Revenge – 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!

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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.

January 26, 2015January 31, 2015

South Fork Inn from “Revenge”

Finding today’s location had me feeling like a complete moron. Though my obsession with Revenge has waned in recent months (I have only watched three episodes from the current season), I remained hell-bent on tracking down the Colonial-style structure used in establishing shots of the South Fork Inn on the series. I figured the location was most likely a private home and scoured the internet for months looking for it, all to no avail. Then a couple of weeks ago, I decided to once again try my hand at finding it and proceeded to search through every location database that I knew of, comparing the Colonial-style homes listed with screen captures from the show. I found the right spot fairly quickly and could not believe my eyes once I did. Turns out the location is well-known to me – it was featured regularly and prominently on my favorite TV show of all time, Beverly Hills, 90210. South Fork Inn is none other than the Marion Davies Guest House at the Annenberg Community Beach House, aka the former Sand & Sea Club, aka the very same spot that stood in for the Beverly Hills Beach Club on 90210. (Insert facepalm here.) Granted, the property has changed quite a bit since 90210 filmed on the premises, but still, how I did not recognize it is beyond me.

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The five-acre beachfront property, which was originally known as Ocean House, was constructed in 1928 at a cost of $3.5 million for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and his mistress, Marion Davies. The lavish compound was designed in the Georgian Colonial-style by architects Julia Morgan and William Flannery. The site was comprised of a three-story main house featuring 55 bathrooms, 37 fireplaces, a theatre, a ballroom and a basement pub. The property also boasted three detached guest houses, as well as servants quarters, dog kennels, tennis courts, and two swimming pools. (Flannery designed the main estate, while Morgan was responsible for the pool, guest houses and other detached structures, as well as all interiors.) The parties held at the compound during Hearst and Davies’ tenure there were legendary and often included guest lists numbering in the thousands. Such luminaries as Howard Hughes, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill, and Gloria Swanson all spent time at the massive estate at one time or another.

Hearst and Davies vacated the mansion in 1946 in order to move to Beverly Hills. The couple took quite a loss on the place, selling it to a man named Joseph Drown for a measly $600,000. Drown immediately transformed the site into a hotel named Oceanhouse and a beach club named the Sand & Sea Club. The hotel was never a huge success, though, and in 1956, Drown had the main house and many of the original structures demolished. He then added three new buildings to the premises and continued to operate the property as the Sand & Sea Club.

For reasons that are a bit hazy, the land where the Sand & Seas Club stood was acquired by the State of California in 1959. The state in turn handed management of the land over to the City of Santa Monica. It was still being leased back by Drown, though, and the site run as a beach club. In 1964, Drown sold the club to Douglas Badt, who continued to operate it as the Sand & Sea Club until October 1990, when the city decided that a private club could not be situated on public land. It became a public club for a short time after that and was used often for filming. Then, the 1994 Northridge Earthquake rendered the site unsuitable for public use. It sat vacant and boarded up for several years following. (I took the below photo of the place in 2000.)

The city eventually started making plans to renovate the site and turn it into a public beach club, and renowned philanthropist Wallis Annenberg donated $28 million to the cause. Annenberg had been a member of the Sand & Sea Club as a child and wanted to see the once-great property resurrected. During the renovation, all of the remaining Ocean House structures were demolished, aside from one of the guest houses, which is currently known as the Marion Davies Guest House . . .

. . . and a 110-foot Italian marble swimming pool. Sadly, other than those two elements, no part of Hearst’s original compound, or the Sand & Sea Club remains.

The Annenberg Community Beach House opened on April 25, 2009. The site is open to the public daily and is also used as a special events/wedding venue – and, of course, for filming.

The Marion Davies Guest House pops up regularly as the South Fork Inn on Revenge.

The Guest House is only used for establishing shots, though. The interior of the Inn is just a set built inside of a soundstage at MBS Media Campus where the series is lensed.

In the pilot episode of Revenge, which was shot on location in North Carolina, the City Club of Wilmington was used as the exterior of the South Fork Inn.

