June 2009 – IAMNOTASTALKER

June 30, 2009June 16, 2011

Montrose Bowl

A few weeks ago, while out stalking the city of Montrose with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, the two of us happened to stumble upon a little bowling alley named Montrose Bowl, which has been featured in countless movie and television productions. Even though the bowling alley is currently closed to the public – it is only available as a venue for private parties – we just had to step inside for a little looksie. 🙂 The owner truly could NOT have been nicer to the two of us and gave us a complete run-down on the bowling alley’s filming history. He even let us poke around to snap a few pictures. 🙂

Montrose Bowl, which opened up back in 1936, has been a family owned and operated business for the past twenty-five years. The 1950’s style, eight lane bowling alley is one of the smallest alleys in all of Los Angeles. It is definitely a unique little place and it’s not hard to see why it has been featured in so many productions. Walking through the doors of Montrose Bowl is truly like stepping back in time.

The first production ever to film at the alley was the 1985 Michael J. Fox movie Teen Wolf. Montrose Bowl shows up twice in the movie as the basketball team’s post-game hang-out spot.

In 1991, Montrose Bowl stood in for the New York bowling alley where Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino hung out in the romantic comedy Frankie and Johnny. One of Montrose Bowl’s bathrooms was also featured in a scene from the movie.

Montrose Bowl’s interior was changed significantly for the filming of the movie Pleasantville, where it portrayed the bowling alley frequented by William H. Macy and J.T. Walsh. Much of the decor from the filming of Pleasantville has been left up, so the alley currently looks very similar to how it appeared onscreen in the 1998 comedy about a 1950s television family.

The exterior of the Pleasantville bowling alley was built on a studio backlot, but as you can see in the above screen captures and photograph, quite closely resembles the real life exterior of Montrose Bowl.

Montrose Bowl has also been the site of countless celebrity parties. Back in his heyday, Phil Spector hosted an annual party at the bowling alley, with guests like Stevie Nicks, Van Halen, Gene Simmons and KISS in attendance. Bruce Willis, Dustin Hoffman, and the L.A. Kings hockey team have also hosted parties there. Once I heard that Montrose Bowl was somewhat of a celebrity hotspot, I just had to ask if my girl Jen Aniston had ever bowled there – and I was absolutely FLOORED to find out that indeed she had! 🙂 Apparently Ms. Aniston was a guest at a birthday party that Vince Vaughn threw for his sister at the alley a few years back. 🙂 Love it!

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Montrose Bowl is a VERY cool place and I highly recommend stalking it if you get the chance. It also seems like a GREAT place to throw a party!!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Montrose Bowl is located at 2334 Honolulu Avenue in Montrose. You can visit their website here. The bowling alley is currently closed to the public and only open for private events. But if you’re lucky, you may be able to stick your head in the door for a quick peek. 🙂

June 29, 2009June 29, 2009

The Nightmare on Elm Street Houses

While all of my friends and family are, for the most part, very supportive of my stalking endeavors, I still quite often get asked the question, “Do people really care about this stuff?” and “Can you explain your website to me, because I just don’t get it.” LOL One of the people who “just doesn’t get it” the most is my good friend, and fellow actor, Blaze. So, the other day, while the two of us were out and about in Hollywood, I decided to show him what my website is all about. 🙂 Blaze has long been a huge fan of the horror movie genre, and when I say a huge fan, I mean a HUGE fan. So, since we were in the area, I asked him if he wanted to see the two main houses from his very favorite horror movie, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Blaze was absolutely shocked – and appeared somewhat skeptical – that a) the Nightmare on Elm Street houses were located in the L.A. area, and that b) I actually knew where to find them. Oh ye of little faith!

