Màs Malo from “Scandal”

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Los Angeles is often ridiculed for having no history – or no appreciation of its history.  Demolition of the Ambassador Hotel aside, I don’t find that to be true.  There is history – well-preserved history – around pretty much ever corner.  You just have to know where to look.  Case in point – Màs Malo, a downtown L.A. Cal-Mex eatery that is situated inside of a gorgeous former 1920s jewelry emporium.  The site first hit my radar while I was researching DTLA watering holes for my Double Shot: Two Downtown Bar Crawls article for the June 2016 issue of Los Angeles magazine.  As I mentioned in the piece, Màs Malo’s second-floor lounge was featured in a Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation.  I became completely enamored of the gorgeous space after perusing photos of it online and added it to my To-Stalk List, but somehow never made it out there.  Then when I spotted the restaurant pop up on a recent episode of Scandal, I decided I had to head over there stat and finally did, Grim Cheaper in tow, two weeks ago.

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The 1922 building that Màs Malo calls home was initially constructed as the headquarters and flagship store of Brock & Company Jewelers, one of the city’s most prominent jewelry shops at the time. Originally founded in the 1880s by George A. Brock, Brock & Co. was often referred to as the “Tiffany of the West.”

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The Spanish Colonial Revival-style property, which boasts Churrigueresque elements, was designed by William James Dodd and William Richards of the Dodd & Richards architecture firm.

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The structure’s highly ornate exterior was assembled out of terra cotta.

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Though the building’s façade is undeniably beautiful and definitely picture-worthy, it is the interior that had me so intrigued.

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The ground floor of the property, which served as the watch and jewelry showroom during Brock & Co.’s tenure, boasts a stunningly intricate and sweeping vaulted ceiling.

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The ornamental carvings are nothing short of breathtaking.  In fact, pictures don’t do them justice – they are even more spectacular in person.

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Brock & Co. was eventually taken over by George’s son, George C. Brock, who had no children.  With no one to leave the company to upon retiring in 1964, he sold it to real estate developer Ben Weingart, who continued to operate the site as a jewelry store for a few years before eventually shuttering it.  In 1975, the grand space was leased to the Clinton family, owners of the popular Clifton’s Cafeteria chain.

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The Clintons modified the former jewelry store in order to transform it into another Clifton’s outpost, this one named Clifton’s Silver Spoon Cafeteria, which operated from 1975 to 1997.  Thankfully, the modifications were minor and the building’s baroque ceiling was left intact, as were the handmade Mahogany display cases that lined the interior.  You can see some images of the building during the Clifton Silver Spoon days here, here, and here.

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After Clifton’s was shuttered, the Brock & Co. building, which is a Los Angeles Cultural-Historic Monument, remained vacant for close to a decade.  In 2007, 213 Nightlife Group founder Cedd Moses set his sights on the property’s second floor, which the jewelry company had utilized as a silver, china and crystal department.  He revamped the space into Seven Grand, a dimly-lit, wood-paneled whiskey bar festooned with mounted buck heads.  Moses even made use of Brock & Co.’s original display cases to store the watering hole’s extensive liquor collection.  Seven Grand became an immediate hit and though the bar is also a popular filming location (it has popped up on The Office, Lie to Me, Body of Proof, and Modern Family, just to name a few), I have yet to stalk it.  But don’t worry, it’s on my list.

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In 2010, Brock & Co.’s lower level was leased by Mitchell Frank and Jeff Ellermeyer.  Along with interior designer Tracy Beckmann and restoration expert Amy Higgins, the two renovated and reimagined the former jewelry showroom, transforming it into Màs Malo, a sister restaurant to their Silver Lake eatery, Malo.  The site opened to the public in January 2011.  You can check out some fabulous photographs of Amy’s restoration work on the ceiling here.

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Màs Malo is hands down one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited.  Even if the food was bad, I’d recommend the place for the ambiance alone.  Thankfully, that’s not the case, though.

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As the GC and I came to find out, the fare at Màs Malo is out of this world!  I opted for the Ground Beef & Pickle Tacos, which were recommended by the bartender.  Pickles on a taco?  I was skeptical, too.   The entrée was actually created by chef Robert Luna’s mother.  As he explained to The Huffington Post, “I was twelve years old and my mom was prepping for hamburgers when she realized she had no bread.  She took a tortilla and turned it into a hard taco with the beef and the pickles.  Since then I haven’t wanted hamburgers any other way.”  Countless Angelinos agree.  The dish quickly became a signature item.  While the pickles add a unique and altogether pleasant touch, for me, the taco’s real pièce de résistance is the tortilla shell, which is the perfect blend of crispy and chewy.

