August 2013 – IAMNOTASTALKER

August 29, 2013August 10, 2018

Echo Park

One location that I have wanted to stalk ever since June 2012, when I wrote my post about MacArthur Park from New Girl (which you can read here), was the similar-looking Echo Park in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood. Sadly though, my efforts were thwarted for over a year due to an extensive restoration project that was taking place on the premises. The property eventually reopened two months ago and I was absolutely chomping at the bit to stalk it, and finally managed to do just that a couple of weekends ago when the Grim Cheaper and I were in Los Angeles for a brief stay. I can honestly say that the place was worth the wait, though, because it is easily one of the most beautiful locales that I have ever visited.

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The 29-acre parcel of land now known as Echo Park was originally a natural ravine created from the flow of the Arroyo de Los Reyes stream. A 20-foot dam was built on the site in 1868 that turned the ravine into Reservoir Number 4, which provided drinking water to nearby residents. In 1892, the city decided to turn the reservoir and its neighboring land into a public park and landscape architect/Superintendent of the Department of Parks Joseph Henry Tomlinson was commissioned to design it. Legend has it that the site got its name due to the fact that Tomlinson heard an echo as he shouted across the property one day while developing the space. Echo Park, which was declared a City of Los Angeles Cultural Monument in 2006, is one of the oldest public parks in L.A.

Today, the 26-million-gallon, 13-acre Echo Park Lake serves as a detention basin for the City’s storm drain system. As stated in the “Land o’ Lake” article that was featured in the June 2013 issue of Los Angeles magazine, “Runoff from streets and storm drains pauses here before heading into the Los Angeles River and, ultimately, the ocean. In dry weather about 110,000 gallons pass through the lake each day.”

The lake is perhaps best known for its iconic three-geyser fountain, which was installed as part of a Los Angeles beautification project just prior to the 1984 Olympic Games.

In 2011, a two-year, $45-million restoration/water quality project was begun, during which 40,000 cubic yards of sediment was removed from the bottom of the lake – as was trash, debris and random discarded items including a skateboard, a Frisbee and a toilet (LOL!). Four acres of wetland were also added to the premises . . .

. . . as well as two observation decks, a café and a large jogging path.

The site’s vast lotus bed (once the largest lotus bed in the western United States), which had disappeared by 2008, was also restored thanks to a fortuitous bit of thievery.

In 2005, a horticulturalist named Randy McDonald pilfered a lotus from the lake, violating a municipal code which states that removing plants from city parks is illegal. He cultivated the small stem and began selling its offshoots to unsuspecting customers. A few years later, when the restoration project first got underway, landscape architect Josh Segal heard buzzings that McDonald had a spawn of the iconic Echo Park lotus plant and contacted him. He wound up purchasing 376 plants from the thief – at a cost of $30,000! – to stock the new and improved lake. As journalist Marisa Gerber wrote in a June 2013 Los Angeles Times article, “Finding McDonald gave the restoration ‘a special story that involves theft,’ Segal said, breaking into a laugh. ‘It’s L.A.’”

The netting that currently covers the lotus bed, as well as most of the other vegetation in the park, will be in place for about a year and serves to protect the greenery from hungry birds.

The newly restored Echo Park was reopened to the public on June 15th, 2013.

The result is easily one of the most picturesque places I have ever visited in my life.

Shortly after the reopening, the lake’s infamous pedal boats were also brought back. And, as you can see below, business was booming when we showed up – the wait time to rent a boat was about two hours!

A café named Square One at the Boathouse was also launched in the park’s iconic 1932 boathouse shortly after the reopening.

Due to its immense picturesqueness, Echo Park has been featured in countless productions over the years – so many that it would be virtually impossible for me to list them all. What follows are some of the property’s onscreen highlights.

The park’s most famous appearance was arguably in the 1974 classic Chinatown, in which it was the spot where JJ Gittes (Jack Nicholson) secretly photographed Commissioner Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), who was boating with a woman who was not his wife.

In 1991, Echo Park masqueraded as the Stationary Bike Riding Park, where running was not allowed, for the opening scene of fave movie L.A. Story.

In the 1991 thriller Dead Again, Mike Church (Kenneth Branagh) took Grace (Emma Thompson) on a date to Echo Park, where they ate at the boathouse and then walked around the lake.

Despite several websites claiming that the scene took place in MacArthur Park, Echo Park was actually where Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross) and Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton) plotted to kill Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro) in the 1994 Season 2 finale of Melrose Place, which was titled “Till Death Do Us Part.”

As you can see below, the view of the U.S. Bank Tower and Citigroup Center that was shown in the episode matches perfectly to the view of those buildings from Echo Park.

Echo Park was used again in the 1996 Season 4 episode of Melrose Place titled “Melrose Unglued,” as the place where Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga) and Dr. Dominick O’Malley (Brad Johnson) confronted Laurie (Justine Priestley – Jason Priestley’s twin!) about their suspicion that her son was being abused.

In the 1992 flick Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Echo Park was where Sgt. Joe Bomowski (Sylvester Stallone) picnicked with him mom, Tutti Bomowski (Estelle Getty).

Echo Park was turned into the supposed San Francisco-area cemetery where the the funeral for Mark Chao (John Cho) was held in the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “Dead Man Dating.”

The park also popped up in the 2003 Season 5 episode of Charmed titled “House Call,” as the spot where Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan) reunited with Glen Belland (Jesse Woodrow).

In 2001’s Training Day, Det. Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) and Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) drove by Echo Park shortly after Harris forced Hoyt to smoke PCP.

