IAMNOTASTALKER

Year: 2008

  • The Paramount Pictures Studio Tour

    After our morning over at the WB, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I made our way to Hollywood for a tour of Paramount Pictures and I have to say we had even more fun there than we did at Warner Brothers! The Paramount tour is very similar to the WB tour, in that tour guides take around a very small group of people – our group had only eight in it – which allows for a very intimate and personalized experience.

    Our tour was led by a FABULOUS guide named Ian and I HIGHLY recommend requesting him if you are interested in taking a Paramount tour. Ian was personality PLUS and the tour would not have been nearly as great without him.

    Like at the WB, the Paramount tour also starts in the studio’s gift shop, where there is also a coffee shop. Alas, it’s not a Starbucks like over at the WB, instead Paramount has a Coffee Bean, which ranks a close second in my book. Ian started out the tour by giving us a brief history of Paramount Pictures and was pretty shocked to see that Mike and I actually knew more about Paramount, and film locations in general, than he did and he ended up giving me his tour guide badge to wear. LOL 🙂 (Notice how you can see the Hollywood Sign in the above photo? It’s a testament to Paramount being one of the last few remaining movie studios actually located IN Hollywood. SO COOL!)

    After Ian told us that while seeing a celeb on the tour is possible it is not necessarily likely, who should walk by but Molly Shannon, on her way to her trailer during a break from filming Kath and Kim. Molly was SUPER pretty in person, but unfortunately we did not get a pic of her face. 🙁

    Literally not ten seconds after seeing Molly Shannon, who should walk by but Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh! (You can see Donald in the picture above, wearing a black suit and walking next to a man. He is on the right hand side. Jill is the woman in grey next to the limo.) From that point on we literally saw one star after another!!!!!!!!!! Ian said in his entire history at Paramount he had never led a tour where so many celebs were spotted! I like to think I brought our group a little stalking luck. 🙂

    After Jill, who should walk by but John Michael Higgins, who is currently starring on Kath and Kim. John is probably best known, though, for his hilarious spontaneous dinner choir performance in The Break-Up. If you never saw the movie, you can watch the dinner scene below:

    And that’s Gary on the kick drum . . . And Gary on the kick drum . . .” LOL! John was nice enough to take a pic with Mike and the two of them even broke out into a random performance of “Owner of a Lonely Heart” – it was GREAT!

    After snapping some pics with John, Ian led us over to a golf cart and drove us by both Molly AND Selma Blair’s trailers. Selma’s door was open and she actually leaned out and said hi and waved to us. I was shocked at how beautiful Selma was. From what I saw in my very brief view of her, she was striking. Much prettier in person than on screen. We didn’t get a pic, though. 🙁

    After seeing Selma, we were taken over to “Lucy Park”, a small park built by Lucille Ball for her children back when that part of the studio was owned by Desilu Productions. Apparently it was built as an exact replica of the backyard in Lucy’s Beverly Hills home and she built it so that she could take media photographs with her children and pretend she was at home when she was actually at work. According to our tour guide, Miss Ball was something of a workaholic. To the side of Lucy Park is a New York apartment style facade that was apparently modeled after Lucy’s East Coast home, built for the very same purpose as the park. LOL

    Lucy Park has an even better claim to fame, though – it is the location of the tree under which Greg Brady smoked his first cigarette on The Brady Bunch!

    Behind Lucy Park is the location of the building that served as the high school on the television series Happy Days.

    Next up we headed over to Paramount’s New York Street, which I found out can actually be rented for private parties! How fun would that be????? 🙂 I was ESPECIALLY excited to see New York Street because of a challenge I received a few months ago. Jenna challenged me to find a city street used repeatedly on the television series Charmed. I was pretty sure that a street on the Paramount lot was used for the television series, but I couldn’t be positive. When we got to New York Street, though, I was able to verify with absolute certainty that it was the street used in Charmed, as you can see in the above screen captures. YAY!

    Going to New York Street was VERY cool because we were allowed to walk around and explore the entire area, including the facade pictured above which is currently being used in Dirty Sexy Money as an art gallery and was also used in Spiderman 3 as a cafe.