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Considering its gorgeous aesthetic, it is no surprise that the Brock & Co. space has been featured in several productions.

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In the Season 6 episode of Scandal titled “Hardball,” Màs Malo masked as the supposed Washington, D.C. bar where Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) took FBI Director Angela Webster (Saycon Sengbloh) for drinks to distract her so that Huck (Guillermo Diaz) could search her car.  The scene was shot in the restaurant’s mezzanine area.

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Shortly after Clifton’s Silver Spoon Cafeteria closed, the then vacant space appeared in the 1999 film Fight Club as the spot where The Narrator (Edward Norton) ate for free while warning Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter) that she needed to leave the city.  As you can see, the site looked quite a bit different at the time due to a huge wooden partition that was set up around the ground floor.

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In the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Animal Control,” which aired in 2013, Màs Malo’s mezzanine masked as the Pawnee Smokehouse, where Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) gave a Sweetums charity pitch to perfume mogul Dennis Feinstein (Jason Mantzoukas).

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

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Màs Malo, from the “Hardball” episode of Scandal, is located at 515 West 7th Street in downtown Los Angeles.  You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

The Garland Hotel from “Parks and Recreation”

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A couple of years ago, I drove by a hotel that looked like a little slice of retro heaven and became transfixed.  I made a mental note of its name and vowed to research it further.  As soon as I got home, though, I realized the name had escaped me and, because I have no sense of direction whatsoever (my mom says I couldn’t find my way out of a paper bag!), I did not even really remember where it was located.  Then this past November, fate stepped in.  While the Grim Cheaper and I were driving to the Valli Tropics apartments from Wicked City, we randomly passed by the hotel and I just about did a dance of joy!  This time I took note of its name, The Garland, and vowed to book a stay there in the near future.  In a synchronistic twist, fellow stalker Michael of The Golden Spoon Café and Downtown Christmas Shopping District from The Brady Bunch fame, happened to mention in an email just a few days later that he had stayed at the Garland on a recent trip to L.A. and loved it.  So when it came time to book a hotel for my and the GC’s Christmas shopping trip shortly thereafter, The Garland was the only hotel I looked into.  And it turned out to be even better than I had imagined!

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The Garland stands on a seven-acre parcel of land once owned by Gene Autry.  Fillmore Crank, the real estate developer husband of actress Beverly Garland, purchased the large, undeveloped lot in 1970 with thoughts of building an apartment complex there.  His good friend baseball player Casey Stengel convinced him to construct a hotel on the land instead.  So the couple partnered up with Las Vegas hotelier John Kell Houssels Jr., secured a 20-year deal with The Howard Johnson Company, and in 1972 the Beverly Garland Howard Johnson Motor Lodge opened to the public.

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The 155-room hotel was not constructed in the typical Howard Johnson fashion with an angled red roof, but in the Mission style as a nod to its Southern California location.

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When the contract with Howard Johnson ended, Beverly and Fillmore ran the hotel independently for a short while before eventually signing on with the Holiday Inn, at which time it was renamed the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn.  To locals and frequent guests, though, it was known as the “Beverly Garland” or “The Garland.”

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In 2000, Beverly and Fillmore’s son, James Crank, took over management of the hotel, though Beverly could still often be seen flitting around the property, helping guests.  When the Holiday Inn contract expired in 2013, James decided to once again operate the site as an independent hotel that he redubbed “The Garland.”  He also began a $20-million renovation of the place at that time, the results of which are absolutely spectacular!

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From the Instagram-able lobby . . .

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. . . to the unique retro touches at every turn . . .

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. . . to the lively décor . . .

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. . . The Garland is honestly like no other hotel I’ve ever seen.

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The Christmas decorations were also majorly on point.

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Today, the 257-room hotel boasts a large outdoor pool (which sadly, due to the seriously frosty weather, we were unable to partake of) . . .

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. . . countless outdoor spaces . . .

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. . .  a myriad of activities for families, children and couples, including a foosball table and board games set up in the courtyard. . .

