Christopher Walken – IAMNOTASTALKER

April 8, 2011April 7, 2011

The Other “Catch Me If You Can” House

A few years ago during an acting class, my very favorite acting teacher, Annie, happened to mention that the Catch Me If You Can house was located just around the corner from where she then lived in Studio City. She said she had been walking her dogs one afternoon back in 2002 and had stumbled upon a scene from the movie being filmed at a large, Colonial-style house that producers had dressed in Christmas decor and covered with fake snow. Well, her story had me thoroughly confused as I knew that the large, Colonial-style house where Frank Abagnale Jr.’s (aka Leonardo DiCaprio’s) mother, Paula (aka Nathalie Baye), lived in the flick, which was dressed in Christmas décor and covered with fake snow for a scene, was located on East California Boulevard in Pasadena. Annie insisted, though, that the house was located in Studio City and that she had watched much of the filming take place. I didn’t think much of it at the time and figured it was just a case of producers scrapping one location for another mid-shoot, as has been known to happen sometimes during the course of a production. It wasn’t until I was scanning through Catch Me If You Can back in March to make screen captures for my post on the Barclay Hotel that I realized that, as incredible as it may sound, there were actually TWO large, Colonial-style homes that had been dressed in Christmas decor and covered with fake snow in the flick! As it turns out, the house Annie had told me about appeared briefly in the very beginning of the movie as the supposed New Rochelle, New York-area residence where Frank Jr. lived with his parents before they lost all of their money.

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Once I realized that the house that Annie had told our class about had, in fact, appeared in the movie, I immediately got to work in tracking it down. I knew where Annie’s former residence was located, so it was just a matter of searching around her neighborhood for the property. Thanks to the home’s distinct corner location, it was not very hard to find. And I dragged the GC right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend. The Catch Me If You Can house is quite charming in person and is situated on an absolutely HUGE corner lot which measures .38 of an acre. And while the landscaping in front of it has changed quite a bit since filming took place, it is still very recognizable from the movie.

The residence appeared in two scenes in the movie. It first popped up in the scene in which Frank Abagnale Sr. (aka Christopher Walken) and his wife Paula dance in their living room after attending an awards ceremony at the local Rotary Club.

And it later appears in the scene in which the family is shown moving out of the house after having fallen upon hard times.

And, as you can see in these photographs of the home, the real life interior, including the living room area . . .

. . .and one of the bedrooms, was used in the filming.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Frank’s parents’ house from the beginning of Catch Me If You Can is located at 12075 Valleyheart Drive in Studio City.

August 31, 2009August 30, 2009

El Galleon Restaurant

Another Catalina Island stalking location I found thanks to Robert Wagner’s fabulous autobiography, Pieces of My Heart, was the restaurant El Galleon where Natalie Wood ate one of her last meals. According to the book, on November 27, 1981, shortly after docking their boat, Splendour, at Avalon Harbor on Catalina Island, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, aka “RJ”, and their guest Christopher Walken went ashore to do some shopping. Later that evening, the threesome headed to El Galleon Restaurant, which has been a Catalina Island tradition since 1967, for some margaritas and beers. After returning to the Splendour later that night, RJ and Natalie got into a fight and, as I blogged about last week, she asked the captain to take her ashore so she could spend the night alone at the island’s Pavilion Lodge. The next day, after Natalie returned, Robert had the Splendour moved to Two Harbors, on the other side of the island, to avoid some brewing stormy weather. At around 3 pm, while RJ napped aboard the yacht, Wood and Walken headed ashore alone to grab a bite to eat and kick back some cocktails at Doug’s Harbor Reef Saloon. When RJ awoke a couple of hours later, he was highly annoyed at the situation and headed ashore himself. At around 5 pm, the threesome ate dinner together in the dining room of Doug’s Harbor Reef Restaurant. The meal would be Natalie’s last. Five hours later, the fairly tipsy threesome headed back to the Splendour where a heated fight broke out between RJ and Walken. Voices were raised and at one point Wagner threw a wine bottle against a table where it shattered. Natalie retired to her stateroom sometime during the arguement and was, sadly, never seen alive again. At around 7:45 the following morning, her body was found drowned in a nearby harbor.

