Year: 2014

Today’s “Los Angeles” Magazine Post – The Disney Garage

Sorry to have been M.I.A. for the past couple of days. I was visiting L.A. and had the most amazing time! The trip even included a surprise makeover for a new reality show (which I promise to blog about at a later date). There was, unfortunately, no time for blogging, though, but I will have a new post up tomorrow. And don’t forget to check out my new Los Angeles magazine post today – about Walt Disney’s first L.A. Studio – on LAMag.com. (My columns typically get posted in the late morning/early afternoon hours.)

May 8, 2014
Winnie Cooper’s Second House from “The Wonder Years”

UPDATE – The Wonder Years is coming to DVD for the first time ever in October! The 26-disc boxed set includes all six seasons of the show, plus a cast reunion segment, over 15 hours of bonus footage, a collectible metal locker, two production booklets packed with behind-the-scenes information, a replica yearbook, and Wonder Years magnets. Sets can be pre-ordered here.

I am still currently in the process of binge-watching The Wonder Years on Netflix. The Season 3 finale, titled “Moving,” in which Winnie Cooper (Danica McKellar – who is completely ROCKING IT on Dancing With the Stars! LOVE her!) relocates to a new home located four miles away from longtime love Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), absolutely broke my heart. Come to think of it, every episode breaks my heart. Prior to this recent re-watching, I didn’t remember the series being so sad, but yikes! I bawl during pretty much every episode. I am a nostalgic person by nature and the sentimentality of the show tugs at all of my heartstrings – but in a good way. So when I found the address of Winnie’s new house on this website, I ran right out to stalk it.

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During the first three seasons of The Wonder Years, Winnie and her family lived in a home (which I blogged about here) located right across the street from the Arnold residence (which I blogged about here). While the Cooper family sold that abode in “Moving,” their new dwelling did not actually appear onscreen until the Season 4 opener, which was titled “Growing Up.” It is said in the episode that the Cooper’s new pad is located four miles away from their previous one, but in reality it is located right around the corner.

The property continued to be utilized throughout the remaining three seasons of the The Wonder Years.

I actually find the residence to be an odd choice for use on the series for two reasons – it is substantially larger than the Cooper’s first home and it doesn’t really have a 1960s-feel to it.

Thankfully though, the property has not changed much since its Wonder Years days.

According to Redfin, the 1950 home boasts two bedrooms, two baths, and 1,896 square feet. It actually looks to be much larger than that, though, so I am not sure if the listed measurements are correct.

Whenever I think of the Cooper’s second residence, I am reminded of the Season 4 episode titled “The Accident,” in which Kevin climbed onto Winnie’s roof, peeked through her window and mouthed “I love you” to her. Ironically enough, though, after re-watching the scene, I do not believe it was actually shot at the house. As you can see below, the roof that Kevin climbs in the episode has two side-by-side dormer windows. Winnie’s residence does not have any such windows, so I am guessing that producers either filmed the scene at a different property or, in a more likely scenario, had a prop roof built on a soundstage for the shoot.

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!

Stalk It: Winnie Cooper’s second house from The Wonder Years is located at 501 Tufts Avenue in Burbank. Winnie’s first home from the series can be found right around the corner at 525 University Avenue. Kevin Arnold’s residence is located diagonally across the street from Winnie’s first home at 516 University Avenue.

May 5, 2014
The “Hidden Away” House

As I mentioned in my post about Azul Tapas Lounge, I was not a fan of the 2014 Lifetime Original Movie Hidden Away, which was filmed largely in Palm Springs. I was a huge fan of the ultra-modern abode where the main character, Stephanie/Alexandra (Emmanuelle Vaugier), lived with her daughter, Rachel (Allie Gonino), in the flick, though, and became a bit fixated on tracking it down and stalking it. And while I did manage to find the dwelling quite easily, because it is located inside of a gated community, I was only able to stalk the front gates and, unfortunately, never got to see the actual home in person.

