Because I spent all day yesterday doing some location scouting with Mike, from MovieShotsLA – including an amazing visit to the WB Ranch!!!! – I was not able to write a new post for today. But I promise to be back tomorrow with a whole new location. So until next time, Happy Stalking!
Year: 2012
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La Villa Consolata – The Day Spa from the “Driven” Episode of “CSI: Miami”
Back in January, a fellow stalker named Brandi left a comment on my post about the mansion from The Beverly Hillbillies movie informing me that the property’s indoor spa had not actually been used in the Season 4 episode of CSI: Miami titled “Driven”, as I had originally presumed, but that that spa could actually be found at a different ostentatious estate, this one on Mapleton Drive in Beverly Hills. One quick online search and I discovered that Brandi was, indeed, correct and I immediately added the residence to my “To-Stalk” list. As fate would have it, just a few days later, the Grim Cheaper and I happened to be watching the 2001 romantic comedy Good Advice (for about the hundredth time, mind you – it is one of our favorite movies EVER!) and I just about fell off the couch when I spotted the very same spa from CSI: Miami! So I decided that I just HAD to stalk the estate as soon as possible and dragged the GC right on out there this past Saturday afternoon.
As you can see above, in real life, the “Driven” mansion is absolutely GINORMOUS and actually looks more like a palace than a private residence. In fact, according to the Wikinfo website, the property is one of the largest single family homes in all of the United States! Ironically enough, while we were stalking the dwelling, a Hollywood tour van happened to pull up and the guide announced that the estate had once been leased by Donatella Versace, to which the GC yelled out, “It was also featured in an episode of CSI: Miami!” Thanks for having my back, honey! And while I cannot find any information online to back up the Donatella Versace claim, it does look like exactly the sort of place that I would imagine her living. There are also a few internet reports floating around that the home was lived in (at different times, of course) by both Janet Jackson and Tommy Hilfiger, but I believe that information is incorrect. According to CurbedLA, the residence was originally built in 1993 by Pacific-Brokerage-Services-founder Steven Wallace and was awarded to his ex-wife, Jo-Anne, in their divorce shortly thereafter. Current property records show that Jo-Anne still owns the mansion to this day, although it is possible she rented it out to various celebrities over the years.
As you can see in the above photographs from the home’s MLS listing, the 6-bedroom, 7-bath, 27,816-square-foot abode, which sits on 1.15 well-manicured acres of land, is nothing short of unbelievable! The property, dubbed “La Villa Consolata”, features a whopping eight fireplaces!, a domed entryway, a gourmet kitchen, formal gardens, a gym, an indoor and an outdoor pool, a massage room, a game room, a two-level library (which I would give anything to have in my own home!), a master bedroom wing, three elevators!, staff quarters, three family rooms, a detached theater, a guard house, a wine cellar, and a three-level underground disco named “Atlantis”! Who knew that those kinds of amenities were even available in homes?!?! And while the residence has been on and off the market for a couple of years now, it seems to currently be back on again at the bargain price of $27.5 million. You can check out the dwelling’s real estate website and see more photographs of it in all of its ornate grandeur here.
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In the “Driven” episode of CSI: Miami, La Villa Consolata stood in for a supposed Dade-County-area day spa where a group of wealthy women are robbed at gunpoint.
The mansion’s indoor lap pool was used extensively in the episode.
That pool area is pictured above and I have to say that it is pretty darn magnificent!
The interior of La Villa Consolata also masqueraded as a second location in “Driven”. Towards the end of the episode, the mansion stood in for the residence belonging to Cynthia Gilmore (Jacqueline Pinol), where a home-invasion robbery took place.
In Good Advice, La Villa Consolata’s indoor pool is where Cathy Sherman (Rosanna Arquette) attends a yoga class and gets interrupted by a phone call from her husband, Barry Sherman (Jon Lovitz). I SO love that Cathy has a coffee with her while practicing yoga, by the way! SO something I would do!
