Year: 2018

The Otto Kahn and James Burden Mansions from “A Perfect Murder”

For someone who is so well-versed in all things movie-related, I know very little about Old Hollywood – a fact my mom often admonishes me for. Case in point – though A Perfect Murder has long been a favorite thriller, I have never seen Dial M for Murder, the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece from which it was adapted. Truth be told, up until doing research for this post, I had no idea that the 1998 flick had been based upon anything. (Insert monkey-covering-face emoji here.) Sadly, my ignorance didn’t end there. Somehow I also failed to realize that three different spots were utilized to represent the Manhattan penthouse where Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas) and his wife, Emily Bradford Taylor (Gwyneth Paltrow), lived in the film. The mashup included a studio-built set and two adjacent Upper East Side estates – the Otto Kahn Mansion at 1 East 91st Street and the neighboring James Burden Mansion at 7 East 91st. Prior to writing this post, I had only been aware of the former, which I learned of via the book New York: The Movie Lover’s Guide shortly before my 2016 trip to NYC. So I, of course, ran right out to stalk it while in town.

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The neo-Italian Renaissance-style Otto Kahn Mansion was designed by architects C.P.H. Gilbert (who also gave us the Harry F. Sinclair House from Cruel Intentions) and J. Armstrong Stenhouse for wealthy banker Otto Kahn and his wife, Adelaide Wolff. Otto was once quoted as saying, “It’s a sin to keep money idle” (Why oh why can’t the Grim Cheaper share that belief?), so money was no object when it came to the property’s construction which began in 1914 and took four years to complete.

The 80-room manse was modeled after Rome’s Palazzo della Cancelleria and boasts an oak-paneled library, a garden, a Caen stone entry and stairwell, a large inner courtyard, an enclosed driveway (to keep away prying eyes), a reception room, a ballroom, a music room with parquet floors and an Adams-style ceiling, and accommodations for a staff of forty!

The property’s French limestone exterior is actually rather non-descript and belies the utter extravagance and opulence of the interior, which you can see photographs of here, here and here.

When Kahn passed away in 1934, Adelaide sold the massive home to the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a private Catholic all-girls school.

Six years later, the Convent of the Sacred Heart purchased the James Burden Mansion next door and combined the two sites. While I did not snap any photographs of that property, you can check out what it looks like here. The 1901 estate was designed by the Warren and Wetmore architecture firm (who also designed Grand Central Station and the New York Yacht Club) and is just as palatial and lux as its neighbor with a grand Hauteville marble spiraling staircase situated underneath a Tiffany glass skylight, a banquet hall lined with Campan vert marble, and an extravagantly-arched carriageway. You can catch a glimpse of its striking interior here.

The Otto Kahn and James Burden Mansions pop up numerous times throughout A Perfect Murder. For exterior shots of the Taylors’ upscale apartment building, the estates were made to appear as one singular property, as you can see below.

The James Burden Mansion’s carriageway . . .

. . . as well as its rotunda and central staircase portray the apartment building’s entrance and lobby . . .

. . . while the Otto Kahn Mansion’s rooftop masks as the Taylors’ private terrace.

The interior of Steven and Emily’s massive penthouse cannot be found in either mansion, though. Per the film’s production notes, their apartment was part of a massive 11,000-square-foot set built at the Jersey City Armory in New Jersey.

A Perfect Murder is hardly the first production to make use of the two properties.

In the 1946 noir The Dark Corner, the James Burden Mansion pops up as the Cathcart Galleries.

The two estates together portray the building where Ingrid Everly (Dyan Cannon) lives, which Robert ‘Duke’ Anderson (Sean Connery) sets out to rob, in 1971’s The Anderson Tapes.

In the 1982 drama The Verdict, the Otto Kahn Mansion masquerades as a Boston archdiocese.

The James Burden Mansion plays the Union Club, where Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) and Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford) crash a wedding in the 1988 comedy Working Girl. Only the interior of the property appears in the scene, though. The building used for exterior shots is the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (aka the British Consulate from Jumpin’ Jack Flash) located directly across the street at 2 East 91st Street.

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) heads to the Otto Kahn Mansion to pick up his son, Nick (Jake Cherry), from school only to learn upon arrival that he has missed Parent Career Day in the 2006 comedy Night at the Museum.

The James Burden Mansion’s Dining Room and Music Room mask as the Rome hotel suite where Ray Koval (Clive Owen) and Claire Stenwick (Julia Roberts) stay in the 2009 thriller Duplicity . . .

. . . while the Otto Kahn Mansion’s stairwell and foyer simulate the outside of the suite in the flick.

The Otto Kahn Mansion’s courtyard and the James Burden Mansion’s ballroom mesh together to portray the Roland family estate, where Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) and Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) head to authenticate a will, in the Season 3 episode of White Collar titled “Where There’s a Will,” which aired in 2011.

