The Restaurant Where Brenda and Donna Ate Veal Brains on “Beverly Hills, 90210”

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One location that I have been on the lookout for for over eighteen years now is the Paris restaurant where Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) and Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty) ate veal brains in the Season 3 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001”.  Because almost two decades have passed since filming took place, though, and because there were virtually no clues visible in the background of the veal-brains-eating scene, this one proved to be a VERY tough find.  So, a few weeks back I finally decided to call in the team – Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, and fellow stalker Owen – and, amazingly enough, Owen found the restaurant in record time – in less than an hour, in fact!  Not joking!  I really need to start taking lessons from Owen, as he always comes up with extremely innovative ways of tracking locations down.  In this particular case, he decided to contact a few of the guest star actors who appeared in the episode, one of them being a girl named Lindsey Rosin.  Now, to someone like Owen who has never in his life watched an episode of 90210, the name Lindsey Rosin doesn’t mean a whole lot, but to all of us diehard fans out there, the girl is a celebrity!  For those who are not in the know, Lindsey just happens to be the daughter of 90210’s longtime executive producer Charles Rosin and, as a child, she appeared in several episodes of the series, including the “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001” episode.  When Owen told me he had contacted her, let me tell you, I just about died from excitement!  Even more exciting, though, was the fact that not only did she write him back almost immediately, but she also knew exactly where the filming of the veal brains scene had taken place.  YAY!

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As it turns out, Brenda and Donna’s Paris restaurant was named Le Chardonnay and it used to be located on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.  Sadly, though, the eatery closed its doors for good just about a decade ago.  Since that time, the property has undergone several renovations and has re-opened as a few different restaurants, including the now-defunct French bistro Carafe and the Danny Masterson/Wilmer Valderrama/Ashton Kutcher-owned eatery Dolce.  Today, the space which once housed Le Chardonnay is an upscale Chinese food restaurant named Philippe Chow and even though it no longer looks anything like it did when it appeared on 90210, I just HAD to stalk the place.  So, this past Friday afternoon, since we were in the area running some errands, I dragged my dad there to grab some lunch.

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Philippe Chow is a SUPER cute little restaurant that serves up some FABULOUS food!  Especially the chicken satay in cream sauce, which the restaurant is famous for.  The food is pricey, though – a bottle of sparkling water cost me a whopping $10!!!!!!!! – but, as they say, you get what you pay for, and the grub at Philippe Chow is EXTREMELY good!  The service was also fabulous and definitely lacking in the typical hoity-toity attitude one comes to expect from upscale L.A. eateries.  I honestly can’t recommend the place enough! 

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In the “Too Little, Too Late/Paris, 75001” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Brenda and Donna go out for dinner on one of their very first nights in Paris, France.  Neither one can speak the language very well and they end up ordering the one item on the menu that contains a word they recognize, Cerveaux de Veau – “veau” meaning veal.  As it turns out, though, Cerveaux de Veau actually translates to veal brains – something they don’t discover until after they have already sampled the dish.  The scene is absolutely hilarious, mostly due to the comedic antics of Tori Spelling, who spits a bite of the brains out onto her plate and then proceeds to gargle with a glass of water.  And they say Tori Spelling can’t act!  In my never-to-be-humble opinion, I think she was FABULOUS in that particular scene –

– which can watch by clicking above.

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And while there is absolutely no trace of Le Chardonnay left on the Philippe Chow premises, there is some good news about this location.  After doing some research online, I discovered that Le Chardonnay was actually an almost-exact replica of the famous Restaurant Vagenende in Paris, France, which is still open, and as you can see in the above photographs, looks VERY similar to the restaurant which appeared on 90210.  So, while Le Chardonnay is no longer stalk-able, Vagenende thankfully is!  And, believe you me, if I ever go back to Paris, I am FOR SURE going to stalk the place!

 

Beverly Hills, 90210 is not the only production to have filmed on the Le Chardonnay premises.  Back when the restaurant had first been purchased by Wilmer Valderrama, Ashton Kutcher, and Danny Masterson, it was used in the Punk’d episode in which Ashton plays a prank on Wilmer by having a jealous boyfriend pretend to destroy his beloved Escalade – which you can watch by clicking above.

