January 2011 – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 31, 2011January 30, 2011

Pamela’s House from “Teen Wolf”

A little over two weeks ago, fellow stalker Owen went on a mission to try to track down all of the locations used in the 1985 comedy Teen Wolf, which starred his favorite actor Michael J. Fox. And the locale that he was most interested in finding was the house belonging to Pamela Wells (aka Lorie Griffin), Scott Howard’s (aka MJF’s) love interest in the flick. Because Scott’s house in the movie was located in South Pasadena – ironically enough, it was the very same residence where the teenaged Lorraine Baines (aka Lea Thompson) lived in the Back to the Future movies – Owen had a feeling that Pamela’s house was most likely also located somewhere in that same vicinity. So, without so much as even an address number or a street name to guide him, but armed with a pretty great hunch, he started using Google Street View to search through the properties situated near the Howard residence and happened upon Pamela’s house rather quickly. Amazingly enough, it is located right around the corner and just a scant .2 miles away from the Howard home! Yay! So, this past Friday afternoon, I set out to stalk the place, even though it has been YEARS since I have watched Teen Wolf!

[ad]

Pamela’s house only actually shows up once in Teen Wolf, in the scene in which Scott walks Pamela home after a date at the local bowling alley – a locale which I blogged about back in June of 2009. It is while walking her home that Pamela breaks Scott’s heart by telling him that she will not go to the school dance with him because she already has a boyfriend.

Amazingly enough, Pamela’s house looks VERY much the same today as it did when the filming of Teen Wolf took place back in 1985. Aside from a change in paint color and the removal of the front window shutters, the residence is virtually indistinguishable from its onscreen counterpart, which I find so incredibly cool. Although I do have to admit that I much prefer the way the house looked in 1985 than to how it appears now.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pamela’s house from Teen Wolf is located at 1980 Oak Street in South Pasadena. Scott Howard’s house from Teen Wolf, which was also Lorraine Baines’ house in Back to the Future, is located just around the corner at 1727 Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena.

January 28, 2011January 27, 2011

The “Crossroads” Gas Station

One location that I was absolutely dying to stalk while visiting Palmdale last week was the supposed Texas-area gas station where Lucy Wagner (aka Miss Britney Spears) stole the keys to Ben’s (aka Anson Mount’s) Buick Skylark convertible in the 2002 movie Crossroads. I had known from watching the flick’s DVD commentary with director Tamra Davis and writer Shonda Rhimes that the gas station scene was filmed somewhere in the Palmdale/Lancaster area, but unfortunately its exact location was not specified. So, the night before my dad and I were set to head out that way, I got to work looking at aerial views of what I thought was every single gas station located within the Palmdale/Lancaster city limits. Unfortunately though, I came up completely empty-handed. So, imagine my surprise the following morning when I spotted what I was fairly certain was the Crossroads station while driving to the famed Four Aces movie set. I just about had a heart attack, slammed on my brakes, did a U-turn in the middle of the street, and headed right on back to the station to get a closer look.

[ad]

And, as it turns out, my instincts were right! The Super Store 6, as it is called in real life, was in fact the gas station from Crossroads! So, I immediately headed right on inside to speak with the owner who truly could NOT have been nicer. She told me that Britney had been very friendly and down-to-earth during the filming and that it had been a fairly low-key shoot. The owner also informed me that her station had appeared in both ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video and the final scene from the original Terminator movie. Unfortunately though, the gas station has been completely remodeled since that time and looks quite a bit different today than it did in the early 1980’s when those productions were filmed.

Thankfully though, Crossroads was filmed after the remodel took place, so it still looks very much the same in person as it did onscreen. In what turned out to be one of my very favorite scenes from the movie, Lucy, Ben, and their friends Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) and Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), stop by the station to fill up their car with gas while making their way from Louisiana to California. After grabbing a snack in the station’s mini-mart, Lucy, Mimi, and Kit discover that Ben has fallen asleep in the backseat of his car and, even though they have been warned that they are not allowed to touch the car under any circumstances, they decide to steal his keys and drive to their next destination themselves.

Mimi nominates Lucy to steal the car keys from Ben’s pocket because, as she says, “Well, Kit and I voted and you lost!” (LOVE IT!) So, Lucy snatches the keys and the girls drive off into the sunset.

But not before snapping the above photograph of themselves which I think is just about the cutest thing ever. I love, love, love that famous cross-eyed, tongue-out Britney face . . .

. . . which she later duplicated in her Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi Cola, but I digress.

In Crossroads, Ben’s Buick is parked at the station’s southeastern-most pump, in the spot where I am standing in the above photograph. Because there was a large truck parked right near the pump, though, my dad had to take the picture from the opposite direction from which the camera was facing in the movie.

In the very final scene of The Terminator, Sarah Connor (aka Linda Hamilton) stops by the Super Store 6 to fill her tank with gas and winds up having her photograph taken by a young boy. I am fairly certain that the station was never actually colored pink and green in real life, but that producers had it painted solely for the filming of the movie and then painted it back to its original color when the production was wrapped. Because the gas station is supposed to be located somewhere in the Mexican desert in the flick, producers also added quite a bit of set dressing, including Spanish signs, piñatas, and souvenirs, making the place look quite a bit different than it actually appeared at the time.

ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video takes place almost in its entirety at the Crossroads/Terminator gas station.

In the video, the woman in red parks her car in the exact same spot that Sarah Connor parked her Jeep in The Terminator, but the camera is facing in the opposite direction in the video than it was in the movie so the view is a bit different.

But, as you can see in the above screen captures, the square-shaped bars that cover the mini-mart’s windows . . .

. . . and the roofline and roof shape from the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” video exactly match that which appeared in The Terminator.

“Gimme All Your Lovin’” Music Video at Palmdale Gas Station

You can watch the “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video by clicking above.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Super Store 6, aka the gas station from Crossroads, the final scene in the first Terminator movie, and ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video, is located at 37202 90th Street East, at the corner of 90th Street East and Avenue S, in Palmdale. Some maps also list the gas station as being located in the town of Littlerock. In Crossroads, Ben’s car was parked at the pump located in the northeast corner of the station, in the area denoted with a pink “X” in the above aerial view. At the end of The Terminator, Sarah Connor was parked in front of the station’s western-most pump, in the area denoted with a blue “X” in the above aerial view. ZZ Top’s “Gimme All Your Lovin’” music video was filmed in the exact same spot that was used in The Terminator.

January 27, 2011January 27, 2011

The “Kill Bill” Church

One location that my dad and I visited while stalking in the Lancaster and Palmdale areas last week was the Sanctuary Adventist Church which was used prominently in the 2003 and 2004 Quentin Tarantino movies Kill Bill: Volume 1 and Kill Bill: Volume 2. And although I have never actually seen either of the Kill Bill flicks, I was dying to stalk the church because, thanks to fave book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, I found out that it also had a very small, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in the 2002 Britney Spears movie Crossroads, in which I was an extra. I should mention here that if you are planning to spend a day stalking in Palmdale – and I do HIGHLY recommend doing so – I suggest you print out maps of each and every location that you are wanting to visit before heading out the door. I failed to do so and had planned on using my navigation system to lead me to each locale, but, let me tell you, that did NOT pan out very well. At most points during our journey, my navigator had no idea where on earth we were – more than once it told me I was driving on a road that didn’t exist! LOL – and a few times it even took us on routes through dirt roads that wound up at dead ends. And while Palmdale and Lancaster are not exactly desolate – there’s even a Starbucks there! – most of the filming locations in that area are pretty far removed from civilization. I suggest that you not make a stalking journey out there alone and that you arrive with a full tank of gas and a car that is in good working order.

[ad]

The Sanctuary Adventist Church, which up until recently was known as the Calvary Baptist Church, is an actual working religious facility that, sadly, does not appear to currently be in the best of shape. The tiny Spanish-style chapel definitely has a Southwestern feel to it and it is not very hard to see why Quentin Tarantino chose to use it as the site of the wedding day massacre in his two-part action flick. Especially with that lone Joshua tree that stands in front of it and gives the church a very picturesque, very cinematic feel.

As you can see in the above photograph, the church is also located on a very desolate and very remote stretch of desert road, which gives it a very non-L.A., non-California feel. In fact it is hard to believe that the place is located just a scant sixty miles away from the hustle and bustle that is Los Angeles.

In Crossroads, the church stood in for the supposed Arizona-area Native American souvenir stand that Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), Mimi (aka Taryn Manning), and Ben (aka Anson Mount) stop at during their journey from Louisiana to California. It is while at the stand that Lucy asks her friends for advice on whether she should show up at her estranged mother’s house unannounced or call her beforehand.

Ironically enough, even though the church is supposed to be a roadside souvenir stand in the movie, for whatever reason producers decided to leave the Calvary Baptist Church sign up during the filming.

In Kill Bill: Volume 1 and 2, the Sanctuary Adventist Church stood in for the supposed El Paso, Texas-area Two Pines Wedding Chapel where the Deadly Viper Assassination Team (aka Vivica A. Fox, Lucy Liu, Daryl Hannah, Michael Madsen, and David Carradine) attempt to kill “the Bride” (aka Uma Thurman).

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the church, which you can see a photograph of here, was also used in the production of both films.

The church has also been featured in numerous other productions, as well. In fact, the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G, where the church is located, is quite a famous little stretch of land. In the 1981 movie True Confessions, the Sanctuary Adventist Church is where Detective Tom Spellacy (aka Robert Duvall) visits his brother Father Des Spellacy (aka Robert DeNiro).

The 1999 Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick Dessert Heat (which, for some reason, is also named Inferno), was filmed almost in its entirety in both the former High Vista Diner and the sundries store located directly across the street from the Sanctuary Adventist Church. The church is visible in the background throughout the vast majority of the movie.

Jubal Early (aka Pat Morita) is also shown ringing the church bell at one point in the movie, although that bell is no longer there in real life.

