movie stars – Page 9 – IAMNOTASTALKER

January 27, 2009March 31, 2009

CSI: Pasadena

My dad is not a big fan of Hollywood. And by Hollywood I mean the industry, not the town. He can’t stand all of the overindulged, self-absorbed actors, even though his own daughter is one (minus the overindulged, self-absorbed part, of course). 🙂 He just barely tolerates my stalking and often asks me why I care so much about celebrities. But there is one actor and one show that my dad absolutely loves – and that’s loves with a capital L-O-V-E-S. That show is CSI: Miami and that actor is David Caruso. My dad often walks around the house randomly quoting characters from the show saying “H is on it!”, he nicknamed his Harley Davidson “H”, and he has so many CSI: Miami reruns saved up on TiVo that he often burns through all of the memory causing my mom’s shows not to record. Yes, my dad loves himself some Horatio Caine. When we were in New York this past December, my boyfriend and I just had to snap the above photo of Horatio Street for my dad. 🙂

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So when I found out that CSI: Miami would be filming in Pasadena last Wednesday, I just had to drag my dad out to stalk it. Except truth be told, there really wasn’t much dragging involved. My dad, who normally hates stalking with me, was more than a willing participant this time around. He was absolutely floored at the possibility of meeting his TV idol. And so was I. CSI: Miami has always been my favorite CSI and I, too, love me some Horatio Caine. I also love me some Emily Procter. I am absolutely obsessed with her cute little Southern accent – I want one just like it. 🙂 So on Wednesday morning, bright and early, we showed up at the Pasadena location where where they were filming. And I have to say that it was an absolute dream day!

The crew truly could NOT have been nicer to us. When we arrived and told them we were big fans of the show, they welcomed us with open arms and invited us to take a seat to watch the crew setting up the scene. One of the A.D.’s told us that David Caruso would arrive on the set within 45 minutes and that he was very fan friendly and would most likely take a photograph with us. Let me tell you we were floored! And I have to say that watching the crew set up for the scene was almost as exciting as watching the actual filming. It was amazing to compare the real life overcast grey sky that was above our heads with the orange and pink sky that appeared on the filming monitors. It turns out that a special filter is placed on top of the cameras during filming to make the sky look more bright, sunny, and “Miami-like”. It was eerie to see.

Just before actual filming was to begin, a large water truck came by and sprayed water all over the street. I had known from watching a director’s commentary on DVD a while back that streets are often wetted down prior to a film shoot – for some reason, wet streets look better on camera than dry streets – but I had no idea how it was done. So that was very cool to see. If you’ve never noticed this phenomenon before, you will now. 🙂 Start looking at streets in the background of your favorite television shows and movies – nine times out of ten they will be soaking wet. One of the crew members was joking that while you never see it rain on CSI: Miami, miraculously somehow the streets are always wet. LOL

After the street was sprayed, a white van pulled up and out stepped David Caruso. And I just about died. There he was, Horatio Caine, in the flesh, aviator sunglasses and all. He immediately waved to us and said “Hi guys!” while a make-up artist put the finishing touches on his face and hair. Then he called us over and introduced himself. It was unbelievable! Last October, when my dad and I got to watch The Closer be filmed, not one cast member came over to talk to us. So this was quite a surprise! And when my dad handed over his CSI: Miami Season One DVDs to be signed, David seemed genuinely touched and told us how appreciative he was to meet fans of the show. He also gave us little autographed pictures of himself. Then the A.D. called him over to begin filming and David gave both my dad and me a hug! 🙂 A few minutes later while they were setting something up for the shot, David walked over to us once again and asked if we wanted to take a picture with him. He really could not have been sweeter and I can honestly say that out of all the actors I’ve met in my eight years living in L.A., David Caruso was by far the nicest. A crew member told us that on one occasion when they were filming in Long Beach, a large tour bus filled with 75 German tourists pulled up, and got very excited that David Caruso was there. David stopped filming and proceeded to sign autographs and take pictures with each and every person on that bus!!! My dad kept saying “I just knew he’d be nice!” 🙂 I hope that when I become a successful, famous actress that I will be that nice! 🙂

After our pics, we got to watch David film a scene with Elizabeth Berkley (of Saved by the Bell and Showgirls fame), who play’s H’s ex-wife Julia on CSI: Miami. I cannot even tell you how amazing it was to be standing less than five feet away from David Caruso as he filmed a scene. And I just about died when he did his trademark putting-on-sunglasses-and-staring-off-into-the-distance move. It was the coolest thing ever! I was very impressed with how quickly filming moved, too. I’d say David filmed his scene in less than forty minutes, which in Hollywood time is almost unheard of! What I was most impressed with, though, was how happy the cast and crew seemed to be. There was a lot of joking around between takes and A LOT of laughter in the air. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying their jobs and like they were just happy to be there.

When David was wrapped for the day he had a crew member ask for my address as he had some CSI memorabilia in his trailer that he wanted to give us. How nice is that! Then, as we were leaving the set, one of the crew members told us to stop back by later in the afternoon when the rest of the cast would be there filming a different scene. So, of course, a few hours later my dad and I headed back to the set. 🙂 As soon as we arrived, one of the A.D.’s ran over to us and handed me a large envelope from David Caruso. Inside was the memorabilia he had planned to send me, including several photographs autographed to both me and my dad, a Horatio Caine bobble head, and some CSI: Miami postcards and buttons. That was just such a nice thing to do, we couldn’t even believe it!!! My dad was especially excited about the bobble head which is now sitting on his desk. 🙂

As if all that wasn’t enough, a few minutes later the same A.D. walked over with Rex Linn who plays Detective Frank Tripp on the show. Rex introduced himself and, like David, seemed genuinely happy to be speaking with fans of CSI:Miami. Rex signed my dad’s DVD’s, posed for pictures with us, and even let me hold his prop gun. 🙂 Like David, Rex could NOT have been nicer or more outgoingly friendly to us.

While we were speaking with Rex, Eva La Rue came out of the house where they were filming and Rex took us over to meet her! Eva was also completely friendly and super down to earth. And gorgeous in person – much prettier than she even appears on television.

Then the most amazing thing happened. Are you sitting down for this?? Rex asked if we wanted to go inside the house to watch a few scenes be filmed. Did we want to go inside and watch filming with Detective Frank Tripp as our personal tourguide????? Is he crazy? Of course we did! Rex then took us through the backyard of the house where a scene was being filmed, introduced us to virtually every crew member on set, explained what all sorts of equipment was, and what was happening during the filming. Rex is an amazing man and I could not believe he was taking time out of his busy day to give us a tour of the set. I mean stuff like this just doesn’t happen in real life!

Once filming began, Rex led us over to the monitors and pulled out Emily Procter’s directors chair for me to sit in. I was like WHAT? I can’t sit in her chair!!!! LOL

After we watched a bit of the filming that was taking place in the backyard, Rex was called inside to finish up a scene he was filming in the house with Eva La Rue. He told us we could come inside to watch, so we, of course, followed him. That scene was especially exciting for us because we got to watch firsthand as Eva administered one of the flashlight tests that the CSI shows are so famous for. SO COOL! After that scene, Rex was wrapped for the day, but he told us we could go back outside to watch more of the filming in the backyard.

Which we, of course, did. 🙂 And that is when we got to meet both Megalyn Echikunwoke, who plays the new medical examiner on the show and who was very sweet . . .

. . . and my fave, Emily Procter. Emily was a total sweetheart and she really does have Calleigh Duquesne’s cute little Southern accent in real life. I love it! Emily was wrapped for lunch at that time and we ended up walking out of the house behind her. On her way outside she made it a point to stop to thank the L.A. County policemen who were on duty and she gave both of them autographed pictures of herself. I was completely amazed at this. Not just Emily, but the entire cast seemed to be just so appreciative, thankful, and friendly. It was so heartening to see. And it just made me love the show even more than I already did. What a truly amazing group of people!

Sitting back and looking at these pictures of me on the set of my favorite TV show makes me think about how much I love L.A. As much as I say I want to move to New York, it’s days like this one when I realize I am right where I am supposed to be. 🙂 More importantly, though, being on the set was a truly extraordinary experience for my dad. Especially since he just recently got out of the hospital and has been sick on and off for the past few years. I believe having such a memorable encounter with the cast of his favorite television show brought him some much needed healing in a form he never would have found in a hospital or a doctor’s office. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: CSI: Miami was filmed at 887 El Campo Drive in Pasadena, right around the corner from the Brothers and Sisters House. Look for the episode to air sometime in March.

January 22, 2009February 14, 2009

Harry’s New York Bar

Every year while in New York, my boyfriend and I make it a point to stop into the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel located on 59th Street. I love stepping inside the Park Lane’s beautiful lobby with its grand winding staircases, red antique rugs, and twinkling crystal chandeliers. I don’t know what it is about the Park Lane that I like so much, as it is not the grandest of New York hotels. Though I do believe it is the friendliest. Despite once being owned by Leona Helmsley, aka the “Queen of Mean”, the hotel’s lobby is warm and inviting and the staff is extremely friendly. Walking into the Park Lane feels more like walking into a friend’s home than a hotel. I just love it! The hotel was first owned by New York billionaire Harry Helmsley. When he passed away in 1997, he left his entire $5.5 billion dollar fortune to his wife Leona. Part of that fortune included the Park Lane Hotel. After Harry’s death, Leona kept a duplex apartment at the Park Lane and would frequently be seen in the lobby and restaurant. When Leona died, she left $12 million to her Maltese poodle named Trouble. After it was made public that the dog was worth a fortune, Trouble started to receive death threats and security (for the dog) had to be hired at a cost of $100,000 per year! LOL I am not kidding.

This year, on our last day in New York, I happened to poke my head into Harry’s, the Park Lane Hotel bar, to see if it looked like a cool place to grab a drink. While poking around I struck up a conversation with a cocktail waitress who told me that the bar is somewhat of a celeb hang out. So, of course, I dragged my parents and boyfriend back there later that night to grab a drink and do some star stalking. 🙂 Sadly, while stalking Harry’s we did not spot any celebs. According to our cocktail waitress, though, both John Voight and Keanu Reeves had made an appearance at Harry’s the previous night. Apparently John Voight is something of a regular and always visits Harry’s when he’s in town. Unfortunately, as much as I begged her, our waitress couldn’t remember the names of the other celebs who had frequented Harry’s in the past. New Yorkers crack me up – it seems that none of them really care all that much about celebrities. LOL

Even though we didn’t spot any celebs, Harry’s was still a very cool place to grab a drink and I highly recommend stalking it. With it’s dark wood paneling and long marble bar, Harry’s definitely evokes a feeling of Old New York and it was the perfect place to spend our last night in the Big Apple.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Harry’s New York Bar is located on the second floor of the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel which is situated at 36 Central Park South in New York.

January 21, 2009February 13, 2009

I’ve Got the Hippy Hippy Shake!

I have been a fan of Tom C. Ruz ever since my early teens and during that time Cocktail was, of course, one of my very favorite movies. So I was floored when I found the address of the bar Tom Cruise first worked at in the movie in a book I picked up just before my recent New York trip called Manhattan On Film: Walking Tours of Hollywood’s Fabled Front Lot . So, while in New York last month, I of course dragged my boyfriend out to stalk the Cocktail bar – also known as Baker Street Pub and Restaurant. 🙂

At the time Cocktail was filmed back in 1988, the space was occupied by a T.G.I. Friday’s Restaurant – the very first T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant, actually. Friday’s was opened up in 1965 by Alan Stillman, a single New York perfume salesman and wannabe singer who was dying to meet the many stewardesses and models who lived in his Upper East Side neighborhood. The solution to his single woes? Buy an old dive bar on the corner of 1st Avenue and 63rd Street, dress it up with what would come to be known as the typical Friday’s decor, and hope that the ladies would follow. The bar would soon became a smashing success. So much so that only a week after its grand opening police had to be called in to control the lines outside! The original Friday’s moved out of the space on 1st Avenue and 63rd Street about thirty years later and an Irish bar named Baker Street Pub and Restaurant moved in.

Sadly, we didn’t get a chance to grab a drink while we were stalking Baker Street, but I did poke my head inside for a quick peek and it looks like a very cool place to grab a drink and a bite to eat. 🙂 And amazingly, even though Cocktail was filmed over twenty years ago and the bar has since changed hands, it still looks almost exactly the same today as it did during filming – minus, of course, all of the T.G.I. Friday’s “flair”. 🙂 You can see interior photographs of the bar as it appears today on the Baker Street Pub website. Supposedly an exact replica of the interior of the bar was built on a Toronto soundstage and all of the filming of Cocktail took place there, but after watching the movie earlier today it is obvious that at least some filming did actually take place in the real Manhattan bar. Interestingly enough, the bar named Cell Block that Tommy Boy worked at towards the middle of the movie was an actual Toronto jail that was dressed up to look like a Manhattan Night Club. You can see pictures of the interior of the jail on MovieShotsLA.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Baker Street and Restaurant is located at 1152 1st Avenue on New York’s Upper East Side. You can visit their website here.

January 12, 2009February 14, 2009

Billy’s Bakery

At the risk of looking like a total and complete dork (not to mention a fool!), I thought I’d post some pretty idiotic photographs that I took on my very first trip to New York. At the time I was completely obsessed with Katie Holmes. This was in December of 2005, in the pre-Suri days, before her Jackie O. transformation, back when she was known as Katie, not Kate. A few months before my trip to New York, Katie was featured in a cover story for InStyle Magazine which chronicled her new single gal status, her life in Manhattan, and her favorite NYC hangouts. Most of the photo shoot for the article took place in Chelsea at Katie’s favorite bakery and cupcakery, Billy’s – a place she frequented almost daily at the time. As Tom once said about his wife, “She loves cupcakes, okay? I mean the girl loves cupcakes.” 🙂 Well, I absolutely LOVED that InStyle article. So much so that my copy of that issue is still sitting on my bookshelf all these years later. So, on my first trip to the big apple, I just HAD to drag my boyfriend out to Chelsea to stalk Katie’s fave cupcake maker. And, while there, I also just had to recreate her photo shoot. Yes, I am that big of a dork. 🙂 LOL

The story behind Billy’s is actually quite an unusual one. Billy Reece, a cupcake aficionado who idolized Martha Stewart, founded Billy’s Bakery with two partners in December of 2003. Billy started his baking career working at the ever-popular Magnolia Bakery in Greenwich for two years before quitting to begin his own baked goods venture. Billy’s Bakery became an overnight success. Not long afterwards Billy Reece changed his name to Lauren Reece and, thanks to some hormone treatments and a surgery, Billy ceased to be. Shortly after that, Lauren sold her stake in Billy’s to her two co-founders, Marc and Wayne, and is now enjoying her new life as a woman. So, in a city where change seems to be the only constant, it’s only fitting that not even a popular cupcake bakery’s namesake could remain the same.

But even without the original Billy at the helm, the small bakery has remained a success. The owners are currently planning to expand their business with another location in the same neighborhood. I can’t help but think that Katie may have had something to do with the shop’s blitz of success. Even after she met Tom and moved back to L.A., Katie remained faithful to the bakery. Billy’s not only supplied the cupcakes for Katie’s 27th birthday party at F.A.O. Schwartz in December of 2005, but they also reportedly made the cake for her 2006 wedding. But Katie is certainly not Billy’s only celebrity fan. Ethan Hawke, Mandy Moore, and Bungalow 8 club founder Amy Sacco are also fans of the neighborhood bakery. Billy’s has also been featured on Queer Eye For the Straight Guy, MTV Diary Katie Holmes, The Today Show, MTV’s Boiling Point, the CBS Early Show, the Food Network’s Roker On The Road, and Martha Stewart’s television show Martha.

Billy’s Bakery is an adorable little cupcake shop and with its yellow painted brick walls and cute and homey decor, it looks like it came straight out of a kitchen advertisement from the 1940s. I wanted to spend all day there. 🙂 But while the cupcakes were tasty, I have to say that they are just not as good as my, and SJP’s, New York fave Magnolia Bakery. But I still highly recommend stalking Billy’s, as much for the homey ambiance as for the desserts. Besides cupcakes, they also serve pies and cakes, which are supposed to be out of this world, as well.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Billy’s Bakery is located at 184 9th Avenue in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood. You can visit their website here.

November 4, 2008February 14, 2009

Dots Cupcakes!

Last week, on a whim, I ventured into Dots Cupcakes in Pasadena to buy some Halloween cupcakes for my boyfriend. While waiting in line I noticed a framed InStyle Magazine article sitting on a shelf in the tiny shop. The article detailed the June 2007 wedding of Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O’Connell, who rather than serving the traditional wedding cake at their nuptials, opted instead for country apple and red velvet mini-cupcakes from none other than the very bakery I was standing in! So of course I had to ask Dots owner and founder, Hyo Kwan, a few questions. 🙂

Kwan told me that she had no idea who the cupcakes were for until she arrived at the couple’s Calabasas ranch the day of the ceremony and met Rebecca Romijn. A few days later she had reporters from TMZ swarming her shop asking all sorts of questions about the celeb nuptials. She actually thought I worked for TMZ, too, with all the questions I was asking, and I had to convince her that I was actually just a stalker. 🙂 Since the InStyle spread, Kwan has been featured in several bridal and food magazines and I couldn’t help but think to myself how much I’d like to have her bake cupcakes for my wedding. 🙂 Dots will also be providing the desserts for Rebecca Romijn’s upcoming baby shower. Besides the O’Connells, other celebrity fans of the small shop include my fave Shannen Doherty, the Black-Eyed Peas, and Oscar De La Hoya- at least I think Kwan said Oscar De La Hoya frequents the shop. She mentioned some sports star with a multi-word last name, but once someone starts talking sports, I pretty much just tune out. LOL But celebs? Celebs I remember. 🙂 Kwan said that when Shannen Doherty stopped in, the shop was actually completely sold out of cupcakes! Shannen was very gracious, though, and did not throw any sort of hissy fit about not getting her cupcake fix. See, I knew she was nice!!! 🙂

Hyo, a former events manager for the L.A. Dodgers, was only 29 years old when she opened up Dots with virtually no baking experience whatsoever – just a love of cupcakes. An endeavor that began in her kitchen with a borrowed mixer has grown into a 5,000 cupcake-a-day business. And, after only a year and a half, Kwan is ready to branch out and will be opening up a second Dots location in Old Town Pasadena early next year. Kwan really could not have been nicer, entertaining me for a good 15 minutes with stories about her adventures baking for celebs. She even introduced me to a reporter for Pasadena Weekly Newspaper while I was there and told her about my blog. 🙂 You can read more of Hwan’s story here.

Dots cupcakes are FABULOUS and I HIGHLY recommend stalking the tiny shop! I have long been a fan of Magnolia Bakery in New York City – even though I am diabetic! LOL – so when the gourmet cupcake craze hit L.A. last year, I could not have been more excited. I swear I hit up every single cupcake shop in the greater L.A. area hoping to find a brand that could hold its own against my beloved Magnolia. Sadly, not a one of them was any good. Celeb favorite Sprinkles (pictured above), Yummy Cupcakes, Le Cupcake – they were all just mediocre. But on Thursday, as I bit into a Dots cupcake for the first time, I was floored! They are FABULOUSLY YUMMY and rank a very close second to Magnolia. I’ll definitely be satisfying my cupcake cravings there from now on when I can’t get to the East Coast. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Dots is located at 400 S. Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena. You can visit their website here. The bakery is open Monday through Saturday from 10am to 7pm. They are closed on Sundays. Dots new store will be opening up in the next few months on Fair Oaks Avenue in Old Town Pasadena, right next door to J. Crew.

November 3, 2008September 29, 2017

Halloween 2008

For Halloween this year, I desperately wanted my boyfriend and I to dress up like Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio. I know, total shocker. 🙂 It all ended up coming together quite perfectly, too, as earlier this summer I found a white dress a la Marilyn’s subway grate ensemble, that was super inexpensive. I also happened to have an appointment to get my hair cut on Halloween morning, so I asked my amazing hair stylist, Martina, if she could do me up Marilyn style. She happily obliged and even offered to do my make-up for me. Without even looking at a picture of the starlet for reference, she was able to whip my hair into a full-on Marilyn ‘do and apply my make-up perfectly! I was shocked! When I asked her how she did it without using a photo, she said “Honey, that’s what I do!” LOL I actually think the effect may have been too good, though, because I had FIVE people stop me and say “Has anyone ever told you that you look EXACTLY like Marilyn Monroe.” Even though it was Halloween, no one seemed to realize I was wearing a costume – they thought I just looked like Marilyn naturally. LOL That actually might be good news, though – as maybe someday I’ll get to play MM in a big screen biopic of the star. 🙂

Anyway, since we couldn’t find anything to do in L.A. for Halloween (we were literally all dressed up with no place to go!), I dragged my boyfriend to Downtown Palm Springs. We spent the evening walking around Downtown, barhopping, hanging out, and watching all the other people in costumes. We had a blast! And I even got stopped by a Japanese tourist who wanted her photo taken with me. 🙂

We ended up spending most of our evening at the Palm Springs Riviera Resort & Spa – a legendary Palm Springs hot spot from back in the 50s and 60s. The resort recently underwent a complete rennovation and has been closed down for the past year. It only just reopened two weeks ago and it is a very cool, very hip spot to hang out. The hotel has a 50s-modern style vibe to it, made complete with a large picture of Marilyn made out of Guatemalan coins hanging in the lobby, so, of course, I had to snap a photo of it. 🙂 And the Riviera is even a filming location! It was featured as the hotel where Connie Stevens stayed in the 1963 flick Palm Springs Weekend.

The poolside Bikini Bar, where we hung out all night, is fabulous with its large firepits and ultra-comfy lounge chairs. While there we ran into 90s actor Jeff Prettyman, who is currently retired and living in Palm Springs. Jeff acted in the movies Young Guns and Cheerleader Camp, so of course I had to take a pic with him. 🙂

The following morning, I was reading a Palm Springs magazine in our hotel room and I happened to spot a photograph of Marilyn Monroe posing at the Racquet Club of Palm Springs (pictured above), a place I had never heard of. So, of course, on our way out of town I had to drag my boyfriend to stalk it.

But unfortunately, when we arrived there wasn’t much to see as the area is currently a large constuction zone. The once legendary resort and Hollywood playground is currently closed and undergoing a $50 million rennovation with the surrounding land being turned into luxury condominiums and lofts. That was the plan, anyway. In 2004, architect Van Scott Jones and financial handler Michael Mueller purchased the land with big plans to restore the resort to its former grandeur. However, just a few days ago the property went into forclosure and the fate of the Racquet Club is now left up in the air. I truly hope someone comes in to rescue this piece of Hollywood and Palm Springs history. Oddly enough, for some reason the construction area was not entirely fenced in, and since there weren’t any “no trespassing” signs posted, my boyfriend and I ventured in for a little looksie.

It was very, very cool to be walking around a piece of property that holds so much history. While there, I could just imagine the screen legends of the day lounging poolside under the desert sun. You can see the now empty pool behind me in the above photograph.

The Palm Springs Racquet Club was opened up on Christmas Day of 1933 by actors Ralph Bellamy and Charlie Farrell, who wanted a place in the desert where they could play tennis. The resort became enormously popular with the celebs of the day – a playground to the stars, compete with tennis courts, a large swimming pool and a legendary bar named the Bamboo Lounge. The bloody mary cocktail was actually first concocted in that lounge. Apparently, Racquet Club guests needed a little “hair of the dog” each morning to cure their budding hangovers, so the Lounge chefs mixed together a few ingredients and, voila, the bloody mary was born. The owners of a New York bar named the 21 Club often stayed at the Racquet Club and fell in love with the new cocktail. They ended up bringing the drink back to their New York bar and the rest, as they say, is history. The Racquet Club didn’t fare quite as well as the cocktail created there, though, and due to dwindling profits, it was sold several times and quickly fell into dilapidation and disarray.

Among the stars who hung out at the Racquet Club in its heyday – Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Jane Russell, Bob Hope, Jayne Mansfield, Gregory Peck, Errol Flynn, John Kennedy, Bing Crosby, Lana Turner, Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy, Audrey Hepburn, Doris Day, Ronald Regan, and, of course, my girl Marilyn Monroe, who spent New Years of 1948 there with her agent Johnny Hyde (pictured above). Rumor has it that Marilyn was actually discovered by photographer Bruno Bernard while lounging poolside at the Club, but I am not sure how true that story is.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Raquet Club of Palm Springs is located at 2743 North Indian Canyon Drive in Palm Springs. The Palm Springs Riviera Resort & Spa is located at 1600 North Indian Canyon Drive, also in Palm Springs. If you need your hair styled like Marilyn – or if you just need a new ‘do in general – you can visit Martina Maina at T-Birds Salon, located at 1808 West Olive Avenue in Burbank. You can visit T-Birds website here. T-Birds is located right across the street from an oft used filming location – the Safari Inn – which was featured in True Romance and Apollo 13 .

October 7, 2008September 29, 2017

Lady Heather’s House

On the second season of CSI: Las Vegas we were introduced to a character whom Grissom later became very fond of named Lady Heather. On the show Lady Heather, who was played by The O.C.’s Melinda Clarke, owns an S&M fetish club in Sin City which she runs out of her extraordinary home. Lady Heather first appeared as a guest star in an episode entitled “Slaves of Las Vegas” and has since reappeared on four separate occasions, becoming something of a cult favorite for CSI fans. Her unique home also appeared in all five of the “Lady Heather” episodes and, being that it is a pretty spooky house and fits in with my Haunted Hollywood theme for this month, I dragged my dad right out to stalk it.

Lady Heather’s house is an absolutely ginormous mansion (13,393 square feet according to Zillow!!) located on a large corner lot in South Pasadena. I found the home thanks to Scott’s LA Audio Driving Tour of Pasadena, which lists many great Pasadena filming locations. It is easy to see why producers chose to use this house for the filming of CSI, as it has a very looming and dark presence, most likely due to its sheer size. For the filming of CSI, producers brought in many Gothic decorations, like large candelabras, to create a more dark and spooky atmosphere. But when you see the home in person, it becomes obvious that not much had to be done in preparation for filming due to its naturally ominous look. In person, the home looks like it could be a real life haunted house. And it actually looks like it belongs on a bayou in New Orleans rather than in the middle of Suburban Pasadena. Unfortunately I don’t own CSI on DVD, so I couldn’t get very good screen captures of the home.

In the various Lady Heather episodes, the exterior of the home is shown numerous times, especially the front door and front porch area (which unfortunately I do not have any screen captures of).

A back porch area is also shown in a special 90 minute episode from Season 3 entitled “Lady Heather’s Box”. It is the location where Grissom and the dominatrix sit down for a cup of tea.

Lady Heather’s house is a very cool place to see in person. I highly recommend stalking it if you are at all a fan of CSI or if you want to conduct your own Haunted Halloween tour. 🙂

UPDATE – This very same house was also used as the haunted mansion in the recently aired Season 3 episode of The Mentalist entitled “Red Scare”.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Lady’s Heather’s house is located at 929 Buena Vista St., at the corner of Buena Vista and Meridian Avenue, in South Pasadena.

October 6, 2008September 29, 2017

Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch

I cannot tell you how excited I am that October is finally here! Halloween has always been my very favorite holiday, most probably because I love nothing more than to dress up in costume. For the past three years during the month of October and in honor of Halloween, I have dragged my boyfriend out on my very own “Haunted Hollywood Tour”. Our tour consists of visiting houses from famous scary movies, sites of famous Hollywood deaths, and rumored haunted hot spots in the L.A. area. Since I have accumulated a fairly large list of scary spots from these yearly tours, last night I decided that, in honor of my favorite holiday, I would blog about all things spooky in Hollywood from now until October 31st.

But I can’t very well do that without first writing about my fave Halloween location – Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch. I dragged my boyfriend out to Mr. Bones last October after seeing the West Hollywood patch appear countless times in US Magazine. For those of you who don’t read US, during the month of October Mr. Bones is THE place to be seen in L.A. and literally anyone who’s anyone makes an appearance at the famous patch. Last year Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Marky Mark, Tobey McGuire and his jewelry designer wife Jennifer Meyer, Sarah Gilbert, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Lisa Rinna, Corey Feldman, and Lindsay Lohan all got their pumpkin on at Mr. Bones. It is literally the Les Deux of pumpkin patches. So, of course, I had to stalk it!

Last year, as my boyfriend and I walked up to Mr. Bones, I was floored to see at least forty paparazzi standing around the perimeter of the fenced in patch, long lense cameras in hand. The paps were going absolutely agro – some standing on top of cars or on ladders trying to see over the patch’s high fences for the perfect photo op.

Due to the sheer amount of photogs stationed around the patch, I was absolutely convinced that TomKat and Suri or BritBrit and her kids were inside. But it turns out the paps were actually snapping photographs of Heidi Klum and Seal and their three children. This was actually Heidi and Seal’s second trip to Mr. Bones in less than a week and the two hung out at the patch with their kids and nanny for over an hour. They definitely seemed to be enjoying all of the attention, too, and were most certainly hamming it up for the cameras – kissing and hugging and what not. I could not have been more excited! 🙂

Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch, which has been a family-owned and operated business for over 15 years, is the perfect place to get you in the mood for Halloween. I highly recommend stalking the patch as much for the celeb sightings as for the Halloween festivities. There are pony rides, face painting, great food, a Halloween store, and, of course, lots and lots of pumpkins. It is pricey, though. The pumpkins cost far more than they would at other local pumpkin patches – and there’s a cover charge! Yes, you read that right. Only in L.A., I swear! You will have to cough up $2 per person just to gain entry to the legendary pumpkin patch. But the entry fee can be applied to any pumpkin or Halloween merchandise purchase while there, so it’s not all bad. What you’re mostly paying for, though, are the Halloween spirit and atmosphere – which Mr. Bones definitely has in droves. You’ll love it! It’s the perfect place to get into the Halloween spirit. 🙂

And, of course, I just had to take a pic of me in front of all the paps. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch is located at 702 N. Doheny Drive in West Hollywood. This year Mr. Bones opens for business this upcoming Friday, October 10th, and they will remain open through Halloween day. Their hours are from 9am to 8pm daily. You can visit their website here. Another great place to get into the Halloween spirit is Lombardi’s Ranch. They are located at 29527 Bouquet Canyon Road in Saugus, near Santa Clarita. Their pumpkin patch is currently open for business. You can visit their website here. Lombardi’s has live music, a petting zoo, awesome pumpkin pie, a sunflower patch, and acres upon acres of pumpkins. It is a great place to spend a day with kids, though you probably won’t spot any celebs.

September 18, 2008February 13, 2009

Stalking the WB!

This past Monday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I took a little stalking field strip to both Warner Brothers Studios and the Paramount Lot. I’ll get to the Paramount tour tomorrow, but today it’s all about the WB. What can I say – the Warner Brothers tour was awesome! It is nothing at all like the Universal Studios back lot tour. The WB tour is far more intimate and personal. A maximum of twelve people is allowed in each tour group, which makes for a far more flexible, personalized tour. The WB tour also lacks the cheesiness that is pretty much ever-present over at Universal. Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast on my Universal birthday tour, but if I had to choose between the two, I’d much prefer stalking the WB. Anyway, Mike and I arrived bright and early at about 8:30AM and I must admit I was as giddy as a schoolgirl! 🙂 Before the tour began, we got to do some shopping in the WB gift shop. The gift shop sells some great souvenirs like t-shirts, key chains, mugs, and even lip gloss, from hit shows like Entourage, Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls and, my personal fave, Friends.

There is also a lot of movie memorabilia to stalk inside the gift shop, such as Daniel Radcliffe’s costume from the original Harry Potter movie and Will Smith’s outfit from I Am Legend (pictured above).

There is even a Starbucks located right inside the gift shop, so I was in heaven!! Movie memorabilia AND a Starbucks?? What more could a girl ask for? 🙂

After getting our shopping on at the gift shop, we were instructed to move into a small movie theatre where we were shown a short movie about the many productions that have been filmed on the lot. The movie definitely got me pumped up and excited for the tour and I was literally on the edge of my seat ready for the tour to begin. After the 15 minute movie, our tour group boarded a small tram and headed for the famous WB back-lot.

The first movie site stalked on our tour was the location of one of the most well-known screen kisses in cinema history – the famous upsidedown kiss between Spiderman and Mary Jane that took place on a fire escape in the pouring rain. That fire escape is located on the WB’s back-lot in an area that is now called “Spiderman Alley”. 🙂 Apparently the scene was not very fun, or romantic, to film, as Tobey Maguire had to hang upside down for over eight hours, giving him a massive headache, not to mention all the water running up his nose from the fake rain. That kiss was later emulated by Seth and Summer in one of my favorite O.C. scenes ever!

Our next stop on the tour was the exterior set of ER ‘s Cooke County General Hospital. This set was very cool to see as I was a big fan of ER during its first few seasons.

While 95% of the sets for ERare located inside a soundstage, the exterior set includes the hospital’s ambulance entrance, a small portion of the waiting room,

The Jumbo Mart where the doctors eat,

the “L” tracks from the Chicago railway system,

and even George Clooney’s former basketball hoop left over from the days he starred on ER.

Next up our tour guide took us to a small stretch of grass that often doubles for Central Park in Warner Brothers movies and television shows. The patch of lawn is so small, I have no idea how it can possibly double for a park, but it does. The small park was featured on Friends as the place where Phoebe “runs weird” and also as the location of Rory’s “study tree” on the Gilmore Girls.

Next up was Lorelai’s house from Gilmore Girls which looks pretty much exactly as it did during the filming of the show.

In actuality, the entire town of Sleepy Hollow from Gilmore Girls is located on the WB lot, and it, too, looks pretty much exactly as it did during filming. This set is usually called Anytown, USA and has been used in countless productions, most prominently as Hazzard County in the Dukes of Hazzard television series.

Pictured above is Luke’s restaurant from Gilmore Girls,

and the Hazzard County Courthouse from Dukes of Hazzard.

I think I was most excited of all to see the house from one of my fave 80s sitcoms – Growing Pains (pictured above). I used to seriously love me some Kirk Cameron. 🙂 The house looks a bit different now, but it is still pretty recognizable as the Seaver Family home. As we drove up upon the house, our tour guide asked if anyone could still remember the words to the show’s theme song and I am proud to say, I still could. 🙂 You can watch the Growing Pains intro here. Cue theme song – “Show me that smile again, don’t waste another minute on your crying . . .” 🙂

The side of the Seaver house was also used as Lane’s house on Gilmore Girls. Apparently many houses on the WB lot have double, or even triple, fronts so that they can be used for multiple houses at a time.

We also got to see crew members setting up a scene for Ghost Whisperer on the WB’s Paris Street. Ghost Whisperer used to be filmed at Universal Studios, but due to the recent fire, production has since moved to Warner Brothers. Paris Street was also used in the filming of Casablanca, as the location of Rick and Ilsa’s Parisian tryst.

The building pictured above was featured as the location of Rick and Isla’s teary Paris goodbye. Ahhh, we’ll always have Paris! 🙂

Also included in the tour was a walk through of the set of Two and a Half Men– which was VERY cool as I watch that show all the time; an up-close and personal view of many cars used in major motion pictures – ie. the General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard movie, the Batmobile, and Keanu’s car from the Matrix; a tour of the Warner Brothers Museum which displays numerous costumes and other movie memorabilia from such films as Harry Potter, Fools Gold, The Matrix, and The Dark Knight;and a walk through of the third biggest soundstage in the US which has been used in productions such as Ocean’s 13 and The Perfect Storm. We were not allowed to take any photographs while inside the soundstages or the museum which was a total bummer! 🙁

My favorite part of the tour, hands down, had to be when we got to see the original Central Perk set from Friends. SO COOL! After the final season of Friends, the entire Central Perk set was moved to an empty soundstage preserved for us fans to visit. 🙂 The set pieces are a little tweaked and aren’t set up exactly as they were during filming, but it still looks pretty much as it did on TV. SO COOL!

Mike and I had an absolute blast on the WB tour and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it!!!! No two tours are ever the same, and I am seriously considering doing it again soon. 🙂

BIG THANK YOU to Mike for taking all of the above pictures – would you believe my camera died at the very beginning of the WB tour cause this stalker forgot to charge it the night before. I am such a blond sometimes!!! LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Warner Brothers Studios is located at 3400 Riverside Drive in Burbank. Tours run every 30 minutes Monday through Friday from 8:20am to 4:00pm. Advance reservations are recommended. Tickets will cost you $45 per person – and I assure you, it is $45 well spent! You can learn more about the tour here.

September 15, 2008February 11, 2009

Lindsay’s Big Adventure

The idea of watching a movie outdoors at night in an LA cemetery might at first seem a little odd to some. And I must admit, it did at first to me, too. But that’s exactly what I did this past Saturday night for a screening of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. My best friend Kylee, who attended the screening with me, said she just couldn’t wrap her head around celebrities and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure all coming together outdoors at a cemetery. I guess it’s just something you have to see to believe. My acting mentor, Diane Louise Salinger, who played Simone in the 1985 cult classic, invited me and my fellow classmates to the Pee Wee screening, which is shown annually at the legendary cemetery.

The cemetery screenings were started in 2001 by a company called Cinespia, which was founded by set designer and classic movie buff John Wyatt. Each Saturday night during the summer season, Wyatt screens old time movies at Hollywood Forever. The movies are projected onto the walls of the mausoleum where Rudolph Valentino is interred. Tickets are $10 per person, and I must say it is $10 well spent. The atmosphere is fabulous and I can’t think of a better way I could have spent a Saturday night with my best friend. Guests bring wine, beer and food and sit on blankets and beach chairs under (and above) the stars, eating, drinking and watching classic Hollywood movies.

Before arriving at the cemetery last night I really had no idea what to expect. While driving there we got stuck in some major traffic on Santa Monica Boulevard and we were joking that all of the traffic must be for the Pee Wee screening. Turns out it actually was!!!! I had no idea what a humongous following Pee Wee had! The line to enter the cemetery literally wrapped around the block. Because we were attending the screening with Diane, we got the total VIP treatment – VIP parking and the best seats in the house!!! Pictured above are my best friend Kylee and up and coming actor Justin Dray (look for him in an upcoming episode of ICarly) hanging out before the show.

While waiting for the movie to start, I got to meet and talk with Jay Boileau, owner of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. In 1998 Jay and his partner, Tyler Cassity, of Forever Productions, purchased the cemetery after it had fallen into serious disrepair and bankruptcy. The California government had even stepped in to cease the further sales of cemetery plots. Jay and Tyler painstakingly refurbished the 62-acre property to its former grandeur and have made it what it is today. Countless celebrities are buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, including Marion Davies, Cecil B. DeMille, former Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn, Tyrone Power, Mel Blanc, Lana Clarkson, Estelle Getty, Bugsy Siegel, Johnny Ramone, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks, Peter Lorre, and sisters Norma and Constance Talmadge, among many others. The cemetery has also been featured in countless television and movie productions, including Charmed, The Player, LA Story, Brothers & Sisters, Frasier, Nip/Tuck, Bonfire of the Vanities, Hot Shots!, The Prestige, The Young and the Dead, and Virtuosity.

The highlight of the night for me had to be when, thanks to Diane, I got to meet Pee Wee himself, Paul Ruebens!!!! 🙂 Paul could not have been kinder or more down to earth. I half expected him to be a bit off the wall, like his character, but in reality he was very calm and almost on the shy side. Couldn’t have been a nicer guy! Diane even got him to pose for a photo with me – the only photo he took all night – and I could not have been more excited! 🙂 Also in the photograph is my teacher, Diane, and Elizabeth Daily, who played Dottie in the film.

Before the show, Paul gave a brief introduction, during which he talked about the original premiere of Pee Wee’s Big Adventure back in ’85. I must say it was very cool watching the movie with all of the stars in attendance. Very cool!!! All in all, it was a great night and I highly recommend stalking the cemetery during future summer screenings!! While it may seem strange to be watching movies in a graveyard, after experiencing it for myself, I now actually want to be buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery – eternally resting in the heart of Hollywood while forever watching classic movies under and among the stars. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Hollywood Forever Cemetery is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The Cinespia screenings are over for Summer 2008, but you can check this website in 2009 for next summer’s schedule. The cemetery is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can purchase a map of the stars’ graves at the flower shop near the cemetery’s main entrance.