music videos – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

October 28, 2010September 29, 2017

The “Thriller” House

Today, in honor of Halloween, I thought I’d blog about what is arguably the most famous haunted house of all time – the Victorian-style residence that was featured in the 1983 music video “Michael Jackson’s Thriller”. Even though I’ve actually already blogged about this location once before (way back in December of 2007 when I first started my site!), because I mixed it in with a post about Halliwell Manor from Charmed which is located on the same street, I thought it was about time that the “Thriller” house was given proper recognition with its very own post. Especially since my dad recently transferred our VHS recording of “The Making of Michael Jackson’s Thriller” onto a DVD so that we could finally watch it again, being that neither of us has owned a working VCR in about five years time. I used to watch the “Making Of” special almost weekly as a child and was absolutely ENTRALLED with it. And I am very happy to report that over twenty-seven years later, the behind-the-scenes special is JUST as enthralling. 🙂 I wish the Jackson family would release it on DVD as I’d love to have a copy that wasn’t taped off of television.

In real life, the property is known as the Sanders House and it was originally built in 1887! Yes, you read that right – the residence is over 123 years old! It was commissioned by a man named Michael Sanders who ran a storage warehouse in Los Angeles at the time. The Queen Anne/Eastlake-style home boasts 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and 3,532 square feet of living space – which I was shocked to discover as the residence looks to be much smaller from the street. The property was originally a single family residence, but has since been converted into a duplex-type dwelling, and has been undergoing an extensive restoration project for the past decade. In 1971, the home was declared a cultural historic monument and the entire 1300 block of Carroll Avenue, where the “Thriller” house is located, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. You can see some fabulous historic photographs of the “Thriller” house and its neighboring homes here. And you can read a more in-depth write-up on the history of the Sanders House on fave website Big Orange Landmarks here.

I was only at the “Thriller” house for about ten minutes yesterday and no less than three different groups of fellow stalkers showed up to take pictures of the place while I was there – and it was in the middle of the day no less! Simply amazing! I was really hoping that the “Thriller” homeowners would have decorated their abode for Halloween, but as it turns out they are not currently very thrilled about the publicity that their property’s famous history generates. According to a SUPER nice neighbor whom I spoke with while I was stalking the place yesterday, shortly after Michael Jackson passed away in June of last year, a deplorable fan stole the mailbox from the “Thriller” house and the homeowner is still pretty upset about it – especially being that the mailbox was the original one which was installed when the residence was first built over 123 years ago! I can’t even believe that a person would have the audacity to not only trespass on someone else’s property, but to then steal something from that property while doing so. It is people like that who give us harmless stalkers a bad name and it makes me madder and madder the more I think about it. Not only did that thief sour the residents on the magic of owning and living in the “Thriller” house, but they also destroyed part of a historic landmark in the process. UGH! Don’t even get me started!

The super nice neighbor also informed me that the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue is THE place to be on Halloween. One year he counted over 2,000 trick-or-treaters knocking on his front door alone! Halliwell Manor from Charmed (pictured above) is already decked out for the occasion, but the neighbor said that all of the houses on the block – not just the famous ones – typically have lines of about twenty to thirty people standing out in front of them all night long. Amazing! I would SO love to stalk the neighborhood on Halloween, but I already have plans to spend the holiday in Santa Barbara this year. Ah well, there’s always next year.

Only the exterior of the “Thriller” house was used in the filming of the music video.

All of the interior scenes were shot on a soundstage somewhere in Los Angeles.

You can watch the video “Michael Jackson’s Thriller” by clicking above.

The “Thriller” house was also used as the residence of Finn (aka Reynaldo Rosales) in the Season 4 episode of Charmed titled “Size Matters’”.

ScreenShot5934

And fellow stalker Angela from Florida alerted me to the fact that the dwelling was also used as the residence of Madam Serena (aka Zelda Rubinstein) in the 1989 movie Teen Witch. It is quite ironic that the house belonged to a woman named Serena in the flick, as the star of Teen Witch was none other than Robin Lively – real life sister of Blake Lively, who plays the famous Serena van der Woodsen on TV’s Gossip Girl.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The house from “Michael Jackson’s Thriller” is located at 1345 Carroll Avenue in the Angelino Heights section of Los Angeles, just a few miles north of Downtown. The Halliwell sisters’ house from Charmed is located two doors east of the “Thriller” house at 1329 Carroll Avenue. And Holly’s Nashua house from the “Employee Transfer” episode of The Office is located just around the corner at 1347 Kellam Avenue. If you stalk any of these locations, please, please do not trespass and, for God’s sake, do NOT steal, touch, or destroy ANYTHING while there!