In Desert Heat, the High Vista Diner is where both Rhonda Reynolds (aka Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) and Dottie Matthews (aka Jaime Pressly) worked. In real life, the place was not a real working restaurant, but, much like Four Aces and Club Ed, was solely built for use as a filming location. Sadly though, the structure was torn down back in early 2008 and is now nothing more than a dirt lot. You can see a photograph of what it used to look like here and here.

Right next to the former High Vista Diner location is another vacant building which stood in for the Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus store in Desert Heat. And while that structure is still currently standing, I am not sure for how long that will be the case.

As you can in the above photographs, the building does not look to be in the best of shape, although it is apparently still available for filming. Winking smile

The Elis Emporium structure was also visible in the background of the opening scene of True Confessions and I do believe that it was a real working grocery store at one point in time.

The little motel that Henry Howard (aka Robert Symonds) and his wife (aka Priscilla Pointer) owned in Desert Heat used to be located directly behind the Elis Emporium building, but it has also since been torn down.

In Nurse Betty, the High Vista Café stood in for the supposed Williams, Arizona-area Canyon Ranch Bar where Betty (aka Renee Zellweger), and later Wesley (aka Chris Rock) and Charlie (aka Morgan Freeman), stop while making their way towards California.

I am fairly certain that the interior of the Canyon Ranch Bar was filmed elsewhere though, as it looks nothing like the interior of the diner from Desert Heat and also appears to be quite a bit larger than the former High Vista Diner building. My guess is that the interior Canyon Ranch Bar scenes were filmed on a soundstage somewhere in Hollywood.

The Kill Bill church is also just barely visible in the background of Nurse Betty in the scene in which Charlie and Wesley arrive at the Canyon Ranch Bar.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Sanctuary Adventist Church, aka the Kill Bill church, is located at the intersection of 198th Street East and East Avenue G in Lancaster. The High Vista Diner was formerly located directly across the street from the church at the southeast corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G. The Elis Emporium Sundries and Surplus Store from Desert Heat is located at the southwest corner of 198th Street East and East Avenue G.

January 26, 2011June 9, 2021

The Los Feliz “Murder House”

I can honestly say that out of all of the locations that I have ever stalked in my entire life, the subject of today’s post is hands down the most perplexing and mind-boggling! Last week, when I called up Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to tell him that Geoff, from the 90210locations website, had tracked down the residence belonging to Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) during Season One of Beverly Hills, 90210, he fell silent with shock. As it turns out there is another very famous, or perhaps very infamous, property located just up the road from Donna’s house and it is a property that Mike has actually been to countless times in the past. He then proceeded to tell me about the Los Feliz “Murder House”, or “Murder Mansion” as it is also sometimes called, which I had never before heard of. And, let me tell you, once Mike filled me in on the story of the home I was literally up ALL NIGHT reading articles on the subject and I also immediately ran right out to see the place in person the very next day.

[ad]

The story – and it is absolutely fascinating – is as follows . . . On the night of December 6, 1959, Dr. Harold Perelson, a wealthy Inglewood heart specialist, bludgeoned his wife, Lillian, to death with a ball-peen hammer and severely beat his 18-year-old daughter, Judye, while his other two children slept soundly in their bedrooms. Judye survived the beating and ran down the hillside to a neighbor’s home at 2471 Glendower Place to call for help. In the meantime, the two younger children awoke and asked their father about the screaming. Harold told them that they had been having a nightmare and to go back to sleep. He then took a cocktail of pills, killing himself instantly. The police arrived shortly thereafter and took all three Perelson children into custody. The mansion was locked up and the children were sent to live with relatives back east. The motive behind the brutal murder/suicide was never completely known, although some speculate that the Perelsons were in financial trouble. But here’s where the story gets weird.

About a year after the murder/suicide, the Perelson’s 5,050-square-foot, Spanish Revival-style mansion was purchased by Emily and Julian Enriquez via a probate auction. And while the couple, who lived in Lincoln Heights at the time, visited the mansion on occasion and even stored some of their possessions there, for reasons that remain unclear they never inhabited the property, nor did they ever move the Perelson’s belongings out! To this day, over five decades later, the mansion remains in almost the exact same state it was in on the night of December 6, 1959! According to a February 6, 2009 Los Angeles Times article written about the case, not only is the Perelson’s furniture still as it was on that evening, but their Christmas gifts remain sitting on the kitchen table, as if someone was interrupted mid-wrap, and their Christmas tree still stands in the living room!! I’m not making this up! Even stranger still is the fact that even though Emily and Julian have since passed away and their son has owned the property since 1994, it still remains in its December 1959 state. The Los Angeles Times article reports that numerous buyers have contacted Rudy wanting to purchase the home, but that, for whatever reason, he refuses to sell.

