Big Little Lies – Page 2

July 24, 2019July 27, 2019

Madeline’s Real Estate Office from “Big Little Lies”

I try to keep things positive on this blog, but, man, Sunday night’s Big Little Lies finale was an epic disappointment! The entire season was hugely lackluster, truth be told, which is especially frustrating considering the outright perfection of Season 1. I will contend that the first few episodes started out semi-promising, but the show quickly made an about-face, jumping the shark not long after Renata Klein’s (Laura Dern) “I will not NOT be rich!” jailhouse proclamation. My friend Jennifer summed things up perfectly when she messaged me Monday morning saying, “This entire season felt like it was a bunch of shots composed of the following: the same flashbacks over and over again; waves; shaky cam footage with low-to-no sound; driving shots. That was the meat and potatoes of the season, and the dessert was the one or two shots each episode that didn’t fall into those categories.” The locations proved just as mediocre as the rest of the season (again, especially disappointing considering those of S1), but I still have quite a few left in my arsenal to blog about including the real estate office where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) worked. So here goes!

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The supposed Monterey-area Sotheby’s where Madeline is employed first appeared in Season 2’s premiere, “What Have They Done?” (How Madeline went from being the director of a community theater in Season 1 to a real estate agent in Season 2 was never explained – like so many of the other changes made – but I guess that is beside the point.)

I did not recognize the office when initially watching the episode the night it aired back in June, but while scanning through it the following morning on the hunt for locales, I noticed the bright green and orange coloring of its exterior, shown fleetingly as Madeline walks inside, and knew immediately that filming had taken place at Hotel Shirley in Sierra Madre.

Thanks to my many visits to Sierra Madre when I lived in nearby Pasadena, I have long been familiar with the two-story structure, which is a focal point of the city’s quaint downtown.

Though one of the area’s Historical Landmarks, oddly, I could not find much information about Hotel Shirley’s background online.

Per the sign displayed out front, the building dates back to 1889 when it served as the headquarters of Hawks & Copps Real Estate and Insurance. In 1911, it was rebuilt as Hotel Shirley, a lodging for visitors to Mt. Wilson described by newspapers of the day as an “ideal summer resort in the mountains” boasting “fine cuisine” as well as having “no fleas or mosquitoes” – always a plus. In later years, the property became everything from a church meeting hall to a grocer to a house of ill repute before finally being purchased by local realtor Judy Webb-Martin in 1994. She set about restoring the structure to operate, in part, as her brokerage firm, a project which took five years to complete. Being that Hawks & Copps was the city’s first real estate office, the site really has come full circle. You can check out a short video Judy put together about the building’s provenance, which is where the black and white still below comes from, here.

Big Little Lies made use of the north side of Hotel Shirley’s lower level which, in real life, is home to the Sierra Madre outpost of the Deasy Penner Podley brokerage firm.

I ran out to stalk the place shortly after its appearance in “What Have They Done?” and was thrilled to be wholeheartedly welcomed by the agents present, all of whom expressed my same affinity for the show. How exciting it must have been for them to witness a beloved series come to life right before their very eyes in their very workspace and to share the same air with such esteemed stars as Witherspoon, Dern, and Meryl-freaking-Streep! My new friends even allowed me to take pictures of the office’s interior and showed me exactly where filming had taken place!

As you can imagine, I was like a kid in a candy store, snapping away!

Deasy Penner Podley is also where Renata rants to Madeline about Otter Bay Elementary School Principal Warren Nippal (P.J. Byrne) in the episode titled “The End of the World.” According to the employees I spoke with, the office’s actual furnishings were used in the shoot, though the site has since been remodeled slightly with the black desks swiped out for natural wood versions and the back wall painted green instead of blue. Several pieces were also moved out for the shoot to give the space more openness, but otherwise, it is very recognizable from its onscreen appearance.

The Deasy Penner Podley agents also informed me that a third scene was shot at the office, but like so much of the footage from Season 2, it wound up on the cutting room floor.

Thanks to the Dear Old Hollywood website, I learned that Hotel Shirley is visible in the background of the 1956 drama Strange Intruder in the scene in which Paul Quentin (Edmund Purdom) catches a bus to leave town. (That’s it in the top left of both screen captures below.)

The Hotel can also briefly be seen in the Season 1 episode of Camping titled “Going to Town,” which aired in 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: Deasy Penner Podley, aka Madeline’s real estate office from Big Little Lies, is located on the bottom level of Hotel Shirley at 30 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. The Starbucks where Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositioned Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) in the episode titled “The Bad Mother” and where Renata lashed out at Mary Louise Wright (Streep) in “I Want to Know” can be found across the street at 1 Kersting Court. And Mother Moo Creamery, where Madeline runs into Mary Louise in “Kill Me” – and where she was supposed to throw an ice cream cone at her -is up the road at 17 Kersting Court.

July 17, 2019July 23, 2019

Ed and Tori’s Coffee Shop Meet-Up from “Big Little Lies”

If the news reports currently lighting up the internet are to be believed, the drama that took place behind the scenes of Big Little Lies’ latest season is far headier than that which unfolded onscreen! At the center of the dustup, per a recent IndieWire exposé, is Jean-Marc Vallée, the director of the series’ epic first season, who HBO penned to surreptitiously take over post-production duties from Season 2’s Andrea Arnold, largely modifying her vision. According to the article, “While there was a significant reworking of the show’s story through additional photography and an increased reliance on Season 1 flashbacks, a large part of what guided Vallée’s reconfiguration of the second season was removing Arnold’s signature contributions. Sixty-page scripts were slashed down to 40-plus minute episodes, sources say, largely by chopping up a scene to remove what one source described as Arnold’s character exploration and ‘ephemeral stuff.’” Eleven – yes, eleven! – different editors were apparently brought in to complete the retrofit. The dissension shows. Big Little Lies’ current season has not only been disjointed but seriously lacking – in storyline, character development, script (where are Madeline’s zingy one-liners?), cinematography and locations – especially in locations. The first season sported some of the most appealing spots to ever come out of Hollywood – from the houses to the restaurants to the parks, every square inch of the BLL landscape was intoxicating! This season, the sites have been tepid at best (not that I’ll stop reporting on them!). Take for instance the illicit meet-up between Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) and Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) in “The Bad Mother,” which took place at a . . . Starbucks. While I’m the first to extol appreciation for the coffee giant, I recognize that its stores are rather generic and bland. Not exactly the space I would have chosen for a steamy, Monterey-style tête-à-tête. Arnold, you could have done better! Nevertheless, I just had to stalk the outpost where the segment was shot.

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As I’ve said many times before, stalking begets stalking. While visiting a different Big Littles Lies location a few weeks ago (one that I have yet to blog about), I struck up a conversation with the employees of the establishment who informed me that the Starbucks at 1 Kersting Court in Sierra Madre was also used in some Season 2 filming. Though I found it extremely surprising that the series would utilize a coffee chain and thought my new friends might even be mistaken, I popped on over there to snap a few pics.

So when the café popped up Sunday night in “The Bad Mother,” I recognized it immediately.

It is at the Kersting Court Starbucks that, in what is easily one of the season’s most cringe-worthy moments, Tori propositions Ed to have an affair. (I’m not even going to mention the type of diary Tori claims she keeps!)