The exterior of the Otto Kahn Mansion portrays Harry Osbourne’s (Dane DeHaan) house in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, though interiors were filmed elsewhere.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Otto Kahn and James Burden Mansions, aka Convent of the Sacred Heart school, aka the A Perfect Murder apartment building, are located at 1 East 91st Street and 7 East 91st Street, respectively, on New York’s Upper East Side. You can visit the properties’ official website here. Right across the street at 2 East 91st Street is the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, aka the British Consulate from Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

July 11, 2018
The Benjamin N. Duke House from “The First Wives Club”

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. Well, I think revenge movies are a dish best served with a side of comedy. The Other Woman? 9 to 5? The Sting? The First Wives Club? All perfection! The latter is one of my ultimate favorites, so when I saw the address of the spectacular Upper East Side townhouse where wealthy socialite Gunilla Garson Goldberg (Maggie Smith) lived in the 1996 flick listed in the book Manhattan on Film, I promptly added it to my To-Stalk List for my April 2016 trip to the Big Apple. The Beaux Arts-style structure, known as the Benjamin N. Duke House in real life, turned out to be even more stunning in person than it appeared onscreen. It is easily one of the prettiest pads I have ever laid eyes upon!

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The Benjamin N. Duke House, also known as the Duke Semans Mansion, was originally constructed as part of a spec development of four adjacent Fifth Avenue estates. Brothers William W. and Thomas M. Hall commissioned the Welch, Smith & Provot architecture firm to design the elaborate dwellings. Sadly, the Duke house is the only one that remains standing today.

Completed in 1901, the 8-story property boasts a stately limestone and brick edifice, a French Renaissance interior, hand-carved wood paneling, trompe l’oeil accents, plaster friezes, a 5-story staircase, hardwood flooring, 12 bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, 2 rooftop patios, 11 wood-burning fireplaces, 3 elevators, a whopping 20,000 square feet of living space, and views of Central Park and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The pad even has a separate penthouse level complete with a private entrance and staircase.

Though the townhouse fronts Fifth Avenue . . .

. . . it is its 82nd Street side that is most impressive. The building reminds me quite a bit of the Cravens Estate in Pasadena, but on a much grander scale.

Shortly after its completion, the 100×27-foot property was purchased by American Tobacco Company founder Benjamin N. Duke.

The manse continued to be owned by members of the Duke family for more than one hundred years. It was not until 2006 that Benjamin’s granddaughter Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans (hence the name Duke Semans Mansion) sold the townhouse to real estate mogul Tamir Sapir. The purchase price? A cool $40 million!

Sapir subsequently sold the pad in 2010 to the richest man in the world at the time, Mexican business tycoon Carlos Slim, for $44 million. Five years later, Slim put the residence on the market with an asking price of $80 million (!!!), but it does not appear that there were any takers.

The Benjamin N. Duke House is not only listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but is also a New York City Landmark.

Sadly, there are not many photographs of the mansion’s interior floating around online, but you can catch a glimpse of a few here, as well as watch some videos that show portions of the inside of the structure here and here.

In The First Wives Club, Shelly Stewart (Sarah Jessica Parker) heads to the Benjamin N. Duke House for a “super social luncheon” with Gunilla.

I am unsure if the actual interior of the mansion was utilized in the scene, but I do not believe so. None of the photographs of the inside of the townhouse that I have come across match what was shown onscreen, so I am guessing that interiors were filmed at another Manhattan estate or on a studio-built set.

The First Wives Club is not the only production to feature the Benjamin N. Duke House.

In The French Connection, the property portrays an apartment building where actor Dom Ameche and a criminal named Weinstock (Harold Gray) are both said to reside.

The mansion looked quite a bit different when the Best Picture-winning thriller was shot in 1971 than it does today, as you can see below.

The townhouse also portrayed the home of Henry Turner (Harrison Ford) and his family in the 1991 drama Regarding Henry.

Scenes taking place inside the Turner residence were shot elsewhere, though, on what I believe was a studio-built set.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Benjamin N. Duke House, aka Gunilla’s mansion from The First Wives Club, is located at 1009 Fifth Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side.

July 9, 2018
The New York Yacht Club from “Hannah and Her Sisters”

While filming locations are, of course, my first love, I am all about discovering unique, off-the-beaten-path, non-Hollywood-related landmarks and hidden gems, as well (as evidenced here, here and here). So my interest was immediately piqued when, shortly before my 2016 trip to the Big Apple, my friend/fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, informed me of a building known as the New York Yacht Club that boasts highly unusual ship-like windows. Photos of the structure I found online only served to further my intrigue and I promptly added the site to my stalking itinerary. In person, it did not disappoint. I was completely taken with the whimsical property and snapped numerous photographs of it, never imagining it was a filming locale. So imagine my excitement when I spotted it pop up in Hannah and Her Sisters while scanning through the 1986 dramedy in preparation for my recent post on Bemelmans Bar. Though its appearance in the flick is extremely brief, I figured the building was still most-definitely deserving of a write-up.

