May 2013 – Page 2 – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 8, 2013May 7, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Intersection

The locale from L.A. Story that I was most interested in tracking down was also the one that I thought for sure I would never find – the intersection featured in the movie’s opening montage. Because the intersection was fairly non-descript, only shown briefly and no clues as to its location visible in the scene, and because over two decades had passed since filming had taken place, I figured it would be a virtually impossible find. Enter fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, whom I had sent a couple of screen captures to in the hopes that he would assist in the hunt. Amazingly enough, he emailed me back 24 hours later with an address! Somehow, Owen had managed to track down several of the flick’s crew members (have I mentioned he missed his true calling by not joining the FBI?), all of whom had gotten back to him almost immediately. Most did not recall the intersection’s location, but thankfully one did remember that it was in the vicinity of the Santa Monica Airport. And while it took a bit of time searching aerial views of all of the four-way stops near SMO, Owen did manage to pinpoint the place. So I ran right out to stalk it two weekends ago while in L.A.

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L.A. Story opens with a montage of clips showing everyday life in Los Angeles. And while the segment is seemingly satiric, I can attest to the fact that most of the bits are truthful. You can watch that montage by clicking below.

In my favorite part of the segment, four cars meet at a four-way stop and each driver waves the others on. In a hapless twist, all of the drivers wind up hitting the gas at the same moment and crash into each other in the middle of the intersection. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in that exact same scenario – minus the crash, thankfully – and I can’t help but laugh every time I watch the scene. It is just so L.A.

I was absolutely thrilled to discover that the intersection and houses visible in the background of the scene still look pretty much exactly the same today as they did in 1991 when L.A. Story was filmed.

Ironically enough, if you look closely at the scene, you will notice that more than four cars were actually used in the filming – a behind-the-scenes tidbit told to Owen by one of the crew members. In fact, he said, “I recall we wrecked about 16 cars on the various takes on that scene.” How cool would it have been to see that in person?

Even more interesting is the fact that the actual crash portion of the scene was not shot at the intersection, but at a random parking lot (I think a parking lot at the Lantana production center in Santa Monica where the L.A. Story production offices were located). The crew member informed Owen, “To crash the cars on the street, I would have had to close down those streets and permit for the crash. That would have required too much time since the crash is shot from overhead, in other words, it required a crane. So we would have shot the crash/crane part of it in a parking lot.” I absolutely LOVE learning little bits of trivia like that, especially being that there was never a commentary made for L.A. Story, something that I am still in shock over.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The four-way stop from L.A. Story is located at the intersection of Butler Avenue and Kingsland Street in West Los Angeles.

May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Fundraiser House

Another L.A. Story location that I was desperate to track down was the sloped-roof residence where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) and Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) attended a “private art museum” fundraiser in the 1991 comedy. Because the home was so architecturally unique, I was sure that it would be an easy find. I was wrong. After scouring countless online film location libraries and architectural databases and coming up empty-handed, I decided that I needed to call for reinforcements. I sent a few screen captures to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, to see if he recognized the place and, as luck would have it, he did! During a visit to Los Angeles a couple of years back, Geoff and his wife had done some sight-seeing in the Palos Verdes area. They happened to drive by the L.A. Story house that day and took note of it due to its distinctive roof. All Geoff had to do was retrace their steps and, voila, he found the place in a snap. Yay! So I ran right out to the South Bay to stalk it while in L.A. two weekends ago.

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In real life, the residence is known as the Bowler house, named for John Bowler, the industrial building contractor who commissioned it. The dwelling, which was constructed in 1963, was designed by Lloyd Wright, son of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was composed of concrete, glass and Santa Maria stone. Lloyd also designed all of the property’s furnishings (which were angled to match the design of the house), cabinetry and vast landscaping.

Thanks to the triangular, pitched roof, which was manufactured out of blue corrugated fiberglass, the property is also sometimes called the Bird of Paradise house, which is something of a misnomer, as Lloyd had actually based the design on a diamond module.

