West Hollywood – Page 4 – IAMNOTASTALKER

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.

May 11, 2011May 11, 2011

Laverne & Shirley’s Apartment Building

Back in August of last year, fellow stalker Don emailed me to inquire if I knew the location of the supposed Burbank-area apartment building where best friends Laverne DeFazio (aka Penny Marshall) and Shirley Feeney (aka Cindy Williams) lived during the final three seasons of the hit 1970’s television series Laverne & Shirley. Sadly, because I had never really watched the show, I had no idea where the apartment building might be located. As fate would have it, though, I was scheduled to take a tour of Paramount Studios the day after receiving Don’s email and, because Paramount had produced the show, I thought one of the studio tour guides might know of the apartment’s location. Well, let me tell you, I spoke to anyone and everyone I could that day, but not a one of ‘em knew anything about the apartment building. Not only that, but they all told me they had never before been asked about that particular location! How that is possible, I’ll never know. Anyway, I gave Don the sad news after I got home from my tour and figured that would most likely be the end of the quest. So imagine my surprise when I awoke last Tuesday morning to find an email in my inbox from Don with the news that he had found the building! Yay! So I dragged the GC right on out to stalk the place this past Saturday morning.

In the first episode of the series’ Sixth Season, which was titled “Not Quite New York”, Laverne & Shirley, seeking a fresh start after losing their bottle-capping jobs at Shotz Brewery, leave their hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and head to Southern California. At the very beginning of the episode, the girls are shown moving into a typical 1970’s-style apartment building that was supposedly located at 113 1/2 Laurel Vista Drive in Burbank.

The apartment building was then shown regularly each week in both establishing shots and during the opening credits of each show.

I am EXTREMELY happy to report that the building still looks very much the same today as it did three full decades ago when the series was originally filmed. So incredibly cool! There are two trees which now block the view of the home from the street, but, other than that, remarkably little has changed over the years. Love it, love it, love it!

Even the apartment building next door still looks very much the same as it did on the series! Smile

Laverne & Shirley–Burbank Apartment Building Clip

You can watch the opening credits of the Sixth Season of Laverne & Shirley, in which the apartment complex is featured, by clicking above.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Don for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The “Burbank” apartment building from the last three seasons of Laverne & Shirley is located at 419/421 North Sierra Bonita Avenue in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. Google Maps and the GPS in my car both recognize this location as being in West Hollywood, though, so keep that in mind when printing out a map of the building or inputting its address into a navigation system.

November 24, 2010November 23, 2010

Macha Theatre from “The Office”

A few weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, sent me a link to this article from local website Franklin Avenue which stated that in the Season 7 episode of The Office titled “Andy’s Play”, the Macha Theatre in West Hollywood stood in for the Scranton, Pennsylvania “Loose Screw Playhouse” where Andy Bernard (aka Ed Helms) performed in a local production of the Tony award-winning musical Sweeney Todd. As it turns out, the author of the Franklin Avenue website, whose name is also coincidentally Mike, had actually lived across the street from the Macha Theatre for six years, so he recognized the place immediately when it popped up onscreen. And I have to say here that the “Andy’s Play” episode of The Office was easily one of my very favorite episodes of the entire series. I’m sure me liking it so much had to do with the fact that I have acted in quite a few plays over the course of my acting career and can definitely relate to the subject matter. Michael Scott (aka Steve Carell) acting out an entire episode of Law & Order as his audition piece for the play and Andy’s phone ringing in the middle of the show while he was onstage were both such absolutely SPOT ON representations of the idiocracy that can, and does often, ensue during the course of a production, I cannot even tell you! And I literally just about died laughing when, during a quiet moment in the performance, Michael knocked over a bottle of wine and sent it rolling down the sloped theatre floor all the way to the front of the stage. Absolutely love it! So, once I read the Franklin Avenue article, I immediately added the Macha Theatre to my “To Stalk” list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right out to West Hollywood the very next weekend.