October 27, 2010September 29, 2017

Mountain View Cemetery from “The Office”

Since my favorite holiday, Halloween, is fast approaching, I thought it would only be appropriate to devote the next few blog posts to some filming locations of a spookier nature. So, this past Sunday morning, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, the Grim Cheaper, and I went on a joint stalking venture up to Altadena to stalk Mountain View Cemetery which appeared in the Season 4 episode of The Office titled “The Chair Model”, among countless other productions. I first found out about this locale from my parents’ neighbor, Julie, who owns The Coffee Gallery in Altadena – a location which was also used in “The Chair Model” episode and which I blogged about this past July. According to Julie, while scouting locations for the “Chair Model” episode, location managers sought out a coffee shop that was in close proximity to Mountain View Cemetery where they were also shooting scenes, which is how they came to use her cafe. Like the old saying goes, it’s all about location, location, location. 😉 Anyway, once Julie told me about the place, I started doing some research on it and discovered that Mountain View Cemetery has been featured in hundreds upon hundreds of productions over the years. Apparently, the 60-acre cemetery is used for filming an average of 150 days out of EACH AND EVERY year, which is absolutely incredible to me! Upon finding out that fact, I promptly informed both Mike and the GC that Mountain View Cemetery was the ONLY place I wanted to be buried. Spending my hereafter at a site that is in use as a filming location almost half of each year sounds like absolute heaven to me (pun intended). Mike jokingly said that if I did end up being buried there, my tombstone should read, “Lindsay Blake, from IAMNOTASTALKER –Still Stalking Filming Sites From Beyond the Grave”. 🙂

Mountain View Cemetery, which is one of the oldest cemeteries in the San Gabriel Valley, was first established in 1882 when a man named Levi W. Giddings designated a plot of his family’s land to be used as a site for burials for the citizens of Pasadena. His descendants still own and operate the cemetery to this day, over 128 years later. Mountain View, which as the name implies does boast picturesque views of the San Gabriel Mountains, is an absolutely enormous and quite beautiful property, with sprawling lawns, stately trees from all over the world, an art collection, two chapels, and two mausoleums. Besides being a filming location, Mountain View is also the final resting place of several notables, including actor George Reeves, who played TV’s original Superman in the 1950s television series of the same name. George is entombed in the cemetery’s Pasadena Mausoleum. Thaddeus Sobieski Constantine Lowe, one of the original founders of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and builder of the Mount Lowe Railway, is also buried at Mountain View, in the cemetery’s Royal Oak’s section.

[ad]

The yet-to-be released show Franklin & Bash was setting up to do some filming while we were stalking the cemetery on Sunday, and as you can see in the above photographs, had fake tombstones, floodlights, a generator, and a mock funeral assembled, which was very cool to see.

There was also a fake crypt set up on the property, which none of us actually realized was a fake . . .

. . . until we got around to the back of it and saw the prop door. So, of course, I just had to get inside of it to snap a quick picture. 🙂 I am not sure if the fake crypt was a prop for Franklin & Bash or for Wicked Literature: A Halloween Theatre Festival – a Halloween-themed live theatre event which is running at the cemetery now through the end of October. But being that Franklin & Bash is a series about a law firm, I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the crypt was set up for the Wicked Literature show.

In “The Chair Model” episode of The Office, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) falls in love with a chair model whom he sees in an office supply catalog. He sends Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) on a recognizance mission to track down the model and is crushed when he learns that she was recently killed in a car accident. Dwight and Michael later visit the cemetery where she is buried in order to pay their respects. While there, they break into a rousing rendition of the song “American Pie”.

