Tag: Entertainment

The “E.T.” House

Although I consider myself somewhat of a master stalker (not as good as fellow stalkers Owen, Mike, from MovieshotsLA, or Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, of course), for whatever reason, up until this past weekend I had yet to visit one of the most famous movie locations of them all – the home where Mary (aka Dee Wallace), Elliot (aka Henry Thomas), Michael (aka Robert MacNaughton), and Gertie (aka Drew Barrymore) lived in the 1982 classic film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. I am not sure how, or even why, I avoided the location for as long as I did, but my best guess is that it is due to the fact that it is located in Tujunga, which is kind of out in the middle of nowhere, far from the areas I usually drag my husband out to stalk. In fact, up until this past Saturday afternoon, I had never actually set foot in the Crescenta Valley suburb, which is situated just north of Glendale and just east of Sunland. But, this weekend, while on our way home from doing some stalking in the Valley, a light bulb went off in my head and I asked my fiancé to take a little detour on the 210 Freeway so that I could finally, finally stalk the E.T. house.

It is absolutely amazing to me how iconic the E.T. home still is – almost thirty years after the movie was filmed! As the Grim Cheaper and I drove up the hill where the residence is located and the property came into view, we both immediately recognized not only the actual house, but the cul-de-sac and neighboring residences which surround it. Being that I haven’t seen E.T. in almost three decades (I only watched it once, when it first came out, and I became so hysterical when E.T. left Elliot that my parents had to drag me out of the auditorium kicking and screaming and I’ve never been able to re-watch it since), I find that to be absolutely amazing! The long, sloped driveway, the cul-de-sac, the mountains in the background – for better or for worse, those images of the house are indelibly engraved in my memories.

[ad]

Thankfully, the residence still looks extremely similar today to how it appeared back in 1982 when E.T. was filmed. The only real difference I noticed was the fact that the property is now dotted with large trees and shrubs, which wasn’t the case thirty years ago. At the time of the filming, the house was newly-built and therefore had very little foliage surrounding it. I cannot tell you how awesome it was for me to stalk a place I haven’t laid eyes on since 1982 and have it still look almost exactly the same now as it did then. Love it!

According to director McG’s DVD commentary, the house was also used in another Drew Barrymore flick – 2000’s Charlie’s Angels, as the residence where the character of Dylan Sanders falls after being shot by Eric Knox (aka Sam Rockwell). I find it incredibly cool that McG decided to shoot a scene at this location! Such a nice nod to the home’s iconic cinematic history.

The sliding glass door that Dylan knocks on in Charlie’s Angels can also be seen in several scenes in E.T.

For those who haven’t seen the above YouTube video, which chronicles most of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial’s filming locations, you really need to check it out! The video, which was put together by fellow stalker/filmmaker Herve Attia, artfully morphs clips of the movie with footage of how the locations look today. It is simply amazing to watch!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The E.T. house is located at 7121 Lonzo Street in Tujunga.

September 16, 2010
Pickwick’s Pub from “The Office”

This past weekend, I dragged my husband (that is SO weird to say!) out to stalk Pickwick’s Pub – the Woodland Hills watering hole that stands in for the Dunder Mifflin gang’s favorite local hangout, Poor Richard’s Pub, on fave show The Office. And while there is actually a real life Poor Richard’s Pub located in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where the series is based, thankfully, both the interiors and exteriors which appear on the show can be found right here in Los Angeles, just about ten miles away from Chandler Valley Studios where the series is taped. I am ashamed to admit that I spent more than a few hours online trying to track down this locale and came up completely empty-handed. Thankfully though, fellow stalker Lavonna was also in on the hunt and managed to find this Poor Richard’s page on the Dunderpedia website, which led us to the right place. And while Poor Richard’s Pub is referred to almost weekly on The Office, Pickwick’s has actually only been used for filming twice.

Pickwick’s Pub has been a San Fernando Valley staple for over three and a half decades, ever since it first opened way back in 1974. The watering hole suffered a brief set-back in 2004 when it burned to the ground after a disgruntled customer set fire to the place. The rebuilding project took a full year to complete, but in 2005 the bar reopened and has been going strong ever since. And, let me tell you, the place is not your ordinary, everyday pub. The menu is quite extensive and features everything from traditional British fare such as bangers & mash and Irish beef stew to Indian delicacies like chicken curry and pork korma to such American favorites as chicken pot pie and homemade mac and cheese. There is also an extensive breakfast menu, which is available all day. And, let me tell you, the food was excellent! Our waitress was also extremely nice and answered all of my silly little questions about the filming of The Office. Unfortunately, she didn’t work at Pickwick’s at the time either of the episodes was filmed, so she didn’t have much insider information to share with me. 🙁 Pickwick’s is a super cute and cozy little place and seems to be mostly inhabited by regulars. It definitely has a hometown feel to it and is exactly the kind of place I picture Pam and Jim grabbing a drink after work. 🙂 Pickwick’s also features a trivia night every Wednesday starting at 8 p.m. and an 80’s acoustic band which plays live every Saturday night – both of which sound like an absolute blast! 🙂

[ad]

As I mentioned above, Pickwick’s Pub has appeared twice on The Office – first in the Season 3 episode titled “Cocktails”, in which Pam Beesly (aka Jenna Fischer), Roy Anderson (aka David Denman), Kelly Kapoor (aka Mindy Kaling), and the rest of the Dunder Mifflin crew cut out of work early in order to grab drinks together at their favorite local hangout. It is at Pickwick’s that Pam admits to Roy that she and Jim once kissed.

The mirror which Roy subsequently breaks in a fit of anger is, of course, not there in real life.