In the 2003 comedy National Security, Earl Montgomery (Martin Lawrence) almost got arrested by police officer Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn) for “breaking into” his own car while at Echo Park.

Emily (Amanda Peet) tells Oliver (Ashton Kutcher) about her new fiancé at Echo Park in a deleted scene from the 2005 romcom A Lot Like Love.

Echo Park was where Dwight ‘Bucky’ Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) met with Pete Lukins (Gregg Henry) to talk about an upcoming fight in the beginning of the 2006 film The Black Dahlia.

Southland filmed at Echo Park no less than three times during its five-season run. It first popped up in the 2010 Season 2 episode titled “U-Boat,” as the place where Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Officer Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis) pulled over a car after seeing dope being thrown out of the window.

In the Season 2 episode titled “What Makes Sammy Run?,” which also aired in 2010, Echo Park was where Tammi Bryant (Emily Bergl) was confronted by thugs while taking photographs.

And in the Season 3 episode titled “Fixing a Hole,” which aired in 2011, Officer Cooper and Officer Ben Sherman (my man Benjamin McKenzie) interviewed park-goers outside of the Echo Park boathouse about a boy who had just been found.

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For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Echo Park is located at 751 Echo Park Avenue in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

August 26, 2013September 28, 2017

Dawnridge – Tony Duquette’s Former House

Last month, while perusing the July 2013 issue of InStyle magazine, I became just a wee-bit intrigued by the spot where the cover shoot with actress Salma Hayek took place – a residence formerly owned by legendary designer Tony Duquette that the article described as an oft-filmed-at locale. After reading through the story, I immediately ran to my computer to try to track the house down, which I, thankfully, managed to do fairly quickly. And my fascination only grew once I came across these uh-ma-zing photographs of the ultra-unique and visually mesmerizing property. While the interior of the house is pretty spectacular, it was the gardens that had me drooling. The outdoor space is like a fantasy land straight out of a movie, filled with twinkling lanterns, exotic statuaries, and overhanging trees. Drool! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to Beverly Hills to stalk the place while the two of us were in Los Angeles a couple of weeks back.

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Tony Duquette, who designed everything from sets to costumes to home interiors to jewelry during his 85-year lifetime and whose motto was “More is more” (LOVE IT!), devised the dwelling himself in 1949 along with architect Casper Ehmcke. The property, which was the primary residence of Tony and his wife, Elizabeth, originally consisted of a 30-foot by 30-foot box. The couple expanded and enhanced the site, which they dubbed “Dawnridge,” throughout the years, ultimately creating a whimsical, colorful and eye-catching abode that is like nothing else that I have ever seen. Just a few of the unique design elements they added include an enclosed indoor terrace with a mirrored ceiling, giant gold-plated antique lobsters, two 18th-Century Venetian dolphin sculptures, carvings from Southeast Asia, red-lacquered “Queen Anne” chairs, an abalone and amethyst crystal chandelier, and lots and lots of leopard vinyl cloth. Today, the home boasts three bedrooms, four baths, 2,746 square feet of living space, and a half-acre of land.

That half-acre of lush land, which can just barely be glimpsed from the road, features a multi-level garden, over two hundred different species of plants, seven pagodas, a lake, an Indian temple, several cantilevered pavilions (that Duquette called “spirit houses”), and a swimming pool. What I wouldn’t give to see it in person!

After Tony’s death in 1999, Dawnridge was purchased by his longtime business partner and protégé, Hutton Wilkinson, who now lives there with his wife, Ruth. The couple continue to update and enhance the residence to this day, which I honestly would not have thought possible. But, hey, more is more, right? You can read a more in-depth history on the house and all of its unique design elements here.

Unfortunately, very little of the property can actually be seen from the street, but what is visible is pretty darn unique. I am absolutely in LOVE with the front doors.

Photographs from Salma Hayek’s July 2013 InStyle cover story, which was titled “She’s Only Just Begun,” are pictured below.

She is hardly the first star to have posed at the property, though. Just a few of the other celebrities who have been lensed at Dawnridge include Shakira, who was photographed there for a Latin version of Harper’s Bazaar magazine. (I am unsure of what year that particular shoot took place.)

Sharon Stone posed there, with Tony Duquette, who was her good friend/neighbor, for the October 1999 issue of Town & Country magazine.

Jennifer Love Hewitt was photographed at Dawnridge, along with her dog Charlie, for the May 8th, 2006 “World’s Most Beautiful” issue of People magazine.

Dawnridge was the site of the cover story for Harper’s Bazaar April 2007 issue featuring Reese Witherspoon. You can check out more photos from that shoot on the r-witherspoon.com website.

Mandy Moore did a photo shoot there for the May 2007 issue of C Magazine.

James Franco posed there for Issue # 3/Autumn/Winter 2008/2009 of Man About Town magazine.

Selena Gomez shot the promo video and album artwork for her 2013 song “Come and Get It” at Dawnridge.

You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of that shoot here.

And New Girl actress Hannah Simone posed at the Duquette house for the Alice-in-Wonderland-themed “The Land of Ahhs” feature in the March 2013 issue of Los Angeles magazine.

You can watch a behind-the-scenes video of that shoot by clicking below.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Dawnridge, Tony Duquette’s former house, is located at 1354 Dawnridge Drive in Beverly Hills.

August 22, 2013September 6, 2017

Special Café from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Video

[UPDATE – The Special Café site still stands! You can read all about it here. Even though this post contains erroneous information, I am leaving it up as it chronicles an important part of the long, arduous journey my fellow stalkers and I embarked upon to track the locale down.]