Oddly, the interior South Fork Inn scenes from that episode were shot elsewhere, though.

As you can see in the images below, the property used for interior filming (which could very well be a private residence) is addressed “400.” That number does not match up to the address of the City Club of Wilmington, which is located at 23 South 2nd Street. UPDATE – A fellow stalker named Brian let me know that the interior scenes were shot at the Dudley Mansion located at 400 South Front Street in Wilmington. You can see some interior photographs of the place here.

Fellow stalker Glenn also just let me know that a different exterior was used as the South Fork Inn in the Season 3 episode titled “Homecoming.” That location is actually The Culver Studios at 9336 West Washington Boulevard in Culver City.

The Annenberg Community Beach House also popped up in the Season 3 episode of Revenge titled “Confession,” this time as a swanky beach club in the scene in which Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann) first met Patrick Osbourne (Justin Hartley).

Filming of that scene took place on the patio overlooking the pool area.

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During the second and third seasons of Beverly Hills, 90210, which aired in 1991 and 1992, the Sand & Sea Club masked as the Beverly Hills Beach Club, where Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) worked and the rest of the West Bev gang hung out. The Marion Davies Guest House was not used in the filming of those episodes, though. [To make screen captures for this post, I had to re-watch several of the episodes in which Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) and Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) cheated on my girl Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) and let’s just say it had me feeling all kinds of ragey! ;)]

During the third season of Saved by the Bell (or fifth, if you’re watching Netflix), which aired in 1991, the Sand & Sea Club masked as the Malibu Sands Beach Club, where Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and the gang worked for a summer.

While the Marion Davies Guest House was not used in the filming of Saved by the Bell, either, it was briefly visible in the background of the episode titled “The Game,” as you can see below.

No interior filming of Saved by the Bell took place at the Sand & Sea Club. The interior of the Malibu Sands Beach Club was just a set built inside of a soundstage.

While doing research on the Sand & Sea Club for this post, I came across the photograph below. Apparently, Bethenny Frankel was a Production Assistant on Saved by the Bell during the early ‘90s and worked on some of the beach club episodes! How cool is that?

The Sand & Sea Club also made an appearance in the 1990 movie Side Out.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Marion Davis Guest House, aka South Fork Inn from Revenge, is part of the Annenberg Community Beach House, which is located at 415 Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica. You can visit the property’s official website here.

November 18, 2014November 17, 2014

Grayson Manor from “Revenge”

My favorite location from the television series Revenge is Grayson Manor, the massive Hamptons estate that originally belonged to the dysfunctional Grayson family, but is currently home to Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp). It seems that pretty much everyone who watches the show is as obsessed with the house as I am and there are countless message boards dedicated to its design. While most commenters stipulate that the dwelling is not a real place, but a CGI-generated property created by Revenge production designers, that information is actually incorrect. As I have come to discover, Grayson Manor is an amalgamation of several different residences – one of which is located in Malibu.

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As I mentioned in my recent post about Porter’s Stowaway Tavern, while Revenge is set in the Hamptons, the pilot episode was actually shot at several real locations in North Carolina. When the series got picked up by ABC, replica sets of the NC locales were built at MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach where the show is lensed. During my obsessive Revenge binge-watching in September, I set out to find the exteriors of the two main residences used in the series – Emily’s beachfront cottage and Grayson Manor, which are shown to be located next door to each other. I wound up tracking down the address of Emily’s home on fave website Hooked on Houses. In reality, it is located at 6249 Pebble Shore Lane in Southport, North Carolina. Despite a few alterations, it looks pretty much exactly the same in real life as it does onscreen.

I was absolutely shocked to discover via aerial views and the real estate listing photo pictured below, though, that Grayson Manor was nowhere to be found. In reality, Emily’s house is not situated next to the Grayson’s massive estate, but a small community center and pool.

