Los Angeles attractions – Page 4

February 2, 2010February 2, 2010

The Standard Hotel Rooftop Bar in Downtown Los Angeles

Another Fracture filming location that I recently stalked – without actually realizing it – was the Standard Hotel’s Rooftop Bar in Downtown L.A. I say “without actually realizing it” because at the time I stalked the place I had no idea it was a filming location. I ended up there while on the way to the Los Angeles airport where I was dropping off my good friends from Switzerland who were flying home after a two week visit. I thought it would be nice to stop for a cocktail at an L.A. hot spot before their flight took off and so I got to Googling, whereupon I found a myriad of websites all touting the amazing views that could be found at the Standard’s rooftop watering hole. So, we made a pit stop there before heading to LAX and, as fate would have it, the place turned out to be the PERFECT spot for my friends to bid their farewells to Los Angeles.

Downtown L.A.’s Standard Hotel opened up in May of 2002 and was the brainchild of famed hotelier Andre Balazs, the same man who gave us New York’s Mercer Hotel, the original Standard Hotel in West Hollywood, and the updated version of Hollywood’s legendary Chateau Marmont. The twelve story building now known as the Standard was originally built in 1952 and housed the Southern California headquarters of Superior Oil. The structure, which was designed by architect Claude Beelman, had stood vacant for over a decade when Balazs purchased it in 2000. He left most of the original architectural details intact, including the two-story lobby area’s stainless steel time zone clock which displays the times of 15 different countries and stands at over ten feet tall, the oil mining frieze located above the entrance doors, a pair of escalators (left over from when Union Bank of California occupied the building), the black and white marble flooring, and the original S-shaped door handles. To that he added shag carpeting, an absolutely enormous digital wall hanging, a sunken lounge area, an outdoor fire pit, a 125 foot long couch designed by Vladimir Kagan, and a foosball table station situated next to the valet desk. It’s retro-modern decor at its finest! The Standard’s piece de resistance, though, is its 1,220 square foot Rooftop Bar, which features astro-turf, a heated swimming pool, outdoor sofas, a dance floor, numerous topiaries, vibrating waterbeds, movies which are projected onto the walls of neighboring buildings, red plastic “pod” gazebos, Verner Panton-designed furniture, a fab menu and a full bar.

Oh, and did I mention the view? Yes, the bar also features an absolutely breath-taking, awe-inspiring view of Downtown Los Angeles.

So breath-taking and awe-inspiring, in fact, that it’s almost impossible to do anything but stare out at the skyline while there. The above photograph was taken of my friend Stephanie while at the bar and it perfectly encapsulates how one feels while visiting the place. 🙂 Of the hotel, Travel + Leisure Magazine said it is “Los Angeles like you have never seen it before.” My sentiments exactly!

The Standard Rooftop Bar is such a unique spot that it became an almost immediate celebrity magnet. Stars such as Owen Wilson, Charlize Theron, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Mark Wahlberg, Lara Flynn Boyle, Moby, Nicolas Cage, and Sophia Coppola have all been spotted hanging out there. And I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place enough! Whether you’re a native Angelino or a first-time visitor to Southern California, I can’t think of a better place from which to enjoy the City of Angels.

Due to its unique architecture and unparalleled views of the city, the Standard has become a frequent filming location. In Fracture, the Standard’s Rooftop Bar is featured very briefly as the spot where Willy Beachum (aka Ryan Gosling) meets up with Nikki Gardner (aka Rosamund Pike) after losing his court case against Ted Crawford (aka Anthony Hopkins).

The bar was also featured in the Season 3 episode of Entourage entitled “Strange Days” as the spot where Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly) meets up with Sloane’s best friend Tori (aka Malin Akerman).

In Collateral, Jamie Foxx “borrows” a stranger’s cell phone while out in front of the Standard’s main entrance. And last, but not least, the hotel was also where Robert Downey Jr. stayed in the 2005 movie Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which I unfortunately don’t own a copy of.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Standard Hotel is located at 550 South Flower Street in Downtown Los Angeles. You can visit their website here.

January 25, 2010January 25, 2010

Sarah Silverman’s Apartment Building from “The Sarah Silverman Program”

A few months back, I got an email from a fellow stalker named Kate who wanted to know if I could track down the apartment building where Sarah Silverman lives on The Sarah Silverman Program. Kate had heard on one of the show’s DVD commentaries that the building was located somewhere in Hollywood in close proximity to Paramount Studios, where the series is taped. Because I had never watched an episode of The Sarah Silverman Program – although I did see one being filmed 🙂 – for this particular stalking venture I had to call for reinforcements – i.e. fellow stalker Owen. 🙂 Like the blonde that I am, though, in the email I originally sent him asking for his help, I accidentally told him that the building was located near Universal Studios, instead of Paramount! Oops!!! Brain blips like that are quite common for me, I’m afraid, and they drive me – and those around me – crazy! Anyway, Owen spent quite a bit of time searching in the Universal Studios area (I still feel bad about that!), until I realized my mistake and informed him. Well, it wasn’t 20 minutes later that he emailed me back with an address! Yes, he is the master! Seems he found the building by looking at aerial views of various neighborhoods surrounding the Paramount Lot. He first set some parameters for himself of areas to check, searched all the houses within those boundaries, but had no luck. Then he opened up the parameters a bit to the south and almost immediately found the apartment. THANK YOU, Owen! 🙂

On The Sarah Silverman Program, Sarah, along with her friends Brian Spukowski (aka Brian Posehn) and Steve Myron (aka Steve Agee), live in a Mediterranean style building supposedly located in Valley Village. In reality, though, the building, which I am happy to report looks EXACTLY the same in person as it does on the show, is located in the heart of Hollywood.

