Hollywood landmarks – IAMNOTASTALKER

February 25, 2011February 25, 2011

Burlesque Lounge from “Burlesque”

A couple of months ago, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to see Burlesque and, because of all of the bad reviews the movie was generating, I did not have very high hopes that either of us would enjoy it much. As it turns out, though, I could NOT have been more wrong! It is a highly entertaining romp which boasts fabulous musical numbers, sparkling and intricately-designed costumes, and incredibly beautiful sets that made me want to hop right into the movie screen. I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. And even though the movie is definitely a chick flick, the GC said he thoroughly enjoyed it as well. So when I saw that fellow stalker Gary, of the Seeing Stars website, had just published a page detailing various filming locations from the movie, I just about died. The were two locations that I was most interested in stalking, the first of which was the Mediterranean-style apartment complex where Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) and Jack (aka Cam Gigandet) lived, which come to find out does not, in fact, exist. Fellow stalker Chas, of the ItsFilmedThere website, contacted a few Burlesque crew members on my behalf to find out the location of the apartment building, but they all informed him that it was a set that had been built on the Sony Pictures Studio backlot, which was shocking to me as I had been convinced that the building was a real place. I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on the DVD of the movie, which is being released on March 1st, so that I can listen to the commentary to learn more about the construction of that set. Anyway, the other location that I was dying to stalk was the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge, which, thanks to Gary I now know, was in actuality the side entrance of the historic Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Hollywood. So, I dragged the GC right on out there to stalk the place this past Monday afternoon.

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The Ricardo Montalban Theatre was first built in 1926 by Myron Hunt, the legendary Los Angeles architect who also designed the Rose Bowl, Occidental College, the California Institute of Technology, the Huntington Hotel (now the Langham), and the Huntington Library, among countless other area buildings. The Beaux Arts-style theatre was originally a live, or a “legitimate”, stage venue known as the Vine Street Theatre, but was transformed into a single-screen movie theatre during the Great Depression. A few years later it was purchased by CBS and became a radio broadcasting venue known as the CBS Playhouse Theatre. It was there that legendary Hollywood producer/director Cecil B. DeMille hosted his Lux Radio Theatre show in which movie stars of the day would act out radio versions of his many films. In 1954, the property once again became a live theatre venue and was renamed the Huntington Hartford. In 2000, the 1200-seat venue was purchased by Nosotros, a non-profit performing arts organization founded by Fantasy Island star Ricardo Montalban. The organization set about renovating the theatre and restoring the property to its former 1927 glory and in May of 2004 reopened the space as the Ricardo Montalban Theatre.

In Burlesque, the Ricardo Montalban Theatre’s side entrance, side exterior stairwell, and parking lot area were all used as the Burlesque Lounge’s main entrance. Amazingly enough, the wrought-iron gate which was featured so prominently in the movie is actually there in real life, which I was BEYOND excited to see! You can check out some pictures of the gate dressed for the filming here. (The theatre was having some sort of a movie screening when we showed up to stalk it, which is why there are people camped out on the sidewalk in all of my photographs).

Sadly, the parking lot area, which was featured in the scene in which Tess (aka Cher) and Nikki (aka Kristen Bell) get into a fight, has been ripped up and is currently under construction. According to the signs posted on the fence which now surrounds the former lot, a parking garage is set to be built in that area.

You can see what the parking lot area used to look like thanks to Bing Streetside in the pictures above and by clicking here.

I literally just about fell over when, while stalking the theatre, I recognized the burger stand located next door as the spot where Lucy (aka Britney Spears), Ben (aka Anson Mount), Kit (aka Zoe Saldana), and Mimi (aka Taryn Manning) signed up for the Slide Records singing audition in the movie Crossroads! I had actually been on the hunt for that location for quite some time and was absolutely FLOORED to have stumbled upon it in such a way. For whatever reason, I always seem to have that sort of luck when it comes to Crossroads locales as I also stumbled upon the gas station which appeared in the movie in a very similar manner.