The mansion, which was built in 1925 and was quite beautiful in its day, boasts four master bedrooms, three bathrooms, a conservatory, maid’s quarters, a 20-foot by 36-foot ballroom, sweeping views of Los Angeles, and sits on over half an acre of land. Sadly though, the house has fallen into severe disrepair during the past fifty-plus years that it has remained vacant. As you can see in the above photographs, the driveway is severely cracked and the mailbox is almost completely toppled over. Neighbors do what they can to keep the grounds in order and a burglar alarm has recently been installed to keep trespassers out, but other than that the house remains frozen in time and most believe that it will eventually have to be torn down. Ron Shinkman, of The Irony Supplement Blog, wrote a very interesting post on the Perelson mansion back in early 2009 and actually managed to snap a few photographs of the interior of the property, in which some of the Perelson’s former furniture and even one of the children’s former board games are visible. Personally I think there has to be something more to the story and that perhaps the Enriquez family knew the Perelsons and had a personal reason for leaving the house in its 1959 state, but the truth of the matter is that we will most likely never know the whole story.

Another famous property, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis house, is located directly behind the Perelson mansion and is denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph. The house, which I have yet to blog about, is one of the most famous properties in the entire world, architecturally speaking, and has appeared in such films as 1959’s House on Haunted Hill, The Day of the Locust, Blade Runner, and Rush Hour.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The former Perelson mansion, aka the “Los Feliz Murder House”, is located at 2475 Glendower Place, just off of Glendower Avenue, in Los Feliz. Donna Martin’s house from the first season of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 2405 Glendower Avenue and the Ennis house is located at 2607 Glendower Avenue.

January 25, 2011January 24, 2011

Donna Martin’s House from the B.Y.O.B. Episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210”

One location that I have been wanting to stalk for just about as long as I can remember now is the mansion where Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) lived in the Season 1 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “B.Y.O.B”. For whatever reason, though, I could just NOT seem to track the place down. Over the past few months I had managed to contact a few of the crew members who had worked on the episode and even a few of the actors who had appeared in it, all of whom told me that they did not recognize the screen capture of the house that I had sent them and that the property where filming took place was located somewhere in the Valley. One of the crew members also told me that he was 99.9% certain that the establishing shot of the mansion which appeared in the episode had been a stock photograph and that no actual filming had taken place there. This news pained me to hear as, because stock photographs are most often purchased from stock location libraries, it meant that the chances of tracking the place down were slim to none. So, imagine my surprise last Friday when I received a tweet from Geoff, from the 90210locations website, informing me that he had somehow managed to find the mansion! Let me tell you, I just about died of excitement and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place the very next day! Thank you, Geoff!!

Sadly, while I am VERY happy to report that the mansion still looks almost EXACTLY the same today as it did when it appeared on Beverly Hills, 90210 over two decades ago, the property is gated and is not very visible from the street. Sad smile The house, which was originally built in 1926, is definitely beautiful, though, and absolutely GINORMOUS! In real life, it boasts 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and 8,260 square feet of living space.

As fate would have it, when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, went to stalk the home later that very same day, the gate happened to be open and he was able to take the above photograph which matches the screen capture from the “B.Y.O.B.” episode perfectly! So incredibly cool!

[ad]

The mansion pictured above was actually only used as Donna’s residence in the “B.Y.O.B.” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. In later episodes, two different properties stood in for her home – one located at 18515 Wells Drive in Encino, which I blogged about back in November of 2008, and another located at 1060 Brooklawn Drive in Bel Air, which in real life is owned by Barron Hilton, Paris’ grandfather, and which was also used as the Colby mansion on the television series The Colbys. In the “B.Y.O.B” episode, Donna throws a massive party at the mansion while her parents are out of town, during which Steve Sanders (aka Ian Ziering) spikes Brandon Walsh’s (aka Jason Priestley’s) drink – aka his “mucho ‘mahvelous’ mango margarita”.

As I mentioned above though, all of the actual filming of “B.Y.O.B.” took place at a different residence (pictured above), which, according to all of the crew members and actors that I spoke with, is located somewhere in the Valley, most likely Encino.

While I was scanning through the “B.Y.O.B” episode to make screen captures for today’s post, I noticed something a bit coincidental. In the scene in which Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) spots her brother Brandon standing in Donna’s backyard, a green awning-type structure is visible in the background.

Well, as it just so happens, there is a very similar looking – and very similarly situated – green awning-type structure in the backyard of the home located at 18515 Wells Drive in Encino, the very same dwelling which stood in for the Martin residence during the later years of the show. The brick patio flooring of the Wells Drive home also matches that of the home from “B.Y.O.B”. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the property used as Donna’s house in the “B.Y.O.B.” episode from Season 1 was the very same property which ended up being used as her home nine years later during Seasons 9 and 10? Without more close-up images of the backyard, it is impossible to tell either way, but nevertheless I found the whole thing very interesting!

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from 90210Locations, for finding this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for snapping the incredible photograph of it which appears in this post! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Donna Martin’s house from the first season of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 2405 Glendower Avenue in Los Feliz.

January 24, 2011January 5, 2018

Hanging Out at the Rehearsals for the Golden Globe Awards

Two Saturdays ago, as the Grim Cheaper and I were heading out to Santa Monica to run some errands, I got a text message from fellow stalker Lavonna reminding me that the Golden Globe Awards were being held the following evening at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Lavonna suggested that I stop by the hotel to see if anything exciting was going on and thankfully the GC didn’t object, so we immediately drove right on over there. And, let me tell you, it could not have been more exciting! Had I known what was in store for me that day, I never would have been able to sleep the night before!

