Year: 2009

The Pantages Theatre

As promised earlier in the week, I thought I would dedicate today’s post to the historic Pantages Theatre in Hollywood where I saw Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage last Tuesday night . And let me tell you, the Pantages Theatre is a site to see, in and of itself! The Art Deco landmark was built in 1930 by vaudeville theatre mogul Alexander Pantages for a whopping $1.25 million – and we’re talking 1930’s money!!!! It was designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca, who conceived most of the theatres in the Pantages chain. But, in an ironic twist of events, when the theatre first opened to the public on June 4, 1930, it was not opened as a Pantages, but instead under the Fox Theatre name. In 1929, while the Pantages was being built, Alexander was knee-deep in a scandal involving another of his many theatres. It seems Alexander, who was in his sixties at the time, was accused and found guilty of raping one of his sixteen year old female ushers at his theatre in Downtown Los Angeles. After being sent to jail, he was forced to open his new Hollywood theatre under a different name. In 1931, Pantages appealed the case and was awarded a new trial. His defense in the second trial maintained that rival theatre company RKO along with Joseph Kennedy (yes, that Joseph Kennedy) had framed him in order to purchase his theatre chain at a low price. Since the broom closet where the rape had supposedly occured was too small a space for two people to fit in, the jury acquitted him and Alexander was released from prison. But Pantages never regained his luxor in Hollywood. Alexander Pantages passed away only two months after his release from prison, broke and broken.

The Pantages has gone through a succession of owners during its almost eighty year history. In 1949, Howard Hughes purchased the theatre and renamed it RKO Pantages. His offices were located above the theatre on the building’s second floor. During the RKO years, from 1949 to 1959 , the Pantages hosted ten Academy Awards ceremonies. It was also home to the Emmy Awards through 1977. In 1967, the Pantages was taken over by Pacific Theatres, who in 1977 joined forces with the Nederlander Theatre Organization to refurbish the property and turn it into a live theatre venue. In October of 2000, Disney opened its hit show The Lion King at the Pantages, which ran for over two years and almost 900 performances. Just prior to The Lion King’s opening, the Pantages underwent a painstaking $10 million renovation process, bringing the theatre back to her original splendor. Since that time, the theatre has been home to over 45 live stage productions including Mama Mia, Annie, Rent, Cats, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

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The Pantages is an absolutely beautiful theatre and a stunning example of Art Deco architecture.

From its sweeping staircases . . .

. . . to its sparkling Art Deco chandeliers, I was absolutely mesmerized by the architectural detail throughout. The Pantages is truly a wonder and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it, if you get the chance!

The Pantages is no stranger to the silver screen, either. It was featured in The Bodyguard, as the site of the Academy Awards ceremony where Whitney Houston was a presenter;

the exterior of it shows up very briefly in The Black Dhalia, as Josh Hartnett makes his way into the Frolic Room which is located right next door;

and in L.A. Confidential, as Kevin Spacey does the very same thing;

and its stage was featured in Michael Jackson’s music video for the song “You Are Not Alone”. The Pantages also showed up in Season Two of Ugly Betty (it’s the “New York” theatre where Henry takes Betty to see the musical Wicked), Paparazzi (it’s the site of Cole’s movie premiere at the very end), Ed Wood, The Jazz Singer, Money Talks, and Batman Forever.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pantages Theatre is located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story On Stage is currently running at the Pantages now through June 28th. Upcoming shows include Legally Blonde: The Musical and How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

June 10, 2009
Kyra Sedgwick’s Walk Of Fame Star Ceremony

I found out a few weeks ago that Kyra Sedgwick would be receiving the 2,384th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on the morning of Monday, June 8th. So, I immediately called up my good friend Blaze and asked him if he wanted to join me in watching the ceremony.   He, of course, said yes, so today the two of us made our way out to Hollywood to watch Kyra receive her star. And, even though I had already seen the entire Closer cast in person, I was still SUPER excited to attend this event because ever since Footloose came out, I have absolutely LOVED me some Kevin Bacon. 🙂

Kyra’s ceremony was scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m., and unlike Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony, this event actually started on time. 🙂 Amazingly enough, for some reason there weren’t that many people in attendance. I’d say about forty-five fans and another fifty reporters and photographers were there. Because there weren’t a lot of people in the audience, we were able to stand fairly close to the stage area, which I was thrilled about. Up until just around 11:25, that is, when security guards led all of the media people into the area directly in front of the fans, completely blocking everyone’s view. It was SUCH a bummer. To make matters worse, many of the press photographers pulled out stepladders to stand on and propped their cameras up on huge tripods! UGH.   So, even though I was standing right in the front row, I didn’t have the best view. 🙁 I have no idea why bleachers were not set up for the event, as this definitely would have rectified the situation. Note to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce – next time you have an event like this, invest in bleachers! LOL

