L.A. Story filming locations

December 10, 2013December 9, 2013

Melrose Avenue from “L.A. Story”

Another L.A. Story location that has been waiting patiently in my stalking backlog is the block of Melrose Avenue where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) and Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) walked and talked after attending a fundraiser for a private art museum in the 1991 flick. Unfortunately though, because the movie was lensed over twenty years ago and that area of Melrose has changed quite a bit during the interim, I am unsure of the exact spot where filming took place. But I sure did my best to try to pinpoint it.

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While watching Harris and Sara’s walk-and-talk scene in L.A. Story, I noticed a neon sign in the background that spelled out “Wacko.” Harris had mentioned in the scene that they were wandering down Melrose, so I decided to begin my hunt there and did a Google search for “Wacko” and “Melrose Avenue.” Sure enough, I was led to an April 1997 Los Angeles Times article that stated, “Wacko, a toy and trinket shop with a bizarre inventory ranging from eyeball magnets to ‘mystic smoke for fingertips,’ is famous for its colorful neon name sign that has become an icon of hipness known worldwide.” (I must not be all that hip being that I had been completely unaware of the sign prior to reading the article. Winking smile ) From there, finding the address of the former Wacko storefront – at 7404 Melrose Avenue – was fairly easy.

It was not until later that I realized a street sign for “Martel Avenue” was visible in the background of the scene. My search would have been a whole lot easier had I noticed that earlier! D’oh!

Wacko was originally established in 1984 by entrepreneur/art collector Billy Shire. Shire’s parents had founded the Soap Plant, a boutique specializing in handmade soap, ceramics and leather clothing, in Los Feliz in 1971. In 1980, Billy took over the family business and moved it to a strikingly unique corner building at 7400 Melrose Avenue. The new space was larger, enabling Billy to expand his wares to include jewelry and books. Four years later, when two vacant storefronts located next door to the Soap Plant became available, he opened a “pop culture toy shop” named Wacko, aka “The Second Happiest Place on Earth.” Besides selling Japanese robots, wind-up trinkets and games, Wacko also offered the largest selection of postcards in all of Los Angeles. In 1986, Shire founded an art showplace named La Luz de Jesus Gallery in the space located upstairs from the Soap Plant and Wacko. All three were so successful that nine years later he opened up sister locations in a 6,500-square-foot space at 4633 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Feliz. Sadly, as the Melrose Avenue clientele shifted from punk to hipster in the late ‘90s, his business began to decline and he wound up closing his outposts there in 1997. His Hollywood Boulevard shops are still alive and well, though. Today, Wacko’s former Melrose Avenue home is the site of a boot shop and cell phone store. You can check out what the building looked like during the Wacko days here.

While the former Wacko building was an easy find, I still have not been able to pinpoint the exact storefronts that Harris and Sara walked in front of in L.A. Story. It is clear from the position of Wacko’s neon sign in the scene that the two were on the north side of Melrose Avenue, heading east from the Martel Avenue intersection towards North Fuller Avenue. None of the storefronts on that particular block match up to what appeared onscreen, though.

Granted a lot can change in 22 years time, but I was absolutely certain that I would find something that had remained the same, something that would allow me to identify the exact storefronts. Sadly though, the Grim Cheaper and I walked up and down that particular block of Melrose several times, screen captures in hand, without turning up a single thing.

The storefront that I most wanted to locate was the spot with the neon-decorated three-panel window, where Harris and Sara paused and where Harris uttered his famous line, “So there I was jabbering at her about my new job as a serious newsman – about anything at all – but all I could think was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, wonderful, and most wonderful, and yet again, wonderful.”

While I originally thought that the window that appeared behind them in the scene was arched, as you can see in the screen capture pictured below (which I lightened a bit), that is not actually the case. Some sort of arched backdrop was used to create that illusion, but in reality the window is rectangular in shape.

My best guess is that the storefront used is the one located at 7365 Melrose Avenue, which now houses Freak Chic Tattoo. That is just a guess, though. While the shop does boast a similarly-shaped three-panel window, because there are no other identifying marks, it is virtually impossible to say for sure.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Harris and Sara’s walk-and-talk from L.A. Story took place on the 7300 block of Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district. The couple was on the north side of the street in the scene, near the storefronts located at 7377 and 7383, heading east. I believe that Harris and Sara stopped in front of the storefront located at 7365 Melrose Avenue. The former site of Soap Plant and Wacko can be found at 7400/7404 Melrose Avenue. You can visit the Soap Plant/Wacko official website here.

December 9, 2013December 6, 2013

The Former KCET Studios from “L.A. Story”

While perusing through my extensive backlog of stalking photographs recently, I realized that there were a few L.A. Story locales that I had yet to blog about, one of which was the former site of KCET Studios in Los Feliz, where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) worked in the 1991 comedy. I had actually stalked the spot way back in May, but, for whatever reason, never got around to writing about it. So here goes.

