Richard Gere – IAMNOTASTALKER

November 22, 2019November 20, 2019

Valentino from “Pretty Woman”

Pretty Woman is one of the most well-documented movies out there when it comes to locations. Oddly though, despite the legions of websites and books with sections dedicated to its locales, I have yet to see identified the Rodeo Drive shop where Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) and Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) spent an “obscene amount of money” mid-film. So I recently set out to find it.

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The exterior of the boutique, where Vivian famously spits her gum onto the sidewalk, is only shown briefly in the shopping scene, unfortunately. And my copy of the movie on DVD (the 15th Anniversary Special Edition which I’ve owned for years) is surprisingly grainy, giving away little in terms of the shop’s location. So I decided to stream a high-definition version in the hopes that some clues might be discernable. And there were! In the high-res format available on Amazon, the words “Valentino” and “a Torie Steele boutique” were visible at the bottom of one of the store’s windows, as was the familiar Valentino logo featuring a large “V” above the front door. The start of an address number reading “40” could be seen, as well!

I was thrilled to make out the last digit – an “8” – on the back of the door shortly after Vivian and Edward entered the store. From there, it was not hard to put the pieces together – the Pretty Woman shopping/gum spitting scene was lensed at the Valentino boutique formerly at 408 North Rodeo Drive.

A quick Newspapers.com search confirmed that a Valentino outpost owned by Torie Steele was located at that address from the mid-80s through the mid-90s.

Torie Steele, a revelation in the fashion industry, pioneered the merchandising of foreign designers’ wares to American consumers via a stretch of Rodeo Drive boutiques she established in the 1980s that, along with Valentino, specialized in Ferré, Versace, and Krizia.

When Torie retired in the ’90s, her popular boutiques were shuttered. The Valentino space was purchased by Lladró in 1994, five years after Pretty Woman was shot and four years before my first visit to Beverly Hills, sadly. Even had I known about the locale, it would have been far too late for me to stalk it.

Per everything I’ve come across, the 408 North Rodeo building as it exists today was constructed in 1997, so it was either torn down after the Lladró sale or extensively gutted and remodeled. The exclusive ceramics company then opened a boutique/museum in the space in March 1997.

Because of the remodel/razing, there are no elements leftover from the time that Pretty Woman was shot, leaving the storefront completely unrecognizable from its 1990 cameo.

Lladró’s interior, designed by Juan Vicente Lladró (son of one of the company’s original founders) and architect Ki Suh Park, also bears no resemblance to the inside of Valentino as it appeared in Pretty Woman. The spectacular space, which you can see a photo of here, featured a grand double staircase rising three levels and a domed ceiling.

It is a bit surprising that producers chose to use a Valentino outpost in the scene rather than an unnamed boutique (as was the case with the movie’s other famous shopping segment) being that none of Vivian’s clothes were actually made by the fashion house. Her enviable wardrobe was instead created by costume designer Marilyn Vance in its entirety, right down to the iconic red opera gown, as detailed in this fabulous interview. Somehow, despite the fact that I’ve seen Pretty Woman about a gazillion times, I only just noticed while making screen captures for this post that the famous crimson frock can briefly be seen displayed on a mannequin on the Valentino sales floor during the shopping sequence, as denoted below!

During 408 North Rodeo’s almost twenty-year tenure as Lladró, Michael Jackson frequented the place regularly. One of his many visits is pictured below via a video posted by Marianna Sarte on YouTube.

In summer 2014, Lladró moved to a new storefront a block away at the Two Rodeo complex. It’s former home, the 16,129-square-foot 408 North Rodeo building, had been sold to Chanel the year prior for a whopping $117 million. Per The Hollywood Reporter, it was “the highest per-square-foot retail sale in L.A. County!”

Chanel was set to raze the building, as well as its flagship store next door, in order to construct a massive new boutique, but those plans have yet to come to fruition.

The space did house a St. Supéry Estate Vineyards and Winery pop-up for a time in 2017, but sits vacant today, a distant memory of its famed 1990 role.

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: Valentino, where Vivian and Edward shopped in Pretty Woman, was formerly located at 408 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. The building is currently vacant.

