Lance’s House from “Pulp Fiction”

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Last month, fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, came to town, along with his super-sweet mom, for a little filming locations vacation, and the three of us spent a whole day together, stalking pretty much all of Los Angeles, from one end of the city to the other.  For this adventure, Chas had compiled an extensively detailed list of various movie locales, along with maps to each and a driving timeline.  I know – it was all so Monica Gellar of him.  LOVE it!  Smile Anyway, one of the locations on Chas’ list was the Craftsman-style residence where drug-dealer Lance (aka Eric Stoltz) and his wife, Jody (aka Rosanna Arquette), lived – and where Vincent Vega (aka John Travolta) saved Mia Wallace’s (aka Uma Thurman’s) life – in the 1994 black comedy Pulp Fiction.  Chas found the house, thanks to a very helpful crew member, in early 2010 while attempting to track down all of the locations from the movie – an endeavor at which, I am very happy to report, he succeeded.  You can check out Chas’ extensive Pulp Fiction filming locations page here.

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Because the Grim Cheaper and I had once dressed up as Vincent Vega and Mia Wallace for Halloween many, many moons ago, I was extremely excited to stalk Lance’s house.  (Sorry for the poor quality of the above photograph – it was taken on actual film so I had to scan it in order to post it here.)

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Lance’s house was featured in a very brief, but very memorable scene, during the “Vincent Vega & Marsellus Wallace’s Wife” portion of Pulp Fiction, in which after visiting Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant, which I blogged about back in March, Mia accidentally overdoses on some heroin that Vincent had stashed in his jacket pocket.  When Vincent discovers Mia on the floor, unconscious and unresponsive, he drives her to his drug dealer, Lance’s, home in the hopes that Lance can help her.  It is there that Vincent winds up giving Mia an adrenaline shot, saving her life.

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In the scene, Vincent crashes his car into the front of Lance’s house, destroying the roof and part of the porch.

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I am very happy to report that the residence’s roof and porch are currently intact and that, despite the property’s shabby appearance onscreen, as you can see above, it is actually quite adorable in person.

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And while the apartment building across the street from Lance’s house still looks very much the same as it did in the movie;

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there is now, sadly, a fence located on the eastern side of the property, which blocks the neighboring lawn that is pictured in the above screen capture from view.

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And while I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the residence was also used in the filming, I, unfortunately, could not find any photographs online to verify that hunch.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location.  You can check out Chas’ extensive Pulp Fiction filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Lance’s house from Pulp Fiction is located at 3519 La Clede Avenue in the Atwater Village neighborhood of Los Angeles.

The “Kill Bill” Church

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One location that my dad and I visited while stalking in the Lancaster and Palmdale areas last week was the Sanctuary Adventist Church which was used prominently in the 2003 and 2004 Quentin Tarantino movies Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2.  And although I have never actually seen either of the Kill Bill flicks, I was dying to stalk the church because, thanks to fave book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, I found out that it also had a very small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the 2002 Britney Spears movie Crossroads, in which I was an extra.  I should mention here that if you are planning to spend a day stalking in Palmdale – and I do HIGHLY recommend doing so – I suggest you print out maps of each and every location that you are wanting to visit before heading out the door.  I failed to do so and had planned on using my navigation system to lead me to each locale, but, let me tell you, that did NOT pan out very well.  At most points during our journey, my navigator had no idea where on earth we were – more than once it told me I was driving on a road that didn’t exist!  LOL – and a few times it even took us on routes through dirt roads that wound up at dead ends.  And while Palmdale and Lancaster are not exactly desolate – there’s even a Starbucks there! – most of the filming locations in that area are pretty far removed from civilization.  I suggest that you not make a stalking journey out there alone and that you arrive with a full tank of gas and a car that is in good working order.

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The Sanctuary Adventist Church, which up until recently was known as the Calvary Baptist Church, is an actual working religious facility that, sadly, does not appear to currently be in the best of shape.  The tiny Spanish-style chapel definitely has a Southwestern feel to it and it is not very hard to see why Quentin Tarantino chose to use it as the site of the wedding day massacre in his two-part action flick.  Especially with that lone Joshua tree that stands in front of it and gives the church a very picturesque, very cinematic feel.

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As you can see in the above photograph, the church is also located on a very desolate and very remote stretch of desert road, which gives it a very non-L.A., non-California feel.  In fact it is hard to believe that the place is located just a scant sixty miles away from the hustle and bustle that is Los Angeles.

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In Crossroads, the church stood in for the supposed Arizona-area Native American souvenir stand that Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), Mimi (aka Taryn Manning), and Ben (aka Anson Mount) stop at during their journey from Louisiana to California.  It is while at the stand that Lucy asks her friends for advice on whether she should show up at her estranged mother’s house unannounced or call her beforehand.