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The 4.5-acre lot located at 4401 Sunset Boulevard in Los Feliz has been the site of a moviemaking facility just shy of one hundred years. The first studio to be established there was Lubin Manufacturing Company in 1912, which was founded by film producer Siegmund Lubin to create educational videos. After he sold the location in 1913, it changed hands numerous times and then was eventually purchased by an actor named Charles Ray in 1920. Ray built several red brick structures on the premises, most of which still stand to this day. He also constructed a cutting-edge soundstage with a glass-enclosed stage, glass roof, removable sides, a water tank, and extensive electrical equipment. Amazingly, that soundstage, known as Studio A, is still currently in use. When Charles Ray Productions went bankrupt in 1923, the locale again went through a succession of different owners including Monogram Pictures, Allied Artists, and ColorVision. In 1971, KCET purchased the facility for $800,000. The company remained there for the next 40 years.

The studio, which was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1978, was acquired by the Church of Scientology to be used as one of their “production of religious and social betterment audiovisual properties” in April 2011.

In L.A. Story, KCET Studios stood in for the KYOY 14 news facilities. The exterior of the structure was shown in one of the movie’s opening scenes, in which Harris arrived at work to give his daily wacky weather report. In the scene, he drove through the studio’s east entrance, which is located near 1441 North Hoover Street.

I am fairly certain that the area where Harris parked his car in the scene is on the studio’s north side, near the intersection of Sunset Drive and North Commonwealth Avenue. I could not match the exact angle of the screen capture below being that the spot where Harris parked is located on the studio grounds, but I believe the street visible behind him is North Commonwealth Avenue.

And that the satellite pictured below is the one he parked next to.

The interior of one of the studio’s soundstages was also used as the KYOY 14 news set in the film.

Thanks to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, I learned that the exterior of the former KCET Studios was also featured as the City Emergency Hospital where Dr. Miles J. Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) was evaluated in the 1956 horror flick Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

I believe that the area used as the hospital entrance is the gate located near 4368 Sunset Drive, just east of where Harris parked his car in L.A. Story.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The former KCET Studios, from L.A. Story, is located at 4401 Sunset Boulevard in Los Feliz. The entrance that Harris drove through in the flick can be found near 1441 North Hoover Street, in between Fountain Avenue and Sunset Drive. The area where he parked is located just south of the intersection of Sunset Drive and North Commonwealth Avenue. The City Emergency Hospital gate from Invasion of the Body Snatchers can be found near 4368 Sunset Drive, slightly east of where Harris parked his car in L.A. Story.

August 29, 2013August 10, 2018

Echo Park

One location that I have wanted to stalk ever since June 2012, when I wrote my post about MacArthur Park from New Girl (which you can read here), was the similar-looking Echo Park in L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood. Sadly though, my efforts were thwarted for over a year due to an extensive restoration project that was taking place on the premises. The property eventually reopened two months ago and I was absolutely chomping at the bit to stalk it, and finally managed to do just that a couple of weekends ago when the Grim Cheaper and I were in Los Angeles for a brief stay. I can honestly say that the place was worth the wait, though, because it is easily one of the most beautiful locales that I have ever visited.

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The 29-acre parcel of land now known as Echo Park was originally a natural ravine created from the flow of the Arroyo de Los Reyes stream. A 20-foot dam was built on the site in 1868 that turned the ravine into Reservoir Number 4, which provided drinking water to nearby residents. In 1892, the city decided to turn the reservoir and its neighboring land into a public park and landscape architect/Superintendent of the Department of Parks Joseph Henry Tomlinson was commissioned to design it. Legend has it that the site got its name due to the fact that Tomlinson heard an echo as he shouted across the property one day while developing the space. Echo Park, which was declared a City of Los Angeles Cultural Monument in 2006, is one of the oldest public parks in L.A.

Today, the 26-million-gallon, 13-acre Echo Park Lake serves as a detention basin for the City’s storm drain system. As stated in the “Land o’ Lake” article that was featured in the June 2013 issue of Los Angeles magazine, “Runoff from streets and storm drains pauses here before heading into the Los Angeles River and, ultimately, the ocean. In dry weather about 110,000 gallons pass through the lake each day.”

The lake is perhaps best known for its iconic three-geyser fountain, which was installed as part of a Los Angeles beautification project just prior to the 1984 Olympic Games.

In 2011, a two-year, $45-million restoration/water quality project was begun, during which 40,000 cubic yards of sediment was removed from the bottom of the lake – as was trash, debris and random discarded items including a skateboard, a Frisbee and a toilet (LOL!). Four acres of wetland were also added to the premises . . .