Before stalking the theater, I had mistakenly assumed that both the interior and the exterior of the property had been used in the “Andy’s Play” episode, but when we arrived there we discovered that that was not actually the case. Odalys Nanin, the theatre’s super nice owner, happened to be on-site while we were stalking the place and she was kind enough to chat with us and give us a tour of the premises. Amazingly enough, though, up until just a few days prior to our visit, she had absolutely NO idea whatsoever that the exterior of her theatre had been used on The Office. Apparently, another stalker had come by to take pictures of the place and when Odalys inquired as to why, he told her – much to her surprise – that it had been featured on the hit show. As it turns out, no actual filming had been done on the premises, but producers had in fact used an old stock photo of the theatre, one that had actually been taken back when the place was known as the Globe Playhouse, in the episode. As you can see in the above picture and screen capture, the theatre looks much different today than it did when the stock photo was taken. The exterior wood beams have since been removed from the property’s façade, as have the windows, and a large marquee has also since been added to the premises.

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Thankfully though, as you can see in the above photograph which I got off of the Macha Theatre website, the barn-style front doors, the “1107” address number, and the comedy and tragedy masks that appeared in the “Andy’s Play” episode of The Office have all been left intact.

After I got home, I did some digging and discovered that the interior theatre scenes of the “Andy’s Play” episode had been filmed at the Assistance League Playhouse in Hollywood, just a few blocks east of Helen Bernstein High School, where Glee is filmed! So, you know what that means – in the very near future I will be making a stalking pilgrimage out to Hollywood to stalk the place!

Michael Scott’s “Law & Order” Audition Piece

You can watch Michael’s absolutely HILAROUS Law & Order audition piece by clicking above. For those who have not yet seen the “Andy’s Play” episode, Michael was using the piece to audition for a role in the musical Sweeney Todd, not for a role on Law & Order.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from Franklin Avenue, for finding this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Macha Theatre from the “Andy’s Play” episode of The Office is located at 1107 North Kings Road in West Hollywood. You can visit the theatre’s official website here. The interior theatre scenes from the episode were filmed at the Assistance League Playhouse, which is located at 1367 North St. Andrews Place in Hollywood. You can visit that theatre’s website here.

November 4, 2010March 30, 2011

Stu’s House from “The Hangover”

One location that I have been on the lookout for for over a year now is the adorable bungalow where Stu Price (aka Ed Helms) and his girlfriend Melissa (aka Rachael Harris) lived in fave movie The Hangover. I absolutely fell in love with Stu’s home the moment I saw it in the flick and, thanks to its Craftsman-style architecture, became convinced that it was most likely located in the Pasadena area. Thankfully, I had spotted an address number of 1325 on the front of the house while watching the movie, so as soon as I got home from the theatre I immediately began searching all of the 1300 blocks in Pasadena for the property. When that failed, I moved my hunt first to South Pasadena and then to Altadena, but came up completely empty-handed on both ends. I was still absolutely convinced, though, that the property had to somewhere in the San Gabriel Valley. And oh, how wrong I was! Enter Mike, from MovieShotsLA, who decided to help me in my Hangover quest by searching for the home outside of the Pasadena city limits. And sure enough, it wasn’t long before he found it, in a place I never would have even thought to look – West Hollywood. So, a couple of weeks ago, after our tour of Paramount Studios, I took fellow stalkers Lavonna, Beth, Debbie, and Connie, who were all in town visiting from Ohio, right on over to WeHo to do some Hangover stalking.

The house was used in the very brief, but extremely funny scene in which Phil Wenneck (aka Bradley Cooper), Alan Garner (aka Zach Galifianakis), and Doug Billings (aka Justin Bartha) pick up Stu before heading to Las Vegas, where Doug’s bachelor party is being held. And I am very happy to report that the incredibly picturesque home looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

As you can see in the above screen captures and interior images of the property (which I snagged off of a real estate listing that I found online yesterday), the actual interior of the home was also used in the filming of The Hangover. The areas used include the kitchen;

one of the bathrooms;

the dining room;

and the living room – the fireplace of which you can just barely see in the above screen capture.

