Charles Mulligan’s Steakhouse from “Parks and Recreation”

Charles Mulligan's Steakhouse Parks and Recreation (18 of 19)

This past March I wrote The Complete Parks and Recreation Guide to Los Angeles for L.A. magazine.  At the time of the posting, though, I had yet to visit every location featured on the list.  The most glaring omission from my stalking profile was Whiskey Bend, the Burbank bar that masqueraded as Charles Mulligan’s Steakhouse, aka Ron Swanson’s (Nick Offerman) favorite restaurant, on the NBC series.  I finally made it over there last month while my friends Kim and Katie were in town visiting from Kentucky.  Katie (who is pictured above) is a huge P&R fan so I figured the outing would be perfect for us and it was!

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Because Katie is under 21, we did not venture inside Whiskey Bend.

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Charles Mulligan's Steakhouse Parks and Recreation (13 of 19)

Neither did Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation.  Though the eatery was mentioned countless times throughout P&R’s 7-season run, Whiskey Bend only appeared in one episode, Season 3’s “Indianapolis.”  In the episode, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ron head to Circle City to receive a commendation.  Ron is particularly excited to make the trip because Indianapolis is home to Charles Mulligan’s Steakhouse, “the best damn steakhouse in the damn state.”

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Charles Mulligan's Steakhouse Parks and Recreation (5 of 19)

Upon arriving, though, they find “her” (yes, Ron refers to the restaurant as a “her) “boarded up like she was some common warehouse” due to a health code violation.  He does not take the news well.

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Charles Mulligan's Steakhouse Parks and Recreation (6 of 19)

Whiskey Bend also made an appearance as Scandals, Lima, Ohio’s local gay bar, in the Season 3 episode of Glee titled “The First Time.”

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The interior of the bar was also featured in the episode.

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I do hope to head back to Whiskey Bend in the near future as not only is the place said to have a great happy hour, but it also offers karaoke three nights a week.  Um, count me in!  There are few things I love more in this world than karaoke and, being that my favorite L.A. karaoke spot, Dimples, just recently closed, it’s high time I find a go-to spot!

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Charles Mulligan's Steakhouse Parks and Recreation (7 of 19)

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

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

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Whiskey Bend, aka Charles Mulligan’s Steakhouse from Parks and Recreation, is located at 1221 North San Fernando Boulevard in Burbank.

The Pit from “Parks and Recreation”

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As I mentioned in Monday’s post, this past weekend was an absolute whirlwind! It all started bright and early Friday morning when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I embarked upon what turned out to be a nine-hour stalking adventure across the greater part of Los Angeles. One of the stops on our trip – and the most exciting for me – was the Sullivan Street Pit, aka the Pit, aka Lot 48, from my new favorite show, Parks and Recreation. Fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, had given me the address to the Pit, along with the addresses of about twenty other P&R locations, a few years back, and when I finally started watching the series last month, I became just a wee-bit obsessed with stalking it. So I added the locale to Friday’s To-Stalk list and dragged Mike right on over there after the two of us grabbed some lunch.

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The story of the Sullivan Street Pit is as follows: Once upon a time in Pawnee, Indiana, a real estate developer purchased a plot of land, into which he dug a huge hole before subsequently going bankrupt and abandoning the property, leaving behind a giant pit. At some point afterward, a musician named Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) fell into the Pit, breaking both of his legs, causing his girlfriend, Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), to complain about the abandoned site at a public forum. When overly ambitious Parks and Recreation Deputy Director Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) learns of the situation in the series’ pilot episode, she makes it her mission to turn the property into a beautiful public park, and the storylines of Seasons 1 and 2 focus entirely on that (misguided) venture. The Pawnee Pit, which, in actuality, was a giant hole dug by the Parks and Recreation crew at an undeveloped lot in Van Nuys, was featured regularly during the series’ first two seasons.

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In the Season 2 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Kaboom”, the Pit gets filled in, thanks to the efforts of Leslie, Andy, and Ann, and that filled-in lot is then also featured in numerous subsequent episodes.

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I cannot tell you how absolutely incredible it was to see the Parks and Recreation Pit in person! The site is, hands down, one of the coolest locations that I have ever stalked in all my years of stalking. In fact, I think I am going to have to add it to my Los Angeles Must-Stalk List. And yes, I do realize that the place is basically just an overgrown, vacant lot, but, for some inexplicable and intangible reason, it seems to have a certain hold on people, including me. I think it has to do with the fact that the site played such an important role on P&R. As Owen said, the Pit is almost a character in and of itself. Add that to the fact that the the Pit was once an actual hole in an actual neighborhood and not some manufactured set piece and you have one must-see locale. Mike had never actually watched an episode of Parks and Recreation before Friday, but after stalking the Pit he went right out and bought Season 1 on DVD. And when I mentioned the place to my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog (who could normally care less about locations), she said, “Now that’s one site I would really like to stalk.” See what I mean? The Pit just has a certain allure.

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As you can see below, the lot, which is absolutely HUGE in person (much larger than I had expected it to be), is currently completely overgrown and it does not appear as if Parks and Recreation has done any filming there in quite some time. Oh, how I would have loved to have seen the place back when it was still in pit form! You can see some fabulous aerial views of what the location looked like during the filming of Season 1 on fave website Virtual Globetrotting.

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According to the sign pictured below, the 1.16-acre lot is currently for sale for a whopping $4,999,999. The site has apparently already been permitted for the building of 26 townhomes, with expenses and fees paid, so I am guessing that the story told on P&R (that a developer purchased the land in order to build condos and then went bankrupt) is pretty much exactly what happened in real life, too. I am hoping against all hope that the property does not sell anytime soon. How fabulous would it be if it was indefinitely left its current state for all of us stalkers to enjoy?

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And while Ann’s house is, of course, located directly behind the Pit, I am actually saving that location for a separate post.

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On a side-note – I would like to send out a huge CONGRATULATIONS to the love of my life, Matt Lanter, who recently proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Angela Stacy. And while it really should have been me you proposed to, Matt, I guess I am just going to have to be the bigger person here! All kidding aside, here’s wishing you all the happiness in the world! Winking smile

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Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

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Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Sullivan Street Pit from Parks and Recreation is located at the southeast corner of Hazeltine Avenue and Collins Street in Van Nuys. Ann Perkins’ house is located directly behind the Pit at 5655 Murietta Avenue in Van Nuys.

Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

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This past Monday morning, I headed out to Downtown Hollywood to see Alec Baldwin receive the 2,433rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  For whatever reason, I typically do not attend many Walk of Fame events, but this month I found myself present at not one, but two!  As I blogged about two weeks ago, I went to Adam Sandler’s ceremony on February 1st and, because of all of the aggressive fans, figured I wouldn’t be hitting up another one for a good long time.  But then I found out that Alec Baldwin was being honored with a star on Valentine’s Day and because Jack Donaghy, the character Alec plays on 30 Rock, is one of my favorite television characters of all time, I just had to attend!  I asked my dad to come along with me, but he quickly ixnayed that idea, telling me “I wouldn’t walk across the street to see that guy!”  LOL LOL LOL  What can I say – my dad has never been one to mince words.  So, once again, I ventured out to watch the ceremony by myself.  I ended up meeting a SUPER nice fellow stalker/blogger named Pinky, from the PinkyLoveJoy blog, while I was there and spent most of my time prior to the ceremony literally drooling over her many photographs with celebrities, especially the one she had with Miss Sarah Jessica Parker.  Sigh!  So incredibly jealous!!!  Pinky is an absolutely amazing stalker and has photographs with literally everyone who is anyone in Hollywood.  And she has bundles of energy!  After spending hours at Alec’s ceremony, after which I was ready to call it a day, Pinky headed right on out to Westwood to do some stalking of the Rango premiere’s red carpet, where she got to meet and take a photograph with none other than Johnny Depp!  I’m telling you, she has the golden touch and is a far better stalker than I could ever hope to be!  Some of her magic did rub off on me, though, as I managed to snag a couple of photos with celebrities yesterday, but more on that later.

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I showed up to Alec’s ceremony at 10 a.m., about 90 minutes prior to when it was set to begin, and, amazingly enough, there were only about twenty or so fans there.  But then, all of a sudden, it was like the floodgates opened and masses and masses of people started showing up – more people than were at the Adam Sandler ceremony, actually, which absolutely shocked me.  It finally dawned on me, though, that most people had the day off from work as it was Lincoln’s birthday, which is why I think so many fans were able to attend.

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Because so few people were there when I first arrived, I managed to snag a GREAT spot directly in front of Alec’s star.

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Unfortunately, about an hour later, the media was allowed in and they set up their ginormous cameras directly in front of Pinky and me, which completely obstructed our view.  So, the two of us decided to move over to the area directly behind Alec’s star, which did not allow us a good view of the actual ceremony, but turned out to be the PERFECT place to stand as we were situated in the exact spot where all of the celebrities entered and exited the event area.  YAY!

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Alec Baldwin showed up about ten minutes before the ceremony was set to start (love it!) and immediately walked up to the fans and started signing autographs.   Alec seemed very friendly and approachable.  Sadly, he was just a little too far to the side of where I was standing for me to be able to get a picture with him.

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Also in attendance for the ceremony was Alec’s brother Stephen Baldwin;

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actress Anne Heche, who starred with Alec onstage in the 2004 revival of the play “Twentieth Century” (Anne looked absolutely amazing in person, by the way, and I absolutely fell in love with the jacket she was wearing);

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Megan Mullally, who spoke during the ceremony;

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Megan’s husband, Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson on the television series Parks and Recreation;

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Jack McBrayer, who plays the belovedly daft Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock;

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and the two commentators pictured above, whose names I cannot for the life of me remember.

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Alec’s ceremony got started right on time, with an introduction by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler.

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Then Megan Mullally gave a brief speech honoring Alec.  Unfortunately, because of where I was standing, I could not hear most of what was said, but what I did hear was incredibly funny.  She even had Alec Baldwin doubled over with laughter at one point, as you can see in the above photograph. 

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Megan explained that she first met Alec when he guest-starred as a government agent with whom her character, Karen Walker, had an affair on the hit television show Will & Grace.  She also stated that Alec got his start in soap operas, which was fortuitous considering his personal life in recent years.  Winking smile  And she informed the crowd that Alec had three beloved brothers – “Shawn, Damon, and Keenan Ivory” LOL – who all followed in his footsteps by “becoming handsome”.

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After Megan’s speech, Alec took to the stage and unfortunately I could not hear any of what he said.  Such a shame, too, as he had the fans situated at the front of the ceremony in hysterics. 

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After the ceremony was over, all of the stars who were in attendance headed over to the fan area to start signing autographs – all of the stars, that is, except for Jack McBrayer, who left the premises pretty much immediately and headed into Beso Restaurant where the after-party was being held.  Jack refused to sign any autographs or take any pictures on his way out, which was highly disappointing as I absolutely LOVE him on 30 Rock.  Sadly, he did not seem at all nice or friendly.  There was a group of three teenage girls standing next to me who were HUGE fans of his who at one point yelled out to him, “Be our Valentine, Jack McBrayer!”, but he refused to look their way or even acknowledge them in any way, which I thought was pretty crappy. 

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He did give a very brief wave to the crowd on his way out, but, other than that, there was no attempt on his part to be friendly to the fans at any point during the event. 

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After Alec finished giving interviews to the press, he walked over to the crowd and spent quite a bit of time signing autographs. 

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Sadly though, he only came over to our section for a brief moment and only took one photograph – with Pinky! – so I unfortunately did not get a picture with him.  You can check out Pinky’s photograph with Alec on her blog here

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BUT Megan Mullally came over shortly thereafter and signed autographs for and took pictures with absolutely everyone who wanted one . . .

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. . . including me!  YAY!  Megan was SUPER nice and SUPER friendly and I could NOT have been more excited to meet her!  (I had to take the above photograph myself, which is why it is such an extreme close up.)

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Anne Heche came over immediately following Megan and also stopped to pose for photographs with and to sign autographs for absolutely everyone who wanted them.  She was also incredibly nice and took her time speaking with all of the fans.  I really should have taken the opportunity to ask her where she had purchased her amazingly cute coat, but I was far too nervous to actually do so!

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Nick Offerman walked over next and was easily the friendliest out of the bunch.  SUCH an incredibly nice and seemingly down-to-earth guy. 

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And even though I have never seen an episode of Parks and Recreation, I absolutely LOVE Nick now.  What a complete and total sweetheart!

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Alec’s star is pictured above. 

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On a side note – Fellow stalkers/Drew Barrymore aficionados Ashley and Anne, of the Drewseum website, got to meet up with their celebrity hero this past Friday and their story is nothing short of A-MA-ZING!  I literally could NOT tear myself away from my BlackBerry while reading it.  I HIGHLY recommend reading about their incredibly touching and memorable encounter with Drew on their website here.  LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!  LOVE IT!  

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame star can be found outside of Beso Restaurant, which is located at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.