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The Kirkeby Mansion from “The Beverly Hillbillies”

Hold on to your hats, my fellow stalkers, ‘cause today’s post is going to be a long one. A few weeks ago, my mom called me up to ask about one of the answers provided in the “Ask Chris” column from the September 2012 issue of Los Angeles Magazine. In the column, an inquiring mind asked associate editor Chris Nichols for the location of the “crazy” abode featured in the 1960 movie Cinderfella. Chris informed him that the property used was none other than the Kirkeby Mansion in Bel-Air, which also stood in for the Clampett residence in The Beverly Hillbillies television series, but that most of the place had been demolished in 1986. Because the magazine had been mistaken in its reporting of locations in the past (you can read my post about the incorrectly identified Leave It To Beaver house here), my mom wanted to know if the Kirkeby Mansion had, in fact, been torn down. And while I had, at the time, never stalked or done any research on the property, come to find out, Chris’ information was indeed erroneous. I am very happy to report that the Kirkeby Mansion is still currently standing at 750 Bel Air Road in Bel-Air in almost the exact same condition (the exterior anyway) it was in the 1960s when The Beverly Hillbillies was filmed. It is, sadly, just no longer visible from the street.

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Construction on the Kirkeby Mansion, which began in 1933 and took five years to carry out, cost a whopping $2 million – and we’re talking 1930s money! The home was commissioned by a wealthy engineer named Lynn Atkinson. When it was completed, the French neoclassical Beaux Arts-style property featured ten bedrooms, twelve baths, 21,523 square feet of living space, a copper roof, walnut paneling, several Baccarat chandeliers, a 150-foot waterfall, gold-plated doorknobs and bathroom fixtures, a pipe organ, an orchestra stage, an elevator that ran seventy feet below ground, underground tunnels that led from the home to the pool area, and a landing pad for autogyros (yeah, I had to look that one up, too). Supposedly Atkinson had the place built for his wife, Berenice, as a surprise and when he first brought her there, under the ruse of attending a party, she took one look at the opulent manse and said, “Who would ever live in a house like this? It’s so grandiose.” Fail! The Atkinsons never wound up living on the premises and the pad was eventually acquired by hotelier Arnold Kirkeby in 1945 for about $250,000.

There are quite a few differing reports as to how and why Kirkeby came to own the mansion, including the rumor that Atkinson owed Kirkeby capital for a gambling debt, that Kirkeby had actually bankrolled the house for Atkinson and, when funds ran out, was given the keys, and that Atkinson had lost a bundle of money that he had borrowed from Kirkeby in order to invest in floating islands during World War II. Whatever the case may be, Arnold and his wife, Carlotta, acquired the manse in 1945 and, from that time on, the pad was known as the Kirkeby Mansion. In a fateful decision, Arnold decided to allow The Beverly Hillbillies to film at his estate at a rate of $500 a day because he apparently thought the show would be a dud. It ended up becoming a colossal hit, turning his house into a major tourist trap, but Arnold never lived to see that day. He passed away in a plane crash on March 1, 1962, several months before the first episode ever aired. Carlotta continued to live in the mansion until her death in 1986, but apparently the countless fans of the series who stalked the abode drove her crazy. After Carlotta passed away, the residence was purchased by TV executive Jerry Perenchio for $13.7 million. And while Jerry did spend the next five years remodeling the interior of the property (which did not appear in The Beverly Hillbillies or Cinderfella), he did NOT demolish it and the exterior was left completely intact (except for the roof area). To deter the hoards of tourists who would stop by to stalk the mansion on a regular basis, Jerry also had the entrance gate moved to a different part of the property, rendering the place invisible from the street. Boo!

While the Grim Cheaper and I were stalking the place, someone opened the gate and started speaking to us in a foreign language. I have no idea what the guy was saying, but the GC proceeded to snap away with his camera anyway. Nice work, honey!

Sadly though, even with the gate open, the only part of the property that was visible was a long driveway and the back of some sort of guard shack.

The exterior of the Kirkeby Mansion was featured each week on The Beverly Hillbillies in establishing shots of the Clampett residence, which was said to be located at 518 Crestview Drive in Beverly Hills. In the second episode of the series, which was titled “Getting Settled”, the Clampetts were told that the manse was originally built for actor John Barrymore, Drew’s grandfather.

The interior of the Clampett house was just a set, though, that was built at General Services Studios (now Hollywood Center Studios) where the series was lensed.

The Clampett’s pool, ahem, ceee-ment pond also only existed at General Services Studios. According to the TV Acres website, the swimming pool set was 27 inches deep, cost $20,000 to construct, and took half a day to heat for filming.

As you can see in the aerial views below, which were featured in the Season 3 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies titled “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood”, as compared to the current aerial views from Bing, the mansion looks almost exactly the same today as it did in 1964 when the episode was filmed. The grounds have changed a bit, although not as much as I had expected, and the gate, of course, moved, but otherwise the residence is completely recognizable as the The Beverly Hillbillies mansion.

