Tag: Pasadena

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JLo Has Left the Building!

OK, so while I know that this is old news and that I have blogged about this location once before, I just had to do a little post on JLo’s (former) restaurant, Madres. Way back in early July, I dragged my boyfriend out to Madre’s to grab a bite to eat as this stalker had yet to dine there since the restaurant’s 2002 opening. Apparently I was about four days too late, because there was a sign out front stating that on July 1st Madres had closed its doors for good. I guess I really shouldn’t have been surprised at the news as I had always heard that the food there was pretty terrible and way overpriced.

My boyfriend and I ventured across the street so that I could ask one of the local merchants about the closing of the restaurant and she told me that Madres hadn’t been doing well for quite some time. In the early years, though, the place was quite a hit and was even named Best Celebrity Owned Restaurant by City Search. Madres opened up in April 2002 to quite a bit of fanfare and hoopla. JLo hosted a star-studded grand-opening party for the restaurant, with guests Ben Affleck, Nicole Kidman, Jay Leno, Dave Navarro, Carmen Electra, Kobe Bryant and Christian Slater. I actually lived just a few blocks from Madres at the time and had NO idea JLo was opening up a restaurant. When I read about the grand opening party in the Pasadena Star News the following morning I was literally kicking myself for not having stalked it! 🙁 The restaurant was first run by Jen’s ex-husband Ojani Noa, but she fired him after only seven months, and put her father, David Lopez, in charge. Despite the initial hoopla, the restaurant seemed pretty deserted in recent years. But even with the rumored bad food, I am still pretty bummed that I never got to eat there. 🙁

Since JLo’s lease is not up for a few more years, she is apparently trying to sub-lease the entire place (furniture and fixtures included) for a new restaurant to come in. Right before I left on my vacation to Hawaii I happened to cut through the (former) Madres parking lot while doing some Lake Avenue shopping and noticed that all of the plants outside the restaurant were completely dead. So I immediately called up my dad and begged him to drive out and meet me there to snap some pics. 🙂 I was pretty surprised to see the place looking so run down, what with JLo trying to lease the space out. I mean, hello – where’s the curb appeal? 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It (while you still can): Madres restaurant is located at 897 Granite Drive, just off Lake Avenue, in Pasadena.

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That Thing You Stalk!

That Thing You Do has always been one of my very favorite movies. Liv Tyler could not have been more adorable in that movie! The scene where she is running down the street screaming with joy while listening to the Oneders song on the radio for the first time is one of my favorite scenes in all of moviedom! And I do love me some Tom Everett Scott, too. 🙂 So when I read on Pasadena’s Filming Website that a house on Prospect Boulevard in Pasadena was used in That Thing You Do, I, of course, ran right out to stalk it.

I must say that working backwards, or stalking backwards I should say, ie. trying to find the scene in a movie where a certain home or place was featured, proved to be almost as difficult as normal stalking. I had to fast-forward through That Thing You Do twice before I spotted the house in a scene. In actuality only the garage of the home was used, and it was only used briefly in the very beginning of the movie. The home was featured in the scene when Guy Patterson practices with the rest of the band for the first time. It is in this scene that Liv Tyler comes up with the name for the band – “The Oneders”.

I actually had to go back and stalk this house a second time, as the first time I stalked it I didn’t get a photo of the garage, which was the only part of the house used in the movie. The front of the home is never actually shown. The clapboard-style residence is super cute in person and was very reminiscent of the Father of the Bride house, but on a slightly smaller scale. I am actually very surprised the front of the house was not shown in the movie. You’d think that since they were already there filming in the garage, they would have taken some stock footage of the front of the house to use in the movie.

The Prospect Historic District of Pasadena, where the That Thing You Do home is located, is a beautiful neighborhood with absolutely gorgeous homes on tree covered streets. The neighborhood, which was started in the year 1906, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. One of the homes on Prospect, number 657, is known as the Bentz House and was built by the famous architects Greene & Greene, with whom Craftsman style architecture is most commonly associated. Greene & Greene built the Bentz House in 1906 and it still stands today. Jennifer Lopez’ dream house from the movie Enough can also be found in the Prospect Historic District. It is pictured to the left. According to Pasadena’s Filming Website the Enough house was also used in That Thing You Do, but I never saw it. Quite possibly only the interior of the house was used, and therefore I didn’t recognize it, or, also quite possible, the Pasadena website just got it wrong.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The That Thing You Do house is located at 490 Prospect Boulevard. The garage that was used in the movie is to the left rear of the house and is very visible from the street. JLo’s house from Enough is located right around the corner at 445 Prospect Square. The most famous Greene & Greene home, the Gamble House, is located just off of Prospect Square at 4 Westmoreland Place. The Gamble House was used as Doc Brown’s home in the movie Back to the Future, but I’ll save that one for a future post. 🙂

