hollywood.  According to Taraborrelli, the living room of their new abode was twice the size of their entire former home in Gary.

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Amazingly enough, very little of Michael Jackson’s childhood home has changed in the 42-plus years since the family last lived there.  The only major difference is that, shortly after his death, a large marble plaque honoring the fallen icon was placed in the northeast corner of the front yard (pictured above).  Oddly enough, it seems that the Jackson family may still own or be involved with the dwelling somehow.  Property records list the owner of the house as the Anthony Otis Whitehead Trust located at 14126 East Rosecrans Avenue in Santa Fe Springs, California.  So I did some digging on Google and, as it turns out, 14126 East Rosecrans also just so happens to be the business address of Brian Oxman, one-time lawyer for MJ and current lawyer for Joe Jackson.

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On a side-note: About Me is currently hosting a contest to find the new “face” of their company, a person who will ultimately star in an advertisement that will be featured on a large billboard in Times Square.  I would love to be that new face!  Especially because the grand prize winner will also get a free trip to New York City and we all know how much I absolutely love me some NYC.  Smile To vote, simply click on the “Vote for this profile!” tab in the upper right hand corner of my About Me page.  For those who have not yet heard of About Me, it is an INCREDIBLY cool company that enables one to build a page with links to all of their various social networking sites, websites, blogs, email addresses, etc., compiling all of their information in one easy-to-find place.  It is basically like a digital business card and I LOVE it.  So please vote!  Who knows, maybe this stalker will get lucky and wind up on a Times Square billboard!  Hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?  Winking smile

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for stalking this location for me.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Michael Jackson’s childhood home is located at 2300 Jackson Street, on the corner of Jackson Street and West 23rd Avenue, in Gary, Indiana.  The property is apparently not located in a very safe area, so please exercise caution when stalking it.

The Probable “Beat It” Diner, Part II

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[UPDATE – The Monte Carlo Restaurant is NOT where “Beat It” was filmed.  The iconic video was actually shot at the Special Café, located just a few blocks away.  You can read all about it here.  Even though this post contains erroneous information, I am leaving it up as it chronicles an important part of the long, arduous journey my fellow stalkers and I embarked upon to track the locale down.]

This past Friday, after yet another doctor appointment in Downtown L.A., my dad and I stopped by the Monte Carlo Restaurant, aka the (probable) diner which appeared in Michael Jackson’s 1983 music video for his hit song “Beat It”.  Our mission that day – and yes, we chose to accept it 😉 – was two-fold.  First, I wanted to take more interior photographs of the place in the hopes that I would be able to find some small element which matched what appeared in the video so that I could finally confirm or deny once and for all whether or not “Beat It” had actually been filmed there.  Second, I wanted to take a closer look at the restaurant’s “Open/Closed” sign to see if it was, in fact, the same exact one which was featured in the video, as fellow stalker John had speculated in a comment in my last post on the Monte Carlo.  If it was, my plan was to ask the owner if we could swap it out with a new sign that my dad had purchased so that I could take the “Beat It” sign home as a souvenir.  Upon closer inspection, though, the sign which is currently displayed in the window of the Monte Carlo Restaurant is brand, spanking new and is in far too good of shape and is far too clean to possibly be the same sign which hung there 27 years ago.  But . . .

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. . . as luck would have it, while we were dining my dad did happen to spot a loose linoleum floor tile that someone had propped up against the wall near where we were sitting, so he snagged it on our way out the door.  I’m really not kidding – he actually walked out of the restaurant with a floor tile in his hand!!!!  LOL  And while I’m still not even sure if “Beat It” was actually filmed at the Monte Carlo or, if it was, if that particular floor tile was in place at the time, it’s still a pretty cool relic to have.  But, while I did walk away with a nifty souvenir, sadly the first part of our mission was not achieved as we didn’t get any sort of confirmation about “Beat It” being filmed on the premises.  In fact, if it’s possible, I am even MORE confused now than I was before!  This was actually a particularly frustrating stalk for me.  The woman who owns the Monte Carlo is Chinese and speaks very little English and I can’t tell you how difficult it is to know that she has all of the answers I am seeking, yet not be able to fully communicate with her.  I am dying to bring someone into the restaurant who speaks Chinese fluently who could translate our conversation as I think it would finally put an end to all of our doubts and questions about the “Monte Carlo” being the “Beat It” cafe.  Any volunteers???  Anyway, to aid in my conversation with the owner, I showed her some screen captures from “Beat It” that I had stored on my cell phone.  Well, let me tell you, she just about had a heart attack right then and there!  She was practically screaming over the pictures and kept saying “My restaurant!  My restaurant!  Oh my God, my restaurant!”  She immediately grabbed my phone and proceeded to show the pictures on it to all of the people who were working the breakfast shift and all of the patrons who were dining at the time.  She then came back over to me and, from what I could best understand, said that she had been made to leave the restaurant during the filming of “Beat It”, so she never got to meet or even see Michael.  She also explained that she had never actually watched the video before – which I found very odd.  If the biggest superstar in the world filmed a video in your cafe, wouldn’t you not only have seen said video, but also bought a copy of it?  So, while it was extremely cute to see her get so excited over the pictures of Michael standing in her restaurant, it really gives me pause that she had never seen “Beat It’” before.  Because of the communication barrier, though, I wasn’t able to ask her why that was.  Like I said before, I really need to get a translator in there!

