Christina Aguilera locations

July 11, 2011July 11, 2011

Christina Aguilera’s “Extra” Taping at The Grove

Way back on Friday, June 3rd, Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, called me up to inform me that Christina Aguilera would be appearing live that afternoon at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles to tape a segment for the television series Extra. And even though I have never really been a big fan of the pop singer, because I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED me the movie Burlesque, I was simply dying to attend. I am so obsessed with Burlesque, in fact, that a couple of months ago I cut my hair to resemble the wig that Christina wore during the “But I Am a Good Girl” number, which you can watch by clicking above. “The dress is Chanel, the shoes YSL, the bag is Dior, Agent Provocateur.“ Sigh! I LOVE that song! And that hair!

Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, had long before informed me that the Extra stage at The Grove was one of the worst venues in L.A. for celebrity photographs, so I knew that my chances of getting one with Christina were slim to none. As I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, though, I am an eternal optimist, so when the Grim Cheaper and I headed out towards the shopping center that Friday afternoon, I was armed with some pretty high hopes.

As you can see in the above photograph, the area surrounding the Extra stage was absolutely JAM PACKED with people when the GC and I arrived on the scene. Because a large portion of The Grove’s courtyard had been partitioned off for the taping, though, I did manage to secure a spot right along the fan barricade and still had pretty high hopes that I might be able to get a picture with the singer.

Christina’s team from The Voice (singers Beverly McClellan, Frenchie Davis, Lily Elise, and Raquel Castro) arrived a couple of minutes before the segment was set to begin and promptly hit the red carpet to film some media interviews.

Mario Lopez arrived next and while I had presumed that he would most certainly pose for photographs, that was sadly not the case. He walked right by the crowd, both on his way in and on his way out, without so much as signing an autograph. Such a bummer!

Just a few seconds later, a huge limo drove right into The Grove’s central courtyard and stopped in front of the fan barricades. Needless to say, the crowd went absolutely wild at this point.

Because Christina is so darn tiny, the limo blocked her almost completely from view as she stepped from the car. But the GC did manage to get a few pics of her by holding his camera above his head.

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As soon as Christina walked onto the stage, all of the fans in attendance moved over to that part of the courtyard to get a better view of the taping. And while the GC and I tried to find a spot in that area, it was just far too crowded for my taste. As you can see, it was so chaotic that the GC could hardly get any photographs of the stage even though he has a high-tech, long-lensed camera.

So I dragged him right on back over towards the rear of the stage where we once again were lucky enough to snag a spot against the barricade.

While Christina spoke with Mario onstage, her Voice team walked over to where the limo was parked and started signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. We were standing just a bit too far away from them, though, so I was not able to get them to pose with me.

Mario invited The Voice contestants to take to the stage a few minutes later to sing a cappella for the crowd and, oh my lord, were they INCREDIBLE!!!!!!

After the four contestants sang, the segment ended and Christina came walking down the red carpet towards her limo.

And while she sadly did not stop to sign any autographs or take any pictures, she did reach out to touch some of the fans on my side of the barricade (that’s my hand in the above photograph) . . .

. . . and the GC somehow managed to magically snap some pics of Christina grabbing my hand! NICE camera work, GC!!!!

Thankfully, The Voice contestants stuck around to meet some of the fans after Christina’s limo departed. Because I had watched Frenchie Davis on Season 2 of American Idol back in 2003, I really wanted a photograph with her. And I am very happy to report that Frenchie could NOT have been nicer and, even though her publicist was rushing her along and kept telling her that she did not have time to take pics with fans, Frenchie said, “I’m staying until everyone who wants a picture gets one. I’m nothing without my fans!” Love it!

After Christina left, the GC and I headed over to the Whisper Lounge, Michael Buble’s favorite restaurant which I blogged about back in November of last year, to grab a bite to eat. And let me tell you, I just about died when I spotted both Tajari P. Henson and Teri Seymour dining (separately) at tables near the bar. When I saw Teri get up to leave the Lounge, I followed her outside and asked her for a picture and she happily obliged. But the GC was in charge of watching for Tajari to leave and, of course, was not paying attention when she actually did, so I did not get to ask her for a photo. 🙁 Men!!!! Being that he had managed to snap that awesome picture of Christina and me touching hands, though, I could not get too mad at him about it. 😉

Big THANK YOU to Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, for telling me about this event.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Grove shopping center is located at 189 The Grove Drive in Los Angeles. Extra films on the premises on a daily basis. You can check out their filming schedule and list of their upcoming celebrity guests here. The Whisper Lounge is located inside of The Grove, in Suite F-90B. You can visit the Whisper Lounge’s official website here.