Thanks to extremely tight angles, which seem to be a hallmark of this season’s shooting style, not much of the coffee shop is visible in the scene.

Though it is easy to discern that the segment made use of the corner window pictured on the left-hand side below.

To add insult to injury, the Sierra Madre Starbucks was also utilized for a scene in the season finale titled “I Want to Know.” While ordering a double Americano (NO milk!) at the outpost prior to heading to court to support Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), a “wrought” Renata Klein (Laura Dern) runs into “judgey judger” Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) and gives her a rather obscenity-laden piece of her mind. The segment (which you can watch here) is extraordinary (seriously, how is Meryl so good?), especially the ending in which Renata storms out sans her Americano causing Mary Louise to tell the barista, “Put it in a bag. I’ll take it to her cause we’re going to the same —” and then points her finger toward the wall cavalierly, failing to mention that they’re both going to Monterey Superior Court where Mary Louise is suing Celeste for custody of her two children. Like I said, the scene is genius. The location? Not so much.

The Kersting Court Starbucks is a cute little spot to grab a cup of joe, no doubt. The patio out front is especially inviting. Regardless of that fact, though, I still maintain that it is by no means extraordinary enough to be featured on a series like Big Little Lies, which is so adept at showcasing striking locations, viewers practically want to dive through their screens to immerse themselves in the scenery. Well, that was the case with Season 1, at least. Season 2 left quite a bit to be desired.

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 Starbucks where Tori propositions Ed in the Season 2 episode of Big Little Lies titled “The Bad Mother” is located at 1 Kersting Court in Sierra Madre.

June 28, 2019July 30, 2019

Café Descanso from “Big Little Lies”

My mom recently commented to me that the latest season of Big Little Lies is shot very tightly, which she finds surprising being that director Andrea Arnold sought to feature more of the great outdoors this time around. Even Blissful Drip Café, the prop coffee shop built specifically for the series on a bluff overlooking Monterey Bay, isn’t really shown. As my mom lamented, anytime the ladies dine there, all that can really be seen are the chairs. Odd considering the strikingly dramatic views that would be visible if the camera just panned back slightly. One spot we are getting more of a glimpse of (though not by much) is Café Descanso, a casual outdoor eatery located at Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge. Though I would have recognized the restaurant on sight having frequented the gardens many a time in the past, I was lucky enough to interview Big Little Lies’ insanely talented production designer John Paino a few months back (which I’m still pinching myself over!) as part of an article I wrote for the June issue of Los Angeles magazine and during our chat, he mentioned its Season 2 cameo. I didn’t realize just how much the place was going to be featured, though, and have been pleasantly surprised to see it pop up in every episode that has aired as of yet, sometimes more than once! So I just had to pop by for a quick stalk while driving through the area recently.

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I covered the history of Descanso Gardens way back when in a May 2009 post (I’m going to have to update that one soon!), so I’ll spare you a recap here. Suffice it to say the 160-acre site is a bucolic wonderland of lush landscapes which include a rosarium, an oak forest, koi ponds, and a Japanese tea garden. The venue charges a meager $9 admission fee, as opposed to The Huntington’s $25, so it does get pretty significantly crowded, something I bemoaned in my previous post. Regardless of the crowds, though, Descanso is beautiful.

The property boasts two onsite dining options – Maple, an upscale indoor eatery, and Café Descanso (pictured below), a walk-up window deli/bakery connected to a large outdoor patio. Both are operated by the Patina Restaurant Group.

The offerings at Café Descanso include pastries, coffees, salads, sandwiches, beer, wine and more.

I did not sample any of the fare while there, so I can’t say whether it is good or not, but the atmosphere sure is stellar!

Judging by the crowds, though (the line to the walk-up window never seemed to wane), I’d say the food must be pretty tasty.

Bonus – because the café is situated outside of Descanso’s entrance, admission is not required to dine there! (The same is true of Maple.)

Café Descanso is a truly idyllic little spot and, with its mature foliage, definitely has a Monterey feel, so it is not surprising that it came to be used on Big Little Lies.

In the series’ Season 2 opener, ”What Have They Done?”, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) runs into Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) at the eatery and asks him to take his wife, Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz), out to lunch in the hopes of getting her to open up since “she’s gone missing in mental action.”

Unfortunately, I failed to bring screen captures with me on this particular stalk, so my photos above and below are from slightly different angles from which the scene was shot.

In the second episode of Season 2, titled “Tell-Tale Hearts,” Renata Klein (Laura Dern) tells Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) about her husband’s financial misdeeds while at Café Descanso.

Again, my photos are slightly off angle-wise.

Later in that same episode, Ed and Nathan run into each other once again at the café and almost come to blows.

That particular scene was shot by the eatery’s walk-up window, which was changed a bit for the shoot. Not only was a menu board removed, but a sugar and creamer station were positioned at the forefront of the space, I believe, to make it appear to be more of a coffee shop than a restaurant.

In “The End of the World,” Madeline stumbles upon Ed and Bonnie having coffee together at Descanso Café.

Needless to say, she does not take the sighting well.

And in “She Knows,” Madeline and Renata run into Detective Adrienne Quinlan (Merrin Dungey) there.

I am fairly certain Café Descanso will be featured in additional Season 2 episodes and will update this post accordingly.

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: Café Descanso, from the second season of Big Little Lies, can be found at Descanso Gardens which is located at 1418 Descanso Drive in La Cañada Flintridge. You can visit the garden’s official website here. The café, which is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., is situated past the venue’s ticketing area, but is outside of the actual entrance, so admission is not required to dine there.

June 26, 2019July 16, 2019

The Stage from “Big Little Lies’

So far I am unimpressed with the locations featured in Big Little Lies’ second season. During the HBO series’ first go-round, not only were the locales fantastic, but they were showcased to such an incredible extent that they pretty much overshadowed everything else – but in the best way possible! Despite the drama and tension constantly hovering around Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) and the gang, the atmosphere completely drew me in. From the houses to the restaurants to the scenic overlooks, the ladies’ beautiful but haunting world was definitely a place I wanted more of. This season, not so much. In fact, in the three episodes that have aired so far, there hasn’t been a single location standout – in my eyes at least. Even the spots that are striking in real life aren’t being showcased well. Case in point – Burbank’s The Stage California Fusion Restaurant & Café, which masked as the supposed Monterey-area Neptune’s Bistro, where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) went on a rather odd date with her co-worker, Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith), in the latest episode titled “The End of the World.” I learned about the arcadian eatery thanks to a reader named Lew who posted a comment alerting me that the series was filming on the premises on my Round-Up of Big Little Lies Filming Locations post back in March 2018. I finally stalked the place this past May and can honestly say it is, hands down, one of the coolest, prettiest and most unique venues in L.A.! I anxiously awaited its BLL cameo and was disappointed – and rather surprised – when it finally popped up in very limited form this past Sunday. Hardly any of it could be seen! So I figured it was my duty to properly showcase it for my readers here.

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The Stage California Fusion Restaurant & Café opened its doors in June 2013 on the site of what was formerly a garden shop known as Lucky Plants. Considering the eatery’s pastoral quality, you might think much of the design and foliage are holdovers from the space’s time as a nursery, but as you can see in the August 2011 Street View image as compared to my photograph below, that is, oddly, not the case. Lucky Plants can hardly be described as bucolic. As commenter Vahan Bznuni said of the property’s redevelopment, “They turned an abandoned former nursery with no hint of green into a lush garden paradise.”