A poster named LifeinLA wrote a comment on a SitcomsOnline message board thread stating, “I have some good news for everyone who is wondering about the house. I was friends with the Kirkeby family and spent much time in the house before it was sold in 1985 to Jerry Perenchio, the owner of Univision, upon the death of Mrs. Kirkeby. Believe me, it was an amazing place. First of all, it is still there, in it’s entirety, but no longer visible from the street. The only thing that the new owner did was remove the beautiful, solid copper roof, which appeared blue from the oxidation (and very beautiful), and make some much needed improvements to a home that was over sixty years old when he bought it. The kitchen was old, the bathrooms needed upgrading, the plumbing and electrical needed to be modernized. And, of course, he did redo all of the grounds, moved the tennis court and rebuilt the pool. He incorporated a new entrance, one that afforded more privacy, as this was always a problem for the Kirkeby family, what with such a high-profile home. He also bought back several neighboring homes that were once part of the estate, but sold off over the years and returned the property to it’s almost ten-acre original glory.” You can see the different roofs in the aerial views pictured below.

The Kirkeby Mansion was also featured in the very beginning of the 1956 flick High Society as the residence where C.K. Dexter-Haven (Bing Crosby) lived. The roofline was changed for the filming, though, via, what I am guessing, was a matte painting.

The interior of C.K.’s house was, I believe, just a set and, as you can see below, looks nothing at all like the interior of the Clampett residence.

In the 1960 flick Cinderfella, the Kirkeby Mansion was where Cinderfella (Jerry Lewis) lived with his Wicked Stepmother (Judith Anderson) and her two sons, Maximilian (Henry Silva) and Rupert (Robert Hutton).

The interior of the Cinderfella mansion was also, I believe, just a set and, again, looks nothing like either the Clampett residence or C.K.’s residence from High Society.

In the 1987 comedy Disorderlies, the Kirkeby mansion was where Winslow Lowry (Anthony Geary) lived with his ailing uncle, Albert Dennison (Pretty Woman’s Ralph Bellamy).

Unlike the previous productions filmed at the estate, the real life interior of the Kirkeby Mansion was actually used in Disorderlies.

The manse was also featured in 1987’s Over the Top as the home of Jason Cutler (Robert Loggia), although the front door area and balcony were changed a bit for the filming . . .

. . . due to the fact that in one scene Lincoln Hawk (Sylvester Stallone) drives his truck into the place, destroying it.

The interior of the manse also appeared in Over the Top and, as you can see below, the entrance hallway, tile flooring, staircase, and roped-staircase railing match perfectly to what appeared in Disorderlies.

Some fabulous current aerial views of the Kirkeby Mansion were shown in a REP Interactive clip about the most expensive homes in the world.

You can watch that clip by clicking below.

Kirkeby Estate–Current Aerial Views

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Kirkeby Mansion from The Beverly Hillbillies television series is located at 750 Bel Air Road in Bel-Air. The front entrance to the home is now located around the corner at 875 Nimes Road, but, sadly, no part of the property is visible from the street.

November 13, 2012
Happy Veterans Day!

I will be taking today off in honor of Veterans Day, but will be back tomorrow with a whole new post! A sincere thank you to all of the men and women who have fought for our country over the years, including my dad, grandpa, father-in-law, and brother-in-law.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

November 12, 2012
Henry’s Tacos from “People Like Us”

Last weekend, the Grim Cheaper and I finally decided to check out People Like Us. And while I can’t say that I loved it (I am not big on depressing movies), it was an enjoyable watch and Chris Pine was, as always, oh-so-yummy. And the flick was filmed in its entirety in Los Angeles, so there’s that. Anyway, while watching, I became a wee-bit intrigued with Henry’s Tacos – a walk-up taqueria where several scenes were filmed. In one of the scenes that took place there, I noticed a sign in the background that, on first glance, I thought read “Silver Lake” and immediately assumed that Henry’s was located in that area. And while I made a mental note to do some further research on the place, for whatever reason (probably too much champagne ), I promptly forgot about it.

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So imagine my surprise when I spotted the place on the corner of Moorpark Street and Tujunga Avenue in Studio City last Monday morning while heading to one of my favorite stores, Swag Antiques, for a little retail therapy. As it turns out, the sign behind Henry’s is actually for a bar named the Starlite Room. Yes, I am that blonde! Anyway, I could not believe my good fortune in stumbling upon the restaurant and immediately pulled over to snap some pics.

Henry’s Tacos was originally founded on December 13th, 1961 by an Assembly of God minister from Nebraska named Henry Comstock. The Googie-style walk-up eatery was designed by architect John B. Ferguson and, at the time of its opening, tacos were priced at 35 cents. When Henry retired in 1968, his daughter, LeVonne Eloff, took over the business and ran it for more than four decades until she passed away in 2009, at which point her daughter, Janis Hood, stepped in. Amazingly, Janis still employs the exact same recipes that her grandfather did over fifty years ago. The corner building that houses Henry’s has also been left unaltered during all of that time and still looks exactly the same today as it did when it first opened. As Janis said in a NoHo Arts District article, “When you have something that works . . . don’t change it. If it works it doesn’t need to be fixed. People like good homemade food at affordable prices . . . no matter what decade it is.” Couldn’t agree with you more, Janis! I wish the owner of Vitello’s (which is located down the street from Henry’s and used to be one of my very favorite restaurants) had heeded the same advice. Sadly, the place was recently gutted and remodeled, its menu completely revamped, and currently is a sad shadow of its former self. Sigh. But I am happy to report that Henry’s is still going strong!

Unfortunately it was 10:30 in the morning when I stalked Henry’s – a bit too early for tacos (I was only on my second Starbucks of the day at the time ) – so I did not get to sample any of the fare. But I do plan on dragging the GC back there as soon as possible for some lunch.