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The New York Yacht Club was originally established in 1844 by 9 sailing enthusiasts. Though initially headquartered in Hoboken, New Jersey, the group moved to its current home, a Beaux Arts-style stunner located at 37 West 44th Street in Midtown, in 1901. Designed by the Warren and Wetmore architecture firm, who also gave us Grand Central Terminal, the stunning structure, which cost $350,000 to complete, features an elaborate maritime-inspired limestone façade with a grand main entrance, fourth floor rooftop terrace, and massive wooden pergola.

The building’s pièce de résistance, though, is a set of 3 towering bay windows that were built to resemble the sterns of 16th Century Dutch ships. The mammoth oriels, situated on the club’s second floor, are held up by carved cascading waves that appear seconds from spilling onto the pavement below.

The galleon-style windows are fanciful, cartoonish, and striking all at the same time and very reminiscent, to me at least, of those located at the rear of Captain Hook’s pirate ship.

Of the Yacht Club’s eccentric design, The New York Times stated in a 1906 article, “Except for the absence of motion, one might fancy oneself at sea.”

Though the NYYC’s exterior is exquisite, its interior is even more impressive, with a Grill Room modeled after the hull of a wooden ship, a sprawling library that houses more than 13,000 books, and an extravagant 100-foot long Model Room that is capped by a giant Tiffany-designed stained glass ceiling. Sadly, only members and invited guests are allowed past the front door to see the spectacle. The rest of us have to make due with admiring the stunning interior from afar via the various photos and videos that can be found online.

In addition to its architecture, the private, invitation-only club is famous for its extensive roster of prominent past and current members which include John Jacob Astor, William F. Buckley Jr., Ted Kennedy, Michael Bloomberg, Cornelius Vanderbilt III, Walter Cronkite, Ted Turner, J.P. Morgan, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The NYYC is also known for having not only won the America’s Cup in 1851, but managing to hang on to the coveted trophy until 1983, when it was lost to the Australia-based Royal Perth Yacht Club.

And the club can add “filming location” to its already-impressive bio. In Hannah and Her Sisters, David (Sam Waterston) takes April (Carrie Fisher) and Holly (Dianne Wiest) on a tour of some of his favorite architectural landmarks, which includes a brief drive-by of the New York Yacht Club.

The club is also visible in the background of the scene in which “Wall Street King” Eli Colton (Tate Donovan) and his drug dealer Harry Ingram (Will Brill) discuss a payoff in the Season 18 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit titled “Net Worth,” which aired in 2017.

Though some online sources have claimed that the Yale Club scene from the 2000 drama American Psycho was lensed at the NYYC, that is not, in fact, correct. The segment was actually shot at the Consort Bar at The Omni King Edward Hotel in Toronto, Canada.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about and taking me to this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The New York Yacht Club, from Hannah and Her Sisters, is located at 37 West 44th Street in Midtown Manhattan.

July 6, 2018
Happy Fourth of July!

I would like to wish all of my fellow stalkers a very happy Fourth of July. I hope everyone has a safe and fun-filled holiday. I will be back on Friday with a whole new post.

July 4, 2018
The Pierre Hotel’s Cotillion Ballroom from “Scent of a Woman”

“No mistakes in the tango, Donna. Not like life. Simple. That’s what makes the tango so great. If you make a mistake, if you get all tangled up, you just tango on.” So advises Lt. Col. Frank Slade (Al Pacino) in the iconic tango scene from the 1992 drama Scent of a Woman. Though the segment is widely regarded as one of the most famous in moviedom, conflicting rumors have raged online for years as to where it was shot. At the very least I knew filming had occurred in New York, so prior to my April 2016 trip to the Big Apple, I decided to take a flamethrower to all the misinformation floating around. The various reports I came across online and in stalking books stated that the bit was lensed everywhere from a Plaza Hotel ballroom to the Grand Ballroom at The Pierre to a Waldorf Astoria venue, but none of the spaces seemed to match what was shown onscreen. While perusing the internet for other possibilities, I finally came across an ad for The Pierre in a 1994 issue of New York magazine which mentioned that Scent of a Woman’s famed tango sequence had been shot in the property’s Cotillion Ballroom. One look at images of the site showed me that, although it had changed a bit since filming took place over 25 years ago, it was without a doubt the right spot. So I promptly contacted The Pierre’s marketing department to ask if I could tour the venue during my trip and was thrilled when a very friendly executive sent back an almost immediate response saying she’d be pleased to show me the space. Hoo-ah!