The difference is incredible!

Garden paradise it truly is!

The Stage is all bright bougainvillea vines, lush hedges, towering trees and hanging blossoms coupled with reclaimed wood, strung twinkle lights and colorful décor.

Each vista proves more stunning than the last and includes an expansive main courtyard;

a raised patio known as “The Veranda”;

an indoor dining room dubbed “The House” . . .

. . . complete with a stage . . .

canopied pathways;

and a covered patio.

Even the restaurant’s signage is whimsical!

And the parking lot picturesque!

The place is so gorgeous that I took over 110 photographs while there!

Literally everything at The Stage is picture-worthy.

The Grim Cheaper and I dined in a tucked-away little enclave, of which the restaurant has several. It was a bit chilly during our lunch, so our server offered us blankets to keep warm, which perfectly epitomized the place to me. The Stage is warm, cozy and inviting.

Oh, and the food’s not bad either!

We opted for the Shrimp Gruyere appetizer consisting of massive-size prawns wrapped in smoked bacon and covered in Gruyere cheese with a tarragon dipping sauce. And yes, it tasted just as good as it looked.

Big Little Lies’ “The End of the World” episode made use of The Stage’s courtyard area for Jane and Corey’s very brief date scene during which Corey obsessively touts his obscure knowledge of wild versus farmed seafood.

Though the space did appear beautiful onscreen . . .

. . . it was nothing compared to its actual beauty.

I mean!

I am hoping the eatery is featured again in some of Season 2’s upcoming episodes, otherwise what a waste of a location!

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lew for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Stage California Fusion Restaurant & Café, aka Corey and Jane’s date spot from “The End of the World” episode of Big Little Lies, is located at 546 South San Fernando Boulevard in Burbank. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The Stage is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

June 21, 2019July 16, 2019

Blue Blues Café from “Big Little Lies”

Two episodes in to the latest season of Big Little Lies and I am still missing Blue Blues, the café that figured so prominently in Season 1. As the Huffington Post recently stated, the loss has left a “Venti cappuccino-sized hole” in my heart. So I figured it was only proper to devote a blog to the seaside coffee shop – or at least to the eatery that inspired it. Those who have read my other posts on the hit HBO series (which you can check out here, here and here) know that Blue Blues was not a real place. Though countless online sources claim that Big Little Lies’ café scenes were shot at Paluca Trattoria, a popular restaurant on Monterey’s Old Fisherman’s Wharf, that is not true. Sadly, Blue Blues was nothing more than a set constructed on a soundstage at The Culver Studios, where the show’s inaugural season was lensed. Paluca did serve as the model for the charming space, though, so when my friend Nat informed me that she was heading to Monterey a few weeks back, I recruited her to stalk it for me.

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Paluca Trattoria was originally established in 2000 by Sicilian-born chef Sal Tedesco and his wife, Ashley. The duo opened the eatery, named after their two sons Paolo and Luca, in a picturesque corner spot on Old Fisherman’s Wharf that formerly housed Captain’s Gig, a landmark restaurant that had been in operation since the early 1970s. You can check out some photos of the site during the Captain’s Gig days here.

Per a reader named Barbara who commented on my 2017 A Round-Up of Big Little Lies Filming Locations post, Captain’s Gig used to feature a basket that ran between the eatery’s first and second floors which the cook would put orders into and then lift to the top level for patrons to retrieve.

Today, the upscale restaurant, which serves Italian-inspired seafood dishes, is the definition of farmhouse chic, sporting shiplap walls, hardwood flooring, floor to ceiling windows, a large patio area, and stunning views of the bay.

Paluca’s use on Big Little Lies came about in a rather organic way. While scouting Central Coast locales for Season 1, director Jean-Marc Vallée patronized the establishment and, in doing so, quickly befriended Sal. As Ashley tells the Huffington Post, “The director would come over to our place and just hang out in the mornings and have coffee and come and have lunch and he just sort of chatted with my husband. He’s there every day. They sort of hit it off and that’s how it came to be, just on the fly.” Per Eater, the Trattoria had the exact aesthetic Vallée was seeking – “a snug hideaway that’s just a bit rough around the edges.” For a plethora of reasons, mainly having to do with the ever-present fog that plagues Monterey, it was decided that instead of filming on the premises, the eatery would be re-envisioned onstage in Los Angeles. Eater explains, “The production team took measurements of the Paluca space, filmed the surrounding area, and re-created the restaurant at a studio using a green screen so that they could fill in plate shots of the harbor in post-production.”

Though a sign outside of Paluca Trattoria misleadingly proclaims, “Our little gem by the Bay was selected as one of the filming locations for the HBO series Big Little Lies,” no scenes were actually lensed there. All filming took place on set. As you can see in my images as compared to screen captures from the show above and below, though Blue Blues does greatly resemble Paluca, there are enough differences to know that the two places are not one and the same.

That is especially true when you take a look at the two interiors.

Of Blue Blues’ cozy, inviting inside, production designer John Paino told Eater, “I’ve done a lot of shows in Atlanta, and I’ve looked at a lot of cafés there that were run by women that had a lot of those silly knick-knacks that say, like, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ I loved that aesthetic, that reclaimed farmhouse look, but in our case it would be reclaimed marine.” Paino truly nailed the style he was going for. Blue Blues was quaint, charming and warm – much more so than I find Blissful Drip this season.

The inside of Paluca, while pretty, is much less homey and much more sleek than its onscreen counterpart.

Nevertheless, many fans still contend that filming took place there. I am here to assure you that none actually did. Both the interior and exterior of Blue Blues were part of a large set that existed only on a soundstage. Still don’t believe me? I’ve got the receipts to prove it thanks to a couple of videos (which you can check out here and here) put together by REAL by FAKE, the Montreal-based production company that handled Big Little Lies’ digital effects.

As you can see above and below, I’ve compiled a bunch of screen grabs from the two reels as well as comparison shots from the series that show the whole café was studio-built and situated in front of a huge green screen.

The massive screen wrapped around the entire Blue Blues set so as to be visible from inside the café, as well.

During post-production, REAL by FAKE digitally swapped in a background showing views of Monterey Harbor that matched those of Paluca Trattoria.

The company also added faux sunshine and shadows to make the women appear to be outside while sitting on Blue Blues’ deck.

Of the process (which you can see take shape in this fascinating video), Big Little Lies visual effects coordinator Marc Côté says, “We did 1,428 visual effects for the entire series, about 220 per episode. I hope you were not able to see them.” Amazingly, that goal was achieved – the effects are perfectly seamless. Green screen magic at its finest!

