Hamburger Hamlet from “Parks and Recreation”

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (1 of 25)

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

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

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (5 of 25)

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (9 of 25)

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

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (13 of 25)

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (14 of 25)

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

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Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (22 of 25)

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

Galentine's Day Restaurant Parks and Recreation (23 of 25)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

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

Tom’s Bistro from “Parks and Recreation”

Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (17 of 22)

A couple of months ago, I asked fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, to assist me in finding Tom’s Bistro from fave show Parks and Recreation.  It took him less than a minute to track the place down (thanks to this April 25th tweet).  As it turns out, a Hollywood pizzeria named Delancey stood in for the supposed Pawnee, Indiana-area restaurant.  Once Owen told me the news, I wanted to kick myself as the very same eatery had been used as a location in another of my favorite shows, Dexter.  Though I had never stalked it, how I did not recognize the place is absolutely beyond me!  So I decided to amend the situation and ran out to visit Delancey last week while I was in L.A.  (You can tell from the photograph above that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, was with me when I did so.  The pictures I take never turn out that good!)

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Delancey was originally opened by restaurateur George Abou-Daoud (he also founded Bowery, Rosewood Tavern and The Mercantile Wine Bar, as well as several other L.A. eateries) in April 2008.  He designed the space, which previously housed Taste of Thai, to resemble a New York bistro.

Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (8 of 22)

Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (11 of 22)

Delancey’s exterior is marked by red subway tile and wrought-iron detailing and does very much look like a restaurant one would find in the West Village.

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Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (16 of 22)

The interior boasts much of that same Big-Apple vibe, with dark Cherry hardwood floors, exposed brick arches, pressed-tin ceilings, antique radiators, an oak bar and red leather booths.

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Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (19 of 22)

Sadly, Mike and I did not get to sample any of Delancey’s fare while we were there (we had just finished a big meal elsewhere), but, from what I’ve read online, the food is superb.  I cannot wait to go back there sometime in the near future.

 Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (13 of 22)

Delancey was first featured in the Season 6 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “New Slogan,” in the scene in which Donna Meagle (Retta) and April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) took Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) location scouting for his new restaurant.  Only the interior of the gastropub appeared in the episode.

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Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (22 of 22)

The interior actually only appeared in that one episode.  According to the super-nice server that we spoke with, a set based on Delancey’s interior was built at CBS Studio Center, where the series is lensed, shortly following the “New Slogan” filming.

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Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (21 of 22)

Delancey was not featured again until the Season 6 finale of Parks and Rec, which was titled “Moving Up.”  This time, the exterior of the eatery was shown in both a daytime shot . . .

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Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (7 of 22)

. . . and a nighttime shot.

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Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (4 of 22)

In “Moving Up,” the replica set was used for interior filming.

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As you can see below, the interior of Tom’s Bistro is considerably larger than the actual Delancey interior.  (This marketing scheme is absolutely amazing, by the way!)

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On a random Parks side-note – In the “Moving Up” episode, Aubrey Plaza looked to be wearing Adina Reyter’s Tiny Square Necklace – the very same necklace that my girl Kristin Cavallari regularly wears, which I had a faux gold replica of made a couple of years ago.

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As I mentioned earlier, Delancey also appeared in Dexter. In the Season 5 episode titled “My Bad” the restaurant was used in a flashback scene in which Rita Bennett (Julie Benz) and Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) had their first date.

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Only the interior of Delancey was shown in the scene.

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For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.  And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here

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

Tom's Bistro Parks and Recreation (5 of 22)

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Delancey, aka Tom’s Bistro from Parks and Recreation, is located at 5936 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.  You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.