The “Mama’s Family” Houses

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I have dreamed of writing this post for so long!  One of the locations I get asked about the most (I literally get emails and comments about it all the time!) is the house that portrayed Thelma Harper’s (Vicki Lawrence) residence during the first two seasons of Mama’s Family.  For those who aren’t familiar with the series and its locales, three different dwellings were actually used to represent the Harper family home throughout the show’s six-year run.  Two of them have long been well-documented online.  I even blogged about the most recognizable of the three (pictured above) back in April 2009.  The third, though, which was featured in the series’ original opening credits, as well as all Season 1 and 2 establishing shots, remained elusive.  While I logged quite a few hours searching for it over the years, I never had any luck pinpointing it, largely due to the fact that the only video I could find of the initial opening was an extremely poor quality YouTube clip.  Then, last week, I received a tweet from @RLXREI asking about the locale and I thought I should revisit the hunt.  This time, luck was on my side.  (As I mentioned in Monday’s post, the stalking gods have seriously been smiling down on me as of late.)

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The first thing I did this go round was look for a high quality version of the original opening and, lo and behold, found a fairly decent upload of the pilot episode on Dailymotion.  Upon initially viewing the low quality credits, I believed Mama’s house was located in Los Angeles, most likely in Hancock Park and its environs.  But as soon as I watched the higher-res version and saw the lack of fencing and general openness of Mama’s front yard, as well as of the neighboring residences, I knew that the property had to be somewhere outside of California.  In a fortuitous move, I headed back over to the YouTube clip to see if any comments had been posted about the home.  As it turns out, there were several – and my stomach caught in my throat when I saw that a user named “Kelly Frech” had responded to a query stating that she had grown up in one of the residences shown in the intro.  Kelly was even kind enough to provide some location information, stating that filming took place on West 59th Street in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Not knowing anything about Kansas City or where to begin searching on West 59th (which runs for miles!), I headed over to Google Maps, randomly dropped the little yellow Street View man into a spot on the road, and my mouth dropped.  There, right before my eyes, was the Harper home!  Though I had picked the spot arbitrarily, fate had led me right to the Mama’s Family house, which I am thrilled to finally be able to report is located at 18 West 59th Street in Kansas City, Missouri!  Thank you, Kelly Frech!  Amazingly, per the Street View imagery above and below, the residence looks exactly the same today as it did when Mama’s Family originally aired in 1983!

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The other houses seen in the opening credits are located just up the road to the west.

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Because Mama’s Family was lensed in L.A., cast and crew could not utilize the Kansas City house for on location shots.  So they found a pad closer to home – at 675 South Oakland Avenue in Pasadena, to be exact – to stand in for it when called for in an episode.  That house is pictured below.  Oddly, it does not resemble the Missouri dwelling in the slightest, though it was typically only featured in tight shots, so not much of it was ever shown.

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The Oakland Avenue residence appeared in a handful of Season 1 and 2 episodes, including “Mama Runs for Mayor: Part 1” (pictured above) and “Mama Buys a Car” (pictured below).  In the latter, we get one of the only full shots of the home shown on the series.

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Due to low ratings, Mama’s Family was cancelled in 1984, after a scant two seasonsThat should have been the end of the story, but in an innovative move, producer Joe Hamilton decided to try reviving the series via first-run syndication two years later.  The revamped show, complete with a new opening and a new Harper residence (pictured below), premiered on September 27th, 1986.  It was a resounding success and went on to air 100 episodes over the course of four seasons before ending its series run in 1990.

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The residence utilized during those final four seasons can be found at 1027 Montrose Avenue in South Pasadena.

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Interestingly, Mama’s Family’s original opening was replaced with the new one in all of the Season 1 and 2 episodes that aired in syndication, which is why audiences are most familiar with the Montrose Avenue house and why many do not even realize that a different home was ever utilized.

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The Montrose Ave. residence also appeared – or at least a portion of it did – as Lynda’s (P.J. Soles) home in the 1978 thriller Halloween.  As you can see below, very little of the property was shown in the film.

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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 house featured in the first two seasons of Mama’s Family is located at 18 West 59th Street in Kansas City, Missouri.  The residence used in on location filming during those seasons can be found at 675 South Oakland Avenue in Pasadena.  And the property featured in Seasons 3 through 6 (as well as in all syndicated episodes) is at 1027 Montrose Avenue in South Pasadena.

The Gilmore Mansion from “Gilmore Girls”

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While I realize this may be considered blasphemy in some circles, I have never really watched Gilmore Girls.  On paper, the show definitely looks like something that would appeal to me, but for whatever reason, I failed to tune in when it originally started airing in 2000.  At the behest of fellow stalker/Gilmore Girls aficionado Chas, from the It’s Filmed There website, I finally viewed six or so episodes early last year, but the series just didn’t hook me.  Don’t get me wrong – GG is not bad or unentertaining by any means.  I just can’t seem to get into it – which I think is largely due to the fact that the show boasts 7 seasons, 153 episodes, and a 4-part reboot.  That’s a lot of binge-watching to get through.  It’s kind of overwhelming to even think about.  Despite my viewing neglect, I do know quite a bit about the series’ locations, thanks both to Chas and the fact that I’ve gone on the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, where GG was mainly lensed, countless times.  One locale I did not know about – heck, not even Chas knew about it – was the home used for establishing shots of the Gilmore mansion, aka the stately pad where Richard (Edward Herrmann) and Emily Gilmore (Kelly Bishop) lived.

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It is pretty common knowledge among Gilmore Girls fans – and regular Warner Bros. tourgoers such as myself – that the exterior of the Gilmore mansion was a façade built inside of a soundstage on the studio lot.   So imagine Chas’ surprise when he received an email from Thomas Pucher, of the Falcon Crest website, a couple of months back informing him that said façade was modeled after the exterior of an actual house – a handsome 1924 French Provincial Revival-style manse located in Pasadena.  Not only that, but actual footage of the dwelling was used in establishing shots of the Gilmore residence during Season 1.

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In real life, the massive 5-bedroom, 7-bath, 8,124-square-foot property, which sits on a 0.74-acre lot, is known as the William R. Staats House.

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It was designed by the Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury architecture firm for real estate developer William Staats, who worked with Henry Huntington in developing Pasadena.

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The William R. Staats House was not the only mansion utilized as the Gilmore home on Gilmore Girls.  In fact, the tale of Richard and Emily’s residence is a bit of a long one.  The GG pilot was lensed largely in Toronto, Canada and its environs, with a few re-shoots done on the Warner Bros. Studio backlot.  In the pilot, a dwelling at 61 Binscarth Road masked as the Gilmore mansion.

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The interior of the Binscarth Road pad was also utilized in the pilot.

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Once Gilmore Girls got picked up, production moved to Los Angeles.  Virtually all series filming took place at Warner Bros.  GG is not a show that left the lot very often.  One of the few non-studio locales utilized was the William R. Staats House.  The exterior of the residence was first featured in the Season 1 episode titled “Kill Me Now.”