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Overlooking Central Park on New York’s Upper East Side, The Pierre was designed by the Schultze & Weaver architectural firm, who also gave us The Spring Street Tower, the Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles, and the landmark Waldorf Astoria. Commissioned by Sicilian-born restauranteur Charles Pierre, the opulent 714-room lodging opened its doors to the public in October 1930, delighting guests with its Georgian-style detailing, large suites, and multilevel public spaces, including the Cotillion Ballroom which originally served as a supper club. (While The Pierre is a noted New York landmark and has played host to countless filmings over the years, for this post I thought it best to solely cover the Cotillion Ballroom. I will be blogging about the hotel itself soon.)

The stunning 91×45-foot ballroom boasts 19-foot recessed ceilings, gilded mirrors, a sunken main floor, two massive crystal chandeliers, Central Park views, tiered draperies, marble railings, relief wall sculptings, and a 500-patron capacity.

In Scent of a Woman, Frank and his young chaperone, Charlie Simms (Chris O’Donnell), pop into the Cotillion Ballroom for cocktails. While there, Frank, who is blind, takes note of a woman named Donna (Gabrielle Anwar) sitting nearby thanks to Ogleby Sisters Soap that permeates her skin and winds up inviting her for a spontaneous tango.

The ballroom was transformed into an luxe restaurant for the scene, with seating, tables, and a buffet set-up added to space.

Pillars, additional marble balustrades and a large bar were also installed for the shoot.

Though the Cotillion Ballroom has been altered over the years, certain elements, such as the ornamental mirrors that line the room and the railings that edge the two raised landings, remain untouched.

Thanks to those details, the Cotillion Ballroom is amazingly still recognizable from its onscreen appearance despite the passage of more than two decades.

Per the AFI Catalog of Feature Films, Scent of a Woman’s ten-minute tango scene took four days to shoot. For the dance itself, which lasted about two and a half minutes, Pacino and Anwar underwent three and half weeks of training with choreographers Jerry Mitchell and Paul Pellicoro.

According to an Entertainment Weekly interview with Anwar, she and Pacino never rehearsed the piece together as the actor “wanted to keep a spontaneity and a freshness to the dance.” His methodology worked because the duo’s performance is effortless, flawless and completely engaging. It is easily one of the best few minutes ever recorded on film.

You can watch the Scent of a Woman tango scene by clicking below. I viewed the clip numerous times while writing this post and could not stop smiling from ear to ear. It just makes me so gleeful. I swear I’ve never been happier writing a post than I was while penning this one!

A couple of other productions have made use of the Cotillion Ballroom, as well.

In the Season 3 episode of The Real Housewives of New York City titled “Rebuked, Reunited, Renewed,” which aired in 2010, Ramona Singer tours the Cotillion Ballroom . . .

. . . and winds up hosting the reception for her vow renewal there.

In the Season 2 episode of Jessica Jones titled “AKA Start at the Beginning,” which aired earlier this year, Jeri Hogarth (Carrie-Anne Moss) receives a Women in Law award in the Cotillion Ballroom.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Pierre, from Scent of a Woman, is located at 2 East 61st Street on New York’s Upper East Side. The Cotillion Ballroom, where Frank and Donna tangoed in the film, can be found on the hotel’s second floor, just off the Rotunda.

July 2, 2018
Kate’s Apartment from “Picture Perfect”

I wish I could say I’ve never met a Jennifer Aniston movie I didn’t like, but that is not the case. In fact, the opposite is more true – I’ve rarely met one I truly did enjoy. Picture Perfect fits into the “didn’t like” category. If you haven’t seen the film, this review Paul Tatara wrote for CNN perfectly encapsulates the not-so-titillating storyline. The 1997 romcom did manage to get a bit more interesting years after its release thanks to a 2010 Elle magazine interview with Jen’s costar Jay Mohr in which he had this say to say when asked about his most awkward interaction with a female celebrity – “Being on the set of a movie where the leading woman was unhappy with my presence and made it clear from day one. I hadn’t done many movies, and even though they screen-tested some pretty famous guys, I somehow snaked into the leading role. The actress said, ‘No way! You’ve got to be kidding me!’ Loudly. Between takes. To other actors on set. I would literally go to my mom’s house and cry.” The interviewer immediately surmised the female celebrity Mohr was referring to was JA, but he refused to confirm or deny the hunch. It did not take long for him to spill the tea, though. You can listen to various interviews he’s since given on the subject here and here. Jen’s animosity toward the comedian apparently stemmed from the fact that she wanted then boyfriend Tate Donovan to play her love interest, Nick, in Picture Perfect, but Mohr snagged the role instead. As he tells it, she made him pay dearly for the purported slight. The duo’s onscreen chemistry definitely attests to some friction. Aniston, as plucky ad-exec Kate, really plays the whole being-annoyed-at-Nick-thing a little too well throughout the film. Her disdain for him is palpable in practically every scene and the movie kind of suffers for it, to the point that it is not really believable when she inevitably falls for him at the end. Regardless, when I came across the address of Kate’s apartment from the flick in the book Manhattan on Film, I added it to my stalking itinerary for my April 2016 trip to the Big Apple and headed over there one (rather rainy) morning while in town.

