Pasadena – Page 4 – IAMNOTASTALKER

August 12, 2016April 30, 2017

The Blind Donkey from “Revenge”

I stalk so many places, typically in quick succession, that oftentimes a few get lost in the shuffle. Such was the case with The Blind Donkey, an Old Town Pasadena whiskey bar that I visited back in April, shortly before the Grim Cheaper and I headed off to New York, and then promptly forgot about until this morning when I was going through my many stalking photographs. The site made an appearance during Season 4 of fave show Revenge. I still have yet to watch the fourth and final season of the ABC series (I really need to get on that), but had scanned through the episode titled “Repercussions” to make screen captures for my January post about The L.A. Hotel Downtown. While doing so, I spotted The Blind Donkey in a scene and, though I had never actually set foot in the watering hole at the time, recognized it immediately.

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The spot that now houses The Blind Donkey has been the site of countless eateries over the years. I never dined at any of them when I lived in Pasadena, but I did walk and drive by the space on a fairly regular basis when shopping in Old Town. I even caught a movie being filmed on the premises once, so the place is quite memorable to me. More on that later, though.

The Blind Donkey opened its doors on November 7th, 2012 (my mom’s birthday!). Prior to that time, the space housed Café Atlantic, then Brenart Café Restaurant Gallery, then Brenart Restaurant & Wine Bar (similar name to its predecessor, but a different owner), then Dish Bistro & Bar. Like I said, it has been through a large succession of tenants in a short period of time. It looks like The Blind Donkey is here to stay, though.

Though the establishment boasts several backers, including Ryan Sweeney (the restaurateur behind The Surly Goat, Der Wolfskopf, and Verdugo Bar), The Blind Donkey was actually the brainchild of Pasadena native/whiskey aficionado John Bower.

The watering hole is known for its large stock of whiskey (over 65 varieties), French fry offerings (The Blind Donkey takes its fries very seriously – there are ten variations on the menu), and hearty fare. I opted for the Veggie Burger, which came with cheddar cheese, jalapeno ranch (I was a little skeptical about the dressing as I am not a fan of spicy foods, but it turned out to be uh-ma-zing!), sautéed mushrooms and onions, and a homemade pickle. The bartender who served me could not have been nicer and everything I sampled was fabulous, so it should not have come as a surprise when the space loaded up almost to capacity shortly after I arrived. Lucky for me, I showed up to grab lunch right when the restaurant opened at 1 p.m. on a Sunday and had the place completely to myself (empty eateries make for better photographs), but within twenty minutes all of the bar seats and most of the tables had been filled.

In the “Repercussions” episode of Revenge, Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann) and Jack Porter (Nick Wechsler) discuss the return of David Clarke (James Tupper) over beers at The Blind Donkey. Though I had never actually been inside the space at the time, I recognized enough of what was shown outside of the windows to know where filming had taken place.

I fell in love with the bar’s exposed brick walls and industrial décor on sight and immediately added the place to my To-Stalk list. I am happy to report that The Blind Donkey is just as striking in person.

Back when the space housed Brenart Café Restaurant Gallery, it made an appearance in the 2007 action film Live Free or Die Hard.

It is through the restaurant’s side window that John McClane (Bruce Willis) and Matthew Farrell (Justin Long) watch fake news footage of the United States Capital Building being destroyed. In the scene, John and Matthew are standing in Kendall Alley, which runs along the west side of the eatery.

The window that John and Matthew looked through is still intact and is denoted with pink arrows in the images below.

I actually saw the Live Free or Die Hard scene being filmed very briefly. In late November 2006, I was driving out of the One Colorado parking garage, located just across the street from Brenart Café Restaurant Gallery, and while paying at the ticket booth, looked up and was shocked to see a battered and bloodied Bruce Willis standing in the alley right across from me! Because there were cars behind me and I was heading back to work (I was a personal assistant at the time), I could not stop to watch, unfortunately. But the image of Bruce standing mere feet away always stuck with me and brought a smile to my face every time I ventured past the Brenart space.

While scanning through Live Free or Die Hard to make screen captures for this post, I was floored to spot The Novel Café, from Little Black Book, make an appearance. I was less than floored when I discovered shortly thereafter that the coffee shop had since closed. I loved that place! A Groundwork Coffee Co. now inhabits the spot. I will definitely be checking it out the next time I am in town.

The exterior of The Blind Donkey is also seen briefly in the Season 11 episode of Criminal Minds titled “Target Rich.”

On a random side-note – while scanning through “Target Rich,” I was floored to see that a scene took place outside of my favorite store, Lula Mae, which is located at 100 North Fair Oaks Avenue!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Blind Donkey, from the “Repercussions” episode of Revenge, is located at 53 East Union Street in Pasadena. You can visit the watering hole’s official website here.

June 6, 2016February 17, 2017

“The Brady Bunch” MegaPost

My friend, fellow stalker Michael, is proving to be a true Brady Bunch virtuoso! Here he is yet again gifting us with yet another fabulous post about the 1969 sitcom – this one a round-up of nine different locales featured on the series! Take it away, Michael!

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I know, I know. Yet another Brady guest post foisted upon you. I swear, I do know how to find non-Brady locations. However, I had compiled a bunch of Brady Bunch establishing shot sites that I hadn’t seen posted anywhere online, and asked Lindsay if she’d be up for a catch-all post to at least get these addresses out there, and save anyone interested from duplicating research efforts. Note, as is frequently the case, while these establishing shots were filmed on location, the scenes with the actors were filmed on a Paramount soundstage.

Davey Jones’ Royal Towers Hotel

Wilshire Regent

I thought I’d start with a location I happened upon by accident. This winter, I was in Los Angeles riding down Wilshire Boulevard when I looked ahead and saw a building that I thought had been used in a Brady Bunch episode. I snapped a couple quick pics and found their match when I got home.

In the third-season episode, “Getting Davy Jones,” Marcia (in drag) and Greg sneak into Davy Jones’ hotel room in an effort to coax him into performing at the Fillmore Junior High prom.

