Haunted Hollywood – Page 4

November 3, 2017November 2, 2017

Halloween 2017

I’ve made no secret of my love for Big Little Lies over the past couple of months (you can read my many posts on its filming locations here, here, here, and here), so it should come as no surprise that the HBO miniseries figured into my and the Grim Cheaper’s 2017 Halloween costumes. Interestingly though, this year marked the first time I’ve ever chosen a costume based on earrings alone. One look at the pink tassels hanging from Madeline Martha Mackenzie’s (Reese Witherspoon) lobes in the final episode, titled “You Get What You Need,” as well as in the weekly opening credits, and I knew there was no one else I’d rather dress up as. Thankfully, the ensemble was quite easy to put together.

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For those who haven’t seen Big Little Lies (and if that’s you, you must rectify the situation immediately – it was easily the best show of 2017, in my never-to-be-humble opinion), the series culminates with a massive Audrey-Hepburn-and-Elvis-Presley-themed costume party extravaganza titled “Trivia Night.” Though all of the characters’ Trivia Night costumes are pretty darn amazing, Madeline’s stole the show for me. Instead of the ubiquitous Breakfast at Tiffany’s LBD, Madeline chooses to dress in Holly Golightly’s (Hepburn) famous tuxedo shirt pajamas and blue sleep mask.

Though I typically do not appreciate it when changes are made to an iconic costume (I am of the firm belief that if you are going to dress like an iconic character, you should do so as precisely as possible), in this case, I thought the alterations BLL costume designers made to the ensemble only enhanced the look – especially the bright pink tassel earrings Madeline donned in lieu of Holly’s purple tassel ear plugs. I hate to say this in case any Breakfast at Tiffany’s purists might be reading, but Big Little Lies did the tuxedo pajamas outfit better.

Obviously, the earrings were the most important part of the getup for me, so when putting together my costume, I started with them. While I found a few that were similar to Madeline’s online, none had tassels quite as large as the ones she wore. So I decided to make them myself – with some help from the GC.

Madeline’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s ensemble was recently on display at the FIDM Museum in downtown Los Angeles as part of the 11th Annual Outstanding Art of Television Costume Design. Though I, sadly, did not get to see it in person, thanks to the image below, posted by the museum on Instagram, I got a close-up view of the earrings which let me know exactly what I needed to purchase.

I searched high and low for fuchsia tassels and finally found the perfect ones on Etsy – the Silky Luxe Jewelry Tassels in Color #54 from Woman Shops World. Hobby Lobby was my next stop where I picked up this Faux Turquoise Beaded Bracelet Connector (which I cut apart to use for the earring’s blue beads) and this Gold Plated Findings Starter Pack for the rest of the earring parts. I ended up buying additional jump rings, eye pins, and gold beads (the latter two I can’t find links for) at Michaels.

The GC actually constructed the earrings for me and, while doing so involved some trial and error, they turned out exactly how I wanted.

The rest of my costume was a snap to put together. The sleep mask came from the SvetlanaCO Etsy store and the tuxedo shirt from Men’s Warehouse. I ended up having to purchase a Big and Tall shirt to get the length right (the regular-sized tops were far too short for my comfort zone) and have it drastically altered in width. I also added some extra black buttons as the shirt originally only came with four. Though Madeline completed her look with pink Marabou slippers, I decided to wear a black pair that I already owned. To finish things off, I put my hair up in a very poofy half-ponytail and voila! Madeline came alive.

For Trivia Night, Madeline’s husband, Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott), dresses as Elvis’ Chad Gates character from the movie Blue Hawaii. To re-create the look, we purchased the Hawaiian Hangover Aloha Shirt in Hibiscus Red from Walmart for the GC. Completing the outfit was a multi-colored lei from Party City, which he paired with khakis and flip flops he already owned.

To celebrate, we headed down to San Diego to attend the 8th annual Hallo-Wine & Spirits Party at Hotel Del Coronado with one of my best friends Kylee. I blogged about the Del way back in 2008, so I won’t re-hash its vast history and lengthy filming locations resume here. As I mentioned in that post, the hotel has always been a very special place for my family. Not only have we vacationed there countless times, but my surprise 21st birthday party was held in the iconic Crown Room in 1998 and my parents and I spent New Year’s Eve 1999 on the property. For the latter, Hotel Del put on what is easily the best party I have ever been to, complete with dinner, dancing, a live band, and a midnight balloon drop. After that experience and after seeing this video, I had majorly high hopes for the Hallo-Wine & Spirits soiree. Sadly, it did not live up to my expectations. While fun, I wouldn’t say the party was anywhere near worth the ticket price. Besides the fact that the decorations were seriously lacking, there were not enough chairs for the majority of people in attendance. Dinner was a mix of a buffet (the food was great, incidentally – the Baked Jack o’ Lantern is honestly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten!) and wine-tasting, so guests obviously wound up in possession of numerous plates and glasses. For some inexplicable reason, though, there was a major shortage of tables – and surface area in general – on which to put them, and virtually nowhere to sit. Most attendees were left to stand holding plates precariously stacked on top of other plates, wine glasses at their feet, awkwardly trying to eat. By the second hour of the dinner portion of the evening, Kylee could hardly stand, her feet were hurting so badly, which didn’t bode well for the dancing that was to come. I will say that I was majorly impressed with the party-goers costumes, though. People went all out and I absolutely LOVED seeing the creativity and detail that went into the many outfits.

While I am definitely glad we attended Hallo-Wine & Spirits and we all had a good time (I pretty much find it impossible to have a bad time no matter where I am), I don’t think I’d go back next year, nor can I really recommend the party to my fellow stalkers, sadly. So the search is on to find a fun Halloween activity for 2018!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hotel Del Coronado is located at 1500 Orange Avenue on Coronado Island. You can visit the hotel’s official website here and you can find information about the annual Hallo-Wine & Spirits Party here.

October 27, 2017October 26, 2017

John Adams Middle School from “Heathers”

The Grim Cheaper is a celebrity magnet. Literally everywhere he goes, he runs into someone famous. It’s maddening because 90% of these encounters occur when I am not with him. Like the time he stopped by a Starbucks while on his way to a business meeting and saw Keanu Reeves sitting outside. Or the night he ate dinner at a table next to Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart and then watched as the two flew off on their private plane from the airport situated adjacent to the restaurant. And I won’t even get into that day he popped into a Circuit City (remember those?) to find Britney Spears perusing the CD aisle. The encounter that was easily the most painful for me, though, was the time he spotted Christian Slater in a grocery store. That one killed this ‘80s lover’s heart. I was so bummed that as soon as he texted me about it, I hopped in my car and drove to the market to see if I could spot the actor. Sadly, he was long gone by the time I got there. That was years ago, but to this day, every time I am in that particular store, I can’t help but scan every square inch of the place for a possible Christian sighting. Oddly, while I have always loved Slater, I never liked what is arguably his most popular movie, Heathers. I did stalk one of its main locations, John Adams Middle School, a couple of years back, though, and figured what better time to blog about it than during my annual Haunted Hollywood postings.

