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.

El Galleon Restaurant

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Another Catalina Island stalking location I found thanks to Robert Wagner’s fabulous autobiography, Pieces of My Heart, was the restaurant El Galleon where Natalie Wood ate one of her last meals.  According to the book, on November 27, 1981, shortly after docking their boat, Splendour, at Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, aka “RJ”, and their guest Christopher Walken went ashore to do some shopping.  Later that evening, the threesome headed to El Galleon Restaurant, which has been a Catalina Island tradition since 1967, for some margaritas and beers.  After returning to the Splendour  later that night, RJ and Natalie got into a fight and, as I blogged about last week, she asked the captain to take her ashore so she could spend the night alone at the island’s Pavilion Lodge.  The next day, after Natalie returned, Robert had the Splendour moved to Two Harbors, on the other side of the island, to avoid some brewing stormy weather.  At around 3 pm, while RJ napped aboard the yacht, Wood and Walken headed ashore alone to grab a bite to eat and kick back some cocktails at Doug’s Harbor Reef Saloon.  When RJ awoke a couple of hours later, he was highly annoyed at the situation and headed ashore himself.  At around 5 pm, the threesome ate dinner together in the dining room of Doug’s Harbor Reef Restaurant.  The meal would be Natalie’s last.  Five hours later, the fairly tipsy threesome headed back to the Splendour  where a heated fight broke out between RJ and Walken.  Voices were raised and at one point Wagner threw a wine bottle against a table where it shattered.  Natalie retired to her stateroom sometime during the arguement and was, sadly, never seen alive again.  At around 7:45 the following morning, her body was found drowned in a nearby harbor.

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So, while visiting Catalina Island this past week, stalking Doug’s Harbor Reef Restaurant where Natalie ate her last meal was at the very top of my stalking agenda.  Unfortunately, though, being that the restaurant is located on the complete opposite side of the island from where we were staying, no one in my family wanted to travel over there.  🙁  So, I had to settle for instead stalking El Galleon, where Wood, Walken, and Wagner ate dinner the night before Natalie’s death.  Ironically enough, while renting a golf cart one day, I happened to ask the owner of the Island Rentals golf cart company if he knew anything about the death of Natalie Wood.  It turns out that he was born and raised on the island and knew the owners of El Galleon quite well.  He told me that Natalie and RJ were regulars at the New Orleans themed restaurant and that the night before her death she purchased a painting from one of the local art shops which she brought with her to dinner.  Because it was raining, Natalie asked the owner of the restaurant to wrap up the painting for her so that it wouldn’t get damaged on the way to the boat.  The owner happily obliged and that was the last time she ever saw Natalie.  🙁  According to the Island Rentals guy, numerous celebs have popped into El Galleon over the years, including Ed McMahon (who even sung karaoke there!), and John Wayne.

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And, while we didn’t have a chance to dine at El Galleon during this trip, the last time my fiance and I visited Catalina Island back in 2005 we grabbed a cocktail at the restaurant and had a blast while there!  El Galleon features nightly karaoke – which just happens to be my very favorite past-time 🙂 – so, of course, I just had to get a few songs in while there.  Needless to say my fiance was not pleased.  LOL  Besides karaoke, the restaurant also boasts an outdoor patio with ocean views, a semi-private banquet room, and a HUGE menu featuring live Maine and local lobster, applewood smoked BBQ ribs, USDA corn fed steaks, rack of lamb, fresh abalone, and – my personal fave – chicken strips!  I highly recommend stalking El Galleon – as much for the yummy food as the fun, laidback, island-style atmosphere!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: El Galleon restaurant is located at 411 Crescent Avenue in Avalon on Catalina Island.  You can visit their website here.  Harbor Reef Restaurant, where Natalie Wood ate her last meal, is located in Catalina’s Isthmus Cove .  You can visit their website here.

Catalina’s Pavilion Lodge

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This morning my family and I traveled to Catalina Island for a little summer vacay.  We’ve been planning this trip for quite some time now and, let me tell you, I could not have been more excited to finally arrive!  Ever since my grandmother gave me Robert Wagner’s autobiography, Pieces of My Heart: A Life,  for Christmas last year, I have been dying to do some Catalina stalking!  : )  For those of you not in the know, actor Robert Wagner and his movie star wife Natalie Wood were vacationing on Catalina Island the night of her mysterious drowning.  So, the first item on my stalking agenda?  Pavilion Lodge, the hotel where Natalie Wood spent her last night alive. 

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There has always been a shroud of mystery surrounding Natalie Wood’s death, but according to Robert’s book, the story is as follows.  Natalie and Robert were frequent visitors to Catalina Island.  The two owned a yacht, named “Splendour” in honor of Natalie’s 1961 movie Splendor in the Grass, and would often sail from Los Angeles to Avalon to spend a few nights on their boat.   On the weekend of November 27th, 1981, Natalie invited Christopher Walken, with whom she was filming the movie Brainstorm,  to spend the weekend with her and Robert off the coast of Catalina on their yacht.   Robert was a little uncomfortable with Natalie and Walken’s blooming friendship and was fearful that an affair between the two co-stars might be brewing.  Things got a bit heated between the three during their first night together, and, rather than spend the night on the boat with her husband, Natalie had the ship’s captain take her ashore where she booked a room at the Pavilion Lodge.  

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The following day, Natalie returned to the ship and made up with her husband.  And here’s where the mystery comes into play.  On the night of November 28, 1981, after a full day and night of drinking (and arguing) with Wagner and Walken, Natalie disappeared from the Splendour.  No one knows when or why the actress left the yacht, but early the following morning she was found dead, floating in a cove, drowned at the tender age of 43.   Numerous theories abound as to what happened to Natalie that night.  Some think she was pushed overboard by her jealous husband, others guess she accidentally fell off the ship while trying to travel ashore to spend yet another night alone in a Catalina motel room.  The world will perhaps never know the full story, as Robert says that not even he is sure of what happened that night.   And, until Pieces of My Heart was published late last year, neither Walken nor Wagner had ever spoken publicly about Natalie’s death, nor has Wagner ever returned to the island where his wife met her untimely end.  Such a sad story!

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So, one of my first stops after arriving on Catalina Island this morning was, of course, the Pavilion Lodge, where Natalie spent her final night, the night of November 27, 1981.  I was actually shocked to find that the place was still in existence!  And it’s a LOT bigger than I had anticipated.  While most hotels on the island are fairly small, the Pavilion Lodge property seems to just keep going and going and going.  It’s HUGE!  It is, however, by no means fancy and I was very surprised that Natalie, one of the biggest movie stars of her day, would have chosen to stay there.  But because it is located directly across the street – and within walking distance – from Catalina’s pier, I am guessing it was the first place she happened upon after arriving on the island that night.

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And while I would have much preferred to stay at the Pavilion Lodge as it would have made for a much more interesting blog post, sadly, my family opted to book a room elsewhere.  LOL  But from what I saw today, the Lodge looks like a very nice place to spend a few nights.  It is located directly across the street from the beach on a large piece of property, with a nice cental lawn area, and a perfect view of the ocean.  

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And I absolutely fell in love with their retro-fabulous sign.  🙂 

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For those who haven’t yet read Pieces of My Heart, I HIGHLY recommend it!  Robert really dishes up some good Hollywood dirt in it!  So LOVED it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Pavilion Lodge is located at 513 Crescent Avenue in Avalon on Catalina Island.