Right at 11:30 a.m. on the nose, Kyra Sedgwick and husband Kevin Bacon arrived and the event got underway. Kyra looked absolutely adorable and I just about died over her salmon-colored dress. I have got to get me one of those!!!!   What I was most impressed with, though, were her arms!!!! I couldn’t take my eyes off of them the entire time! As you can see in the above photograph, they are absolutely rock-hard! Not bad for a 44-year-old mother of two!!! I am so jealous!  I mean, I’m 31 and have no children and my arms don’t look nearly as good as hers! LOL Anyway, Kyra was introduced by  Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President Leron Gubler, who gave us a brief background on Kyra and her career as an actress. One of the many tid-bits of information he told us was that, contrary to popular belief, Kyra was actually born in Manhattan, not the South, and yes, her Closer accent is a fake. 🙂

After Leron’s introduction, Lee Daniels, who produced the 2004 movie The Woodsman, which starred Kyra and her husband, got up to say a few words. And when I say “a few words”, I literally mean a few words. LOL I think the guy had maybe two sentences to say about Kyra. It was kind of disappointing. If you’re going to get up on a stage to honor someone during an awards ceremony, I’m of the opinion that you should spend a little bit of time writing your speech. Brief and to the point is nice, but so is saying something meaningful. LOL  All Lee basically said was that while working with Kyra on The Woodsman, she had taught him to “live in the moment”.   To quote Chelsea Lately, “What . . . a douchebag!!” LOL

Next up was Kyra’s Closer co-star, and my fave actor from the show, G.W. Bailey. G.W. gave a FABULOUS – and absolutely hilarious – speech about Kyra and their experiences starring together on The Closer. He started off his speech by listing the questions he most commonly gets asked about Kyra – such as is her accent real (no), is she really that tiny in person (yes!), is her hair real (yes), do she and Kevin Bacon really love each other that much (absolutely!), and what is she really like in person. In answer to that last question, G.W. had this to say, “Kyra is a mix of Mary Poppins and Cruella DeVil. If you come to the set on time and know your lines, she’s a spoonful of sugar. If you come to the set late and haven’t done your homework, she’ll skin you alive and make a jacket out of you. But then she’ll feel bad and end up giving the jacket to the homeless.” LOL I absolutely LOVED that quote, as one of my biggest pet peeves in acting class is lazy actors who don’t do their homework and don’t memorize their lines!!!! You go, Kyra! 🙂

G.W. called Kyra one of the most giving actresses he has ever worked with and said that the cast nicknamed her “Mama” early on because of the way she takes care of everyone. I was actually an extra on The Closer a few months back and was able to witness firsthand how Kyra takes care of her crew. At one point while I was there, Kyra held up filming for a few minutes in order to write out a grocery list of cold remedies and medications before sending someone out to pick them up for a make up artist who was feeling under the weather. She is definitely a “Mama”. 🙂 G.W.’s speech was so sweet that he ended up making Kyra cry. So cute!

Next up was Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, who ironically enough is the son of The Closer’s consulting producer Gil Garcetti, who presented Kyra with a Hollywood Walk of Fame plaque.

Then Kyra came to the podium to make a speech. She announced at the very beginning that her speech would be brief due to the fact that her feet were already hurting from standing up for such a long time. 🙂 Kyra said that she wanted to be an actress since the age of 12, when she landed a role in a school production of Fiddler on the Roof. She said that acting in that production made her “soul dance” and she knew at that moment that she never wanted to do anything else.

But the best part of Kyra’s speech was when a Hollywood tour bus drove by!!!!   The tourists on board went absolutely crazy, so, Kyra stopped her speech and said hello to them using her Brenda Leigh Johnson accent!   LOL LOL LOL Only in L.A.! 🙂

Then, Kyra’s star was unveiled. But, unfortunately, thanks to the press standing in the way, fans see couldn’t see it at all. 🙁 Such a bummer!!! Kyra seemed absolutely thrilled to be receiving her star, though, and it made me tear up to think how special it must be to be honored as an actress in that way.   🙂

Kyra was also given a plaque with a replica of her star on it. Oh, how I want one of those!!!!!!! With my own name on it, of course!!!! 🙂

Then, the press asked if Kevin Bacon would come onstage and I just about died!! During most of the ceremony, Kevin had been standing in the audience laying low. I am pretty sure he didn’t want to steal any of his wife’s thunder during the event, so he just remained on the sidelines the entire time. I had been trying to snap a photograph of him throughout the ENTIRE ceremony, but for some reason could just not get a good shot. So, when he finally came onstage, I was FLOORED! KB is still a total cutie after all these years and I could not have been more excited to see him in person. 🙂

Also on hand to celebrate with Kyra were her Closer castmates Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett,  Anthony John Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Phillip P. Keene, and Jonathan Del Arco, along with series consulting producer Gil Garcetti.

