“Parks and Recreation” Filming at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena

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Last Wednesday, while on my morning walk to Starbucks, I happened to pass by fave bookstore Vroman’s and just about fell over when I noticed an entire slew of production trucks parked out front.  I, of course, immediately sought out one of the crew members to ask what was being filmed and he told me that it was an episode of Parks and Recreation.  And even though I had never actually seen the NBC series before, I decided to stick around to watch the filming – only after getting my Starbucks first, of course.  Winking smile The shoot was taking place inside of Vroman’s, in the store’s Reading Group section, which had been set up to look like a book signing event was about to occur.  The crew had brought in all new furniture for the scene, as well as several posters for Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, a book supposedly written by Pawnee, Indiana Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Leslie Knope (aka Amy Poehler).  And while I had assumed that the tome was a fake that had been created solely for the filming, it is apparently a real life publication about the show that is set to be released on October 4th.

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A display featuring several copies of Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America was set up in the background of the scene and, throughout the day, before filming began, countless Vroman’s customers would walk up and look through it, thinking it was a real item that was for sale.  LOL  I am dying to know if anyone actually brought a copy up to the cash registers and tried to purchase it!

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At first I was not sure if I would be allowed to photograph the set that the crew had created, so like an idiot I was trying to be sly and take pictures on the down-low, which never seems to work out for me.  For some reason, whenever I try to fly under the radar and be covert, I end up drawing attention to myself, which is exactly what happened in this case.  One of the crew members noticed me ever-so-stealthily snapping photographs and informed me that I was welcome to take all of the pictures that I wanted . . .

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. . . at which point I immediately jumped up onto the podium that Amy Poehler would be standing on during the scene to pose for a pic.  Smile YAY!

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I was most fascinated, though, with a palm tree located just outside of Vroman’s front doors (which would only be seen in the background of the scene) that set dressers decorated to look like a tree indigenous to the Midwest, where Parks and Recreation supposedly takes place.

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As you can see above, the front side of the tree’s trunk had been covered over with fake bark for the filming.

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And real life branches from some sort of Midwestern tree (can you tell that I am in no way, shape, or form a green thumb?!?) were mixed in with the actual palm’s branches.  The tree looked so incredibly realistic, even up close, that it was almost unbelievable!  I don’t think anyone who walked by even noticed that it had been altered, even though the trunk looked a bit odd from the side.

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I was absolutely dying to get a photograph with Rob Lowe (whose autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, was recently loaned to me by my good friend/fellow stalker Kerry and is can’t-put-down-AMAZING!) and figured I could catch the actor on his way into the bookstore before filming got started. Sadly though, Vroman’s has three different entrances and I waited outside of the wrong one and missed him entirely.  Major, major FAIL!  Especially since he was reportedly incredibly friendly and nice!  Apparently, one of the Vroman’s employees, who goes by the twitter handle @howsannie, had sent out the following tweet the previous evening: “Parks & Recreation is filming at the store tomorrow.  Dibs on @RobLowe!”, to which the actor responded, “I expect prominent book display!”  When Rob walked into the store the following afternoon, his books were indeed on prominent display and he not only signed a bunch of copies for Vroman’s to sell, one of which is pictured above, but he also signed a copy for @howsannie.  How incredibly cool is that?  He even tweeted a photograph of himself from the set that day, which you can take a look at here.  I was lucky enough to get to watch Rob, along with Amy Poehler and Chris Pratt, during the filming and all I can say is WOW!  The guy is VERY good looking!  Much more so than he appears to be onscreen.  And while I would have waited around until the shoot wrapped to try to get a picture with the cast, I had promised Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, that I would stalk a movie premiere with her later that afternoon, so I couldn’t.  Ah well!  Here’s hoping they will be filming in Pasadena again sometime soon!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.  You can visit the store’s official website here.  Look for the Parks and Recreation episode that was filmed at Vroman’s to air sometime in the next two months or so.