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Tracking down the property was a quick endeavor thanks to this 2013 article, which stated that the home was located in Palm Springs’ Alta neighborhood, and the fact that the number “245” was visible on the exterior of the residence in several scenes. From there I just looked at aerial views of all houses in the Alta community bearing that number and it wasn’t long before I found the place at 245 Patel Place.

After faking her death to escape her abusive husband and collecting on her own $250,000 life insurance policy, Stephanie changes her name to Alexandra, flees to Palm Springs, and settles into the stunning modern-style home pictured below. Now I realize that $250,000 is a considerable amount of money and, if invested wisely, could lead to an even more considerable amount, but I still found it a bit laughable that a woman who left everything behind and changed her identity could afford such a massive property. (RealEstate.com currently estimates the home’s value at $1.485 million.) Plus, wouldn’t someone living on the run be trying to keep a low profile?

The interior of the residence (which you can see photographs of here) was used quite extensively in the filming. Shown onscreen were the entrance (the front door is uh-ma-zing!);

kitchen;

living room [that’s Alexandra’s abusive ex-husband, Andrew (Ivan Sergei), pictured below setting up cameras all over the house in order to spy on her];

one of the bedrooms;

and backyard. As I said, the dwelling is absolutely stunning!

In real life, the house, which was built in 2006, features 4,000 square feet of living space, four bedrooms, five baths, a gourmet kitchen, two dishwashers (because one is just never enough), a double oven, seven (!) plasma TVs, including a 50-inch outdoor screen, an infinity pool, a hot tub that can hold up to 14 people, two fire pits, an outdoor gas fireplace, an in-wall espresso machine (um, yes please!), and ten-foot “disappearing” sliding glass walls and doors.

Outside of the front gate, though, there isn’t a whole lot to see, sadly.

You can watch a YouTube video showing interior photographs of the house by clicking below and you can check out the residence’s vacation rental website by clicking here. The pad currently rents for $1,300 to $2,000 a night!

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!

Stalk It: Alexandra and Rachel’s house from Hidden Away is located at 245 Patel Place in Palm Springs. The home is inside of a gated community and is not visible from the street.

May 2, 2014
Latest “Los Angeles” Magazine Post – Pawnee City Hall

Don’t forget to check out my latest Los Angeles magazine post today – about Pawnee City Hall from Parks and Recreation – on LAMag.com. (My articles typically get posted in the early afternoon hours.)

May 1, 2014
Bombay Beach

Out of all of the Salton Sea townships that I stalked while my best friend, Robin, was visiting in March, Bombay Beach was, without a doubt, my favorite. Situated about twenty miles south of the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club (which I blogged about here), the tiny census-designated place is made up of about two hundred homes and trailers, a great number of which are abandoned.

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At 223 feet below sea level, Bombay Beach has the distinction of being the lowest city in America. It is also, according to this July 2013 article, the most-filmed location in the entire Imperial County.

Originally set to be a Riviera-like resort destination on the shores of the Salton Sea, Bombay Beach suffered the same fate as its neighboring townships. As the sea’s toxicity and salinity increased in the late 1960s, the fish and bird population died off. It was not long before animal carcasses covered the once-sandy beaches and the smell of their decaying bodies permeated the air. Many residents vacated the region. Then, when the storms of 1976 and 1977 hit and caused massive flooding, even more people fled. Oddly though, some stayed behind and still call Bombay Beach home to this day.

The tiny, 0.9-square-mile township currently boasts about three hundred residents.

The abandoned properties remain, though.

It is this juxtaposition that makes the place so eerie.

Also adding to the creepiness factor is the fact that many of those who fled walked away not only from their properties, but all of their belongings, as well. Forgotten sofas, toys and even cars can be seen strewn about the landscape.

In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s the Friends couch visible through the window below.

Situated in the midst of this apocalyptic–like setting is a church . . .

