Hotel Shangri-La from “The Bachelor”

Hotel Shangri-La (1 of 41)

This past Sunday morning (which was particularly cloudy, as you can see above), the Grim Cheaper and I headed out to Santa Monica to run a couple of errands and while there we happened to walk by the Hotel Shangri-La – a historic Art Deco masterpiece that I have wanted to stalk ever since early 2010 when it was featured in an episode of fave reality series The Bachelor. So the two of us decided to pop in to take some quick pictures – and we were not disappointed. Hotel Shangri-La is quite spectacular.

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The seven-story, reinforced concrete property, which was originally named the Shangri-La Apartment Hotel, was constructed beginning in 1939 at a cost of $400,000. The L-shaped site was designed by Beverly Hills-based architect William E. Foster and was owned by oilman Frank A. Gillespie. The structure, which at the time housed 61 individual apartment units, was the first Class A apartment building built in Los Angeles County following the stock market crash of 1929. Its doors were opened to the public on May 1, 1940. You can see a great photograph of the location from that time period here.

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Hotel Shangri-La (8 of 41)

During World War II, the building, which is a Santa Monica Historic Landmark, was used as a rehabilitation center by the United States Army Air Forces.

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Hotel Shangri-La (5 of 41)

In 1983, Hotel Shangri-La, which is of no relation to the Asian Shangri-La hotel chain, was purchased by an India-born real estate maven named Ahmad Adaya. The property is still owned by his family to this day.

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Hotel Shangri-La (11 of 41)

According to the book Hollywood & the Best of Los Angeles Alive!, in 2002 the site was seriously lacking in amenities and, for whatever reason, did not feature a pool, a restaurant, a bar, room service, or valet parking. All of that has since changed, though, thanks to a $35 million renovation in 2008.

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Hotel Shangri-La (34 of 41)

Today the Streamline Moderne-style property, which is currently owned and operated by Ahmad’s daughter, Tehmina Adaya, boasts 71 rooms and suites (almost all of which have views of the Pacific Ocean), an upscale restaurant named the Dining Room (where each entrée features ingredients from the famous Santa Monica Farmers Market), an open-air rooftop bar and lounge known as Suite 700 (which was voted one of L.A.’s top 5 rooftop bars in a 2013 The New Zealand Herald article), a pop-up spa known as the Sybaris Rejuvenation Lounge, custom-designed furniture, a solar-powered pool, valet parking, 24-hour in-room dining, and an indoor gym.

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Hotel Shangri-La (16 of 41)

Hotel Shangri-La has been popular with the Hollywood set ever since its inception. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there over the years include Drew Barrymore, Cyndi Lauper, Diane Keaton, Bill Murray, Matthew Broderick, Bill Clinton, Madonna, Tom Cruise, John F. Kennedy, Jr., the Dalai Lama, Sean Penn, Rashida Jones, and Andy Samberg. Supposedly, even my girl Marilyn Monroe once spent some time there.

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Thanks to its striking architecture, Hotel Shangri-La has been featured in numerous productions over the years. In the Season 14 episode of The Bachelor titled “Week 2”, Jake Pavelka hosted a group date at the Shangri-La where the female contestants took part in a rooftop photo shoot for InStyle magazine.

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After the shoot, the group headed down to the pool area for the remainder of the date, during which Rozlyn Papa was given the coveted rose.

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The Hotel Shangri-La rooftop was also featured in the music video for Randy Newman’s 1983 song “I Love L.A.”

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You can watch that video by clicking below.

In 1992’s White Men Can’t Jump, Hotel Shangri-La was where Gloria Clemente (Rosie Perez) celebrated her Jeopardy! win with boyfriend Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson).

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The interior of one of the suites was also featured in the movie.

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In 1995’s The Net, the Shangri-La was where Dr. Alan Champion (Dennis Miller) got his former patient Angela Bennett (Sandra Bullock) a hotel room shortly after her identity was stolen.

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I am fairly certain that one of the hotel’s actual rooms was used in the filming, although the Shangri-La rooms look significantly different since the remodel, as you can see here.

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An exterior view of the hotel’s central stairwell was also shown.

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Thanks to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, I learned that the hotel was where Valerie Malone (Tiffani Amber Thiessen) stayed in the Season 7 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Graduation Day: Part II”, which aired in 1997.

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The interior of the Shangri-La was also shown in the episode.  (Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for making the 90210 screen captures that appear here.)

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Ella Simms (Katie Cassidy) and Jonah Miller (Michael Rady) walked by the Hotel Shangri-La after a business lunch with famed German film director Franz Keppler (Craig Robert Young) in the Season 1 episode of the new Melrose Place titled “Ocean.”

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Channing Tatum did a photo shoot with Mario Testino at the hotel for the August 2009 issue of GQ Magazine, which you can see photographs of hereAccording to the book Hollywood & the Best of Los Angeles Alive!, the hotel was also featured in an episode of the 1992 television series Bodies of Evidence and the 1988 Bruce Weber documentary Let’s Get Lost, but I was unable to verify that information.  And while Wikipedia states that the Shangri-La appeared in the 2004 rockumentary DiG!, I was unable to verify that information, either.

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

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hotel Shangri-La, from Jake Pavelka’s season of The Bachelor, is located at 1301 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

The Ladies’ Villa from Season 1 of “The Bachelor”

Bachelor Ladies' Villa Season 1 (4 of 5)

Another location that I became obsessed with tracking down thanks to the Best of The Bachelor DVD that my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, recently gifted me was the so-called “Ladies’ Villa” – the Mediterranean-style manse where the female contestants lived during the filming of the popular reality series’ inaugural season.  And fortunately, it was quite the easy find.

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In the second episode of the series, which was titled “Week Two”, not only did The Bachelor host Chris Harrison mention that the Ladies’ Villa was a “beachfront Malibu mansion”, but aerial views of the property were also shown.

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In one of the faraway aerial views, I happened to notice two fairly large landmarks – a red-roofed condominium complex (denoted with a blue arrow below) and a beachside road (denoted with a pink arrow below).  So I began searching Bing Maps for those two landmarks and found them fairly quickly in the Point Dume Riviera section of Malibu.  From there, tracking down the huge oceanside estate, which is located at 7107 Birdview Avenue, was a snap and I ran right out to stalk it while in L.A. just a few days later.

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Sadly though, as you can see below, virtually none of the property is visible from the street.  But you can check out some fabulous interior photographs of the home on the Malibu Rents website here.  According to the website, the six-bedroom, six-bath, 5,032-square-foot mansion, which was originally built in 1996, boasts a 1.04-acre plot of land, a pool with several waterfalls, a ten-person spa, two guest houses, a tennis court, a wine cellar, and a private staircase leading down to both Westward and Zuma beaches. The estate rents for (a measly Winking smile) $4,000 per night or $28,000 per month.

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Bachelor Ladies' Villa Season 1 (1 of 5)

The Ladies’ Villa appeared regularly throughout the first season of The Bachelor.  Areas of the property that were utilized during the filming include the front exterior;

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the rear of the residence;

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the backyard and pool and spa;

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the living room;

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the kitchen;

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a bedroom;

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a bathroom;

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and a massive custom closet that the girls went gaga over (and yeah, I would have, too!).

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Ironically enough, for over a decade Bachelor producer Mike Fleiss lived just a few doors down from the Ladies’ Villa at 7163 Birdview Ave.  He purchased the home in April 2002, shortly after the first installment of the series started airing, so while he did not live there during the filming, I am guessing that he might have discovered the place thanks to his time spent at the Villa.

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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.

Bachelor Ladies' Villa Season 1 (5 of 5)

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: The Ladies’ Villa from Season 1 of The Bachelor is located at 7107 Birdview Avenue in Malibu.

The Mansion from Season 1 of “The Bachelor”

The Bachelor Mansion Season 1 (6 of 7)

My girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, recently gifted me with Best of The Bachelor, a DVD compilation of condensed episodes from the popular reality series’ first season as well as a slew of special features and not-shown-on-TV bonus footage. Well, because this stalker absolutely loves herself some The Bachelor, I just about died from excitement upon receiving it, especially since I had not seen any of Season 1 since it originally aired in early 2002, over a decade ago! (How in the heck has it been that long??) I, of course, watched the DVD the very same night that I received it and immediately became obsessed with tracking down the Mediterranean-style mansion – or “The Bachelor’s Villa” as it was called on the series – where the inaugural Bachelor, 31-year-old management consultant Alex Michel, lived. The good news is that the mansion was quite the easy find. The bad news is that it is no longer standing. But more on that later.

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Thanks to the spectacular ocean views that were visible in the episodes, I knew that The Bachelor’s Villa had to be located somewhere near the coast in Malibu.

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So I began scanning through Bing Map’s aerial views of the ‘Bu coastline looking for the property’s uniquely-shaped pool, which I figured would be easily recognizable.

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Thankfully, it was.

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When I zoomed in for a closer look, though, I was saddened to discover that the mansion had been torn down and a new dwelling was being built in its place.

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And while Bing aerial views only show the new residence mid-construction, you can catch a glimpse of what it looks like in a mostly completed state below, thanks to Google Maps.

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Even though the mansion is no longer, I figured it was still worth a stalk and a blog post being that there are most likely other stalkers out there who are curious as to its location.

The Bachelor Mansion Season 1 (4 of 7)

The Bachelor Mansion Season 1 (1 of 7)

According to Zillow, the now-defunct mansion, which was originally built in 1987, boasted four bedrooms, four baths, 6,967 square feet of living space, a 1.7-acre plot of ocean-front land, a lighted tennis court, an infinity pool with his-and-her cabanas, a 2,200-square-foot guest house, several stone fireplaces, a motor court, 22-foot-high beamed ceilings, hand-carved wooden doors, a sauna, and panoramic ocean views. Unfortunately though, aside from the top floor of the massive guest house (seriously, that thing is bigger than most homes!), no part of the property is visible from the street.

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The Bachelor Mansion Season 1 (2 of 7)

The manse was used extensively throughout Season 1 of The Bachelor. The dwelling was not only where Alex lived during the duration of the seven-week filming, but it was also where all of the rose ceremonies and cocktail parties took place. Areas of the property that appeared in the series include the front entrance . . .

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. . . where Alex was first introduced to the 25 women;

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the driveway;

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the huge living room, where the rose ceremonies were held;

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and the backyard, where the final rose ceremony – in which Alex rejected future Bachelorette Trista Rehn and offered his final rose (but not a ring!) to Amanda Marsh – took place. Not surprisingly, Amanda and Alex broke up less than a year later and rumor has it that he pulled the ol’ switcheroo by then (unsuccessfully) attempting to rekindle the flame with Trista. It appears, though, that Alex, who for the most part has stayed out of the spotlight since the series ended, finally found marital bliss with a woman named Carly in June 2010.

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I am unsure of how many seasons of The Bachelor were shot at the mansion, but I am guessing that it was only Alex Michel’s season. At some point after the year 2005, filming moved to an Agoura estate (which I blogged about here), where it has remained ever since.

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You can watch a great interview with Alex, thanks to the Obsessed with Samantha Ettus website, by clicking below.

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.

The Bachelor Mansion Season 1 (5 of 7)

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The former site of the mansion from the first season of The Bachelor, which has since been torn down, is located at 24834 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

Brenda and Dylan’s Palm Springs Hotel from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

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Another Beverly Hills, 90210 location that I stalked recently was the Hyatt Westlake Plaza which stood in for both Brenda’s hotel – the Desert Palm Mirage – and Dylan’s hotel – the Desert Mirage – in the Season One episode entitled “A Fling in Palm Springs” (aka “Palm Springs Weekend”).  Why that particular episode has two different names I’m not entirely sure, but I digress.  I found this location thanks to Geoff over at 90210 Locations who posted the address a few weeks back.  The “Palm Springs Weekend” episode has always been one of my favorites (mostly due to the charades game played at the end during which Dylan points to Brenda to convey the movie Pretty Woman to the rest of the gang – SO CUTE!), so when I saw that Geoff had tracked down the hotel featured in it, I just about started screaming.  I had literally wanted to stalk that location for as long as I can remember.  So, I  immediately dragged my fiancé right out to the Valley to do some long overdue “Palm Springs” stalking, Beverly Hills, 90210-style

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And while the exterior of the Hyatt Westlake Plaza looks EXACTLY the same today as it did when 90210 was filmed there over 18 years ago,

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sadly the interior has been extensively remodeled in recent years and looks quite a bit different today.

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In the “Palm Springs Weekend” episode, Kelly and Donna mistakenly drop Brenda off at the Desert Palm Mirage hotel to meet Dylan for a romantic rendezvous, but as fate would have it Dylan is actually staying at the similarly named Desert Mirage hotel.  And because Brenda has misplaced her wallet and can’t get ahold of Kelly or Dylan (how did people ever survive without cell phones???), she is forced to spend the night on a cot in the hotel’s broom closet.  God, I miss 90210!  The areas used in the episode include the main entrance;

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the front desk,

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and the pay phone station, which is now an Enterprise Rent-A-Car office.  As you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, the interior of the hotel is virtually unrecognizable from the episode.  🙁

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But I did manage to dig up a few old pictures of the hotel from the Here Comes the Guide website (YAY!) and as you can see in the above screen captures and photograph, the former front desk matches the one that appeared on 90210 exactly. 

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Another thing I noticed while looking at old photographs of the hotel was that up until the recent remodel, a piece of furniture seen in the background of the “Palm Springs Weekend” episode was still on display in the Hyatt’s lobby.  So cool!  If only I had stalked this place two years ago!  UGH!  🙁  You can take a virtual tour of the former lobby area here.

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Later on in the episode, Brenda shows up at Dylan’s hotel only to find him hanging out with a random girl named Janie.  The Hyatt Westlake Plaza also stood in for Dylan’s hotel in the episode.

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After catching him with Janie, Brenda has a minor meltdown (during which she actually screams “Bogus!” LOL) in front of the Hyatt’s elevators, which I am happy to report look EXACTLY the same today as they did on 90210.  🙂  So darn cool!

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And while I didn’t recognize much of the Hyatt Westlake Plaza from the “Palm Springs Weekend” episode of 90210, what I did recognize it from – pretty much immediately upon entering – was another television series – ABC’s The Bachelor!   As it turns out, the Hyatt Westlake Plaza is the very hotel where the contestants are put up for a few days pre-show before they move into the mansion.  And, in this particular season’s opener, quite a bit of filming was done on location at the Hyatt.  The areas used in that episode include the inside of several of the girls’ hotel rooms;

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the lobby;

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and the main entrance.  And according to the February 1st issue of US Magazine, part of the alleged affair between booted contestant Rozlyn Papa and former Bachelor producer Ryan Callahan took place at the hotel where the girls were staying pre-show – which we now know is the Hyatt Westlake Plaza.  🙂 The Bachelor is FABULOUS this season, by the way, and as always I am ABSOLUTELY addicted to Reality Steve’s coverage of it.  🙂  If you’re not watching, you really should be! 

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Big THANK YOU to Geoff over at 90210 locations for finding this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Hyatt Westlake Plaza is located at 880 South Westlake Boulevard in Westlake Village.  You can visit their website here.

Pig N’ Whistle Restaurant

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Last week, before seeing the Dirty Dancing stage show, my fiance and I grabbed a bite to eat at the historic Hollywood restaurant named the Pig N’ Whistle.  I had wanted to visit the celebrated Hollywood eatery ever since it appeared on a Fourth Season episode of The Bachelor back in 2003.  🙂  And, let me tell you, it was well worth the wait.  🙂  

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The Pig N’ Whistle first opened it doors on Hollywood Boulevard on July 22, 1927.  The restaurant was part of a small chain of twelve cafes that dotted the West Coast from Los Angeles to Seattle.  The Hollywood location was designed by renowned architectural firm Morgan, Walls & Clements, who were also responsible for building the El Capitan, Wiltern, and Old Globe Theatres.  The restaurant was built in an elegant Gothic style, featuring hand-painted tiles, carved wooden ceilings, and stained glass windows.  The Pig N’ Whistle was so beautiful that it was even featured in a 1928 issue of Architectural Digest.  The restaurant, which was built before the days of movie theatre concession stands, was located directly next door to the famed Egyptian Theatre. It became popular with theatregoers who wanted to grab a pre- or post-show ice cream or drink at the restaurant’s soda fountain or some candy at it’s candy counter.   

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During its heyday, which ran from 1927 to 1949, the Pig N’ Whistle was extremely popular with the Hollywood set.  Stars like Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Barbara Stanwyck, Spencer Tracy, Howard Hughes, Loretta Young, Jane Wyman, and even Elizabeth Short, aka The Black Dhalia, were spotted dining there. 

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But that all changed when the restaurant closed its doors in 1949.  The former Pig N’ Whistle space went through a succession of different owners, including a Numero Uno pizzeria and a clothing store, and a succession of remodels until two restaurateurs decided to rescue it and restore it to its former grandeur.  In 1999, Chris Breed and Alan Hajjar (the team who was also behind the wildly popular Sunset Room restaurant and bar) masterminded a two year, $1.5 million restoration of the former restaurant.  The duo unearthed the building’s original hand-carved ceilings, stained glass windows, and molded sconces.  The new Pig N’ Whistle opened its doors once again in March of 2001.  And it is an absolutely beautiful place!!!!! 

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The restaurant is also no stranger to the silver screen.  🙂  On the Fourth Season of The Bachelor, the Pig N’ Whistle hosted a group date for Bachelor Bob Guiney and five female contestants.  The group partied in the restaurant’s back room and even competed in a small karaoke contest. 🙂  According to our waitress, the Hollywood restaurant is featured constantly in productions, but, unfortunately, she could not remember which ones.  Isn’t that always the case??  What is wrong with these people?  LOL 

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The Pig N’ Whistle is a FABULOUS restaurant and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it.  Besides the beautiful Old Hollywood ambiance, the restaurant serves up some GREAT food in HUGE portions.  The French Fries and Cobb Salad were to die for!!  I absolutely cannot wait to eat there again!!!!  🙂  

 Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Pig N’ Whistle is located at 6714 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.  A DJ is on hand every Thursday through Saturday night from 9 p.m. onward, so if you were hoping for a quiet meal, make sure you arrive before that time.  🙂 You can visit the Pig N’ Whistle website here.

Jason Mesnick’s Bachelor Pad

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Monday night’s episode of The Bachelor  was all that RealitySteve  promised it would be – and more!  The show played out pretty much EXACTLY as he said it would and I completely agree with him that the finale’s “shocking twist” was a set-up from the get-go.  Something about Molly’s reaction during the After the Final Rose  program just didn’t ring true for me.  I mean, come on, she got dumped two months ago on national TV, then Monday night she finds out that the girl she was dumped for just got dumped herself (also on national TV), and then the dumb-ass guy asks her if he can have another chance????  Anyone with half a heart would need at least an hour or so to process all that information!  Not Molly, though – she had her lips on Jason’s before they could even cut to a commercial break.  And we’re supposed to believe that was her “real” reaction?  Come on, ABC!   No woman in her right mind would react that way!  I mean doesn’t she find it just a wee bit unsettling that Jason has now proposed to three different women, none of whom it’s worked out with??  Hello – red flag!   But I must say that as obvious of a set-up as the whole thing was and as horrible as I felt for poor Melissa, damn if that didn’t make for some good TV.  I was absolutely glued to my television set for the entire three hours!  And I have to admit I have a new found respect for Melissa.  LOVED when she called Jason a bastard.  LOL LOL LOL  You go girl!  Anyway, since earlier this week I stalked the house the women lived in on this season of The Bachelor, today I thought I’d blog about Jason’s pad.

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During the first half of this season’s Bachelor, Jason Mesnick lived in a red adobe style home that looked like it belonged in Arizona or New Mexico rather than in L.A.    Jason’s son Ty, who someone on RealitySteve’s site commented looks just like Eddie Munster LOL LOL LOL, also lived in this house during the filming – notice the jungle gym in the above screen caps.  This house was the site of Jason’s infamous camping date with Molly where the two supposedly stayed up all night “talking” in their tent.  Yeah right!  About halfway through the season, Jason moved out of this house and into what was supposedly his Seattle home.  In reality, though, that house (like everything else on the show) was a fake and didn’t truly belong to him.   

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Ironically enough, I first started searching for this home when it appeared on an episode of the new 90210 series earlier this year.  The home was featured in the episode entitled “Love Me or Leave Me” in which Annie and Ethan take a little overnight vacay to Palm Springs.  In the episode the two spend the night in Annie’s grandmother’s house, which just happens to be the very same home Jason lived in on The Bachelor.  When the home first appeared on 90210, I believed it was actually located in Palm Springs.   It wasn’t until I recognized it a few weeks later on The Bachelor that I realized it had to be located somewhere in the L.A. area, most likely Malibu.  

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I am sad to say that it took me much longer than it should have to find this house, being that it is located ON THE SAME STREET as the house the women lived in on The Bachelor.  LOL  In fact I drove right by it the other day while out stalking the women’s house, but just didn’t realize it.  I’m oh so observant!  So when I finally found the house today after doing some cyberstalking, I could have kicked myself!  I knew the two Bachelor  homes had to be located fairly close to each other, but I had no idea they’d be on the very same street less than a mile apart.  LOL

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Sadly, not much of the home, which is named Rancho Cielo, is visible from the street.  You can see just enough of it to recognize it as The Bachelor  house, but even so I wouldn’t make any sort of special trip out there to see it.  I’d stay home and cybertsalk it instead

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According to the sign out front, besides being available for filming, Rancho Cielo is also currently used as a wedding venue.  And while Jason didn’t have much luck in the love department while living there, it still looks like a beautiful place to get married.   LOL   You can visit the home’s wedding website here

On a side note – if you didn’t catch Jason’s appearance on Monday night’s Jimmy Kimmel Live, you really need to watch it!  I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t hear it with my own ears, but on the show Jason actually said – and I am quoting here – “I think at some point her [Melissa] and I will be friends again.”  WOW!   Seriously????  Jason, you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought!  LOL  Jimmy Kimmel’s reaction to that quote was absolutely priceless!  LOL LOL LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Jason Mesnick’s Bachelor pad, aka Rancho Cielo, is located at 430 Kanan Road in Malibu.

“The Bachelor” Mansion

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I just about died this past Friday afternoon when my US Magazine  arrived in the mail and looming out at me was the headline “Is The Bachelor Fake?”   I have been absolutely enthralled with The Bachelor  this season – and not because I am a fan of Jason Mesnick.  I think the guy is pretty much a tool.  But there was just so much drama this season that I absolutely could not tear myself away from the TV.  And from the look of things, more drama is yet to come on tonight’s Final Rose Ceremony and After the Final Rose presentation.  According to this week’s US Magazine article, a blogger named Steve Carbone, from RealitySteve.com, blew the lid right off of tonight’s shows!  According to Steve (whose website I am now addicted to!) Jason is going to propose to contestant Melissa Rycroft at the end of tonight’s Bachelor  finale.  But (and here is where things get juicy!) during tonight’s After the Final Rose show (which was pre-taped six weeks ago) Jason is going to dump Melissa for second runner up Molly Malaney.  And, the icing on the cake, supposedly Jason has been seeing Molly behind Melissa’s back ever since filming was completed – not that he will ever admit to that!  What a snake!  Steve believes in his heart of hearts that ABC concocted this whole scenario to increase their ratings and I have to say I agree with him.  I started having my doubts as to the reality of The Bachelor way back during Season Two when my boyfriend’s boss spotted Bachelor Aaron Buerge on a date with contestant Gwen Gioia.  Apparently not only were make-up artists fixing Gwen’s hair and make-up during the date, but producers were constantly stopping the filming to re-shoot certain segments. LOL  Needless to say I cannot wait for tonight’s episode.  I am sure I will walk away from it thinking Jason is an even bigger douchebag than I did before.  LOL      

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Thanks to my buddy Whitney over at ZillowBlog, who alerted me to this article back in October, I was able to stalk the Bachelor  house this past weekend.   Ever since it was built in 2005, the Malibu area home pictured above has been featured on numerous seasons of The Bachelor.  The mansion’s front entrance was used repeatedly as the famous limousine drop-off area where the past few Bachelors and Bachelorettes have welcomed their contestants during the first episode of each season. In fact, not only was the mansion’s entrance the very spot where Jason first met Deanna last season, but it was also the same locale where Jason welcomed the women of the show this season.  The home’s living room area has also been the site of the numerous rose ceremonies of seasons past.  But this season, not only was the home used for rose ceremonies and the big limo welcome, but it was also where the women lived during the filming.  So I was pretty excited to stalk it!  🙂

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Orignally priced at $13 million and later dropped to $8,750,000, The Bachelor  house is currently for sale at the bargain price of $6,750,000.   Apparently being “The Bachelor  house” isn’t that great a selling point.  LOL   The six bedroom, nine bathroom Tuscan style manse measures a whopping 8,000 square feet and sits on almost ten acres of land!  The home has a four car garage, a gourmet kitchen, an infinity pool with a swim-up barbeque and bar, and a detached 4,000 square foot studio/office area!     To put it in Bachelor  speak, the house is simply “amazing”!  Ever notice how often they use that word on the show?  LOL  Somebody really needs to get the contestants a thesaurus – stat!  Unfortunately, not much of the home is visible from the street, but it was still extremely exciting to stalk it knowing all the drama that took place there back in November.   

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Be sure to tune into tonight’s Bachelor Season Finale.  It is sure to have “the most dramatic rose ceremony . . . ever”!  And if you haven’t yet, you simply must check out Reality Steve’s blog – it’s enthralling! 

UPDATE – This very same mansion was recently featured in the Season 2 episode of The Mentalist entitled “The Red Box” as the home of photographer Hopper Banks.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

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Stalk It: The Bachelor  house is located at 2351 Kanan Road in Malibu.  You can visit the home’s real estate website here.  You can also visit the owner’s website here.