Laura Dern – IAMNOTASTALKER

August 7, 2019August 8, 2019

The Filming Locations of “Big Little Lies” Season 2 – “Tell-Tale Hearts”

“Tell-Tale Hearts,” the second episode of Big Little Lies’ second season, boasts some of the series’ most quotable, meme-worthy moments, largely thanks to the inimitable Renata Klein (Laura Dern) – “Will somebody give a woman a moment??” It also features some of the show’s most memorable locales [the forest where Bonnie Carlson (Zoë Kravitz) hikes with her mom, amirite?], the majority of which are detailed below. (I am still missing a few, which I will add in as they are found.) As was the case with Monday’s post about sites from episode 1, “What Have They Done?”, since I have already chronicled filming of BLL’s inaugural season extensively, I will not be covering flashbacks. And places that appear in multiple episodes will be mentioned as such, so expect some crossover.

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1. Celeste’s Accident (Skyline Drive, just west of Mar Vista Drive, Monterey) – In the episode’s opener, Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) gets into an Ambien- induced accident on a tree-lined span of Skyline Drive in Monterey and has to be rescued by Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon).

As they drive away from the accident, Celeste and Madeline run into Bonnie, out for an early morning hike, on Skyline Road, a bit north of where it intersects with Shepherds Place.

2. Gordon’s Arrest (Malibu Country Mart, 3835 Cross Creek Road, Malibu) – Life starts to fall apart for Renata and her husband, Gordon Klein (Jeffrey Nordling), at the top of “Tell-Tale Hearts,” shortly after the two grab a beverage at SunLife Organics juice bar in the Malibu Country Mart.

While walking to their car, drinks in hand, Gordon is approached by the FBI and arrested for securities fraud outside of Kron Chocolatier. Both shops featured in the segment are situated in the center of the plaza, on Cross Creek Road in between Civic Center Way and the Pacific Coast Highway – though it took me a beat to figure that out. The Country Mart bears such an uncanny resemblance to Monterey’s Del Monte Shopping Center that at first blush I was convinced the shoot had taken place on the Central Coast. It was not until I took a closer look that I realized filming actually occurred in the ‘Bu.

3. Celeste’s House (40 Yankee Point Drive, Carmel) – The gorgeous home where Celeste lives, featured throughout both Seasons 1 and 2, is an actual Monterey residence. In “Tell-Tale Hearts,” the front of the property, garage, driveway, kitchen, dining room, rear patio and living room all appear.

4. Monterey Bay Aquarium (886 Cannery Row, Monterey) – While on their lunch break at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Corey Brockfield (Douglas Smith) asks Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) out on a “practice date.” Spoiler – she shuts him down due to the fact that he is “very strange.” [Couldn’t agree more, Jane! Bring back Tom (Joseph Cross)!] Per the aquatic museum’s website, one of the facility’s actual employee lounges was used for the scene.

5. Gordon’s Jail (Spring Street Courthouse, 312 North Spring Street, downtown Los Angeles) – Renata visits Gordon in jail, gets held up by a metal detector, spews some choice epithets at a security guard, and famously proclaims “I will not NOT be rich!” at downtown L.A.’s Spring Street Courthouse.

Comically, while the scene was supposed to take place in Monterey, a sign reading “Los A . . . “ (I can only assume the rest of it spells out “ngeles”), is visible in the background, giving away the site’s true location.

Gordon’s hearing is also held at the Spring Street Courthouse later in the episode.

6. Liberation Yoga (124 South La Brea Avenue, Hancock Park) – Bonnie receives a surprise – and unwelcome – visit from her mother, Elizabeth Howard (Crystal Fox), at the supposed Monterey-area yoga studio she owns. Filming actually took place in Hancock Park, at Liberation Yoga, the same spot used as Bonnie’s studio in Season 1.