Also in attendance was series creator James Duff.

After the ceremony was over, all of the stars – including Kyra and Kevin – came out into the audience to sign autographs and take photographs with the fans. And I could not have been more excited!!!!!!   So, of course, I just had to ask my two favorite actors from the show for a pic – G.W. Bailey,

and Anthony John Denison. Unfortunately, I was using my dad’s huge paparazzi style camera at the event, and Blaze couldn’t figure out how to zoom out to take the above photograph. LOL LOL LOL Can you say “extreme close-up”?? Oh well, at least I got a pic. 🙂

I so wanted to take a picture with KB, but, unfortunately, wasn’t standing near him when he came out into the audience. But I did manage to snap the above pic of him as he was walking to his car. Sigh!!!!

About an hour after the ceremony, I returned to see Kyra’s star unveiled, at last. 🙂

As you can see in the above photograph, because it’s brand new, Kyra’s star is much shinier than any of the others on Hollywood Boulevard.

Kyra’s star is right next to husband Kevin Bacon’s, which makes them the only married couple in history to have side by side stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 🙂

If you find yourself in the Hollywood area during a Walk of Fame Star Ceremony, I HIGHLY recommend attending one! I had an absolute blast seeing all of the stars, listening to the speeches, and being a part of a historic Hollywood event!   It was definitely a better experience for me than the Hand and Footprint Ceremony and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kyra Sedgwick’s star is located in front of Cinespace Nightclub, which is located at 6356 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

June 9, 2009
Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage!

Don’t miss your chance to catch Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage live! Dirty Dancing Pantages Theater Tickets are available at Barry’s Tickets now!

As I have mentioned several times before, Dirty Dancing is one of my absolute favorite movies of all time.   The coming of age flick had such a profound effect on me, in fact, that I can still remember exactly where I was when I saw it for the first time. That was the summer of 1988 :), I was eleven years old and was on a plane by myself flying to visit some family friends. Dirty Dancing had been released in movie theatres the previous summer and, to my chagrin, my mom had banned me from seeing it, saying I was far too young. So, imagine my excitement, when I got on the airplane and opened up my in-flight magazine to see that the movie being shown was none other than Dirty Dancing! Ha, ha, my mother had been outsmarted yet again!!! 🙂 I can still remember sitting there on that airplane, over 21 years ago, being absolutely mesmerized by the movie and the dancing. Since that time, I’ve probably watched Dirty Dancing over one hundred times. I’m pretty sure I could easily recite the entire movie, word for word, from start to finish, from memory. So, a few weeks ago, when I saw a flyer on a bulletin board at my acting school advertising the new Dirty Dancing stage show, I just about had a heart attack! HOW HAD I NOT KNOWN ABOUT THIS???? LOL I immediately drove home and purchased tickets to the show for the night of June 2nd, which honestly could not have come soon enough! Finally, last Tuesday night, my fiance and I got to see Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage! And let me tell you, I could not have been more excited!!!

The show was being held at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, an absolutely beautiful Art Deco venue and oft-used filming location which I will have to devote an entire blog post to in the near future. 🙂 When we arrived at the Pantages, you could literally feel the excitement in the air! In the lobby girls were singing “Hungry Eyes”, fans waiting in line for the bathroom were comparing their favorite scenes from the movie, and everywhere I turned I kept hearing people say “I am SO excited to see this show!” I can’t tell you how much fun it was to be in a theatre full of people who loved the movie as much as I did and who had so much excitement to see a live performance of it over twenty-two years after its original release! It was incredible!!

Before seeing the show, I honestly had no idea what to expect.   I was actually a little worried that some aspects of the movie might be changed or modernized for the stage production, but I really needn’t have fretted.  Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is exactly what its title professes it to be – a real life stage show of the movie.  It is pretty much an EXACT, word for word, replication of the movie performed on-stage right before your very eyes! Every single aspect of the movie was re-created for the stage show – right down to Baby’s many costumes!!!! It made me want to run right out and buy some white Keds and denim cut-off shorts! 🙂

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Quite possibly, the most incredible part of the production – besides the dancing, of course! – was the use of the stage. I was absolutely AMAZED that they were able to re-create the scenery from the movie in the way that they did for a live stage production. In the show, scenes take place in Kellerman’s Lodge, outside during the big rain storm, driving in Johnny’s Chevrolet, and on the fallen log in the forest where Baby and Johnny dance.    Even the “practicing the lift in the water” scene was included in the show!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t want to give too much away here, but to see Johnny and Baby onstage in the water practicing the lift was incredible!!!!! Through the unique set design – which includes hydraulic lifting panels and a huge LCD projection screen – it was as if the movie came to life right before my very eyes.  The Dirty Dancing set is actually so big that – for the first time in history – the Pantages had to remove the first three rows of seats in the audience to accommodate it AND the orchestra had to be moved from the pitt area to a room underneath the stage!!!! It truly is incredible to see!!!!! I was on a huge high throughout the entire performance and once again became that eleven year old girl on the airplane. The show is A-MA-ZING andI can’t recommend going to watch it enough!   If you were AT ALL a fan of the movie, you will LOVE this show!!! You can watch a preview of Dirty Dancing by clicking in the box above.

