television stars – Page 3

September 8, 2011September 7, 2011

Wattles Mansion from “Troop Beverly Hills”

After re-watching Troop Beverly Hills a couple of weeks back and subsequently stalking the mansion where the Nefler family lived, I became just a wee bit obsessed with tracking down some of the other locales featured in the 1989 flick. Thankfully IMDB had quite a few sites listed on its Troop Beverly Hills filming locations page, one of which was Wattles Mansion – a historic and oft-filmed at Hollywood estate that, amazingly enough, I had never before heard of. So I immediately dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out to stalk the place the following weekend.

Wattles Mansion was originally built in 1907 by Myron Hunt and Elmer Grey, the legendary Los Angeles-area architects who were also responsible for designing the Ambassador Hotel, the Huntington Art Gallery, Pasadena’s Wentworth Hotel (now the Langham), Occidental College (aka California University from fave show Beverly Hills, 90210), the California Institute of Technology, and the Beverly Hills Hotel. The large Mission Revival-style dwelling was commissioned by a wealthy Omaha, Nebraska native named Gurdon Wallace Wattles to be used as his family’s winter residence. The estate, which sat on 49 acres and was called“Jualita”, featured 6,167 square feet of living space, seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a wood-paneled library with a hand-painted ceiling, black-and-white checkerboard marble flooring, a terracotta tile terrace, wood-beamed ceilings, and a full basement. The home’s extensive 5-acre formal garden area consisted of a Japanese Garden, an Italian Rose garden, a Spanish garden, an American garden, a palm court, sparkling ponds, and several fruit orchards. In an amazing show of generosity, Gurdon opened his beloved gardens to the public upon moving into his new home and it was not long before they became a wildly popular tourist attraction.

After Gurdon passed away in 1932, his widow, Julia Vance, and their son, Gurdon Wallace Wattles Jr., continued to live at the mansion. In 1968, they sold the property to the City of Los Angeles and the Department of Parks and Recreation subsequently took over. Sadly, the city lacked the money necessary to maintain the large estate and it quickly fell into a serious state of disrepair. Gurdon’s formerly glorious gardens were taken over by drug dealers, squatters, and vandals, and what they didn’t destroy, a series of mudslides in the 1980s did. Thankfully, in 1983 the Hollywood Heritage preservation group leased the property and began a massive restoration project before moving in and using the historic mansion as their headquarters. It was at that time that the abode, which is a City of Los Angeles Cultural Monument, became a popular filming location. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Hollywood Heritage was served with an eviction notice in 2008 and finally vacated the property in May of 2009. The mansion is currently being maintained by the Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation once again. (I snapped the interior pictures through one of the estate’s front windows.)

The piece of property, which you can see in the above aerial view, is now made up of three separate areas.

The section denoted with a pink square above, which measures 4.2 acres, was turned into a community garden in 1975 and has been continuously maintained by local residents. It is private and not open to the public. The middle section, which is denoted with a blue square, is a park known as Wattles Garden Park. It is open to the public daily from dusk until dawn. The mansion and formal garden area, which is denoted with a purple square above, is not open to the public, but is available for use as a special event and wedding venue.

And although the formal gardens are not accessible to the public, from what was visible from the park, that area once again appears to be in a sad state of disrepair. According to sign a posted on the premises, a restoration is currently in progress, so hopefully they will not look that way for long.

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Wattles Mansion actually stood in for two different locations in Troop Beverly Hills. It first appeared as the Beverly Hills Rest Haven where Phyllis Nefler (aka Shelley Long) and her group of Wilderness Girls performed their community service requirement.

While there, Phyllis and her daughter, Hannah (aka Jenny Lewis), taught a group of senior citizens how to do the “Freddy” dance, so I, of course, just had to do a little recreation of that scene while I was stalking the place. Winking smile

In a later scene, the northern-facing side of Wattles Mansion and the formal garden area were used as the location of the “khaki” fashion show that was hosted by Robin Leach and featured cameos by Pia Zadora and Dr. Joyce Brothers.

Wattles Mansion was also used extensively as the demon-haunted home inherited by Jonathan Graves (aka Peter Liapis) in the 1985 horror-comedy Ghoulies.

The real life interior of the mansion, including the kitchen area and the formal library, appeared in Ghoulies, as well. You can check out some great interior photographs of the place here.

Randomly enough, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’s Mariska Hargitay made her feature film debut in Ghoulies. She is pictured in the grey sweater above. The actress was just 21 at the time that the movie was filmed.

Wattles Mansion also appeared in Diana Ross’ ultra-weird 1985 music video for her single “Eaten Alive”, which was co-written by none other than the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.

Eaten Alive Music Video–Filmed at Wattles Mansion

You can watch that video by clicking above.

In the 1989 movie Rain Man, Wattles Mansion stood in for the institution where the psychiatric evaluation of Raymond Babbitt (aka Dustin Hoffman) took place.

Wattles was where Jose (aka Jacob Vargas) first met Maria (aka Jennifer Lopez) in the 1995 flick My Family.

And finally, the mansion popped up in the Season 3 episode of The O.C. titled “The Man of the Year” as the supposed Montecito-area boarding school attended by Marissa Cooper’s (aka Mischa Barton’s) sister, Kaitlin (aka Willa Holland).

Until next time, Happy Stalking – and Happy Voting! Don’t forget to vote for me today to be the new face of About Me! Smile

Stalk It: Wattles Mansion, from Troop Beverly Hills, is located at 1824 North Curson Avenue in Hollywood. The interior of the mansion and formal garden areas are not accessible to the public, but Wattles Park is open daily from dawn until dusk. You can visit the official Wattles Mansion website here.

