The Figueroa Hotel from “90210”

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

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

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

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

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and the pool area . . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

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

Paramount Studios . . . A Third Time

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As I mentioned in last Thursday’s post about my second VIP Tour of the Studios at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood,  I also recently embarked on a third tour of the lot, along with fellow stalkers Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, and Beth, who were all in town visiting from Ohio this past October.  And I am very happy to report that my third Paramount tour was just as fabulous as my first two.  If you have yet to visit the famed Hollywood studio, all I can say is that you REALLY must!  As I’ve stated numerous times in the past, it is simply the best studio tour Los Angeles has to offer.  This time our tour group consisted of two guides, the five of us, and only one other gentlemen (who showed up in a business suit with the intention of handing out headshots to various studio executives that we might happen to pass along the way, which was extremely uncomfortable for everyone involved, but that’s a whole other story), so we were very lucky in that our group was not only smaller than normal, but our tour was also very much catered to the places on the lot that Lavonna and Co. were interested in seeing.  I should mention here that Paramount guides are very good about customizing tours for each particular group, so if you do happen to embark on a visit to the lot, I highly encourage you to speak up and tell your guide exactly what it is that you are interested in seeing.  

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Our first stop, as always, was Lucy Park, the history of which I wrote about in last week’s Paramount post.  One thing I forgot to mention, though, was that the Chevalier Building, which runs along the eastern side of the park, was used as Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Jefferson High School on the 1970’s television series Happy Days.

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Directly across from Lucy Park is the Ball Building, named in honor of actress Lucille Ball, where Tom Cruise’s production offices were formerly housed.  Tom’s office is the one with the large bay window denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph, from which is a fabulous view of the Hollywood sign.

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We were then shuttled by Stage 25, which is considered by many to be an extremely lucky stage being that two of the most successful shows in television history, Cheers and Frasier – both of which ran for eleven seasons and both of which starred actor Kelsey Grammar as Doctor Frasier Crane – were filmed there.  Our guide told us that Grammar likes to joke that his short-lived television series Back to You, which was filmed elsewhere, would have been much more successful had it been lensed on Stage 25.

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Next up was Stage 28 where the Nickelodeon Television series Big Time Rush is filmed.  The exterior of that particular stage is used each week for establishing shots of the Rocque Records offices on the show.

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Right next door to Stage 28 is Stage 27, where the Grim Cheaper’s favorite movie of all time, The Godfather, was filmed, so of course I just had to snap a photograph of it.

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We were then taken inside the set of the apartment belonging to Alex (aka Elisha Cuthbert) on the yet-to-be released series Happy Endings.  Alex’s apartment, which we unfortunately were not allowed to take photographs of, but which you can see in the above screen captures, is VERY reminiscent of Monica and Rachel’s apartment on Friends.  It was absolutely amazing to be able to see the set in such an up-close-and-personal manner and to discover how truly realistic everything actually was.  At one point Lavonna and I wandered into Alex’s bathroom – which according to our tour guide is not going to be used for actual filming but will only be seen in the background of certain scenes – and were shocked to discover how incredibly detailed it was.  There was a huge make-up basket filled with actual make-up on the counter, there was a toothbrush and toothpaste by the sink, and the drawers were filled with hairbrushes and other beauty paraphernalia.  The attention to detail was astounding, especially considering that the bathroom will only be appearing in the background, if at all!  There were also real life bills being stored in Alex’s mail holder and actual books piled on her bookshelves.  So incredibly cool!

You can watch the promo for Happy Endings by clicking above.

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Up next was my VERY favorite section of the Paramount lot, New York Street, where filming for both Happy Endings . . .

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. . . and Community was taking place.  I happened to spot cutie Joel McHale walking around the Community set, but I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough to snap a photograph of him, which was so   unbelievably frustrating I cannot even tell you!  UGH!

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Paramount Studios was used as the location of the Junior Prom in the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Zero Tolerance”.  In the episode, Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord) and Liam Court (aka Matt Lanter – sigh!) decide to take a break from the dance to walk around New York Street and they wind up sitting on a brownstone stoop where, in a drool-worthy moment, Liam finally admits to Naomi that he has actual feelings for her . . . and then, it begins to snow!  So darn cute! 

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I was absolutely dying to take a picture while sitting on Liam and Naomi’s stoop, but unfortunately I could not remember exactly which one it was, so I ended up sitting a few houses too far to the north. 

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Liam and Naomi’s actual stoop is located on the Lower East Side portion of New York Street and is the stoop located closest to Washington Square and is denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph.

