First Christian Church of North Hollywood – Where Phyllis Got Married on “The Office”

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Brace yourselves, my fellow stalkers, ‘cause today’s post is going to be a long one!  A few months back, I dragged my then-fiancé and my parents out to re-stalk the First Christian Church of North Hollywood – a location which is most commonly known as “the 7th Heaven church”, thanks to its recurring role as the Camden Family’s local parish throughout the Aaron Spelling series’ ten-year run.  Even though I never watched 7th Heaven, I stalked and blogged about the church way back in April of 2008 after receiving a challenge to find it from my Aunt Lea.  So, when the very same location popped up on new favorite show The Office as the spot where Phyllis Lapin (aka Phyllis Smith) married Bob Vance (aka Robert R. Shafer) – of Vance Refrigeration – in the Season 3 episode titled “Phyllis’ Wedding”, I decided I just had to re-stalk it and do a more in-depth write-up of its extensive filming history.

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The First Christian Church of North Hollywood was originally built in 1949 on the corner of Moorpark Street and Colfax Avenue in what is, contrary to what the name might suggest, actually Studio City.  Construction on the 19,000-square foot, Colonial-style structure took just under a year to complete and the first mass was said there on March 12, 1950.  Today the church boasts one of the largest Protestant congregations in the entire San Fernando Valley.  Location scouts have long been drawn to the property, which includes a main sanctuary, several offices, a kitchen, a garden, a nursery school, a social hall, and a courtyard, for decades due to its Anytown, U.S.A.-style facade.  Countless upon countless productions have been filmed there over the years – far too many for me to properly catalog here, but I’ll do my best to try.  I must give major props to whoever runs the First Christian Church of North Hollywood website, by the way, because it boasts a very well-organized  Film Shoots” page that chronicles all of the filming that has ever taken place there.  Love it!

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The “Phyllis’ Wedding” episode of The Office was filmed almost in its entirety on location at First Christian Church of North Hollywood and both the interior and the exterior of the property were used extensively in the production.  The areas which appeared in the episode include the front entrance;

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the entryway and front stairwell;

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the main sanctuary;

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the altar;

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the social hall (which we unfortunately did not get to see);

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the top of the exterior side stairwell, where Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer) and Roy Anderson (aka David Denman) danced;

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the north exterior side of the church, where Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) danced with Angela Martin (aka Angela Kinsey);

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and the side courtyard, where Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) “found” Phyllis’ Uncle Al (aka George Ives).

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And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention here that it is while in the First Christian Church of North Hollywood that Dwight utters fellow stalker Owen’s very favorite television line of all time.  While filing into the church with the other wedding guests, Dwight turns to Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) and says, “Why are all these people here?  There’s too many people on this earth.  We need a new plague.”  LOL LOL LOL  Love it!  So, of course I just had to stand in the exact spot where Dwight was standing during that scene and repeat his famous line.

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As I mentioned above, the First Christian Church of North Hollywood is most well-known for its countless appearances on 7th Heaven where it popped up almost weekly during the series’ eleven season run.

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It is also at First Christian Church that Indiana Jones (aka Harrison Ford) marries Marion Ravenwood (aka Karen Allen) while Mutt Williams (aka Shia LaBeouf) looks on at the end of 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Shia LaBeouf returned to First Christian Church that very same year to film his character’s brother’s funeral scene for the movie Eagle Eye.

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The church was also where Barbara Keeley (aka Calista Flockhart) married Val Goldman (aka Dan Futterman) at the end of the 1996 movie The Birdcage.

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In What About Bob?, the church was where Bob Wiley (aka Bill Murray) tied the knot with Lily Marvin (aka Fran Brill).

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The church was also the wedding location in the music video for Katy Perry’s hit song “Hot & Cold” –

– which you can watch by clicking above.

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Most recently, the church appeared in the Season 6 opener of How I Met Your Mother, which was titled “Big Days” and which aired this past Monday evening.

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The First Christian Church of North Hollywood was also used in the movies Death Becomes Her, Nothing to Lose, and The Suburbans, and in episodes of United States of Tara, Desperate Housewives, Parks and Recreation, Samantha Who?, Crossing Jordan, Swingtown, Hart to Hart, Ghost Whisperer, Gilmore Girls, and Melrose Place.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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Stalk It: The First Christian Church of North Hollywood is located at 4390 Colfax Avenue in Studio City.  You can visit the church’s official website here.  The areas of the church used in the “Phyllis’ Wedding” episode of The Office are denoted above.  Pam and Roy danced at the top of the church’s north-side stairwell, which is located on Moorpark Street and is marked with the blue arrow above.  The windows where Dwight and Angela danced are located just below the stairwell and a few feet east, also on Moorpark Street.  Michael’s courtyard is located on Colfax Avenue, in between the main church building and the nursery school, and is denoted with the pink arrow in the above aerial view.  The social hall, where Bob and Phyllis held their wedding reception, is located on the second floor of the nursery school building.

The Bistro Garden

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A couple of weeks ago, while searching online for different filming locations from The Office, I came across some information about an area restaurant which not only appeared in The Office, but in countless other productions over the years, as well – the Bistro Garden in Studio City.  So, I, of course, dragged the Grim Cheaper right out to stalk it that very weekend!  And I think it is safe to say that we both pretty much fell in love with the place immediately upon arriving!  The Bistro Garden was first opened by Carolyn Niklas Pappas, the daughter of famed restaurateur Kurt Niklas (who founded the enormously popular celebrity hotspots Bistro and the original Bistro Garden in Beverly Hills) and her husband Gregory Pappas in 1990.  Two decades later, the place is still one of the Valley’s most popular restaurants – and definitely its most romantic!  According to this 2009 Los Angeles Times article, restaurant reviewer Max Jacobson said of the Bistro Garden that it “may have been the most beautiful restaurant he had ever dined in”.  And he wasn’t exaggerating – the place is exquisite. 

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The Bistro Garden, which according to its website was modeled after a “European Wintergarden”, features a central indoor courtyard with a huge, peaked skylight roof, large French doors, and a perimeter of potted trees covered in twinkle lights, all of which give off the feeling of being outside in some sort of magical garden oasis.  And I swear they must pump some sort of rose fragrance through the air conditioning vents, because the place smells like fresh cut flowers – it’s AMAZING! 

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The restaurant’s wood-paneled mahogany bar area, where the Grim Cheaper and I ate, definitely evokes a feeling of Old Hollywood, especially with the Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra music that plays in the background.  Love it!  🙂  The staff also could NOT have been friendlier and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming that has taken place there over the years.  Oh, and the food was absolutely incredible, too!  And even though the restaurant is a bit pricey, the Grim Cheaper thoroughly enjoyed himself and said he can’t wait to go back!  That in and of itself is a testament to how good the place is.

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In the Season 6 episode of The Office titled “Double Date”, the Bistro Garden stood in for Paparazzo’s (LOL!), the Italian restaurant where Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) hosted a birthday luncheon for Pam’s (aka Jenna Fischer’s) mom, Helene (aka Linda Purl).  It is there that Michael decides that Helene, at age 58, is far too old for him and promptly breaks up with her . . . in the middle of her birthday lunch. 

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Steve Carell also filmed a scene from 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin at the Bistro Garden – the scene in which his character Andy attends a Date-A-Palooza speed-dating event.

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Randomly enough, The Office’s Mindy Kaling also made an appearance in that scene.

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In 2010’s Valentine’s Day, the Bistro Garden was the spot where Julia Fitzpatrick (aka Jennifer Garner) confronted her boyfriend, Dr. Harrison Copeland (aka Patrick Dempsey), after finding out that he was married.

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In 1997’s Liar Liar, the Bistro Garden was the spot where Jerry (aka Cary Elwes) proposed to Audrey (aka Maura Tierney).

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Bistro Garden has popped up twice in Desperate Housewives.  In the Season 2 episode titled “Remember (1)”, the restaurant’s bar area was where Gabrielle Solis (aka Eva Longoria Parker) discovered (wrongly) via a newscast that her husband Carlos (aka Ricardo Chavira) had died in a car accident. 

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The restaurant was also where Zach Young (aka Cody Kasch) unveiled himself to be Gabrielle’s secret admirer in the Season 3 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Not While I’m Around”.

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The Bistro Garden also showed up twice on fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 – first in the Season 8 episode titled “Toil and Trouble” as the spot where Cooper Hargrove (aka Christopher Orr) gifted Valerie Malone (aka Tiffani Amber-Thiessen) with a diamond necklace.

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And second in the Season 10 episode titled “Laying Pipe”.  But in actuality only the exterior of the Bistro Garden was featured in the “Laying Pipe” episode.  

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As you can see in the above screen captures, the interior filming took place elsewhere.  The restaurant was also featured in an episode of Melrose Place, but because I didn’t really watch that show, I am unsure of exactly which episode.

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Bistro Garden is also something of a celebrity hotspot, as well.  Just a few of the celebs who have been spotted dining there recently include Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift, and Steve Carell.

On a side note – I will not be publishing a new blog post for tomorrow, or for the next two Fridays.  Because of my upcoming wedding, I wrote all of my August blog posts in advance and unfortunately was only able to get enough done to publish four each week.  But I will be back on Monday with a whole new post.  🙂 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Bistro Garden is located at 12950 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.  You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

Jim and Pam’s Wedding Church from “The Office”

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Another wedding-themed location that I stalked recently was the San Fernando Valley-area church where Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) married Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer) in the Season Six episode of my new favorite show The Office titled “Niagara”.  I found out about this location quite a while ago, thanks to both fellow stalker Owen, who had told me about it in an email, and fellow stalker Snidely Whiplash, who posted a comment about it on my site.  And literally, as soon as I finished watching the “Niagara” episode a few weeks back, I dragged my fiancé right out to stalk the place.  Unfortunately, I must have been having a blonde moment at the time, though, because we stalked the church on a Saturday evening when it was, sadly, locked up and closed.  SUCH A BUMMER!  The experience taught me a very valuable lesson, though – if you are going to stalk a church, do so on a Sunday morning when it is almost guaranteed that the property will be open to the public.  😉

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In real life, the supposed Niagara Falls, New York-area church where Pam and Jim tied the knot, which was referred to as Spruce Avenue Presbyterian Church in the episode, is known as the Congregational Church of the Chimes and it can actually be found right here in Southern California, in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Sherman Oaks.  Jim and Pam’s wedding did not take place in the church’s main building, though, but in the smaller Walter H. Staves Chapel, which is pictured above.

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And while I didn’t get to see the inside of the chapel, my fiancé and I were able to wander around the church grounds quite a bit and, thanks to some very friendly parishioners who pointed me in the right direction, I got to stalk the fountain where Jim and Pam posed for the photograph that appeared on their official wedding website.  YAY!

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We also got to stalk the patch of grass where Jim kicked around a soccer ball before the wedding, so the day wasn’t a total loss.  🙂 

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My good friends, fellow stalkers Lavonna and Melissa, who were Office aficionados long before I was, stalked the church when they were in town this past April and had much better luck than I did.  As fate would have it, they happened to pull up to the property just as the church’s wedding coordinator, a super nice woman named Lila, was locking the chapel up.  They told her that they were major Office fans and asked if she might let them take a quick peek at the interior and she happily obliged!  Thankfully, Lavonna and Melissa were kind enough to loan me the photographs they took that day to use in this post.  Thank you, ladies!

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Not only did the two of them get to stalk the inside of the chapel, though, but Melissa also got to re-create the “Forever” dance routine that the Office staff performed during the ceremony!  Sigh!  I had SO wanted to do that very same thing while I was there!  Ah well, looks like I’ll just have to re-stalk this place again sometime soon . . . on a Sunday, of course.  “:)

You can watch Jim and Pam’s wedding scene from the “Niagara” episode by clicking above.  And I am not ashamed to admit that I absolutely CANNOT watch that scene without crying – even though I’ve probably seen it a dozen times by now!  It literally gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME!  Especially when Jim says, “And Plan A was marrying her a long, long time ago.  Pretty much the day I met her.”  Sigh!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalkers Owen and Snidely Whiplash for finding this location and to Lavonna and Melissa for allowing me to post their photos of it on my blog!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Jim and Pam's Wedding Church Map

Stalk It: Congregational Church of the Chimes, aka Jim and Pam’s wedding church from The Office, is located at 14115 Magnolia Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.  You can visit the church’s official website here.  Jim and Pam got married in the Walter H. Staves Chapel, which is located on the southwest portion of the church grounds and is denoted with the blue arrow on the above map.  The fountain where the couple posed for their wedding photograph is located inside of the Katharine Gibson Chapel of the Garden and is denoted with a gold star on the above map.  The patch of grass where Jim played soccer before the ceremony is located in the center of the property and is denoted with a pink “X” on the above map.

Jim and Pam’s Wedding Hotel from “The Office”

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Now that I have watched all six seasons of The Office, I can honestly say that my favorite episode hands down has to be the Season 6 episode titled “Niagara” in which Jim Halpert (aka John Krasinski) and Pam Beasley (aka Jenna Fischer) finally get married.  I loved the episode for two very different reasons – one, because Jim and Pam’s relationship is so incredibly sweet, and two, because it so perfectly captures what it is like to plan a wedding.  Whoever wrote “Niagara” must have gone through the ordeal that is planning a wedding just prior to penning it, because, let me tell you, they got things absolutely, one hundred percent SPOT ON!  And right now I can TOTALLY relate.  Yes, planning a wedding is fun and exciting and heartwarming, but, at the same time, dealing with people is just not my forte.  I honestly want to call up some of our guests and/or vendors and scream, “NO, I will not provide you with shade during the ceremony, NO, I will not pick you up from the airport on the morning of my wedding, and NO, it’s not OK that you RSVP-ed yes, but are now backing out even though I have already given my caterer the final head count!” – all of which were recently said to or asked of me and my fiancé!  Sigh!  The scene in which Pam says to Jim, “Everyone’s driving me crazy.  This is supposed to be our wedding day!  Why did we invite all these people?” especially resonated with me when I watched the episode and I can’t tell you the number of times since then that I’ve seriously considered jumping on a ship to tie the knot sans guests just like Pam and Jim eventually did.  😉  Anyway, while watching “Niagara”, I immediately recognized the hotel where Jim and Pam’s guests stayed during their wedding as the historic Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City.  So, I dragged my fiancé right out to stalk it when we were in the area two weekends ago.

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The Sportmen’s Lodge Hotel has been around since the early 1880s, but at the time it was named Hollywood Trout Farms thanks to the fact that it was surrounded by a series of man-made lakes and piers from which guests could fish for trout which would then subsequently be cooked and served to them for dinner by the staff at the main restaurant.  In 1962, a new, larger hotel was built on the property, which had since been re-named the Sportsmen’s Lodge.  It is that structure that still stands today. 

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And while the trout lakes have long since been removed, the hotel now boasts an Olympic-sized swimming pool, numerous ponds and waterfalls, and eight picturesque acres of land.  Due to its proximity to the Hollywood studios, the Lodge has long been popular with movie stars, including Clark Gable, Marlon Brando, Doris Day, David Lee Roth, Billy Bob Thornton, Trisha Yearwood, Spencer Tracy, Lauren Bacall, Tallulah Bankhead, Lena Horne, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn, and Bette Davis, all of whom have been spotted there at one time or another.  In 2007, the hotel was purchased by real estate developer Richard Weintraub who set about extensively renovating the property.  And, unfortunately, along with that renovation came quite a bit of change.  🙁

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In The Office’s aptly named “Niagara” episode, Pam and Jim head to Niagara Falls to tie the knot.  And while the interior scenes were filmed at the Sportsmen’s Lodge, as I mentioned above, the exterior shots were filmed at an actual Niagara Falls lodging named the Red Coach Inn.  And, as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the two hotels look nothing alike.

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The Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel actually has two lobbies, and it is the back lobby, which is located off of Coldwater Canyon Avenue, that was used in the episode.  Unfortunately, as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, that lobby looks MUCH different today than it did when The Office was filmed.  During the recent remodel, all of the back lobby’s wood was covered over with white paint, making the space appear much less lodge-like. 

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Gone, too, is the hotel’s former stone-covered fireplace, which has been revamped to look like an ordinary, everyday fireplace.  Such a shame!  The hotel, which used to have a very kitschy feel to it, now appears traditional and run-of-the-mill.  I am actually quite surprised that Weintraub had the place remodeled in such a way, as I am sure that it is no longer quite as appealing to producers and location managers. 

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And I have to say here that I absolutely LOVE the scene in which Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) shows up to the hotel’s front desk and informs the clerk that he doesn’t have a reservation because Jim and Pam have “blocked” rooms for their guests.  LOL LOL LOL  Man, I can SO see that happening in real life!  I don’t know what it is about a wedding that renders seemingly normal, intelligent people into helpless, self-absorbed morons, but, let me tell you, it happens!

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Several of the Lodge’s hotel rooms were also featured in the “Niagara” episode, including Room 642, where Pam’s grandmother, Meemaw, stayed;

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Room 644, where Pam stayed;

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Room 641, where Dwight stayed;

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and Suite 639, aka the “Honeymoon Suite”, where Andy stayed.

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All of the rooms featured in the episode can be found in the same hallway, which is located on the hotel’s second floor, directly above the main lobby.

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I could NOT for the life of me find the ice/vending machine closet where Michael spent the night in “Niagara”, though.  Oddly enough, according to the housekeeper that I spoke with, the hotel only has one ice machine area and it is located next to the pool.  I checked it out, though, and it looks nothing like the room pictured above, which leads me to believe that producers either created a fake room in one of the hotel’s storage closets for the filming or that the ice machine room where filming took place was removed during the recent remodel.

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The very same back lobby which appeared in The Office was also the site of the graduation dance in the Britney Spears’ movie Crossroads.  I obtained this information from a crew member while I was working as an extra in the movie and I actually thought it was a bit odd being that a vast majority of the flick was lensed at the now-defunct Ambassador Hotel.  It seems like it would have been a whole lot easier to just shoot the dance sequence in one of the former hotel’s many ballrooms since the cast and crew were already filming on location there, but, then again, what do I know?  😉

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And, of course, I just HAD to pose on the Sportmen’s Lodge’s stairwell since Britney had once been there.  🙂

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The actual dance scene in Crossroads was filmed in the Lodge’s Starlight ballroom.  And, as you can see in the above screen captures and photograph, the room’s light fixtures and the banister surrounding the dance floor still look the same today as they did in 2002 when Crossroads was filmed.  YAY!

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The hotel was also where Lynette Scavo (aka Felicity Huffman) stayed after leaving her husband Tom (aka Doug Savant) in the Season 2 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Remember (1)”.

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And if you look at the room where Lynette stayed in that episode, you will notice that it is a perfect match to the room Lucy Wagner (aka Britney Spears) and Henry (aka Justin Long) rented after the dance in Crossroads, which is extremely odd as I would have guessed – once again – that that scene would have been filmed at the above-mentioned Ambassador, as was the case with all of the other hotel room scenes in the movie.  So odd!

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The front entrance of the hotel also appeared in Crossroads.

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The wedding from the end of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry was filmed at the Lodge, in the hotel’s  lagoon area, and, according to a staff member I spoke with, the movies Leverage, Made, and Day the World Ended, and episodes of the television series Reno 911, Columbo, and Falcon Crest were also all filmed at the Sportsmen’s Lodge,

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Sportmen’s Lodge, aka Jim and Pam’s wedding hotel from The Office, is located at 12825 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.  You can visit the hotel’s official website here.  In the “Niagara” episode, Pam stayed in Room 644, Dwight in Room 641, Pam’s Meemaw in Room 642, and Andy in Suite 639.  All of the rooms that were featured in the episode are located in the same second floor hallway of the hotel, directly above the main lobby.  The back lobby, which appeared in the both The Office and Crossroads, can be reached via Coldwater Canyon Avenue.

Isabel’s House from the “Bewitched” Movie

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Last week, fellow stalker Tony, from the On Location in Los Angeles flickr page, asked for my help in tracking down the residence belonging to Isabel Bigelow (aka Nicole Kidman) and her loyal cat, Lucinda, in the 2005 movie adaptation of the television series Bewitched.  So, I, of course, immediately called upon “The Team” – aka fellow stalkers Owen, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and Chas, from ItsFilmedThere – to see if they could help me find it.  Which they, of course, did!  Owen fairly quickly came upon fave website Hooked on Houses’ awesome write up about the cottage which stated that it was located somewhere in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.  And because the house’s address number – 4427 – was also visible in the movie, we had two very strong leads to follow.  Owen immediately began searching the Valley – once he figured out exactly what part of Los Angeles constituted “The Valley”, something I have still not yet been able to do 😉 – for houses with a “4427” address number and voila, it wasn’t very long before he found the correct one.  YAY!  Thank you, Owen!  So, bright and early yesterday morning, I headed out to stalk the place.

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In Bewitched, Isabel discovers the house pictured above during a walk and immediately decides it would be the perfect place to start her new, “normal”, non-witch life in which she has vowed to stop using magic.  She does, of course, continue to use magic – fairly soon after making the decision not to, in fact –  and, with a simple twitch of her nose, has a “for rent” sign put on the residence’s front lawn and immediately leases the place and moves right in.   It’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use the charming colonial style cottage featured in the movie, as it is extremely picturesque and idyllic.  It’s exactly the type of place I’d imagine a witch seeking normalcy to want to live.  Heck, I would LOVE to live there, myself!

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As you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, Isabel’s house looks almost EXACTLY the same in person as it appeared onscreen, right down to the address plaque, white front porch bench, and red front door.  Love it!

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In fact, the only differences I noticed in real life were the absence of Isabel’s single-car garage and the shutters on the window just to the left of it.

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As you can see in the above photographs, that single-car garage is not there in real life.  There is a detached two-car garage located directly behind and to the right of the house, though, which leads me to believe that Isabel’s garage was simply a facade that producers had built solely for the filming.  And, according to Hooked on Houses, only the exterior of the real life residence was used in Bewitched.  The absolutely adorable interiors, sadly, only ever existed on a studio soundstage.

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On an ironic side note – According to IMDB’s Bewitched Trivia Page, in real life Isabel’s home was once owned by Bewitched director Nora Ephron’s parents’ friends.  Ephron had visited the residence numerous times during her childhood and when it came time to scout locations for the movie, she remembered the house and thought it would be perfect to use as her lead character’s abode.  What Nora didn’t realize, however, was that her parents’ friends who once owned the house were none other than Larry Berns and his wife, Sandra Gould – an actress who is best known for playing nosy neighbor Gladys Kravitz on the Bewitched television series.  Cue the Disney music, ‘cause it truly is a small world after all!

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Isabel’s house from the Bewitched movie is located at 4427 Radford Avenue in Studio City.

Brenda and Dylan’s First Date

Ever since I saw the Season One episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Isn’t it Romantic” waaaaay back in 1991, I have been absolutely obsessed with finding the movie theatre where Brenda and Dylan went on their first date. While stalking in Studio City a few weeks ago, I happened upon a Barnes and Noble bookstore located in a former movie theatre that looked like it might be the very same theatre from 90210. When I went inside to talk to the staff I discovered that sure enough, the former Fox Studio City Theatre was indeed the location of Brenda and Dylan’s first date. In the episode, Brenda, Dylan and Brandon attend a Marx Brothers film festival at the theatre. Later in the episode, Brenda gets stood up by Dylan at this same theatre.

The Fox Studio City Theatre has been used as a filming location on several occasions, most often in commercials. The theatre was a Studio City staple for over 50 years, until it closed its doors in 1991 and was purchased by a bookstore named Bookstar. A few years later, Bookstar, too, closed its doors and became a Barnes and Noble. Thankfully, the exterior of the theatre remain unchanged and looks just as it did back in the 90210 days. Even the old time ticket booth is still standing. You can see a vintage photograph of the old theatre here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The former Fox Studio City Theatre, now Barnes and Noble, can be found at 12136 Ventura Boulevard. The Barnes and Noble is a very cool place to walk around as it still has the feel of an old Hollywood theatre. It is located in an adorable part of town, with lots of cute boutiques, restaurants and coffee shops.

7th Heaven

dscn0372.jpg My aunt Lea recently asked me to find the location of the Glen Oak Community Church from the TV show 7th Heaven. This location was featured in my go-to stalking book and I ran right out to stalk it this past weekend. Reverend Eric Camden’s church, which was shown prominently throughout 7th Heaven’s ten year run, is actually called the First Christian Church of North Hollywood. Even though I have only watched a few episodes of 7th Heaven over the years, I immediately recognized the church as we drove up to it. Both the interior and the exterior of the church were used in the filming of 7th Heaven. Unfortunately a wedding was taking place while I was stalking it, so I couldn’t venture inside to take pictures. 🙁

The church is a popular filming location and has been featured in countless productions including The Office, What About Bob, Crossing Jordan, Hart to Hart and The Birdcage, among others. It’s not hard to see why the First Christian Church is used so often for filming – it is a really cute little church and looks like it could be found in any small town in America. You can learn more about the church’s filming history on its website.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

dscn0373.jpg Stalk It: The First Christian Church of North Hollywood can be found at 4390 Colfax Avenue, in Studio City, not North Hollywood – go figure! It is right at the corner of Moorpark Street and Colfax Avenue. The church is open to the public and (if a wedding is not taking place) you can easily venture inside and take a look around. It is just a few short blocks away from The 40 Year Old Virgin apartment.

The 40 Year Old Virgin

The 40 Year Old Virgin Apartment

This weekend, while stalking in Studio City, I dragged my boyfriend to the apartment complex used in the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin.  In the movie, the main character Andy Stitzer lives in Apartment #5 of a white clapboard and brick apartment building that can be found in Studio City.  This is another movie I have yet to see, but since the location was featured in my fave stalking book, I figured I just had to stalk it.  You know I have a problem when I am stalking the locations of movies I haven’t even seen!  🙂

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Sophie Kinsella and me!

In The 40 Year Old Virgin, Andy meets a girl named Beth at a bookstore near where he works.  The interior of that bookstore is located in Pasadena.  It is called Vroman’s Bookstore and it is one of my favorite places in the entire world!!  It is the most charming, adorable bookstore I have ever set foot in.  A Pasadena landmark since 1894 (yes, you read that right!), Vroman’s is so much more than just a bookstore.  Filled with candles, fine stationary, scrap-booking supplies, gifts and cards, I can literally spend whole afternoons roaming the many aisles.  Vroman’s has an incredible selection of well-known and best-selling authors who come to give readings on a daily basis.  Last March, my very favorite author Sophie Kinsella made Vroman’s the sole California stop on her Shopaholic and Baby book tour and she signed autographs and took pictures with every single fan who showed up, including me.  🙂  Yes, I stalk authors, too.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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Stalk It:  The 40 Year Old Virgin lived in Studio City at 12016 Moorpark Street, in Apartment#5.  Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 E. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.  After some Vroman’s stalking, head over to Lovebird’s Cafe and Bakery at 921 E. Colorado Blvd. for some espresso and a bite to eat – the restaurant is a favorite of Charlie Sheen’s.

The “Malcolm in the Middle” House

Malcolm in the Middle HouseThis weekend while I was in Studio City, I did a little stalking of the Malcolm in the Middle  house.  I must admit that I have never watched a single episode of Malcolm in the Middle – I know, I know, I must have been living under a rock for the past eight years or something – but since it is the favorite show of my good friend back in Switzerland, I just had to stalk it for him.

The house is a very tiny, little California bungalow, with two bedrooms and two baths.  According to my fave stalking book, the owners of the home were paid between $3000 and $4000 a day to film at the house and earned more than $100,000 overall while Malcolm  was on the air!  When the home was up for sale a few years back, the real estate agent told Entertainment Weekly  that the “house has its own income!”  Only in LA!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Malcolm’s house is located at 12334 Cantura Street in Studio City.  The Brady Bunch home is fairly close by at 11222 Dilling Street.