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And no, I did not have a brain tumor for breakfast. I am fully aware that Heathers does not exactly fit into the scary movie genre. But as Horror Freak News stated in a 2015 article, “Heathers isn’t a horror movie (or even a horror comedy) but the irreverent film (released in 1988) has a body count to rival most teen-slashers. And besides, for Horror Freaks who came of age during the 1980s, Heathers was essential viewing!” Anyone who doesn’t feel the flick fits in with my Haunted Hollywood theme can go do you-know-what with a chain saw. Winking smile

The movie’s fictional Westerburg High School (named for Paul Westerberg, the lead singer of The Replacements, Winona Ryder’s favorite band at the time of the filming), supposedly located in Sherwood, Ohio, is actually an amalgamation of a few different L.A.-area places. Interior scenes, as well as a few exteriors, were shot at what was then Osaka Sangyo University Education Center (OSULA), but is currently Bridges Academy, at 3921 Lauren Canyon Boulevard in Studio City. You can check out some photos of the inside of Bridges here. As you can see, it looks much the same today as it did when Heathers was shot almost 30 years ago. The lockers are even still green!

The most recognizable spot used to portray Westerburg, though, is easily John Adams Middle School, at 2425 16th Street in Santa Monica, which appeared in the vast majority of Heathers’ exterior school scenes. John Adams’ rear parking lot, situated off of 17th Street in the northeast portion of the campus, popped up countless times throughout the movie.

But it is the site’s auditorium that should be most memorable to fans.

In Heathers, John Adams’ auditorium, which is located in the north portion of the campus along Pearl Street, masked as the exterior of Westerburg’s gym.

The structure was featured several times in the flick. It was in front of the auditorium that, in the immortal words of Heather Duke (my girl Shannen Doherty), Martha ‘Dumptruck’ Dunnstock (Carrie Lynn) “tried to buy the farm” by belly-flopping “in front of a car wearing a suicide note.” Spoiler alert – Martha lives through the event in what Heather so eloquently describes as “just another case of a geek trying to imitate the popular people and failing miserably.” (Heathers is nothing if not a wellspring of great one-liners!)

Most notably, the auditorium was the site of Heathers’ infamously explosive climax in which Veronica (Ryder) thwarts J.D.’s (Slater) nefarious plan to “infect a generation” by blowing up a gym full of students during a pep rally. Instead, J.D. winds up detonating the bomb on himself at the bottom of John Adam’s auditorium steps, while Veronica lights a cigarette using the ensuing flames. Man, the movie is dark! I had forgotten how much so until my latest re-watch, which had me shuddering. Heathers is not just dark, it’s pitch black!

Only the exterior of John Adams’ auditorium was used in Heathers (you can check out what the inside of the building looks like here) and, unfortunately, I am unsure of where interior gym scenes were shot. While the campus does boast a large gymnasium where I thought filming might possibly have occurred, as you can see in these photographs as compared to the screen captures below, it does not match the space that appeared in the movie. Filming did not take place at Bridges’ gym, which you can see pictures of here and here, either. And while several internet sources claim that the gym scenes were shot at Verdugo Hills High School, as you can see in this YouTube video, that does not appear to be the case.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: John Adams Middle School, aka Westerburg High School from Heathers, is located at 2425 16th Street in Santa Monica. The parking lot from the movie is situated off of 17th Street in the northeast portion of the campus and the auditorium can be found off Pearl Street in the northern section.

October 25, 2017October 24, 2017

The Well from the Manhattan Well Murder of 1799

Oh, do I love a good ghost story! Back in 2014, my friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, sent me an article about a well in New York that was the site of an infamous 1799 murder. The seven-foot by five-foot well, situated in the basement of a SoHo building that housed a restaurant for many years, but at the time of the article’s printing was being transformed into a COS clothing store outpost, was cited as one of the most haunted spots in the U.S. With the clipping came a note from Owen, saying, “If you come to NYC, maybe you can get access to the basement for a future Haunted Hollywood post.” As you can imagine, reading the blurb had my tongue wagging. I immediately added the address to my Manhattan To-Stalk List and began researching the case, despite the fact that I had no plans of traveling to the Big Apple. Flash forward to April 2016. Shortly before the Grim Cheaper and I headed to New York for a last minute trip, I started madly combing through my list of area locales to compose a coherent stalking itinerary. (Said itinerary was even color-coded! I kid you not.) One of the spots I, of course, looked into was the well. By then, COS had opened and I was thrilled to discover, via countless photos on the boutique’s Yelp page, that the well was no longer located in an inaccessible basement, but in the men’s department on the shop’s lower level!

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For those not familiar with the case, here’s a brief breakdown. On the evening of December 22nd, 1799, Gulielma Elmore Sands, or “Elma” as she was better known, walked out of the Greenwich Street boardinghouse where she lived, never to be heard from again. Though she had informed her cousin, Catherine, that she was planning to elope with her rumored boyfriend, Levi Weeks, that night and the two were later spotted by several witnesses riding on a sleigh together, at some point things took a sinister turn. When Elma failed to return home, Catherine asked Levi about the events of the evening, but he claimed not to have been with her. It wasn’t until eleven days later that her body was discovered thanks to some boys who noticed a piece of clothing floating at the top of a Manhattan Water Company well near where they were playing and notified police. Using grappling hooks, detectives probed the well and quickly uncovered Elma’s waterlogged corpse. Her neck showed the telltale signs of strangulation. Levi was charged with her murder shortly thereafter. But the young defendant had a trick up his sleeve. Thanks to his wealthy brother, Ezra, he secured Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr (yes, that Aaron Burr) as his legal counsel. The two-day trial that followed, the first recorded murder trial in U.S. history, became a maelstrom of media reports and public scrutiny. It was definitely the Trial of the Century – the 18th century.

The case was considered a slam-dunk for the prosecution. Not only was Levi reported to have been in a romantic relationship with Elma and the last person to see her alive, but Sands was rumored to be pregnant, which pointed to a motive. Public outcry against Weeks hit the zenith point. Hamilton and Burr were no slouches, though. They painted Elma as a woman of highly questionable morals and fingered pretty much every other man in the county as possible culprits, creating a massive amount of reasonable doubt. After just minutes of deliberation, the jury found Levi not guilty. Sounds a lot like that other so-called Trial of the Century. In fact, many articles about Elma’s murder refer to Burr and Hamilton as the “original Dream Team.” The events that followed the verdict also parallel the O.J. proceedings, with Week’s lawyers faring about as well post-trial as their 1995 counterparts. Hamilton was killed in a famous duel in 1804, shot by former legal partner Burr, which destroyed the one-time Vice President’s political career. Rumor has it the judge who presided over the trial just up and vanished one day, never to be seen again. And Weeks was so hated, he was forced to skip town. Elma never found justice via the court system, but maybe karma stepped in on this one. Amazingly, the case is still talked about today, more than 200 years after the fact. That is in large part thanks to a restaurant named Manhattan Bistro.

In 1954, the four-story Federal-style building that had been erected on the site of the well in 1817 was purchased by the DaGrossa family, who opened up a Franco-American eatery on the lower level. Manhattan Bistro became a local favorite and in 1980, the family decided to excavate the basement in order to create space for an office. During the project, a large brick well was unearthed. I am unsure of how its connection to Elma Sands was determined and, while some dispute its affiliation with the famous case (you can read their thoughts here and here), it did not take long for stories about the murder to spread once again. Tales of the building being haunted by a woman followed and soon patrons were asking to be shown the well while dining. The rest, as they say, is history.