July 1, 2011June 30, 2011

Teddy Montgomery’s House from “90210”

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, there has not been a lot of time for me to do much stalking as of late and, because of that, I have been feeling a bit out of sorts. I am also in the process of giving up coffee (I know, I know, that’s crazy talk!), which further explains why I have been feeling so unlike myself lately. Not to mention that I am still pretty bummed out over my parents’ recent move. So yesterday morning I decided to return some normalcy to my life by doing a bit of stalking. Because I did not have much time, I decided to stick close to home and figured what better location to stalk than the house where Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) lives on fave show 90210. I found this location, as always, thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, who actually tracked the place down a little over a year ago. For whatever reason, though, I had yet to make it out there until yesterday morning. And please excuse the above photograph – I was alone when I took it and had to prop the camera up on the roof of my car and use the self-timer. LOL

Teddy Montgomery’s supposed-Beverly-Hills-area abode has actually appeared only once on 90210, in the Season 2 episode titled “Meet the Parent”, in the scene in which Teddy introduces Silver (aka Jessica Stroup) to his movie star father, Spence Montgomery (aka Ryan O’Neal), for the first time.

Areas of the house which appeared in the episode include the exterior;

the living room;

the study;

. . . and the backyard.

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In real life, the mansion, which was originally built in 1911 and sits on a .63-acre plot of land, boasts 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a whopping 7,850 square feet of living space.

Sadly though, not much of the property, which according to the sign out front is named Villa Arroyo Vista, is visible from the street.

And the aerial views aren’t that great either. Thankfully though, I did some digging and found some fabulous interior photographs of the mansion, which you can take a look at here.

Villa Arroyo Vista has actually appeared several times onscreen. According to the Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations website, the mansion was also the site of the Christmas scene in the 1994 movie Star Trek: Generations.

And it was where Christina Aguilera shot the commercial for her Royal Desire perfume in late 2010.

Christina Aguilera commercial–Villa Arroyo Vista

You can watch the making of that commercial by clicking above.

According to my friend E.J. over at the Movieland Directory, the home was also used in the filming of the 2007 television series 12 Miles of Bad Road.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Teddy Montgomery’s house from 90210 is located at 465 South Grand Avenue in Pasadena.

April 28, 2011April 27, 2011

Ali’s Trailer Park from “Burlesque”

While the Grim Cheaper and I were stalking in Downtown Piru this past Saturday, the super-nice owner of Poncho’s Place, the restaurant from True Blood that I blogged about on Tuesday, clued me into the fact that the supposed rural, Iowa-area trailer park where Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) lived in the beginning of Burlesque was located just two blocks north of where we were then standing. And I really should mention here that while the owners of the Downtown Piru businesses that I spoke with were incredibly nice and informative, the citizens of the town were NOT. In fact, some of them were downright menacing. Not only were we given numerous dirty looks by passersby while walking around, but we were also FOLLOWED by (count ‘em!) FOUR different cars while there (NOT kidding), the drivers of which all wanting to know exactly what it was we were doing in their town. I felt extremely uncomfortable the entire time and, while I am admittedly a scaredy cat, the GC also got a bit nervous so my fears were definitely not unfounded. So, while I would highly recommend stalking Downtown Piru and the few restaurants and shops located there, I would advise anyone wanting to drive around the town to exercise caution. Anyway, once I found out about the trailer park, the GC and I immediately headed right on over there.

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In real life, the Burlesque trailer park is extremely small and is only made up of nine or so homes. And I am very happy to report that it looks EXACTLY the same in person as it did onscreen.

The park makes a very brief appearance in Burlesque in the opening “Something’s Got A Hold On Me” montage in which Ali is shown packing up her belongings before heading out to the local bus depot to buy a ticket to Los Angeles. In the scene the camera is facing west, the opposite direction from which we took our pictures.

According to the DVD commentary with Burlesque writer/director Steve Antin, the interior of Ali’s trailer was actually just a set that was built on a soundstage at Sony Studios in Culver City. I cannot believe that they actually built an entire set for a segment that literally lasted about ten seconds onscreen! Ah, Hollywood!

On a side note – I had the amazing good fortune of meeting the love of my life, Matt Lanter, yesterday and I am very happy to report that he could NOT have been nicer! I will write more about it in a later post, but suffice it to say that he and David Caruso are easily the nicest celebs that I have EVER encountered! As I told fellow stalker Owen, I am officially in love. Winking smile Which explains why today’s post is so short – I was literally so excited I could NOT sit still long enough to write much! I promise to write more tomorrow, though.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Burlesque trailer park is located on Warring Canyon Road, a half a block north of where Warring Canyon Road meets Center Street, in Piru. The park is denoted with a pink arrow in the above aerial view. Please remember that the trailer park is a private community and do not trespass on the premises.

April 27, 2011April 26, 2011

The Piru Creek Bridge from “Burlesque”

Another location that the Grim Cheaper and I visited this past weekend while doing some stalking in the Heritage Valley was the Union Pacific Railroad Piru Creek Bridge which stood in for the supposed Iowa-area bridge that Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) walked across during the opening scene of Burlesque. I once again found this locale thanks to Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, who added the bridge to his Burlesque filming locations page just a couple of weeks ago. In an odd twist, though, when we showed up to stalk the structure we discovered that there were, in fact, two very similar-looking bridges located directly next to each other and I was unsure of which one exactly had appeared in the flick. The GC ended up taking photographs of both of them, though, and I am so incredibly grateful that he did because, as it turns out, they have each appeared on the silver screen in various productions!

The two Piru Creek bridges that we stalked are pictured above via an aerial view. Because I, unfortunately, could not find much information about either of the structures online, for the purposes of clarity I will refer to the bridge denoted with the pink arrow above as the Burlesque Bridge and the bridge denoted with the blue arrow above as the Enough bridge (it had a very brief onscreen appearance in the 2002 flick Enough which starred Jennifer Lopez, but more on that later).

The Burlesque bridge was first built in 1902 and measures 320 feet in length. The steel, through-truss structure is a Ventura County historical landmark and formerly serviced the Union Pacific Railroad.

In the opening scene of Burlesque, Ali is shown very briefly walking across the bridge while on her way to the local bus depot to purchase a train ticket to Los Angeles. You can see some photographs of Christina Aguilera filming the scene on the Zimbio website here.

Sadly, the Burlesque bridge is largely inaccessible to the public, which was highly disappointing as I was hoping to walk across it just like Ali had done in the movie.

And while it has been reported that the Burlesque bridge was the site of the train crash in the 1994 rom-com I Love Trouble, as you can see in the above screen capture, that information is incorrect. The train crash scene was actually filmed on the Sespe Creek Bridge, which you can see a photograph of here, in the neighboring town of Fillmore.

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Just south of the Burlesque bridge, on the opposite side of Center Street, is the bridge which appeared in Enough. As you can see in the above photographs, despite a difference in color and despite being wide enough for cars to drive on, it is strikingly similar in appearance to the Burlesque bridge.

And while I could find no historical information whatsoever about the structure online, I am happy to report that it is much more accessible than the Burlesque bridge. While one cannot actually walk across it, it is easily viewable from Center Street.

In the 2002 thriller Enough, the high-speed car chase between Slim Hiller (aka Jennifer Lopez) and Robbie (aka Noah Wylie) ends at the bridge when Robbie crashes his SUV into a steel beam that has fallen across the span.

At the end of the scene, Slim is shown driving off of the bridge and west onto Center Street.

Thanks to fave stalking book Hollywood Escapes: The Moviegoer’s Guide to Exploring Southern California’s Great Outdoors, I learned that the Enough bridge was also featured as the plane crash site in 1992’s Hero. Considering how deathly afraid I am of flying, I CANNOT believe that I actually had to scan through the plane crash scene to make the above screen captures. Shudder!

The Enough bridge was also featured during the opening scene of the 1974 movie The California Kid.

Thanks to the Confederate General Lee Fan Club website, I learned that the Enough bridge was also featured in two episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard. It first appeared in the Season 1 episode of the show titled “Luke’s Love Story” during the Hazzard County Obstacle Derby scene.

It later appeared at the very end of the Season 1 episode titled “Route 7-11” as the spot located just over the Hazzard county line where Luke Duke (aka Tom Wopat) and Cooter (aka Ben Jones) dropped off their friend Dewey Stovall (aka Paul Brinegar).

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, for finding this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Piru Creek Bridges, which are depicted in the above aerial view, are both located on Center Street in Piru, above Piru Creek, about 1,000 feet east of the Downtown area. The Burlesque bridge is located on the northern side of Center Street, while the Enough bridge is located on the southern side. And while the Enough bridge is easily visible from Center Street, you can catch the best glimpses of the Burlesque bridge from Piru Canyon Road about 1000 feet east of Orchard Street.