If you would like to stalk the stand, which is named Molly’s Charbroiler in real life, you should do so soon as, according to fave website CurbedLA, the tiny restaurant may be torn down in the coming months in order to make way for a new office building. Sad smile Have I mentioned how much I love change?

Burlesque Trailer

You can watch the trailer for Burlesque, in which the exterior of the Burlesque Lounge is briefly shown, by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from Seeing Stars, for finding this location and to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for contacting Burlesque crew members to find out where Ali and Jack’s apartment building was located! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Ricardo Montalban Theatre, aka Burlesque Lounge from Burlesque, is located at 1615 North Vine Street in Hollywood. The Burlesque Lounge entrance is located on the north side of the property. You can visit the theatre’s official website here. Molly’s Charbroiler, from Crossroads, is located at 1601 North Vine Street. You can visit the burger stand’s official website here.

February 18, 2011December 5, 2018

Boardner’s of Hollywood from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Another destination included on the Grim Cheaper’s Valentine’s Day scavenger hunt was Boardner’s of Hollywood, a historic bar which was recommended to me by fellow stalker John who lives in the Bay Area. John had emailed me quite a few months back to let me know that the legendary watering hole had been featured in countless productions over the years, including my fave show Beverly Hills, 90210, and that it was a very cool place to hang out. So, because the GC loves anyplace with a history, I decided to add the bar to his hunt and we headed out there to grab a cocktail this past Saturday evening.

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The space which now houses Boardner’s was first opened in the 1930’s by legendary singer Gene Austin in a Moorish-style, L-shaped building designed by architect Norman Alpaugh and was known at the time as the “My Blue Heaven” night club. After Austin sold the watering hole, it went through several different incarnations, including a restaurant named Padres and a gay bar named Cherokee House, until January of 1944 when a young man named Steve Boardner purchased the place and renamed it Boardner’s. Boardner’s became an immediate success with the Hollywood crowd and such luminaries as Errol Flynn, W.C. Fields, Walter E. Scott (aka “Death Valley Scotty”), Elizabeth Short (aka “The Black Dahlia”), Robert Mitchum, Mickey Cohen, Jack Dragna, Andy Griffith, Donald Sutherland, Ed Wood, Jimmy Stewart, George Burns, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio all hung out there. Steve remained the proprietor of Boardner’s for just over three decades, until 1980, when he retired to Palm Springs and sold his beloved bar to a man named Dave Hadley. Sadly, the place was completely remodeled with an Art Deco-theme in March of 2006 and, despite being known as “one of the oldest bars in Hollywood”, does not look anything like it did back in the heyday of Tinseltown.

Don’t get me wrong – Boardner’s is still a VERY cool place to hang out and the food is absolutely FABULOUS (especially the crab cakes!), but it would be an even cooler place to hang out if it had retained its historic interior. As I have mentioned a few times before on this blog, I am not big on change, especially when said change involves altering a filming location in some way! Sigh! Boardner’s has remained popular with the Hollywood set despite the remodel, though, and just a few of the celebs who have been spotted there in more recent years include Drew Barrymore, Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner, Bridget Marquardt, Kendra Wilkinson, Nicole Kidman, Slash, Axl Rose, Courtney Love, Scott Wolfe, Piper Perabo, Rose McGowan, Fran Dresher, Jason Patric, Tommy Lee, John Lennon, Ben Affleck, Paul Bettany, Jake Gyllenhaal, Vince Vaughn, Keifer Sutherland, Heath Ledger, Bela Lugosi Jr., Jared Leto, Tim McGraw, Lee Majors, Miley Cyrus, and Pete Wentz.

The back of the bar boasts a super-cute little hearth area, complete with a plush couch, a coffee table, and board games. So adorable!

And, each Saturday night, Boardner’s Moroccan-tiled back patio area . . .

. . . and its private events space, which is named the Casablanca Room, are transformed into an extremely popular gothic-themed nightclub known as Bar Sinister. The Casablanca Room has also become a popular wrap party venue over the years.