In 2010, the well was even detailed in an episode of the Travel Channel series Ghost Stories – Season 2’s “Elma Sands,” which you can watch here.

Restaurant manager Thomas King tells of many instances of hauntings in the episode. One such tale, which was also chronicled in the book Ghosthunting New York City, had me shuttering. As King tells it, one evening he ventured down to the basement to grab a bottle of wine from the large cage that contained the eatery’s liquor. He unlocked the space, left the key in the lock, and stepped to the back wall to grab the bottle. When he turned around a few minutes later, he saw that the gate had been locked behind him and the keys placed on a box just out of reach. It was an hour before anyone noticed Thomas missing and headed downstairs to rescue him.

While Manhattan Bistro looks like it was a cute little spot, it was shuttered in 2013 after more than five decades in business for reasons I am not aware of. Perhaps Elma cursed the place. I mean, its Yelp reviews were downright terrible! In May 2014, Schimenti Construction was hired to gut and reconstruct the building as a COS (short for Collection of Style) clothing store. According to the article Owen sent me, though the overhaul was major, Schimenti was asked to preserve the site’s windows, façade, and infamous well. The boutique opened its doors in December 2014.

COS’ head of communications Atul Pathak touted the site’s famous past in a 2015 The Village Voice article and described the lengths the company went to in preserving the well, saying, “The historic prevalence of the space only adds to its appeal, as we are a brand that is committed to maintaining and restoring the original aspects and individual features of all of our buildings. At COS, we appreciate the importance of incorporating our core aesthetic of modern, timeless, and functional design into our store interiors. Prior to the store’s opening in December 2014, repairs were made to some of the bricks and mortar and the left side of the well, which was broken, was repaired.”

What’s odd is that, for a company that went to such pains to restore the well, the employees could not have been less interested in speaking about it, to the point that they were downright rude. When I first arrived at COS, I ventured up to one of the women working on the main level to ask if she could point me in the direction of the well. She rolled her eyes and said it was downstairs. I asked if she happened to know any tidbits about the restoration or why the company had been so keen on salvaging it and she told me she had no idea what I was talking about. Still hopeful (I’m nothing if not an eternal optimist), I then ventured downstairs, where I happened to come across another employee and a manager of some sort. They had just about as much interest in speaking with me as the woman upstairs and claimed not to have any idea why the well had been kept intact. Their demeanor was rather surprising considering this sentence in The Village Voice: “Just like the diners of yore, the store, Pathak expects, will have some inquisitive customers — and he says COS is pleased to provide a setting where the structure can be a focal point of the store’s interior.” Sadly, that was not my experience.

In fact, the employees were almost hostile in their attitude toward me, so much so that the Grim Cheaper, who literally never shops (especially at pricier places like COS – he didn’t earn that nickname for nothing!), had been looking at a blazer while we were there and was shockingly about to purchase it (had it in his hands and was heading to the counter) when he overheard my interaction with the manager. As I walked over to him, he turned on his heel, returned to the rack, hung the blazer back up, and said, “No way I’m patronizing this place.” Judging from the Yelp reviews, I am hardly the only one who has had a bad experience at the store. Maybe Elma really has cursed the building, condemning any business that operates there to a lifetime of bad Yelp reviews! Regardless of the rather unfriendly employees, I was still thrilled to see the haunting relic in person.

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: COS is located at 129 Spring Street in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The well from the Manhattan Well Murder of 1799 can be found in the men’s department on the store’s lower level.

October 24, 2017October 23, 2017

Rebecca’s Apartment from “Lights Out”

I am always tickled when I spot a location I have already stalked pop up in additional productions. Amazingly, that happened twice in the past month with today’s locale, the former Highland Park branch of the Security Trust & Savings Bank. I originally learned of the site thanks to its many appearances as the Battle Creek Police Department/FBI field office on CBS’ short-lived 2015 series Battle Creek, which was one of my and the Grim Cheaper’s favorites. I ran out to stalk the building the day after the show was given the ax, just prior to writing this Scene It Before post for Los Angeles magazine. Flash forward to earlier this month. Not only did I spy the branch in a Season 1 episode of my and the GC’s latest obsession, Leverage, which we have been feverishly binge-watching on Netflix, but I also recognized it immediately as the apartment building where Rebecca (Teresa Palmer) lived in the 2016 horror movie Lights Out, the main house from which I blogged about on October 3rd. So I figured that, even though I previously covered the building for LA mag, it was worthy of its own Haunted Hollywood write-up.

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The Security Trust & Savings Bank’s Highland Park branch was designed in 1923 by Parkinson & Parkinson, the father-and-son architecture team that also gave us Union Station (which I briefly blogged about here), Bullocks Wilshire (which I blogged about here), and Los Angeles City Hall (an oft-used filming spot that I somehow have yet to stalk).

Throughout the 1920s, Parkinson & Parkinson built a series of branches for the Security Trust chain, all of which boasted very similar brick and concrete Renaissance Revival-style façades. While there were about a dozen of the structures dotting the L.A. landscape at one time, most have been lost to the wrecking ball. But the Highland Park outpost still stands.

As does its sister branch and virtual twin, the former Security Trust & Savings Bank at 5303 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, which was erected in 1926 and currently houses The Federal Bar. That property (pictured below) has appeared in everything from Perception to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Parks and Recreation. You can read my 2015 post on it here.

The Highland Park structure, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #575, boasts 2 stories (plus a basement), 11,500 square feet of space, and a marble and granite interior.

I managed to snap a photo of that interior, which is really quite spectacular, through one of the building’s side windows while I was there.

I am unsure of the exact date that Security Trust & Savings shuttered the Highland Park branch or what the site was utilized for afterwards. In recent years, though, the property has been the cause of much controversy, beginning in 2004 when City Councilman Ed Reyes started spearheading a campaign to transform it into a “constituent service center” that would provide office space to several municipal departments. The only problem with Ed’s project, which was dubbed “Highland Park City Hall,” was that the building’s then owner, Dr. Richard Rutgard, wasn’t interested in selling – at least not for the price that was being proposed. The original bid of $1,590,000, made on September 30th, 2004, was quickly denied. In 2006, a higher offer of $2 million was introduced, but it was, again, declined. The city continued to make offers up until March 2007, to no avail. Then, the following month, a move was made to acquire the former bank branch via imminent domain. Rutgard subsequently filed a lawsuit and, though he did lose the property, he was eventually awarded a settlement of $725,000 in 2009.

The Highland Park City Hall project never found its footing, though, and the former bank was left vacant and unused, except for the occasional filming. And then things got really hinky. Per the California Code of Civil Procedure, if a site is taken over via imminent domain, the city has ten years to either complete its plans with said site or propose a reauthorization of the existing stated public use. If neither of those actions are taken, the property must be offered back to its original owner. In this case, the city did not complete (or even begin) the renovation project within the decade. And while a reauthorization was proposed, it was not done so by the ten-year deadline. Regardless of that fact and over objections from Rutgard’s lawyers, according to The Eastsider website council members went ahead and approved the reauthorization. What the wha? Talk about shady! Not to mention unethical and seemingly illegal (though I’m no lawyer, so what do I know?). I am unsure of where this leaves the bank, but hopefully it will be rehabilitated and brought back to its original glory à la The Federal in the near future.