Since we’re on the subject of Michael Jackson . . . in May of this past year, a fellow stalker/MJ aficionado named Justin published a comment on my post about the Monte Carlo café, which I had blogged about back in March 2010 as being the possible café that appeared in the King of Pop’s “Beat It” video. (You can read my second post on that same location here. I suggest reading both of my Monte Carlo write-ups, as well as all of the comments posted therein, as it will make this post easier to understand.) I was never entirely convinced about the location (even though it bears a remarkable resemblance to the diner in the video) due to many elements not matching what appeared onscreen, and opened it up to my readers to share their opinions. While Justin originally commented that he thought the Monte Carlo was the right spot, a full two years later he was able to figure out where filming actually had taken place – the Special Café located at 416 East 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles – which I was OVER THE MOON about! Thank you, Justin! Sadly, as he mentioned in his comment, the locale had been demolished shortly after “Beat It” was shot and remained a parking lot for almost three decades. (Today, a building is being constructed on the site, as you can see above.) I still ran right out to stalk it, though, just a few weeks later.

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One of the main doubts I had as to the Monte Carlo being the “Beat It” café was the fact that in the video an address number of 416 was visible, which did not mesh with the Monte Carlo’s 109 address number.

Further leading to doubt was the fact that the words “Special Café” were visible in the diner’s window (denoted with pink arrows below) in a behind-the-scenes photograph that was included in Todd Gray’s book Michael Jackson: Before He Was King, which fellow stalker David in Spain had taken a picture of and posted in the comments section of my first post on the Monte Carlo. (Please disregard the markings on the picture, which were in reference to a since-solved mystery that my fellow stalkers were discussing at the time.)

The issue that raised the most doubt, though, was the fact that the buildings visible across the street from the “Beat It” diner did not match the buildings located across the street from the Monte Carlo.

Because the interior of the “Beat It” diner so closely resembled that of the Monte Carlo, though, I was completely flummoxed.

Then, while searching for images of “East Fifth Street” (countless news articles stated that the café where filming took place was located on Fifth Street in L.A.’s Skid Row area), Justin happened to dig up the 1955 Los Angeles Examiner photograph below, in which a restaurant with the words “Special Café” written in the window was visible. Judging by the 414 address number posted on the storefront next door, the café most likely had an address of 416, which matched the address that was visible in “Beat It.”

A few weeks after Justin posted his comment, fellow stalker John, of the Silent Locations blog, taught me how to search through archived digital phone records of the Los Angeles area. I, of course, immediately did a search for “Special Café”, and, sure enough, in the 1973 listing, found it. (Only certain years of the phone directory are available digitally and, unfortunately, there is no directory for 1983, the year that “Beat It” was filmed.) The next directory that was available online was for the year 1987, by which time the Special Café had been demolished and its phone listing, therefore, removed.

Oddly enough, I also found a listing for the Monte Carlo Café in the 1973 phone book, which means that there were two almost identical diners located on the same street only four blocks apart from each other at that time! How incredibly weird is that?

As Justin pointed out in his comment on my original “Beat It” diner post, the buildings located across the street from the Special Café site are an exact match to the buildings that were visible in the background of the video, further proving that he had found the right spot.

Why the across-the-street image was different when Michael walked through the café doors remains a mystery. All I can figure is that some sort of screen – or maybe even a bus or large vehicle – was put up to block the view of the set from the many fans who were on location trying to get a peek at their hero. Who knows, though.

Unfortunately, while I thought that Justin’s find solved the mystery of the “Beat It” diner, it only appears to have deepened it. While researching the Special Café, I looked up its former address on the Historic Aerials website and, oddly enough, there is NO building located in that spot in the years 1972 and 1980 (pictured below, respectively). As you can see below, the site is a parking lot in both images. Since we know that the eatery was around from at least 1955 (the year that the photograph that Justin found was taken) to 1983 (the year that “Beat It” was filmed), the building’s absence on Historic Aerials is absolutely mind-boggling!

Further confusing things is the fact that a building is visible in that spot in the 1952 aerial view.

And what’s odder still is that the building next door, the Southern Hotel, which was originally built in 1912 and is currently registered as being historically significant (meaning that it most likely has not been altered very much from its original state), looks COMPLETELY different today than it did in 1980, as you can see below. Like I said – the mystery deepens. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this conundrum, my fellow stalkers.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Special Café, from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video, was located at 416 East Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles. An apartment building now stands at that site. This location is smack dab in the middle of Skid Row, so please exercise caution.

August 21, 2013August 21, 2013

The Smokestacks from Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” Music Video

Back in July, while doing research on the seaside mansion where Beau Burroughs lived in Rumor Has It (which I blogged about here), I came across a website called 80s Film Locations (that I later learned is run by fellow stalker Marc, of the Washington State Film Locations website) and noticed that it had a tab for Michael Jackson’s 1991 “Black or White” music video. Immediately intrigued, I clicked on the link and was floored to discover that the address for the spot where the King of Pop danced in front of smokestacks – a site that I had always wondered about – was listed. And even though I was a bit uncertain about the locale, due to the fact that certain elements visible in the background of the video did not match up to what appeared on Google Street View, I was BEYOND excited to stalk it and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to do so that very weekend. Fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, later helped me verify that the location was indeed the right place.