Despite the fact that Paluca Trattoria never actually appeared on Big Little Lies – or more correctly, because of the misinformation floating around about its supposed cameo – fans stalk the restaurant in droves. I can’t tell you the number of Instagram photos I’ve come across of people posing at “Madeline’s regular table,” as evidenced here, here and here. The place has become such a draw that Sal told Eater, “I had to go buy a bigger espresso machine because I couldn’t keep up with the coffee sales.” Of their newfound fame, Ashley says, “We are shocked. We cannot believe how many people come because of the show, still. They found us. We didn’t push it out there. We didn’t push it out there at all. We didn’t advertise it on our social media. We were just really low key about it, but people sought us out. We didn’t know it’d be such a big deal. It’s been a nice little gift. Things [like that] don’t happen often in life, and then when they announced the second season we thought, ‘Oh my gosh. It’s like the bonus round.’ Even though we’re not in it, people are still coming because they’re excited about the show.” Ah, the power of filming locations!

Big THANK YOU to my friend Nat for stalking this location for me!

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: Blue Blues Café, from the first season of Big Little Lies, is not a real place, but a studio-built set based upon the Italian restaurant Paluca Trattoria located at 6D Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

June 17, 2019July 16, 2019

Blissful Drip Café from “Big Little Lies”

Big Little Lies producers sure like their fake coffee shops! In the hit HBO series’ first season, Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon), Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) regularly hung out at Blue Blues, a supposed Old Fisherman’s Wharf restaurant that, as I mentioned here and here, was actually a studio-built set situated in front of a green screen. This season, the trio frequents Blissful Drip Café, another faux spot that was installed, not on a soundstage, but on location at Lovers Point Park in Pacific Grove. I learned about the prop coffee bar thanks to several articles written about its construction back in April 2018 (you can read one here and one here) and I, of course, made note of it. So when my friend Nat headed out to Monterey a couple of weekends ago and asked if I needed anything stalked, Lovers Point Park was the first thing I mentioned!

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Lovers Point Park and Beach is an area I am very familiar with. Growing up in nearby San Francisco, Monterey was a favorite vacation spot for my family. Countless hours were spent at the Pacific Grove retreat, namely at the snack bar overlooking the water where my dad and I would always order an extra helping of fries to feed the seagulls that would inevitably join us.

The bucolic 4.4-acre site, which regularly plays host to sunbathers, scuba divers, windsurfers, swimmers, bicyclists, runners, and fishermen, boasts a large beach surrounded by a rocky cove, a pier, a children’s swimming pool, a volleyball court, picnic areas, a restaurant, the aforementioned snack bar, and a large park situated on a grassy bluff fronting Monterey Bay.

It is the park area that serves as the home of Blissful Drip Café on Big Little Lies. In the Season 2 premiere titled “What Have They Done?”, Madeline and Celeste pop by the funky seaside coffee shop (which per Madeline “smells like weed”) after dropping their kids off for their first day of school.

While there, Madeline runs into Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep), who curtly informs her that she finds “little people to be untrustworthy.”

Celeste and Jane also meet up at Blissful Drip in “Tell-Tale Hearts.”

In “The End of the World,” Jane and Mary Louise have coffee and discuss Perry (Alexander Skarsgård) there, though not much of the place can be seen.

And in “She Knows,” Celeste and Mary Louise have a tense tête-à-tête at Blissful Drip.

Though the café is charming and boasts stellar views, I can’t help but miss Blue Blues while watching – not to mention Tom (Joseph Cross), the eatery’s cutie owner who struck up a romance with Jane toward the end of Season 1. Why Tom isn’t making an appearance this time around, I am unsure. (Yes, I do know that Cross landed a leading role in the upcoming Netflix series Medal of Honor, but Iain Armitage, who plays Jane’s son, Ziggy Chapman, somehow made S2 of Big Little Lies work despite being the star of Young Sheldon and I feel Joseph could have done the same.) I do have an answer for Blue Blues’ absence, though. Per a Monterey County Now article, current director Andrea Arnold, who was brought on to replace Jean-Marc Vallée, wanted to showcase more outdoor locations than were featured in Season 1. Blue Blues, therefore, was scrapped and replaced with Blissful Drip. The fake café stood at Lovers Point Park for a total of 12 days (including installation and dismantling) and cost the production $44,077.50 in park use fees. (You can check out a breakdown of those costs here and here.) According to Monterey County Now, Madeline and the gang will be hanging out at the coffee bar throughout Season 2. In fact, HBO donated the café set to Pacific Grove after filming wrapped with the understanding that the company would have access to it if the show gets picked up for a third season. What the city will end up doing with it, I don’t know, but how cool would it be if it became a real coffee shop?

In reality, the area where Blissful Drip was installed (denoted with a pink arrow below) is nothing but an empty (albeit very picturesque) patch of grass.

The exact spot where the café was built is denoted in the aerial view below, with the pentagon representing the eatery’s gazebo and the attached rectangle its trellised patio.

The very same area of Lovers Point Park was featured in Big Little Lies’ Season 1 finale titled “You Get What You Need,” in the scene in which Jane tells Celeste that it is her son, Max (Nicholas Crovetti), who has been bullying Amabella Klein (Ivy George).

The spot where Blissful Drip was constructed (denoted with a pink arrow below) was visible behind Celeste in the segment.

As I detailed in my comprehensive list of locales from the series’ first season, Lovers Point Park and Beach popped up in additional episodes of Big Little Lies, as well.

Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) and Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) almost go to blows on the northern edge of Lovers Point Park, just due north of where Blissful Drip was built, in “Serious Mothering.”

Jane and Ziggy hang out at Lovers Point Beach in “Push Comes to Shove” . . .

. . . and in the area just south of the beach in “Living the Dream.”

Big THANK YOU to my friend Nat for stalking this location for me!

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: Lovers Point Park, where the Blissful Drip Café set was built for the second season of Big Little Lies, is located at 631 Ocean View Boulevard in Pacific Grove.

April 15, 2019August 5, 2019

The Complete Guide to the Season 1 Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies”

As longtime readers know, I watch a LOT of TV. Only a handful of shows have ever become full-fledged obsessions, though, Beverly Hills, 90210, The Hills, and Big Littles Lies among them. The second season of the latter will finally be debuting in June and I am beyond excited! I cannot wait to revisit the women of Monterey! Can we just fast-forward to summer already? To stave off my anticipation, I recently did some more digging into locations from the show’s inaugural season and figured I should update my 2017 round-up of spots featured on the series accordingly. So here goes! As was the case with that post, because I have not visited the majority of these sites in person, I am relying on screen captures instead of photos for imagery. And be forewarned – there are spoilers galore ahead! If you haven’t seen Big Little Lies and are planning to, I’d hold off on scrolling any further.

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1. Madeline’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Easily my favorite locale of the entire series, the Cape Cod-style pad where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) and husband Ed (Adam Scott) live can be found in Malibu. The beachfront property, which serves as a vacation rental IRL, is no stranger to the screen boasting countless cameos in such productions as Models Inc., Diagnosis Murder, and Hannah Montana. You can read a more in-depth post on it here.

Interestingly, a different spot was utilized as the front of Madeline’s home in a few episodes. And that pad can actually be found in Monterey. It’s at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel-By-The-Sea.

2. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – Renata (Laura Dern) and Gordon Klein’s (Jeffrey Nordling) massive modern home can also be found in The ‘Bu. And it’s an oft-filmed spot, as well, with roles in everything from 90210 to Brothers & Sisters to Revenge.

3. Jane’s House (161 North Chester Avenue, Pasadena) – The modest cottage where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) resides with son Ziggy (Iain Armitage), which I wrote about here, can be found on a sleepy, tree-lined street in Pasadena.