Security Trust & Savings Bank’s Highland Park branch pops up a couple of times toward the beginning of Lights Out. It is there that Teresa first sees – and gets attacked – by the shadowy being that has been tormenting her brother at night. For those who have not seen the movie, the utterly creepy segment involves Teresa waking up to discover the specter at the end of her bed. If you’re feeling brave, you can check out a portion of the scene via the movie’s trailer here.

The bank building is shown from both its Avenue 56 and Figueroa Street sides in the film.

Only the exterior of the site appeared in Lights Out. The interior of Rebecca’s apartment was a soundstage-built set.

As I mentioned earlier, Security Trust’s Highland Park branch was also featured in an early episode of Leverage. In Season 1’s “The Bank Shot Job,” which aired in 2008, the building portrayed the Imperial Valley Bank in Juan, California, where Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton) and his team thwarted a robbery.

The structure’s real life interior appeared in the episode, as well.

As I also mentioned earlier, the former bank portrayed Battle Creek PD on Battle Creek. Only the building’s Avenue 56 side was ever shown on the series.

The inside was not utilized, either. The interior of the Battle Creek Police Department, as well as that of the FBI field office were sets.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Security Trust & Savings Bank’s Highland Park branch, aka Rebecca’s apartment from Lights Out, is located at 5601 North Figueroa Street in Highland Park.

October 23, 2017October 23, 2017

Hilton Sonoma Wine Country – Where the Cast of “Scream” Stayed During Filming

I typically begin compiling notes on a location and roughly outlining a post weeks before I hit publish. Today’s article, about the Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, where the cast and crew of Scream stayed during the 1996 film’s 55-day shoot, is no different. Sadly though, devastation struck shortly after I penned that preliminary edit. I am extremely sorry to report that the Santa Rosa-area hotel was destroyed by the Tubbs Fire in the early morning hours of October 9th. When I learned the news last Friday morning, just as I was sitting down to write this post, I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I could not – and still cannot – believe the Scream hotel is gone. I am heartbroken. And yes, I do realize it is a bit silly to be heartbroken over the loss considering the fact that the property didn’t even appear in the movie, but, at the same time, it was such an important part of the production and has been talked about by the cast in so many interviews that it honestly feels as if a piece of history has been lost. I am so thankful that I was able to stalk the Hilton last October during a trip up north and, even though it is no longer, figured I should still continue on with the post and share the many images I took of it for posterity.

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I learned about the Hilton and its role in the production of Scream from my friend Ashley, of The Drewseum website, who (as I’ve mentioned previously) was kind enough to share with me some call sheets from the flick that she has managed to get her hands on over the years. Besides detailing scene, wardrobe, and prop information for a particular date, each sheet also notes both the pickup time and location of the various actors scheduled to work that day. As indicated in the sheets, Neve Campbell, Drew Barrymore, Matthew Lillard, and the rest of the cast were picked up in the lobby of the DoubleTree Hotel located at 3555 Round Barn Boulevard in Santa Rosa prior to each shoot.

At some point after Scream was filmed in 1996, the property was transitioned to a Hilton, though, according to my aunt who lives in the area, not much of it was altered during the changeover and, up until the fire, it still looked much the same as it did in the ‘90s.

Typically, a hotel where a cast and crew stayed during the filming of a movie wouldn’t have that much meaning to me, but, in this case, because of Santa Rosa’s small-town vibe, the Scream team spent much of their free time together on the property. Unlike New York or L.A. or any other metropolis, where actors can step outside of their lodging and find a wide array of nightlife and activities at their fingertips, Sonoma County is a rather sleepy area. So the group hung out together, entertaining themselves on the hotel grounds, which created a tight-knit family atmosphere that I doubt would have occurred (at least not to the same degree) had Scream been shot elsewhere.

The Hilton was actually the location I was most excited about seeing during my NorCal trip, mainly because of an interview with Matthew Lillard that I watched years prior. Unfortunately, I can’t find a clip of the interview anywhere online, but, in it, the actor talked about holing up with the rest of the cast in Neve Campbell’s hotel room after filming wrapped each day or night and watching horror flicks. I love any and all behind-the-scenes tidbits like that and the thought of the cast huddled up watching scary movies together, while in the midst of shooting what turned out to be one of the most influential scary movies of all time, is pretty incredible.

Matthew is hardly the only Scream cast member to have mentioned the hotel in interviews over the years. In fact, I’ve found that, more than any other location associated with the movie, the Hilton is the one talked about the most. In the 2011 documentary Still Screaming: The Ultimate Scary Movie Retrospective, Neve Campbell reminisces, “We were all staying in the hotel – in like a little motel – the whole crew and cast. And we were just having a great time. I think we kind of couldn’t believe we were getting paid to have fun like that.” (Though the Hilton was actually quite large, because of the way it was laid out, with outcroppings of two- and three-story buildings dotted around the premises, it did have the feel of a small motel.)

That same year, in an Entertainment Weekly article, Jamie Kennedy also reminisced about the property, saying “We’d go home at night to the DoubleTree Hotel, and it was the first hotel I ever went to that gave you a cookie at night.”

Neve spoke of the Hilton again in a 2016 Entertainment Tonight exclusive, stating, “The cast would hang out in the mornings because we would shoot all night. We would get in cars and go back to our hotel and we would be covered in blood and there would be people going to work at 6 or 7 a.m. and they’d see me covered in corn syrup. The look on those peoples’ faces was always humorous. We would close all the curtains and hang out and have a drink. We were sitting in one of our bedrooms and we were like, ‘Could you imagine if this was good enough that there might be a Halloween costume?’ And we were like, ‘No, that couldn’t possibly happen!’ And now it’s 20 years later and I still see the Halloween costume every year in all the shops. It’s pretty amazing.”

Just this past July, Skeet Ulrich, who played killer Billy Loomis, gave an interview to The AV Club in which he mentioned the Hilton. He said, “I was fortunate in that the hotel suite they gave me had two rooms, so I used one just to sleep, and the other one . . . I was 26, I think, when I made it, and I was playing a 17- or 18-year-old, so I went straight to the mall and bought every hard-rock poster and black lights and everything, and I turned the other room into Billy’s room. And I’d sit in there and just read about John Wayne Gacy and play the most satanic music I could find and just try and find him rather quickly in that environment.”

All the anecdotes and tidbits I had heard about the hotel over the years enveloped me as I walked around the property. I couldn’t help but wonder which room each cast member stayed in;

if they were all grouped in the same area or spread apart;

if they checked in themselves;

did they walk down this hall;

or that one;

if they swam in the pool during their off-time;

if they sat by the fire;

hung out in the lobby;

ate at the on-site restaurant – etc., etc., etc.

Needless to say, my mind was buzzing. And yes, I am fully aware that I have an unnatural obsession with anything and everything related to Scream.

You can see some photographs of what the property looks like post-fire here, here, and here. And you can read an interview with a man who was staying at the Hilton when the inferno struck here. The hotel was actually one of the first places hit by the Tubbs blaze and, because it broke out so quickly, guests had virtually no warning. Most were awakened by a knock on the door from security guards at around 3 a.m. on October 9th and told to evacuate immediately. The man in the interview did not even have time to put on shoes. I can’t imagine how scary that must have been.