We arrived at the Hilton to pretty much mass chaos. Both the hotel’s front and back entrances were completely shut down and production trucks and set workers were absolutely EVERYWHERE!

There were also huge tents set up on the outskirts of the hotel property. The tent pictured above, which was situated across the street from the hotel in the parking lot of the now-defunct Robinsons-May department store, was for the Fox Searchlight Golden Globes After Party.

The Beverly Hilton Hotel is actually closed to the public on both the day before and the day of the Golden Globes ceremony and because security around the hotel was extremely tight, I did not think we would be able to get inside. The stalking gods were DEFINITELY shining on me when we showed up to stalk the place, though, because miraculously – and thanks to a very big connection my dad has at the hotel – we were allowed in! I literally could NOT believe it! The farther we ventured inside, the more often I kept turning back to look at the GC, my mouth hanging open in absolute shock.

Before being allowed inside, I was not sure if there would be all that much to see or if any celebrities would even be on the premises, but, as it turns out, rehearsals for the ceremony were taking place in the hotel’s International Ballroom. A small section of the Hilton’s lobby had been cordoned off and hotel guests were allowed to stand in that area for meet and greets with all of the celebrities who ventured past. Well, as you can imagine I just about DIED upon finding that out and parked myself in that area for the next eight hours. I’m not kidding! Smile (Pictured above is the back of Carson Daly, who was the first celeb to walk by after I got there. He was not at all friendly, though, and did not stop for photos or to sign autographs.)

As it turns out, the Hilton offers a very special – and very pricey – Golden Globes Package each year, which, besides the rehearsal-meet-and-greet, also includes a two-night stay at the hotel, a Golden Globes gift bag complete with an autograph book, a sit-down breakfast and box lunch the day of the ceremony, and – are you sitting down for this??? – two VIP bleacher seats on the actual Golden Globes’ red carpet! Oh, what I wouldn’t give to purchase that package! Because it costs between $3,000 and $3,900, though, I seriously doubt that is ever going to happen! Pictured above is the room key that Golden Globes Package guests receive upon check-in. So incredibly cool! All of the people situated in the meet-and-greet area were Golden Globe Package guests and I spent the entire day hanging out with them, while the GC parked himself in the hotel’s lobby bar to watch the football game on TV. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to spend the day waiting around to see stars with like-minded, celebrity-obsessed people. I had an ABSOLUTE BLAST and met some very cool fellow stalkers in the process!

After Carson Daly, the next celeb to walk by was E! News’ Giuliana Rancic, who was running late for a hair appointment and therefore could not stop to pose for pictures with any of us. She did seem very friendly, though, and apologized several times for not being able to stop. After Guiliana, there was a steady stream of celebrities who filtered through the lobby the entire rest of the day. It was a virtual movie star parade and, as you can imagine, I was in ABSOLUTE HEAVEN!

Next up was Kelly Osbourne, who is absolutely ADORABLE in person. I LOVED the little bow she had tied in her hair. SO INCREDIBLY CUTE! Kelly is also VERY thin. I’m talking TEENY, TEENY TINY! Far smaller than she appears to be on E!’s Fashion Police.

Kelly stopped to pose and sign autographs with every single person who was there, including me, which I was beyond thrilled about!

The star I was most excited about seeing, though, was Leighton Meester, whom I absolutely ADORE on Gossip Girl. I had so badly wanted to get a photograph with Leighton back in October of 2009, when I saw Gossip Girl being filmed while on vacation in New York, but that sadly did not happen. So I was BEYOND excited when she stopped to pose at the Hilton. YAY!

I had read in the January 2011 issue of Allure Magazine, for which Leighton was the cover girl, that the actress was just about as far removed from her Gossip Girl persona Blair Waldorf as one could possibly be. According to the editors of the beauty mag, not only did Leighton introduce herself to each member of the crew when she arrived for the shoot, but she also thanked each of the crew members individually upon leaving. And I have to say that my experience with her was much the same. Leighton was incredibly friendly, warm, personable, and down-to-earth. She stayed in the lobby a really long time in order to get a photograph with everyone who wanted one. She was a total and complete sweetheart and, after meeting her, I can honestly say that I love her even more now than I did before. Some celebrities wind up being a rather large disappointment when you meet or see them in person, but I am very happy to report that that was definitely not the case with Leighton. Smile

Not all of the stars who present awards at the Golden Globes actually show up for a rehearsal. A lot of celebrities have stand-ins who rehearse for them, as was the case with Steve Carell whose stand-in is pictured above. I love that the stand-ins had to wear their celeb’s name-tag around their neck. Too funny!