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As so often happens whilst stalking, Marc found this location while searching for a different one and did not even realize that he had stumbled upon it until later. During a hunt for sites from the 1984 teen comedy The Wild Life, Marc tracked down Surplus City Jeep Parts – where Jim Conrad (Ilan Mitchell-Smith) attempted to purchase weapons – at 11796 Sheldon Street in Sun Valley.

While looking at the building on Google Street View, he happened to take note of a large set of distinct-looking smokestacks located directly across the street.

Later, while tracking down “Black or White” filming locations, he remembered those smokestacks and, sure enough, they were a match to the ones that Michael Jackson had danced in front of.

The scene that takes place in front of the smokestacks, in which MJ performs a 23-second traditional Indian Odissi dance, just so happens to be my favorite in the entire video.

What I could not figure out while stalking the smokestacks or from Google Street View was the exact spot where the King of Pop stood during the sequence. It was not until sitting down to write this post that I was finally able to pinpoint it. On his “Black or White” page, Marc had included a screen capture from “Black or White: Behind the Scenes” – a featurette about the making of the iconic video that was included on the Dangerous: The Short Films DVD. That screen cap, which shows the smokestack scene from the opposite angle from which it was shot, is pictured below. It was the structure visible in the top right of the capture that I was having trouble identifying. (In the screen capture, you can see that fake pyrotechnical smokestacks were installed directly behind MJ for the filming.)

Thankfully, Owen was able to identify the structure as the building located at 11800 Sheldon Street, just west of the Surplus City Jeep Parts site.

Still not entirely convinced, I sat down to watch “Black or White: Behind the Scenes” once again to see if I could spot any other background clues. And thankfully, I did! (You can watch “Black or White: Behind the Scenes” by clicking below. The sequence that takes place at the smokestacks begins at 0:44.)

After what seemed like hours of trying, I was finally able to pause the featurette at a point at which some sort of business sign was visible. Once I managed to do that and look more closely at the image, I immediately recognized the sign as the Surplus City sign that appeared in The Wild Life. As you can see below, the size and the shape of the sign match what appeared in the 1985 flick and the word “surplus” is also somewhat visible.

From there, I was able to pinpoint that Michael was standing in the spot denoted with a pink X below in the video.

As fate would have it, I had posed for a picture, in which I re-created MJ’s Odissi dance, in almost that exact spot while I was stalking the smokestacks. Talk about luck! Had I moved just slightly to the right, I would have been dead on.

While doing research on the smokestack location, I had come across a very poor-quality Channel 4 news special hosted by David Sheehan about the filming of “Black or White,” in which MJ was shown walking from his trailer to the set. I sent the video along to Owen and he used his magic to pinpoint where Michael walked in the segment, which turned out to be near the western side of the Surplus City building. Amazingly enough, despite the fact that the site is no longer home to Surplus City, it still looks very much the same today as it did in 1991 when “Black or White” was filmed! (For whatever reason, though, the address of the building has since been changed from 11796 to 11782, as is visible below.) As you can see, the door that MJ walked by, while no longer painted green, is still intact.

The building’s four-panel window, which has since been painted over, is also still intact.

Most amazing of all, though, is that, minus the addition of a mailbox, the telephone pole (denoted with a pink arrow), metal bar in front of it (denoted with a blue arrow), and two signs posted on it (denoted with purple and green arrows) all still look EXACTLY the same!

As does the red bar that sticks up out of the sidewalk. SO INCREDIBLY COOL!

Ironically enough, when Jim leaves Surplus City in The Wild Life, he walks by the exact same area that Michael Jackson walked by in the Channel 4 news special.

You can watch the Channel 4 news “Black or White” special by clicking below.

Marc also let me know that Surplus City was used in the 1985 classic Commando, as the spot John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger) broke into to go “shopping” for weapons and supplies.

The structure was dressed quite significantly for the filming, though. Besides adding quite a bit of neon, it appears that producers also constructed a small annex on the side of the building for the shoot.

You can watch Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” video by clicking below.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Marc, from the 80s Film Locations website, for finding this location and to fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for helping me to verify it! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The smokestack scene from Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” music video was shot on Sheldon Street in Sun Valley. I believe that the exact spot where the King of Pop stood in the video is just slightly east of the building at 11800 Sheldon Street, in the area denoted with a pink X below.

August 20, 2013August 19, 2013

Lindsay Lohan’s Former Venice Home

I had originally planned on writing about a different location for today’s post, but last night, when the Grim Cheaper and I sat down to watch Oprah Winfrey interview Lindsay Lohan on Oprah’s Next Chapter, I was reminded of a LiLo locale that I had stalked last November – the Venice Beach house where the troubled star lived for about a year in 2011 following a 90-day stint at the Betty Ford Center. And I just have to say here that the Oprah interview (which was best summed up in this Entertainment Weekly article written by Lanford Beard) was not only thoroughly disappointing and disheartening, but seemed entirely contrived. As someone who is quite familiar with addiction (I helped a loved one through a years-long rehab process), it did not seem to me that Lindsay was being at all truthful in the interview. Maybe she just did not want to be truthful in front of the cameras to all of America – which is fine. I just hope that she is being truthful with herself behind the scenes and that she continues to get the help that she so obviously needs. I’m rooting for her.

