July 2009 – IAMNOTASTALKER

July 31, 2009July 30, 2009

The Zeta House from House Bunny

Last week, thanks to fellow stalker Owen, I was able to stalk the Zeta House from the 2008 movie House Bunny. Owen actually found this location without ever even having seen the film, which takes some pretty major stalking skills, I tell you!!!! He happened to notice the house while watching a House Bunny preview and, because of its unique and distinct look, set about on a mission to locate it. Which he did in record time! And even though I didn’t particularly like House Bunny all that much, once Owen told me where the house was located, I just HAD to stalk it. 🙂 I do have to say, though, that I did absolutely LOVE Anna Faris in the movie. I laugh out loud EVERY TIME I hear her do that scary-deep-voice-to-remember-a-name thing. LOL LOL LOL

The House Bunny house is absolutely GINORMOUS in person, much larger than it appears onscreen. It’s so huge that pictures don’t even really do it justice, in fact! It’s easily one of the biggest houses I’ve ever seen in my life!!!! Other than its size, though, I am happy to report that the House Bunny house looks exactly the same in person as it did in the movie. 🙂

Well, until the girls painted it blue towards the middle of the film, that is.

And, of course, in real life there is no ZETA sign. 🙂

The house shows up several times throughout the movie, most notably as the location where Anna Faris does her absolutely HILARIOUS Marilyn-Monroe-over-the-subway-grate impersonation! LOL LOL LOL

I highly recommend stalking the House Bunny house. The home itself is just so unique and distinct, that even if you didn’t like the movie it’s still worth the trip. 🙂 The house is also located on a pretty amazing street that is chock full of HUMONGOUS Craftsman style homes. Walking around the neighborhood it’s easy to forget that you are just one small block away from the hustle and bustle of the 10 Freeway.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Zeta House from House Bunny is located at 2151 West 20th Street in Los Angeles.

July 30, 2009November 27, 2011

Madame Tussauds Hollywood

This past weekend, while out stalking in Hollywood, my fiance and I walked right past the new Madame Tussauds wax museum and I just about had a total meltdown right there on the sidewalk of Hollywood Boulevard! The museum, which was supposed to open to the public on August 1st, was hosting a special preview event when we walked by and was absolutely booming with people! I’d been awaiting the unveiling of the new Madame Tussauds location ever since hearing the news months ago that one was being built in Hollywood!!! I had never been to a Madame Tussauds before, but had heard amazing things about the place and was absolutely DYING to visit one. So, I, of course, BEGGED my fiance to let me stalk it!

Well, as you can probably guess, the Grim Cheaper wasn’t too keen on shelling out the $20-a-piece special preview admission fee to gain entrance to the museum, but I took one look at the Marilyn Monroe figure they had posed outside – dressed in the EXACT same outfit she wore to her Hand and Footprint Ceremony back in 1953, no less – and that was it!! I was NOT taking no for an answer! We were GOING to Madame Tussauds!!!! 🙂

As Madame Tussauds themselves are quick to point out, the facility is not so much a museum per se, but, rather, an attraction. At a museum, visitors walk around simply looking at different items. Touching those items is usually a rather big no-no. At Madame Tussauds, however, not only are you encouraged to touch and feel the figurines, but the place is set up so that you can actually interact with them, as well!!!! In the American Idol room, not only can you sing a karaoke song and get judged by Simon Cowell himself, but you can actually sit in the judges booth . . . .

. . . or get interviewed post-song by none other than Ryan Seacrest. 🙂

You can also share a breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audrey Hepburn;

take a Psycho-style shower with Alfred Hitchcock directing,

seduce Dustin Hoffman;

have a red carpet interview with Joan Rivers;

re-enact a scene from The Godfather;

strike a pose with Marlene Dietrich,

and sit on Forrest Gump’s bench! Oh, and did I mention that Madame Tussauds also has a myriad of wigs, costumes, and props on hand to enhance your whole experience???