August 30, 2011August 29, 2011

Figaro Bistrot from “Made of Honor”

As I mentioned in my post about Le Petit Bistro back in early August, one location that I have been longing to stalk for quite some time now is Figaro Bistrot, an adorable little French cafe that has appeared in numerous productions over the years, most notably the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2009 advertising campaign which featured pop star Madonna. For whatever reason, though, the Grim Cheaper and I had just never made it out there. Until this past Saturday evening, that is, when we found ourselves in Los Feliz and I suggested stopping by for a cocktail. The sandwich board sign out in front of the restaurant proclaimed that Figaro offered “the very best Happy Hour in Los Feliz” and, let me tell you, it was not an exaggeration! Not only did the GC and I absolutely stuff ourselves silly, but we managed to get out of there for under $45!

As you can see in the photographs above, Figaro Bistrot is an absolutely ADORABLE little spot. Decorated with authentic French antiques, flower-shaped chandeliers, tiny sidewalk bistros, gilded mirrors, and a zinc-plated bar, the setting could not be more magical. Walking through the front doors, one is immediately transported to Paris. Not real life Paris, but a fantasy Paris – the Paris of the movies, the Paris that Bogey and Bergman so fondly reminisced about in Casablanca. And the food! Oh my god, the food! It was quite simply out of this world! The GC and I both ordered two items off of the happy hour menu, each of which were priced at around $5. The GC opted for the Beef Carpaccio and Moules Gratinees aux Fromage (mussels gratin with parsley butter sauce), while I ordered the Mini Burger, which was quite simply the best burger I have ever had in my life, and the Croquettes de Crabe (crab cakes), which were also divine. The GC was so insanely happy over the large portions, inexpensive prices, and fabulous fare that I can pretty much guarantee this is one spot we will be stalking again and again.

The Spring/Summer 2009 ad campaign for Louis Vuitton, which was directed by fashion icon Marc Jacobs and shot by legendary fashion photographer Stephen Meisel, featured the café quite prominently, most notably the bar area and the red leather banquettes located in the rear of Figaro’s southern-most dining room. And even though I am not a fan of Madonna – like at all – I have to admit that Meisel’s pictures of her are absolutely stunning. (The photographs above do not belong to me, but are the sole property of photographer Stephen Meisel and Louis Vuitton.)

As I mentioned in my post about Le Petit Bistro in August, the exterior of Figaro was featured in a brief establishing shot in the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “How Much is that Liam in the Window”. It was used as the exterior of the French restaurant where Charlie Selby (aka Evan Ross) took Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes) on a date. For some reason, though, the interior scenes were shot about six miles away at Le Petit Bistro in West Hollywood.

Our super-nice bartender informed us that Figaro had also made an appearance in the 2008 flick Made of Honor and I just about died of excitement. You see, I have always had a very special place in my heart for that movie because when I first asked my non-celebrity-obsessed best friend, Robin, who is male and lives in Switzerland, to stand up for me at my wedding, he sent me an email which stated, “I would do absolutely everything to be at your wedding. I just don’t know what the best man has to do. I’m not so familiar with the American rules of marriage. I went to watch a really bad movie last Spring with Steffi [his girlfriend]. I, of course, don’t know the name of the movie or of the actor in it, but it was with the guy who plays the doctor in Grace [his spelling, not mine – love it] Anatomy. Anyway, he had to organize the bachelor party for women and stuff like that. So you will have to give me a summary of the duties of the bride’s best man.” So incredibly cute! I immediately printed out that email and have carried it around in my wallet ever since. Smile The “really bad” movie he was speaking about was, of course, Made of Honor, which I had actually never before seen. So after our dinner at Figaro, the GC and I headed right on over to Blockbuster to rent it. And I have to say that it was not half bad. It is not great, mind you, but it is a cute, little lightweight romantic comedy. Anyway, Figaro Bistrot was featured a few times in the flick. The exterior first pops up as the supposed Manhattan bakery where Hannah (aka Michelle Monaghan) tries to guess what dessert her best friend Tom (aka Patrick Dempsey – the guy who plays the doctor in Grace Anatomy Winking smile ) is going to order.

It later pops up in the scene in which Tom, who has since realized that he is in love with Hannah, takes a random date out for dessert and tries to get her to play the guessing game, which she fails miserably at. While there, she also complains about the long line, to which Tom says, “This is the best bakery in the world! That’s why it’s worth waiting in line.”

And, finally, the interior pops up in the scene in which Tom, while eating two pieces of cake, thinks about Hannah, who is on a business trip in Scotland for six weeks.

Figaro Bistrot is also something of a celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Katherine Heigl, Josh Kelley, Isabel Lucas, Lindsay Price, Jessalyn Gilsig, and Keifer Sutherland. The GC and I also once spotted Archie Panjabi dining at one of the restaurant’s sidewalk tables while we were walking by after grabbing a bite to eat at nearby Fred 62.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Figaro Bistrot, from Made of Honor, is located at 1802 North Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. Figaro offers Happy Hour from 5 to 7 p.m. daily, including Saturdays and Sundays!

