Justine’s House from “The Good Girl”

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Today’s post is going to be a rather short one as I spent most of the day yesterday with my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, attending the annual craft fair at her work – which was loads of fun, but, unfortunately, did not leave much time for blogging.  So please pardon my brevity.  Anyway, last Tuesday morning, when I texted Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to let him know that I was heading back out to Santa Clarita to stalk Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop from Bridesmaids, he suggested that I also make a stalking stop at the house where Justine Last (Jennifer Aniston) and her pothead husband, Phil Last (John C. Reilly), lived in The Good Girl.  And even though I was not a huge of the ultra-depressing 2002 film, because Justine and Phil’s residence was only a short two miles away from the auto body shop, I figured why not.  Then, when I found out there was a Starbucks in between the two locations, that pretty much sealed the deal.  Winking smile

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Mike, who does not live too far from Santa Clarita, first learned about this location way back in 2001 when The Good Girl was being filmed.  I never had occasion to stalk the place, though, as I do not get out to Canyon Country very often and, for some reason, whenever I did happen to be in the area, I completely forgot to drive by.

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Justine and Phil’s house was one of the main locations used in The Good Girl and the pad showed up repeatedly throughout the movie.  As you can see below, though, the residence looks quite a bit different in person than it did onscreen. The front door that appeared in the film has since been swapped out with a new, glass-paned one, a stone façade has been added to the home’s exterior, the garage door has been replaced, and the wood paneling removed from the side of the garage.  Boo!  Thankfully though, the abode is still, for the most part, recognizable as The Good Girl house.

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Of the locale, The Good Girl production notes state, “Although the design concept was naturalistic, finding locations in sunny California to pass for small town Texas was difficult, specifically the search for Justine and Phil’s house, which is painstakingly defined in the script.  ‘Our principal character lived physically and emotionally in the very last house on the street, out from which stretched miles of dry, barren nothingness,’ clarifies [production designer Daniel] Bradford.  ‘And of course, everywhere, everywhere, everywhere there are palm trees which are not appropriate for West Texas.’”  I really have to give kudos to The Good Girl location managers for finding the property because when I pulled up and saw the large telephone poles, flat streets and general ruralness of the area, my first thought was, ‘This neighborhood does not look AT ALL like an L.A. neighborhood.’

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In real life, Justine’s house, which was originally built in 1961, boasts three bedrooms, two baths, 1,125 square feet of living space, and a 0.16-acre plot of land.

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And while I would have bet money on the real life interior of the home being used in The Good Girl, that does not appear to have been the case.  As you can see in the photographs below, which I got off of an old real estate listing for the property, while the living room very closely resembles what appeared onscreen . . .

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. . . the kitchen area does not.  And while the real estate listing does mention that the kitchen was “recently remodeled”, it differs far too much from the Last kitchen for me to believe it was used in the flick.

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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.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Justine’s house from The Good Girl is located at 25103 Fourl Road in Santa Clarita.  Ricardo’s Auto Upholstery, aka Bill Cozbi’s Auto Body Shop from Bridesmaids, is located nearby at 24347 Main StreetJudy’s home from Bridesmaids is located right around the corner from Ricardo’s at 23418 8th Street.  And Officer Rhodes’ residence is located directly across the street from Judy’s at 23425 8th Street.  Note – the Bridesmaids houses cannot be reached via Calgrove Boulevard, as that street is blocked just east of Creekside Drive.  To gain access to the sites, you can take either Apple or Valley Street south off of Lyons Avenue to 8th Street.

Holden’s House from “The Good Girl”

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Another Simi Valley location that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, suggested I stalk this past Saturday after my and the Grim Cheaper’s American Jewish University Brandeis-Barden Campus snafu (which you can read about here) was the supposed Texas-area home where Holden Worther (Jake Gyllenhaal) lived in my favorite movie of all-time, The Good Girl.  Ha, just kidding!  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the Retail Rodeo, I actually hated the 2002 Jennifer Aniston flick.  But because the GC and I were pretty much right around the corner from Holden’s house when Mike texted me its address, I figured we might as well stalk the place.