The vast majority of the figures on display in Madame Tussauds’ new 40,000 square foot, $55 million “attraction” are incredibly realistic looking! So realistic looking, in fact, that my fiance was even slightly creeped out by the whole thing! Each figure takes about six months to contruct at a cost of approximately $300,000. Madame Tussaud founded her unique wax sculpting technique over 200 years ago in London. She got her start by sculpting political figures of the day and taking them on the road as part of a traveling attraction. Her first standing museum was established in 1835 at the Baker Street Bazaar, where curiosity seekers paid a sixpence to see figures such as Benjamin Franklin, Sir Walter Scott, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Today there are nine different Madame Tussauds (spelled without an apostrophe) locations stretching all across the globe, from places like Berlin and Shanghai to New York and Las Vegas. The celebrities themselves pose for Madame Tussauds’ artisans, in a detailed photography and measurement sitting which can take anywhere from fifteen minutes to four hours. Most sittings are done at Merlin Studios in London, but due to the demanding schedules of some of the featured celebrities, artisans have had to take measurements and fittings as far East as Mumbai, India to the Ivy Restaurant in Hollywood. I’m not kidding! Madame Tussauds’ artists use hundreds of measurements and photographs and go to painstaking lengths to ensure that the height, proportion, look, feel, and spirit of each figure is exactly precise. Oftentimes the celebrity will donate their own clothing, jewelry, and even shoes for their counterpart to wear. For those few times when a celebrity does not donate their own outift, exacting replicas are made. So, pretty much every single aspect of every single wax figure displayed at Madame Tussauds is authentic! So cool! You can read more about Madame Tussauds incredible waxing technique here.

My personal favorite figurine of the entire attraction was, of course, my girl Jen, who sadly was one of the least realistic-looking. 🙁

By far, the most realistic looking figurine was that of Miss Britney Spears. Hers was truly unbelievable! I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!

And I was AMAZED at the height of both John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. To give you a frame of reference, I am 5’4″”, which makes these two absolutely GINORMOUS!

Other stars on hand at the attraction include Cameron Diaz,

Carrie Underwood,

Justin Timberlake,

Eddie Murphy,

Robert Redford and Paul Newman,

George Burns and Bob Hope,

Jim Carrey,

Sarah Michelle Geller,

Steven Spielberg – also one of the most realistic looking,

James Dean,

George Clooney,

Zac Efron,

and the subject of my girlhood crush, Leo DiCaprio – sigh!,

who was far too tall for me to kiss! LOL

Ostensibly missing from the attraction was a figurine of the King of Pop, which I found especially odd since I knew he had posed for one in the past as I saw a replica of it on display when I visited the Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions this past April. When I asked one of the workers about it, she said that because of his recent passing, Madame Tussands is currently in the process of sculpting a brand new tribute statue. 🙂 Thankfully, though, his hand cast – along with those of several other celebrities – was on hand for all of his fans to appreciate.

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Needless to say, I had an absolute BLAST at Madame Tussauds!! I loved every single minute of it! It was just SO MUCH FUN! I’m even pretty sure that my fiance, who could care less about anything having to do with Hollywood, had a good time. 🙂 I really can’t recommend stalking Madame Tussauds enough!!!!! The attraction also features a sports section – which I, of course, zipped right through without a second glance LOL – for those who aren’t into the whole Hollywood thing. 🙂 Oh, and please accept my apologies for being in pretty much EVERY SINGLE picture featured on this post, but I just couldn’t help myself!!!!! I was like a kid in a candy store and just HAD to pose with ALL of the figures! 🙂

Oh, and there was also a certain celebrity couple on hand that I just had to give a piece of my mind to! 🙂 Felt SO good! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Madame Tussauds is located at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, right next door to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Madame Tussauds is open daily from 10am to 8pm. During the summer months, they remain open until 10pm. Tickets are $25 per adult, $18 per student aged 13 to 18, $15 per child between the ages of 7 and 12, and children under the age of 7 are free. You can visit their website here.