While stalking Boardner’s, I asked the bartender if she happened to know which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 had been filmed on the premises, but, unfortunately, because she did not work there at the time, she was not sure. And because I only watched the first four seasons of the series, before the characters were of drinking age, I was absolutely stumped on this one. So, I called on Geoff, from the 90210locations website, who pretty much immediately figured out that Boardner’s had been used in the Season 9 episode of the series titled “That’s the Guy”, as the spot where Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) sought out information about the man who raped Kelly Taylor (aka Jennie Garth).

The establishing shot of the bar which appeared in that episode was filmed at another location altogether, though, and looks nothing like the actual exterior of Boardner’s.

Boardner’s also popped up in 1994’s Ed Wood, as the spot where fledgling film director Ed Wood (aka Johnny Depp) grabbed a drink just before meeting Bela Lugosi (aka Martin Landau) for the first time. Interestingly enough, the real Ed Wood had been a regular at Boardner’s throughout most of his lifetime, which is most likely how the bar ended up being chosen as a filming location for the flick.

Boardner’s was also the spot where Dudley Smith (aka James Cromwell) met up with Bud White (aka Russell Crowe) in order to return his badge and his gun towards the beginning of 1997’s L.A. Confidential.

The exterior of Boardner’s was also used very briefly as the exterior of a cowboy-themed gay bar that Mick Dundee (aka Paul Hogan) and Jacko (aka Alec Wilson) attempt to visit in 2001’s Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

In the 2003 movie Hollywood Homicide, Boardner’s was the regular hangout of Sergeant Joe Gavilan (aka Harrison Ford) and Detective K.C. Calden (aka Josh Harnett). Boardner’s has also appeared in the movie Up Close & Personal and in episodes of the television series Alias, Numb3rs, and Cold Case. Supposedly, Boardner’s was also featured in 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas and in 1997’s Wag the Dog, but I scanned through both of those movies earlier today while writing this post and did not spot the bar in either one.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker John for recommending this location to me and to Geoff, from the 90210locations website, for figuring out which episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 it appeared in! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Boardner’s of Hollywood, from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 1652 North Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood. You can visit the bar’s official website here.

February 16, 2011February 15, 2011

Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

This past Monday morning, I headed out to Downtown Hollywood to see Alec Baldwin receive the 2,433rd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For whatever reason, I typically do not attend many Walk of Fame events, but this month I found myself present at not one, but two! As I blogged about two weeks ago, I went to Adam Sandler’s ceremony on February 1st and, because of all of the aggressive fans, figured I wouldn’t be hitting up another one for a good long time. But then I found out that Alec Baldwin was being honored with a star on Valentine’s Day and because Jack Donaghy, the character Alec plays on 30 Rock, is one of my favorite television characters of all time, I just had to attend! I asked my dad to come along with me, but he quickly ixnayed that idea, telling me “I wouldn’t walk across the street to see that guy!” LOL LOL LOL What can I say – my dad has never been one to mince words. So, once again, I ventured out to watch the ceremony by myself. I ended up meeting a SUPER nice fellow stalker/blogger named Pinky, from the PinkyLoveJoy blog, while I was there and spent most of my time prior to the ceremony literally drooling over her many photographs with celebrities, especially the one she had with Miss Sarah Jessica Parker. Sigh! So incredibly jealous!!! Pinky is an absolutely amazing stalker and has photographs with literally everyone who is anyone in Hollywood. And she has bundles of energy! After spending hours at Alec’s ceremony, after which I was ready to call it a day, Pinky headed right on out to Westwood to do some stalking of the Rango premiere’s red carpet, where she got to meet and take a photograph with none other than Johnny Depp! I’m telling you, she has the golden touch and is a far better stalker than I could ever hope to be! Some of her magic did rub off on me, though, as I managed to snag a couple of photos with celebrities yesterday, but more on that later.

I showed up to Alec’s ceremony at 10 a.m., about 90 minutes prior to when it was set to begin, and, amazingly enough, there were only about twenty or so fans there. But then, all of a sudden, it was like the floodgates opened and masses and masses of people started showing up – more people than were at the Adam Sandler ceremony, actually, which absolutely shocked me. It finally dawned on me, though, that most people had the day off from work as it was Lincoln’s birthday, which is why I think so many fans were able to attend.

Because so few people were there when I first arrived, I managed to snag a GREAT spot directly in front of Alec’s star.

Unfortunately, about an hour later, the media was allowed in and they set up their ginormous cameras directly in front of Pinky and me, which completely obstructed our view. So, the two of us decided to move over to the area directly behind Alec’s star, which did not allow us a good view of the actual ceremony, but turned out to be the PERFECT place to stand as we were situated in the exact spot where all of the celebrities entered and exited the event area. YAY!

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Alec Baldwin showed up about ten minutes before the ceremony was set to start (love it!) and immediately walked up to the fans and started signing autographs. Alec seemed very friendly and approachable. Sadly, he was just a little too far to the side of where I was standing for me to be able to get a picture with him.

Also in attendance for the ceremony was Alec’s brother Stephen Baldwin;

actress Anne Heche, who starred with Alec onstage in the 2004 revival of the play “Twentieth Century” (Anne looked absolutely amazing in person, by the way, and I absolutely fell in love with the jacket she was wearing);

Megan Mullally, who spoke during the ceremony;

Megan’s husband, Nick Offerman, who plays Ron Swanson on the television series Parks and Recreation;

Jack McBrayer, who plays the belovedly daft Kenneth Parcell on 30 Rock;

and the two commentators pictured above, whose names I cannot for the life of me remember.

Alec’s ceremony got started right on time, with an introduction by Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leron Gubler.

Then Megan Mullally gave a brief speech honoring Alec. Unfortunately, because of where I was standing, I could not hear most of what was said, but what I did hear was incredibly funny. She even had Alec Baldwin doubled over with laughter at one point, as you can see in the above photograph.

Megan explained that she first met Alec when he guest-starred as a government agent with whom her character, Karen Walker, had an affair on the hit television show Will & Grace. She also stated that Alec got his start in soap operas, which was fortuitous considering his personal life in recent years. Winking smile And she informed the crowd that Alec had three beloved brothers – “Shawn, Damon, and Keenan Ivory” LOL – who all followed in his footsteps by “becoming handsome”.

After Megan’s speech, Alec took to the stage and unfortunately I could not hear any of what he said. Such a shame, too, as he had the fans situated at the front of the ceremony in hysterics.

After the ceremony was over, all of the stars who were in attendance headed over to the fan area to start signing autographs – all of the stars, that is, except for Jack McBrayer, who left the premises pretty much immediately and headed into Beso Restaurant where the after-party was being held. Jack refused to sign any autographs or take any pictures on his way out, which was highly disappointing as I absolutely LOVE him on 30 Rock. Sadly, he did not seem at all nice or friendly. There was a group of three teenage girls standing next to me who were HUGE fans of his who at one point yelled out to him, “Be our Valentine, Jack McBrayer!”, but he refused to look their way or even acknowledge them in any way, which I thought was pretty crappy.

He did give a very brief wave to the crowd on his way out, but, other than that, there was no attempt on his part to be friendly to the fans at any point during the event.

After Alec finished giving interviews to the press, he walked over to the crowd and spent quite a bit of time signing autographs.

Sadly though, he only came over to our section for a brief moment and only took one photograph – with Pinky! – so I unfortunately did not get a picture with him. You can check out Pinky’s photograph with Alec on her blog here.

BUT Megan Mullally came over shortly thereafter and signed autographs for and took pictures with absolutely everyone who wanted one . . .

. . . including me! YAY! Megan was SUPER nice and SUPER friendly and I could NOT have been more excited to meet her! (I had to take the above photograph myself, which is why it is such an extreme close up.)

Anne Heche came over immediately following Megan and also stopped to pose for photographs with and to sign autographs for absolutely everyone who wanted them. She was also incredibly nice and took her time speaking with all of the fans. I really should have taken the opportunity to ask her where she had purchased her amazingly cute coat, but I was far too nervous to actually do so!