Other stars who were in attendance that day included Modern Family’s Julie Bowen, who sadly only had time to sign a few autographs as she was running late for a birthday party for one of her son’s friends;

Olivia Wilde, aka “Thirteen” from House, M.D., who despite having no make-up on looked absolutely stunning;

Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton, who actually seemed a bit aloof;

Home and Away and Star Trek star Chris Hemsworth, whose arms were literally the size of both of my thighs put together – I honestly do not think I have ever seen arms that muscular before in my entire life;

Hailee Steinfeld, whom I absolutely LOVE, mostly because she recently spoke out about getting majorly snubbed by super-diva Lea Michele while on the Paramount lot auditioning for True Grit;

TRON: Legacy star Garrett Hedlund, who was INCREDIBLY sweet;

and pop star Justin Bieber, whom I unfortunately did not get a good photograph of because he was ushered out of the lobby at lightning speed by his massive bodyguards. You can just barely see him in the above picture – he is wearing the white shirt and beaded necklace and is carrying a cell phone in his hand. Justin was SUPER cute in person, but a lot tinier than I had expected.

At around 6 p.m., most of my fellow stalkers started to pack up to leave as the only star left who was set to rehearse that day was Megan Fox and none of us were really interested in seeing her. I actually started to pack up my belongings, as well, but then a thought occurred to me – Brian Austin Green just might be accompanying Megan that night as the two of them seem to do just about everything together and if I could have gotten a photograph of him, but didn’t, I would ALWAYS regret it later. So, while everyone else went back to their rooms, the GC and I stuck around the lobby. And I am SO glad we did because about fifteen minutes later who should walk in but comedienne Loni Love, whom I absolutely – pardon the pun – LOVE. Loni is a frequent round-table guest on fave show Chelsea Lately and she is absolutely HILARIOUS! As soon as I spotted Loni, I gasped and said loudly to the GC, “OH MY GOD, it’s Loni Love!” Well, Loni heard me say this and looked over and smiled. I pointed to her and then to myself and mimed taking a picture with my hands and she IMMEDIATELY walked right on over to snap a photo with me! Loni was so incredibly nice and had a very warm personality and was easily one of my favorite people I met all day. It was especially exciting because my dad is also a HUGE fan of hers.

I also got a picture with Brad Wollack and Sarah Colonna who are also frequent guests on Chelsea Lately and both of whom were VERY nice.

Then, just as I turned to the GC and said, “I wish Ross Mathews was here!”, who should walk through the lobby doors but Ross himself and I just about had a heart attack! When Ross saw that we were looking at him, he immediately called us over and spent a good five minutes talking with us about the Golden Globes and which celebs we had seen that day. Ross is INCREDIBLY down to earth and the whole time we were talking to him, it felt as if we were speaking with an old friend – a celeb-obsessed old friend, of course. Smile Ross is also incredibly bubbly and REALLY funny. I absolutely love, love, LOVE him. Even more so now than I did before. And about three hours after we took the above photograph, Ross happened to walk by the GC and me once again and stopped to say hello and asked if we had seen any other celebs since we had spoken to him last. SUCH an incredibly nice guy.

Ross, Sarah, Brad, and Loni were all at the Hilton to rehearse for the LIVE on E! Golden Globes After Show, the set of which is pictured above.

Then, right at 7 p.m., Megan Fox walked through the doors of the lobby, followed by none other than David Silver himself, Brian Austin Green! And let me tell you, I could NOT have been more excited!

And while I let Megan walk right by, I called out to Brian and asked him to take a photograph with me, which he did. Brian was REALLY nice and when I told him how much I had loved 90210 he thanked me. It was literally the perfect end to a perfect day! Sigh!

After getting my photograph with Brian, the GC and I headed downstairs to the hotel’s legendary Trader Vic’s restaurant – which I will be blogging about later – to grab a bite to eat. The restaurant was undergoing preparations for the following night’s HBO After Party so I just had to pose celeb-style in front of the backdrop that was being set up. Smile

On our way out the door, after spotting director Oliver Stone whom we did not get a photograph of, I posed for a picture in front of the CNN and Inside Edition portions of the Golden Globes’ red carpet. You can see how blindingly bright the red carpet lights were in the above photographs. It was about 9 at night when those pictures were taken!

And I also just had to snap a pic in the back of the hotel, where another red carpet had been set up. Love it! All in all, it was a magical day and I can’t wait to do it all again next year! That is, if I can get past the front door. Winking smile

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for reminding me about the Golden Globe Awards and suggesting that I stalk the Beverly Hilton that day! You rock, my friend!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Beverly Hilton Hotel, where the Golden Globe Awards are held each year, is located at 9876 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. For more information about the Golden Globes Package, you can contact the hotel directly.

January 21, 2011January 20, 2011

David’s Bungalow from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

This past Tuesday night, Geoff, from the 90210locations website, asked for my help in tracking down the blue and white bungalow where Carly Reynolds (aka Hilary Swank) – and in later years David Silver (aka Brian Austin Green), Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry), and Noah Hunter (aka Vincent Young) – lived during Season 8 of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210. Now as I have mentioned a few times before on this site, I stopped watching 90210 after Season 4 when my girl Shannen Doherty left the series, but Geoff sent me a screen capture of the bungalow in the hopes that I could track the place down anyway. Randomly enough, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had just loaned me several of his DVDs of the older seasons of the show with the instruction that I should start watching the series over again from the beginning. One of the seasons he loaned me just happened to be Season 8, so after I received Geoff’s email, I immediately popped in the first DVD and started scanning through it looking for clues to the location of Carly’s bungalow. And, thanks to a little help from Mike, I was able to find the place almost immediately.