4. Bonnie’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – The bucolic bohemian bungalow belonging to Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) and her husband, Nathan (James Tupper), sits tucked away in a wooded area of Calabasas.

5. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and husband Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgård) stunning cliffside estate, another of my favorites from the series, is the sole residence that can actually be found on the Central Coast (not counting the front of Madeline’s). Only the exterior (both front and back) and lower floor of the property appeared on Big Little Lies. All of the other portions of the Wright home were studio-built sets.

6. Otter Bay Elementary School (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – Otter Bay, the elementary school attended by all of the children on the series, is actually Kenter Canyon Elementary in Brentwood. The site’s exterior and interior, including the principal’s office, library and auditorium, appear on the show.

7. Blue Blues Restaurant (The Culver Studios, 9336 Washington Boulevard, Culver City) – Though the actual Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey (101 Washington Street) is shown as the ladies walk up to Blue Blues, their regular hangout owned by Tom (Joseph Cross), in “Somebody’s Dead” . . .

. . . . the actual café can’t be found there. As I covered in this post, the coffee shop was just a set built entirely inside of a soundstage at The Culver Studios, where the series is lensed. Fans can still get their Blue Blues fix by visiting Paluca Trattoria (6D Old Fisherman’s Wharf, Monterey), which served as the inspiration for the bayside eatery.

The pathway leading to Old Fisherman’s Wharf is also where Jane and the girls run in “Once Bitten” . . .

. . . and the adjacent parking lot is where Madeline and Joseph Bachman (Santiago Cabrera) get into an accident in the same episode.

The same parking lot is also where Joseph confronts and kisses Madeline in “Push Comes to Shove.”

8. Side Door Café (Happy Trails Garden, 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena) – Side Door, the ladies’ other regular hangout, is an actual restaurant. Or, at least, it was. Pasadena’s Happy Trails Garden, which was very reminiscent of Carmel’s popular Hog’s Breath Inn, shuttered much to my dismay in 2018 and now sits vacant. The bucolic site, which was outfitted with a plethora of firepits for the shoot and is said to have been modeled after Monterey’s Restaurant 1833, popped up three times on the series – once in “Serious Mothering” and twice in “Push Comes to Shove.” You can read my 2017 post on it here.

9. Madeline’s Fall (Intersection of Esplanade Street and Ocean View Drive, Pacific Grove) – The spot where Madeline “rolls her ankle” in “Somebody’s Dead,” thereby setting off the entire storyline, can be found on Ocean View Drive in Pacific Grove. A stop sign was installed for the scene just north of where Madeline falls, at the intersection of Ocean View Drive and the north end of Esplanade Street. In real life there is a parking sign standing in that spot.

10. Liberation Yoga (124 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park) – The yoga studio that Bonnie owns, which pops up in both “Everybody’s Dead” and “Push Comes to Shove,” is actually Liberation Yoga in Hancock Park.

11. Wanderlust Hollywood (1357 North Highland Avenue, Hollywood) – The above is not to be confused with the other yoga studio shown on the series. In “Serious Mothering,” Madeline and Celeste run into Bonnie and Nathan while taking a class at Wanderlust Hollywood.

12. Lovers Point Park & Beach (631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – The popular shoreline retreat Lovers Point makes several appearances in Big Little Lies. In “Serious Mothering,” Nathan and Ed have a rather terse tête-à-tête in the park area situated above the beach.

Jane and Ziggy visit Lovers Point in both “Living the Dream” and “Push Come to Shove.”

And it is at Lovers Point that Jane tells Celeste that her son Max (Nicholas Crovetti) is the one who has been bullying Amabella Klein (Ivy George) in “You Get What You Need.”

13. Gordon Klein’s Office (1999 AOS, 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Century City) – In “Living the Dream,” Renata heads to Century City office building 1999 AOS for a mid-day visit with her husband. Only the exterior and lobby of the property were utilized for the scene, though.

Gordon’s actual office can be found on the 26th floor of nearby Century Park Plaza (1801 Century Park East, Century City).

14. Monterey Bay High School (Ulysses S. Grant High School, 13000 Oxnard Street, Van Nuys) – Screen favorite Grant High School in Van Nuys portrays Monterey Bay High, the school attended by Madeline’s eldest daughter, Abigail Carlson (Kathryn Newton), which pops up in “Living the Dream.” Areas used in the episode include the principal’s office, a hallway and the main quad. You may recognize Grant from its myriad of cameos in such productions as Saved by the Bell, Clueless, The Office, Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” music video, and Crazy. Stupid. Love. You can check out an in-depth post I wrote about the place for Los Angeles magazine here.

15. Studio City Recreation Center (12621 Rye Street, Studio City) – In “Living the Dream,” Ziggy hits a home run during his first Tee-ball game at Studio City Recreation Center, aka Beeman Park. The site is also very briefly featured via flashback in “Push Comes to Shove.” You can check out an in-depth post I wrote about the park, detailing its appearances in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Scrubs and Role Models, here.

16. Colton Hall Museum (570 Pacific Street, Monterey) – Another Central Coast location, Colton Hall Museum masks as Monterey City Hall, where Celeste acts as Madeline’s lawyer in “Push Comes to Shove.”

The interior of the museum, which you can see a photo of here, was also used in the episode.

17. Bixby Creek Bridge (CA-1, Big Sur) – In “Once Bitten,” Madeline has a bad dream that takes place at Bixby Bridge, the same span shown in the series’ opening credits. The picturesque structure, one of the most photographed bridges in California, can be found in Big Sur, about twenty miles south of Monterey.

18. Saxon Baker’s Interior Design Office (1035 East Green Street, Pasadena) – In “Once Bitten,” Jane heads to a supposed San Louis Obispo interior design office to confront her possible rapist, Saxon Baker (Stephen Graybill). In reality, filming took place at a quaint brick building on Green Street in Pasadena where Albert Einstein once worked.

19. Celeste and Perry’s Therapist’s Office (130 Fountain Avenue, Pacific Grove) – Perry and Celeste start seeing marriage counselor Dr. Amanda Reisman (Robin Weigert) in “Living the Dream,” but the exterior of her charming office, another of the show’s Monterey locales, isn’t shown until “Once Bitten.”

20. Cypress Community Hospital (Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, 23625 Holzman Highway, Monterey) – After their car accident in “Once Bitten,” Madeline and Joseph are taken to “Cypress Community Hospital,” which is actually the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. Only the exterior of the facility was featured on the series.

I believe that interiors were shot at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital (333 North Prairie Avenue, Inglewood), which was, sadly, razed in late 2017.

21. Monterey Regional Airport (200 Fred Kane Drive, Monterey) – This spot, where Celeste and her boys surprise Perry when he returns home from a business trip in “Once Bitten,” plays itself.

The airport’s interior appeared in the scene, as well.

22. Celeste’s New Apartment (1 Surf Way, Monterey) – In “Burning Love,” Celeste attempts to break away from Perry by renting an oceanside apartment. Her new place is another of the series’ Monterey locations. Known as Ocean Harbor House in real life, the picturesque complex, which is made up of condos, sits overlooking Del Monte Beach.