While stalking Mountain View on Sunday, I was absolutely dying to find the exact spot where The Office had been filmed. Unfortunately though, I was unable to figure it out at the time. It wasn’t until after I got home and re-watched “The Chair Model” episode that I was able to discern the correct location. So, bright and early yesterday morning, I dragged my dad out to re-stalk the place so that I could get some photos of the spot where Michael and Dwight had mourned, ahem, sang. That spot can be found in the northeastern section of the cemetery.

In the Season 1 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “There Won’t Be Trumpets”, Mountain View was the site of Mama Solis’ (aka Lupe Ontiveros’) funeral. In the scene filmed at the cemetery, Gaby Solis (aka Eva Longoria Parker) flies into a rage after discovering that her destitute husband Carlos (aka Ricardo Antonio Chavira) has purchased a large crypt for his dead mother. It was during the filming of that scene that Eva Longoria Parker accidentally (and hilariously) got the heel of her stiletto stuck in the cemetery’s grass. Some paparazzi who were on hand managed to snap pictures of the event and those pictures later made their way onto the pages of US Magazine, but unfortunately I cannot find copies of those photographs anywhere online.

While watching the “There Won’t Be Trumpets” episode, I was convinced that Mama Solis’ crypt had been a prop put into place for the filming. As I discovered yesterday morning, though, her burial site is an actual crypt belonging to the Buckley family. So darn cool! I would like to let it be known here and now that, upon my death, filmmakers have my permission to use whatever it is I end up being buried in – whether it be a crypt, a mausoleum, or a simple grave – whenever and in as many productions as they so desire! 😉

The cemetery was also used in the Season 8 episode of Seinfeld titled “The Foundation” as the final resting place of Susan Ross (aka Heidi Swedberg), George Costanza’s (aka Jason Alexander’s) former fiancé, who died after ingesting toxic glue while licking the envelopes of their wedding invitations.

Mountain View also appeared in the Season 11 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled “Shock Waves” as the site of the funeral of Officer Franklin Clark (aka Reggie Von Watkins), during which a bomb explodes. Fave website Altadenablog was on hand during the filming of that episode and took some great photographs of the crew setting up the extensive rigging for the explosion scene.

The cemetery also popped up in the pilot episode of the HBO series Six Feet Under as the site of the funeral of Nathaniel Fisher (aka Richard Jenkins).

The cemetery was also used in Ozzy Osbourne’s video for his 2010 song “Life Won’t Wait” . . .

. . . which you can watch by clicking above.

Ironically enough, after visiting the cemetery, I had a feeling that it might have been the very cemetery used in fave movie A Lot Like Love, so after I got home I re-watched the flick and noticed the large, open-air grave-marker located in the background behind Oliver Martin (aka Ashton Kutcher) in the scene pictured above.

I could also just make out the last name “Holmes” written on the marker. So, yesterday morning, while re-stalking the cemetery with my dad, I walked around to see if I could spot that open air crypt.

And, amazingly enough, I did! As it turns out, the filming of A Lot Like Love had taken place just due west of where The Office had filmed. The grave where Emily Friehl’s (aka Amanda Peet’s) mother was buried in the movie was a fake that was put into place solely for the filming. In real life, her grave is just empty space. Ironically enough, Ashton Kutcher returned to the cemetery once again this past May to film scenes for the yet-to-be released comedy No Strings, along with co-star Natalie Portman. You can check out some photographs of them filming here. The 2007 remake of the classic horror film Halloween was also filmed at Mountain View Cemetery.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mountain View Cemetery is located at 2400 North Fair Oaks Avenue in Altadena. The area which appeared in The Office is in the northeastern portion of the cemetery and is denoted with a pink circle and a pink “X” in the above aerial views. A Lot Like Love filmed just due west of where The Office was filmed in the area of the cemetery numbered 4474, which is denoted with a purple circle in the above aerial views. Desperate Housewives was filmed in front of the Buckley crypt, which is located in the section of the cemetery numbered 4386, directly across from the Vista Del Monte mausoleum, which is denoted with a blue circle and a blue arrow in the above aerial views.

October 13, 2010October 12, 2010

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

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

[ad]

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

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

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

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

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

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

. . . which you can watch by clicking above.

