Year: 2008

As If!

Last weekend, while doing some stalking in the Valley, I about had a heart attack when we drove by a small liquor store in North Hollywood because I immediately recognized it as the liquor store where Alicia Silverstone gets robbed in one of my fave movies of all time – Clueless. I made my boyfriend swerve through several lanes of traffic to pull into the liquor store parking lot where I promtly ran inside to ask the cashier if Clueless was filmed there. He told me that indeed it was!

In the movie, Cher’s friend Elton ditches her in the parking lot of the liquor store and she is immediately robbed at gunpoint for her purse and cell phone. After she is forced to lay down in her Alaia dress, the thief takes off and Cher uses a payphone to call her stepbrother Josh to come rescue her. Sadly, the payphone Cher uses was torn down long ago. 🙁 But the exterior of the liquor store looks almost exactly as it did during the filming of Clueless and the large neon clown sign is still standing at the entrance to the parking lot.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Circus Liquors is located at 5600 Vineland Avenue in North Hollywood. Similar to how it was portrayed in Clueless, the liquor store is not in the greatest of neighborhoods, so exercise caution. It is perfectly safe to visit the store in the daytime, but I wouldn’t recommend stalking it at night.

April 6, 2008
7th Heaven

My aunt Lea recently asked me to find the location of the Glen Oak Community Church from the TV show 7th Heaven. This location was featured in my go-to stalking book and I ran right out to stalk it this past weekend. Reverend Eric Camden’s church, which was shown prominently throughout 7th Heaven’s ten year run, is actually called the First Christian Church of North Hollywood. Even though I have only watched a few episodes of 7th Heaven over the years, I immediately recognized the church as we drove up to it. Both the interior and the exterior of the church were used in the filming of 7th Heaven. Unfortunately a wedding was taking place while I was stalking it, so I couldn’t venture inside to take pictures. 🙁

The church is a popular filming location and has been featured in countless productions including The Office, What About Bob, Crossing Jordan, Hart to Hart and The Birdcage, among others. It’s not hard to see why the First Christian Church is used so often for filming – it is a really cute little church and looks like it could be found in any small town in America. You can learn more about the church’s filming history on its website.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The First Christian Church of North Hollywood can be found at 4390 Colfax Avenue, in Studio City, not North Hollywood – go figure! It is right at the corner of Moorpark Street and Colfax Avenue. The church is open to the public and (if a wedding is not taking place) you can easily venture inside and take a look around. It is just a few short blocks away from The 40 Year Old Virgin apartment.

April 4, 2008
The 40 Year Old Virgin

This weekend, while stalking in Studio City, I dragged my boyfriend to the apartment complex used in the movie The 40 Year Old Virgin. In the movie, the main character Andy Stitzer lives in Apartment #5 of a white clapboard and brick apartment building that can be found in Studio City. This is another movie I have yet to see, but since the location was featured in my fave stalking book, I figured I just had to stalk it. You know I have a problem when I am stalking the locations of movies I haven’t even seen! 🙂

[ad]

In The 40 Year Old Virgin, Andy meets a girl named Beth at a bookstore near where he works. The interior of that bookstore is located in Pasadena. It is called Vroman’s Bookstore and it is one of my favorite places in the entire world!! It is the most charming, adorable bookstore I have ever set foot in. A Pasadena landmark since 1894 (yes, you read that right!), Vroman’s is so much more than just a bookstore. Filled with candles, fine stationary, scrap-booking supplies, gifts and cards, I can literally spend whole afternoons roaming the many aisles. Vroman’s has an incredible selection of well-known and best-selling authors who come to give readings on a daily basis. Last March, my very favorite author Sophie Kinsella made Vroman’s the sole California stop on her Shopaholic and Baby book tour and she signed autographs and took pictures with every single fan who showed up, including me. 🙂 Yes, I stalk authors, too. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 40 Year Old Virgin lived in Studio City at 12016 Moorpark Street, in Apartment#5. Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 E. Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. After some Vroman’s stalking, head over to Lovebird’s Cafe and Bakery at 921 E. Colorado Blvd. for some espresso and a bite to eat – the restaurant is a favorite of Charlie Sheen’s.

