TV Locations – Page 4 – IAMNOTASTALKER

September 15, 2011September 14, 2011

The “Beaches” Mansion

One location that I have been asked about repeatedly ever since I first started my blog almost four years ago (and I CANNOT even believe that it has been that long!!!) is the large Tudor-style mansion where Hillary Whitney Essex (aka Barbara Hershey) lived in the 1988 tearjerker Beaches. And while it had long been noted on various websites that the property was located somewhere in the Pasadena area, try as I might, I just could not seem to track the place down. Then this past January a fellow stalker named Alain who lives in France emailed me to ask about a mansion that had appeared in the Season 7 episode of Columbo titled “Try and Catch Me”. He mentioned that the same estate had also been used in Beaches. I explained to Alain that I had been trying to find that particular home for years, but had had absolutely no luck. Flash forward 9 months to this past Tuesday afternoon when I received another email from Alain, this one announcing that he had found the property! Whoo-hoo! How he managed to locate it while living thousands of miles away in France, when I failed to do so while living right here in Pasadena, is absolutely beyond me! My hat is most-definitely off to you, Alain!

So I, of course, ran right out to stalk the place early Wednesday morning. Sadly though, as you can see above, hardly any of the property is visible from the street.

But, as I have said before, that is why God created aerial views. In real life, the 7,479-square-foot, 8-bedroom, 4-bath home, which was built in 1916 by the noted Pasadena architecture firm Marston & Van Pelt (who also designed the Twins mansion), is known as the S. S. Hinds Estate. The property was named for one of its original owners, actor Samuel S. Hinds, who is best known for playing Peter Bailey, George Bailey’s (aka James Stewart’s) father, in the 1946 classic It’s A Wonderful Life. According to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory, Hinds lived in the home from the 1920s until the 1940s. Ironically enough, Hinds was originally a very prominent attorney who lost his fortune in the stock market crash of 1929. He was able to keep his Pasadena manse during that difficult time by renting it out to various boarders. Finding himself destitute at the age of 54, he decided to abandon law and try his hand at acting and it was not long before Hollywood came a’callin’. Hinds went on to star in over 200 films before his death in 1948.

[ad]

In Beaches, the S.S Hinds Estate stood in for the supposed Atherton-area residence where Hillary lived both as a child and an adult.

The house’s front gate was used quite prominently in the movie in the scenes in which Hillary checked her mailbox in anticipation of receiving letters from her lifelong best friend, Cecilia “CC” Carol Bloom (aka Bette Midler).

And while the gate is thankfully visible from the street and still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did in 1988 when Beaches was filmed, sadly, as you can see above, Hillary’s mailbox is not there in real life. I am guessing that it was just a set piece that was brought in solely for the filming.

The real life interior of the property was also used in the flick.

Thanks to fave website OnLocationVacations, I learned that the Season 3 episode of Mad Men titled “My Old Kentucky Home” was also filmed at the S.S. Hinds Estate. In the episode, the property stood in for the country club where Roger Sterling (aka John Slattery) and Jane Siegel (aka Peyton List) hosted their Kentucky Derby party.

As you can see in the screen captures above, one of the hallways that appeared in Beaches was also used in Mad Men as the spot where Betty Draper (aka January Jones) first met Henry Francis (aka Christopher Stanley).

I am fairly certain, though, that the club’s bar, where Don Draper (aka Jon Hamm) spent most of his evening, is not actually located inside of the Hinds Estate, but is a real life bar somewhere in Los Angeles.

And again thanks to OnLocationVacations, I also learned that the estate was used as the Turnbill Mansion, which Leslie Knope (aka Amy Poehler) fought to save, in the Season 2 episode of Parks & Recreation titled “94 Meetings”.

Amazingly, the very same hallway that appeared in both Mad Men and Beaches was also featured in Parks and Recreation.

As was the stairway from Beaches.

And the front gate, which Leslie Knopes barricaded herself to, thinking it opened in the middle, on Parks and Recreation. LOL

A large painting of the mansion was created for the filming of Parks and Recreation, as well. Being that I doubt the painting would ever be used again on the series, I am wondering if the owners of the Hinds Estate got to keep it. So cool if they did!