In People Like Us, long-lost siblings Sam (Chris Pine) and Frankie (Elizabeth Banks) head to Henry’s Tacos for a bite to eat after attending an AA meeting.

Sam and Frankie are later shown eating at the taqueria once again during a montage sequence in which the two are getting to know each other. The idea to use Henry’s Tacos in the flick was actually Chris Pine’s. According to a June 2012 Los Angeles Daily News article, the actor, who grew up in the Studio City area, used to grab a bite to eat at Henry’s regularly during his childhood years. Other celebrity fans of the eatery include Larry King, Brad Pitt, Sarah Hyland, Michelle Branch, James Marsden, Adam Levine, Marla Sokoloff, Jason Reitman, Tony Danza, Adam Carolla, Tom Hanks, Andy Griffith, George Lopez, and Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Mary-Kate even told Oprah Winfrey in a special “favorite foods” segment that Henry’s has “the most incredible hard shell tacos I’ve ever had”.

People Like Us is not the first production to film at Henry’s. The taqueria also appeared in the Season 1 episode of Adam –12 titled “Log 91: You’re Not the First Guy’s Had the Problem”, in the scene in which Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) and Officer Jim Reed (Kent McCord) discuss the difficulties of being a married police officer.

It is amazing to me that the restaurant still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did in 1968 when the episode was shot. So incredibly cool!

Henry’s also appeared very briefly in the background of the 1978 Cheech and Chong flick Up in Smoke, in the scene in which “Stoned Motorcycle Cop” (Otto Felix) pulled over Pedro De Pacas (Cheech Marin) and Anthony ‘Man’ Stoner (Tommy Chong).

And, according to fave website OnLocationVacations, the yet-to-air Alyssa Milano series Mistresses also filmed at Henry’s this past August.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Henry’s Tacos from People Like Us is located at 11401 Moorpark Street in Studio City.

November 9, 2012
A Breather

I spent all day yesterday running errands, so I will be taking a little breather from my blog today. I will be back tomorrow, though, with a whole new post.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

November 8, 2012
Rod’s Grill from “Mad Men”

During last year’s Haunted Hollywood postings, I blogged about the Mills View House in Monrovia, which was featured in both the Season 1 Halloween-themed episode of Picket Fences titled “Remembering Rosemary” and the 1986 horror flick House. Well, as luck would have it, since that time I have been lucky enough to meet Sabin Gray and Bryan Gerber, the owners of the property who also run a really fun store in Pasadena called Friends of Dorothy. While I was in their shop recently, Sabin happened to ask if I had ever stalked Rod’s Grill in Arcadia as a Season 5 episode of Mad Men had been shot on the premises. Well, believe you me, I absolutely freaked out upon learning this information because I had never before even heard of the place. So I immediately added the restaurant to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there just a few days later.

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Rod’s Grill, which was originally established in 1946, is fittingly situated right along the historic Route 66. The current owner, Manny Romero, purchased the already-established eatery in 1996. Amazingly, the decades-old diner was almost torn down to make way for the expansion of a Mercedes Benz dealership in 2006. In a mind-boggling move, the government of Arcadia, claiming eminent domain, came thisclose to purchasing the site and turning it over it to the Rusnak dealership, which at the time, according to the Castle Coalition website, brought in ten percent of the city’s tax revenue. Um, I’m pretty sure that’s not what our forefathers had in mind when they created the Fifth Amendment. Thankfully though, concerned citizens stepped in and saved Rod’s from the wrecking ball and the place is still going strong to this day.

The GC and I ended up absolutely loving Rod’s Grill! We went to the eatery for breakfast and I was floored to see that both sausage links and sausage patties were offered on the menu. Most places typically only serve links and, being a patties girl, myself, I usually get the shaft. Not at Rod’s, though. I am very happy to report that the sausage was PHENOMENAL and the GC and I wound up taking his father there the next weekend for breakfast, and then his father ended up returning for a bite the following morning, as well. The place is that good!

More than the food, though, the retro, untouched-since-the-‘50s (in a good way) ambiance is what makes Rod’s Grill so special and what keeps film crews coming back to shoot on the premises year after year.

In the Season 5 episode of Mad Men titled “Far Away Places”, the interior of Rod’s Diner stood in for the restaurant section of a supposed Plattsburg, New York-area Howard Johnson’s motor lodge. According to the Aradia’s Best website, a location manager for the series was scouting the city’s Chamber of Commerce for an upcoming episode and wandered inside to ask if any other nearby locales had a 1960s look. A city worker mentioned Rod’s Diner and the rest, as they say, is history. You can see some great pictures of the filming on Arcadia’s Best here.

The booth where Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and Megan Draper (Jessica Pare) sat in the episode is the one located closest to the front door, next to the counter area.

For the exterior of the hotel, a real life former Howard Johnson’s motor lodge (now a Regency Inn & Suites) located at 14624 Dalewood Street in Baldwin Park was used. You can read an article about the filming that took place there on the Zap2It website here.