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

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

June 3, 2010April 30, 2013

Killarney Market from Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” Video

Now don’t laugh, but the primary reason behind the Grim Cheaper’s and my trip up to the Pacific Northwest this past weekend was so that I could stalk the spot where Michael Buble filmed the music video for his hit song “Haven’t Met You Yet” – Killarney Market in Vancouver, British Columbia. Sure, we also wanted to sightsee, spend some time in Seattle and Canada, and visit with our good friends Kerry and Jim who live in the area, but, all kidding aside, the main purpose of our trip was to stalk that grocery store. Yes, we traveled over 1,000 miles to see a supermarket! You see, ever since I first watched the “Haven’t Met You Yet” video back in early October of last year, I promised myself that I would one day get up to Vancouver to see the Michael Buble grocery store in person. That day came much sooner than expected, though, thanks to my fiancé’s boss, who recently presented us with Virgin America gift certificates as an early wedding present. Well, let me tell you, my first thought upon seeing those certificates was, ‘We’re going to Canada, Baby!’ And, sure enough, we did! Thanks to fellow stalker Kerry, who completely organized the trip and drove about four hours out of her way to pick us up at the airport, not only did I get to stalk the Michael Buble grocery store, but a slew of other Pacific Northwest locations, as well, which I will be blogging about over the next few weeks. Anyway, upon landing at the Sea-Tac International Airport at around 5 p.m. this past Friday evening, Kerry, her husband Jim, the Grim Cheaper, and I headed north to Vancouver, British Columbia. And bright and early the following morning we hit up Killarney Market to finally do some “Haven’t Met You Yet” stalking. YAY!

I should explain here that there are quite a few reasons why I wanted to stalk Killarney Market so badly, the most obvious of which being that I absolutely LOVE Michael Buble. More than that, though, I also absolutely ADORE the “Haven’t Met You Yet” video, which centers around Michael doing some shopping at a local grocery store. While in the freezer section picking out some microwavable TV dinners, he spots his dream girl (who is played by MB’s real life fiancé Luisana Lopilato) standing just a few feet away from him. He approaches her and the two sing and dance their way through the store, eventually winding up in the parking lot, marching band in tow. The video ends with Michael standing in the check-out aisle, belting out his song, eyes closed, before realizing that the whole scenario had been imagined. As he leaves the grocery store, slightly embarrassed, the girl he had envisioned in his daydream brushes past him. MB stops for a moment to stare after her and then continues on his way. “Haven’t Met You Yet” is an incredibly fun-spirited romp that makes one want to get out of their seat and dance, which is a big part of why I loved it so much. But the fact that it was filmed in a grocery store made the video even more special to me, as my father managed supermarkets throughout my entire childhood. To me, the video felt a little bit like home. 🙂

[ad]

I am very happy to report that Killarney Market looks EXACTLY the same in person as it did onscreen in Michael’s video – minus the ticker tape and marching band, of course. 😉 I am also very happy to report that the Killarney employees could NOT have been nicer to us and literally almost fell over when they heard that we had traveled all the way from Southern California to see their store. They were happy to answer all of my silly questions about the filming, which took place over the course of two nights in September of 2009, and they let me take all of the photographs of the place that I wanted. YAY! And while the employees that I spoke with weren’t exactly sure of how the grocery store premise of the video came to be, they did tell me that Killarney’s Market was specifically chosen as the “Haven’t Met You Yet” location because it reminded MB of a store he had shopped at as a child. So cool! (Note – my parents just gifted me with a new, hi-tech camera and I haven’t yet figured out exactly how to use it, so, sadly, my pictures of the market didn’t come out as well as they should have.)

One of the employees even showed me a picture on his blackberry that he had taken with Michael during the filming. So, I, of course, had to snap a photograph of it. 🙂 I can’t tell you what I wouldn’t do to have my picture taken with MB like that!!! Sigh!

Another of the employees ended up taking us on a little mini-tour of the specific locations used in the video, which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever!!!! 🙂 The areas of the store which appeared in “Haven’t Met You Yet” include the freezer section (Aisle 6), which was both where Michael first spotted Luisana;

and where the two danced atop the freezer cases;

the meat counter adjacent to Aisle 1, where the butcher got jiggy with it;

Aisle 7, where the mattress floated down the aisle;

Aisle 4, where the marching band played;

the front of the store where the grand finale began;

the front parking lot where the grand finale ended;

Check-out counter Number 3, where MB got caught day-dreaming;

the side entrance of the store, where he walked by Luisana at the end of the video;

and the shelf where Michael sat throughout the video, which is located in the middle of Aisle 1. Apparently, the managers of Killarney’s weren’t too excited about the prospect of MB sitting on one of their shelves during the filming as they were worried it might collapse, so producers ended up having the shelf reinforced and tying metal wires to the singer to guard against him falling. I so love that Michael’s shelf was left a bit lower than the adjacent shelves, as it appeared in the video.