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The café from Spiderman 3, where Peter Parker (aka Tobey Maguire) tells Harry Osborn (aka James Franco) that Mary Jane Watson (aka Kristen Dunst) is in love with someone else, is also located on New York Street, in the Greenwich Village area. 

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Much like the jazz club from Spiderman 3 which I talked about in my previous Paramount post, the café is a “practical set”, which means that it is not just a façade, but that it also has an interior area where filming can take place.

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We actually got to step inside one of the facades while we were on New York Street, which I had never done before on a previous tour.  As you can see in the above photographs, the interior of the facade consists mainly of large metal beams, from which set electricians can hang lights, and open space, where background actors are sometimes held in between takes.

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The “Schlemiel, Schlimazel, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated” segment of the Laverne & Shirley opening credits was also filmed on New York Street, in the Washington Square section.

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Interestingly enough, the exterior of Rosalita’s Bar from Happy Endings was dressed a bit differently than it was the last time I visited the lot a few weeks beforehand.

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The way it looked on my previous tour is pictured above. 

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Fellow stalker Beth also somehow managed to snap the above photograph of the interior of the soundstage where Happy Endings is filmed, the door of which happened to be open as we drove by.  As you can see, the doorway and part of the exterior of Rosalita’s Bar has also been built inside of the soundstage, which was very cool to see!

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Next up was the famed Stage 14, where fave show Glee is filmed.  Because Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, Beth, and I are all diehard Gleeks, we were hoping to have the same star-sighting luck outside of Stage 14 that I had on my previous tour, but alas, that was not to be.

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We all just about died a few minutes after driving away from the stage, though, when who should we spot being shuttled around on a golf cart but Miss Lea Michele!  I was beyond excited to catch a glimpse of Lea as I had only seen her for a split second during my previous Paramount tour and, aside from Will Schuester (aka Matthew Morrison), Rachel Berry is my favorite character on the show.  Sadly though, the experience was not a good one.  As Lea’s cart approached, the driver put her hand up to block the actress’ face from us, which was absolutely unbelievable!  It’s rude enough when an actor puts up their own hand to block their face from fans, but to have an assistant do it for you is an absolute diva maneuver if I ever saw one!  The whole thing was extremely disappointing for us as, prior to that, we had all LOVED Lea.  Our tour guide on the the previous tour had told us that Lea was the worst one of the entire Glee bunch and that the studio staff had taken to humming the Wicked Witch of the West theme song from The Wizard of Oz every time she rode past them on her bike, but, even after hearing that, I had still believed she was nice.  Sadly that did not seem to be the case, though.  Such a shame.

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Next up was the exterior of Stage 15 where NCIS: Los Angeles is filmed, which I was absolutely FLOORED about seeing (and which took my mind off of the whole Lea Michele debacle) as the outside of it is used for the filming of the exterior of the NCIS Office of Special Projects on the series.  So incredibly cool!

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We were then taken to Paramount’s Production Park, where the Lubitsch Building is located, which was used as Westdale High School on fave show The Brady Bunch

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The Lubitsch Building is located on the east side of Production Park and the doorway which was used as the entrance to Westdale High is denoted with the pink arrow in the above aerial view.

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Production Park was also recently used in the Season 1 episode of Rizzoli & Isles titled “Money for Nothing”, in the opening scene in which Detective Jane Rizzoli (aka Angie Harmon) and Dr. Maura Isles (aka Sasha Alexander) are shown stretching before a morning run.

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The filming of an episode of Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush had just wrapped when we arrived at the park, which is what the sign reading “Palm Woods Park” was set up for.  Filming had involved the cast of the show being in some sort of a mud pit and the crew was covering up the pit while we were there, which is what you see in the above photograph.

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We also made a stop at the Paramount Studios Theatre and while we were there our tour guide mentioned that the theatre lobby had been used as a hotel in a certain movie, but when I sat down to write today’s post, I could not for the life of me remember which movie.  Enter Lavonna, who CALLED UP Paramount to find out for me!  Amazingly enough, who should answer the phone, but our actual tour guide who informed Lavonna that the movie he had told us about was Clear and Present Danger.  Thank you, Lavonna!  🙂

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Our final stop was the famous Paramount Studios water fountain, which was also featured in the “Zero Tolerance” episode of 90210

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Despite our disappointment over Lea Michele, the tour was still a FABULOUS, FABULOUS experience and I honestly cannot recommend taking it enough!  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Paramount is hands down the best studio tour in Hollywood!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Paramount Studios is located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.  Tours are given Monday through Friday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. and cost $40 per person.  Reservations can be made by calling (323)956-1777.  Parking for the tour costs $7 per car and the tour lot is located on Bronson Avenue, directly across the street from the studio’s main entrance.  I recommend booking your tour at least a week in advance, as they tend to sell out quickly.  You can find out more information about the Paramount Studios Tour here.