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I did spot a few landmarks of sorts while my dad and I were at the Monte Carlo that match up with what appeared in the video – one of which was the conduit pipe which runs horizontally along the restaurant’s south wall.  I am ashamed to admit that I actually never noticed the pipe in the video until fellow stalker David from Spain pointed it out to me a couple of weeks ago when I posted my first write-up on the “Beat It” cafe.  So, this past Friday while stalking the restaurant I made sure to look to see if that pipe was there in real life, too, which it was!  YAY!  That’s a pretty big confirmation, at least in my eyes, that the Monte Carlo is, in fact, the same place that appeared in “Beat It”.

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As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the lower portion of the wall next to the restaurant’s entrance also matches the lower portion of the wall that appeared in the video.  It is apparent that the area of the wall closest to the floor was once painted a lighter shade of green, as was the case in “Beat It”.  The flooring also appears to be worn in pretty much the exact same spots as it was in the video.  But, again, I would expect that sort of wear and tear in an old restaurant.

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My dad took some photographs from close to the same angle from which “Beat It” was filmed so that I could try to match up certain aspects of the Monte Carlo to the “Beat It” cafe, but I am still unable to say whether or not it’s the same place.   I’d love to hear the opinions of my fellow stalkers, though.  🙂

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In a very ironic twist of fate, fellow stalker David from Spain was recently watching videos at a party and almost fell off his chair when he noticed a familiar site in the 2004 Hoobastank video for the song “The Reason”.   That familiar site just so happened to be the Monte Carlo!  Yes, “The Reason” was filmed on location outside of the probable “Beat It” diner!!!!   Honestly, what are the odds of that?  What amazed me most about the whole thing, though, was how much of the restaurant has changed in the six short years since the video was filmed.  As you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the exterior is almost unrecognizable.  In fact, if the “Monte Carlo” name hadn’t been displayed outside, I wouldn’t have believed it was the same place!  Apparently, at the time “The Reason” was filmed the restaurant had a green metal roof, a green metal overhang/awing, and completely different exterior signage, all of which is now gone, which got me to thinking – if that much has changed in six short years, imagine the myriad of changes that have occurred in the twenty-seven years since “Beat It” was filmed.  I mean, it’s no wonder the cafe looks so different today than it did in the video.

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On a Michael Jackson side note – I recently became obsessed with tracking down and purchasing the SUPER CUTE rhinestone-encrusted MJ T-shirt that comedian Jo Koy wore last week on the Chelsea Lately show (pictured above).  Thankfully, after the episode aired Jo twittered about where one could purchase said shirt and I immediately did.  🙂  The tee was created by a company named Broke2 and costs $40.  Not a bad deal, at all!  I had a feeling that some fellow MJ-obsessed stalkers might also be interested in the shirt.  If so, you can pick one up here.  They come in both women’s and men’s styles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The probable “Beat It” diner, aka the Monte Carlo Restaurant, is located at 109 East Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  Please remember that the cafe is not located in the safest of areas, so exercise caution when stalking it.

The (Probable) Warehouse from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Video

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Another day, another “Beat It” locale!  After tracking down the probable diner that appeared in “Beat It”, I set my sights on locating the warehouse which was also featured in Michael Jackson’s iconic 1983 music video.  And I really have to say a big thank you to my friend and fellow stalker David in Spain before I go any further with this post because had he not informed me that the “Beat It” diner was located somewhere on Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles’ skid row area, I doubt any of us would have ever been able to track down the other locales featured in the short film.  Finding these locations has been like a veritable domino effect, one locale leading to the next and to the next and to the next, all thanks to that original clue that David emailed me a few weeks back.  So, thank you, David!  Anyway, two weeks ago I was at my parents house watching my dad’s Michael Jackson’s Number Ones  DVD trying to figure out where the “Beat It” warehouse was located, when my dad spotted an address number of 1013 (pictured above) painted on the building’s exterior wall. I immediately sent that information out to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, David in Spain, and another fellow stalker named David who lives right here in the U.S. (the very same David who tracked down the Martini house from It’s A Wonderful Life which I blogged about back in December).  Well, it wasn’t an hour later that David from America (is this getting confusing yet? ;)) emailed me back with the warehouse’s location – 1013 Fifth Street – which is the very same street  where the “Beat It” diner and former pool hall/now grocery store can be found!  So, I immediately dragged my dad right out to stalk the place.  THANK YOU, DAVID! 

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As the word “probable” in the title of this post implies and as was the case with the diner, I can’t say with absolute, one hundred percent certainty that the warehouse David found is the actual “Beat It” warehouse.  There are quite a few irrefutable similarities between the building that appeared in the video and the one pictured above, but because almost three decades have passed since filming took place, there are also, of course, some major differences.  My gut is telling me that it’s the right spot, and they do say that you should always trust a woman’s intuition, but I just can’t be sure.  So, once again, dear readers, I am putting it out there for to you to answer.   Let me know what you think after reading this post.  Did David find the correct place or should we continue our search?  And now, on with the blog!  The “Beat It” warehouse is currently occupied by a food distributer known as Jing San Food, Incorporated and all I have to say is THANK GOD my dad was with me on this particular stalk because he somehow managed to not only talk our way into the building, but to also get permission to take photographs of the place!  Simply AMAZING!  Anyway, according to the people I talked to, Jing San Food moved into the warehouse space two years ago and, unfortunately, no one seemed to know what sort of business occupied the premises before that time.  Nor did anyone seem to know anything about “Beat It” being filmed there – if, in fact, it was.  Anyway, as you can see in the above photographs, the address number of Jing San Food is actually 458 and not 1013 as we had seen in the video. 

