Will Rogers Memorial Park from “90210”

As I mentioned yesterday, my fiancé and I spent quite a bit of last weekend making up for lost time, so to speak, by catching up on all of the stalking that I had been putting off over the past few months while my dad was ill.  The location that I was most excited about seeing in person was Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, which was the spot where Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes) and Liam Court (aka Matt Lanter) took a dip in a fountain in the Season 2 episode of 90210 titled “Multiple Choices”.  And while I haven’t exactly been a huge fan of the CW series this past season, I have absolutely loved watching the friendship between Liam and Annie blossom and change in the most recent episodes, especially in the fountain scene (which is vaguely reminiscent of the Carrie/Big fountain scene from Sex and the City).  Add to that the fact that I have a massive crush on actor Matt Lanter and I just HAD to stalk the park where filming took place.  🙂  It is at this point that I should confess that I had no idea whatsoever where Annie and Liam’s fountain might be located, despite the fact that I’d actually driven by it more times than I’d care to admit.  Thankfully though, the Grim Cheaper pays closer attention to things than I do, because he recognized the park immediately while watching the show.  Thank you, G.C.!  As it turns out, Will Rogers Memorial Park is located on Sunset Boulevard, directly across the street from the Beverly Hills Hotel, one of my favorite places in all of L.A.  How I had never seen the park during one of my many visits to the Pink Palace is absolutely beyond me!  Ugh, I am such a blonde sometimes!

The five-acre parcel of land that currently makes up Will Rogers Memorial Park originally belonged to the Beverly Hills Hotel and served as its front lawn area.  In 1915, the hotel decided to donate the land to the City of Beverly Hills and it became known as Sunset Park, the city’s very first municipal park.  Thirty-seven years later, in 1952, the City renamed the property in honor of legendary actor/humorist/cowboy Will Rogers, who had been dubbed “Honorary Mayor” of Beverly Hills while at the park in 1926.

Will Rogers Memorial Park is an absolutely GORGEOUS place, with a huge central fountain filled with Koi fish, sweeping lawns, and countless palm trees which dot the property.  I honestly can’t recommend stalking it enough.

In the “Multiple Choices” episode of 90210, Liam takes Annie to the park to get her mind off of her parents’ recent marital troubles.  While there, Annie announces that she wants “to kick something or scream or just, you know, run away” before impulsively jumping into the park’s large fountain.  When Liam later tries to pull her out, he accidentally falls into the water himself.  It’s a super cute little scene and was the first time that either Annie or Liam acknowledged to themselves that they might have feelings for each other.

You can watch the Annie/Liam fountain scene by clicking above.

Will Rogers Memorial Park has actually had quite a few brushes with fame.  Its cinematic history first began almost nine decades ago, when it was featured in the 1921 Charlie Chaplin movie The Idle Class, which you can see a photograph of here.  And according to the Seeing Stars website, in 1990 rocker Rod Stewart proposed to his one-time wife Rachel Hunter while at the park.  The property is perhaps most famous, though, for a much less glitzy reason – it was in the park’s restroom that singer George Michael was arrested for performing a lewd act on April 7, 1998.  And while my fiancé did use the men’s room while we were there, I felt a little odd about sending him in with a camera to take pictures of it.  😉

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: Will Rogers Memorial Park is located at 9650 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, directly across the street from the Beverly Hills Hotel.

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