Neither is the Toy Chest game machine where Toby Flenderson (aka Paul Lieberstein) spends the evening trying to win Pam a duck.

The bar showed up again in the Season 4 episode titled “Local Ad”, in which the Dunder Mifflin gang gathers together to watch the airing of their recently-filmed local television commercial.

A picture of Steve Carell during the filming of that episode is even on display on the official Pickwick Pub website. So darn cool!

The exterior that is shown on The Office is actually Pickwick’s back entrance, which looks EXACTLY the same in person as it does on the show, except for the Poor Richard’s signage, of course. Love it!

Fellow stalker and Office aficionado Owen, who I am EXTREMELY jealous of!, recently made a stalking pilgrimage to Scranton, Pennsylvania where he got to visit the real life Poor Richard’s Pub, which in reality is located inside of a bowling alley. As Owen wrote when he emailed me the above pictures, “Does that carpet not scream bowling alley?!?!” LOL

Sadly, the bar was closed when Owen showed up to stalk it, but as you can see in the above photograph, which I got off of the Poor Richard’s website, the place does bear a striking resemblance to Pickwick’s. Both bars have a very British/Tudor-style look to them and both also appear to display Christmas lights year-round.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for finding this location and to fellow stalker Owen for loaning me his photographs of the real Poor Richard’s Pub to display in this post! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Pickwick’s Pub from The Office is located at 21010 Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills. You can visit the bar’s official website here. The real Poor Richard’s Pub is located in Scranton, Pennsylvania at 125 Beech Street, inside of South Side Bowl. You can visit the official Poor Richard’s website here.

September 15, 2010
Griffith Observatory

A couple of months ago I dragged my parents and my then-fiancé/now husband out to Los Feliz to do some stalking of the Griffith Observatory in Griffith Park – a place which I had never before visited despite having lived in Los Angeles for over a decade. I had actually wanted to stalk the Observatory for close to 18 years – ever since November of 1992, to be exact – thanks to the fact that it was featured in a Season 3 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210. But more on that later.

The land that now encompasses Griffith Park was donated to the City of Los Angeles by Welsh industrialist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith (and no, that was not a typo – the guy’s first name was actually the same as his last!) on December 16, 1896. Griffith stipulated that the donated parcel of land, which measured 3,015 acres, was to be used as a public park. He said, “It must be made a place of rest and relaxation for the masses, a resort for the rank and file, for the plain people. I consider it my obligation to make Los Angeles a happy, cleaner, and finer city. I wish to pay my debt of duty in this way to the community in which I have prospered.” When Griffith passed away 26 years later, in 1919, he bequeathed the majority of his $1.5 million estate to the city for the purposes of building a theatre and an observatory inside of the park. Construction on the observatory, which was designed by architect John C. Austin and engineer Russell W. Porter, began on June 20th, 1933 and the building opened to the public just under two years later, on May 14, 1935.

The Griffith Observatory, which sits high atop Mount Hollywood, features a 300-seat state-of-the-art planetarium, a 2,700-square foot multimedia theatre, a Zeiss refracting telescope, an exhibit hall, and, as you can see above, views which are nothing short of incredible.

Hollywood location scouts took notice of the property right from the very beginning when it was chosen to appear in the 1935 movie The Phantom Empire shortly after its opening. Since that time, the Observatory has been featured in hundreds upon hundreds of productions – far too many for me to be able to properly catalog here, but I’ll do my best to give my fellow stalkers a broad overview.

[ad]

As I mentioned above, the Observatory was featured in a Season 3 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. That episode was titled “Rebel With A Cause” and it was, ironically enough, one of my least favorite episodes in the entire history of the series. The episode centers around the break-up of longtime couple Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) and Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty), immediately after which Dylan puts the moves on Brenda’s best friend Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth). Mind you, Dylan and Kelly had also been seeing each other behind Brenda’s back for an entire summer at that point in the series. Dylan then decides to take Kelly out on a date – just two nights after his break-up with Brenda! – and when Brenda randomly catches the two of them together in a restaurant, she calls Kelly a “bimbo” and Kelly actually has the nerve to be mad at Brenda. I mean, HELLO, Kelly! Not only did you spend an entire summer making out with your BEST FRIEND’S boyfriend, but when said best friend and said boyfriend break-up, it’s not 48 hours later that you are out on a date with him. With friends like that, who needs enemies?? Let me tell you, had that happened to me, I would have been calling Kelly a whole lot worse things than “bimbo”. And yes, I realize Beverly Hills, 90210 is just a television show and that the “Rebel With A Cause” episode aired almost two decades ago, but the whole thing still seriously upsets me! But I digress. Anyway, in the episode, before taking her out to dinner, Dylan brings Kelly to the Griffith Observatory, where they watch a show in the planetarium.

After the show, the two little home-wreckers head outside for a heart-to-heart chat and, even though I was strongly opposed to the whole Kelly/Dylan romance, for whatever reason, it was the location of that chat that I was most interested in stalking.

I had a very difficult time locating the wall where Dylan and Kelly sat, though, as it is not in an easily-visible part of the building. It actually wasn’t until we were heading back to our car that I finally spotted the right place.

As it turns out, Kelly and Dylan’s wall is located in the eastern-most section of the Observatory. It is actually the wall to a ramp which leads to the back of the building and is located on the left-hand side of the Observatory (as you are facing it) and is denoted with a pink arrow in the above aerial view.

The Observatory’s most famous onscreen appearance was, of course, in the 1955 James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause, which, amazingly enough, I have never actually seen! In the beginning of the flick, Jim (aka James Dean) and Judy (aka Natalie Wood), along with the rest of their high school class, go on a field trip to the Observatory where they watch a show in the planetarium.