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In Picture Perfect, Kate calls a charming building situated on the corner of West 21st Street and 8th Avenue in Chelsea home.

With its red brick edifice, arched detailing, carved columns, and teal-paned entrance doors, the structure is – dare I say it – picture perfect. It is not hard to see how it came to be used as the residence of the movie’s young, free-spirited, bohemian heroine.

In real life, the 5-story complex, which was originally built in 1900, boasts 13 units, a roof deck, a ground floor nail salon, and an elevator.

The building shows up twice in Picture Perfect. It first pops up in the scene in which Kate coaches Nick, who is posing as her boyfriend for a work event, on the ins-and-outs of their fake relationship.

The site then appears again toward the end of the movie in the scene in which an on-top-of-the-world Kate leaves her apartment to head to work after very publicly “breaking up” with Nick. Little does she realize, though, how much she’s going to miss him.

For whatever reason, at some point after the movie was shot, a secondary door situated just west of the one Kate was shown exiting in the scenes, was added to the building. As you can see in the photographs below as compared to the screen captures above, the white limestone-framed entry with the arched glass awning that stands to the left of Kate’s door was not in existence when Picture Perfect was lensed.

The interior of Kate’s apartment was just a set, which I learned via Mohr’s podcast was built on a soundstage at Silvercup Studios in Queens – a soundstage that Jen walked into on the first day of rehearsals and then promptly and loudly announced to Illeana Douglas (who played Aniston’s friend Darcy in the film) right in front of Jay, “Six guys they screen-tested. Six! The one f*cking guy I hate, that’s the one they hire!” Yikes. In the immortal words of Cher Horowitz, “That was way harsh, Tai!” The scenes shot inside of the apartment set were some of the last of Picture Perfect to be lensed and by that time Jen had decided she liked Jay and instead switched her vitriol to director Glenn Gordon Caron, though Mohr never forgave her for the hell he experienced during the tumultuous shoot. Who knows if Jay’s account of the situation is true, but, for reasons I am not going to get into here, I tend to believe it is. You can check out what the interior of one of the apartments in Kate’s building looks like in real life here and here. The actual units are much less colorful and far sparser than their onscreen counterpart.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Kate’s apartment building from Picture Perfect is located at 301 West 21st Street in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood.

June 29, 2018
The Valmont Mansion from “Cruel Intentions”

I have never been a fan of the movie Cruel Intentions (though the 1999 drama does feature one of my favorite onscreen moments). But during my April 2016 trip to the Big Apple, my good friend/fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, took me to stalk the Upper East Side estate that portrayed the Valmont Mansion – where step-siblings Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Sebastian Valmont (Ryan Phillippe) lived and wreaked havoc on their friends and enemies – in the flick, and I pretty much fell in love with the place on sight. Known as the Harry F. Sinclair House as well as the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion in real life, the massive French Gothic-style pad is nothing short of stunning. So, in spite of my disdain for Cruel Intentions, I figured the residence was most-definitely blog-worthy.

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Commissioned by railroad tycoon Isaac Fletcher in 1897, the Harry F. Sinclair House took two years to complete. The impressive C.P.H. Gilbert-designed dwelling was modeled after William K. Vanderbilt’s Petit Chateau, formerly located about 30 blocks south at 660 Fifth Avenue. The limestone masterpiece was furnished with an extensively carved façade, a mansard roof, an ornate wooden staircase, a library, a parlor, a ballroom, and an elevator. When Fletcher passed away in 1917, he left the estate, as well as his extensive art collection, to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which immediately turned around and sold the place to industrialist Harry Ford Sinclair.

Shortly after serving 6.5 months in jail for his part in the infamous Teapot Dome Scandal, Sinclair departed the UES manse, selling it to longtime bachelor Augustus Van Horne Stuyvesant Jr., who lived out the remainder of his days there as a virtual recluse. Upon Stuyvesant’s passing in 1953, his furnishings and décor were sold off and the residence was left vacant.

Around that time, the Ukrainian Institute of America, a foundation established to promote Ukrainian art, culture, music, and literature, was looking to expand into a new, larger headquarters. The group quickly honed in on the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion, snatching it up for $225,000 in 1955. Today, the site, which has been painstakingly restored and preserved, plays host to special events, art exhibitions, auctions, performances, concerts, lectures, and, of course, filming. Best of all – it is open to the public! Sadly, neither Owen nor I realized that when we stalked it, otherwise we most certainly would have ventured inside to see the stunning interior, which you can check out some photographs of here, here, and here.

The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion popped up numerous times throughout Cruel Intentions.

Only the exterior of the estate was featured in the flick, though.