In watching this drone footage of the Hilton site, it seems that the three buildings surrounding the pool, on the western edge of the property, remain intact. So at least a part of the location still stands. A word of warning – watching the video clip is extremely disheartening. The devastation that citizens of Sonoma County are facing is unfathomable. My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Big THANK YOU to my friends Ashley, from the Drewseum, for telling me about this location and Katie, from Matthew Lillard Online, for trying to help me pinpoint the interview in which Matthew talked about the hotel !

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hilton Sonoma Wine Country, where the cast of Scream stayed during filming, was formerly located at 3555 Round Barn Boulevard in Santa Rosa. Sadly, the property was destroyed by the Tubbs Fire and no longer stands.

October 20, 2017October 20, 2017

High Tower from “Dead Again”

I did not see Dead Again when it was first released in 1991 (at 14, I was too young for such an intense thriller), but I vividly remember my parents coming home from the theatre raving about how great it was and how much I would have loved a particularly disturbing scene involving cigarettes. It was not until years later, after I met the Grim Cheaper, that I finally sat down for a viewing. The flick was worth the wait. Dead Again is honestly one of the most well-crafted crime dramas I have ever watched. And my parents were right – that cigarette scene is horrifyingly fabulous. The film also boasts one of the spookiest locations ever featured in a movie – High Tower, the striking Italianate campanile (a word I just learned today!) housing the elevator leading to Amanda Sharp’s (Emma Thompson) hillside home. I first stalked the site shortly after seeing Dead Again and have been back many times since. In fact, I used to take an acting class just down the road from it and would drive by on a weekly basis. Each time I would marvel at how lucky I was to be living in such a magical city, where passing by historic and iconic locales is natural happenstance. It randomly struck me recently that I had never blogged about High Tower, despite it being the perfect Haunted Hollywood spot. So I am amending that situation today.

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Though there are a few differing reports floating around online, according to the Los Angeles Historic Resources Survey, High Tower was originally constructed in 1923.

At the time, the hillside it flanks looked quite a bit different, as you can see in photos of the structure from its early days here and here.

The elevator was originally installed to service the dotting of homes on the tiny street of Alta Loma Terrace, situated just northeast of the tower.

In 1935, over a decade after High Tower’s inception, architect Carl Kay began construction on a series of four Streamline Moderne duplexes cantilevered directly behind the campanile on Broadview Terrace.

The complex, which Kay modeled after Positano, Italy and dubbed “High Tower Court,” was not completed until 1956.

Today, the elevator solely services the four High Tower Court properties.

The garages for the complex are situated at the bottom of the hill, a good five stories below the homes, and, amazingly, none of the residences have direct street access (moving must seriously be a b*tch!), making the conveyance an absolute necessity.

Without it, residents would have to resort to climbing a haphazard tangle of staircases comprised of more than 200 steps in order to access their units.

Each High Tower Court unit pays $51 per month for use of the elevator, which, while costly, is well worth it in my book. (However, there is something to be said for the fact that anyone who decided to save money and forgo the perk would easily have the best legs in town!) Sadly though, the structure is off-limits to the rest of us. Without one of the coveted keys doled out to homeowners, the gated tower can’t be accessed.

While researching for this post, I was floored to learn via a 1993 Los Angeles Times article that, while the elevator is private, High Tower Court is publicly accessible – as long as you’re willing to hoof it those 200 steps.

I wish I had known that fact before my most recent stalk of the place. I so would have ventured up the hill! Can you even imagine the views? For those interested in journeying to the top, Secret Stairs-LA put together a fabulous itinerary of a 2.6-mile trek that will lead you there.

High Tower Court has attracted quite a few notable residents over the years, including illusionist David Copperfield, author Michael Connelly (several of his books are even set at High Tower), musician Michael Feinstein, and actress Adriana Caselotti (aka the voice of Snow White in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).

Though some reports state that Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love also lived at High Tower in the early ‘90s (during the time that In Utero was written and Frances Bean was born), that information is incorrect. The couple actually resided just behind the complex at 6881 Alta Loma Terrace.

High Tower appears a couple of times in Dead Again. In the movie, Amanda, an amnesiac, resides in the large white home situated directly east of the elevator.

As ‘Piccolo’ Pete Dugan (Wayne Knight) tells her after finally discovering her true identity, “You live at 1454 Hightower in the old Carl Kay house. You know, the one with the elevator?” In reality, the address of the pad used in the flick is 2182 Broadview Terrace.

According to William A. Gordon in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, “The location was deliberately chosen (and even included in the original script), because the producers wanted to show that Emma Thompson was literally cut off from outside help.”

The inside of Amanda’s apartment appears to have been a set as it does match the actual interior of 2182 Broadview, which you can take a look at here. (While you’re at it, you can also check out the interiors of the other three High Tower Court duplexes – 2181 Broadview, 2185 Broadview, and 2189 Broadview.)

In real life, Amanda’s residence, which was built in 1936, boasts 2 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2,067 square feet, and a 0.10-acre lot.

Dead Again is hardly the only production to feature High Tower.

In the Season 2 episode of Naked City titled “New York to L.A.,” which aired in 1961, Franklin Maquon (Frank Sutton) confronts and kills Caldwell Wyatt (Martin Balsam) just outside of the elevator.

Like Emma Thompson, Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould) calls 2182 Broadview home in the 1973 noir The Long Goodbye.

Unlike Dead Again, though, it really does look as if the actual interior of the property was utilized in the shoot.

The kitchen seen in the movie, where Marlowe’s poor tabby refuses his attempts at feeding him some non-Courry-Brand cat food, is pretty much a direct match to the kitchen pictured in 2182’s MLS photos.

High Tower was also featured in a video adaptation of the first chapter of Michael Connelly’s 2006 book Echo Park.

And the site portrayed the apartment of murder victim Sandy Boudreau (Alexa Davalos), said to be at 121 Bendix Avenue, in the pilot episode of Raines, which aired in 2007.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: High Tower, from Dead Again, is located at 2178 High Tower Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Amanda’s house from the movie can be found just up the hill at 2182 Broadview Terrace. Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love’s former residence is located just around the corner at 6881 Alta Loma Terrace.

October 18, 2017October 20, 2017

The Smith Estate from “Insidious: Chapter 2”

Considering I’ve been stalking full-time for close to a decade and annually covering Haunted Hollywood locales for just about as long, you’d think I’d have the market on spooky sites cornered by now. That is definitely not the case, though. I am continuously discovering new-to-me spots, scary and otherwise, which speaks more to the vast history and landscape of Los Angeles than anything else. There’s always somewhere fresh to be explored in this magical place we call LaLaLand. One frequent horror film star that I only just learned about is the Smith Estate, a historic Highland Park Victorian so sufficiently looming and mysterious I fell in love with it upon sight. The pad literally looks like it was ripped right off a scary movie screen – so much so that I couldn’t help but pretend to be screaming in my ubiquitous header photo.

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The Smith Estate was originally built in 1887 for David P. Hatch, a practicing judge who also wrote books on the occult (fitting, considering his home!). I first came across information about the striking Queen Anne-style residence, which can be found at 5905 El Mio Drive, while researching the Finis E. Yoakum House, another Highland Park horror film regular that I blogged about here.

In the 1890s, the 4,528-square-foot, 6-bedroom, 3-bath pad, which sits on a 0.53-acre lot, was sold to Charles Smith, who ran the Los Angeles Railway’s Yellow Car trolley system. The Smith family continued to live on the premises through the late 1950s, garnering the home the moniker it is still known by today. (The house is also sometimes referred to as “El Mio,” after the street it is located on.)