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Lindsay moved into the ultra-modern, 3,100-square-foot abode, which was originally built in 2007, on January 3rd, 2011. While several sources claim that Lohan purchased the residence, being that Zillow states that the place was last sold in January 2008 (for a cool $2.25 million), a full three years before Lilo moved in, that information is obviously incorrect. Lindsay only ever leased the property, which you can check out some great interior photographs of here, at what was apparently a rate of around $7,100 a month! The pad, which is surprisingly close to the street and easily accessible to paparazzi, boasts 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a two-story main living space, an ironwood patio, a floating stairway, 20-foot-plus high ceilings, poured concrete floors, a forged steel fireplace, two living rooms (‘cause one just isn’t enough), a studio, a ginormous rooftop deck (that Lindsay enclosed with bamboo fencing to keep out prying eyes during her tenure), city and mountain views, mosaic tile work, Viking appliances, European fixtures, mahogany cabinetry, and a private two-car garage.

It also just so happens to be located right next door (we’re talking thisclose) to the mirror-image house where LiLo’s ex, DJ Samantha Ronson, lived at the time. (Sam has since vacated the premises.) Ronson was apparently not very happy about her new neighbor. On Lindsay’s move-in day, she was quoted as saying, “I didn’t plan it this way.” And when a photographer asked her if she had any New Years resolutions, she replied, “No. I’m too pissed off right now.” (You can see some photographs of the interior of Ronson’s house from the time that she lived there, here.)

Samantha wasn’t the only one unhappy about the home’s new occupant. According to a New York Post article, one neighbor was quoted as saying, “Seriously, every time we heard a siren we hoped and prayed it was the police carting her off again and we would be left in peace. It was a nightmare when she was here … [Samantha Ronson] has lived here for ages and she’s never been any drama, she’s very low key and just goes about her business, but Lohan was like a hurricane, or some other natural disaster tearing through the neighborhood.” Yipes!

On January 22nd, shortly after moving into the new house, Lindsay visited nearby jewelry store Kamofie at 1350 Abbot Kinney Boulevard to try on some baubles. She was later accused of stealing a necklace from the store and wound up being charged with violating her probation and was sentenced to 35 days of house arrest at her Venice pad as punishment.

The actress kept herself quite busy while on house arrest, though, and used the Venice pad as a frequent filming location during that time. It was there that Lindsay shot her infamous commercial for penny auction website Beezid.com.

You can watch that commercial by clicking below.

She also posed for the July 2011 issue of Italian Vanity Fair at the house.

And she sat down for an interview for Air New Zealand’s On the Skycouch with Rico at the dwelling.

After Lilo moved out in January 2012, the property was used in an episode of LX.TV Open House (yeah, I’d never heard of it, either Winking smile ).

And while The Huffington Post reports that the Venice residence was featured in an episode of Million Dollar Decorators, that information is actually incorrect. The home that appeared on MDD was actually Lindsay’s Beverly Glen rental (pictured below), which she moved into in 2012.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Lindsay Lohan’s former Venice Beach home is located at 419 Venice Way in Venice. Samantha Ronson’s former home is located right next door at 417 Venice Way.

August 19, 2013August 19, 2013

Sherman Way Adult Books from “Behind the Candelabra”

Today’s location is a bit of a risqué one, so brace yourselves, my fellow stalkers! Back in May, after Behind the Candelabra first premiered, I received an email from my buddy E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, listing a few of the locales that he had tracked down from the HBO biopic. He ended the email with, “You only need to find the adult film store, the condo penthouse in L.A., Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) and Liberace’s (Michael Douglas’) Valley-area house, and the Thorson family’s ranch which is somewhere in Santa Clarita.” Challenge accepted, E.J.! Thankfully, with a little help from Mike, from MovieShotsLA, I was able to find the four locales. The condo penthouse is at 7461 Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District (which I blogged about here); the Valley house is at 4238 Olympiad Drive in View Park-Windsor Hills (I have yet to stalk it, though); the Thorson family’s ranch is the Main Ranch House at Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch in Newhall (a property that is, sadly, closed to the public); and the adult bookstore is Sherman Way Adult Books at 11841 Sherman Way in North Hollywood. Booyah!

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This location was a simple find thanks to the 11841 address number that was visible when Liberace and Scott first arrived at the bookstore. I just popped “11841” and “adult book store” into Google and, voila, the first result that came back was for Sherman Way Adult Books. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk it a few weekends ago while the two of us were in L.A. (And yes, I actually stalked an adult bookstore for this post. Smile )

The 2,742-square-foot store, which was originally built in 1950, was recently on the market for $800,000. And, apparently, the place next door buys pallets. Winking smile

In Behind the Candelabra, a tipsy Liberace dragged his very reluctant and drugged-out then boyfriend Scott into a supposed Las Vegas-area adult bookstore, where Scott proceeded to then get sick. Sherman Way Adult Books was only shown very briefly in the short scene.

Because the store was supposed to be located in Las Vegas in the movie, its name was changed from “Sherman Way Adult Books” to “XXX Adult Books.” You can see the alteration made to the signage in the below screen capture and photograph. Aside from the signage, though, the site looks exactly the same in person as it did on screen – and just as colorful!

And while I am fairly certain that the real life interior of Sherman Way Adult Books was used in the filming, I opted not to step inside to verify that hunch. For anyone looking to frequent the store, it actually has a very favorable Yelp review, though. Yes, someone actually filled out a Yelp review for the place, which I could not stop laughing about when I came across it.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to E.J., from The Movieland Directory website, for challenging me to find this location. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sherman Way Adult Books, from Behind the Candelabra, is located at 11841 Sherman Way in North Hollywood.