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. . . gorgeous vistas . . .

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. . . literally everywhere you look (yes, that’s a wall of flying butterflies!) . . .

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. . . whimsical design elements around seemingly every corner, which I had fun with . . .

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. . . and a massive outdoor garden event space designed by famed landscape architect Jonny Appleseed.

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The Garland also offers free shuttle service to Universal Studios and Universal City Walk, complimentary Wi-Fi, a plethora of onsite classes including poolside macramé and garden tai chi yoga, a business center, a gym, a fabulous gift shop that carries all sorts of California- and L.A.-themed goodies, and over 16,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

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I would be remiss if I didn’t mention The Front Yard, the hotel’s onsite restaurant.

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Upon checking in, we received a coupon for two complimentary cocktails at The Front Yard, so we decided to try the place out and wound up staying for dinner.  The GC and I both opted for the TFY Burger – a ground short rib burger with a potato bun, truffle dijonnaise, wild mushrooms, Point Reyes toma cheese, and red onion balsamic jam.  It was uh-ma-zing!  So good that the GC was literally craving it all day the next day and couldn’t wait for dinnertime so that we could rush back there.

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Oh, and our room wasn’t too shabby, either.  It was the perfect combination of retro and modern, with whimsical touches throughout.

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All in all, The Garland is a fabulous hotel and I couldn’t more highly recommend a stay there.

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To add to the allure, The Garland is also a popular filming venue!  The site has been a location scout favorite from the beginning, in fact.  Back in its early days, it appeared in everything from Quincy, M.E. to Falcon Crest to Switch.  In the book Beverly Garland: Her Life and Career, author Deborah Del Vecchio quotes Garland as saying, “They’ve also done a Six Million Dollar Man and Police Woman [at the hotel].  In fact, they’ve done just about all the big shows here.  They have filmed everywhere in the hotel – inside at the desk area, around in the back, jumping off of balconies – and the guests just love it.  Of course, it is a mess when they do film because they’ve got cables running everywhere.  They’ve done commercials around the pool and the tennis courts.  We always put a sign up saying, for instance, “Universal is filming Six Million Dollar Man here today” so that our guests will know that sometimes they would not be able to get to the front desk for a while or do certain things that they’d like to do.  And yet they get a kick out of that.  Most people enjoy the fact that they are in Hollywood and that the studios are filming here at the lodge.  And it’s good publicity for us and we like it!”  Couldn’t have said it better myself, Beverly!

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The Garland appeared no less than five times on the popular television series Knight Rider.  One such instance was Season 1’s “Forget Me Not.”

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The episode made use of the hotel lobby and really gives a feel for what The Garland looked like pre-remodel.

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An actual room was also used in the filming.  It cracked me up to see how different the rooms were back in 1982 when the episode was shot.

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In 2012, The Garland masked as Pawnee Supersuites in the Season 4 finale of Parks and Recreation titled “Win, Lose or Draw.”  It was in the hotel’s Garland Ballroom, renamed the Jermaine Jackson Ballroom for the episode (LOL!!!), where Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and the rest of the Parks gang waited for the City Council election results.

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Very little of the ballroom was actually visible in the episode, though, due to all of Leslie’s campaign decorations.

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Nevertheless, it is still recognizable from its appearance.

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Pre-remodel, the Garland Ballroom appeared in the Season 2 episode of Knight Rider titled “Speed Demons,” which aired in 1984.  The room looks so incredibly different now, it is hard to believe it is the same place where Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) tried to help a down-on-his-luck dirt bike racer.

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The “Win, Lose or Draw” episode of Parks and Recreation also made use of one of The Garland’s smaller ballrooms.

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That ballroom is pictured below.

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In the 2012 comedy The Guilt Trip, The Garland portrayed the Virginia Mountain Motor Inn.

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One of the real life rooms was featured in the movie, as well.

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

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Garland, from Parks and Recreation, is located at 4222 North Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

Charles Mulligan’s Steakhouse from “Parks and Recreation”

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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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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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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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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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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 Federal Bar from “Parks and Recreation”

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It’s shaping up to be Parks and Recreation week at IAMNOTASTALKER.com, as here I am with yet another location from the series.  I actually came by today’s locale accidentally.  While scanning through P&R’s “Operation Ann” episode for yesterday’s post about the Hamburger Hamlet in Sherman Oaks, I spotted The Federal Bar, a North Hollywood watering hole that I stalked back in May of last year because of its appearance on fave show Perception.  For whatever reason, I had yet to blog about it, though, and, thanks to the P&R kick I’ve been on lately, figured today was the perfect time to do so.