Like Jimmie’s house from Pulp Fiction, which I blogged about yesterday, there seems to be quite a bit of online confusion about where the Howard Johnson’s from the episode is located. While doing research for this post, I was absolutely gobsmacked (LOVE that word!) to come across a fascinating comment thread about the location of the “Far Away Places” diner on the Hit Fix website. You can read through it below. I couldn’t agree more with commenter Michael R, who said, “Amazing how some people can be so sure about something that’s totally untrue . . . maybe think before you speak?” A man after my own heart, I swear! And Mr. Belvedere, who said, “Wow! How can so many people be so sure about so many locations? What transpired above is amazing . . . “ It truly IS amazing, Mr. Belvedere. For the record, the diner that appeared in the “Tomorrowland” episode of Mad Men was NOT Mel’s Diner on Sunset (as stated by Potzer37) nor the Pulp Fiction diner, aka the Hawthorne Grill, as stated by PF. The “Tomorrowland” diner was actually Bob’s Big Boy Broiler in Downey, which I blogged about here. And, as I just showed, the diner that appeared in the “Far Away Places” episode was NOT the Hawthorne Grill (as stated by James, Geoff, and LJA), which, according to the Roadside Peek website, was torn down in 1999, but Rod’s Grill in Arcadia.

Our incredibly nice server informed us of several other productions that had also been filmed on site, including the ill-fated series Luck, on which Rod’s was a regular hangout for Marcus (Kevin Dunn), Lonnie (Ian Hart), Jerry (Jason Gedrick), and Renzo (Ritchie Coster).

And the 1997 movie Sprung, which I, unfortunately, could not find a copy of anywhere with which to make decent screen captures for this post. I did however spot the restaurant pop up briefly in the flick’s preview on YouTube, which is where I got the caps pictured below.

You can watch that preview by clicking below.

And while she also said that 2000’s Lucky Numbers was filmed on the premises, I scanned through the flick yesterday and did not spot the diner anywhere. According to this Arcadia Patch article, the restaurant was also used regularly on the series Judging Amy, although I am unsure of which episodes it appeared in.

On a side-note – I would like to wish my mom a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY today! I love you, mom, and wish we could celebrate together!

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

Big THANK YOU to Sabin and Bryan, owners of the Friends of Dorothy store, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Rod’s Grill from the “Far Away Places” episode of Mad Men is located at 41 West Huntington Drive in Arcadia.

November 7, 2012
Jimmie’s House from “Pulp Fiction” – the Correct One!

Last week, a location photographer named Cris emailed me to ask for some stalking help. Turns out he had just scouted a house located at 4507 Kraft Avenue in Studio City and the owner (who bought the abode in 2009) had informed him that the residence had been used as Jimmie Dimmick’s (Quentin Tarantino’s) house in Pulp Fiction. Cris was a bit confused, though, as the place looked nothing at all like what he remembered of Jimmie’s pad in the 1994 thriller. So he did some online digging later that day and discovered that several websites confirmed what the homeowner had told him. Still not convinced, though, Cris contacted me to see if I might be willing to either verify or discount the rumors. And because I quite simply HATE, HATE, HATE erroneous location information being out there, I happily obliged! Thankfully it did not take me long to find the answer to this conundrum.

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One look at the residence located at 4507 Kraft Avenue via Google Street View and I knew it was not the right place. Jimmie’s house in the movie did not have a curved front door, nor did I remember it being L-shaped. So I popped in my Pulp Fiction DVD, scanned ahead to to the portion of the movie that took place at Jimmy’s house and immediately noticed an address number of “4149” on the curb in the background of the scene. Knowing that the simplest answer is most often the correct one, I decided to begin my hunt on Kraft Avenue, the street where most websites said the abode was located. I did a quick Google search of “4149 Kraft Avenue” and, sure enough, the Street View of that address matched perfectly to what had appeared onscreen – which absolutely shocked me! If the location was that easy to find, why on earth is there erroneous information about it out there?? The answer – shoddy research, which irks me to no end. One person says that Jimmie’s house is located at 4507 Kraft Avenue and everyone else just takes it at face value. There are so many blogs out there on which locations from other sites are merely copied in their entirety with no verification or new research done – which in this stalker’s never-to-be-humble opinion is both lazy and unoriginal. As I stated recently in my post on the correct A Nightmare on Elm Street bridge, if one is going to take the time to write a blog or publish a book, then they should also take the time to make sure their information is valid. I just finished reading O.J. Is Innocent and I Can Prove It in which author William C. Dear repeatedly states the mantra, “Never assume, always verify.” LOVE IT! (The book is PHENOMENAL by the way! I went in thinking Dear was a total fruitcake for believing O.J. is innocent, but am now completely convinced of that fact! If you are interested, you can visit his website here.)

As you can see below, the two sculpted hedges and streetlight in front of 4149 Kraft Avenue match up perfectly to what appeared onscreen in Pulp Fiction in the scene in which Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe (Harvey Keitel) arrived at Jimmie’s house.

From there, finding Jimmie’s house via aerial views was a snap. As it turns out, Jimmie’s pad is located at 4145 Kraft Avenue.

While the front exterior of the residence was never actually shown in Pulp Fiction, the backyard area was used extensively in the scene in which The Wolf hosed down Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson). As you can see in the below screen capture as compared to the aerial view, the unique roofline (blue arrow), porch overhang (pink arrow), diagonally-angled chimney (red arrow), and placement of the garage (green arrow) are exact matches.

As is the wooden fence that was visible behind Jules in the scene.

You can see a partial view of that fence in real life in the photograph below.

The only portion of the home’s exterior that appeared in Pulp Fiction was the front door.

As you can see below, the placement of the front door (at the southern edge of the house, next to a room that pops out), is also a match, although the actual door, and house color, have since been changed.

And thanks to Bing aerial views, you can also see that the house was, in fact, painted pink at one point in real life, just as it was in Pulp Fiction.