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Ironically enough, even though the church is supposed to be a roadside souvenir stand in the movie, for whatever reason producers decided to leave the Calvary Baptist Church sign up during the filming.

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In Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2, the Sanctuary Adventist Church stood in for the supposed El Paso, Texas-area Two Pines Wedding Chapel where the Deadly Viper Assassination Team (aka Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, and David Carradine) attempt to kill “the Bride” (aka Uma Thurman).

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the church, which you can see a photograph of here, was also used in the production of both films.

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The church has also been featured in numerous other productions, as well.  In fact, the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G, where the church is located, is quite a famous little stretch of land.  In the 1981 movie True Confessions, the Sanctuary Adventist Church is where Detective Tom Spellacy (aka Robert Duvall) visits his brother Father Des Spellacy (aka Robert DeNiro).

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The 1999 Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick Dessert Heat (which, for some reason, is also named Inferno), was filmed almost in its entirety in both the former High Vista Diner and the sundries store located directly across the street from the Sanctuary Adventist Church.  The church is visible in the background throughout the vast majority of the movie. 

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Jubal  Early (aka Pat Morita) is also shown ringing the church bell at one point in the movie, although that bell is no longer there in real life.

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In Desert Heat, the High Vista Diner is where both Rhonda Reynolds (aka Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and Dottie Matthews (aka Jaime Pressly) worked.  In real life, the place was not a real working restaurant, but, much like Four Aces and Club Ed, was solely built for use as a filming location.  Sadly though, the structure was torn down back in early 2008 and is now nothing more than a dirt lot.  You can see a photograph of what it used to look like here and here.

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Right next to the former High Vista Diner location is another vacant building which stood in for the Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus store in Desert Heat.  And while that structure is still currently standing, I am not sure for how long that will be the case.

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As you can in the above photographs, the building does not look to be in the best of shape, although it is apparently still available for filming.  Winking smile

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The Elis Emporium structure was also visible in the background of the opening scene of True Confessions and I do believe that it was a real working grocery store at one point in time.

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The little motel that Henry Howard (aka Robert Symonds) and his wife (aka Priscilla Pointer) owned in Desert Heat used to be located directly behind the Elis Emporium building, but it has also since been torn down.

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In Nurse Betty, the High Vista Café stood in for the supposed Williams, Arizona-area Canyon Ranch Bar where Betty (aka Renee Zellweger), and later Wesley (aka Chris Rock) and Charlie (aka Morgan Freeman), stop while making their way towards California.

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I am fairly certain that the interior of the Canyon Ranch Bar was filmed elsewhere though, as it looks nothing like the interior of the diner from Desert Heat and also appears to be quite a bit larger than the former High Vista Diner building.  My guess is that the interior Canyon Ranch Bar scenes were filmed on a soundstage somewhere in Hollywood. 

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The Kill Bill church is also just barely visible in the background of Nurse Betty in the scene in which Charlie and Wesley arrive at the Canyon Ranch Bar.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Sanctuary Adventist Church, aka the Kill Bill church, is located at the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G in Lancaster.  The High Vista Diner was formerly located directly across the street from the church at the southeast corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G.  The Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus Store from Desert Heat is located at the southwest corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G.

All Star Lanes from “Glee”

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Another Eagle Rock-area location that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I stalked a few weeks back after our venture to the nearby Eagle Rock Plaza Mall was All Star Lanes – the bowling alley where Finn Hudson (aka Cory Monteith) took Rachel Berry (aka Lea Michele) on a date in the Season 1 episode of Glee titled “The Rhodes Not Taken”.  I found this location thanks to an eagle-eyed (pun intended) anonymous fellow stalker who lives in the area.  My source recognized the bowling alley when it showed up in the episode back in September of last year and emailed me immediately afterwards to let me know.  So, thank you, anonymous source!  I don’t know who you are, but I will be forever grateful for the stalking tip!  Smile 

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The 22-lane bowling alley, which features state-of-the-art equipment and automatic scoring, was completely empty when Mike and I showed up to stalk it, which made for a prime picture-taking opportunity.  The owner finally made an appearance about ten minutes after we showed up and was nice enough to chat with us for a bit about the various filming that has taken place there in recent years.  Sadly, he didn’t have much to tell me about “The Rhodes Not Taken” episode of Glee, though, because he had never actually watched the show before it filmed on the premises and, therefore, did not pay much attention during the shoot. 

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He did tell us that part of the episode was lensed in the alley’s retro-style cocktail lounge and, even though it was closed at the time, allowed us to take a quick peek inside.  Besides bowling, All Star Lanes also features pools tables, a video arcade, a Chinese food restaurant, and, as was shown on Glee, nightly karaoke!  Love it!  In 2009, All Star Lanes was voted First Place in the “Best Bowling” category of MyFOX Los Angeles’ “Best of the LA HOTLIST” contestLA Weekly newspaper also recently dubbed the alley the “Best Glow-in-the-Dark Bowling 2010” thanks to its late-night glow-in-the-dark bowling sessions, which feature glowing pins and balls!  How incredibly cool is that?