August 16, 2013August 15, 2013

The Derby Restaurant from “Step Brothers”

During a recent visit to Los Angeles, the Grim Cheaper and I stayed at an Arcadia hotel that just so happened to be located right across the street from a nine-decades old eatery that I had always wanted to stalk – The Derby Restaurant, which was featured in the 2008 comedy Step Brothers. As y’all know, this stalker absolutely loves herself any location with a history! So I dragged the GC right on over there to partake of what turned out to be a fabulous happy hour. (And correct me if I’m wrong here, but isn’t stepbrothers one word? Why, oh, why was it separated into two for the movie’s title? This is most-definitely a case for fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog!)

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The Derby Restaurant was originally founded by Arcadia Rotary Club charter member Hudson M. Proctor in 1922 at a location on Foothill Boulevard near the Santa Anita Park racetrack (which I blogged about here). At the time it was known as Proctor’s Tavern. Nine years later, when the main thoroughfare in Arcadia shifted from Foothill Boulevard to Huntington Drive, Hudson decided to move his eatery to its current home at 233 East Huntington. The new site featured two dining rooms, two fireplaces and a second-floor apartment where Hudson lived with his wife.

In December 1938, the steakhouse was purchased by Canadian-born jockey legend George “The Iceman” Woolf, who is best known for riding Seabiscuit to several victories, and his partner Bill Peterson. The duo renamed the site “The Derby Restaurant” in honor of the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the U.S. Triple Crown. Woolf decorated the property with memorabilia and photographs from his racing career, most of which are still displayed on the premises to this day.

When Woolf was tragically killed during a race on January 3, 1946, his wife, Genevieve, took over daily operation of the restaurant. In 1951, she sold the property to Dominic and Lorene Sturniolo, who continued to run the eatery, along with their son, for the next fifty-plus years. Today, The Derby, which has the distinction of being one of the oldest restaurants in Los Angeles County, is owned by Dustin Nicolarsen and Michael Thomas. On August 11th, 2011, the Arcadia Historical Society presented a historical marker (one of only eight) to the Zagat-rated site commemorating its significance to the city that it has called home for over 90 years.

While The Derby’s menu is on the pricier side, fortunately the happy hour offerings are very reasonable (which is the only reason the GC agreed to eat there Winking smile ). And I can honestly say that the food is delicious! The place is extremely popular, though, and the bar area was absolutely jam-packed when we arrived, so be prepared for a wait if you happen to venture out there on a Friday night.

In Step Brothers, The Derby Restaurant masqueraded as RJ Posner’s steakhouse, where the birthday party for Derek Doback (Adam Scott) was held. It is during the party that Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and Dale Doback (John C. Reilly) unveil their new music video, which alerts their father/stepfather, Dr. Robert Doback (Richard Jenkins), to the fact that his beloved boat has been destroyed.

The birthday party scene was shot in The Derby’s main dining room, which is located just east of the front entrance.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Derby Restaurant, from Step Brothers, is located at 233 East Huntington Drive in Arcadia. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

August 14, 2013August 13, 2013

Liberace’s Penthouse from “Behind the Candelabra”

Back on May 27th, the day after the HBO biopic Behind the Candelabra first aired, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, emailed me to let me know that he had tracked down the penthouse belonging to Liberace (Michael Douglas) in the flick. He also informed me that, in a very cool twist, the penthouse used in the movie was actually owned by the legendary pianist for almost a decade in real life. Love it! And while I immediately added the site to my To-Stalk list, for whatever reason, I did not make it out there until this past Saturday morning, when the Grim Cheaper and I were in L.A. for a weekend visit.

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Liberace did not just own the penthouse suite, but the entire 24,586-square-foot building which houses it. The five-story structure was designed in 1958 by renowned Netherlands-born theatre muralist Anthony Heinsbergen and cost $650,000 to complete. “Lee”, as he was called, purchased the property for just under $1 million in 1978 and continued to own it until his death in February 1987. It was then sold by the pianist’s estate in December of that same year for $2.55 million (in an all-cash deal!) to developer Larry Taylor.

The building, which sits on a 0.37-acre plot of land, consists of three floors of office space (there are 18 separate offices in total), a bottom-level retail site, and a 5,000-square-foot penthouse that boasts a 14-foot by 28-foot rooftop swimming pool, a gourmet kitchen, several fireplaces (which were not original to the unit, but were added by Liberace during his tenure), and, of course, mirrors galore.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the Grecian statue that flanks the building’s entrance was also Liberace’s doing. Winking smile

The penthouse showed up numerous times in Behind the Candelabra, most notably as the place where Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) moved to after being dumped by Liberace. The interior of the pad hosted most of the filming, with scenes shot in the living room, master bedroom, hallway, and by the rooftop pool. For the shoot, the property, which currently serves as an event space, was painstakingly restored to look as it did in Liberace’s day – right down to the furniture. A July 2013 The Hollywood Reporter article says, “The current owner had photographed the entire apartment before Liberace’s furnishings were removed, allowing the production to re-create the black lacquer, animal print and chrome decor to the last detail.” So incredibly cool!

The same article goes on to state that the mirrored piano on display in the living room in the flick had to actually be hoisted up to the penthouse via the exterior of the building for the shoot due to the fact that the elevator on the premises was too small to transport it! Man, I would have loved to have been there to watch that! And while the Behind the Candelabra production slideshow claims that said piano belongs to Deborah Gibson in real life, the instrument that appeared in the movie does not match the one pictured in these photographs of Deborah’s house, so I am fairly certain that information is incorrect.

You can catch a great aerial glimpse of Liberace’s former pool area via Google Maps. According to the production slideshow, the fiber optic tree wall sculpture with “hand painted clay birds that spouted water” that appeared in the movie is original to the unit.