I cannot tell you what a thrill it was for me to finally be able to stalk the “Haven’t Met You Yet” grocery store! It was definitely the highlight of my entire trip! You can watch the video by clicking above and you can see some FABULOUS behind-the-scenes pictures of the filming of the video on the Killarney Market Facebook page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Killarney Market from Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” music video is located at 2611 49th Avenue East in Vancouver, British Columbia. You can visit the market’s official Facebook page here.

April 23, 2010July 22, 2010

Sid & Dexter’s Sports Bar from the “Happy Hour” episode of “The Office”

As I mentioned yesterday, one location that fellow stalker Lavonna was absolutely dying to stalk while she was in town last week was Sid & Dexter’s Sports Bar, the arcade/restaurant which appeared in the Season 6 episode of The Office entitled “Happy Hour”. So, before her arrival, I called upon fellow stalker Owen for some help in tracking the place down, but, unfortunately, the two of us came up completely empty-handed. My first instinct was that filming had taken place at one of the local branches of the popular Dave & Buster’s restaurant chain, but after looking at photographs of all of the D&B’s located in the L.A. area and comparing them to the screen captures of The Office that Lavonna had sent me, I couldn’t find a match. So, after a few hours of searching, Owen and I came to the unfortunate conclusion that Sid & Dexter’s was most likely not a real location, but a set that had been built solely for the filming of the “Happy Hour” episode. Lavonna was sorely disappointed over this discovery, as was I, because I knew how badly she wanted to stalk the place. But then, this past Friday, while stalking Scranton Business Park, I had an inspired idea. Because the security guard manning the front gate was so incredibly nice, I decided to ask her whether she knew where the “Happy Hour” episode had been filmed. And, lo and behold, she did! She told us that filming had taken place at a restaurant/arcade next to a bowling alley somewhere on Universal CityWalk. And, let me tell you, I almost fell over when I heard that. Usually when I meet crew members and ask them about locations, they have no recollection whatsoever about where a filming took place, even if they were actually on the set that particular day! So, for the security guard to know where the “Happy Hour” episode was shot, when she had never actually been there was absolutely incredible to me! Yay! So, Lavonna, her daughter, Melissa, her friend, Debbie, and I immediately headed over to Universal CityWalk to try to track down Sid & Dexter’s!

My initial plan of attack was to visit each and every restaurant located on Universal CityWalk until we found the right one. Thankfully, though, that wasn’t necessary. Fairly immediately upon entering the outdoor shopping center, Lavonna spotted a sign for the chain restaurant Jillian’s and thought it might be the right spot. And, sure enough, it was! In actuality, Sid & Dexter’s Sports Bar is a restaurant/arcade/bowling alley/billiards bar named Jillian’s. Sadly, though, it has been completely remodeled since its onscreen appearance and no longer looks anything like it did when filming took place. According to one of the super nice bartenders we spoke with, The Office filmed at Jillian’s for an entire week, just after the place had closed its doors to the public to begin the remodel process. As soon as filming wrapped, the ENTIRE place was completely gutted and the rebuilding began. The single, solitary decor item that remains from the old design is the above pictured cartoon which is now hanging on a wall in the billiards room. Such a bummer!

The Jillian’s staff could NOT have been nicer, though, and took us on our own personal tour of the restaurant to show us where filming took place and to explain what the former layout used to look like. As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the place is COMPLETELY unrecognizable from its Office appearance. 🙁

Thankfully, though, the ticket machines still look identical to how they appeared on the show, so, at least there’s that. 🙂

[ad]

Lavonna had desperately wanted to see the zebra-print wall which appeared in the background throughout most of the “Happy Hour” episode. Sadly, though, it had been thrown out during the remodel and that area was then transformed into the ticket redemption counter (pictured above).

