Santa Monica – Page 3 – IAMNOTASTALKER

November 23, 2009December 16, 2009

My Coffee With Andre – Agassi, That Is!

A few years back, an email entitled “You Know You’re From Los Angeles When . . . “ which was comprised of a list of “Only in L.A.” scenarios circled the World Wide Web. My personal favorite item on the list was number 28 which stated, “The guy at 8:30 in the morning at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like George Clooney actually IS George Clooney”. LOVE IT! Well, Thursday morning, I had my very own “Only in L.A.” moment at a local Starbucks, when I realized that the guy in front of me in line who looked like tennis superstar Andre Agassi actually WAS tennis superstar Andre Agassi. As it turns out, Andre was in town for a book signing at my fave bookstore, Vroman’s, and was grabbing a quick coffee beforehand. So, of course, for my blog’s sake, I just had to ask him to take a picture with me. I was a little nervous about doing so, though, as just a few weeks prior some friends and I happened to run into Bruce Willis while dining at the Jerry’s Deli on Beverly Boulevard. We had the good fortune of finishing our meal at pretty much the exact same time as Bruce and when we found ourselves in the valet line next to him while waiting for our cars, I asked him if he wouldn’t mind posing for a photograph with us, to which he replied “Doubtful.” Being that my question pretty much warranted either a yes or a no answer, I’m not even really sure what he meant by that, but needless to say I did not get my photo. 🙁 He did shake our hands, though, so I guess that’s something. So, when Andre Agassi said that he’d be happy to pose for a picture with me, I was absolutely elated! A man who I am guessing was his publicist took the above photograph of us – which is arguably the worst photo I’ve ever taken in my life LOL – and afterwards said “I think you’re going to like this one!” I laughed and replied, “Well, being that I’m not wearing any make-up right now, I’m not so sure”, to which Andre said, “Well, I’m not wearing make-up either, so we’re even!” LOL LOL LOL Three other women were in Starbucks at the time that all of this took place and, let me tell you, Andre’s presence caused us all to act like a bunch of giddy little school girls. I’m pretty sure the noise level inside Starbucks increased more than one decibel while the four of us fawned over him. My three new friends also asked for their pictures to be taken with Andre and he happily obliged. In fact, he was so incredibly friendly and gracious I almost couldn’t believe it. He even waited patiently while I tried to figure out how to use the camera on one of the girl’s iPhones. And, to top it all off, when I was on the way out the door a few minutes later, Andre looked up from his espresso and called out “Bye!” Sigh! What a nice guy! I am so going to have to check out his new book now!

Seeing Andre on Thursday got me thinking. Everyday I receive emails from readers seeking advice on how and where to spot celebrities in L.A. And, while I did write a post about celebrity hot spots earlier this year, I realized that the best advice I can give on seeing a famous person in Los Angeles is to just simply KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN AT ALL TIMES. The truth is you just never know when or where you might spot a celeb. I’ve seen stars in such mundane spots as the grocery store, Target, Rite Aid, the mall, Joann’s Fabrics, and Michael’s Craft Store. And, of course, at Starbucks. Other celebs I’ve spotted at various Starbucks in the L.A. area include Sophia Loren, Bradley Whitford (on three different occasions!), Jane Kaczmarek, Britney Spears, Peter MacNicol, Maxine Bahns (from The Brothers McMullen), David Strathairn, Danielle Panabaker, Mark D. Espinoza (who played Andrea’s husband Jesse on the original 90210), Kevin Dunn, Jamie Lynn Spears, who was with her mother Lynn Spears, and Reese Witherspoon. Although to be fair, Reese wasn’t actually at a Starbucks when I spotted her. I saw her walking out of a yoga studio located directly next door to the Starbucks I happened to be walking into. But that still counts, don’t you think? 🙂 Being that I visit a Starbucks on average of three times a day, though, I guess my record of seeing celebs there isn’t actually all that good. LOL But my point is that when you’re in L.A. you just have to keep your eyes peeled at all times! And always, always have your camera with you! 🙂

As if to further drive this point home, while doing some shopping at Larchmont Village with my fiancé on Saturday afternoon, I happened to spot both Anthony John Denison, who plays Lieutenant Flynn on TNT’s The Closer, and Owain Yeoman, who plays Detective Wayne Rigsby on The Mentalist (pictured above), dining at restaurants across the street from each other. I, of course, noticed both actors immediately, but my fiancé walked RIGHT BY them completely oblivious. Honestly, I think they both could have come up and bitten him on the nose and he still wouldn’t have realized who they were! As I mentioned above, you just gotta keep your eyes open!