. . . as well as two observation decks, a café and a large jogging path.

The site’s vast lotus bed (once the largest lotus bed in the western United States), which had disappeared by 2008, was also restored thanks to a fortuitous bit of thievery.

In 2005, a horticulturalist named Randy McDonald pilfered a lotus from the lake, violating a municipal code which states that removing plants from city parks is illegal. He cultivated the small stem and began selling its offshoots to unsuspecting customers. A few years later, when the restoration project first got underway, landscape architect Josh Segal heard buzzings that McDonald had a spawn of the iconic Echo Park lotus plant and contacted him. He wound up purchasing 376 plants from the thief – at a cost of $30,000! – to stock the new and improved lake. As journalist Marisa Gerber wrote in a June 2013 Los Angeles Times article, “Finding McDonald gave the restoration ‘a special story that involves theft,’ Segal said, breaking into a laugh. ‘It’s L.A.’”

The netting that currently covers the lotus bed, as well as most of the other vegetation in the park, will be in place for about a year and serves to protect the greenery from hungry birds.

The newly restored Echo Park was reopened to the public on June 15th, 2013.

The result is easily one of the most picturesque places I have ever visited in my life.

Shortly after the reopening, the lake’s infamous pedal boats were also brought back. And, as you can see below, business was booming when we showed up – the wait time to rent a boat was about two hours!

A café named Square One at the Boathouse was also launched in the park’s iconic 1932 boathouse shortly after the reopening.

Due to its immense picturesqueness, Echo Park has been featured in countless productions over the years – so many that it would be virtually impossible for me to list them all. What follows are some of the property’s onscreen highlights.

The park’s most famous appearance was arguably in the 1974 classic Chinatown, in which it was the spot where JJ Gittes (Jack Nicholson) secretly photographed Commissioner Hollis Mulwray (Darrell Zwerling), who was boating with a woman who was not his wife.

In 1991, Echo Park masqueraded as the Stationary Bike Riding Park, where running was not allowed, for the opening scene of fave movie L.A. Story.

In the 1991 thriller Dead Again, Mike Church (Kenneth Branagh) took Grace (Emma Thompson) on a date to Echo Park, where they ate at the boathouse and then walked around the lake.

Despite several websites claiming that the scene took place in MacArthur Park, Echo Park was actually where Dr. Kimberly Shaw (Marcia Cross) and Sydney Andrews (Laura Leighton) plotted to kill Dr. Michael Mancini (Thomas Calabro) in the 1994 Season 2 finale of Melrose Place, which was titled “Till Death Do Us Part.”

As you can see below, the view of the U.S. Bank Tower and Citigroup Center that was shown in the episode matches perfectly to the view of those buildings from Echo Park.

Echo Park was used again in the 1996 Season 4 episode of Melrose Place titled “Melrose Unglued,” as the place where Jo Reynolds (Daphne Zuniga) and Dr. Dominick O’Malley (Brad Johnson) confronted Laurie (Justine Priestley – Jason Priestley’s twin!) about their suspicion that her son was being abused.

In the 1992 flick Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, Echo Park was where Sgt. Joe Bomowski (Sylvester Stallone) picnicked with him mom, Tutti Bomowski (Estelle Getty).

Echo Park was turned into the supposed San Francisco-area cemetery where the the funeral for Mark Chao (John Cho) was held in the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “Dead Man Dating.”

The park also popped up in the 2003 Season 5 episode of Charmed titled “House Call,” as the spot where Paige Matthews (Rose McGowan) reunited with Glen Belland (Jesse Woodrow).

In 2001’s Training Day, Det. Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington) and Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) drove by Echo Park shortly after Harris forced Hoyt to smoke PCP.

In the 2003 comedy National Security, Earl Montgomery (Martin Lawrence) almost got arrested by police officer Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn) for “breaking into” his own car while at Echo Park.

Emily (Amanda Peet) tells Oliver (Ashton Kutcher) about her new fiancé at Echo Park in a deleted scene from the 2005 romcom A Lot Like Love.

Echo Park was where Dwight ‘Bucky’ Bleichert (Josh Hartnett) met with Pete Lukins (Gregg Henry) to talk about an upcoming fight in the beginning of the 2006 film The Black Dahlia.

Southland filmed at Echo Park no less than three times during its five-season run. It first popped up in the 2010 Season 2 episode titled “U-Boat,” as the place where Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Officer Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis) pulled over a car after seeing dope being thrown out of the window.

In the Season 2 episode titled “What Makes Sammy Run?,” which also aired in 2010, Echo Park was where Tammi Bryant (Emily Bergl) was confronted by thugs while taking photographs.

And in the Season 3 episode titled “Fixing a Hole,” which aired in 2011, Officer Cooper and Officer Ben Sherman (my man Benjamin McKenzie) interviewed park-goers outside of the Echo Park boathouse about a boy who had just been found.

