Sawtelle – IAMNOTASTALKER

I was hesitant to include today’s locale in with my Haunted Hollywood postings being that the Nuart Theatre is neither haunted nor a horror movie location, per se. But the small arthouse venue did cameo in one of my favorite thrillers/comedies – 1978’s Foul Play – as the site of a murder, no less, so I figured it was fair game. Especially considering I had stalked the place years ago while writing a 2015 article for Discover L.A. about the city’s best places to beat the rain but had somehow never dedicated a post to it. So here goes!

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Commissioned by Forrest W. McManus and boasting terrazzo flooring, 660 seats and a single screen, the Nuart Theatre opened on August 21st, 1930 with a star-studded gala.

Nine years later, the site was remodeled and the neon Art Deco marquee that now stands above the entrance installed.

The Nuart went through several ownership changes over the ensuing decades, first falling under the Fox West Coast Theatres umbrella from 1941 to 1954, then running independently for several years before finally getting snapped up by Landmark Theatres in 1974.

The space underwent a major renovation in 2006 during which the seating was downsized to 303 chaises to allow for roomier accommodations. With beer and wine also served on the premises, today the Nuart easily holds up against L.A.’s many luxury theatres.

Such an arthouse fave amongst Angelinos, in fact, the Nuart consistently ranks as one of the area’s best theatres and has been lauded by such entities as LAist, the Los Angeles Times and Curbed LA. Los Angeles magazine even recognized the place for its “Top-Rated Popcorn” in 2009. The Nuart is also famous for its regular showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which have been taking place since the ‘80s), as well as its many celebrity Q&As with the likes of such luminaries as Harry Dean Stanton, Halle Berry, Burt Lancaster, Ridley Scott, Mel Blanc, John Waters and Mark Hamill. And, of course, it’s also a filming location!

In Foul Play, Gloria Mundy (Goldie Hawn) heads to the Nuart, said to be on San Francisco’s Union Street, one dark and stormy night (because, of course) to meet Bob ‘Scotty’ Scott (Bruce Solomon) for a film noir double feature. During the retrospective, Gloria discovers that Scott has been stabbed to death in his seat. By the time she reports the killing to the theatre manager, though, his body has gone missing (dun dun dun!), setting her off on a path to find the guilty party. Quite a lot of the venue is shown in the movie, including the exterior;

the ticket booth area and front entrance;

and the lobby.

From the way the segment was shot and because various message boards I’ve come across concerning the Nuart mention that its interior was decidedly red in color before the 2006 remodel, I am fairly certain that the inside of the theatre itself also appeared in Foul Play.

Oddly though, in 1976, two years prior to Foul Play, the Nuart was featured in the Season 1 episode of Starsky & Hutch titled “Silence” . . .

. . . but the theatre interior shown did not match what was seen in Foul Play in the slightest, which has me thoroughly confused. I am guessing that Starsky & Hutch must have only utilized the exterior of the Nuart and then shot interiors in a screening room located back at 20th Century Fox Studios where the series was lensed, but that is just a hunch.

The Nuart has appeared in a couple of other productions, as well. Thanks to fellow stalker MM, I was reminded that the theatre popped up briefly each week in the opening credits of the television series Moonlighting, which aired from 1985 through 1989.

Guy Franklin (Alexander Tovar) runs into Heather (Megan Rosati) at the Nuart at the end of the 2016 film Show Business.

And Maddie Kendall (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Howie “Chimney” Han (Kenneth Choi) head to the Nuart for a date in the Season 2 episode of 9-1-1 titled “Buck, Actually,” which aired in 2018.

Though the Nuart is said to be the spot where Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) attend a Planet of the Apes marathon in the Season 1 episode of The Big Bang Theory titled “The Pancake Batter Anomaly,” no filming actually took place there. The episode was instead shot in front of a live audience on a soundstage-built set at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, where the show was lensed.

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: Landmark’s Nuart Theatre, from Foul Play, is located at 11272 Santa Monica Boulevard in Sawtelle. You can visit the venue’s official website here.