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At the time Punk’d was filmed, Dolce had yet to open and was undergoing an extensive renovation process, and, as you can see in the above screen capture, the walls had yet to be painted and were still the same color pink that they were on 90210.  Love it!

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Philippe Chow also recently appeared in the Season 5 episode of The Hills titled “Can’t Always Get What You Want” as the spot where Kristin Cavallari and Brody Jenner meet up and discuss his wanting to get back together with ex-girlfriend Jayde Nicole.

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Philippe Chow is also something of a celebrity magnet.  Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Charlize Theron, Rihanna, Nick Nolte, Matt Kemp, Stephanie Pratt, Kelly Osbourne, Paris and Nicky Hilton, Lauren Conrad, Lindsay Lohan, Nick Jonas, Sofia Vergara, Selena Gomez, Lamar Odom, Kobe Bryant, and Kim and Khloe Kardashian.  Unfortunately, we didn’t spot any celebs while we were there, though.

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Big THANK YOU to Owen – and to Lindsey Rosin! – for finding this location!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Philippe Chow, the former Le Chardonnay restaurant where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 8284 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.  You can visit the Philippe Chow website here.  Vagenende, the restaurant that Le Chardonnay was modeled after, is located at 142, boulevard Saint-Germain, in Paris, France.  You can visit the Vagenende website here.

The Tori Spelling “uncharted terriTORI” Book Signing

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This past Monday night, former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Tori Spelling made an appearance at my favorite bookstore Vroman’s to do a signing of her most recent memoir, uncharted terriTORI.  And even though I live very close to Vroman’s, I am sad to say that I almost didn’t attend the event.  The sad truth is that I have yet to catch up on all of my wedding planning duties, or even my emails for that matter, ever since returning home from the Mayo Clinic with my dad this past May.  So, needless to say I’m feeling just a wee-bit stressed out at the moment.  I finally came to my senses, though, early Monday morning and realized that there was NO WAY in heck I could miss that signing!  I mean, HELLO, I was like the biggest Beverly Hills, 90210 fan ON EARTH back in high school!  Meeting the former Miss Donna Martin was just too big of an opportunity to pass up.  So, this past Monday night at 6 p.m., I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Vroman’s to do some Tori Spelling stalking.  Amazingly enough, when we first arrived there weren’t all that many people in line  – I’d guess about 50 or so.  And by the time 7 o’clock rolled around, only about a hundred more had shown up, which was shocking to me.  I thought 90210 fans were die hards!

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Because my fiancé has become quite obsessed with cameras as of late, he parked himself out in back of Vroman’s Bookstore with the three paparazzi who were on duty, which was perfect for me because it meant that while he was in position to snap the above photographs of Tori arriving on the scene, I got to hold my place in line.  I must say he did a great job with the photos, too!  They almost look like actual paparazzi shots!  😉  And while Tori looks painfully thin in the above photographs, she really didn’t look that way in person.  She is definitely tiny, but I thought she actually looked quite healthy.  And I also have to say that not only did Tori arrive to the event on time, but she was even a few minutes early!  So not a diva!  Love it! 

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We had been told beforehand that Tori would gladly pose for photographs with her fans, which was awesome being that some stars at signings won’t allow people to take any sort of photographs at all.   Again, love it!  I have to say that Tori is VERY cute in person, much different than she appears on television or in pictures.  She is also incredibly sweet.  The girl ahead of me in line is one of Tori’s Twitter followers and, while we were waiting, she told me that she had, on occasion, Twittered back and forth with the star.  Before the signing, she had Twittered Tori to let her know that she would be in attendance and that she would be wearing a yellow skirt.  Well, sure enough, as soon as the girl walked up to meet Tori, the star looked at the yellow skirt and said, “Oh my gosh!  You’re my Twitter friend!”  Then, when the girl left, Tori said, “Thanks so much for Twittering with me.”  So incredibly sweet!  When it was my turn at the front of the line, Tori stuck out her hand and introduced herself, which the Grim Cheaper managed to get a photo of.  Yay!  (Those are the “Guncles”, aka the “Gay Uncles” – Tori’s good friends Bill Horn and Scout Masterson – who came along for the signing sitting next to her in the above pic.)

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Tori seemed genuinely sweet and took time to chat with each and every fan who was getting a book signed.  It was definitely a more personal experience than most of the other signings I’ve been to.  I told her that I absolutely LOVED her haircut and she was like, “Oh really, you think?  I’m not so sure about it.”  🙂  She was also laughing over my fiancé’s camera, as when he was taking the above photographs he had the shutter on a super-fast speed which allowed him to snap six pictures per second.  I explained to her that he was doing that in case I blinked in one of the pictures and she said that she suffers from the very same problem of blinking in photographs.  All in all, I am SO glad that I went to the signing and, looking back, can’t even believe that I was thinking about skipping it.  If you are at all a fan of Tori or 90210, I HIGHLY recommend attending one of her book signings! 

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And not only did Tori sign the book, but so did the Guncles.  Love it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.  You can visit their events page here.  And you can purchase uncharted terriTORI by clicking here.

Wayne Manor From the “Batman” Television Series

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Just up the street from the Just Married mansion which I blogged about yesterday is the residence which stood in for Wayne Manor, aka Batman’s abode, in the 1966 television series and movie of the same name.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the Batman mansion and the Just Married mansion are quite often mistaken for each other due to a myriad of reasons.  So, to set the record straight – and since we already were in the area a couple of weeks ago doing some Just Married stalking- I decided to drag my fiancé a few hundreds yards up the road to also stalk Bruce Wayne’s pad.  Sadly, though, not very much of it is visible from the street.

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According to Zillow, the residence, which was built in 1928, boasts ten bedrooms, six bathrooms, a whopping 16,599 square feet of living space, and sits on over five acres of land!  And if you look at the above photographs, it is very easy to see why the property is often confused with the Just Married mansion that burned down in October of 2005.  Not only are both houses gargantuan, set far back from the road, and Tudor/Gothic Revival in style, but both were constructed almost entirely out of brick by the very same architect, Paul Revere Williams, and bear a striking resemblance to each other.  Further adding to the confusion between the properties is the fact that they are located within blocks of each other on the very same street, San Rafael Avenue, in Pasadena and have both been featured in countless productions over the years.

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Because the location rumors about the two mansions have been running rampant for so very long, this weekend I decided to try to get my hands on as many of the productions filmed on the premises as I could to try to set the record straight once and for all.  And I didn’t do too bad – the only movies I wasn’t able to track down were Topper, Three Men and a Little Lady, Executive Action, The Gumball Rally, The Bells of St. Mary’s, Sweet Bird of Youth, and True Confessions.  If anyone has those movies or has seen them in the past, can you let me know which, if either, of the San Rafael mansions was featured in them?

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As I mentioned above, the mansion’s most famous appearance was as Wayne Manor in the 1966 television series Batman and the subsequent movie of the same name that was made that very same year.  But its resume hardly ends there.

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The residence was also used as both the St. Audrey’s Home for Boys where Grace (aka Emma Thompson) was taken in by a nun . . .

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. . . and as Roman Strauss’ (aka Kenneth Branagh’s) home in 1991’s Dead Again.

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In the first Rush Hour movie, the mansion stood in for Los Angeles’ Chinese Consulate.

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As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, though, the exterior gate which appears in that movie is not the home’s real life gate.

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In 1999’s Bowfinger, the mansion was used as the residence of action star Kit Ramsey (aka Eddie Murphy).

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And in that flick the home’s real life gate does actually appear and was the site of one of the movie’s funniest scenes.

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In Scary Movie 2, the mansion stood in for Hell House/Kane Manor where most of the film’s action takes place.

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In X-Files: Fight The Future, it was used as the Somerset, England home of the Well-Manicured Man (aka John Neville).

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According to some reports that I found online, the mansion was also featured in 1986’s Stand By Me, which seemed a bit odd being that I had always heard that Stand By Me was filmed almost in its entirety in the state of Oregon.  After re-watching the flick earlier today, though, I believe that the mansion did appear once at the very end of the movie as the residence of “The Writer” (aka Richard Dreyfuss).  As you can see in the above screen captures, the front driveway area does match that of the Batman  mansion. Why would they come all the way to Pasadena to film this one brief scene, though, when the rest of the movie was filmed hundreds of miles away in Oregon, you ask?  Well, according to IMDB’s Stand By Me trivia page, an actor named David Dukes was originally cast in the role of “The Writer”.  After his scenes were shot, though, and filming had wrapped, they re-cast the role with actor Richard Dreyfuss and re-shot all of his character’s scenes.  So, since the Richard Dreyfuss scenes were filmed at a later date – I am guessing after principal photography in Oregon had already wrapped – it makes sense that they would have been shot somewhere in the L.A. area, closer to where the film was being edited.

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And if you’ll notice in the above screen captures, which were taken from the movie Dead Again, the mansion’s front window and the view from it does sort of match that which appeared in Stand By Me, which makes me think that the property was actually used in the movie, although I don’t have any concrete proof to back that up.

Fellow stalker Ivan just sent me the above screen captures from the television series Land of Giants, in which Wayne Manor stood in for the residence belonging to Uncle Trojar in the episode entitled “Collector’s Item”.  And, yes, the mansion was blown up t the end of that episode.  Thank you, Ivan!  🙂

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According to fave website OnLocationVacations, the mansion was also the site of some filming from the upcoming Dinner For Schmucks movie starring Steve Carell, Paul Rudd, and Zach Galifianikis.   Besides being a filming location, the mansion was also the Pasadena Showcase House of Design in 1997.  So, I hope that at least partially puts to rest some of the locations rumors about the two landmark San Rafael Avenue mansions.  If I come across any further information, I will post it here!  And please let me know, dear readers, if you come across any information yourselves! 

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Wayne Manor from the Batman television series is located at 380 South San Rafael Avenue in Pasadena.  Unfortunately, the residence is not very visible from the street.  To see the best views of the home, drive just a bit north of where the main gates are located.

David Silver’s Grandparents’ House from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

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One Beverly Hills, 90210  location that I have been dying to find pretty much ever since the episode it was featured in aired over 18 years ago is the house where David Silver’s grandparents’ lived in the Season One episode entitled “Palm Springs Weekend” (aka “A Fling in Palm Springs”).  For those who don’t know 90210 like the back of their hand like I do, in the episode Kelly, Donna, Brenda, and the gang head out to Palm Springs for Presidents’ Day Weekend and, because of an oversight on Steve’s part, wind up having to spend the entire three days at David Silvers’ grandparents’ house.  And while I was absolutely certain that the home used in the episode wasn’t located in Palm Springs, unfortunately, I had no idea of where it actually could be found.  My gut was telling me that it might be located in or around Encino and I actually spent quite a bit of time searching in that area.  It was actually this location that I was looking for when I stumbled upon the mansion where April Rhodes was caught squatting in “The Rhodes Not Taken” episode of fave show Glee, but I digress.  Anyway after spending countless hours searching the Valley for David Silver’s grandparents’ house, fellow stalker Chas got some insider information that the residence could actually be found in . . . Malibu of all places!  I swear, Malibu would have been the absolute LAST spot on earth I would have looked for this house as, in my opinion at least, it just doesn’t really look like a Malibu-type residence.  Anyway, once Chas had me divert my search to the ‘Bu  :), I found the home almost immediately.  YAY.  So, this past Friday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, took the day off and the two of us headed out to Malibu to do some long overdue “Palm Springs” stalking.

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And let me tell you, I literally started screaming the moment we drove up to the house when I realized that – over eighteen years later – the place still looked EXACTLY – and I do mean EXACTLY – the same as it did when it appeared on 90210.  The only differences I noticed were that the trees in the front yard have since been changed, as have the front doors which are now made out of glass.  Other than those two minor details, though, the place still looks very much like Henry and Adele Silver’s house.  🙂  I cannot tell you how cool it was to finally be seeing this location in person and to be reliving the countless memories that being there brought back – memories of Dylan playing charades with Brenda in the living room, memories of David Silver’s random hookup with a girl named Tuesday whom he met at a gas station, and memories of Donna’s black daisy dress with the matching black daisy headband.  LOL  God, I miss that show! 

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As you can see in the above photograph, David Silver’s grandparents’ house is, sadly, gated, so Mike and I couldn’t venture in farther to get a better view.  🙁

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But he did manage to snap a few close-up pictures through the fence for me. 

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Silly as it may sound, Mike and I were most excited to see the little curved brick half-wall located in the middle of the home’s front lawn, as that same brick wall was also visible on 90210.  I almost couldn’t believe it was still there after all these years.

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I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the home was also featured in the episode.  Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that place! 

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The backyard and pool area appeared quite a few times in the episode, too.

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Sadly, though, that area is not at all visible from the street.  But that’s why God created aerial images, right?  😉  And, as you can see, the pool still looks very much the same as it did on the show.

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Even Henry and Adele’s little hidden hot tub oasis is actually there in real life.  LOVE IT!   While we were stalking the place, Mike and I were hoping beyond hope that the owner would come outside so we could ask them all sorts of questions about the filming and maybe even get a peek at their backyard, but sadly it was not to be.  🙁

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On a side note – My good friend and fellow stalker Chas has finally started up his own filming locations website.  The website is called ItsFilmedThere.com and it focuses on locations in both the Los Angeles and the Chicago areas.  And, let me tell you, while his L.A. posts are great, it is the Chicago locations that have me absolutely fascinated.  Before coming into contact with Chas I had NO idea whatsoever that so many movies were filmed in the Windy City.  The first time I learned about Chas’ huge library of Chicago area locations was one night back in December during one of my father’s many hospital visits.  My dad had been taken to the emergency room and because only my mom was allowed to stay with him, my fiancé and I were stuck in the waiting room for hours, bored out of our minds.  Until I logged onto Facebook via my cell phone, that is, and started looking through all of Chas’ Facebook photos.  And, let me tell you, I just about died looking at his Chicago movie pictures.  My fiancé and I were literally mesmerized for hours looking at those photos – which is saying a lot being that the Grim Cheaper doesn’t normally care about movie locations – and ever since that night I’ve been absolutely itching to visit the Windy City.  Chicago honeymoon, anyone?  🙂  So, when Chas decided to start his own site last month I begged him to publish all of his Chicago photographs for stalkers such as myself – who had no idea the Windy City was such a treasure trove of locations – to enjoy.  You can check out his site here – www.itsfilmedthere.com.  🙂 

A big THANK YOU to Chas for helping me find this location.  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: David Silver’s Grandparents’ house from Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 6636 Portshead Road in Malibu.

The Casa Walsh Garage – A Distant Memory

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Like Mike, from MovieShotsLA said yesterday, it’s officially the end of an era.  While the two of us were out doing some Pasadena area stalking on Sunday, we made our regular pilgrimage to the Walsh House from Beverly Hills, 90210 and saw a very sad sight, indeed.  In fact, Mike was so out of sorts over the whole thing that he almost crashed the car upon viewing it.  Not kidding!  Apparently, just last week, Jack, the real life owner of Casa Walsh, tore down the Walsh garage – the hallowed spot where Brandon and Jim’s famous basketball hoop used to hang.  🙁  Mike and I actually knew this was coming, as Jack had mentioned he had plans to install a new garage on the property last December during our interior tour of the home, but it was still sad to see nonetheless.  I am not a person that handles change very well anyway, and being that my parents just last week decided to sell the house we’ve lived in ever since moving to Southern California a decade ago, I’ve been having to deal with a lot of it lately.  Granted I moved out of that house a year and a half ago, but that’s entirely beside the point.  😉  So, when I saw that my beloved 90210  house had also been altered, it was almost too much to bear.   And while Jack says that some change can actually be for the better, I’ll take the status quo over something new any day.  🙂

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Pictured above is what’s currently left of the Walsh garage.  I told Jack he should seriously consider selling pieces of the rubble on eBay, like the pieces of the Berlin Wall that were sold back in the 90s, but I don’t think he took me seriously.  😉

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And here is the empty footprint where the Walsh garage – and basketball hoop – used to stand. 

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Pictured above is the garage area as it appeared in December of 2008. 

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And what it looks like today.  So sad.  See what I mean?  It truly is the end of an era!

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Jack also removed the little patio area that used to be located just outside of the Walsh’s backdoor – an area which the producers of 90210 had built especially for the filming of the show.   🙁

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Pictured above is what that patio area used to look like. 

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Our visit to the Walsh house wasn’t an entirely sad event, though.  As always, Jack regaled us with some fabulous tales from the days when the show was filmed on his property.  And, let me tell you, I just cannot get enough of those stories!  I could literally listen to Jack talk all day long!  Which Mike and I pretty much did – we were there for close to two hours!  Not kidding!  Jack has to be one of THE nicest guys on the planet, I swear!    One story he told us had us absolutely cracking up.  Apparently, a few months back, a fan from Belgium came to the house and asked to see the inside.  Jack’s wife was hesitant about doing so, but the girl was very persistent, so she eventually showed her the area just inside the front door.  Well, the girl took one look at the inside and completely burst into tears.  Apparently, she thought the show was actually filmed inside of the real life house and expected it to look exactly the same in person as it does on TV and she became terribly upset when that was not the case.  If only she had read my blog before stalking the house, she would have been saved some heartache. 😉   One interesting little tidbit of information that Jack shared with us that I found fascinating was that there were actually three houses being considered for the Walsh residence once the series got picked up by Fox.  The three residences were Jack’s house, which ended up being chosen, Jack’s neighbor’s house directly to the east (pictured above) . . .

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. . . and the house located across the street (pictured above).  I think they made the right choice, don’t you think?  How different the show would have been – at least to me – if one of the other houses had been chosen.  The house across the street from Jack’s was eventually used as both the residence of Melissa, aka 90210’s  Baby Mama, in the Season One episode entitled “One Man and a Baby” and the backyard area was used as Tiffany Morgan’s backyard in the Season One episode entitled “Every Dream Has Its Price”, both of which I blogged about here.

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Ironically enough, Jack also told us that the very same backyard also stood in for Steve Sander’s backyard in the Season One episode entitled “Higher Education”.

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Another little bit of 90210 trivia that Jack clued us into was the fact that the front yard of the house located directly west of Jack’s masqueraded as the backyard  of Steve and Janet’s neighbor’s home in the Season 10 episode entitled “The Easter Bunny”.   

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In the episode, Steve and Janet erroneously believe that her parent’s dog, whom they are pet-sitting at the time, killed their neighbor’s pet rabbit, so the two of them concoct a plan to replace it with a new rabbit.  Because Jack’s neighbor’s house doesn’t have a backyard with much open space, producers dressed the front yard area – just to the west of the home’s front door – and added a fence and a gate to make it appear as if it was really the home’s backyard.   So interesting!

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One thing I noticed while in Jack’s backyard was that the Walsh house actually has two small upstairs balconies, not just one as I had previously believed.  I recognized the smaller of the two balconies from the Season One episode entitled “Isn’t It Romantic” the last time I stalked the house.  And this time, I immediately recognized the other balcony from the Season One episode entitled “Seventeen Year Itch”, which I had randomly watched the night beforehand.  🙂   In the episode, Cindy Walsh is shown pining over her former fling Glen Evans while standing out on the balcony looking up at the stars.  And while the balcony looks a bit different today than it did when it appeared on 90210 – a cement awning has since been added – it was still very cool to see it in person nonetheless.  🙂 

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And another little bit of trivia – according to Jack, the exterior light located just to the left of the balcony door is the very light that used to be located on his front porch during the 90210 years.  It was purchased by producers to match the light located on the front porch set that had been built at the studio.

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The highlight of the day, though, had to be when – are you sitting down for this????? – Mike asked Jack if the two of us could each possibly have one of the roof tiles from his former garage.   Jack thought we were incredibly silly to want such a thing, but he happily obliged.  Thank goodness we stalked the place before all of the rubble had been removed!  And, to top it all off, he even signed the tiles for us!  Can you believe it?????  I was absolutely DYING!  I mean now I can actually say that I OWN A PIECE OF THE 90210  HOUSE!!  I OWN  A PIECE OF THE 90210 HOUSE!!!!!!!!  How incredibly cool is that???  I was literally pinching myself the whole drive home and I almost still can’t believe it happened!!!!!  🙂  So, I guess what Jack said is actually true – some change can be for the better, because had he not dismantled his garage, we never would have been given a part of it.  And while I, of course, would prefer that the Walsh garage was still standing, being given a real piece of the show isn’t such a bad consolation.  🙂  And I will of course take photographs and report back to my fellow stalkers once the new Walsh garage has been completed – it’s going to look totally different, by the way – but according to Jack, that won’t be for about six months.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Casa Walsh is located at 1675 East Altadena Drive in Altadena.  Please keep in mind that this is a private residence and please do not disturb the owners.  It was a fluke that Mike and I were lucky enough to have been given a tour of the home, but this is not a regular occurrence.  I’d hate to have people bothering Jack for tours due to the fact that I put this information on the internet, so please be respectful of his privacy.  🙂  The two houses which producers also considered using as the Walsh house can be found at 1689 and 1690 East Altadena Drive.  1690 East Altadena was also used as 90210’s  Baby Mama’s house and its backyard was used as both Steve Sander’s backyard and Marianne Moore’s backyard during Season One.  The house which stood in for Steve and Janet’s neighbor’s house in “The Easter Bunny” episode can be found at 1665 East Altadena Drive.

Donna and David’s Wedding

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A few months ago Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called to tell me that he had located the church where Donna married David on the very last episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.    He mentioned something about the church being located in Sunland, a small town on the outskirts of Burbank, and for the first time ever I thought Mike, God of stalking, had actually gotten a filming location wrong.  You see, I could say with absolute certainty that Donna and David did not get married in a church anywhere near Sunland.  How could I be so sure about the location of their wedding?  Because I was there!    🙂

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Back in the Spring of 2000, just a few weeks after I had first moved to Los Angeles, I was given the once in a lifetime opportunity of being an extra on the very last episode of Beverly Hills, 90210,entitled “Ode to Joy”.  I had just registered with Central Casting, Los Angeles’ premiere extras casting agency, and was calling the hotline to see what jobs were available for the week when I heard words which I will never forget: “Be a part of television history – press one to be a guest at Donna and David’s wedding on the very final episode of 90210.”  Well, let me tell I just about died!  I believe I stood with the phone in my hand screaming for a good two minutes.   LOL  I swear if you had told me back in high school that one day I would be attending the wedding of Donna Martin and David Silver I probably would have had a heart attack right then and there.  LOL  You can see me in the above screen captures dancing at Donna and David’s reception.  🙂

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Anyway, it turns out that Mike was not actually wrong about Donna and David’s wedding location.  I should have known – he’s never wrong!  🙂  For whatever reason, producers chose to film the set-up shots of Donna and David’s wedding church at the First Baptist Church of Sunland.  But all of the actual filming took place about twenty miles away from there in a small chapel right off the 101 Freeway in Hollywood.   So, last weekend I decided I just had to revisit the site of one of my very first acting jobs and I dragged my boyfriend out to stalk the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. 

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Donna and David’s wedding was not actually held in the First Presbyterian Church’s main building, but in a smaller venue named Wylie Chapel, which is also located on the church premises.   The wedding ceremony took one full day to shoot, as did the reception scene, which took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.  And, if I remember correctly, we shot the reception scene first.  Both days lasted well over 14 hours – and, let me tell you, I loved every single minute of them!!!  I have to say that being on the final episode of 90210  was an absolutely magical experience for me.  Especially since it was one of my very first encounters with Hollywood.  I swear I spent the entire two days with stars in my eyes.  🙂  The cast and crew were incredibly  nice – especially Luke Perry and Ian Ziering.  I met Ian during one of our lunch breaks and I told him that in high school I had slept on 90210  sheets.  Well, he was absolutely shocked that there was such a thing as 90210  sheets and next thing I know he’s screaming “Luke! Luke!  You’ve gotta come hear this!”  Well, I just about keeled over as Luke Perry, love of my high school life, walked right up to us and Ian told him about my sheets.  Luke started laughing and said “Well, then I guess you can say we’ve slept together.”  LOL  Luke was even cuter in person that I ever imagined he could be and when I told him he was my first Hollywood crush he shook my hand and introduced himself.  Sigh!  I’m telling you, inside I was absolutely dying!  I’m amazed I was actually able to get any words out of my mouth while talking to him.  LOL  And if you’re wondering – Jennie Garth was the least friendliest of the bunch, which really surprised me.  

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The First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood is actually used quite often for filming.  Besides 90210, it was also featured in the 2007 movie Welcome to Paradise. And while we were stalking the place, filming crews for the television series Chuck  pulled up.  🙂 

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The church was founded in 1903 and once boasted the largest Presbyterian congregation in the world!  The main building, which is still used for church services today, was erected in 1923.  The church property takes up an entire city block and has a huge courtyard and garden area which is where the extras hung out while 90210  was filming.   I can still remember Brian Austin Green playing chess in the courtyard with the extras during his breaks.  There is also a theatre on the church gounds.  🙂  First Hollywood Presbyterian also has amazing views of the Hollywood sign, but ironically enough, the church was there long before there ever was a Hollywood sign to view.  🙂 

 Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Donna and David’s wedding was held in the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood’s Wylie Chapel, which is  located at 1763 North Gower Street in Hollywood.  Their wedding reception was filmed in the Beverly Hilton Hotel’s former Coconut Club, which is now the Beverly Hills Ballroom

Tori Spelling’s Dream House

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Just found out that Tori Spelling is moving – and to “The Valley”, no less!! The reality TV queen recently listed her Westwood home for a cool $2,395,000. Now mind you, Tori and her husband Dean only purchased this home a short nine months ago, in February of 2008. Fickle, much? This is the same home that she had repeatedly described as her “dream house” on her reality series Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood. (Yes, I watch Tori & Dean – I can’t help myself!) This is also the home she fought so hard to purchase, even though it was a bit out of their “budget” – they paid $2,275,000. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have guessed that Tori Spelling lived on a budget. LOL

Anyway, when I found out the house was for sale, I just had to run right out to stalk it! What’s interesting to note about this home, is that while the inside of it was featured prominently on Home Sweet Hollywood, the exterior was not actually shown. For that, producers apparently used a Woodland Hills house – probably to throw off stalkers like me. 🙂

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Tori’s house, while in an adorable neighborhood, is just plain average on the outside. It is so strange to picture mega-millionaire Aaron Spelling’s daughter living here. It is such a normal house – with no gate, wall, or tall hedges to keep paparazzi at bay. Their street is really cute, though, and there seemed to be a lot of young families playing with their kids in their front yards.

You can see interior pics on the home’s real estate website. Those who watched Tori’s reality series will definitely recognize parts of the interior, such as the kitchen, stairwell, and living room. The interior of the home is a bit too ornate for my taste, and oh my gawd Baby Stella’s room look like a pepto bismol bottle threw up all over it, but it actually looks like exactly the sort of place I’d picture Tori Spelling to reside in.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Tori and Dean’s former home is located at 1955 Thayer Avenue in Westwood.

Donna Martin’s House

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A few weeks ago, thanks to my new friend, the former 90210 location scout I met while stalking Ray Pruit’s house, I was able to stalk Donna Martin’s home from the quintessential 90’s series. This home was actually only used during the college years of the show; the house used during high school is another location altogether. Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I had been looking for Donna’s house for quite some time, and were both shocked to discover that it was located in the Encino area. It seems that every house we’ve found lately is located in Encino, so we’ve decided that, from now on, Encino will be our first stop when searching for movie locations. 🙂

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Sadly not a whole lot of Donna’s house is visible from the street, due to the gate and large trees surrounding the property. But the green awning over the front porch is definitely recognizable from the show, as you can see in the above screen captures (provided, as usual, by Mike). 🙂 To me, Donna’s house doesn’t actually look like a Beverly Hills style mansion, so I am pretty surprised it was used on 90210. I am guessing that the main reason producers chose it is its proximity to the 90210 production studios.

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I so LOVE the “One Way” sign in the driveway of the home. LOL Was there really that much traffic coming in and out of the driveway that a traffic sign needed to be installed? LOVE IT! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Donna’s house is located at 18515 Wells Drive in Tarzana.