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For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Echo Park is located at 751 Echo Park Avenue in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles.

August 6, 2013August 5, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Brunch Restaurant

One L.A. Story location that I never in a million years thought I would be able to stalk was the exterior of the fictional Dr. Dalmar’s eatery (said to be located on the corner of Sunset and Crescent), where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) and his girlfriend Trudi (Marilu Henner) brunched with some friends towards the very beginning of the 1991 flick. I had long known that a patio at the now-defunct Ambassador Hotel had been used as the actual brunch site and consequently assumed that some other portion of the property had been featured as the restaurant’s entrance. Because the Ambassador was demolished in early 2006, though, this was one locale that I just did not put a whole lot of thought into.

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It was not until I was scanning through L.A. Story to make screen captures for my post on the apartment building where Trudi lived in the movie, that I came across the brunch scene and spotted two street signs – one reading “4th St” and the other reading “3rd St” – visible in the background. Because the Ambassador Hotel was located near 7th and 8th Streets, I realized that the entrance to Dalmar’s had to be elsewhere. I also realized, due to the placement of said street signs, that the Dalmar’s exterior was in between 4th and 5th Street.

I also noticed that the Dalmar’s entrance was situated near the end of a T-shaped intersection, as you can see below. So I started searching for a T-shaped intersection on 5th Street in the vicinity of the Ambassador Hotel and, voila, I found the right spot after just a few minutes of searching.

As it turns out, the exterior of the L.A. Story brunch restaurant is actually the entrance to a mid-Wilshire area apartment complex named Regent Place.

In the beginning of the L.A. Story brunch scene, Harris and Trudy are shown walking on a brown trellised deck.

Well, let me tell you, I could NOT have been more excited to see that deck in person, especially being that I had for so long been under the incorrect assumption that it was no longer standing.

Harris and Trudi are also shown walking on that deck after finishing brunch . . .

. . . and then out to the valet stand in front of Dalmar’s, where Harris accidentally drives off, leaving Trudi standing on the curb alone. “Yeah, I know what you were concentrating on!” I LOVE that line. (For those who have no idea what I am referring to, you need to rent the movie immediately! Winking smile )

In 2005, L.A. Story production designer Lawrence Miller filmed a featurette titled “The L.A. of L.A. Story” that detailed several of the locations used in the movie for the 15th Anniversary Edition DVD. One of the places that he chronicled was the brunch site and he actually ventured out to then soon-to-be demolished Ambassador Hotel for the segment. During the spot, he mentioned that the featurette was the very last production that would be shot on the premises prior to the demolition, which took place on January 16, 2006. (I am still bitter that the hotel was torn down. Such an incredible shame!) Lawrence also spoke about the fact that Dr. Dalmar’s was modeled after the Hotel Bel-Air’s Terrace restaurant. Producers had actually originally wanted to film the brunch scene at the Bel-Air, but, for whatever reason, the hotel would not allow it. Lawrence did a fabulous job with the set design, though, because Dalmar’s did end up looking very much look like the Terrace (or at least what the eatery used to look like prior to the Bel-Air’s 2011 remodel).

The spot that was used as the brunch site was located on the south side of the Ambassador Hotel near the swimming pool. Pictured below is what that area looked like in 2005 when Lawrence returned to film “The L.A. of L.A. Story.” You can check out a picture of that portion of the hotel during the Ambassador’s heyday here.

For the shoot, Lawrence built a large trellis overhang that matched one of the Ambassador’s actual trellises (that actual trellis is pictured below) and he also brought in hundreds of trees.

Pictured below are some behind-the-scenes images of the brunch scene shoot, in which you can get a better look at the set-up.

The Ambassador Hotel was also featured in two other scenes in L.A. Story. The infamous Embassy Ballroom (where Bobby Kennedy spoke just prior to being assassinated on June 5, 1968) was used as a soundstage during the filming and was where the two El Pollo Del Mar hotel rooms were constructed. According to Lawrence, “The window wall was used in both hotel rooms and was moved back and forth depending on which part of the scene we were shooting.” He goes on to say, “The large furniture in the suite was used in both hotel suites. That was our little trick to make it appear a little more glamorous than it was.”

The ballroom in its 2005 state when Lawrence filmed “The L.A. of L.A. Story” is pictured below.

And finally, the scenes that took place at the fictional hot spot L’Idiot, where Harris dined with his new love interest, Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant), and her ex-husband, Roland Mackey (Richard E. Grant), were filmed at the Ambassador Hotel’s coffee shop. Both the exterior of the coffee shop . . .

. . . and the interior were used in the shoot.

According to Lawrence, the coffee shop’s walls and columns were covered over with white corrugated fiber glass during the filming and neon lights were also installed to make the site appear less “tropical.”