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But, if you look at the above Google Maps Aerial View of the warehouse you can see that it is located on the corner of Alameda and Fifth Streets.  The 458 address number refers to its location on Alameda.  As is also referenced in the above map, though, the south side of warehouse is situated on the 1000 block of Fifth Street, on the odd-numbered side of the street, which means that it is very possible that way back in 1983, the year “Beat It” was filmed, the warehouse could have been numbered 1013.  I am guessing that the building was divided up and leased to more than one tenant at that time, which would have required there to be more than one address number.  Because the building is only occupied  by one tenant today, those multiple address numbers would be redundant and unnecessary.  I am guessing that they did away with the Fifth Street numbers and just kept the Alameda Street address once the new tenants moved in.  But, again, that is entirely a guess on my part.

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Amazingly enough, though, I did spot a “0” posted on the Fifth Street side of the warehouse – which seems to be a left over address number from quite some time ago and absolutely cements my belief that that particular part of the building was numbered 1013 at one time.  So, that’s one thing we’ve got going in our favor.

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The next, and quite possibly biggest, thing we’ve got going for us is the cement staircase which leads up to the warehouse.  As you can see it is a pretty exact match to the one which appeared in “Beat It”.  The warehouse doors have changed and there is now a makeshift doorway in one of the bays (which you can see more pictures of later on in this post) . . .  

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. . . but otherwise this part of the exterior looks pretty darn similar to the “Beat It” warehouse exterior.

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  The windows which appear across the street from the warehouse are also pretty darn spot on to the windows which appear across the street in “Beat It”.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t match up the exact angle that appeared in the video as there were by no stretch of the imagination at least fifteen big rig trucks parked out on the street in front of the warehouse blocking my view.

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Yet another thing we’ve got going in our favor is the fact that the warehouse in the “Beat It” video has an awning of some sort on its exterior and the warehouse David found also has remnants of what looks to be a former awning.

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The inside of the warehouse, however, is an entirely different story.  As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the ceiling of the building does not look at all like the ceiling from “Beat It”.  I confirmed with one of the Jing San Food workers that the entire ceiling of the warehouse had been replaced – not redone, but actually replaced – two years ago, before they took over the space, so it would make sense that it wouldn’t match.  But I have no way to confirm what the old ceiling looked like and it seems odd to me that someone would actually change the entire shape of the roof from peaked to flat.  I mean, it’s possible that that happened, but I can’t say that it’s very likely. 

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As promised, pictured above is the interior view of the makeshift door that now stands in the “Beat It” bay.  As you can see, the door, which did not appear in the video, was quite obviously an add-on to the property and not an original part of the warehouse.  It also, sadly, alters the appearance of the interior quite a bit.

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While stalking the warehouse, my dad and I tried to locate something that would tie the place to the “Beat It” video – any small remnant that would irrefutably prove that we were in the right place.  Sadly, no such remnant was to be found.  In the video, it appears that there is some sort of makeshift office space located behind Michael and the gang members.   That office space is no longer there, though.  My dad said that warehouses typically have some type of coarse office set-up like the one which appeared in “Beat It” and that because it is usually constructed in a rudimentary manner, it would not be at all uncommon for a new tenant to dispose of it.

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Part of that rudimentary office space consisted of a second floor area (you can see the stairway leading up to it in the above screen capture).

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At first blush I wouldn’t think that the warehouse I visited would have been tall enough to house a second floor, but as you can see in the above photographs, the tenants are currently having one installed!  So, it actually is possible and is, in fact, being done!

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The chipped up cement floor of the warehouse is also very similar to the one which appeared in “Beat It”, but then again I would expect the floor of any heavily trafficked warehouse to have that same worn-in appearance.

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So, like I said earlier, I am putting it to you to decide, dear readers.  Have we found the warehouse?  If David was right and this is in fact the actual “Beat It” warehouse, it is absolutely mind-boggling to me that I was in the exact spot where the King of Pop made music history almost three decades prior.  That warehouse floor is definitely hallowed ground and I can’t even believe I was able to stand on it!

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David was also able to track down the probable manhole cover that the gang members came out of at the beginning of “Beat It”.  And I just have to say here that that particular part of the video never really made sense to me.  What, do these guys live underground?  Just hang out there?   LOL  Even as a child I can remember wondering why people would be coming up out of the ground like that.  But I digress. 

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We believe the manhole cover is located just east of the warehouse in the middle of the intersection of East Fifth and Seaton Streets.  This particular location will be the toughest of them all to prove, though, because . . . well . . it’s a manhole cover.  Such covers are located all over the city, pretty much all look exactly the same, and, unfortunately, aside from a nearby set of train tracks, there aren’t really any landmarks seen in the “Beat It’” video with which to distinguish it.  But, due to its close proximity to the warehouse and a set of train tracks. I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that the manhole cover pictured above is the one which appeared in “Beat It”. 

Big THANK YOU to David (from America) for finding this location and to David (from Spain) for setting off the entire “Beat It” chain of events!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The probable “Beat It” warehouse, aka the Jing San Food, Inc. warehouse, is located at 458 South Alameda Street, at the corner of Alameda and East Fifth Streets, in Downtown Los Angeles.  The probable manhole cover is located at the intersection of East Fifth and Seaton Streets, just due east of the warehouse.

The Bar from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Video

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UPDATE: While I originally thought that the video’s pool hall scenes were also shot at this location, that is not the case.  The pool segments were actually shot at the Brunswick Billiard Academy, which was formerly located in the basement of the San Fernando Building at 400 South Main Street in downtown Los Angeles.  I’ve amended the post to reflect this.  Special thanks to Michael Scaglione for the information!