And, just when I thought my night couldn’t possibly get any better, I also go to go BACKSTAGE! Yes, you read that right! I GOT TO GO BACKSTAGE at Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage !!!   In a very lucky twist of fate, while planning my surprise engagement party, my mom just happened to meet the mother of one of Dirty Dancing’s ensemble cast members, Jamie Bayard.   So, I just had to ask to be put in contact with him in the hopes that he could possibly take me on a backstage tour after the show. And, sure enough, he did!!! Besides starring as a dancer in Dirty Dancing, Jamie is a United States and World West Coast Swing Champion, a Latin/Ballroom Champion, a Salsa and Musical Theatre professor at Loyola Marymount University, and he was a top twenty finalist on Season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance. 🙂 You can visit his website here. Jamie honestly could NOT have been nicer and spent a good twenty minutes talking with us about the show and showing us around backstage.

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On our tour, we got to see Jamie’s dressing room;

the outdoor “green room” complete with plasma TV where the actors hang out while not onstage;

the costumes;

Johnny’s car;

and the Dirty Dancing stage!!!!!!!!!!!!   I was absolutely freaking out over the fact that I was STANDING ON THE DIRTY DANCING STAGE! I mean, who the heck am I to be standing on the DIRTY DANCING STAGE???? LOL

Of course, I just HAD to have my fiance take a picture of me standing on the stage, but for some incredibly odd reason, beknownst only to him, he decided to zoom in for a close up while taking the photograph!   So, basically, since no part of the Dirty Dancing stage is visible in the above photograph, I have what amounts to what might as well be a picture of me standing in my own living room! LOL   Men, I swear!!!!

Seeing the show and going backstage was an absolutely incredible experience for me. A big THANK YOU to Jamie for affording us the opportunity!!! 🙂   And, as I said before, if you are in the area, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is a MUST-see!!!!

UPDATE:

Sadly, Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage will be ending its Los Angeles run this upcoming Sunday, June 28th. So, you know what that means! There are only five days left to catch this phenomenal stage show before it leaves Southern California for good. In other news, just last week, on June 17th to be exact, Dirty Dancing welcomed its 5 MILLIONTH audience member worldwide. The award winning show first premiered in Sydney, Australia in 2004 and has since opened in thirteen different cities across the world including Hamburg, Berlin, London, Toronto, Boston, and Los Angeles. Don’t miss your opportunity to see what all the fans are raving about. Visit Barry’sTickets.com today to book your tickets before it’s too late!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story On Stage is playing now through June 28th at the Pantages Theatre, which is located at 6233 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the official Dirty Dancing website here. Tickets are available at Barry’sTickets.com.

June 8, 2009
The Bedtime Stories House

Got a challenge last week from fellow stalker Owen who wanted me to find Courteney Cox’s house from the 2008 movie Bedtime Stories.   And even though I had yet to see the movie, I was actually in luck with this challenge as one of my acting classmates had worked as a production assistant on the Adam Sandler flick.   So, I immediately called her up to ask her where the house was located. But, sadly, as is often the case with this sort of thing, she could not for the life of her remember. UGH! But she did tell me that she thought the home might be in Pasadena. So, I got Mike from MovieShotsLA in on the hunt and we started our search there. And, as usual, it wasn’t long before Mike had found the house! He’s so the man!! 🙂 The Bedtime Stories house is actually located on a quiet, tree-lined street in South Pasadena, a few miles south of Pasadena proper.   And yesterday, I ran right out to stalk it. 🙂

The Bedtime Stories house is absolutely adorable and looks much the same in person as it did in the movie. And, while I was there stalking the place, I was lucky enough to get to chat with the owner, who gave me some scoop on the filming! 🙂

She told me that some filming actually took place inside of the house, too.   Filmed inside of her home were the living room scenes;

the kitchen scenes;

and the backyard party scene.

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The children’s room where Adam Sandler tells his bedtime stories, however, was built on a soundstage at Universal Studios. The owner said that producers changed the interior of her home quite a bit for the filming and that in real life it looks much different than how it appeared on screen.  All in all, filming at her house took just about two weeks to complete.