    Next we were taken to the “Financial District” section of the New York back lot. The above building was used as the “Life Extension” company headquarters from the Tom Cruise movie Vanilla Sky. You will notice that in real life the building is only three stories high, but in the movie it appeared to be a skyscraper. The extra floors were added in post production using CG technology.

    After seeing the New York back lot, we happened to run into another bunch of celebs!! First, a golf cart came by with an actress (whose name I can’t for the life of me remember) riding in the front, and James Cromwell and Alfie Woodard in the back. And if that wasn’t enough, right after they drove by, Tyler James Williams from Everybody Hates Chris walked by! I am telling you, we were on fire!!! 🙂

    After seeing that group of stars, Ian took us over to the high school set of Everybody Hates Chris, where we were given a tour of everything from the hallways and classrooms to the principal’s office.

    One of our last stops was the building used as the high school on The Brady Bunch. SO COOL! I absolutely LOVED that show growing up, so I was in heaven stalking this spot.

    The final stop on our Paramount tour was the famous wooden bench from the movie Forrest Gump, which was transported to Paramount after filming was completed.

    I cannot tell you what an amazing experience Mike and I had on the Paramount Tour. I truly cannot recommend stalking it enough! If you are going to do a studio tour, this is the one I recommend. I can’t say enough good things about our afternoon there. 🙂

    Another BIG THANK YOU to Mike for taking all of the above photos! I think I need to get me a camera like Mike’s – his takes much better pictures than mine! But mine is pink and I doubt his camera comes in pastel colors, so I guess I have to make some concessions. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! : )

    Stalk It:Paramount Studios is located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Tickets will cost you $35 per person and advance reservations are required. DO NOT BE LATE! Mike and I got held up on our way to Paramount, and our reservations were almost given away! 🙁 You can find out more about the studio tour here.

  • Stalking the WB!

    This past Monday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I took a little stalking field strip to both Warner Brothers Studios and the Paramount Lot. I’ll get to the Paramount tour tomorrow, but today it’s all about the WB. What can I say – the Warner Brothers tour was awesome! It is nothing at all like the Universal Studios back lot tour. The WB tour is far more intimate and personal. A maximum of twelve people is allowed in each tour group, which makes for a far more flexible, personalized tour. The WB tour also lacks the cheesiness that is pretty much ever-present over at Universal. Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast on my Universal birthday tour, but if I had to choose between the two, I’d much prefer stalking the WB. Anyway, Mike and I arrived bright and early at about 8:30AM and I must admit I was as giddy as a schoolgirl! 🙂 Before the tour began, we got to do some shopping in the WB gift shop. The gift shop sells some great souvenirs like t-shirts, key chains, mugs, and even lip gloss, from hit shows like Entourage, Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls and, my personal fave, Friends.

    There is also a lot of movie memorabilia to stalk inside the gift shop, such as Daniel Radcliffe’s costume from the original Harry Potter movie and Will Smith’s outfit from I Am Legend (pictured above).

    There is even a Starbucks located right inside the gift shop, so I was in heaven!! Movie memorabilia AND a Starbucks?? What more could a girl ask for? 🙂

    After getting our shopping on at the gift shop, we were instructed to move into a small movie theatre where we were shown a short movie about the many productions that have been filmed on the lot. The movie definitely got me pumped up and excited for the tour and I was literally on the edge of my seat ready for the tour to begin. After the 15 minute movie, our tour group boarded a small tram and headed for the famous WB back-lot.

    The first movie site stalked on our tour was the location of one of the most well-known screen kisses in cinema history – the famous upsidedown kiss between Spiderman and Mary Jane that took place on a fire escape in the pouring rain. That fire escape is located on the WB’s back-lot in an area that is now called “Spiderman Alley”. 🙂 Apparently the scene was not very fun, or romantic, to film, as Tobey Maguire had to hang upside down for over eight hours, giving him a massive headache, not to mention all the water running up his nose from the fake rain. That kiss was later emulated by Seth and Summer in one of my favorite O.C. scenes ever!