This past week, after I tracked down the (probable) “Beat It” diner, I asked fellow stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for his help in locating the bar that also appeared in the iconic 1983 Michael Jackson music video.  Chas, who, unlike me, is not afraid of using the telephone ;), immediately called up “Beat It” director Bob Giraldi’s production company in New York City to inquire about the location.  Amazingly enough, he got through to an EXTREMELY nice woman who said that she had never been asked that question before, which I find mind boggling! I mean, does no one besides us care about this stuff???  Anyway, the woman looked up the information on her computer and then confirmed with someone in the production office who had worked on the video before telling Chas that the bar scene had been filmed at the Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles.   When Chas told me the news I was elated that I finally had a definitive answer, but was thoroughly confused as the bar in the video did not look at all like any of the Hard Rock Cafes I had ever visited.  So, I, of course, got to cyberstalking and quickly discovered that back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, there was, in fact, a dive bar located smack dab in the middle of Skid Row that bore the name “Hard Rock Cafe”.   The bar is, sadly, no longer in operation, but, as fate would have it, is quite well known in the music industry for reasons having nothing to do with Michael Jackson!  On a side note, after I started having doubts about the Monte Carlo Restaurant being the cafe featured in “Beat It”, I asked Chas to once again call up Bob Giraldi’s production company to see if someone could confirm whether or not I had tracked down the right place.  Unfortunately, though, a very rude woman answered the phone and told him she could not give out that information.  UGH!

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According to what I was able to dig up online – and it’s quite a story – back in December of 1969, after The Doors photographer Henry Diltz took his now-famous photograph of the band standing inside of the Morrison Hotel, lead singer Jim Morrison announced that he wanted to grab a drink.  So, the group headed a few blocks north to nearby Skid Row, saw an establishment named the “Hard Rock Cafe”, which Diltz described as “a little wino bar on the corner”, and pulled over.  While the group sipped on beers, Diltz decided he liked the feel of the place and ended up taking a series of photographs of the band hanging out there.  Those shots ended up not only being featured on the back cover of the band’s Morrison Hotel album in 1970, but they even named the A-side of that album “Hard Rock Cafe” in honor of the establishment.  But the story doesn’t end there.  The following year, a restaurateur named Peter Morton decided to open up a dining establishment in London and because he was such a huge Doors fan, contacted Jim Morrison and asked if he could name his restaurant “Hard Rock Cafe” after their recent album.  Jim agreed and Morton’s restaurant quickly became a hit with Londoners.  Shortly thereafter, the “Hard Rock Cafe” became a wildly popular worldwide chain, not to mention a household name.  And to think the whole thing came about because Jim Morrison was thirsty!

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Fourteen years later, the Hard Rock Cafe again made music history when it appeared in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” music video, in the scene in which a group of gang members is shown leaving a bar to head to a fight.

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As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the front doors which appeared in the Doors photographs from 1969 are a perfect match to those which appeared fourteen years later in “Beat It”.

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Also a perfect match are the bar area . . .

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. . . and the wall fan seen in the upper right corner of the front of the Cafe.

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Sadly, the original Hard Rock Cafe closed its doors about twenty or so years ago and a grocery store named Green Apple Market now stands in its place.   But even though the bar is long gone, I still had to run right out to stalk its former location!  🙂  So, this past Friday, on the way home from taking my dad to a doctor appointment in Downtown Los Angeles, the two of us made a little stop in Skid Row at Green Apple Market.  Because the market is located in a pretty sketchy area, I was too scared to actually venture inside and instead sent my dad to snap photographs for me, while I waited behind in the car with my doors locked.  😉   As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the exterior of the grocery store bears little resemblance to the exterior of the Hard Rock Cafe which once occupied the same space.  The location of the front doors and front windows are about the only two things that remain the same.

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The owner of the store confirmed for my dad that a bar had once occupied the space about twenty years prior and that after it closed a salon had moved in.  That salon went out of business just recently at which point the Green Apple Market took over.  For whatever reason, though, the store is only using a portion of the premises, which, according to my dad measures a good 6000 – 7000 square feet.  And while the owner seemed to know quite a bit about the location’s history, she had no idea whatsoever that Michael Jackson had filmed “Beat It” on the premises some 27 years prior!  And, sadly, there are no remnants whatsoever of the former Hard Rock Cafe left on the property.  I was hoping for some small piece of the bar – i.e. the paint on the walls, the flooring, the shape of the ceiling, etc – to still be visible, but, alas, that was not to be.  The owner was apparently very nice, though, and told my dad to feel free to take as many pictures as he wanted.  YAY!  The above two pictures were taken from the back of the store looking forward towards the market’s left wall.  The front door is located just to the right and center of the main counter pictured above.

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The above photograph shows the view from the back of the store looking forward towards the front doors.  The cashier counter is located to the left of this picture.

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The above pictured view was taken from the front of the store, looking towards the back.  Because the space is not very deep, my dad believes the back wall is actually a false wall that was added after the Hard Rock Cafe closed its doors.

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My dad snapped the picture of this particular wall because I had told him that the “Beat It” bar was partially painted green, but alas it was not the same shade of green that colors the store now.  🙁  The ice machine pictured above is located at the very back, right hand side of the store.

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Most of that space where the Green Apple Market is now located is currently empty.  The vacant room pictured above is situated to the right of the store’s front doors.

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The empty deli case pictured above is located on the back side of that vacant room . . .