In 1988, after a succession of different occupants, then L.A. deputy mayor Michael Gage and his wife, Lacey, purchased the Smith Estate, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

The Gages sold the dwelling to its current owners in 1997 for $290,000. Zillow estimates the property’s worth at just over $2 million today!

Situated atop a towering butte, the Smith Estate seems to loom over the entire city. As I got out of the car and walked up to it, all I could think was, ‘This is a real life house on Haunted Hill!’

Because of its elevated layout, the property can be viewed from all sides, which made for an unusual stalk.

The Grim Cheaper and I had a blast venturing 360 degrees around the structure snapping pics of every angle.

I absolutely love the photo below! Spooktastic!

Toward the lower portion of the sloped lot, we came across what we believe to be the home’s original garage. Because of the way it is situated, I am guessing that there is, or at least was at one time, some sort of underground passage leading from the garage to the residence.

At the front of the house is an adorable in-law unit situated above the property’s detached three-car garage.

I would so live there!

Due to its aesthetic, it is not hard to see how the home came to be a favorite of horror movie directors.

The Smith Estate’s most famous onscreen appearance is in 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2, in which it portrays the residence of Lorraine Lambert (Barbara Hershey), where Josh Lambert (Patrick Wilson), his wife, Renai (Rose Byrne), and their children move after having to leave their own house due to the events of the first film.

According to the movie’s production notes, director James Wan said of the property, “This was an amazing location. It’s really cool because the house is situated on the top of a mountain and the surrounding neighborhood houses are literally underneath it, so it is an amazing vantage point for views around Los Angeles.” The pad’s hill top locale truly does give its such a fabulously imposing presence. It would have such a different feel to it if it was situated on flat land.

The Smith Estate looks much the same in person as it did onscreen. Not much set decoration is needed to give the place that chilling quality horror flicks require.

The real life interior of the home was used in Insidious: Chapter 2, as well. Shooting on the premises really helped Rose Byrne get into character. In the production notes, she is quoted as saying, “These places they find are very eerie and weird, and dark and low-ceilinged, and that for me is very scary. I just think, ‘How could you live in this house?’ It’s just my sensibility; I’m just way too sensitive for it. Even more than the ghosts and all those sequences, it’s the houses that get me.” Me, too, Rose. Me too!

You can check out a video of the Smith Estate’s interior here.

In 1967’s Spider Baby, aka The Maddest Story Ever Told, the Smith Estate plays the role of the Merrye (pronounced “Mary”) House, home of the Merrye family, history’s only sufferers of Merrye Syndrome – “a progressive age regression” causing victims to retreat “beyond the prenatal level, reverting to a pre-human condition of savagery and cannibalism.” Yeah, I know – sounds like a real winner of a movie. Winking smile

The Smith Estate also portrays the mysterious residence that college student Scotty Parker (Rebecca Balding) moves into in 1979’s The Silent Scream, though the property is made to appear as if it is situated on the coast in the flick.

Unless the dwelling underwent a serious renovation after The Silent Scream was filmed, it seems that only its exterior was utilized in the flick. As you can see in the screen captures below as compared to the video I linked to earlier, not only is The Silent Scream home’s main stairwell in a completely different place than that of the Smith Estate, but the two interiors just don’t seem to match at all.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Smith Estate, from Insidious: Chapter 2, is located at 5905 El Mio Drive in Highland Park.

October 17, 2017October 17, 2017

The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia

I am into some admittedly weird stuff – murders, hauntings, all things macabre. But a place I learned about while planning my 2016 trip to Pennsylvania seemed even a bit too morbid for me. As DK Eyewitness Travel Guide described, The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia exhibits “curious and unusual items, including preserved specimens and wax anatomical and pathological models.” While the book’s photograph of The Mütter’s display of 139 real human skulls had me drooling, I feared the site might be a bit too disturbing. But I added it to my Philly To-Stalk List nonetheless. When I showed the Grim Cheaper info on the museum, he became pretty dead-set against visiting, though, and I did not attempt to sway him. Then fate stepped in during our first night in the City of Brotherly Love. While eating dinner at a fabulous sidewalk table at Devon Seafood Grill (another DK Eyewitness Travel suggestion), we happened to strike up a conversation with the couple next to us. Our new friends, Philadelphia natives both, were excited to share local recommendations and, as it turned out, one of their favorite places in the area was The Mütter Museum. They assured us we couldn’t leave town without a visit – which is how we found ourselves knee-deep in medical curiosities just a couple of days later.

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The Mütter Museum was originally established thanks to Jefferson Medical College professor of surgery Thomas Dent Mütter. In 1858, the doctor donated $30,000 as well as his vast collection of more than 1,700 specimens to The College of Physicians of Philadelphia with the request that they build a fireproof gallery to house the artifacts, which he hoped would be added to over the years, and hire a curator. The school obliged, constructing a two-story brick building at the northeast corner of Locust and South 13th Streets in 1863. The bottom level comprised the original Mütter Museum and the second floor served as The College’s headquarters. A third story was eventually added as more space was needed. (Sadly, the structure was torn down in 1930 and the spot where it once stood is now a parking lot.)

By the turn of the century, The College was in need of even more space and the Cope and Stewardson architecture firm was commissioned to design a larger headquarters at 19 South 22nd Street. The stately New Beaux Arts-style building was completed in 1909 and still houses the school, as well as The Mütter Museum, to this day.

The handsome structure has a haunting Midnight-in-the-Garden-of-Good-and-Evil-feel to it, which was made even stronger by the rain that started to fall as we arrived at the site.

The Mütter, which today houses more than 25,000 relics all related to medicine, health and disease, is considered one of the finest medical history museums in the world. Sadly, due to the fact that there are actual human bodies and body parts on display, none of the exhibits can be photographed. While I typically hate a no-photography rule, in this case, I completely understood the site’s use of discretion.

Only the main exhibit hall is off-limits to cameras, though. Photography is allowed in other areas, including Hutchinson Parlor, a space near The Mütter’s entrance which reminded me of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. I literally wanted to move right in, pour myself a glass of champagne, light a fire, and curl up with a good mystery novel in one of the cozy red armchairs.

Pictures are also allowed in the Thomson Gallery, the museum’s temporary exhibit space which was hosting Perfect Vessels: Works by David Orr at the time we visited.

The incredible installation consisted of massive round photographs of human skulls which had been digitally altered by artist David Orr to appear perfectly symmetrical.

As you can imagine, I was completely taken with the images.

I would LOVE to have each and every one on display at my house during Halloween. Heck, who am I kidding? I’d keep them up year-round if I could get my hands on them!

Sadly, Perfect Vessels ended its run in January, but you can read more about the exhibit here.

Situated just off the Thomson Gallery is the Sir John Templeton Veranda and Medicinal Herb Garden, another area open to photography.

And let me tell you, it is striking!

The Midnight-in-the-Garden-of-Good-and-Evil-feel of the property is continued out onto the terraced oasis . . .

. . . and made even more prominent thanks to the rather gothic-looking church that abuts it.

With its dramatic greenery and . . .

. . . and stunning brick façade . . .

. . . it is no wonder the garden has become an extremely popular wedding venue.

It literally looks like something out of a fairytale.

I think that’s Hansel and Gretel’s house right there!

The property’s interior is no less striking thanks to what Mütter’s official website describes as “a 19th-century cabinet museum setting.” Handsome wood cupboards housing all manner of artifacts are positioned in every corner of the dramatic space. Prior to my visit, I had never seen a museum laid out in such a way and loved exploring the myriad of displays, pulling out drawers and walking around 360-degree glass cases. The site feels more like the ornate private library of a wealthy eccentric scientist than a public museum. (The image below, which shows The Mütter’s main room, is a screen capture from an episode of the Anthony Bourdain series The Layover, but more on that in a bit.)

Just a few of the unique curios housed at The Mütter include the largest human colon on display in the world (the “Mega-Colon,” as the museum refers to it, which measures 8 feet, 4 inches when stretched, is pictured below with Anthony Bourdain), slides of Albert Einstein’s brain (his brain was 15% larger than the average brain!), the aforementioned collection of 139 skulls (which once belonged to Viennese anatomist Joseph Hyrtl), a death cast of the original “Siamese” twins Chang and Eng, a portion of John Wilkes Booth’s vertebra, actual shrunken heads, and the Soap Lady.

The Mütter is a somber place and the experience of visiting it quite sobering. But it is also utterly fascinating. I am typically not one for museums. At all. I find myself easily bored while wandering through exhibits, the display cards far too tedious and time-consuming to read. My best friend loves to recount the time we visited the Guggenheim in Manhattan. As he tells it (while making a circling motion with his finger), “While we were all still on the first floor looking at the artwork, here comes Lindsay, zipping down the ramp, heading for the exit.” Yep, I had already ventured up to the sixth floor and back down again while my best friend, his girlfriend, his mom, my parents, and the GC were all still perusing the lowest level. That’s typically my modus operandi at museums. At The Mütter, though, I looked at every single exhibit and read through every single information card. I was transfixed by each item on display. I honestly cannot more highly recommend a visit. Even the GC enjoyed himself and he had been so reluctant to go.

Bonus – The Mütter is also a filming location! The 2011 Quay Brothers documentary short Through the Weeping Glass: On the Consolations of Life Everlasting was not only shot on location at the museum, but details its many collections.

As I mentioned above, Anthony Bourdain shot an episode of The Layover at The Mütter, Season 2’s “Philadelphia,” which aired in 2012.

During his visit, Bourdain apparently declared The Mütter’s onsite gift shop “the best gift shop ever.” He’s not alone in that assertion. The store was named Best Museum Gift Shop by Philadelphia magazine in 2012. And I wholeheartedly agree. It’s like a Halloween wonderland! I purchased quite a few things there, including the coaster pictured below which is hands-down my favorite souvenir that I picked up while in town.

In the Season 1 episode of Ozzy and Jack’s World Detour titled “Iron Mountain Men,” which aired in 2016, Jack Osbourne took father Ozzy on a private, after-hours tour of The Mütter Museum as a surprise for the Prince of Darkness’ birthday.

While The Mütter also served as the inspiration for the American Morbidity Museum on American Horror Story: Freak Show, which aired in 2014, no filming actually took place there.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia is located at 19 South 22nd Street in the city’s Rittenhouse-Fitler Historic District. You can visit the museum’s official website here. The property is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

October 16, 2017October 16, 2017

Marie McDonald’s Former House

There are strange Hollywood crimes and then there are strange Hollywood crimes. Today’s locale fits into the latter category. Last week, my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, emailed me to let me know about a mystifying case concerning an actress that was detailed in a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly (issue #1485, dated October 6th, 2017). In the article, titled “Hollywood’s Original Gone Girl” (you can check out the online version here), author Joe McGovern chronicles the 1957 kidnapping of starlet Marie McDonald, who was better known to movie audiences as “The Body,” the nickname bestowed upon her after her vivacious curves stole the spotlight in 1942’s Pardon My Sarong. Though the story does not involve death, murder or hauntings, and the whole episode is largely believed to have been a hoax executed by Marie herself, Owen thought it would fit in perfectly with my Haunted Hollywood theme and I wholeheartedly agree. I was immediately transfixed by his Cliffs Notes version of the scandal and ran right out to buy EW and stalk the house where the kidnapping was said to have occurred.

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From start to finish, Marie’s life was the stuff tabloid reporters’ dreams are made of. Born Cora Marie Frye in 1923 to a former Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, McDonald spent her childhood in Kentucky before moving to the Big Apple during her teenage years. She entered the pageant circuit, worked on Broadway, and eventually headed to California where she secured a contact at Universal Pictures. It wasn’t long before the blonde bombshell found success in movies, appearing alongside such actors as Alan Ladd, Fred MacMurray, Gene Kelly and Cesar Romero (in Lucky Jordan, Standing Room Only, Living in a Big Way, and Once a Thief, respectively), to name a few. McDonald became much more well-known for her off-camera antics, though, which included a total of six marriages (she twice wedded – and twice divorced – shoe store magnate Harry Karl), an escape from an Australian psychiatric ward, a tryst with mobster Bugsy Siegel, an arrest for forging prescriptions, a DUI hit-and-run that culminated with the actress kicking one police officer and biting another, and, of course, her abduction, by far her most infamous escapade.

As the story goes, shortly before midnight on January 3rd, 1957, while in the bedroom of the Encino home she shared with her three children, housekeeper, chauffer and large dog (at the time she was estranged from Harry Karl, for the second time, awaiting a divorce), McDonald was startled by a noise outside. That noise, according to Marie, was caused by two men, one carrying a stick, the other a sawed-off shotgun. The men entered the residence, a sprawling one-story ranch house that Entertainment Weekly noted as being located at 17031 West Magnolia Boulevard (thanks, EW!), and told the starlet, “We want your rings, your money, and your body.” After ransacking the pad of valuables, the duo proceeded to spend quite a bit of time cutting mismatched letters out of newspapers to fashion a ransom note. (They must have gone to the JonBenét Ramsey school of ransom-note creation!) The abductors then inexplicably put the note in Marie’s mailbox. (I mean, that would be the first place I’d go looking for a ransom note if I discovered a loved one missing.) McDonald was subsequently blind-folded and forced into the men’s car.

After driving for about an hour, the threesome arrived at a small home where Marie was stashed away in a bedroom (one that strangely had a working telephone) and drugged. The men then made two calls, one to McDonald’s mother, Marie Tuboni (yes, both mother and daughter were named Marie), and one to Harry Karl, informing them of the kidnapping. Though told not to, Tuboni immediately contacted police, who headed to McDonald’s residence, where the gate and front door were found standing open. Detectives also discovered the ransom note in the mailbox (how they thought to look there is beyond me, but maybe mailing ransom notes back in the day was common practice), which oddly read “She won’t be hurt to get money.” A few hours later, back at the kidnappers’ den, Marie awoke and spotted the telephone. She proceeded to call, not the police, not her mother, but gossip columnist Harrison Carroll. (As one does when seeking rescue from a kidnapping.) It did not take long for the story of the actress’ abduction to catch fire with the media from that point. Marie’s second call was to her boyfriend, actor Michael Wilding, and the third, to her manager, Harold Plant. (Again, as one does.) It was at that time that the men discovered Marie had been using the phone (duh!) and roughed her up a bit before blind-folding her once again, leading her outside, and forcing her into their car. The duo then headed east to Coachella where they tossed McDonald down a dike near the side of the road and took off.