And let me just say here that I was completely struck by how much better looking Owain Yeoman is in person than he comes across onscreen, as was the case back in August when I saw him during a filming of The Mentalist. I mean, even my fiancé had to admit that the guy looked quite a bit different in person. 🙂 And even though Owain is one of my new celebrity crushes, because he was eating lunch when we spotted him, I didn’t want to bother him for a photograph. But, as luck would have it, when driving away from Larchmont Village, my fiancé happened to get stuck at a stop sign RIGHT IN FRONT of Owain’s table, so, I just had to snap a quick pic. 🙂 Owain definitely noticed me taking his photo and didn’t seem too happy about the situation, but being that he is oh so dreamy, I just couldn’t help myself. 🙂 Sigh!

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Starbucks where I ran into Andre Agassi is located at 408 East Colorado Blvd., in the Paseo Colorado Shopping Center, in Pasadena. Larchmont Village, where I spotted Owain Yeoman and Anthony John Denison, is a quaint little shopping district located on North Larchmont Blvd. in between Beverly Boulevard and West 1st Street. Anthony John Denison was eating at Louise’s Tratroria, which is located at 232 N. Larchmont Blvd. Owain was eating at Le Petite Greek, which is located at 127 N. Larchmont.

August 26, 2009August 25, 2009

The Almost Famous House

Thanks to fellow stalker Chas, way back in the beginning of July, I was able to stalk the main house used in the 2000 award winning movie Almost Famous. Somehow, though, in all this time, I’ve yet to blog about it. What can I say – so many places to stalk, so little time to write about them. 😉 Anyway, back in early July I happened to mention to Chas that I would be spending the day in the Santa Monica area and he asked me if I wanted the address of the little bungalow featured in the movie Almost Famous, as he had just located it. IF I wanted address??? IF I wanted the address??? Hello!!!! Is the pope Catholic??? Of course I wanted the address! 🙂 And once Chas gave it to me, I was on my way!

In the movie, the tiny little bungalow pictured above belongs to Frances McDormand, Zooey Deschanel, and Patrick Fugit, who plays main character William Miller, and is supposedly located in the San Diego area. And, while some scenes from the film were actually filmed in San Diego, such as William’s high school and the opening concert scenes, for the Miller’s family home producers chose to use a residence located about 130 miles North of San Diego, on a sleepy little street in Santa Monica. And a little bit of movie trivia for you – Almost Famous is loosely based on the real life teenage years of director Cameron Crowe and the high school he chose to use in the movie is his real life alma mater – University of San Diego High School. He even cast his real life high school journalism teacher in a small role in the flick, which is just about the coolest thing ever! 🙂

And I am happy to report that the Almost Famous house looks very much the same today as it did when the movie was filmed over nine years ago. In fact, the only difference I noticed – besides the abundance of Fourth of July decorations 🙂 – was a change in paint color from blue to yellow. Otherwise, the adorable little bungalow looks pretty much identical to how it appeared in the movie. And, while the house pops up several times throughout Almost Famous, unfortunately the entire exterior was never shown all at once, so I was not able to make any good screen captures. : (

I was actually very surprised to hear that the Almost Famous house was located in Santa Monica, as it really doesn’t look like the typical Santa Monica area home to me. I would have expected to find it in Pasadena, instead. So, I’m really glad that Chas decided to track down the house, as I’m pretty positive I never would have been able to.

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Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Almost Famous house is located at 1047 Maple Street, at the corner of Maple and 11th Streets, in Santa Monica.

August 20, 2009August 20, 2009

The “Twins” House

A few weeks ago, fellow stalker Owen asked for my help in locating Danny DeVito’s Mediteranean style home from the 1988 comedy Twins. Owen had already done quite a bit of stalking legwork on this one and had managed to contact one of the movie’s crew members who told him that the house was located on a numbered street near Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. Unfortunately, though, due to the fact that many of the numbered streets in Santa Monica aren’t featured in Google Maps Street View, Owen was not able to cyberstalk the home. Which is where I came in. 🙂 Because I am in the Santa Monica area quite frequently, I offered to drive around the numbered streets to see if I could locate the elusive Twins house. From watching the movie, Owen knew that the home had an address number of 323 and that the neighboring house was numbered 327, which narrowed down our search parameters quite a bit. So, a few weeks ago, with a screen capture of the house and those few bits of information in hand, I dragged my fiance out to find the Twins house. And find it, we did! 🙂

Amazingly enough, the house was actually located on the very first street we drove down. When I realized we had found it, I turned to my fiance in shock and said “Could it really have been this easy?” LOL Sadly, though, the Twins house looks MUCH different today than it did back in 1988 when the movie was filmed. While still recognizable, it looks as if quite a bit of remodeling has been done to it in recent years. I guess I really shouldn’t be all that surprised that the house has changed so significantly, though, after all the movie was filmed more than two decades ago!

Besides adding on a whole second story, the homeowners also removed the enclosed front porch area and popped out the home’s entry way and front door by a good couple of feet, as you can see in the above photograph and screen capture. A large tree which covers the front window has also since been planted.