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The exterior also appeared in “Star-Crossed Lovers and Other Strangers.”

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While I knew that the studio-built façade was also utilized during Season 1, because I don’t watch the show, I was unsure of which bits were shot at the real house and which were shot on set.  Enter my friend/guest poster extraordinaire Michael (you can read his many IAMNOTASTALKER articles here).  Michael is a big fan of GG, so I passed the information about the Staats House along to him.  He wound up reviewing several Season 1 episodes and came to the conclusion that the Pasadena pad only appeared in establishing shots a couple of times on the series and that all of the scenes that took place in front of the Gilmore mansion involving actors were lensed at the set re-creation.  It was easy for him to distinguish between the real home and the façade based on three factors – the façade bricks are much whiter and flatter than those of the real house, the studio re-creation bushes are much taller than those of the real home, and, most telling of all, the set mansion does not have a threshold, while the real house does.

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As Michael further explained, “In the first season they keep pretty close to the door.  I assume they hadn’t built much of the exterior at that point.  Then in the second season, the front driveway set is expanded, ivy is added to the facade, and a second light is added next to the door, all deviating from the Pasadena location.”

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Though some commenters on this recent Reddit post about the Gilmore mansion speculate that the actual interior of the Staats House was utilized during Season 1, that is incorrect.  Once the series was picked up, a set replica of the interior of the Toronto residence used in the pilot was constructed.  Said set was featured from the second episode, titled “The Lorelais’ First Day at Chilton” (pictured below), through the end of the series – though it was altered a bit over the years.  As creator Amy Sherman-Palladino explained during Entertainment Weekly’s PopFest in October 2016, “We always had this issue with the Gilmore house where we didn’t have a lot of money that first season, so it was a little tiny, and it kinda looked like Ed [Herrmann] was in a doll house.  He was a very tall man, and the next year we had a little bit more money, so we could make a room a little bigger every year.”

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The enlarged Gilmore mansion interior from Season 2 is pictured below.

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As Thomas informed Chas, the Staats House also popped up in two Season 5 episodes of Falcon Crest as the Monte Carlo chateau where Peter Stavros (Cesar Romero) was held prisoner.  It first appeared in “Gambit Exposed.”

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The interior of the property was also shown in the episode and, as you can see, it does not look anything like the Gilmore mansion.

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The Staats House then appeared in the subsequent Falcon Crest episode, titled “Finders and Losers.”

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Thanks to Chas, I also learned that the Staats House masked as the home of Richard Montana (Balthazar Getty) in the Season 6 episode of Charmed titled “Love’s a Witch.”

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The episode affords us a fabulous look at the interior of the residence.

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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 Thomas Pucher, from the Falcon Crest website, for finding this location and to Chas, from It’s Filmed There, for telling me about it.  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Richard and Emily Gilmore’s mansion from Gilmore Girls is located at 293 South Grand Avenue in Pasadena.

The Ultimate Guide to the Los Angeles Filming Locations of “Say Anything . . . “

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1989. The year the Berlin Wall fell, Disney-MGM Studios opened at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, Game Boy was released by Nintendo, and, on April 14th, Say Anything . . . debuted. Cameron Crowe’s romantic tale of eternal optimist Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) and his resolute love for classmate Diane Court (Ione Skye) remains a standout teen romance today, almost three decades after its release, and has inspired countless onscreen and real life imitations in the form of trench coat-wearing paramours expressing their love via a boombox held high overhead. Though set in Seattle, Washington, outside of a few establishing shots and some B-roll footage lensed in the Pacific Northwest, the movie was filmed in its entirety in Los Angeles. In honor of the flick’s 28th anniversary, I teamed up once again with Greg Mariotti, from Crowe’s official The Uncool website, to chronicle the L.A.-area locales featured in the timeless tale.

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1. Corey Flood’s House (2545 Ganesha Avenue, Altadena) – Though an establishing shot of a traditional two-story home at 3627 Northwest 65th Court in Seattle was used to portray the residence of Lloyd’s gumptious BFF Corey Flood (Lili Taylor), all actual filming took place a good 1,100 miles away at a dwelling in Altadena.

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2. Lloyd’s Apartment (318 South Canyon Blvd #3, Monrovia) – The non-descript apartment building where Lloyd lives with his sister, Constance (who was played by Cusack’s real life sister, Joan), and nephew, Jason (Glenn Walker Harris Jr.), is another San Gabriel Valley locale. The two-story complex can be found on a shady street in Monrovia, looking much the same today as it did onscreen 28 years ago. The actual interior of Unit #3, including the bathroom where Lloyd calls Diane for the first time, was utilized in the film.

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3. Lakewood High School Graduation – Santa Monica College Amphitheatre (1900 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica) – The large amphitheater where Diane gives her famous “I’ve glimpsed our future and all I can say is, ‘Go back!’” valedictorian speech is sadly no longer standing. Formerly located at Santa Monica College, the arena was razed in 2009 to make way for a student services building.

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4. Post-Graduation Meet-Up – Lacy Park (1485 Virginia Road, San Marino) – Following the graduation ceremony, Lakewood High’s Class of ’88 gathers at San Marino’s picturesque Lacy Park to take photos and greet loved ones. While there, James Court (John Mahoney) gifts Diane with a car and Corey snaps a down-low picture of Lloyd stealthily posing with an unaware Diane. The sprawling park also pops up later in the movie in the montage scene in which Diane and Lloyd walk, talk and kiss in the rain.

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5. Diane’s House (140 South Norton Avenue, Windsor Square) – Supposedly located in a Seattle suburb, the two-story dwelling where Diane and James live can be found in Windsor Square. Partial views of the exterior and the pad’s real life interior – including the dining room, a bedroom, the living room and kitchen – were utilized in the shoot. Amazingly, the home has remained virtually untouched since filming took place. You can check out some photographs of it here.

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6. Golden Seasons Retirement Home – Tierra del Sol (9919 Sunland Boulevard, Sunland) – Two different locations were used to represent Golden Seasons, the retirement home run by James. All exterior filming took place at Sunland’s Tierra del Sol, a support and training center for disabled adults that was originally established in 1971. Though the organization’s kitchen also appeared in the movie, all other interiors were shot at the now-defunct Scripps Home, an assisted living facility formerly located at 2212 El Molino Avenue in Altadena. While Tierra del Sol still looks much the same as it did in Say Anything . . ., Scripps Home was razed in 2008 and a new, larger senior housing project now stands in its place.

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7. Vahlere’s House (1686 Homewood Drive, Altadena) – Lloyd refuses to allow Diane to leave the country for her upcoming fellowship without attending Vahlere’s (Eric Stoltz) “graduation thing,” and, after quite a bit of prodding, she finally agrees to be his date. The raucous party was shot at a large 7-bedroom, 8-bath, 6,637-square-foot dwelling in Altadena. Both the interior and exterior of the property were featured in the movie.