August 9, 2011August 8, 2011

“Parks and Recreation” Filming at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena

Last Wednesday, while on my morning walk to Starbucks, I happened to pass by fave bookstore Vroman’s and just about fell over when I noticed an entire slew of production trucks parked out front. I, of course, immediately sought out one of the crew members to ask what was being filmed and he told me that it was an episode of Parks and Recreation. And even though I had never actually seen the NBC series before, I decided to stick around to watch the filming – only after getting my Starbucks first, of course. Winking smile The shoot was taking place inside of Vroman’s, in the store’s Reading Group section, which had been set up to look like a book signing event was about to occur. The crew had brought in all new furniture for the scene, as well as several posters for Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America, a book supposedly written by Pawnee, Indiana Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Leslie Knope (aka Amy Poehler). And while I had assumed that the tome was a fake that had been created solely for the filming, it is apparently a real life publication about the show that is set to be released on October 4th.

A display featuring several copies of Pawnee: The Greatest Town in America was set up in the background of the scene and, throughout the day, before filming began, countless Vroman’s customers would walk up and look through it, thinking it was a real item that was for sale. LOL I am dying to know if anyone actually brought a copy up to the cash registers and tried to purchase it!

At first I was not sure if I would be allowed to photograph the set that the crew had created, so like an idiot I was trying to be sly and take pictures on the down-low, which never seems to work out for me. For some reason, whenever I try to fly under the radar and be covert, I end up drawing attention to myself, which is exactly what happened in this case. One of the crew members noticed me ever-so-stealthily snapping photographs and informed me that I was welcome to take all of the pictures that I wanted . . .

. . . at which point I immediately jumped up onto the podium that Amy Poehler would be standing on during the scene to pose for a pic. Smile YAY!

I was most fascinated, though, with a palm tree located just outside of Vroman’s front doors (which would only be seen in the background of the scene) that set dressers decorated to look like a tree indigenous to the Midwest, where Parks and Recreation supposedly takes place.

As you can see above, the front side of the tree’s trunk had been covered over with fake bark for the filming.

And real life branches from some sort of Midwestern tree (can you tell that I am in no way, shape, or form a green thumb?!?) were mixed in with the actual palm’s branches. The tree looked so incredibly realistic, even up close, that it was almost unbelievable! I don’t think anyone who walked by even noticed that it had been altered, even though the trunk looked a bit odd from the side.

I was absolutely dying to get a photograph with Rob Lowe (whose autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends, was recently loaned to me by my good friend/fellow stalker Kerry and is can’t-put-down-AMAZING!) and figured I could catch the actor on his way into the bookstore before filming got started. Sadly though, Vroman’s has three different entrances and I waited outside of the wrong one and missed him entirely. Major, major FAIL! Especially since he was reportedly incredibly friendly and nice! Apparently, one of the Vroman’s employees, who goes by the twitter handle @howsannie, had sent out the following tweet the previous evening: “Parks & Recreation is filming at the store tomorrow. Dibs on @RobLowe!”, to which the actor responded, “I expect prominent book display!” When Rob walked into the store the following afternoon, his books were indeed on prominent display and he not only signed a bunch of copies for Vroman’s to sell, one of which is pictured above, but he also signed a copy for @howsannie. How incredibly cool is that? He even tweeted a photograph of himself from the set that day, which you can take a look at here. I was lucky enough to get to watch Rob, along with Amy Poehler and Chris Pratt, during the filming and all I can say is WOW! The guy is VERY good looking! Much more so than he appears to be onscreen. And while I would have waited around until the shoot wrapped to try to get a picture with the cast, I had promised Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, that I would stalk a movie premiere with her later that afternoon, so I couldn’t. Ah well! Here’s hoping they will be filming in Pasadena again sometime soon!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the store’s official website here. Look for the Parks and Recreation episode that was filmed at Vroman’s to air sometime in the next two months or so.

August 5, 2011August 4, 2011

Le Petit Bistro from “90210”

A couple of Saturday nights ago, the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves in West Hollywood, tired and hungry after a long day of stalking. We happened to come across an absolutely adorable little French restaurant named Le Petit Bistro and decided to pop in for a bite to eat. Now, usually I do not like to frequent eateries that are not mentioned on my (very long and ever-growing) “To Stalk” list, but because the place was so darn cute I made an out-of-character exception. So imagine my surprise when later that week I happened to be perusing through my friend and fellow stalker Geoff’s 90210Locations website and saw that Le Petit Bistro was listed as a filming location from fave show 90210! I literally just about fell off my chair and immediately started mentally kicking myself for not taking more pictures of the place.

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In the Season 3 episode of 90210 titled “How Much Is That Liam In The Window”, college student/budding writer Charlie Selby (aka Evan Ross, who I just found out is Diana Ross’ son!) takes Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes) out for a date at Le Petit Bistro, his favorite French restaurant. After the waiter approaches their table and says something in French, Annie asks Charlie, “Are you sure you didn’t secretly drug me and take me to Paris?” (The menus pictured above are the eatery’s actual menus, by the way! How incredibly cool is that?)

Annie’s assessment of the Zagat-rated restaurant, which first opened in 1993, could NOT have been more spot-on! Thanks to its dark red walls, French-accented waiters, wood-paneled bar, and covered patio (made complete with twinkle lights), the Grim Cheaper and I absolutely did feel like we had been magically transported to Paris! And I am very happy to report that besides the incredible ambiance, Le Petit Bistro also serves up some out-of-this-world food! For whatever reason, I opted for a bit of a strange order that night – a parmesan cheese salad that was one of the evening’s specials, the Blue Crab Cakes appetizer, and a side of marinated wild mushrooms. Even though it might sound odd ordered all together like that, it was an absolutely incredible meal, especially the mushrooms! My mouth still waters just thinking about those mushrooms weeks later! The GC ordered one of the restaurant’s fish specials which was adorned with homemade mushroom risotto and it was also scrumptious! And best of all (in the GC’s eyes at least), the prices were extremely reasonable. We both absolutely fell in love with the place and cannot wait to go back!