23. Madeline’s Community Theatre/Trivia Night Costume Gala – Barnsdall Art Park (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood) – Easily the series’ most memorable locale, Barnsdall Art Park serves as two notable spots on Big Little Lies. In virtually every episode it pops up as the community theatre where Madeline works. The constantly broken stairs she is regularly forced to walk up can be found on the eastern side of the park, adjacent to the Junior Art Center.

The theatre itself is a mash-up of two Barnsdall spots – interiors were shot at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre (which you can see photos of here) . . .

. . . while exteriors were filmed at the adjacent Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery.

Most notably, though, Barnsdall Art Park is where the Audrey and Elvis Trivia Night costume gala is held in “You Get What You Need.”

The community theatre’s broken stairs are the very same ones that figure so heavily in the episode’s climax.

Barnsdall also appears in Big Little Lie’s opening credits. You can read an in-depth post on the park here.

24. Mountain View Cemetery (2400 North Fair Oaks Avenue, Altadena) – Toward the end of “You Get What You Need,” Perry is laid to rest at one of L.A.’s most oft-used locations, Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, which has appeared in everything from The Office to Seinfeld to A Lot Like Love. You can read a post I wrote on it here.

25. Garrapata State Park Beach (CA-1, Carmel-By-The-Sea) – The series comes to an end with the women and their children frolicking on the picturesque beach at Garrapata State Park (which is also where Jane, Celeste and Madeline run in “Once Bitten”). The scene was such a perfect closing to the show, I am almost fearful to have the story opened up again for Season 2. Though I truly can’t wait to revisit the women of Monterey, in some ways I would like to just be able to picture them forever standing together on that beach, bittersweetly frozen in time.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

January 17, 2018July 16, 2019

Barnsdall Art Park from “Big Little Lies”

The Grim Cheaper is easily the most creative gift-giver I know. Not only does he find incredibly thoughtful presents, but he always comes up with highly unique ways of presenting them. I have only ever managed to match his ingenuity on rare occasions – one being Valentine’s Day 2011 when I created a scavenger hunt around Los Angeles during which he solved clues that disclosed GPS coordinates of spots I thought he would enjoy visiting. The hunt included stops at Grub Restaurant, LACMA, Boardner’s of Hollywood, the HMS Bounty Bar and Restaurant, Annenberg Space for Photography, and Barnsdall Art Park. The latter, a sprawling esplanade situated atop a hill in East Hollywood, boasts two of the largest staircases I’ve ever seen in my life – one leading from the lower parking lot to the northern side of the property and the other situated next to the complex’s Junior Art Center building on its eastern end. While exploring, the GC and I climbed both, much to my chagrin. (I’ve never been one for exercise, especially on a holiday.) They were so long and daunting that images of them have remained ingrained in my mind ever since. So when Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) was shown scaling the Junior Art Center steps in the second episode of Big Little Lies, titled “Serious Mothering,” I recognized them immediately. I was floored when Barnsdall popped up multiple times in later episodes of the 2017 HBO series, most notably the finale in which it played a major role. Though I mentioned the park’s use on the show in my post about Big Little Lies filming locations last April, I figured it was high time I get back out there to do a proper stalk and proper post about the place.

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Barnsdall Art Park is the brainchild of Aline Barnsdall, a wealthy Chicago oil heiress who came to California hoping to establish a community center that would serve as the headquarters for her theatre company. After purchasing a 36-acre site atop Hollywood’s Olive Hill, she hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design a complex consisting of a theatre, studio space, dorms for actors, homes for visiting directors, and a massive private residence for herself on the vast property. It was Wright’s first Los Angeles commission.

Aline’s home, which became the park’s centerpiece, was designed with Mayan and Japanese influences in a style that Wright dubbed “California Romanza.”

The dwelling was named “Hollyhock House” in honor of Barnsdall’s favorite flower, the hollyhock, which Wright incorporated heavily into his creation.

The unique poured concrete structure, made to take advantage of the idyllic outdoor landscape surrounding it, is quite striking, with a look that bears more resemblance to an ancient temple than a residence.

As noted by Alice T. Friedman in her book Women and the Making of the Modern House, “The project on which Wright and Barnsdall collaborated between 1915 and 1923 represents one of the most unusual challenges Wright encountered during his long career, since it called for a rethinking of building types and particularly of notions concerning house design, family life, and domesticity. Barnsdall’s Hollyhock House, the most important piece of that project to survive, was a house built not for the private life of a family but as a residential centerpiece in a public garden and theater complex; its large, formal spaces and evident lack of domestic feeling reflect this program. Yet in rejecting the conventions of domestic planning and searching for an unusual hybrid type, architect and client were free to push the boundaries of architecture to new limits, focusing on theatricality, on the experience of monumental form, and on the vividness of the landscape as it was framed and defined by the house.”

Even before construction had started, Aline referred to the complex as an “art park,” where, as again stated in Women and the Making of the Modern House, “Not only would theater patrons be encouraged to stroll outside during long intermissions, but there would also be a roof garden for ‘afternoon teas and theater suppers’ and extensive gardens for the use of the public.” Sadly, and for numerous reasons, one of which was an ongoing discord with Wright, only three of the intended structures were completed. It would be several decades before Barnsdall’s vision of a community “art-theater garden” came to be.

Though Aline attempted to donate Hollyhock House and the eight acres surrounding it to the city in 1923, her offer was refused. The generous bequest was eventually accepted in December 1926 and Barnsdall Art Park was born. It was not until 1971, though, a full 45 years later, that a theatre and art gallery (the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre and Los Angles Municipal Art Gallery, respectively) were built at the site. In an interview that took place in 1919, long before her home had been completed, the heiress said, “I propose to keep my gardens always open to the public that this sightly spot may be available to those lovers of the beautiful who come here to view sunsets, dawn on the mountains and other spectacles of nature, visible in few other places in the heart of the city.” Her words were finally a reality.

Barnsdall Art Park’s vistas are, indeed, spectacular and rare. Even the Hollywood Sign can be viewed from the property’s expansive lawn . . .

. . . as can the Griffith Observatory.

The park is a fabulous place to spend a sunny afternoon. With its shaded central courtyard, grassy terrace, theatre showings, art gallery exhibitions, countless offerings of art workshops for both children and adults, and self-guided and docent-led tours of Hollyhock House, the possibilities for both activity and leisure are endless.

In Big Little Lies, Barnsdall Art Park masks as the supposed Monterey-area community theatre where Madeline works.

Several times throughout the series she is seen walking up the massive, always under-repair set of stairs leading to the theatre.

As I mentioned earlier, Madeline’s staircase can be found on the east side of the park, adjacent to the Junior Art Center.

The steps are easily the most recognizable of the many Barnsdall locations used on Big Little Lies.

Definitively dramatic, it is not very hard to see how they came to be adopted as a focal point on the series.

Big Little Lies also utilized the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre.

The venue’s interior is where the Avenue Q rehearsals and performance took place. You can check out photos of the inside of the space here.

For the theatre’s exterior, though, producers instead chose to film the outside of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, which is situated just north of the Gallery Theatre.

The park’s tree-lined central courtyard makes several appearances on the series. Not only is Madeline shown walking on one of its pathways on her way to work in “Serious Mothering” . . .

. . . but the Trivia Night costume party in the finale, titled “You Get What You Need,” takes place there.

The red carpet that party attendees walk down on Trivia Night . . .