As you can see below, though, the booths were left intact during the filming. Man, how I wish that place was still around! Sad smile

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The exterior of Dr. Dalmar’s, the L.A. Story brunch restaurant, is actually the entrance to the Regent Place apartment complex, which is located at 426 South Norton Avenue, just south of Hancock Park, in Los Angeles. The interior of the brunch scene was filmed at the former Ambassador Hotel, which used to stand at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard in the Wilshire District of Los Angeles.

July 3, 2013July 2, 2013

The Site of Ariel’s House from “L.A. Story”

One L.A. Story location that I tracked down and stalked months ago, but has since become a bit of a conundrum to me, is the apartment building – or house – where Ariel (Susan Forristal), the best friend of wacky weatherman Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin), lived. Finding the locale was pretty much a no-brainer (or so I thought), being that it is a running gag throughout the movie that Harris drives to Ariel’s place whenever he wants to visit her, despite the fact that his home (which I blogged about here) is located just a couple of doors away.

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In the movie, the exterior of Ariel’s dwelling is never actually shown. All that is shown is Harris leaving his house, walking to his car . . .

. . . and then driving about 25 feet before parking in front of an apartment building with an odd lattice façade, which I assumed was where Ariel lived.

So while in L.A. this past May, I stalked that apartment building. In real life, the place does not have a lattice façade and I do not believe that it ever actually did. I am fairly certain that the façade, along with the numerous statuaries posted along the street, were added solely for the filming.

When I got home a few days later and re-watched the scenes that took place at Ariel’s house, though, I began to have doubts about the location that I stalked. As you can see below, the interior of Ariel’s residence does not look like an apartment at all, but more like the interior of a typical L.A-style bungalow.

Her pad even appears to have some sort of covered porch – a feature that most definitely would not be found in an apartment.

I also noticed that the size and positioning of Ariel’s living rooms windows did not match up to the size and positioning of the real life windows at the apartment building. In fact, one window was missing entirely.

As you can see below, Ariel’s home also has a fireplace, yet the actual apartment building has no visible chimney.

Because the apartment building does not look to have been remodeled since it was built in the 1950s (or at least since 1991 when L.A. Story was filmed), I became fairly certain that I had the wrong location. And while it is possible that producers used two different locales to depict Ariel’s dwelling – one for the exterior and another for the interior – or even possibly built a set for the inside scenes, I do not believe that to be the case.

Upon further inspection (I know, I know – I have WAY too much time on my hands Winking smile ), I noticed that when visiting Ariel, Harris actually did not park directly in front of the apartment building that I had stalked, but a bit past it. In fact, whenever he is shown driving to Ariel’s, he stops his car at a point halfway blocking the driveway belonging to the house just north of the building, as you can see below.

So I went back to the drawing board and began doing some Google Street View stalking and noticed that the apartment complex located just north of the building that I had stalked was newly constructed. On a hunch, I headed on over to Historic Aerials to see if there used to be a bungalow located on that site at one point in time. And sure enough, there was! It is my belief that that now-defunct bungalow is the house that was used as Ariel’s. And while fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, was nice enough to put me in touch with a very helpful L.A. Story crew member (whom he had contacted a few weeks prior when helping me track down some of the flick’s other locales) in the hopes that he might be able to shed some light on this mystery, said crew member, unfortunately, did not remember anything about the location of Ariel’s house.

Even though the bungalow is long gone, I sent Mike, from MovieShotsLA, out to do some stalking of the apartment building that now stands in its place. Thank you, Mike! According to fave website CurbedLA, construction on the ultra-modern concrete complex was started sometime around 2008. The developer then hit some financial trouble and the project was stalled until finally being completed in 2010.

And while the Curbed commenters were pretty harsh about the aesthetic of the place, I actually really like what it looks like. Especially the interiors, which you can take a look at here.

Be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for even more stalking fun! And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for taking the pictures of the site where I believe Ariel’s house once stood.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The site where I believe Ariel’s house from L.A. Story once stood is located at 1220 North Orange Grove Avenue in West Hollywood. The building that I originally thought was Ariel’s is located at 1216 North Orange Grove Avenue. And Harris’ house from L.A. Story is located at 1206 North Orange Grove Avenue.

May 15, 2013May 15, 2013

Trudi’s Apartment Building from “L.A. Story”

Last month, when I published my post on the location of the iconic talking freeway sign from L.A. Story, a friend named David, whom I met in an acting class years ago, sent me a Facebook message letting me know that the unique, modern-style apartment building where Trudi (Marilu Henner) lived in the flick was located at 884 Palm Avenue in West Hollywood. David also informed me that the building still looked pretty much exactly the same as it did 22 years ago when filming took place, which, of course, had me salivating. So I ran right out to stalk it shortly after visiting the house belonging to Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) in the 1991 comedy, which I blogged about yesterday.