And while Jillian’s still makes use of the actual pool tables which appeared in The Office, they have since been moved to a different part of the restaurant.

Lavonna also wanted to see the Whac-A-Mole arcade game that Dwight (aka Rainn Wilson) and Isabel (aka Kelen Coleman) played on the show, but the bartender informed us that that particular game was brought in by producers solely for the filming. The dance machine that Andy (aka Ed Helms), Kelly (aka Ellie Kemper), Ryan (aka B.J. Novak), and the other Kelly (aka Mindy Kaling) played on, however, is a real game that can still be found at Jillian’s.

So, of course, Melissa and I just had to pose on it. 🙂

The bartender ended up asking Jillian’s two general managers to come out so that we could ask them all sorts of silly questions about the filming of The Office, and, let me tell you, they could NOT have been nicer. They talked to us for a good twenty minutes and when they heard how upset Lavonna was over not being able to see that zebra-print wall, they ended up giving her the above “Sid & Dexter’s” sign which appeared in the “Happy Hour” episode! How incredibly cool is that?? I mean, talk about the ultimate Office keepsake!

The managers also showed us a bowling pin that the entire Office cast had signed during the filming. That’s Melissa posing with it in the above picture. So darn cool!

They also informed us that Justin Bieber had recently filmed his “Baby” video in the bowling alley located on Jillian’s second level. So, of course, we had to go stalk that, too.

I am very happy to report that the bowling alley portion of the restaurant was not altered during the recent remodel and still looks EXACTLY the same as it did in the video. Yay!

You can watch Justin’s “Baby” video by clicking above. I so love the line, “She had me going crazy, Oh I was starstruck, She woke me up daily, Don’t need no Starbucks!” LOL Although, I don’t think there’s a guy in existence who could make it so that I didn’t need Starbucks in the morning. 😉

While we were stalking Jillian’s bowling alley, we ran into another SUPER nice bartender named Rashid, who actually made a brief appearance in the background of the “Happy Hour” episode of The Office! He was supposed to have a speaking role in the episode and producers even went so far as to make him shave his head for the part, but, sadly, as so often happens in Hollywood, his scene wound up on the cutting room floor. 🙁 We are hoping it will be featured in the “Deleted Scenes” section of The Office’s yet-to-be-released Season 6 DVD set, though.

You can catch a glimpse of Rashid in the background behind the Sid & Dexter’s manager in the above pictured screenshot. So cool!

We had a blast hanging out at Jillian’s and I honestly cannot recommend stalking the place enough, even though it no longer bears any sort of resemblance to Sid & Dexter’s. The staff truly could NOT have been nicer, the prices were very reasonable, the food was excellent, and the ambiance was lively and fun! Jillian’s is definitely a place I will be returning to again and again!

On a Justin Bieber side note – For those who have yet to see his first appearance on Chelsea Lately which aired back in December, you really must tune in! The kid is absolutely adorable and HILARIOUS and truly holds his own against Chelsea, which is a pretty amazing feat for a 15-year old!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jillian’s, aka Sid & Dexter’s Sports Bar from the “Happy Hour” episode of The Office, can be found at 1000 Universal Studios Boulevard, on Universal CityWalk, in Universal City. The bowling alley where Justin Bieber filmed his “Baby” video can be found on the restaurant’s second level. You can visit the Jillian’s website here.