Besides being a filming location, Le Petit Bistro is also something of a celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the famous faces who have dined there over the years include Dr. Dre, Neve Campbell, Julio Iglesias, Alfred Molina, Sean Connery, Salma Hayek, Robert Forster, Denise Grayson, Suzanne Somers, director Jared Hess, and Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement.

Ironically enough, the very brief exterior establishing shot of Annie and Charlie’s date restaurant on 90210 was not of Le Petit Bistro, but of a different L.A.-area French eatery – Figaro Bistrot, which is located at 1802 North Vermont Avenue in Los Feliz. While making screen captures for today’s post, I immediately recognized Figaro as I have walked past the cute little French restaurant numerous times in the past and have always wanted to stalk it due to its appearance in a Louis Vuitton ad featuring Madonna (which you can see photographs of here). And I should clarify here that while I have never been a particularly big fan of Madonna, I am a HUGE fan of Louis Vuitton. I also spotted Archie Panjabi, who plays investigator Kalinda Sharma on The Good Wife, dining on Figaro’s sidewalk patio a couple of months back.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Le Petit Bistro, from the “How Much Is That Liam In The Window” episode of 90210, is located at 631 North La Cienega Boulevard, just north of Restaurant Row, in West Hollywood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

July 13, 2011July 12, 2011

Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood

Two weekends ago, while doing some stalking in the Hollywood area, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center to grab a quick drink at Lucky Strike Lanes, an oft-used filming location and celebrity hot-spot. While I had first heard about the bowling alley/lounge when it originally opened eight years ago and knew of its appearance on numerous reality series, for whatever reason I did not have much interest in stalking the place. Then, a couple of months ago, fellow stalker Lavonna happened to tell me a little bit of trivia about the alley that had me absolutely chomping at the bit to go see it.

Lavonna informed me that when the iconic Hollywood Star Lanes, which first opened in 1960 and was where the majority of the movie The Big Lebowski was filmed, was torn down back in 2003 to make way for a new elementary school, the owners of the soon-to-be opened Lucky Strike decided to purchase all of the wood that comprised Hollywood Star’s Lane #7. They then proceeded to use that wood to construct the bar at their new establishment. How incredibly cool is that?

They also purchased the exterior neon signage from Hollywood Star Lanes to use as a wall hanging. Love, love, love it!

As you can see above, Lucky Strike Lanes is a VERY cool little spot. Unfortunately, I have to say that I was not all that crazy about the food. And sadly, the GC and I did not have time to do any bowling while we were there, but fellow stalker Lavonna has plans to hit the place up when she comes to visit L.A. in November, so you know what that means – I will definitely be doing a re-stalk!

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As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood is an oft-used filming location. In the Season 6 episode of The Hills titled “The Elephant in the Room”, Kristin Cavallari, Brodie Jenner, Frankie Delgado, Stacie Hall (aka Stacie the Bartender), and Audrina Patridge and her new boyfriend, singer Ryan Cabrera, spent the evening bowling and flirting at Lucky Strike.

Ryan Cabrera returned to the bowling alley to film the Season 1 episode of the ULTRA-stupid reality show Pretty Wild titled ”The Hearing”, in which he angers series star Tess Taylor by inviting a friend to accompany them on their date.

Vinnie Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon), and Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara) took their girlfriends, one of whom was Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester, to Lucky Strike for an evening of bowling in the Season 1 episode of Entourage titled “Date Night”.

In the Season 11 episode of America’s Next Top Model titled “Fierce Eyes”, J Alexander hosted a runway challenge at Lucky Strike in which the models had to practice walking down the super-slippery bowling lanes while wearing high heels.

In the Season 1 episode of No Ordinary Family titled “No Ordinary Sidekick”, Jim Powell (aka Michael Chiklis), along with his family, Stephanie (aka Dexter’s Julie Benz), Daphne (aka Kay Panabaker), and J.J. (aka Jimmy Bennett), and their friends Katie Andrews (aka The O.C.’s Autumn Reeser) and George St. Cloud (aka Romany Malco), spend the evening using their super-powers to bowl at Lucky Strike.

And while I had originally believed that the Season 1 episode of fave show 90210 titled “Lucky Strike” was filmed at the Lucky Strike Lanes in Hollywood, as it turns out filming actually took place at the chain’s Torrance location, inside of the Del Amo Shopping Center.

And the Season 2 episode of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County titled “Since You Been Gone” was filmed at the chain’s Block at Orange location.

As I mentioned above, Lucky Strike Lanes is also a veritable celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there include Drew Barrymore, Liv Tyler, John Mayer, Glee’s Cory Monteith, The Bachelorette’s Ali Fedotowsky and Roberto Martinez, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Rumor Willis, Geena Davis, Robin Williams, Paris Hilton, Nick Carter, Matthew Lillard, Fergie and Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Mandy Moore, Judy Greer, Vanessa Hudgens, Courteney Cox, Nicole Richie, Trevor Donovan, Jessica Simpson, and even my girl Jen Aniston. I once spotted David Arquette walking into the bowling alley for some sort of celebrity event back in December of 2008 and while I tried to take the above photograph of him, as you can see, it did not turn out very well due to the bright lights on the red carpet. You can definitely tell it is him, though.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Lucky Strike Lanes is located at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard, inside of the Hollywood & Highland Shopping Center, in Hollywood. You can visit the bowling alley’s official website here.