The exterior of the building showed up only once in Behind the Candelabra, in the scene in which Scott returned to the property after being kicked out to pick up his belongings – which Liberace’s manager, Seymour Heller (Dan Aykroyd), had gathered together in large plastic garbage bags. LOL That scene took place in the rear parking lot.

The building’s back entrance . . .

. . . and lobby area were also shown once in Behind the Candelabra, in the scene in which Seymour arrived at the penthouse to inform Scott that he had to vacate the premises.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Liberace’s former penthouse, which was used in Behind the Candelabra, is located at 7461 Beverly Boulevard in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. The parking lot where Scott picked up his belongings in the film is located in the back of the building and can be reached via North Vista Street.

August 13, 2013August 16, 2013

The "Punky Brewster" Opening Credits Locations

After tracking down the apartment building where Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) and her adoptive father, Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes), lived in the 1984 television series Punky Brewster (which I blogged about here), I became completely obsessed with finding the locations that appeared in the opening credits of the show’s pilot episode, which was titled “Punky Finds a Home, Part I.” (Subsequent episodes featured a shortened version of the pilot’s opening, with only a few locations featured.) Thankfully, John, from the Silent Locations blog, was up to the task of helping me with this query and wound up tracking down almost all of the sites in one single day. Yay! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk them this past Saturday afternoon. (For those who have asked, the skirt I am wearing in the picture above is Humble Chic’s Carrie Skirt – LOVE the name!!! – which I paired with a shell from Zara.)

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Come to find out, the opening credits of Punky Brewster were shot almost in their entirety on the 600 block of Shatto Place, just west of MacArthur Park, near downtown Los Angeles, but it took a while before we realized that fact. John first figured out that the brick building that Henry walked by towards the beginning of the opening credits was the Pierre Crest Apartments at 673 Shatto Place, which he had recognized from their appearance in the 1926 silent film For Heaven’s Sake.

The Pierre Crest Apartments, which were once quite attractive, look a bit different – and a bit more run-down – today than they did in 1984 when the Punky Brewster opening credits were filmed.

After Henry walks by the Pierre Crest, he is shown crossing the street and then passing by an alleyway where a man is asleep on the sidewalk. On a hunch, I used Google Street View to see if that alleyway was actually located across the street from the Pierre Crest and, sure enough, it was – just north of the York Apartments at 688 Shatto Place.

Sadly, a fence has since been installed in front of the alley that partially blocks the view of it from the street and the building that was once located just north of it has also since been torn down. Otherwise though, the spot still looks pretty much exactly the same as it did in 1984. Even the cement curb that appeared in the Punky Brewster opening credits is still intact! Love it!

Had to do it! (For some odd reason, I thought that Henry had his hands behind his back in the scene.)

John next figured out that the red and white brick building that Punky was shown skipping in front of with her dog, Brandon, in the opening credits was actually the Modena Apartments at 661 Shatto Place.

That building, too, looks quite a bit different today. Such a shame that the gorgeous red brick was painted over!

Again, had to do it! Smile (Notice in the screen capture and photograph pictured below that the sidewalk grate next to the tree still looks exactly as it did in 1984! Love it!)

I am pretty sure that the doorway/stairwell that Punky stopped in front of in the opening credits was the entrance to the Modena Apartments. As you can see below, the stair railing seems to match up, as does the brick outline of the entryway.

In a heartbreaking twist, Warnimont Studio, Henry’s photography studio – the locale that I most wanted to find – is no longer standing. The site was once located at 651 Shatto Place, on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard, but was torn down sometime in the early 2000s. Boo!

The credit for this find goes to John. While watching the Punky Brewster opening credits, I had spotted an address number of “651” painted on the door behind Henry. I emailed that information over to John, along with a screen capture, and he wrote back almost immediately with an address.

Because all of the other sites from the Punky Brewster opening credits were located on Shatto Place, John was fairly certain that Henry’s photo lab had to be there, as well. When he looked at a Google map of 651 Shatto Place, though, all that was visible was a vacant lot. Then, on a hunch, he searched through a Los Angeles phone directory from 1987 and saw that an actual photography studio named Haines Studio & Lab was listed as being located at 651 Shatto Place at the time. That listing is highlighted in pink below.

He also noticed that the phone number for the studio was listed as 383-1473. As you can see below, that very same number is visible – behind a fake phone number of 555-3709 that was installed for the filming – in the window of Henry’s store.

Further proving that Warnimont Studio was once located at 651 Shatto Place is the fact that listed next door to Haines Studio & Lab in the 1987 phone directory is Glenda’s Beauty Salon at 653 Shatto Place.

In Punky Brewster, a salon named Consuelo’s was shown to be located right next to Henry’s Studio. And listed next door to Glenda’s at 655 Shatto Place is Mini Market Deli, which seems to match the name on the awning of the store that appears next to Consuelo’s in the screen capture below.

A full view of the building that once housed Henry’s studio is pictured below, via the USC Digital Library. As you can see, it was quite a beautiful structure and I cannot for the life of me figure out why it would have been torn down.

Today, the site is a construction zone where I believe a condominium complex is being built.

Thanks to Robby Cress of the Dear Old Hollywood blog, we learned that the Warnimont Studio building was also featured in the 1978 comedy The Big Fix as the campaign headquarters of California gubernatorial candidate Miles Hawthorne (John Cunningham). In one scene, Henry’s studio site is clearly visible in the background behind private detective Moses Wine (Richard Dreyfuss) and his girlfriend, Lila Shay (Susan Anspach).