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. . . and pictured above is what is located just around the corner from the empty deli case in the rear area of the store.  I soooo regret not going inside the market with my dad and am seriously thinking of going back to re-stalk the place.   He did tell me something that gives me reservations about doing so, though.  Apparently while he was inside the store, a man came up to him and asked if he was the owner.  My dad said no, but pointed out the real owner to the man, who then took off running towards her screaming, “So, you’re the $%#@  &$@#! I talked to on the phone!”   See what I mean – it’s not in the greatest of areas.  🙁  It’s hard to believe Michael Jackson once spent a few days there, especially considering the area was a lot rougher during the 80s, but I guess he wanted “Beat It” to be as authentic as possible, and you can’t get more authentic than actually filming on Skid Row.

On a side note – The photographs of The Doors which appear in this post do not belong to me, but remain the sole property of the band and photographer Henry Diltz.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for finding this location and to The Doors, without whom there would be no existing photographs of the place.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The old Hard Rock Cafe site, aka the bar from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” music video, is located at 300 East 5th Street in Downtown Los Angeles, just two blocks east of the Monte Carlo Restaurant, aka the (probable) “Beat It” diner.  The old Hard Rock Cafe is currently a Green Apple Market grocery store and is unfortunately not located in the safest of areas, so, if you do choose to stalk it, please exercise caution.

The (Possible) Cafe from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Video

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[UPDATE – The Monte Carlo Restaurant is NOT where “Beat It” was filmed.  The iconic video was actually shot at the Special Café, located just a few blocks away.  You can read all about it here.  Even though this post contains erroneous information, I am leaving it up as it chronicles an important part of the long, arduous journey my fellow stalkers and I embarked upon to track the locale down.]

For months now, it seems, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have been trying to track down the diner which briefly appeared in Michael Jackson’s iconic music video for his 1983 hit song “Beat It”.  Being that the video was produced well over 25 years ago in a part of L.A. that is rapidly changing, this proved to be one rather difficult stalking venture.  Even though we knew that “Beat It” was filmed in its entirety in Los Angeles’ Skid Row area, finding the exact locations used so long after the fact was literally like trying to locate a needle in a haystack.  At one point I even went so far as to email Bob Giraldi, who directed the video, to see if he could provide me with any location information, but he, unfortunately, never wrote back.  Not usually one to give up, I actually thought our hunt was pretty much dead in the water, until last week when I mentioned the quest to my friend and fellow stalked David who lives in Spain.  David is a huge, longtime MJ fan and I thought he might be able to provide some insider insight as to where the video was filmed.  And, as fate would have it, he did!  David mentioned that he had just purchased a book named Michael Jackson:  Before He Was King written by photographer Todd King.  At the very end of the book there is a photograph of MJ inside of the “Beat It” cafe, the caption of which states that it was taken at a real life diner on Fifth Street in what David said was the “Five Cents” area of Los Angeles.  Well, I mentioned that info to Mike while we were out stalking this past Friday and, after first stopping by the set of CSI: Miami and then the Academy Awards red carpet, the two of us immediately headed over to Downtown L.A. in search of that cafe!

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Even though Mike was born and raised in Los Angeles, he was unfamiliar with the area which David had described as being called “Five Cents”.  I, too, had never heard that term used before.  Mike eventually called up one of his friends who works for the LAPD to see if he could point us in the direction of Five Cents, L.A., but he, too, was at a loss.  It was at that point that I figured out that something might have gotten lost in David’s translation of the photo’s caption and so I got to Googling on my blackberry.  As it turns out, the place the caption had been referring to is a small section of Fifth Street in Los Angeles’ Skid Row, a part of town which has long been dubbed “The Nickel”, or in other words five cents.  🙂   Once that little mystery was solved, Mike and I headed over to Skid Row and proceeded to walk around the area.  I should mention here that I have always been a bit of a skittish person.  I don’t like venturing into “bad” or dangerous parts of town and I am literally afraid of my own shadow.  So, because it was already getting dark when we arrived in Skid Row, an area which can be a bit sketchy even during the day, I told Mike that as much as I wanted to find the cafe, we’d have to come back at a later date – preferably during daylight hours.   I was highly disappointed that we had to turn around after coming so close to locating the restaurant, so when I arrived home I immediately got to cyberstalking Skid Row.  Well, let me tell you, I just about had a heart attack when I saw the above pictured Google Street View image of the Monte Carlo Restaurant appear on my screen.  With its curved countertop and half green/half cream colored walls, I was fairly certain that I had found the “Beat It” cafe.  And, of course, the very next day I dragged my fiancé right out to stalk the place.

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As soon as I walked through the doors of the Monte Carlo Restaurant, with my camera in hand, one of the patrons asked if I was visiting the place because it had been featured in “Beat It”.  Well, let me tell you, I just about fell over!  I asked her how she knew it had been used in the video and she said it was pretty common knowledge in the neighborhood.  I couldn’t believe that here I had spent MONTHS searching for the location and all the time it had been “common knowledge” to some.  She then called the owner over so that I could ask a few questions.  And while the owner hardly spoke English, she did confirm to me that Michael Jackson had filmed a video there “over twenty years ago”.   Twenty-seven, to be exact.  The owner told me she has had the restaurant for over thirty years and that she was there the day filming took place, but said she didn’t get to meet Michael.  🙁

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 While I had always hoped that I would someday be able to track the “Beat It” cafe down, never in my wildest dreams did I EVER think that twenty seven-years later the place would still look EXACTLY the same.  So, you can imagine how floored I was to discover how little of the restaurant had actually been changed since 1983 when the video was filmed.  There are, of course, some differences, such as the fact that the front doors have changed, the counter has been cut in half lengthwise, and a false wall has been added to the back of the cafe, hiding the kitchen area.  Other than those minor alterations, though, the Monte Carlo Restaurant still looks almost exactly as it did in “Beat It”.   YAY!