But the most significant – and odd – change to the house has to be the complete removal of the driveway. Owen and I have actually been over the driveway removal issue ad nauseam and still can’t figure out the reasoning behind it. I mean WHY ON EARTH WOULD SOMEONE REMOVE THEIR DRIVEWAY? LOL It’s absolutely BIZARRE! My fiance brought up the point, though, that it’s quite possible the city refused to grant the homeowner’s remodeling permits unless they agreed to do away with their driveway. Santa Monica is known as something of an “alley city” – numerous homes in the area don’t have driveways and the garages are reached via a back alley – so it’s actually a pretty good possibility that my fiance hit the nail on the head about why that driveway is no longer there.

Ironically enough, the neighboring house, which shows up briefly in Twins, still looks EXACTLY the same as it did when the movie was filmed.

Even though the Twins house looks quite different today, it was still extremely exciting to be stalking it. And a little bit of movie trivia for you – a very young Heather Graham had a brief, uncredited role in Twins as Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s mom. David Caruso also had a small role in the movie as parking attendant Al Greco. His voice is so different in the flick, though, that I literally almost didn’t recognize him!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Danny DeVito’s house from Twins is located at 323 11th Street in Santa Monica.

August 18, 2009August 18, 2009

The “7th Heaven” House

Got a challenge a few months back from a man named Glenn who wanted me to locate the house used as the Camden residence on the Aaron Spelling television series 7th Heaven. Unfortunately, though, this challenge proved to be rather difficult as there are quite a few conflicting rumors about the home’s location floating around online. The general consensus on most of the fan sites, though, was that the house only ever existed on a studio backlot somewhere in Hollywood. And, even though I didn’t really believe that to be the case, I am embarrassed to admit that I gave up on finding the home’s location rather quickly after reading that. Sorry, Glenn! But last week, I decided to enlist the help of fellow stalkers Mike, from MovieShotsLA, Chas, and Owen and, sure enough, it wasn’t long before Chas had called me back with an address!!!!! YAY! Funny side note – after Chas gave me the 7th Heaven house address, I immediately texted both Owen and Mike to let them know that their searches could be called off. Well, ironically enough, Mike’s phone wasn’t working that day, so what did he do, but go out and rent EVERY SINGLE DVD of the series that he could find! I’m not kidding! The next day he called me and said “I’m going to watch every single hour ever made of this show if I have to, but we are going to find that house!” LOL LOL LOL I felt sooooooo bad as poor Mike was not only stuck with a hefty Blockbuster bill, but also a few hundred hours of cheesy television that he had no desire whatsoever to watch.

Even though I’ve never seen a single episode of 7th Heaven, I was still extremely excited to be stalking the Camden house! Sadly, though, the home has changed quite a bit in recent years as you can see in the above screen capture and photograph. In fact, the house looks so different from how it appeared on the series that when I first saw it in person I wasn’t sure I was at the right place. LOL Just a few of the alterations made to the home include a change in paint color from white to baby blue, the installation of a white picket fence around the exterior of the property . . .

. . . and the addition of quite a bit of thick foliage, which makes the home hardly visible at all from the street, as you can see in the above photograph. And while the Camden house is very cute in person, truth be told, I think it looked a whole lot better on the show. 🙂

Chas was able to track down this house by contacting a former 7th Heaven crew member who just happened to remember its exact location. The guy also gave Chas a brief history of the filming of the Camden home, finally allowing us to put those pesky location rumors to rest. The real story of the Camden house is as follows – For the pilot episode of the series, which was filmed in 1996, a house in Altadena that Mike and I have always refered to as the “Rubio House” served as the Camden residence. I’ve blogged about the Rubio House once before as it has appeared in COUNTLESS productions, including The Mentalist, NCIS, Bye Bye Love, and Can’t Hardly Wait, among numerous others. Anyway, for whatever reason, once the series got picked up, producers decided to ditch the Rubio house and use a Santa Monica residence instead. For the next six seasons, that Santa Monica house was used for all exterior filming and establishing shots. But, sometime during the sixth season, the owners of the house got a bit tired of the constant filming on their property and put an end to it. How one can become tired of filming taking place on their property is BEYOND me, but to each their own, I guess. 😉 Once the house was off limits for filming, the production crew built a very basic replica of it, consisting of only one exterior wall and a fake front yard, on the studio back lot. From then on all filming of the Camden house took place there. So, that explains how all of those different location rumors about the house got started! 🙂

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Big THANK YOU to Chas for finding this location and finally solving the mystery of the 7th Heaven house! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The 7th Heaven house is located at 527 Alta Avenue in Santa Monica. Courteney Cox’s former home is located just up the street at 606 Alta Avenue. The house used as the Camden residence in the 7th Heaven pilot can be found at 1090 Rubio Street in Altadena.

