Things to Do in Hollywood – Page 2

February 25, 2011February 25, 2011

Burlesque Lounge from “Burlesque”

A couple of months ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see Burlesque and, because of all of the bad reviews the movie was generating, I did not have very high hopes that either of us would enjoy it much. As it turns out, though, I could NOT have been more wrong! It is a highly entertaining romp which boasts fabulous musical numbers, sparkling and intricately-designed costumes, and incredibly beautiful sets that made me want to hop right into the movie screen. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. And even though the movie is definitely a chick flick, the GC said he thoroughly enjoyed it as well. So when I saw that fellow stalker Gary, of the Seeing Stars website, had just published a page detailing various filming locations from the movie, I just about died. The were two locations that I was most interested in stalking, the first of which was the Mediterranean-style apartment complex where Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) and Jack (aka Cam Gigandet) lived, which come to find out does not, in fact, exist. Fellow stalker Chas, of the ItsFilmedThere website, contacted a few Burlesque crew members on my behalf to find out the location of the apartment building, but they all informed him that it was a set that had been built on the Sony Pictures Studio backlot, which was shocking to me as I had been convinced that the building was a real place. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the DVD of the movie, which is being released on March 1st, so that I can listen to the commentary to learn more about the construction of that set. Anyway, the other location that I was dying to stalk was the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge, which, thanks to Gary I now know, was in actuality the side entrance of the historic Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. So, I dragged the GC right on out there to stalk the place this past Monday afternoon.

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The Ricardo Montalban Theatre was first built in 1926 by Myron Hunt, the legendary Los Angeles architect who also designed the Rose Bowl, Occidental College, the California Institute of Technology, the Huntington Hotel (now the Langham), and the Huntington Library, among countless other area buildings. The Beaux Arts-style theatre was originally a live, or a “legitimate”, stage venue known as the Vine Street Theatre, but was transformed into a single-screen movie theatre during the Great Depression. A few years later it was purchased by CBS and became a radio broadcasting venue known as the CBS Playhouse Theatre. It was there that legendary Hollywood producer/director Cecil B. DeMille hosted his Lux Radio Theatre show in which movie stars of the day would act out radio versions of his many films. In 1954, the property once again became a live theatre venue and was renamed the Huntington Hartford. In 2000, the 1200-seat venue was purchased by Nosotros, a non-profit performing arts organization founded by Fantasy Island star Ricardo Montalban. The organization set about renovating the theatre and restoring the property to its former 1927 glory and in May of 2004 reopened the space as the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.

In Burlesque, the Ricardo Montalban Theatre’s side entrance, side exterior stairwell, and parking lot area were all used as the Burlesque Lounge’s main entrance. Amazingly enough, the wrought-iron gate which was featured so prominently in the movie is actually there in real life, which I was BEYOND excited to see! You can check out some pictures of the gate dressed for the filming here. (The theatre was having some sort of a movie screening when we showed up to stalk it, which is why there are people camped out on the sidewalk in all of my photographs).

Sadly, the parking lot area, which was featured in the scene in which Tess (aka Cher) and Nikki (aka Kristen Bell) get into a fight, has been ripped up and is currently under construction. According to the signs posted on the fence which now surrounds the former lot, a parking garage is set to be built in that area.

You can see what the parking lot area used to look like thanks to Bing Streetside in the pictures above and by clicking here.

I literally just about fell over when, while stalking the theatre, I recognized the burger stand located next door as the spot where Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Ben (aka Anson Mount), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), and Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) signed up for the Slide Records singing audition in the movie Crossroads! I had actually been on the hunt for that location for quite some time and was absolutely FLOORED to have stumbled upon it in such a way. For whatever reason, I always seem to have that sort of luck when it comes to Crossroads locales as I also stumbled upon the gas station which appeared in the movie in a very similar manner.

If you would like to stalk the stand, which is named Molly’s Charbroiler in real life, you should do so soon as, according to fave website CurbedLA, the tiny restaurant may be torn down in the coming months in order to make way for a new office building. Sad smile Have I mentioned how much I love change?

Burlesque Trailer

You can watch the trailer for Burlesque, in which the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge is briefly shown, by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from Seeing Stars, for finding this location and to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for contacting Burlesque crew members to find out where Ali and Jack’s apartment building was located! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Ricardo Montalban Theatre, aka Burlesque Lounge from Burlesque, is located at 1615 North Vine Street in Hollywood. The Burlesque Lounge entrance is located on the north side of the property. You can visit the theatre’s official website here. Molly’s Charbroiler, from Crossroads, is located at 1601 North Vine Street. You can visit the burger stand’s official website here.

February 24, 2011February 24, 2011

Paramount Studios – The Fifth Time Around

This past Tuesday, my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry and her daughter Jen and I embarked on a tour of Paramount Studios in Hollywood. While it was Kerry and Jen’s very first time visiting the historic lot, it was actually my fifth – I had previously been on three paid tours and one wedding venue tour. Yes, yes, I know – I just can’t seem to get enough of the place! Sadly though, this tour was easily my least favorite of the bunch and if it had been my first visit to the lot, I doubt I would have ever returned. Our tour guide was painfully, painfully slow and quite boring to listen to and she, sadly, made the tour boring, which is quite a feat being that the lot is so extremely fascinating and has such a vast filming history. Worst of all, while she spent the majority of our tour showing us the exterior of various soundstages and telling us what had been filmed inside of them over the years, we only got to spend about ten minutes in the New York backlot area (my favorite part of the lot) and were only shown the perimeter of it. But we still managed to have fun and, even though I feel like I know the lot like the back of my hand now and could probably host my own tours of the place Winking smile , I still learned a few new things that I thought I’d share with my fellow stalkers.

When arriving on the lot for a Paramount Studios tour, groups are always first led to the Studio Store to purchase their tickets.

I was EXTREMELY excited about stalking the Store, which also doubles as a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, because I had recognized it pop up as the Lima Bean Café in a few recent episodes of Glee! (I love that producers dubbed their faux café Lima Bean, by the way, being that the show is set in Lima, Ohio! LOL LOL LOL)

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The Studio Store first appeared in the Season 2 episode of Glee titled “The Sue Sylvester Shuffle”, in the scene in which Blaine Anderson (aka Darren Criss – who I just found out graduated from the very same high school I did!!!!), Kurt Hummel (aka Chris Colfer), Rachel Berry (aka Lea Michele), and Mercedes Jones (aka Amber Riley) discuss the recent problems with the McKinley High football team.