So, while visiting Catalina Island this past week, stalking Doug’s Harbor Reef Restaurant where Natalie ate her last meal was at the very top of my stalking agenda. Unfortunately, though, being that the restaurant is located on the complete opposite side of the island from where we were staying, no one in my family wanted to travel over there. 🙁 So, I had to settle for instead stalking El Galleon, where Wood, Walken, and Wagner ate dinner the night before Natalie’s death. Ironically enough, while renting a golf cart one day, I happened to ask the owner of the Island Rentals golf cart company if he knew anything about the death of Natalie Wood. It turns out that he was born and raised on the island and knew the owners of El Galleon quite well. He told me that Natalie and RJ were regulars at the New Orleans themed restaurant and that the night before her death she purchased a painting from one of the local art shops which she brought with her to dinner. Because it was raining, Natalie asked the owner of the restaurant to wrap up the painting for her so that it wouldn’t get damaged on the way to the boat. The owner happily obliged and that was the last time she ever saw Natalie. 🙁 According to the Island Rentals guy, numerous celebs have popped into El Galleon over the years, including Ed McMahon (who even sung karaoke there!), and John Wayne.

And, while we didn’t have a chance to dine at El Galleon during this trip, the last time my fiance and I visited Catalina Island back in 2005 we grabbed a cocktail at the restaurant and had a blast while there! El Galleon features nightly karaoke – which just happens to be my very favorite past-time 🙂 – so, of course, I just had to get a few songs in while there. Needless to say my fiance was not pleased. LOL Besides karaoke, the restaurant also boasts an outdoor patio with ocean views, a semi-private banquet room, and a HUGE menu featuring live Maine and local lobster, applewood smoked BBQ ribs, USDA corn fed steaks, rack of lamb, fresh abalone, and – my personal fave – chicken strips! I highly recommend stalking El Galleon – as much for the yummy food as the fun, laidback, island-style atmosphere! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: El Galleon restaurant is located at 411 Crescent Avenue in Avalon on Catalina Island. You can visit their website here. Harbor Reef Restaurant, where Natalie Wood ate her last meal, is located in Catalina’s Isthmus Cove . You can visit their website here.

August 27, 2009August 27, 2009

Catalina’s Pavilion Lodge

This morning my family and I traveled to Catalina Island for a little summer vacay. We’ve been planning this trip for quite some time now and, let me tell you, I could not have been more excited to finally arrive! Ever since my grandmother gave me Robert Wagner’s autobiography, Pieces of My Heart: A Life, for Christmas last year, I have been dying to do some Catalina stalking! : ) For those of you not in the know, actor Robert Wagner and his movie star wife Natalie Wood were vacationing on Catalina Island the night of her mysterious drowning. So, the first item on my stalking agenda? Pavilion Lodge, the hotel where Natalie Wood spent her last night alive.

There has always been a shroud of mystery surrounding Natalie Wood’s death, but according to Robert’s book, the story is as follows. Natalie and Robert were frequent visitors to Catalina Island. The two owned a yacht, named “Splendour” in honor of Natalie’s 1961 movie Splendor in the Grass, and would often sail from Los Angeles to Avalon to spend a few nights on their boat. On the weekend of November 27th, 1981, Natalie invited Christopher Walken, with whom she was filming the movie Brainstorm, to spend the weekend with her and Robert off the coast of Catalina on their yacht. Robert was a little uncomfortable with Natalie and Walken’s blooming friendship and was fearful that an affair between the two co-stars might be brewing. Things got a bit heated between the three during their first night together, and, rather than spend the night on the boat with her husband, Natalie had the ship’s captain take her ashore where she booked a room at the Pavilion Lodge.

The following day, Natalie returned to the ship and made up with her husband. And here’s where the mystery comes into play. On the night of November 28, 1981, after a full day and night of drinking (and arguing) with Wagner and Walken, Natalie disappeared from the Splendour. No one knows when or why the actress left the yacht, but early the following morning she was found dead, floating in a cove, drowned at the tender age of 43. Numerous theories abound as to what happened to Natalie that night. Some think she was pushed overboard by her jealous husband, others guess she accidentally fell off the ship while trying to travel ashore to spend yet another night alone in a Catalina motel room. The world will perhaps never know the full story, as Robert says that not even he is sure of what happened that night. And, until Pieces of My Heart was published late last year, neither Walken nor Wagner had ever spoken publicly about Natalie’s death, nor has Wagner ever returned to the island where his wife met her untimely end. Such a sad story!