July 29, 2009July 29, 2009

The Dickie Roberts House

Today is my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry’s birthday! The two of us are actually heading down to Disneyland in a bit, where Kerry has secured a reservation for a little birthday celebration at the park’s exclusive Club 33 members-only restaurant and, let me tell you, I could not be more excited!! I’ve been trying to get into that place for YEARS!! But I’ll save that story for a future post. 🙂 Anyway, for the past few months, Kerry has been begging me to find the blue clapboard residence featured in the 2003 movie Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star. Unfortunately, though, not only had I never seen the movie, but I also had no idea where the home might be located. So, the other day when fellow stalker Chas happened to mention that he knew the location of the Dickie Roberts house, I just about died!!! I immediately told Kerry, who also just about died. 🙂 So, Kerry, this one’s for you!

Once Chas had given me the address of the Dickie Roberts house, I just HAD to watch the movie, and I am happy to report that I LOVED it. I even found myself tearing up at the end, causing my fiance to look over at me and say “Are you actually crying over Dickie Roberts???” LOL LOL LOL What can I say, it’s a very touching movie! 🙂 Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is the story of a thirty-something washed up actor, played by David Spade, who pays a family to let him move into their home with them in the hopes of recreating his lost childhood so that he may become a better adult and, in turn, a better actor. The home, which belongs to the Finney family in the film, is supposedly located at 741 Mockingbird Lane in an idyllic neighborhood somewhere in the Los Angeles area. Once I visited the house in person, it wasn’t too hard to see why producers chose to use it as Dickie’s perfect childhood home. While I was there a woman was out walking her dog, children were riding their bikes in their front yards, a couple was jogging down the street together, and every time any of them passed each other they would call out “Hi Mrs. So and So! How are you this morning?” It was literally like a scene out of a movie! I felt like I had somehow stumbled onto the set of The Truman Show or something! LOL It’s just as idyllic of a street in real life as it was portrayed to be in the movie. Love it!

I am also very happy to report that the Dickie Roberts house looks pretty much EXACTLY the same in person as it did in the movie. According to IMDB, the real life owners of the home liked David Spade’s backyard treehouse from the movie so much, that after filming wrapped they elected to keep it! I was SO looking forward to seeing that treehouse in person, but, alas, it is not visible from the street. 🙁

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The Dickie Roberts house shows up several times throughout the movie, most notably in the hilarious scene when Dickie is introduced to the wonder that is a Slip ‘n Slide! A little bit of movie trivia for you – Wham-O, Inc., the company that manufactures the Slip ‘n Slide toy, actually sued Paramount Pictures for using their product in the movie without permission. LOL The things people get upset about, I swear! 🙂

Happy birthday to Kerry and a big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Dickie Roberts house is located at 741 South Hudson Avenue in Pasadena.

July 28, 2009July 27, 2009

Paco’s Tacos Cantina From Jerry Maguire

Last Friday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I spent an entire twelve hours stalking together!!! Yes, you read that right – an ENTIRE TWELVE HOURS!!! I’m not exaggerating!! The two of us literally drove from one end of L.A. to the other – we covered Pasadena, Redondo Beach, Eagle Rock, El Segundo, and even Santa Monica – and back again! It was FABULOUS! 🙂 One of the places at the top of our day’s stalking list was a little restaurant called Paco’s Tacos Cantina, which was featured in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire.

Mike discovered this location back in the ’90s. At the time he worked just a few blocks away from Paco’s and used to frequent the restaurant regularly for lunch. One day he noticed a poster of Jerry Maguire hanging on the wall (pictured above) and asked the owner about it. Well, it turns out that a pretty major scene from the movie had actually been filmed at the Cantina. So, of course, I made Mike take me there for lunch so I could stalk the place! 🙂

In the movie, Paco’s Tacos Cantina is the restaurant where Jerry Maguire, aka Tom Cruise, takes Dorothy Boyd, aka Renee Zellwegger, on their very first date. It is before that date that Jerry says one of my very favorite movie lines ever – well, besides “You had me at hello”, of course! 🙂 When Dorothy walks out in her LBD (that’s Little Black Dress for all of you guys out there), Jerry says, “Wow! That’s more than a dress. That’s an Audrey Hepburn movie!” LOL Love it! Please excuse the above photographs as I wasn’t able to take them from the exact same angles from which the scene was filmed.