As I drove up to the home which stood in for Nancy’s in the movie – with a very smug smile on my face, I might add! – Blaze started SCREAMING his head off saying “OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! IT’S THE NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET HOUSE!!” LOL He hopped out of my car before I had even come to a complete stop and ran right up to the home’s front door to take a picture. He truly could not have been more excited!!! It’s stalking moments like this that I absolutely love – showing someone a location from a favorite movie and having it resonate with them just as much as it does with me. It’s the whole reason I started my blog. 🙂 And I’m pretty sure that Blaze now “gets it”.

I am very happy to report that Nancy (aka Heather Langenkamp’s) house looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when A Nightmare on Elm Street was filmed there back in 1984. Blaze kept saying “Even the colors of the house are still the same!” 🙂 Nancy’s house also showed up in A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s Revenge, as the residence of Jesse Walsh.

Located directly across the street from Nancy’s house is the house that was used as Glen (aka Johnny Depp’s) in the movie. And I am happy to report that Glen’s house also looks pretty much EXACTLY the same as it did in A Nightmare on Elm Street. I find it amazing – and refreshing – that both Nightmare On Elm Street houses look the same today as they did in a movie which filmed over twenty-five years ago!

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On a sidenote, it turns out that A Nightmare on Elm Street was Johnny Depp’s very first acting role. According to IMDB, Johnny was accompaning his good friend, actor Jackie Earle Haley, on an audition for the movie. While there, he was spotted by director Wes Craven, who took one look at him, liked what he saw, and asked him to audition for the part of Glen. Johnny won the role and the rest, as they say, is cinematic history! 🙂 Check out Johnny’s crop top in the above pic. LOL LOL LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Nancy’s house from A Nightmare on Elm Street is located at 1428 North Genesee Avenue in Hollywood. Glen’s house is located right across the street at 1419 North Genesee.

June 27, 2009April 20, 2010

Michael Jackson’s Walk of Fame Star

Still saddened by the sudden death of Michael Jackson, early yesterday afternoon I decided to pay my respects to the legendary pop star by visiting his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I thought I would post the pictures I took while there for those of you who do not live in the L.A. area and cannot visit the star yourselves.

I honestly don’t think Los Angeles has ever seen the likes of anything comparable to this in its entire history. I had absolutely no idea what I was in store for when I set out for Hollywood yesterday. Hundreds upon hundreds of fans showed up to visit the pop legend’s star and to drop off flowers and personal mementos. When I arrived at around 12:30 p.m., Michael’s star had already been cordoned off by the many policemen on duty and there were about two hundred people waiting in line to see it. Pictured above is the haphazard line that the crowd had formed in order to view Michael’s star. I don’t think the police had expected such a large turnout because they all seemed to be milling around trying to maintain crowd control, but largely unsure of what to do. Trying to cordon off hundreds of people into some sort of functioning line in the middle of Hollywoods’ busiest sidewalk cannot have been an easy task and due to that fact the whole thing was slightly chaotic. Thankfully, all of the fans were very respectful and I didn’t witness any sort of problems while I was there.

A huge crowd was even forming across the street from where Michael’s star is located.

And news vans were lined up along Hollywood Boulevard as far as the eye could see. It was absolutely incredible! There were far more people and news reporters on Hollywood Boulevard yesterday than at all the premieres I have been to in the past year combined!

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which is located directly across the street from Michael’s star, even had a tribute posted on their famous Cinegrill billboard.

I only had to wait in line for about thirty minutes to see Michael’s star, but by the time I left it seemed there were more than double the amount of people in line as when I had first arrived. And I anticipate that even more people will be coming to view the star as the days progress. One gentleman I was in line with told me that his friends who live in England are flying out to Los Angeles tomorrow morning just to see the star! I couldn’t believe it. It is definitely true what they say about Michael Jackson transcending all races, ages, and cultures. People of all ages from all over the world were there yesterday to pay their respects to the pop star.

The policemen at the head of the line were letting ten people onto the sidewalk at a time to view the star. You can see above the way Michael’s star was cordoned off by the police in an effort to control the flow of the people who were there to visit it. News media crews were lined up on the other side of the partition, filming the hundreds of fans who walked past the star.