As you can see below, the arched doorway between storefronts also matches what appeared in Punky Brewster.

A fuller view of the building from The Big Fix is pictured below.

As is a view looking in the opposite direction, towards Wilshire Boulevard.

You can watch the opening credits from Punky Brewster’s pilot episode by clicking below.

In an odd twist, I just discovered today that one brief scene from the opening credits was, in fact, filmed in Chicago, where Punky Brewster was said to have taken place. As you can see below, in the scene in which Punky and Henry are shown entering (what I thought was a fake) Wrigley Field, a brick building is visible behind them. That same building (which houses a Starbucks!) is actually located across the street from the real Wrigley Field on West Addison Street in the Windy City.

John and I have yet to track down the grocery store that appeared in the opening credits and I am now wondering if it, too, is located in Chicago.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to John, from the Silent Locations blog, for tracking down the majority of these locations. Smile You can read his blog post on the Punky Brewster locales here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The opening credits from the pilot episode of Punky Brewster were filmed almost entirely on the 600 block of Shatto Place in Los Angeles. The brick building that Henry first walked by was the Pierre Crest Apartments at 673 Shatto Place; the alleyway where Henry stepped over the sleeping homeless man is just north of 688 Shatto Place; the building that Punky skipped by was the Modena Apartments at 661 Shatto Place; and the site of Henry’s photography studio, which has since been torn down, can be found at 651 Shatto Place.

August 9, 2013August 13, 2013

Mr. Y’s Apartment from "Behind the Candelabra"

Back in June, while doing research on the house where Liberace (Michael Douglas) lived in Behind the Candelabra (which I blogged about here), I came across a fabulous production slideshow about the movie on HBO.com. The slideshow featured behind-the-scenes images of several of the locations used in the biopic and one – the mid-century modern-style apartment where drug dealer Mr. Y (Nicky Katt) lived – had me absolutely drooling.

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The caption included with the image of the apartment (which is pictured below) stated, “Shot on location in Burbank, this penthouse was owned by Elvis Presley’s hairdresser and had been abandoned for years. Biomorphic plaster wall treatment was original to the unit.” Well, believe you me, I could NOT take my eyes off of that unique “biomorphic plaster wall treatment” and became bound and determined to track the place down and stalk it.

So I did a Google search for “penthouse” and “Burbank” and the first result to come back was a January 2013 Los Angeles Times article about a 1970s-era building with a penthouse located at 600 East Olive Avenue that had just been sold for $15.6 million to the Champion Real Estate Company. Unfortunately though, no photographs of the actual penthouse unit were posted online, so I was unable to verify if it was right location. Then, on a hunch, I did a Google search for “Behind the Candelabra” and “600 East Olive Avenue” and, sure enough, found this July 2012 posting on fave website OnLocationVacations in which a commenter named Steve shared that the flick was filming at that address. Thank you, Steve! So I ran right out to stalk the building while I was in L.A. two weekends ago.

The 62-unit building, which was formerly named “Villa 600”, but is now known as “Villa Olivia Apartments”, was originally constructed in 1973 by Burbank-area architect August Bacchetta and was still owned by the Bacchetta family up until the recent sale.

According to the L.A. Times article, the penthouse (pictured below in a real estate listing photo) boasts a whopping 8,000 square feet of living space, as well as a rooftop patio and pool. It was originally constructed to be used as an owner’s unit and, as stated in this article, was lived in by members of the Bacchetta family up until two years prior to the sale – which leads me to believe that it was never actually occupied by Elvis’ hairdresser (a man named Larry Geller) unless the family leased it out to him at some point in time. (It was most definitely never owned by Geller, though, as was stated in the Behind the Candelabra production notes.) Of the complex, real estate agent Tyler Stevens says, “It reflects an era gone by when builders constructed apartment buildings with an owner unit, and this particular owner unit was highly unusual.” Um, you can say that again!

The penthouse’s rooftop patio, which is absolutely massive, is semi-visible in the photographs below.

Sadly, the Champion Real Estate Company began renovating the building immediately upon purchasing it and plans are currently in the works to subdivide the penthouse (which is denoted with a pink arrow below) into two apartment units, as well as a common-area screening room and gym. Boo! You can see a rendering of what the site is going to look like post-remodel here.

Mr. Y’s apartment only appeared twice in Behind the Candelabra, in two very brief scenes. It first showed up in the scene in which Scott Thorson (Matt Damon) dropped by Mr. Y’s to score drugs after realizing that his longtime lover, Liberace, was most likely going to break up with him in the very near future.

It next popped up in the scene in which Scott, who has just been unceremoniously dumped by Liberace, is shown watching the pianist’s performance at the 54th Annual Academy Awards on TV. Unbelievably, very little of that amazing biomorphic plaster wall was shown in either scene. (According to a 2013 The New York Times article, the Mr. Y character was based on Scott Thorson’s real life drug dealer Eddie Nash, a nightclub owner who is said to have ordered the so-called Wonderland Murders.)

According to a super-nice construction worker that we happened to speak with while we were stalking the place, the penthouse (pictured below in an aerial view) is actually in fabulous condition, despite being vacant for several years. So I am guessing that the stained rug that appeared in Behind the Candelabra was set decoration and not the unit’s actual carpeting. Don’t quote me on that, though.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Mr. Y’s apartment building from Behind the Candelabra is actually the Villa Olivia Apartments which are located at 600 East Olive Avenue in Burbank. You can visit the complex’s official website here.