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The Pasadena Playhouse

My boyfriend and I happened to walk past the Pasadena Playhouse this past weekend, and I just had to walk inside to stalk it. 🙂 The Pasadena Playhouse, although not a filming location, is one of the oldest and most distinguished community theatres in the US. The Playhouse has hosted hundreds of notable actors on its stages throughout the years and the talent of countless Hollywood stars of yesterday and today was cultivated at its distinguished theatre school.

The Playhouse was started in 1917 by an actor/director named Gilmore Brown in a burlesque house in Pasadena. In 1925 it moved to it’s current location, a Spanish adobe style building in what is now called the Playhouse District of Pasadena. A theatre school was also established on the property during the ’20s. It was at this point that the Playhouse became recognized in Hollywood as the go-to place to find talent. George Bernard Shaw even called the Playhouse “the Athens of the West”.

The Playhouse’s theatre school eventually became known in Hollywood as the “Star Factory” due to the many famous actors and actresses that studied there. Famous alumni include Gene Hackman, George Reeves (TV’s Superman), Eve Arden, Sally Struthers, Dustin Hoffman, Raymond Burr, Frances Farmer, Tyrone Power, Charles Bronson, William Holden, and Gloria Stuart, just to name a few. And writer Tennesse Williams premiered all of his plays at the Playhouse. Besides its famous students, countless big names have also performed on the Playhouse’s stage over the years, including William H. Macy, Scott Bakula, and Marilu Henner. Hopefully one day I, too, will be gracing the hallowed stages of this famed theatre.

The Playhouse is one of the best places in Los Angeles to see live theatre. Valerie Harper is currently starring in the world premiere of the play Looped, which was written by celebrated playwright Matthew Lombardo. Looped is based on the life of actress Tallulah Bankhead, who has been dubbed “Hollywood’s first bad girl”. Looped also stars former teenage heartthrob Chad Allen – remember him from My Two Dads???? – who looks completely different today!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 S. El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, just off Colorado Boulevard. Looped, starring Valerie Harper and Chad Allen, is currently playing through the 3rd of August. After seeing a show, you can grab a bite to eat and a drink at Bazaar Restaurant, located on the Playhouse property.

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The Cravens Estate

Just purchased Scott’s LA Audio Tour of Pasadena, a CD driving tour which is absolutely chock full of filming locations!! Loved it!! I was especially excited because one of the locations visited on the audio tour was a mansion named the Cravens Estate which was used in one of my favorite TV shows. Besides currently housing the Pasadena headquarters for the American Red Cross, the estate is practically a Hollywood backlot. Countless productions have filmed there over the years, but most significantly Cravens Estate was featured each week as JAG Headquarters on the television series of the same name. I do love me some Commander Harm Rabb! 🙂

The Cravens Estate was built in the 1920s by John and Mildred Cravens. It is one of the last remaining mansions on what used to be known as Millionaires Row (Orange Grove Avenue) in Pasadena. The 25,000 square foot French Chateau style mansion was donated to the American Red Cross in the 1960s. The red brick exterior of the estate is absolutely gorgeous and the mansion really looks like it could be found in Washington D.C. Apparently, fans always used to write to JAG creator Donald P. Bellasario telling him that they stalked the town of Falls Church. Virginia (where JAG supposedly takes place) looking for JAG Headquarters only to find out that the builiding was actually located in Cailfornia. 🙂

Both the interior and the exterior of the Cravens Estate have been used as filming locations over the years. On the TV show Commander in Chief, starring Geena Davis, the kitchen of the estate was used as the White House kitchen. Other productions filmed at the estate include Enemy of the State, Traffic, Murder She Wrote, Rush Hour 3, The Practice, Swordfish, Judging Amy, The Lyon’s Den, 24, and Beverly Hills, 90210. (I wish I knew what it was portrayed as in 90210!!!! Does anyone know???) The estate is also often used for weddings and special events.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Cravens Estate is located at 430 Madeline Drive in Pasadena, just off of Orange Grove Avenue. You can purchase Scott’s Driving CD’s here. Although the CD’s do move a bit too fast on occasion, they are lots of fun to take a tour with. Currently Scott has audio tours of Pasadena, Hollywood and Los Angeles available.