July 7, 2011July 6, 2011

Barneys New York from “Just Go With It”

This past Friday night, the Grim Cheaper and I sat down to watch Just Go With It on DVD and I have to say that I loved the flick even more the second time around! I honestly think it is my girl Jen’s best movie yet! Although I did seriously love me some Office Space, but I digress. So while the GC and I were in the area doing some stalking last Sunday afternoon, I just had to drag him out to stalk the Women’s Shoe Department at Barneys New York department store on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, where, in what turned out to be one of my favorite scenes in the film, Jen’s character, Katherine, tried on some expensive kicks at the behest of her boss/pretend soon-to-be ex-husband, Danny Maccabee (aka Adam Sandler).

Before arriving at Barneys I was a little apprehensive that the store would have a no photos policy, but amazingly enough I ended up chatting with a super nice saleswoman who not only showed me the exact spot in the shoe department where filming had taken place, but also told me that I was free to take all of the pictures that I wanted. Yay! The woman also informed me that she had once waited on Jen and that she had been incredibly nice and down to earth. Sigh!

The Just Go With It scene was filmed in the very center of Barneys’ Women’s Shoe Department, in the area that features a square-shaped couch. I was especially excited to see that the couch pillows that appeared in the scene were actually there in real life, as well! Love it!

And OH MY GOD do I LOVE me the shoes that Jen tried on in the scene!!! What I wouldn’t give to have a pair of those!!!! (They are made by Tabitha Simmons and they are called the “Bailee Suede” for those who are interested and have an extra $882 lying around. That’s the sale price, by the way, they originally cost $1,470.)

Just Go With It–Barneys New York in Beverly Hills

You can watch the absolutely hilarious scene that took place at Barneys by clicking above.

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The saleswoman that I spoke with also told me that Jen’s ex, Brad Pitt, filmed a very brief scene for the 1999 movie Fight Club at Barneys, in which his character, Tyler Durden, and “The Narrator”, who was played by Edward Norton, sell soap to a high-end department store.

The store was also where Turtle (aka Jerry Ferrara), Vincent Chase (aka Adrian Grenier), Eric Murphy (aka Kevin Connolly), and Johnny ‘Drama’ Chase (aka Kevin Dillon) shopped for pajamas for the annual Playboy Mansion Lingerie Party in the Season 2 episode of Entourage titled “Aquamansion”.

Barneys New York in Beverly Hills is also a major celebrity hot spot. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted shopping there in recent months include Courteney Cox, Lauren Conrad, Kate Bosworth, Audrina Patridge, Ashley Tisdale, Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna, Dakota Fanning, Nicole Richie, and Jessica Alba. Barneys was also where Victoria Beckham and Katie Holmes famously shopped for shoes together back in 2006. In fact, the above photograph was taken in the exact same spot where Just Go With It was filmed. And the last time that the GC and I were at Barneys, we spotted Jessica Lowndes, aka Adrianna Tate-Duncan from 90210, doing some shopping with a friend.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Barneys New York, from Just Go With It, is located at 9570 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. In the movie, Jennifer Aniston shopped in the very center of the Women’s Shoe Department. You can visit the official Barney’s website here.

July 6, 2011July 5, 2011

The Haunted Mansion from “The Three Sisters” Episode of “Knots Landing’

Way back in January of this year, a fellow stalker named James posted a comment on my site challenging me to find the haunted mansion which appeared in the Season 3 episode of Knots Landing titled “The Three Sisters”. James had found an interview on the Knots Landing website in which Kim Lankford, who played Ginger Ward on the long-running nighttime soap, stated that the estate featured in the episode was located somewhere in Pasadena. And even though I had never seen “The Three Sisters” episode, nor any episode of KL for that matter, I figured that because the house was so large and historic-looking, it would not be that hard to track down. Oh, how wrong I was! I cannot tell you the countless hours I spent looking for this place, all to no avail! Then last Thursday morning, I decided to enlist the help of fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, and, amazingly enough, he was able to track the place down in thirty minutes flat! Halleluiah!

Geoff said that he vaguely remembered coming across aerial views of the mansion while looking for a different location a few months prior and figured that since I had already conducted an exhaustive search within the city limits of Pasadena, that the property must be located in a neighboring environ. He decided to begin his hunt in Altadena and, after noticing the large palm tree denoted with a pink circle in the above screen capture, realized that there were only a couple of places in the Altadena area where the home could be located. And, sure enough, he was right. Yay! Thank you, Geoff!!!

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So I ran right out to stalk the place the very next morning. And I have to say that the mansion is pretty darn majestic in person! According to Zillow, the estate, which was originally built in 1915 and sits on over half an acre of land, boasts 5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, and 7,176 square feet of living space.

As you can see in the above aerial view, the mansion is so huge that it pretty much dwarfs everything which surrounds it. And while I was fairly certain that the property had to be historic in some way, amazingly enough, I could find absolutely no information whatsoever about the place online. I did manage to find some fabulous interior photographs of the property, though, which you can check out here.

In “ The Three Sisters” episode of Knots Landing, realtor Laura Avery (aka Constance McCashin) takes the Seaview Circle wives, including Ginger, Val Ewing (aka Joan Van Ark), Abby Cunningham (aka Donna Mills), and Karen Fairgate (aka Michele Lee), to look at an estate that she is currently selling that is rumored to be haunted. After touring the property and becoming quite spooked, the women get back into their car to head home only to discover that it will not start. They are subsequently forced to spend the night in the house, whereupon strange things begin to happen. It is absolutely AMAZING to me that the mansion still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did almost three full decades ago when the Knots Landing episode was filmed. So incredibly cool!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker James for challenging me to find this location and to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for being the one to find it! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The haunted mansion from “The Three Sisters” episode of Knots Landing is located at 1366 East Palm Street in Altadena.