Because I also come from the “never assume, always verify” school of thought, I did a bit more research and happened to find a July 2007 Los Angeles Times article about Michael Glenn Mullen which stated that the soon-to-be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff happened to grow up in the Kraft Avenue house that was used as Jimmie’s residence in Pulp Fiction. The blurb also mentioned that Michael’s brother, Kevin, still owned the place. So I did a quick search of property records and found that 4145 Kraft Avenue is, indeed, owned by a Kevin Mullen. Voila! During his lifetime, Michael and Kevin’s father, Jack Mullen, was a press agent for countless Hollywood stars including Dyan Cannon, Peter Graves, Ann-Margret, Anthony Quinn, Julie Andrews, Steve McQueen, and Jock Mahoney, some of whom would even stop by the residence from time to time. So incredibly cool!

And while I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,702-square-foot house, which was originally built in 1936, was also used in the filming, I could not find any real life photographs of the interior with which to verify that hunch.

March 29th, 2018 UPDATE – As I just learned via Curbed Los Angeles, Jimmie’s house is currently for sale! If you have an extra $1.4 million laying around, it can be yours! For the rest of us, MLS photos of the property are aplenty, thankfully, and I can now say with certainty that the real life interior of the home was utilized in Pulp Fiction. As you can see below, the kitchen still looks almost exactly the same today as it did when the movie was filmed 24 years ago.

As does the living room;

bedroom;

and backyard.

Sadly, the listing does not include any pictures of the infamous hand-washing bathroom.

Sadder still, the residence is being marketed as a “development opportunity,” which means it will likely be gutted or torn down completely. Not cool! I do love the fact that the homeowners have a Pulp Fiction poster prominently on display, though!

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

Big THANK YOU to Cris for asking me to find this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Jimmie’s house from Pulp Fiction (the correct one) is located at 4145 Kraft Avenue in Studio City. In the movie, The Wolf pulled up in front of the house located next door, at 4149 Kraft Avenue. The “Smallest Park” from the “Smallest Park” episode of Parks and Recreation (which I blogged about here) can be found just up the street, in the parking lot located next to 4378 Kraft Avenue. Vitello’s Italian Restaurant from The Deep End of the Ocean and Robert Blake-fame (which I blogged about here) is located just around the corner at 4349 Tujunga Avenue, as is Robert Blake’s former house (which I blogged about here) at 11604 Dilling Street; The Brady Bunch house (which I blogged about here) at 11222 Dilling Street; and the house where Kevin Federline and Britney Spears got married (which I blogged about here) at 4053 Farmdale Avenue. Henry’s Tacos from People Like Us (which I have yet to blog about) is also located up the street at 11401 Moorpark Street.

November 6, 2012
The Reichman Mansion from “Major Crimes”

The weather in L.A. has finally turned and there is now a crispness in the air ensuring that jacket season is finally upon us. It is also, unfortunately, time to bid adieu to this year’s Haunted Hollywood postings. Sadness! For the next eleven months, I will just be writing about regular ol’ stalking locations. So here goes. In early October, when the Season 1 episode of Major Crimes titled “Dismissed with Prejudice” aired, I became absolutely enthralled with the gorgeous ultra-modern mansion that was featured in it. So I immediately set about searching for the place (before the episode was even over) and, thanks to the fact that the residence is currently for sale, it was not too hard to track down. A simple Google search of modern-style houses in the Hollywood area yielded this real estate listing, so I immediately dragged the Grim Cheaper, along with my good friends, fellow stalkers Lavonna and Kim who were in town visiting from Ohio, right on out to stalk it.

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In person, the house did not disappoint! The abode, which was originally built in 1958, but has since been extensively remodeled (we’re talking completely gutted both inside and out), currently boasts 4 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3,906 square feet of living space, and a 0.25-acre plot of land. Thanks to the Berg Properties website and fellow stalker E.J.’s The Movieland Directory, I learned that the dwelling has a fairly vast list of former celebrity residents. For a time the place belonged to character actor Frank Marth and it was later owned by comedian Jack Black and his then girlfriend Laura Kightlinger, who purchased the pad in 2002 for $1,075,000. When Jack and Laura broke up, he bought out her stake of the residence for $699,000 and then subsequently sold the place in 2007 for $1,210,000. The remodel/knock down took place at some point thereafter.

The dwelling that originally stood on the property looks to have been Spanish in style (as you can see in the image below which I got from the Historic Aerials website) and, measuring 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1,959 square feet, was much smaller than its successor. You can check out a (not very great) photograph of the original home on an old real estate listing here. At the time, the property was described as being a “spectacular ‘50s post & beam hacienda”.

As you can see in the Google Street View images below, the house was changed drastically during the remodel.

The result is nothing short of spectacular! The dwelling, which was constructed primarily of steel and glass, features a butterfly roof, cruciform columns, polished concrete floors, a large saltwater pool, a waterfall, a koi pond, a BBQ area, and a master suite with a spa-like bathroom that encompasses the structure’s entire second floor. And, if you have an extra $2,795,000 lying around, it could be yours! You can check out the home’s real estate listing here. According to several websites (which you can see here and here), the place is currently owned by a celebrity, though, much as I tried, I could not figure out by whom.

