Café-Club Fais Do-Do from “Crossroads”

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One location that I blogged about way back in March of 2009 and had been dying to re-stalk ever since – in order to snap some interior pictures – was Café-Club Fais Do-Do, the supposed New-Orleans-area karaoke bar that appeared in the 2002 movie Crossroads.  (For those who did not catch my original post on the place, in the Spring of 2001 I was an extra in Crossroads and spent a full three days filming at the Fais Do-Do – a magical experience that I will never forget.)  Because the club is typically only open at night for concerts and events, though, and because the Grim Cheaper has a major aversion to paying any sort of a cover charge, since the filming I had never been able to get back inside.   Until last Wednesday afternoon, that is, when I tagged along with fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, on a scouting expedition.  A couple of months back, Mike actually joined the Location Managers Guild of America under the title of Apprentice and, when I heard that he was in the process of building his portfolio, I immediately (and a bit selfishly) suggested that he visit Café-Club Fais Do-Do – with me accompanying him, of course.  Don’t get me wrong – the place is incredibly unique and visually stimulating and I knew that he would not only shoot some incredible photographs of it, but that it would also be a highly useful locale to have in his scouting arsenal.  But mostly, I just really wanted to stalk it myself.  Winking smile

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The Art Deco building which currently houses Café-Club Fais Do-Do was originally constructed in 1930 and is actually comprised of two separate sections – The Club (pictured above) and The Ballroom.  In its original incarnation, The Club was a branch of the First Citizens Savings Bank and Trust, which explains the structure’s uniquely rich and ornate interior.  Sometime in the 1960s, the bank was converted into a jazz bar/underground club, but thankfully most of its architecturally and historically significant detailing was kept intact.  During its years as a jazz club, such musicians as Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, BB King, Pearl Bailey, John Coltrane, and Billy Preston were all said to have hung out there.

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The Ballroom (pictured above) was originally constructed as the single-screen Variety Movie Theatre and was where the filming of Crossroads took place.  I am unsure of when exactly the Variety ceased showing movies, but in 1990 the entire building was purchased by a new owner who, while still keeping the two distinct areas separate, decided to turn the venues into a nightclub and bar which collectively would be known as Café-Club Fais Do-Do – “Fais Do-Do” meaning “nighty-night” in French.  And while this post on the Lon’s Place blog states that The Club area was sold to a new owner in 2010, according the film liaison that we spoke with, the same person who bought the building back in 1990 still owns it to this day.

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While we were stalking the Fais Do-Do, I was extremely sad to discover that the huge two-story bar that used to be located in the center of The Ballroom and on which I had sat in Crossroads had since been removed.  To me, that bar, which had a dance floor on top of it, was the coolest, most unique aspect of the entire club and I cannot believe the owner did away with it!  So incredibly sad.

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In Crossroads, Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used for the interior of Club Bayou, where Lucy Wagner (Britney Spears), Kit (Zoe Saldana) and Mimi (Taryn Manning) competed in a karaoke contest in order to win money to fix their car which had just broken down.

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That’s me in the blue pants standing next to Ben (Anson Mount) in the above screen capture.  Smile

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The Fais Do-Do dressing room, which you can see a photograph of here, was featured in the scene in which Kit, Mimi and Lucy get ready to go onstage.  Sadly, a film crew was using that area at the time that we were stalking the club so we were unable to take any pictures of it.

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The GC and I recently started watching fave show The O.C. again from the beginning and, let me tell you, I just about fell off my chair when I spotted Café-Club Fais Do-Do pop up in a Season 1 episode.  In “The Escape”, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom stood in for “Boom Boom”, the supposed-Tijuana-area club where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton) caught Luke Ward (Chris Carmack) cheating on her.

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And, while scanning through “The Escape” to make screen captures for this post, I was shocked to discover that the little bar where Marissa almost overdosed on pain pills later in the episode was none other than the Fais Do-Do’s Club!  The Club was remodeled in 2010 (as you can see in these photograph on the Lon’s Place blog) and looks a bit different now, but, amazingly enough, the actual bar where Marissa sat still looks exactly the same today as it did when the episode was filmed back in 2003!

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After reading my original post on the Fais Do-Do back in 2009, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, figured out that The Ballroom also stood in for Delloser Hall, the reggae club where Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) got stoned after inadvertently eating a pot-laced cake, in fave movie Never Been Kissed.

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In the extremely odd 2006 film The Gymnast, the Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom was used extensively as the place where Jane Hawkins (Dreya Weber) and Serena (Addie Yungmee) learned aerial fabric acrobatics.

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In the flick, you can clearly see the club’s former bar . . .

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. . . as well as the dance floor above it.

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Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s dressing room also appeared in The Gymnast.

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And in one scene, a business card featuring the club’s actual address, fax number, and website was even shown.  So incredibly cool!