    Our next stop on the tour was the exterior set of ER ‘s Cooke County General Hospital. This set was very cool to see as I was a big fan of ER during its first few seasons.

    While 95% of the sets for ERare located inside a soundstage, the exterior set includes the hospital’s ambulance entrance, a small portion of the waiting room,

    The Jumbo Mart where the doctors eat,

    the “L” tracks from the Chicago railway system,

    and even George Clooney’s former basketball hoop left over from the days he starred on ER.

    Next up our tour guide took us to a small stretch of grass that often doubles for Central Park in Warner Brothers movies and television shows. The patch of lawn is so small, I have no idea how it can possibly double for a park, but it does. The small park was featured on Friends as the place where Phoebe “runs weird” and also as the location of Rory’s “study tree” on the Gilmore Girls.

    Next up was Lorelai’s house from Gilmore Girls which looks pretty much exactly as it did during the filming of the show.

    In actuality, the entire town of Sleepy Hollow from Gilmore Girls is located on the WB lot, and it, too, looks pretty much exactly as it did during filming. This set is usually called Anytown, USA and has been used in countless productions, most prominently as Hazzard County in the Dukes of Hazzard television series.

    Pictured above is Luke’s restaurant from Gilmore Girls,

    and the Hazzard County Courthouse from Dukes of Hazzard.

    I think I was most excited of all to see the house from one of my fave 80s sitcoms – Growing Pains (pictured above). I used to seriously love me some Kirk Cameron. 🙂 The house looks a bit different now, but it is still pretty recognizable as the Seaver Family home. As we drove up upon the house, our tour guide asked if anyone could still remember the words to the show’s theme song and I am proud to say, I still could. 🙂 You can watch the Growing Pains intro here. Cue theme song – “Show me that smile again, don’t waste another minute on your crying . . .” 🙂

    The side of the Seaver house was also used as Lane’s house on Gilmore Girls. Apparently many houses on the WB lot have double, or even triple, fronts so that they can be used for multiple houses at a time.

    We also got to see crew members setting up a scene for Ghost Whisperer on the WB’s Paris Street. Ghost Whisperer used to be filmed at Universal Studios, but due to the recent fire, production has since moved to Warner Brothers. Paris Street was also used in the filming of Casablanca, as the location of Rick and Ilsa’s Parisian tryst.

    The building pictured above was featured as the location of Rick and Isla’s teary Paris goodbye. Ahhh, we’ll always have Paris! 🙂

    Also included in the tour was a walk through of the set of Two and a Half Men– which was VERY cool as I watch that show all the time; an up-close and personal view of many cars used in major motion pictures – ie. the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard movie, the Batmobile, and Keanu’s car from the Matrix; a tour of the Warner Brothers Museum which displays numerous costumes and other movie memorabilia from such films as Harry Potter, Fools Gold, The Matrix, and The Dark Knight;and a walk through of the third biggest soundstage in the US which has been used in productions such as Ocean’s 13 and The Perfect Storm. We were not allowed to take any photographs while inside the soundstages or the museum which was a total bummer! 🙁

    My favorite part of the tour, hands down, had to be when we got to see the original Central Perk set from Friends. SO COOL! After the final season of Friends, the entire Central Perk set was moved to an empty soundstage preserved for us fans to visit. 🙂 The set pieces are a little tweaked and aren’t set up exactly as they were during filming, but it still looks pretty much as it did on TV. SO COOL!

    Mike and I had an absolute blast on the WB tour and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it!!!! No two tours are ever the same, and I am seriously considering doing it again soon. 🙂

    BIG THANK YOU to Mike for taking all of the above pictures – would you believe my camera died at the very beginning of the WB tour cause this stalker forgot to charge it the night before. I am such a blond sometimes!!! LOL

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Warner Brothers Studios is located at 3400 Riverside Drive in Burbank. Tours run every 30 minutes Monday through Friday from 8:20am to 4:00pm. Advance reservations are recommended. Tickets will cost you $45 per person – and I assure you, it is $45 well spent! You can learn more about the tour here.

  • "I Don’t Need the BMW Anymore, I Already Have A Mercedes!"

    This past weekend while out stalking Les Anderson’s house from my fave 80s movie License to Drive , I randomly found the house of his girlfriend Mercedes from the movie. This was another location that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were obsessed with finding. We had been doing some cyber-stalking of Mercedes’ house for a few weeks with no luck. We both had an inkling, though, that the house was somewhere right around Les’ house. And then, this weekend, fate stepped in. As my boyfriend pulled the car away from Les Anderson’s house, he took a turn onto Loring Drive and I literally started screaming “STOP THE CAR!” Out of the corner of my eye, I had spotted the house!

    Truth be told, I didn’t so much spot the house, as I did the street in front of the house. While watching License to Drive trying to find Mercedes’ house, I noticed that three streets joined and became one right at her front door (shown in the above screen capture). I had been cyberstalking all week, trying to find three streets that came together in front of a large brick house, but to no avail. Until my boyfriend took a turn onto Loring on Sunday, and I noticed the exact same street set-up that I had seen so many times in the movie. When my boyfriend backed the car up, I looked at the house located where the three streets meet and sure enough, there was Mercedes’ house! YAY!

    I must say it was very exciting to be standing there in my teenage idol’s footsteps, even all these years later. 🙂 Especially since the house looks exactly like it did back when License to Drive was filmed.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Mercedes house is located at 485 Loring Drive in Los Angeles, just a few blocks from Corey Haim’s house in the movie.

  • License to Stalk!

    When I was about ten years old, my favorite movie in the world was License to Drive starring the two Coreys. I bought the movie on VHS and literally watched it every single Friday and Saturday night. I was absolutely obsessed with Mercedes Lane in the movie, a character played by Heather Graham. I wanted nothing more than to have her spectacular long, curly hair, her cute boyfriend Les Anderson, and, especially, her white VW Cabriolet convertible. Six years later, I was still obsessed with Mercedes and I actually did end up getting a white Cabriolet when I turned 16 and I could not have been happier! I didn’t have the long gorgeous hair or the cute boyfriend, but hey, you can’t win ’em all. 😉 Anyway, I’ve always wanted to stalk the houses used in the movie, especially Les Anderson’s (Corey Haim’s) house and for the past few weeks Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have made it our mission to find the filming locations from the 80s flick. So I almost fell over on Friday when I received a text message from Mike telling me that he had located Les’ house in the movie! YAY!

    I must say that Mike is a true stalking genius and my hat is off to him, yet again! After a few weeks with no luck in locating the Anderson house, Mike noticed that an address for Les and his twin sister is shown quite clearly in the scene when they both receive their driver’s licenses. So Mike Googled the address, and while the one shown on the licenses doesn’t exist in real life, there is in fact a “Dalehurst Drive” in Los Angeles and sure enough, there was the Anderson home, just a few numbers off from the fake address. 🙂 I am starting to realize that, more often than not, producers will show the actual addresses of homes used in productions rather than making up fake ones. All the hours we spent looking for the Anderson house and there it was right under our noses the whole time! LOL

    So this weekend, I dragged my boyfriend and my best friend out to do some License to Drive stalking. 🙂 Except for a few minor differences, the house looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did 20 years ago when the movie was filmed. Missing, though, are the front bushes Les drives his Grandfather’s Cadillac through when he sneaks out to go on his date with Mercedes. LOL

    I also had to snap some pics of the distinct shaped house located across the street from the Anderson home, just to be sure I was stalking the right place. The neighbor’s house also looks pretty much the same, except for what looks like a small ad-on that must have been done after License to Drive was filmed.

    I must say it was VERY COOL to be standing there in front of the Anderson house after countless times of seeing it immortalized on my television screen. I highly recommend stalking the home if you are at all a fan of License to Drive. If you have yet to see the movie, RENT IT! It is a definite 80s classic!! 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Les Anderson’s house in the movie is located at 536 Dalehurst Avenue in Los Angeles, near the UCLA campus.

  • Lindsay’s Big Adventure

    The idea of watching a movie outdoors at night in an LA cemetery might at first seem a little odd to some. And I must admit, it did at first to me, too. But that’s exactly what I did this past Saturday night for a screening of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. My best friend Kylee, who attended the screening with me, said she just couldn’t wrap her head around celebrities and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure all coming together outdoors at a cemetery. I guess it’s just something you have to see to believe. My acting mentor, Diane Louise Salinger, who played Simone in the 1985 cult classic, invited me and my fellow classmates to the Pee Wee screening, which is shown annually at the legendary cemetery.

    The cemetery screenings were started in 2001 by a company called Cinespia, which was founded by set designer and classic movie buff John Wyatt. Each Saturday night during the summer season, Wyatt screens old time movies at Hollywood Forever. The movies are projected onto the walls of the mausoleum where Rudolph Valentino is interred. Tickets are $10 per person, and I must say it is $10 well spent. The atmosphere is fabulous and I can’t think of a better way I could have spent a Saturday night with my best friend. Guests bring wine, beer and food and sit on blankets and beach chairs under (and above) the stars, eating, drinking and watching classic Hollywood movies.

    Before arriving at the cemetery last night I really had no idea what to expect. While driving there we got stuck in some major traffic on Santa Monica Boulevard and we were joking that all of the traffic must be for the Pee Wee screening. Turns out it actually was!!!! I had no idea what a humongous following Pee Wee had! The line to enter the cemetery literally wrapped around the block. Because we were attending the screening with Diane, we got the total VIP treatment – VIP parking and the best seats in the house!!! Pictured above are my best friend Kylee and up and coming actor Justin Dray (look for him in an upcoming episode of ICarly) hanging out before the show.

    While waiting for the movie to start, I got to meet and talk with Jay Boileau, owner of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In 1998 Jay and his partner, Tyler Cassity, of Forever Productions, purchased the cemetery after it had fallen into serious disrepair and bankruptcy. The California government had even stepped in to cease the further sales of cemetery plots. Jay and Tyler painstakingly refurbished the 62-acre property to its former grandeur and have made it what it is today. Countless celebrities are buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, including Marion Davies, Cecil B. DeMille, former Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn, Tyrone Power, Mel Blanc, Lana Clarkson, Estelle Getty, Bugsy Siegel, Johnny Ramone, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, Peter Lorre, and sisters Norma and Constance Talmadge, among many others. The cemetery has also been featured in countless television and movie productions, including Charmed, The Player, LA Story, Brothers & Sisters, Frasier, Nip/Tuck, Bonfire of the Vanities, Hot Shots!, The Prestige, The Young and the Dead, and Virtuosity.

    The highlight of the night for me had to be when, thanks to Diane, I got to meet Pee Wee himself, Paul Ruebens!!!! 🙂 Paul could not have been kinder or more down to earth. I half expected him to be a bit off the wall, like his character, but in reality he was very calm and almost on the shy side. Couldn’t have been a nicer guy! Diane even got him to pose for a photo with me – the only photo he took all night – and I could not have been more excited! 🙂 Also in the photograph is my teacher, Diane, and Elizabeth Daily, who played Dottie in the film.

    Before the show, Paul gave a brief introduction, during which he talked about the original premiere of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure back in ’85. I must say it was very cool watching the movie with all of the stars in attendance. Very cool!!! All in all, it was a great night and I highly recommend stalking the cemetery during future summer screenings!! While it may seem strange to be watching movies in a graveyard, after experiencing it for myself, I now actually want to be buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery – eternally resting in the heart of Hollywood while forever watching classic movies under and among the stars. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The Cinespia screenings are over for Summer 2008, but you can check this website in 2009 for next summer’s schedule. The cemetery is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can purchase a map of the stars’ graves at the flower shop near the cemetery’s main entrance.

  • Ray Pruit’s House

    Thanks to Geoff over at 90210Locations, I was able to stalk Ray Pruit’s house this past weekend while out in Van Nuys. The home was featured in numerous Season 5 episodes of the series as the abode of Donna’s abusive, pumpkin-patch-owning boyfriend, Ray. At that time, the house was painted a light beige color, but has since been repainted a darker blue. Other than the exterior color, though, the house looks exactly as it did back in the 90210 days. Big THANK YOU to Mike from MovieShotsLA for the above screen capture. 🙂

    Ironically enough, while taking pictures in front of Ray’s house, a neighbor walked outside and I asked him if he lived in the neighborhood at the time 90210 filmed. He said that not only was he around during that time, but he was, in fact, the location manager of the show for Seasons 4 through 10!!! I absolutely could not believe my luck and ended up talking his ear off for about fifteen minutes. He really could not have been nicer and he even gave me his email address in case I ran up against any elusive 90210 filming spots that I might need help in locating. 🙂 YAY!

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: Ray Pruit’s house is located at 6628 Canteloupe Drive in Van Nuys. Not far away are both the former 90210 production studios, located at 15001 Calvert Street, and the liquor store from the “U4EA” episode, located at 6020 Kester Boulevard.

  • The Sunset Tower Hotel

    One of my favorite places to visit in all of LA is the Sunset Tower Hotel, located on the legendary Sunset Strip in Hollywood. The Sunset Tower Hotel was built in 1931 by architect Leland A. Bryant for owner E.M. Fleming. The Art Deco building, which originally functioned as an upscale apartment house, was the very first earthquake proof property to be built in Los Angeles. While the hotel enjoyed some glory years during the hey dey of Hollywood, in the 1980s it fell into serious disrepair and was saved from demolition when it was purchased by London’s St. James Hotel chain. Peter de Savary, owner of the St. James chain, poured $46 million into restoring the Sunset Tower and renamed it the St. James Club. Since that time, the hotel has undergone several more renovations and name changes, until 2005 when it was purchased by New Yorker Jeff Klein, who restored the hotel to its original name and former grandeur.

    During the hotel’s glory years numerous celebs called the Sunset Tower home, including Howard Hughes, Ava Gardner, Truman Capote, John Wayne, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Errol Flynn, Billie Burke aka Glinda the Good Witch, Mae West, Elizabeth Taylor, Conrad Hilton, gangster Bugsy Siegel – who was eventually evicted for running a gambling center out of his room, Frank Sinatra, Diana Ross, Tim Curry, my fave Marilyn Monroe, and Iggy Pop, who made a habit of jumping into the hotel pool from his apartment window. Today, the Tower is still popular with celebs. The hotel’s restaurant, the Tower Bar, is a favorite of Jen Aniston, who dines there regularly. Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Posh Spice, Brian Grazer and Barbara Walters have also all been spotted at the Tower Bar grabbing a bite to eat. According to Wikipedia, during her pink-wig-wearing days, Britney Spears tried to book some rooms at the Tower. Hotel owner Jeff Klein reportedly said to the hotel manager “If that piece of trailer trash so much as enters my driveway, you are fired! She can’t come here with all my chic guests, she’ll ruin the place!” LOL Love it! It was during that same time period that the Bel Air Hotel also reportedly refused to rent rooms to BritBrit.

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    The hotel’s poolside Terrace Bar, my fave place to grab a drink in all of LA, is also quite popular with the celebs. The first time I visited the Terrace, Kate Bosworth was there with her model boyfriend James Rousseau. I just had to go up to her, too, to tell her how much I loved Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. She ended up signing an autograph for me and seemed genuinely thrilled that I had such good things to say about Win A Date. Kate truly could not have been nicer and I can honestly say she was hands down the kindest out of all the celebs I have ever met. And her boyfriend was a total cutie, too!!!! 🙂 I took the above pic of her with my blackberry, but it didn’t come out very well. LOL

    The legendary hotel has also been featured in countless television and movie productions, including The Player, Spinal Tap Goes to 20, Shadow Hours, Freaky Friday, Murder My Sweet, Get Shorty, Wayne’s World II , Strange Days, The Italian Job, and Rich Girls. In The O.C., the hotel stood in for Newport Beach’s Four Seasons Hotel which was owned by Ryan’s rival, Oliver, on the show. Only the exterior of the Tower Hotel was shown in The O.C. For the interior shots of the lobby and Oliver’s penthouse suite, a different hotel was used – one which I am still trying to locate.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It: The Sunset Tower Hotel is located at 8358 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. I highly recommend stalking the Sunset Tower – the poolside Terrace Bar is a great place to grab a drink while enjoying one of the best views in all of LA.

  • "I’d Like to Exchange an Egg . . . "

    At the risk of this site becoming strictly a blog about 90210, I just had to do a post about another location from the iconic 90s television show. I finally got Season 2 of the series on DVD and this weekend I spent many hours glued to my television set watching it. And I must admit I got a little obsessed with finding the liquor store from the episode in which Emily Valentine (my least favorite character in 90210 history) convinces the gang to spend their Saturday night at an underground club. In the episode, entitled “U4EA”, Emily tells the gang that they will have to visit a liquor store and “exhange an egg” for directions to the oh-so-secret underground club.

    While watching the episode I noticed the numbers “6202” and a sign reading “Pat’s” located above the liquor store doors. I had an inkling that the liquor shop might be located in Van Nuys, near the 90210 studios, so I got to Googling and sure enough, there it was, just a few blocks from where 90210 was produced. So this weekend, I of course dragged my boyfriend out to Pat’s Jr. Market to do some stalking. I was so happy to see that after all these years the liquor store looks almost EXACTLY the same as it did back in the 90210 days.

    Even the interior is still completely recognizable from the “U4EA” episode. The poor clerk at the register had no idea what I was talking about when I told him that 90210 had filmed there 17 years ago and I’m pretty sure he thought I was a complete moron when I had my boyfriend snap pics of me inside. LOL Geez, some people just don’t get it, do they?!? 🙂

    The “U4EA” episode also featured one of my fave 90210 scenes ever – the scene where Andrea and Steve enter a different liquor store and tell the befuddled clerk that they want to exchange an egg. “Is there something wrong with the egg?” she asks. LOL LOVE IT!

    You can watch the full liquor store scene here.

    Stalk It: Pat’s liquor store is located at 6202 Kester Avenue in Van Nuys. The former 90210 studios are located just a few blocks away at 15001 Calvert Street.

  • The Brothers and Sisters House

    Got a challenge last week from Britney who wanted me to do some stalking of the house used in the ABC series Brothers and Sisters. I’d actually gotten this challenge once before, but since I had never really watched the show, I hadn’t put much effort into stalking it. But then I saw the house on Tony’s Los Angeles Filming Locations Flickr page and he directed me to this link on The Movieland Directory, which listed the address of the Walker Family home from the series. So, for Britney’s sake, I ran right out to stalk it. 🙂

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    The Walker home is located in a gorgeous neighborhood in the eastern section of Pasadena. It’s funny because from the bits and pieces I had seen of Brothers and Sisters over the years, I had a feeling the house was located in Pasadena. It just looks like a very Pasadena style home. In person, the Walker house is very beautiful and absolutely humongous! It almost has a New Orleansean feel to it, as well. It wasn’t very recognizable in person though, as from what I can tell, it seems that producers usually shoot only one section of the house, not the whole thing. But once I went back and watched some clips of B&S on YouTube, I could definitely see that it was the right house. I highly recommend stalking the place, even if you are not a fan of the show, as it is just beautiful. I need to keep my eyes peeled, too, because I am sure B&S is not the only production the home has been used for.

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

    Stalk It:The Brothers and Sisters house is located at 1640 Lombardy Road in Pasadena. According to the Movieland Directory, the former Ritz Carlton (now the Langham Hotel) at 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave. in Pasadena, was also featured in Brothers and Sisters, but I am not sure which episode was filmed there.

  • Partying With the Kids From West Bev!

    Thanks to a tip from Andrea Sachs who interviewed me a few weeks back for a Washington Post article, I was able to drag my boyfriend to a little shindig for the new 90210 series at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills on Saturday night.

    The Paley Center, which was started in 1975 by former CBS C.E.O. William S. Paley, is a library/museum/cultural center combo of sorts dedicated to maintaining, preserving, and sharing media history with future generations. The Center, which was formerly known as the Museum of Radio and Television, houses a vast collection of recordings of over 120,000 television and radio shows – and all of it is available for the general public’s viewing pleasure – for free. The recordings cannot be taken off the property, but can be checked out and enjoyed at one of the Center’s many individual viewing consoles. It’s sort of like a ginormous Blockbuster Video store, where you watch television recordings right on the premises. 🙂 The Paley Center is an absolutely beautiful building, complete with a huge open air lobby, a rooftop terrace, and two full size movie theatres. And, of course, while there, I just had to snap a pic of the Candy and Aaron Spelling Trustee Reception Area. 🙂 LOL

    Before arriving at the Paley Center for the 90210 Preview Party, I literally had no idea what to expect. I knew that the Center would be previewing both 90210 and Privileged and that there would be some sort of Question and Answer session involved. But I wasn’t sure what stars, if any, would be attending.

    So I almost fell on the floor when in walked Lori Loughlin, who made her way over to the media line to answer questions from the press. Lori is absolutely beautiful in person – much prettier in real life than she even appears onscreen. I didn’t get very good pictures of her, though, as my view was was blocked by the mass of reporters in the media line.

    But that’s OK, because who should walk in next but Jessica Lowndes, who plays West Beverly’s resident drug addict Adrianna, and Michael Steger, the West Beverly Blaze new Editor-in-Chief. I was absolutely floored when, after making their way through the media line, they agreed to pose for pictures with us fans. 🙂 YAY!

    Jessica was very sweet in person and VERY tiny!!! I have to admit, though, that when I first saw her I didn’t recognize her at all and I actually thought she was Jessica Stroup, the actress who plays Erin Silver on 90210. LOL Jessica looks incredibly young in person, which struck me as quite ironic because the cast members of the original 90210 were always catching flack for looking too old. ; )

    In person Michael Steger looks very much like Adrian Grenier from Entourage. He was also very sweet and very tall. He even went outside to sign autographs for fans who couldn’t get into the party. Awwww! Can you tell how excited I was to be taking these pictures? I could not have had a bigger, goofier grin on my face – LOL – what can I say, I am just incapable of playing it cool. 🙂

    Also in attendance were Privileged stars Anne Archer and JoAnna Garcia. Anne Archer is absolutely stunning in person and VERY thin. JoAnna Garcia, who previously starred on the hit show Reba, was very cute in person and looked a lot like Isla Fisher. I really wanted to take a picture with JoAnna, but she arrived late and didn’t have time to take photos with the fans. 🙁

    The Question and Answer session was also very cool to see. We weren’t able to watch it in the actual theatre where the stars were – that required special tickets. Instead, plasma TV’s were set up throughout the Paley Center, including in the main lobby and on the roof, for the viewing. My boyfriend and I opted to watch the Q&A on the roof, which had amazing views of Beverly Hills. While the session was fun to watch, nothing really earth-shattering or blog-worthy was revealed, other than the fact that Jessica chopped off a significant amount of her hair to play the role of Adrianna and that since landing his role on 90210 Michael has been receiving free clothes from designers.

    I have to admit that neither my boyfriend or I wanted to stay to watch the actual TV shows. I wasn’t a big fan of the 90210 pilot when I first watched it last Tuesday, and the last thing I wanted to do was sit through it again. LOL So instead we headed out to a grab a bite to eat at a FABULOUS BH restaurant called Enoteca Drago. On our way out, though, I just had to snap a pic in the media line. 🙂

    Until next time, Happy Stalking! : )

    Stalk It: The Paley Center is located at 465 North Beverly Drive in the heart of Beverly Hills. There are more Fall Preview Parties happening all week, including celebrations for Chuck, Life, Lipstick Jungle, Gery Unmarried, The Ex List, Worst Week, The Mentalist, Pushing Daisies, Private Practice, and Eli Stone. You can view the entire lineup of television preview parties and reserve your tickets here. Enoteca Drago Restaurant is located at 410 N. Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. The food is amazing there and the service could not have been better! I recommend the chopped salad – it is soooo yummy!!! Don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for the many stars who dine there nightly.