In the “Dismissed with Prejudice” episode of Major Crimes, the residence belonged to Will Reichman (William R. Moses), an architect whom Lieutenant Mike Tau (Michael Paul Chan) put away for murder eight and a half years prior. And I just have to say here that I absolutely LOVE me some Major Crimes! While I was initially doubtful as to how The Closer spinoff would fare sans Kyra Sedgwick at the helm, I am very happy to report that the series is fabulous. Bringing in the Rusty Beck character (played by the brilliant Graham Patrick Martin, who also starred as Eldridge Mackelroy on Two and a Half Men) was genius and gave the show – and Captain Raydor (Mary McDonnell) – a heart. I cannot wait for it to start up again next season.

For whatever reason, only the backside of the property was used in the episode.

The interior – which is all open spaces, towering plate glass windows, and high ceilings (drool!) – was featured extensively, though. Man, what I wouldn’t give to live there!

The staircase is absolutely to die for! LOVE IT!

Thanks to fave website Curbed L.A., I learned that the dwelling was also featured in the Season 1 episode of Selling L.A. titled “Rock Star Real Estate”, as the home that former actress/Playboy Playmate-turned-Keller-Williams-broker Martha Smith showed one-time Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum.

The episode aired on October 27th, 2011 and, at the time, the residence was for sale for $3.395 million and looked very much the same as it did in Major Crimes (although the yellow accent walls have since been painted over, thank God!)

In the episode, Martha talks about the fact that the “small, sort of low-profile kitchen” was designed for a celebrity who “just didn’t care much about kitchens” (someone after my own heart! ). I am not sure if said celeb ever lived on the premises or if he or she put it on the market as soon as the remodel was complete. Either way, I am fairly certain that the place is currently vacant.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Reichman mansion from the “Dismissed with Prejudice” episode of Major Crimes is located at 8538 Eastwood Road in the Hollywood Hills.

November 5, 2012
Halloween 2012 at Dick Van Dyke’s House

Christina Aguilera–But I Am a Good Girl Number

As I have mentioned countless times before, this stalker is just a wee bit obsessed with the movie Burlesque. Upon first seeing the flick in 2010, I fell head-over-heels in love with the “But I Am a Good Girl” number (which you can watch by clicking above) and Ali’s (Christina Aguilera’s) feathered costume, and promptly announced to the Grim Cheaper that we would be dressing up as Ali and Jack (Cam Gigandet) the following Halloween. His response, “I am SO NOT wearing eyeliner!” LOL Because we were invited to a prom-themed Halloween party last year, though, we ended up instead dressing up as Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) and Brenda Walsh (my girl Shannen Doherty) from the Beverly Hills, 90210 “Spring Dance” episode (which you can see photographs of here). But believe you me, as soon as November 1st rolled around, I immediately began hunting for the perfect “But I Am a Good Girl” outfit – which was not as easy as I had hoped.

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I thought for sure that I would be able to find something resembling the “But I Am a Good Girl” costume (pictured below) quite easily online, but, unfortunately, that was not the case. While plenty of Burlesque-style outfits seemed to be available, none of them looked a thing like Ali’s. Then, in March, I happened to come across Madame Gigi L’amour’s Esty page which featured a slew of handmade Burlesque ensembles. And while Gigi did not have one that resembled the “But I Am a Good Girl” corset, I wrote to her and asked if she would be able to custom-make one for me. Thankfully, I heard back from her just a few hours later and she said that she would be happy to. She even provided some suggestions to help keep the costs down – i.e. using less Swarovski crystals than were used on the movie costume and swapping out the ostrich feathers for turkey feathers, which are much less expensive. Oh, and she also threw in some nude-colored fishnet stockings. At the time, I was not even aware that Ali had worn nude fishnets in the scene, but as it turns out she had! Thank you, Gigi!

I received the finished product at the end of May and, let me tell you, when I opened the package I just about had a heart attack! I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY as the costume FAR exceeded my expectations. I was devastated that I would have to wait a full five months to wear it! And believe me, if I thought I could have gotten away with walking around Old Town Pasadena in a Burlesque costume during the summer, I so would have! Having that thing in my closet, unworn, for five months was like the Tell-Tale Heart in Edgar Allen Poe’s story of the same name – I could almost hear it calling out to me, “Wear me! Try me! Come on – just put me on!” So when Halloween did finally roll around, I was BEYOND excited to finally don the costume. I was a little nervous, though, being that it looks quite delicate, but I am very happy to report that the outfit was completely wearable and even comfortable!

Thankfully, the GC’s costume was much easier to find. To become Jack, he just wore a derby-style hat (which my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, tracked down for us), a black shirt and black slacks. Oh, and eyeliner, which he finally (and begrudgingly) agreed to wear.

Not too shabby, if I do say so myself. The “But I Am a Good Girl” outfit turned out to be my favorite Halloween costume of all time! I did NOT want to take it off and am already trying to figure out where I can wear it next. Words cannot express how much fun it was to walk around in that thing!

Halloween day actually turned out to be a completely amazing whirlwind! In the early afternoon, Miss Pinky (who dressed as, what else, Princess Pink) invited me to attend a Mad Hatter Tea Party at Walt Disney Imagineering, where she works. Um, Halloween and Disney mixed together? Count me in!

The party was held outside and, as you can see below, the decorations were absolutely amazeballs. There were tea-themed trinkets as far as the eye could see.

The display below had all sorts of fun surprises, like a tea pot that spit water at passersby, spinning tea cups and a hidden monster who would grab at people’s feet from underneath the tablecloth.