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8. Mike’s House (4936 Sunnyslope Avenue, Sherman Oaks) – After driving around aimlessly for over three hours upon leaving the party, unwitting “key-master” Lloyd is finally able to drop off a very drunk and very lost Mike (Jason Gould) at his home before continuing on with his date with Diane. Mike’s house can be found on a quiet street in Sherman Oaks, markedly unchanged from its onscreen self. The later scene in which Diane breaks up with Lloyd in his Chevy Malibu (“dissed in the ‘bu!”) was shot nearby.

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9. 7-Eleven (11340 Magnolia Boulevard, North Hollywood) – The iconic moment in which Lloyd brushes glass out of Diane’s path, subsequently melting the hearts of female moviegoers everywhere, was an added scene lensed months after initial filming wrapped. The romantic segment took place in the markedly unromantic parking lot of the 7-Eleven on Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood.

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10. Cameron’s Seafood (1978 East Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena) – Diane shares a rather awkward lunch with her mother at one of Pasadena’s oldest eateries, Cameron’s Seafood, which was originally established in 1984. Little of the locale’s ocean-themed décor has changed since the segment was shot.

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11. Flooky’s (5200 Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood) – Lloyd and Diane agree to be “friends with potential” over coffee at Flooky’s, a Valley chain that was founded in 1965. Outposts of the hot dog diner were once dotted all over L.A. and, while most are now shuttered, including the North Hollywood location where Say Anything . . . was filmed, nostalgic fans of the eatery can still grab a wiener at the Woodland Hills and Canoga Park sites.

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12. Diane and Lloyd Spend the Night Together – 20th Century Fox Studios (10201 West Pico Boulevard, Century City) – Thanks to a well-timed establishing shot of a Seattle-area beach, Diane and Lloyd seemingly consummate their relationship seaside in Lloyd’s car. In truth, the scene was shot inside Stage 14 at Fox Studios.

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13. Guitar Garage – Voltage Guitars (1513 North Gardner Street, Hollywood) – Oh, Lloyd, don’t you know you should never kiss and tell? But he does just that, informing his friends Corey and D.C. (Amy Brooks) about his dalliance with Diane while at a now defunct outpost of Voltage Guitars, Hollywood’s oldest vintage guitar store, formerly located on North Gardner Street. Originally established in 1982 (ironically enough by a man named Lloyd), today the company is mainly an online business and the Gardner Street space is currently vacant.

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14. Kick-Boxing Dojo (5223 Lankershim Boulevard, North Hollywood) – Lloyd doesn’t want to “sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.” So he instead finds a job teaching kick-boxing to kids at a local “Seattle” dojo. Filming of the kick-boxing scenes took place at a real karate studio in North Hollywood. The site is something of a cinema stalwart, having also appeared as the Cobra Kai dojo in the 1984 classic The Karate Kid and its 1989 sequel, The Karate Kid III. An alternate scene in which Diane and Lloyd get back together supposedly outside of the dojo was actually shot a good 16 miles away at Library Park in South Pasadena. You can watch that segment, as well as many other deleted, extended and alternate scenes, on the Say Anything . . . Special Edition and 20th Anniversary Edition DVDs.

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15. Lloyd Calls His Sister (Fern Dell Drive, Griffith Park) – After Diane breaks up with him, a heartbroken Lloyd pulls over to make a call to his sister from a phone booth situated on a rainy stretch of sidewalk. The memorable, oft-quoted scene (“She gave me a pen. I gave her my heart and she gave me a pen.”) was an additional shoot lensed after principal filming had wrapped at the southern end of Fern Dell Drive, just north of Los Feliz Boulevard, in Griffith Park. The rain visible in the segment was manufactured and the phone booth was a prop, but Lloyd’s conversation was real – he was actually speaking with his sister on the other end of the line while shooting the segment.

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16. Gas N Sip – Retro Dairy Mart (4420 West Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank) – After his break-up with Diane, Lloyd seeks solace from some male friends (including a young Jeremy Piven) at the local Gas N Sip. The scene was actually shot in the parking lot of a 1962 Alta Dena Dairy outpost located in Burbank. The site, now a Retro Dairy Mart, recently found onscreen fame once again thanks to its appearance as Ryan Gosling’s favorite breakfast spot in La La Land.

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17. Wiener’s Luggage at Westfield Fashion Square (14006 Riverside Drive, Sherman Oaks) – James attempts to purchase a suitcase set for his daughter, as well as hit on a saleswoman (spoiler – he’s unsuccessful on both counts) at the Westfield Fashion Square outpost of the upscale luggage boutique Wiener’s Luggage. Due to the IRS’ investigation into his finances, James’ credit cards are denied and he is forced to leave the shop sans suitcase – and his dignity. Today, the Wiener’s space is home to a Sephora.

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18. North Hollywood Park (11430 Chandler Boulevard, North Hollywood) – In what is arguably one of the most iconic movie scenes from the 1980s, Lloyd serenades Diane by standing outside of her house with a boombox held high above his head playing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Though Crowe initially shot the segment on the street in front of the Court residence in Windsor Square, he was not happy with the footage. Fate later stepped in during the filming of the 7-Eleven scene when cinematographer László Kovács noticed a park across the street that he thought would be perfect for the boom box bit. With only a few minutes of daylight remaining, cast and crew rushed over to a tree-lined stretch of North Hollywood Park and did a quick re-shoot. Cameron loved the way it turned out, the footage made it into the final cut, and the rest is cinematic history.

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19. IRS Office – Design Center (433 South Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – After the IRS begins an investigation into James’ business dealings, Diane heads to a field office to try to convince an agent of his innocence. Filming of the scene took place at the former Design Center, now Twin Springs, in downtown Los Angeles. Originally built in 1928 as the Title Insurance Building, today the Art Deco structure houses offices for major fashion companies and is used regularly for filming. You can check out some photos of its spectacular interior here.

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20. Court Exterior – Spring Street Federal Courthouse (312 North Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – An establishing shot of L.A.’s Spring Street Federal Courthouse was used to represent the Seattle D.A.’s office where James’ lawyer discussed his plea deal. Only the exterior of the building was utilized. Interiors were shot at the Design Center, where the IRS scenes also took place.

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21. Spokane Correctional Facility – Mira Loma Detention Camp (Avenue I and 60th Street, Lancaster) – A since shuttered juvenile detention camp in Lancaster masked as the Spokane prison where James was incarcerated. The site was closed in 1990 upon the opening of the Challenger Memorial Youth Center and today is used as a training facility for the Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department.

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22. Stage 747, Universal Studios (100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City) – “When you hear that smoking sign go ‘ding,’ you know everything’s gonna be OK.” So says Lloyd to calm Diane while on their flight to London in the movie’s final scene. The bit was shot at Universal Studio’s former Stage 747, a large soundstage that once housed set versions of a 707 and 747 airplane. The space was converted to a workshop in 2002 and the plane mockups removed, but you can see some photos of what they formerly looked like here.