April 26, 2011April 25, 2011

Dwight’s Bar from “Burlesque”

One Burlesque filming location that I had been trying to track down for what seems like forever now was Dwight’s Bar, which was featured in the movie’s opening scene as the supposed small-town, Iowa-area watering hole where Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) worked. Even though the bar only appeared in one very brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it establishing shot, I was absolutely obsessed with stalking the place. For whatever reason, though, I just could not seem to find it. Then, like magic, just a couple of weeks ago fellow stalker Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, added the location to his Burlesque filming locations page and I just about died of excitement. The place was, of course, immediately added to the top of my To-Stalk list and I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there this past weekend.

As it turns out, Dwight’s Bar is actually a vacant storefront located in Piru, California, a small town (according to Wikipedia its population was only 1,196 as of a 2000 census!) situated about 50 miles north of Los Angeles in the Santa Clara River Valley. Piru (pronounced Pie-Roo) was originally founded in 1887 by a wealthy religious book publisher named David C. Cook. Thanks to its Anytown, U.S.A.-look and proximity to L.A., Piru is an oft-used filming locale and has appeared in hundreds upon hundreds of productions over the years, including Melrose Place, Charmed, Murder, She Wrote, Desert Fury, A Star is Born, Enough, The Dukes of Hazzard, The California Kid, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Torque, Van Helsing, Happy, Texas, Reno 911!, and Race to Witch Mountain. Piru’s historic downtown area, which consists of a tiny, one-and-a-half-block stretch of small brick buildings and which is the area of town most often seen onscreen, was reconstructed after being largely destroyed during the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. Since that time, many of the downtown storefronts have remained vacant, which only adds to the appeal of the place for location scouts as the area can be dressed to fit any sort of production.

Which was exactly what happened with Burlesque. For the opening scene of the movie, Downtown Piru was dressed to look like a small farming town in rural Iowa where Ali lives. And even though its appearance onscreen was brief, I cannot tell you how cool it was to see this location in person!

Amazingly enough, according to the DVD commentary with Burlesque director/writer Steve Antin, the interior of Dwight’s Bar, where Ali sang “Something’s Got A Hold On Me”, was actually a set created inside of a soundstage at Sony Studios in Culver City and was not built inside of the vacant Piru storefront as I had originally believed.

Because I had spent so many hours searching for Dwight’s Bar, I immediately recognized the place when it popped up recently in the Season 7 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Farewell Letter”, in the scene in which Gaby (aka Eva Longoria) and Carlos Solis (aka Ricardo Chavira) return to Gaby’s hometown of Las Colinas, Texas. In the episode, the two pull up in a taxi directly in front of the storefront that was used in Burlesque.

Later on in that same episode, Gaby and Carlos venture out to a restaurant where Gaby is fawned over as the local girl who made good.

In real life, that restaurant is known as the Railway Café and it has appeared in quite a few movies over the years, including 1984’s Rhinestone.

The actual interior of the Railway Café also appeared in the episode.

Sadly though, the place was closed when we showed up to stalk it, so I was only able to snap a few pictures of the interior through the front windows.

The Railway Café can also be seen in the background of Alicia Keys’ “Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)” music video, which starred cutie actor Chad Michael Murray.

Un-thinkable (I’m Ready) video–Piru

You can watch that video by clicking above.

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And, thanks to the Seeing Stars website, I learned that just across the street from Dwight’s Bar is Poncho’s Place, the eatery which stood in for the supposed Bon Temps, Louisiana-area Crawdad’s Family Style Restaurant where Sam Merlotte (aka Sam Trammell) took Sookie Stackhouse (aka Anna Paquin) for a slice of pie in the Season 1 episode of True Blood titled “Sparks Fly Out”.

And even though I have never seen even one episode of True Blood, since we were right there I just had to stalk it.

The real life interior of Poncho’s Place also appeared in the episode.

Although, as you can see in the above photographs, it was decorated rather differently for the filming.

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Dwight’s Bar from Burlesque is located at 3951 East Center Street in Piru. Poncho’s Place, aka Crawdad’s Restaurant from the “Sparks Fly Out” episode of True Blood, is located just across the street at 3944 Center Street in Piru. And the Railway Café from the “Farewell Letter” episode of Desperate Housewives is located half a block down the road at 3989 Center Street in Piru.