Unfortunately, I was not able to find a copy of the Columbo “Try and Catch Me” episode anywhere, so I could not make screen captures of the Hinds Estate’s appearance in it for this post.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Beaches mansion is located at 880 La Loma Road in Pasadena.

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.

[ad]

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!

[ad]

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.

[ad]

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!!!

[ad]

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.

[ad]

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 24, 2011June 28, 2011

A Q & A with the Cast of “White Collar”

Last Monday evening, my good friend Mikey, of the Mike the Fanboy website, invited me, along with fellow stalkers Pinky, of the Thinking Pink blog, Duggan, and CB, to a SAG screening/cast Q & A of the USA Network television show White Collar featuring co-executive producer Mark Goffman and series’ stars Matt Bomer, Tim DeKay, and Willie Garson. Well, as you can imagine, as soon as I heard that Willie Garson – who is best known for playing Carrie Bradshaw’s (aka Sarah Jessica Parker’s) BBF Stanford Blatch on fave show Sex and the City – was going to be there, I just about died of excitement and told Mikey to “count me in!” My good friend Steffi, who lives in Switzerland, is just about as obsessed with SATC as I am, if not more so, so before leaving for the screening I printed up a still of Willie Garson and Sarah Jessica Parker with the hopes that I could get Willie to sign it. I was so intent on getting that photograph signed for her that I was even willing to forgo getting a photograph with WG myself if worse came to worse.

CB and I were the first to show up to the Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood where the screening was being held and just a few minutes after we got there, who should walk up but Willie! The two of us immediately ran up to him and after CB had him sign a White Collar poster, I gave him the picture I had made for Steffi. I had put a post-it note on it reading “For Steffi” (a little trick that I learned from my good friend and fellow stalker Anushika which greatly increases the odds of getting a personalized autograph at these types of events), and Willie immediately signed it, writing “For Steffi – All the Best! Willie Garson”. I was SOOOOOO incredibly excited over getting that autograph that my hands were literally shaking for about ten minutes afterward! I may love stalking more than just about anything else in life, but obtaining really special gifts for my loved ones ranks a very close second. Smile

Willie could NOT have been nicer and even though there were quite a few of us who wanted his autograph and/or picture, he was happy to pose with and sign for everyone who asked. YAY! What a complete and total sweetheart!

[ad]

The event got started right on time with a viewing of the Season 3 episode of White Collar titled “Where There’s a Will”. Prior to that time I had never before seen the show and I have to say that I immediately fell in love with it! The Catch Me If You Can-esque series centers around FBI agent Peter Burke (aka Tim DeKay) and his partner Neal Caffrey (aka Matt Bomer), a former con-man/art thief who has been given a reduced prison sentence in exchange for helping the FBI catch white collar criminals. The series is one part caper mystery, one part crime drama, and one part comedy, and reminds me quite a bit, in tone at least, of The Mentalist. The Q & A session got started immediately following the screening and the entire cast was absolutely hilarious! At several times during the evening they all broke out into song. Not kidding! LOVE IT! I could SO see myself hanging out with these guys! Smile Of the many anecdotes told that night, my favorite was that people on the island of Manhattan, where the series is lensed, apparently get VERY testy when the filming of the show gets in the way of their daily life. Matt Bomer said that he wishes the crew would put together a compilation video of the expletives that are yelled at them by angry New Yorkers on a daily basis. He explained that a typical day involves the filming of a scene in front of an apartment building whereupon one of the building’s residents will invariably arrive home and want to get inside. A crew member will ask them to wait until the current take is complete (which is usually only about 45 seconds to a minute), but without fail the resident will walk right through the scene, screaming, “I’m not going to &*$^#** wait for *#&$*& anything!” Ah, you gotta love New Yorkers!

SAG had once again set up a cocktail party immediately following the Q & A session and Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay were nice enough to attend. The actors were ABSOLUTELY bombarded by people wanting pictures and autographs, which shocked me because, as I have explained before, most actors consider themselves above the whole fandom thing. This particular crowd was made up of mostly teenage girls, though, (I am fairly certain that White Collar has a very large teenage girl fan base thanks to cutie Matt Bomer) and they all wanted to meet the stars. Matt and Tim were SO incredibly nice, despite the hysteria surrounding them, and stuck around for HOURS taking pictures with and signing autographs for absolutely everyone who asked. Thankfully fellow stalker Duggan, who is not only a complete sweetheart, but is built like a linebacker, got us right up to the front of the crowd and snapped the above photograph of me and Matt. So cute!!!