July 9, 2009December 6, 2013

The Fairmont Miramar Santa Monica

I don’t know about you all, but for the past few Sunday nights I have been absolutely glued to my television set watching Season 2 of the Ryan Seacrest produced Denise Richards: It’s Complicated. And while I admit that the girl is an absolute train wreck and that her laugh is like fingernails on a chalkboard, for some incredibly odd reason I just can’t stop watching! LOL So, since I was in the area recently, I just had to stalk the hotel Denise moved into at the beginning of this season.

Wanting a “fresh start” after the past “difficult year”, Denise decided to sell her Hidden Hills home and move closer to her daughters’ school and her “work” – whatever that means. I didn’t realize Denise had a full time job. LOL Anyway, until her former home sells, the Richards Family, including Denise, her father Irv (no, that’s not a typo, that’s actually his name!), and daughters Lola and Sam, are calling the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica home. The hotel shows up quite often on this season of Denise’s reality show, especially the bungalow area where her family lives . . .

. . . and the hotel’s onsite fitness center, where she works out daily with her trainer/sometimes date Ray.

The Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows was originally the private home of John P. Jones, a former Nevada senator and one of the founders of the City of Santa Monica. John built a mansion on the site in 1889 and dubbed his property “Miramar” which means “view of the sea” in Spanish. In 1912, the Jones Family sold their home to King C. Gillette, founder of the razor company of the same name and the King Gillette Ranch where TV’s The Biggest Loser is filmed. Nine years later, in 1921, Gillette sold the property to hotel entreprenuer Gilbert Stevenson, who turned it into an upscale seaside resort. In 1924, to make room for more guests, Stevenson added a large brick building to the property and also, sadly, had the original Jones’ mansion torn down just a few years later. In 1959, the hotel added yet another tower. Forty years later, the current owner, investment group Maritz, Wolffe & Co. purchased the hotel, started a $16 million renovation process, and brought in the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts company to manage the property. All these years later it is still a truly beautiful place and I highly recommend stalking it! 🙂

Denise Richards is not the first celeb to check into the Miramar. Over the years numermous stars have stayed there, including Cary Grant, Greta Garbo (who lived at the hotel for close to three years), Doris Day, JFK and Jackie O., Eleanor Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, my girl Marilyn Monroe, Rosa Parks, Denzel Washington, Quincy Jones, Hugh Hefner, Anthony Hopkins, Arnold Schwarznegger, Steven Spielburg, Shaquille O’Neal, and Hilary Swank, just to name a few.

The hotel has been featured in countless movie and television productions over the years. In the Season 5 episode of Entourage entitled “First Class Jerk”, the Miramar stood in for a Hawaiian resort where Vinnie and the boys hung out.

The large Moreton Bay Fig Tree which stands at the entrance to the Miramar and quite closely resembles a banyan tree gives the hotel somewhat of a tropical feel, so it’s no surprise that Entourage producers chose to film there instead of shooting on location in Hawaii. The fig tree was planted way back in 1879 – yes, 1879 – by Senator Jones, the original owner of the propety. It measures a whopping 80 feet high and 120 feet wide!

The hotel also showed up as the location where Anthony Hopkins’ wife carried out her affair in 2007’s Fracture.

It was also the hotel where Helen Mirren and her friends stayed during their L.A. visit in the Disney movie Calendar Girls. Please excuse the horrific YouTube screen captures pictured above! LOL In the 1962 Cary Grant and Doris Day comedy That Touch of Mink, the Miramar was used as a West Indies resort. The hotel has also been featured in Along Came Polly and the television series Simon & Simon.

And last, but definitely not least, the night before her surprise wedding to KFed, Britney Spears threw herself a Bachelorette party in one of the Miramar’s bungalows. KFed partied with his boys, aka “The Pimps” right across the street at Houston’s Restaurant (pictured above). Both, I’m sure, were classy affairs! 😉 At the time, Kevin was living with Britney in her nearby oceanside pad in the 1221 Ocean Avenue condomium complex.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows is located at 101 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica. You can visit their website here. Houston’s Restaurant, where KFed held his bachelor party, is located across the street at 202 Wilshire Boulevard.

May 18, 2009May 21, 2009

Rae’s Restaurant

Last weekend, while lounging by the pool in Palm Springs, I happened to open up People Magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful issue and almost fell right off my lawn chair when I saw a pic of my girl Chelsea Handler posing at fave restaurant Rae’s in Santa Monica. 🙂 Chelsea was featured as one of the magazine’s “Pretty Funny” people and her entire photo shoot (which you can watch a behind the scenes video of here) took place at a small 50s style diner that is no stranger to the silver screen. In fact, I’ve even stalked it once before!

Even though I have already blogged about Rae’s, because it is one of my favorite places in all of L.A. and because my girl Chelsea did her People photo shoot there, I just had to stalk it once again. 🙂 So, on Friday morning, bright and early, I dragged my dad out to Santa Monica to grab some breakfast at Rae’s.