The window where Stu and Melissa sat in the scene is located just to the left of the abode’s front door. Unfortunately, though, the real estate website did not include an interior photograph of that exact spot. Nor did the listing make any reference to the home’s cinematic history, which is a total abomination in my eyes! I mean, come on, did the real estate agent honestly not realize that mentioning the property’s appearance in one of the biggest movies of 2009 would add value to the home? Sigh! Why do I have to think of everything? 😉

The 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,746-square foot dwelling, which was originally built in 1919, was sold this past August for a cool $1.2 million. Interestingly enough, while searching property records for the house yesterday, I came across information that former Beverly Hills, 90210-actress Lindsay Price and her then-husband, producer Shawn Pillar, owned the home from October 2003 through March 2006. So incredibly cool!

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On a Hangover side note – Before meeting up with me a couple of weeks ago, fellow stalkers Lavonna, Debbie, Connie, and Beth went on a tour of Warner Brothers Studios, where The Hangover 2 is currently being filmed, and while there they spotted both Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis. The actors were being shuttled around on a golf cart at the time and while Zach tried to shield his face from view, Bradley Cooper was nice enough to turn around and wave to the girls. So cute! 🙂

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location and to fellow stalkers Lavonna and Beth for loaning me the above photographs of Zach and Bradley to publish in this post! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Stu Price’s house from The Hangover is located at 1325 North Ogden Drive in Hollywood. You can check out the home’s real estate listing here.

October 26, 2010September 29, 2017

Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch . . . A Second Time

This past weekend, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to one of my all time favorite Halloween-themed stalking locations – Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch in West Hollywood. The family owned and operated patch, which is located on a vacant plot of land on North Doheny Drive in between Keith and Harland Avenues, has been serving L.A.’s west side since 1986 and each year during the month of October is the place to see and be seen in Southern California. And even though I’ve actually blogged about this location once before, way back in October of 2008, since it is a landmark Haunted Hollywood stalking venue, I thought it was only fitting that I write about it once again since we are just a few days away from Halloween.

For whatever reason – I am guessing due mostly to its centralized location – the patch has been a celebrity magnet ever since its inception almost two and a half decades ago. Anyone who’s anyone stops by there during the month of October for a bit of Halloween fun. Just a few of the stars who have been spotted there recently include Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott, The Girls Next Door’s Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt, Britney Spears, Marcia Cross, Scott Baio, Chris Noth, Sara Gilbert, Justin Chambers, Jessica Alba, Mark Wahlberg, Courteney Cox, Christina Aguilera, Laurence Fishburne, Halle Berry, Usher, Breckin Meyer, Dave Grohl, Victoria’s Secret-model Alessandra Ambrosio, and Cougar Town’s Busy Philipps. I could literally go on and on here, but that gives you somewhat of an idea of the patch’s extensive celebrity clientele. Unfortunately, the GC and I did not see any stars while we were stalking the place this past Sunday, but we did run into Heidi Klum and Seal during our first visit there back in 2007 (the two are pictured above) and last year we missed both Tori Spelling and Gwen Stefani by mere minutes! UGH!

And while I love Mr. Bones, I must admit that the Grim Cheaper isn’t too crazy about the place thanks to the fact that they charge a $4 entrance fee for each adult (kids are $2). That fee can later be applied to any pumpkins or Halloween merchandise that is purchased, but as the GC says, Mr. Bones has to be the only pumpkin patch on the planet that has a cover charge. 😉 Besides pumpkins, the patch also boasts plenty of activities to keep the kids (and those adults who want to join in on the fun) occupied, including a large pumpkin-shaped jump house, face painting, a super slide, a small straw maze, a petting zoo, and a pumpkin decorating station. The patch also offers catered lunches of pizza, kosher hot dogs, and sausages. And I can personally attest to the fact that the hot dogs there are fabulous. 😉

Mr. Bones also boasts quite a large paparazzi following. The paps have been a fixture there pretty much ever since the place first opened. As you can see in the above pictures, for a time Mr. Bones employees tried to thwart photographers’ efforts by surrounding the property with large black-out curtains which blocked views of the patch from the street. And each year it seemed that not only did those curtains grow taller and taller, but so did the paparazzo’s ladders.