And, of course, Mike and I just had to sit next to the fish tank like Jerry and Dorothy did in the scene. 🙂

I HIGHLY recommend stalking Paco’s Tacos! As I’ve mentioned before, I am a VERY picky eater, but I have to say that I absolutely loved Paco’s! The tacos were to die for – with all white meat chicken, no less!!!! And the chips and homemade tortillas were pretty amazing, too! While there, Mike and I got to meet Paco himself, who really could not have been nicer! He was even sweet enough to pose for a couple of pictures with us. 🙂 Paco told us that his Cantina was also featured numerous times in the ’70s television series CHiPs.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Paco’s Tacos Cantina, aka the Jerry Maguire restaurant, is located at 4141 South Centinela Avenue in Los Angeles. You can visit their website here.

July 27, 2009July 26, 2009

The Christmas Vacation Mansion

Last week I did something that I am almost too ashamed to admit to on this forum. I, Lindsay Blake of iamnotastalker.com, actually spent about two hours searching for a filming location that I – are you sitting down for this – HAD ALREADY FOUND! LOL LOL LOL I’m not kidding!!!! I guess I truly am a blonde! Ever since fellow stalker Owen tracked down the Griswold house from fave movie National Lampoon’s Vacation, I have wanted to find the mansion which stood in for Clark’s boss, Frank Shirley’s, house in the movie’s 1989 sequel Christmas Vacation. So, last week, I sat down at my computer on a mission to do just that. But unbeknownst to me, it seems I already had!

My first stalking step was to pop in my Christmas Vacation DVD and skip forward to the scene when Cousin Eddie shows up with his RV at Frank Shirley’s Chicago area manison on Christmas Eve night and kidnaps him – an idea he gets after hearing Clark’s HILARIOUS “last minute gift ideas” rant. LOL LOL LOL

As soon as the mansion came into view on my computer screen I realized that it looked extremely familiar. My first thought was that it might be located in the Pasadena area and that the reason it looked familiar was because I had driven by it regulary on my way to and from home. The more I watched the scene, the more I kept thinking to myself, “Man, I KNOW that house!” I spent the next couple of hours on Google Map’s Street View, looking up and down all the streets I frequent on a regular basis. I also spent quite a bit of time researching behind-the-scenes information on the movie. Then, just as I was about to go completely crazy, it hit me! Not only had I stalked the Christmas Vacation mansion before, but I had even BLOGGED ABOUT IT! LOL LOL LOL What an airhead I am!

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It turns out that the Christmas Vacation house is actually the Mansion Bel Aire which I stalked last May while on the hunt for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air house. The Mansion Bel Aire was built in 1922 by prominent Glendale area businessman Mattison Boyd Jones and was also used in the Aaron Spelling TV series Flamingo Road. According to Zillow, the house sits on over one and a half acres and measures a whopping 5,698 square feet! The mansion is truly amazing to see in person and I highly recommend stalking it – preferably during the month of October, as the owners apparently really do the place up for Halloween. Mansion Bel Aire has been nominated for a City of Glendale Halloween Spirit Award for several years in a row now. You can bet I am going to be dragging my fiance out to stalk it once again come October! 🙂 Personally I think they should do the place up for Christmas, too! Bring in fake snow ala how it looked in Christmas Vacation! Can you imagine how cool that would have been to see being filmed?!?!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Christmas Vacation mansion, aka Mansion Bel Aire, is located at 727 West Kenneth Road in Glendale.