The area surrounding Michael’s star was completely covered in flowers, letters, and mementos. We were only given about ten seconds in front of the star, just barely enough time to snap a few photographs and say a quiet prayer. And although brief, it was still a comforting experience to be there. It was nice to share stories with the people in line who, like me, had grown up listening to Michael’s music and who were now all feeling the same sadness I was. It was nice to have some sort of place to go to pay my respects. It was nice to be able to say good-bye. If you were at all a fan of the pop star and live in the area, I definitely recommend going.

UPDATE:

Fellow stalker April visited Michael’s Star Saturday night and sent in the above photographs. As you can see, his star is almost completely covered over with flowers now.

Stalk It: Those wishing to pay their respects to Michael Jackson by visiting his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can find it directly in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, which is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. The line to view the star starts at the East side of Grauman’s, near the Kodak Theatre’s Hollywood Boulevard entrance. You can see where the line is formed in the above photograph. If you are planning to visit the star in the near future, I would be prepared to wait in line for at least an hour.

June 26, 2009April 20, 2010

Rest in Peace, Michael

I was absolutely devastated to learn yesterday of the passing of music legend Michael Jackson. I had no idea his death would affect me in the way that it did, but I simply could not stop crying. Due to the sad news of his death, I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to post a regular blog entry today.

And while I do realize that Michael Jackson was hated just as much as he was loved, because I grew up long before any of the problems in his personal life had occurred, my memories of the pop star are all good ones. Simply put, Michael Jackson was a part of my childhood. Some of my fondest memories in life are of sitting in front of the television set watching and re-watching The Making of Thriller with my dad, learning the steps to the Thriller dance with my adolescent friends, and, of course, stalking the many locations from Michael’s iconic music videos. As John Mayer said after the news was announced “I think we’ll mourn his loss as well as the loss of ourselves as children listening to Thriller on the record player.” Whatever Michael Jackson did or did not do in his personal life, no one can argue that the man was a musical genius, an icon, and a legend who absolutely revolutionized the music industry. I find it only fitting that Michael’s “retirement” concert tour that was scheduled to begin on July 13th will never see fruition, as his is a legend which can never be retired.

Michael, you will be missed.

For some happier reading, you can re-read my post on the recent Michael Jackson exhibit in Beverly Hills here.

June 25, 2009June 25, 2009

The National Lampoon’s Vacation House

And speaking of National Lampoon’s Vacation, last week fellow stalker Owen made it his mission to locate the Griswold home from the 1983 comedy flick. Amazingly enough, he ended up finding the house pretty much right away! For this particular movie location expenditure, Owen decided to “stalk outside the box”, so to speak, and started looking through Vacation’s IMDB message boards to see if they provided any clues as to the home’s locale. He ran across a thread entitled “Griswold House 2008″ where, lo and behold, someone had actually posted recent pics of the home. Owen ended up contacting the owner of those photos who told him that one evening, while stuck in traffic after attending a concert in Los Feliz, he happened to gaze to his left where he saw, and immediately recognized, the Griswold Family home. How this guy recognized the house from a movie filmed way back in 1983 while not actively looking for it, is beyond me. My hat is definitely off to him!!!! 🙂

So, Owen did a little bit of digging and ended up finding the house, exactly where the man told him it would be – in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. In reality, the home is a long way off from Chicago, Illinois, where the Grisworlds supposedly lived in Vacation. 🙂 I am happy to report that the house looks EXACTLY the same today as it did back in 1983 when the movie was filmed there. Hallelujah! 🙂 It is absolutely AMAZING to me that in twenty-six years virtually nothing about the house has been changed.

Well, except for one thing. For some incredibly odd reason, the owners did make one major addition to the Griswold home. Since the filming, a large fence which surrounds the perimeter of the property and blocks the view of the house from the street, has been added. I wonder if the fence was installed to ward of potential stalkers, like myself. 😉 Either way, even with the addition of the fence, the home is still largely recognizable from the film.