. . . two mini-marts (I only got a photograph of one) . . .

. . . and a “fireside lounge” named Blues After Dark, which is currently for sale. There’s also a restaurant, the Ski Inn, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

The entire area was just begging to be photographed.

Yep, the graffiti pictured below reads, “Abandon all hope ye who enter.”

Prior to visiting Bombay Beach, I had never even heard of the place, so I was absolutely shocked to discover how often it has been utilized for filming. I guess its immortalization onscreen should not have come as a surprise, though, considering its vastly unique and desolate landscape.

In the 1990 made-for-television movie The Great Los Angeles Earthquake, Bombay Beach was said to be the site of numerous foreshocks, but it does not appear that any actual filming took place there.

In 2008, chef Anthony Bourdain visited Bombay Beach to film the Season 4 episode of his Travel Channel reality series Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations titled “U.S. Southwest.”

During his sojourn, Bourdain partook of a patty melt at Bombay Beach’s sole restaurant, the Ski Inn.

The episode makes for a fascinating watch and is available for purchase via Amazon Instant Video.

A 2011 documentary was also made about the township. Appropriately titled Bombay Beach, the film was directed by Israeli filmmaker Alma Har’el and followed the lives of three Bombay Beach residents. It won “Best Documentary Feature” at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit award.

You can watch the Bombay Beach trailer by clicking below.

In 2013, Jeremy Wade shot a promo for the fifth season of his Animal Planet series, River Monsters, at Bombay Beach.

You can watch that promo by clicking below.

Bombay Beach was used extensively in the 2013 music video for Austrian singer Christina Sturmer’s song “Millionen Lichter” (translation – “A Million Lights”). The video was shot on the shoreline . . .

. . . throughout the town itself . . .

. . . and in front of several Bombay Beach houses.

The motel that appeared in “Millionen Lichter” cannot be found in Bombay Beach, however, but about 170 miles away. It is the Four Aces movie set in Palmdale, which has appeared in countless productions over the years and which I have stalked, but have yet to blog about.

You can watch the “Millionen Lichter” video by clicking below. It’s actually a really catchy song, although I don’t understand a word of it.

I was absolutely shocked to discover while doing research for this post that the Season 6 episode of The Mentalist titled “The Desert Rose” was filmed on location at Bombay Beach. “The Desert Rose” was one of my favorite episodes of the show ever, so how I did not recognize the place when we visited is beyond me.

In “The Desert Rose,” Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) and Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) are sent to the Salton Sea to investigate the murder of a real estate developer named Brooke Yardley (Alex Daniels), whose body was found on the shores of Bombay Beach. The spot where the body was found is located near Avenue D & 5th Street.

While in town, Lisbon and Jane pop into the Borrego Gap Diner, which is actually the Ski Inn, Anthony Bourdain’s former stomping grounds.

Sadly, because I did not realize its significance at the time, I only got one partial photograph of the eatery.

The inside of the Ski Inn (which you can check out some pictures of here) does bear a striking resemblance to the diner shown on The Mentalist, but I do not believe any interior filming actually took place on the premises. As you can see in this photograph, not only are there structural differences between the two, but the flooring shown in the episode does not match the restaurant’s actual flooring.

While we were driving around Bombay Beach, Robin mentioned how much it reminded him of Sandy Shores from Grand Theft Auto V. I had no clue what he was talking about at the time, but was floored to discover while reading a Wikipedia article later that day that Bombay Beach had served as the inspiration for the town in the game! I should mention here that Robin is not into filming locations AT ALL, so this was a first – and I couldn’t have been more excited about it. I swear I’ll make a stalker out of him yet! I ended up buying the Grim Cheaper a PlayStation 3 and Grand Theft Auto V for his birthday shortly after Robin’s visit and, in our excitement to see Bombay Beach onscreen, we stole a boat in the opening scene of the game and drove it right up to Sandy Shores. Now we are kind of stuck there, unsure of what to do. Sure enough, though, the place does look exactly like Bombay Beach.