The residence, which was renovated by Eric Lloyd Wright, Lloyd’s son, in 1991, features 3,904 square feet of living space, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a library, a formal dining room, a master suite, a laundry room, an in-ground swimming pool, separate guest quarters, and a 0.89-acre plot of hilltop land boasting 180-degree ocean views. The site was put on the market in mid-2008 for $2.5 million and wound up selling in January 2009 for $1.895 million. You can check out the real estate listing and some great interior photographs of the house here.

In L.A. Story, Harris and Sara head to the Bowler house to attend a formal fundraising dinner in which a man is trying to raise city funds to found an art museum that will not be open to the public. LOL Pictured below are the screen captures that I sent to Geoff when I asked for his help in tracking down the residence. It is amazing to me that he was able to recall a home pictured in dark, very limited screenshots simply from driving past it several years back. My hat is definitely off to him!

The real life interior of the home also appeared in the scene.

On a side-note – I would like to wish a HUGE congratulations to my girl Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, who not only just got a big promotion at work (she can now get herself – and me! – into Disneyland for FREE anytime she wants!), but, most exciting, also recently got engaged . . . to Keith Coogan (yes, that Keith Coogan!). I am over-the-moon happy for her and wish her and Keith all the joy in the world!

I got to meet Keith this weekend (at Disneyland) and I cannot express how much fun it was to run around quoting lines from Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead with him. When he randomly said, “Rock and roll!” at one point during the day, I just about died! He is also really into filming locations, so, Pinky, I approve. You chose well! Winking smile

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Bird of Paradise house, aka the L.A. Story fundraiser house, is located at 3456 Via Campesina in Rancho Palos Verdes.

May 3, 2013May 3, 2013

The California Colonic Institution from “L.A. Story”

When I began my search for all of the missing L.A Story locations a few weeks back, I emailed about a million-and-a-half screen captures to fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, in the hopes that he would be so inclined to help me out with the hunt. Thankfully, he was. One locale that we found at the exact same time (we literally texted each other with the address at the same moment!) was the California Colonic Institution, where SanDeE* (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker) took Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) for a high colonic, aka an enema, in the 1991 flick. While I had known that the site was located somewhere along Venice Beach and had tracked it down by looking up and down the coastline using Google Maps, Mike had actually recognized the place immediately thanks to the fact that, unbeknownst to me, it had also appeared in the 1993 thriller Point of No Return. How random is that? So, while in SoCal this past weekend, I ran right out to stalk it. (I am amazed that I was able to snap the above photograph sans any people, by the way! Anyone who has ever experienced the hustle and bustle of Venice Beach knows what a feat that was!)

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In real life, the California Colonic Institution from L.A. Story is known as the Blu House (or the Nike Blu House, as Nike, Inc. used the site as office space for many years) and, at over a century old, is one of the most historic residences still standing in Venice Beach. The two-story bungalow was originally built in 1901 and since that time it has served as everything from an event venue (one fete was even hosted by Jerry Springer, apparently!) to a clothing store to an art gallery to a medical marijuana facility. And while several websites have also stated that both Jim Morrison and Charlie Chaplin lived on the premises at different points in time, I believe that information is actually incorrect.

The beachfront house, which boasts three bedrooms, one bath, 2,656 square feet of living space, a 1,500-square-foot deck, and a tiny 0.10-acre plot of land, currently serves as the headquarters for Snapchat – at what is apparently a rate of $20,000 a month!

The California Colonic Institution only shows up once in L.A. Story and very briefly at that, in the scene in which SanDeE* takes Harris on a date . . . for an enema. Romantic, huh? It is there that SanDeE* says of the experience, “God, it really clears out your head!” To which Harris says, “Head? Head? You should go back in there and tell them they’re doing it wrong.” LOL

Only a very tiny portion of the property, namely the front porch area, was shown during the scene.

That front porch in its current state is pictured below. As you can see, while the front doors have changed from a single door to double doors, the site still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did in 1991 when L.A. Story was filmed.

Because so little of the residence was shown, I was only able to pinpoint its location due to the fact that it was apparent from the filming that the front door was situated at an angle diagonal to the boardwalk, as you can see below. Thankfully, only one property in Venice fit that description.

