Westfield Fashion Square Mall from “The Office”

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One location that my good friend, fellow stalker Lavonna, asked me to track down eons ago was the shopping center that was featured in the Season 3 episode of fave show The Office titled “Women’s Appreciation”.  Because the series is taped in Van Nuys, I figured that the mall was located somewhere in the San Fernando Valley, so whenever the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves in a shopping center in that area, I would wander around looking for the large circular water fountain that Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) had tried to climb into in order to retrieve a one-dollar bill.   Try as I might, though, I could not seem to find that fountain anywhere.  I had almost given up hope when, two weekends ago, the GC and I were doing a little shopping at the Westfield Fashion Square Mall in Sherman Oaks and I spotted a water fountain just outside of Macy’s department store.  I snapped a quick photo of it on my phone so that I could compare it to the fountain that had appeared in the episode once I got home.  Ironically, as it turned out, the fountain I had taken a picture of did not, in fact, match, but, thinking that there might be more than one located inside of the mall, I did a quick search of “fountains” and “Westfield Fashion Square Mall” on Google and, sure enough, a photo of the correct fountain popped up.  I am ashamed to admit that not only was The Office fountain located about ten feet away from the one that I had taken a picture of, but we had actually walked right by it while shopping that day and somehow did not notice.  Doh!  So this past weekend I dragged the GC right on back out there (much to his chagrin – he HATES malls) so that I could finally stalk it.

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In the “Women’s Appreciation” episode of The Office, Michael Scott takes the women of Dunder Mifflin – Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer), Phyllis Vance (aka Phyllis Smith), Meredith Palmer (aka Kate Flannery), Kelly Kapoor (aka Mindy Kaling), Angela Martin (aka Angela Kinsey), and Karen Filippelli (aka Rashida Jones) – shopping at the supposed Steamtown Mall in order to show them that they are “appreciated” by the men in the office.  And while the exterior of the actual The Mall at Steamtown in Scranton, Pennsylvania was used for the establishing shot of the shopping center in the episode, the interior of Westfield Fashion Square Mall was used for all of the actual filming.

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Many areas of Westfield Fashion Square Mall were used in the episode, including the food court, where Michael and the ladies ate lunch and where Michael confessed that he wanted to break up with longtime girlfriend Jan Levenson (aka Melora Hardin).

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In the scene, the gang sat just outside of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf café;

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in the area pictured above.

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After lunch, Michael announces (however inappropriately) that he would like to buy each of the women a present of their choosing at Victoria’s Secret.

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Some filming did take place inside of the actual Victoria’s Secret store and I very much wanted to venture inside to snap a few pics, but shops tend to get very antsy about photographs for some reason, so I did not even attempt it.  Back in October, when I was stalking the Macy’s at the Burbank Town Center Mall, which appeared in the “Redemption” episode of The Mentalist, a store employee actually tried to confiscate my camera!  Not kidding.  Because I was taking pictures inside of a store – pictures of an area that had been immortalized on a hit TV show for all of the world to see, mind you – she told me she was going to call security and attempted to take my camera out of my hands!  Um, OK.  Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.  If you do not want photographs to be taken of your store, fine, no problem, but then do not put said store on national television!  Sigh.  I just really do not get people sometimes, but I digress.  Winking smile

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At the very end of the episode, Michael throws a coin into the mall’s fountain and makes a wish “for every woman in the world”.  Of his wishes, he says, “I wished for Jan to get over me.  I wished for Phyllis a plasma TV.  I wished for Pam to gain courage.  I wished for Angela a heart.  And for Kelly, a brain.”  LOL LOL LOL  Ah, Michael Scott, how we miss you!

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And, let me tell you, seeing that fountain in person after so many hours of searching for it was the absolute highlight of the stalk for me!  Whoo hoo!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Westfield Fashion Square Mall, aka Steamtown Mall from the “Women’s Appreciation” episode of The Office, is located at 14006 Riverside Drive in Sherman Oaks.  The water fountain that Michael Scott tried to climb into can be found just outside of The Disney Store on the mall’s first level.  The Victoria’s Secret store where the women shopped in the episode is located just a few doors down from The Disney Store, also on the mall’s first level.  The Food Court, where the women ate lunch, is located on the mall’s second level.  The gang sat just outside of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf café and Stone Oven restaurant.

Larry’s Chili Dog from “The Office”

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Because fellow stalker Lavonna has been in town for the past few days and I have been doing some major stalking with her, today’s post is, unfortunately, going to be a short one.  Sad smile Sorry about that folks, but I do promise to be back tomorrow with a regular-sized write-up.  And now, on with the post!  One location that has been on my “To-Stalk” list since way back in early February is Larry’s Chili Dog – a tiny Burbank-area hot dog stand that was featured in the Season 7 episode of fave show The Office titled “The Search”.  As I mentioned quite a few months back in my post about Kung Pao China Bistro, the Chinese food restaurant that was also featured in “The Search”, fellow stalker Owen tracked down every single location which appeared in the episode.  And because, as I have also mentioned previously, this stalker absolutely loves herself some hot dogs, I was especially excited to stalk Larry’s, but for whatever reason had just never made it out there.  So, a couple of weeks ago, when the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves ravenously hungry after a shopping expedition at the Burbank IKEA, I knew exactly where to head!

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In “The Search” episode of The Office, after being left stranded at a local gas station sans wallet, money, and cell phone, Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) decides to go on a “walkabout” through Downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania.   He first hits up a pet store and talks to a few random animals about love, before heading over to Larry’s Chili Dog where he orders a hot dog.  Because he has no means of paying, he tells the cashier that he will leave his “$45 watch” behind as a sort of marker, to which the cashier says, “We’re not a pawn shop.”  Michael tries to barter with the cashier further, but he is having none of it and Michael ends up yelling “You’ve just lost my business” before walking away empty-handed.  LOL  God, I love that show!  It has sadly gone downhill this season, but the reruns of the earlier episodes just never get old!

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Larry’s Chili Dog looks much the same in person as it did on The Office and I am very happy to report that the owners truly could NOT have been nicer!  They let me take all of the photographs of the place that I wanted and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming.

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They also told me that Steve Carell was extremely nice and had posed for pictures with them during the filming.  SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

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Because the owners were so incredibly nice, it seriously pains me to say that I did not enjoy my hot dog all that much.  It was of the snap-skin variety, which, for whatever reason, gives this stalker the major heebie-jeebies!  As I have mentioned many times in the past, I am an extremely picky eater.  The GC absolutely LOVED his hamburger, though, and the French fries and ranch dressing were both A-MA-ZING, so all in all our lunch was not a total loss.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location!  Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Larry’s Chili Dog, from “The Search” episode of The Office, is located at 3122 West Burbank Boulevard in Burbank.

The Weaver House from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

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Back in August, on the recommendation of my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. and I can honestly say that it was one of the best movies I have seen all year.  In fact, I might even go so far as to say that it was one of the best movies I have seen ever!  And while I have long thought that Ryan Gosling is one of the most gifted actors of our generation, he entered a whole new level in Crazy, Stupid, Love. and blew all of his past performances right out of the water!  The guy is simply phenomenal!  And can you say “heartthrob”?!  I also absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE me some Emma Stone and she, too, was nothing short of fabulous.  If you have yet to see the movie, I cannot more highly recommend doing so!  Like now!  Stop reading this post, in fact, and go right out and rent it!  Seriously!  Anyway, because I loved the flick so much, I could absolutely NOT wait for it to come out on DVD  – which it finally did last week – so that I could start tracking down some of its locations.  And one of the first that I found, thanks to a very helpful crew member, was the residence where the Weaver family lived.  So I ran right out to stalk it – Grim Cheaper in tow, of course – just a few days later.

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In Crazy, Stupid, Love., recently-separated Emily Weaver (aka Julianne Moore) and her two children, Robbie (aka Jonah Bobo) and Molly (aka Joey King), live in the two-story Anywhere, U.S.A.-style house pictured above.

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The backyard was the area of the property that actually appeared most often in the flick, most notably during Cal Weaver’s (aka Steve Carell’s) late-night gardening sessions.  According to the Crazy, Stupid, Love. production notes, of the residence, production designer William Arnold said, “We were really lucky to find that house, which had this beautiful back sun porch. The owners graciously let us tear down their old glass doors and put in windows and doors that opened the house up to the backyard, lending itself to Cal’s late-night ‘visits’ to his garden. He could see almost all the way through the house, but was, tellingly, on the outside looking in.”

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The backyard also appeared in my very favorite scene from the movie, in which Cal’s surprise for Emily goes a bit haywire.  I will not say anymore than that, as I do not want to spoil the scene for those who have yet to see the movie – and if that is the case, then you really should not be reading this post!  You should be out renting Crazy, Stupid, Love. like I told you to before!  Winking smile

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The real life interior of the house was also used in the flick.  Amazingly, according to the production notes, almost all of Crazy, Stupid, Love. was filmed on location at actual sites.  Only two sets were constructed for use in the movie – Cal’s post-separation apartment and Plus, the bar where Jacob Palmer (aka Ryan Gosling) taught Cal the finer points of seducing women – which I found shocking!

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In real life, the 3-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,270-square-foot home, which was originally built in 1949 and sits on over half an acre of land, looks much the same in person as it did onscreen, except for the cement front walkway, which appears to have been swapped out for a stone one during the filming.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Weaver residence from Crazy, Stupid, Love. is located at 2002 Minoru Drive in Altadena.