Of the Sandy Shores design, Grand Theft Auto V art director Aaron Garbut said in a 2014 interview with the Edge, “We did know the [biographies] for the three characters right at the start, so we knew we wanted to create an area for Trevor out in the sticks. Towards the beginning of preproduction, I met up with [Rockstar president] Sam [Houser] in LA, and we spent a week together driving about, just exploring and talking. During that trip, we drove out into the desert and eventually ended up visiting Salton Sea [in California]. We went to an amazing spot called Bombay Beach and expected a real-life Trevor to burst out on us at any second. When the full reference trip was organized, we sent a team out to Salton Sea for a few days.” LOVE it!

On an abandoned sites side-note – I just learned about an abandoned water park located on the grounds of none other than the Walt Disney World Resort! Known as River Country, the park was shuttered in 2001 and has sat rotting ever since. Man, would I love to see it in person! You can check out some great photographs of the property in its current state here.

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!

Stalk It: Bombay Beach is located on the eastern side of the Salton Sea, about twenty miles north of Niland and twenty miles south of the North Shore Yacht Club. The Ski Inn, aka the Borrego Gap Diner from The Mentalist, is located at 9596 Avenue A.

April 30, 2014
Dr. Daniel Pierce’s House from “Perception”

For nearly two years now, I have been on the hunt for the house where Dr. Daniel Pierce (Eric McCormack) lives with his long-suffering assistant, Max Lewicki (Arjay Smith), on the TNT series Perception. Due to the fact that the residence is typically only ever shown at night in rather tight establishing shots, with no clues such as street signs or address numbers visible in the background, I had a tough time tracking it down. While I did have an inkling that, thanks to its Craftsman-style architecture, the dwelling was most likely located somewhere in Pasadena, my numerous searches of the Crown City left me empty-handed.

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It wasn’t until I recently re-watched the Season 2 episode titled “Brotherhood” that I realized my mistake. Several scenes from “Brotherhood” were actually shot on location at the home and a view of the neighborhood was briefly shown – a neighborhood that looked decidedly South Pasadenan. So I did some online sleuthing for Perception filming in SP and eventually came across this South Pasadena Patch article which stated that the show had done some filming on the 1800 block of Diamond Avenue. Sure enough, I would up finding the house right where the article said it would be – 1800 Diamond Ave.

Daniel’s house pops up regularly on Perception, typically in tightly-angled or dimly-lit night shots, as I mentioned above.

Only rarely is a full or semi-full view of the exterior shown.

I was shocked to discover how different the residence looks in person. As you can see in the screen capture as compared to the photograph pictured below, the house currently has much more foliage surrounding it than what is depicted on Perception. In real life, the dwelling is almost completely shielded by trees. In fact, when I first showed up to stalk it, I drove right by the place, missing it completely!

The trees are so abundant that they even hide the fact that the home has a second story!

In real life, the 1919 residence features four bedrooms, two baths, 1,866 square feet, and 0.17 acres of land. The pad last sold in August 1991 for $326,000.

I am absolutely in LOVE with the covered patio. How great would it be to sit out there, sipping on a Starbucks iced latte?

Only the exterior of the home is used on Perception. The interior of Dr. Pierce’s house exists on a soundstage at Los Angeles Center Studios where the series is lensed. Because the pilot was shot on location in Toronto, a different interior was shown in that particular episode – the interior of what I believe is an actual residence in Canada. As you can in the screen captures below (taken from the pilot and the second episode titled “Faces”), the two residences are quite a bit different.

I would guess that the set of Daniel’s home was based on the real life interior of the Diamond Avenue house, but, try as I might, I could not find any photographs with which to verify that hunch.

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!

Stalk It: Dr. Daniel Pierce’s house from Perception is located at 1800 Diamond Avenue in South Pasadena.

