Month: May 2008

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Getting Carried Away!

Break out the cosmos and the couture because today is the big day – the day Sex and the City: The Movie opens! Let me tell you, I could not be more excited!!! Hopefully I can manage to drag my boyfriend out to see it tonight, but I have yet to even broach the subject with him. Anyway, I thought I’d do a little SATC post today in honor of the big premiere.

My family’s favorite restaurant in NYC is a little place called Lumi on the Upper East Side. My parent’s discovered the place about 4 years ago while out and about in New York and it’s been a favorite ever since. So I was absolutely floored last fall when I saw some paparazzi photos of the SATC movie being filming right in front of Lumi! In December, while we were in Manhattan, we of course ate at Lumi and I asked one of the waiters for some insider SATC info. He told me he was sworn to secrecy about the details, but that SATC did indeed film at the cafe and that Mr. Big and Charlotte were in the scene. Supposedly Charlotte’s water breaks during their meal together and the two rush off to the hospital in a taxi. CANNOT WAIT!

Next time you are in NYC be sure to hit up Lumi. The food is INCREDIBLE, the service is spectacular and nothing tops their bellini’s!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Lumi is located at 963 Lexington Avenue, at 70th and 71st Streets. For more information, you can visit their website.

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Mansion Bel Aire

A few weeks ago, while searching for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air house, fellow stalker Kerry told me about a mansion in Glendale that she calls the “Tara House” that she thought might be the home used in Fresh Prince. So, of course I had to run right out to stalk it. It wasn’t the FP home, but I was so happy to have stalked it anyway as it is an absolutely ginormous mansion that I never would have found otherwise. Thanks, Kerry!

According to one of my fave tour books, Bel Aire, as the mansion is called, was built in 1922 by Mattison Boyd Jones, a highly successful Glendale area businessman and politician. It was since named a historic landmark and is frequently used as a filming location, most prominently as the main home in the Aaron Spelling produced TV Series Flamingo Road. Legend has it that the mansion was also used a filming location back in 1938 during the filming of Gone With the Wind, but that claim has never been substantiated.

The house is truly amazing as it looks like it belongs on a large Southern plantation, not on a normal street in Glendale among normal sized homes. The mansion sits far back from the road on what has to be at least 3 acres of sprawling lawns and gardens. I highly recommend stalking this location as it is truly one of a kind! And, it is very stalker friendly as it is not hidden behind tall gates or trees.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: “Bel Aire” is located at 727 Kenneth Road in Glendale. After stalking Bel Aire, head over to the new Americana at Brand shopping center located on Brand Boulevard. Just opened this month, it was built by Rick Caruso (no relation to David), the same man who built LA’s celebrated The Grove shopping center.

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Twain’s – The Pancake Restaurant from “A Lot Like Love”

Lately I have been obsessed with finding the Chinese food restaurant from one of my fave romantic comedies, A Lot Like Love. While I have yet to find that restaurant, I did stalk two of the others featured in the movie. Towards the middle of A Lot Like Love, Ashton Kutcher shows up at Amanda Peet’s door after just breaking up with his girlfriend, and asks her “What’s your stance on pancakes?” She replies “I’m pro pancake”, and the two head out to Twain’s Restaurant in Studio City for a late breakfast. One of my favorite scenes in the entire movie takes place at Twain’s – the scene where Amanda Peet sticks the drinking straws up her nose to make Ashton laugh. Love it! 🙂

The next restaurant I stalked is from the very beginning of the movie, which supposedly takes place in New York. When Amanda and Ashton reconnect in NYC after first meeting on an airplane, the two head to a bar in the middle of the day to do some shots and drink some beer. The restaurant where that scene was filmed, Cole’s Pacific Electric Buffet, which is actually located in Los Angeles, has the distinction of being the oldest restaurant and bar in LA. Cole’s opened in 1908 and is a City of Los Angeles Historical Landmark. It has been used in countless TV and movie productions, including Rumor Has It, where it played the San Francisco bar where Kevin Costner seduces Jen Aniston. I am dying to grab a bite to eat at Cole’s, but unfortunately the restaurant has been closed for renovations for the past two years. It is scheduled to reopen in Summer 2008 and as soon as it does, I am going to run right out and stalk it! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Twain’s Restaurant is located at 12905 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. According to reviews, the pancakes truly are excellent! Cole’s Pacific Electric Cafe is located at 6th and Main in the Pacific Electric Building in Downtown Los Angeles. Cole’s is currently closed for renovations, but is scheduled to reopen this summer.

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The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

One of my favorite places in all of Hollywood is the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, located right on Hollywood Boulevard. The Roosevelt has had a long and storied history in Hollywood and is even said to be haunted by a few of its former residents. Once you step inside the hotel’s beautiful Moorish lobby, you can almost feel the history coming right out of the walls. Built in 1927 and named after President Theodore Roosevelt, the hotel was the site of the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929. The Roosevelt has been a favorite getaway and hangout for celebrities ever since it’s opening. It’s guest list includes Lindsay Lohan, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Mary Pickford, Prince, Carole Lombard, Shirley Temple, and Elizabeth Taylor, just to name a few. Marilyn Monroe, whose very first modeling shoot took place by the hotel’s pool, lived in Suite 1200 for over two years, and the hotel is still said to be haunted by her ghost.

A mirror that used to hang in Marilyn’s room is now located in the mezzanine off the main lobby next to a very cool etched picture of the star. Montgomery Clift, who was a resident of Room 928 during the filming of From Here to Eternity, is also said to haunt the hotel. Legend has it that during his stay at the hotel, Montgomery paced the hallways outside of his room rehearsing his lines. His ghost is rumored to do the exact same thing and many hotel guests have reported seeing him walking the hallways reciting lines.

Rumor also has it that Bojangles taught Shirley Temple the “staircase dance” on the stairs leading up from the lobby to the Mezzanie level. The Roosevelt was completely restored a few years back, making it once again a favorite stomping ground of celebs. The pool is a favorite hangout of many stars, including Lauren Conrad who said in an episode of The Hills that she goes to the Roosevelt pool every Sunday.

The Roosevelt has been featured in several movies and TV shows, including Crossroads, Entourage, The Fabulous Baker Boys, Moonlighting, Catch Me If You Can, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, Shade, and The Hills, among countless others.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard, almost directly across from Mann’s Chinese Theatre where the stars’ hand and footprints are immortilized in cement. If you get a chance, grab a burger in the hotel’s Twenty-Five Degrees restaurant- they are excellent!!

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Daddy Day Care

While out and about with my dad this week, I decided to stalk the home used in the Eddie Murphy movie Daddy Day Care. Since my dad just retired, he has been recruited to be my new stalking side kick! I think he loves it about just as much as my boyfriend does. 🙂 Anyway, my fave stalking guide provided me with the location of Eddie Murphy’s house in the movie, so, of course, I had to run right out and stalk it.

It is an absolutely adorable home and I can totally picture a day care center being run there. The house is HUGE – a lot bigger than it appeared in the movie, but otherwise it looks just like it did onscreen. From what I remember of the movie, much of the backyard of this home was used for filming, as well. I definitely recommend stalking this location – even if you’ve never seen the movie – because the house is just that cute!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Daddy Day Care house is located at 351 N. Congress in Pasadena.

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A Cinderella Story

As I have said before, I am a total sucker for a good teeny bopper movie. I still cry every time I watch the Melissa Joan Hart movie Drive Me Crazy! LOL So, a few years back, I was absolutely esctatic to have stumbled upon the filming of the Hilary Duff movie A Cinderella Story while driving in Altadena. I stopped to watch them film for a bit and got to see Hil-D from afar while she was rehearsing some scenes. Very cool! 🙂

Anyway, the movie is about a girl who lives a real life, modern day version of the Cinderella fairy tale. It is not too hard to see why producers chose the house for the movie, as it looks straight out of a fairy tale! With its thatched roof and quaint feel, it literally looks like it was ripped right out of the pages Hansel and Gretel and placed on Calaveras Street. When the movie came out, of course, I dragged my boyfriend right out to see it. It was absolutely adorable, and I was super excited to see the house featured many times throughout the movie. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Cinderella Story house is located at 1272 Calaveras Drive in Altadena, not too far from the 90210 houses.

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Fresh Prince House – For Real This Time!

Major Fresh Prince of Bel Air fan Bryan posted a comment on my original Fresh Prince post asking me to please, please, please find the actual location of the mansion used as the Banks’ house on the 90s show. Bryan told me he had been looking for this location for years and every tour book seemed to have gotten it wrong. Being that I know the feeling of complete desperation in not being able to find a location, I made it my mission to find the house for him! I am sad to say it took me a really long time! I have literally stopped to take a picture of every single colonial style mansion I have driven by over the past month to compare to a picture Bryan had sent me of the Fresh Prince house. I was absolutely convinced I had located the right house on two separate occasions, but after coming home to compare pictures, I found I was completely wrong.

Then the other night, a lightbulb went off in my head. I decided to look at a filming locations website – the same one where I located the Shark House. Why I didn’t think of this sooner, I have no idea, because in a matter of minutes I was pretty sure I had found the house! I immediately emailed a picture of the house to Bryan and he confirmed it for me, as did the location company. Then I set off to Brentwood (NOT Bel Air) to stalk the house.

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Unfortunately my pictures came out absolutely horrible!! There are many trees in front of the Banks’ mansion and I could not get my camera to focus correctly on the house through the trees. My dad, who has a much better camera than I do, has promised to stalk the house with me later to take some better pics. The good news, though, is that if you drive by the house, you can definitely see it clearly through the trees and I am so happy to report that it looks EXACTLY the same as it did back in the Fresh Prince days. I was just standing there waiting for a taxi cab to drive up with dice in the mirror. 🙂

An ironic side note – I randomly watched the pilot episode of 90210 the other night and featured on that episode, big as life, was the incorrectly identified Fresh Prince house from my first post! It was used as the location of the Beverly Hills mansion where Brandon and Brenda attend their first West Beverly High party. Since both the pilot episodes of 90210 and Fresh Prince were filmed around the same time back in 1990, my thought is that people and neighbors saw 90210 being filmed at the house and since neither show was well-known at all at that time, heard it was a show about “Beverly Hills” and got it confused when a show about “Bel Air” premiered. Through incorrect word of mouth and communication error, the location wound up in tour books as the Fresh Prince house. That’s my theory anyway. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Fresh Prince house is located at 251 N. Bristol Avenue, at the corner of Bristol Avenue and Parkyns Street, in Brentwood. Katherine Heigl’s sister’s house from the movie Knocked Up is located just up the road at 531 N. Bristol, but unfortunately that home is now gated and not much can be seen at all from the street. The incorrectly identified Fresh Prince house, where the Walsh twins went to their first Beverly Hills party, is located in Bel Air, at 417 Amapola Lane.

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The Pink House from “13 Going On 30”

I must bow down right now to Mike over at MovieShotsLA as yesterday he found a house that I have spent many unsuccessful hours over the past two years looking for – Jenna’s pink dream house from the last scene of my fave movie 13 Going On 30. Mike said he had a hunch about the area the home was in and found it by looking at aerial shots of streets in that neighborhood. I am forever grateful! Literally, as SOON as he gave me the address yesterday, I rushed out of my house and headed over to South Pasadena to stalk the home. For this particular stalking trip I had to drag my dad along as my boyfriend was at work.

Jenna’s pink house is, of course, no longer pink – it was only painted pink for the movie. It is A LOT bigger in person than it seemed on screen, but otherwise is completely recognizable from the movie. Jenna and Matt move into this house at the very end of 13 Going On 30, and the final scene is them sitting on their couch in the front yard of the home with a moving van in the driveway. I cannot tell you how excited I was to finally be there as this was one location I honestly thought I’d never find. Thank you, Mike!!

While my dad and I were stalking the house, a super nice neighbor came home and filled us in on all sorts of filming information about his street. He told us that Jennifer Garner wasn’t as friendly as one would expect and that she had a big bodyguard who kept fans away the entire time they were filming. He also told us that the Kelly Clarkson video for Because Of You was filmed just across the street from the 13 Going On 30 house. That home is pictured on the left. He said that Kelly Clarkson could not have been nicer and that even after a really long day of filming, she stuck around for about 40 minutes to sign autographs for all of the neighborhood kids. He said she literally stayed until every last autograph was signed. You can watch the Because Of You video here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 13 Going On 30 house is located at 1965 Fletcher Avenue in South Pasadena. The Because Of You house is across the street at 2006 Fletcher. These houses are very close to the other houses used in 13 Going On 30.

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Scrubs!

Scrubs Hospital Last week I attended an acting class in North Hollywood and I happened to get a little bit lost on my way there. I turned onto a small side street off Riverside Drive and wound up in what I thought was a parking lot. But when I saw a guard shack with a large sign saying “Gate B” and what looked to be a closed down hospital, I put two and two together and realized it was actually the Scrubs set! My buddy EJ over at The Movieland Directory had told me a while back where the Scrubs set was located, but I had yet to stalk it as I don’t watch the show. But when I found myself mistakenly right at their front entrance, I was pretty darn excited! 🙂

Scrubs is filmed at the former North Hollywood Medical Center, a real hospital that closed its doors about 10 years ago. Like so many other closed down hospitals in LA, it is now used strictly as a filming location. It was also used in the filming of Discovery Health’s Diagnosis X and the movie The One, but ever since Scrubs premiered it has been used exclusively by the show. The hospital has been completely transformed into a studio and even the apartment sets from the show are located inside the hospital building.

It is a slightly eerie place, being that it still very much looks like a real hospital, complete with ambulances parked out front. According to one article I read, Zack Braff said that people sometimes walk inside the hospital asking for medical help. When he tells them, while wearing his Scrubs costume, that they are not in an actual hospital, the people look at him like he’s crazy. LOL Zack also said that filming inside the hospital is great for him as an actor, because it makes everything that much more realistic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Scrubs hospital is located at 12699 Riverside Drive in North Hollywood. You can park on Riverside Drive and walk right up to the front of the hospital to take some pictures. Be sure to look at the hospital entrance doors – they have signs that say “Sacred Heart Hospital.” 🙂

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Flying the Psychic Skies

This past weekend I traveled to New Mexico to attend a good friend’s college graduation. I flew out there very early Friday morning and when I got on the plane I was shocked to see Shirley MacLaine sitting there – in a coach seat no less! She didn’t even have a bulk head or emergency exit row seat! She did, however, have a seat for her dog. Anyway, I am absolutely petrified to fly, but once I saw Shirley I was immediately put at ease – Miss MacLaine fancies herself a psychic, so I am fairly certain she wouldn’t have gotten on board that plane if she sensed it was going down. LOL I snapped a couple pics of Shirley on my blackberry after the plane landed, but they didn’t come out very well. My mom actually went up to her in the terminal to tell her what an amazing actress she is, but Shirl totally spazzed out and walked away. It was pretty funny.

While in New Mexico I got to visit the New Mexico facility of the Delancey Street Foundation, an absolutely amazing drug rehabilitation organization which was founded by an even more amazing woman named Mimi Silbert. The New Mexico facility consists of a huge, authentic adobe structure located on a sprawling 17 acre former dude ranch, surrounded by lakes, sweeping lawns, beautiful courtyards and rose gardens. And it is also a filming location! Delancey Street New Mexico was used in the 1998 movie John Carpenter’s Vampires for one brief scene. While I have never seen the movie, our tour guide told us Delancey’s center coutryard and library were used in the movie.

In Vampires, two male characters (our tourguide wasn’t sure which characters) walk through Delancey’s center courtyard, over to the door pictured on the left, and into the library. The door is absolutely incredible and even before I knew it was used in Vampires, I wanted to snap a picture of it. It is set in a wall that is about three feet deep and looks like it came straight out of a horror movie set – but in a good way. 🙂

The library also looks straight out of a scary movie set with its dark paneled ceilings, huge fireplace, and arched windows. It was actually re-decorated in the movie to look like an office and a large desk was placed in front of the fireplace. But I honestly don’t think the filmmakers had to do much prior to filming as it looks perfect as is. I really wouldn’t be surprised if more movies were filmed on the property, but our tour guide was unaware of any others. You can view more pictures of the amazing property and grounds here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Delancey Street New Mexico is located on the San Juan Pueblo Indian Reservation. Unfortunately the facility is not open to the public. But you can learn more about the location on the Delancey Street website.