Rob Lowe filming locations

May 29, 2013May 29, 2013

Rent-A-Swag from “Parks and Recreation”

Back in early May, fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, emailed me to let me know that he had just tracked down Rent-A-Swag – the supposed Pawnee, Indiana-area high-fashion rental store for teenagers owned by Tom Haverford (Aziz Ansari) on fave show Parks and Recreation. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk it – Starbucks in hand (but to be fair when do I not have a Starbucks in hand? Winking smile ) – while visiting Los Angeles this past Memorial Day weekend.

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While watching the Parks and Rec Season 5 finale, which was titled “Are You Better Off?”, Owen had spotted an address number placard with a missing digit (120-9) on the exterior of the Rent-A-Swag storefront. His eye was immediately caught by that missing digit and his interest piqued, so he decided to begin searching for the locale. Thankfully, the hunt was an easy one and he wound up finding the shop at 12059 Ventura Place in Studio City.

And while Owen and I had both assumed that the 5 had been removed during the Parks and Rec shoot in order to thwart the efforts of us stalkers, that does not appear to have been the case. As you can see below, the digit is missing in real life, too, which I was shocked to discover!

In real life, the Rent-A-Swag storefront is vacant and looks to have been so for some time, which is probably how it came to be used on Parks and Recreation. The 4,000-square-foot space, which is currently divided into two separate units, most recently housed a branch of the US Postal Service. In January, EaterLA reported that the property was rumored to be the site of the future Valley outpost of the popular mid-city restaurant Joan’s on Third. And while Joan’s founder Joan McNamara did talk about opening a cafe in a former post office on Ventura Place in this April 2012 Los Angeles Times article, as you can see below, the site is still presently available for lease, so that venture appears to have fallen through.

Unfortunately, the GC and I showed up to stalk the site on Sunday morning, smack-dab in the middle of the highly-popular Studio City Farmers Market which takes place directly in front of Rent-A-Swag, so I was not able to get the greatest of photographs.

Rent-A-Swag first showed up in the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Pawnee Commons” and has been featured fairly regularly ever since.

In “Pawnee Commons”, Tom rents out a space, which he states in a later episode is located on Durham Avenue, to house his latest brainchild – a store in which he will lease his expensive threads to tweens. Of the new venture, he says, “I started a business where I rent my fancy clothes to teens so their parents don’t have to buy them nice things they’ll just grow out of. So if you see a 14-year-old kid wearing a Louis Vuitton cravat, you know who to thank – me . . . and Louis Vuitton, for making some dope-a*s cravats.” LOL In “Pawnee Commons”, Tom enlists his Parks and Recreation Department co-workers to help him get the space, which is in pretty dire straits, ready for the grand opening. The real life interior of the store, which you can see pictures of here, was also used in the episode, as well as in several episodes since.

The group’s first go at the renovation turns out rather dire, as well, so they wind up remodeling it twice in the episode.

The final result is pictured below.

In an odd twist, while scanning through Season 5 episodes of Parks and Recreation to make screen captures for this post, I discovered that the other side of the Rent-A-Swag storefront (as I mentioned earlier, the space is currently divided into two separate units) was used as the Pawnee VideoDome/XXX Adult DVD Emporium in the episode titled “Bailout”.

In “Bailout”, Councilwoman Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) petitions the city council to declare Pawnee’s local video store, Pawnee VideoDome, a historical landmark to prevent its impending closure. Leslie succeeds, but the site winds up re-opening as a pornographic video shop – owned in part by the government. LOL

The real life interior of the space was also used in the episode.

I was shocked to learn, while doing research for this post, that the very same location was used in another of Owen’s favorite shows – Seinfeld. The Rent-A-Swag storefront popped up briefly in the Season 4 episode titled “The Trip (2)”, which aired in 1992, as the spot where Jerry Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld) and George Costanza (Jason Alexander) watched as two policemen arrested a man for attempted robbery. At the time, the space housed the Bicycle Shack bike store and looked quite a bit different than it does today. Although, structurally still the same, since the time that Seinfeld was filmed, a large awning has been added, significantly altering the look of the place.

The location also appeared in 1994’s Beverly Hills Cop III, in the background of the scene in which Det. Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) jumps out of a car to escape from Jon Flint (Hector Elizondo).

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Rent-A-Swag from Parks and Recreation is located at 12059 Ventura Place in Studio City.