Nick Offerman walked over next and was easily the friendliest out of the bunch. SUCH an incredibly nice and seemingly down-to-earth guy.

And even though I have never seen an episode of Parks and Recreation, I absolutely LOVE Nick now. What a complete and total sweetheart!

Alec’s star is pictured above.

On a side note – Fellow stalkers/Drew Barrymore aficionados Ashley and Anne, of the Drewseum website, got to meet up with their celebrity hero this past Friday and their story is nothing short of A-MA-ZING! I literally could NOT tear myself away from my BlackBerry while reading it. I HIGHLY recommend reading about their incredibly touching and memorable encounter with Drew on their website here. LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Alec Baldwin’s Walk of Fame star can be found outside of Beso Restaurant, which is located at 6350 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

February 15, 2011February 15, 2011

Crossroads of the World from “Dexter”

Before I get started, I’d like to give a big birthday shout-out to my beloved Grandma, who turns 86 today. Happy Birthday, Grandma! I love you! And now, on with the post! One location that I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to stalk while in the Hollywood area a few weeks back was Crossroads of the World, a historic Hollywood landmark which was featured in the Season 5 episode of Dexter titled “Practically Perfect”, among numerous other productions, including L.A. Confidential and Indecent Proposal. I had actually driven by Crossroads of the World countless times over the past ten-plus years that I have lived in Los Angeles and had even known of the place’s legendary filming history, but for whatever reason had never stalked it. So, after I noticed the historic property pop up on Dexter last October, I added the place to my extensive and ever-growing To-Stalk list and finally made it out there a couple of weeks ago.

Crossroads of the World was first opened in 1936 and is often credited as the U.S.’ first outdoor shopping center. It was built in the Streamline Moderne-style – a type of Art Deco design which features nautical elements – by architect Robert V. Derrah, who also designed the the Coca-Cola Building and the Southern California Gas Company Building, both in Downtown Los Angeles. The theme of the two and a half acre property, which opened to the public on October 29th, 1936, was envisioned by Ella Crawford, the widow of real estate mogul and racketeer Charlie Crawford, as a port-of-call, a “cultural and business center offering an experience like taking a trip around the world”. The marketplace was built to look like a large ocean liner docked at an international village and incorporated Spanish, Mediterranean, Moorish, Cape Cod, and Old English design elements.

The village section of Crossroads of the World, which can be found at the rear of the property on Selma Avenue, very closely resembles Fantasy Land at Disneyland.

There is even a wishing well, a la Snow White’s wishing well at Disneyland, situated in the village area! Which is highly ironic being that Crossroad’s of the World ship building was recreated in part at the Disney Hollywood Studios section of Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, which you can see a photograph of here.

Crossroad’s most prominent and recognizable feature is its sixty-foot-tall tower which is capped off with a revolving eight-foot-tall neon globe. The property, which is no longer a shopping center but currently serves as an office park, became a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1974 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Such luminaries as Alfred Hitchcock, Walter Heider, Randolph Duke, Tim Burton, and Rob Lowe have all had offices there at one time or another.

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In the “Practically Perfect” episode of Dexter, Crossroads of the World stood in for the supposed Miami-area Hungry Dog Diner at which Dexter Morgan (aka Michael C. Hall) spies on, and then has lunch with, serial killer Boyd Fowler (aka Shawn Hatosy).

The Dexter episode was filmed in the northwest corner of Crossroads of the World. Dexter was sitting just outside of Suite 1521 at a prop table that was brought in just for the filming.

The Hungry Dog Diner was set up in a vacant storefront just across from where Dexter was sitting in the scene.

The Hush-Hush Magazine office where gossip reporter Sid Hudgens (aka Danny DeVito) worked in the 1997 movie L.A. Confidential is located just around the corner from where Dexter was filmed.

His corner office is numbered 1523 and is located next to the center’s parking lot area.

The real estate office where Diana Murphy (aka Demi Moore) worked in 1993’s Indecent Proposal is also located at Crossroads of the World.

Diana worked in Suite 1500, which can be found in the rounded portion of the center’s ship building in the southern-most section of the property.

The water fountain that was visible behind John Gage (aka Robert Redford) in the scene in which he visits Diana at her office can be found at the southern-most tip of the property near the center’s main entrance on Sunset Boulevard.

The office where Ford Fairlane (aka Andrew Dice Clay) worked in The Adventures of Ford Fairlane was also located at Crossroads of the World, on the second floor of the property’s ship building.

The center’s front office area, which was the same area used in Indecent Proposal, was even made to look like a gym for the movie.

You can see a complete list of productions that have been filmed at Crossroads of the World on the property’s official website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Crossroads of the World is located at 6671 West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the property’s official website here. The Hungry Dog Diner from Dexter was located in the vacant storefront across from the office numbered 1521 and is denoted with a blue arrow in the above aerial view. The area where Dexter was sitting in the episode is denoted with a pink “X”. Suite number 1523 was used as Sid Hudgens’ office in L.A. Confidential and is marked with a purple arrow in the above aerial view. And finally, Diana’s office in Indecent Proposal was Suite 1500, which comprises the entire circular area located under the center’s tower and globe. The door she used to enter and exit her office is marked with a light pink arrow in the above aerial view.

April 22, 2009April 22, 2009

Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony

Got a call from my good friend Blaze on Monday morning who told me that Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony was scheduled to be held the following day at Mann’s Chinese Theatre. So, of course, we made plans to attend. 🙂 I was incredibly excited to see a handprint ceremony in person, not so much because I am a huge fan of Hugh Jackman, but because the event is so historic. That being said, Hugh Jackman is an AMAZING talent and he completely rocked this year’s Oscars, so I was pretty excited about seeing him in person, too. But truth be told, I would have been excited to see just about anyone. 🙂

The Hand and Footprint Ceremonies, or Inductions into the Forecourt of the Stars as they are also called, take place fairly rarely. Previous to yesterday’s ceremony, the last movie star to be immortalized in cement was Michael Caine on July 11, 2008. In 2007, there were three induction ceremonies, one for the cast of Ocean’s 13 (Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and producer Jerry Weintraub), one for the stars of the Harry Potter movies (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint), and one for superstar Will Smith. So, I really could not have been more floored to attend! Sadly, though, the event was incredibly disappointing! Even more so for me because I had been so excited about it. 🙁 As you can see in the above photograph, the ceremony was slated to begin at 10 a.m. But that’s not really what happened.

Blaze and I showed up to Mann’s Chinese Theatre at around 8:30 a.m. to stake out a place in line. By that time there were already about a hundred people lined up. Within an hour, about 500 more people arrived. Who knew Hugh was so huge! Needless to say, the event was packed. Right around 9:30 a.m., we were led to a set of bleachers which had been set up in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard. Now, even though it was only 9:30 in the morning, the temperature had already reached 90 degrees! For those of you who don’t live in the area, L.A. has been experiencing a bit of a heat wave the past few days. And the bleachers were located in direct sunlight, so, let me tell you, it was HOT. I’m actually surprised that no one passed out, it was that hot. At around 10:15 when the ceremony had not yet begun, I was starting to feel a bit woozy. At 10:25 I was ready to pack up and call it a day.

At 10:32, when a group of men started hanging a sign at the foot of the stage, I was ready to scream! The ceremony was set to start at 10 and 32 minutes after the fact they are still hanging signs???? I took the above photos of some nimrod with a tape measure who was trying to center the sign correctly, just to make sure it was all really happening and I wasn’t suffering from some heat-induced hallucination. LOL I don’t have a lot of patience to begin with, so for me this was torture. And I LIVE for this sort of thing! So, I can only imagine how the people in attendance who weren’t quite so into the whole Hollywood thing were dealing. When I attended the Friday the 13th premiere back in February, everything went off without a hitch, so I was really surprised at how disorganized this event was.

Anyway, the event FINALLY got underway right at 11 a.m., exactly one hour past the scheduled start time. Just a few minutes before Hugh was introduced, six men walked out carrying the cement block Hugh would soon be standing in. I couldn’t believe it took six men to hold it!!!!

Then, Jay Leno, who was emceeing the event, came out and made a very brief speech introducing Hugh. Jay was much larger than I expected him to be and seemed to have on a ton of makeup. Jay said that Hugh is one of the nicest celebs he’s ever had on his show. He said that you can tell a lot about a person from how they treat the people working behind the scenes in show business, and that Hugh is always extremely kind to everyone from the makeup crew to the production staff at The Tonight Show.

Then, finally, Hugh came out! HJ is very good-looking and VERY tall – 6’2″ according to IMDB – in person. He is in excellent shape, too. Hugh posed for some quick media photographs before heading over to the podium to make a speech.

In his speech, which was also very brief, Hugh said that about 12 years ago when he and his wife first moved to L.A., they visited Mann’s Chinese Theatre and he put his hands in Peter Sellers handprints, which I thought was really cute. Maybe someday I’ll be up at that very podium saying that I once put my hands in Marilyn Monroe’s handprints. 🙂

Hugh also thanked his wife and two children who were in attendance. Apparently, Hugh’s nine year old son told him he would only come to the ceremony if Daddy promised not to make a long, boring speech. LOL

Also in attendance at the ceremony was 20th Century Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng.

Then came the moment we’d all been waiting for – the handprints! It was actually pretty bizarre to see the handprint process in person, as three men were actually surrounding Hugh the whole time, physcially guiding him through it. You can see in the above photographs how the two men on either side of him actually placed his hands in the cement for him and then held them down. What was also odd was that he had to leave his hands in the cement for a good minute before taking them out. I’m not sure if that was strictly so that the media in attendance had time to snap photographs or if it had something to do with the time it takes for cement to set.

It was very apparent how excited Hugh was to be recieving this honor. His grin was absolutely HUGE. So cute! 🙂

Then, HJ signed his name in the cement with a little wooden stick, which he ended up giving to someone in the crowd. 🙂

Then, this time with the help of four men, Hugh placed his feet in the cement.

As with his hands, Hugh also had to keep his feet in the cement for quite a long time – at least one full minute.

As he was wiping his feet off, one of the fans in the bleachers called out “Can I have your shoes?” LOL Hugh said no to that one, though. I’ve heard that Mann’s actually provides the shoes that celebrities wear during the footprint ceremony, but in this case it appeared that HJ wore his own shoes. They didn’t look new.

After his feet and hands had been immortalized in cement, Jay and Hugh returned to the podium and thanked everyone for coming. At that point Hugh turned to the bleachers and thanked all of his fans, whom he said he knew he wouldn’t be here without. And that was pretty much it. All in all the ceremony took about ten minutes. LOL

And literally the second it was over, Jay Leno was out of there!! He pretty much immediately dashed off stage and into a waiting car without signing any fan autographs. 🙁 I think that had a lot to do with the heat, though. As you can see in the above photograph, Jay looks as if he’s about to wilt. Check out his hair! LOL

After the ceremony was over, Hugh announced he was going to sign autographs for the many fans in attendance. I was extermely impressed by this being that it was so darn hot outside. Blaze and I didn’t stick around for an autograph, but instead walked to a nearby grocery store to buy some much needed bottled water. Twenty minutes later, as we made our way back to Mann’s, Hugh was STILL there signing autographs!! He seemed like a genuinely appreciative, kind, and humble guy. And while it was extremely exciting for me to see a hand and footprint ceremony in person, I don’t know that I’d ever do it again. 🙁 Well, maybe if it was for my girl Jen. But even then I’d have to think long and hard about attending.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mann’s Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. Hugh Jackman’s handprints and footprints are currently on display in the center of the Chinese Theatre’s Forecourt to the Stars.