A few months after the filming had been completed, producers returned to the home yet again to film one more exterior set-up shot. Apparently, long after filming had wrapped, it was decided that a shot of the home in the rain at night was needed. So, they brought in a huge rain machine and set it up behind the house. So cool!

What I found most interesting, though, was that for the scene when Keri Russell and Adam Sandler meet, producers actually painted fake parking spaces up and down the entire street in front of the house! Apparently, they so loved the idea of Adam taking up two parking spaces and Keri giving him a hard time about it, that they created fake parking spaces along an entire city block!! LOL When I watched that scene while trying to locate the house the other day, I remember thinking how odd it looked for a cute little house in a cute little neighborhood to have vertical parking spaces in front of it. LOL Ah, the magic of the movies! 🙂

Amazingly enough, the lines from the fake parking spaces are still visible in front of the house!   So cool!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Bedtime Stories house is located at 800 Adelaine Avenue in South Pasadena.

June 5, 2009
The Cellular House

Back in September of last year, while stalking the house from fave 80s movie License to Drive, I just happened to stumble upon another famous movie home – Kim Basinger’s residence from the 2004 flick Cellular. Well, truth be told, “stumble upon” isn’t exactly the terminology I should be using here. 🙂 The real story is that while taking pictures in front of the License to Drive house, the owner came outside and struck up a conversation with me. And while he had no idea that he was living in a famous home, he did tell me that the movie Cellular had been filmed on the street directly behind his! So, of course, off I went to stalk that house! But somehow, in all this time, I never got around to blogging about it. So, here goes. 🙂

In the very beginning of Cellular, Kim Basinger, aka Jessica Martin, is kidnapped out of the large, traditional style home pictured above.   Her only hope for rescue lies in reluctant hero – and total cutie – Chris Evans, whose cell phone accidentally intercepts a 911 call Jessica is trying to make.

In the movie, we are told that Jessica’s home is located at 3270 Bonhill Road in Brentwood.   And, while a Bonhill Road in Brentwood does actually exist, the street numbers there don’t go higher than 800. In actuality, the home where filming took place is located about three miles east of Brentwood.

And, as you can see in the above screen capture, producers even went so far as to paint the number 3270 on the curb in front of the home! Which would have made locating this house extremely difficult for stalkers!!!!! So, I definitely owe a big THANK YOU to the owner of the License to Drive house. 😉 If you haven’t seen the movie Cellular yet, I highly recommend doing so! While the campy thriller has to be one of the cheesiest movies ever made, I have to say that I absolutely LOVED it!    🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Cellular house is located at 527 Loring Avenue in Los Angeles.

June 4, 2009
Watermark On Main

This past weekend, while in Ventura, my parents, my fiance, and I ate dinner at a newly opened restaurant named Watermark On Main. And, even though my eyes are ALWAYS peeled, I wasn’t exactly expecting to see a celeb during our meal. But, sure enough, we did! As it turns out, Watermark is something of a celeb hot spot. 🙂 So, I just had to blog about it.

Watermark On Main, which just recently opened last August, is located inside of the Theodore Groene/Brahn Jewelry Store Building, which is a City of Ventura Cultural Landmark.  The Spanish Revival style building was originally built in 1928 and was designed by architects Frederick M. Ashley and John C. Austin, who also designed L.A.’s Griffith Park Observatory. The structure, which was marked by tiled curtained walls, hand-painted murals, and ornately decorated ceilings, was built to house the Ventura Guarantee Building and Loan Company, who had a large safe installed on the premises. In 1938, the building was sold to Theodore Groene, who subsequently covered up and painted over much of the structure’s ornate decoration and detail. The building had several different occupants following that sale, including the Brahn Jewelry Company, until March 16, 2004 when it was purchased by the Hartley Family. From March of 2004 to August of 2008, the Hartleys began the huge task of renovating the historic building. What they uncovered was a structure that can best be described as a work of art!

Working with artist Michael Kelly, the Hartleys painstakingly brought their historic building back to life. And it truly is remarkable to see! A few of the restaurant’s unique details include travertine floors, an onyx gold wraparound bar, ceiling murals, which were originally hand-painted by artist Norman Kennedy in 1928 (pictured above);

handpainted plaster ceilings;

and African mahogany woodwork throughout.

The Hartleys also added a third floor to the building, which required a 61,000 pound steel support structure to be built on top of the existing roof. The third floor now houses the restaurant’s rooftop lounge, named W2O.