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Amazingly enough, despite the building’s unique look, I could find virtually no information whatsoever about its history online. The only fact that I was able to glean – thanks to views of the property on the Historic Aerials website – was that it was constructed sometime between the years 1980 and 1987.

When L.A. Story was filmed in 1991, the site was known as the Palm Square Apartments. The 29-unit, upscale building, which is currently named NMS Apartments @ West Hollywood, features a pool, a Jacuzzi, an executive gym, and gourmet kitchens and hardwood flooring in each suite.

The building is most well-known for the unusual artwork located at its entrance.

The piece, which is named “Stairway Sculpture”, was created by artist Paul Betouliere in 1987 as part of the West Hollywood Urban Arts Collection.

NMS Apartments @ West Hollywood popped up twice in L.A. Story – first in the scene in which Harris not-so-patiently waits for Trudi to finish her “abstract busyness”, including putting on “thirty-minute lips”, before heading to a brunch.

The Stair Sculpture was shown prominently in that scene.

NMS Apartments @ West Hollywood next appears in the scene in which Trudi informs Harris about the three-year affair she has been having with his agent, Frank Swan (Kevin Pollak). After breaking up with her over her indiscretions, an elated Harris dances down the front steps of the building.

So I, of course, just had to imitate him while I was there. Winking smile

Thanks to a real estate listing that I found on Zillow, I can confirm that the actual interior of one of the NMS units was used as the interior of Trudi’s apartment in L.A. Story. As you can see below, the setup of the kitchen in the listing matches up to what appeared onscreen.

As does the curving staircase. Even the railing is still the same – albeit a different color, thank God! Winking smile

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to David for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Trudi’s apartment building from L.A. Story is located at 884 Palm Avenue in West Hollywood.

May 14, 2013May 13, 2013

Harris’ House from “L.A. Story”

Another L.A. Story location that production designer Lawrence Miller talked about in “The L.A. of L.A. Story” featurette included on the 1991 comedy’s 15th Anniversary Edition DVD was the Spanish-style dwelling where wacky weatherman Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) lived. And even though the address of the home had been listed on the L.A. Story filming locations page for years, I figured the place was still worthy of a blog post. So I ran right out to stalk it – Starbucks latte in hand, of course – while visiting Los Angeles a couple of weekends ago.

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In real life, according to Property Shark, the West Hollywood abode, which was originally constructed in 1923, is not a private residence after all, but a multi-family dwelling consisting of four separate units that contain a total of four bedrooms, four baths and 3,366 square feet of living space.

Unfortunately, the site currently bears little resemble to its onscreen counterpart. In fact, when we first pulled up, I thought I had the wrong address! Boo!

The two-story house was one of the main locations used in L.A. Story and popped up repeatedly throughout the movie.

In “The L.A. of L.A. Story”, which was taped in 2006, Miller said, “The director had a concept of L.A. being a desert where people brought water to it and created paradise. This little compound here was selected primarily because of the beautiful trees and greens and foliage that sort of embraced the driveway. This location caused us a little bit of a problem in that the week before we were to shoot here, the neighbor next door decided he wanted to prune all of his greens, all of the trees, all of the things that we loved so much and it forced us to bring in Greensmen to try to duplicate what it was that was there. And it’s interesting looking at it fifteen years later and seeing that it still hasn’t all grown back.” (The screen captures below were taken from “The L.A. of L.A. Story.”)

Sadly, since the filming of the featurette, the foliage that once covered the front of Harris’ house has also been removed, completely changing the look of the place, despite the fact that the structure of the home itself has not been altered. Goes to show the aesthetic power of trees!

Miller also said that the home’s real life front door was swapped out during the filming for a custom-made leaded glass door.

And that the alarm keypad that controlled Harris’ fake barking dog was just a prop.

Unfortunately, that area of the house is not very visible from the street.

I was shocked to learn, thanks to Miller’s interview, that the real life interior of the home was also used in the filming. I would have bet money on it being a set! Areas of the property that appeared in the movie include the kitchen;

the bathroom, with the “slo mo” faucet;

the living room;

and the bedroom, which is, oddly enough, situated right next to the front door, as you can see below.

It was in that bedroom that Harris famously wrote “Bored Beyond Belief.” on a window.

The exact pane that Harris wrote on is the top middle panel of the window located just north of the front door, as denoted by the pink arrows below.

According to “The L.A. of L.A. Story”, the then owner of the property was paid a whopping $35,000 for its use in the movie (and we’re talking 1991 dollars!) and filming on the premises took five weeks to complete, including prep time. $35,000 for five weeks? Yeah, I’d take that! Winking smile

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Harris’ house from L.A. Story is located at 1206 North Orange Grove Avenue in West Hollywood.