Rae’s has been a Santa Monica staple since it first opened up in 1958. And it’s really no wonder why. The diner serves up some of the best food in all of L.A.!!!! And I am the pickiest eater known to man, so if I love the food, then you know it’s gotta be good. 🙂 Pretty much everything Rae’s serves is homemade on the premises using fresh ingredients, which is pretty unusual to find in a diner type setting. Especially when you consider the prices! Rae’s is extremely inexpensive – almost unbelievably so! The bill for my dad and my breakfast came to a whopping $5.30! I’m not kidding!!!! My personal favorite Rae’s meal, though, has to be their turkey dinner, which is served with fresh whipped mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing and gravy, and turkey that is cut right off of an actual steaming turkey right in front of you. Even my dad loved the place and is already making plans to bring my mom there in the near future. 🙂

Because Rae’s has such a unique look, location scouts have long been enamored with it. Rae’s has appeared in COUNTLESS productions over the years, including my fave Win A Date With Tad Hamilton, where it stood in for the Frazier’s Bottom diner where Tad and Rosalie grabbed a bite to eat;

Not Another Teen Movie, where it was featured during the “Prom Tonight” song and dance sequence;

Starsky and Hutch, where Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller ate breakfast after discovering a dead body in a nearby ravine;

Bowfinger, where Steve Martin and his film crew ate a celebratory dinner after filming a pivotal scene in their movie entitled “Chubby Rain” LOL;

True Romance, where Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater eat some pie after seeing a movie;

Lords of Dogtown, where Skip and the boys get into a food fight with a waiter;

The Next Best Thing, where Madonna eats a hamburger for the first time and realizes she might be pregnant;

the cover of Elton John’s “Songs from the West Coast” album;

‘N Sync’s photo shoot for the December 2001 issue of Rolling Stone Magazine; and the movies Book of Love and The Old Car. The diner has also been featured in countless commercials.

I honestly can’t recommend stalking Rae’s enough!!!! Love the food, love the atmosphere, love the service!!! You honestly can’t go wrong with this place! 🙂

On a side note, I am completely obsessed with the wishbone ring Chelsea Handler was sporting in her People Magazine photo shoot (you can just barely see it in the above photo). The ring is a Jennifer Meyer (aka Mrs. Tobey McGuire) design and even though I just received a pretty special ring last weekend :), I am so wanting it. LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Rae’s Restaurant is located at 2901 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. Be sure to bring cash, as Rae’s does not accept credit cards. 🙂

April 8, 2009April 7, 2009

Joe’s Pizza

Last week, on April Fools’ Day, CBS aired a television special entitled I Get That A Lot in which celebrities posed as normal, everyday people working in normal, everyday jobs. Hidden cameras captured customers’ reactions as stars like Jessica Simpson, Ice-T, LeAnn Rimes, and Jeff Probst waited on them and told them that they were not, in fact, famous, but that they “get that a lot.” 🙂 While the show was a bit on the silly side, I, of course, LOVED it! I so wish I could have been one of those customers! But since I wasn’t, I figured I’d at least stalk one of the locations where I Get That A Lot was filmed. 🙂

My favorite segment from I Get That A Lot involved supermodel Heidi Klum whose assignment on the show was to spend a few hours serving pizzas at a small pizza place in Santa Monica named Joe’s. Heidi was absolutely adorable in the segment and since I happened to be in Santa Monica this weekend, I just had to drag my boyfriend out to stalk the place. 🙂

Joe’s Pizza is a very cute, but super tiny shop located just off the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. In fact, it is so tiny I am surprised they were able to film inside of it at all. Joe’s was also extremely crowded – during the brief twenty minutes that we were there no less than fifteen people stopped in for a bite to eat – which is, I’m sure, why it was chosen for the hidden camera special. I am guessing that the producers wanted Heidi waiting on as many people as possible. The staff at Joe’s was extremely nice and answered all of my questions about the filming of I Get That A Lot,which took place almost a year ago. They told me that Heidi Klum was very down to earth and a lot of fun to work with. 🙂

While stalking Joe’s, my boyfriend and I just had to sample a few slices of their pizza. And let me tell you, it is some of the best pizza I’ve ever had! The Joe’s Pizza chain originated in New York in 1975 and has continuously been credited as New York’s best pizza. In fact, New York Magazine stated that “the quintessential New York slice is at Joe’s”. The Santa Monica branch, which opened in 2007, is just as good as its New York counterpart and I am sure I will be frequenting it quite often. Being that I am diabetic, a big ol’ slice of cheese pizza is probably the last thing I should be eating, but, hey, life’s short – sometimes you’ve gotta live it up. 🙂

Other famous fans of the restaurant, besides Heidi Klum, include Brooke Shields, Harrison Ford, Robin Williams, Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, Jimmy Kimmel, Sarah Silverman, and Everybody Loves Raymond’s Doris Roberts. Pictured above are photographs of Joe’s celebrity fans which line the walls of the small restaurant. Love it! Think someday they’ll put my photo on the wall? 🙂