. . . which is the same one shown in the series’ opening credits, was set up on a pathway on the northern side of the courtyard. Said pathway runs through the center of the courtyard and abuts the double set of stairs situated between the Hollyhock House Garage and the Municipal Art Gallery.

That double set of stairs served as the Trivia Night valet drop-off in “You Get What You Need.”

It, too, was affixed with a red carpet for the shoot.

The Trivia Night stage, where Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) so movingly sang “The Wonder of You” (fun fact – that was actually the voice of the Villagers’ Conor O’Brien you heard in the scene) was actually just the heavily-dressed exterior of the Municipal Art Gallery.

For the episode, the structure’s portico was draped with material, stung with lights, and affixed with a small stage.

In real life, it is almost unrecognizable from its “You Get What You Need” appearance. In fact, it was so heavily dressed, it took me quite a while to figure out the stage’s exact position in the scene.

The stairs that figure so prominently in the series’ climax are the very same ones that Madeline regularly climbed.

The landing where the killing took place is situated in between the staircase’s two main flights, next to the western-most Junior Art Center building.

A couple of other productions have also made use of Barnsdall Art Park. Thanks to fellow stalker Gilles, I learned that the Municipal Art Gallery was utilized in establishing shots of the Colby Collection on the 1980s series The Colbys.

In 1989’s ridiculously-named Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (and yes, that is a real movie!), Hollyhock House masks as the “secret temple of the Piranha Women.” (I swear, I’m not joking!)

Upon first approaching it in the film, Dr. Margo Hunt (Shannon Tweed) says “Their architecture is surprisingly advanced,” to which Jim (Bill Maher) responds, “It looks like a big Lego to me.”

As I mentioned in a 2015 article for Los Angeles magazine, a Season 2 episode of True Detective was shot at the park. In the episode, titled “Maybe Tomorrow,” Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch) interrogates prostitutes he comes across in Barnsdall’s lower parking lot for information about a missing city manager.

Wills Reid’s intro package for the most recent season of Bachelor in Paradise was also shot at Barnsdall.

Though IMDB says that Hollyhock House was featured in Dirty Love, I scanned through the 2005 comedy and didn’t see it anywhere.

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: Barnsdall Art Park, from Big Little Lies, is located at 4800 Hollywood Boulevard in East Hollywood. You can visit the park’s official website here. As denoted in the graphic below, the stairs Madeline regularly walks up, which is also where the series’ climax takes place, can be found in the eastern portion of the property, adjacent to the Junior Art Center. The exterior of the community theatre where Madeline works, which is also where the Trivia Night stage was set up, is the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery in the center of the park. Theatre interiors, where the Avenue Q performance was held, were shot inside the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, which is situated next to and just south of the Art Gallery. The Trivia Night valet drop-off stairs can be found at the northern end of the park, adjacent to the Hollyhock Garage. The Trivia Night red carpet, aka the opening credits red carpet, was set up on the pathway that runs just south of the stairs and through the center of the central courtyard.

August 14, 2017July 16, 2019

Happy Trails Catering from “Big Little Lies”

UPDATE – Sadly, Happy Trails Catering is no longer open. The restaurant closed in 2018 and its beautiful garden currently sits vacant.

As you probably noticed, I was unexpectedly MIA for most of last week. My dad had an experimental five-day procedure done at a hospital in Orange County, so my family and I spent the week by his side. I fully intended to write new content while there, but the hospital Wi-Fi wasn’t really amenable to that. (What is it with hospital Wi-Fi, by the way? I’ve literally never encountered one even halfway decent!) But I am finally home and ready to get back to my regularly scheduled programming. So, on with the post! As someone who routinely plays tourist in my own town (wherever that happens to be), I counted myself an expert on Pasadena, the Southern California city I called home for more than 15 years. One spot that remained a secret to me for almost a decade, though, was Happy Trails Catering, a bucolic special events site/café/garden located in Old Town. My mom learned about the place while looking for L.A.-area wedding venues shortly after I got engaged in 2008 and, upon seeing photos of it online, told me we had to head out there pronto for a tour. I was dazzled at what awaited us! Situated just steps from the bustling sidewalk lining Fair Oaks Avenue, virtually hidden behind wooden entrance gates, is an absolutely charming garden positioned around a massive camphor tree. While I did not wind up choosing to tie the knot on the premises (the Grim Cheaper and I instead got married at our good friends’ house), Happy Trails made a definite impression. So it is quite surprising that I did not recognize the place upon sight when it popped up on Big Little Lies earlier this year. It wasn’t until the property’s third appearance on the HBO mini-series that I was actually able to identify it!

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Happy Trails Catering was originally founded in 1986.

As its name suggests, the company mainly operates as a catering business, run out of a small brick storefront.

Situated next to that storefront is the entrance to the property’s spectacular garden.

The pristine landscaped grounds serve as the company’s onsite special events venue.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be invited to a soiree on the premises to catch a glimpse of the peaceful idyll, though. Each weekday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Happy Trails kitchen is transformed into a walk-up café open to the public.

Patrons can grab one of the eatery’s homemade soups, sandwiches, salads, or quiches . . .

. . . and head outside to enjoy it in the garden under the canopy of the camphor tree.

While Happy Trails is no-doubt one of the prettiest venues Pasadena has to offer . . .

. . . the site is just as well-known for its fare.

Though my mom and I didn’t sample any of Happy Trails’ offerings the day we toured the place, the GC and I stopped by the café recently for lunch and were thoroughly impressed. The Sage Roasted Turkey Breast Sandwich is honestly one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.

Happy Trails Catering, masking as the supposed Monterey-area Side Door Café, was featured three times during the first season of Big Little Lies. It first showed up in the episode titled “Serious Mothering” in the scene in which Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) discuss their sex lives over cocktails, before being interrupted by their frenemy Renata Klein (Laura Dern).

The site was significantly dressed for the scene, with lounge areas, fire pits and outdoor heaters spaced throughout the garden, which is why I did not recognize it.

Happy Trails then popped up twice in the episode titled “Push Comes to Shove” – first as the restaurant where Madeline and her ex-husband, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), meet to talk about co-parenting their teenage daughter, Abigail (Kathryn Newton). Though the property’s camphor tree was visible in the scene, I am ashamed to say that I still did not recognize the place!

Later in the episode, Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) meets up with Ms. Barnes (Virginia Kull) at the eatery to discuss whether or not her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), is bullying a fellow student. While watching the scene, I spotted Happy Trails’ rear barn doors behind the two women and placed them immediately. It was definitely a facepalm moment. I cannot believe it took three scenes for me to identify the locale!

The restaurant also makes an appearance in Big Little Lies Season 2 premiere titled “What Have They Done?” as the spot where Celeste and Jane talk about their complicated relationship.