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A Round-Up of “Big Little Lies” Filming Locations

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I’ve decided to break with tradition a bit for this post.  My latest small screen obsession, Big Little Lies, came to an end on Sunday night and, though the finale was excellent, I am bummed to say the least that the HBO miniseries is now over.  During its seven-episode run, I tracked down most of the L.A.-area locales, as well as a few of the Monterey spots, featured in it and I thought it would be fun to chronicle them here.  Because I have not visited many of the sites in person, I am relying on screen captures instead of photos for this post’s imagery.

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1. Madeline’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Though I already wrote an in-depth post on the gorgeous Cape Cod-style home belonging to Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) on the series, I would be remiss if I did not include information about it here for those who missed the article.  Madeline’s beachfront pad, by far my favorite of all of the residences featured on the show, is an oft-filmed gem that has also appeared on Models Inc., Diagnosis Murder, and Hannah Montana.

2. Jane’s House (161 North Chester Avenue, Pasadena) – The bungalow where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) lives is another spot I’ve already covered, but, again, I thought I should include its information here.

3. Celeste’s House  (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – The architectural masterpiece belonging to Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and her husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), ranks a close second when it comes to my favorite residence on the series.  Only the exterior and bottom floor of the clifftop stunner were utilized on Big Little Lies.  The Wright’s bedroom, bathroom and massive walk-in closet were part of a studio-built set.  In real life, the dwelling, which was originally built in 1988, serves as a vacation rental.

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4. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – The massive contemporary home where Renata Klein (Laura Dern) and her husband, Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling), reside is another oft-filmed property that can be found on a private road in Malibu.  The 10,000-square-foot residence’s onscreen resume (which includes appearances on 90210, Brothers & Sisters, and Revenge) almost led to it not being featured in Big Little LiesAs location manager Gregory Albert told Vulture, “I was resisting, even showing it to [director] Jean-Marc [Vallée] because of that, but we presented it and he picked it and then I was kicking myself.  I felt in some way it was doing a disservice to the show.  But then I remember watching the first episode and there’s Renata standing at the edge of the world, glass of wine in her hand.  The [director of photography] had shot it in a way that I’ve never seen the house shot before and I thought, That’s why Jean-Marc’s the auteur and visionary that he is.”  I actually find Albert’s statement kind of funny because I recognized the pad instantly when watching the scene described.

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5. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – The bohemian compound where Madeline’s ex, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), lives with his new wife, Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz), sits tucked off the road in a wooded part of Calabasas near Malibu Creek State Park.  The secluded residence, which Albert says, “feels like it is part of the environment,” is situated on 1.12 acres of lush, forested land.

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6. Otter Bay Elementary School – Kenter Canyon Elementary School (645 North Kenter Avenue in Brentwood) – Otter Bay, the elementary school attended by all of the characters’ children on the series, is actually Brentwood’s Kenter Canyon Elementary.  Both the interior and exterior of the site appeared on the show.

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7. Side Door Café – Happy Trails Garden (207 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena) While Blue Blues, the supposed Fisherman’s Wharf coffee shop where Madeline, Celeste, and Jane often hang out, is not a real place but a studio-built set, the other eatery frequented by the group is authentic.  Or, at least, it was.  The picturesque outdoor restaurant referred to as Side Door Café on the show, which is very reminiscent of Carmel’s popular Hog’s Breath Inn, was known as Happy Trails Garden in real life.  Sadly, it shuttered in 2018 and currently sits vacant.  The bucolic site was featured three times on the series.  It first showed up in “Serious Mothering” as the place where Madeline and Celeste meet for drinks and get into a confrontation with Renata.   Then in “Push Comes to Shove,” it appeared as both the spot where Madeline and Nathan discuss co-parenting Abigail and where Jane meets with Ms. Barnes (Virginia Kull).  You can read a more in-depth post on the eatery here.

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8. Studio City Recreation Center (12621 Rye Street, Studio City) – Jane’s son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), tries out Tee-ball for the first time – and hits a home run – at Studio City Recreation Center, which is also known as Beeman Park.  I wrote about the oft-filmed site last year, detailing its appearances in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Scrubs, Role Models, and Parks and Recreation.  You can read that post here.

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9. Interior Design Office (1035 East Green Street, Pasadena) – Madeline tracks down (Spoiler alert!) Jane’s possible rapist, Saxon Baker (Stephen Graybill), to an interior design office in San Louis Obispo.  In reality, the office is part of Invicta Fitness, a workout studio located in a quaint brick building where Albert Einstein once worked on Green Street in Pasadena.

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10. Celeste’s Apartment (1 Surf Way, Monterey) The apartment Celeste leases in “Burning Love” is another Monterey-area location.  Situated on the sand overlooking Del Monte Beach, the complex is made up of condos in real life and is known as “1 Surf Way.”

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11. Community Theatre – Barnsdall Art Park (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood) The community theatre where Madeline works, as well as the constantly under-repair stairs that lead up to it, are both parts of Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood.  The stairs can be found on Lower Road in the southeast portion of the park, just north of and adjacent to the Art Center.  The theatre itself is actually a mash-up of two Barnsdall spots – interiors were shot at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre (which you can see photos of here), situated north of the Art Center, and exteriors were filmed at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, which sits adjacent to it.  Barnsdall Art Park is also where the Trivia Night event was held in the final episode, “You Get What You Need.”  You can read an in-depth post about the park’s use on the series here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue from “Mad Men”

Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue from Mad Men-9414

I have had many different stalking notebooks over the years.  My latest is a gorgeous white Moleskin that I picked up during my Switzerland vacation back in June 2013.  One locale that has been listed in it since I started using it almost four years ago (it’s one of the very first entries), but had never been checked off until recently is Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue, which was featured in a Season 4 episode of Mad Men.  I had seen photos of the darling Pasadena restaurant/tea room on several websites, walked by it dozens of times over the years, and knew of its onscreen appearance thanks to my buddy E.J.’s The Movieland Directory website.  Due to the place’s formerly spotty hours, though, I had never been able to stalk it.  The opportunity finally arose two weeks ago when the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves wandering Green Street just as Madeline was opening, so we headed on in.

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While the exterior of Madeline Garden Bistro is incredibly idyllic . . .

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– I mean, even the signage looks like something from a movie set –

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. . . what awaited us as we stepped through the front doors was nothing short of breathtaking.

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Madeline Garden Bistro is easily one of the prettiest places I have ever laid eyes on . . .

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. . . which I guess should come as no surprise being that it is located inside of the Cheesewright Studios Building, or the Cheesewright Building, one of Pasadena’s most historic and prominent sites.

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Per The Architecture of Entertainment by Robert Winter, the French Quarter-style property was designed in 1927 by Louis du Puget Millar as a studio/office/workshop for renown interior decorator Edgar J. Cheesewright.