In the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “The Wedding from Hell”, La Villa Consolata’s front exterior;
interior;
and backyard stood in for the mansion where Mrs. Grace Spencer (Barbara Stock) lived.
Oddly enough, though, the mansion grounds shown in the beginning of the episode are unmistakably those of The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, which I blogged about way back in October of 2008. I have no idea why two different locations would be used to stand in for the same backyard, but I am guessing that it was some sort of a timing issue in which La Villa Consolata was not available for the entire stretch of time that was needed to film “The Wedding from Hell”, so producers found a similar-looking spot to double for it in certain scenes.
Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Brandi for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: La Villa Consolata, aka the mansion from Good Advice, the “Driven” episode of CSI: Miami and “The Wedding from Hell” episode of Charmed, is located at 330 South Mapleton Drive in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles. The home used for all of the backyard scenes in Mommie Dearest is located across the street at 355 South Mapleton Drive.
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The “Pretty Woman” Party House
Over the past few weeks, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have been on an extensive hunt for several unfound locations from the 1990 classic romantic comedy Pretty Woman. And the locale that I was most interested in tracking down, you ask? Why, the huge, modern-style abode where Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) attended a party in the film’s opening scene, of course. You all know how this stalker absolutely loves herself some movies houses! Anyway, after doing some extensive digging online, purchasing the Pretty Woman 15th Anniversary Special Edition DVD, watching each and every one of the special features included in it, and still coming up completely empty-handed, Mike decided that we had to change our course.
Mike had noticed a smattering of tall buildings in the background of the Pretty Woman party scene and, although the view of them was not entirely clear, he had a hunch that they were located in Century City.
So using an aerial map of West Los Angeles, he drew an angled line based on those views from Century City outward and it led him straight to the hills of Bel Air. He then zoomed in on the spot where the line had pointed and immediately noticed a huge white mansion that was very reminiscent of the Pretty Woman party house. And, sure enough, upon closer inspection, he found that it was, indeed, the right place! Wahoo! So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place this past weekend.
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The opening scene of Pretty Woman centered around a party held at a large house high up in the hills above Hollywood, thrown in honor of Edward’s arrival in Los Angeles. I believe that the residence was supposed to belong to Edward’s lawyer, Philip Stuckey (Jason Alexander), in the flick, but that was never actually specified.
Sadly, not very much of the property is visible from the street, but, as you can see above, the bush where the valet stand was placed, the double windows located above the garage, the brick driveway, and the bent tree on the side of the driveway, all still look exactly the same as they did onscreen way back in 1990. So incredibly cool! In real life, the Pretty Woman party house, which was originally built in 1988 and sits on an almost 3/4-acre plot of land, measures 5 bedrooms, 8 baths, and a whopping 10,650 square feet of living space.
As you can see in the above aerial views, both the home and its surrounding property are absolutely ginormous!
According to director Garry Marshall’s commentary on the Pretty Woman 15th Anniversary Special Edition DVD (which I highly recommend, by the way – the special features are fabulous!), the real life interior of the home was also used in the filming. Man, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that place!
Amazingly, when Mike went to stalk the house a few days after I had, the gate just happened to be open and he was able to snap a few pictures of the front of it! WHOO-HOO!
Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The party house from the opening scene of Pretty Woman is located at 650 Sarbonne Road in Bel Air.
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The “Nanny and the Professor” House
Last week, fellow stalker James posted a comment on my site challenging me to find the residence where the Everett family – widowed Professor Harold Everett (Richard Long) and his three children, Hal (David Doremus), Butch (Trent Lehman), and Prudence (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Kim Richards), and their nanny, Nanny Phoebe Figalilly (Hayley Mills’ sister, Juliet Mills) – lived in the 1970s television series Nanny and the Professor. And while I had never before even heard of the Mary-Poppins-like comedy, I was immediately intrigued and added the location to my “To-Find” list. Fellow stalker Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, beat me to the punch, though, and sent me an email in which he informed me of the address to the home less than 24 hours after James had posted the challenge! Nice! Thank you, Geoff! So this past weekend, I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there to stalk the place.