But this year things changed considerably. I guess the patch has now resigned itself to the fact that as long as it is going to be there each year, so are the paparazzi, because they have now set up a cordoned off “press area” at the corner of the property in which the photogs are allowed to stand and take pictures. A pumpkin patch with a cover charge and a press area? Only in L.A., I swear! SO LOVE IT!

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I honestly cannot recommend stalking Mr. Bones enough! Be forewarned, though, its pumpkins do run on the expensive side – but, then again, you can’t put a price tag on celebrity sightings now can you? 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mr. Bones Pumpkin Patch is located at 702 North Doheny Drive in West Hollywood. You can visit the official Mr. Bones website here. The patch is open this year from October 2nd through the 31st. Mr. Bones charges a cover fee of $4 per adult and $2 per child during the weekends. That fee can later be applied to the cost of any pumpkins or Halloween merchandise that is purchased while there.

September 24, 2010September 23, 2010

Kristin Cavallari’s House from Season 6 of “The Hills”

Literally just around the corner from Philippe Chow, the restaurant that I blogged about on Tuesday where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is the home where Kristin Cavallari lived during Season 6 of fave show The Hills. I am embarrassed to say that I spent an exorbitant amount of time looking for this particular location and had absolutely no luck whatsoever in finding it. Thankfully though, fellow stalker Britney embarked on her own hunt to track it down and quickly stumbled upon this Shelterpop article which stated that Kristin’s home was formerly owned by “celebrity” hairstylist Eric Bilardi (apparently Eric has tressed everyone from Daryl Hannah to Jane Seymour). Britney then searched for information on Eric online, wound up finding some public records which listed his former address, and voila, it was the right place! Yay! So, after my father and I finished lunch at Philippe’s last Friday afternoon, we headed right on over to stalk Kristin’s former pad.

Unfortunately though, because the property is surrounded by extremely tall hedges and a very high fence, not a whole lot of it can be seen from the street.

Nor can much be seen from aerial views.

But that’s why God created real estate listings! Kristin’s Spanish-style home, which was originally built in the 1920s, was available for rent earlier this year at a rate of $5,750 per month. The property, which last sold in 2007 for $1.3 million, boasts two bedrooms, two bathrooms, 1,400-square feet of living space, a garden, hardwood flooring throughout, a covered patio, several fountains, and an outdoor fire pit.

The house first showed up in the second episode of The Hills’ sixth season, which was titled “Rumor Has It”, in which Kristin throws a little housewarming shindig for herself. I am fairly certain, though, that, like most of The Hills residences, Kristin never actually lived on the premises, but that it was used for filming purposes only. And from how it appears in the real estate photos, producers seem to have used all of the real life homeowner’s actual furnishings during filming –

– right down to the cups in the kitchen cupboards . . .

. . . and the cushions on the living room couch. You can check out more photos of the house on the Shelterpop website here.

Ironically enough, the finale scene, in which Kristin walks out of her house and says a tearful good-bye to both Los Angeles and Brody Jenner, was not actually filmed in front of the property, as it was made to appear. And unfortunately I have not yet been able to discern exactly where that scene was shot. Ideas, anyone?

Big THANK YOU to Britney for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kristin Cavallari’s house from Season 6 of The Hills is located at 819 North La Jolla Avenue in West Hollywood. Philippe Chow, the restaurant where Brenda and Donna ate veal brains on Beverly Hills, 90210, is located just a half a mile south at 8284 Melrose Avenue, also in West Hollywood.