February 24, 2012February 23, 2012

Barb’s Quickie Grill from “Pretty Woman”

Another Pretty Woman location that I spent countless hours trying to track down recently was the tiny café where Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) and Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) had dinner towards the end of the classic 1990 flick. And while the name of the establishment – “Barb’s Quickie Grill” – and a street number – “7006” – were clearly visible in the scene, and a quick Google search had provided me with an address – 7006 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood – this particular locale actually turned out to be quite the difficult find. Thanks to a January 2008 Los Angeles Times article, I knew that the restaurant had closed its doors in 1999, but was shocked to discover, when searching on Google Street View, that the structure that had once housed it was nowhere to be found. The place had seemingly just disappeared right off the sidewalk. So I immediately dragged the GC right on out to Hollywood to do some in-person investigating, but when we got there, the mystery only deepened.

In Pretty Woman, Barb’s Quickie Grill did not appear to be flush with the gray façade seemingly located behind it, so I made the assumption that the eatery was a small structure situated in the space in front of it.

As you can see above, the vertical grooves running down the orange building currently located at 7006 Santa Monica Boulevard clearly match up to those of the gray building visible behind Barb’s Quickie Grill in Pretty Woman. But, as you can also see above, the sidewalk in front of the orange building is nowhere near big enough to have once housed a restaurant, even one as tiny as Barb’s.

Perplexed, I returned home, whereupon I enlisted the help of fellow stalkers Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and Scott, from the FindaDeath website, and for the next few days the three of us put in quite a bit of elbow grease doing research on the former eatery. I even purchased a copy of the book Fantastic Dives, in which the diner had been featured, hoping it would provide some clarity. Sadly, it did not. It was not until Mike found this image on the Scotty Moore website that we realized that the lighting and camera angles of Pretty Woman had created an optical illusion and that Barb’s was not a structure that had been located in front of the orange building, but that it actually was the orange building! Doh! You can check out some fabulous historic pictures of the eatery that were just added to The Bruce Torrence Hollywood Photograph Collection website here, here, and here.

The history behind the eatery is almost as heart-warming as the movie in which it once appeared and was actually the main reason I was so darn intent on finding the place. The establishment was originally founded as “Lou’s Quickie Grill” by Lou Shulkin and his wife, Anita, at a storefront on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Highland Avenue in 1954. A young L.A.-transplant from Oklahoma City named Barbara Knox started working, first as a dishwasher, then as a waitress, at the short-order café just a short time later. In 1960, the Grill moved a few blocks west to 7006 Santa Monica Boulevard, directly next door to Radio Recorders (pictured above), the then-largest recording studio in the country. It did not take long for the legendary vocalists working at RR, as well as countless celebrities filming at other nearby studios, to discover Lou’s. Just a few of the luminaries who frequented the 12-stool diner throughout its 54-year history include Drew Barrymore, Denzel Washington, James Garner, Ronald Reagan, The Lennon Sisters, Orson Welles, Martin Sheen, Richard Crenna, Bill Cosby, Herb Albert, Buddy Ebsen, Mel Blanc, Jack Benny, and Lawrence Welk. And while Elvis never actually set foot inside of the establishment, he is said to have ordered deliveries from Lou’s each time he recorded music at RR.

Amazingly enough, when Lou and Anita decided to retire in August of 1987, they handed the Grill over to Barbara AT NO COST, despite the fact that they had been offered “tremendous” money for the place over the years. The Shulkins had come to view Barbara as a daughter and, because their own children had established careers in areas outside of the restaurant business, they could think of no better person to endow their beloved café to. So, in late August, Lou, Anita, and Barbara headed down to the Los Angeles County Hall of Records and Lou signed the restaurant over to his long-time waitress. The following morning he had the metal “Lou’s Quickie Grill” sign taken off of the roof of the building and replaced with a new neon window sign which read “Barb’s Quickie Grill”. According to a January 17th, 1988 Lakeland Ledger article, of the incredible gift, Barbara said, “Lou couldn’t give me a gold watch and a handshake and just walk way, like anybody else would. He’s not that kind of man.” Barbara continued to run the restaurant successfully, with frequent visits from her benefactors, until 1999, when she regrettably had to close the doors due to an ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s. She sadly passed away in 2008, at the age of 74. Sometime after the Grill was closed, the space was taken over by Studio 56, which had replaced Radio Recorders, and was completely remodeled. You can read an August 18th, 1987 Los Angeles Times article about the Grill here and a January 12, 2008 Los Angeles Time article about Barbara’s passing here.