I am a creature of habit, so it should come as no surprise that Don Antonio’s – the subject of my very first blog post back in 2007 – has remained my favorite Mexican restaurant ever since I first set foot inside it over a decade ago. I initially learned about the Sawtelle-area eatery thanks to its many appearances on MTV’s The Hills and it did not take long for the place to become a staple in my and the Grim Cheaper’s dinner repertoire. We ate there so often, in fact, that I used to lament that I was developing a bit of a belly, which I dubbed “Little Baby Don Antonio.” Though we no longer live in Los Angeles, we still make it a point to hit up D.A.’s whenever we are in town. So I was floored when my friend Lavonna recently informed me that the place had appeared in an early episode of Life in Pieces, a show she had just started watching. I happened to be in L.A. a few days later and figured a pit stop at Don Antonio’s was in order so that I could do a proper re-post on the restaurant.

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Don Antonio’s has been a Westside institution ever since it was established by Antonio and Amalia Hernandez way back in 1982.

Very little of the place has been changed over the years.

The low-lit interior is comprised of three main dining rooms, the most popular of which is known as the Cave Room, for obvious reasons.

Marked by faux mud-caked walls and man-made stalactites, the cavernous space is where Spencer Pratt (aka the current Snapchatter of the Year – if you aren’t following him on Snap, you really need to!) and Heidi Montag typically sat while dining on The Hills.

Don Antonio’s made its inaugural Hills appearance in the Season 2 premiere titled “Out with the Old . . . “ In the episode, Spencer takes Heidi to the eatery for their first real date. Upon pulling up to the valet stand, Heidi says, “How’d you ever find this place? It’s like in the middle of nowhere!” To which Spencer replies, “This is my spot! I’ve been eating here since I was like 14.” In a 2017 InStyle magazine article (which opens with the line, “Spencer Pratt enters Don Antonio’s like he’s Donald Trump at the 21 Club.”), Spencer gives a bit of a different story. Explaining how he discovered D.A.’s, he says, “When I was 16, there used to be a muffler place down the street where I used to drop off my car. My older sister, Kristen, brought me here initially. After that, I was hooked. I brought all my homies and we made it the spot. I used to take meetings in the back. Then, for our first TV date on The Hills, [the producers] were like, “Where do you wanna take [Heidi]?” and I was like, “Obviously Don Antonio’s.”

The restaurant went on to appear in numerous episodes of The Hills, including Season 2’s “Everybody Falls” in which Spencer and Heidi discuss moving in together over a steaming plate of fajitas . . .

. . . and Season 3’s “What Happens in Vegas . . . “ in which the duo’s anniversary celebration is interrupted when Heidi gets called in to work.

A myriad of the couple’s press interviews have also taken place at Don Antonio’s, including the InStyle one I linked to above, as well as one for the cover story of Rolling Stone’s May 11th, 2008 issue, which you can read here.

Image result for rolling stone may 2008

As Lavonna informed me, Don Antonio’s was featured in the Season 1 episode of Life in Pieces titled “Interruptus Date Breast Movin’.”

In the episode, Matt (Thomas Sadoski) follows Spencer’s lead by taking his boss, Colleen (Angelique Cabral), to Don Antonio’s for their first date.

The duo choose not to go the Spencer and Heidi route of eating in the Cave Room, though, and instead dine in Don Antonio’s main room, which boasts a colorful fish tank.

No matter which room you opt to dine in, a meal at Don Antonio’s simply can’t be beat! As Spencer told Heidi during their initial visit, the restaurant serves “the best Mexican food you’ve ever had in your entire life!”

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

Big THANK YOU to Lavonna for telling me about Don Antonio’s Life in Pieces appearance.

P.S. Interested in more Life in Pieces locations? Be sure to check out my friend Michael’s fabulous guest post on the three main houses used on the series here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Don Antonio’s, from The Hills and Life in Pieces, is located at 11755 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles’ Sawtelle neighborhood. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.

Tag: Sawtelle

Nuart Theatre from “Foul Play”

Don Antonio’s from “The Hills” and “Life in Pieces”