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At the time of its inception, the 2-story, 42-room, 35,000-square-foot complex boasted 3 street-level boutiques, 8 sales rooms, several workshops and offices, a reception hall with a curved staircase, an entrance courtyard with a fountain, a rear garden, leaded glass windows, wrought iron balconies, and a 2-story atrium .  You can see photos of the building during its early days here and here.

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Cheesewright’s business suffered financially during the Great Depression and he eventually sold the property.  During World War II, the complex was acquired by the U.S. Naval Research Bureau and was utilized to conduct secret military testing.  A basement lab was constructed for Albert Einstein during that time, complete with a tunnel that linked it to the California Institute of Technology located about a half a mile away, so that the scientist could venture there and back unseen.  In 1983, the Navy relinquished the building and it was transformed into retail/office space once again.  Today, the second floor houses apartments known as the Pasadena Green Plaza Apartments.  Miraculously, despite its different incarnations over the years, much of the site’s original detailing and beauty has been retained.

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I was able to chronicle the history of the ground level space that now houses Madeline Garden Bistro back to 2001, at which time it was opened as an upscale eatery named Restaurant Halie.

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Halie was shuttered in 2006 and shortly thereafter Madeleine’s Restaurant & Wine Bistro moved in.

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Though I lived in Pasadena at the time and heard great things about the place (especially its décor), on every single occasion that the GC and I attempted to eat there or grab a cocktail, we would invariably walk up only to find it closed.

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I guess other people had a hard time getting in, as well, because Madeleine’s Restaurant & Wine Bistro closed in 2010.  The space remained vacant for a few years before re-opening as the similarly named Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue in 2013.

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Though closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, the eatery has a much better operating schedule than its predecessor.

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Madeline Garden Bistro has been called “a maze of a restaurant” by several websites and that is the perfect description of the place.

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The massive site is comprised of a seemingly endless array of rooms, hallways and tucked-away spaces, each one more beautiful than the next.

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The bistro features a lovely main dining room replete with jewel tones;

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a towering fireplace;

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poufy couches;

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arched windows and crystal chandeliers.  (And yes, I’m fully aware that I got a little picture happy while stalking Madeline!)

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The back bar is just as gorgeous.

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Decorated in deep greens and dark purples . . .

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. . . the space has the feel of a Parisian watering hole of yesteryear.

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There’s a gorgeous brick and flagstone courtyard . . .

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. . . perfect for whiling away a sunny afternoon.

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Just off the courtyard is the High Tea Room, a grand space marked by French doors, teal walls and an elaborate fireplace.

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It was in the High Tea Room that Mad Men was filmed.

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In the Season 4 episode titled “Public Relations,” which aired in 2010, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) took an opera supernumerary named Bethany Van Nuys (Anna Camp) on a first date there.

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Though the site was operating as Madeleine’s Restaurant & Wine Bistro at the time of the filming, as you can see that room still looks very much the same today.

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The Cheesewright Studios Buildings was also featured in a 2015 “The Season of Audi Sales Event” commercial, which you can watch here.

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On a side-note – my Google Photo app “stylized” one of the pictures I took of Madeline Garden Bistro and I absolutely love how it turned out.  I’m honestly thinking of framing it and had to include it here.

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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: Madeline Garden Bistro & Venue, from the “Public Relations” episode of Mad Men, is located at 1030 East Green Street in Pasadena.  The eatery is only open Wednesday through Sunday, so plan accordingly.  You can visit the tea room’s official website here.

Jane’s House from “Big Little Lies”

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I am extremely biased when it comes to my former stomping ground of Pasadena, where I lived for close to 15 years.  Though I’ve heard on more than one occasion from L.A. denizens that the city is too suburban and too far removed from the hustle and bustle of urban life, I think it is one of the best places in the world and miss it so much at times it almost breaks my heart.  So whenever I hear of a movie or TV show that has done some filming in Crown City, I get a wee bit obsessed with tracking down the exact location or locations used – well, more obsessed than I usually do when it comes to locales.  Such was the case with the bungalow where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) and her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), live on the HBO miniseries Big Little Lies, which ends its run next week (oh, say it ain’t so!).  I learned the home could be found in Pasadena via this recent Travel + Leisure article and immediately started trying to track it down.

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Though the exterior of Jane’s rental wasn’t featured very much in the first two episodes of Big Little Lies, thankfully, in the third, titled “Living the Dream,” a good view of the property and the street it is located on was shown.  While watching, I noticed that Jane’s street not only abutted a one-way road, but also that it formed a “T” with another street two blocks away.  Because of my familiarity with the city, I knew straight away that the residence had to be situated somewhere just north of Union Street in East Pasadena.  Armed with that knowledge, I began searching aerial views of the area and found Jane’s house within minutes at 161 North Chester Avenue.

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In person, Jane’s red and brown bungalow looks exactly as it does onscreen in Big Little Lies.

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The only notable difference is the lack of a front yard light post in real life.

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Outside of that, nothing was changed for the production.  The place so resembles its onscreen self that, while there, I half expected Jane to coming walking outside in full running gear!

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I mean, even the skewed address placard remains unaltered!

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According to a recent Vulture article, only the exterior of the pad was utilized in Big Little Lies.  For interior scenes, a set partially modeled upon the home was built because, as location manager Gregory Alpert stated, the property’s real interior “looked better on film than it actually was.”

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The Vulture article also mentions that the residence landed its onscreen role thanks partially to “the canopy of trees on the street.”  As you can see in the images below, as well as the other images in this post, the trees situated outside of the house and nearby are absolutely magical.

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Per Zillow, the 1917 bungalow boasts 1,075 square feet of living space (though Redfin measures it at 928 square feet), 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, a fireplace, a garden, a 0.17-acre lot, a detached 1-car garage, and a large front porch.

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The front porch has been utilized several times on Big Little Lies.

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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: Jane’s house from Big Little Lies is located at 161 North Chester Avenue in Pasadena.

The House from Michael Bublé’s “I Believe in You” Music Video

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As my longtime readers know, this stalker loves herself some Michael Bublé.  A lesser known fact, being that I don’t talk about it as much, is that I also love me some Derek Hough.  So when I found out that the Dancing with the Stars pro was directing, choreographing, and starring in the cutie crooner’s “I Believe in You” music video, I could hardly contain my excitement!  A collaboration by two of my favorite stars?  Count me in!  I anxiously poured through the many Snapchat videos Hough posted of the shoot, which took place in January, and instantly became obsessed with tracking down the house used in the production, because, well, duh!

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My initial thought upon seeing the Cape Cod-style residence in Derek’s snaps was that it was located in Malibu.  Something about the size, landscaping and design of the pad just screamed “the ‘Bu” to me.  So I spent a while poking around the beachside city, as well as searching location databases for Cape Cod dwellings in the area, but came up with diddly.  On a whim, and because I do not like to leave any stone unturned, I next set my sights on the Pasadena Film Calendar, even though I was fairly certain the house wouldn’t be found there.  Imagine my surprise when I saw “I Believe in You” noted in the listings!  According to the calendar, the video was being shot somewhere on Marengo Avenue.  From there, I searched along Marengo via aerial views and found the house rather quickly.