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Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, also let me know that the Fais Do-Do had appeared in the Season 2 episode of Arrested Development titled “Queen for a Day”.  In the episode, the exterior . . .

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. . . as well as The Ballroom stood in for The Queen Mary, the bar that Tobias Funke (David Cross) purchased.

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The Club was also used in that episode as the restaurant where Byron “Buster” Bluth (Tony Hale) took his new girlfriend, Starla (Mo Collins), out for a milkshake.

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And the dressing room stood in for the Hot Cop stripper club, from which Lindsay Bluth Funke (Portia de Rossi) hired strippers to scare her husband into selling The Queen Mary.

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Back in February of 2011, while doing research for my post on The Little Door restaurant, I discovered that Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Club room was used in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “The Abyss”, in the scene in which the boys – Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) –  gather together to watch Saigon perform.

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I was shocked to discover (thanks to the Ron’s Place blog) that in 1994’s Reality Bites, The Club stood in for the bar where “Hey, That’s My Bike!”, Troy Dyer’s (Ethan Hawke’s) band, regularly played.  The room was heavily dressed for the filming, though, and is almost unrecognizable in the movie.

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The Fais Do-Do Club was also featured in the Jane’s Addiction video for “Underground”.

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As was the dressing room area.

Jane’s Addiction “Underground” Music Video–Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “Underground” video by clicking above.

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The Club also appeared in the Destiny’s Child “No, No No, Part 1” music video.

Destiny’s Child–”No, No, No Part 1” Music Video Filmed at Café-Club Fais Do-Do in Los Angeles

You can watch the “No, No, No, Part 1” video by clicking above.

This Is 40, the yet-to-be released sequel to 2007’s Knocked Up, also did some filming in Café-Club Fais Do-Do’s Ballroom in 2011.  And while the Ron’s Place blog stated that The Big Lebowski and American Gangster were also filmed at the Fais Do-Do, I scanned through both movies while doing research for this post and did not spot the place anywhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Café-Club Fais Do-Do, from Crossroads, is located at 5253 and 5257 West Adams Boulevard in Los Angeles.  You can visit the club’s official website here.

Jackie Robinson Stadium from “Never Been Kissed”

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One location that I attempted to stalk far more times than I actually care to admit is the supposed Chicago, Illinois-area Municipal Stadium where Sam Coulson (aka Michael Vartan) kissed Josie Geller (aka Drew Barrymore) for the very first time during the final scene of fave movie Never Been Kissed.  Fellow stalker Owen had long ago informed me that the filming of the stadium scene had taken place at UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium and the GC and I had ventured out to the school several times to try to stalk the place, but unfortunately we had absolutely zero luck in finding it.  I cannot tell you how many wasted hours the two of us spent walking the campus grounds looking for that darn stadium, but I think it is safe to say that we stalked just about every stadium at the University – and there are quite a few of them! – except for the one from Never Been Kissed.  What we had failed to realize at the time was that while Jackie Robinson Stadium is a part of UCLA, it is not in fact located on the UCLA campus, but about two miles west of it on Constitution Avenue near the 405 Freeway.  It was not until Owen sent me a detailed map that denoted the stadium’s exact location that I realized our mistake.  And it wasn’t until a couple of weekends ago that I was finally able to drag the GC back out there to stalk it.

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Jackie Robinson Stadium was named in honor of legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson who enrolled in UCLA after graduating from Pasadena Junior College, which is coincidentally just around the corner from where I live.  While studying at UCLA, Robinson became the very first student to ever letter in four sports – football, basketball, track, and, of course, baseball.  Robinson left UCLA during the spring semester of his senior year, shortly before he was to graduate, and took an assistant athletic director job with the National Youth Administration.  He, of course, went on to become one of the greatest baseball players to ever live and was the first African American to play for the Major Leagues since the 1800s.  The Jackie Robinson Stadium was originally constructed just over three decades ago thanks to a large donation from one of Robinson’s former classmates at UCLA, a successful businessman and philanthropist named Hoyt Pardee.  The stadium was dedicated on February 7th, 1981 and has served as UCLA’s home baseball field ever since.  In 2006, the structure underwent an extensive renovation process whereupon the field surface, lighting system, fan seating, perimeter net, and scoreboard were all upgraded and changed. 

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Thankfully though, even with all of those major alterations, the place where Josie Geller waited to be kissed for the very first time still looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen.

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In Never Been Kissed, the South Glen Rams’ team dugout was located on the eastern side of the stadium, as were the stairs that Mr. Coulson walked down to get to Josie.

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Oh, how I wanted to take a photograph standing on the pitcher’s mound where Josie awaited her first real kiss in the movie, but unfortunately there was a practice game going on when we showed up to stalk the stadium, so I could not venture down there.  And believe me, I tried, but the GC did NOT think it would be a good idea AT ALL if I disturbed that game by randomly running out onto the field.  He’s such a drag sometimes!  I mean, I would have waited until there was a break in play.  Geez!  Winking smile

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Sadly, the above photograph is the closest I got.  Ah well, it looks like I will just have to go back there and re-stalk the place again sometime in the near future.

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Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Never Been Kissed Stadium Map

Stalk It: Jackie Robinson Stadium, aka the Never Been Kissed stadium, is located at the intersection of Constitution Avenue and Davis Avenue, one block west of the 405 Freeway, in Westwood.  Although it is a part of UCLA, the stadium is NOT located on the actual university campus, so do not make the same mistake I did by looking for it there.  The stadium’s location in relation to UCLA is denoted in the above aerial view.  You can visit the Jackie Robinson Stadium official website here.

The “Never Been Kissed” Prom

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A couple of weeks ago, thanks to fellow stalker Chas, I was able to stalk the location of South Glen South High School’s prom from the 1999 movie Never Been Kissed.   Chas and I both knew that the prom interiors had been filmed at the Ebell of Los Angeles – a women’s educational and philanthropic club which has a long and storied film history and which I promise to blog about in the near future – but the exterior scenes had actually been filmed at another location entirely.  It was that exterior location that I asked Chas to find during my Never Been Kissed stalking kick a few weeks back.  Ironically, he told me that it was the one location from the movie that he didn’t think he would be able to track down.  Well, I guess he just doesn’t realize how good he really is because a few hours later he emailed me back with an address and, sure enough, it was the spot!!   YAY!

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Ironically enough, the exterior Never Been Kissed  prom location can actually be found just a block and a half away from the Ebell.    Why the two different locations you ask?  Well, my best guess is that producers wanted to shoot Drew and the gang’s entrance to the dance at a building with a large drop-off area, which the Ebell unfortunately doesn’t have.  So, when they found a suitable building located just two short blocks away, they decided to film the entrance scene there instead.  Just another example of the magic of Hollywood at work!  🙂

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For some odd reason I could not find much information about the Never Been Kissed  prom location online, even though it looks like it could be some sort of historic structure.   I’m actually very surprised that it is not on the National Register of Historic Places, as it is a truly beautiful place.  The only information I was able to discover is that the Mediterranean style building, which used to be a private residence, was converted to commercial office space in 1981.  While it is currently vacant, in the past the building housed the Metropolitan Talent Agency and, most recently, a wedding coordination company named the Ahn Gallery.   You can see interior photographs of the building on its leasing website here

Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!   🙂

Stalk It: The Never Been Kissed  prom site is located at 4526 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.  Note – if you search this location using Google Maps, the building will not show up.  You have to move about a block to the West to see it.  🙂  The Ebell of Los Angeles, where the interior prom scenes were filmed, is located just  down the street at 743 South Lucerne Boulevard.  Unfortunately, both properties are currently closed to the public.

The Never Been Kissed Coffee Shop and Tiki Post

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It appears to be “Chas week” here at iamnotastalker.com, because once again I find myself posting locations which were unearthed thanks to the incredible stalking talents of my friend Chas!  A few weeks ago, I enlisted his help in finding both the coffee shop and the Tiki Post locations featured in fave romantic comedy Never Been Kissed.  Chas located both sites pretty much immediately and I am VERY happy to report that the coffee shop featured in NBK is an actual coffee shop in real life, too!  Y’all know how much I love me some coffee!  So, I immediately dragged my fiance out to Monrovia to do some Never Been Kissed stalking  – and to grab an iced latte, too, of course!  🙂

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The coffee shop, which was called Nana’s in Never Been Kissed, shows up towards the beginnning of the movie as the spot where Leelee Sobieski and Drew Barrymore grab a bite to eat after cool guy Guy hides Josie’s car.  In reality, that coffee shop is known as the Monrovia Coffee Company and from what information I could gather while stalking it, I believe it is the very same place that was there when NBK was filmed.  The girl working the front counter was a new employee, so she couldn’t answer many of my questions, but she did say she was fairly certain that the Monrovia Coffee Company had occupied that same space for well over ten years.  Maybe it’s just me, but wouldn’t you think the fact that Never Been Kissed had been filmed on the premises would have been part of the information given out during the employee training program???  Sheesh!

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I am very happy to report that the Monrovia Coffee Company looks almost exactly the same in person as it did onscreen in Never Been Kissed.  The decor has changed slighty and new tables and chairs have been added in the ten years since filming took place, but otherwise it is very easily recognizable!

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Even the neon ice cream/coffee cup sign is STILL in place in the front window – albeit in a slightly different spot.  SO LOVE IT!!!!!

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And, of course, I just HAD to sit in the same exact place where Leelee and Drew hung out during the scene.  🙂  There is no table in that corner area now, but I was still floored to be sitting there, just the same.

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Chas was able to find this location by noticing an address number posted across the street from the coffee shop when Josie looked out the window during the scene.   He had an inkling the coffee shop was located in Monrovia and, sure enough, he was right!

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The Monrovia Coffee Company is a super cute little place that serves up some great coffee, so I highly recommend stalking it!!

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Just up the street from the NBK coffee shop was the storefront that was used as the Tiki Post where David Arquette worked in the movie.  I say “was the storefront” because, unfortunately, that location no longer exists.  Old Town Monrovia got a bit of a facelift a few years back and the block where the Tiki Post was located was changed considerably.

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I am going to guess that at the time Never Been Kissed was filmed the Tiki Post space was vacant, which is why producers chose to use it.  Shortly after the movie was completed, the entire property was razed and a Cold Stone Creamery built in its place.

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“The Fox and the Hair” salon, which Drew and David are standing in front of in the above screen capture, was also completely torn down and is now a Krikorian Movie Theatre.   The Fox and the Hair moved just around the corner from this location to a storefront on Lime Avenue.

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Chas was also able to pinpoint this location using an address number and a sign posted directly across the street from the Tiki Post which read “L & D Appliance Corp.”  Thankfully, L & D is still located in the exact same spot it was during the filming of Never Been Kissed, which led Chas right to the former Tiki Post location.  I told you he was good!  🙂

Big thank you – yet again! – to Chas for finding these locations.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It:  The Never Been Kissed coffee shop, aka the Monrovia Coffee Company, is located at 425 South Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia.  The former Tiki Post location can be found at 408 South Myrtle Avenue, also in Monrovia.

The Never Been Kissed High School

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Yesterday, I dragged my mom out to a location I have been meaning to stalk for years now – the school that stood in for South Glen High School in the 1999 romantic comedy Never Been Kissed.   In actuality, though, the school where filming took place wasn’t a high school at all, but a huge middle school named John Burroughs located in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.  John Burroughs Middle School opened up way back in 1924 with a starting roster of only 400 students.  Today, that student body has grown to include a whopping 2,300 Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth graders!   John Burroughs, or “JB” as it is more commonly known, is absolutely HUGE in person, much larger than it appeared in Never Been Kissed.  So large, in fact, that I couldn’t step back far enough to fit its whole exterior in the lens of my camera!!  I so need to invest in that fish eye lens!  LOL   John Burroughs is a very beautiful, traditional style brick school that looks like it could be found in any city in America.  Because of its All-American feel, it’s not hard to see why it has been featured in countless movie and television productions.

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While my mom and I were stalking the school, we ran into a couple of faculty members who really could not have been nicer to us.  They gave us a brief rundown of some of the filming that has taken place on the JB campus, but inronically it seemed that I knew more about the school’s filming history than they did.  🙂   LOL  And, since school is not currently in session, they even let us walk around the campus to snap some pictures.  🙂  I am happy to report that John Burroughs Middle School looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did onscreen in Never Been Kissed.  Both the interior and the exterior of the middle school were used extensively in the filming.  Specific areas of the school featured in the movie include the exterior, where Drew Barrymore parked her brother’s car each morning;

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the school’s entryway, complete with metal detectors, which were put there specifically for the filming;

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the main stairwell;

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the hallways;

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and the main office, where Drew Barrymore got smacked in the face by a door. 

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From what I understand, some of JB’s classrooms were also used in the filming of the movie, most notably Room 108, which according to the faculty member I spoke with is a room which has been featured in numerous productions.

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Burroughs Middle School also popped us as Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire’s 1950’s high school in Pleasantville . . .

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and as Michael J. Fox’s high school in Teen Wolf.

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The exterior of the middle school was also featured in Teaching Mrs. Tingle, Rex Buster, The Samurai of Strongsville, Ohio, Rebound, Beauty Shop, Agent Cody Banks, Casper: A Spirited Beginning, and the television series Family Matters.  The interiors of the school were used in The Haunting of Molly Hartley, Like Father, Like Son, and Meteor Man  and its auditorium was featured in the movie Deep Impact.  There are also reports that the school was used in both Pretty in Pink and A Nightmare on Elm Street, but I’m not sure that information is correct.  Filming for both of those moves took place extensively at John Marshall High School in Los Feliz.  That’s not to say, though, that some minor filming might have taken place at Burroughs Middle School, but so far I have not been able to verify that.

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   Famous alumni of John Burroughs Middle School include Laila Ali (Muhammad Ali’s daughter), Tyra Banks, author James Ellroy, and American Idol’s Frenchie Davis.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: John Burroughs Middle School is located at 600 South McCadden Place in Los Angeles.