July 24, 2009July 26, 2009

The Never Been Kissed Coffee Shop and Tiki Post

It appears to be “Chas week” here at iamnotastalker.com, because once again I find myself posting locations which were unearthed thanks to the incredible stalking talents of my friend Chas! A few weeks ago, I enlisted his help in finding both the coffee shop and the Tiki Post locations featured in fave romantic comedy Never Been Kissed. Chas located both sites pretty much immediately and I am VERY happy to report that the coffee shop featured in NBK is an actual coffee shop in real life, too! Y’all know how much I love me some coffee! So, I immediately dragged my fiance out to Monrovia to do some Never Been Kissed stalking – and to grab an iced latte, too, of course! 🙂

The coffee shop, which was called Nana’s in Never Been Kissed, shows up towards the beginnning of the movie as the spot where Leelee Sobieski and Drew Barrymore grab a bite to eat after cool guy Guy hides Josie’s car. In reality, that coffee shop is known as the Monrovia Coffee Company and from what information I could gather while stalking it, I believe it is the very same place that was there when NBK was filmed. The girl working the front counter was a new employee, so she couldn’t answer many of my questions, but she did say she was fairly certain that the Monrovia Coffee Company had occupied that same space for well over ten years. Maybe it’s just me, but wouldn’t you think the fact that Never Been Kissed had been filmed on the premises would have been part of the information given out during the employee training program??? Sheesh!

I am very happy to report that the Monrovia Coffee Company looks almost exactly the same in person as it did onscreen in Never Been Kissed. The decor has changed slighty and new tables and chairs have been added in the ten years since filming took place, but otherwise it is very easily recognizable!

Even the neon ice cream/coffee cup sign is STILL in place in the front window – albeit in a slightly different spot. SO LOVE IT!!!!!

And, of course, I just HAD to sit in the same exact place where Leelee and Drew hung out during the scene. 🙂 There is no table in that corner area now, but I was still floored to be sitting there, just the same.

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Chas was able to find this location by noticing an address number posted across the street from the coffee shop when Josie looked out the window during the scene. He had an inkling the coffee shop was located in Monrovia and, sure enough, he was right!

The Monrovia Coffee Company is a super cute little place that serves up some great coffee, so I highly recommend stalking it!!

Just up the street from the NBK coffee shop was the storefront that was used as the Tiki Post where David Arquette worked in the movie. I say “was the storefront” because, unfortunately, that location no longer exists. Old Town Monrovia got a bit of a facelift a few years back and the block where the Tiki Post was located was changed considerably.

I am going to guess that at the time Never Been Kissed was filmed the Tiki Post space was vacant, which is why producers chose to use it. Shortly after the movie was completed, the entire property was razed and a Cold Stone Creamery built in its place.

“The Fox and the Hair” salon, which Drew and David are standing in front of in the above screen capture, was also completely torn down and is now a Krikorian Movie Theatre. The Fox and the Hair moved just around the corner from this location to a storefront on Lime Avenue.

Chas was also able to pinpoint this location using an address number and a sign posted directly across the street from the Tiki Post which read “L & D Appliance Corp.” Thankfully, L & D is still located in the exact same spot it was during the filming of Never Been Kissed, which led Chas right to the former Tiki Post location. I told you he was good! 🙂

Big thank you – yet again! – to Chas for finding these locations.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Never Been Kissed coffee shop, aka the Monrovia Coffee Company, is located at 425 South Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia. The former Tiki Post location can be found at 408 South Myrtle Avenue, also in Monrovia.

July 23, 2009July 22, 2009

The Second Peach Pit

Two weekends ago, thanks to Mike from MovieShotsLA, I was able to stalk a location that I have long been on the lookout for – the storefront that was used as the second Peach Pit on the original Beverly Hills, 90210 series. Yes, I did say the “second” Peach Pit. As most fans of the series know, for some odd reason, three different locations were used to represent Brandon, Brenda and the gang’s favorite afterschool hangout throughout the show’s ten year run. And while Mike and I had found the other two Peach Pit locations a while back, the “second” one proved to be quite elusive. Until a few weeks ago, that is, when Mike randomly walked by it while doing some stalking in the Venice area and recognized it immediately!