The lavish interior of Sebastian and Kathryn’s home was just a set built inside of a soundstage in Los Angeles. Production designer Jon Gary Steele had this to say of his concept of the Valmont Mansion, “Most of the story takes place in modern-day New York, but when you walked into the Valmont townhouse, I wanted you to feel like you were walking into a Parisian ballroom. The furniture in the living room was very Louis XIV. We stripped the wood and reupholstered it in a much more modern fabric so the room didn’t feel totally period. Then we added bronze chairs and a bronze table. I didn’t want it to feel like only one piece of the film was period and everything else was modern-contemporary. I wanted the audience to feel like it was a period piece, but once they examined the room and noticed the detail, they would realize the contemporary additions. Because these people have blue-blood money and are very much world travelers, I put in a little bit of everything. There are a lot of French buildings in New York. It’s not uncommon to find people like this now living in places like this.” Interestingly, the set was constructed long before locations managers had secured an estate to serve as the exterior of the Valmont Mansion. When the Harry F. Sinclair House was ultimately chosen, Steele was shocked to discover that the interior closely mirrored his design, “right down to the similar moldings and comparable room dimensions.”

Cruel Intentions is hardly the first production to feature the pad.

In the 1987 comedy Hello Again, the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion portrays the home of Junior Lacey (Austin Pendleton), where Lucy Chadman (Shelley Long) and her sister, Zelda (Judith Ivey), go to ask for funding to start a day care center at the Knickerbocker Hospital.

The interior of the property appears in the movie, as well.

The manse pops up as the exterior of the Manhattan pied-à-terre of Estella (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Ms. Dinsmoor (Anne Bancroft) in 1998’s Great Expectations. Interiors were shot elsewhere, though.

The Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion appears numerous times as the both the 1876 and present-day interior of “Albany House,” the home of Leopold (Hugh Jackman), in the 2001 romance Kate & Leopold.

Only the inside of the pad is featured in the flick. The exterior of Leopold’s mansion can be found at 1 Hanover Square in New York’s Financial District.

The property also portrays the alternate-reality home of the Suarez family in the Season 4 episode of Ugly Betty titled “Million Dollar Smile,” which aired in 2010.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend/fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for taking me to this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Harry F. Sinclair House, aka the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion, aka the Valmont Mansion from Cruel Intentions, is located at 2 East 79th Street on New York’s Upper East Side.

June 27, 2018
Jesse and Becky’s Honeymoon Send-Off Location from “Full House”

I have grown used to productions playing fast and loose with location continuity, but was still flummoxed when I came across a thread back in January 2016 on a now defunct website in which a commenter asked if anyone knew which residence was used as the Tanner family home in the Season 4 episode of Full House titled “The Wedding: Part 2.” At the time, I was completely unaware that a pad other than the one at 1709 Broderick Street in San Francisco (which I blogged about here and here) had ever been utilized as the Tanners’ on the series. I immediately emailed my friend/guest poster extraordinaire/resident Full House expert Michael (you can read his many IAMNOTSTALKER articles here) to see if he had any intel on the locale and was not at all surprised when he wrote back telling me that he did. As he informed me, in “The Wedding: Part 2,” Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) and his new wife, Becky (Lori Loughlin), are sent off on their honeymoon from outside of 1320 Carroll Avenue in Echo Park.

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For those who don’t remember the circumstances of “The Wedding: Part 2,” all 8 seasons of Full House are currently available for streaming on Hulu. I’ll also provide a little refresher here, though. Thanks to a series of hapless events, Jesse winds up arrested and jailed in “Tomato Country” on his wedding day and has to be bailed out by his bride-to-be moments before the ceremony. The nuptials finally go off without any additional hitches and by the end of the episode, the couple are sharing their first dance (to “Jailhouse Rock,” no less) in the Tanner family living room. (And wow, can I just say that is quite the headdress on Becky!)

Not that D.J.’s (Candace Cameron Bure) is much better. But I digress.

After Becky and Jesse cut the cake and toss the requisite bouquet and garter, the scene cuts to a night shot on what is supposedly the Tanners’ San Francisco street, where Danny (Bob Saget), Stephanie (Jodie Sweetin), D.J., and the rest of the clan wave good-bye to the departing newlyweds as they venture off via motorcycle on their honeymoon. The residence barely visible in the background of the scene is known as the Heim House in real life. Other than a similar style of architecture, it does not bear much resemblance to 1709 Broderick – though, truth be told, it is never really specified that the pad is supposed to be the Tanners’ in the episode. In all fairness, maybe producers intended it to be a neighboring property or perhaps one across the street. Regardless, being that Full House was lensed in Los Angeles, it makes sense that cast and crew did not travel all the way to San Francisco to shoot the brief honeymoon send-off segment and instead found a suitable replacement location closer to home.