It is not hard to see why Happy Trails was chosen to appear on Big Little Lies. The site has a very Carmel-ish feel to it. Per a Monterey County Weekly article, while filming Season 1 on the Central Coast, the BLL crew frequented Restaurant 1833 (which is now closed) and hoped to locate a similar spot in L.A. to stand in for it on the show. They found exactly what they were looking for in Happy Trails. As you can see in these images of the now defunct 1833, the two spaces bear a striking resemblance to each other. To me, though, Happy Trails is even more reminiscent of Hog’s Breath Inn, the iconic Carmel restaurant that was originally founded in 1972 by none other than Clint Eastwood. Fun fact – when the actor wanted to expand the eatery in 1986, he encountered quite a bit of bureaucratic red tape. He was so frustrated by the situation that he wound up running for mayor so that he could make some policy changes. His run was successful and Eastwood served as Carmel’s mayor for the next two years. Though he sold his interest in the Hog’s Breath Inn in 1999, the restaurant is still in operation today and looks much the same as it did during Clint’s tenure.

Sadly, the other main restaurant featured on Big Little Lies is not accessible to the public. Blue Blues, the supposed Fisherman’s Wharf café where Madeline, Jane and Celeste regularly hung out, was nothing more than a studio-built set located inside of a soundstage. Quite a bit of misinformation about the location seems to floating around online, though. Several sources state that Paluca Trattoria, located at 6 Old Fisherman’s Wharf, masked as Blue Blues on the series. Heck, even Paluca Trattoria’s official website makes that claim. While the restaurant is situated in the same area of the wharf that Blue Blue’s was purported to be, no actual filming took place there. Not only is it obvious when looking at images of Paluca Trattoria in comparison to screen captures of Blue Blues that the two places are not one and the same, but production designer John Paino confirmed the matter in a February 2017 New York Post article, stating “We made the whole thing on a stage, and the background is digitally dropped in.” It is not hard to see why audiences were fooled, though. The café does look incredibly realistic, as you can see below. You can read an in-depth post I wrote about Blue Blues here.

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: Happy Trails Catering, aka Side Door Café from Big Little Lies, is located at 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The café and garden are only open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., so plan accordingly.

April 5, 2017July 16, 2019

A Round-Up of “Big Little Lies” Filming Locations

I’ve decided to break with tradition a bit for this post. My latest small screen obsession, Big Little Lies, came to an end on Sunday night and, though the finale was excellent, I am bummed to say the least that the HBO miniseries is now over. During its seven-episode run, I tracked down most of the L.A.-area locales, as well as a few of the Monterey spots, featured in it and I thought it would be fun to chronicle them here. Because I have not visited many of the sites in person, I am relying on screen captures instead of photos for this post’s imagery.

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1. Madeline’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – Though I already wrote an in-depth post on the gorgeous Cape Cod-style home belonging to Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) on the series, I would be remiss if I did not include information about it here for those who missed the article. Madeline’s beachfront pad, by far my favorite of all of the residences featured on the show, is an oft-filmed gem that has also appeared on Models Inc., Diagnosis Murder, and Hannah Montana.

2. Jane’s House (161 North Chester Avenue, Pasadena) – The bungalow where Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) lives is another spot I’ve already covered, but, again, I thought I should include its information here.

3. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – The architectural masterpiece belonging to Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and her husband, Perry (Alexander Skarsgård), ranks a close second when it comes to my favorite residence on the series. Only the exterior and bottom floor of the clifftop stunner were utilized on Big Little Lies. The Wright’s bedroom, bathroom and massive walk-in closet were part of a studio-built set. In real life, the dwelling, which was originally built in 1988, serves as a vacation rental.

4. Renata’s House (27326 Winding Way, Malibu) – The massive contemporary home where Renata Klein (Laura Dern) and her husband, Gordon (Jeffrey Nordling), reside is another oft-filmed property that can be found on a private road in Malibu. The 10,000-square-foot residence’s onscreen resume (which includes appearances on 90210, Brothers & Sisters, and Revenge) almost led to it not being featured in Big Little Lies. As location manager Gregory Albert told Vulture, “I was resisting, even showing it to [director] Jean-Marc [Vallée] because of that, but we presented it and he picked it and then I was kicking myself. I felt in some way it was doing a disservice to the show. But then I remember watching the first episode and there’s Renata standing at the edge of the world, glass of wine in her hand. The [director of photography] had shot it in a way that I’ve never seen the house shot before and I thought, That’s why Jean-Marc’s the auteur and visionary that he is.” I actually find Albert’s statement kind of funny because I recognized the pad instantly when watching the scene described.

5. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – The bohemian compound where Madeline’s ex, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), lives with his new wife, Bonnie (Zoë Kravitz), sits tucked off the road in a wooded part of Calabasas near Malibu Creek State Park. The secluded residence, which Albert says, “feels like it is part of the environment,” is situated on 1.12 acres of lush, forested land.

6. Otter Bay Elementary School – Kenter Canyon Elementary School (645 North Kenter Avenue in Brentwood) – Otter Bay, the elementary school attended by all of the characters’ children on the series, is actually Brentwood’s Kenter Canyon Elementary. Both the interior and exterior of the site appeared on the show.

7. Side Door Café – Happy Trails Garden (207 South Fair Oaks Avenue, Pasadena) – While Blue Blues, the supposed Fisherman’s Wharf coffee shop where Madeline, Celeste, and Jane often hang out, is not a real place but a studio-built set, the other eatery frequented by the group is authentic. Or, at least, it was. The picturesque outdoor restaurant referred to as Side Door Café on the show, which is very reminiscent of Carmel’s popular Hog’s Breath Inn, was known as Happy Trails Garden in real life. Sadly, it shuttered in 2018 and currently sits vacant. The bucolic site was featured three times on the series. It first showed up in “Serious Mothering” as the place where Madeline and Celeste meet for drinks and get into a confrontation with Renata. Then in “Push Comes to Shove,” it appeared as both the spot where Madeline and Nathan discuss co-parenting Abigail and where Jane meets with Ms. Barnes (Virginia Kull). You can read a more in-depth post on the eatery here.

8. Studio City Recreation Center (12621 Rye Street, Studio City) – Jane’s son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), tries out Tee-ball for the first time – and hits a home run – at Studio City Recreation Center, which is also known as Beeman Park. I wrote about the oft-filmed site last year, detailing its appearances in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Scrubs, Role Models, and Parks and Recreation. You can read that post here.

9. Interior Design Office (1035 East Green Street, Pasadena) – Madeline tracks down (Spoiler alert!) Jane’s possible rapist, Saxon Baker (Stephen Graybill), to an interior design office in San Louis Obispo. In reality, the office is part of Invicta Fitness, a workout studio located in a quaint brick building where Albert Einstein once worked on Green Street in Pasadena.

10. Celeste’s Apartment (1 Surf Way, Monterey) – The apartment Celeste leases in “Burning Love” is another Monterey-area location. Situated on the sand overlooking Del Monte Beach, the complex is made up of condos in real life and is known as “1 Surf Way.”

11. Community Theatre – Barnsdall Art Park (4800 Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood) – The community theatre where Madeline works, as well as the constantly under-repair stairs that lead up to it, are both parts of Barnsdall Art Park in East Hollywood. The stairs can be found on Lower Road in the southeast portion of the park, just north of and adjacent to the Art Center. The theatre itself is actually a mash-up of two Barnsdall spots – interiors were shot at the Barnsdall Gallery Theatre (which you can see photos of here), situated north of the Art Center, and exteriors were filmed at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, which sits adjacent to it. Barnsdall Art Park is also where the Trivia Night event was held in the final episode, “You Get What You Need.” You can read an in-depth post about the park’s use on the series here.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