And the very same wall from 90210 also appears in that scene.

Rebel’s final scene also takes place at the Observatory, but I do not want to post any screen caps of that scene as they would spoil the ending.

There is a statue of James Dean on display on the Observatory’s front lawn which commemorates the historic filming that took place there in 1955. So darn cool!

Griffith Observatory was also the site of the climatic scene in 1999’s hilarious comedy Bowfinger, in which renegade, wanna-be movie director Bowfinger (aka Steve Martin) and his ragamuffin film crew secretly tape Daisy (aka Heather Graham) and Kit Ramsey (aka Eddie Murphy) fighting off a fictitious band of aliens.

In the first Transformers movie, Mikaela Banes (aka Megan Fox) and Sam Witwicky (aka Shia LaBeouf) are at the Observatory when they witness a group of Transformers crash landing on earth in the form of meteorites.

In The Terminator, the Observatory is the spot where the Terminator (aka Arnold Schwarzenegger) first emerges from a time warp and begins his mission to kill Sarah Conner (aka Linda Hamilton).

In 2008’s Yes Man, the Observatory is the location of Allison’s (aka Zooey Deschanel’s) weekly jogging/photo class, during which Carl (aka Jim Carrey) crashes after drinking waaaaaaay too many Red Bull energy drinks.

It is also where Carl professes his love to Allison at the very end of the movie.

And it is during that ending scene that Carl and Allison run right by the exact spot where Beverly Hills, 90210 was filmed 16 years beforehand. 🙂

The scene in which Natalie Cook (aka Cameron Diaz), Dylan Sanders (aka Drew Barrymore) and Alex Munday (aka Lucy Liu) discover that Madison Lee (aka Demi Moore) is actually a fallen angel in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle takes place at the Observatory.

The observatory was also featured in the music video for Paula Abdul’s hit single “Rush Rush”, which was an homage to the movie Rebel Without a Cause.

You can watch the full video, which starred Keanu Reeves, by clicking above.

Griffith Observatory has also appeared in the movies Dragnet, Devil in a Blue Dress, The Rocketeer, House on Haunted Hill, Nancy Drew, and Earth Girls are Easy, and in episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles, 24, Star Trek Voyager, Alias, MacGyver, Melrose Place, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and The Colbys.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Griffith Observatory is located at 2800 East Observatory Road, inside of Griffith Park, in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. You can visit the observatory’s official website here. Admission is free. The observatory is closed to the public on Mondays and Tuesdays.

September 14, 2010
Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa

During our recent Cabo San Lucas honeymoon, the Grim Cheaper and I stayed at the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa. And while I knew from looking at the property’s website that it was a beautiful place, at the time I made our reservation I had absolutely NO idea that it was also a celebrity destination AND a filming location! They say that you attract those things to you that you think about the most, and in this case, that was most definitely true!   But more on that later.

Before arriving in Cabo, I was a little apprehensive that it might be a somewhat dangerous place. As it turns out, though, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more safe. The city is beautiful, the people are some of the friendliest I’ve ever encountered, and the Cabo way of life is extremely laidback. And while people generally refer to the entire area as being called Cabo San Lucas, it is actually known as Los Cabos and is made up of three different sections which span the southern tip of the Baja Peninsula. The sections include San Jose Del Cabo, The Corridor, and Cabo San Lucas. Long before I had planned our honeymoon, I had heard Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Love Hewitt describe Cabo as a “sleepy, little fishing town”. As it turns out, though, Jen and Love were not speaking about Cabo San Lucas proper, which is a major party city, but rather about San Jose Del Cabo, which is located about fifteen miles north. Most celebrities choose to stay in one of the many five-star resorts located along The Corridor, the most popular of which are the Esperanza, the One&Only Palmilla, and Las Ventanas Al Paraiso. Because The Corridor hotels are exorbitantly expensive, though, the Grim Cheaper and I chose instead to stay at a resort in Cabo San Lucas, but thankfully it was far removed from the whole party scene.

The 154-room Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa first opened in 2005 and is located inside of a gated community about five miles north of town. Thanks to the hotel’s strict adults-only policy and its remote location, it is an EXTREMELY quiet destination and has been billed as one of Cabo’s most romantic locales. And let me tell you, the GC and I absolutely LOVED the place. The resort is so quiet that we often looked around and asked ourselves if we were the only two people staying there. It was without a doubt the most relaxing, quiet vacation I have ever been on. In fact, outside of wanting to do a little stalking, neither of us found any reason whatsoever to leave the resort during our entire nine day stay. It was the perfect place to spend our honeymoon and, because it is so reasonably priced, we are already making plans for a return visit. 🙂

Upon first arriving at the resort, the Grim Cheaper and I were greeted with cool, wet towels infused with lavender oil with which to wash our hands.

The lobby, which overlooks the ocean, was also infused with a lavender scent, which made the experience of entering the hotel seem like walking into a spa. Love it!

The Pacifica features two pools, both of which overlook the ocean . . .

. . . and one of which features a swim-up bar.

The property is situated on a beautiful, private beach . . .



. . . where outdoor beds can be rented during the day and for overnight stays. The beds can also be rented for an ultra-romantic dinner under the stars, which we unfortunately didn’t find out about until the very last night we were there. Ugh! I so would have loved to have done that!

Our room was absolutely beautiful . . .

. . . and featured a private balcony . . .

. . . with a stunning view of the ocean and pool area.

And at night the view only got more spectacular. Sigh! Oh, how I wish I was still there!

The Pacifica features four different restaurants and bars, all of which serve up SEPCTACULAR food – especially the nachos, which were some of the best I’ve ever had in my entire life. In fact, I’d book a stay at the hotel just for those nachos – that’s how good they were. Best of all, the Pacifica also offers 24-hour room service, which the Grim Cheaper and I partook of virtually every single night.

Because the resort is so remote and so private, numerous celebrities have checked in there over the years, including John Travolta and Kelly Preston, Lindsay Lohan, Cindy Crawford, Dolph Lundgren, and a bunch of sports stars, including a few Olympic gold medal winners, whose names I didn’t recognize. And, let me tell you, I just about died when I found out that my girl Jen had once visited the hotel’s spa! My Spanish isn’t all that great, so when I was speaking to the woman at the spa, I originally thought she said that Jen had stayed at the hotel on one occasion, but after talking with the concierge it turns out that Jen was only on the premises for a spa appointment. It was still very exciting for me, nonetheless.

[ad]

Even more exciting, though, was when one of the Pacifica’s bartenders informed me that all three fantasy dates from Brad Womack’s season of The Bachelor had been filmed at the resort. In the fantasy date episode, which aired on November 5, 2007, Brad flew his top three Bachelorettes – DeAnna Pappas, Jenni Croft, and Bettina Bell – down to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. And not only were all three overnight stays filmed at the resort, but according to this press release, the entire cast and crew also stayed on the premises. ABC.com even sponsored a Bachelor contest, where viewers at home could win their own 4-day, 3-night fantasy vacation at the Pacifica. Sadly, Season 11 of The Bachelor does not seem to be available for purchase anywhere and because I didn’t watch the show that year, I am not sure which parts of the resort were featured in the fantasy date episode.   I was able to find the above clip of DeAnna Pappas’ date on YouTube, in which one of the resort’s timeshare villas, named the Montecristo Estates, is briefly shown.



As you can see in the above pictures, which I got off of the Montecristo Estates Website, the entrance, bedroom, and private pool terrace are exact matches to the fantasy suite where DeAnna and Brad spent the night.

Supposedly, the hotel’s main restaurant, Siempre, also appeared on The Bachelor.

I honestly can’t recommend stalking the Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa enough! My honeymoon was truly one of the best vacations of my life!

On a side note – For those who are planning a trip to the Cabo area, rest assured – the city does have a Starbucks. 🙂

And it looks pretty much like any other Starbucks one might find in America . . .

. . . except that the menu is, of course, in Spanish. So darn cool!

When I asked the baristas to pose for the above photograph, they wrongly assumed that I had never before been to a Starbucks, which prompted them to ask, “Don’t you have a Starbucks where you come from?” LOL LOL LOL Oh, if they only knew!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Pueblo Bonito Pacifica Holistic Resort & Spa is located at Cabo Pacifica S/N, 23450 Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. The resort is located inside of a gated community and I believe you have to have a dining reservation at one of the Pacifica’s restaurants or at one of the restaurants located inside of its sister hotel, Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach Resort & Spa, to be admitted entrance.

September 10, 2010
The “Thirteen Days” House

While I mentioned last week that today’s blog would be most likely be about the Cabo San Lucas rocks where Jennifer Aniston posed for her recent Jennifer Aniston Perfume advertisement, I’ve actually decided to postpone that post until a later date and instead write about a location that can be found right here in Los Angeles – the supposed Washington, DC-area home where top presidential aide Kenny O’Donnell (aka Kevin Costner) lived with his family in the 2000 movie Thirteen Days. I found this location thanks to my one of my mom’s co-workers, Teresa, who attended last year’s Alhambra Historic Home tour, which is put on annually by the Alhambra Preservation Group. One of the stops on the tour just so happened to be the residence located at 504 North Almansor Street, and when the tour guide mentioned the property’s cinematic history, Teresa wrote down the address so that my mom could pass it along to me. The place has been on my ever-growing To-Stalk list ever since. So, when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, mentioned that he wanted to do some stalking in the Pasadena-area this past Tuesday, I told him that we first had to head over to Alhambra so that I could finally stalk the Thirteen Days house.

The Thirteen Days house was originally built in 1924 and boasts 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, and 3,383 square feet of living space. Because of its distinct “All-American” feel, it’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use it as the Washington D.C.-area residence of one of John F. Kennedy’s top-ranking aides.

Even though Thirteen Days was set in 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, not much of the residence was changed for the filming. In fact, it looks pretty much exactly the same in person as it did in the flick. Love it! 🙂

And, as you can see in the above photographs, which I got off of the home’s real estate website, the real life interior of the residence, right down to the window curtains hanging in the kitchen, were also used in the flick. So darn cool!

And, as you can see in the above photograph of the real life bedroom which stood in for the Connelly’s master bedroom in the flick, the owners even have a Thirteen Days poster out on prominent display. Love it!

[ad]

The very same residence also appeared in the 2006 made-for-television movie Though None Go With Me, where it was used as Will Bishop’s (aka David Norona’s) home.

Ironically enough, the Thirteen Days house is located right next door to the residence where Percy Jones (aka Bernie Mac) and his family lived in Guess Who, which just so happens to be the very same residence where the backyard scenes from both Father of the Bride movies were also filmed. So darn cool!

Big THANK YOU to Teresa for finding this location for me!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Thirteen Days house is located at 504 North Almansor Street in Alhambra, directly next door to the Guess Who/Father of the Bride house, which is located at 500 North Almansor.