Even the street out in front of the house, where we see Clark pull up in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, seems to be exactly the same as it appeared in Vacation.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The National Lampoon’s Vacation house is located at 2310 North Vermont Avenue in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles.

June 24, 2009June 24, 2009

Santa Anita Park

This weekend, I dragged my fiance out to Santa Anita Park, aka the Santa Anita race track, in Arcadia for some major stalking. Our original plan was to catch a movie at the theatre located next door to the track, but a funny thing happened on the way to the show. 🙂 While driving to the movies, I got an email from fellow stalker Owen who told me that Santa Anita Park stood in for the entrance to Walley World in fave 80s movie National Lampoon’s Vacation. Needless to say, I was absolutely SHOCKED! All this time I’ve lived in L.A. and had no idea that Walley World was literally right in my own backyard. So, I made my poor fiance detour the car and, with Owen’s directions in hand, the two of us headed over towards the racetrack. 🙂

Santa Anita Park first opened its doors on Christmas Day of 1934 and has the distinction of being known as Southern California’s oldest race track. Elias Jackson, aka “Lucky”, Baldwin had originally built a horse racing track on what is now the Arcadia County Golf Course in 1907. Sadly, though, just two years after its opening, the government passed the Walker-Otis bill, which outlawed gambling and forced Lucky to close up shop. Twenty-five years later, after California had legalized parimutuel betting, a company named the Los Angeles Turf Club opened up a race track just a few blocks from the former track’s site. The Los Angeles Turf Club was owned by movie producer Hal Roach and a doctor named Charles H. Strub. Roach and Strub commissioned their new track to be built in the Art Deco style by architect Gordon B. Kaufman, who is most well-known for designing both the Hoover Dam and the L.A. Times Building. The original exterior of the race track building still stands at Santa Anita Park to this day. Santa Anita has hosted a number of memorable competitions over the years, including the equestrian events of the 1984 Olympic Games and Seabiscuit’s big win – and final race – which took place on February 9, 1940. Because of the involvement of movieman Hal Roach, the race track has long been associated with the silver screen. Celebs like Bing Crosby, Louis B. Mayer, Alex Trebek, Errol Flynn, and Spencer Tracy all owned horses that raced at Santa Anita at one time or another. And, of course, the track has also shown up in several Hollywood productions.

I have actually been dying to stalk the race track ever since it appeared in my favorite episode of the television series Las Vegas. In the Season Three episode, entitled “Everything Old Is You Again”, Danny McCoy (played by – sigh – Josh Duhamel) has a flashback of sorts in which he fantasizes about what it would be like to run a 60’s era hotel and casino named the Jubliee. In the episode, the entire cast dons 60’s regalia, uses terms like ” Poindexter” and “It’s a gas”, and dances to the Twist. Everyone, that is, except for poor Danny, who doesn’t quite have the moves to the latest dance craze down yet. He spends pretty much the entire episode begging people to teach him how to do the Twist. I’m telling you, it is SUCH a cute episode! And, it just so happens that the Club House at Santa Anita Park stood in for the Jubliee Hotel and Casino in the episode. My fiance immediately recognized it when we first saw the show a few years back. So, I really could not have been more excited to stalk the place this weekend!! In a lucky twist of fate, while we were snapping some photos out front, an INCREDIBLY nice valet came up and started talking to us. I told him that the Vegas episode that had filmed at the Park was my very favorite and he asked if my fiance and I wanted a tour of the areas used in the episode. IF we wanted a tour???? IF we wanted a tour???? LOL OF COURSE we wanted a tour! 🙂

Both the interior and the exterior of the Club House were used as the Jubilee Hotel and Casino in the “Everything Old Is You Again” episode.

The main entrance to the Club House also served as the main entrance to the Jubilee.