I honestly can’t recommend stalking Watermark On Main enough!! The restaurant is beautiful, the service was superb, and the food! Oh, the food! It was simply A-MA-ZING. It was so good, in fact, that I scarfed down about three pounds of appetizers, bread, and salad making it virtually impossible for me to eat any of the actual meal that I ordered! I’m not kidding – I think I ate two bites of it! LOL  Oh, well, that’s what to-go boxes are for. 🙂

And, oh, yes, the celebs! : ) The night we were there, actor/singer Kris Kristofferson was hosting a benefit concert for farm workers at the Majestic Ventura Theatre (pictured above), which just so happens to be located directly across the street from Watermark On Main.  The concert pre-party was being held at Watermark’s lounge, W2O.  And while I didn’t expect to see any celebs, before we knew it several familiar faces walked by. Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t place exactly who they were and my fiance, who is usually great at remembering names, wasn’t paying any attention whatsoever. UGH – I think I need to give the ring back.  🙂 LOL  The one face he did recognize, though, was that of Stephen Root, aka the Stapler Man from fave movie Office Space. Love it! 🙂   Other celebs who have dined at Watermark include Kevin Costner (who held the premiere of his movie Swing Vote at the Majestic Ventura Theatre), Leann Rimes, Kenny Loggins, and singer Michael McDonald. Mark Hartley, the owner of Watermark, is also a big time country music manager who represents such stars as Brad Paisley, Leann Rimes, Colbie Caillat, and Vince Gill. Apparently, his famous clients stop into Watermark on a regular basis. Love it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Watermark On Main is located at 598 East Main Street in Ventura. You can visit their website here. Reservations are recommended. You can make reservations here or by calling (805)643-6800. Watermark also has a dress code – no shorts or flip flops are allowed and, for men, collared shirts are preferred.

June 3, 2009
The Swordfish Hostage Scene

This past weekend, my parents, my fiance and I drove up to Ventura for a little weekend vacay.  And I was absolutely floored to discover – thanks to my new favorite stalking book – that the hostage scene gone wrong from the 2001 movie Swordfish had been filmed in the coastal town! But, while my stalking book stated that all of the filming took place on Main Street in Downtown Ventura, it unfortunately didn’t specify exactly which stores were used in the production. So, me being me, I just had to stalk pretty much every shop and ask around until I found the right ones. 🙂    Filming of Swordfish took place back in October of 2000 and, all in all, three main stores were used. Come to find out, though, every single storefront featured in the movie was drastically remodeled for the filming and today they are all virtually unrecognizable. Such a bummer!!!!!

All of the filming took place on one of Downtown Ventura’s main street corners, where producers were lucky enough to find two vacant storefronts that faced each other.    The first storefront, which was formerly the location of a used bookstore named Second Time Around, was where producers built the set of John Travolta’s favorite coffee shop, Traveler’s Coffee Company. Yep, that’s right – the ENTIRE coffee shop was just a set built solely for the filming!

Today, that storefront houses an American Apparel store, which looks nothing like the coffee shop in Swordfish. 🙁    Being the coffee fiend that I am, I was actually pretty bummed out when I learned that the coffee shop was a fake! I was really hoping to grab an iced latte there. LOL Thank goodness there was a Starbucks located just a few blocks away. 🙂 You can see some pics of the Traveler’s Coffee Company set being built here.

Directly across the street from “Traveler’s Coffee Company”, is the bank that John Travolta set out to rob. The interior and the facade of the building, which housed a restaurant named O’Brien’s up until a few months before filming began, were changed significantly for the filming.

Today, an upscale clothing store named Parts Unknown and a restaurant named Riviera Bistro call that space home. You can see some great photographs of the bank set being built here.

The final storefront used in Swordfish was that of Nicholby’s Nightclub, which popped up in the background of the hostage scene quite a few times. Producers built a fake newsstand on the side of the Nicholby’s building for the filming.

As you can see in the above photograph, that newsstand does not exist in real life. You can see pics of the fake newsstand being built here.

It is actually very surprising to me that producers used a real life street corner and real life storefronts to shoot Swordfish’s hostage scene. For action sequences of that magnitude, producers usually opt to film inside of studio soundstages. But because Ventura is a somewhat sleepy town, I am guessing it was fairly easy for them to take over a few vacant storefronts and close down a street corner. According to one of the business owners I talked to, production of the hostage scene took over two months to complete!!!!   While the actual filming only took about three weeks, a significant amount of time was needed to both construct and dismantle the extensive sets. I can’t even imagine being able to watch all of that take place! It must have been an amazing experience for the Ventura locals. 🙂    Oh, how I wish I had been there!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The hostage scene from Swordfish was filmed on the corner of East Main and South Oak Streets in Downtown Ventura. Traveler’s Coffee Company is really the American Apparel store located at 391 East Main Street. World Banc is the clothing store named Parts Unknown, which is located at 394 East Main Street #A. Nicholby’s Nightclub, which can be found at 404 East Main Street, was the newsstand that showed up in the background of the scene.

June 2, 2009
Cameron Frye’s House

Last Wednesday morning I almost fell out of my chair as I opened up my email account and saw an AOL news headline screaming out at me “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off   House For Sale!” At first, I thought the article was talking about the Long Beach area home that stood in for Ferris’ in the film. But, in reality, it is the ultra-modern glass and steel abode that belonged to Ferris’ best pal Cameron Frye in the film that just recently went on the market. And, while I don’t usually like to blog about places that I have not actually visited myself, since I have received about a million emails this week about the cinematically historic home, I figured what the heck! So, here goes. 🙂

The house, which was built entirely out of steel, cedar, and glass, measures 5,300 square feet, sits on almost an acre of land, and boasts four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The home was built in 1953 by prominent architect A. James Speyer for a prominent textile designer named Ben Rose, and his wife, Fran. The famous garage – which is actually called “the Pavilion” or auto museum – is separate from the house and was not built until 1970. It was designed by architect David Haid and, in line with how it was portrayed on film, was built to store Ben’s antique car collection.   The house had been featured in numerous architectural books and magazines long before Ferris Bueller was filmed and, apparently, it was through those magazines that location scouts discovered the house. 🙂 With its glass walls and simplistic design, the home reminds me quite a bit of the Stahl House in Los Angeles and the other Case Study Houses.  Cameron Frye’s home is selling for a cool $2.3 million, which I think is pretty low considering you’d be buying a cinematic and architectural landmark! 🙂 You can read a great article about the home and its original owners here.

Several memorable scenes from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off took place at Cameron Frye’s home, including the “He’ll keep calling me, he’ll keep calling me until I come over. He’ll make me feel guilty. This is – uh – this is ridiculous! OK, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go. Sh*t!” scene. LOL

I believe the real interior of the Ben Rose House was used in the scene when Ferris continually calls Cameron begging him to come over. The walls of the actual home are built entirely out of glass and, as you can see in the above screen capture, so are the walls of Cameron’s room.

But, of course, the most memorable scenes took place in the Pavilion and involved Cameron’s father’s 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California.

It is in the Pavilion that Cameron says to Ferris, “Less than 100 were made. My father spent three years restoring this car. It is his love, it is his passion . . .” to which Ferris replies. “It is fault he didn’t lock the garage.” LOL God, I love that movie!!!!

It is also in the Pavilion that Ferris “runs the car in reverse” in the hopes of removing the mileage that was accrued during their “day off”.

When that plan doesn’t work, Cameron flips out and ends up “killing the car”. LOL To shoot that scene, producers had to not only replace the Pavilion’s real life windows with breakaway glass, but also build several fake cars out of fiberglass, complete with small bombs that made the car smoke upon impact. I can’t even imagine being there to watch that scene be filmed!!!   It must have been so much fun for the owners of the house!!!! Apparently, there is an entire wall of photographs from the filming of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off on display in the Pavilion. Love it!!!

You can visit the home’s real estate website and see photos of its interior here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Cameron Frye’s house is located at 370 Beech Street in Highland Park, Illinois.

June 1, 2009
The Bronson Caves

This past weekend, on a recommendation from fellow stalker Steve, I dragged my dad and my fiance out to stalk the Bronson Caves in Griffith Park. Friends have been urging me to stalk the Bronson Caves, which are most commonly known as being the location of “the Batcave” from the 1966 television series Batman, for years now, but somehow I just never made it out there. Until this past Saturday, that is. 🙂

And I am so glad I finally did!! The term “caves” is actually something of a misnomer, though, as the passages look more like tunnels than they do caves. Surprisingly enough, the Bronson Caves were actually man-made. In 1903, a rock excavation company named Union Rock Company built a quarry on the site, which was then known as Brush Canyon. The company drilled three tunnels through the base of a small mountain and used the excavated rocks to pave Los Angeles city streets. When the company called it quits in 1920, the three tunnels remained and were coined the Bronson Caves. The rest, as they say, is Hollywood history.

The Caves have been featured in countless Hollywood productions over the years, most notably standing in for “the Batcave”, where Batman spent most of his time in the 1966 television series of the same name. You can watch the opening credits of Batman, which feature a very brief clip of the Batmobile leaving the Batcave, here.

The Caves also popped up in the alternative ending to the movie Army of Darkness. The ending, which was thought to be too depressing for movie audiences, can be found on special edition DVD’s of the 1992 flick. On a side note, one of my very favorite movie lines of all time was uttered in Army of Darkness. In the movie, one of the knights announces “I am Henry the Red, Duke of Shale, Lord of the Northland, and Leader of its Peoples”, to which Bruce Campbell replies “Well, hello Mr. Fancy Pants! I got news for you, Pal, you ain’t leading but two things right now – Jack and Sh*t. And Jack left town!” LOL LOL LOL

The Bronson Caves also showed up in the horror flick Cabin Fever as the location where Rider Strong finds one of the many dead bodies.