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The ornate brick building that currently houses The Federal Bar was originally constructed as a branch of Security Trust and Savings Bank in 1926.  It was designed by John and Donald Parkinson, the father-and-son architectural team who also created Union Station (which I briefly blogged about here), Bullocks Wilshire (which I blogged about here) and Los Angeles City Hall (am oft-used filming locale that I have, shockingly, never stalked).  Parkinson and Parkinson built several similar-looking bank buildings for the Security Trust chain across Los Angeles throughout the years.  The one located at 5601 North Figueroa Street in Highland Park is a virtual twin to The Federal Bar.  That structure, which I have yet to stalk, has appeared countless times onscreen.  It is currently featured each week as the police station on the new CBS series Battle Creek.

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For many years, The Federal Bar space operated as Paperback Shack Books, an independent bookstore owned by Earl Spar.  In the mid-2000s, the proprietors of Fred 62 (a popular restaurant/filming locale in Los Feliz that I blogged about here) acquired the location and began an extensive, three-year renovation process to turn it into a restaurant/nightclub.  They named the new venture “Bank Heist,” which I think was a rather unfortunate dubbing considering one of the bloodiest bank heists in L.A.’s history took place just a little over two miles away.

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Bank Heist opened in late September 2007, but never really had a chance to establish itself.  Less than four months later, on January 7th, 2008, it was gutted by a fire.

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In 2010, Knitting Factory Entertainment CEO Morgan Margolis spotted the architecturally stunning building while taking his children to a martial arts class (I am guessing that class was held at the dojo from The Karate Kid, which is located less than a block south) and thought it would make the perfect place for a new Knitting Factory music club (his insanely popular Hollywood Knitting Club outpost had closed in 2009).  The historic look of the building caused him to eventually rethink his plans, though, and, after leasing the place, he decided it was better suited to house a gastropub.

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Of the neighborhood, Margolis stated in a Los Angeles Daily News article, “I was really trying to get to the next area I felt was going to move forward, and North Hollywood seems to be transitioning consistently.  A lot of other areas were also moving up – i.e. Silverlake, Los Feliz, downtown – but I felt like they were already getting saturated.  There are also a lot of great architectural spaces that I like that are hard to find in certain areas.  I like a lot of brick, I like old buildings, auto garages and warehouses.  I like high-beamed ceilings.  This area seems to have an abundance that is popping up.  And I found an area where I felt like you could still touch the square footage at the right price.”

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After a bit of renovation, The Federal Bar was opened in early 2011.  According to a 2012 Los Angeles Times article, it turned a profit the following month and has continued to do so every month since.

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The 5,000-plus-square-foot space, which was fashioned by interior designer Rod Sellard, boasts four (yes, four!) bars, a second floor special events area with a stage, and an outdoor patio.

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The Federal Bar is nothing short of spectacular, both inside and out, and it is not very hard to see why the place has become popular with location scouts.

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In the Season 4 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Operation Ann,” Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) headed to The Federal Bar to spy on Ann Perkins (Rashida Jones), who they thought was out on a secret date with her boss Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe).  As Leslie and Ben soon discovered, though, Ann was actually on a date with Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari).

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While scanning through the episode to make screen captures for yesterday’s post, I immediately recognized The Federal’s intricate exterior.

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In the scene, Tom and Ann were sitting in the southwest area of The Federal’s bottom floor and Leslie and Ben spied on them through the windows located on Weddington Street.

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The Federal Bar Parks and Recreation (19 of 26)

The Federal portrays the Philadelphia bar where the Dunder Mifflin gang crashes a trivia contest Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez) is participating in in the Season 8 episode of The Office titled “Trivia.”

The Federal popped up as two different places in the Season 2 episode of Perception titled “Wounded.”  One of the bars on the main floor was used as the watering hole where Kate Moretti (Rachael Leigh Cook) told Blake Rickford’s (Logan Bartholomew) date that he was a suspected rapist.

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And one of the upstairs bars was where Kate spied on Blake later in the episode.