One inconsistency that I did notice, though, is that on the show, Sarah’s building has an interior hallway, as you can see in the above screen captures. But from how it appears in real life, I am fairly certain that interior hallway doesn’t actually exist. In reality, it seems that the building contains four individual apartment units, each of which can be reached via the four front doors facing the street, thus negating any need for an indoor hallway.

The above photograph is the view looking north from the front of The Sarah Silverman Program apartment building. The big white structure located behind the large hedge is Paramount Studios, so that DVD commentary wasn’t lying – the apartment is indeed located in VERY close proximity to the lot where filming takes place! 🙂

On a side note – I finally sat down to watch a few episodes of The Sarah Silverman Program before writing this post and I have to say that I wasn’t really impressed. It’s kind of an odd program. It can funny at times, but for the most part, it’s just . . . well . . . very, very odd. That’s the best word I can find to describe it. Needless to say, I most likely won’t be watching it again. And I’m actually pretty bummed I spent $4 buying the episodes on iTunes. I could have bought a cup of Starbucks coffee with that $4 – something which I am fairly certain I would have enjoyed a whole lot more than the show! 😉

Big THANK YOU to Owen for finding this location. 🙂

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Sarah Silverman’s apartment building from The Sarah Silverman Program is located at 607 North Irving Boulevard in Hollywood, just one block south of Paramount Studios.

January 20, 2010June 16, 2011

SpeedZone from “Guess Who”

This past New Year’s, my fiancé’s entire family – including his two school-age nephews – came to town to watch the Rose Parade. Before their arrival, he scoured the internet to find some fun places in the L.A. area to take the kids after the festivities were over. One of the ideas he came up with was to spend a few hours at SpeedZone in the City of Industry – an amusement park of sorts which features an array of kid-friendly fun such as go-kart racing, miniature golf, and a large arcade. I have to admit that I wasn’t actually too keen on the idea at first . . . until my fiancé told me that the place was an oft-used filming location, that is. And then I was 100 percent on board with the venue and even tried to convince everyone that we should skip the whole parade and just head straight there instead! 🙂

SpeedZone is best known for its four go kart courses, for which it recently won the LA Magazine “Best of Los Angeles 2009” – Best Go Kart Track award. Those four tracks include the Top Eliminator Dragster, where racers drive authentic 300 horsepower NHRA dragsters on a mini-track reaching speeds of 70 miles per hour in less than 3.5 seconds;

the Slick Trax – an ultra-slick polished surface course which encourages spinning and can accommodate up to 15 different drivers at the same time;

the Grand Prix – a long, single licensed-driver course based on Formula 1 and Indy Car tracks which features tight turns and a speed timer; and the Turbo Track (which I unfortunately did not get a picture of) – a course which can accommodate up to twenty drivers at a time racing in high-torque one- and two-seater cars. Not into go karts? Well, that’s OK, too, because SpeedZone also features an arcade which boasts over 100 games including numerous video games, air hockey tables, and, my personal favorite, skee ball machines. There are also two 18-hole golf-courses on the premises and a cafe which serves up pizza, sandwiches, burgers, and cocktails. Yes, you read that right, the SpeedZone Cafe has a full bar, because adults enjoy go kart racing, too, you know. 😉

While hanging out at SpeedZone, I raced on both the Top Eliminator Dragster course and the Grand Prix course and the Grand Prix was by far my favorite. I had an ABSOLUTE blast racing and actually thought I was burning up the course the whole way through . . .

. . . until I got to the end and noticed my pitiful time! Yes, the 75.249 time is mine. As you can see, two of the other racers noted on the board pictured above completed the race in almost half the amount of time it took me! LOL What can I say, I am cursed with having the opposite of a lead foot. But I had an absolute blast being there and cannot wait to go back . . . and hopefully improve my time! 🙂

SpeedZone’s most memorable cinematic appearance was in the 2005 comedy Guess Who in the scene in which overprotective father Percy Jones (aka Bernie Mac) challenges his future son-in-law Simon Green (aka Ashton Kutcher) to a little drag race on the Grand Prix track. The two get into a bit of a scuffle during the race and wind up veering off the track, through a large hedge, and straight into oncoming traffic.

Contrary to what was shown in Guess Who, though, SpeedZone does not allow two people to race on the Grand Prix track at the same time. And don’t go looking for the archway pictured above, which Bernie and Ashton drive under in the movie, either, because I could not find it anywhere, which leads me to believe that it was either a prop brought in for the filming or that it used to be a real feature of the track that was removed sometime after filming took place.

SpeedZone also stood in for Zany Town, the Chuck E. Cheese style arcade featured in the ultra-depressing Season One episode of CSI: Miami entitled “Broken”. The episode was actually filmed almost in its entirety on the SpeedZone premises.

The park’s golf area was also used in “Broken”, as the “Sir Golf-A-Lot” miniature golf course, where H and the gang finally apprehended the bad guy at the end of the episode.

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SpeedZone has also been featured in the reality shows Blind Date, Amish in the City, Average Joe, Who Wants To Marry My Dad, and Dismissed, on the game show Jeopardy, and it is set to appear in an upcoming episode of the new Melrose Place. While I was stalking SpeedZone, I just had to ask one of the employees which celebrities had visited the theme park over the years and I just about died when he told me that Jennifer Aniston had been there! Love it! I was even wearing my Team Aniston sweatshirt at the time. 🙂 Courteney Cox and David Arquette have also raced cars at the park.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: SpeedZone is located at 17871 Castleton Street in the City of Industry. You can visit their website here. Guess Who was filmed on the Grand Prix track and CSI: Miami was filmed in the Electric Alley arcade and on the Speedway miniature golf course.

January 15, 2010January 18, 2010

George’s 50’s Diner from “A Cinderella Story”

Another location at the very top of my Long Beach “To Stalk” list was the restaurant where Hilary Duff worked in fave teeny-bopper movie A Cinderella Story. In real life, that restaurant is known as George’s 50’s Diner and it is one of the last remaining diners of its kind in all of California. George’s Diner, which was originally named Grissinger’s Drive-In, first opened up in 1952. It was designed by architect Wayne McAllister, who also designed the famous Sands Casino in Las Vegas. In 1963, the Grissingers sold the drive-in to new owners who expanded and remodeled the place and dubbed it Lyman’s Coffee Shop. Shortly thereafter it was purchased by a woman named Terry, who re-named it Terry’s Coffee Shop and in 1974 made the fortuitous decision to hire as a chef a young man named George Alvarez. George worked at the restaurant for over two decades and then in 1996, decided to buy the place for himself, upon which he restored it back to its original 1952 design. He named the place George’s 50’s Diner, in honor of both himself and the restaurant’s original opening date.

In A Cinderella Story, George’s 50’s Diner stood in for the restaurant first owned by Hilary Duff’s father and then later by her evil step-mother, who was played by Jennifer Coolidge. Both the interior and the exterior of the restaurant were used extensively in the filming.

As you can see in the above photograph and screen captures, though, the place looks very, very different in person than how it appeared onscreen in the movie. In fact, it almost doesn’t even look like the same place. According to George and Helen, the diner’s INCREDIBLY nice owners, the restaurant was COMPELTELY remodeled for the filming.

A few of the changes made for the filming include: the interior walls being removed to make the diner appear much larger than it actually was, the real life counter being replaced with a new, much higher counter, all of the booths being covered over in fake pink and black leather, a false ceiling being installed, the ceiling fans being removed and new light fixtures hung, fake doors being added in numerous places, the entire kitchen being re-painted in a fake stainless steel color, and linoleum being laid over the restaurant’s real life carpet.

According to George and Helen, the interior and the exterior of the diner were actually remodeled TWICE during the filming – first for the scenes in which the restaurant was owned by Hil D’s dad . . .

. . . and then again for the scenes in which it was later owned by her evil step-mother.

Producers also brought in the big pink “Fiona’s” sign that ends up falling on Carter’s dad’s Mercedes towards the end of the movie. Phew! Sure seems like a whole lot of remodeling work to do. You’d think it would have been much easier to built a diner set on a soundstage somewhere in Hollywood for the filming. Which, according to IMDB’s A Cinderella Story trivia page, is exactly what they did. That information, however, is not accurate. According to George and Helen, all of the interior filming of the diner scenes – which took just about two weeks to complete – did indeed take place on location at George’s Diner. I’ll never understand Hollywood, I swear. 😉 Helen even has a scrapbook full of photographs of the filming, but unfortunately she didn’t have it on hand the day I stalked the place. 🙁 Oh well, I guess that just means I’ll have to go back to re-stalk it sometime! 🙂

And a little Cinderella Story trivia for you – not only did the movie star Madeline Zima, who now has a recurring role on Californication . . .

. . . but it also starred Dan Byrd who is currently playing Courteney Cox’s son Travis on Cougartown.

A Cinderella Story is not the only production to have filmed at George’s, though. Back when the restaurant was known as Terry’s Coffee Shop, the 1994 movie Corrina, Corrina filmed on the premises. It is at the drive-in diner that Whoopi Goldberg gets Tina Majorino to communicate with her for the very first time.

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George’s also appeared briefly at the very beginning of the 2007 movie Zodiac, in the scene in which Mike Mageau and his girlfriend Darlene Ferrin drive by a diner, decide it is too crowded to stay, and leave, only to be attacked by the Zodiac killer minutes later.

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George’s 50’s Diner has also been featured in the movie The Real McCoy and in several episodes of the television series Cold Case. And I honestly can’t recommend stalking the place enough!!!! The food was A-MA-ZING – especially the French fries – the retro atmosphere was truly unique, and George and Helen honestly could NOT have been nicer. I absolutely LOVED the place and will DEFINITELY be back!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: George’s 50’s Diner is located at 4390 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach. You can visit their MySpace page here.

December 23, 2009December 23, 2009

Christmas Tree Lane

Last December, I blogged about a house in Altadena known as the Balian Mansion, or, as I like to call it, the real Clark W. Griswold house (pictured above). And even though the mansion has appeared only briefly onscreen – in the movie Obsessed and in an early episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 – the house is somewhat of an institution in these parts due mainly to something that happens there each December. During the Christmas season, the Balian Family decorates their mansion with THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of twinkle lights. People literally drive from miles around to see the spectacle and, last year, the place was even written up as one of AOL’s Top Twelve Festive Holiday Homes. Anyway, in last December’s post on the Balian Mansion, I happened to mention another display of Christmas lights in the Altadena area – a one mile stretch of road named Christmas Tree Lane, which, while not a filming location, is definitely a holiday must-see. Well, one very astute reader named Allyn contacted me shortly after that post was published to let me know that Christmas Tree Lane actually is a filming location, appearing in, among other things, the 1998 teen comedy Can’t Hardly Wait. Allyn told me that the Lane popped in a scene in which the two nerd characters are shown walking along a cedar tree lined street. Ironically enough, though, even though Allyn had described the exact location AND the movie in which it was featured, this proved to be a rather difficult stalk for me. It all started yesterday morning when I popped in my Can’t Hardly Wait DVD and scanned through it TWICE, both times coming up completely empty-handed. I couldn’t seem to find a scene featuring Christmas Tree Lane ANYWHERE! It then occured to me that Allyn had perhaps mistakenly told me the wrong movie. So, I promptly started scanning through a few other teen comedies that I thought Allyn might have confused with Can’t Hardly Wait. After skipping through Not Another Teen Movie, She’s All That, and the first two American Pie flicks with absolutely no luck, I became completely perplexed. And then, like a beacon, it hit me! I needed to consult with fellow stalker Owen. Because Owen has long had a penchant for actress Jennifer Love Hewitt (JLove, are you listening??), I figured he would know the movie Can’t Hardly Wait like the back of his hand. And, sure enough, he did!