May 8, 2013May 7, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Intersection

The locale from L.A. Story that I was most interested in tracking down was also the one that I thought for sure I would never find – the intersection featured in the movie’s opening montage. Because the intersection was fairly non-descript, only shown briefly and no clues as to its location visible in the scene, and because over two decades had passed since filming had taken place, I figured it would be a virtually impossible find. Enter fellow stalker Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, whom I had sent a couple of screen captures to in the hopes that he would assist in the hunt. Amazingly enough, he emailed me back 24 hours later with an address! Somehow, Owen had managed to track down several of the flick’s crew members (have I mentioned he missed his true calling by not joining the FBI?), all of whom had gotten back to him almost immediately. Most did not recall the intersection’s location, but thankfully one did remember that it was in the vicinity of the Santa Monica Airport. And while it took a bit of time searching aerial views of all of the four-way stops near SMO, Owen did manage to pinpoint the place. So I ran right out to stalk it two weekends ago while in L.A.

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L.A. Story opens with a montage of clips showing everyday life in Los Angeles. And while the segment is seemingly satiric, I can attest to the fact that most of the bits are truthful. You can watch that montage by clicking below.

In my favorite part of the segment, four cars meet at a four-way stop and each driver waves the others on. In a hapless twist, all of the drivers wind up hitting the gas at the same moment and crash into each other in the middle of the intersection. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in that exact same scenario – minus the crash, thankfully – and I can’t help but laugh every time I watch the scene. It is just so L.A.

I was absolutely thrilled to discover that the intersection and houses visible in the background of the scene still look pretty much exactly the same today as they did in 1991 when L.A. Story was filmed.

Ironically enough, if you look closely at the scene, you will notice that more than four cars were actually used in the filming – a behind-the-scenes tidbit told to Owen by one of the crew members. In fact, he said, “I recall we wrecked about 16 cars on the various takes on that scene.” How cool would it have been to see that in person?

Even more interesting is the fact that the actual crash portion of the scene was not shot at the intersection, but at a random parking lot (I think a parking lot at the Lantana production center in Santa Monica where the L.A. Story production offices were located). The crew member informed Owen, “To crash the cars on the street, I would have had to close down those streets and permit for the crash. That would have required too much time since the crash is shot from overhead, in other words, it required a crane. So we would have shot the crash/crane part of it in a parking lot.” I absolutely LOVE learning little bits of trivia like that, especially being that there was never a commentary made for L.A. Story, something that I am still in shock over.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The four-way stop from L.A. Story is located at the intersection of Butler Avenue and Kingsland Street in West Los Angeles.

May 7, 2013May 6, 2013

The “L.A. Story” Fundraiser House

Another L.A. Story location that I was desperate to track down was the sloped-roof residence where Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) and Sara McDowel (Victoria Tennant) attended a “private art museum” fundraiser in the 1991 comedy. Because the home was so architecturally unique, I was sure that it would be an easy find. I was wrong. After scouring countless online film location libraries and architectural databases and coming up empty-handed, I decided that I needed to call for reinforcements. I sent a few screen captures to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, to see if he recognized the place and, as luck would have it, he did! During a visit to Los Angeles a couple of years back, Geoff and his wife had done some sight-seeing in the Palos Verdes area. They happened to drive by the L.A. Story house that day and took note of it due to its distinctive roof. All Geoff had to do was retrace their steps and, voila, he found the place in a snap. Yay! So I ran right out to the South Bay to stalk it while in L.A. two weekends ago.

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In real life, the residence is known as the Bowler house, named for John Bowler, the industrial building contractor who commissioned it. The dwelling, which was constructed in 1963, was designed by Lloyd Wright, son of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was composed of concrete, glass and Santa Maria stone. Lloyd also designed all of the property’s furnishings (which were angled to match the design of the house), cabinetry and vast landscaping.

Thanks to the triangular, pitched roof, which was manufactured out of blue corrugated fiberglass, the property is also sometimes called the Bird of Paradise house, which is something of a misnomer, as Lloyd had actually based the design on a diamond module.

The residence, which was renovated by Eric Lloyd Wright, Lloyd’s son, in 1991, features 3,904 square feet of living space, 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a library, a formal dining room, a master suite, a laundry room, an in-ground swimming pool, separate guest quarters, and a 0.89-acre plot of hilltop land boasting 180-degree ocean views. The site was put on the market in mid-2008 for $2.5 million and wound up selling in January 2009 for $1.895 million. You can check out the real estate listing and some great interior photographs of the house here.