So, one of my first stops after arriving on Catalina Island this morning was, of course, the Pavilion Lodge, where Natalie spent her final night, the night of November 27, 1981. I was actually shocked to find that the place was still in existence! And it’s a LOT bigger than I had anticipated. While most hotels on the island are fairly small, the Pavilion Lodge property seems to just keep going and going and going. It’s HUGE! It is, however, by no means fancy and I was very surprised that Natalie, one of the biggest movie stars of her day, would have chosen to stay there. But because it is located directly across the street – and within walking distance – from Catalina’s pier, I am guessing it was the first place she happened upon after arriving on the island that night.

And while I would have much preferred to stay at the Pavilion Lodge as it would have made for a much more interesting blog post, sadly, my family opted to book a room elsewhere. LOL But from what I saw today, the Lodge looks like a very nice place to spend a few nights. It is located directly across the street from the beach on a large piece of property, with a nice cental lawn area, and a perfect view of the ocean.

And I absolutely fell in love with their retro-fabulous sign. 🙂

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For those who haven’t yet read Pieces of My Heart, I HIGHLY recommend it! Robert really dishes up some good Hollywood dirt in it! So LOVED it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pavilion Lodge is located at 513 Crescent Avenue in Avalon on Catalina Island.

July 13, 2009July 13, 2009

The Blast from the Past Strip Mall

Since I was in the area this past week stalking a wedding venue, I decided to pay a little visit to the strip mall featured in fave romantic comedy Blast from the Past. In the flick, which opens up in the year 1962, a nuclear-war-fearing Christopher Walken builds a massive fallout shelter for his wife and unborn son directly underneath his suburban home. When a small plane fortuitously crashes onto his property, Walken fears a bomb has been dropped on America and immediately locks his family in the homemade shelter where they remain for the next 35 years. While the family is living underground, a strip mall comprised of a dive bar, an adult bookstore, and a 50s diner, is built on the spot where their home used to stand. That strip mall is what I set out to stalk last week.

And I am happy to report that it looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did in Blast from the Past. According to fave website Seeing Stars, which is how I originally found this location, all three storefronts used in the movie were vacant at the time of filming. And, after recently re-watching BFTP, I am fairly certain that filming not only took place outside of the empty shops, but inside of them, as well. Pictured above is the storefront used as the dilapidated 50s diner originally named “Mom’s” in the movie. It is this shop that is located directly above the fallout shelter and into which the shelter’s elevator rises through the floor, causing the loopy storeowner to believe an angel has come to save him. In reality, “Mom’s” diner is actually a tattoo parlor.

Directly next door to “Mom’s”, is the storefront that was used as the dive bar “Shangri Lodge” in the movie. Today it is a beauty parlor named “Unlimited Touch Salon” – I don’t even want to know what goes on in there!!! LOL LOL LOL

Next door to the salon is the storefront that was featured as the adult bookstore in the movie. Just before Brendan Fraser makes his first visit above ground, Christopher Walken warns him to stay away from the adult bookstore as there is “invisible, poisonous gas” inside of it. LOL LOL LOL In reality, that shop is now an antique clock store.

The tiki bar that Alicia Silverstone and Brendan Fraser kiss in front of at the end of the movie is in actuality a large bakery and pastry shop.

I find it kind of ironic that, in what is definitely a case of life imitating art, two of the empty storefronts eventually became seedy shops – a tattoo parlor and a salon with a highly suggestive name – much like was the case in the movie. And while I, of course, had fun stalking the strip mall, I can’t say I’d really recommend it to others. It’s kind of in a seedy area and unfortunately there isn’t all that much to see. For fans of the movie, like me, I’d instead recommend stalking Alicia Silverstone’s adorable little house from the film. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Blast from the Past strip mall is located at 7218-7222 Topanga Canyon Boulevard in Canoga Park. Mom’s diner, under which Brendan Fraser’s bomb shelter was located, can be found at 7222 Topanga Canyon Blvd. The Shangri Lodge Bar is really the Unlimited Touch Salon which is located at 7220 Topanga Canyon. And the “poison gas” adult bookstore is really Denny’s Clocks, which can be found at 7218 Topanga Canyon. Pastries by Edie, the bakery where Alicia Silverstone and Brendan Fraser kiss in the movie, is located next to the strip mall, at 7226 Topanga Canyon Blvd.