The establishing shot of of the fictional Royal Towers Hotel was in reality the Wilshire Regent, a luxury co-op built in 1963. The section of Wilshire Blvd where it stands, known as the Wilshire Corridor, is now filled with high-rises, but the Wilshire Regent was one of the first apartment towers built in the area. And lucky for us, the exterior of the building looks remarkably unchanged.

Stalk It: Wilshire Regent, aka Davy Jones’ Hotel, aka Royal Towers Hotel is located at 10501 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Mr. Dimsdale’s Recording Studio / Mercola Building

Fred Hayman Building

In keeping with the musical theme, the next location comes from an establishing shot in the third-season episode, “Dough Re Mi.” The Brady Kids, ready to share their musical stylings with the world, get in hock against their collective allowances to rent studio time from Johnny Dimsdale’s father so they can record a demo of Greg’s latest, “We Can Make the World a Whole Lot Brighter.” However, Peter’s cracking voice jeopardizes the venture and their “$150 non-refundable dollars.”

One would think with a name slapped on the facade, it’d be a cinch to track down this location. Nevertheless, to this day, I haven’t found any other references to the Mercola Building (if anyone out there has, let me know!). As it turns out, I ended up running across this location by accident.

Last year, I walked through Beverly Hills on my way to meet up with a friend for coffee, and as I meandered down Canon Drive I couldn’t help but notice the bright yellow Fred Hayman Building. But, no sooner did I start to reflect on the difference between Giorgio yellow and Bijan yellow (iconic Beverly Hills boutiques known for their use of the color), then my attention was caught by another structure in the area and I forgot all about the Fred Hayman Building.

Researching that neighborhood when I got home, I found myself on Google Street View. Randomly turning my virtual self around, I saw the Fred Hayman Building again and realized it was a Brady location I’d looked for in the past.

Other than a paint job, the structure still looks remarkably similar to its appearance on The Brady Bunch. What looks to be a parking lot on the right of Brady clip is now home to Spago Beverly Hills, and the exterior of the shorter annex building has been remodeled numerous times, most recently housing a restaurant.

Stalk It: Fred Hayman Building, aka Mr. Dimsale’s Recording Studio, aka Mercola Building is located at 190 (& 184) North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills.

Daily Chronicle Newspaper Building

Marfay Building

In the first-season episode, “Father of The Year,” Marcia sneaks out of the house to mail an essay submitting Mike for the local newspaper’s father of the year competition. Later in the episode, an office building is used to establish a scene set in the publisher’s office.

I stumbled across this building while looking through the massive archive of architectural photographer Julius Schulman that The Getty Research Institute has posted online.

As soon as I saw the photo, I knew that it had been seen on The Brady Bunch. It took me a while longer to home in on the specific episode. A quick web search found that the structure—known as the Marfay Building—was built in 1949 by Welton Becket and Walter Wurdeman. You may know Becket’s and Wurdeman’s work from many classic mid-century buildings throughout Los Angeles—Pan-Pacific Auditorium, Capitol Records Building, Cinerama Dome, and the Century City master plan just to name a few.

The building’s facade was drastically overhauled in 1987, still you’ll notice the structure next door has maintained its integrity from the days of Brady.

Stalk It: Marfay Building, aka Daily Chronicle Newspaper Building is located at 5657 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Encino Medical Tower Dentist Office

Sometimes I luck out and an establishing shot does the work for me. Such is the case in the fourth-season episode titled “Love and the Older Man.” The Brady’s regular dentist has a new associate, Dr. Stanley Vogel, and Marcia is gaga, so much so that she fantasizes of a future replete with a dental chair in her living room. “Imagine me, Mrs. Marcia Dentist,” she dreamily exclaims.

The Encino Medical Tower looks much the same as it did in the 1970s, however some of the charmingly retro arches have unfortunately been remodeled.

Stalk It: Encino Medical Tower is located at 16260 Ventura Boulevard in Encino.

Gilbert’s Books

Another Brady location that didn’t camouflage its real-world name can be seen in the first-season episode, “The Hero.” It also happens to be another episode where we find Marcia envisioning her future. This time she writes in her diary, “My dream of dreams is to be Mrs. Desi Arnaz Jr.” Unfortunately, Cindy accidently donates said diary to charity resulting in a mortified Marcia. The family forms a search party to scour LA’s used bookstores in an attempt to track down the journal; Mike and Cindy stop at Gilbert’s Book Shop.

The Hollywood Boulevard-located bookstore is sadly no more, the building has been razed, and the W Hollywood occupies its former footprint (and then some). Fortunately, the Taft Building—the first high rise office building in LA, built in 1923—a sliver of which is visible in the Brady clip to the right of Gilbert’s, is still holding its own.

Stalk It: Gilbert’s Book Shop was located at 6278 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

Valley Drug

In the second-season episode, “The Not-So-Ugly Duckling,” when Jan’s crush, Clark Tyson, is more interested in Marcia, she decides that her freckles are “making her a social outcast,” and heads to the drug store to look for a quick fix. The establishing shot again makes no attempt to hide its name; Valley Drug in bold script is emblazoned above the doorway.

A quick web search provided a present-day Valley Drug & Compounding in Encino. Although the Encino business’ logo matched the Brady clip, the structure did not.

After digging through newspaper archives, phone books, and verifying addresses against old Los Angeles building permits I was able to confirm that the drug store shown in the establishing shot was located on the corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Magnolia Blvd.

Pharmacist, Sidney Simmons purchased Valley Drug at 5161 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in 1955 and in the early 1990s relocated the business down the road to 4800 Laurel Canyon Boulevard. In 1998, he sold the store to the Rite Aid chain and opened up the specialty pharmacy in Encino. An archived building permit shows the original drug store and its distinct chamfered corner entrance.

Sadly, the structure is long gone and the land now provides additional parking for a Jon’s Marketplace. At least a present-day Jan wouldn’t have to go far to find a lemon for her at-home freckle treatment.

Stalk It: Valley Drug was located at 5161 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood.