Because of a major camera fail on my part, poor Tim DeKay ended up having to pose for THREE different pictures with fellow stalker Mikey, but he was TOTALLY cool about it!!! What an amazingly nice cast!!!! As soon as I left the event, I got on the phone with the Grim Cheaper and told him that we HAD to buy Seasons 1 and 2 of White Collar on DVD, which we did that very weekend. We are now about half-way through Season 1 and are absolutely hooked. SUCH A GREAT SHOW! If you have yet to see it, I highly recommend doing so!

Big THANK YOU to Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, for telling me about this event! Smile You can check out Mikey’s write-up of the evening, as well as some videos he took of the Q & A session, on his website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: There is no stalking location for this one, but you can catch White Collar each Tuesday night at 9/8 Central on the USA Network. You can also visit the show’s official website here.

June 20, 2011June 20, 2011

The Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel from “90210”

Another location that the Grim Cheaper and I stopped by a couple of weeks ago while doing some stalking in the South Bay was the Manhattan Beach Marriott, which stood in for the supposed-Beverly-Hills-area hotel where the West Beverly High Senior Prom was held in the Season 3 episode of fave show 90210 titled “The Prom Before the Storm”. I found this location thanks to fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, who was kind enough to put together an entire 90210-themed South Bay stalking list for me as soon as he found out that I was heading down that way. Sadly, due to some major traffic that the GC and I encountered on our way down there (darn you, 405!), we were not able to spend as much time in the area as I had hoped and only managed to hit up a couple of locations, one of which was the prom hotel. Ironically enough, not only had the GC and I actually stayed at the Manhattan Beach Marriott a few years back, but thanks to its appearance in an early episode of The O.C., I had even blogged about it. So the fact that I did not recognize it when it appeared in “The Prom Before the Storm” episode is highly embarrassing! I mean, what kind of a stalker am I??? Winking smile

[ad]

Only the exterior of the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel was featured in the episode, in the scene in which Liam Court (aka cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!), Annie Wilson (aka Shenae Grimes), Naomi Clark (aka AnnaLynne McCord) and the rest of the West Beverly High gang arrive at their Senior Prom. As you can see in the screen capture located on the bottom right above, producers put up curtains to block the interior of the hotel in the scene as it did not match up with the interior set that they had created at Manhattan Beach Studios where the series is lensed.

That set, which was centered around Silver’s (aka Jessica Stroup’s) half-baked Cirque du Soleil prom theme, is pictured above.

I am very happy to report that the hotel looks exactly the same in person as it did in the episode. Ironically enough, the Manhattan Beach Marriott is eerily similar in appearance to the Universal Sheraton, where Brenda Walsh (aka Shannen Doherty), Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry), Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) and the rest of the original West Bev gang attended the spring dance in the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 aptly titled “Spring Dance”.

The exterior staircase located just east of the hotel’s front entrance also made an appearance in the episode as the spot where Ivy Sullivan (aka Gillian Zinser) caught her then-boyfriend, now-husband Raj Kher (aka Manish Dayal) drinking.

As I mentioned above, the Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel was also featured in the Season 1 episode of The O.C. titled “The Debut”. In the episode, the interior of the hotel masqueraded as the interior of Newport Beach’s Pelican Hill Country Club where the dance rehearsals for Marissa Cooper (aka Mischa Barton) and Summer Roberts’s (aka Rachel Bilson’s) Debutante Ball were held.

Both the hotel’s Grand Lobby, which as you can see above has changed its color scheme drastically since the episode was filmed;

and the Manhattan Ballroom, which was unfortunately closed when we showed up to stalk the place but which you can see photographs of here, were featured in the episode.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Manhattan Beach Marriott Hotel, from “The Prom Before the Storm” episode of 90210, is located at 1400 Parkview Avenue in Manhattan Beach. The hotel’s main entrance and the exterior stairwell, which is denoted with a pink arrow in the above aerial view and is located just east of the main entrance, appeared in the episode. In “The Debut” episode of The O.C., the hotel’s front lobby and Manhattan Ballroom were featured. You can visit the Manhattan Beach Marriott’s official website here.