According to the valet, hundreds of casino gaming tables and slot machines were brought in to turn the main room of the Club into the casino’s main floor.

Other areas of the Club where filming took place include the bar where Sam (aka Vanessa Marcil) “worked”, which is, in reality, a cafeteria counter;

the main lobby area;

the Club’s cafe, where Mary worked in the episode . . .

which is also the same area where Mary taught Danny to do the Twist :);

the steps located just outside of the cafe doors, where Danny asks Mary out on a date;

and the Jubliee’s “pool” area. Because Santa Anita Park doesn’t actually have a pool, the Jubilee’s “pool” was in actuality just the Club’s back porch area. Producers simply added some chaise lounges, a handful of bikini-clad women, some wet cement, splashing sounds, a bit of movie magic, and voila – they had themselves a hotel swimming pool! 🙂

At the end of the episode, Danny finds himself in the lobby of the present day Montecito Hotel and Casino, where Chubby Checker just happens to be on hand to entertain the guests . . .

. . . and to lead everyone, including Danny, in a rousing rendition of the Twist. See, I told you it was a cute episode! 🙂

The racetrack was also featured in the Season Two Valentine’s Day episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “And Baby Makes Five”. In the episode, Andrea finds some luck at the track by betting on horses with names such as Lovesick, Unrequited, and Grand Amour. Notice a theme here? 😉

And, as mentioned in my introduction, the Park was also used in National Lampoon’s Vacation. In the movie, an un-used portion of the track’s parking lot stood in for Walley World’s main entrance. According to IMDB, a painted backdrop was installed behind the above pictured overpass to give the illusion of roller coasters in the foreground. Love how you can still see the yellow divider lines in the road that were used in the filming!!

The racetrack’s GINORMOUS parking lot area stood in for Walley World’s parking lot, where Clark and his family race each other- with “Chariots of Fire” playing in the background – to the theme park’s entrance. Again, a huge painted backdrop was used in this scene to create the illusion of roller coasters.

Walley World’s main entrance – where Clark, upon hearing the news that the park is temporarily closed, punches Walley Moose in the nose – is actually Santa Anita’s South Entrance. The entrance was dressed up quite a bit for the filming, so in person it looks much different than how it appeared onscreen in Vacation. Also adding to the difference in appearance is the fact that the movie was filmed in 1983, long before Santa Anita’s main tower, which you can see in the above photograph, was built. An interesting sidenote – it’s fairly common knowledge among locationites that Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia was used for the filming of the scenes inside of Walley World. So why, you ask, was Magic Mountain’s real entrance not used in the movie? Well, apparently, the original ending of Vacation involved Clark W. Griswold and family leaving the “temporarily closed for repairs” Walley World and heading over to Roy Walley’s house, gun in hand, to demand that he entertain them. When that ending didn’t fare well with test audiences, the finale we all know and love was shot on location at Magic Mountain. Rather than waste money re-shooting the parking lot scenes, producers just used the scenes that had already been filmed at Santa Anita Park. And the rest, as they say, is history!

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Santa Anita Park has also been featured in Seabiscuit, A Day at the Races, The Dark Horse, and the television series Jockeys, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Santa Anita Park is located at 285 West Huntington Drive in Arcadia. Las Vegas was filmed at the Park’s Club House. The entrance to Walley World was really the South Entrance of Santa Anita Park.

The overpass that the Griswold’s drive under when entering the Walley World parking lot is a bit tricky to find. It is located directly off of Huntington Drive, near 659 West Huntington Drive. The overpass leads to Westfield -Santa Anita Shopping Center and runs over one of the un-used areas of the racetrack’s parking lot. You can see its exact location in the above map.