My favorite, though, was the Venus Flytrap that would come to life intermittently. You could feed the plant gummy worms, stick your hand in its mouth or scratch its chin and it would respond accordingly. So incredibly cool!

There was also a professional photo booth set up where guests could pose for pictures with props while pretending to kill a giant octopus. Love it!

And no visit to WDI would be complete without a stop at the onsite Starbucks.

At night, the GC and I headed, once again, to Malibu to visit our friends who live next-door to Dick Van Dyke. As I mentioned in my 2011 Halloween post, DVD puts on a massive annual Halloween extravaganza at his house in the gated Serra Retreat community. Thankfully, our friends were nice enough to invite us over again this year (even though they JUST had a baby) so that we could check out the festivities. And while I didn’t think it would be possible, amazingly enough, this year’s spooktacular was even better than the last! That’s Dick’s front porch pictured below . . .

which he had decked out with a creepy hologram picture of himself;

along with a few mannequins that writhed and shook constantly.

As I said last year, being at Dick Van Dyke’s house on Halloween is like being in the middle of a huge horror movie set. It is simply incredible to witness (especially for this Halloween-obsessed stalker) and there is so much to look at and so much detail put into the whole thing that it is virtually impossible to see it all. In the video below, Dick says, “We’ve got the Haunted House in Disney beat!” and he couldn’t be more right!

As you can imagine, I ate it all up with a spoon – from huge mannequins that moved, talked and jumped out at passerby;

to a witch stirring a bubbling caldron;

to figurines in various states of undead;

to the burn victim below, who looked so real it was almost unbelievable –

check out his shoes, the attention to detail is amazing! –

to a huge graveyard made complete with with cauldrons, crows and random severed heads;

to a second huge fenced-off graveyard with writhing bodies and, like last year, an invisible screen on which was projected a video of skeletons doing the Thriller dance, which I (obviously) LOVED.

The animatronic attack dog from last year was also back.

And the GC somehow convinced me to try to hold its leash, which was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done in my life! The dog of course attacked just as I got ahold of it and I pretty much jumped right out of my skin. SO MUCH FUN!

There were also random creatures walking around, scaring people and posing for pictures.

At the perimeter of the extravaganza was a GINORMOUS 12-foot statue that I just had to pose in front of.

What I did not realize at the time was that the darn thing would not only come to life, but that a guy also jumped out of it! Thank God that didn’t happen while I was posing for a picture – I probably would have had a heart attack!

The highlight of the night, though, had to be when James Cameron and his wife, Titanic actress Suzy Amis, came to our friends’ house – in costume! – to trick-or-treat with their kids . And while I was too scared to ask them for a photo last year, nothing was stopping me this year! And I am very happy to report that they honestly could NOT have been nicer! They even told me that they had been admiring my costume earlier in the evening! Like seriously???? James Cameron and Suzy Amis liked my costume??? OMG dying! I know I said it last year, but I’m going to say it once again – hands down the Best. Halloween. Ever. Can’t wait for 2013’s!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Unfortunately, because Dick Van Dyke lives inside of Serra Retreat, a gated community that is not accessible to the public, there is no stalking location for this one. You can check out the Madame Gigi L’amour Etsy page here and her Fackbook fan page here. And my exact costume can be purchased here.

November 2, 2012
A FABULOUS Halloween!

Well, I didn’t think anything could top last year’s Halloween, but this year’s honestly did! I was running around all day yesterday, though, and did not have time to write a new post, but I will be writing all about my Halloween adventures for tomorrow’s blog.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

November 1, 2012
Johnny Weissmuller’s Former Home

I would like to start off today’s post by wishing all of my fellow stalkers a very Happy Halloween! And while I could not be more excited to celebrate the day that I pretty much spend all year waiting for, my heart is broken over the devastation to the East Coast (especially New York, one of my favorite cities in the entire world) caused by Hurricane Sandy. My prayers go out to those affected by the storm. Here’s wishing for a speedy and safe recovery process and that those on the East Coast are still able to somewhat enjoy Halloween. And now, on with the post! Knowing how much I love me some historical properties, fellow stalker E.J., from The Movieland Directory website, recently told me about a massive Bel Air estate that had once belonged to Tarzan-actor/five-time Olympic-gold-medalist Johnny Weissmuller. E.J. thought that I might be interested in stalking the place for my Haunted Hollywood posts being that it has been abandoned for almost two and a half decades now. An abandoned mansion with a Hollywood history? Um, sold! So I immediately added the site to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there this past weekend.

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According to Wikipedia, the property, which was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument on April 6, 1990, is known as the Nicolosi Estate and it was designed in 1931 by Paul Revere Williams, the legendary architect who also designed Perino’s restaurant (which I blogged about here) and the residence that stood in for Wayne Manor on the Batman television series (which I blogged about here). The mansion was named in honor of one of its lesser-known residents, sculptor Joseph Nicolosi, who lived on the premises beginning in the 1950s until his death in 1961. According to property records, the Mediterranean Revival-style pad still belongs to the Nicolosi family, although it has not been lived in for over 24 years. As you can see below, sadly, not much of the place can currently be seen from the street.

Thankfully though, E.J. was kind enough to share some photographs that he took of the home back in 1988, when the property was much more visible to the public. As you can see, thanks to some fire damage, the place looks like a real life haunted house.