April 14, 2010April 15, 2010

On Set With the “American Idol” Contestants

This past Sunday, while doing some stalking in Downtown L.A., my fiancé and I happened upon the current American Idol contestants filming a Ford commercial on the corner of South Hope Street and Wilshire Boulevard. And even though I have yet to watch even one episode of the series this season, I begged my fiancé to pull the car over so that we could watch a bit of the filming. And, wow, what a mistake that turned out to be! As we made our way over to the set, camera in hand, an incredibly rude crew member walked up to us and said – and I am quoting here! – “If you take a picture of this, we will sue you!” Being that we were standing on a public sidewalk in the middle of Downtown Los Angeles and that the Idol set was an open one (i.e. not closed to the public), I didn’t see how we were committing an act that was sue-worthy. Furthermore, I’m pretty sure that you need to know who someone is before you can actually sue them. Was the guy planning on serving a summons to “the blond girl in the white jacket who was standing on the corner watching American Idol film in Downtown L.A. on Sunday, April 13th at approximately 11 a.m.?” Don’t think that would really fly in court of law. 😉 My fiancé pretty much told the guy to stick it, to which the crew member said, “O.K., then I am going to have to call the police!” I am not kidding here! He actually said that he was going to call the police and have us arrested! For a second there, I thought we were being Punk’d! It was at that point that I noticed a group of three paparazzi standing a few feet away from us, chatting with the two policemen who were on duty manning the set. Being that the photogs not only weren’t being arrested, but seemed to be having a very amicable conversation with the cops, I figured we were safe. 🙂 I’m telling you, though, not once in my ten years of living in Los Angeles have I ever experienced the type of rudeness I encountered on the Idol set. Sure, some crews are not very friendly, some are even rude, but this one was in a whole different realm! One of the crew members even went so far as to shove a paparazzi at one point! Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it! Oh well, at the very least, it was entertaining to watch! 🙂

Now, I should explain here that if you tell the Grim Cheaper not to do something, he becomes pretty hell bent upon doing it. So, even though neither one of us cared much about watching the Idols film their commercial or about taking photographs of them, the next thirty minutes of our day were spent doing exactly that. My fiancé took as many pictures as he possibly could and, for once, it was me dragging him off a set instead of the other way around. I was ready to leave after about five minutes of being there, actually, because there just wasn’t a whole lot going on and because I didn’t recognize any of the contestants. In fact, I had a very hard time distinguishing who was a crewmember and who was an Idol, as did my fiancé, and he actually watches the show!

The Idol shoot basically consisted of four of the contestants (Michael Lynche, Lee Dewyze, Tim Urban, and Siobhan Magnus) watering a patch of dirt in the middle of a Downtown L.A. street.

Then something happens – something that I am guessing is going to be added in digitally during post-production – causing them to all look upward. And that was pretty much it.

After doing about four takes of the above sequence, the Idols joined together in front of a Ford car to shoot some publicity stills for Fox. And, let me tell you, the crew REALLY did not want anyone getting pictures of that! Which begs the question, why didn’t the producers just close the set? Sure, it’s more expensive permit-wise, but geez, it’s a better way to go about things than getting your panties all in a twist and almost punching out a paparazzi!

[ad]

Oddly enough, only eight of the nine remaining Idols were on set on Sunday, including Casey James, Katie Stevens, Michael Lynche, Siobhan Magnus, Tim Urban, Aaron Kelly, Lee Dewyze, and Andrew Garcia. For whatever reason, Crystal Bowersox was not in attendance. Or, if she was, we didn’t stick around long enough to see her.

[ad]

What struck me as odd about the whole thing was that the Idol contestants are virtual unknowns – relative newbies trying to make a name for themselves in the music industry. You’d think that the studio would want to drum up as much publicity for them as possible, not steer free publicity away! Ironically enough, one of the paparazzi told me that the only reason the photogs were there in the first place was because Ben Affleck was supposed to have been shooting a movie a block away. When that shoot got cancelled due to early morning rain, the paps figured they might as well take some Idol pics since they were already in the area. They said the pics were worthless now, but when the final winner is announced in a few weeks, they might bring in some money. Oh, if those Idols only knew!

The one highlight of my time on the Idol set was hanging out with the paparazzi who were SO incredibly nice I almost couldn’t believe it. It has been my experience in L.A. that photogs are typically not very friendly people. Most are downright despicable, actually. But the three who were on the Idol set were total sweethearts! We had great conversations about which stars are nice, which aren’t, our experiences living in L.A., and even the Michael Buble concert that I had just been to two nights prior. 🙂 The guy pictured above even let my fiancé, who has become very interested in photography as of late, test out his ultra-expensive camera. The whole thing was a very pleasant surprise.