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In Pretty Woman, Barb’s Quickie Grill appeared very briefly during the montage scene in which Edward takes the day off of work to spend time with Vivian.

Barbara Knox was even featured in the background of the scene. So incredibly cool!

Finding this location was definitely a group effort, so a big THANK YOU goes out to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and Scott, from the FindADeath website, for their help. Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Barb’s Quickie Grill, from Pretty Woman, was formerly located at 7006 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood. The location now houses the offices of a CPA and is virtually unrecognizable from its onscreen appearance.

February 1, 2012January 31, 2012

The “Pretty Woman” Party House

Over the past few weeks, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have been on an extensive hunt for several unfound locations from the 1990 classic romantic comedy Pretty Woman. And the locale that I was most interested in tracking down, you ask? Why, the huge, modern-style abode where Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) attended a party in the film’s opening scene, of course. You all know how this stalker absolutely loves herself some movies houses! Anyway, after doing some extensive digging online, purchasing the Pretty Woman 15th Anniversary Special Edition DVD, watching each and every one of the special features included in it, and still coming up completely empty-handed, Mike decided that we had to change our course.

Mike had noticed a smattering of tall buildings in the background of the Pretty Woman party scene and, although the view of them was not entirely clear, he had a hunch that they were located in Century City.

So using an aerial map of West Los Angeles, he drew an angled line based on those views from Century City outward and it led him straight to the hills of Bel Air. He then zoomed in on the spot where the line had pointed and immediately noticed a huge white mansion that was very reminiscent of the Pretty Woman party house. And, sure enough, upon closer inspection, he found that it was, indeed, the right place! Wahoo! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend.

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The opening scene of Pretty Woman centered around a party held at a large house high up in the hills above Hollywood, thrown in honor of Edward’s arrival in Los Angeles. I believe that the residence was supposed to belong to Edward’s lawyer, Philip Stuckey (Jason Alexander), in the flick, but that was never actually specified.

Sadly, not very much of the property is visible from the street, but, as you can see above, the bush where the valet stand was placed, the double windows located above the garage, the brick driveway, and the bent tree on the side of the driveway, all still look exactly the same as they did onscreen way back in 1990. So incredibly cool! In real life, the Pretty Woman party house, which was originally built in 1988 and sits on an almost 3/4-acre plot of land, measures 5 bedrooms, 8 baths, and a whopping 10,650 square feet of living space.

As you can see in the above aerial views, both the home and its surrounding property are absolutely ginormous!

According to director Garry Marshall’s commentary on the Pretty Woman 15th Anniversary Special Edition DVD (which I highly recommend, by the way – the special features are fabulous!), the real life interior of the home was also used in the filming. Man, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that place!

Amazingly, when Mike went to stalk the house a few days after I had, the gate just happened to be open and he was able to snap a few pictures of the front of it! WHOO-HOO!

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The party house from the opening scene of Pretty Woman is located at 650 Sarbonne Road in Bel Air.

January 24, 2012January 23, 2012

The “Sylvester Stallone” House from “Pretty Woman”

A couple of weeks ago, while trying to figure out in what movie I had spotted L’Orangerie, aka Chez Quis restaurant from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (which, maddeningly, I still have yet to determine, by the way!), I started scanning through the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman and found myself wondering why I had never stalked the house jokingly referred to as being Sylvester Stallone’s in the flick. Fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, had tracked down the Hollywood-area residence quite some time ago and, while the address had been on my “To Stalk” list ever since, for whatever reason, I had never made it out there. So I quickly decided to remedy the situation and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there just a few days later.

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At the very beginning of Pretty Woman, Edward Lewis (Richard Gere), while lost in Hollywood, spots a hobo on the sidewalk digging through some trash and pulls over to ask him the way to Beverly Hills. The hobo replies, “You’re here! That’s Sylvester Stallone’s house right there!” LOL LOL LOL I swear, I have seen Pretty Woman about one hundred times and that scene never fails to make me laugh!

To find “Sylvester Stallone’s house”, Chas tracked down a helpful crew member who told him the general vicinity in which it was located. From there, he simply scanned aerial views and it was not long until he found the right place. And, amazingly enough, despite the fact that over two decades have since passed, the property still looks almost exactly the same today as it did when Pretty Woman was filmed! The small front door/front porch area was at some point enclosed, but otherwise the place appears to have been untouched by time. So incredibly cool! In real life, the tiny home, which was originally built in 1902, measures 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1,201 square feet.

On a Pretty Woman side-note – While scanning through the flick a couple of weeks back, I was knock-me-over-with-a-feather-shocked to discover that the lobby scenes were not filmed inside of the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel in Beverly Hills (pictured above) or on a soundstage at Disney Studios, as countless websites and books have suggested over the years.

Amazingly enough, the lobby scenes from Pretty Woman were actually shot at the since-demolished Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

What tipped me off to this fact was the famous Ambassador lobby fountain, the base of which is visible in the background of almost all of the hotel scenes. You can see a photograph of that fountain here.

Upon closer inspection, I spotted several other elements of the interior of the Ambassador lobby that matched perfectly with what appeared in Pretty Woman, including the curved, check-in desk, which you can see a photograph of here (credit).

and the gold-detailed ceilings and wood-paneled columns, which you can see a photograph of here (credit).

I also realized that the lobby lounge where Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) waited for Edward was actually the Ambassador’s famed The Palm Bar, which you can see photographs of here, here, and here.

And it has long been known that the ballroom where Vivian (aka Julia Roberts) learned the proper use of flatware and where Edward played the piano was the Ambassador’s Embassy ballroom, which you can see a photograph of here. So it now seems as if the vast majority of Pretty Woman was actually filmed inside of the Ambassador Hotel, which makes the fact that the structure no longer stands even more heartbreaking than it already was. Oh, how I wish I had seen that place in person! Sigh.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Pretty Woman filming locations page here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The “Sylvester Stallone” house from Pretty Woman is located at 1735 North Hudson Avenue in Hollywood.

March 9, 2011March 9, 2011

Brenda’s Horseback Riding Center from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

One location that I have wanted to stalk for what seems like forever now is the supposed Minnesota-area equestrian center where a childhood Brenda Walsh (a young actress stood in for my girl Shannen Doherty in this episode, but I, unfortunately, cannot seem to find her name anywhere online) went horseback riding in the Season 2 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Meeting Mr. Pony”. For whatever reason, though, I just could not seem to track the place down. I told the Grim Cheaper of my plight a little over a year ago and he informed me that filming had most likely taken place at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center in Burbank, where the classic 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman had also been lensed. So the two of us promptly ran right out to stalk the place. Oddly enough, though, when we got there, the center did not look at all familiar from 90210. It wasn’t until after I got home and re-watched the “Meeting Mr. Pony” episode that I realized the GC had, in fact, been correct! So I immediately added the place to my “To Re-Stalk” list and finally made it back out there this past weekend.

In the “Meeting Mr. Pony” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, Brenda goes to speak with a psychologist to deal with the fallout she endured after being robbed at gunpoint at the Peach Pit. While there, the therapist asks Brenda to think back to a time in her life when she felt the most happy and the most secure. Brenda immediately envisions her childhood riding sessions with her father, Jim Walsh (aka James Eckhouse), and her “beloved” horse, whom she actually calls both Sylvester and Sebastian in the episode! LOL

The area which appeared in the episode is the Los Angeles Equestrian Center’s main jumper ring which is located just east of the center’s main entrance.

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In the scene, Jim Walsh stood along the wooden fence that borders the southern edge of the ring, just north of the center’s main parking lot. That portion of the ring looks slightly different today as the white fence which was located behind Jim has since been removed and the wooden beams located at the bottom of the fence have since been swapped out and replaced with round pieces of wood, as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph.

The approximate spot where Jim stood is denoted with a pink “X” in the above aerial view.

The very same jumper ring was also the site of the polo match that Edward Lewis (aka Richard Gere) and Vivian Ward (aka Julia Roberts) attended in Pretty Woman.

Until next time , Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Los Angeles Equestrian Center, aka Brenda’s horseback riding center from the “Meeting Mr. Pony” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 480 West Riverside Drive in Burbank. You can visit the center’s official website here. Both 90210 and Pretty Woman were filmed in the jumper ring located just east of the center’s main entrance, in the area denoted with a pink circle in the above aerial view.

April 16, 2010April 15, 2010

The “Pretty Woman”/”(500) Days of Summer” Fountain and Park

Another Downtown Los Angeles location that my fiancé and I stalked this past weekend was the water fountain and park which appeared in both fave movie Pretty Woman and not so fave movie (500) Days of Summer. I discovered this location way back in September of 2007 when I was called to serve as a juror on a four day trial at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Downtown L.A. I’m glad to know jury duty is at least good for something. 😉

As I’ve mentioned a few times before on this blog, included in Los Angeles’ jury orientation presentation are directions to the nearest Starbucks – made complete with a PowerPoint slide showing a map which details the cafe’s exact location. I am not kidding here! Needless to say, I spent quite a bit of time at that Starbucks, especially because jurors are often given two hour-plus lunches (also not kidding!). The “Courthouse Starbucks” as I came to call it is located in the middle of the Civic Center Mall, which is a large plaza that can be found about two blocks away from the Criminal Justice Center. While waiting in line to order my latte one morning, I noticed a HUGE fountain located just north of where I was standing and immediately recognized it as the fountain which appeared in Pretty Woman. I had always wondered where that fountain was located, so I was beyond floored to have discovered it while waiting in line to purchase a cup of coffee. It always amazes me the things I notice if I just have my eyes open, instead of buried in my Blackberry. 😉 Anyway, because jurors aren’t allowed to bring cameras into the Criminal Justice Center, I wasn’t able to take any photographs of the fountain while on jury duty, so this past weekend I dragged my fiancé back there so that I could finally blog about the place.

In Pretty Woman, the fountain shows up towards the end of the movie in the scene in which Vivian Ward (aka Julia Roberts) has just convinced Edward Lewis (aka Richard Gere) to take his very first day off of work. Vivian is shown walking along the rim of the fountain where she announces that she wants a “snap dog” – whatever that is.

The official name of the Pretty Woman fountain is the Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain and it was dedicated on May 18, 1966. Will, who served as the chief administrative officer of the County of Los Angeles from 1951 to 1957, was instrumental in developing the Civic Center Mall as an urban park and garden for those Angelinos who worked in the area so that they could enjoy a bit of outdoor time during their busy day. The Civic Center Mall is officially known as El Paseo De Los Pobladores De Los Angeles, which translates to “The Walk of the First Settlers of Los Angeles”, and was named in honor of the 44 Mexican settlers who on September 4th of 1781 founded the City of Angels.

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I have to give some serious props to the Grim Cheaper right now, as he is turning out to be quite the little stalker! While we were taking pictures of the Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain he immediately recognized the park located just south of it as the spot where Edward and Vivian “copped a squat” in Pretty Woman. I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t recognize the park at all, and was so convinced that it wasn’t the same one which appeared in Pretty Woman that I told him not to bother taking any photographs of it! It’s a good thing he didn’t listen to me,though, because as it turns out, the patch of grass which is located in the southern portion of the Civic Center Mall is, in fact, the Pretty Woman park. Thank you, G.C.!

The park was featured in the scene immediately following the fountain scene, in which Edward and Vivian are shown relaxing on a blanket and reading Shakespeare out loud to each other.

As I mentioned above, the Civic Center Mall was also featured in the 2009 flick (500) Days of Summer and I immediately recognized the place when I saw the movie a few months back. The Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain appeared very briefly in the beginning of the big Hall & Oates “You Make My Dreams Come True” dance sequence.

The vast majority of the dance sequence takes place on the walkway just east of the fountain, in between the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration building and the Courthouse Starbucks.

I also immediately recognized the dance area when I first watched (500) Days of Summer, as it is located along the exact route I would take multiple times each day while on my frequent Starbucks runs during jury duty – and yes, I go to Starbucks multiple times a day and I’m not ashamed to admit it! 🙂

Needless to say, the (500) Days of Summer dance sequence was my absolute favorite scene in the entire movie! I’m a sucker for any sort of musical type performance and being that “You Make My Dreams Come True” is one of my VERY favorite ‘80s songs, I felt like the whole thing was pretty much tailor-made for me. But because the scene was so incredibly fun and upbeat and joyful, it made the movie’s ending all that more shocking of a blow. 🙁 You can watch the big (500) Days of Summer dance number by clicking above – but I’m warning you, unless you want to be depressed for a good couple of hours, do NOT watch the rest of the movie.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Civic Center Mall, aka El Paseo De Los Pobladores De Los Angeles, is located in between the Los Angeles County Municipal Court (111 N. Hill Street) and the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration (500 West Temple Street), and is bordered by Hill Street to the north and Grand Avenue to the south. The Arthur J. Will Memorial Fountain, aka the Pretty Woman fountain, is located in the northern portion of the Mall, near North Grand Avenue, in between West Temple Street and West 1st Street. The Pretty Woman park is located just a bit south of the fountain, on North Hill Street. The (500) Days of Summer dance sequence took place on the walkway in front of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration. The cameras were facing southwest for most of that scene, looking towards the Hall of Records building.

May 5, 2009May 7, 2009

sidebar at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel

Since I am now 100% on Team Speidi, this weekend I just had to drag my boyfriend out to sidebar, the Beverly Hills lounge where the reality TV duo hosted one of their two wedding receptions. Sidebar, which is spelled with a lowercase “s”, is located inside of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel – aka the Pretty Woman hotel – where many of the wedding festivities took place. Truth be told, I actually wanted to book a room at the Beverly Wilshire the weekend of the Speidi nuptials, but my boyfriend (aka the Grim Cheaper) was having none of that. LOL

Sidebar lounge is located directly adjacent to the Wolfgang Puck restaurant CUT, which has long been a favorite of the newlyweds and was where they held their rehearsal dinner on Friday, April 24th. In fact, the duo are such huge fans of the restaurant, that back in September of 2008 they were honored by Wolfgang himself, who placed two large photographs of the couple taken by renowned celebrity photographer Martin Scholler at the entrance to his restaurant. CUT actually has several celebrity photographs by Martin lining its walls, including those of Britney Spears, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, and Jack Nicholson. But the photographs of Speidi are by far the largest, and most prominently placed, in the entire restaurant. Love it! When the photographs were first unveiled, Spencer said, “It feels better than winning an Academy Award.” LOL LOL LOL I have to say that if my favorite restaurant, POP Champagne Bar, placed a 5′ by 3′ photograph of me on their wall, I’d be pretty floored, too. 🙂 Spencer and Heidi are by no means the restaurant’s only celebrity fans, though. Mark Wahlberg, Courteney Cox, Isla Fisher, Chris O’Donnell, and Avril Lavigne have also all been spotted at the eatery.

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I have to say that I absolutely LOVED sidebar!!!! The staff was SUPER friendly, the champagne was A-MA-ZING, and the food was unbelievable!!!!! I just about died over their Kobe beef sliders and I don’t even like red meat! LOL Sidebar is very reasonably priced, too, especially for Beverly Hills, which made my boyfriend extremely happy. ; ) With your cocktail order comes a serving of some amazing marinated olives, homemade BBQ potato chips, wasabi peas, and cinnamon/nutmeg almonds – all for free! I can’t recommend stalking sidebar enough! I am fairly certain it will be a regular stalking spot for me now. 🙂

If you visit sidebar, be sure to check out the Pretty Woman display in the Beverly Wilshire’s lobby. I make it a point to stop by there everytime I visit the hotel. No matter how many times I see that display window, it never seems to get old. 🙂 On display are several stills from the movie and an early draft of the script, which was originally entitled “Three Thousand” – a reference to the amount Richard Gere pays to have Julia Roberts spend the week with him. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Both CUT and sidebar are located inside of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, which can be found at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Although sidebar is reasonably priced for cocktails, CUT is a higher end restaurant, so, be prepared to pay. 🙂 The Pretty Woman display is located near the women’s restroom, just off the hotel lobby.