Truth be told, what Mike actually recognized was not the Peach Pit storefront itself, but the alleyway located right next door which currently houses a nursery. During our search for this location, Mike and I had spent hours studying screen captures of the Peach Pit and could not for the life of us figure out what was located directly next door to it. It appeared to be some sort of empty lot or alleyway enclosed by a detailed wrought iron gate. So, when Mike saw that gate in person, he immediately recognized it! It is very surprising to me that producers chose to use this location for the Peach Pit, because, as far as I know, it is the only Venice location every used on the series.

I am very happy to report that the Peach Pit still looks exactly the same today as it did when Beverly Hills, 90210 was filmed there back in 1990. And, ironically enough, while the storefront where the Peach Pit supposedly existed is currently vacant, it looks as if a diner style restaurant is in the process of moving in there. 🙂 How apropos!

This particular location was only used as the Peach Pit during the show’s first season, beginning with the episode entitled “Higher Education”. The last episode it was featured on was the Season One finale entitled “Home Again”.

When Nat decided to remodel his restaurant in the Season Two episode entitled “”Pass, Not Pass” (pictured above), the producers moved to an entirely new location to film the Peach Pit’s exteriors. The reasoning behind the location change has remained a 90210 mystery, but my best guess is that either a new owner moved into the Venice storefront and wasn’t cool with the filming, or, even more likely, the producers decided that the Venice location was just too far out of the way to go for filming and decided to relocate the Pit to Pasadena, just a few miles from the Walsh House.

I cannot recommend stalking the “second” Peach Pit enough!!!!! It is absolutely unbelievable to me that, almost two decades later, it still looks exactly the same as it did during the 90210 days. For all of you 90210 fans out there, this location will definitely bring back some memories! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The “second” Peach Pit can be found in the Venice Place Building which is located at 1027 Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice. The first Peach Pit is located at 10801 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles and the third, final, and most recognizable Peach Pit is located at 45 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena.

July 22, 2009July 21, 2009

The Girls Just Want To Have Fun Apartment Building!!

As I sit here writing this I am in shock – absolute shock. This morning at around 10 O’clock I got a phone call from fellow stalker Chas who had some news to share with me, some very big news! Are you all sitting down for this???? Chas was calling me up to tell me that HE HAD FOUND THE GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN APARTMENT BUILDING! No, that was not a major typo, you did just read that last sentence correctly!!!! Chas, who I am now probably going to name my first born after, actually FOUND THE GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN APARTMENT BUILDING!!!! For those who are new to my blog, the large brick apartment building that Sarah Jessica Parker lived at in fave ’80s movie Girls Just Want To Have Fun is for me the absolute Holy Grail of filming locations, the one location I have spent YEARS looking for but could NOT for the life of me find, the one spot that I was sure I would go to my grave still wondering about. And Chas FOUND IT! In record time, too!

I only set Chas on the mission of finding the GJWHF apartment this past Sunday night and being that I have spent YEARS searching for it, it is absolutely unbelievable to me that he located it in a record TWO days! And the guy doesn’t even live in the L.A. area!!!! He has to have ESP or something! It’s a gift, I tell ya! And, oh yeah, did I mention that he has NEVER EVEN SEEN THE MOVIE! LOL After seeing the ONE screen capture of the building I had posted online, Chas got an inkling as to where it might be located. And sure enough, minutes later, he found it – right where he thought it would be! Totally mind-blowing! What’s even more amazing to me is that he recognized the building using aerial images, as the bird’s eye view of it (pictured above) does not look at all like how I pictured it to be. Because of the angle at which the apartment was always shown in the movie, I was under the impression that it was a U-shaped structure surrounding a grassy courtyard.

In reality, though, the GJWHF apartment building is made up of four separate matching buildings which surround a grassy courtyard. The two rear buildings have a large space running in between them which was not visible in the movie.