Mike clued me into the fact that every shot of the bungalow shown on the series seemed to have been taken at an odd, sideways angle. And scanning through the Season 8 episodes, I realized that I could literally not find one single establishing shot that had been taken of the house head on.

That paired with the fact that the home seemed to be situated at an angle perpendicular to that of its front gate led Mike to believe that the property did not actually face the street.

He had also noticed that in both the episodes “Pride and Prejudice” and “Toil and Trouble” there was a house that looked like a mirror image of Carly’s located in very close proximity and directly across the street from it. All of these little “clues” added together led him to believe that Carly’s residence was not actually a house at all, but what is commonly referred to in Los Angeles as a “bungalow court” apartment complex. So, armed with that information from Mike and after scanning through quite a few Season 8 episodes of the show, I immediately starting searching through Google for addresses of different bungalow court apartments. And thankfully quite a few came up, almost all of which were in the Hollywood area. I then looked at all of those addresses using Bing aerial views. Because Carly’s house had a very unique roofline I thought it would be fairly easy to spot from above and, thankfully, it was! One of the addresses that had come up on Google was for a bungalow court located at 1554 North Serrano Avenue. And while that complex wasn’t where Carly lived on 90210, I did notice that there were quite a few other bungalow courts located on that very same street. And, magically, one was Carly’s! YAY! So, I immediately dragged my dad out to stalk the place yesterday afternoon.

[ad]

Carly and David’s bungalow court apartment complex is actually something of a historic property and was designed by architect A.B. Crist in 1919. It is a SUPER cute and picturesque little grouping of homes and it is not at all hard to see why producers chose to use it on Beverly Hills, 90210.

Unfortunately, there is a large tree that is now situated in front of Carly’s bungalow which considerably blocks the view of it from the street.

But the bungalow located directly across from it is very visible and, as you can see in the above photographs, looks exactly like Carly and David’s home. Like Geoff said to me after I told him I had found the place, I guess I am going to have to start watching all of the later seasons of the show now. Smile

On a side note – I just wanted to let all of my fellow stalkers know that Bing Maps has recently added a “Streetside” feature to its site and it is A-MA-ZING! In fact, I think it is safe to say that I am absolutely in love with it! The imaging is one hundred times better than that of Google Street View, not to mention one hundred times faster. If you are trying to track a location down, I honestly cannot recommend using it enough!

Big THANK YO U to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for helping me find this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: David Silver’s bungalow – aka Carly Reynold’s bungalow – from the later seasons of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 1547 North Serrano Avenue in Hollywood.

January 20, 2011January 24, 2011

Stalking in Palmdale!

My dad and I spent the entire day yesterday stalking locales in the Palmdale area – something I have been absolutely DYING to do for YEARS. I was most excited about seeing the famed Four Aces movie set (pictured above), which appeared in an episode of The O.C. and the Lady Gaga/Beyonce “Telephone” music video, among COUNTLESS other productions. Unfortunately though, because we were out stalking from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., I did not have a chance to write a post for today. I promise to be back tomorrow, though, with a whole new blog!

So, until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

January 19, 2011January 24, 2011

The “Swingers” Apartment Building

One location that I stalked quite a few months back, but for whatever reason have yet to blog about is the Los Feliz apartment building where Mike (aka Jon Favreau) lived in the 1996 comedy Swingers. I had actually been wanting to stalk this location for quite some time, ever since reading on the IMDB trivia page for Swingers that Jon Favreau had lived there while writing the screenplay for the movie and during the actual filming. IMDB even had the address of the building – 5874 Franklin Avenue in Los Feliz – listed on its Swingers filming locations page, but when my husband and I showed up to stalk the place we discovered that such an address did not actually exist. At first I thought that the Swingers building had quite possibly been torn down, but, as it turns out, the information posted on IMDB was actually incorrect. While looking for the apartment numbered 5874, I noticed the building located at 5870 Franklin Avenue and thought it looked very similar to where Mike had lived in Swingers, so my husband and I ventured over there for a closer look. And amazingly enough we found our answer in a very cool way while doing so!

As it turns out, and as you can see in the above photograph, there is a Swingers poster hanging on the wall of the building’s lobby, which we spotted while peeking in through the front windows. Once I saw that poster, I knew we had to be in the right place! So incredibly cool! I am not sure why there is also a Batman poster displayed in the lobby, being that Batman was filmed in its entirety in England, but I am guessing that maybe someone involved in the production had lived in the building at one time or another.

In real life, the Swingers apartment building is named Chateau Marcella and it was originally built in 1928. Due to the building’s detailing and character, I assumed it was mostly likely a historic structure of some sort, but sadly I could find absolutely no information about it online. Like nothing, nada, zip. Not even a single Yelp report stating whether or not it was a nice place to live!