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In the short-lived Nanny and the Professor, which only lasted two seasons and ran from January 1970 to December 1971, the Everett family lived in an idyllic white clapboard residence supposedly located at 10327 Oak Street in what, I believe, was Los Angeles.
You can see the “10327” address placard pictured in the background of the above screen captures.
Thankfully, the house is also numbered 10327 in real life, which is how Geoff was able to track it down. The Colonial-style residence, which was originally built in 1935, measures 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 2,128 square feet. And, amazingly enough, it still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did in 1970 when the series was taped, despite the fact that a whopping forty-two years have since passed.
Even the decorative light post which appeared in the show is still there in real life! So incredibly cool!
As you can see above, the Nanny and the Professor house truly is idyllic in real life.
So much so that the homeowners even posted a sign in the front yard which reads, “Please . . . Do Not Disturb! This House is Not For sale.” LOL I guess they had quite a few people stopping by wanting the buy the place.
Kim Richards was only five years old – and absolutely adorable – when the series began filming and, although she had already acted in over 20 commercials by that time, “Prudence Everett” was the future child star’s first major role.
Big THANK YOU to Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Nanny and the Professor house is located at 10327 Glenbarr Avenue in the Cheviot Hills section of Los Angeles. Claire and Phil’s house from Modern Family is located just a few blocks away at 10336 Dunleer Drive.
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Villa Sophia from the Final Episode of “Entourage”
A couple of weeks ago, while the Grim Cheaper and I were out doing some stalking in the Hollywood area, I received an email from Constantine Vlahos, the owner of a Los Feliz mansion named Villa Sophia. Constantine was writing to let me know that his home had been featured in the final episode of Entourage and that I might be interested in stalking it. Now, I just have to say here that that was most definitely a first – a homeowner not only seeking me out to inform me of his property’s filming history, but also encouraging me to stalk the place! Oh, how I wish more people would do the same! And interested in stalking it, I surely was, so I dragged the GC right on out there later that same day.
In real life, Villa Sophia is quite breathtaking. And while the Mediterranean-revival-style mansion, which was originally built in 1927, appears to be absolutely gargantuan from the street, in reality it “only” boasts 3 bedrooms, 4 baths, and 4,525 square feet – which is large, don’t get me wrong, but from the looks of the exterior, I expected the place to be a whole lot bigger.
As you can see in the above aerial view, the residence seems to be massive!
Villa Sophia was originally designed by Henry Harwood Hewitt, the L.A.-area architect who also gave us The Ebell Club of Los Angeles (an oft-used filming location that I really should have already blogged about being that I have stalked it twice!), the L.A. County Hall of Justice (also an oft-used location that was featured in the television shows Dragnet and Get Smart), and Bob Hope Patriotic Hall (yet another filming location that appeared in the movies Patton and Flashdance). Villa Sophia was commissioned by Clement E. Smoot, an Olympic-gold-medalist golfer turned industrial lighting manufacturer, and his wife, Margaret Miller Smoot. During the 1930s, the property became home to James Whale, the famed British film director who made Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, Show Boat, and The Man with the Iron Mask, and who was also the subject of the 1998 flick Gods and Monsters. In the late 90s, the dwelling was purchased by Constantine, my new favorite homeowner , who had spent years fantasizing about owning the place and who immediately began a massive renovation and restoration process, during which he added on a 15-foot retaining wall, a pool, a pool house, upper and lower rear terraces, a loggia, and a dining pavilion. Constantine even rents the 750-square-foot pool house out to vacationers, so if you are in the area and would like to stay at an Entourage filming location, you can book a reservation here. And you can see some fabulous close-up pictures of the home here.
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In the final episode of Entourage, which was appropriately titled “The End”, Villa Sophia was featured in the very last, post-credits scene in which Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) and his wife, Mrs. Ari (Perrey Reeves), are shown living their new life in Florence, Italy. It is at the home that Ari receives a phone call from Time Warner chairman John Ellis (Alan Dale), who announces that he is retiring and wants Ari to take over his job. Dun-dun-dun! As you can see above, the landscape of Florence was digitally added to the background of the scene.