Television Studio (and Ballet Studio)
Metromedia Square

Shown in a number of episodes, now-razed television and film studio, Metromedia Square was a popular Brady-establishing-shot location. The Hollywood-constructed lot was originally known as Nassour Studios and built in the 1940s. The Times-Mirror Company purchased the facility in the 1950s and Metromedia took over the studio in the late 1960s. In the 1980s Metromedia started leasing the lot to News Corporation and the name was again changed to Fox Television Center. Finally, Metromedia sold the land in 2000 and the studio was torn down and Helen Bernstein High School was built on the property.

Establishing shots of Metromedia Square were used in a number of fifth-season Brady episodes, but the site is first seen in the forth-season episode “Amateur Nite.” Mike and Carol’s anniversary is coming up and the kids decide to buy them a silver platter. Unbelievably, Jan isn’t as familiar as most teens in the byzantine methods by which engraving is priced and can’t cover the cost of the customized platter. The kids naturally turn to song in an effort to pay their debts. Dubbing themselves “The Silver Platters,” they perform (in matching jumpsuits) on a local television show competition.

The exterior is next see in the episode “You Can’t Win ‘Em All.” Cindy becomes a prima donna when her test scores qualify her to help represent Clinton Grammar School on a local television station’s quiz show. Cindy’s inflated ego has no bounds, even turning down Alice’s cooking with a terse, “A star can’t go on television all fat and broken out.” When at the television studio, Cindy freezes with stage fright the moment the red light on the camera glows.

The exterior is shown again in “Adios, Johnny Bravo.” The Brady Kids—no longer strangers to the television studio—are taping a performance and Greg is pulled aside by a couple of quick-talking record producers hoping to mold him into the newest pop sensation because he literally “fit the suit.”

The last we see of Metromedia Square is in the episode “Try, Try Again,” where it’s inconsistently used to establish a scene set in the girls’ ballet class.

Although, I knew the establishing shots were of Metromedia Square, I wanted to figure out where exactly the shots were filmed. Strangely, I couldn’t find many photos of the lot, so I started with a contemporary aerial photo [below in color] and one photographed when the studio was still in existence [below in black & white]. I was also lucky to come across a few maps of the lot in my go-to resource, the LA building permit archives.

From those, I was able to home in on the area that was shown in the Brady clips. The direction in which the roads intersected proved to be a helpful guide, and the corner of an “Audience Parking” sign in the Brady clip confirmed that I’d zeroed in on the correct part of the lot. The orange arrows on the aerial photos and map above mark the location of the camera and the approximate angle used for the establishing shots. I was also surprised to find that the corner of a building at Fernwood Avenue and North Van Ness Avenue, formerly across the street from Metromedia Square, is still there. It’s the KTLA building at Sunset Bronson Studios and still looks the same as it did in the Brady clip. Interestingly, the current Sunset Bronson Studios was the original Warner Bros. lot, purchased by the young studio in 1920, and the current KTLA building originally housed Leon Schlesinger Productions (of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies fame). Warner Bros. purchased Schlesinger’s interest in the animation company in 1944, and in 1953 they sold the entire lot to Paramount; KTLA moved into the old Schlesinger building thereafter. You can see a vintage photo of Schlesinger’s building with its distinctive quoining here. At least a little sliver of history from the Brady clip still remains.

As you can see, Metromedia Square is no more and its buildings seen in the Brady clips have been replaced with the school’s basketball courts.

Stalk It: Metromedia Square Audience Parking was located on North Van Ness Avenue at Fernwood Avenue in Hollywood.

Drive-In Theatre

Gilmore Drive-In

The Gilmore Drive-In is another establishing shot location that was used in more than one Brady episode. In the forth-season episode “Greg Gets Grounded,” as a punishment for driving on the freeway while reading the back of a new record album, Greg’s family-car privileges are taken away for a week. After irking Carol and Mike with another misdeed, he narrowly avoids further punishment on a technicality by claiming that he followed their “exact words.” Predictably, Mike and Carol later hold Greg to his “exact words” and force him to cancel a date and bring Bobby and Peter to a frog jumping competition (naturally). After the competition, the young masters Brady absentmindedly leave their frogs in Greg’s car. Unfortunately for Greg, in a rush to pick up his date for a drive-in movie, Croaker and Spunker’s presence goes unnoticed until it’s too late.

And in the fifth-season episode “Peter and the Wolf,” Greg has a date with Sandra, but unless he can find a date for her cousin Linda, she’ll have to cancel. Enter Linda’s new date, a faux mustachioed Peter, alias Phil Packer, “Some swinging guy from another high school.” Need I write more? Obviously, nothing but comedy gold can come from a setup like that.

The establishing shot as it’s seen in the episode is rather dark (as evening is wont to do), but with a quick digital adjustment, a few clues to the drive-in’s location were unveiled. The detailing on the screen tower along with the larger panel to its right seemed unique to the Gilmore Drive-In in Los Angeles. My suspicions were confirmed when the lightened image also revealed the Park La Brea Apartments in the distance.

In the 1880s, Arthur Fremont Gilmore bought hundreds of acres of farmland around what is now Fairfax Avenue. In the early 1900s he struck oil on the property and transitioned from farming to the oil business. In 1918, his son Earl Bell Gilmore took over the family business and by the 1940s had sold the majority of their original acreage. He however kept a few dozen acres which housed Gilmore Stadium, Gilmore Field, the Farmers Market, and of course the Gilmore Drive-In.

Built in 1948, the theatre reportedly had a 650-vehicle capacity and was designed by architects William Glenn Balch and Louis L. Bryan. The asymmetric panel that helped me identify the theatre, upon further research, turned out to be an enlarged light shield built in 1955. By the 1970s the theatre had fallen into disrepair and demolition permits were issued in 1979. Today, The Grove shopping center, specifically Nordstrom, sits in the screen’s former location, leaving the Farmers Market as the only remaining original Gilmore-related enterprise in the area. The former site of the Gilmore Drive-In is outlined in orange below, with an arrow pointing in the direction of the former location of the screen.

CBS purchased Gilmore Stadium in 1950 and built CBS Television City on the land. Later in the decade, CBS expanded their studio onto the former site of Gilmore Field. Their website has some great aerial photos of the area, and many include the drive-in. Cinematreasures.org also has a nice selection of photos of the road-facing side of theatre’s screen tower.