Slightly worse for wear, Marie managed to climb 25 feet back up to the road and flag down a passing motorist. It was 11:15 p.m. on January 4th, a little under 24 hours since she’d been taken. The starlet was quite a sight, bruised and bloodied, missing two teeth, and wearing a bathrobe and slippers. She was shuttled to the hospital where she doled out the chaotic tale to police. Though she was adamant in her tellings, the plethora of strange circumstances had detectives, reporters, and fans alike wondering if the whole thing was nothing more than a publicity stunt designed to revive Marie’s lackluster career. The many discrepancies discovered by law enforcement did nothing to help her case. One LAPD officer, Edward Walker, found the ransom note especially puzzling, saying, “It is far-fetched to believe that any kidnappers would take that much time and trouble to make up a note in the home.” (John and Patsy Ramsey apparently didn’t get that memo.) Most damaging of all, though, was the copy of The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown found at her residence. The 1956 novel (later turned into a movie starring Jane Russell), about the abduction of a pajama-clad movie star, bore striking similarities to Marie’s tale. McDonald was definitely the Sherri Papini of yesteryear. And then things got really strange.

On January 9th, five days after she was rescued, LAPD officers staged an elaborate reenactment of Marie’s kidnapping on location at her home, an event described by McGovern in EW as “one of the most spectacular charades in California law enforcement history.” Dozens of reporters were on-hand to witness the spectacle, during which McDonald was front and center- and in full costume (natch!). One reporter, James Bacon, later penned an article in which he said the exploit “had everything any Cecil B. DeMille epic ever had – except camels. There were four scenes requiring six takes; a bedroom shot and an outdoor location; a producer and director (both policemen)!” A photograph of the bizarre affair is pictured below. Owen included the image in his email to me along with the exciting news that the white brick gate posts pictured in it are miraculously still standing, more than 60 years after the fact!

Sadly, aside from said gate posts and the exterior fencing surrounding the property, not much of the 5-bedroom, 5-bath, 4,419-square-foot home is visible from the road. You can check out some images of the 1948 dwelling here, though. The pad, which last sold in 2014 for just over $2 million, also boasts a 3-car garage, a chef’s kitchen, a library, maids’ quarters, a whopping 4 fireplaces, parquet wood flooring, an indoor spa, a pool, a pool house, and a 0.93-acre lot.

Marie’s sordid tale doesn’t end there, though. The actress’ kidnappers were never found and a grand jury eventually determined there was not enough evidence to file John Doe indictments against them. Then, a little over a year after her rescue, McDonald contacted police to let them know that she had tracked down and met with her abductors. In exchange for $5,000, the men told her who was the mastermind behind the crime – her estranged husband, Harry Karl. Harry agreed to a polygraph, though, which he passed, and police cleared him of any involvement. The two finalized their divorce shortly thereafter and most who followed the case went back to believing the whole thing was a poorly-executed hoax. Marie’s career never recovered and on October 21st, 1965, husband number six, Donald Taylor, found her slumped over her dressing table at their home at 5337 Jed Smith Road in Hidden Hills. The actress was dead from a drug overdose at the age of 42. She went to her grave vehemently denying her kidnapping had been faked. Fifty people showed up to her funeral, where, according to my friend Scott Michaels, of the Find a Death website, three of Marie’s divorce attorneys served as pallbearers. There are still more oddities to come, though. Just nine weeks later, Taylor was also found dead. He had swallowed a bottle of sleeping pills and passed away a few feet from the spot where he had discovered his wife’s body. And in one final remarkable twist, after McDonald’s passing, her three children were taken in by their father, Harry, to be raised alongside Carrie Fisher and her brother, Todd. Harry, of course, was married to none other than movie star Debbie Reynolds at the time. Only in Hollywood!

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

Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Marie McDonald’s former home is located at 17031 West Magnolia Boulevard in Encino.

October 13, 2017October 12, 2017

Madeline and Ernest’s Mansion from “Death Becomes Her”

It’s Friday the 13th! Friday, October 13th! Could anything be better? This Haunted Hollywood season, the universe has really been pushing me to watch Death Becomes Her. I had never seen the 1992 flick and, while I knew it was about two longtime female rivals obsessed with aging, always assumed it fell into the comedy genre and, for whatever reason, never had much interest. But while researching Lacy Park recently in preparation for this post, I came across a 2016 Outlook Newspapers article that chronicled filming in San Marino. One of the area locales featured in the blurb was a mansion at 1125 Oak Grove Avenue, which author John Gregory mentioned had a cameo in Death Becomes Her. I jotted the address in my stalking notebook and didn’t give it much more thought. A short time later, while perusing Instagram, I happened to glimpse one of Hello Gorgeous blogger Angela Lanter’s stories and just about fell over when she stated that she and husband, Matt Lanter (my fave actor), had been engaging in a scary movie marathon to get into the Halloween spirit and that they were planning to watch Death Becomes Her, one of Matt’s favorites, that night. I was thrilled to learn the flick would fit in with my Haunted Hollywood theme, moved the mansion straight to the top of my To-Stalk List, and sat down with the Grim Cheaper for a Death Becomes Her viewing. The film did, indeed, turn out to be more funny than spooky (although, truth be told, what’s more frightening than getting old?!?), but I figured the estate was still worthy of a post.

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The mansion mentioned in the Outlook Newspapers article was actually the main home featured in Death Becomes Her. In the film, the massive Mediterranean-style estate masked as the supposed Beverly Hills residence of actress Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and her plastic-surgeon-turned-reconstructive-mortician husband, Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis).

The palatial pad was featured numerous times throughout the movie.

Despite the passage of 25 years and aside from a change in paint color, the sprawling estate looks much the same today as it did onscreen.

While watching, I had a hunch that only the mansion’s exterior was utilized in Death Becomes Her and that the ornate interior of Madeline and Ernest’s home was a set.

With its towering staircase, colossally tall ceilings, and massive fireplaces, the interior just seemed a bit too grand to be real. Then I came across this Entertainment Tonight interview with Death Becomes Her production designer Rick Carter which confirmed my hunch. In it, Carter talks about his creations for the movie and his initial fear that the sets he designed might be too large and monumental for the shoot. He says, “I remember the first day Meryl Streep shot on that set and her first lines were ‘Ernest!’ and the whole place just filled with her ego. And there she was! The set had come alive. ‘Cause I was a little bit concerned, had I made it all too big? Could any personality fill that? And within the first nanosecond of the performance by Meryl Streep, there it was, filled.”

I would love to see what the inside of the San Marino mansion looks like in real life (I imagine it’s far more modest), but unfortunately, I could not find any interior images of it online.

Madeline and Ernest’s backyard was also just a set.

The home’s actual backyard, which you can see in the aerial views below, is quite a bit larger than its onscreen counterpart.

In real life, the 2-story mansion, which was built in 1921, features 9 bedrooms, 7 baths, a 0.98-acre lot, and a pool.

Per Zillow the pad boasts 6,334 square feet, though I would have guessed it to be much, much larger.

Thanks to Chas, from It’s Filmed There, I learned that the estate also appeared in another Bruce Willis movie, 1992’s The Last Boy Scout, in which it portrayed the residence of Sheldon Marcone (Noble Willingham).