7. Bonnie and Nathan’s House (636 Crater Camp Drive, Calabasas) – Bonnie and Nathan Carlson (James Tupper) argue about Elizabeth’s stay in the backyard of their supposed Central Coast home, which, in reality, can be found a good 300 miles south of Monterey in Calabasas. The same idyllic spot also portrayed the couple’s residence in Season 1.

8. Café Descanso (Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge – Renata spills the tea about her money troubles to Madeline at Café Descanso, the women’s regular Season 2 hangout.

Nathan also challenges Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) to a fight at the eatery, which is located on the grounds of Descanso Gardens, later in the episode. You can read an in-depth post I wrote on the location here.

9. Otter Bay Elementary School (Kenter Canyon Elementary School, 645 North Kenter Avenue, Brentwood) – Kenter Canyon Elementary pops up as Otter Bay, the school attended by the Monterey 5’s children, in virtually every episode of Season 1 and 2. In “Tell-Tale Hearts,” the facility’s front entrance, a classroom and main quad all appear.

10. Bonnie and Elizabeth’s Hike (Old Coast Road, south of Bixby Creek Bridge, Big Sur) – Elizabeth attempts to have a heart-to-heart with Bonnie on a majestic wooded stretch of Old Coast Road in Big Sur. The absolutely magical spot is also where Bonnie runs in episode 1, “What Have They Done?”

11. Celeste and Perry’s Date Flashback (Melrose Umbrella Co., 7465 Melrose Avenue, Fairfax) – In “Tell-Tale Hearts,” a grieving Celeste reminisces about happier times with Perry Wright (Alexander Skarsgård), more specifically one of their early dates in which they discuss their families. Though virtually none of the date restaurant can be seen, the tiered booth edge visible behind Celeste is a giveaway that the segment was shot at Melrose Umbrella Co.

12. Madeline and Ed’s House (30760 Broad Beach Road, Malibu) – The Cape Cod-style residence where Madeline and Ed live makes its first Season 2 appearance in “Tell-Tale Hearts.” Interestingly, the locale is a mash-up of a couple different places. The interior and backyard are part of a sprawling Malibu retreat, which you, too, can call home! Well, for a night or two, at least – the property operates as a vacation rental in real life. (I wrote a full-length post on it here.) The front of the house (seen in “She Knows,” as well as a few S1 episodes) is on the Central Coast at 2830 14th Avenue in Carmel.

13. Jane’s Apartment (Ocean Harbor, 125 Surf Way, Monterey) – Jane tells Ziggy Chapman (Iain Armitage) the truth about his father and later invites Celeste and the twins, Josh (Cameron Crovetti) and Max (Nicholas Crovetti), over for a family gettogether at her new Ocean Harbor apartment in “Tell-Tale Hearts.” Only the interior of the space (which I believe was a set) appears in the episode. The exterior of the complex is not shown until episode 3, “The End of the World.”

14. Blissful Drip Café (Lovers Point Park, 631 Ocean View Boulevard, Pacific Grove) – Jane and Celeste meet to discuss the newfound complications of their children’s relationship at Blissful Drip Café, which, along with Café Descanso, serves as a regular hangout in Season 2. As I documented here, the open air coffee shop is not a real place, but was a temporary set constructed solely for the series at Lovers Point Park.

15. Renata Ditches Gordon (General Jim Moore Boulevard, Seaside) – In what has to be my favorite scene from the season, Renata blows her top at Gordon while driving him home from prison and winds up leaving him by the side of a hilly, lush road, her hand lifted through the sunroof in a not-so-subtle gesture. The hilarious segment (which you can watch here – warning, it is definitely NSFW!) was lensed on General Jim Moore Boulevard, slightly north of Hilby Road, in Seaside.

Be sure to check back Friday for locales from episode 3, “The End of the World.”

July 26, 2019July 27, 2019

Seaside Coffee Shop from “Big Little Lies”

My favorite filming location find from this season of Big Little Lies isn’t actually a filming location at all! Back on March 19th, 2018, shortly after shooting of S2 commenced, Reese Witherspoon posted an Instagram photo of herself sitting in front of the supposed Central Coast-area Seaside Coffee Shop with costar Laura Dern, captioning, “Watch out, Monterey, here we come! #BLL2.” Being that it was pretty much the first image of the season to be released, it naturally sent fans’ tongues wagging. I, for one, was practically drooling with anticipation upon seeing it! I also, of course, wanted to know exactly where the pic had been taken. I assumed (correctly) that Seaside Coffee Shop was not an actual eatery, but a mocked-up storefront. Because the series utilizes both the Central Coast and Southern California, though, I had no idea where to even begin looking. Figuring (incorrectly) that the café would appear in a scene during the upcoming season and I’d be better able to track it down then, I put my quest on the back burner. While it never did pop up onscreen, I was, thankfully, able to ID it anyway. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times – stalking begets stalking! The morning after the premiere, titled “What Have They Done?”, aired, I went on the hunt for its locations and quickly pinpointed the real estate office where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Witherspoon) works as the Deasy Penner Podley brokerage firm situated on the bottom floor of Hotel Shirley in Sierra Madre. It was the coloring of the building that I recognized and, as soon as I did, a lightbulb went off in my head as I realized that Seaside Coffee Shop could be found in the same spot!

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While Hotel Shirley’s northern street-level storefront (on the left-hand side below) portrayed Madeline’s real estate office (as denoted in this post), Seaside Coffee Shop was erected next door in the southern unit.

During my stalk of both locales back in late June, I asked the incredibly friendly Deasy Penner Podley agents about the Seaside Coffee Shop set (which they were shocked I had identified). They informed me that at the time of the Big Little Lies shoot, the space was vacant and that they believed it was not utilized for any filming, but created solely for the background of the various scenes taking place at Madeline’s office. Aside from Reese’s Instagram (and Laura Dern’s), though, the place was never seen – in the background or otherwise – so I guess whatever was shot in its vicinity wound up on the cutting room floor.

Today, the storefront is home to Capelli Court Salon.

It is a shame that it never appeared onscreen because the charming little shop would have been a welcome addition to the rather lackluster landscape of Season 2.

Reese did post a second image taken at the locale to Instagram on June 10 of this year, the day after “What Have They Done?” aired, saying “Pull up a chair! Let’s spill some #BLL tea from last night’s premiere!”, so I guess she found it pretty picturesque, too.

Even though Seaside Coffee Shop was never used for a scene, I was thrilled to finally be able to ID and stalk it!

The fictional café was created in the Capelli Court space’s northern window.

To complete the look, the site was dressed with signage, curtains, flowers in the window planter, and a bistro set.

I was ecstatic to discover a table and chairs set up on the sidewalk a stone’s throw away from Capelli Court’s exterior when I showed up to stalk the place. While the table was too heavy for me to move into position, I did pull one of the chairs over to pose à la Reese.

Even without the chair and other café adornments, though, the locale is still extremely recognizable – a little slice of Monterey right here in L.A. for BLL fans to enjoy!

The interior of the Capelli Court site was utilized by another HBO series, as well. In the Season 1 episode of Camping titled “Going to Town,” which aired in 2018, Jandice (Juliette Lewis) and Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto) shop for a ring at a fictional antique store the production created in the then-vacant space.

Though the front of the shop did not appear in the episode, the rear entrance could briefly be seen.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The fictional Seaside Coffee Shop from Big Little Lies was created in the storefront that now houses Capelli Court Salon at 26 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. Deasy Penner Podley, aka Madeline’s real estate office from the show, is next door at 30 North Baldwin Avenue. Several other sites from Season 2 can be found on the same block including the Starbucks at 1 Kersting Court, where Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositioned Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) in “The Bad Mother” and where Renata Klein (Dern) lashed out at Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) in “I Want to Know”, and Mother Moo Creamery at 17 Kersting Court, where Madeline threw an ice cream cone at Mary Louise in a scene that was ultimately cut.

July 24, 2019July 27, 2019

Madeline’s Real Estate Office from “Big Little Lies”

I try to keep things positive on this blog, but, man, Sunday night’s Big Little Lies finale was an epic disappointment! The entire season was hugely lackluster, truth be told, which is especially frustrating considering the outright perfection of Season 1. I will contend that the first few episodes started out semi-promising, but the show quickly made an about-face, jumping the shark not long after Renata Klein’s (Laura Dern) “I will not NOT be rich!” jailhouse proclamation. My friend Jennifer summed things up perfectly when she messaged me Monday morning saying, “This entire season felt like it was a bunch of shots composed of the following: the same flashbacks over and over again; waves; shaky cam footage with low-to-no sound; driving shots. That was the meat and potatoes of the season, and the dessert was the one or two shots each episode that didn’t fall into those categories.” The locations proved just as mediocre as the rest of the season (again, especially disappointing considering those of S1), but I still have quite a few left in my arsenal to blog about including the real estate office where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) worked. So here goes!

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The supposed Monterey-area Sotheby’s where Madeline is employed first appeared in Season 2’s premiere, “What Have They Done?” (How Madeline went from being the director of a community theater in Season 1 to a real estate agent in Season 2 was never explained – like so many of the other changes made – but I guess that is beside the point.)

I did not recognize the office when initially watching the episode the night it aired back in June, but while scanning through it the following morning on the hunt for locales, I noticed the bright green and orange coloring of its exterior, shown fleetingly as Madeline walks inside, and knew immediately that filming had taken place at Hotel Shirley in Sierra Madre.

Thanks to my many visits to Sierra Madre when I lived in nearby Pasadena, I have long been familiar with the two-story structure, which is a focal point of the city’s quaint downtown.

Though one of the area’s Historical Landmarks, oddly, I could not find much information about Hotel Shirley’s background online.

Per the sign displayed out front, the building dates back to 1889 when it served as the headquarters of Hawks & Copps Real Estate and Insurance. In 1911, it was rebuilt as Hotel Shirley, a lodging for visitors to Mt. Wilson described by newspapers of the day as an “ideal summer resort in the mountains” boasting “fine cuisine” as well as having “no fleas or mosquitoes” – always a plus. In later years, the property became everything from a church meeting hall to a grocer to a house of ill repute before finally being purchased by local realtor Judy Webb-Martin in 1994. She set about restoring the structure to operate, in part, as her brokerage firm, a project which took five years to complete. Being that Hawks & Copps was the city’s first real estate office, the site really has come full circle. You can check out a short video Judy put together about the building’s provenance, which is where the black and white still below comes from, here.

Big Little Lies made use of the north side of Hotel Shirley’s lower level which, in real life, is home to the Sierra Madre outpost of the Deasy Penner Podley brokerage firm.

I ran out to stalk the place shortly after its appearance in “What Have They Done?” and was thrilled to be wholeheartedly welcomed by the agents present, all of whom expressed my same affinity for the show. How exciting it must have been for them to witness a beloved series come to life right before their very eyes in their very workspace and to share the same air with such esteemed stars as Witherspoon, Dern, and Meryl-freaking-Streep! My new friends even allowed me to take pictures of the office’s interior and showed me exactly where filming had taken place!

As you can imagine, I was like a kid in a candy store, snapping away!

Deasy Penner Podley is also where Renata rants to Madeline about Otter Bay Elementary School Principal Warren Nippal (P.J. Byrne) in the episode titled “The End of the World.” According to the employees I spoke with, the office’s actual furnishings were used in the shoot, though the site has since been remodeled slightly with the black desks swiped out for natural wood versions and the back wall painted green instead of blue. Several pieces were also moved out for the shoot to give the space more openness, but otherwise, it is very recognizable from its onscreen appearance.

The Deasy Penner Podley agents also informed me that a third scene was shot at the office, but like so much of the footage from Season 2, it wound up on the cutting room floor.

Thanks to the Dear Old Hollywood website, I learned that Hotel Shirley is visible in the background of the 1956 drama Strange Intruder in the scene in which Paul Quentin (Edmund Purdom) catches a bus to leave town. (That’s it in the top left of both screen captures below.)

The Hotel can also briefly be seen in the Season 1 episode of Camping titled “Going to Town,” which aired in 2018.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Until next time, Happy Stalking ! Smile

Stalk It: Deasy Penner Podley, aka Madeline’s real estate office from Big Little Lies, is located on the bottom level of Hotel Shirley at 30 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. The Starbucks where Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositioned Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) in the episode titled “The Bad Mother” and where Renata lashed out at Mary Louise Wright (Streep) in “I Want to Know” can be found across the street at 1 Kersting Court. And Mother Moo Creamery, where Madeline runs into Mary Louise in “Kill Me” – and where she was supposed to throw an ice cream cone at her -is up the road at 17 Kersting Court.

July 30, 2018July 29, 2018

The House from Ben Affleck’s “Men’s Journal” Photo Shoot

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times – I hate incorrect filming location information! I recently encountered some erroneous reporting which led me to stalk a site that, come to find out, does not actually have any movie or television connections (at least, none that I could dig up). Hmph! Because the property has played host to a couple of celebrity photo shoots, though, and is an absolutely stunning example of 1960s architecture, I figured it was still worthy of a blog post. So here goes. Back in June, a fellow stalker named Manon emailed me a link to a house featured in an online film locations database asking me to identify it. When I read in the description that the pad had not only appeared in the original 1960 Ocean’s 11 movie, but a James Bond flick from the same era, I just about hyperventilated. Images of the place showing the property in all of its retro glory, with decorative wood screens, bright orange front doors and a rock-walled fireplace, only served to further my intrigue. So I immediately set about tracking it down.

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Fortunately, finding this particular locale was a snap thanks to a street sign reading “Devlin Drive” that was visible in one of the images featured online. I simply headed to Google Street View, inputted “Devlin Drive, Los Angeles,” and began scanning through the various houses located there. I came across the right pad at 1344 Devlin Drive in Hollywood Hills West mere minutes later, promptly added the address to my To-Stalk List and visited it while in L.A. shortly thereafter, without doing any further research on the subject.

It was not until I sat down to start penning this post that I discovered the home was not actually featured in Ocean’s 11 – or James Bond.

Though the place would undeniably fit perfectly into either flick, I scanned through the original Ocean’s 11 TWICE and did not see it anywhere.

I also scanned through every 1960s James Bond flick that did any filming in California (as it turns out there aren’t many) and did not see the house pop up at all, so I believe that information is also incorrect.

I am still glad to have seen the striking pad in person nonetheless. Originally built in 1960 by Bray Architects, the gorgeous mid-century-style residence boasts 2 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,500 square feet of living space, a natural rock double fireplace, floor to ceiling glass windows, 0.37 acres of land, a terrace, and a garden.

Some of the interior is visible through the massive front windows and I was practically drooling upon seeing it.

The home is such a relic, I half-expected Don Draper to come waltzing into view casually sipping a martini.

Considering its authentic retro aesthetic, I am fairly certain the pad has appeared in a production or two at some point, but, surprisingly, I could not find any cinematic ties to the place in all of my research.

It has been the site of a few photo shoots, though. Ben Affleck posed at the house for the cover of the December 2017 issue of Men’s Journal magazine. The caps below come from some behind-the-scenes videos shot the day of the shoot which you can watch here and here.

Laura Dern was also photographed there for the May 2018 issue of Rhapsody magazine.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Manon for asking me to find this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The house from Ben Affleck’s photo shoot for the December 2017 issue of Men’s Journal magazine is located at 1344 Devlin Drive in Hollywood Hills West.