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In real life, the charming one-story, Anywhere, U.S.A.-style residence was constructed in 1964 and measures two bedrooms, two baths and 1,267 square feet.  Mike, who lives in Simi Valley, actually tracked this location down way back in 2002 thanks to some local buzz that he heard while The Good Girl was being filmed.

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In The Good Girl, Holden lives at the house – after getting kicked out of college – with his spiritless, emotionless parents, Mr. Worther (John Doe – and yes, that is his actual stage name!) and Mrs. Worther (Roxanne Hart), neither of whom utter more than a single word during the entire movie.  As you can see below, the property looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen.  Even the number plaque next to the garage door is still exactly the same!  Yay!

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I find it pretty ironic that producers ended up choosing a home with a large mountain range visible behind it to stand in for Holden’s in the flick.  As I mentioned above, The Good Girl is supposed to take place in a small Texas town and the Lone Star State isn’t exactly known as being mountainous.

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the house was also used in the flick, but I, unfortunately, could not find any photographs online with which to verify that hunch.

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On an interesting The Good Girl side note – according to IMDB, director Miguel Arteta had Jennifer Aniston wear wrist weights prior to and during the filming in order to give her character, Justine Last, a worn-down look.  The trick worked as Justine was light years away from Rachel Green.  Her wardrobe only added to the effect, especially the drab shoes.  And while I realize that I have posted this quote before (back in October 2011 in my column about the What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? house), I absolutely love it, so I figured it bore repeating.  In the September 2009 issue of Elle Magazine, Jennifer Aniston said of her process of creating a character, “I‘ll never forget my high school acting teacher, Anthony Abeson, who said, ‘It starts with the shoes.’  When I think about a character, it does start with the shoes: What kind would she wear?  How would she walk in them?  If I’m going to put on a dress for a role – I don’t care if it’s the hardest dress to put on – I have to put the shoes on first.  The physicality leads me to the character . . . Like Justine in The Good Girl: She was so disconnected from how she looked, that’s what led to the discomfort of who she was.”  She’s right – Justine’s shoes – and her flood pants – definitely made that character.

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And on a Simi Valley side-note – the GC and I stumbled into Aubergine Emporium – the coolest, most unique antique store that I have ever been to in my life – while stalking in the area on Saturday.  The place is worth a visit just to check out its decor alone!  My favorite adornment was the antique ladder above the cash register, which the owners placed a sheet of glass on top of and now use as a shelf.  SO INCREDIBLY COOL AND UNIQUE!  Love, love, love it!  Aubergine was chock full of creative, whimsical touches like that and I honestly could have spent all day there, walking around gathering interior design ideas.  I cannot more highly recommend stalking the place!

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Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here.  You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And you can take a look at my latest post – about road trip eats – on my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

Stalk It: Holden’s house from The Good Girl is located at 5368 Leland Circle in Simi Valley.  While in the area, be sure to stop by Aubergine Emporium at 4385 Valley Fair Street for a little antique shopping.

Retail Rodeo from “The Good Girl”

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This past Saturday morning, the Grim Cheaper and I headed out to Simi Valley to stalk a location that he was actually excited about for once – the House of the Book building at the Brandeis-Barden Campus of the American Jewish University, which stands in for the Visualize cult’s headquarters on fave show The Mentalist.  And even though the American Jewish University website makes it sound as if the place is open to the public (it states that the campus is “an enchanting destination for residents and visitors to the region”), when we showed up we discovered that it most definitely is not.  Fail!  After a 45-minute drive out there, I was not about to turn right around and head back to Pasadena, though, so I texted Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who lives in the area, and asked him what other locations, if any, were nearby.  When he mentioned that Retail Rodeo from the 2002 movie The Good Girl was just a hop, skip and a jump away, I just about flipped my lid as it is a place that I had always wanted to stalk.  Yay!  So I dragged the GC right on over there.

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I really should admit here that I absolutely hated The Good Girl. In this stalker’s never-to-be humble opinion, the flick was easily one of the most depressing and boring ever produced.  I watched it when it was first released, of course, because of Miss Jen Aniston, but by about thirty minutes in I was ready to leave the theatre.  Yes, it’s that bad.  I even found it painful to scan through the thing today while making screen captures for this post. Ugh!  But because Retail Rodeo was such a prominent location in the flick, it stuck with me and I had always wanted to see it in person.

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In The Good Girl, Retail Rodeo is the Texas-area drug store where Justine Last (Jennifer Aniston), Jack Field (John Carroll Lynch), Cheryl (Zooey Deschanel – who was fab in her role and pretty much the only good thing about the movie) and Holden Worther (Jake Gyllenhaal) work.

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In real life, the place is currently a Flooring 101 carpet and tile center and, as you can see below, the exterior, thankfully, still looks much the same today as it did back in 2002 when The Good Girl was filmed.

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I was especially excited to see the front sidewalk area where Justine and Holden ate lunch together everyday.

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And the tree that Holden hid behind after stealing $15,000 from the Retail Rodeo safe.

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Had to do it!  Winking smile

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The real life interior of the store was also used extensively in The Good Girl.  At the time of the filming, the property was vacant and, because it had previously housed a Thrifty drugstore, producers did not have to do much to turn the space into the fictional Retail Rodeo.

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Sadly though, when Flooring 101 took over the space shortly after filming of The Good Girl had wrapped, the interior was completely gutted (like down to the studs!) and it no longer resembles its onscreen counterpart in any way, shape or form.  And while we did venture inside for a peek, the place was so vastly different that I did not even bother to snap any photographs, nor did I think the non-friendly owner would have allowed it.  Sad smile

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Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here.  You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.  And you can take a look at my latest post about road trip eats on my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!  Smile

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  Smile

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Stalk It: Flooring 101, aka Retail Rodeo from The Good Girl, is located at 2790 East Los Angeles Avenue in Simi Valley.  The tree that Holden hid behind in the movie is the second tree in from the entrance to Flooring 101’s parking lot and is denoted with a pink arrow above.

The Glen Capri Inn & Suites from “The Good Girl”

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A few weeks ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk the Glen Capri Inn & Suites – a historic and oft-filmed Glendale-area motel that has appeared in over twenty movie and television productions in the past six years alone.  I was most interested in stalking the property due to its appearance in the 2002 flick The Good Girl, which starred my girl Jen Aniston.  And even though I didn’t like The Good Girl AT ALL (it was just far too dark and depressing for my taste), because JA had filmed there, I was dying to see the motel which was featured in it in person.

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The Glen Capri is famous not only for its vast motion picture history, but for its distinct architectural style, as well.  The property was originally built in 1949 by Louis Armet and Eldon Davis, the architectural team who, according to an August 1999 Los Angeles Times article written by Ed Leibowitz, “defined ‘50s Googie architecture” – Googie being the unique mid-century modern-style of design which had its roots in the now-defunct, John Lautner-constructed Googies Coffee Shop.  At the time of its grand opening, the Glen Capri Inn & Suites was called simply the Glen Capri Motel.  In 2000, the interior of the property underwent an extensive remodel at which point it was given its more upscale-sounding moniker.  Fortunately, the exterior of the property was left intact during the recent remodel and looks almost exactly the same today as it did when it was first built over six decades ago.  It is thanks to the motel’s historic facade and authentic 60’s neon signage that location scouts have returned to film there time and time again.

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Before arriving at the Glen Capri Inn & Suites, I was a little nervous that the place would not be very stalker-friendly and that taking photographs of the premises would be a big no-no.  As it turns out, though, I needn’t have worried.  The man working at the front desk was very nice and said that we could take all of the pictures that we wanted.  AND there was even a “Wall of Fame” located in the main office, with signed headshots of all of the actors who had filmed at the motel on display.

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As you can imagine, I just about died when I saw my girl Jen’s autographed picture hanging on the wall.  SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

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In The Good Girl, the Glen Capri stood in for the Texas-area motel where Justine Last (aka Jennifer Aniston) and Holden Worther (aka Jake Gyllenhaal) conducted their on-going affair.

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Both the main office .  . .

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. . . and Room 8 were used in the flick.  I don’t want to give away the ending, but Room 8 also featured significantly in the movie’s climactic finale.  On a Good Girl side note – Mike, from MovieShotsLA, recently stalked Retail Rodeo, the discount store where Justine and Holden worked in the movie.  You can see pics of it on his site here.

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In 2004’s Raising Helen, the Glen Capri stood in for the New York-area motel where Helen Harris (aka Kate Hudson) and Jenny Portman (aka Joan Cusack) catch their underage niece Audrey Davis (aka Hayden Panettiere) on prom night.  Audrey’s room was number 205.

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In the 2004 teen comedy The Girl Next Door, Matthew Kidman (aka Emile Hirsch) took Danielle (aka Elisha Cuthbert) to the Glen Capri with the hopes of seducing her while there.

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Ironically enough, Emile Hirsch returned to the Glen Capri two years later to film a scene for the 2006 drama Alpha Dog. In the flick, the Glen Capri stood in for the Albuquerque motel where Johnny Truelove and his girlfriend Angela Holden (aka Olivia Wilde) hid out after police had discovered the body of Zack Mazursky (aka Anton Yelchin).

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In 2007’s Georgia Rule, the Glen Capri stood in for the Hull, Ohio-area motel where Arnold (aka Cary Elwes) stays while in town visiting his wife, Lily (aka Felicity Huffman), and his step-daughter, Rachel Wilcox (aka Lindsay Lohan).  In the movie, Arnold stays in Room 206.

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Other movies that have filmed at the Glen Capri include The Country Bears, Diamonds & Guns, and Janky Promoters. Episodes of Without a Trace, Parks and Recreation, Cold Case, Saving Grace, Night Stalker, Close to Home, Day Break, Windfall, Lovespring International, Mad Men, and Nip/Tuck have also been shot at the Glen Capri.  You can check out the hotel’s very thorough filming page, which chronicles all of the productions that have been filmed on the premises over the past ten years, on its website here.  Love it!  There are actually several different motels in the Glen Capri chain and the one located at 326 Colorado Street, also in Glendale, has been used for filming, as well.  It has appeared in episodes of Life and The Surreal Life and in a 2007 Smash Mouth music video.

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On a Jennifer Aniston side note – my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry recently gifted me with the new Jennifer Aniston Perfume and I have to say that it is absolutely DIVINE.  It is honestly the best scented perfume that I’ve ever smelled in my entire life!  All of the literature written about it says that it has a “beachy” scent, but to me it seems to have more of a floral feel to it and is a bit reminiscent of Michael Kors signature fragrance, which I also love.  Jennifer Aniston perfume smells so amazing that I literally cannot stop smelling my wrists when I wear it – I wouldn’t be surprised if I subconsciously gnaw my arm off in the coming weeks.  😉  Because the perfume is only available at Harrods in London (contrary to what Jen reported during her most recent Chelsea Lately appearance, it cannot be shipped outside of the UK), Kerry had to go through hell and high water to get it for me.  So, I’ve had to resort to rationing it out in very small portions each day as I simply do not know WHAT I am going to do when I run out.  🙁  I am hoping that by that time it will be available in the US.  (Are you listening, Jen?)  Anyway, if you live in London or have plans to travel there, I HIGHLY recommend stopping by Harrods to pick up some JA perfume.  Take my word for it, you will NOT be disappointed.  And a HUGE thank you to Kerry for getting it for me!  🙂

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Glen Capri Inn & Suites is located at 6700 San Fernando Road in Glendale.  You can visit the hotel’s official website hereThe Good Girl was filmed in the main office and in Room 8; Raising Helen also used the main office and Room 205; and Georgia Rule was filmed in Room 206.