Stalk It: The Gilmore Drive-In was located at 6201 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles.

Rose Bowl Stadium

In the fifth-season episode “Mail Order Hero,” Bobby’s in a pickle when after claiming to know Joe Namath, the football player is in town and Bobby’s friends call his bluff. In an effort to help her brother, Cindy puts pen to paper and speciously writes a letter to Namath on Bobby’s behalf, beginning with, “I’m writing to you because I’m very very sick.”

Inspired by the letter, the football player stops by the Brady residence, Bobby plays sick, Cindy plays nursemaid, and Mike and Carol, out of the loop from Cindy’s letter, shock Namath with their lack of concern over their dying son—“Well when you have six kids, something like this is bound to happen to one of them.”

A scene set at the stadium office with Namath is established with a shot of the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena. The entrance area to the 1922-built stadium has recently undergone some renovations, but the structure itself still matches the Brady shot.

The angle from which the establishing shot was filmed obscured the Rose Bowl logo with some tress, but if you look carefully, you can still make out the corners of the signage.

Stalk It: The Rose Bowl Stadium is located at 1001 Rose Bowl Drive in Pasadena.

And there you have it, nine locations for the price of one. If you’ve made it to the end, congratulations and thanks for sticking with me! As always, many thanks to Lindsay for generously offering up her forum for another very-Brady post. (Editor’s note – a big THANK YOU to you, Michael, for yet another scintillating and fastidiously-researched article! Smile )

December 24, 2015December 21, 2015

New “L.A.” Mag Post – About the Tournament House from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Be sure to check out my latest Los Angeles magazine post today – it’s about the Tournament House from Beverly Hills, 90210. My articles typically get published in the early afternoon hours.

December 7, 2015June 16, 2017

Andy’s Coffee Shop from the “Cups” Music Video

There is nothing my mom likes better than a greasy spoon-type restaurant. She is a virtual expert on seeking them out – whether near our home, while on vacation somewhere, or passing through a town. So imagine my shock when I recently learned about Andy’s Coffee Shop, a small greasy spoon that has been a Pasadena staple for over 80 years! Somehow my mom had never heard of the place, despite the fact that we lived in Crown City for a decade and a half! What makes our ignorance of the roadside restaurant even more shocking is that it is a popular filming location and has been featured in several big-name productions. How neither my mom nor I knew about it is beyond me! This was a major fail on both our parts! I discovered Andy’s in mid-October thanks to a Curbed LA commenter who mentioned the eatery’s appearance in an episode of Mad Men. I immediately added it to my To-Stalk list and the Grim Cheaper and I ran right on over there for breakfast a couple of weeks later. It turned out to be quite the fortuitous stalk, too!

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Andy’s Coffee Shop was originally established in the late 1930s and does not look like it has been touched since. And I mean that in the best possible way.

The current owner, who was nice enough to chat with me and answer all of my silly questions about the various filmings that have taken place there over the years, purchased the property nine years ago.

With its fabulous retro décor, old school counter seating and vintage signage, Andy’s Coffee Shop is everything you could ever want in a roadside diner. One look around and it is not hard to see why location scouts return to the place time and time again.

The food, which is of the down-home variety, was also fabulous!

As I mentioned above, prior to stalking Andy’s, I knew that the restaurant had been featured in the Season 4 episode of Mad Men titled “Public Relations.” In the episode, the eatery was where Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) and Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) met up with two actresses they had hired to fight over a Sugarberry Ham in a public relations stunt.

An ornamented prop screen was brought in to separate the dining area from the entry for the shoot. In real life, Andy’s dining area consists of one open room.

Some memorabilia and photographs from the filming are proudly displayed on Andy’s walls, which I had a blast looking at.

Until dining at Andy’s, I had been unaware of the eatery’s other film credits. As soon as I walked through the bell-clad front door, though, I immediately recognized the place as a locale I had been looking for ever since writing my The Fast and the Furious post for Discover Los Angeles. While researching for that post, I had fruitlessly tried to track down the coffee shop where Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) took Mia (Jordana Brewster) in the series’ fourth installment, 2009’s Fast & Furious. When I stepped into Andy’s and saw the large front windows, wood-paneled walls and red booths, I realized it was the exact spot I had been hunting for. I so love it when that happens!

I asked the owner to confirm my hunch and she informed me that I was indeed correct and then pointed me in the direction of a photo taken of the shoot displayed on the restaurant’s wall.

Though the layout of the booths has since changed, Andy’s still looks much the same as it did onscreen.

Amazingly, Andy’s was even recognizable to the GC! After we placed our order, he turned to me and said, “I think this is where Anna Kendrick’s ‘Cups’ music video was filmed!” While I love the song, I had never seen the “Cups” video. Anna Kendrick is the GC’s celebrity crush, though, so he is pretty well-versed on all things concerning the actress. I immediately grabbed my iPhone to see if he was right and, sure enough, we were sitting in the exact spot where the video had been lensed! Well done, GC!

“Cups” made extensive use of Andy’s Coffee Shop. At the beginning of the video, Anna is shown baking biscuits in the restaurant’s kitchen.

The kitchen is actually much smaller in person than it appeared to be onscreen.

While I was back there, I just had to pose for a photo. Winking smile

After popping the biscuits into the oven, Anna then ventures out of the kitchen . . .

. . . and into Andy’s dining area.

The camera proceeds to follow her through the restaurant in one long take while she walks by customers who are performing the famous Cups routine.

I can only imagine how difficult the video must have been to film being that the fifty or so the actors on-hand had to perform the routine perfectly, sans any mistakes, in order to complete the single continuous shot.

You can watch the “Cups” video by clicking below.

Interestingly, the origin of the “Cups” song dates all the way back to 1931. You can read a more in-depth history of it here, but, in a nutshell, it was originally written and recorded by the Carter Family and was known as “When I’m Gone.” That original version can be heard here. (Don’t confuse it with the Carter Family’s similarly titled “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?”) The tune has been sampled a few times over the years, but did not find real fame until 2009, when a group named Lulu and the Lampshades re-worked the arrangement, adding in the “I’ve got my ticket for the long way ‘round” lyrics and re-naming it “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” The music video the group created for the song (below), which features acapella singing accompanied by a plastic cup routine, instantly went viral and inspired countless re-creations.