The anomaly led many fans to believe that Grayson Manor was simply a CGI-generated residence that does not actually exist. Thanks to an intrepid stalker who commented on Hooked on Houses, though, I learned that there is a real Grayson Manor. It is located at 257 Further Lane in East Hampton, New York. A few changes were made to the façade for the series, including a lengthening of the house, the addition of Victorian Grayson’s (Madeline Stowe) infamous turret, and a relocation of the pool from the side of the property to the back.

Despite those alterations, the estate is still largely recognizable from the series. What I wouldn’t give to see it in person!

The inside of an estate located at 2340 Ocean Point Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina was used for the interior of Grayson Manor in Revenge’s pilot episode (pictured below). Once the series got picked up, an almost exact replica of that interior was built inside of a soundstage. You can see comparison photos of the real interior and the set on Hooked on Houses here and you can see some great pictures of the Wilmington residence’s actual interior here.

Once filming relocated to Los Angeles, producers needed a dwelling bearing a similar look to the East Hampton house to be utilized for on location exterior shoots. They found the perfect pad at 27720 Winding Way in Malibu. While much smaller than the home from the pilot (which is still used in establishing shots of Grayson Manor), it does bear a resemblance to it.

Fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, managed to track down this locale for me, after I had spent countless hours searching with zero luck. In real life, the Winding Way estate, which was built in 2007, boasts three stories, five bedrooms (three of which are en-suite), nine baths, 10,000 square feet of living space, a formal dining room, a chef’s kitchen, a butler’s pantry, a media room, a gym, a playroom, a gift-wrapping room (a la Candy Spelling), a 3,000-square-foot basement, 5.8 acres of land, a pool, a spa, a tennis court, an equestrian corral and a playground. Sadly though, the property is located on a private road and none of it (aside from a small portion of the roof) is visible to the public. You can check out some close-up photos of the house here, though.

The Winding Way house first showed up in the Season 1 episode of Revenge titled “Charade,” in the scene in which Emily and Daniel Grayson (Joshua Bowman) returned to Grayson Manor after a swim in the ocean.

The pad has popped up several times since, including in the Season 3 episode titled “Hatred.”

The same residence was also used as the Hamptons home of Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) in the Season 5 episode of Castle titled “Murder He Wrote.”

The house where Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann) – my favorite character – lived during the first season of Revenge is located just up the street at 27326 Winding Way. That particular location has been featured in dozens of productions, including Brothers and Sisters and 90210. Unfortunately, none of it is visible from the street.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The exterior of Grayson Manor from Revenge is located at 257 Further Lane in East Hampton, New York. The estate used for the interior filming of the pilot episode can be found at 2340 Ocean Point Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina. The residence used for on location exterior shoots is located at 27720 Winding Way in Malibu. Nolan’s Season 1 home on the series is located just up the road at 27326 Winding Way. Unfortunately, both Ocean Point Drive and Winding Way are private roads that are not accessible to the public.

November 7, 2014November 6, 2014

Porter’s Stowaway Tavern from “Revenge”

The Grim Cheaper and I recently became obsessed with Revenge. We randomly started watching the ABC series on Netflix one night in early September and could NOT stop. For the next three weeks, the two of us obsessively binge-watched episodes, to the extent that I’m kind of surprised no one staged an intervention. We headed to L.A. for a few days in the middle of our Revenge-fest and made sure to bring along our Apple TV so that our viewing would not be interrupted. And we ordered room service every single night while there so that we could stay in front of the television during dinner! I was relieved when we finally caught up to the series’ current season, as it meant I could go back to living a normal life. It also meant that I could finally stalk some of the show’s locations, the first of which was the storefront that masquerades as Porter’s Stowaway Tavern.

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Though the Stowaway is said to be located in Montauk, New York, the exterior of the watering hole owned by Jack Porter (Nick Wechsler) on the series can actually be found in a small shopping center named Fisherman’s Village in Marina del Rey.

The picturesque complex is made up of five brightly-colored New England-style buildings situated along a cobblestone promenade that lines the waterfront.

And what a stunning waterfront it is!