March 16, 2010June 16, 2011

Marix Tex Mex Cafe – Jennifer Aniston’s Favorite Restaurant

Two weeks ago, while out doing some Oscar Weekend stalking, I dragged my fiancé to Marix Tex Mex Cafe in West Hollywood, a restaurant which has long been one of my girl Jen Aniston’s favorite places to dine. And while Jen has always been pretty vocal about her love of Mexican food and margaritas, I had never actually heard of the eatery until last year when a woman in one of my acting classes mentioned that she had spotted the actress there on numerous occasions. Well, let me tell you, I just about died upon hearing that! For whatever reason, though, I had yet to stalk the restaurant. So, when I realized that my fiancé and I were in the West Hollywood vicinity this past Oscar Weekend, I begged him to make a little lunchtime pit stop at the Tex Mex hot spot. It should come as no surprise that the Grim Cheaper was not AT ALL keen on the idea of grabbing a bite to eat at a place frequented by a famous actress, as he thought the prices would be outrageously expensive. I am happy to report, though, that Marix was EXTREMELY reasonable and that even the Grim Cheaper enjoyed himself while there! 🙂

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Marix is an absolutely ADORABLE little restaurant tucked away off of Santa Monica Boulevard on a tree-lined side street in uber-hip West Hollywood. The eatery is small, casual, and intimate and it’s not at all hard to see why Jen frequents the place. Not to mention the fact that it serves up some fabulous food! Like FABULOUS! The chicken fajitas were A-MA-ZING, as were the tortilla chips and fresh salsa. I literally gorged myself while there. The Marix staff also could NOT have been more friendly and I am happy to report that the place lacks any of the pretentiousness that is usually prevalent in L.A. area restaurants. I literally cannot say enough good things about the place and wish I lived closer so that I could frequent it more often.

Marix Tex Mex Cafe has actually been a long time favorite of Jen’s and was even mentioned way back in December of 2001 in this People Magazine article about the star. According to my friend from acting class, Jen can usually be spotted on the restaurant’s SUPER CUTE front patio which is pictured above. I hear Jen doesn’t frequent the place as much as she used to, though, thanks to the paparazzi who discovered the celebrity hot spot a few years ago and have been a constant presence ever since. Other stars who have dined at the eatery include Jessica Simpson and her BFF/hair stylist Ken Paves, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and their daughter Coco, Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Ian Ziering, Brad Pitt, Angie Everhart, Dexter’s Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter, Ron Livingston, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale, Pamela Anderson, Michelle Rodriguez, Wanda Sykes, The Biggest Loser’s Bob Harper, and Wilson Cruz of My So-Called Life fame.

And while we didn’t run into Jen while dining there, we did spot former Bachelorette contestant Jerry Ferris at the table directly in front of us. I noticed Jerry pretty much immediately upon sitting down, but, while I knew he was famous, neither my fiancé nor I could place who he was. I asked our waitress if she recognized him and she in turn asked the other servers on duty, but no one seemed to have any idea whether or not he was even famous. Am I the only person who watched Season Three of The Bachelorette???? LOL Anyway, by that time I was going absolutely crazy because I KNEW I recognized Jerry, but could not for the life of me figure out from where. Then all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks – sitting in front of me was the man who had stolen America’s heart (or at least mine) on Jen Schefft’s season of The Bachelorette. I had absolutely LOVED Jerry on the series and was actually lucky enough to have met him shortly after his reality TV stint ended just about five years ago. Well, as soon as I figured out it was him, I told my fiancé I wanted to ask for a photograph, but that I felt bad since he was eating at the time, to which the Grim Cheaper said, “You ALREADY have a photograph with the guy (pictured above) – please do NOT bother him again.” LOL Sadly, I listened to the GC and did not go up to Jerry (HMPH!), but I really regret doing so as he had been a TOTAL sweetheart to me when I met him back in 2005. Ah well! Maybe I’ll run into Jerry during my next Marix stalk. 😉

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Marix Tex Mex Cafe is located at 1108 North Flores Street in West Hollywood. They also have a second location which can be found at 118 Entrada Drive in Santa Monica. You can visit the Marix website here.