Anna Kendrick only perpetrated the trend when she performed the “Cups” routine in 2012’s Pitch Perfect (below). It proved so popular that the actress released a single of it in 2013 and the video was made soon after.

Andy’s owner also informed me that in the recently-aired Season 5 episode of Scandal titled “Yes,” the eatery played the Fayetteville, North Carolina diner where Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and Jake Ballard (Scott Foley) took murder suspect Gavin Price (Josh Brener). While there, Gavin alerts the women at a neighboring table of the presence of Olivia, who has just been outed as the president’s mistress, causing all of the customers in the restaurant to go crazy trying to take selfies with her.

Andy’s also popped up in the Season 6 episode of Veep titled “Judge” as the Birmingham, Alabama truck stop where Mike McLintock (Matt Walsh) and Amy Brookheimer (Anna Chlumsky) looked for Mike’s diary.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Andy’s Coffee Shop, from Anna Kendrick’s “Cups” music video, is located at 1234 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the eatery’s official Facebook page here.

November 13, 2015January 20, 2016

The Pasadena Main Branch of Bank of the West from “Falcon Crest”

For years now, I have been trying to track down the bank where Terry Dolittle (Whoopi Goldberg) worked in the 1986 comedy Jumpin’ Jack Flash. It is one of those locations that always sits fixed at the back of my mind, images of it constantly floating around in my head. So when I came across photographs of the Pasadena Main Branch of Bank of the West, which bears a striking resemble to the bank where Terry worked, on a Noirish Los Angeles forum, my heart caught in my throat! I was on vacation at the time and, unfortunately, did not have my Jumpin’ Jack Flash DVD on hand to make comparisons, but was fairly certain I had found the right spot. My parade was rained on as soon as I got home, though, when I popped in my DVD and fairly quickly realized the two banks were not one and the same. I decided to stalk Bank of the West anyway in the hopes that researching it might help me to eventually locate the Jumpin’ Jack Flash bank. So far, my quest has not been fruitful. Hence this post. I am now putting it out there to my fellow stalkers. If any of you happen to recognize the place or want to get in on the hunt, please let me know!

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In the Noirish Los Angeles thread, a commenter named T.J.P. had asked for help in identifying a bank that had appeared in the Season 6 episode of Falcon Crest titled “Perilous Charm” (screen captures from the episode, in which the property masked as San Francisco Merchant Bank, are pictured below). Forum member Tovangar2 quickly recognized the place as the former First Trust Bank Building, now Bank of the West, located at 587 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. Another commenter named HossC then posted a link to photos of the interior of the building and it was those photos that had me so intrigued.

In Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Terry works at First National Bank in Manhattan. Now, I should start off by saying that I am unsure if the bank used in the movie is in New York or Los Angeles, being that filming took place in both cities. I am leaning towards L.A., though – at least for the interior scenes. I am also leaning towards the idea that two different locations might have been utilized as Terry’s bank – one for exteriors and another for interiors. But that is just a guess. Sadly, with this one, I am just not sure about anything.

While I am fairly certain that the bullpen where Terry worked was a set (as evidenced by the fact that it got shot up at the end of the movie) . . .

. . . I believe that the interior of First National Bank is a real location.

The photo of Bank of the West that HossC posted that originally caught my eye was of a large stone staircase, one that I thought was a match to the staircase shown in Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Upon closer inspection, though, I realized the two had some differences. I am not used to seeing staircases in banks, so the one featured in JJF always stuck out to me. What I wouldn’t give to see it in person! If it, or the interior of the bank looks familiar to anyone, please let me know!

In the meantime, the Pasadena Main Branch of Bank of the West is a pretty spectacular property in and of itself. The eight-story Italian Renaissance-style building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed in 1927 by architects Cyril Bennett and Fitch Haskell.

While the cast stone and stucco exterior makes for a stately and imposing site, it belies nothing of the bank’s stunning interior. The inside of the building is marked by tall walnut wood paneling, travertine walls, and towering stone columns. The gorgeous gilt coffered ceiling was painted by John Smeraldi, the same artist who painted much of the interior of the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The Sicilian-born painter, who is likewise known for his work at the Vatican and The White House, is so synonymous with the Biltmore, in fact, that the property named its signature restaurant “Smeraldi’s” in his honor. Bank of the West also boasts four murals created by American Impressionist painter Alson S. Clark. Because the property is a working bank, I felt a little odd about taking photographs of the interior, but if you are in the area, I highly recommend stopping by for a peek. It is absolutely gorgeous!

Besides being featured in Falcon Crest, Bank of the West also appeared in the pilot episode of Undercovers as the bank where Samantha (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) and Steven Bloom (Boris Kodjoe) attempted to steal security footage. I apologize for the subpar screen captures pictured below – I could not find a copy of the episode anywhere and had to take snaps from a preview of it on YouTube.

The super-nice teller that I spoke with while I was stalking the place informed me that a movie starring John Travolta was also lensed on the premises about twenty years ago, but she was unsure of the name of the film or what it was about.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Pasadena Main Branch of Bank of the West, from the “Law and Ardor” episode of Falcon Crest, is located at 587 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena.

October 15, 2015September 29, 2017

The Evers’ House from “The Haunted Mansion”

My Los Angeles magazine editor is on vacation this week, so I will not have a post on LAmag.com today. To make up for it, though, I’ve got a Haunted Hollywood locale for you right here! One of my favorite parts about the Halloween season is watching scary movies. (And of course stalking their locations and blogging about them.) It always shocks me how many horror flicks and thrillers there are out there that I have yet to see. One of my more recent screenings was of The Haunted Mansion, the 2003 Disney flick based on Disneyland’s popular ride of the same name. I didn’t have very high hopes for the movie, but it turned out to be really cute – and a perfect watch for this time of year. The best part? Years ago, my buddy Mike, from MovieShotsLA, told me about the location of the home where the Evers family – Jim (Eddie Murphy), Sara (Marsha Thomason), Michael (Marc John Jefferies), and Megan (Aree Davis) – lived in the flick. He had tracked it down via this 2006 Pasadena Weekly article. As it turns out, not only is the pad an extremely popular filming location, but it is located very close to where I used to live. For whatever reason, I had never stalked it, though. So I finally amended that by running right on over there while I was in the area a few weeks back.