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The exterior of The Federal was also used in that scene.

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The Federal also popped up in flashback scenes in Perception’s next episode, titled “Warrior.”

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In 2013, The Federal masked as Sudz in the Season 9 episode of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia titled “The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award.”

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Only the interior of The Federal was used in the episode, though.  The establishing shot that was shown was of Alla Spina restaurant, located at 1410 Mount Vernon Street in Philadelphia, which I found thanks to this amazing map of the series’ City of Brotherly Love locales.

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Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) attend a “jazz brunch” with Amy’s ex, Teddy Wells (Kyle Bornheimer), at The Federal in the Season 4 episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine titled “The Audit,” which aired in 2017.

The women of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills debrief on the latest Lisa Vanderpump drama while at The Federal in the Season 9 episode titled “A Wolf in Camille’s Clothing.”

In 2013, Morgan Margolis opened a second Federal Bar inside of another former Security Trust and Savings Bank building.  It, too, has appeared onscreen.  Located at 102 Pine Avenue in Long Beach, the space formerly housed Madison steakhouse, which was where Brad’s (Vince Vaughn) company Christmas party was held in the 2008 comedy Four Christmases.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for taking many of the photos that appear in this post.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Federal Bar, from the “Operation Ann” episode of Parks and Recreation, is located at 5303 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood.  You can visit the bar’s official website here.

Hamburger Hamlet from “Parks and Recreation”

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Halfway through writing this post, I realized I probably should have saved it until February.  At that point, though, it was too late to start over, so I figured c’est la vie.  Here goes.  A few years ago, when I first saw the “Galentine’s Day” episode of Parks and Recreation, I recognized the restaurant featured in it as the Hamburger Hamlet in Pasadena.  I used to dine at the eatery fairly regularly when I lived in the area and immediately recalled its signature red leather seating, brick walling and dark wood accents while watching P&R.  It was not until a couple of a months ago that I decided to do any research on the locale, though, and when I got to comparing images of it to screen captures from the episode, I realized that, while similar, quite a bit did not match up.  I quickly surmised that “Galentine’s Day” had most likely been lensed at another of the Hamburger Hamlet chain’s many outposts and, sure enough, eventually discovered that filming had taken place at the Sherman Oaks location.

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The Hamburger Hamlet chain was established by actor Harry Lewis and his wife, Marilyn, in 1950.  The first outpost stood on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Hilldale Avenue in West Hollywood and served comfort food and gourmet hamburgers.  It was insanely popular from the get-go.

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It was not long before HH outposts were cropping up all over Los Angeles, as well as in other states.  In its heyday, 23 sister restaurants dotted the country.  The L.A. locations were known as being celebrity hot spots, attracting such legendaries as Lucille Ball, Frank Sinatra, Diahann Carroll, Bette Davis, Danny Thomas, Mel Brooks, Warren Beatty, Ronald Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor, Sammy Davis Jr., Tony Curtis, Florence Henderson, Elton John, Betty White, Nancy Sinatra, and Dean Martin.

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Harry and Marilyn sold the chain, as well as their Beverly Hills eatery Kate Mantilini, for a whopping $30 million in 1987.  They later ended up buying Kate Mantilini back and subsequently opened up a sister location in Woodland Hills.  Both were also insanely popular with celebrities  (I once dined next to Reese Witherspoon at the Beverly Hills outpost) and non-celebrities alike, but have since, sadly, closed.

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Recent years have not been kind to the Hamlet.  Though the eateries were still bustling with business most days, news of closures popped up regularly.  When the Pasadena outpost was shuttered in January 2014, the only HH left in the L.A. area was in Sherman Oaks.  It, too, wound up closing in June of last year, but was, thankfully, acquired by Kevin Michaels and Brett Doherty, the restaurateurs behind Killer Shrimp in Marina del Rey – another popular filming location that I I blogged about here.  The duo reopened the site, keeping many of the Hamlet’s menu staples intact, in September.

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I have been a huge fan of the Hamlet ever since I first moved to Southern California and am happy to report that the re-opened Sherman Oaks location did not disappoint.  As always, the food was great and the service friendly.  Supposedly, the space will be undergoing a remodel at some point this year, though, so if you want to see it in its current state, I wouldn’t wait.