At the end of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Miles and Dana used the Caves as a hiding place from the pod people. You can watch that scene here. All in all, the Bronson Caves have been featured in well over one hundred productions including: The Lone Ranger, The Three Musketeers (1933), The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Sleeper, Night of the Bloodbeast, Robot Monster, The Cyclops, MacGuyver, It Conquered the Earth, The X-Files, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Short Cuts, and The Scorpion King.

As luck would have it, we even ran into some filming while stalking the Bronson Caves. Shooting on location was a very small, independent caveman/apocalypse film. And the crew was even nice enough to let us snap some pics of them. 🙂 Ironically enough, it was close to one hundred degrees outside that day and the poor caveman had to walk around in those ridiculous fur boots. LOL He must have been dying in those things!!!!

I HIGHLY recommend stalking the Bronson Caves. They are very cool to see in person, even for those of you who are not movie locations buffs. My dad, who, as I have mentioned before HATES stalking, really enjoyed seeing the Caves, as did my boyfriend.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Bronson Caves are located just off Canyon Drive inside of Griffith Park. To reach Canyon Drive, follow Hollywood Boulevard to Bronson Drive and head North. When you hit Canyon Drive, make a left. You will pass through some stone gates, a couple of parking lots, and a playground. Head to where Canyon Drive ends and park in the public lot. The Caves are a short quarter mile walk from the parking lot. To walk to the Caves, head up the first pathway – it has a red curb – to the right. You will pass through a fire gate. Head up the hill and the Caves will be around a short bend to the left. You can see some photographs of the trail that leads to the Caves here.

May 29, 2009
The Taken Mansion

This past weekend, my fiance and I rented the movie Taken – which was phenomenal, by the way!!!! – and I immediately recognized a home featured in it that was originally used in a Season One episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210. I have been dying to stalk the home for the past few years, but, unfortunately, it is located inside of a gated community and I haven’t been able to get past the guards. Yet!!! 🙂 But that’s why God created real estate websites – which is where I got the above photo. 🙂 The home, which was built in 1915 and is located inside of the exclusive Fremont Place complex in Hancock Park, has been featured in DOZENS of productions over the years.   It has five bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, boasts 8,240 square feet, and sits on almost two acres! Besides being featured on the silver screen, the home was also lived in by both Mary Pickford and Mary Miles Minter at different points in time.

In the movie Taken, the mansion stood in for the home of Liam Neeson’s ex-wife, Lenore, and her new uber-wealthy husband, Stuart. The mansion shows up several times in the movie, most notably as the site of Liam’s daughter’s birthday party.

Way back in 1990, the mansion was featured as the home of Brenda’s shoplifting pal Tiffany Morgan in the Season One episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Every Dream Has It’s Price”.  Ironically enough, though, no actual filming of Beverly Hills, 90210 took place at the home. A very brief establishing shot of the mansion was used in the episode, but all of the actual filming took place in the backyard of an Altadena home located directly across the street from Casa Walsh.

The same house also showed up in the Season 7 episode of CSI: Miami entitled “Dead on Arrival”. In the episode, the mansion was used as the setting of the fictional Bachelor-esque reality series “The Marrying Kind”.

The mansion was also used in the Season Six episode of Cold Case entitled “November 22” as the present day home of pool shark Baltimore Red.   And, as if all of that was not enough, in 2008 alone the home was featured in an infomercial, a DiGiorno pizza commercial, and episodes of Prison Break, Monk, Numbers, and the episode of The Mentalist entitled “Ladies in Red”.   How cool would it be to own that place?!?!? Oh, I would be in heaven!!!! 🙂

According to The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, the movie War of the Roses was also filmed in the Fremont Place community, just a few houses down from the Taken mansion. But, if you compare the above screen capture to the aerial image of the property supposedly used, the two houses don’t quite seem to match. So, unless some major renovations were done to the home since the filming of War of the Roses took place, I don’t think The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book’s information is correct. 🙁 Supposedly, the house from the Rocky movies is also located on the same street, but I haven’t been able to verify that yet. You can see photographs of some of the Fremont Place homes that have been used for filming and a really cool schedule of the 2007 and 2008 productions that filmed there here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Taken mansion is located at 56 Fremont Place in Los Angeles. The supposed War of the Roses home is located just down the street at 119 Fremont Place West. Please keep in mind that both of these houses are located inside of a gated, private community and trespassing is not allowed. 🙂

May 28, 2009