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Stumbling Upon Sarah Silverman

Yesterday, I happened to stop into my favorite bookstore on the planet – Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena – and was floored to see a sign on the door saying “Filming in Progress”. I couldn’t believe my luck and I rushed inside to find out what was being filmed. Turns out it was The Sarah Silverman Program and Sarah Silverman herself was actually there! What was even more exciting was that they did not close any part of the store down for filming and you could literally walk right through the scene as long as you didn’t “look directly at the camera.” I parked myself in an aisle right near filming and just watched as Sarah performed take after take. As an actress, it was fascinating to observe.

In the scene, Sarah confronts a man who she believes is her father. He tells her that he is not her father and she says “Well if you’re not my father, then it would not be wierd at all to make out right now.” They kiss and both get grossed out and the guy admits that he is her father. The picture to the left is a shot of them filming and that is Sarah in the blue and white stripped baseball style t-shirt. I only had my blackberry on me at the time, so the pictures didn’t turn out great. Sarah Silverman was absolutely adorable, though – one hundred times cuter than she appears on screen and a lot taller than I imagined. She looked to be about 5’7″. She seemed very nice and friendly, too, although I did not go up and talk to her.

Vroman’s is a fabulous bookstore and I highly recommend stalking it. I could literally spend whole afternoons just browsing the shelves there. It is a great store not only for books, but for fine stationary, scrapbooking supplies, and gifts. The people who work there are highly knowledgeable about books, too, and I absolutely love that. You can literally go in there and say “I just heard about a book that’s about a girl, but I don’t know the title or the author” and they will find it for you! They’re great!! They were also recently voted Bookseller of the Year 2008 by Publishers Weekly. I’ve blogged briefly about Vroman’s once before in my 40 Year Old Virgin post, as it was used as the interior of the bookstore where Beth works in the movie.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit their website here to view upcoming events and signings.

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Daddy Day Care

While out and about with my dad this week, I decided to stalk the home used in the Eddie Murphy movie Daddy Day Care. Since my dad just retired, he has been recruited to be my new stalking side kick! I think he loves it about just as much as my boyfriend does. 🙂 Anyway, my fave stalking guide provided me with the location of Eddie Murphy’s house in the movie, so, of course, I had to run right out and stalk it.

It is an absolutely adorable home and I can totally picture a day care center being run there. The house is HUGE – a lot bigger than it appeared in the movie, but otherwise it looks just like it did onscreen. From what I remember of the movie, much of the backyard of this home was used for filming, as well. I definitely recommend stalking this location – even if you’ve never seen the movie – because the house is just that cute!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Daddy Day Care house is located at 351 N. Congress in Pasadena.

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The “Guess Who” House

Guess Who House Thanks to fellow stalker Mike over at MovieShotsLA I was able to stalk the house from the Ashton Kutcher movie Guess Who today. I was extremely excited to stalk this house because I just found out that the back of it was used as the back of Steve Martin’s residence in the movie Father of the Bride. The front of the Father of the Bride house can be found in Pasadena, about 5 miles away from the Guess Who house location. I guess the backyard of the Pasadena house wasn’t exactly what the filmmakers were looking for, so they ventured to Alhambra and used this location instead.

This puts to rest a long-standing argument between me and one of my mom’s good friends. She insisted that the Father of the Bride house was located in Alhambra, while I believed it was in Pasadena. Apparently her friend lives near the Alhambra house and saw Father of the Bride being filmed there. Well, it turns out we were both right! 🙂 All of the backyard scenes were indeed filmed at the Guess Who house, including the basketball scenes and the BBQ scene. Annie’s basketball hoop from the movie is still standing and you can see it in the picture to the left.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Guess Who house is located at 500 N. Almansor Road in Alhambra. It is just a few blocks South of Huntington Drive and not too far from the 13 Going on 30 houses.

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Without A Trace Update

Just a quick update that the Without a Trace episode that was filmed at La Salle High School in Pasadena back on March 21st will be airing tonight on CBS at 10pm.

You can read the full Without a Trace post about the filming at La Salle here.

Happy Stalking! 🙂