But I am happy to report that the building looks very much the same today as it did back in 1996 when Swingers was filmed.

[ad]

Not only did Jon Favreau live at the Chateau Marcella while Swingers was being filmed, but his real life apartment even stood in for Mike’s apartment in the flick! Which makes sense because according to some of the behind-the-scenes information that I have found about the movie online, the Swingers’ shoot was a very low budget one. So, I am guessing that to cut down on costs, Jon decided to use his own apartment for the filming instead of paying to rent out a location for days on end.

I believe that the filming of Swingers took place inside of apartment 382, as in the scene in which Mike comes home after first meeting Lorraine (aka Heather Graham), he opens his front door and a number is just barely visible. I believe that number is 382, but don’t quote me on that as it is very hard to make out. According to IMDB’s trivia page for Swingers, actor Adam Scott also lived at Chateau Marcella during the time that Swingers was being filmed.

The apartment also boasts a fabulous view of the Hollywood sign.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Chateau Marcella, aka the Swingers apartment building and actor Jon Favreau’s former home, is located at 5870 Franklin Avenue in Los Feliz. The 101 Coffee Shop, where Mike and his friends hung out in the movie, is located just a few blocks west of the apartment building at 6145 Franklin Avenue.

January 18, 2011January 17, 2011

72 North – The Real Life Emerald City Bar from “Grey’s Anatomy”

While Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were watching True Blood being filmed in Pasadena last Wednesday night, we got to talking with the owner of The Old Towne Pub about all of the filming that has taken place in the area over the years. The owner was extremely knowledgeable and clued us in to a lot of locations that neither of us had previously known about, the most exciting of which for me was the downstairs bar of the former McMurphy’s Restaurant & Tavern, now 72 North, which is used as the supposed Seattle-area Emerald City Bar where all of the Seattle Grace interns hang out each week on the hit television series Grey’s Anatomy. I was EXTREMELY interested in stalking McMurphy’s upon finding out that after filming the Season 2 episode of the series titled “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” on location there, producers had an exact replica of the place rebuilt at ABC Prospect Studios, where Grey’s Anatomy is lensed, that they then used for filming each and every week, which I thought was just about the coolest thing ever! Even though I have never watched Grey’s Anatomy, finding that out was like discovering that Central Perk from Friends was modeled after a real life coffee shop that one could actually visit! So incredibly cool! Sadly, McMurphy’s Restaurant and Tavern closed its doors a few years ago and the new owners completely gutted and remodeled the place, renamed it Dullahans, and it subsequently closed down yet again just a short while later. It was then sold once again to new owners and renamed 72 North. Miraculously though, through all of the changes of ownership and the extensive remodel, the downstairs bar area was left untouched and still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when Grey’s Anatomy first filmed there back in 2005. YAY! So, this past Friday night I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place.

[ad]

Ever since Emerald City Bar, or Joe’s Bar as it is also sometimes referred to on Grey’s Anatomy, appeared in the “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” episode, it has been featured almost weekly on the series as the regular hangout of Meredith Grey (aka Ellen Pompeo), Christina Yang (aka Sandra Oh), Derek Shepherd (aka Patrick Dempsey), and the rest of the Seattle Grace gang. The above screen captures were taken from the “Raindrops” episode, during which filming took place at the actual downstairs bar area of McMurphy’s Restaurant & Tavern.

The above screen captures were taken from later episodes of the series, during which filming took place at the studio-built replica of the bar.

The downstairs bar area at 72 North is currently only used for special events and private parties, but one of the super-friendly bartenders offered to open it up for me so that I could snap a few pictures of the place. And even though Bartender Joe’s Seattle-inspired decorations were of course no longer in place, the bar is still very recognizable from the series. So incredibly cool!

Unfortunately, I did not get a great picture of the bar’s front doors while I was stalking the place, but you can kind of see them in the above photograph.

72 North’s downstairs room can actually be reached via an exterior staircase much like it was portrayed on Grey’s Anatomy.

72 North has a kind of sports/dive bar-type atmosphere, but, let me tell you, the food they serve there is nothing short of FABULOUS! This is not your ordinary bar food in any way, shape, or form! The chicken was cooked to absolute perfection and, as I have mentioned numerous times before, I am extremely picky about my chicken. The GC and I ordered up a vegetable plate while we were there and not only was it amazing, but it was also absolutely HUGE! It was literally the size of a platter one would serve at a party! And the cost of that vegetable dish? Because it was happy hour, the tray was only $3! I am not kidding! Our entire meal came to $27 and we each had a cocktail! Needless to say, the GC was absolutely THRILLED upon receiving the check and told me that we could go back to stalk the place anytime I wanted. Winking smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: 72 North, aka the real life Emerald City Bar or Joe’s Bar from Grey’s Anatomy, is located at 72 North Fair Oaks Avenue in Old Town Pasadena. The downstairs bar is the area that is shown on the series. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.