March 5, 2010March 4, 2010

Sierra Towers – Brody Jenner’s Building on “The Hills”

A few weeks ago, while out doing some stalking with my fiancé in West Hollywood, I made a little pit stop at the place where Brody Jenner is shown to reside on fave reality show The Hills, a West Hollywood building which is known as the Sierra Towers. I found this location once again thanks to fellow stalker Virginie who, being that she also managed to track down Spencer and Heidi’s new house and Kristin Cavallari’s beach abode, has proven to possess some absolutely mad Hills stalking skills! My hat is most definitely off to you, Virginie! 🙂 As us die hard Hills stalkers are well aware of, though, MTV has been known to pull the wool over its viewers eyes when it comes to the various cast residences shown on the series. So, while the Sierra Towers building is definitely the place shown for the establishing shots of Brody’s residence on The Hills, I can’t say for certain that the reality star actually lives there. According to this Los Angeles Times article, in March of 2007 Brody leased an apartment in the Villa Malibu complex in Malibu, so its quite possible he may still live there. But regardless of whether Mr. Jenner is a resident of Sierra Towers or not almost seems to be entirely beside the point, since the building’s registry reads like a who’s who of Hollywood. Pretty much anyone who’s anyone in this town has called the place home at one time or another.

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The 32-story Sierra Towers, which was built in 1964 by architect Jack A. Charney, originally consisted of apartments and was called the Spoon Apartment Building. The complex was converted into condominium units at some point thereafter – I am unsure of the exact date – and, due to its exclusivity, proximity to Hollywood, and many upscale amenities, became an almost immediate celebrity magnet. In fact, so many notables currently live in the building that paparazzi are pretty much a constant presence there. In recent years, the Sierra Towers has been given a new hipster image thanks to a savvy real estate agent named Russ Filice. Just a few of the amenities that the building currently boasts include maids quarters, a ballroom, a catering kitchen, a gym and a spa with his and her locker rooms, a swimming pool, and a 24 hour support staff made up of porters, valets, doormen, and security guards. And I can personally attest to the fact that the Sierra Towers security is pretty darn tight, as they were keeping a VERY close eye on my fiancé and I while we were snapping pictures of the place from across the street. There are currently 148 separate units in the building, six to a floor, each of which features its own eight foot wide balcony, floor to ceiling windows, and sweeping views of the Los Angeles skyline.

As you can see from the above photographs which were taken from a lookout point on North Doheny Drive, Sierra Towers is the tallest building in its vicinity, so its views are pretty much unparalleled. Can you even imagine living in a place like that? Sigh!

The exterior of the Sierra Towers building pops up pretty much weekly on The Hills,

but if you compare the interior of Brody’s apartment, which is shown above, to these photographs of a real life Sierra Towers unit, the two don’t seem to match. From what I’ve been able to discern by looking at photographs of various Sierra Towers units online, most of the condos boast floor to ceiling glass walls, a feature which Brody’s apartment doesn’t seem to have. So, I am fairly certain that the interior shots of his residence were filmed at another location altogether. Besides The Hills, the Sierra Towers building has also appeared in several episodes of the reality show Million Dollar Listing.