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The original Joe’s Pizza, which is located in Manhattan, has long been a favorite of location scouts. It has appeared in Spiderman 2 (Peter Parker worked as a Joe’s pizza delivery boy), Sex and the City, Along Came Polly, and a Nike Commercial. You can bet that Joe’s is at the top of my list of places to stalk on my next trip to NYC. 🙂

I HIGHLY recommend stalking Joe’s Pizza! It’s a really fun place to grab a bite to eat and the pizza is to die for! It’s truly like having a little piece of New York right here in L.A. 🙂 You can watch some clips from the I Get That A Lot special, including Heidi Klum’s stint as a Joe’s Pizza girl, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Joe’s Pizza is located at 111 Broadway in Santa Monica. The original New York location can be found at 7 Carmine Street in Manhattan. You can visit the Joe’s Pizza website here.

February 20, 2009February 21, 2009

How To Spot a Movie Star!

Because so many of you have been asking lately, and in honor of the upcoming Oscar Weekend, I thought I’d do a post today on the best places to go in L.A. to see a star. But first let me start by saying that if your sole purpose in visiting L.A. is to see celebs – and let’s be honest, what other reason is there? 🙂 – the very best time of year to plan your trip is Oscar Weekend. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Hollywood comes alive for the Oscars. I swear it’s like celebrities come out of the woodwork during that time of year and everyone who’s anyone is here. Last year this fellow stalker took my Oscar Weekend advice (you can read that advice – Part I and Part II – here) and saw 68 celebs – yes, she counted. 🙂 But if you can’t make it to L.A. this weekend – have no fear! I have advice for the other 51 weeks of the year, too! So where is the best place to go to see a movie star? The answer to that question is actually quite simple. It’s two words, really. Hotel bars! Or hotels in general for that matter – hotel lobbies, bars, restaurants – they’ll all do. A few years ago I realized that for whatever reason, almost every single time I visited a hotel restaurant or bar in the Hollywood/West Hollywood/Beverly Hills area I spotted someone famous. So now I’ve pretty much made a habit out of stalking hotel bars. And there are quite a few that stand out in my mind as celeb magnets.

So, without further ado, here is my list of must-stalk hotels (in no particular order, except for the last one):

1. Hollywood Renaissance Hotel – 1755 North Highland Boulevard in Hollywood. I’ve spotted Nikki Blonsky and Will Smith on different visits to this Hollywood hotel. The lobby was also featured in the movie Red Eye. The lobby bar is located just to the right of the main entrance.

2. The Mondrian Hotel – 8440 Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. This is one of my favorite hotels in all of Los Angeles. The staff is always warm and friendly and the views from the pool and the hotel’s Asia De Cuba restaurant are to die for! I’ve spotted both Victoria Beckam and Spike Lee at the Mondrian. Britney Spears had one of her meltdowns during her shaved head period at the Mondrian’s pool. Pictured above is me standing with all of the paparazzi waiting to see Victoria Beckham a few years ago. 🙂 I’m the one poking my head out behind the guy in the blue blazer.

3. The Regent Beverly Wilshire – 9500 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Besides being the hotel where Pretty Woman was filmed, the Regent Beverly Wilshire also hosts the Night Before the Night Before Party each year during Oscar weekend. I also spotted Jake Gyllenhaal in the hotel’s lobby one random Friday afternoon. And Spencer and Heidi are big fans of the restaurant Cut located inside the hotel.

4. Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel – 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. I’ve blogged about this hotel numerous times before as it is so steeped in Hollywood history. Almost every celebrity in history has been spotted at this hotel. Marilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift used to live there and today celebs like Lauren Conrad and Nicole Richie hang out by the Tropicana Bar at the hotel’s pool. I even got to meet Kristin Cavallari once while hanging out at the Tropicana.

5. Sunset Tower Hotel – 8358 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Another of my favorite L.A. hotels. Both the Tower Bar and the Terrace Room boast A-MA-ZING views and serve up some great cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. I met Kate Bosworth on one of my visits to the Terrace Room and both Jen Aniston and Kevin Spacey are regulars at the Tower Bar. I really can’t recommend this place enough!

6. Raffles L’Ermitage – 9291 Burton Way in Beverly Hills. This is the place where Brenda and Dylan shared their first kiss on the original 90210 series, so of course it holds a special place in my heart. 🙂 I’ve heard that seeing a celeb at the hotel’s Writer’s Bar (where scripts of legendary movies line the walls) is pretty much a sure thing. While I was stalking the hotel I spotted James Woods who supposedly lives there.

7. Beverly Hills Hotel – 9641 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. This hotel hosts the Night Before Party every year during Oscar Weekend. And I almost always spot a celeb at the hotel’s legendary Polo Lounge Restaurant. While there I’ve seen Paris Hilton (first picture of this post), Rob Reiner, Elle Macpherson, and Reese Witherspoon. It’s one of my favorite bars in all of L.A. It’s pricey, but so worth it!