It’s very sad to me that the Idol crew ruined something that is usually such a positive experience. If that had been my first time stalking a film set, I might never have gone back. So, to all of my fellow stalkers out there I say this – if you ever encounter a crew like this one, please, please don’t let it deter you from visiting other film sets! 99.9% of the crews out there are very friendly and know that what they do is pretty darn special and that us so-called normal people, who aren’t in the industry, are often fascinated by it and want to see it all firsthand and take pictures to show our friends back home. As the saying goes, “Mean people suck”, but I am very, very happy to report that in L.A. the number of nice crews far outweighs the mean ones!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Idols filmed their Ford commercial at the intersection of South Hope Street and Wilshire Boulevard in Downtown Los Angeles.

April 1, 2010June 6, 2010

The Michael Buble Suite at the Best Western Alderwood Hotel

As I’ve mentioned numerous times on this blog, my celebrity crush as of late is Canadian crooner Michael Buble. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the guy and his music! So, when my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry went on a business trip to the Seattle area a few months back and noticed that her hotel, the Best Western Alderwood, had a “Buble Suite” she immediately called me up to let me know. And, as you can probably imagine, I practically had a heart attack right there on the spot. It was at that point that I vowed to someday travel to the City of Lynnwood in the southwestern portion of Washington State to not only stalk the Best Western Alderwood, but to also spend a night in the actual “Buble Suite”. Especially since Michael filmed his “Haven’t Met You Yet” video at the Killarney Market in Vancouver, Canada which is just a short two hour drive from the hotel. (See the kind of stuff my fiancé has to deal with? It’s amazing I was ever proposed to! When I first told him of my intended Seattle travel plans, I believe his exact words were, “You want me to drive you two hours to see a grocery store?” Needless to say, I doubt we’ll be making the trip to Lynnwood anytime soon.) Anyway, Kerry didn’t take any photographs of the hotel for me on that particular trip, so I begged her to stop by there on her next visit to the Seattle area, which she did last month. Thank you, Kerry! And while I don’t typically blog about locations that I haven’t personally visited myself, this one was just too good to pass up. 🙂

[ad]

The Best Western Alderwood is not your typical five-star, celebrity-laden lodging, but from from what Kerry was able to gather from the super nice people she spoke with, Michael Buble, who hails from nearby Vancouver, is apparently a longtime family friend of the hotel’s General Manager. Sometime in the past couple of years, the singer stayed on the property – in Room Number 107, to be exact – and afterwards the General Manager named the suite in his honor. Which is something I really think all hotels should do! I mean, how GREAT would it be to know the exact room numbers where certain celebrities have stayed at different hotels all across the world? You can bet I’d be booking the Jennifer Aniston Suite at every hotel I stayed at if that was the case! 😉 I actually think it was pretty common practice back in the day to name hotel rooms after the famous guests who had stayed there and I, for one, think that practice needs to be brought back! Stat! So, kudos to you Best Western Alderwood! May all hotels follow suit! Kerry also found out that some of Michael’s family members frequently stay at the BW Alderwood, as well, so if you happen to check in there and spot an MB lookalike, chances are it might be his relation! 🙂

But not only did the hotel name a room after the cutie crooner, they also adorned the wall behind the front desk with his photographs, autographs, and other MB memorabilia. SO LOVE IT! You don’t even understand how BADLY I want to see all of this with my own two eyes! I was practically salivating while looking at Kerry’s photographs! Hopefully I’ll get there someday!

On a Michael Buble side note – For those who missed his “Hamm and Buble” skit on Saturday Night Live back in January, you so need to check it out – and can do so by clicking above! It’s absolutely HILARIOUS! I swear I’ve seen it about twenty times now and literally never get tired of it. Love it!

Big THANK YOU to Kerry for finding this location and stalking it for me, twice! 😉

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Best Western Alderwood is located at 19332 36th Avenue W in Lynnwood, Washington. The Buble Suite is Room Number 107. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. His “Haven’t Met You Yet” video was filmed at the Killarney Market which is located at 2611 East 49th Avenue in Vancouver, Canada.

March 30, 2010September 6, 2017

The Probable “Beat It” Diner, Part II

[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 . . .

. . . 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!

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”.

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.

[ad]

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. 🙂

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.

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.

March 26, 2010April 20, 2010

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

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!

[ad]

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.

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.

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.

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) . . .

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

March 15, 2010March 15, 2018

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

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!

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!

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.

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”.

Also a perfect match are the bar area . . .

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

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.

[ad]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

. . . 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.