I also matched up the buildings that were visible in the background of the scene. Ironically enough, while doing research on the Blu House, I learned that the brick building located just north of it is known as Gingerbread Court and was apparently built by none other than Charlie Chaplin.

It was not until making screen captures for today’s post that I spotted an address number of 523 behind Steve Martin in the scene. D’oh! Would have made my search so much easier had I realized that earlier!

I am fairly certain that the same location was used for the brief montage scene in which SanDeE* attended a spokesmodel class in the movie. The palm trees visible through the windows and the framing of the interior French doors seem to match up to those of the Blu house. That is just a hunch, though.

In Point of No Return, the Blu House was where assassin Maggie Hayward (Bridget Fonda) rented an apartment upon arriving in Venice Beach.

As you can see below, the property still had a single front door at the time of the filming.

I am guessing that the interior of Maggie’s apartment was just a set and not the actual interior of the Blu House.

According to the Venice-Mar Vista Patch, the Blu House was also the setting of an MTV summer reality series, although I am unsure of which one.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for helping me to find this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Blu House, aka the California Colonic Institution from L.A Story, is located at 523 Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach.

May 2, 2013May 1, 2013

Sara’s Apartment Building from “L.A. Story”

After tracking down the location of the “talking” freeway sign and Now! clothing store from fave movie L.A. Story (which I blogged about here and here, respectively) a couple of weeks ago, I embarked upon a mission to uncover all of the unknown locales from the 1991 flick. And with a lot of help from the usual suspects – fellow stalkers Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, and Geoff, from the 90210Locations website – I managed to do just that! One location that I actually found all on my own, though, was the unique sloped-roof building where Londoner Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) stayed while visiting Los Angeles in the movie. So I ran right out to stalk it while in SoCal this past weekend.

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Thankfully, this one was quite the easy find. I had an inkling that Sara’s building was located in the West Hollywood area, where a considerable amount of L.A. Story was lensed. So I did a Google search for “West Hollywood apartment building” and “butterfly roof” and, sure enough, one of the results was a WeHo.org page that included a write-up about the historic Hollywood Riviera building located at 1400 North Hayworth Avenue, which turned out to be the right spot. (Although it actually houses condominiums, not apartments.) Woot woot!

The Hollywood Riviera was designed by prolific Los Angeles-based architect Edward H. Fickett in 1954. The extremely unique, 38-unit, post-war-modern-style building features a sloped butterfly roofline, louvered windows, floating exterior staircases, canted (yeah, I had to look that one up, too) balconies, and a central courtyard with a swimming pool.

It also has a pretty cool retro-style sign.

Incredibly, of the 37 West Hollywood apartment buildings that Fickett designed during his lifetime, only five are known to remain standing to this day. Most were demolished to make way for larger, more modern structures. Due to this sad fact and the building’s unique architecture, the West Hollywood Historic Preservation Commission designated the Hollywood Riviera a Historic Cultural Resource in 2010.

In L.A. Story, Sara, the love interest of Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin), stays at the Hollywood Riviera while in town to write an article about Los Angeles for The London Times. The building shows up numerous times throughout the movie.

The areas of the Riviera that appeared in the flick include the front exterior;

the front door of one of the units (I am guessing that the unit’s real life apartment number was used in the filming);

and the courtyard and pool.

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of one of the units was utilized in the shoot as well, although Sara’s homestead was two stories, while all of the Hollywood Riviera condos that I have found real estate listings for online consist of only one story, so who knows. You can check out a real estate listing for an actual unit here to see how it compares.

I am also fairly certain that Sara’s balcony was a real Hollywood Riviera balcony.

The Hollywood Riviera was also where Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren) lived in 1999’s The Limey.

And while several websites (including this one and this one) state that the building has appeared in numerous movies and television shows, I could not find the names of any of the other productions that filmed on the premises.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sara’s apartment building from L.A. Story, aka the Hollywood Riviera, is located at 1400 North Hayworth Avenue in West Hollywood.

May 1, 2013May 1, 2013

My Weekend with Michael Buble!