8. Beverly Hilton Hotel – 9876 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. This hotel plays hosts to OVER 200!!!!! celebrity events and awards show parties each year, including the annual Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Party. There is an event there pretty much every Saturday night and you can literally just park yourself in the lobby bar, order up a few champagnes, and enjoy your perfect view of celebrity arrivals through the front door.

9. Viceroy Santa Monica- 1819 Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. Celebs LOVE this ultra-modern avant-garde hotel, especially Britney Spears and LLo who are regulars. Kate Beckinsale has also been spotted here.

10. Casa Del Mar -1910 Ocean Way in Santa Monica. Once while grabbing a drink at this seaside hotel, I spotted my girl Jen Aniston, Vince Vaughn, Joey Lauren Adams, and Jon Favreau who were all there doing publicity for The Break Up. Katie Holmes, Mandy Moore, Britney Spears and KFed have all stayed at the hotel at one time or another. Casa Del Mar is very historic and very upscale and it’s centralized lobby bar is situated in the perfect location for viewing the many celebs who enter the front door. Shutters Hotel located right next door to Casa Del Mar is also a notorius celeb hangout. The above pics were taken with my camera phone the day we saw Jen. The first pic is of me standing with the paps outside Casa Del Mar and the second is of Jen getting into her waiting car. You can’t really tell, but I am wearing my Team Aniston sweatshirt in the pics – when Jen saw it she pointed and said “Oh, thank you!” lol

11. Chateau Marmont – 8221 W. Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. A list of celebrity hotspots would not be complete without at least a mention of the famed Chateau Marmont. The problem is I hate this place! The staff is pretentious and snooty and if you aren’t a celeb, they pretty much treat you like dirt. Which I’m sure is one of the reasons stars like the place so much. LOL COUNTLESS celebs have visited this hotel including Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan (who used to live there), Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin, the late Heath Ledger and his wife Michelle Williams, etc., etc., etc. But if you happen to spot a celeb while visiting the Chateau DON’T EVEN THINK of going up to them or snapping their pic (no cameras of any kind are even allowed in the hotel! I’m not kidding). Which is, again, probably why celebs love the place so much – and why stalkers hate it. 🙂

It is at this point that I realize my list of hotels could go on and on. Why? Because looking back on my eight years of living in L.A. I can hardly think of a time I visited an upscale hotel and didn’t spot a celeb. You really can’t go wrong with any hotel you choose. What can I say – celebs love ’em. And why not? If I was rich and famous I’d be constantly staying in hotels, too. Who wouldn’t want daily turn down service and a nightly pillow mint? 🙂

Restaurants can also be good places to see celebs, but I’ve always had better stalking luck at hotels. If you want to try your hand at a restaurant, though, these are the ones I’d recommend: Marix Tex Mex Cafe (a Jen Aniston favorite located at 1108 N. Flores Street in West Hollywood – she sits on the patio), The Ivy (THE celeb stalking restaurant located at 113 North Robertson Blvd. in Beverly Hills – every celeb and their mother has dined here), Ago (the Robert Dinero owned Italian restaurant where Quentin Tarantino once punched out his dinner mate located at 8478 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood), Nobu (another Jen Aniston – and every other celebrity – favorite located at 3835 Cross Creek Road in Malibu), Katsuya ( a celeb fave sushi spot located at 11777 San Vicente Blvd. #120 in Los Angeles), Orso (Simon Cowell’s favorite located at 8706 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles), Il Sole (Jen’s absolute fave and notorius celeb hot spot located at 8730 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood), and, finally, Madeo (the celeb restaurant du jour located at 8897 Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood).

And finally, a few random locations where celebs always seem to congregate: the Brentwood Country Mart shopping center which seems to be Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck’s home away from home; the Santa Monica Farmers Market – an outdoor food bazaar that occurs on Arizona Avenue twice weekly (Wednesday and Saturday mornings) where a lot of celebs buy their produce; Malibu Country Mart – Malibu’s main upscale shopping center; and the place I blogged about on Monday, the Los Angeles Farmers Market. It seems celebs like farmers markets and country marts. 🙂 LOL

My final piece of advice? If you are in the Beverly Hills/Hollywood/West Hollywood area and you see a large group of men standing out in front of a hotel or restaurant, pull over immediately! Those men are paparazzi, which means there is a celeb in the vicinity!! 🙂 I’ve seen quite a few celebs just by spotting the paps. 🙂 And if you are lucky enough to come across one of those yellow signs that I love so much, stop!!! and ask the crew what is being filmed. Most crews are very friendly and will let you on set to watch!