June 23, 2009June 29, 2009

Rosie’s Pink House from The Wedding Singer

A couple of weeks ago, fellow stalker Owen contacted me to see if Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I could help him track down Rosie, aka the rappin’ granny’s, pink house from the 1998 movie The Wedding Singer. Owen had been trying for quite a while to locate the home, but just couldn’t make out the house number that appeared above Rosie’s front door. So, Mike and I got to work in trying to nail down the home’s location, or at least its correct address number.

And, while neither Mike nor I could figure out that address number, Mike did notice a house number painted on the curb across the street from Rosie’s home (pictured above). We were fairly certain that address number was 1428, so I immediately emailed Owen to let him know. And, with that bit of information, he set off to locate the house. I’m happy to report that it wasn’t long before he found it! 🙂

After searching every single 1400 block in the Pasadena area – which is where we were assuming the house was located – Owen ended up contacting the movie’s location manager, who got back to him pretty much immediately. Amazingly enough, the location manager remembered the general vicinity of where the home was located, which ended up to be a long way from Pasadena. It turns out that Rosie’s house is located in West Hollywood, just down the street from both Lauren Conrad’s former Hills home and the two houses that appeared in the original Halloween movie. I am happy to report that, despite its color, Rosie’s house looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did back in 1998 when The Wedding Singer was filmed. According to the location manager that Owen talked to, Rosie’s house was painted pink solely for the filming of the movie, much like the home featured at the end of 13 Going On 30. In real life, the house is painted a light shade of grey. Also missing in real life is the white picket fence surrounding Rosie’s house, which I am assuming was also installed solely for filming purposes.

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The house located across the street from Rosie’s also looks pretty much exactly the same as it did in The Wedding Singer. Even the address number painted on the curb is still there. 🙂 Love it!

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location!!! Very nicely done!!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Rosie’s house from The Wedding Singer is located at 1425 North Orange Grove Avenue in Los Angeles.

June 22, 2009June 26, 2009

Don Draper’s House from Mad Men

Got an email last week from fellow stalker Karin who wanted me to locate the house belonging to Donald Draper (played by Jon Hamm) and his wife, Betty (played by January Jones), on the AMC television series Mad Men. It turns out that my good friend, and fellow stalker E.J., over at The Movieland Directory, had written down a bunch of addresses where Mad Men filming had taken place over the years off of the On Location Vacations website. Using those addresses, it wasn’t long before Karin and I had located the right house. 🙂 Thank you, E.J.!! So, while out doing some stalking with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, last Friday, I dropped by the Draper residence to snap some pics. 🙂

On Mad Men, the Draper family supposedly lives in the town of Ossining in Westchester County, New York. In reality, though, their home is located in the suburbs of Pasadena, just a stone’s throw away from the Father of the Bride house. It’s such a small movie world, isn’t it? 😉

I had a heck of a time making screen captures of the Draper home as it seems that, for some reason, the exterior of the house is rarely shown on the series. I guess the producers of Mad Men aren’t big on doing establishing shots! LOL You can see a paparazzi pic of Jon Hamm and January Jones filming at the house a few weeks ago here.

I am happy to report that Don Draper’s house looks exactly the same in person as it does on TV. Except, of course, for the color of the front door. On the series, the Draper’s front door is painted red, while the door of the real life home is blue.

If you look at the house on Google Maps Street View, the front door is also red, which leads me to believe that the Google photographs must have been taken while Mad Men filming was going on. So cool!

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Before Karin’s challenge, I had never watched even a single episode of Mad Men. My fiance has been a longtime fan of the series, though, so, last night I popped in the pilot episode from his Season One DVD’s for a quick peruse. It’s actually a very entertaining show about a wealthy group of Manhattanites living in the 60s, when everyone smoked everywhere, having a cocktail at the office was commonplace, and all husbands cheated on their wives. Doesn’t sound like a very reputable show, but it definitely makes for some interesting storylines. 🙂 A bit of a disclaimer – the house that was featured in the pilot episode of Mad Men is not the same residence that is being used now. The house from the pilot episode is pictured above and as you can see looks quite different from the Pasadena residence that is used in all of the other episodes.