July 18, 2012July 18, 2012

Mitch Hiller’s House from “Enough”

One location that I have been absolutely obsessed with for what seems like ages now is the ultra-modern beach house where Mitch Hiller (Billy Campbell) lived in the 2002 thriller Enough – which I just recently discovered is the very same spot that stands in for the exterior of the Indianapolis loft belonging to Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) on fave show Parks and Recreation. Mike had long known where the property was located thanks to a former co-worker of his whose husband was on the Enough crew. So, while we were in the Marina Del Rey-area on Saturday (which, as I mentioned yesterday, was completely dreary and overcast – I thought it was supposed to be summer, folks!), he took me right on over to stalk the place. And I am very happy to report that it is just as spectacular in person as it was onscreen. Looks like this stalker may just have herself a new dream house! Winking smile

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The Enough house, which was originally constructed in 1996 out of glass, cement and weathering steel, boasts four bedrooms, five baths, an upstairs office, an elevator, a gourmet kitchen, a detached two-car garage, private balconies off of each bedroom, floor-to-ceiling windows, a media room, and sweeping views of Marina Del Rey’s Grand Canal and the Pacific Ocean. There seems to be some discrepancy online over the abode’s square footage, though, as Zillow (and most property record sites) report it as measuring 5,758 square feet, while the pad’s real estate website claims it to be “almost 3,000”. From viewing the place’s exterior, I would guess the 3,000 measurement to be the better bet. And while the dwelling was just recently for sale for a whopping $4,850,000, it appears to have since been taken off the market.

In Enough, Slim Hiller (Jennifer Lopez) stalks her abusive ex-husband Mitch and sets up an extensive trap to kill him at the home.

And while I would have bet money that the real life interior of the home was used in the filming, that does not appear to have been the case.

As you can see below, the real life property is not nearly as open as its onscreen counterpart and its ceilings are not nearly as high.

The actual home also has a more polished and less industrial look than what appeared in the movie. So while I love, love, love the exterior of the place, I have to say that I much prefer the onscreen design of the interior to the reality.

And while we were there, I, of course, just had to sit where JLo sat at the end of the flick. Smile

As I mentioned last week in my post about the loft where Chris lives on Parks and Recreation, the exterior of the Enough house also popped up as the exterior of Chris’ pad in the Season 3 episodes titled “Indianapolis” and “Road Trip”.

Mike, who, as I have mentioned countless times before, knows the City of L.A. and its surroundings like the back of his hand, also pointed out that retired Laker Rick Fox and then wife, actress Vanessa Williams, used to live right across the canal from the Enough house at 5518 Pacific Avenue. The home was sold to new owners, though, sometime after the couple divorced in 2004.

And while we were stalking the Enough house, Mike and I discovered a gorgeous garden named Channel Pointe located directly across the street. Apparently gardens like the one pictured below are quite common in Marina Del Rey (which is quickly turning out to be one of my favorite cities in Los Angeles). Love it!

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And don’t forget to take a look at my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Mitch’s house from Enough is located at 5417 Via Donte in Marina Del Rey. Rick Fox and Vanessa Williams formerly lived across the canal in the home located at 5518 Pacific Avenue. And the Channel Pointe Garden can be reached from Via Donte, directly across the street from the Enough house.

July 9, 2012July 8, 2012

The Smallest Park from “Parks and Recreation”

I just recently finished watching Season 4 of fave new show Parks and Recreation (and yes, I was devastated when I came to the end of the last episode being that I now have to wait until September to watch a new one!) and can honestly say that the episode titled “Smallest Park” had to be one of the best of the entire series. I found myself in tears when (spoiler alert!) Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) finally got back together. So when fellow stalker Owen gave me the address of the eponymous Smallest Park, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to Studio City to stalk the place. Well, truth be told, that’s not exactly how things happened.

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Earlier this year, before I had ever even seen an episode of the show, Owen had given me a list of several Parks and Recreation locales, one of which was the Smallest Park. I did not stalk any of them, though, until I finally started watching the series back in May. Flash forward to early June, when I was stalking April and Andy’s house (which I blogged about here), and realized that the abode was located just a short distance from the “Smallest Park”. So, even though I had yet to begin watching Season 4 at the time, since we were in the area, I decided to drop by and snap some pics. Because the Smallest Park is in actuality just a parking lot, Owen had only given me an approximate address for it. Well, as fate would have it, when we pulled up to that address, I noticed a vacant plot of land (pictured below) across the street and immediately assumed it was the right place. And while I did say to the GC, “It really doesn’t look all that small to me!” (LOL), I did not realize my mistake until a few weeks later when I watched the “Smallest Park” episode. I am SUCH a blonde sometimes! That’ll teach me to stalk a location prior to seeing the production in which it was featured!

It wasn’t until last weekend that I was finally able to get back out to Studio City to stalk the correct location – which, as you can see below, is the rear parking lot of a strip mall and does not look anything like a park, hence my original confusion.

