Head over to Dirt to check out my latest post about the house from Britney Spears’ From the Bottom of My Broken Heart music video.
The House from Britney Spears’ “Sometimes” Video
Head over to Dirt to read all about the house from Britney Spears’ Sometimes music video, which just hit the market for a cool $44.5 million.
Britney Spears’ Childhood Home
Head over to Dirt to read all about Britney Spears’ childhood home in Kentwood, Louisiana, which her dad just sold last week.
Venice High from ” . . . Baby One More Time”
Head over to Dirt to read my new post about Venice High School from Britney Spears’ . . . Baby One More Time video.
Super A Foods from “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”
It’s not every day a location is featured in back-to-back Oscar frontrunners, but such was the case with Glassell Park’s Super A Foods! The small mid-century market made appearances in both 2018’s A Star Is Born and 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Neither movie wound up locking down the Best Picture prize, but Super A Foods became a household name among fans, not to mention a popular stalking venue, nonetheless. I had long been familiar with the grocery store thanks to its cameo in the 2002 Britney Spears vehicle Crossroads and even blogged about it in 2011. It sure has come a long way since then, though, so I figured it was definitely time for a redo and ran right out to re-stalk it.
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Built in 1967, the one-story grocer was designed by architect Robert H. Peterson and originally housed a Food Fair market.
In 1975, Super A moved in and never looked back. The chain, which today boasts 8 outposts, was founded in 1971 by Lou Amen, who sadly passed away two weeks ago at the age of 90 after miraculously recovering from a case of COVID-19. He was still actively working for the family-run company until just a few days before his death.
Per the Los Angeles Conservancy, the Glassell Park Super A Foods “is significant as a largely intact example of a postwar-era grocery market.” The building features fabulous mid-century detailing including glazed glass, a geometric sign, and a canted ceiling.
That roofline, though!
It is at Super A that Pussycat (Margaret Qualley) and other Manson Family members dumpster-dive for food toward the beginning of Once Upon a Time In Hollywood. The segment was shot on the market’s west side, along Cypress Avenue.
The signage visible behind the women in the scene is authentic to the store, painted there long before filming took place.
The James Dean mural the group walks by upon leaving Super A is not, though. It was created specifically for the shoot on the western side of S & S Pharmacy, directly across the street from the market.
Sadly, the mural was painted over after filming wrapped and there are no vestiges of it left today.
As I mentioned above, Super A was also featured in Crossroads. It is at the supposed Alabama store that Lucy (Britney Spears), Mimi (Taryn Manning), Kit (Zoe Saldana), and Ben (Anson Mount) make a pit stop for snacks during their road trip from Georgia to California.
And in A Star Is Born, Ally (Lady Gaga) and Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) stop by Super A for frozen peas after Ally gets into a bit of a scuffle, punching someone at a bar. While sitting in the market’s parking lot nursing her swollen hand, Ally begins to write “Shallow,” the song that eventually makes her famous. Of the location, cinematographer Matthew Libatique told radio station KPCC, “If a grocery store can possibly be cinematic, it’s this one.” He also considered the site pretty central to the movie. As Libatique expressed to LAist in a 2018 interview, “It was meant to root [Ally’s] existence on the Eastside of Los Angeles. It was very important for [production designer Karen Murphy], as a designer, to make sure the character had an identity through her environment.”
Yellowcard’s 2003 “Way Away “ music video was shot at the market, as well.
And in 2019 Cuco filmed his “Keeping Tabs” music video at Super A.
The Glassell Park Super A Foods is not the chain’s only claim to fame. The former Eagle Park outpost at 2245 Yosemite Drive, which today houses a Sprouts Famers Market, made several appearances in the 1981 comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman.
The Eagle Rock store was also featured in Travis’ 2007 “Closer” music video.
And the 2008 comedy Over Her Dead Body filmed a couple of scenes at the Highland Park Super A, located at 5250 York Avenue.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Super A Foods, from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, is located at 2925 Division Street in Glassell Park.
Loews Hollywood Hotel from Britney Spears’ “Everytime” Music Video
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I hate change, especially when it comes to filming locations. So I was devastated when the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, one of my favorite Tinseltown lodgings and frequent film star, was sold a couple of years ago, rebranded as a Loews, and extensively remodeled. Though I have yet to visit the place post-facelift, one look at the property’s website shows that it looks nothing like its former self, which is a shame considering its many onscreen appearances. I stalked and very briefly blogged about the Renaissance back in July 2008 and then re-stalked it again in early 2012, but never wrote a subsequent post. While going through my backlog of photos recently, I came across the 2012 pics and felt a pang of sadness knowing I’d never see the hotel in that state again. So I figured it was high time I shared the images and do a more thorough write-up on the place.
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Loews Hollywood Hotel, as it is now known, originally opened in 1970 as the Holiday Inn-Hollywood. At the time, the 23-story building boasted 462 rooms, a pool, free parking, a penthouse chapel that offered weekly Sunday church services, and a revolving rooftop restaurant/nightclub with two stages named Oscar’s. You can see what it looked like during its early years here.
In 2001, the Holiday Inn underwent a major overhaul in conjunction with the opening of the neighboring Hollywood & Highland Center. Not only was the property completely revamped and rebranded as the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa, but an entire second tower was constructed bringing the total number of rooms to 637. As part of the rehab, the revolving rooftop restaurant, then known as Windows on Hollywood, was transformed into the massive 3,594-square-foot Panorama Suite. The plush space, which is pictured below – it’s that round disc-like structure situated on the top floor of the building – boasts 270-degree views of the city, a baby grand piano, a wet bar, a Jacuzzi bathtub, a dining area with seating for ten, and one to four bedrooms depending upon the chosen configuration. You can check out some photos of its interior here and here.
The modernized 560,000-square-foot site also featured 1950s-inspired décor, a restaurant, a pool, a spa, a fitness center, an enormous amount of meeting and event space, Metro Line access, and a spacious lobby with a grand stairwell, a lounge and brightly colored furnishings.
In June 2012, the property was purchased by the Loews Hotels & Resorts chain, renovated to the tune of $26 million, and turned into the Loews Hollywood Hotel. Sadly, it now looks completely different than it did during the Renaissance days, though the Panorama Suite appears to have been left untouched.
The hotel has proven a production favorite in all of its incarnations, which should come as no surprise considering its convenient location right in the heart of Hollywood, sheer size, colorful aesthetic, and that unique rooftop suite.
Its most notable appearance (well, in my mind, at least) was as a Las Vegas lodging in Britney Spears’ 2004 “Everytime” music video, which you can watch here. Many areas of the property were featured in the production, including the front driveway . . .
. . . the entrance leading from the parking garage to the back of the lobby (my photo below shows the doors visible behind the paparazzi from a different angle) . . .
. . . the lobby’s rear hallway, where a newspaper stand was set up for the shoot . . .
. . . and the Panorama Suite.
Kenny Crandell (Keith Coogan) and his stoner buddies partied on the hotel’s rooftop back when it was the Holiday Inn at the beginning of the 1991 comedy Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead.
Adam (Brendan Fraser) checks into the Holiday Inn-Hollywood upon leaving his father’s bomb shelter in the 1999 comedy Blast from the Past. The hotel’s exterior . . .
. . . one of its rooms . . .
. . . and the lobby were all utilized in the film.
As you can see, the place looked considerably different during its time as the Holiday Inn than it did as the Renaissance.
Sylvester Clark (Angelo Tiffe) called the Panorama Suite home in the 2004 drama Collateral, though the room’s view was faked for the shoot to make it appear as if it overlooked downtown Los Angeles.
The Renaissance’s lobby masked as the lobby of the supposed Miami-area Lux Atlantic where Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) and Cynthia (Jayma Mays) worked in Red Eye.
The 2005 thriller provides a fabulous glimpse of what the interior of the hotel looked like during the time it operated as the Renaissance.
In the 2008 comedy Yes Man, Carl (Jim Carrey) attends a Yes! Is the New No! conference at the Renaissance. Both the exterior of the hotel . . .
. . . and its enormous 25,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom appear in the film.
The Panorama Suite popped up as the location of a rather grizzly murder in the first episode of American Horror Story: Hotel titled “Checking In,” which aired in 2015. (I blacked out a portion of the top screen capture below as it was a bit NSFW in its original form.)
The lobby also appeared in the episode. By that time, the hotel was operating as Loews and bearing its newly renovated look.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Loews Hollywood Hotel, from Britney Spears’ “Everytime” music video, is located at 1755 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit the lodging’s official website here.
Joseph’s Café – Where Britney Spears Met Kevin Federline
Circa 2000, I thought Britney Spears was everything! Obviously, I don’t anymore (a person can only go into a gas station restroom barefoot so many times before I start to think they’re someone I shouldn’t be emulating), but ever since watching the Lifetime biopic Britney Ever After two weeks ago, I’ve had the pop star on my brain. I blogged about an infamous location from her past on Friday –no, not one of the aforementioned gas station bathrooms, but former West Hollywood nightclub The Lounge, where she and ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake had their notorious dance-off in 2002. Today, I thought I’d post about another infamous site from her past that I first stalked back in October 2012 via the Dearly Departed Tour, which I embarked upon with my friends Kim and Lavonna. The tour was fabulous. Not only is it one of the few in Hollywood that is actually accurate with its locales, but it even introduced me to a couple of places I hadn’t been aware of, including Joseph’s Café, the spot where Miss Spears met second husband Kevin Federline in 2004.
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Joseph’s Café was originally established by Leo Abrahamian and his wife, Ovsanna, on the corner of Ivar Avenue and Yucca Street in Hollywood in 1977. While the Greek eatery has since been expanded and remodeled, it is, amazingly, still standing in the same exact spot today.
In 2000, Leo and Ovsanna’s sons, Joseph and Robert, decided to give the restaurant a massive overhaul. Along with a much needed facelift, the two also added nightly music, turning the place into a club during after-dinner hours. Joseph’s became a draw for Tinseltown’s elite almost immediately and such notables as Janet Jackson, Cameron Diaz, Ben Affleck, Mark Wahlberg, Nick Lachey, Vanessa Minnillo, Wilmer Valderama, Adam Brody, Kim Kardashian, Lance Bass, Cris Judd, Drew Lachey, and Vince Vaughn were all spotted hanging out there. The site was such a hotspot, in fact, that Citysearch deemed it the Number One Celebrity Club in Los Angeles in 2005.
Spears partied there so frequently that in a 2003 write-up on popular Hollywood clubs, Variety magazine reported that on Monday nights, Joseph’s was “the most likely place to spot Britney and pals pop-locking on the dance floor.” Justin Timberlake was a fan, too. In fact, the two had a reconciliation of sorts there after the American Music Awards in January 2003. The meet-up, which included kissing and hand-holding, sparked rumors that the couple might be rekindling their flame, though it doesn’t sound as if it was truly all that romantic being that Britney reportedly threw up in the middle of it.
Thankfully, no throwing up took place on the fateful night in April 2004 that Britney met Kevin. While sitting in her favorite booth at Joseph’s, she spied then backup dancer Federline and was immediately smitten. I’ll let Spears tell the touching tale in her own words via a People magazine interview from later that year – “I always sit at the same table. On the far right. In the corner. Where I can see everything. And I saw him. He was just standing there. I was like, ‘Hi, just come with me.’” Though Kevin was engaged at the time to actress Shar Jackson, who was six months pregnant with their second child, it did not stop him from pursuing a relationship with Spears and the two were engaged less than three months later.
I would be remiss if I did not point out that, as KFed clarified in People, Britney and Kevin actually first met in 2000 during Spears’ (You Drive Me) Crazy Tour. Britney was headlining and Kevin was backup dancing for her opening act, LFO. There was no love connection at the time, though. I’ll let the two break it down for you. Britney: “We saw each other in passing but never really talked. He thought I was cute.” Kevin: “Yeah, I did think you were cute. But it just wasn’t the right time. I think everything happens at the right time. That’s why we met at Joseph’s.” You can check out the couple’s entire interview here. Be forewarned – it’s cringe-worthy. While reading it, Principal’s (James Downey) memorable speech from Billy Madison came to mind. For those who have not seen the 1995 comedy, after Billy (Adam Sandler) compares the Industrial Revolution to the children’s book The Puppy Who Lost His Way during an oral exam, Principal says, “Mr. Madison, what you just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it.” Yep, pretty much sums up Spears and Federline’s ramblings on their relationship.
Though there are reports circulating online that Joseph’s is currently closed, when I re-stalked the place last week, it appeared to be hopping.
I was thrilled to discover while researching this post that Joseph’s is also a filming location. It was featured briefly in the 1997 movie Flipping as the spot where Tommy ‘Fat Man’ Barnett (Nick Dimitri) was killed. The club looked quite a bit different at the time, though.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Joseph’s Café, where Britney Spears met Kevin Federline, is located at 1775 Ivar Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.
The Lounge – The Site of Britney and Justin’s Dance-Off
If you are anything at all like me, you eagerly tuned in to watch Lifetime’s Britney Spears biopic Britney Ever After the evening of February 18th. If not, you seriously missed out. It was amazing – in the way that only bad Lifetime movies can be amazing. The two-hour made-for-television flick chronicled a decade of the pop star’s life in the spotlight, from her rise to fame with the release of 1998’s . . . Baby One More Time, through her many turbulent years, ending with her 2008 comeback. The moment I was most excited to see re-created was the infamous dance-off that took place between Britney and ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake in 2002. The scene did not disappoint – and got me interested in tracking down the spot where the real life event occurred. Due to the highly transitional nature of the nightclub business, though, it required quite a bit of legwork to do so.
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Thanks to the place’s non-distinctive moniker, a Google search for “The Lounge” and “Los Angeles” did not provide much information. Adding “Britney Spears” into the search mix didn’t help. But when I swapped out her name for Justin’s, I started to make headway. Kicked back was a link to this 2003 MTV.com article which mentioned that the former *NSYNC-er was partnering with The Lounge owners Art and Allan Davis to open dim sum restaurant Chi. From there, I began searching for “The Lounge,” “Los Angeles,” and “Art and Allan Davis” and was finally yielded this 2002 image of actor Lukas Haas standing outside of the club. Though The Lounge was not visible in the photo, another restaurant was. While looking at the picture, I spotted the instantly identifiable yellow-paneling and green awning of Dan Tana’s in the background. The West Hollywood eatery has been a landmark since it was originally established in 1964 and the Grim Cheaper and I have dined there on several occasions, so I recognized it immediately. From there, it was not hard to discern that The Lounge was formerly located just west of Dan Tana’s at 9077 North Santa Monica Boulevard.
The Lounge saw its beginnings in January 1999 when the Davis brothers purchased La Masia, a decades-old Spanish restaurant/nightclub. The duo eventually revamped the site, re-opening it as the Latin Lounge in 2001.
The place was an instant hit with the Hollywood set, attracting such stars as Sarah Jessica Parker, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Quaid, and Ricky Martin in its first months of operation.
The two-level supper club, which eventually dropped the “Latin” from its name, featured a small dance floor, live music, furry sconces (yes, you read that right – the light fixtures were apparently covered in fur), a leopard print bar, a chandelier that scaled two stories, colorful murals, and a mirrored mezzanine.
It was not long before The Lounge was the place to see and be seen with the likes of Matthew Perry, Hank Azaria, Hilary Swank, Melissa Joan Hart, Nicole Richie, Gisele Bündchen, Demi Moore, Brittany Murphy, Dean Cain, Ashton Kutcher, Paris Hilton, Ethan Embry, and Tiffany Amber Thiessen all popping in regularly. Oh yes, and Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
As reported at the time by Us Weekly, on August 1st, 2002, nearly 5 months after their split, Britney and Justin ran into each other at The Lounge. Britney reportedly got upset with Justin for dancing with his new flame, Jenna Dewan – yes, the Jenna Dewan that went on to marry Channing Tatum – and it resulted in a 90-minute dance-off between the former couple and their respective entourages. Britney later denied the report, but by then it had already become the stuff of pop culture legend. Britney Ever After’s depiction of the moment (pictured below) was absolutely delicious and completely ridiculous at the same time. Though I believe it was a fairly realistic re-creation of what actually happened that night. I mean, I can’t imagine a dance-off scenario that isn’t completely ridiculous. While researching this post, I came across two images (you can see them here and here) that show Britney leaving The Lounge I believe on the night in question. Though dated August 2nd, 2002, the day following the alleged dance-off, I am guessing by the time she left the club, it was after midnight the next morning.
Though The Lounge had a pretty good run, as is typical of most nightclubs, it did not last. By 2005, the site had become Lobby. When Lobby closed, the space was transformed into Foxtail, which was owned in part by Brett Ratner, and then later Mi-6. All three clubs were insanely popular with celebrities during their brief tenures.
The exterior of the property changed considerably during those ensuing years. At the time that The Lounge was in existence, the exterior was Spanish in style, as you can see here, here, and here. By 2008, the style had shifted to Art Deco and the building was covered with a screened façade.
In 2011, the space underwent an even more drastic remodel. As you can see in the Google Street View images below from April and July of that year, the property was taken down to the studs and completely rebuilt before re-opening as Italian eatery Mercato di Vetro. So, sadly, the building no longer looks anything like it did the night of Britney and Justin’s dance-off.
Today, the site houses a restaurant/club named Doheny Room.
Much like its predecessors, Doheny Room is a major celebrity hot spot, attracting the likes of David Spade, Chris Brown, Vanessa Hudgens, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and The Game on any given night.
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Lounge, aka the site of Britney and Justin’s infamous 2002 dance-off, was formerly located at 9077 North Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The locale is now the site of Doheny Room.
The ” . . . Baby One More Time” Costume
One of the most important items on my Stalking Bucket List was checked off last week while the Grim Cheaper and I were in Las Vegas. Way back in October 2010 (while doing research for this post), I learned that Britney Spears’ schoolgirl costume from her 1998 “ . . . Baby One More Time” music video was on display at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and I just about died. As I have mentioned countless times before on this site, to me that outfit is everything. I’ve replicated it on Halloween and for various costume parties more times than I can count. I love absolutely everything about it, especially the pink hair pom poms. Upon reading on Wikipedia that the costume was at the Hard Rock, I came thisclose to driving out to see it that very night. I restrained myself (or rather, the GC did) and put the stalk on hold for what seemed like eons. So when the GC informed me that we had to head out to Vegas last week, I told him that seeing the costume was our very first priority upon arriving in town.
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Prior to heading to Vegas, I called the Hard Rock Hotel FOUR times to verify that the “ . . . Baby One More Time” costume was still on display. The HR chain has a tendency of moving memorabilia from site to site and periodically rotating items, placing some in storage, and I wanted to make sure that the schoolgirl outfit was on the premises before I got too excited about seeing it. All four people whom I talked to informed me that the costume was most definitely still on display and that it was in the lobby of the HRH Tower. Upon arriving, though, we discovered that it was not in that tower – or anywhere else we looked. None of the Hark Rock employees on duty at the time had any idea where it was, either, and most said that they hadn’t seen it in years. When the VIP concierge informed me that the outfit was most likely in storage, I literally almost started crying on the spot. Talk about a disappointment! Thankfully, the GC suggested that we walk around for a bit on the off chance that we might spot it somewhere. After about 15 minutes of wandering, I caught an image of a black skirt out of the corner of my eye and immediately took off running. Sure enough, it was Britney’s costume!
For whatever reason, the outfit is currently tucked away in the hotel’s Peacock High Limit Gaming Room, which is located just to the right of the casino’s main entrance. You have to actually walk into the room and then around to the extreme right to see the costume, though, as it is situated behind a wall and is not at all readily apparent to passersby.
I was dismayed to discover that my favorite portion of the costume (the pink hair pom poms if you haven’t been paying attention 
) was not included in the display. As you can see in these photos, Britney’s entire schoolgirl outfit, including the hair accessories, thigh-high stockings and shoes, used to be on exhibit. I wanted so badly to view the complete ensemble, but, sadly, that was not to be. I was extremely excited over seeing the majority of it in person, though, and am anxiously awaiting the day when the hair ties are brought out of storage and put back on display.
While making screen captures for this post, I noticed something else about the costume that is off. As you can see below, in “ . . . Baby One More Time” Britney donned a maroon crop top, not the black bra that is featured on the hotel mannequin.
I tracked down a photo on the Britney Universe website that shows a clearer image of the crop top that she wore during the shoot.
The background dancers wore schoolgirl costumes very similar to Britney’s in the video, so I am guessing that the black bra might have been worn by one of them, or that Britney’s actual crop top was lost at some point and the black bra put in its place for display purposes.
The “ . . . Baby One More Time” music video was shot on location at Venice High School on August 7th and 8th, 1998. The original concept apparently involved cartoons, until Britney ixnayed the idea. She wanted to shoot something that would be more relatable to her fans and convinced director Nigel Dick to center the storyline around a typical school day. Spears was also responsible for creating the video’s iconic costume. In a 2009 interview, Dick said, “My idea originally was just jeans and T-shirts, and we were at the wardrobe fitting and Britney holds up the jeans and T-shirts and says, ‘Wouldn’t I wear a schoolgirl outfit?’ Every piece of wardrobe in the video came from Kmart, and I was told at the time not one piece of clothing in the video cost more than $17. On that level, it’s real. That probably, in retrospect, is a part of its charm.” Britney also explained to People magazine, “The outfits looked kind of dorky, so I was like, ‘Let’s tie up our shirts and be cute.'” And thus, one of the most iconic outfits in music video history was born. You can check out some behind the scenes photographs of the filming here, here and here.
You can watch the “ . . . Baby One More Time” video by clicking below.
Several other Britney items are on display at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, including a Washington Redskins custom-made dress and glove set that she wore for a 2003 NFL Kickoff photo shoot . . .
. . . and a “Slave” crop top that Spears donned in a commercial for the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards that she shot with Jamie Foxx.
Also on display was the outfit Katy Perry wore on the cover of her “I Kissed a Girl” single;
one of Michael Jackson’s gloves (which was virtually impossible to get a picture of due to the fact that it is so sparkly);
a handwritten letter from MJ to a friend;
the shoe stand where James Brown worked as a child;
album cover photographs that The Doors shot at the original Hard Rock Café in downtown Los Angeles (the spot where Michael Jackson filmed the video for “Beat It”);
and a jacket of MJ’s designed by Michael Bush and Dennis Tomkins.
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has also appeared onscreen numerous times, including in an episode of fave show The O.C., but I am saving that information for a future post. Today, it’s all about Britney!
For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Britney Spears’ “ . . . Baby One More Time” schoolgirl costume is on display in the Peacock High Limit Gaming Room at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which is located at 4455 Paradise Road in Las Vegas. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.
Red Studios Hollywood – aka Kinograph Studios from “The Artist”
In early March, my friend Tony, the fellow stalker who has the amazeballs On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream, wrote a comment on my post about the duplex where George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) lived in The Artist alerting me to a blog named Silent Locations. The blog, which is authored by business lawyer/film historian John Bengtson, features a six-part column chronicling several locales that appeared in The Artist and their connection with various silent films made during Hollywood’s heyday. I highly recommend checking out the feature and the site in general. It is fabulous! Anyway, one of the places mentioned in the column was Red Studios Hollywood, the exterior of which stood in for both the exterior of Kinograph Studios in The Artist and Maroon Cartoons in 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place on a very windy Sunday afternoon two weekends ago.
The site where Red Studios Hollywood now stands was originally founded as Metro Pictures Back Lot #3 in 1915, long before the company joined forces with Goldwyn Pictures and became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. During its Metro heyday, such films as Scaramouche, Little Robinson Crusoe and The Champ were filmed on the premises. Beginning in May 1946, the lot went through a series of different owners, the most prominent of whom were Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The showbiz powerhouse couple leased the property in 1953 and turned it into the very first Desilu Studios, where they shot seasons 3 through 6 of I Love Lucy. In 1974, the lot became known as Ren-Mar Studios, an independently owned and operated facility where various production companies were able to rent out studio space. Legendary television producer David E. Kelley made his home there in the 80s and shot Picket Fences (one of my faves!), Chicago Hope, The Practice and the first two seasons of Ally McBeal. In January 2010, the lot was sold yet again, this time to Red Digital Camera Company, who renamed the place Red Studios Hollywood.
A few of the countless other productions that have been filmed on the premises over the years include The Golden Girls, The Dick Van Dyke Show, the first four episodes of Seinfeld, The Andy Griffith Show, Make Room for Daddy, Lizzie McGuire, NewsRadio, Empty Nest, Monk, and, most recently, True Blood. The series Weeds was also filmed on the lot, back when it was Ren-Mar, and during Season 4, after Agrestic burned down, producers had Nancy Botwin (Mary-Louise Parker) move to a fictional seaside town named “Ren Mar” in honor of the historic studio. Love it!
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In The Artist, the back entrance of Red was used as the main entrance of Kinograph Studios, where George Valentin worked at the beginning of the flick.
As you can see above, that area was changed drastically for the movie – so much so that it is virtually unrecognizable today. A huge false front was built over the actual studio entrance for the filming and the Hollywood Rounder blog was lucky enough to get to watch it being constructed. You can check out some very cool pics of the construction here and here, the fake security guard kiosk here, and the finished product here.
Interestingly enough, when Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo) is shown being dropped off at a location that is supposedly directly across the street from the Kinograph entrance, she is actually on New York Street at Paramount Studios, in front of the building that is used regularly as the Boston police station on Rizzoli & Isles.
At one point in The Artist, George is also shown walking in between some of the Red Studios Hollywood soundstages.
The area where he walked is denoted with a pink circle above.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Red’s main entrance on Cahuenga Boulevard stood in for the entrance to Maroon Cartoons, where the famous animated hare worked.
The courtyard just beyond that entrance was also used in the filming.
That area is denoted with a pink circle above.
On a Who Framed Roger Rabbit side-note – while doing research prior to writing this post, I came across a blurb in The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations book which, in reference to the flick’s title, stated, “No, there is no question mark, as it’s considered bad luck in a film title.” I had never before heard that bit of trivia and found it interesting, especially since my good friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong grammatical errors blog, had recently written a post which mentioned WFRR’s punctuation error. Superstition or not, I think the flick really needed the mark in its title and I found myself inadvertently adding one each time I typed “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” in this post. I guess some habits are hard to break.
The music video for Britney Spears’ hit 2000 song “Lucky” was also shot at Ren-Mar and the exterior of the studio is visible in the MTV Making the Video special about the production.
You can watch Part I of the Making the Video of “Lucky” by clicking above.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John Bengtson, from the Silent Locations blog, for finding this location and to fellow stalker Tony, from the fantastic On Location in Los Angeles Flickr photostream, for pointing me to John’s site!
Stalk It: Red Studios Hollywood, aka Kinograph Studios from The Artist, is located at 846 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the official Red Studios Hollywood website here. The area of the studio used in The Artist can be found on Lillian Way, in between Willoughby and Waring Avenues. The studio’s main entrance on Cahuenga Boulevard is the entrance that stood in for Maroon Cartoons in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Red Studios Hollywood is not open to the public and does not currently offer a tour.