In L.A. Story, Harris and Sara head to the Bowler house to attend a formal fundraising dinner in which a man is trying to raise city funds to found an art museum that will not be open to the public. LOL Pictured below are the screen captures that I sent to Geoff when I asked for his help in tracking down the residence. It is amazing to me that he was able to recall a home pictured in dark, very limited screenshots simply from driving past it several years back. My hat is definitely off to him!

The real life interior of the home also appeared in the scene.

On a side-note – I would like to wish a HUGE congratulations to my girl Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, who not only just got a big promotion at work (she can now get herself – and me! – into Disneyland for FREE anytime she wants!), but, most exciting, also recently got engaged . . . to Keith Coogan (yes, that Keith Coogan!). I am over-the-moon happy for her and wish her and Keith all the joy in the world!

I got to meet Keith this weekend (at Disneyland) and I cannot express how much fun it was to run around quoting lines from Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead with him. When he randomly said, “Rock and roll!” at one point during the day, I just about died! He is also really into filming locations, so, Pinky, I approve. You chose well! Winking smile

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Bird of Paradise house, aka the L.A. Story fundraiser house, is located at 3456 Via Campesina in Rancho Palos Verdes.

May 3, 2013May 3, 2013

The California Colonic Institution from “L.A. Story”

When I began my search for all of the missing L.A Story locations a few weeks back, I emailed about a million-and-a-half screen captures to fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, in the hopes that he would be so inclined to help me out with the hunt. Thankfully, he was. One locale that we found at the exact same time (we literally texted each other with the address at the same moment!) was the California Colonic Institution, where SanDeE* (my girl Sarah Jessica Parker) took Harris K. Telemacher (Steve Martin) for a high colonic, aka an enema, in the 1991 flick. While I had known that the site was located somewhere along Venice Beach and had tracked it down by looking up and down the coastline using Google Maps, Mike had actually recognized the place immediately thanks to the fact that, unbeknownst to me, it had also appeared in the 1993 thriller Point of No Return. How random is that? So, while in SoCal this past weekend, I ran right out to stalk it. (I am amazed that I was able to snap the above photograph sans any people, by the way! Anyone who has ever experienced the hustle and bustle of Venice Beach knows what a feat that was!)

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In real life, the California Colonic Institution from L.A. Story is known as the Blu House (or the Nike Blu House, as Nike, Inc. used the site as office space for many years) and, at over a century old, is one of the most historic residences still standing in Venice Beach. The two-story bungalow was originally built in 1901 and since that time it has served as everything from an event venue (one fete was even hosted by Jerry Springer, apparently!) to a clothing store to an art gallery to a medical marijuana facility. And while several websites have also stated that both Jim Morrison and Charlie Chaplin lived on the premises at different points in time, I believe that information is actually incorrect.

The beachfront house, which boasts three bedrooms, one bath, 2,656 square feet of living space, a 1,500-square-foot deck, and a tiny 0.10-acre plot of land, currently serves as the headquarters for Snapchat – at what is apparently a rate of $20,000 a month!

The California Colonic Institution only shows up once in L.A. Story and very briefly at that, in the scene in which SanDeE* takes Harris on a date . . . for an enema. Romantic, huh? It is there that SanDeE* says of the experience, “God, it really clears out your head!” To which Harris says, “Head? Head? You should go back in there and tell them they’re doing it wrong.” LOL

Only a very tiny portion of the property, namely the front porch area, was shown during the scene.

That front porch in its current state is pictured below. As you can see, while the front doors have changed from a single door to double doors, the site still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did in 1991 when L.A. Story was filmed.

Because so little of the residence was shown, I was only able to pinpoint its location due to the fact that it was apparent from the filming that the front door was situated at an angle diagonal to the boardwalk, as you can see below. Thankfully, only one property in Venice fit that description.

I also matched up the buildings that were visible in the background of the scene. Ironically enough, while doing research on the Blu House, I learned that the brick building located just north of it is known as Gingerbread Court and was apparently built by none other than Charlie Chaplin.

It was not until making screen captures for today’s post that I spotted an address number of 523 behind Steve Martin in the scene. D’oh! Would have made my search so much easier had I realized that earlier!

I am fairly certain that the same location was used for the brief montage scene in which SanDeE* attended a spokesmodel class in the movie. The palm trees visible through the windows and the framing of the interior French doors seem to match up to those of the Blu house. That is just a hunch, though.

In Point of No Return, the Blu House was where assassin Maggie Hayward (Bridget Fonda) rented an apartment upon arriving in Venice Beach.

As you can see below, the property still had a single front door at the time of the filming.

I am guessing that the interior of Maggie’s apartment was just a set and not the actual interior of the Blu House.

According to the Venice-Mar Vista Patch, the Blu House was also the setting of an MTV summer reality series, although I am unsure of which one.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for helping me to find this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Blu House, aka the California Colonic Institution from L.A Story, is located at 523 Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach.