celebrites – Page 8 – IAMNOTASTALKER

May 15, 2013May 15, 2013

Trudi’s Apartment Building from “L.A. Story”

Last month, when I published my post on the location of the iconic talking freeway sign from L.A. Story, a friend named David, whom I met in an acting class years ago, sent me a Facebook message letting me know that the unique, modern-style apartment building where Trudi (Marilu Henner) lived in the flick was located at 884 Palm Avenue in West Hollywood. David also informed me that the building still looked pretty much exactly the same as it did 22 years ago when filming took place, which, of course, had me salivating. So I ran right out to stalk it shortly after visiting the house belonging to Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) in the 1991 comedy, which I blogged about yesterday.

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Amazingly enough, despite the building’s unique look, I could find virtually no information whatsoever about its history online. The only fact that I was able to glean – thanks to views of the property on the Historic Aerials website – was that it was constructed sometime between the years 1980 and 1987.

When L.A. Story was filmed in 1991, the site was known as the Palm Square Apartments. The 29-unit, upscale building, which is currently named NMS Apartments @ West Hollywood, features a pool, a Jacuzzi, an executive gym, and gourmet kitchens and hardwood flooring in each suite.

The building is most well-known for the unusual artwork located at its entrance.

The piece, which is named “Stairway Sculpture”, was created by artist Paul Betouliere in 1987 as part of the West Hollywood Urban Arts Collection.

NMS Apartments @ West Hollywood popped up twice in L.A. Story – first in the scene in which Harris not-so-patiently waits for Trudi to finish her “abstract busyness”, including putting on “thirty-minute lips”, before heading to a brunch.

The Stair Sculpture was shown prominently in that scene.

NMS Apartments @ West Hollywood next appears in the scene in which Trudi informs Harris about the three-year affair she has been having with his agent, Frank Swan (Kevin Pollak). After breaking up with her over her indiscretions, an elated Harris dances down the front steps of the building.

So I, of course, just had to imitate him while I was there. Winking smile

Thanks to a real estate listing that I found on Zillow, I can confirm that the actual interior of one of the NMS units was used as the interior of Trudi’s apartment in L.A. Story. As you can see below, the setup of the kitchen in the listing matches up to what appeared onscreen.

As does the curving staircase. Even the railing is still the same – albeit a different color, thank God! Winking smile

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

Big THANK YOU to David for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Trudi’s apartment building from L.A. Story is located at 884 Palm Avenue in West Hollywood.

May 14, 2013May 13, 2013

Harris’ House from “L.A. Story”

Another L.A. Story location that production designer Lawrence Miller talked about in “The L.A. of L.A. Story” featurette included on the 1991 comedy’s 15th Anniversary Edition DVD was the Spanish-style dwelling where wacky weatherman Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) lived. And even though the address of the home had been listed on the L.A. Story filming locations page for years, I figured the place was still worthy of a blog post. So I ran right out to stalk it – Starbucks latte in hand, of course – while visiting Los Angeles a couple of weekends ago.

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In real life, according to Property Shark, the West Hollywood abode, which was originally constructed in 1923, is not a private residence after all, but a multi-family dwelling consisting of four separate units that contain a total of four bedrooms, four baths and 3,366 square feet of living space.

Unfortunately, the site currently bears little resemble to its onscreen counterpart. In fact, when we first pulled up, I thought I had the wrong address! Boo!

The two-story house was one of the main locations used in L.A. Story and popped up repeatedly throughout the movie.

In “The L.A. of L.A. Story”, which was taped in 2006, Miller said, “The director had a concept of L.A. being a desert where people brought water to it and created paradise. This little compound here was selected primarily because of the beautiful trees and greens and foliage that sort of embraced the driveway. This location caused us a little bit of a problem in that the week before we were to shoot here, the neighbor next door decided he wanted to prune all of his greens, all of the trees, all of the things that we loved so much and it forced us to bring in Greensmen to try to duplicate what it was that was there. And it’s interesting looking at it fifteen years later and seeing that it still hasn’t all grown back.” (The screen captures below were taken from “The L.A. of L.A. Story.”)

Sadly, since the filming of the featurette, the foliage that once covered the front of Harris’ house has also been removed, completely changing the look of the place, despite the fact that the structure of the home itself has not been altered. Goes to show the aesthetic power of trees!

Miller also said that the home’s real life front door was swapped out during the filming for a custom-made leaded glass door.

And that the alarm keypad that controlled Harris’ fake barking dog was just a prop.

Unfortunately, that area of the house is not very visible from the street.

I was shocked to learn, thanks to Miller’s interview, that the real life interior of the home was also used in the filming. I would have bet money on it being a set! Areas of the property that appeared in the movie include the kitchen;

the bathroom, with the “slo mo” faucet;

the living room;

and the bedroom, which is, oddly enough, situated right next to the front door, as you can see below.

It was in that bedroom that Harris famously wrote “Bored Beyond Belief.” on a window.

The exact pane that Harris wrote on is the top middle panel of the window located just north of the front door, as denoted by the pink arrows below.

According to “The L.A. of L.A. Story”, the then owner of the property was paid a whopping $35,000 for its use in the movie (and we’re talking 1991 dollars!) and filming on the premises took five weeks to complete, including prep time. $35,000 for five weeks? Yeah, I’d take that! Winking smile

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Harris’ house from L.A. Story is located at 1206 North Orange Grove Avenue in West Hollywood.

May 8, 2013May 7, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Intersection

The locale from L.A. Story that I was most interested in tracking down was also the one that I thought for sure I would never find – the intersection featured in the movie’s opening montage. Because the intersection was fairly non-descript, only shown briefly and no clues as to its location visible in the scene, and because over two decades had passed since filming had taken place, I figured it would be a virtually impossible find. Enter fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, whom I had sent a couple of screen captures to in the hopes that he would assist in the hunt. Amazingly enough, he emailed me back 24 hours later with an address! Somehow, Owen had managed to track down several of the flick’s crew members (have I mentioned he missed his true calling by not joining the FBI?), all of whom had gotten back to him almost immediately. Most did not recall the intersection’s location, but thankfully one did remember that it was in the vicinity of the Santa Monica Airport. And while it took a bit of time searching aerial views of all of the four-way stops near SMO, Owen did manage to pinpoint the place. So I ran right out to stalk it two weekends ago while in L.A.

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L.A. Story opens with a montage of clips showing everyday life in Los Angeles. And while the segment is seemingly satiric, I can attest to the fact that most of the bits are truthful. You can watch that montage by clicking below.

In my favorite part of the segment, four cars meet at a four-way stop and each driver waves the others on. In a hapless twist, all of the drivers wind up hitting the gas at the same moment and crash into each other in the middle of the intersection. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in that exact same scenario – minus the crash, thankfully – and I can’t help but laugh every time I watch the scene. It is just so L.A.

I was absolutely thrilled to discover that the intersection and houses visible in the background of the scene still look pretty much exactly the same today as they did in 1991 when L.A. Story was filmed.

Ironically enough, if you look closely at the scene, you will notice that more than four cars were actually used in the filming – a behind-the-scenes tidbit told to Owen by one of the crew members. In fact, he said, “I recall we wrecked about 16 cars on the various takes on that scene.” How cool would it have been to see that in person?

Even more interesting is the fact that the actual crash portion of the scene was not shot at the intersection, but at a random parking lot (I think a parking lot at the Lantana production center in Santa Monica where the L.A. Story production offices were located). The crew member informed Owen, “To crash the cars on the street, I would have had to close down those streets and permit for the crash. That would have required too much time since the crash is shot from overhead, in other words, it required a crane. So we would have shot the crash/crane part of it in a parking lot.” I absolutely LOVE learning little bits of trivia like that, especially being that there was never a commentary made for L.A. Story, something that I am still in shock over.

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The four-way stop from L.A. Story is located at the intersection of Butler Avenue and Kingsland Street in West Los Angeles.

May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Fundraiser House

Another L.A. Story location that I was desperate to track down was the sloped-roof residence where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) and Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) attended a “private art museum” fundraiser in the 1991 comedy. Because the home was so architecturally unique, I was sure that it would be an easy find. I was wrong. After scouring countless online film location libraries and architectural databases and coming up empty-handed, I decided that I needed to call for reinforcements. I sent a few screen captures to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, to see if he recognized the place and, as luck would have it, he did! During a visit to Los Angeles a couple of years back, Geoff and his wife had done some sight-seeing in the Palos Verdes area. They happened to drive by the L.A. Story house that day and took note of it due to its distinctive roof. All Geoff had to do was retrace their steps and, voila, he found the place in a snap. Yay! So I ran right out to the South Bay to stalk it while in L.A. two weekends ago.

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In real life, the residence is known as the Bowler house, named for John Bowler, the industrial building contractor who commissioned it. The dwelling, which was constructed in 1963, was designed by Lloyd Wright, son of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was composed of concrete, glass and Santa Maria stone. Lloyd also designed all of the property’s furnishings (which were angled to match the design of the house), cabinetry and vast landscaping.

Thanks to the triangular, pitched roof, which was manufactured out of blue corrugated fiberglass, the property is also sometimes called the Bird of Paradise house, which is something of a misnomer, as Lloyd had actually based the design on a diamond module.

The residence, which was renovated by Eric Lloyd Wright, Lloyd’s son, in 1991, features 3,904 square feet of living space, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a library, a formal dining room, a master suite, a laundry room, an in-ground swimming pool, separate guest quarters, and a 0.89-acre plot of hilltop land boasting 180-degree ocean views. The site was put on the market in mid-2008 for $2.5 million and wound up selling in January 2009 for $1.895 million. You can check out the real estate listing and some great interior photographs of the house here.

In L.A. Story, Harris and Sara head to the Bowler house to attend a formal fundraising dinner in which a man is trying to raise city funds to found an art museum that will not be open to the public. LOL Pictured below are the screen captures that I sent to Geoff when I asked for his help in tracking down the residence. It is amazing to me that he was able to recall a home pictured in dark, very limited screenshots simply from driving past it several years back. My hat is definitely off to him!

The real life interior of the home also appeared in the scene.

On a side-note – I would like to wish a HUGE congratulations to my girl Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, who not only just got a big promotion at work (she can now get herself – and me! – into Disneyland for FREE anytime she wants!), but, most exciting, also recently got engaged . . . to Keith Coogan (yes, that Keith Coogan!). I am over-the-moon happy for her and wish her and Keith all the joy in the world!

I got to meet Keith this weekend (at Disneyland) and I cannot express how much fun it was to run around quoting lines from Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead with him. When he randomly said, “Rock and roll!” at one point during the day, I just about died! He is also really into filming locations, so, Pinky, I approve. You chose well! Winking smile

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

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Bird of Paradise house, aka the L.A. Story fundraiser house, is located at 3456 Via Campesina in Rancho Palos Verdes.

May 3, 2013May 3, 2013

The California Colonic Institution from “L.A. Story”

When I began my search for all of the missing L.A Story locations a few weeks back, I emailed about a million-and-a-half screen captures to fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, in the hopes that he would be so inclined to help me out with the hunt. Thankfully, he was. One locale that we found at the exact same time (we literally texted each other with the address at the same moment!) was the California Colonic Institution, where SanDeE* (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker) took Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) for a high colonic, aka an enema, in the 1991 flick. While I had known that the site was located somewhere along Venice Beach and had tracked it down by looking up and down the coastline using Google Maps, Mike had actually recognized the place immediately thanks to the fact that, unbeknownst to me, it had also appeared in the 1993 thriller Point of No Return. How random is that? So, while in SoCal this past weekend, I ran right out to stalk it. (I am amazed that I was able to snap the above photograph sans any people, by the way! Anyone who has ever experienced the hustle and bustle of Venice Beach knows what a feat that was!)

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In real life, the California Colonic Institution from L.A. Story is known as the Blu House (or the Nike Blu House, as Nike, Inc. used the site as office space for many years) and, at over a century old, is one of the most historic residences still standing in Venice Beach. The two-story bungalow was originally built in 1901 and since that time it has served as everything from an event venue (one fete was even hosted by Jerry Springer, apparently!) to a clothing store to an art gallery to a medical marijuana facility. And while several websites have also stated that both Jim Morrison and Charlie Chaplin lived on the premises at different points in time, I believe that information is actually incorrect.

The beachfront house, which boasts three bedrooms, one bath, 2,656 square feet of living space, a 1,500-square-foot deck, and a tiny 0.10-acre plot of land, currently serves as the headquarters for Snapchat – at what is apparently a rate of $20,000 a month!

The California Colonic Institution only shows up once in L.A. Story and very briefly at that, in the scene in which SanDeE* takes Harris on a date . . . for an enema. Romantic, huh? It is there that SanDeE* says of the experience, “God, it really clears out your head!” To which Harris says, “Head? Head? You should go back in there and tell them they’re doing it wrong.” LOL

Only a very tiny portion of the property, namely the front porch area, was shown during the scene.

That front porch in its current state is pictured below. As you can see, while the front doors have changed from a single door to double doors, the site still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did in 1991 when L.A. Story was filmed.

Because so little of the residence was shown, I was only able to pinpoint its location due to the fact that it was apparent from the filming that the front door was situated at an angle diagonal to the boardwalk, as you can see below. Thankfully, only one property in Venice fit that description.

I also matched up the buildings that were visible in the background of the scene. Ironically enough, while doing research on the Blu House, I learned that the brick building located just north of it is known as Gingerbread Court and was apparently built by none other than Charlie Chaplin.

It was not until making screen captures for today’s post that I spotted an address number of 523 behind Steve Martin in the scene. D’oh! Would have made my search so much easier had I realized that earlier!

I am fairly certain that the same location was used for the brief montage scene in which SanDeE* attended a spokesmodel class in the movie. The palm trees visible through the windows and the framing of the interior French doors seem to match up to those of the Blu house. That is just a hunch, though.

In Point of No Return, the Blu House was where assassin Maggie Hayward (Bridget Fonda) rented an apartment upon arriving in Venice Beach.

As you can see below, the property still had a single front door at the time of the filming.

I am guessing that the interior of Maggie’s apartment was just a set and not the actual interior of the Blu House.

According to the Venice-Mar Vista Patch, the Blu House was also the setting of an MTV summer reality series, although I am unsure of which one.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for helping me to find this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Blu House, aka the California Colonic Institution from L.A Story, is located at 523 Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach.

May 2, 2013May 1, 2013

Sara’s Apartment Building from “L.A. Story”

After tracking down the location of the “talking” freeway sign and Now! clothing store from fave movie L.A. Story (which I blogged about here and here, respectively) a couple of weeks ago, I embarked upon a mission to uncover all of the unknown locales from the 1991 flick. And with a lot of help from the usual suspects – fellow stalkers Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, and Geoff, from the 90210Locations website – I managed to do just that! One location that I actually found all on my own, though, was the unique sloped-roof building where Londoner Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) stayed while visiting Los Angeles in the movie. So I ran right out to stalk it while in SoCal this past weekend.

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Thankfully, this one was quite the easy find. I had an inkling that Sara’s building was located in the West Hollywood area, where a considerable amount of L.A. Story was lensed. So I did a Google search for “West Hollywood apartment building” and “butterfly roof” and, sure enough, one of the results was a WeHo.org page that included a write-up about the historic Hollywood Riviera building located at 1400 North Hayworth Avenue, which turned out to be the right spot. (Although it actually houses condominiums, not apartments.) Woot woot!

The Hollywood Riviera was designed by prolific Los Angeles-based architect Edward H. Fickett in 1954. The extremely unique, 38-unit, post-war-modern-style building features a sloped butterfly roofline, louvered windows, floating exterior staircases, canted (yeah, I had to look that one up, too) balconies, and a central courtyard with a swimming pool.

It also has a pretty cool retro-style sign.

Incredibly, of the 37 West Hollywood apartment buildings that Fickett designed during his lifetime, only five are known to remain standing to this day. Most were demolished to make way for larger, more modern structures. Due to this sad fact and the building’s unique architecture, the West Hollywood Historic Preservation Commission designated the Hollywood Riviera a Historic Cultural Resource in 2010.

In L.A. Story, Sara, the love interest of Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin), stays at the Hollywood Riviera while in town to write an article about Los Angeles for The London Times. The building shows up numerous times throughout the movie.

The areas of the Riviera that appeared in the flick include the front exterior;

the front door of one of the units (I am guessing that the unit’s real life apartment number was used in the filming);

and the courtyard and pool.

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of one of the units was utilized in the shoot as well, although Sara’s homestead was two stories, while all of the Hollywood Riviera condos that I have found real estate listings for online consist of only one story, so who knows. You can check out a real estate listing for an actual unit here to see how it compares.

I am also fairly certain that Sara’s balcony was a real Hollywood Riviera balcony.

The Hollywood Riviera was also where Elaine (Lesley Ann Warren) lived in 1999’s The Limey.

And while several websites (including this one and this one) state that the building has appeared in numerous movies and television shows, I could not find the names of any of the other productions that filmed on the premises.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sara’s apartment building from L.A. Story, aka the Hollywood Riviera, is located at 1400 North Hayworth Avenue in West Hollywood.

April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

Kelly Gulch from “Parks and Recreation”

Right next door to Pat’s Topanga Grill, which I blogged about on Tuesday, is an oft-filmed-at residence known as Kelly Gulch. Fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had mentioned the property to me back in early December while the two of us were in the midst of our hunt for the Topanga Canyon house where Paula (Sissy Spacek) lived in Four Christmases (which I blogged about here). Because Kelly Gulch has been featured in countless productions over the years (far more than I could ever chronicle in a single blog post), including fave show Parks and Recreation, he thought it might be a good location for me to stalk. So I did just that, late last December, right after the Grim Cheaper and I grabbed breakfast at Pat’s.

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Kelly Gulch was constructed by Michelene (who goes by Mike) and Frank Kelly in 1978. The couple had moved from Los Angeles to Topanga Canyon with their two young children in 1970. Quickly realizing that their 750-square-foot bungalow was not large enough for a family of four, they wound up purchasing an 8.5-acre plot of oak-shaded, creek-side land, that Frank had found in the classified ads, for $20,000 in 1976. Two years later, Frank started building a picturesque three-bedroom log cabin, from a “Real Log Homes” kit, on the site. The residence, which they dubbed “Kelly Gulch”, took a year to complete. A detached one-room writer’s studio and a large, two-story, 1,152-square-foot, standalone barn that doubled as a workshop/studio apartment soon followed.

Fate took a hand in 1984 when a location scout stopped by a Topanga Canyon real estate office looking for a log cabin in which to shoot Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. The real estate agent pointed him in the direction of Kelly Gulch and the rest is history. According to a Topanga Messenger article, a whopping two hundred productions have since been lensed at the remote residence! Its most famous appearance, though, remains in Friday the 13th. In fact, due to that appearance, in which it stood in for the Jarvis family home, the property has become a landmark of sorts to horror film buffs.

Both the interior and the exterior of the cabin were used extensively in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and, according to the same Topanga Messenger article, filming on the premises took a full three months to complete!

The large Victorian house located next to the Jarvis home in the movie was just a prop building that was constructed for the shoot.

In mid-2012, the Kellys decided that they needed to move to a place with less upkeep and put their beloved Topanga cabin on the market for $1.675 million. They subsequently moved to the seaside city of Camarillo. According to Redfin (on which you can check out some fabulous interior photographs of the home), Kelly Gulch was sold on December 31st, 2012 for $1,515,000. When asked by the Messenger if she would miss being a part of regular filmings, Mike said, “Not really. There were 14- to 16-hour days and Frank and I could never leave the property during a shoot. As we’ve gotten older, we couldn’t do it anymore.” And even though hundreds of celebrities have set foot inside her home over the years, she stated, “The only thing that ever impressed me was the check.” LOL

The property seems so incredibly rural and remote, it is hard to believe it is located on a bustling canyon road right next door to a restaurant.

Sadly though, as you can see below, not much of it is visible from the street.

The gate, which looks like something from a movie set (and who knows – it might be! Winking smile ), was pretty darn cool to see, though.

In 1986, the cabin popped up in Murphy’s Law as the home of Ben Wilcove (Bill Henderson), where Jack Murphy (Charles Bronson) and Arabella McGee (Kathleen Wilhoite) sought refuge.

The interior was also utilized in the filming.

The Friday the 13th franchise returned to Kelly Gulch to film a few brief scenes for the 1998 sequel titled Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood. Although the majority of the flick was lensed in Alabama, the scene in which Robin (Elizabeth Kaitan) is killed was filmed at the Topanga residence. You can check out a photograph of the room that segment was shot in here.

According to the Camp Blood website, Kelly Gulch was also used in the scene in which Jason is shown looking up at the house. You can see a photograph of that particular angle of the house here.

Kelly Gulch was where the group of teenaged campers hid out after accidentally killing Billy Harley (Matthew Hurley) in 1989’s Pumpkinhead.

The interior of the cabin was used in the filming, as well.

In 1994’s My Girl 2, the residence is where Vada Sultenfuss (Anna Chlumsky) tracked down her mom’s first husband, Jeffrey Pommeroy (JD Souther).

A different interior was used in the filming, though.

In the 1996 movie Eraser, the cabin was where a federal witness named Allison hid out and was later murdered.

The interior of the residence was used in the filming of that movie, as well.

In the 2000 thriller Ed Gein (a true story that inspired the movie Psycho), the cabin was where the Anderson family lived.

The interior was also used in the movie.

Kelly Gulch was where the body of Jessica Garner (Elena Fabri) was found in the Season 2 episode of Medium titled “Judge, Jury and Executioner”, which aired in 2005.

In 2008, the cabin was where Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (cutie Jerry Ferrara – sigh!) were put up during the filming of Vince’s new movie Smokejumpers in the Season 5 episode of Entourage titled “Pie”.

The interior also appeared in the episode.

In the Season 2 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Hunting Trip”, which aired in 2009, Kelly Gulch stood in for the Slippery Elm Park ranger station where Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) hosted his annual hunting trip – and got shot in the head.

The interior of the house was also used in the episode.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Kelly Gulch, from the “Hunting Trip” episode of Parks and Recreation, is located at 1801 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Topanga Canyon.

April 24, 2013April 24, 2013

Pat’s Topanga Grill from “Medium”

Way back in December, after stalking the Topanga Canyon house where Paula (Sissy Spacek) lived in the 2008 Yuletide comedy Four Christmases (which I blogged about here), the Grim Cheaper and I passed by Pat’s Topanga Grill and decided to pop in for some breakfast. Because the GC always likes to joke that businesses in Topanga, an area known for its bohemian lifestyle, only accept beads or wares in trade for goods rather than cash, I was a little reticent about dining at the eatery, but as it turned out, we both absolutely LOVED the place! Come to find out, Pat’s is also a big time celebrity hot spot AND a filming location. Talk about a fortuitous stop!

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Pat’s Topanga Grill, which has long been a Topanga Canyon staple (although I am unsure of the exact year in which it opened), was founded by Pat and Kathi Burke. Amazingly enough, despite being an area landmark, I could find virtually no information about the place’s history online or in my extensive collection of Los Angeles-themed books, which seems to be a pattern lately. I had the same problem with the Sierra Pelona Motel from Crossroads (which I blogged about here) and the Malibu Hindu Temple from Beverly Hills Ninja (which I blogged about here). Boo!

Thankfully though, we did get to meet Kathi while we were dining at the Grill and she could NOT have been nicer. When I asked about filming on the premises (as I invariably do whenever visiting a new place), she informed me that a Season 1 episode of Medium had been shot there. She also chatted with us about some of the celebrities who have dined at the restaurant over the years, which as you can see below, is quite an extensive list. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted at Pat’s Topanga Grill include Kate Hudson, Wendie Malick, My So-Called Life’s A.J. Langer (whom I was most excited about), Vinessa Shaw, Rosanna Arquette, Kyle Chandler, Anthony Crivello, Gene Simmons, and Dave Grohl.

While I was fairly certain that Pat’s breakfast menu would be comprised of mostly tofu items, I was floored to discover that was not the case. The restaurant does serve some vegan options, but most of the cuisine is made up of down-home cooking, and, thankfully, sausage (both links and patties – my fave) and eggs are also offered. And I am very happy to report that the food was FABULOUS!

As was the vintage, haphazard décor, which makes one feel as if they have stepped into an eatery miles away from city life. I absolutely fell in love with the antique Topanga freeway sign pictured below. How cool would it be to have that hanging in your home?

Unfortunately, Kathi could not remember which episode of Medium had been filmed at the Grill, only that the restaurant had been turned into a gas station for the shoot. So I did quite a bit of scanning yesterday to figure it out. Thank God for Netflix! As it turns out Pat’s popped up in the Season 1 episode titled “Coded” as the supposed Springville, Arizona stop-and-go gas station and minimart where Henry Yellen (Joe Chrest) received weekly phone calls from his imprisoned brother, Darrell Yellen (Don Harvey).

As Kathi had mentioned, the interior was dressed heavily for the filming to make the restaurant look like a minimart and is not very recognizable in person.

Although the counter, where the GC and I ate, is visible in the episode, which I was floored to see.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Pat’s Topanga Grill, from the “Coded” episode of Medium, is located at 1861 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Topanga Canyon. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

February 16, 2010February 16, 2010

Paul Rudd’s Parents’ House from “I Love You, Man”

A few weeks ago while doing some stalking in the Valley, I dragged my fiancé out to visit the house where Peter Klaven’s (aka Paul Rudd’s) parents, Oswald and Joyce Klaven, who were played by J.K. Simmons and Jane Curtin respectively, and his brother Robbie (aka Andy Samberg) lived in fave movie I Love You, Man. And even though the Klaven house only appeared in one very brief scene in the movie – a scene which barely lasted over 2 minutes – because fellow stalker Owen had tracked down the location for me a few months back, I just had to go see the place in person. I also wanted to stalk the residence because fellow stalker Gary, from fave website Seeing Stars, recently put together a highly detailed catalog of all of the filming locations featured in I Love You, Man – all of the locations, that is, except for the Klaven house. So, to complete Gary’s collection, I just had to run right out and stalk the place. 🙂

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The Klaven house shows up at the very beginning of I Love You, Man in one of my favorite scenes in the movie – the absolutely hilarious scene in which Peter takes his new fiancé Zooey (aka Rashida Jones) to his parents’ house for dinner and they get into a detailed discussion about his lifelong lack of male friendships. It is at this dinner that Peter learns the shocking fact that, along with a random man named Hank Mardukis, his younger brother, Robbie, is his father’s very best friend. LOL

Besides the exterior of the house and the front door area, I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the home was also used in the filming of the dinner scene, as well.

Because the Klaven’s house from I Love You, Man is extremely long and has that Anywhere, U.S.A.-type look to it, it actually reminds me quite a bit of Matthew Perry’s residence from fave movie 17 Again, a location which I stalked back in September of last year. In person, the Klaven house is very large, much larger than it appeared onscreen in I Love You, Man. The residence, which was built in 1942, boasts three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and measures 3,224 square feet. The home is very cute in person and is located on an absolutely ADORABLE street in an absolutely ADORABLE neighborhood. According to fave website Virtual Globetrotting, actress Jo Anne Worley lives just across the street from the I Love You, Man house and from 1993 to 2000 Denzel Washington lived just around the corner. Love it!

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Paul Rudd’s parents’ house from I Love You, Man is located at 4727 Arcola Avenue in either North Hollywood or Toluca Lake, depending on which map you consult.

February 10, 2010June 16, 2011

Cole’s Restaurant from “A Lot Like Love”

This past weekend I dragged my fiancé out to re-stalk Cole’s Restaurant, a location that I originally blogged about way back in May of 2008. I first learned about the old time watering hole while watching the DVD commentary for fave movie A Lot Like Love, during which one of the film’s directors mentions that the New York bar scene featured at the beginning of the flick wasn’t actually filmed on the East Coast at all, but at a historic little bar in Downtown Los Angeles named Cole’s. After doing a bit of online research I discovered that COUNTLESS movies had actually been filmed on location at the historic bar, so I, of course, immediately dragged my fiancé right out to stalk the place. Sadly, though, upon arriving we were greeted by a sign announcing that the restaurant was closed for a massive renovation project. 🙁 And I have longed to stalk the place ever since. So, since we were in the area this past weekend, I begged my fiancé to make a little pit stop there and, since he was hungry at the time, he happily obliged. YAY!

Cole’s actually has a few other claims to fame besides being an oft-used filming location, including the fact that it is not only where the French Dip sandwich was first originated, but it is also the oldest continuously operating bar and restaurant in all of Los Angeles.

Cole’s, which was originally known as Cole’s P.E. Buffet, was first opened on December 8, 1908 by an entrepreneur named Harry Cole in what was once the main terminal of the Pacific Electric Building. That very same year, Cole’s main chef, a resourceful young man named Jack Garlinghouse, dipped the bread of a roast beef sandwich in Au Jus sauce in order to soften it for a customer who suffered from sore gums, and, thus, the French Dip sandwich was born. Those sandwiches, and the restaurant itself, became extremely popular with the hundreds of thousands of commuters who traveled through the Pacific Electric Building terminal each day. Twenty-five years later, in 1933, Cole’s was still such a popular spot that on the day California nixed its ban on beer, the bar served up over 19,000 gallons of the stuff to its parched customers. Yes, you read that right – 19,000 GALLONS in ONE day! That same year, Harry Cole’s son, Rawland, who was a bit of an entrepreneur himself, decided to start cashing checks out of the restaurant’s back room and wound up giving out over $1,000,000 each month (and we’re talking 1930’s money!), which was a larger amount than any U.S. bank was giving out during that same time! Cole’s has also had a longtime celebrity following, attracting such notables as Mickey Cohen who was a regular there during the 70’s and even had his own booth.

In 2007, Cole’s was purchased by a Los Angeles area development company named 213 who subsequently began a year-long, $1.6 million restoration process on the historic restaurant, during which its 40-foot long mahogany bar, porcelain penny tile mosaic flooring, and antique Tiffany glass lamps were all brought back to their original glory. The 213 company, which is headed by C.E.O. Cedd Moses, even added a “secret” bar in what was formerly Cole’s storage room. That secret bar is named “The Varnish” and it is so hidden, in fact, that I had absolutely no idea it was there until I read about it online after I got home. 🙁 For their restoration efforts of the legendary restaurant, 213 was awarded the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Preservation Award.

Cole’s specialty is, of course, its signature hand-carved, made-to-order French Dip sandwich which was originated on the premises one hundred and two years ago. There’s actually another L.A. area restaurant named Phillipe’s also laying claim to that exact same feat and the dispute between the two establishments is almost as old as the sandwich itself. But being that in 1974 the City of Los Angeles designated Cole’s a Historical Landmark Site and a State Point of Historical Interest not only due to its significant location, but also to its culinary invention, I think it’s safe to say that Cole’s has won that battle. 🙂 Cole’s French Dips can be constructed out of a variety of meats, including lamb, pastrami, turkey, and the typical roast beef. They can also be adorned with extra meat, Swiss, cheddar, goat, or blue cheeses, and an “atomic pickle spear”. I opted for a turkey French dip, sans the cheese and pickle, and I have to say it was absolutely A-MA-ZING! The meat truly was hand-carved, right-off-the-turkey-type turkey and I loved every last bite of it. What I loved more, though, was the historic aura of the place. It was incredible to be sitting there, dining on my French dip, thinking about the fact that the very sandwich I was now eating had actually been created on the premises over a century ago. Yes, I’ll take my meal with a side of history, please. 😉 I think it goes without saying that I ABSOLUTELY LOVED Cole’s and I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place enough!

In A Lot Like Love, Cole’s stood in for the New York bar where Oliver (aka Ashton Kutcher) and Emily (aka Amanda Peet) make a $50 bet that he won’t be a successful married businessman in six years time.

And I, of course, just had to eat lunch while sitting in the same spot where Ashton and Amanda sat in the flick. 🙂

The side booth area that is visible to the left of Ashton in the above screen capture is no longer a part of Cole’s. It was closed off during the restaurant’s recent remodel and is now a separately owned “secret” bar known as the Association. Yes, there are two secret bars located on the Cole’s premises!

The Association’s unmarked front door is pictured above.

In Jumpin’ Jack Flash – one of my all-time favorite movies EVER – Cole’s once again stood in for a New York bar, this time as the place where Terri Dolittle (aka Whoopi Goldberg) gets kidnapped by a man in a tow truck while making a telephone call from a public phone booth.

It is during this scene that Whoopi utters the infamous line “I am little black woman in a big silver box!” LOL

Towards the end of the movie, Whoopi once again runs by the restaurant on her way back to her office after escaping from the police. Cole’s is also talked about throughout the flick as the place where Whoopi and her pals hang out after work. Ironically enough, back before my very first trip to the Big Apple, I spent HOURS using Google Street View to search New York for this location. It wasn’t until years later, when I stalked Cole’s the first time after watching A Lot Like Love, that realized my mistake. I can’t believe I wasted so much time scouring New York for this location, when the whole time it was literally right in my own backyard! 😉

In Rumor Has It, Cole’s stands in for the San Francisco bar named the Fillmore Pub, where Kevin Costner and my girl Jen Aniston share a dance. Ironically enough, before I knew about Cole’s, I actually spent quite a bit of time searching the San Francisco area for this spot! Which means – you guessed it! – that I not only wasted countless hours searching for this location – not realizing it was the same place featured in Jumpin’ Jack Flash – in New York, but in San Francisco, too. LOL Man, I’m such a blonde sometimes!

The scene where Kevin and Jen kiss outside of the ladies’ room after their dance was really filmed in the bathroom area of Cole’s, as well.

The exterior of the restaurant was also used in the filming of the scene, although they changed the signage to read “Fillmore Pub”. As you can see in the above photograph (which was taken during my first Cole’s stalk) and screen capture, though, the signage used in the movie is an exact match to Cole’s real life signage. Love it!

In Forrest Gump, Cole’s yet again stood in for a New York watering hole. It was used as the spot where Forrest and Lieutenant Dan spend New Year’s Eve of 1971. Sadly, though, not much of the bar is visible in that scene.

On a side note – Located directly across the street from Cole’s is a little place named J &J Sandwich Shop, which is the restaurant which stood in for the Night Owl Cafe in fave movie L.A. Confidential.

And located directly above Cole’s is the ninth floor window from which Bud White (aka Russell Crowe) hung D.A. Ellis Loew (aka Ron Rifkin) in the same movie.

Cole’s has also appeared in an episode of The X-Files, in numerous episodes of both Mad Men and NYPD Blue, and it flashed by very briefly in the 1991 movie Guilty By Suspicion. And, according to legend, the Terminal Bar from 1988’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was in actuality just a set, was based on Cole’s.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Cole’s is located at 118 East Sixth Street in Downtown Los Angeles. You can visit their website here.