April 3, 2008
The “Malcolm in the Middle” House

This weekend while I was in Studio City, I did a little stalking of the Malcolm in the Middle house. I must admit that I have never watched a single episode of Malcolm in the Middle – I know, I know, I must have been living under a rock for the past eight years or something – but since it is the favorite show of my good friend back in Switzerland, I just had to stalk it for him.

The house is a very tiny, little California bungalow, with two bedrooms and two baths. According to my fave stalking book, the owners of the home were paid between $3000 and $4000 a day to film at the house and earned more than $100,000 overall while Malcolm was on the air! When the home was up for sale a few years back, the real estate agent told Entertainment Weekly that the “house has its own income!” Only in LA! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Malcolm’s house is located at 12334 Cantura Street in Studio City. The Brady Bunch home is fairly close by at 11222 Dilling Street.

April 2, 2008
What Would You Do If I Sang Out Of Tune . . .

UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.

While I was growing up, my mom was completely obsessed with Kevin Arnold and the TV show The Wonder Years. I remember sitting down together as a family to watch the show every week and lamenting over the trials and tribulations of Winnie Cooper and Kevin Arnold’s teen romance. So when I found the address of the Arnold family home in my favorite stalking book, I just had to stalk it this weekend while I was in the area.

I was shocked by the fact that Kevin’s house looks EXACTLY as it did back in the 80s during the filming of The Wonder Years. Nothing has changed – not even the paint color! I think it’s awesome that the owners of the home have chosen to leave it as it was in The Wonder Years days for all of us stalkers to appreciate. 🙂

You can watch the intro to The Wonder Years where the house is shown several times here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kevin Arnold’s house is located in Burbank at 516 University Avenue. Downtown Burbank is just a few blocks away on San Fernando Road. It’s a really cute area to walk around in and grab some iced lattes on a nice day! 🙂

March 31, 2008
Studio City Stalking

This past Saturday must have been my lucky day! While my boyfriend and I were doing a little Studio City stalking, we happened to see Roselyn Sanchez, who plays Elena Delgado on Without A Trace, getting out of her car in front of a newsstand on Laurel Canyon Boulevard. I made my boyfriend swerve through traffic to pull over and park the car and I promptly ran to the newsstand, where I pretended to look at magazines. When Roselyn walked by me to head to the cash register, I told her I loved her show and asked if I could take a picture with her. She could not have been nicer!! She posed for a picture and then chatted a bit with the cashier. When she left, she even turned back to say goodbye to me! She is a lot taller than most Hollywood types – I’d say about 5’6″ – and she was absolutely stunning! She wasn’t wearing a stitch of makeup and she was still absolutely beautiful! Without a Trace is one of my favorite shows, so I could not have been more excited! I guess seeing her was my good karma after not getting to see any of the stars when I stalked the Without a Trace set last week. 🙂

After meeting Roselyn, we headed across the street to Pick Up Stix to grab some food. The Pick Up Stix location in Studio City is a celeb favorite due to its close proximity to CBS Studio Center just a few blocks away and headshots of famous customers adorn the walls. I visited this Pick Up Stix one day about five years ago and I jokingly asked if they would put one of my headshots on the wall and they said yes, even though I am not famous yet! 🙂 Until yesterday, I had not returned to the restaurant since that day back in 2003, and as we entered the front door my boyfriend jokingly said “I wonder if they ever put your picture on the wall.” Lo and behold there it was, big as life among the likes of Tom Arnold and Jeff Probst! I was in absolute shock!! While there used to be quite a few pictures on the wall, today there are only 6 – and mine is one of them! THANKS Pick Up Stix, you guys made my week!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can stalk my headshot at the Studio City Pick Up Stix, which is located at 3960 Laurel Canyon Blvd. The newsstand where I met Roselyn Sanchez is located just across the street, at the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura Boulevards.

March 30, 2008
Warner Brothers Ranch, Here I Come!

I am literally pinching myself right now because tonight I got to go on a private tour of the Warner Brothers Ranch Lot in Burbank. The Ranch is normally closed to the public, but my friend works on the lot and agreed to take me on my very own private stalking tour. I was in heaven! Even though I have been on the lot once before for an acting class, at the time I had no idea what exterior sets were located on the lot and I didn’t really take advantage of being there. The only thing I stalked on that day was the Friends fountain. Today, we parked right in front of the fountain and it was actually turned on!! I was literally ready to jump in and start dancing, but my friend got a little worried that he might get fired over something like that. 🙂

Advisory 🙂 – cameras are taboo at the Ranch and we had to take pictures on the down low while we were walking around, so the pictures aren’t the greatest.

Before the tour, my friend told me that would try to find his map of the Ranch which listed all of the productions filmed on the lot and which exterior sets they used for filming. I told him that Lindsay needed no map, and that most likely I could show him a thing or two that wasn’t on that map! 🙂 Our first stop was the Life Goes On house – which I was SO excited to see. I grew up watching Life Goes On and wanted nothing more than to be Tyler Benchfield’s girlfriend! LOL I absolutely could not WAIT to see the Thatcher family house.

I was shocked that the house looked almost exactly as it did back in the Life Goes On days. Sometimes the Ranch changes the facades of the set homes, making them almost unrecognizable. But that was not the case with this house – I recognized it immediately. This house was also featured as Gladys and Abner Kravitz’ home on Bewitched.

The next house I was DYING to see was Clark W. Griswold’s home from one of my all time favorite movies National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Even though the facade of this house has changed considerably since filming, I could still picture Clark in the front yard yelling expletives at his plastic Santa Claus and eight tiny reindeer when his Christmas lights refused to turn on. What I wouldn’t give to have been able to see this house all lit up with Clark’s Christmas lights during the filming of Christmas Vacation!! 🙁

Next door to the Griswold’s house is Danny Glover’s house from the Leathal Weapon movies – and no, it was not blown up during the filming of Leathal Weapon 4. A replica house was built and blown up for the filming of the movie, and Roger Murtaugh’s house is still standing strong on the Ranch. This house was also used in American Beauty and as Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ house in Christmas Vacation. “Why is the carpet all wet, Todd?” “I don’t know, Margo!” The exterior of this house has also changed considerably since being used in both Lethal Weapon and Christmas Vacation.

The Bewitched house is also located on the Ranch. I was surprised that virtually none of its exterior has been changed since the Bewitched days. It looks exactly as it did back when Samantha and Darren lived there. It was surreal how much it looked like the Santa Monica home that the studio set was modeled after.

Lastly we hit up the Pushing Daisies house. This house was also used in the movies Small Soldiers and Pleasantville. The facade of this home was vastly changed for each production it has “starred” in. For a more in-depth view of the lot, check out Adam R. Jones’ website, entitled “1164”.

Stalk It: The Warner Brothers Ranch Lot is located at 411 N. Hollywood Way in Burbank. While it does not offer tours at this time, you can take the “VIP Studio Tour” at Warner Brothers Studio, which is just down the road at 3400 W. Riverside Drive. I’ve heard the VIP tours are excellent and tickets can be purchased for $45 per person.

March 27, 2008
Sandy and Kirsten’s Berkeley House from “The O.C.”

Thought I’d do a post tonight on another Craftsman style house – one that was featured on the series finale of The O.C. On the last show of the series, after the Cohen home is destroyed in an earthquake, Seth and Ryan hatch a scheme to buy their parents back the Berkeley house they spent the early years of their marriage in. The Berkeley house cannot really be found in Berkeley, though – it is actually located in South Pasadena, just a few blocks from the 13 Going On 30 houses.

I found this location thanks to my fave OC Stalking Guide and ran right out to stalk it this weekend. The house is very pretty in person, and is a great example of Craftsman style architecture. Although the house was only featured in one episode of The O.C., it played a pretty significant role and was shown many times throughout the finale. If you walk south past the house, you can even see partially into the backyard where Summer and Seth got married. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! : )

Stalk It: The “Berkeley House” is located at 1617 Marengo Avenue in South Pasadena. It is just a few blocks south of the Fair Oaks exit off the 110 Freeway. After stalking be sure to stop into Fair Oaks Pharmacy at nearby 1526 Mission Street for a homemade cherry coke. They make the best! Fair Oaks Pharmacy played the role of the soda fountain in Winona Ryder’s hometown in the movie Mr. Deeds.

March 26, 2008
The Numb3rs House

Ever since the pilot episode of the TV show Numb3rs aired back in 2005, I was totally obsessed with finding the location of Charlie’s large Craftsman style house. American Craftsman Style architecture became popular towards the end of the 19th Century and usually combines huge front porches, handcrafted woodwork and clean lines. Craftsman houses are a favorite of movie producers and location scouts and you will often see them popping up in your favorite TV shows and movies. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, The O.C., and You, Me and Dupree have all used Craftsman style homes as residences for some of their characters. Ever since moving to LA, I have been a huge fan of Craftsman style homes. So, of course, Charlie’s house was at the top of my stalking list!

At first I was convinced the house was located in Pasadena, as Pasadena is famous for its historic Craftsman homes and Charlie’s house resembled another famous Craftsman located in Pasadena – the Gamble house which was featured as Doc Brown’s home in the movie Back to the Future. But, try as I might, I could not find the Numb3rs house anywhere in Pasadena.

Then, one day, while cyber-stalking, I stumbled across Zillow’s Famous TV Homes website – and the Numb3rs house was featured as the second link on the page. I immediately grabbed my camera and dragged my boyfriend to go stalk it. I was not disappointed when I saw the house in person – it is absolutely beautiful and looks almost exactly like it does on TV. I would not be at all surprised to see the house show up again in future TV and movie productions.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Numb3rs house is located at 2515 4th Avenue in the historic West Adams District of Los Angeles. I highly recommend driving around West Adams after stalking the Numb3rs house as the area is home to one of the largest and most beautiful collections of historic homes on the West Coast. You can read more about West Adams here.

March 25, 2008
Il Sole – Jen’s Favorite Restaurant

Those of you who are even half as obsessed with Ms. Aniston as I am, have most likely heard of her favorite restaurant, Il Sole. Jen is a regular at the tiny boutique Italian restaurant and has even sat down for a few magazine interviews there. But Jen is not the only one obsessing on the place – it seems everyone who’s anyone has been spotted there. Paparazzi have caught Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie, Brody Jenner, Lauren Conrad, Britney Spears, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and countless others at the little restaurant. TMZ even went so far as to call Il Sole the “new crack” in a recent article. I’ve never eaten at Il Sole myself – I am more of a chicken strips and ranch dressing kind of girl 🙂 – but I hear it is delicious!!

My boyfriend and I were on our way to ONE Sunset, another celeb hot spot, on Friday night when we spotted Valerie Bertinelli dining with a balding mystery man at Il Sole. 🙂 ONE Sunset is the sister restaurant to New York celeb hang out ONE Manhattan and is a major celeb draw. It’s not very hard to see why – the place is incredible! I had never been there before Friday night, but let me tell you – I am for sure going back! ONE is absolutely gorgeous, with flowing silk curtains, huge vases filled with submersed pink flowers, and tabletops covered in candles. And the staff could not have been friendlier!! ONE has a very laid back vibe, even though it is located on the Sunset Strip, which is part of its charm. I absolutely loved it! Jennifer Aniston even hosted a party there last June to honor her good friend Laura Day’s new book release – so you know it has to be a cool place! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂 And enjoy the Hills mini-season premiere tonight! YAY!

Stalk It: Il Sole is located at the Sunset Plaza at 8730 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. ONE Sunset is located directly across the street from Il Sole, at 8751 Sunset Boulevard. You will often catch paparazzi hanging outside of Il Sole and ONE Sunset on Friday and Saturday nights waiting for the celebs to show up. Sunset Plaza is a definite celeb hot spot and you are virtually guaranteed a star sighting in its small two block radius.

March 24, 2008