What perplexed both Michael and me is why the production did not make use of the Midwest Residential Street homes on the Warner Bros. Studio backlot where we both thought the show had been lensed. As Michael emailed me, “The scene is so quick and dark that the WB houses could have been used to similar effect.” As he came to find out, though, Full House was not shot at Warner Bros. during its entire eight-year run. Stage 28 at Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City was actually home to the series for its first 6 seasons. (To confuse matters further, Sony was known as Lorimar-Telepictures when Full House initially began shooting in 1987. The Sony changeover took place in 1989.) It was not until the start of Season 7 in 1993 that the production was moved to the WB in Burbank. Because Sony does not have a backlot to speak of, producers had to head to a real street to shoot “The Wedding: Part 2” in 1991 – and what better place to go to than the 1300 block of Carroll Avenue, which is comprised of the largest concentration of Victorian-style homes in Los Angeles.

The Heim House, originally built in 1887, boasts one of the block’s prettiest façades with a wraparound porch, carved wooden detailing, two towers, and zigzag trim.

The Queen Anne-style pad is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #77.

The picturesque property also briefly appeared in the Season 3 episode of Charmed titled “Primrose Empath” as one of the houses from which Prue (Shannen Doherty) could hear the voices and feel the pain of its inhabitants.

The two dwellings located east of the Heim House, 1300 Carroll Avenue, which is known as the Phillips House in real life, and 1316 Carroll Avenue, aka the Russell House, are also visible in “The Wedding: Part 2,” though as you can see below, the former is now obscured by foliage and can no longer be seen from the angle from which the episode was shot.

On a Tanner house side-note – when I went to input a map link for 1709 Broderick Street in the opening paragraph of this post, I noticed that a large group of fellow stalkers can be seen posing for photos in front of the Tanner home in the most recent Google Street View imagery of it from June 2017, which absolutely cracked me up.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to my friend Michael for finding this location! You can check out his many IAMNOTASTALKER guest posts here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: In “The Wedding: Part 2” episode of Full House, Jesse and Becky are sent off on their honeymoon from outside of 1320 Carroll Avenue in Echo Park.

June 22, 2018
Enter to Win a Blu-ray Copy of “Alex & Me”

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.

Calling all soccer lovers! Get ready to fall in love with Alex & Me! It’s an inspirational tale for the whole family!

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Soccer superstar Alex Morgan scores her movie debut with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment in the full-length feature film Alex & Me, available on Blu-ray™ & DVD June 19th, 2018. Also featuring Nickelodeon star Siena Agudong (from Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn and the upcoming Star Falls), the film follows the uplifting story of a young female athlete who learns how passion, determination and self-worth are needed to make your dreams come true.

Alex & Me will be available on Blu-ray (SRP $24.98), DVD (SRP $19.98) and Digital (SRP $14.99). And there are bonus features! Now who doesn’t love bonus features? They include:

• Getting to Know Alex
• Aspire to Inspire: Success in Hard Work
• Soccer, Script to Set: A Playbook on Alex & Me
• Outtakes

In honor of the upcoming release, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has created an app in which fans can make their own soccer emoji! Not only that, but they are hosting a contest in which one of my lucky readers will win a Blu-ray copy of the film.

Entering is simple! First, click below to make your own soccer emoji using the Alex & Me blog app! Choose your look, signature soccer move, and fun catchphrase!

Then post your emoji in the comment section below, click on the Rafflecopter link below, follow me on Instagram and provide your Instagram handle. If you already follow me on Instagram, you still have to click below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now the fine print – the contest will run today through July 1st. Each household is only eligible to win Alex & Me Blu-ray via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification. The prize will be sent via FedEx or USPS. No P.O. Boxes please.

June 19, 2018
Bemelmans Bar from the “Sex and the City” Movie

I must be in a very New York state of mind because here I am yet again blogging about a Big Apple locale – a city landmark, actually – the iconic Bemelmans Bar, which is situated inside of The Carlyle Hotel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. I first learned about the popular lounge thanks to its appearance in the 2008 Sex and the City movie and stalked it – as well as blogged about it – later that same year. I hardly took any photographs of the watering hole on that visit, though, so the place went right back onto my To-Stalk List for my April 2016 NYC trip. As fate would have it, the Grim Cheaper and I happened to pop in while the bar was closed one morning and the super nice employee we spoke with welcomed us inside to snap some pics. Since then I’ve managed to dig up a few more of Bemelmans’ onscreen appearances, so I figured the site was most definitely worthy of a re-post.

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Bemelmans Bar came to be in the 1940s when famed author and illustrator Ludwig Bemelmans, creator of the beloved Madeline children’s book series, was commissioned by The Carlyle Hotel owner Robert Dowling to paint murals on the walls of a new lounge space. In lieu of payment, Ludwig asked for free onsite lodging for himself and his family while he completed the work. The installation, which he dubbed “Central Park,” was finished 18 months later and Bemelmans Bar opened its doors in 1947.