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In real life, the Colonial-Revival-style residence, which was originally built in 1925 and sits on a 0.26-acre plot of land, boasts 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and 3,234 square feet.

As you can see below, the dwelling is extremely picturesque. For some odd reason, though, the exterior rarely makes it onto the silver screen.

Such was the case with The Haunted Mansion – only the interior of the property was used in the filming. The exterior of the Evers’ house was never shown, not even in an establishing shot, which I found a bit weird. You can check out some photographs of the inside of the home here and here.

According to the Pasadena Weekly article, to accommodate the filming, the home’s then owners had to move out for two and a half weeks (the longest they had ever been displaced for a shoot), which is surprising being that the residence was only shown in a couple of brief scenes.

The haunted mansion that appeared in the movie, which was referred to as the Gracey Estate, was unfortunately just a façade that was built at Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita. Only the lower part of the manse was constructed for the shoot – the top portion was added via CGI in post-production – and was subsequently torn down after filming wrapped. You can check out some photographs of the façade here and here. What I wouldn’t give to have been able to have seen it in person! (Side note – I was floored to discover while researching this post that the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland was modeled after a real home, the Shipley-Lydecker House in Baltimore, Maryland. Sadly, it no longer stands, but you can see an image of what it used to look like here. It is the spitting image of the Disneyland mansion. SO incredibly cool!)

I actually think the mansion looks quite fake in the faraway shots that appeared in the movie.

But the close-up views of it are amazing! Personally, I think they should have forgone the CGI and utilized the façade as it was.

The interior of the Gracey Estate was an elaborate set constructed at Barwick Studios where The Haunted Mansion was lensed. You can read a fabulous blog post written by a few lucky souls who were able to visit the set on the DoomBuggies website here.

According to DoomBuggies, the couch that appeared in the library scene was also used in the 1954 movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

And, according to internet lore, after filming wrapped a chair from the mansion’s dining room set was placed inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It is said to be the chair that Jack Sparrow is sitting in at the very end of the attraction. Upon closer inspection, though, I do not believe that to be correct.

You can check out a picture of the Pirates chair here. While the two chairs are strikingly similar, there are some differences. Most notably, the movie chairs have an elevated carving of some sort located at the top, while the Pirates chair does not. Internet lore further states that one of the same chairs is also pictured in a portrait of a bride in the attic area of the Haunted Mansion ride. You can see an image of it here.

The Evers’ house was also where Michael Feller (Ken Howard) and Sydelle Feller (Candice Azzara) lived in the 2005 dramedy In Her Shoes. That movie was one of the few instances in which the exterior of the dwelling was shown.

The interior of the home made an appearance in the film, as well.

In the 2009 drama State of Play, the residence belonged to Anne Collins (Robin Wright).

And while 2007’s Spiderman 3 also did some filming on the premises, those scenes wound up on the cutting room floor.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Evers’ house from The Haunted Mansion is located at 1480 North Michigan Avenue in Pasadena.

September 28, 2015September 27, 2015

L’Opera Restaurant from “Charmed”

I rarely find myself in the LBC (that’s Long Beach, California, for those not in the know), so when I was out there a couple of months ago snapping photos for The Ultimate Guide to Clueless Movie Locations in Los Angeles Part I and Part II (which, if you haven’t checked out yet, you really should!), I made a quick detour to L’Opera Restaurant on Pine Avenue. The upscale Italian eatery was featured in the pilot episode of Charmed and had remained unchecked on my To-Stalk List for literally years, so I was thrilled to finally see the place in person.

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L’Opera Restaurant was originally established by restaurateurs Terry Antonelli and Enzo DeMuro. For their culinary endeavor, the duo chose a large corner unit of a 1906 building that formerly housed the First National Bank of Long Beach. When they initially leased the space in 1988, it was an empty shell and Terry and Enzo spent two years and $2.4 million renovating it. The eatery finally opened its doors on April 19th, 1990.

L’Opera was an immediate hit and has gone on to win countless awards throughout its 25-year history, including “Best Award of Excellence” from Wine Spectator magazine, which should come as no surprise being that the place offers 600 different wine selections and stocks more than 18,000 bottles in its cellar. The eatery has also won the Southern California Restaurant Writers’ two highest awards, the “5-Star Award” and “Golden Bacchus,” for the past 23 years running.

Celebrities have long flocked to L’Opera. Just a few of the stars who have dined there include Paul Newman, Jimmy Vasser, Roger Penske, Mario Andretti, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman, George Clooney, John Travolta, and Pete Sampras.

Sadly, L’Opera was closed when we showed up to stalk it, so we were not able to venture inside and grab a bite to eat, but I did manage to snap a photograph of the interior through the front window. You can check out some more interior photos of the place here.

L’Opera Restaurant was only featured once on Charmed, in the pilot episode which was titled “Something Wicca This Way Comes.” In it, Piper Halliwell (Holly Marie Combs) gets a job as a chef at the supposed San Francisco-area eatery. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and kitchen area appeared in the episode.

By the second episode, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” filming had moved to a different location – the Pasadena Livery Building, where producers set up a fake restaurant entrance. The name of Piper’s workplace was also changed to “Quake” at that time. In reality, there is no eatery located in that spot. As you can see below, what appeared as Quake is actually just an exterior walkway that leads to the Livery Building’s front doors.

Producers must have really liked the Quake exterior, because they sure got a lot of mileage out of it. During Season 6 it showed up as two different restaurants – first as Café Le Blue in the episode titled “Spin City” . . .

. . . and then as Anthony’s Restaurant in “Love’s a Witch.”