July 1, 2011June 30, 2011

Teddy Montgomery’s House from “90210”

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s post, there has not been a lot of time for me to do much stalking as of late and, because of that, I have been feeling a bit out of sorts. I am also in the process of giving up coffee (I know, I know, that’s crazy talk!), which further explains why I have been feeling so unlike myself lately. Not to mention that I am still pretty bummed out over my parents’ recent move. So yesterday morning I decided to return some normalcy to my life by doing a bit of stalking. Because I did not have much time, I decided to stick close to home and figured what better location to stalk than the house where Teddy Montgomery (aka Trevor Donovan) lives on fave show 90210. I found this location, as always, thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, who actually tracked the place down a little over a year ago. For whatever reason, though, I had yet to make it out there until yesterday morning. And please excuse the above photograph – I was alone when I took it and had to prop the camera up on the roof of my car and use the self-timer. LOL

Teddy Montgomery’s supposed-Beverly-Hills-area abode has actually appeared only once on 90210, in the Season 2 episode titled “Meet the Parent”, in the scene in which Teddy introduces Silver (aka Jessica Stroup) to his movie star father, Spence Montgomery (aka Ryan O’Neal), for the first time.

Areas of the house which appeared in the episode include the exterior;

the living room;

the study;

. . . and the backyard.

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In real life, the mansion, which was originally built in 1911 and sits on a .63-acre plot of land, boasts 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a whopping 7,850 square feet of living space.

Sadly though, not much of the property, which according to the sign out front is named Villa Arroyo Vista, is visible from the street.

And the aerial views aren’t that great either. Thankfully though, I did some digging and found some fabulous interior photographs of the mansion, which you can take a look at here.

Villa Arroyo Vista has actually appeared several times onscreen. According to the Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations website, the mansion was also the site of the Christmas scene in the 1994 movie Star Trek: Generations.

And it was where Christina Aguilera shot the commercial for her Royal Desire perfume in late 2010.

Christina Aguilera commercial–Villa Arroyo Vista

You can watch the making of that commercial by clicking above.

According to my friend E.J. over at the Movieland Directory, the home was also used in the filming of the 2007 television series 12 Miles of Bad Road.

Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Teddy Montgomery’s house from 90210 is located at 465 South Grand Avenue in Pasadena.

June 30, 2011June 29, 2011

The Jennifer Grant “Good Stuff” Book Signing

Back on Thursday, May 26th (I told you I am way behind in my reporting! Winking smile ), Vroman’s Bookstore welcomed Jennifer Grant for a signing and discussion of her new book Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant which chronicles the actress’ experiences being raised by one of the most iconic movie stars of all time. And while most of the people attending the event were fans of Jennifer’s famous father, I have been a long-time fan of Jennifer herself, ever since she appeared as Steve Sander’s (aka Ian Ziering’s) longtime girlfriend Celeste Lundy during Seasons 3 and 4 of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210.

Jennifer also made an appearance as Nina Bookbinder, the girl Chandler Bing (aka Matthew Perry) couldn’t fire, in the Season 1 episode of Friends titled “The One With Two Parts: Part I”. But I digress.

Because I have never actually seen a Cary Grant movie, before attending the reading I did not have much interest in reading Good Stuff. My only reason for going to the event was to meet and, of course, get a photograph with Jennifer. But, let me tell you, all of that changed as soon as I started looking through the memoir. As I have mentioned before, I am just slightly anal, so I arrived at the signing about 3 hours early. Well, not only did those three hours ensure me a front row seat, but they also gave me time to peruse through the book and I was immediately mesmerized. Cary Grant was not only an amazing man, but an amazing father! He retired in 1966, the same year that Jennifer was born, so that he could devote all of his time to being a dad. Because Jennifer’s mother, Dyan Cannon (whom the actress is the spitting image of!), was at the height of her career at the time and often on location filming movies for months on end, most of Jennifer’s childhood was spent with her father. And Cary wanted to document his only child’s early years as best he could. Not only did he save and catalogue ever single letter ever exchanged between the two and every single photograph ever taken of them, but he also made hundreds upon hundreds of audio recordings of their time together, many of which are transcribed in the book. Sweetest of all, though, was the fact that, on the mornings when Jennifer was not staying with him, Cary would wait along the sidewalk of her bus route just to wave to her as her bus passed by on the way to school.

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The event began right on time and I just about died when I caught my first glimpse of Jennifer as she looks almost exactly the same today as she did eighteen years ago when she was on 90210. Jennifer started out the evening by reading a few passages from her book and I have to say that she is a fabulous writer and a fabulous speaker. Her voice has an almost lyrical quality to it and I was absolutely mesmerized listening to her. I was completely shocked, though, when she adopted a British accent to read her father’s words! Prior to that evening, I was unaware that Cary Grant was British!

Jennifer then opened up the session to questions from the audience and, even though A LOT were asked, for once they were actually well-crafted. I should explain here, to those who do not regularly attend book signings and television screenings, that people at these events usually ask the most asinine questions imaginable and it absolutely drives me mad! If you have the chance to ask a question of an actor, author, or director, make it a good one, people! And, for the love of God, do NOT ask the celebrity to get you a role in a movie or TV show! And yes, that has been asked at almost EVERY SINGLE EVENT I have ever attended! Most of the questions asked of Jennifer, though, were about what it was like to grow up with such a famous father. In answer to those questions, Jennifer told numerous anecdotes and, as amazing as it may sound, it seems she had a very normal childhood. The two often squabbled about Jennifer’s choice in music and boys, they took frequent outings to the Fox Hills Mall – one of Cary’s favorite haunts – and played regular family games of Trivial Pursuit. She said she never viewed Cary as a celebrity, but, while she knew he was special and certainly different than her friends’ fathers, to her he was always just “Dad”.