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The 6-bedroom, 4-bath, 5,324-square-foot home, which per Zillow was built in 1894, is pretty darn spectacular.

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Though situated facing away from the road and behind a huge wall of hedges . . .

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. . . it turned out to be much more visible than I was led to believe from my Google Street View viewings.

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You can check out some more close-up photos of the exterior of the residence, as well as some interior shots, here.

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The “I Believe in You” video, which centers around the lifelong relationship between a couple, was shot in its entirety at the property.  Derek used his grandparents, who were married for over 60 years and danced together every morning and every night, as his inspiration for the storyline and concept.  He explained to People magazine, “When I heard the song, I just kept picturing my grandparents and this love that lasted for such a long time.  I wanted to show a love story that stood the test of time.”  You can watch the finished product by clicking below.  Warning – have Kleenex handy!

“I Believe in You” made extensive use of both the exterior . . .

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. . . and interior of the picturesque home.

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A patch of sidewalk out in front of the house also appeared in a couple of scenes.

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The area used can be found just south of the residence’s driveway.

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The same property also portrayed the home of NSA Director Lieutenant-General Diane Peters (McNally Sagal) in the Season 5 episode of Scandal titled “It’s Hard Out Here for a General.”

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On a Michael Bublé side-note – I don’t know how I missed his “Nobody But Me” video, which was released in October of last year, but it’s hilarious!  You can watch it by clicking below.

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 house from Michael Bublé’s “I Believe in You” music video is located at 1504 South Marengo Avenue in Pasadena.

Pasadena’s “Big Bang Theory” Way Sign

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God is in the details, as they say.  And it truly is the details, aka the little things, that I miss about living in L.A.  For example, while perusing Instagram recently, I came across an image posted by amylove33 of a street sign in Old Town Pasadena reading “Big Bang Theory Way.”  I was, of course, intrigued.  Not only am I a huge fan of the long-running CBS series, but I loved the fact that Crown City paid homage to it in such an unexpected and unique way.   I couldn’t help thinking that the sign is something I likely would have come across – and most definitely noticed – during my daily walks if I still lived in the area.  As I said, it’s the little things I miss the most.  Even though I now reside in Palm Springs, there was no way I was not seeing that sign in person!  I commented on amylove’s post, asking if she could detail its exact location, and she was kind enough to respond immediately.  Thank you, amylove!  So I added the site to my To-Stalk List and headed right on over there while visiting Los Angeles two weeks ago.

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As amylove33 explained, Big Bang Theory Way is not actually a street, but an alley situated just east of Crossroads Trading Co. on Colorado Boulevard.

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The city installed the sign at some point in 2016 as a way of celebrating the Pasadena-set series, which centers around the lives and loves of four local scientists, Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar).  As Councilmember Andy Wilson stated, “The City of Pasadena is proud of its comedic and scientific association with The Big Bang Theory.  Pasadena was already known throughout the world for having the foremost astronomers, chemists and scientific thinkers who do very serious work here, but thanks to The Big Bang Theory, being smart in Pasadena is now fun too.”  The city also decreed February 25th, 2016, the date of the airing of the series’ 200th episode, as “Big Bang Theory Day.”

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There is a bit of confusion regarding the sign that I have not, as of yet, been able to iron out.  The announcement of the street name commemoration took place on Conan on February 24th, 2016.  During the episode, in which the entire TBBT cast guested, host Conan O’Brien surprised the group by revealing the street designation tribute and presented them with a sign sent over by the city.  As you can see below, that sign read “Big Bang Theory Alley.”

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During the segment, which you can watch here, quite a bit of fun was made over the fact that the series was being rewarded with the renaming of a mere alley and not an actual street.

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Somewhere along the way, though, things got changed up and a sign reading “Big Bang Theory Way” was installed instead.  I am unsure if the alteration had something to do with Conan’s teasing or if it came about due to other factors.

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Regardless of the reasoning behind the change, I cannot think of a cooler way for a show to be honored.

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Not to mention, the sign makes for great picture-taking opportunities.  Kudos, Pasadena!  Job well done!

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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 amylove33 for telling me about this location!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Big Bang Theory Way sign is located on the 100 block of East Colorado Boulevard, at the entrance to the alley just east of Crossroads Trading Co., in Pasadena.

Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery from “Christmas with the Kranks”

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I don’t know what it is about Christmas movies, but I cannot watch them without crying.  Even the not-so-great ones make me bawl.  Case in point – the 2004 comedy Christmas with the Kranks.  While admittedly not one of the best Yuletide films, the Grim Cheaper and I watch it each year and I cry every.single.time.  After our recent annual watch, I decided to attempt to track down some of the flick’s unknown locales.  The spot at the top of my list was the Irish pub where Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) ate with her husband, Luther Krank (Tim Allen).  Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a place I have dined at many times!

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In Christmas with the Kranks, upon facing the prospect of spending the holidays without their daughter who has just joined the Peace Corps, Luther convinces Nora to skip Christmas.  Their friends and neighbors don’t take the decision lightly.  While dining at an Irish pub towards the beginning of the movie, Nora complains to Luther that she is the one having to deal with the fallout.  As she explains, “It’s us women who handle Christmas, not men.  I am the one taking the brunt for your harebrained scheme!  I am the one on the front lines!”

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Besides the fact that the pub looked incredibly cozy in the scene, there’s pretty much nothing I love more than dining at movie restaurants, so it was a no-brainer that I wanted to track this spot down.  Unfortunately, I had a little trouble doing so due to the fact that not much of the eatery was shown onscreen and no notable clues were visible in the background.

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The more I re-watched the scene, though, the more I had a sense that the restaurant was familiar to me – that I had been there before.  Then, all of a sudden, the green-hued bar-top visible behind Nora jumped out at me and I immediately knew where filming had taken place – the Hamburger Hamlet located at 214 South Lake Avenue in Pasadena.

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I have dined at the Hamlet countless times over the years.  In fact, ironically enough, when I lived in Pasadena the eatery was a regular pit stop during the holidays.  Every December, my mom and I would inevitably pop in for a bite to eat while out Christmas shopping in the area.  Even more ironic, we would invariably sit in the bar, the exact area where Christmas with the Kranks was filmed!

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Why I had such a tough time identifying the place is beyond me, but I am guessing it is because Hamburger Hamlet is not actually an Irish pub as was depicted in the movie and therefore is not decorated as such, it is not nearly as dark as it was portrayed to be onscreen, and only a tight shot of it was ever shown.  I really should have recognized the restaurant’s unique back room, though, which is visible behind Luther in the screen capture below.

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Hamburger Hamlet’s rear room, which is strewn with spacious red leather arm chairs, is situated around a large central brick fire pit, made complete with a metal hood affixed to the ceiling.  As I said, it’s unique.  Being that the chains that anchor the hood to the ceiling were visible in the background of Christmas with the Kranks, this one really should have been an easy find.

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Now you’re probably saying, “Wait a minute, the title of this post is ‘Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery’ not ‘Hamburger Hamlet!’”  Sadly, the Pasadena Hamlet, which was originally established in 1967, shut its doors after almost fifty years in business on January 3rd, 2014.  A Du-par’s outpost was opened at the site the following morning.

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I had yet to visit the location since Du-par’s took over and assumed that all of the décor had been changed.  I was thrilled to see, via the hundreds of photographs on Yelp, that that was not the case!  The eatery still looks exactly as it did during its Hamburger Hamlet days, i.e. wood paneling and red leather galore!

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The GC and I headed over there to grab a bite a few days later and I am happy to report that the restaurant looks just as great in person as it did in the Yelp images.  And the food is darn good, too, though that did not come as a surprise being that I’ve always been a big fan of Du-par’s fare.  Any eatery that serves a hot turkey meal with all the fixings on a daily basis is A-ok in my book!

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As I mentioned earlier, in Christmas with the Kranks, Nora and Luther sat in the restaurant’s bar area, pretty much in the exact spot where the pub table is situated in the images below.

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I would like to wish a VERY happy birthday to my dad (and my uncle – his twin) – today!  Thank you for all the light and laughter you bring us on a daily basis (as evidenced by the photo below – I remember exactly what you said to me in that moment and still crack up whenever I think about it!), despite all your suffering!  I love you!

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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: Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery, aka the former Hamburger Hamlet, aka the Irish pub from Christmas with the Kranks, is located at 214 South Lake Avenue in Pasadena.

The L.A. Filming Locations of “Scream 2”

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“Hello, Sidney.”  Two simple words, spoken by a gravelly-voiced serial killer shrouded by a Father Death mask in one of Scream’s early scenes, and the face of the horror movie genre was changed forever. An empty house and a ringing telephone suddenly had a much more sinister meaning.  Scream, which will be celebrating its twentieth anniversary on December 20th, went on to spawn three sequels, a 2015 television series, and countless imitations.  Though the original film was shot in its entirety in Northern California and Scream 4 was filmed in Michigan, large portions of 1997’s Scream 2 and all of 2000’s Scream 3 were lensed in Los Angeles.  I recently went on a trek to track down all of the franchise’s SoCal locales.  Today, I will be covering Scream 2 and on Monday, Scream 3.  Enjoy!

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1. Rialto Theatre (1023 Fair Oaks Avenue, South Pasadena) – Scream 2 opens upon a chaotic scene at a sneak preview of Stab – the franchise’s movie-within-a-movie – which is taking place at the supposed Ohio-area Rialto Theatre.  The historic 1925 venue is actually located in South Pasadena and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Though the exterior was dressed with an animatronic knife-wielding arm for the shoot, the Rialto is still very recognizable in person.  Don’t go hoping to catch a horror movie screening on the premises, though.  The 1,200-seat theatre, one of the last single-screen venues in L.A., was closed to the public in 2010.  Plans are currently in the works to re-open it, though.  In 2015, the Lewis A. Smith-designed property was purchased by a developer who intends to restore the site to its original glory.  In the meantime, fans can enjoy the venue via its many onscreen appearances in such productions as A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Modern Family (Season 6’s “Crying Out Loud”), The Kentucky Fried Movie, and The Player.  (You can read a more in-depth post I wrote about the location back in 2008 here.)

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2. Vista Theatre (4473 Sunset Drive, Los Feliz) – Though the lobby of the Rialto was utilized in the Stab sneak preview scene, the auditorium where the actual screening took place is located a good twelve miles west.  The spot where Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith) met her rather public untimely end is the Vista Theatre in Los Feliz.  Another Lewis A. Smith creation, the single-screen venue features both Spanish and Egyptian detailing.  Originally opened to the public as the Lou Bard Playhouse on October 16th, 1923, the Vista still screens films today.  An onscreen regular, the theatre has also appeared on 90210 (Season 3’s Women on the Verge”), in the movies True Romance and Get Shorty, and in Pharrell William’s “Happy” music video.  [The unusual Egyptian-themed bathroom where Phil (Omar Epps) was stabbed to death is a spot I am still trying to track down.  It does not appear to have been a bathroom at either the Vista or the Rialto and, though several crew members have said otherwise, I am leaning towards it having been a set.]

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3. Stab Casey’s House (5730 Busch Drive, Malibu) – “You know, I don’t even know you and I dislike you already.”  So says Casey (Heather Graham) to the Ghostface killer in Stab’s opening scene, which was shot at a sleek wood and glass house in Malibu Park.  The 4-bedroom, 3-bath residence was designed by Doug Rucker in 1961 and then once again renovated by the prolific Malibu architect in 1989.  It is in the home’s sprawling manicured backyard, underneath a massive tree, that Stab Casey meets her grizzly end in a sequence that mimics Casey Becker’s (Drew Barrymore) death from the original Scream.  Segments of the scene shot at the house also popped up in 2011’s Scream 4.  (I covered this location in greater detail and told the story of the hunt to track it down here.)

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Casey's House from Scream 2-1160301

4. Omega Beta Zeta Sorority House (2186 East Crary Street, Altadena) – While serving as a sober sister for the night (“Drink with your brain!  That’s our motto!”), Cici (Sarah Michelle Gellar) finds herself alone in the Omega Beta Zeta sorority house, where she becomes the third victim of the Ghostface killer, who stabs her and throws her off of a third-floor balcony.  Both the interior and the exterior of a large Victorian-style estate in Altadena known as the Crank House were used to represent the Omega Beta Zeta pad in the film.  Originally constructed in 1882 by a New Yorker named James Crank, the massive 7-bedroom, 4-bath, 6,450-square-foot property, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is not very visible from the road.  The stately manse can be viewed in countless productions, though.  The Crank House posed as the supposed New Orleans residence belonging to Roger Strong (Martin Sheen) and his family in Catch Me If You Can.  The location also served as Martin Sheen’s home in another production – on the television series The West Wing the interior was used as the interior of the Bartlett Family Farm in New Hampshire.  The Crank House is also where Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum) lives on NCIS and it belonged to Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) in the 1996 movie Matilda.  (You can read my previous post on this location here.)

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Omega Beta Zeta House Scream 2-1030105

5. Delta Lambda Zeta Sorority House (350 South Grand Avenue, Pasadena) – At the beginning of Scream 2, Hallie (Elise Neal) drags Sidney (Neve Campbell) to a “martini mixer” at Windsor College’s Delta Lambda Zeta sorority house.  While there, Sorority Sister Lois (Rebecca Gayheart) and Sorority Sister Murphy (Portia de Rossi) try to woo Sidney into joining their ranks by uttering such classic lines as, “Hi. No I really mean that. Hi.”  The Delta Lambda Zeta residence clears out once party-goers learn of Cici’s death and Sidney once again finds herself alone in a house, on the receiving end of a “Hello, Sidney” phone call, and eventually face-to-face with a masked killer.  Filming of the scene did not take place at a sorority house at all, but at an enormous 8-bedroom, 4-bath, 7,913-square-foot private residence located in Pasadena’s South Arroyo neighborhood.

