The Cravens Estate from “Commander in Chief”

P1050767

As I mentioned a few weeks back, because of my love for Matt Lanter, the Grim Cheaper and I recently purchased and sat down to watch the first – and only – season of the short-lived television series Commander in Chief, on which the cutie actor portrayed the role of First Son Horace Calloway. I absolutely fell in love with the show and immediately started creating a list of locations to stalk from it, the most important being Pasadena’s former Cravens Estate, now the American Red Cross’ San Gabriel Pomona Valley Headquarters, which was used several times to stand in for the White House on the series. And as soon as the GC and I finished watching the final episode, I dragged my dad right on out to stalk the place. I have actually written about the Cravens Estate once before, back in July of 2008 just a few months after I first started my blog, but it was a very brief post and did not include any photographs of the interior of the property. So, I figured the place was definitely worthy of a re-post.

P1050771 P1050770

P1050772 P1050769

The Cravens Estate was originally built in 1930 for Mr. John S. Cravens and his wife Mildred and was designed by San Francisco-area architect Lewis P. Hobart, who was also responsible for constructing the City by the Bay’s Grace Episcopal Cathedral and the Crocker Building on Market Street. After migrating to Pasadena in 1900, the Cravens first commissioned an English-style mansion to be built on a 16-acre plot of land on what was then known as “Millionaires’ Row”. Three decades later, after vacationing in France, the couple decided to tear down their existing abode and build a new one based upon the design of the the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, located just south of Paris. That new manse became known as the Cravens Estate and it cost a whopping $310,000 to construct, making it one of Pasadena’s most expensive homes at the time. After the Cravens, who had no children, passed away in the 1940s, the property went through a succession of owners until finally being donated to the American Red Cross in 1962, whereupon it became their San Gabriel Pomona Valley Headquarters. The mansion is both a Pasadena Cultural Landmark and a Landmark of Historical Significance. In 2010, it was chosen to be used as the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, whereupon numerous designers came in and completely restored the property, which had lost a bit of its luster over the years, back to its original grandeur.

P1050671 P1050672

P1050674 P1050680

When I originally dragged my dad out to stalk the estate, I was hoping that we might be allowed to take a quick peek at the interior of the property and snap a few pictures. Well, imagine my surprise when the SUPER-nice receptionist said that if we were interested we could schedule a full-blown tour of the building. If we were interested? IF WE WERE INTERESTED??? Um, heck yes, we were interested!!! So I immediately scheduled a tour and dragged my dad back out to the estate once again just a few days later. What we ended up being given, though, was not what I had expected at all. Our SUPER-nice tour guide was extremely excited over how much I already knew about the estate and my enthusiasm for its filming history, so she wound up taking us on a TWO-AND-A-HALF-HOUR excursion through the property during which she showed us its every nook and cranny, including the attic area, the servants’ quarters and the basement. I can honestly say that it was one of the best stalking experiences of my life! Even my dad enjoyed it! The estate, which boasts four levels, 50 rooms, and just under 20,000 square feet of living space, is an absolutely remarkable piece of property! Pictured above is the entryway, which features hand-painted murals depicting the grounds of the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte.

P1050692 P1050696

P1050690 P1050700

Our tour included the Cravens Estate’s reception room;

P1050701

P1050702 P1050703

dining room;

P1050682 P1050684

Mrs. Cravens’ former sitting room;

P1050698 P1050699

a sun room;

P1050713 P1050715

P1050716 P1050717

the media room;

P1050756 P1050757

one of the original bathrooms;

P1050759 P1050758

the upstairs balcony;

P1050733 P1050734

the bridal room;

P1050745

Mrs. Cravens’ original closet;

P1050779 P1050780

P1050777 P1050781

and the back side of the estate.

ScreenCap1857 ScreenCap1858

ScreenCap1859 ScreenCap1861

The area of the home that I was most excited about seeing, though, was the kitchen, which stood in for the White House Residence’s kitchen on the first few episodes of Commander in Chief.

P1050708 P1050710

P1050766 P1050707

The Cravens Estate kitchen was actually remodeled in 2010 for the Pasadena Showcase House of Design, but thankfully, as you can see above, it still looks very much the same as it did on the series.

P1050751

P1050748 P1050750

We also got to see one of the property’s upstairs rooms . . .

ScreenCap1855 ScreenCap1856

ScreenCap1862 ScreenCap1863

. . . which was featured on Commander in Chief as the office of First Gentleman Rod Calloway (aka Kyle Secor).

P1050673 P1050731

P1050744 P1050739

And we were shown the central stairwell and glass-plated dome area . . .

ScreenCap1866 ScreenCap1867

ScreenCap1868 ScreenCap1869

. . . which popped up in the series as a White House stairwell in the episode titled “The Price You Pay”.

P1050738

I just about died when our tour guide said I could pose for a picture on that very same stairwell. LOVE IT!

ScreenCap1864 ScreenCap1865

The exterior of the Cravens Estate also appeared in “The Price You Pay” episode as a supposed Washington, D.C.-area restaurant where President Mackenzie Calloway (aka Geena Davis) and her husband, Rod, take Attorney General nominee Carl Brantley (aka Alan Arkin) and his wife, Sue (aka Elizabeth Dennehy), out for dinner.

ScreenCap1886 ScreenCap1887

ScreenCap1888 ScreenCap1889

The Cravens Estate was also used extensively as Dalton Academy during this past season of Glee – a show which has gotten so bad that I can hardly bear to watch it anymore. Anyway, it first showed up in the Season 2 episode titled “Never Been Kissed” in the scene in which Kurt Hummel (aka Chris Colfer) spies on a rival Glee club known as the Warblers. Kurt later transfers to Dalton and joins the Warblers, after which time the estate was featured regularly on the series. Areas of the estate which appeared on the show include the central staircase;

ScreenCap1890 ScreenCap1892

ScreenCap1905 ScreenCap1911

the entryway;

ScreenCap1893 ScreenCap1898

ScreenCap1906 ScreenCap1908

the reception room;

ScreenCap1904 ScreenCap1901

ScreenCap1902 ScreenCap1903

and the dining room.

ScreenCap1912

The Cravens Estate was also featured weekly as the supposed Falls Church, Virginia-area JAG headquarters on the television series of the same name. According to the official Cravens Estate website, JAG producer Donald P. Bellisario used to regularly receive letters from fans stating that they had searched high and low for the property while on stalking expeditions in Falls Church, Virginia, not realizing that it was actually located right here in Pasadena.

[ad]

ScreenCap1824 ScreenCap1831

The Cravens Estate was also used extensively as the Silverberg & Blake law firm where Robert Clayton Dean (aka Will Smith) worked in the 1998 thriller Enemy of the State. Areas which appeared in the movie include the exterior;

ScreenCap1830 ScreenCap1837

the dining room;

ScreenCap1832 ScreenCap1833

the central stairway;

ScreenCap1834 ScreenCap1836

and the same upstairs room that was used as Rod Calloway’s office on Commander in Chief.

ScreenCap1838 ScreenCap1839

ScreenCap1841 ScreenCap1842

In the 2001 movie Swordfish, the estate was where Stanley Jobson’s (aka Hugh Jackman’s) daughter, Holly (aka Camryn Grimes), went to school.

ScreenCap1843 ScreenCap1844

ScreenCap1848 ScreenCap1847

The back of the estate stood in for the French Consulate where a limo was bombed towards the beginning of the 2007 flick Rush Hour 3.

ScreenCap1849 ScreenCap1851

The estate’s reception room also appeared in Rush Hour 3.

ScreenCap1852 ScreenCap1853

According to the book The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations, the above-pictured scene from the 2001 movie Traffic, in which Robert Wakefield (aka Michael Douglas) is briefed by the White House Chief of Staff (aka Albert Finney), was filmed in a room at the Cravens Estate, although because only a tight shot of it was shown, I am not able to verify this or make a guess as to the exact room where filming took place.

ScreenCap1931 ScreenCap1932

ScreenCap1935 ScreenCap1933

The estate was also where Chauncey Gardiner (aka Peter Sellers) and Eve Rand (aka Shirley MacLaine) attended a cocktail party in the 1979 movie Being There.

ScreenCap1876 ScreenCap1874

ScreenCap1870 ScreenCap1871

The estate also stood in for the University of Minnesota dorm where Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty) briefly lived in the Season 4 episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “So Long, Auf Wiedersehen” and “The Girl from New York”.

ScreenCap1878 ScreenCap1879

ScreenCap1880 ScreenCap1881

In the Season 5 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Look Into Their Eyes and You See What They Know”, the estate stood in for Beecher Academy, where Edie Britt’s (aka Nicolette Sheridan’s) son Travers (aka Stephen Lunsford) attended school. After Edie’s death, the women of Wisteria Lane – Bree Hodge (aka Marcia Cross), Lynette Scavo (aka Felicity Huffman), Gabrielle Solis (aka Eva Longoria), Susan Mayer (aka Teri Hatcher), and Karen McCluskey (aka Kathryn Joosten) – travel to the school in order to bring Edie’s ashes to Travers.

ScreenCap1882 ScreenCap1883

ScreenCap1884ScreenCap1885

The entryway of the Cravens Estate was transformed into a restaurant in the Season 3 episode of Mad Men titled “The Gypsy and the Hobo” for the scene in which Roger Sterling (aka John Slattery) takes Annabelle Mathis (aka Mary Page Keller, who, ironically enough, also had a recurring role on Commander in Chief) out for dinner.

ScreenCap1913 ScreenCap1914

ScreenCap1915 ScreenCap1917

Fellow stalker/Jennifer Love Hewitt-aficionado Owen also let me know that the estate appeared as Parkdale Academy in the Season 4 episode of Ghost Whisperer titled “Delusions of Grandview”.

ScreenCap1926 ScreenCap1927

ScreenCap1929 ScreenCap1916

Both the exterior . . .

ScreenCap1918 ScreenCap1919

ScreenCap1925 ScreenCap1930

. . . and the interior of the property were used quite extensively in the episode.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The American Red Cross’ San Gabriel Pomona Valley Headquarters, aka the Cravens Estate from Commander in Chief, is located at 430 Madeline Drive in Pasadena. Here is a map link to the location. You can visit the property’s official website here. If you would like a tour of the estate, please call to schedule an appointment first.

The Piru Creek Bridge from “Burlesque”

Highway-126-Stalking-(17-of-248)

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 flickThe 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!

Piru railroad bridges

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). 

Highway-126-Stalking-(12-of-248) Highway-126-Stalking-(13-of-248)

Highway-126-Stalking-(14-of-248) Highway-126-Stalking-(15-of-248)

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.

ScreenCap1575 ScreenCap1572

ScreenCap1573 ScreenCap1574

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.

P1050793

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. 

ScreenCap1613

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.

[ad]

Highway-126-Stalking-(6-of-248) Highway-126-Stalking-(2-of-248)

Highway-126-Stalking-(8-of-248) Highway-126-Stalking-(5-of-248)

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.

Highway-126-Stalking-(7-of-248)

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.

ScreenCap1563 ScreenCap1567

ScreenCap1568 ScreenCap1569

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.

ScreenCap1571

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

ScreenCap1588 ScreenCap1590 

ScreenCap1592 ScreenCap1593

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!

ScreenCap1594 ScreenCap1596

ScreenCap1597 ScreenCap1598

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

ScreenCap1603 ScreenCap1601

ScreenCap1602 ScreenCap1599 

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.

ScreenCap1604ScreenCap1605

 ScreenCap1608 ScreenCap1609

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

Piru Railroad Bridges 2

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.

The “Poison Ivy” Mansion

poisonivy4

Back in early August, Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from the Drewseum website, challenged me to find the large pink mansion belonging to the  Cooper family – Sylvie (aka Sara Gilbert), Darryl (aka Tom Skerritt), and Georgie (aka Cheryl Ladd) – in the 1992 thriller Poison Ivy.  But because I was just a few weeks away from my upcoming wedding at the time, I didn’t get a chance to do any research on it.  Thankfully though, fellow stalker Terri stepped in and managed to track down the location for us!  Terri had discovered a message board thread on the IMDB Poison Ivy page on which a commenter had stated that the Cooper mansion was located in a “section of Los Feliz called the Oaks”.  She then used Google Street View and managed to track down the massively large residence, which amazingly enough looks very much the same today as it did back in 1992 when the movie was filmed!  Thank you, Terri!

[ad]

 poisonivy5

In real life, the 13,000-square foot, 5 bedroom, 9 bathroom home, which sits on over a half acre of land, was first built in 1926 and, according to my buddy E.J. over at The MovielandDirectory, belonged to Geena Davis in the early 90s, although that is a claim that the Thelma & Louise actress denies.  The Geena Davis rumor was actually featured in a small blurb in the September 1997 issue of Los Angeles Magazine, which states that the extensive property was purchased for $1.3 million in 1992 by the “Sav-On Trust” (believed to be created by Geena) and that an extensive remodel of the residence was subsequently begun.  After the roof, windows, and doors had been removed from the estate, though, the remodel was abruptly stopped and the property left in ruins.  At one point, squatters even moved into the residence, which is located in a very affluent neighborhood.  Sav-On Trust sold the decrepit property to a new owner in 1995 for $1,050,000, with the trust actually carrying the majority of the loan.  When the new buyer defaulted on his payments, the home went into foreclosure, with Geena still denying that she had anything to do with the property.  Why she didn’t want to be associated with the home, I don’t know, but she doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on being that the trustee of the Sav-On Trust is none other than Greg Kress – Geena Davis’ business manager.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, the remodel on the property was finally completed in the late 1990s and the mansion is absolutely beautiful today.  The home, which you can see some fabulous interior photographs of here, currently boasts a 1,000-bottle wine cellar, a private gym, a game room, an infinity pool, a movie theatre, TWO elevators, a cigar room, a grotto, a spa, a library, and striking views of Los Angeles.  Talk about living the high life!

ScreenShot5704 ScreenShot5705

 ScreenShot5711 ScreenShot5706

The Cooper mansion figured quite prominently in Poison Ivy and both the interior and the exterior of the property appeared in the flick.

ScreenShot5707 poisonivy9 

The mansion’s garage area . . .

ScreenShot5708 poisonivy8

. . . and main balcony were also used repeatedly in the movie, although both look quite a bit different now.  An addition to the house has since been added on to the garage area and a turret has been added next to the balcony.

ScreenShot5709

The exterior stairwell that was formerly located next to the garage has also since been removed.

ScreenShot5703 poisonivy6

And the stairs that led to the front of the property in the movie have now been replaced by a sloping driveway.  Even with all of those changes, though, the home still looks almost exactly the same today as it did in Poison Ivy.  And I so love that it is still almost the same color pink!

 ScreenShot5701 ScreenShot5702

Randomly enough, just a few days after stalking it, I spotted this very same location while watching the pilot episode of the new series Law & Order: Los Angeles.  The residence showed up in the very beginning of the episode, which was titled “Hollywood”, as the burgled home of teenaged actor Colin Blakely (aka Travis Van Winkle) .  Being that I had just stalked the place a few days beforehand, I literally just about fell over when I saw it. 

ScreenShot5700 poisonivy2

Especially when I noticed the home’s real life address plaque pass by in the background of one of the scenes.  So darn cool!

ScreenShot5697 ScreenShot5698

The real life interior of the estate was also used in the episode.

Big THANK YOU to Ashley, from the Drewseum website, for challenging me to find this location and to Terri for actually tracking it down!  🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking!  🙂

Stalk It: The Poison Ivy mansion is located at 2208 West Live Oak Drive in Los Feliz.