The store also appeared multiple times in the Season 2 Valentine’s Day-themed episode of Glee titled “Silly Love Songs”, as the regular hangout of Kurt and Blaine.

And it was featured twice in this week’s episode of the show which was titled “Blame It on the Alcohol”. It was first used as the spot where Blaine and Kurt discuss the fact that Blaine might actually have a crush on Rachel.

And it next appeared in the scene in which Rachel kisses Blaine to see if the two have any chemistry.

After purchasing our tickets, our tour guide spent over 25 minutes (not kidding!) hosting a getting-to-know-you session, which seemed just slightly excessive being that the entire tour is only scheduled to last two hours. Sad smile Because that ate up such a significant portion of our time, the rest of the tour was quite harried and rushed and we did not get to see a whole lot. We were first driven by the site of the studio’s former film vaults, which, as you can see in the above photographs, have sadly just recently been demolished.

You can see what the vaults used to look like in the above photographs.

My dad was quite obsessed with the vaults when we took our wedding venue tour of Paramount back in July of 2009 and he managed to snap the above picture of the inside of one. Even though the vaults had not been used in years, due to the fact that because they lacked air conditioning films were apt to melt while inside, it is incredibly sad to me that they are no longer standing.

We were then taken to the Lucy Park area, where we were shown a cement block that Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson had christened with their hand and footprints – a la the famous hand and footprint forecourt outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood – in 1989 while they were filming Cheers. And while Ted Danson just signed his name on the block, Woody’s inscription reads, “Woody Harrelson was here (naked)”. Apparently Ted had dared Woody to run around the lot naked one day and while he was doing so, the two happened upon a block of wet cement and decided to make their mark on it. LOL

Lucy Park is also the site of the famous tree where Grey Brady (aka Barry Williams) smoked his first cigarette in the Season 2 episode of fave show The Brady Bunch titled “Where There’s Smoke”. So I, of course, just had to get my pic taken in front of the tree. Winking smile

Our tour guide informed us that the very same tree and surrounding area were also used in the Season 2 episode of The Brady Bunch titled “A Fistful of Reasons”, in the scene in which Buddy Hinton (aka Russell Schulman) teases Cindy Brady (aka Susan Olsen) about her lisp.

The tree was also where Peter Brady (aka Christopher Knight) beat up Buddy later in that same episode, knocking out his tooth and causing him to then lisp. Ah, if only things worked out in the real world as they did in Brady world!

Lucy Park also appeared in the Season 1 episode of Community titled “The Science of Illusion”, in which Shirley Bennett (aka Yvette Nicole Brown) and Annie Edison (aka Alison Brie) chase Jeff Winger (aka Joel McHale) after catching him with frog-sized mariachi band costumes (yeah, I don’t really get it either Winking smile ).

Lucy Park was also used regularly as Jefferson High School on the television series Happy Days, although that area looks quite a bit different today than it did back in the 1970’s when the series was filmed.

You can see Greg’s tree from The Brady Bunch in the screen captures pictured above, though.

Next, we headed over to the exteriors of Stage 27 and 30, where the hit series Community is filmed. The interior and exterior of both soundstages are used in the filming of the show. As you can see above, the exterior of Stage 30 is used as the Greendale Community College Library (the sign of which is missing the letter “Y” – love it!);

while the exterior of Stage 27 stands in for the campus’ Borchert Hall.

We were then taken inside of the two soundstages to tour a few of the sets used in Community and, even though I have never seen an episode of the show, the sets were extremely cool to see. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photographs while inside, but we were shown the Greendale Community College Library;

the Dean’s Office;

and the cafeteria/game room – which was quite possibly one of the biggest sets that I have ever seen in my entire life!

By this time we were already an hour and forty minutes into the tour and only had twenty minutes left. So we spent a brief ten minutes driving around the New York Street backlot area. While there, we were shown the practical set pictured above, which has appeared in several productions, including Spiderman 3 which I blogged about in one of my previous Paramount Studios posts.

On this tour I found out that the same spot was also the café where Indiana Jones (aka Harrison Ford) and Mutt Williams (aka Shia LaBeouf) met for the first time in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I also finally got to stalk the stoop where Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord) and Liam Court (aka Matt Lanter –sigh!) sat during their Junior Prom in the Season 1 episode of 90210 titled “Zero Tolerance”.

The last time I embarked on the tour, I snapped a photo while sitting on what I thought was Liam and Naomi’s stoop, but as it turns out I was sitting a few stoops too far to the right. So, this time I made sure to get a pic in the right spot, which I could NOT have been more excited about! Smile For those who would also like to take a picture where Liam and Naomi sat, their stoop is located on the Lower East Side portion of New York Street and is the stoop located closest to Washington Square.

After that, we drove by Stage 15 where NCIS: Los Angeles is filmed and I was able to get some great shots of the façade used as the exterior of the NCIS headquarters.

The last stop on our tour was the Paramount Theatre, the inside of which, our guide informed us, was used as Jeff’s former law office in the Season 2 episode of Community titled “Accounting for Lawyers.

And while we did not get to view the inside of the theatre on this particular tour, I snapped the above photographs on one of my previous tours.

The interior of the theatre was also used as an opera house in the Season 7 episode of Frasier titled “Out With Dad”, although it was heavily decorated in that episode and is largely unrecognizable.

The exterior of the theatre was also used as Brooks Memorial Hospital, where Pierce Hawthorne (aka Chevy Chase) was admitted, in the Season 2 episode of Community titled “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Paramount Studios is located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Tours are given daily, Monday through Friday, at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. and cost $40 per person. Reservations can be made by calling (323)956-1777. Parking for the tour costs $7 per car and the tour lot is located on Bronson Avenue, directly across the street from the studio’s main entrance. I recommend booking your tour at least a week in advance, as they tend to sell out quickly. You can find out more information about the Paramount Studios Tour here.

February 18, 2011December 5, 2018

Boardner’s of Hollywood from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Another destination included on the Grim Cheaper’s Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt was Boardner’s of Hollywood, a historic bar which was recommended to me by fellow stalker John who lives in the Bay Area. John had emailed me quite a few months back to let me know that the legendary watering hole had been featured in countless productions over the years, including my fave show Beverly Hills, 90210, and that it was a very cool place to hang out. So, because the GC loves anyplace with a history, I decided to add the bar to his hunt and we headed out there to grab a cocktail this past Saturday evening.

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The space which now houses Boardner’s was first opened in the 1930’s by legendary singer Gene Austin in a Moorish-style, L-shaped building designed by architect Norman Alpaugh and was known at the time as the “My Blue Heaven” night club. After Austin sold the watering hole, it went through several different incarnations, including a restaurant named Padres and a gay bar named Cherokee House, until January of 1944 when a young man named Steve Boardner purchased the place and renamed it Boardner’s. Boardner’s became an immediate success with the Hollywood crowd and such luminaries as Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields, Walter E. Scott (aka “Death Valley Scotty”), Elizabeth Short (aka “The Black Dahlia”), Robert Mitchum, Mickey Cohen, Jack Dragna, Andy Griffith, Donald Sutherland, Ed Wood, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio all hung out there. Steve remained the proprietor of Boardner’s for just over three decades, until 1980, when he retired to Palm Springs and sold his beloved bar to a man named Dave Hadley. Sadly, the place was completely remodeled with an Art Deco-theme in March of 2006 and, despite being known as “one of the oldest bars in Hollywood”, does not look anything like it did back in the heyday of Tinseltown.

Don’t get me wrong – Boardner’s is still a VERY cool place to hang out and the food is absolutely FABULOUS (especially the crab cakes!), but it would be an even cooler place to hang out if it had retained its historic interior. As I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, I am not big on change, especially when said change involves altering a filming location in some way! Sigh! Boardner’s has remained popular with the Hollywood set despite the remodel, though, and just a few of the celebs who have been spotted there in more recent years include Drew Barrymore, Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson, Nicole Kidman, Slash, Axl Rose, Courtney Love, Scott Wolfe, Piper Perabo, Rose McGowan, Fran Dresher, Jason Patric, Tommy Lee, John Lennon, Ben Affleck, Paul Bettany, Jake Gyllenhaal, Vince Vaughn, Keifer Sutherland, Heath Ledger, Bela Lugosi Jr., Jared Leto, Tim McGraw, Lee Majors, Miley Cyrus, and Pete Wentz.

The back of the bar boasts a super-cute little hearth area, complete with a plush couch, a coffee table, and board games. So adorable!

And, each Saturday night, Boardner’s Moroccan-tiled back patio area . . .

. . . and its private events space, which is named the Casablanca Room, are transformed into an extremely popular gothic-themed nightclub known as Bar Sinister. The Casablanca Room has also become a popular wrap party venue over the years.

While stalking Boardner’s, I asked the bartender if she happened to know which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 had been filmed on the premises, but, unfortunately, because she did not work there at the time, she was not sure. And because I only watched the first four seasons of the series, before the characters were of drinking age, I was absolutely stumped on this one. So, I called on Geoff, from the 90210locations website, who pretty much immediately figured out that Boardner’s had been used in the Season 9 episode of the series titled “That’s the Guy”, as the spot where Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) sought out information about the man who raped Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth).

The establishing shot of the bar which appeared in that episode was filmed at another location altogether, though, and looks nothing like the actual exterior of Boardner’s.

Boardner’s also popped up in 1994’s Ed Wood, as the spot where fledgling film director Ed Wood (aka Johnny Depp) grabbed a drink just before meeting Bela Lugosi (aka Martin Landau) for the first time. Interestingly enough, the real Ed Wood had been a regular at Boardner’s throughout most of his lifetime, which is most likely how the bar ended up being chosen as a filming location for the flick.

Boardner’s was also the spot where Dudley Smith (aka James Cromwell) met up with Bud White (aka Russell Crowe) in order to return his badge and his gun towards the beginning of 1997’s L.A. Confidential.

The exterior of Boardner’s was also used very briefly as the exterior of a cowboy-themed gay bar that Mick Dundee (aka Paul Hogan) and Jacko (aka Alec Wilson) attempt to visit in 2001’s Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

In the 2003 movie Hollywood Homicide, Boardner’s was the regular hangout of Sergeant Joe Gavilan (aka Harrison Ford) and Detective K.C. Calden (aka Josh Harnett). Boardner’s has also appeared in the movie Up Close & Personal and in episodes of the television series Alias, Numb3rs, and Cold Case. Supposedly, Boardner’s was also featured in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas and in 1997’s Wag the Dog, but I scanned through both of those movies earlier today while writing this post and did not spot the bar in either one.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John for recommending this location to me and to Geoff, from the 90210locations website, for figuring out which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 it appeared in! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Boardner’s of Hollywood, from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 1652 North Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit the bar’s official website here.

February 16, 2011February 15, 2011

Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

This past Monday morning, I headed out to Downtown Hollywood to see Alec Baldwin receive the 2,433rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For whatever reason, I typically do not attend many Walk of Fame events, but this month I found myself present at not one, but two! As I blogged about two weeks ago, I went to Adam Sandler’s ceremony on February 1st and, because of all of the aggressive fans, figured I wouldn’t be hitting up another one for a good long time. But then I found out that Alec Baldwin was being honored with a star on Valentine’s Day and because Jack Donaghy, the character Alec plays on 30 Rock, is one of my favorite television characters of all time, I just had to attend! I asked my dad to come along with me, but he quickly ixnayed that idea, telling me “I wouldn’t walk across the street to see that guy!” LOL LOL LOL What can I say – my dad has never been one to mince words. So, once again, I ventured out to watch the ceremony by myself. I ended up meeting a SUPER nice fellow stalker/blogger named Pinky, from the PinkyLoveJoy blog, while I was there and spent most of my time prior to the ceremony literally drooling over her many photographs with celebrities, especially the one she had with Miss Sarah Jessica Parker. Sigh! So incredibly jealous!!! Pinky is an absolutely amazing stalker and has photographs with literally everyone who is anyone in Hollywood. And she has bundles of energy! After spending hours at Alec’s ceremony, after which I was ready to call it a day, Pinky headed right on out to Westwood to do some stalking of the Rango premiere’s red carpet, where she got to meet and take a photograph with none other than Johnny Depp! I’m telling you, she has the golden touch and is a far better stalker than I could ever hope to be! Some of her magic did rub off on me, though, as I managed to snag a couple of photos with celebrities yesterday, but more on that later.

I showed up to Alec’s ceremony at 10 a.m., about 90 minutes prior to when it was set to begin, and, amazingly enough, there were only about twenty or so fans there. But then, all of a sudden, it was like the floodgates opened and masses and masses of people started showing up – more people than were at the Adam Sandler ceremony, actually, which absolutely shocked me. It finally dawned on me, though, that most people had the day off from work as it was Lincoln’s birthday, which is why I think so many fans were able to attend.

Because so few people were there when I first arrived, I managed to snag a GREAT spot directly in front of Alec’s star.

Unfortunately, about an hour later, the media was allowed in and they set up their ginormous cameras directly in front of Pinky and me, which completely obstructed our view. So, the two of us decided to move over to the area directly behind Alec’s star, which did not allow us a good view of the actual ceremony, but turned out to be the PERFECT place to stand as we were situated in the exact spot where all of the celebrities entered and exited the event area. YAY!

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Alec Baldwin showed up about ten minutes before the ceremony was set to start (love it!) and immediately walked up to the fans and started signing autographs. Alec seemed very friendly and approachable. Sadly, he was just a little too far to the side of where I was standing for me to be able to get a picture with him.

Also in attendance for the ceremony was Alec’s brother Stephen Baldwin;

actress Anne Heche, who starred with Alec onstage in the 2004 revival of the play “Twentieth Century” (Anne looked absolutely amazing in person, by the way, and I absolutely fell in love with the jacket she was wearing);

Megan Mullally, who spoke during the ceremony;

Megan’s husband, Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson on the television series Parks and Recreation;

Jack McBrayer, who plays the belovedly daft Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock;

and the two commentators pictured above, whose names I cannot for the life of me remember.

Alec’s ceremony got started right on time, with an introduction by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler.

Then Megan Mullally gave a brief speech honoring Alec. Unfortunately, because of where I was standing, I could not hear most of what was said, but what I did hear was incredibly funny. She even had Alec Baldwin doubled over with laughter at one point, as you can see in the above photograph.

Megan explained that she first met Alec when he guest-starred as a government agent with whom her character, Karen Walker, had an affair on the hit television show Will & Grace. She also stated that Alec got his start in soap operas, which was fortuitous considering his personal life in recent years. Winking smile And she informed the crowd that Alec had three beloved brothers – “Shawn, Damon, and Keenan Ivory” LOL – who all followed in his footsteps by “becoming handsome”.

After Megan’s speech, Alec took to the stage and unfortunately I could not hear any of what he said. Such a shame, too, as he had the fans situated at the front of the ceremony in hysterics.

After the ceremony was over, all of the stars who were in attendance headed over to the fan area to start signing autographs – all of the stars, that is, except for Jack McBrayer, who left the premises pretty much immediately and headed into Beso Restaurant where the after-party was being held. Jack refused to sign any autographs or take any pictures on his way out, which was highly disappointing as I absolutely LOVE him on 30 Rock. Sadly, he did not seem at all nice or friendly. There was a group of three teenage girls standing next to me who were HUGE fans of his who at one point yelled out to him, “Be our Valentine, Jack McBrayer!”, but he refused to look their way or even acknowledge them in any way, which I thought was pretty crappy.

He did give a very brief wave to the crowd on his way out, but, other than that, there was no attempt on his part to be friendly to the fans at any point during the event.

After Alec finished giving interviews to the press, he walked over to the crowd and spent quite a bit of time signing autographs.

Sadly though, he only came over to our section for a brief moment and only took one photograph – with Pinky! – so I unfortunately did not get a picture with him. You can check out Pinky’s photograph with Alec on her blog here.

BUT Megan Mullally came over shortly thereafter and signed autographs for and took pictures with absolutely everyone who wanted one . . .

. . . including me! YAY! Megan was SUPER nice and SUPER friendly and I could NOT have been more excited to meet her! (I had to take the above photograph myself, which is why it is such an extreme close up.)

Anne Heche came over immediately following Megan and also stopped to pose for photographs with and to sign autographs for absolutely everyone who wanted them. She was also incredibly nice and took her time speaking with all of the fans. I really should have taken the opportunity to ask her where she had purchased her amazingly cute coat, but I was far too nervous to actually do so!

Nick Offerman walked over next and was easily the friendliest out of the bunch. SUCH an incredibly nice and seemingly down-to-earth guy.

And even though I have never seen an episode of Parks and Recreation, I absolutely LOVE Nick now. What a complete and total sweetheart!

Alec’s star is pictured above.

On a side note – Fellow stalkers/Drew Barrymore aficionados Ashley and Anne, of the Drewseum website, got to meet up with their celebrity hero this past Friday and their story is nothing short of A-MA-ZING! I literally could NOT tear myself away from my BlackBerry while reading it. I HIGHLY recommend reading about their incredibly touching and memorable encounter with Drew on their website here. LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame star can be found outside of Beso Restaurant, which is located at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

February 15, 2011February 15, 2011

Crossroads of the World from “Dexter”

Before I get started, I’d like to give a big birthday shout-out to my beloved Grandma, who turns 86 today. Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you! And now, on with the post! One location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk while in the Hollywood area a few weeks back was Crossroads of the World, a historic Hollywood landmark which was featured in the Season 5 episode of Dexter titled “Practically Perfect”, among numerous other productions, including L.A. Confidential and Indecent Proposal. I had actually driven by Crossroads of the World countless times over the past ten-plus years that I have lived in Los Angeles and had even known of the place’s legendary filming history, but for whatever reason had never stalked it. So, after I noticed the historic property pop up on Dexter last October, I added the place to my extensive and ever-growing To-Stalk list and finally made it out there a couple of weeks ago.

Crossroads of the World was first opened in 1936 and is often credited as the U.S.’ first outdoor shopping center. It was built in the Streamline Moderne-style – a type of Art Deco design which features nautical elements – by architect Robert V. Derrah, who also designed the the Coca-Cola Building and the Southern California Gas Company Building, both in Downtown Los Angeles. The theme of the two and a half acre property, which opened to the public on October 29th, 1936, was envisioned by Ella Crawford, the widow of real estate mogul and racketeer Charlie Crawford, as a port-of-call, a “cultural and business center offering an experience like taking a trip around the world”. The marketplace was built to look like a large ocean liner docked at an international village and incorporated Spanish, Mediterranean, Moorish, Cape Cod, and Old English design elements.

The village section of Crossroads of the World, which can be found at the rear of the property on Selma Avenue, very closely resembles Fantasy Land at Disneyland.

There is even a wishing well, a la Snow White’s wishing well at Disneyland, situated in the village area! Which is highly ironic being that Crossroad’s of the World ship building was recreated in part at the Disney Hollywood Studios section of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, which you can see a photograph of here.

Crossroad’s most prominent and recognizable feature is its sixty-foot-tall tower which is capped off with a revolving eight-foot-tall neon globe. The property, which is no longer a shopping center but currently serves as an office park, became a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1974 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Heider, Randolph Duke, Tim Burton, and Rob Lowe have all had offices there at one time or another.

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In the “Practically Perfect” episode of Dexter, Crossroads of the World stood in for the supposed Miami-area Hungry Dog Diner at which Dexter Morgan (aka Michael C. Hall) spies on, and then has lunch with, serial killer Boyd Fowler (aka Shawn Hatosy).

The Dexter episode was filmed in the northwest corner of Crossroads of the World. Dexter was sitting just outside of Suite 1521 at a prop table that was brought in just for the filming.

The Hungry Dog Diner was set up in a vacant storefront just across from where Dexter was sitting in the scene.

The Hush-Hush Magazine office where gossip reporter Sid Hudgens (aka Danny DeVito) worked in the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential is located just around the corner from where Dexter was filmed.

His corner office is numbered 1523 and is located next to the center’s parking lot area.

The real estate office where Diana Murphy (aka Demi Moore) worked in 1993’s Indecent Proposal is also located at Crossroads of the World.

Diana worked in Suite 1500, which can be found in the rounded portion of the center’s ship building in the southern-most section of the property.

The water fountain that was visible behind John Gage (aka Robert Redford) in the scene in which he visits Diana at her office can be found at the southern-most tip of the property near the center’s main entrance on Sunset Boulevard.

The office where Ford Fairlane (aka Andrew Dice Clay) worked in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane was also located at Crossroads of the World, on the second floor of the property’s ship building.

The center’s front office area, which was the same area used in Indecent Proposal, was even made to look like a gym for the movie.

You can see a complete list of productions that have been filmed at Crossroads of the World on the property’s official website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Crossroads of the World is located at 6671 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the property’s official website here. The Hungry Dog Diner from Dexter was located in the vacant storefront across from the office numbered 1521 and is denoted with a blue arrow in the above aerial view. The area where Dexter was sitting in the episode is denoted with a pink “X”. Suite number 1523 was used as Sid Hudgens’ office in L.A. Confidential and is marked with a purple arrow in the above aerial view. And finally, Diana’s office in Indecent Proposal was Suite 1500, which comprises the entire circular area located under the center’s tower and globe. The door she used to enter and exit her office is marked with a light pink arrow in the above aerial view.

February 8, 2011February 8, 2011

The “A Lot Like Love” Apartment Building

A couple of weeks ago, fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210locations website, tweeted me to let me know that he had just tracked down the apartment building where Oliver Martin (aka Ashton Kutcher) lived in fave movie A Lot Like Love. As I have mentioned quite a few times before on this blog, A Lot Like Love is one of my all-time favorite romantic comedies and I have stalked pretty much every location featured in it – every location, that is, except for Oliver’s apartment building. So I was BEYOND excited to receive Geoff’s tweet and while out and about doing some stalking in the Hollywood area this past weekend, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place.

The building, which is called the Glen Oaks in real life, was actually featured only once in A Lot Like Love in the scene in which Oliver and Emily (aka Amanda Peet) return home after a New Year’s Eve party. It is when they walk into Oliver’s empty apartment that Emily discovers that he is moving to San Francisco the very next morning, just when, as she says, “I’m starting to like you”. The following morning, Emily awakens to discover that Oliver is already gone, but that he has left behind his beloved camera, which prompts her to begin a career in photography.

And it is obvious from the way the movie was shot that the real life interior of the apartment was also used in the filming.

I am very happy to report that the Glen Oaks building still looks much the same today as it did when A Lot Like Love was filmed back in 2005. The exterior paint color has since been changed, but the property is still very recognizable from the movie

The building also boasts an AMAZING view of the Hollywood sign.

In A Lot Like Love, Oliver lived in the building’s southwestern-most corner, bottom floor unit which is pictured above.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Stalk It: Oliver’s apartment building from A Lot Like Love is located at 2649 North Beachwood Drive, at the corner of North Beachwood Drive and Glen Oak Street, in Hollywood. Oliver lived in the building’s southwestern-most unit on the bottom floor, which is denoted with the pink arrow in the above aerial view.

February 2, 2011February 2, 2011

Adam Sandler’s Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

Last Thursday morning while in Santa Monica running some errands, my dad and I, of course, stopped into a nearby Starbucks to grab a quick latte and who should we spot while standing in line, but Robbie Hart himself, aka Mr. Adam Sandler. He was sitting inconspicuously with his wife and youngest daughter having a quiet breakfast and, amazingly enough, no one else in the entire store seemed to recognize or even take any notice of him. Because the place was jam-packed, I did not want to call any attention to the fact that he was there or bother him in any way, so I did not ask for a photograph, but I did go up to him to tell him how much I appreciated his always thanking the troops while on the red carpet and at awards shows. One of my very best friends sadly passed away while on active duty in the Navy and both my dad and my uncle served in Vietnam, so I have always been extremely appreciative of Adam’s vocal and constant support of the armed forces. Adam was EXTREMELY sweet when I went up to him, shook my hand, introduced himself, and thanked me for coming to talk to him. Well, needless to say, after that encounter I loved the guy even more than I had before. So, when I found out that he would be receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this week, I immediately called up my dad and asked if he wanted to go to the ceremony with me. Now, as I have mentioned many times before on this blog, my dad pretty much hates all things Hollywood, excluding, of course, David Caruso and CSI: Miami and, ironically enough, Adam Sandler. My dad said he’d love to attend the event and we both added the date to our calendar. Sadly though, he wasn’t feeling well yesterday morning, so I had to head out to Hollywood on my own.

I am typically not the type of person who enjoys doing things by myself, so I was not looking forward to attending Adam’s ceremony alone, but as it turned out I had a fabulous time! I ended up meeting a really nice gentleman who was not only a big fan of Adam’s, but of Hollywood in general and the two of us spent the entire morning talking and sharing our stalking stories. If you are ever considering going to one of these events, but are nervous about attending alone, after today I have to say don’t sweat it at all!

While a fairly huge crowd did accumulate for Adam’s ceremony, there were not nearly as many people there as I had assumed would be. I would say that there were about 150 people in attendance, with a large group standing on the roof of the W Hollywood Hotel (pictured above). The ceremony was actually set up much differently than Kyra Sedgwick’s ceremony which I attended back in June of 2009. During Kyra’s event, fans were only allowed to stand on one side of the podium, but for Adam’s we were allowed to stand along all four sides of it. I ended up snagging a spot directly next to the stage, which was absolutely INCREDIBLE. It was literally the PERFECT, PRIMO spot and allowed me an amazing unobstructed view of the ceremony.

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The event started right on time (yay!) with Adam arriving on the scene promptly at 11:30. On his way to the stage, he stopped to have his picture taken with some of the policemen on duty and a few of the fans in attendance.

His two little girls (pictured above) and his wife were also there . . .

as were Henry Winkler (aka The Fonz!) and Kevin James;

and David Spade.

David Spade actually went over to the crowd to take pictures and sign autographs at the start of the event, but he was pretty far away from where I was standing and because I did not want to lose my primo spot, I did not try to get a photo with him.

Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler opened up the ceremony by introducing Adam and welcoming him to the stage, along with his two daughters who absolutely refused to leave their father’s side. It was really cute to watch.

Then Henry Winkler came onstage to honor Adam with a speech.

Henry said that his first encounter with Adam was when he mentioned him in 1994’s comedy hit “The Chanukah Song”. Adam later asked him to play the role of Coach Klein in 1998’s The Waterboy and the two have since acted together in several movies, including Little Nicky, Click, and You Don’t Mess With the Zohan. Henry called Adam one the “kindest souls in show business” and I honestly believe that to be true. Henry also informed the crowd that his own star was located directly across the street from Adam’s, in front of the historic Pantages theatre.

Kevin James spoke next and called Adam “the man who is responsible for employing everyone in this town” and he said he was honoring him in one of the best ways he knew how, by wearing slacks to the ceremony which he would “not do for just anybody”. Winking smile

Then Leron Gubler took the stage again and presented Adam with a certificate and the plaque pictured above and officially declared the day “Adam Sandler Day” in Hollywood.

Adam then made a brief speech, during which a tour bus drove by to whom Adam yelled out, “Hey you guys, how are you all doing?” So cute!

Adam said he could not believe he was standing there receiving such an honor as it is not something he ever thought would happen. At one point during his speech, his youngest daughter Sunny tugged on his leg and asked to be picked up.

Sunny then grabbed the microphone and yelled out “I love my daddy!” His other daughter Sadie then immediately walked up, stood on her tip toes, and announced into the mic, “I love my daddy!” The two girls then went back and forth for a few minutes, each proclaiming their love for their “daddy” and then for their “mommy”. It was a very cute moment which culminated with Adam saying, “I love you, too, more than anything in the world!” He then thanked his wife and said he was most grateful for his career because it led him to her, which I thought was incredibly sweet.

Adam’s star was then unveiled and the group posed behind it for the many members of the media who were in attendance. As you can see in the above photographs, I unfortunately did not have the best view for that portion of the ceremony.

After the ceremony, while Adam was speaking to the press, the man I had been hanging out with called Henry Winkler over for an autograph. Henry only signed the one photo, though (pictured above) and then said that he did not have time for anything else as he had to do interviews. And while he seemed nice enough, after the interviews were finished being taped, he did not go up to anyone else in the crowd and, as far as I know, did not sign any other autographs or take any photographs with fans. Sad smile

Adam Sandler, on the other hand, signed a huge number of autographs, but unfortunately the fans were being EXTREMELY aggressive and were pushing and shoving to get closer to him, so I kind of stayed in the background and did not end up getting a photograph with him. One of the journalists who was covering the event, though, said that Adam was one of the nicest celebrities he had ever met and that he wouldn’t be surprised if the actor stayed around as long as necessary to give autographs to everyone who attended the ceremony.

Sadly though, the whole thing got just a bit too crazy with people swarming Adam (he is somewhere in the middle of the mass frenzy pictured above) and he was, sadly, not able to stick around for very long. And even though I did not get a photograph with him as I had hoped, the event was still extremely fun to attend! If you happen to find yourself in the Hollywood area on the day of a star ceremony, I honestly cannot more highly recommend attending!

Adam’s unveiled star is pictured above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Adam Sandler’s Walk of Fame star can be found at 6262 Hollywood Boulevard, directly in front of the W Hollywood Hotel, in Hollywood. You can find out about upcoming Walk of Fame ceremonies and other celebrity events on the Upcoming Celebrity Events page of my blog.

November 17, 2010November 16, 2010

Paramount Studios . . . A Third Time

As I mentioned in last Thursday’s post about my second VIP Tour of the Studios at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, I also recently embarked on a third tour of the lot, along with fellow stalkers Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, and Beth, who were all in town visiting from Ohio this past October. And I am very happy to report that my third Paramount tour was just as fabulous as my first two. If you have yet to visit the famed Hollywood studio, all I can say is that you REALLY must! As I’ve stated numerous times in the past, it is simply the best studio tour Los Angeles has to offer. This time our tour group consisted of two guides, the five of us, and only one other gentlemen (who showed up in a business suit with the intention of handing out headshots to various studio executives that we might happen to pass along the way, which was extremely uncomfortable for everyone involved, but that’s a whole other story), so we were very lucky in that our group was not only smaller than normal, but our tour was also very much catered to the places on the lot that Lavonna and Co. were interested in seeing. I should mention here that Paramount guides are very good about customizing tours for each particular group, so if you do happen to embark on a visit to the lot, I highly encourage you to speak up and tell your guide exactly what it is that you are interested in seeing.

Our first stop, as always, was Lucy Park, the history of which I wrote about in last week’s Paramount post. One thing I forgot to mention, though, was that the Chevalier Building, which runs along the eastern side of the park, was used as Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Jefferson High School on the 1970’s television series Happy Days.

Directly across from Lucy Park is the Ball Building, named in honor of actress Lucille Ball, where Tom Cruise’s production offices were formerly housed. Tom’s office is the one with the large bay window denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph, from which is a fabulous view of the Hollywood sign.

We were then shuttled by Stage 25, which is considered by many to be an extremely lucky stage being that two of the most successful shows in television history, Cheers and Frasier – both of which ran for eleven seasons and both of which starred actor Kelsey Grammar as Doctor Frasier Crane – were filmed there. Our guide told us that Grammar likes to joke that his short-lived television series Back to You, which was filmed elsewhere, would have been much more successful had it been lensed on Stage 25.

Next up was Stage 28 where the Nickelodeon Television series Big Time Rush is filmed. The exterior of that particular stage is used each week for establishing shots of the Rocque Records offices on the show.

Right next door to Stage 28 is Stage 27, where the Grim Cheaper’s favorite movie of all time, The Godfather, was filmed, so of course I just had to snap a photograph of it.

We were then taken inside the set of the apartment belonging to Alex (aka Elisha Cuthbert) on the yet-to-be released series Happy Endings. Alex’s apartment, which we unfortunately were not allowed to take photographs of, but which you can see in the above screen captures, is VERY reminiscent of Monica and Rachel’s apartment on Friends. It was absolutely amazing to be able to see the set in such an up-close-and-personal manner and to discover how truly realistic everything actually was. At one point Lavonna and I wandered into Alex’s bathroom – which according to our tour guide is not going to be used for actual filming but will only be seen in the background of certain scenes – and were shocked to discover how incredibly detailed it was. There was a huge make-up basket filled with actual make-up on the counter, there was a toothbrush and toothpaste by the sink, and the drawers were filled with hairbrushes and other beauty paraphernalia. The attention to detail was astounding, especially considering that the bathroom will only be appearing in the background, if at all! There were also real life bills being stored in Alex’s mail holder and actual books piled on her bookshelves. So incredibly cool!

You can watch the promo for Happy Endings by clicking above.

Up next was my VERY favorite section of the Paramount lot, New York Street, where filming for both Happy Endings . . .

. . . and Community was taking place. I happened to spot cutie Joel McHale walking around the Community set, but I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough to snap a photograph of him, which was so unbelievably frustrating I cannot even tell you! UGH!

Paramount Studios was used as the location of the Junior Prom in the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Zero Tolerance”. In the episode, Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord) and Liam Court (aka Matt Lanter – sigh!) decide to take a break from the dance to walk around New York Street and they wind up sitting on a brownstone stoop where, in a drool-worthy moment, Liam finally admits to Naomi that he has actual feelings for her . . . and then, it begins to snow! So darn cute!

I was absolutely dying to take a picture while sitting on Liam and Naomi’s stoop, but unfortunately I could not remember exactly which one it was, so I ended up sitting a few houses too far to the north.

Liam and Naomi’s actual stoop is located on the Lower East Side portion of New York Street and is the stoop located closest to Washington Square and is denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph.

The café from Spiderman 3, where Peter Parker (aka Tobey Maguire) tells Harry Osborn (aka James Franco) that Mary Jane Watson (aka Kristen Dunst) is in love with someone else, is also located on New York Street, in the Greenwich Village area.

Much like the jazz club from Spiderman 3 which I talked about in my previous Paramount post, the café is a “practical set”, which means that it is not just a façade, but that it also has an interior area where filming can take place.

We actually got to step inside one of the facades while we were on New York Street, which I had never done before on a previous tour. As you can see in the above photographs, the interior of the facade consists mainly of large metal beams, from which set electricians can hang lights, and open space, where background actors are sometimes held in between takes.

The “Schlemiel, Schlimazel, Hasenpfeffer Incorporated” segment of the Laverne & Shirley opening credits was also filmed on New York Street, in the Washington Square section.

Interestingly enough, the exterior of Rosalita’s Bar from Happy Endings was dressed a bit differently than it was the last time I visited the lot a few weeks beforehand.

The way it looked on my previous tour is pictured above.

Fellow stalker Beth also somehow managed to snap the above photograph of the interior of the soundstage where Happy Endings is filmed, the door of which happened to be open as we drove by. As you can see, the doorway and part of the exterior of Rosalita’s Bar has also been built inside of the soundstage, which was very cool to see!

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Next up was the famed Stage 14, where fave show Glee is filmed. Because Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, Beth, and I are all diehard Gleeks, we were hoping to have the same star-sighting luck outside of Stage 14 that I had on my previous tour, but alas, that was not to be.

We all just about died a few minutes after driving away from the stage, though, when who should we spot being shuttled around on a golf cart but Miss Lea Michele! I was beyond excited to catch a glimpse of Lea as I had only seen her for a split second during my previous Paramount tour and, aside from Will Schuester (aka Matthew Morrison), Rachel Berry is my favorite character on the show. Sadly though, the experience was not a good one. As Lea’s cart approached, the driver put her hand up to block the actress’ face from us, which was absolutely unbelievable! It’s rude enough when an actor puts up their own hand to block their face from fans, but to have an assistant do it for you is an absolute diva maneuver if I ever saw one! The whole thing was extremely disappointing for us as, prior to that, we had all LOVED Lea. Our tour guide on the the previous tour had told us that Lea was the worst one of the entire Glee bunch and that the studio staff had taken to humming the Wicked Witch of the West theme song from The Wizard of Oz every time she rode past them on her bike, but, even after hearing that, I had still believed she was nice. Sadly that did not seem to be the case, though. Such a shame.

Next up was the exterior of Stage 15 where NCIS: Los Angeles is filmed, which I was absolutely FLOORED about seeing (and which took my mind off of the whole Lea Michele debacle) as the outside of it is used for the filming of the exterior of the NCIS Office of Special Projects on the series. So incredibly cool!

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We were then taken to Paramount’s Production Park, where the Lubitsch Building is located, which was used as Westdale High School on fave show The Brady Bunch.

The Lubitsch Building is located on the east side of Production Park and the doorway which was used as the entrance to Westdale High is denoted with the pink arrow in the above aerial view.

Production Park was also recently used in the Season 1 episode of Rizzoli & Isles titled “Money for Nothing”, in the opening scene in which Detective Jane Rizzoli (aka Angie Harmon) and Dr. Maura Isles (aka Sasha Alexander) are shown stretching before a morning run.

The filming of an episode of Nickelodeon’s Big Time Rush had just wrapped when we arrived at the park, which is what the sign reading “Palm Woods Park” was set up for. Filming had involved the cast of the show being in some sort of a mud pit and the crew was covering up the pit while we were there, which is what you see in the above photograph.

We also made a stop at the Paramount Studios Theatre and while we were there our tour guide mentioned that the theatre lobby had been used as a hotel in a certain movie, but when I sat down to write today’s post, I could not for the life of me remember which movie. Enter Lavonna, who CALLED UP Paramount to find out for me! Amazingly enough, who should answer the phone, but our actual tour guide who informed Lavonna that the movie he had told us about was Clear and Present Danger. Thank you, Lavonna! 🙂

Our final stop was the famous Paramount Studios water fountain, which was also featured in the “Zero Tolerance” episode of 90210.

Despite our disappointment over Lea Michele, the tour was still a FABULOUS, FABULOUS experience and I honestly cannot recommend taking it enough! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Paramount is hands down the best studio tour in Hollywood!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Paramount Studios is located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Tours are given Monday through Friday at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. and cost $40 per person. Reservations can be made by calling (323)956-1777. Parking for the tour costs $7 per car and the tour lot is located on Bronson Avenue, directly across the street from the studio’s main entrance. I recommend booking your tour at least a week in advance, as they tend to sell out quickly. You can find out more information about the Paramount Studios Tour here.

November 15, 2010June 16, 2011

The 101 Coffee Shop from “Swingers”

One location that I have wanted to stalk ever since moving to Los Angeles over a decade ago, but didn’t because there were numerous erroneous reports floating around online which stated that the place had since closed down, was the 101 Coffee Shop which appeared in the 1996 movie Swingers. It wasn’t until Mike, from MovieShotsLA, pointed out the restaurant to me while driving by it after we finished our tour of Paramount Studios back in September that I realized the location was, indeed, still open for business. I added the cafe to the top of my “To Stalk” list that very day and when fellow stalkers Lavonna, Beth, Debbie, and Connie came out from Ohio for a Hollywood stalking trip a few weeks later, we all hit the place up for a quick bite to eat.

Apparently, there is quite a bit of confusion surrounding this particular location, so I thought I’d put all the mystery to rest with today’s post. The diner, which is located on the first floor of the Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel, originally opened in the 1930’s and was named the “Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop”. In 1994, the restaurant, which was faltering at the time, was taken over by a French chef named Susan Fine Moore and her husband, Michael, who revamped the property’s interior and updated its menu to include an array of standard comfort foods along with some Mexican dishes. Of the new menu, which vacillated greatly from L.A.’s typical low-fat fare, Fine said, “We kind of pride ourselves on being an oasis from all that craziness. There’s a new diet, a new fad every week, but actually people seem a little bit less obsessed than they used to be about diets. Otherwise we wouldn’t be so busy. Generation X is lovely – they’ll eat anything. And the older generation is figuring, I suppose, who wants to live to 108 if you can’t put butter on your potato?” Love it! The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop really started to take off under the helm of Susan and Michael and it was at that point that the place, thanks to its high-quality food and laid-back attitude, started attracting celebrities. A few stars who were known to frequent the diner include Brad Pitt, my girl Jen Aniston, Sandra Bullock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Johnny Depp, Andy Garcia, Minnie Driver, Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Kevin Spacey. After losing their lease in July of 2001, Susan and Michael moved their restaurant two miles east to a new location at 1745 North Vermont Avenue, but the place, sadly, closed down shortly thereafter. In the meantime the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop space was leased to new owners – Warner Ebbink and Brandon Boudet of the Eat Heavy Restaurant Group – who opened a new eatery in its place.

That new restaurant is named the 101 Coffee Shop and, let me tell you, it is a VERY cool place. Ebbink, who has a passion for architecture as well as food, redesigned the property’s interior himself, modeling it after the old-time cafes of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Boudet serves as the head chef and, under his tutelage, the eatery still serves up high-quality comfort food, including macaroni and cheese, meatloaf and gravy, and tuna melts. For the foodies in your group, more highbrow offerings, like the Grilled Tandoori Salmon Sandwich, the Kale “Greek” Salad, and the Grilled Albacore Tuna Burger, are also on the menu. And, despite the change in ownership, the restaurant is still a big time celebrity hotspot. Fellow stalker Chas ran into both Nicolas Cage and Matt LeBlanc on two separate occasions while dining at the cafe. So, while the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop is no longer in operation, the 101 Coffee Shop is alive and well, and, despite the remodel, is still very recognizable from Swingers.

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Then out-of-work actors Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau actually wrote the screenplay for Swingers over several meals at the Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop. (The restaurant seems to be something of a lucky charm for writers as the pilot episode of the extremely successful CBS comedy series Everybody Loves Raymond was also penned in one of the cafe’s back rooms.) According to a November 1998 New York Times article, Favreau and his good friend Vaughn used to frequent the diner regularly. Of the restaurant, Favreau said, “It was like a family atmosphere. We didn’t have a lot of money, and I lived in a tiny apartment up the block. I loved the people who ran the place, who made you feel like a big shot, even if you weren’t. Very good portions – you never left hungry.” Once the screenplay was sold, Favreau decided to use the restaurant as a filming location for no less than three scenes in the movie! The Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop first appears in the opening scene in which Mike (aka Favreau) talks to Rob (aka Sex and the City’s Ron Livingston) about how to get his girlfriend back.

That scene was filmed in the second booth to the left of the restaurant’s main door, which, despite the remodel, still looks very much the same today as it did in the movie.

The scene in which Trent (aka Vince Vaughn) tells Mike that he is “all growns up” was also filmed at the cafe. The booth where that scene was filmed is, sadly, no longer there. It looks as if the restaurant also had some sort of a grocery section at the time the movie was filmed, but it no longer does today.

The movie’s ending scene, in which Trent thinks a fellow diner is making goo-goo eyes at him, also took place at the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop.

In more recent years the coffee shop stood in for Winkie’s, the diner where Lorelai (aka Lauren Graham), Rory (aka Alexis Bledel), and Emily Gilmore (aka Kelly Bishop) stopped to grab a bite to eat while on their way to North Carolina to attend Mia’s wedding in the Season 7 episode of Gilmore Girls titled “Gilmore Girls Only”.

Randomly enough, Gilmore Girls filmed in pretty much the exact same spot where Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, Beth, and I ate lunch! 🙂 So cool!

In the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”, Vincent Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) grab some breakfast at the cafe on the morning of Vince’s big movie premiere.

Some filming for that episode also took place outside of the coffee shop.

The Entourage boys returned to the cafe to film the Season 7 episode of the show titled “Buzzed”, in which Turtle’s credit card is rejected after he tries to pick up the gang’s lunch tab.

The coffee shop was also featured twice in the 2007 movie In the Land of Women. It was first seen in the opening scene in which Sofia Bunuel (aka Elena Anaya) breaks up with Carter Webb (aka Adam Brody).

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And it was used in the ending scene in which Carter meets Janey (aka fave actress Ginnifer Goodwin).

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 101 Coffee Shop, aka the former Hollywood Hills Coffee Shop from Swingers, is located at 6145 Franklin Avenue, on the first floor of the Best Western Hollywood Hills Hotel, in Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.