On the Set of “NCIS: Los Angeles”

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This past Thursday afternoon, my fiancé called me up to let me know that an episode of NCIS: Los Angeles was being filmed at the YWCA building in Pasadena, just a few blocks away from his office.  So, I immediately grabbed my jacket and my camera and headed over to the set with one goal in mind – to get a photograph with actor Chris O’Donnell, who had been the love of my life back in my high school days.  I showed up to the corner of North Garfield Avenue and East Union Street to find that NCIS had commandeered an entire city block of Old Town Pasadena for the filming!  But, unfortunately, all of the action was taking place inside of the YWCA building, so aside from a slew of production equipment and a myriad of about thirty production trucks, there wasn’t a whole lot to see.  And, sadly enough, the security guard on duty – who absolutely could NOT have been nicer – told me that I had missed both LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell by a mere twenty minutes.  Apparently, the two actors had walked out of their makeup trailer shortly beforehand and, on their way to the set, had stopped to pose for photographs with a small group of fans who had showed up to watch the filming.  UGH!  Talk about bad timing!  The security guard told me that I was welcome to hang around, though, and that the actors would most likely be back outside at some point during the next few hours.  So, hang around, I did.

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And, as luck would have it, I spotted Chris O’Donnell walking alone from the set to his trailer just a few minutes later.  But because he had no entourage with him and because he was a good twenty feet away from me, I didn’t realize it was him until it was much too late.  I was absolutely shocked – and pleasantly surprised – to have spotted Chris walking alone, as stars almost always have some sort of an entourage – or “handlers” as they are called in “the biz” – who accompany them while on set.  Even more shocking was the fact that Chris had walked to his trailer.  It is fairly commonplace for stars to be driven back and forth to their Star Waggons while working on a production.  Granted, Chris’ trailer was located only about a half a block away from the YWCA building, but I’ve seen stars be driven far less distances while on set.  Heck, I’ve even seen one celeb being driven from one side of a street to the other!  Not kidding!  Chris seemed super down-to-earth and friendly and made it a point to wave and say hello to the security guard who was on duty, which I also thought was incredibly cool!  I have so much respect for stars who acknowledge and are friendly to the crew members who work behind the scenes of their productions.  I once read that Drew Barrymore makes it a point to learn the name of each and every crew member – right down to the negative cutter – who works on her movies, which I thought was just about the coolest and most non-divaish thing I had ever heard!  So love it!  Anyway, once I spotted Chris, I parked myself outside of his trailer and immediately called up the Grim Cheaper and told him to get over to the set as soon as possible so that he could take a picture of the two of us.  The GC was NOT happy about this development, but headed over to the YWCA building anyway.  Ah, the things we do for love.  🙂   Thankfully, it was only about an hour before Chris exited his trailer and walked to the set – again sans entourage.  I called out to him and asked if he would mind taking a picture with me, and the guy truly could NOT have been nicer!  He was so incredibly friendly, down-to-earth, and low-key that he almost didn’t even seem like a celebrity.  He happily posed for the above photograph (during which the wind was blowing like mad, which is why my hair ended up in my face!  UGH!) and shook my hand and introduced himself.  I told him that I had been a fan since 1992 when Scent of a Woman first premiered, and he thanked me for the longtime support and then continued on to the set.  Sigh!  The few NCIS: Los Angeles crew members that I spoke with were also incredibly friendly and nice and the vibe on set reminded me distinctly of that of CSI: Miami.  Love it!  🙂  After meeting Chris, the GC was ready to head home, so I never did get to see LL Cool J.  But getting a photo with Chris O’Donnell more than made up for that fact.  🙂

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The Young Women’s Christian Association building, where filming took place, was originally constructed in 1921 by famed Los Angeles-area architect Julia Morgan, who is best known for designing the world-famous Hearst Castle in San Simeon.   The land on which the YWCA now sits was donated to the Association by prominent Pasadenean David Gamble, of Proctor and Gamble fame.  The building, which cost $350,000 to build and was originally used by the Association as a social venue and a dormitory of sorts for young women, is currently in a state of disrepair and has sat abandoned and boarded up for the past two decades.   The City of Pasadena is currently involved in an eminent domain dispute with its owner and is trying to purchase the historic building and restore it to its former glory.  The owner, however, is refusing to sell. You can read more about the history of the YWCA building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, here and  you can see some great interior photographs of the place here.  Other productions filmed on the premises include the movie Idle Hands and an episode of Heroes.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: NCIS: Los Angeles was filmed at the YWCA building, which is located at 78 North Marengo Avenue in Pasadena.