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (8 of 25)

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (10 of 25)

In the Season 2 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Galentine’s Day,” which aired in 2010, Hamburger Hamlet was where Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) took her girlfriends out for their annual Galentine’s Day breakfast.  For those who did not watch P&R and are confused as to what exactly Galentine’s Day is, I’ll let Leslie explain – “Every February 13th, my lady friends and I leave our husbands and our boyfriends at home and we just come and kick it breakfast-style.  Ladies celebrating ladies.  It’s like Lilith Fair, minus the angst . . . plus frittatas.”

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Leslie and the girls returned to the Hamlet in 2012 to film another Galentine’s Day breakfast scene for Season 4’s “Operation Ann.”

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Oddly though, a different place – Villa restaurant from Must Love Dogs, which I blogged about here – was used for the establishing shot of the restaurant in the episode.

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Fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, also informed me that the Sherman Oaks Hamburger Hamlet was used in the Season 8 episode of The Office titled “The List” as the spot where Robert California (James Spader) took a select few Dunder Mifflin employees for lunch.

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

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (16 of 25)

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Hamburger Hamlet, aka the Galentine’s Day restaurant from Parks and Recreation, is located at 4419 Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.  You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

Dennis Feinstein Headquarters from “Parks and Recreation”

Dennis Feinstein Headquarters Parks and Recreation (1 of 11)

Though I chronicled the main locations used on Parks and Recreation pretty extensively for Los Angeles magazine in March, I still have a few of the series’ less prominent locales stockpiled in my backlog and figured it was about time that I covered them.  While watching the Season 7 episode titled “Save JJ’s,” I became just a wee bit obsessed with the building that portrayed the offices of Dennis Feinstein (Jason Mantzoukas), due to the fact that it bore such a strong resemblance to the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center at the College of the Canyons, aka the Austin FBI Headquarters from The MentalistI figured the two structures were probably designed by the same architect and that the Feinstein building was most likely part of a college campus.  Though I did find the place fairly quickly, both of my hunches turned out to be wrong.

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Dennis Feinstein Headquarters is actually the Wallis Annenberg Research Center at the House Research Institute, which is located at 2100 West 3rd Street in Westlake, just north of MacArthur Park.  The architecturally stunning site was designed by Nick Seierup of the Perkins+Will architecture firm in 2007.  Construction of the building was made possible thanks to a $10 million donation from the Annenberg Foundation.

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According to its Facebook page, the House Research Institute, which was established in 1946 by ear specialist Howard P. House, was “a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with hearing loss and related disorders through research, patient care and the sharing of knowledge.”  Sadly, the facility started to lose funding during the economic downturn in 2008 and eventually closed its doors in 2014.  The House Ear Clinic portion of the organization, which treats about 30,000 patients each year, remains open, though.

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According to the Perkins+Will eBook, Nick Seierup incorporated the function of the building into its design by modeling its frame after “the curvilinear shape of the cochlea of the inner ear.”

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In 2008, the structure won the “New Buildings: Commercial” award from the the Los Angeles Business Council.

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Though the exterior gates were open when I showed up to stalk the place, being that it is an active medical center, I felt uncomfortable venturing onto the property to take any photographs.  Quite a lot of it is visible from the street, though, and you can check out some interior photos of the building here.

Dennis Feinstein Headquarters Parks and Recreation (6 of 11)

Dennis Feinstein Headquarters Parks and Recreation (7 of 11)

In Parks and Recreations’ “Save J.J.’s” episode, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) and the rest of the Pawnee Parks gang hold a rally at Feinstein’s head offices after learning that the cologne magnate is planning to demolish the beloved J.J.’s Diner (you can check out that location here) in order to make room for an elbow art salon (and no, that is not a typo).

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the House Research Institute was also used in the filming.

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A few other productions have also made use of the unique structure over the years.  The 2009 television series Three Rivers was set in Pittsburgh, but was actually lensed in L.A.  Production took place mainly at The Studios at Paramount and the House Research Institute, which stood in for the William H. Foster Transplant Institute and the Three Rivers Regional Medical Center on the series.

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Ironically, while the exterior and lobby area of Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank (another Parks and Rec locale that I blogged about here) were used as the hospital where Sarah Highman (Michelle Monaghan) gave birth at the end of the 2010 comedy Due Date . . .

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. . . other interiors were shot at the House Research Institute.