September 8, 2010
Esperanza Resort

Another celebrity hot spot that my husband and I stalked while honeymooning in Cabo San Lucas last week was the world-famous Esperanza Resort hotel – a place my girl Jen A. has checked into frequently over the years. The 17-acre property, which is a member of the Leading Hotels of the World, is consistently referred to as Cabo’s most luxurious and exclusive resort. The hotel is made up of only 57 rooms – fifty individual casitas and seven over-sized suites – so it truly offers its guests, many of whom are movie stars, the ultimate in privacy – and service. Just a few of the amenities offered at the resort include a private beach, an award-winning spa with steam caves and waterfalls, an infinity pool overlooking the ocean, a yoga and Pilates studio where the classes are free, an art gallery, loaner iPods, and coconut-milk popsicles which are doled out regularly to those guests lying poolside. Needless to say, the hotel, which is part of the exclusive Auberge Resort chain, has won countless awards over the years, including three of Travel + Leisure Magazine’s 2010 “World’s Best Awards” – #1 Resort, #1 Spa, and #1 Service for their Best in Mexico section. It truly is a remarkable and absolutely beautiful place!

I absolutely fell in love with Esperanza’s The Signature Restaurant, which is pictured above. The restaurant is composed of three different levels of terraces, all of which overlook both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez, and is breathtakingly beautiful. I SO wanted to grab dinner there during our stay in Cabo, but the Grim Cheaper was having none of that. 🙁

Esperanza’s extensive celebrity guest list reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Fergie and Josh Duhamel (the Esperanza was where the famous 2008 picture of Josh D. painting on the beach was taken), Chelsea Handler, Debra Messing, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, Sheryl Crow, Ashley Simpson and Pete Wentz, Jennie Garth, Usher, Owen Wilson, and Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. In 2003, Elizabeth Berkley married Ralph Lauren’s nephew, Greg, at the Esperanza. That same year Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin honeymooned there, as did Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley in 2007. And according to this Forbes.com article, the Esperanza gifted a free weekend stay to all of the 2002 Academy Award winners.

And as proof that visiting the hotel almost guarantees one a celeb sighting, while we were there my husband and I spotted LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian, who were in town to celebrate LeAnn’s 28th birthday. To clarify, I should say that I actually spotted the two stars – the Grim Cheaper was absolutely clueless. He had gone to the restroom immediately upon our arrival at the hotel, while I grabbed a seat in the resort’s outdoor lounge. Shortly after I sat down, who should walk into the bar area but LeAnn Rimes followed by Eddie C. I recognized the two of them immediately and just about had a heart attack I was so excited! When the GC returned from the restroom, he told me that he wanted to head down to the beach right away to search for the rocks where Jennifer Aniston recently posed for the ad for her newly released perfume (the rocks were our sole reason for visiting the Esperanza and I will be blogging about them on Monday) and grab a drink afterwards. I started making faces at him to alert him to the fact that we were in the presence of celebrities, but he remained clueless. I finally grabbed some paper out of my purse and wrote the above-pictured note. GC took one look at the note, glanced over towards LeAnn, and then said, “Oh OK. Well, come on, let’s go down to the beach.” LOL Needless to say he was not at all impressed. We stayed at the bar for a few more minutes while I debated about going up to LeAnn and Eddie to ask for a photograph, but I ultimately decided against it. They were on vacation at an ultra-exclusive and ultra-private resort and I felt that it would be inappropriate to bother them. And I was happy enough just to have seen them in person, anyway. 🙂 When we returned from the beach about an hour and a half later, we again spotted LeAnn and Eddie swimming and eating nachos at the resort’s pool. And I have to say that while I’ve never thought LeAnn was especially attractive in photographs, she is absolutely GORGEOUS in person. I’d even go so far as to say that she was luminous. Needless to say, seeing her was one of the highlights of my honeymoon. 🙂

And, of course, the Esperanza is also a filming location! The hotel stood in for the Cabo San Lucas resort where Eddie (aka Ben Stiller) and Lila (aka Malin Ackerman) honeymooned in the 2007 movie The Heartbreak Kid.

On a side note, one of my former acting teachers, Roy Jenkins (pictured above), played the role of Buzz in The Heartbreak Kid. So darn cool!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Esperanza: An Auberge Resort is located at Carretera Transpeninsular KM 7 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

September 3, 2010
The One&Only Palmilla Resort

The Grim Cheaper and I just returned from our Cabo San Lucas honeymoon this past Tuesday evening and, let me tell you, we couldn’t have been sadder to say good-bye to the place! We had an amazing time in Mexico – relaxing, swimming, sunbathing, and, of course, stalking. And while I have plans to publish a whole slew of posts about our recent wedding day, which of course incorporated some stalking and celebrity elements, I am currently waiting on the official pictures from our photographer, so I am going to have to put those columns on the back burner for now. In the meantime, though, I thought I’d write about one of the locations I stalked while in Cabo San Lucas last week – the One&Only Palmilla Resort, which just so happens to be my girl Jennifer Aniston’s very favorite vacation spot.

The One&Only Palmilla, which is Cabo San Lucas’ oldest resort, was first built in 1956 by Don Abelardo Rodriguez, the son of then-Mexican president Abelardo Luis Rodriguez, and at the time was named simply the Palmilla Hotel. The property originally boasted a scant 15 rooms and was so exclusive that it was only accessible via boat or private plane. The completion of the Mexican Federal Highway in 1973 allowed easier access to the property, which only helped it to grow in popularity. In 1984 the hotel expanded to include 50 rooms, ten years later it added the Jack Nicklaus-designed Palmilla Golf Club, and in 1996 the number of rooms expanded once again to 115. In 2002, the resort shuttered its doors to begin a massive $90 million renovation and expansion project. It re-opened as the One&Only Palmilla Resort in February of 2004 and remains one of the city’s most sought after destinations. The hotel is world-renowned for its service, which includes 24-hour personalized butler service for each guest, fresh fruit delivered daily to each room, twice daily maid service, and aromatherapy turndown service each night.

One&Only Palmilla has won such a staggering number of awards over the past six years that it would be virtually impossible to list them all here. A few of them include: “The Gold List” in January 2010 from Conde Nast Traveler, “World’s Best Hotels” in January 2010 from Travel + Leisure Magazine, and “Best Butler Service in Mexico” in July/August 2010 from Bridal Guide. The place truly is one of a kind. As you can see in the above photographs, there are little hidden hammock alcoves which can be found throughout the Palmilla’s extensive property. Next to the hammock is a sign which informs guests that if they require assistance, such as beverage service or an iPod pre-programmed with relaxation music, they only need push the little button located next to the hammock. Sigh! Now that’s what I call the life! Because of its luxuriousness and exclusivity, the hotel has long been a celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have checked in there over the years include Desi Arnaz, Lucille Ball, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Mario Lopez, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Celine Dion, Mandy Moore, Richard Gere, John Travolta, Dustin Hoffman, and Eva Longoria. Giants quarterback Eli Manning tied the knot there in April of 2008, as did Oliver Hudson (Kate Hudson’s brother) in June of 2006. Kevin Jonas honeymooned there with his new wife Danielle Deleasa in December of 2009 and Christina Aguilera threw her bachelorette party there in 2005. And, as I mentioned above, Jennifer Aniston is a frequent guest. The actress loves the hotel so much, in fact, that she visits it several times a year.

[ad]

Palmilla One&Only is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place and it’s not at all hard to see why Jen loves to vacation there. The property is closed to the public, however, and you must have a lunch or dinner reservation to be allowed past the front gates. I wasn’t aware of that little caveat at the time, though, so when we showed up to stalk the place we were almost turned away. The guard at the guard shack was incredibly nice, though – as were ALL of the One&Only employees – and he asked us to wait a moment while he called one of the hotel’s restaurants to see if we could be seated immediately. Thankfully, Breeze, the One&Only’s outdoor lounge, had room and we were able to dine there. And, let me tell you, the food was ABSOLUTELY incredible! Like honestly, some of the best food I’ve ever had in my life. I, of course, ordered a glass of champagne while there (hey, I was on my honeymoon!) and when the waiter arrived with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot to pour, I thought the Grim Cheaper was going to have a heart attack! After the waiter left, GC tuned to me and said, “From now on, honey, please ask for the house ‘sparking wine’ instead of the ‘champagne’.” LOL Being that Veuve is my favorite, though, I wasn’t complaining. 😉

The hotel is also, of course, a filming location. Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt held their Mexican wedding ceremony at the resort’s 50-year old chapel in November of 2008. The event was covered exclusively by US Weekly Magazine, but unfortunately I could only find the above-pictured photograph of it online.

And, for whatever reason, The Hills’s cameras failed to record the ceremony. The only part of the wedding ever shown on the series was in the Season 4 episode titled “Mr. and Mrs. Pratt”, in which Spencer and Heidi are shown watching a brief clip of their nuptials taken on a hand-held camera.

The Palmilla’s tiny chapel, which was originally built in 1956, is absolutely adorable in person and plays host to numerous wedding ceremonies each year.

The hotel was also used extensively in the Season 5 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Hazardous to your Health”, where it stood in for the Punta Brava-area resort where Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) and Valerie Malone (aka Tiffany-Amber-Thiessen) set up a sting to win back Dylan’s stolen fortune.

Due to the recent renovation, though, the hotel looks a bit different now than it did back in 1995 when 90210 was filmed. Guests no longer drive up to the same entrance used by Dylan and Valerie – that area is still there, but it is now a walkway.

And while the shape of the pool is still the same, the area around it has been altered slightly. As you can see in the above photographs, there is now a restaurant located off to the left hand side of the pool and a large “palapa” (the Spanish word for a thatched umbrella) which covers an outdoor bar has also been installed. Thankfully, though, the hotel is still very recognizable from 90210. The real life Los Cabos International Airport was also featured extensively in that episode, but unfortunately I did not take any photographs of it while I was there.

On a side note – Everyone from fellow stalkers to my mom to a high school friend who I haven’t spoken to in over a decade has contacted me today to alert me to the fact that the date is 9-02-10! Yes, it’s officially 90210 day! How I didn’t realize this before is beyond me. I mean, it should be a national holiday or something! When I told my husband (that is SO weird to say!) the significance of today’s date he asked me if Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I were going to hold a seance or something. And then he begged me not to make a pilgrimage to the 90210 house, as Jack, the owner, “already thinks you’re weird enough!” LOL Anyway, just wanted to wish all of my fellow stalkers a VERY HAPPY 90210 day!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The One&Only Palmilla Resort is located at Km 7.5 Carretera Transpeninsular in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico. The hotel is private and not open to the public, but if you book a reservation for lunch or dinner at one of the property’s three exceptional restaurants you will be granted access. You can visit the hotel’s official website here. Jennifer Aniston rented the One&Only Palmilla’s private, 8,500 square foot Villa Cortez beach house for her recent 41st birthday party this past February. The One&Only chapel, where Spencer and Heidi tied the knot, is located up the steps which lead away from the hotel’s main entrance.

September 2, 2010
Oscar’s House from “The Office”

Another filming location from The Office that I stalked recently was the ranch-style abode where accounting executive Oscar Martinez (aka Oscar Nunez) lives on the show. I found this location, as always, thanks to fellow stalker Owen who, along with a bit of assistance from fellow stalker Chas, of ItsFilmedThere, has somehow managed to track down pretty much every single locale that ever appeared on the show. Thank you, Owen!

While watching the Season 2 episode of the series titled “The Secret” a few years back, Owen spotted an address number of 5232 in the background of a scene. He immediately set about searching aerial views of neighborhoods near Chandler Valley Center Studios in Van Nuys, where the series is lensed, for homes with a 5232 address number, and, sure enough, it wasn’t long before he had found the right place. YAY! So, while I was in the area with my fiancé – ahem, my husband 🙂 – a few weeks ago, I dragged him right out to stalk Oscar’s abode!

Oscar’s house actually only appeared in “The Secret” episode and has yet to show up again on the series. In the episode, Oscar calls in sick to work on a Friday and his co-worker and part-time volunteer sheriff’s deputy Dwight Schrute (aka Rainn Wilson) becomes convinced that Oscar is not truly ill. Dwight decides to investigate the matter further and, after first conducting interviews with everyone in the office to get their take on whether Oscar is faking or not, he heads over to “the perp’s” house to see if he is actually ill. When he catches the not-yet-out-of-the-closet Oscar with another man in his driveway, he becomes ecstatic, drives up to the couple and proclaims, “Man, you are so busted! Ice skates, shopping bags! I think I know what’s going on here . . . you weren’t sick at all!” Not realizing that he has stumbled upon a much larger secret, Dwight blackmails Oscar into owing him “one great, big, giant favor redeemable by me at a time and place of my choosing.” Have I mentioned how much I love this show? 😉

I am very happy to report that, minus a few trees in the front yard, Oscar’s house looks exactly the same in person as it did on the show. Love it!

[ad]

Located less than a block away from Oscar’s house is the residence where Pam bought a lamp during “Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race For the Cure” (and yes, that was the race’s actual name) in the Season 4 episode of the series titled “Fun Run”. During the race, Jim and Pam happen upon an estate sale at a local residence and instead of continuing on with the run in order to “prevent a disease that’s already been cured” (LOL), they decide to do some shopping. I know this probably goes without saying, but I also found this location thanks to fellow stalker Owen. And even though it only appeared very briefly in one episode of the series, because I was already in the area, I just had to stalk it!

And it, too, looks much the same in person as it did on the series, even though very little of it was ever actually seen in the episode.

Ironically enough, the “Fun Run” house looks like it could almost be a twin to Oscar’s house! Many homes in the area actually have that extra little roof gable above the garage and, therefore look quite a bit alike, so it is truly a feat that Owen was able to track down the houses which were used on the show.

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding both of these locations!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Oscar’s house from The Office is located at 5232 Longridge Avenue in Van Nuys. The house where Pam buys the lamp in the “Fun Run” episode is located a few blocks north of Oscar’s house at 5306 Longridge Avenue.

September 1, 2010
Seattle’s Fairmont Olympic Hotel

Another location that I stalked back in May while visiting the Pacific Northwest was the famous Fairmont Olympic Hotel located in Downtown Seattle. The Olympic is a landmark Seattle building that has appeared in countless productions over the years and has played host to dozens of celebrities in its almost ninety-year history, so there was no way I was going to miss stalking it while visiting the area! The hotel, which first opened on December 6, 1924, was built on the former site of the University of Washington on an area of land known as the “Metropolitan Tract”. The Tract, which encompasses four square blocks, was donated to the University in 1861 by Arthur Denny, one of Seattle’s original founders, and is still owned by the school to this day. In the early 1920s, following the end of World War I, the Seattle Chamber of Commerce put together a committee dedicated to developing a luxury hotel in the downtown area. It was quickly decided that the hotel would be built on the former University of Washington site, which at the time was being leased out by the Metropolitan Building Company. After several battles with the Regents, construction of the hotel, which was made possible through a public bond drive, finally began on April 1, 1923.   Architectural firms George B. Post & Sons and Bebb & Gould were chosen to design the property, and construction, the cost of which totaled around $5.5 million, was completed in November of 1924. Amazingly enough, the property still looks very much the same today as it did when it first opened its doors over eight decades ago!

[ad]

The Olympic Hotel was constructed using only the finest materials including American Oak, granite, terra cotta, and Belgian marble. The room furnishings alone cost over $800,000 – and we’re talking 1920’s money! The hotel became an immediate success and despite suffering some economic loss during the Great Depression remains one of Seattle’s finest hotels to this day and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. That same year, management of the Olympic was taken over by the Four Seasons Group, who immediately commandeered a $60 million restoration of the property during which the number of guest rooms was actually reduced, in order to make suites larger and more comfortable. The hotel re-opened as the Four Seasons Olympic in 1981. In 2003, management of the property once again changed hands, this time with the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts group taking over, after which point the hotel became known as the Fairmont Olympic. And, as you can see in the above photographs, the property is absolutely breathtaking inside!

I honestly cannot recommend stalking the Olympic enough – not only is it beautiful, but the staff truly could NOT have been nicer! The concierge on duty spent about ten minutes speaking with me about the filming that has taken place on the premises over the years and even gifted me with this awesome Reel Life in Seattle film locations map. So darn cool!



And, in a lucky twist of fate, the property’s famed Spanish Ballroom happened to be unlocked while we were stalking the Olympic, so we got to go inside and take a quick peek at it.

The Fairmont Olympic Hotel has long played host to the rich and famous, including foreign dignitaries, presidents, and celebrities. A few who have stayed there over the years include Herbert Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Hoffa, Elvis Presley, Joan Crawford, John Glenn, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, and Bob Hope. Most recently, Twilight actor Jackson Rathbone checked in to do some publicity for his new movie The Last Airbender.

And, as I mentioned above, the Olympic is also a filming location! In the 1994 thriller Disclosure, Tom Sanders (aka Michael Douglas) goes to the Fairmont to break into the room where his co-worker John Conley Jr. is staying in order to gain access to the “Arcamax” – a cutting-edge, digital reality machine.

According to the concierge that we spoke with, the hotel, which was then operated by the Four Seasons, was still using actual keys at the time and not key cards as was portrayed in the movie. For the scene in which John was shown fiddling with his key card, producers had to bring in a fake card reader to attach to one of the hotel’s real life doors. So cool!



In the 1987 thriller House of Games, con-man Mike (aka Joe Mantegna) and psychologist Margaret Ford (aka Lindsay Crouse) sneak into Room 1138 of the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel. It’s absolutely amazing to me that the property still looks so similar today to how it appeared in a movie which was filmed over 23 years ago!!!! At the time, much of the Olympic’s rich wood wall paneling was covered over with white paint, but otherwise the interior looks exactly the same today as it did then! So darn cool!



In 1987’s Black Widow, the Olympic was the Seattle hotel where murderess Catharine Peterson (aka Theresa Russell) holed up while trying to trap her latest mark.

The Olympic’s pool, which you can see a photograph of here, was also used in Black Widow as the spa where journalist Alex Barnes (aka Debra Winger) interviewed Etta (aka Diane Ladd) about her brother’s untimely death.

The Olympic’s former Seneca Street entrance also appeared very briefly in the 1989 flick The Fabulous Baker Boys. And the 1973 movie Harry in your Pocket, which starred James Coburn as a pickpocket, was also filmed at the hotel.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Fairmont Olympic Hotel is located at 411 University Street in Seattle. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

August 31, 2010
Drew Barrymore’s Childhood Home

A few weeks ago, Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from The Drewseum website, asked me and fellow stalker Owen for some help in tracking down the home where the young E.T. star lived from 1984 through 1988. Over the years, Ashley had accumulated a few clues as to the property’s location, mostly from Drew’s autobiography Little Girl Lost, which was published in 1990. In the book, co-author Todd Gold describes the house as “a lovely two-bedroom ranch-style home in Sherman Oaks, a comfortable upper-class neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley”. With that vague bit of information, Ashley tried to track down the residence’s location, but didn’t have much success. Then a few weeks ago, while looking at the Drew Barrymore Brasil fansite, she happened upon the above photograph of Drew from a 1987 photo shoot in which the then 12-year old actress was photographed while standing in front of her home.   And, lo and behold, an address number (4002) was visible! YAY! I just have to say here that I would absolutely die if I ever came across a photograph of my girl Jen A. standing in front of her childhood home. What I wouldn’t give to be able to stalk that residence! Anyway, armed with an address number, a city, and a picture of the front of the house, Owen set about tracking down the residence using aerial maps and Google Street View. And, amazingly enough, about ten minutes later he had an address for us. As it turns out, Drew’s former dwelling is not actually located in Sherman Oaks as author Todd Gold had described, but in the neighboring suburb of Studio City. In Todd’s defense though, the house is located right on the border of Sherman Oaks and Studio City and, for whatever reason, city boundary lines quite often get blurred in that area.

[ad]

Once Owen told me the address, I immediately dragged the Grim Cheaper – and both of my parents, for that matter – out to stalk the property. And I am VERY happy to report that it still looks much the same today, over 23 years later!, as it did in the photograph from Drew’s photo shoot.



Sadly, though, quite a bit of foliage has grown since the days when Drew called the place home, so I wasn’t able to take a picture that exactly matched Drew’s childhood photograph. The one pictured above was my best effort.



As you can see in the above photographs, though, several aspects of the house match up to Drew’s childhood picture, including the white door located next to the garage, the brick front stairwell, and the popped-out picture window located next to the front door. I was so hoping that the 4002 address post would still be standing at the front of the house, but alas that was not to be.





You can also see in the above aerial views that both the shape of the home’s pool and the shape of its deck area match the pictures taken during Drew’s 1987 photo shoot perfectly.

Drew’s former home is surprisingly normal-looking, especially considering that the E.T. phenomenon was living there during the height of her childhood fame. Of the home, Todd Gold says, “Compared to the West Hollywood bungalow they left behind, the move marked a significant leap up the economic ladder. Not that the Barrymores were rich. Not even close. But they were comfortable, and for the first time they were no longer encumbered by the constant worry of making ends meet each month”. The home, which was built in 1951, boasts two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and 1,763 square feet of living space. Drew’s mom, Jaid, sold the house in the summer of 1988 in order to move into a smaller condominium which was easier to maintain being that Drew was spending the majority of her time on location filming movies.

The above photographs were also taken at the star’s former home at what I’m guessing was around the year 1985.

On a side note – I just finished reading Little Girl Lost, Drew’s autobiography which she wrote in the winter of 1988 at the tender age of 14. For those who have yet to read the memoir, I highly recommend it! Drew’s story is absolutely heartbreaking at times, but it is also incredibly empowering and uplifting. I have always liked the actress, but I have such a massive amount of respect for her now after reading her story. It is absolutely mindboggling to me that she hit rock bottom at such a young age and then was able to somehow pull herself together after experiencing such a tumultuous childhood. She truly is an amazing person.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Owen for finding this location and to fellow stalker Ashley, from the Drewseum website, for challenging him to do so!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Drew Barrymore’s childhood home is located at 4002 Ethel Avenue in Studio City.

August 30, 2010