Fisherman’s Village is best-known for the tall blue and white lighthouse that sits at its center and houses a walk-up café.

Sadly, the 1.2-acre complex started to decline in popularity in the ‘90s and city officials are now looking at redeveloping it or possibly tearing it down and replacing it with a parking lot. I certainly hope that does not happen.

Though most of the shops were vacant, I found Fisherman’s Village to be extremely quaint and charming. I would love to see new businesses move in and revitalize the place!

Interestingly, the Revenge pilot was not shot in California, but at various locations in North Carolina. The Fishy Fishy Café at 106 Yacht Basin Drive in Southport masked as Porter’s Stowaway Tavern in the episode. (You can check out some photographs of the restaurant being dressed for the shoot here.) The exterior of the café (pictured below) does bear a striking resemblance to the buildings at Fisherman’s Village, so it is not hard to see why the shopping center was chosen for filming once the series got picked up and production moved to Los Angeles.

From the second episode of Revenge on, a building that stands in the middle of Fisherman’s Village has masqueraded as the Stowaway. In real life, the structure houses a bike shop named Daniel’s Bicycle Rentals & Sales, an ice cream stand named Daniel’s Ice Cream, and a few other small offices.

The two-story building is only used for faraway establishing shots, though . . .

. . . as well as some rare walk-bys.

All close-ups of the tavern’s exterior are actually shot on a set. I was so hoping to see the Stowaway’s entrance . . .

. . . and patio area, and was shocked to discover upon stalking Fisherman’s Village that they actually only exist inside of a soundstage at MBS Media Campus, where the series is lensed.

While typically only the western side of the Fisherman’s Village building is shown on Revenge, in the recently-aired Season 4 episode titled “Ashes,” in which the Stowaway catches fire, the opposite side was utilized.

The super-nice Daniel’s Bicycle Rentals & Sales employee that I spoke with even sent me a photo of the fire scene being set up. SO INCREDIBLY COOL! As you can see, a fake façade was put over a portion of the bottom floor of the building for the shoot.

For the filming of the pilot episode, the actual interior of the Fishy Fishy Café was used as the interior of the Stowaway.

A (much larger) set resembling that interior was then built at MBS Media Campus for all subsequent filming.

Revenge is hardly the first production to make use of Fisherman’s Village. In fact, it popped up in another of my favorite shows, The O.C. In the Season 1 episode titled “The Rescue,” the shopping center was where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), Seth Cohen (Adam Brody), Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) and Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson) grabbed pizza after helping Marissa to escape from the hospital. The scene was shot outside of what is now the Hornblower Cruises & Events office.

Later that season, in the episode titled “The Ties That Bind,” Seth and Ryan hung out on Seth’s boat which was docked at Fisherman’s Village.

The center was also the site of Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand on Arrested Development. On the series, the banana stand was situated directly in front of the Fisherman’s Village lighthouse.

And in the Season 3 episode of Greek titled “All Children . . . Grow Up,” Fisherman’s Village stood in for Myrtle Beach, where the CRU kids spent Spring Break.

On a side-note – I would like to wish my mom a VERY happy birthday today! I love you! xo xo xo

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Porter’s Stowaway Tavern from Revenge, aka Daniel’s Bicycle Rentals & Sales, is located at 13737 Fiji Way, in the Fisherman’s Village shopping center, in Marina del Rey. “The Rescue” episode of The O.C. was shot outside of the Hornblower Cruises & Events office located at 13755 Fiji Way. Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana stand from Arrested Development was situated in front of the Lighthouse Fountain & Grill, which is located at 13735 Fiji Way.

October 2, 2014October 2, 2014

Latest “L.A.” Mag Post – About Buster’s Coffee from “Revenge”

Don’t forget to head over to LAMag.com to read today’s Scene It Before post – about Buster’s Coffee from my new favorite show Revenge. My columns typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours. And you can check out a bonus post I did about filming locations from Gone Girl, which comes out tomorrow, here.