So there it is – my advice on the best places to go celeb-stalking. Just visit a hotel, mill around the lobby a bit, grab a bite to eat or just a cocktail (much cheaper than an entire meal) and sit back and wait for the celebs to arrive. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

January 30, 2009February 13, 2009

Pawn Shop to the Stars

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Another day, another pawn shop to write about. 🙂 Ironically, just around the corner from the now defunct Beverly Hills, 90210 pawn shop that I blogged about yesterday, is yet another local pawn shop that also has a filming history. Who knew that pawn shops were such popular filming locations?? 🙂 Angelo’s Jewelry and Loan Company, which touts itself as the “Pawn Shop to the Stars”, opened up in 1984 and has the distinction of being Santa Monica’s oldest pawn shop. Since it was around at the time, I can’t help but wonder why it wasn’t used as Dylan’s pawn shop in the “Anaconda” episode of 90210. Or why there would be two pawn shops in such close proximity to each other. Perhaps that explains why the “Anaconda” one is no longer in business. Anyway, even though the tiny shop was overlooked by 90210 location scouts, it did get featured just last year in the Owen Wilson movie Drillbit Taylor.

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In Drillbit Taylor, a group of nerdy teenage boys hire con man Owen Wilson to be their bodyguard. But instead of protecting them, Drillbit ends up robbing them blind and hawking their goods at a local pawn shop. That pawn shop was Angelo’s. And it looks exactly the same in real life as it did in the movie. According to the owner Angelo’s has also been featured in other productions over the years, but he was unable to recall which ones – which boggles my mind! LOL My guess is that Angelo’s has appeared in one or more of the L.A. based crime dramas such as Without A Trace, Cold Case, or the CSI shows.

I found this location thanks to Mike over at MovieShotsLA, but the truth is I really should have recognized it myself. For over two years I took acting classes right around the corner from Angelo’s and would pass by the shop at least three times a week on my way to grab a coffee before or after class. Every time I walked by I would laugh at the silly signs in the store windows (pictured above). So when Mike told me that my acting class pawn shop was the very same pawn shop featured in Drillbit Taylor, I had to mentally kick myself for not immediately recognizing it. And I call myself a stalker!! LOL Sometimes I really think all that blond dye goes straight to my head. LOL Thanks, Mike!

According to this article, Angelo’s claim of being the “Pawn Shop to the Stars” is actually not a joke. Apparently movie stars do stop in to Angelo’s from time to time, although the owner refuses to divulge which ones. I didn’t see any while I was there, but who knows, while stalking the place you might end up spotting a celeb or two! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Angelo’s Pawn Shop is located at 206 Santa Monica Boulevard in Santa Monica.

January 29, 2009February 17, 2009

Anaconda!

No, the above title does not refer to the 1997 JLo/Ice Cube action flick Anaconda (a movie I have never seen), but a Beverly Hills, 90210 episode of the same name. The other day while I was hanging out on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Mike (from MovieShotsLA) called me and asked if I wouldn’t mind stalking a nearby location for him. He was looking for the pawn shop that down-on-his-luck Dylan visited in that Second Season episode, which he could tell from the above screen capture was located somewhere on 2nd Street in Santa Monica.

While watching the pawn shop scene, Mike immediately recognized the famous Santa Monica Crocker Clock Tower in the background behind Dylan. The Crocker Clock Tower is somewhat of a landmark building in Santa Monica, most likely due to its unusual art deco style and size – it is the second tallest building in the city. The clock tower is also famous for another reason, though. On January 17, 1994, at 4:31 a.m. the Northridge Earthquake struck Los Angeles and its surrounding area. The 6.7 magnitute quake not only rocked the city, but the Crocker Clock Tower as well, stopping its hands at the precise moment the first wave struck. For over six years afterwards the clock’s hands remained frozen in time at 4:31 a.m., a constant reminder to all who viewed it of the devastating quake. In 2000, the clock was finally fixed for the meager cost of $75,000.

Using the clock tower (and the above screen capture) as his guide, Mike was able to figure out the exact location of Dylan’s pawn shop, which I am sad to say is no longer in business. Such a bummer! Currently a sound design company named RMD Entertainment occupies the space. “Anaconda” was filmed 17 years ago and in that time a lot on 2nd street has changed. While I haven’t been able to confirm it, I do believe that filming took place at an actual pawn shop that was once located in RMD’s space. Although it is also a possibility that a fake pawn shop was set up in a vacant storefront at that location strictly for the filming of the “Anaconda” episode. But I believe the former is true.

I am constantly shocked when locations Mike and I stalk look different than how they appeared onscreen. Mike is always telling me that I need to remember that these episodes were filmed almost two decades ago and that the locations where they were filmed will have changed considerably in twenty years time. But since Beverly Hills, 90210 is so frozen in time for me, I am always expecting the locations to be frozen in time, as well, and am always shocked when I find that they aren’t. LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The pawn shop featured in “Anaconda” is now RMD Entertainment which is located at 1418 2nd Street in Santa Monica. The Crocker Clock Tower building is located just around the corner at 225 Santa Monica Boulevard.