When it came time for the signing portion of the reading, the Vroman’s coordinator asked Jennifer if she would be willing to take posed photographs with those in attendance, to which the actress gave a puzzled look and said, “Of course I will!”, as if she could not figure out why anyone wouldn’t take a picture with their fans. LOVE IT!

When it was my turn to meet Jennifer, I told her what a huge fan I had been of Beverly Hills, 90210 and she said that the show was actually the very first acting job she had ever had and was one of the best experiences of her life. She told me that all of the actors were extremely nice and welcoming and that she looks back on that time with incredible fondness. She took quite a bit of time to chat with me and I even got to tell her about my experiences as an extra in the final episode of the series and that the 90210 theme song was still the ringtone on my cell phone. Smile Jennifer was so abundantly sweet and warm, it was almost unbelievable.

As I was leaving Vroman’s, I opened the book to read what Jennifer had signed and almost died over her inscription. It reads, “To Lindsay, Thank you for watching 90210 – your smile is infectious. Jennifer Grant” OMG nicest inscription EVER! Especially considering that so many celebrities will not even personalize books at their signings! Meeting Jennifer was such an incredible experience and I love her even more now than I did before! And while I have not started to officially read Good Stuff yet, it is the next book on my “To Read” list and after I do so, I will most definitely be stalking the many locations mentioned in it.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: You can purchase a copy of Jennifer Grant’s book, Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant, here. Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the store’s official website here. And you can check out Vroman’s upcoming author events here.

June 29, 2011March 11, 2018

The Envelope Emmy Week “Geek TV” Event

Another Envelope Emmy Week event that Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, told me about was the “Geek TV Roundtable”, which featured a panel discussion with actors Jayma Mays (aka Emma Pillsbury from Glee), Johnny Galecki (aka Leonard Hofstadter from The Big Bang Theory), Michael C. Hall (aka Dexter Morgan from fave show Dexter), Sam Trammell (aka Sam Merlotte from True Blood), and Joel McHale (aka Jeff Winger from Community and the host of fave show The Soup). Well, let me tell you, I absolutely LOVE me some Joel McHale, so when I saw his name on the list I just about had a heart attack right there on the spot and immediately signed up to attend. Because so many big-time celebs would be appearing at this particular event, I knew that getting a photograph with any of them would be extremely difficult, so I made the sign pictured above, which read “I

Almost all of my new stalking friends were in attendance for the event, including Pinky Lovejoy, from the Thinking Pink blog, Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, Anushika and Scotty, who both write for the Mike the Fanboy website, and Duggan. (Anushika, Pinky, and Scotty are pictured above). The only person missing from our little group was CB, who was attending the Super 8 premiere in Westwood that night. And I have to say that we all had an ABSOLUTE BLAST hanging out together. Yes, getting photographs taken with celebrities is extremely fun, but so is the hanging-out-and-waiting part, as long as you are doing so with a great group of fellow stalkers. And Pinky and Mikey have some AMAZING friends!!! I feel so incredibly lucky to have met them and that they have embraced me as they have and allowed me to tag along with them on so many of their celebrity adventures. Love you guys!

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Now I should mention here that this particular event took place at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live, directly next to the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles, on Wednesday, June 8th, which just so happened to be smack-dab in the middle of the weeklong E3 Expo, the LARGEST annual convention held in L.A. So to say that Downtown was swarming with people would be a gross understatement. Not only that, but at 4:15 p.m., just around the time that the GC and I were arriving in the area, there was an explosion in a trash can on Broadway and 4th Street, just a few blocks from the theatre, which resulted in the police SHUTTING DOWN a huge portion of the central part of Downtown FOR HOURS. Between the convention, the explosion, and the normal, everyday urban madness of L.A., Downtown on that particular evening was a complete and total sh*tstorm! The Grim Cheaper and I were stuck in our car in the same exact spot for over an hour and it was at that point that I just broke down in tears due to sheer frustration. I don’t think I have ever been that frustrated in my entire life! Sadly, the explosion and subsequent street closures also made it so that most of the actors were late in arriving to the theatre, which greatly lessened our chances of getting pictures and autographs as they were all immediately rushed inside as soon as they got there. UGH! Actor Sam Trammell was the first to arrive (he miraculously showed up about an hour before the event was due to begin) and he was absolutely SWARMED by people as soon as he stepped out of his car.

I had the GC take the above photograph so that my fellow stalkers could get a sense of what trying to get an autograph or picture at one of these events is like. Sam Trammell is buried somewhere in the middle of that huge, chaotic mess of thirty-some-odd people pictured above. Needless to say, getting an autograph or photo requires quite a bit of effort, determination, and maneuvering!

Now Pinky is easily Sam Trammell’s biggest fan and not only has she met him on several occasions, but the actor even knows her by name! So incredibly cool! Sam immediately walked right up to Pinky to say hello and to pose for a picture with her, and Pinky also gave him two blue blankets she had knitted for Sam and his girlfriend as they are currently expecting twin boys.