UPDATE:

Just got an email from fellow stalker Kevin who happened upon some Mad Men filming at the Draper residence just a few weeks ago. Kevin was nice enough to send me some photos he managed to snap of the many antique cars parked on the road, some of the filming equipment, and best of all, the Draper house all dressed up with its red front door. Big THANK YOU to Kevin!!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Don Draper’s house from Mad Men is located at 675 Arden Road in Pasadena.

June 19, 2009June 18, 2009

The Step Brothers House

Got a challenge last week from my good friend Chelsea who wanted me to find the home used in the 2008 movie Step Brothers. Lucky for me, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had already found this location a few months back and told me where it was located. 🙂 So, today – after stalking about a million wedding locations 🙂 – I ran right out to stalk the Step Brothers house. Thanks, Mike!!!!

My friend Chelsea had a hunch that the Step Brothers home was located in the Pasadena area and she actually wasn’t too far off! Am I a good stalking teacher, or what?? 🙂 The Step Brothers home is located just a few miles north of Pasadena proper, in the city of Altadena. And although the coloring is now a bit different, for the most part the home looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen in the movie. The Step Brothers house is absolutely ginormous in real life, which I found to be slightly ironic, being that in the movie John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell are forced to share a room because John won’t give up the third bedroom which houses his “sound laboratory”. LOL According to Zillow, the home actually has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and measures 3,502 square feet. In the movie, John C. Reilly tells Will Ferrell that the home was built in 1825 by General Custor (LOL LOL LOL), but in reality it was built in 1935.

The home is featured several times in the movie, most notably as the location where John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell get into their massive front yard brawl. LOL

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On an interesting side note, in real life, Step Brothers star John C. Reilly is a long time Altadena resident. My mom and I actually saw him a few years back attending a movie at Laemmle Playhouse in Pasadena. He was in line waiting to buy popcorn at the concession stand when a woman walked up to him and very loudly said “Are you from Philadelphia? I think we went to high school together.” John was very gracious and explained that he actually grew up in Chicago. And just as he opened up his mouth to say what I’m assuming was something along the lines of “I’m an actor, maybe you recognize me from one of my movies,” the woman interrupted him and said, “No, I’m POSITIVE we know each other!!!! Are you sure you’re not from Philadelphia?” LOL John’s wife was standing next to him the whole time, head down, completely CRACKING UP! John quickly paid for his popcorn and started walking down the hall toward the theatre, but the douchebag lady ran – yes, ran!! – after him, saying things like “Maybe you know my sister in Des Moines.” LOL LOL LOL When John finally entered the theatre and the doors closed behind him, my mom tapped the lady on the shoulder and said “You recognize that man because he is John C. Reilly, the actor.” The woman got a look on her face like she absolutely wanted to just crawl into a hole and die!!! LOL To quote Chelsea Lately once again, “What . . . a douchebag!” The whole thing was absolutely HILARIOUS and one of my very favorite “only in L.A.” moments.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Step Brothers house is located at 1987 Midwick Drive in Altadena.

June 18, 2009June 16, 2011

Il Cielo

Looking at wedding venues is so darn fun that, I swear, I think I would be happy just remaining engaged forever. It could be my full time job. What do you do? Oh, I’m engaged – full time! 🙂 LOL On Tuesday, my wedding venue expedition led my mom and me to a little restaurant in Beverly Hills named Il Cielo. And I have to say that the place was downright amazing!!! So much so that it’s at the very top of my very narrowed down list of possible locations. Because I am such a picky eater, for years I’ve been steadfast about serving a buffet at my wedding, as opposed to a set menu. Il Cielo doesn’t offer a buffet – they only do sit-down dinners – yet they are STILL at the top of my list! Now, that’s saying a lot! 🙂