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In “The Rhodes Not Taken” episode of Glee, Finn takes Rachel on a pretend date to All Star Lanes in the hopes that he can somehow talk her into re-joining the McKinley High Glee Club. 

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Will Schuester (aka Matthew Morrison) and April Rhodes (aka Kristin Chenoweth) also visit the bowling alley that same night and it is there that Will tells April that one of his biggest regrets in life is never having sung with her.

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April then leads Will over to the alley’s cocktail lounge where the two hop up on stage and sing a rousing karaoke rendition of the 1987 Heart song “Alone”.

You can watch their “Alone” duet by clicking above.

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The owner of All Star Lanes also informed us that the outside of the alley and its parking lot area were recently dressed to look like the Mid-Atlantic Trailways Bus Station for the Season 8 episode of NCIS titled “Broken Arrow” for the scene in which Ziva David (aka Cote de Pablo) and Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo (aka Michael Weatherly) track down Anthony DiNozzo Sr. (aka Robert Wagner).

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Apparently, the All Star Lanes parking lot is quite the popular filming location because fellow stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, also let me know that it was featured during the opening credits of the 1992 Quentin Tarantino movie Reservoir Dogs.  In the scene, in which the bowling alley is not actually visible, Quentin and the gang walk through the parking lot toward Eagle Rock Boulevard after their famous conversation about tipping which took place at the nearby Pat & Lorraine’s Coffee Shop.  The Eagle Rock Plaza strip mall, which is located directly across the street from the alley, is the building that pictured in the above screen captures.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: All Star Lanes from “The Rhodes Not Taken” episode of Glee is located at 4459 Eagle Rock Boulevard in Eagle Rock.  Rachel and Finn bowled in Lane Nine and Will and April bowled in Lane Fifteen in the episode.  In Reservoir Dogs, Quentin and the gang walk east through the alley’s parking lot towards Eagle Rock Boulevard.  You can visit All Star Lanes’ official website here.

Mia Wallace’s House from “Pulp Fiction”

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A few weeks ago, fellow stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, set his sights on tracking down every single location featured in the 1994 movie Pulp Fiction.  Well, as soon as I found out about this bold undertaking, I begged him to find the ultra-modern abode belonging to Mia Wallace (aka Uma Thurman) in the flick, which was, of course, the location I was most interested in stalking (besides the ‘50s inspired Jack Rabbit Slims restaurant, which unfortunately doesn’t exist in real life).  And, sure enough, he did!  Chas somehow managed to track down a crew member from the film who remembered that Mia’s residence was located somewhere in Beverly Hills a few miles north of Sunset Boulevard.  So, Chas immediately got to cyberstalking and I am happy to report found the abode fairly quickly.   And once he gave me Mia’s address, I dragged my fiancé right out to stalk the place.  Sadly, though, the gate pictured above is pretty much the only part of the property that is visible from the street.   🙁

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I was so hoping to see the home’s main entryway, as that is the area of the house that is most recognizable from Pulp Fiction, but alas that was not to be.  🙁

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You can catch a slight (very, very slight) glimpse of the residence if you drive a bit north of the property . . .

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. . . . and another slight view of it if you drive a bit south of the main gates.  Aside from those two limited views, though, there unfortunately isn’t a whole lot to see at this location.  Such a bummer!

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But that’s why God created real estate listings!  While doing some research on the property earlier today, I not only stumbled upon a real estate website advertising the home (which is currently for sale at a price that is only made known upon request – yikes!), but a YouTube video, as well (see below)!  Score!   And, as you can see in the above photographs and screen captures, it seems that the real life interior of the residence was also used in the filming of Pulp Fiction.  So cool!

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Even the home’s real life bathroom was used in the scene in which Vincent Vega (aka John Travolta) tries to talk himself out of wanting to get together with Mia.   So cool!

In real life, the home, which was built in 1960, boasts three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, measures 4,015 square feet and sits on almost a full acre of land.   And while the real estate listing does boast that the “gated celebrity view estate” (and I’m not even really sure what that phrase means!) features an infinity pool and “state of the art electronics and security systems”, for whatever reason it fails to mention its cinematic cameo!  If I was the property’s real estate agent, you can bet its appearance on the silver screen would be my main selling point!  Hello!  I mean, that’s bound to drive the price up at least a few dollars.  😉

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Mia Wallace’s house from Pulp Fiction is located at 1541 Summitridge Drive in Beverly Hills.