Pretty much immediately after Chas told me the good news, I ran right out to FINALLY stalk the GJWHF apartment! And I have to say that seeing it in person was heaven – absolute heaven – for me! I honestly never believed the day would come when I would actually be able to STALK THE GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN APARTMENT BUILDING!!! My biggest fear was that the place had been torn down, so, to see it in person today was INCREDIBLE! I honestly could NOT have been more excited!!!!! And while the apartment does look slightly different today than how it appeared in GJWHF, what’s amazing to me is how little has actually changed in the twenty-four years since filming took place!!! For the most part, the building looks EXACTLY the same as it did in 1985 when GJWHF was filmed.

The main changes occured in the building’s courtyard area, where the walkway and foliage now look quite different than how they appeared in the movie. But other than that, the rest of the building looks virtually identical to how it appeared onscreen back in 1985! And it was so very cool to see it all in person!

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This morning, when Chas first told me he had found the much-coveted apartment building, I was in absolute and total shock. My first thought was ‘What in the heck am I going to do with all of my free time?’ LOL You see, for the past year and a half, anytime I’ve had a free moment or two, instead of picking up a magazine or turning on the TV, I’d hop on Google Maps and search for the ever-elusive GJWHF apartment building. And anytime I’d drive through a new neighborhood, I’d crane my neck looking down each and every side street hoping against hope I’d randomly stumble upon it. So, to be honest, seeing that building in person today was a bit of a bittersweet moment for me. As excited as I was, I couldn’t help but wonder (subtle SJP reference there) what in the heck I am going to do with myself now!! LOL LOL LOL I feel like a mountain climber who spends years training to climb Mount Everest, finally makes it to the top, and then wonders ‘Now what?’ The Girls Just Want To Have Fun apartment was my definitely my Mount Everest. 🙂 I have no doubt, though, that it won’t be long before I come up against a new hard-to-find location that will keep me up for many a night! 🙂

Big Huge THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location!!!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Girls Just Want To Have Fun apartment building is located at ( WOW I never thought I’d be writing those words!) 511-517 South Mariposa Avenue in Los Angeles.

July 21, 2009July 20, 2009

The Win A Date With Tad Hamilton House

I am forever indebted to fellow stalker Chas who has succeeded in finding a location that has eluded me for the past few years, a location that has been at the very top of my ultimate stalking list ever since the movie it was featured in first premiered in January of 2004. The location in question? Rosalee Futch, aka Kate Bosworth’s, charming little Craftsman home from fave movie Win A Date With Tad Hamilton. It was just a few months ago that I found out that Win A Date had been filmed in its entirety on location in Los Angeles and since that time I have been completely obsessed with finding the main house used in the movie. Unfortunately, though, I had absolutely no luck in locating it. I even went so far as to contact Win A Date’s location manager via Facebook, who sent me back a one line response saying “Long time ago – think house is in Melrose Heights”. I had never heard of a place named “Melrose Heights” prior to that, so I immediately go to Googling and found out that an area with that name does actually exist in Los Angeles, but that it is a high-end shopping district. Not to be deterred, I considered the possibility that the house was located near Melrose Heights, and enlisted the help of Mike, from MovieShotsLA . The two of us set about searching any and all residences near the small shopping district, but came up empty-handed. Just last week, fellow stalker Owen joined in the search and also combed the Melrose Heights area, just in case Mike and I had missed something. They say two heads are better than one, but in this case even our three heads combined couldn’t find that house! Until Chas stepped in, that is!