Il Cielo, which means “the sky” in Italian, was opened up in 1986 inside of a tiny Beverly Hills bungalow by a man named Pasquale Vericella. In the 70s, that bungalow was the home to another Italian restaurant named En Brochette. A frequent visitor to En Brochette, Pasquale adored the intimate, homey feel of the restaurant and decided it was just the type of place he himself wanted to own someday. He was so adamant about opening his restaurant in that exact spot, in fact, that for years he begged En Brochette’s owners to sell the restaurant and the bungalow to him. They finally relented in 1986, and Pasquale opened up his own Tuscan-style restaurant, featuring his mother and grandmother’s traditional family recipes. I had the pleasure of meeting Pasquale yesterday and of course asked him all sorts of questions about which celebrities had dined at Il Cielo. He quickly brushed off my queries and said “When you get married here, the only celebrity we are concerned with is YOU!” 🙂 So cute!!!!

Il Cielo has been voted “the most romantic restaurant in Los Angeles” numerous times by numerous publications. It has also been named “one of the top five places to get married in the country” – yes, the COUNTRY – by The New York Times. Those are some pretty amazing accolades! The restaurant has hosted over 1,500 weddings in its 23 year history. According to the restaurants’ events manager, Fabio, Il Cielo’s philosophy is service first, food second, and ambiance third. And from what I witnessed yesterday, all three of those seem to be top notch, especially the service. When I asked where the bar gets placed during a wedding reception, Fabio looked at me with confusion on his face. Then, realization dawning, he explained, “Oh no, we do not do waiting in line here. Our servers walk around taking drink orders, so that your guests never have to get out of their chair!” OMG LOVE IT! Even better than that, after the reception ends, guests are served lattes, cappuccinos, and biscotti out on the sidewalk while waiting for the valet to retrieve their cars. SO LOVE THAT! I mean, this place is downright A-MA-ZING.

And, of course, there’s also the celeb factor! Google the words “Il Cielo” and “celebrities” and a list of a hundred well-known names will pop up, including Christian Bale, Nancy Reagan, my girl Jennifer Aniston, Ellen DeGeneres, Portia De Rossi, Robert Redford, Rod Stewart, Colin Farrell, Claudia Shiffer, Ali Larter, Brandon Routh, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Nikki and Cathy Hilton. Lesley Ann Warren was married at Il Cielo and (that little homewrecker) Brad Pitt took Gwyneth Paltrow there on their first date.

And, of course, Il Cielo is also a filming location. At the beginning of Legally Blonde, it’s the restaurant where Elle Woods’ boyfriend, Warner, does not propose. When Warner first announces he is taking Elle to Il Cielo, she says “Oooh, I love that restaurant. I heard Madonna went into labor there.” LOL LOL LOL

Il Cielo’s patio area stood in for the patio of Adam Sandler’s restaurant in the 2004 movie Spanglish. The exterior of Adam’s restaurant (pictured above) is actually the exterior of the Hal Valentine Hair Salon, which is located directly next door to Il Cielo.

On the Season Three episode of Entourage entitled “Strange Days”, Ari Gold re-proposes to his wife after 15 years of marriage with a ginormous diamond ring on Il Cielo’s back patio. The restaurant has actually popped up in Entourage no less than three times!

In the Season 3 episode of The Hills entitled “A Date With The Past”, former flame Ste-phen Colletti takes Lauren Conrad out for a “strictly platonic” dinner at Il Cielo. Smart move, Ste-phen, bringing a girl you just want to be friends with to the most romantic restaurant in all of L.A.! LOL Il Cielo was also featured in the Season Five opener of The Simple Life entitled “Welcome to Camp Shawnee” as the location where Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie finally bury the hatchet and become friends again over an Italian lunch.

I honestly can’t recommend stalking Il Cielo enough – either as a wedding venue or for a romantic dinner!!!! This place is truly one of a kind!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Il Cielo is located at 9018 Burton Way in Beverly Hills. You can visit their website here. Il Cielo is closed on Sundays.