Villa Sophia was also the site of a Victoria’s Secret “Bombshell Summer” commercial starring Candice Swanepoel, Chanel Iman, and Erin Heatherton that was filmed in May 2011.
Victoria’s Secret Bombshell Summer commercial filmed at Villa SophiaYou can watch a behind-the-scenes video of that shoot by clicking above.
Constantine also informed me that the home will be featured in the near future in a yet-to-be-released movie starring Kate Bosworth.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Villa Sophia, from “The End” episode of Entourage, is located at 4565 Dundee Drive in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. You can visit the mansion’s official website here. The Lovell Health House, aka Pierce Patchett’s home from L.A. Confidential, is located just up the street at 4616 Dundee Drive.
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Taking the Day Off
I do not have a new blog to post for today as I spent all day yesterday in the South Bay doing some stalking with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, but I do promise to be back tomorrow with a whole new location. So until that time . . . Happy Stalking!
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George’s Childhood Home from “Blow”
This past Saturday morning, after waking up to a torrential downpour and then waiting a few hours for it to pass, the Grim Cheaper suggested that we head south to the city of Whittier to do some stalking of Whittier High School, aka Hill Valley High School from Back to the Future, which, amazingly enough, in all my years of stalking I had yet to visit. And I should mention here that while I do absolutely love me some BTTF and have stalked quite a few of its locales, I have yet to blog about any of them as The Big Waste of Space Photologue features a Back to the Future Tour in which each and every one of the movie’s sites is painstakingly documented. I have long been of the opinion that, unless I have something to add to the mix, there is no reason to blog about places that have already been reported on and since BTTF has been done, and done quite well, I figure my stalking “talents” are best left to more uncharted territory. Anyway, the GC and I had an absolute blast stalking Whittier High School and while I might do a blog on my experiences there sometime in the future, for now I thought I would write about the other places we visited, one of which was the childhood home of George Jung (Johnny Depp) from the 2001 movie Blow.
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While doing some stalking on Painter Avenue in the Whittier Historic Neighborhood Association area, I happened to run into a homeowner who informed me that one of the properties on a nearby street had been used as George’s childhood home in Blow. And while she did not remember the exact property used, she pointed me in the right direction. From there, I contacted Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to see if he would email me some screen caps of the residence in question so that I could attempt to track it down while I was in the area. Mike’s response? “Oh, I know where that house is – it’s at 6216 Friends Avenue.” LOL I really should have known – if a property has anything to do with filming and is located anywhere in the vicinity of greater Los Angeles, chances are Mike is going to know about it. So, with the address firmly in hand, I immediately dragged the GC right on over there. On our way, I just had to pull over and take a picture with the Friends Avenue street sign – for reasons that should be imminently clear to all of my fellow stalkers. LOVE IT!
George’s childhood home, where he lives with parents Ermine Jung (Rachel Griffiths) and Fred Jung (Ray Liotta) and which is said to be located in Weymouth, Massachusetts, shows up quite a few times in Blow. It first pops up at the very beginning of the movie in the scene in which George is describing his background to the audience.
It is next featured in the scene in which George skips bail to go see his parents after the death of his girlfriend, Barbara Buckley (Franka Potente). While there, Ermine calls the police on him and he winds up being rearrested.
It later appears in the scene in which George visits his parents yet again in order to tell them that he is going on the lam and might not be in touch for a while.
And it lastly pops up towards the end of the movie in the scene in which Fred listens to a message that George has tape-recorded for him.
In real life, the Blow house, which was originally built in 1924, boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and 2,734 square feet of living space. And while it does look similar to how it appeared onscreen, I actually much prefer the color scheme from the movie to the colors it is currently painted.
And while I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the residence was also used in the filming, I was unable to find any interior photographs of the house online with which to verify that hunch.
Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: George’s childhood home from Blow is located at 6216 Friends Avenue in Whittier.