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When I got home, though, and started to watch “Beat It” more closely, some doubts about the location were raised in my mind.  The video, or short film as Michael liked to call it, opens up in the diner where two gang members, while eating, hear word of a scuffle and immediately head out the door so that they can join in the fight.

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Later on in the video, Michael enters the diner, which is now empty, and does a little dance before the scene cuts to him getting jiggy with it in a pool hall.

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As you can see in the above screen captures, though, what started to confuse me was the fact that building which appears in the background when the gang members are shown exiting the cafe does not match the building which appears in the background when Michael is shown entering it.

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And neither building matches the one that is located across the street from the diner in real life.

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It also appears that the window which the gang members walk by on their way to the diner’s front door is flat, while the window that appears behind Michael is popped out.

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And, there is also an address number of “416” visible in the background behind Michael in the above screen capture, which doesn’t match the 109 address number of the Monte Carlo Restaurant.  So now, it seems, I am even more thoroughly confused than I was before I tracked the place down.  LOL   I thought of a few different explanations, though, which might clear up the contradictions.  One – it might just be a coincidence that the Monte Carlo Restaurant bears such a strong resemblance to the “Beat It” cafe and the owner and patrons were simply lying to me about it being used in the video.  Although, I am not sure what reason the owner would have for lying, other than to drum up business, which seems unlikely to me.  If she really wanted to do that, why not just hang a sign in the window touting the restaurant’s famous history?   Another option is that the Monte Carlo moved from one location on Fifth Street in Downtown L.A. to another and that the original dwelling was where the video was shot, which would account for both the change in address numbers and the difference in buildings located across the street.  That scenario also seems highly implausible, though.  Another explanation still – fellow stalker Chas from the ItsFilmedThere website recently tracked down the pool hall which appeared in “Beat It” [that will be Monday’s post :)], which, as fate would have it, was also a cafe located on Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles, so it’s entirely possible that photographer Todd King was mistakenly talking about that location when describing the photograph he had taken in the diner.  Which would mean that the diner might not actually be located on Fifth Street at all and that I am right back at square one.  I am really hoping that option is not true.  A fourth possibility is that part of the video was filmed at the actual Monte Carlo Restaurant and then the interior was later recreated on a soundstage for some re-shoots, which would explain the differing buildings seen in the background behind the gang members and Michael.  And yet another option still is that the owner of the Monte Carlo Restaurant was such a fan of MJ that she opened up a diner on the same street where “Beat It” was shot and then modeled her cafe after the one in the video.  But being that there wasn’t a single solitary MJ photograph on the wall or a piece of MJ memorabilia in the place, that last scenario is also pretty doubtful.  And finally, it’s entirely possible that director Bob Giraldi had set dressers add the “416” to the front window as decoration, but somehow that just doesn’t seem likely. So, if I’m so unsure about the Monte Carlo Restaurant, why write this post at all, you ask?  Well, I just can’t get past the fact that the restaurant looks so incredibly similar to the “Beat It” cafe or the fact that both the patrons and the owner told me that it was, in fact, the diner used in the video.  I am hoping that someone out there will know more about the filming of “Beat It” and will either be able to confirm where it was shot or at least point me in the right direction.  So, I am putting it to you, dear readers.  What are your thoughts on the matter?  Am I right to be in doubt or am I just seriously over-thinking the issue?

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And whether the Monte Carlo Restaurant was the actual “Beat It” cafe or not, I just had to do a little MJ dance while there.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Monte Carlo Restaurant, aka the probable “Beat It” cafe, is located at 109 East Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles.  The cafe is just on the outskirts of skid row, so while it is safe to stalk it during daylight hours, I can’t really recommend going there at night.

Vasquez Rocks County Park

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One location that I have been dying to stalk for what seems like ages now is Vasquez Rocks County Park in Agua Dulce, California.  I first read about the park in fave stalking book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors about 7 months ago and absolutely begged my fiancé to take me there.  He politely declined and I’ve pretty much been stewing about the whole thing ever since.  It’s funny how things work out, though, because while Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were driving in the Valley on our way to do some stalking a few months back, we got into an in-depth filming locations conversation, as we are often apt to do, and somehow missed the freeway exit we meant to take.  When we realized our mistake about 15 miles later – I told you it was an in-depth conversation 🙂 – and turned off the freeway, we found ourselves at the entrance to Vasquez Rocks County Park and I just about died from excitement.  So, we decided to take a little stalking detour and headed right into the park.

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The large sandstone boulders which make up Vasquez Rocks County Park have been around since prehistoric times and were brought into their unique upturned positions thanks to numerous earthquakes and years of erosion.  The 932-acre park is named after Tiburcio Vasquez, the infamous outlaw who wreaked havoc in the Los Angeles area from 1856 until 1875, the year he was executed.  In 1874, just before being captured by authorities, Tiburcio spent quite a bit of time hiding out in the park that now bears his name.  Even though the man murdered and pillaged all across L.A. for close to 20 years, because he claimed that all of his crimes were committed in the name of justice for Mexican-Americans, he is viewed by many as a hero. 