In the “Smallest Park” episode of Parks and Recreation, Pawnee’s last remaining telephone booths are torn down, leaving a 0.000003-square-mile patch of concrete, on which Leslie and Ben (aka the “Dream Team”) decide to build the city’s “newest tourist attraction – the smallest park in Indiana”.

As you can see below, the Smallest Park was actually just a square plot of cement that producers placed at the western-most edge of the parking lot, covering up the first spot.

And while just a vacant parking lot, I could NOT have been more excited to stalk this location, most likely because the Smallest Park and the episode in which it was featured were both so incredibly memorable. It is at the park that, in what had to be one of the series’ cutest moments EVER, Leslie tells Ben how much she misses him and the two seal their reunion with a kiss. Sigh! I’m tearing up just looking at the screen capture below. Smile

And I, of course, just had to stand where Leslie stood while she was picketing the park in the episode (and announcing its nightly midnight fireworks show) – although I was having another blonde moment at the time and accidentally had the GC snap a pic from the opposite direction of what was shown onscreen.

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And don’t forget to check out my new 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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Smallest Park from Parks and Recreation was built in the northwesternmost parking space of the Valley Stores Shopping Center’s rear parking lot in Studio City. The lot can be found next to the property located at 4378 Kraft Avenue in Studio City.

July 5, 2012July 4, 2012

The Bulge from “Parks and Recreation”

Another day, another location from fave show Parks and Recreation! Seriously, I hope you guys aren’t getting sick of P&R locales yet. Winking smile Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I hit up the Oxford Inn in Van Nuys, aka the bar that stands in for the Bulge – Pawnee, Indiana’s local gay bar. I learned of this location, as always, from fellow stalker Owen of the When Write Is Wrong blog.

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While watching the Season 3 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Go Big or Go Home”, Owen had noticed an address number of 13713 written above the Bulge’s front door. One quick Google search of “13713”, “bar” and “Van Nuys” (because the show typically films in that area), led him to the Oxford Inn at 13713 Oxnard Street, directly across from Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant from The Office, which I blogged about here. And, voila, the Inn turned out to be the right place. Yay! Come to find out, though, our search would not end there. But more on that later.

While the interior of the Bulge has been featured in two episodes of Parks and Recreation (Season 2’s “Pawnee Zoo” and Season’s 3 “Go Big or Go Home”), the exterior has only popped up once – in “Go Big or Go Home”. In the episode, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) crash Ann Perkin’s (Rashida Jones’) first date with Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) and then convince the two of them to go dancing at the Bulge. As you can see below, aside from the fake neon “the Bulge” sign, the Oxwood Inn looks much the same in person as it did onscreen. And, in a synchronistic twist of fate, the Oxwood Inn is actually a gay bar in real life, too!

The interior, however, is another story entirely. As you can see below, the interior of the Oxwood Inn has a very definite blue hue to it. And while I did not remember that blue hue from the series, I figured that producers had changed the lighting for the filming. Oh, how wrong I was.

When I got home and re-watched “Pawnee Zoo” and “Go Big or Go Home”, I realized that a completely different bar had been used for all of the interior scenes – which meant that I had another hunt on my hands.

Because I am like a pit bull when it comes to stalking (once I latch on to a search, I have a very hard time letting go), I immediately started looking online for “divey” bars located in the San Fernando Valley. And while it took me a looooooooong time to track the place down, I am very happy to report that I finally did! As it turns out, the interior of the Bulge is Serra’s Dine & Dance in Studio City. I, of course, dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to grab some lunch just a few days later, but unfortunately the eatery is only open at night, so we were unable to go inside. I will be definitely be heading back there for a re-stalk in the near future, though. In the meantime, you can check out some interior photographs of Serra’s here and here. As you can see, it looks much the same in person as it does onscreen.

I am guessing that the reason two different bars were used as the Bulge’s interior and exterior is because the exterior of Serra’s Dine & Dance does not look very much like a small-town dive bar, while the Oxwood Inn does, as you can see below.

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

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And don’t forget to check out my new blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Oxwood Inn, aka the exterior of The Bulge from the “Go Big or Go Home” episode of Parks and Recreation, is located at 13713 Oxnard Street in Van Nuys. You can visit the bar’s official website here. Right across the street from the Oxwood Inn at 13726 Oxnard Street is Barone’s Famous Italian Restaurant from The Office, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Bad News Bears, which I blogged about here. You can visit the Barone’s website here. Serra’s Dine & Dance, aka the interior of The Bulge from Parks and Recreation, is located at 12449 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. You can visit Serra’s official website here.