And now on to the Sierra’s famous celebrity residents! 😉 Just a few of the notables who have called the building home over the years include Matthew Perry, Elton John (you can see pictures of his unit here), Kate Moss, Joan Collins, George Hamilton, David Janssen, Diahann Carroll, Nino Tempo, fashion designer Edith Flagg, Julian Burke, PJ Harvey, Peter Morton, Jim Morris, Rachel Zoe, Fred Durst, Evander Holyfield, David Geffen, Peter Lawford, Jack Webb, Lindsay Lohan, Vincent Gallo, Patty Duke, Rhonda Fleming, Donald Ayres, Michael Milken, Vickie Morgan, Sidney Poitier, Tawney Kitaen, Bill Shoemaker, and Cher. Phew! That’s quite a list! The building is so famous, in fact, that there is not only a Wikipedia page dedicated to it and its many famous residents, but a Facebook page, as well! And being that in 2006 Variety Magazine proclaimed the building to be one of the most expensive in all of Los Angeles, costing a whopping $2,000 per square foot, you pretty much have to be a celebrity to live there! You can see a more detailed list of the building’s residents, both past and present, on my good friend and fellow stalker E.J.’s website, The Movieland Directory.

Big THANK YOU to Virginie for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Sierra Towers, aka Brody Jenner’s condo from The Hills, is located at 9255 Doheny Road in West Hollywood. You can visit the building’s website here.

September 25, 2009April 20, 2010

Michael Jackson’s First L.A. Home

Last week, on the recommendation of fellow stalker Grant, I picked up a FABULOUS new book about the life and times of the King of Pop by author J. Randy Taraborrelli named Michael Jackson: The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story, 1958-2009. For anyone who is at all interested in MJ’s life, the 765 page tome is a must-read! Taraborrelli first met Michael on May 2, 1970, at a Jackson 5 concert in Philadelphia. Both boys were just youngsters at the time. Taraborrelli went on to become a best-selling author and journalist and a trusted friend of the King of Pop, writing many feature articles about him throughout his life and career. Besides sharing some amazing insight on what really took place behind-the-scenes of MJ’s life, Taraborrelli also divulges some fabulous tidbits of information in his book, such as the address of the home that Michael and his family lived in when they first moved to Los Angeles in 1969. YAY! So, I, of course, had to run right out and immediately stalk it. 🙂

In November of 1969, just as the Jackson 5 group was starting to hit it big, Motown founder Berry Gordy rented a house in West Hollywood for the family to live in. At the time, Joe and the rest of the boys had been living in various L.A. area hotels, Katherine, La Toya, Randy, and Janet were still back in Gary, Indiana, and Michael had spent the past month staying with Diana Ross. It was time to bring the family together. Their new Mediterranean-style home boasted four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a sparkling view of L.A., and a spacious 2,962 square feet of living space. According to Taraborrelli, the Jackson’s new living room alone was twice the size of their entire house back in Gary. But, as it turns out, as much as they liked their new home, they wouldn’t stay long. In May of 1970, just seven months after moving in, the Jacksons were relocated to another house leased by Berry Gordy – this one on Bowmont Drive in Beverly Hills. According to Taraborrelli, Gordy said, “They were kicked out of several houses. You see, they would make too much noise. They had their band, and we would put them in a house, and then they would get kicked out. We’d lease another place, and they would make too much noise, and they would get kicked out.” LOL The Jackson family finally purchased their own home – located at 4641 Hayvenhurst Avenue in Encino – and put an end to their constant moving on May 5, 1971.

While researching this house, I actually came across quite a few conflicting online reports about its exact address. While in the book, Taraborrelli had written that the house was located at 1601 Queens Road, I found several websites which stated that the Jacksons actually lived at number 1616, while still others reported an address number in the 6000 range. I wasn’t quite sure who to believe. But, as luck would have it, while stalking the house I happened upon an older gentleman walking his dog. I asked him if the Jackson family had actually lived at the home I was currently snapping photographs of and he said that yes, indeed, they had. I told him about the differing online reports and he assured me that I was stalking the correct house. He told me that while he didn’t know the Jacksons personally when they lived in the home, he definitely knew of them, as they were just starting to become famous and all of the neighborhood children would go over to their house to play. 🙂

I highly recommend stalking the Jackson family’s first L.A. home as it is a very pretty place and – best part of all – has no front gate blocking it from view, as is the case with their Hayvenhurst mansion! YAY! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Jackson Family’s first Los Angeles home is located at 1601 Queens Road in West Hollywood.