Alicia Silverstone’s “The Kind Diet” Book Signing

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This past Wednesday night I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to my favorite local bookstore, Vroman’s (which coincidentally just appeared in the most recent episode of Modern Family, but more on that later), to attend the book signing and discussion for Alicia Silverstone’s new lifestyle tome The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet.  Even though I am not in any way, shape, or form a vegan, I was absolutely DYING to attend the book signing because, as I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, not only is Clueless one of my all-time favorite movies, but Alicia and I happened to grow up in the same hometown – San Mateo, California – so I have always had a very special place in my heart for the actress.  Because I am a diabetic and on a very strict, virtually no-carbohydrate diet, though, and because most vegan diets that I have read about tend to favor carbs, I was not actually interested in purchasing a copy of Alicia’s book for myself.  But my good friend Nat, who actually attended San Mateo High School – Alicia’s alma mater – is a vegan and she absolutely LOVES Alicia’s book – and her lifestyle blog, The Kind Life – so I decided I would purchase a copy for her as a little “just because” present.  Which is how the GC and I found ourselves heading over to Vroman’s at about 5 p.m. this past Wednesday night.  And, as always, before the event got started, I sent him outside to snap some photographs of Alicia when she arrived.  Winking smile

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The signing began right on time, at 7 p.m., but for some reason it was VERY strictly monitored.  No photographs WHATSOEVER were allowed during the event – not when Alicia walked into the room, not during the discussion session, and not while standing in line waiting to have our books signed.  We were told shortly before her arrival that each guest would be allowed one – and only one – posed photograph with Alicia (which I could NOT have been more excited about as most celebs will not actually pose for pictures during a signing), but otherwise photographs of any kind would not be allowed.  To enforce this, two quite burly Pasadena policemen were on site and they threatened to remove anyone who was even spotted with a camera in their hands during the event!  So I was extremely thankful that the GC had managed to snap some photographs of Alicia outside of the store.

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Alicia, who is currently pregnant, was ABSOLUTELY adorable in person and much taller than I had expected her to be, although she was wearing some fairly tall heels.  She walked directly to the podium upon arrival, introduced herself, and started speaking about why she decided to write The Kind Diet, which was an extremely surreal moment for me as it was like watching the Haitian immigrant debate scene from Clueless (pictured above) come alive before my very eyes.  I kept having to pinch myself to make sure that it was all really happening and that I wasn’t actually at home sitting in front of my television set.  I have to say that in person, Alicia reminded me A LOT of Cher, her Clueless alter-ego.  In real life, Alicia has the same mannerisms, facial expressions,  and vocal tendencies that I had grown so familiar with from watching the movie over and over again.  And I can honestly say that I love Alicia even more now than I did before.  The actress came off as extremely charming, warm, genuine, and sweet.  She was also poised, well-read, and wildly knowledgeable about veganism, holistic medicine, and healthy nutrition.  I was riveted listening to her and, while not a vegan, found myself agreeing whole-heartedly with the vast majority of what she had to say.  She also handled herself incredibly well when one of the audience members asked her an asinine question about veganism and pregnancy, in which he tried to make Alicia look bad.  (Honestly, if you don’t agree with her lifestyle and are not a fan of hers, then why come to the event????)  Alicia responded to him, though, with honesty, wit, and a bit of snarkiness and ended up making him look like a complete and total moron.  As we left the event, I found myself wondering how she managed to do that!  I cannot tell you how much I would love to be able to tell a rude person off without breaking my cool and all the while seeming poised and charming.  But I digress.  I was most surprised to hear Alicia speak about diabetes and veganism.  As it turns out, her diet does not favor carbohydrates at all and is actually very similar to the diet I am currently on, so it looks like I am now going to have to buy a copy of the book for myself! 

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After Alicia’s speech, which lasted about thirty minutes, we all lined up to meet the actress.  Alicia really took her time with all of her fans and seemed to have an incredibly warm and open personality.  And, as promised, every guest got to pose for a photograph with her, which I was absolutely floored about! 

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Nat’s signed book is pictured above.

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Alicia’s inscription reads, “Dear Natalie, Thank you for loving the book!  <3, Alicia Silverstone”.

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As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, fave show Modern Family recently did some filming on location at Vroman’s Bookstore.  The final scene of the Season 2 episode titled “Two Monkeys and a Panda”, in which Mitchell Pritchett (aka Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron Tucker (aka Eric Stonestreet) peruse various books on parenting, took place near the store’s Current Event’s section.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.  You can check out the store’s upcoming signings here.  You can purchase Alicia Silverstone’s book The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight, and Saving the Planet here.  You can visit Alicia’s lifestyle blog, The Kind Life, here.  And you can check out future L.A.-area book signings and other celebrity events on my Upcoming Celebrity Events page here.