Quake’s interior, which I believe was just a set, very closely resembles L’Opera’s interior.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: L’Opera Restaurant, from Charmed, is located at 101 Pine Avenue in Long Beach. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The exterior of the fictional Quake restaurant is really the entrance to the Pasadena Livery Building located at 101 East Green Street in Pasadena.

July 24, 2015July 23, 2015

The White House Gates from “Scandal”

My life as of late seems to be absorbed by Scandal. As I mentioned last week, the Grim Cheaper and I have recently become addicted to the ABC series. Besides watching it during pretty much every free waking moment, I have also been furiously researching the show’s filming locations. While set in Washington, D.C., Scandal is lensed in Los Angeles. The crew does some seriously amazing work to hide that fact, though. Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, uncovered a few key Season 1 locales a while back, including the White House gates, which I was beyond floored to learn were located at Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (one of my very favorite spots in all of L.A.). The explanation as to the gate’s precise location was a bit hazy, though, so I set out to remedy that this past week while I was in Pasadena.

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The White House gates from Scandal are located just beyond Huntington Library’s main entrance, which is on Orlando Road.

Upon entering the property and driving past the guard shack, head south on Palm Drive towards Huntington’s massive parking lot.

About 700 feet south of the main entrance, there is a sign that directs visitors to turn left into the parking area. That sign is pictured below.

Just beyond the sign, Palm Drive intersects with a small tree-lined road named Mausoleum Drive. The eastern entrance to Mausoleum Drive is denoted with a pink arrow below.

The White House gates can be found just beyond that eastern entrance.

I was just a little excited upon finding them!

The gates’ exact location is denoted below. Because they are situated near the parking area, you can actually see them without having to purchase a ticket to enter the Huntington Library grounds. Though why anyone would not want to enter the grounds is beyond me. It’s honestly one of the most beautiful places on earth and a spot I’ve long considered a Must-Stalk location for visitors to L.A.

The gates have appeared twice on Scandal. They first popped up in the Season 1 episode titled “Dirty Little Secrets.”

On the series, the gates are manned by White House security guard Morris Elcott (Troy Winbush). Though minor, Morris is a fabulous character who, for some odd reason, stopped appearing after Season 3. I really wish they’d bring him back.

The gates were next featured in the Season 1 finale titled “Grant for the People.”

A green screen is used, rather convincingly I might add, to make it appear as if the White House is located just beyond the gates in the series.

What is actually located beyond the gates is a single lane tree-lined road that leads to Huntington Library’s Mausoleum. Ah, the magic of television!

The same gates were also used as the entrance to Helen’s (Rose Byrne) mansion in Bridesmaids.

For reasons that most likely had to do with convenience, a different set of gates was used as the White House gates in the Season 3 episode of Scandal titled “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

It took me for-ever to track those gates down, but I finally did so while writing this post. They are actually Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s Gower Street gates. Though dressed a bit for filming, they are definitely recognizable from their onscreen stint.

Several areas of Huntington were used in Scandal’s “Dirty Little Secrets” episode, including the Mausoleum, which masked as a Washington, D.C.-area park . . .

. . . and the American Art gallery, which masked as the exterior of the White House.

And in “Grant for the People,” the property’s Boone Gallery masqueraded as the exterior of the White House.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens are located at 1151 Oxford Road in San Marino. The White House gates from Scandal can be found just beyond the property’s main entrance, at the intersection of Palm and Mausoleum Drives. The gates used in the Season 3 episode titled “Mama Said Knock You Out” are Hollywood Forever Cemetery’s Gower Street gates and can be found at approximately 900 North Gower Street in Hollywood.

July 9, 2015July 2, 2015

New “L.A.” Mag Post – About the Gamble House from “Back to the Future”

Don’t forget to check out today’s post for L.A.mag.com, about the Gamble House from Back to the Future. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

March 30, 2015March 30, 2015

The Georgian Ballroom from “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”

Had you asked me last week, I would have told you that I was an expert on both Pasadena and its filming history. But something happened on Wednesday afternoon that rocked me to my stalking core. While writing a blog post for Los Angeles magazine, I got on a bit of a Girls Just Want to Have Fun kick and decided to attempt to track down a few of its unknown locations, one of which was the Lakeview Country Club where Natalie Sands’ (Holly Gagnier) debutante ball was held. As it turns out, the country club scene not only took place in Pasadena, but at a spot I am extremely familiar with – The Langham Huntington hotel! At the time of the filming, the property was known as The Huntington Sheraton. I was absolutely reeling upon making the discovery. Then, while doing further research, I learned something even more shocking – the historic hotel was actually demolished in 1989 and then rebuilt from the ground up! What the wha?

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There’s a lot of ground to cover today, but I thought I’d start with how I made the Girls Just Want to Have Fun discovery. While scouring through the debutante ball scene, I spotted two different signs reading “Georgian Room.” So I did some Googling of the words “Georgian Room” and “Los Angeles” and eventually a listing for a Georgian Ballroom came up. I clicked on it and, lo and behold, it was a link to photos of the Georgian Ballroom at The Langham Huntington hotel.

Amazingly, the intricate gold ceiling pictured in the images was an exact match to the ceiling that appeared in Girls Just Want to Have Fun!

Oddly though, the hallway featured briefly in the scene did not resemble The Langham hallways in any way, shape or form. While GJWTHF was filmed three decades ago and the hotel’s décor bound to have changed during such a lengthy time period, I just could not get over the fact that nothing about the hallway in the movie paralleled the hotel’s actual hallways. Nothing. The hallway pictured in GJWHF was dark and Spanish in style, while The Langham’s hallways are very bright and open and boast a Louis XIV design. So I started doing some research and just about fell over when I read that The Huntington Sheraton was demolished in the late ‘80s. Because The Langham is repeatedly touted as being one of Pasadena’s most historic properties, I was shocked to discover this information. Not to mention the fact that I lived in the Crown City for over a decade and have visited The Langham dozens of times! How did I not know about this??

The Langham Huntington was originally constructed as The Wentworth in 1907. Commissioned by General Marshall C. Wentworth, the hotel had problems from the get-go and was shuttered and declared bankrupt a short five months after opening. In 1911, Henry Huntington stepped in to purchase the site and hired architect Myron Hunt to remodel and expand it. The property reopened three years later under the name the Huntington Hotel. It quickly gained a reputation as Pasadena’s finest lodging.