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According to The Los Angeles Times, the 150-foot high rocks which populate the park are “the most commercially photographed boulders on the planet”.  And, even though the area looks like it could be found in a faraway land or on a distant planet, it actually lies within Hollywood’s “Thirty Mile Zone” (aka TMZ – and yes, that term is why the famous website is so named), which makes it extremely popular with location managers.  For those not familiar with the term, the Thirty-Mile Zone encompasses the area within a thirty mile radius of the intersection of West Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards in Los Angeles.  If a production is filmed outside of the Zone, SAG rules stipulate that travel time, mileage, and a special “distant location rate” must be paid to union members of the cast and crew.  So, thanks to its money-saving location and amazing, unique beauty, Vasquez Park has appeared in COUNTLESS, and I do mean COUNTLESS, productions over the years.

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There is even a little kiosk on the property that documents some of the filming that has taken place there in the past.  Love it!

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The main reason I wanted to stalk the park was because it was one of the main locations featured in one of my all time favorite music videos – the 1991 video for Michael Jackson’s hit song “Black or White”.  In an ironic twist of fate, I just happened to be wearing my “I Heart MJ” shirt that day.  🙂  Love it!  Vasquez Rocks were featured in the scene in the video in which George Wendt lands in a remote field after being blasted out of his house thanks to his son, Macaulay Culkin’s, loud music.  The rocks also show up in a subsequent scene in which MJ dances on a stage with a group of Native Americans.

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The rocks were not used, however, for the scene in the very beginning of the video in which Michael is shown dancing with a group of Aborigines.  That portion of the video appears to have been shot in front of a green screen inside of a Hollywood studio.

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The rocks also appeared in one of my favorite episodes of Las Vegas, which was entitled “Good Run of Bad Luck”, in the scene in which Delinda (aka Molly Sims), Nessa (aka Marsha Thomason), and Mary (aka Nikki Cox) go on a search for buried treasure and wind up getting stranded in the Nevada desert until eventually being rescued by country crooner Clint Black. 

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I absolutely LOVE the scene in which Delinda, lamenting over her belief that her father always wanted a son, says “We don’t have that click.  You see him with Danny . . . click, click, click, click, click!  I want Daddy and me to be close, you know, like George Jetson and Daughter Judy or Cliff Huxtable and what’s-her-name?  You know, the one who married Lennie Kravitz.”   LOL

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The rocks also stood in for the Las Vegas set of the defunct sci-fi movie Shutter Speed  in which Joey Tribbiani (aka Matt LeBlanc) was supposed to star in the Season 5 episode of Friends entitled “The One With Joey’s Big Break”.

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The rocks show up very briefly in the 2004 movie First Daughter, in a beginning scene in which Samantha Mackenzie (aka Katie Holmes) is shown on a peace-keeping mission in an unnamed foreign land.

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They were also the location of the Arena Diner in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

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And the location of Dr. Evil’s underground lair in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

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Bruce Campbell rides his horse through Vasquez Rocks in the 1992 flick Army of Darkness.

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The large open dirt area was the parking lot where Joe Dirt realized his parents had abandoned him in the movie of the same name.

The entire town of Bedrock was built – out of styrofoam, no less – on the Vasquez Rocks property for the filming of both The Flintstones and The Flintstones: Viva Rock Vegas.

Rihanna and Justin Timberlake recently filmed their “Rehab” video at the Rocks.

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And the park also flies by very quickly in fave movie Little Miss Sunshine, in the scene in which Olive and her family begin their journey from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Redondo Beach, California.  The freeway they are driving on in the above screen captures is the 14.

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The rocks have also been featured in episodes of Monk, CSI:Crime Scene Investigation, Numb3rs, NCIS, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, MacGyver, Charmed, The Lone Ranger, The X-Files, 24, Bonanza, Fear Factor, Roswell, Sliders, and in the movies Blazing Saddles, Holes, Alpha Dog, Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Starship Troopers, Wild Wild West, Short Circuit, Star Trek (2009), and Planet of the Apes (2001), among countless others.  You can see an extensive breakdown of the many productions filmed at the park here.

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Although the park measures well over 900 acres, the areas most commonly used for filming are those located within walking distance of the two large open dirt fields denoted in the screen captures above.   The dirt fields are located very close to the main road and are easily accessible to stalkers.  🙂  While Mike and I were stalking the park, a student film was being shot on the premises and because one of the crew members thought we were part of the production – and we said nothing to dissuade him of that idea 🙂 – we were allowed to drive right up to the dirt lot.  I am not sure that cars are admissible in that area on a normal basis, though.

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Vasquez Rocks is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place – one of the most unique and picturesque spots I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing with my own two eyes – and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Vasquez Rocks County Park is located at 10700 Escondido Canyon Road in Agua Dulce.  The park is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever Special

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I know, I know – it was just last week that I promised not to let my blog go on Michael Jackson overload, but I’m sorry, this one was a must-post!  🙂  The other day, while reading one of the many Michael Jackson tribute magazines that have been published since the pop star’s death – and yes, I bought them all 🙂 –  I came across an article that just about made me pass out from excitement!  The column, which was featured in the July 13th, 2009 issue of People Magazine,  stated that Michael Jackson’s iconic – and now legendary – “Billie Jean” performance from the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever  television special had been filmed at none other than the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.  Now I have lived in Pasadena for over nine years and until that article came out had absolutely NO  idea whatsoever that what is arguably Michael Jackson’s most famous stage performance EVER was filmed right in my own backyard.  WHY IN THE HECK IS THIS INFORMATION NOT MORE WIDELY KNOWN????   I mean this is HUGE!! Absolutely HUGE!  It was on the Auditorium’s stage on a March night in 1983 that THE most definitive moment of Michael Jackson’s adult career took place – it was here that he introduced the world to his now-infamous signature dance move – the Moonwalk.  What an amazing piece of history!  If I ran the place, I’d have a freaking 80 foot by 80 foot banner put up telling everyone it was here that Michael Jackson made musical history!   🙂

I can still remember watching that iconic performance with my parents the night it aired on May 16, 1983, almost two months after it was filmed.  I was six years old at the time and I can still picture us all sitting in front of the television and my dad telling me that I was about to witness something really extraodinary.   And it was, it truly was!  We actually taped the Motown special that night and years later my dad and I were still re-watching it.  So much so, in fact, that the VHS tape eventually wore out.  So, we were absolutely floored when my mom found a DVD of the Motown special for sale on Amazon about five years ago and immediately purchased it.  I was still living with my parents at the time, and whenever a friend would come to visit my dad would invariably ask “Have you ever seen Michael Jackson’s Motown 25  performance?”   Shockingly, most of my friends had no idea what he was talking about, so my dad would lead them into the TV room and show them Michael’s history making dance.  It was absolutely fascinating to watch my friends see this performance for the very first time,  their eyes absolutely glued to the TV and filled with wonderment.  Pretty soon it got to be a thing at my house – anyone visiting would ask my dad to see the Motown 25  performance and he would happily oblige.  It’s fascinating to me that 26 years later that performance still has the ability to awe and inspire.  You can read a great article about Michael’s Motown 25  performance written by a man named Christopher Smith who actually witnessed it firsthand here.

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Michael was actually nominated for an Emmy Award for his Motown 25  performance, but did not win.  Michael said his real award came the morning after the performance aired when dancing sensation, and his former neighbor, Fred Astaire called him up screaming, saying it was the best performance he had ever seen!  Fred said he had taped Michael’s routine, watched it twice, and was absolutely mesmerized.  He also said “Michael, you put them on their *ss!  You’re a hell of a mover!  You’re a hell of a dancer!”   Love it! 

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The Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which was built in 1931, has also been featured in the movies 10 and Red Dragon and episodes of Last Comic Standing, Alias, Lie To Me, and American Idol.  The auditorium has also hosted countless awards shows, including the 2008 ALMA Awards, numerous People’s Choice Awards, and the Emmy Awards from 1977 to 1997.

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I went to stalk the Auditorium today under the assumption that it is open to the public and was really dissappointed to find out that isn’t the case.   🙁  Because of that, I can’t say that I’d really recommend stalking it.  The manager of the place is also a TOTAL jerk, which only added to my dissapointment.  🙁  Nevertheless, it was still very exciting to be standing in front of the very spot where Michael Jackson made musical history just a little over twenty-six years ago! 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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Stalk It:  The Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever  special took place at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which is located at 300 East Green Street in Pasadena.

Vincent Price in Thriller

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At the risk of this site dwelling far too excessively on the recent sad passing of pop star Michael Jackson, I just had to write one more blog post about him.  Or, rather, about his legendary music video Thriller and one of its main filming locations.

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I received an email last night with the above photograph attached from fellow stalker Marlon, who happened to be driving by the Palace Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles and noticed the words “Michael Jackson Starring in Thriller” posted on the marquee.  It seems that in honor of MJ’s passing, the historic theatre restored its marquee to how it appeared in the iconic music video that was filmed there just over twenty-six years ago.  Well, sort of.  What the Palace marquee actually spelled out in the Thriller  video were the words “Vincent Price Thriller” – Vincent Price, of course, being the notable horror film actor who lent his voice to the rap portion of Michael’s famous song.  Maybe someone over at the Palace should have watched the video before restoring the marquee!  Sheesh!   You know, if they had me on staff they would have gotten it right.  🙂  Anyway, let me tell you that after seeing Marlon’s photograph I just about died!!!   And, even though it was about 11 O’clock at night, I begged my fiance to run me right over there to see the marquee for myself.  He, of course, denied that request, so I had to wait until this morning to make the trek out to Downtown Los Angeles.

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Apparently, though, another fastidious MJ fan had informed the Palace of their marquee faux-pas, because by the time I got there they had fixed the wording to read “Vincent Price in Thriller”.  Now, I don’t mean to be nit-picky or anything, but for the record in the video there was no “in” written on the marquee.  It simply stated “Vincent Price Thriller”, but I guess I have to just let that one slide.   🙂  Extraneous “in” or not, I was still SO excited to see that marquee in person!  For a filming locations buff and huge MJ fan, seeing the Palace marquee brought back to the way it was when Thriller was filmed was . . . well, a thrill!  🙂  I could not have been more excited!  And what an amazing tribute to Michael!

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The Los Angeles Theatre, which did not have a cameo in the Thriller video, but is located right across the street from the Palace, also put up a marquee memorial to Michael.

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While stalking the Palace, I managed to snap some photographs of its beautiful Florentine Renaissance style entrance.  The theatre’s antique ticket booth, which can be seen in the background of Thriller, has sadly since been removed, but you can see some great photographs of it here.

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According to fellow stalker and the author of one of my very favorite stalking books, Harry Medved, the loft area of the Palace was used as Christian Bale’s magic workshop in 2006’s The Prestige and as Jeff Bridge’s art studio in 1998’s The Big Lebowski  and the theatre’s back door was used as the entrance to Club Silencio in David Lynch’s oddball movie Mullholland Drive.  To learn more about the Palace and its nearly one hundred year history, you can check out the post I wrote about it last October here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Palace Theatre is located at 630 South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles.  The theatre is currently closed to the public, but you can certainly stalk its exterior.  I am not sure how long the Michael Jackson memorial marquee will be left up, but in this stalker’s opinion it should remain there forever.  🙂