This past weekend was an absolute whirlwind – so much so that I am still trying to process the whole thing. It all started a couple of weeks back when I received a phone call from a good friend who informed me that the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, of which he is a member, was going to be hosting “An Evening with Michael Buble” – a special question and answer session and mini-concert with the cutie crooner – on April 28th. He had reserved two tickets for the event and, because he says he can’t hear the name Michael Buble without thinking of me, invited me to be his plus-one. As you can imagine, I was absolutely ESCTATIC over the news! Especially since I had been experiencing a particularly tough week with my dad. Flash forward to last Wednesday evening. I received another phone call from my friend informing me that he had heard (this friend knows absolutely EVERYONE in the business) that Michael would be arriving at LAX that Saturday at 1 a.m. and that if I wanted a photograph with him, going there would be my best bet. So even though I am SO not a night owl (I am typically in my PJs, glass of champagne in hand, by 6 p.m. every night), for MB I rallied! As did the Grim Cheaper – and I am so glad that we did because it turned out to be a magical experience. (And yes, I do realize that I can no longer call myself “not a stalker” now that I have gone to the airport to meet a celebrity! Winking smile )

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When the GC and I arrived at LAX, I was shocked to see that there were about twenty paparazzi and autograph dealers (aka “graphers”) already waiting for Michael. Those who read my site regularly know that I am not AT ALL a fan of the graphers – they are extremely aggressive and typically try to get between 20-30 items signed each, thereby taking up all of a celebrity’s time. (Not to mention, they are obnoxious! A TSA agent walked by at one point and asked who we were waiting for and one of the dealers responded, “Michael Buble – he’s a nobody.” Yeah, that guy’s lucky he didn’t get a fist to the face! Winking smile ) I am not an aggressive person by nature and do not do well in situations involving graphers and paparazzi, so I was fearful that the evening was not going to go well. Come to find out, I never should have worried. Not only is Michael Buble THE NICEST celebrity that I have ever met (Shannen Doherty runs a close second), but the GC was my absolute HERO that night and totally had my back! When MB walked out of the gate area, the graphers and paparazzi, of course, surrounded him and kept shoving photos and Sharpies into his face and hands. I called out to Michael from the sidelines and asked if he would pose for a picture, to which he said, “Sure! Just let me finish signing.” Well, anyone who has ever experienced the graphers knows that there is not ever a “finish” to their autograph seeking. These people carry hundreds upon hundreds of photographs with them at all times. (I’m not joking – some of them even cart around portable filing cabinets filled with celebrity pictures!) Well, MB pretty much signed his life away and it did not appear that the graphers were ever going to stop, so the GC yelled out, “Michael – this girl is a HUGE fan! She flew to Vancouver just to see the grocery store from your video!” (You can read my blog post on the Killarney Market from MB’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” video here.) Michael could not believe that and seemed really excited about it. Just then, his handler stopped him, saying, “OK we are done here. Come on, Michael, we’re leaving.” To which MB said, “Hold on, I need to take a picture with this sweet girl over here.” As you can imagine, I almost died right there on the spot!

My friend took the picture below in which I was telling Michael that he was my number one favorite celebrity. Smile

I was just slightly ecstatic.

The photo below perfectly encapsulates how Michael interacts with his fans. He was SO incredibly friendly, cordial and engaging to everyone who was there – almost unbelievably so. Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, likes to describe fan-friendly celebrities as “braid-your-hair nice”, in that they are so accommodating, they’d braid your hair if you asked them to. Well, braid-your-hair nice doesn’t even being to describe Buble. He is more like “take-the-shirt-off-his-back-and-give-it-to-you nice.” The poor guy had been on a flight for over five hours and it was 1 o’clock in the morning (4 a.m. his time) when he arrived at the airport, yet he still stood there for what seemed like forever signing autographs and posing for pictures!

My dad, who (if possible) loves MB even more than I do, had asked if I would try to get a CD and a photograph signed for him. Right after Michael took the picture with me, he signed the CD – both the actual CD and the CD cover, which was so incredibly cool. (I framed it as soon as I got home and the result is below. My dad LOVES it.)

After Michael signed my dad’s CD, he headed outside to wait for his car. In all of the excitement, I had completely forgotten about the photograph that my dad wanted signed. It was a picture that I had taken on December 13th, 2010 at Michael’s Crazy Love concert at the Staples Center (which I blogged about here). The GC and I had surprised my dad with tickets to the concert for his birthday that year and then for Christmas, which was a few weeks later, I framed one of the photos from the night and gave it to him. It’s been hanging in his office ever since. (Ironically enough, that same Christmas my dad gifted me with a framed photograph of MB that he had also taken at the concert! Smile ) Well, as soon as Michael stepped outside of the airport, the graphers and paparazzi went crazy all over again and surrounded him. At that point, Michael’s handler got wise to the fact that these people were not fans and told him not to sign anything else. Michael then said, “OK guys, I’m not signing anymore, but I’ll take all the photos you want.” Well, that started a whole other sh*tstorm, with even the paps jumping in trying to get pictures with the singer and everyone saying, “My picture didn’t come out, can I get another?” In the midst of the chaos, I went up to MB’s handler and asked if he could please sign one more photograph for my dad. The handler emphatically told me, “NO!” He was annoyed – and I don’t blame him in the slightest. The whole thing was absolutely ridiculous! You can kind of see the mayhem below – and me in the back trying to avoid the graphers.

Michael’s car arrived a few minutes later, but he still stayed outside taking photographs with people. When I told the GC how disappointed I was that I couldn’t get my dad’s picture signed (especially because that concert is such a special memory for the two of us), he grabbed it and went right up to Michael and said, “Look, we are actual fans. Her dad loves you and is very sick and would love to have this picture signed.” To which Michael replied, “Oh man, of course!” As I said, the GC was my hero that night! I NEVER would have gotten my dad’s photo signed – and personalized!!! – without him. I told the GC that while I had fallen in love with MB a little bit more than I already was that night, I had fallen in love with my husband A LOT more. Smile On the drive home, while in total disbelief, I said, “Do you realize that I now have photographs with my top four favorite celebs (Michael Buble, Matt Lanter, Kristin Cavallari, and Shannen Doherty)? The GC’s reply? “Great! Can we retire from this now?” LOL Not surprisingly, I did not sleep at all that night and could not believe that I still had Sunday’s “An Evening with Michael Buble” to look forward to!

Flash forward to Sunday. My friend and I showed up about three hours early to “An Evening with Michael Buble” and wound up with fabulous sixth-row seats!

The Q&A portion of the event, which was hosted by Extra’s Terri Seymour, featured Michael Buble, NBC President of Late Night, Specials and Alternative Programming Paul Telegdy, producer Brad Lachman, Michael Buble’s manager Bruce Allen, and producer Bill Bracken.

The panel discussed the taping of Michael’s 2012 NBC Christmas special, Michael Buble: Home for the Holidays. The group shared some great behind-the-scenes stories and a video was shown explaining how the segment in which MB sang with Bing Crosby was made, which was fascinating to watch. And while the entire evening was taped, I am unsure of when or where it will air. If I had to guess, I would say that NBC is planning to sell DVDs of Michael Buble: Home for the Holidays come December and that the Q&A will be included as a special feature, but that is just a hunch.

After the Q&A session, Michael performed three songs from his new album, To Be Loved. He opened with the classic Michael Jackson ballad “Who’s Lovin’ You” and after belting out the long opening “When I” sequence, suddenly cut into “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”. The whole band immediately went silent and MB said, “You should see my musical director’s face right now!” LOL Michael is completely at home on the stage, so incredibly fun to watch and, as usual, absolutely brought down the house. The guy is a perennial performer and I could sit there and watch him sing all night, although I am pretty sure that goes without saying. MB’s set list also included “Young at Heart” and “To Love Somebody” and everyone in the audience was sent home with a To Be Loved CD!

After the show, Michael’s people rushed him outside and through the massive crowd leaving the theatre (which I do not think had been their intention) and even though it was complete chaos, Michael did stop to sign autographs and pose for pictures – including one with me! – as he was being dragged towards his car. The guy is SO flipping nice! <3 <3 <3 The entire weekend was an amazing experience and I am so thankful that I got to be a part of it all. This is one high that I don’t think I’ll ever come down from!

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this post.