In 1954, the hotel was sold to the Sheraton Corporation and renamed The Huntington Sheraton. Despite being later purchased by the Kiekyu USA company in 1974, the site continued to operate as a Sheraton through 1985. That year, Kiekyu had seismic testing done on the property and the results showed that it was not structurally sound enough to withstand a major earthquake. The doors of The Huntington Sheraton were shut in October, its future unclear. In December 1987, Huntington Hotel Associates purchased the site and set about plans to demolish it. Despite some major resistance from preservationists, the wrecking ball descended on the structure in March 1989. Miraculously, two portions of the original hotel were left intact, the Viennese Ballroom and, you guessed it, the Georgian Ballroom – which means that the very spot that appeared in Girls Just Want to Have Fun is still standing today! But more on that in a minute.

The new property opened in 1991 as the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel. The exterior was constructed as an almost exact replica of the original. As you can see in the screen capture (which was taken from Disneyland Dream – a 1956 movie that I will talk about later in this post) as compared to a photograph that I took in 2008, while there are some minor differences between the new and old buildings, they are virtually imperceptible.

The hotel sold a couple of times after its reconstruction and, in 2007, was purchased by the Hong Kong-based Great Eagle Holdings and renamed The Langham Huntington.

While the hotel was being reconstructed in 1989, the Georgian Ballroom underwent a restoration. During the process, ten stained glass windows lining the ceiling of the room were discovered behind plaster. They had been covered over at some point in the 1940s. (This explains why there were not visible in Girls Just Want to Have Fun.) Developers removed the plaster and restored the windows to their original glory and they once again line the perimeter of the grand room.

I have stayed at The Langham countless times over the years and thought I had ventured throughout every square inch of the property, but that was obviously not the case as I had never before seen or heard of the Georgian Ballroom. As soon as I made the discovery about the room’s appearance in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, I was tempted to drive right on out to Pasadena to remedy the situation. In a timely stroke of luck, though, I remembered that my mom had a doctor’s appointment in the Crown City on Thursday, so she headed over to The Langham beforehand to snap some pictures for me. My mom currently has a broken foot and is on crutches, but she still managed to go out stalking on my behalf! She is a rock star!

The Georgian Ballroom appeared in one of Girls Just Want to Have Fun’s more memorable scenes in which Janey Glenn (Sarah Jessica Parker), Lynne Stone (Helen Hunt) and Maggie Malene (Shannen Doherty) sabotaged the debutante ball of mean girl Natalie by inviting 150 unwanted (and rather wild) guests to her upscale soiree.

The Georgian Ballroom looks quite a bit different today than it did onscreen in 1985.

As you can see below, though, aside from the addition of the stained glass windows, the ceiling remains unchanged.

At the time of the filming, the Georgian Ballroom had windows and doors that led to the outside of the hotel.

That is no longer the case, though.

I am fairly certain that the exterior of The Huntington Sheraton was used as the exterior of the Lakeview Country Club in the scene, as well. While I have scoured the internet looking for 1980’s images of the hotel’s main entrance taken from the same angle as GJWTHF to use for comparison, I came up empty-handed.

But as you can see below, in the screen capture from Disneyland Dream the exterior of The Huntington Sheraton was covered in vines, as was the building pictured behind J.P. Sands (Morgan Woodward) in Girls Just Want to Have Fun.

The exterior of The Huntington Sheraton was also featured briefly in the 1982 pilot episode of Remington Steele (more on that later) and as you can see in the screen capture below, the front of the hotel was painted white at the time, matching what appeared in GJWHF. You can also check out a photograph of the what the hotel’s entrance looked like in 1989 here. Though not taken from the same angle shown in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, you can see that it does bear a resemblance to the exterior shown in the movie.

During its tenure as The Huntington Sheraton, the hotel popped up quite a few times onscreen. As I mentioned, it was featured in Disneyland Dream, a home movie made by Robbins Barstow who won a trip to The Happiest Place on Earth in 1956 via a contest sponsored by Scotch Tape. During the seven-night vacation, he and his family stayed at The Huntington Sheraton.

You can watch Disneyland Dream by clicking below. The Barstows seem like such a fun family!

As I also previously mentioned, the hotel was used extensively throughout the pilot episode of Remington Steele, which was titled “License to Steele.”

I could not get over seeing the interior of the property in the episode. With its arched openings, beamed ceilings and wrought-iron glass doors, the place bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to The Langham.

I honestly cannot believe how much it has changed!

I was able to spot a few things from Remington Steele that matched up to what appeared in Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which thrilled me to no end. As you can see below, unique fan-shaped lights were visible in both productions.

The carpeting in both is also a direct match.

The hotel stood in for Club Meade in the Season 2 episode of Simon & Simon titled “The Club Murder Vacation” in 1983.

In the episode, a large tree located in front of the hotel is visible. That tree is a match to one that appeared in Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The placement of the lawn-covered center island in Simon & Simon is also a match to what was shown in GJWTHF, further leading me to believe that the exterior of The Huntington Sheraton was used as the exterior of the Lakeview Country Club in the flick.

In the 1985 made-for-TV movie Promises to Keep, The Huntington Sheraton masked as the Westwind Hotel where Jack Palmer (Robert Mitchum) stayed while trying to make amends with the family he abandoned thirty years prior.

The property stood in for the abandoned Cumberland Grand hotel in the Season 3 episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King titled “The Triumvirate,” which aired in 1986.

The interior of the hotel was also used in the episode.

There are those fan-shaped lights again!

In 1987, the Scarecrow and Mrs. King crew returned to The Huntington Sheraton to film Season 4’s “One Flew East.” In the episode, the hotel masked as the Hospimerica Briarwood Sanitarium.

The renovated Georgian Ballroom also made an appearance in the 2007 film Charlie Wilson’s War.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Langham Huntington Hotel is located at 1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit the property’s official website here. Girls Just Want to Have Fun was filmed in the Georgian Ballroom.