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Delta Lambda Zeta Sorority House-1160103

6. Kerckhoff Coffeehouse (Kerckhoff Hall, Level 2, UCLA, 308 Westwood Plaza, Westwood) – While at a Windsor College coffee shop over a couple of Baskin-Robbins sundaes, Randy schools Dewey Riley (David Arquette) on “the rules” of making a successful movie sequel.  “Number 1 – The body count is always bigger.  Number 2 – The death scenes are always much more elaborate.  More blood.  More gore.  Carnage candy.  Your core audience just expects it.  And Number 3 – If you want your sequel to become a franchise, never, ever, under any circumstances, assume the killer is dead.”  (The third rule is only heard in its entirety in the Scream 2 trailer.)  The rules segment was shot at UCLA’s first coffee shop, Kerckhoff Coffeehouse, originally established in 1976.  The charming café, which is open to the public, offers espresso drinks, pastries, soups, and sandwiches.  And while it did serve Baskin-Robbins ice cream at the time of the filming, sadly that is no longer the case.

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Kerckhoff Coffeehouse Scream 2-5004

7. Lecture Hall/Hallway (Humanities Building, A51, UCLA, 415 Portola Plaza, Westwood) – It is at a large auditorium inside one of the University of California, Los Angeles’ oldest structures, the Humanities Building, that Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey look through some of Gale’s crowd footage in the hopes of identifying Ghostface.  Though the two are first shown walking through a hallway at Agnes Scott College in Georgia (which was largely used to portray Windsor College in Scream 2) while looking for a room with a VCR to play the footage, the scenery then flips to Humanities A51, a vast UCLA lecture hall, where Gale and Dewey wind up rekindling an old flame.  It is not long before Ghostface shows up and destroys their rendezvous, though.  Gale is subsequently chased by the killer through a Humanities Building hallway and then into a large sound booth that was actually a set built at a recording studio in Burbank.

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Humanities A51 UCLA-1160260

Originally known as Kinsey Hall, the Humanities Building was shuttered for renovations in 2005 and renamed.  The exterior of the site was also utilized in Scream 2, in a later scene in which Gale rushes outside to make a frantic phone call to the police to announce that Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) is the killer, while Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf) looks on.

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Humanities Building UCLA-1160238

8. Officer Andrews and Officer Richards Death Scene (Green Street in between South Los Robles Avenue and Madison Avenue, Pasadena) – The harrowing scene in which Officer Andrews (Philip Pavel) and Officer Richards (Christopher Doyle) are murdered, leaving Sidney and Hallie trapped inside of their locked, crashed police car with Ghostface, was lensed on a quiet tree-lined stretch of Green Street in Pasadena’s Playhouse District.  After Sidney and Hallie escape from the destroyed cruiser by discreetly crawling over the unconscious masked killer, the two run east on Green towards South Oakland Avenue, whereupon Sidney decides to head back to the car to remove Ghostface’s mask and learn the killer’s true identity.  Ghostface has long since made his getaway, though, and as Sidney walks to the accident scene, Hallie is murdered while standing in front of the First Church of Christ Scientist.

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Officer Andrews Richards Death Scene Scream 2-1120910

9. Exterior of Windsor College Theatre (Kerckhoff Hall, UCLA, 308 Westwood Plaza, Westwood) – It’s back to UCLA for the start of the film’s climactic finale.  Kerckhoff Hall, erected in 1931, stands in for the exterior of the Windsor College Theatre, where Agamemnon, the play Sidney is starring in, is set to be staged.  In the segment, Sidney rushes through UCLA’s Election Walk . . .

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Election Walk Scream 2-1160217

. . . and up the steps of the Collegiate Gothic-style building, though as soon as she steps inside, she is standing about 15 miles away at a theatre in downtown L.A.

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Kerkhoff Hall Exterior UCLA-1160227

The movie’s final scene, in which Gale forgoes her moment in the spotlight in order to accompany Dewey to the hospital, was also shot in front of Kerckhoff Hall.  The building is named in honor of William G. Kerckhoff, a businessman/philanthropist who was not only an original founder of Beverly Hills, but was also responsible for helping to develop hydroelectric power and founded the Southern California Gas Corporation in 1910.

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Kerkhoff Hall Exterior UCLA-1160218

10. Variety Arts Theatre (940 South Figueroa Street, downtown L.A.) – The interior of the Windsor College Theatre, where Scream 2’s bloody climax takes place, was portrayed by the Variety Arts Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.  It is there, onstage amongst the crumbling Agamemnon scenery, that the Ghostface identities are finally revealed and Sidney and Cotton form an unlikely alliance.  The Variety Arts Theatre was originally constructed as part of the headquarters of the Friday Morning Club, an organization for women, in 1924.  Designed by Allison and Allison, Architects, the five-story Neo-Italian Renaissance-style property, now known as the Variety Arts Center, is comprised of offices, meeting space, and two theatres.  It is the larger, lower-level venue, originally named The Playhouse, that was featured in Scream 2.  After remaining largely closed since the late ‘80s, the Variety Arts was leased by the Los Angeles branch of the Hillsong Church in 2015.  Renovations are currently underway and the Pentecostal organization is expected to begin holding services on the premises in 2017.  Because of the renovation, I was not able to get inside to take photos, but you can see some interior images of it here.  The Variety Arts Theatre also made an appearance in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

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The one location I have as yet been unable to track down (aside from the theatre bathroom featured in the opening scene) is the film theory classroom where loveable film geek Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) discussed the inferiority of sequels with fellow film theory students Cici, Mickey (Timothy Olyphant) and Film Class Guy #1 (Joshua Jackson).  (How would Randy make sequels better? He’d “let the geek get the girl!”)  Originally lensed at Agnes Scott College’s Winter Theatre in the Dana Fine Arts Building, the segment was later re-shot in Los Angeles in order to give Sarah Michelle Gellar more screen time.  While I do know via several cast and crew members that the reshoot took place at UCLA, I have not been able to pinpoint exactly where.  One UCLA employee I spoke with thought that filming might have taken place in Moore 1003 in Moore Hall, but I was able to see that room in person a couple of weeks ago and it does not seem to be the correct spot.

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Scream 2 film classroom-1160197

As you can see below and above, the two rooms do not appear to be one and the same.  Granted, the space could have been remodeled in the 19 years since Scream 2 was filmed, but there is just not enough that matches up structurally for me to believe it is the right spot.  I’d welcome any help any of my fellow stalkers can give me with this one.

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Scream 2 film classroom-1160193

Stay tuned for Monday’s post on the L.A. locations featured in Scream 3!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile