Nicolas Cage filming locations

Way back in mid-June, while trying to track down the Irish pub that masquerades as Scully’s bar on fave show Parks and Recreation (a location that I still have, maddeningly, yet to find, by the way), I came across a website for a Fairfax District-area watering hole named Molly Malone’s. The website mentioned that the historic establishment had been featured in several movies over the years, including Patriot Games, Leaving Las Vegas and Life Without Dick. And even though I am not particularly a fan of any of the three flicks, I just about died of excitement upon reading the news and immediately added the place to my To-Stalk list. Why, oh why, do more bars and restaurants not post similar such information on their websites? It would make my job so much easier! Winking smile And while I was not able to drag the Grim Cheaper out to stalk Molly’s until two Saturdays ago, I have to say that the place was most-definitely well worth the wait.

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Molly Malone’s, which is located at 575 South Fairfax Avenue, was originally founded sometime (I believe) during the 1960s. In 1970, the place was taken over by a Dublin-born homemaker named Angela Hanlon, who had come to Los Angeles via Baltimore with her entertainer husband. Finding herself homesick for her native land, Hanlon one day ventured in Molly’s and quickly became a regular. And although there are several differing reports as to how Hanlon came to own the watering hole, the story I like best, which was chronicled in a 1997 Los Angeles Times article, is that, on one very fateful day, Hanlon loaned Molly’s then-owner money and when he skipped town shortly thereafter, the place wound up in her hands. Molly Malone’s has been owned and operated by the Hanlon family ever since.

The space at 575 South Fairfax housed bars long before Molly Malone’s was ever founded, though. According to a 1995 Los Angeles Times article by Hillary Johnson, legend has it that the 575 Club, one of the many watering holes to precede Molly’s, was actually one of the first to be given an alcohol license after Prohibition.

Molly Malone’s dark walls are covered with over seventy original paintings – almost all of them renderings of the bar’s regular customers – created by legendary oil painter Neil Boyle, who was a loyal patron of the drinkery for decades until he passed away in 2006. Lorraine Devon Wilke writes in a 2011 Huffington Post article, “For an artist whose pieces command phenomenal fees, who was always in demand for murals and commissioned work, and whose work hangs in galleries and museums around the country, the prestige of showcasing such valuable art was undeniable to Molly’s. Some patrons came in simply to view Neil’s paintings. It was a draw. Literally.”

In the 1995 LA Times article that I mentioned above, author Hillary Johnson states, “A sign on the wall says, ‘Dublin, 40 km.’ Some would say it’s closer.” And I would have to agree with that sentiment. As soon as we walked through Molly Malone’s dark wooden front door, we were welcomed like old friends. And when I asked the bartender on duty about the various movies filmed on the premises, he came out from behind his post, grabbed me by the hand and proceeded to take me on a tour of the place. And he even introduced me to Molly’s former longtime manager, who just happened to be on site that day, to see if he could answer any more of my questions! Talk about hospitality! Love it!

Besides being a filming location, Molly Malone’s has also long been popular with the Hollywood set. According to the former manager that I spoke with, Lenny Kravitz, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Mickey Rourke, and Ralph Fiennes have all been spotted there. The place is also a live music venue and boasts a large back room, complete with a stage, where many young musicians have gotten their start.

The band Flogging Molly not only cut their teeth at the bar, but named themselves in honor of it. Of the name, front-man Dave King said, “We used to play there every Monday night and we felt like we were flogging it to death, so we called the band Flogging Molly.” Love it!

In 1992’s Patriot Games, Molly Malone’s was the Irish pub where Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) threatened to destroy Paddy O’Neil (Richard Harris) after O’Neil refused to tell him the whereabouts of Sean Miller (Sean Bean) and Kevin O’Donnell (Patrick Bergin).

While numerous websites state that either Boardner’s of Hollywood (which I blogged about here) or Cock ‘N Bull British Pub in Santa Monica was the bar featured in the opening scene of 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas, that information is actually incorrect. The bar in question was actually Molly Malone’s and it popped up twice in the flick, first in the scene in which Ben Sanderson (Nicolas Cage) rather aggressively purchases a random woman named Terri (Valeria Golino) a drink before inviting her home with him.

It next appeared in the scene in which the “L.A. Bartender” (Graham Beckel) urged Ben to stop drinking once and for all.

Molly Malone’s also popped up twice in 2002’s Life Without Dick. It first appeared in the scene in which hitman Daniel Gallagher (Harry Connick Jr.) asked his friend Rex (David Cross) to get rid of a gun. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior were used in that scene.

Molly’s next popped up in the scene in which Daniel finally admitted to his new girlfriend, Colleen Gibson (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker), that he was a hitman.

The exterior of Molly’s also appeared in that scene, as well.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my latest post – about a nightmare experience at the DMV – on my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Molly Malone’s, from Patriot Games, is located at 575 South Fairfax Avenue in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. The bar is a 21-and-over establishment, so, if you are going to stalk it, you will have to leave the kiddies at home. You can visit Molly Malone’s official website here.

One location that I had been dying to stalk for close to a decade was Edie’s Diner, the 50s-style restaurant in Marina Del Rey that stood in for Phil’s Famous Red Car Diner where Slim Hiller (Jennifer Lopez) worked – and met her reprobate husband, Mitch Hiller (Billy Campbell) – in the 2002 thriller Enough. So imagine my dismay when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, informed me, way back when, that the place had closed its doors in 2007 and was subsequently remodeled, re-opened under a different name, and then closed once again. Such a shame! And while I had long ago crossed the address off my To-Stalk List, when Mike and I were out and about in the South Bay area a couple of months ago, we happened to drive by the property and discovered that it had since been re-opened yet again, this time under the name Killer Café (which I found fitting being that Dexter had also once filmed on the premises Smile ). So we, of course, stopped in to take a quick peek and I am very happy to report that the restaurant does not look as different from its Enough days as I would have guessed.

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Surprisingly, despite the fact that Edie’s Diner – along with its neighboring event space, Harbor House – was a long-time staple in the Marina Del Rey area, I could not find any information whatsoever online about its history or the year that it opened. I know that the place was around for at least a decade, though, during which time it became quite popular with South Bay locals and tourists alike. Then, sometime in early 2005, real-estate developer Edward Czuker purchased Edie’s and Harbor House, as well as the surrounding land, and set about securing permits to demolish both in order to make way for a large mixed-used commercial development project named The Waterfront. And while Czuker allowed the two spaces, which were owned by the same company, to remain in operation – sans paying rent! – while details of The Waterfront were being ironed out, for whatever reason both closed without notice on September 5th, 2007. A public auction was held a few weeks later and all of Edie’s interior décor, kitchen appliances and 1950s memorabilia were sold to the highest bidder. Boo!

In 2008, with The Waterfront development stalled, a new eatery and concert venue named The Organic Panificio Café (try saying that five times fast!) opened at the Edie’s Diner/Harbor House site. That establishment was closed in October 2010, though, due to continued complaints from neighboring residents over the loud music that was played nightly. After sitting vacant for over a year, Killer Café took over the property and opened its doors in May 2012. And while Mike and I did not eat there, one of the servers (who had no idea whatsoever than any filming had taken place on the premises!) was nice enough to let us take all of the pictures of the place that we wanted.

Edie’s Diner appeared at the very beginning of Enough and was used quite extensively in a few scenes. Thankfully, the exterior is still very recognizable from its onscreen appearance. You can check out a cool photograph of the exterior taken during the filming here.

Amazingly enough, while slightly different, the interior of the Killer Cafe is still set up in the same basic way that it was back during the Edie’s days! The line of booths running down the center of the restaurant is now gone, but the counter area and perimeter booths are still in the exact same spots that they were in the movie. Yay!

And while the actual booths where Robbie (Noah Wyle) and Mitch sat when they both first met Slim (which are the second and third booths from the front door) were sold during the Edie’s auction, at least there are still booths in that same area today.

Edie’s Diner also appeared in the Season 2 episode of Dexter titled “An Inconvenient Lie”, as the spot where Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) grabbed coffee with Lila Tournay (Jaime Murray) after an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And I would like to mention here that my favorite line from the series EVER was uttered about the character of Lila, whom I absolutely HATED. In the Season 2 finale, which was titled “The British Invasion”, after Lila burns down her apartment and subsequently goes missing, Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter) turns to some police officers on duty and says, “Put out an A.P.B. on Lila West, a.k.a: Lila Tourney. Suspected arsonist. 5’7″, black hair, pale like a f*cking corpse.” LOL LOL LOL Gotta love Debra! Smile

Edie’s neighboring – and more upscale – special events venue, the now-defunct Harbor House, was used in the 2003 thriller Matchstick Men, as the spot where Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) and Frank Mercer (Sam Rockwell) met up with their mark, Chuck Frechette (Rizzoli & Isles’ Bruce McGill).

You can see the since-remodeled Jamaica Bay Inn, which is located across the street from the Harbor House space, in the background of the screen capture pictured below.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Killer Café, aka the former Edie’s Diner from Enough and Dexter, is located at 4211 Admiralty Way in Marina Del Rey. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. The Former Harbor House events venue, from Matchstick Men, is located on the other side of Edie’s, as denoted by the blue arrow above, but shares the address of 4211 Admiralty Way. The parking lot where Dylan McKay’s father was killed in the “Dead End” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 is located just around the corner from the Killer Café – it is Public Parking Lot # 9 located at 14110 Palawan Way. And the Ritz-Carlton, Marina Del Rey from the “No Good Deed” episode of the new 90210 is located just a few blocks east of the Killer Café at 4375 Admiralty Way.

Tag: Nicolas Cage filming locations

Molly Malone’s from “Patriot Games”

Killer Café from “Enough”