The Nicolosi Estate was commissioned by Johnny Weissmuller, who portrayed the legendary character Tarzan in twelve of the series’ films. The actor was also a lifelong competitive swimmer and the house reflects his passion. While the 8,700-square-foot, 4-bedroom, 5-bath abode looks to have been pretty spectacular during its heyday, it is the GINORMOUS 300-foot-long serpentine swimming pool (which is visible from the road) that circles around the dwelling, complete with rock bridges and grotto-style hot tubs, that had me drooling. What I would not give to have seen that pool in its glory days!

The pool also featured a cascading 150-foot electric waterfall made out of rocks, which you can see a portion of in the photograph below.

There seems to be quite a bit of confusion, as well as a slew of rumors, surrounding the history of the Nicolosi Estate. In fact, some people doubt that the house ever even belonged to Weissmuller. In The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, author William A. Gordon states, “Weissmuller’s only biographer was unable to substantiate this claim, and Jeff Hyland, a prominent Beverly Hills realtor and author of The Estates of Beverly Hills, told me he believes tour guides concocted the story because ‘it sounded good.’” According to the official Paul Revere Williams website, though, the house was indeed built for the Tarzan actor. And judging by that spectacular pool, I would say that the place definitely had to have been commissioned by a professional swimmer.

The rumors don’t stop there, though. In the book Miss O’Dell: My Hard Days and Long Nights with The Beatles, The Stones, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and the Women They Loved, author/groupie Chris O’Dell says of the house, “The grounds were equally extravagant, with a swimming pool the size of a football field, another pool made to look like a river and big enough for a rowboat, tennis courts, four pink stucco guest houses, and stately old trees with overarching branches and dense foliage. Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst had bought the house for his mistress, actress Marion Davies; Howard Hughes had been a guest there in the grand old days of Hollywood, and John and Jackie Kennedy had honeymooned there in 1953. At least that’s what I was told, and I believed it.” And while the William Randolph Hearst/Marion Davies story is, most likely, true, I do not believe that JFK and Jackie ever spent any time on the premises.

Not that the place didn’t have its fair share of celebrity inhabitants. In 1972, actress Mackenzie Phillips lived there for a short time with her father, The Mamas & the Papas’ John Phillips, and step-mom, actress Genevieve Waite. In her 2009 book High on Arrival, Mackenzie says, “Dad gave me my own wing of the mansion. It was that kind of place – a pink Italian palace that was designed by Paul Williams for Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic swimmer and on-screen Tarzan. We also heard it had been rented or owned by William Randolph Hearst for his long-term paramour, Marion Davis. Whatever the case, the house was clearly built as a place for rich people to play. First Mick and Bianca Jagger had rented it at my dad’s recommendation, and when they left, Dad and Genevieve moved in from the Chateau Marmont. Dad liked to live large, to show everyone what a big star he was. The ceilings were twenty feet tall. The moldings had hand-painted fleur-de-lis. There was a mirrored hall and countless antiques. The vast ballroom was surrounded by Moroccan murals of guys on horses and temples with pointed tops. There was a stage, mirrors, a ballet bar, and a supply of wax to restore the floor to an optimal surface for dancing.”

Of the pool, Mackenzie states, “Outside, there was a swimming pool that Johnny Weissmuller must have had built so he could do his laps. To say the pool was long is an understatement. It was 301 feet long, but skinny, and winding like a snake through exotic landscaping and funhouse weirdness. An arched bridge crossed over the pool and led to a stone tunnel with Gothic windows. Near the tunnel was a wall of hand-painted stucco cabanas. All the structures, including the bottom of the bridge over the pool (the part you saw when you swam under it) were decorated with hand-painted murals. It looked like the hybrid child of an Italian church and a Hawaiian lagoon. At the end of the pool closest to the road was a massive waterfall. What made the enormous, serpentine swimming pool most extraordinary was that it was kept empty. Who could maintain a pool that size? Dry and collecting dead leaves, it wound a deep, smooth path through the gardens with the mysterious aura of ancient ruins – the indestructible relic of other people’s lives. It may have been empty and eerie, but we put the pool to good use. It would have made an excellent skateboard park, but we didn’t have skateboards, so we rode Big Wheels down the length of it at four in the morning, racing back and forth in the deep darkness of the long, sunken pit.” So incredibly odd!

The Phillips family was evicted from the Nicolosi Estate after only a few short months due to non-payment of rent. Apparently, when Mackenzie was on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2009, a video clip of the house was shown, but I, unfortunately, could not find a copy of the episode anywhere with which to make screen captures for this post.

Sadly, the massive abode was completely gutted by a fire sometime in the late ‘80s and, for whatever reason, has been left to rot, abandoned, ever since. You can see some of the fire damage in E.J.’s photographs below. According to Yahoo Answers poster Cortney K., another rumor about the house states that the then owner of the property set fire to it, while his family was inside, one Christmas Eve night before fleeing the scene. Who knows if that story is true or not, but Cortney said she did once spot old Christmas lights and bows on the premises. Oh, if only those walls could talk! Whatever the truth behind the mystery of the abode may be, there is no discounting the fact that it is a fabulous place to stalk and I was absolutely in awe while there.

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

Big THANK YOU to E.J., from The Movieland Directory website, for telling me about this location and for providing the fabulous pictures for this post!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Johnny Weissmuller’s former house is located at 414 St. Pierre Road in Bel Air. Alfred Hitchcock’s first Los Angeles home (which I blogged about here) is located just around the corner at 609 St. Cloud Road.

October 31, 2012