Bemelmans’ playful creation depicts animals such as elephants, rabbits, and dogs frolicking in Central Park during each of the four seasons.

It is the sole Bemelmans commission currently open to the public. As Regan Hofmann stated in a 2014 Punch article, “Of the many murals Bemelmans completed over the years—including the Austrian restaurant Hapsburg House in New York City, a Parisian nightclub on the Île St. Louis and the playroom on Aristotle Onassis’s yacht—the bar at The Carlyle is his only work still intact and available for public viewing.”

Truth be told, though, the murals are no longer entirely the work of Ludwig’s hand.

Not surprisingly considering their age, the pieces have required regular touch-ups and repairs over the years. In fact, The Carlyle Hotel staffs seven full-time painters just to maintain the murals. Their preservation weapon of choice? Wonder Bread! According to Edible Manhattan, during a 2001 restoration, it was found that the best way to remove nicotine stains from the prized paintings was a gentle application of wet slices of the classic white bread.

The bar’s understated décor was carefully chosen to accentuate Bemelmans’ work.

The Art Deco space is comprised of a black granite bar, sleek round glass tables, a 24-karat gold leaf ceiling, large leather banquettes, a grand piano on which live music is played nightly, and lamps with shades that mimic the murals.

The space is cozy, intimate and all-around wonderful.

Bemelmans Bar has long been the stomping ground of visiting elite and local luminaries alike.

Just a few of the public figures who have popped in for a libation or two include Harry Truman, Jackie Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Jean Reno, Al Pacino, Steve Martin, Frank Sinatra, Princess Diana, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, George Clooney, Robert Redford, David Bowie, Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Lady Gaga, Liv Tyler, Drew Barrymore, Lorne Michaels, Kate Spade, Zac Posen, Cyndi Lauper, Nick Cannon, Angelica Huston, and Michael Kors.

It is not very hard to see how the site became such a bastion of old New York.

The lighting is dim and hazy (but in the best way possible), the atmosphere fanciful, and the drinks stiff. Some cocktails are even accompanied by a supplemental serving à la a classic diner milkshake. As Richard Carleton Hacker explains in a Robb Report article, “Elegantly presented by red-jacketed waiters, the dry martinis and Manhattans come with an extra-portion ‘sidecar’ carafe kept chilled in ice on the side, so that guests can top up their drinks.”

With its many quiet, tucked away spaces, warm ambiance, and array of film appearances, there is no better place in the city to enjoy an evening out!

In the Sex and the City movie, Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) takes Louise (Jennifer Hudson) to Bemelmans for cocktails and the two discuss their respective broken hearts. At the end of the scene, Carrie gives Louise this sage advice on age – “Enjoy yourself – that’s what your 20s are for. Your 30s are to learn the lessons. Your 40s are to pay for the drinks!”

In the book Sex and the City: The Movie, producer John Melfi says, “For the scene where Carrie and Louise go out for drinks, we shot in Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel. No one had ever shot there before.” He is actually incorrect, though.

Back in 2002, six years before Sex and the City was filmed, Bemelmans was featured in Hollywood Ending as the spot where Val (Woody Allen) met up with his ex-wife, Ellie (Téa Leoni), to discuss working together on a new motion picture.

Bemelmans has also popped up in a few productions post-Sex and the City. Arielle (Bérénice Marlohe) has a rather awkward first meeting with Brian Bloom’s (Anton Yelchin) parents, Arlene (Glenn Close) and Sam Bloom (Frank Langella), at the bar in 2014’s 5 to 7.

Several vignettes from the 2015 Netflix Original Holiday Special A Very Murray Christmas were shot at Bemelmans, including Bill Murray’s duet of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” with Jenny Lewis.

In the Season 3 episode of Younger titled “A Kiss Is Just a Kiss,” which aired in 2016, Charles Brooks (Peter Hermann) asks Liza Miller (Sutton Foster) to meet him at Bemelmans, but when she walks in and spots him chatting with her daughter’s friend’s parents, she runs away.

Bemelmans is not to be confused with Café Carlyle, an adjacent lounge boasting similar murals, these by Marcel Vertes. That site was featured in the 1986 dramady Hannah and Her Sisters as the spot where Mickey (Woody Allen) takes Holly (Dianne Wiest) to see a performance by Bobby Short, who played himself.

The exterior of Bemelmans was featured at the end of that scene when Mickey is shown walking home after leaving Café Carlyle.

Gabe (Josh Hutcherson) and Rosemary (Charlotte Ray Rosenburg) attend a concert at Café Carlyle in 2005’s Little Manhattan.

Café Carlyle also popped up a couple of times in A Very Murray Christmas.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Bemelmans Bar, from the Sex and the City movie, is located at 35 East 76th Street, inside The Carlyle Hotel, on New York’s Upper East Side. You can visit the bar’s official website here.

June 18, 2018