Pinky has long been telling me what a super-nice guy Sam is and, wow, was she ever right! Sam has got to be one of the nicest celebs I have ever encountered! Even though he was, as you saw above, absolutely swarmed by people, he stuck around to sign autographs and take pictures with absolutely everyone who wanted them, even me! Yay! Smile

The next to arrive was Michael C. Hall from Dexter. As I have mentioned quite a few times before on this blog, I absolutely LOVE me some Dexter, but I have to say that I love me some Joel McHale more. So before we arrived at the event I laid out some ground rules for the GC. I told him that he must at all times keep his eye on the prize and that prize was a picture with Joel. My number two goal for the evening was to get a picture with Michael C. Hall. If I somehow managed to get photos with any of the other stars, well that would just be icing on the cake. I had to lay out these ground rules because oftentimes at these events several celebrities will show up at the same time and I did not want the GC to get distracted and not be in a position to take my picture with Joel. It was really funny because all throughout the night the GC would point to me from across the way and say, “Eye on the prize, Lin! Eye on the prize!” LOL Because Michael C. Hall showed up just a few minutes before the event was to begin, he was rushed straight inside and was not able to sign any autographs or pose for any pictures. UGH!

Next to show up was Johnny Galecki and he was also rushed straight into the theatre as he arrived a few minutes after the panel was set to begin. He apologized to us stalkers for not being able to sign, but promised to “make it up to us” on his way out. Nice! Security informed us that Johnny was the last celeb to arrive, which meant that Joel McHale had driven himself and therefore entered through a different door. Sigh! How cute is that! It did make me feel like a bit of a tool, though, as I had stood out on that sidewalk holding up my sign for a good two hours. LOL

Even though we all had tickets to the event, we decided not to go inside as we figured we would have a better chance of getting pictures and autographs if we caught the actors as they left the venue. Thankfully we were right. Smile The roundtable panel was fairly short, just about 45 minutes, and after it ended all of the actors, except for Jayma Mays, walked outside together, which, as you can imagine, caused sheer and utter chaos! I had my eye on the prize, though, and as soon as that back door opened I held up my sign for Joel to see, which he did! He immediately started laughing and walked right outside, right through the crowd, and right up to me! Sigh!

Joel thanked me for coming and posed for the above photo and, let me tell you, I just about died of happiness right then and there. It wasn’t until Joel had already gone back inside, to take pictures with some of the audience members, that I realized the picture did not come out! UGH!

And while Pinky had managed to snap a super cute picture of us from farther away, I was still pretty bummed that the one the GC took did not come out. Here I had kept my eye on the prize, made a sign even, and my photo turned out horribly! What kind of luck is that? I really need to learn to trust in the universe, though, because that little mishap turned out to be a blessing in disguise. But more on that later.

Michael C. Hall was absolutely swarmed as soon as he came outside, but he stuck around for a REALLY long time to sign autographs and snap pictures with people. I, sadly, had the same issue with my Michael picture that I had with the one of Joel. According to our wedding photographer, Rob Greer, whom I sent the photograph to, the problem is called Lens Flare and it is extremely difficult to fix, even for professional re-touchers. Such a shame! Ah well, I will just have to stalk him again sometime! Smile

I was also lucky enough to get a pic with Johnny Galecki, which I was floored about! Johnny is super-nice, but is so unlike his Big Bang character, Leonard Hofstadter, it is almost unbelievable! He is NOT AT ALL dorky, awkward, or shy. Quite the contrary, in fact! He seemed to be extremely self-assured and out-going. The guy is obviously an AMAZING actor! As I mentioned above, Jayma Mays was the only one of the group to exit out of a different door and we never caught even a glimpse of her, which I was not all that disappointed about because I have heard from several people that she is not the most fan-friendly celeb. What is it with these Glee actors???

After everyone in our group got pictures with and autographs from Johnny Galecki, Michael C. Hall, and Sam Trammell, Duggan, Scotty, Pinky, the GC, and I headed inside the theatre where Joel McHale was talking to some of the event coordinators. When Joel spotted me, I explained to him that our photograph had not come out and he immediately smiled and said, “Well, then let’s get this right!” and posed for the above pic with me. He also thanked me profusely for being a fan, for coming out to see him, and for making the sign. Sigh!

Because Joel often jokingly signs autographs “Ryan Seacrest”, I told him that I really should have put Ryan’s name on my sign and Joel immediately yelled out, “Anybody have a pen I can borrow?” He then set about crossing out his name and writing in Ryan’s on the sign. Pinky and Scotty were nice enough to snap the above pics of me and Joel while he was writing on the sign. (Thanks, guys!!!!) Joel also posed for pics with Scotty, Pinky, and Duggan. Sigh! What an incredibly nice guy! Easily one of the NICEST celebs I have ever met! Love, love love him!!!!! And this experience was a definite reminder that I really need to trust in the universe more. I was so incredibly bummed when my original photograph with Joel did not come out, but look at it what that camera fail ended up leading to! An even better, more personal experience with one of my favorite stars! It is definitely true what they say, every cloud has a silver lining. And now whenever I get discouraged over something in life not turning out the way I had expected, I will remember this moment and the silver lining that this particular cloud brought me.

My Joel McHale-altered sign is pictured above. Smile All in all it was a FABULOUS night and a FABULOUS fan experience. One of my best yet!

AND, after the event was over, Sam even tweeted a thank you to Pinky for the blankets! How awesome is that???? LOVE IT!!!!

Big THANK YOU to Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, for inviting me to this event! You can read Mikey’s write up of the evening here. And you can read Pinky Lovejoy’s write-up here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Unfortunately, there is no stalking location for this one.