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In 2013, the exterior of the House Research Institute made a brief appearance as a hospital entrance in the Season 5 episode of Castle titled “The Fast and the Furriest.”

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In the 2015 Entourage movie, Eric (Kevin Connolly) and Sloane (Emmanuelle Chriqui) have their baby at the House Research Institute.

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And it is the hospital where Howie ‘Chimney’ Han (Kenneth Choi) is taken after his car accident in the Season 1 episode of 9-1-1 titled “Next of Kin,” which aired in 2018.

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

Dennis Feinstein Headquarters Parks and Recreation (3 of 11)

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Dennis Feinstein Headquarters from Parks and Recreation, aka the House Research Institute, is located at 2100 West 3rd Street in Westlake.

Burning Man’s House from “Major Crimes”

Major Crimes Abandoned House (8 of 18)

My friend Owen and I share an uncanny synchronicity.  The other night I received an email from him which said the following, “837 Beacon Ave., L.A.  You may want to stalk this place after you watch the Season 7 premiere of Parks and Recreation.”  I had yet to see the episode, but immediately looked up the address via Google Street View and just about fell off my chair.  The very same house had also appeared in that week’s Major Crimes and I had made a mental note while watching to track it down.  As I said, uncanny!  It was as if Owen had read my mind!

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The reason Owen thought I would be interested in stalking the residence should be apparent to those who read my site regularly.  As you can see below, the property is abandoned and there is nothing this stalker loves more than an abandoned site.

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Major Crimes Abandoned House (6 of 18)

In the Major Crimes episode that I had watched, Season 3’s “Special Master: Part Two,” the Major Crimes Division gang tried to catch a serial murderer/rapist known as “Burning Man” who was killing women in abandoned houses all over L.A.  They finally manage to locate him at his abandoned childhood home in what is said to be Boyle Heights.  In reality, though, the property is in Westlake.

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The interior of the residence also appeared in the episode.

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In the Season 7 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “2017,” which aired the day after “Special Master: Part Two,” April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) stumbled upon an open house at the property while driving through Pawnee, Indiana’s “creepy Warehouse District.”

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I loved the fact that the owner was holding open houses every day in the episode.  He was really motivated to sell!  Winking smile

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While touring the interior, Andy states that the residence has the “fairly standard layout” of 12 closets, 3 bomb shelters, 5 dumbwaiters, 2 and 3/8 baths, and no kitchens.”  Ah yes, and there is also a staircase to nowhere and a fire pole on the premises.  Once the couple learns that the pad used to be a holding cell for assembly line workers from the Pawnee Doll Head Factory who had gone insane, they spontaneously decide to purchase it.  Sold!

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In real life, the property, which was originally built in 1895, boasts 6 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3,264 square feet of living space, and a 0.18-acre plot of land.  And I am guessing that it does actually have a kitchen.

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Though the property is abandoned in real life, I think it is in better shape than its façade would have one believe.  Granted the place is not turn-key by any means, but it’s not dilapidated, either.  I am also fairly certain that the windows are boarded up in order to protect them and not due to being broken.

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Owen also let me know that April and Andy’s new home had appeared in several other productions over the years.  In the Season 8 episode of The X-Files titled “Via Negativa,” which aired in 2000, the house serves as the supposed Pittsburgh headquarters of the Third Eye cult.

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The interior of the property also appears in the episode.

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Detective Michael Raines (Jeff Goldblum) and his team arrest some murder suspects at the house in the Season 1 episode of Raines titled “The Fifth Step,” which aired in 2007.  Only the interior of the residence is featured in the episode.

 

In the Season 2 episode of The Mentalist titled “The Scarlet Letter,” which aired in 2009, the home masks as an apartment building where the stepmother of a murder victim lives.

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The interior of the dwelling was also utilized in the filming, though obviously altered to appear as if it was comprised of separate apartment units.

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That same year, the property was featured in the movie Blood and Bone as the boarding house where Isaiah Bone (Michael Jai White) stays after being released from prison.

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The interior of the home also appears in the movie.

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As you can see, it is in much better shape than one would expect.  The woodwork is gorgeous!  All the place needs is a little Magic Eraser and it would be amazing!

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

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

Major Crimes Abandoned House (12 of 18)

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Burning Man’s house from Major Crimes is located at 837 Beacon Avenue in Westlake.