Chas spent a full two days looking for the Win A Date house (how do I even begin to thank him for that???) and eventually found it in an area of Los Angeles known as Melrose Hill. Um, hello . . . Melrose HILL??? What happened to Melrose Heights???? In all fairness, though, I guess the location manager almost got the name right. But, as we all know, “almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades”. LOL Mike, Owen, and I would now like those 80+ wasted hours of our lives back! 🙂

I cannot tell you how darn excited I was to finally be seeing the Win A Date house in person. In fact, I am surprised I didn’t run my car right off the road on my way to stalk it – I was THAT excited. 🙂 And I am happy to report that, aside from a change in paint color, Rosalee’s house looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when the movie was filmed back in 2003. It’s no surprise at all that this particular house was chosen as the residence of Rosalee Futch, the All-American girl with the All-American values. It’s exactly the type of place where you’d expect to find her living. The Win A Date house is located on an adorable little tree-lined street that looks like it could very easily be found in a place called Frazier’s Bottom, Virginia, the town where the movie supposedly takes place. The Melrose Hill Neighborhood is an absolutely charming place that was built between 1911 and 1926 and consists of only 45 homes. One walk through the area’s tree lined streets and it’s not hard to see why Los Angeles Magazine named it one of L.A.’s “10 Great Neighborhoods” in 2003.

Rosalee’s Craftsman house shows up repeatedly throughout the movie, most notably the front porch area, which, as you can see in the above photograph, has since been covered over quite a bit with foliage.

And it appears that the real life interior of the home was also used for the filming of some scenes in the movie.

Ironically enough, I think I was more excited about seeing the street light out in front of Rosalee’s house than the actual house itself. While searching for the Win A Date home, Mike and I had studied that darn street light for hours, trying to figure out where in L.A. it might be located. Neither one of us had ever encountered a lamppost that unusual in all of our stalking adventures and I was beginning to think it was a fake. So, I can’t tell you how excited I was when I saw those unique lights lining the streets of the Melrose Hill neighborhood. It was validation for me that all of those hours we spent searching for the house weren’t for naught! Those lights really do exist! LOL And now, if a location with those particular street lights ever comes up in a movie again, we will know exactly where to find it! 🙂

Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location for me!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Rosalee’s house from Win A Date With Tad Hamilton is located at 814 Melrose Hill Street in the Melrose Hill Neighborhood of Los Angeles.

July 20, 2009November 16, 2009

The Never Been Kissed House

Last weekend, thanks to fellow stalker Chas, I was able to stalk a location I’ve been on the lookout for for quite some time – Drew Barrymore’s childhood home from fave romantic comedy Never Been Kissed. Chas is quite the master stalker, so last week I enlisted his help in finding this location and, lo and behold, he unearthed it pretty much immediately! Thank you, Chas!!! Never Been Kissed supposedly takes place in the Chicago area, but being that 99.9% of the movie was filmed right here in L.A., Chas had an inkling that “Josie Grosie’s” childhood home was most likely located here, as well. And sure enough, he was right. 🙂

I am very happy to report that Josie’s house looks EXACTLY the same today as it did back in 1999 when Never Been Kissed was filmed. And I really could not have been more excited to be seeing it in person!

Josie’s home is featured several times throughout the movie, most notably as the location of the heartbreaking scene when she gets egged on prom night by her high school crush, Billy. Ugh, such a sad scene!

It is also the spot where Guy picks up Josie for her second prom experience – one that turns out to be much better than her first. 🙂

Amazingly enough, Chas also managed to track down the home Josie lived in as an adult in the movie, which, ironically, can actually be found in Chicago. I find it incredibly strange that the producers would go all the way to the Windy City to film a few establishing shots of the home along with one very brief scene between Drew Barrymore and David Arquette that takes place in front of the home, when pretty much every other scene in the movie was filmed in Los Angeles. But, according to Chas, whenever filmmakers want to establish that a movie is taking place in Chicago, they film at a location near an ‘L’ Train. Which is exactly what they did in Never Been Kissed. 🙂 In the movie, Drew’s home is located directly beneath a set of ‘L’ Train tracks. Chas just recently visted the Windy City and was kind enough to stop by Josie’s house to take some pictures for me. SO COOL!

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Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding these locations and sharing his pictures of Josie’s Chicago home! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Never Been Kissed house is located at 368 North Ridgewood Place in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles. The home Josie lives in as an adult is located at 930 West Newport Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.