While my first instinct was that the Christmas Tree Lane segment might only have appeared in a deleted scene or an extended version of Can’t Hardly Wait, fellow stalker Owen clued me in to the fact that it actually pops up about 15 seconds after the credits start rolling at the very end of the movie. Which explains why I missed it even though I scanned through the movie TWICE! LOL In the scene, the two X-Philes, so named because they are huge X-Files fans :), are shown walking along a tree lined street in the early morning. And just as one X-Phile says to the other, “This town is so lame. Nothing exciting ever happens here.”, a UFO appears and beams the two right up. THANK YOU, OWEN! 🙂

Christmas Tree Lane is, in actuality, a mile long stretch of Santa Rosa Avenue, in between Woodbury Road and Altadena Drive, in Altadena. The road is lined with over 150 towering deodar trees which were planted by Altadena’s founder, John P. Woodbury, in 1885. Woodbury had originally seen the large-scale deodar trees during a trip to Italy and returned home to Altadena with several hundred of their seeds, which he immediately planted. After being cultivated at a ranch for two years, the trees were then deposited all along the mile long driveway leading up to Woodbury’s yet-to-built Altadena mansion. And while the mansion was never actually completed, that mile long stretch of driveway eventually became Santa Rosa Avenue, a main thoroughfare in Altadena. In 1920, a rather festive Altadena gentleman named Frederick C. Nash, along with The Pasadena Kiwanis Club, decided to light one small section of Santa Rosa Avenue during the holiday season. Over the years, more and more trees were added to the spectacle, finally resulting in a one mile stretch of land encompassing 150 trees, which are lit with over 10,000 twinkle lights. The street was eventually dubbed Christmas Tree Lane and was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on September 13, 1990. According to the official Christmas Tree Lane website, the display is “the oldest large-scale Christmas lighting spectacle in the United States” and each December more than 50,000 motorists venture out to Altadena to view it. The lights on the trees are hung each year by a group of hard-working, dogged volunteers and members of the Board of the Christmas Tree Lane Association. Up until the year 2000, the electricity costs were paid for by Southern California Edison, but after the deregulation of California utilities, the financial obligation of keeping the trees lit fell to the Christmas Tree Lane Association. The tree lighting tradition has only been able to continue thanks to the many generous donations received each year. If you would like to donate your time or money to the Christmas Tree Lane Association, you may do so here. I honestly can’t recommend stalking Christmas Tree Lane enough! It is an absolutely magical display of Christmas lights, the likes of which I have never seen duplicated. On a side note – the fact is not lost on me that I am wearing a tank top in one of the above photographs, despite the fact that it was taken after dark in late December. LOL That’s Los Angeles for you, though! And while I am usually a big fan of L.A.’s warm climate, during Christmastime I actually prefer there to be a chill in the air. As Kevin McAllister said in Home Alone 2, “Who wants to spend Christmas in a tropical climate, anyway?” 😉 Come December 26th, though, I am all about the heat! 🙂

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t take the time here to mention two other Pasadena area homes which, while not filming locations, are definitely holiday must-sees. The two houses are actually located on neighboring streets and, let me tell you, both are a site to behold! The first one is pictured above.

Not only do both houses feature a myriad of multi-colored twinkle lights, but they also boast musical animatronic displays starring such characters as Mickey Mouse, Snoopy, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, among countless others! Not kidding! I can’t even tell you how much fun it is to visit these two homes each year and to see what new Christmas decorations have been added to the already over-the-top spectacles. LOVE IT!

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Big THANK YOU to Allyn and Owen for helping me out with this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Christmas Tree Lane is a mile long section of Santa Rosa Avenue located between Woodbury Road and Altadena Drive in Altadena. This year, the lights will be turned on nightly from dusk until midnight through January 6th. If you would like to donate time or money to the Christmas Tree Lane Association, you can do so here. At the end of Can’t Hardly Wait, the two X-Philes are shown walking north on Santa Rosa Avenue, directly in front of the house numbered 2287. The Balian Mansion is located at 1960 Mendocino Lane in Altadena, just a short distance from Christmas Tree Lane. The other two must-see houses in the area are located at 1776 Las Lunas Street and 1775 Monte Vista Street in Pasadena, just north of the 210 Freeway.

December 21, 2009January 12, 2011

Bullocks Wilshire – The Department Store from “Christmas Vacation”

One location that I have been dying to stalk for months now is the former Bullocks Wilshire department store located just outside of Downtown Los Angeles – a spot which has been featured in countless productions since its grand opening way back in 1929. And, even though I am usually a big fan of immediate gratification, I waited to stalk this location until just recently as I wanted to blog about it in December, along with my other Christmas movie posts. So, what holiday movie was the building featured in, you ask? One of my very favorite Christmas flicks of all time – the 1989 holiday classic Christmas Vacation. In the movie, Bullocks Wilshire stood in for the Chicago area department store where Clark Griswold (aka Chevy Chase), accompanied by his son, Rusty (aka The Big Bang Theory’s Johnny Galecki), shopped for lingerie. I found this location thanks to fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who, as luck would have it, just happened to be driving right by the department store on the day filming took place way back in 1989. Once Mike noticed the production trucks, he, of course, immediately pulled over to inquire about what was being filmed and to watch some of the action. And, let me tell you, when Mike told me about the location a few months back, I just about passed out from excitement as I had always wanted to know where that scene had taken place! Thank you, Mike! 🙂

The Bullocks Wilshire building was originally built in 1929 by the father and son architecture firm of John and Donald Parkinson, a team who was also responsible for designing the Continental Building, which is better known as Los Angeles’ first skyscraper, Union Station, L.A.’s City Hall and the Memorial Coliseum. Department store magnate John G. Bullock commissioned the building in the hopes of creating the most luxurious and upscale shopping experience Angelinos had ever seen. The interior, which was designed by Eleanor Lemaire and Jock Peters, was the utmost in splendor, featuring travertine flooring, marble walls, ornate elevators, and rosewood display cases.

For the design of the relief located above the department store’s Wilshire Boulevard entrance, which reads, “To build a business that will never known completion”, Bullock looked to MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, who is best known for designing the first ever Oscar statue.

Because Bullock wanted to cater to the growing number of motorists in the L.A. area, the department store was the first in Los Angeles ever to feature a porte cochere, aka a covered driveway under which shoppers could hand over their vehicles to waiting valets.

The building’s most remarkable feature – in my mind, at least – has to be the highly elaborate mural painted on the ceiling of the porte cochere. Romanian painter Herman Sachs designed the brightly colored fresco secco as a tribute to Mercury, the god of travel. The painting features renderings of different forms of modern-day transportation, including airplanes, trains, and ships.

Upon its opening on September 26, 1929, the 241 foot tall Bullocks Wilshire encompassed over 230,000 square feet of retail space which included a perfume hall, a penthouse tea room, a “doggery” which sold trinkets for shoppers’ furry companions, a saddle shop, a Louis XVI room, a furrier, live mannequins, a salon, and a private suite where the truly elite could shop in complete privacy, all the while sipping martinis and snacking on the finest hors d’oeuvres. Years later, Bullock added a Chanel Room, a photography studio operated by celebrity photographer Neil Gittings, and a Ladies Custom Salon, run by future Hollywood costume designer Irene Lentz. Thanks to Bullock’s incredible attention to detail, the department store quickly became the place to see and be seen in Los Angeles. Such stars as Mae West, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, John Wayne, and Marlene Dietrich all visited Bullocks Wilshire at one time or another. And actresses June Lockhart and Angela Lansbury and former First Lady Patricia Nixon even worked there in their early years. Thanks to the building’s architectural detail and rich history, Bullocks Wilshire was added to the National Registry of Historic Places on May 25, 1978. Sadly, in the late 80s, the store began a precipitous decline, eventually being sold to the Macy’s chain. A few years later, the historic building was heavily vandalized both inside and out during the riots of 1992, with looters destroying display cases, prized artifacts, and even setting fire to the property. Bullocks Wilshire ended up closing its doors for the last time in 1993. But its story doesn’t end there. About a year later, the property was purchased by Southwestern Law School, which had long occupied a neighboring building. The school then set out on a ten year, $29 million restoration project which completely restored the historic building back to its original state. For this endeavor, Southwestern Law School received a National Preservation Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Today, Bullocks Wilshire is used as a part of the Southwestern Law School campus, where, coincidentally, actor Jerry O’Connell (husband of Rebecca Romijn) is currently a student. 🙂

And, while the building is not actually opened to the public, while stalking the place, I ventured inside and asked the security guard on duty if I might be allowed to take a quick peek. The guard truly could NOT have been nicer and allowed my fiancé and me to walk around the school. Unfortunately, though, photography is not allowed indoors, so I couldn’t take any pictures, other than the two pictured above, which I snapped through the building’s front window. But, take my word for it, the interior – which you can see photographs of here – is nothing short of magnificent. Walking into Bullocks Wilshire is like stepping back in time to a more glamorous era. The cafe, the lounge area, even the bathrooms have all been restored to their original state and I couldn’t have been more excited to be seeing it all with my own two eyes. And, even though the building is now technically a college campus, the interior still looks much as it did when it operated as an upscale department store. I was so mesmerized with the place, in fact, that I am just dying to get my hands on a copy of this book to learn more about the building’s rich history!

Bullocks Wilshire shows up just briefly in Christmas Vacation in the very memorable scene in which, while out shopping with his son Rusty, Clark Griswold meets and flirts with a lingerie saleswoman named Mary and utters that famous line, “It’s a bit nipply out”. LOL LOL LOL When I was a Senior in high school – and I should mention here that I went to a Catholic high school – one of my classmates, Marcus, came up with the inspired idea of reading a surf report to the entire school each morning during our daily announcements. Marcus’ little experiment was going well, too, until one particularly cold morning, when he announced to the student body that the ocean “was a bit nipply” that day. Needless to say, that was the end of that morning’s announcements – and our daily surf report. But, ever since that fateful day, even all these years later, I can’t help but think of Marcus and laugh every time I watch the Christmas Vacation shopping scene. 🙂

Bullocks Wilshire was also the store where Benjamin Siegel shopped at the beginning of the movie Bugsy;

its La Directoire room was the site of the ”Romantic Dinner” Taco Bell commercial featuring Gidget, the talking Chihuahua;

it was where Angela Chase (aka Claire Danes) shopped with her mother Patty (aka Bess Armstrong) in the Season 1 episode of My So-Called Life titled “The Zit”;

and the Louis XVI Room was where the Mother/Daughter Fashion Show was filmed in that same episode.

it was the location of the eponymous elevator in Aerosmith’s “Love in an Elevator” music video;

the exterior was featured briefly in Public Enemy’s “By The Time I Get to Arizona” music video;

and in The Aviator, it stood in for the nightclub where Howard Hughes and Ava Gardner got attacked by Hughes’ former girlfriend.

Supposedly, the final scene in Ghostbusters was filmed on the roof of Bullocks Wilshire, but as you can see in the above screen captures and photograph, the Ghostbusters roof and the Bullocks Wilshire roof look nothing alike. And, while it’s entirely possible that some close-up filming for that scene did take place on top of the Bullocks Wilshire tower, my best guess is that the entire scene was filmed on a studio soundstage somewhere in Hollywood. Bullocks Wilshire has also been featured in the movies Topper (where it stood in for the luxurious Connecticut area Seabreeze Hotel), Tarzan’s New York Adventure (where it was used as a New York hotel), Dunston Checks In (where it again stood in for a New York hotel), Fist of the North Star, On Deadly Ground, Family Plot, The Tie That Binds, Rough Magic, and in episodes of Murder, She Wrote, Judging Amy, and The Agency.

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Big THANK YOU to Mike for finding this location! 🙂

On a very sad side note – My thoughts and prayers go out to Brittany Murphy’s friends and loved ones today. I can’t even imagine losing someone so young, especially this close to the holidays. 🙁 Rest in peace, Brittany.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bullocks Wilshire is located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. You can visit the building’s official website and see interior photographs of it here. Because Bullocks Wilshire is part of the Southwestern Law School campus, it is not open to the public. Once a year, though, tours of the property are given. You can check the Southwestern Law School website for further tour information.

December 1, 2009December 1, 2009

Big Oaks Lodge from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Before I left on my New York vacation just about two months ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I spent a day together stalking in and around the San Fernando Valley. And even though we had a long list of places to stalk, the location we were most excited about seeing had to be a place called Big Oaks Lodge, which was used in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Camping Trip”. Before arriving at Big Oaks Lodge, I was actually a little nervous about the drive up there, though, as I had read that the place was located completely out in the middle of nowhere, but, as it turns out, it’s not really as out in the middle of nowhere as I had thought. The Lodge is located a brief twenty minute drive from the City of Santa Clarita, and while the road which leads there is remote, windy, and lacks a Starbucks, it’s really not a bad ride at all. 🙂 Big Oaks Lodge was originally built in the 1920s as a rest stop and eatery for traveling stagecoaches. In the 30s, 40s, and 50s, the Lodge and its surrounding area became something of a Hollywood hotspot for the likes of such legends as gangster “Pretty Boy” Floyd and the original Brangelina – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford – who even ended up building their own private cabin near the restaurant. In later years, the property served as a training spot for boxers like Mike Quarry and Michael Doakes and even boasted its own outdoor ring, which has since been removed. The Lodge now serves as a meeting place and rest stop and features not one, but two different eateries on the property. The first is a little food stand named the Char House, which serves up such culinary staples as hamburgers, chili, and tri-tip sandwiches and is popular with the Harley Davidson set. The Lodge’s more upscale restaurant is named Cavi and it specializes in authentic homemade Italian food. The Lodge is still popular with celebrities to this day and has played host to talk show host Jay Leno and members of the band ZZ Top.

Big Oaks Lodge is actually much smaller than I expected it to be and consists solely of the main lodge area, which houses Cavi restaurant, the Char House shed, an outdoor patio, and two small cabins, which can be rented out nightly. While stalking the place, Mike and I had the good fortune of meeting one of the Lodge’s owners, who absolutely could NOT believe that we had driven all the way out to Big Oaks just to see a location from an episode of 90210 which had aired over 18 years ago. And, let me tell you, he just about fell over when we showed him Mike’s portable DVD player, where we had the “Camping Trip” episode all cued up. LOL 🙂 The owner told us we were free to walk around the property and take all of the photographs we wanted. And you really should have seen the two of us! We could not have been more excited and were screaming like little schoolgirls pretty much the entire time! “Oh, look there’s the firewood shed!” and “Ohmigod, there’s the tree Brandon leaned against!” LOL We were both pretty bummed out, though, that neither of the Lodge’s restaurants were open while we were there, as we had hoped to grab a bite to eat during our stalk. 🙁 But you know what that means, don’t you? My fiancé will definitely be getting dragged out there in the near future so that I can re-stalk the place. 🙂

In the “Camping Trip” episode, thanks to a patch of bad weather, Brandon, Brenda and the gang get stuck at Big Oaks Lodge while on their way to a camping trip in Yosemite. The entire episode was pretty much shot on location at the Lodge and made use of the entire Big Oaks property, which I am happy to report still looks very much the same as it did on 90210. Pictured above is Big Oaks’ front entrance, which showed up several times in the episode.

The firewood storage area, which looks a bit different today than it did when 90210 was filmed, was the spot where the gang first took shelter from the rain after pulling over at Big Oaks.

Had to do it! 🙂 LOL

The “Char House” restaurant stood in for the Lodge’s main office where Brenda and Dylan booked a cabin for the group to spend the night.

Once upon a time there were actually ten different cabins located on the Big Oaks property, but today there are only two and both of those cabins were featured in the “Camping Trip” episode. The 90210 gang stayed in the wood shingled lodge, which at the time of the filming was painted red, but is now a light grey color.

And the Newlyweds stayed in the rock cabin located directly next door.

And although a full exterior shot of the rock cabin was never shown during the episode, as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph, the front door still looks exactly the same today as it did during the filming. Love it! And I was very excited to find out that the real life interiors of both cabins were also used extensively in the episode. Unfortunately, though, the owner didn’t have his keys on him while we were there, so he was not able to take us on a tour of the cabins. 🙁 Next time!

The picnic table area in front of the Char House was used as the location where the gang fretted about Dylan and Brandon’s early morning disappearance.

The road in front of the Lodge and the main parking area showed up in the scene in which Brandon and Dylan return to the campsite after their little hiking mishap.

And finally, a large tree in the Lodge’s dirt parking lot – aka “Brandon’s tree” – was featured as the spot where Brandon contemplated life after his near death experience of almost falling off a cliff. So, of course, I just had to pose like him! 🙂

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A little bit of 90210 trivia for you – The highly dramatic scene where Dylan downed a few airplane bottles of liquor (pictured above) was not actually filmed at Big Oaks Lodge, but in the backyard of the real life Walsh house! Mike and I learned that little tidbit of information from the owner of Casa Walsh during our private tour of the home. 🙂 So cool!

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According to the Big Oaks Lodge website, the property has also been featured in the movies Frances, Enough, American Gun, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and in episodes of the television series Dynasty and Highway to Heaven, and in commercials for AT&T and Vonage. It’s a very cool place and I highly recommend stalking it, especially to fans of the original 90210!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Big Oaks Lodge from Beverly Hills, 90210 is located at 33101 Bouquet Canyon Road in Santa Clarita, just nine miles north of where Bouquet Canyon Road intersects with Plum Canyon Road. You can visit the Big Oaks Lodge website here. Cavi restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday, beginning at 5 p.m. The Char House is open Saturdays and Sundays, starting at 11 a.m.

November 24, 2009November 23, 2009

Heidi and Spencer’s New House

Ever since Season 5, Part II of The Hills premiered back in September, I have been getting email requests to locate the house Spencer and Heidi moved into in the debut episode which was entitled “It’s On Bitch”. Thankfully, fellow stalker Virginie tracked down the duo’s new home pretty much immediately after the episode aired and posted a comment on my site which included the house’s address and a link to it’s former real estate website. YAY! Thank you, Virginie! Anyway, because I’ve been knee-deep in writing posts about New York filming locations for the past six weeks, I had yet to make it out to the Hollywood Hills to stalk Speidi’s new pad. But, for the sake of my friendship with Mike, from MovieShotsLA – who for weeks has been hounding me to return to my roots, so to speak, and do some L.A. area blogging – this weekend I decided to finally drag my boyfriend out to Spencer and Heidi’s new abode. Better late than never, right?

Sadly, though, Speidi’s new home is located at the top of a private road and I was not able to get a very good look at it. 🙁 Such a bummer, but I am guessing that its location on a private drive is exactly why they chose to live in the house – that way they can keep all of us stalkers at bay. 🙁 The photograph above shows the view of the road leading up to Heidi and Spencer’s house as viewed from Hollyridge Drive. The duo’s house is located at the very top of the road, alongside two other homes, and therefore cannot be seen at all from the main drag.

But, if you continue on about 100 yards past the private road, you can catch a slight glimpse of the back of the house and its deck area, which is better than nothing! 🙂

In the “It’s On Bitch” episode, Spencer rents the two bedroom, three bath, 1,270 square foot home pictured above behind his new wife Heidi’s back. And while I would die to live in this house, when Spencer first takes Heidi to tour it, she says it looks “cold and modern” and “like a porno pad”. LOL LOL LOL Sorry, Heidi, but I am going to have to side with your hubby on this one. The house is A-MA-ZING!

I mean, the view of the Hollywood sign alone makes the place worth renting! LOVE IT!

And, unlike Whitney Port’s apartment on The City, a different location is not used for the exterior shots of Speidi’s house on The Hills. As you can see on the home’s real estate website, the same place is used for both the interior and the exterior shots shown on the series.

And even though something tells me that the dynamic duo no longer lives in the house – and quite possibly never did, but just used it for filming purposes – I was still pretty floored to spot their telescope, which can be seen in the background of various Hills episodes, through the abode’s back windows. SO LOVE IT! 🙂

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Big THANK YOU to Virginie for finding this location!! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Heidi and Spencer’s new house is located at 3132 Hollyridge Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Please be advised that while Hollyridge Drive is not a private street, the road leading up to their particular house is, so please do not trespass. For the best view of their home, take Hollyridge Drive a few hundred yards South past the private road.

November 23, 2009December 16, 2009

My Coffee With Andre – Agassi, That Is!

A few years back, an email entitled “You Know You’re From Los Angeles When . . . “ which was comprised of a list of “Only in L.A.” scenarios circled the World Wide Web. My personal favorite item on the list was number 28 which stated, “The guy at 8:30 in the morning at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney actually IS George Clooney”. LOVE IT! Well, Thursday morning, I had my very own “Only in L.A.” moment at a local Starbucks, when I realized that the guy in front of me in line who looked like tennis superstar Andre Agassi actually WAS tennis superstar Andre Agassi. As it turns out, Andre was in town for a book signing at my fave bookstore, Vroman’s, and was grabbing a quick coffee beforehand. So, of course, for my blog’s sake, I just had to ask him to take a picture with me. I was a little nervous about doing so, though, as just a few weeks prior some friends and I happened to run into Bruce Willis while dining at the Jerry’s Deli on Beverly Boulevard. We had the good fortune of finishing our meal at pretty much the exact same time as Bruce and when we found ourselves in the valet line next to him while waiting for our cars, I asked him if he wouldn’t mind posing for a photograph with us, to which he replied “Doubtful.” Being that my question pretty much warranted either a yes or a no answer, I’m not even really sure what he meant by that, but needless to say I did not get my photo. 🙁 He did shake our hands, though, so I guess that’s something. So, when Andre Agassi said that he’d be happy to pose for a picture with me, I was absolutely elated! A man who I am guessing was his publicist took the above photograph of us – which is arguably the worst photo I’ve ever taken in my life LOL – and afterwards said “I think you’re going to like this one!” I laughed and replied, “Well, being that I’m not wearing any make-up right now, I’m not so sure”, to which Andre said, “Well, I’m not wearing make-up either, so we’re even!” LOL LOL LOL Three other women were in Starbucks at the time that all of this took place and, let me tell you, Andre’s presence caused us all to act like a bunch of giddy little school girls. I’m pretty sure the noise level inside Starbucks increased more than one decibel while the four of us fawned over him. My three new friends also asked for their pictures to be taken with Andre and he happily obliged. In fact, he was so incredibly friendly and gracious I almost couldn’t believe it. He even waited patiently while I tried to figure out how to use the camera on one of the girl’s iPhones. And, to top it all off, when I was on the way out the door a few minutes later, Andre looked up from his espresso and called out “Bye!” Sigh! What a nice guy! I am so going to have to check out his new book now!

Seeing Andre on Thursday got me thinking. Everyday I receive emails from readers seeking advice on how and where to spot celebrities in L.A. And, while I did write a post about celebrity hot spots earlier this year, I realized that the best advice I can give on seeing a famous person in Los Angeles is to just simply KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AT ALL TIMES. The truth is you just never know when or where you might spot a celeb. I’ve seen stars in such mundane spots as the grocery store, Target, Rite Aid, the mall, Joann’s Fabrics, and Michael’s Craft Store. And, of course, at Starbucks. Other celebs I’ve spotted at various Starbucks in the L.A. area include Sophia Loren, Bradley Whitford (on three different occasions!), Jane Kaczmarek, Britney Spears, Peter MacNicol, Maxine Bahns (from The Brothers McMullen), David Strathairn, Danielle Panabaker, Mark D. Espinoza (who played Andrea’s husband Jesse on the original 90210), Kevin Dunn, Jamie Lynn Spears, who was with her mother Lynn Spears, and Reese Witherspoon. Although to be fair, Reese wasn’t actually at a Starbucks when I spotted her. I saw her walking out of a yoga studio located directly next door to the Starbucks I happened to be walking into. But that still counts, don’t you think? 🙂 Being that I visit a Starbucks on average of three times a day, though, I guess my record of seeing celebs there isn’t actually all that good. LOL But my point is that when you’re in L.A. you just have to keep your eyes peeled at all times! And always, always have your camera with you! 🙂

As if to further drive this point home, while doing some shopping at Larchmont Village with my fiancé on Saturday afternoon, I happened to spot both Anthony John Denison, who plays Lieutenant Flynn on TNT’s The Closer, and Owain Yeoman, who plays Detective Wayne Rigsby on The Mentalist (pictured above), dining at restaurants across the street from each other. I, of course, noticed both actors immediately, but my fiancé walked RIGHT BY them completely oblivious. Honestly, I think they both could have come up and bitten him on the nose and he still wouldn’t have realized who they were! As I mentioned above, you just gotta keep your eyes open!

And let me just say here that I was completely struck by how much better looking Owain Yeoman is in person than he comes across onscreen, as was the case back in August when I saw him during a filming of The Mentalist. I mean, even my fiancé had to admit that the guy looked quite a bit different in person. 🙂 And even though Owain is one of my new celebrity crushes, because he was eating lunch when we spotted him, I didn’t want to bother him for a photograph. But, as luck would have it, when driving away from Larchmont Village, my fiancé happened to get stuck at a stop sign RIGHT IN FRONT of Owain’s table, so, I just had to snap a quick pic. 🙂 Owain definitely noticed me taking his photo and didn’t seem too happy about the situation, but being that he is oh so dreamy, I just couldn’t help myself. 🙂 Sigh!

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Starbucks where I ran into Andre Agassi is located at 408 East Colorado Blvd., in the Paseo Colorado Shopping Center, in Pasadena. Larchmont Village, where I spotted Owain Yeoman and Anthony John Denison, is a quaint little shopping district located on North Larchmont Blvd. in between Beverly Boulevard and West 1st Street. Anthony John Denison was eating at Louise’s Tratroria, which is located at 232 N. Larchmont Blvd. Owain was eating at Le Petite Greek, which is located at 127 N. Larchmont.

September 17, 2009September 16, 2009

The Beethoven House

Got a challenge from Debbie a few weeks back to find the house used in the 1992 movie Beethoven and its many subsequent sequels. Debbie had just read my post on the Camden house from the television series 7th Heaven and was struck by how similar it looked to the home used in the Beethoven movies. Due to their similarities, she thought the two houses might be located in the same neighborhood and wanted me to find out. Well, while Debbie was certainly right that the Beethoven house does bear a striking resemblance to the 7th Heaven home, the two are actually located about 25 miles apart from each other. Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had actually shown me the Beethoven house a few months back during one of our many stalking trips. I had yet to blog about it, though, as I could not seem to find a copy of the movie anywhere and I needed one to make screen captures. For some reason, none of the Blockbuster stores in my area carry the title. Ugh! Then, last week, out of the blue, my fiancé caught an airing of Beethoven’s 2nd on TV, remembered that I had been looking for a copy of the movie, and TiVo’d it for me. Yay! I’m so glad I’m marrying this guy!!! 🙂

I am very happy to report that the Beethoven house looks EXACTLY the same today as it did back in 1992 when the movie was filmed – right down to the exterior paint color!!! So love it! In fact the ONLY difference I noticed between the onscreen house and the real life house were the trees in the front yard. Today those trees are considerably larger than they were at the time of filming, which isn’t at all surprising being that the movie was shot over 17 years ago.

Interestingly enough, fellow stalker Amanda told me that when she went on the Universal Studios Hollywood Tour a few years back, her guide pointed out a home on the Wisteria Lane set (which was then known as “Colonial Street”) and said that it was used in the Beethoven movies. And while it’s quite possible that a replica of the real life home was re-created on the Universal backlot and used for some filming, I believe that the majority of the exterior scenes were actually shot at the real life house in South Pasadena. According to this fabulous website, the Wisteria Lane set was in fact used in the first Beethoven movie, but not for any of the house scenes. Apparently, the backlot street was featured in the scene when the dogs escape out of the back of a van.

Surprisingly enough, I’ve never actually seen any of the Beethoven movies, so I am not sure how many of the installments were filmed at this house. I do know for sure that it was used in the first Beethoven movie and in Beethoven’s 2nd, but from what I’ve been able to discern online, the other four sequels (yes, the movie had a total of FIVE sequels!) were filmed elsewhere.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Beethoven House is located at 1405 Milan Avenue in South Pasadena. The home from the 1970’s television series Family is located just up the road from the Beethoven house at 1230 Milan Avenue.