April 29, 2014
A Visit with Grandma

My beloved Grandma is in town for a visit so I will be taking the rest of the week off from blogging. I hope all of my fellow stalkers have a great few days!
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

April 23, 2014
The Salton Sea

About fifty miles southeast of Palm Springs lies the Salton Sea, a former resort destination that I had wanted to stalk ever since seeing Troy Paiva’s haunting images of the place on his website Lost America. Due to the fact that it is largely abandoned and hence lacking in public restrooms, I hesitated making the trek out there. (I suffer from an abnormally small bladder.) Then, while my best friend Robin was in town in mid-March, the Grim Cheaper convinced me that it was time to finally make the trip. Sadly, as we discovered, many of the abandoned structures that Paiva had pictured on his site were demolished in 2008. Being there still turned out to be quite an experience, though, to say the least. [There are several abandoned and semi-abandoned towns lining the shores of the Salton Sea – Bombay Beach, Niland, and Slab City (yes, that’s a place), just to name a few. We hit them all. This post will solely be focused on the North Shore and the Sea itself, with future posts about the other areas to come.]

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The Salton Sea was created accidentally in 1905 when runoff from the Colorado River broke through levees and flooded a large valley known as the Salton Sink. The deluge, which lasted for two years, left behind a 380-square-mile inland sea (the largest inland body of water in California – yes, it’s bigger than Lake Tahoe!) situated 228 feet below sea level. It was dubbed the “Salton Sea.”

Developers, recognizing the potential of the picturesque coastal site, started building resorts and marinas (including the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club – pictured above and below – which was designed by legendary architect Albert Frey in 1962) in the region in the 1950s. It wasn’t long before the Salton Sea became a luxury getaway destination and even celebrities flocked to the area for fishing, sunbathing and waterskiing. Just a few of the stars who spent time there include Sonny Bono, Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson, Dean Martin, The Beach Boys, The Marx Brothers and Jerry Lewis.

The region’s tenure as a resort destination was short-lived. Agricultural runoff, containing fertilizer, pesticide and salt, from nearby farms continued to flow to the Salton Sea, at the same rate that the expanse was naturally evaporating. Because neither salt nor fertilizer evaporate, the salinity of the lake, as well as its toxicity, increased year after year. This caused a large growth of algae, which drained the sea of oxygen, which in turn killed off the fish population. Dead fish remains began to wash ashore, littering the once beautiful beaches. Birds wound up feeding on those dead fish and, in turn, also died. The thousands upon thousands of animal carcasses that papered the shoreline created a horrific smell that permeated the area. People started to flee. Then, in 1976 and 1977, two large storms hit the region, submerging many of the marinas, clubs, motels and neighborhoods. Residents vacated the Salton Sea in droves, leaving behind homes, cars and other structures. They were never to return.

It was the North Shore Beach and Yacht Club, which was shuttered and left abandoned in 1984, as well as the neighboring North Shore Motel and its pool, and a large Texaco gas station sign that I most wanted to see. Sadly, the motel, pool and Texaco sign are all long gone and the Yacht Club was completely refurbished in 2010 (it now serves as a special events center). You can check out some photographs of what they used to look like here.

Today, the abandoned sites are few and far between.

The ones that still stand are sufficiently eerie, though.

From afar, the Salton Sea is quite beautiful, with bright blue waters.

A closer glance reveals that beauty to be an illusion, though. In reality, the waters of the Salton Sea are a murky brown. The blue hue is simply a reflection of the sky.

The white shoreline hides its own secrets.

In truth, the “sand” of the Salton Sea is mainly comprised of crushed fish skeletons . . .

. . . as well as dead fish. It is an absolutely eerie place to visit.

Thanks to its apocalyptic landscape, the Salton Sea has been immortalized onscreen numerous times over the years. The flooded out house where Jim Henry (Richard Conte) lived in 1954’s Highway Dragnet was said to be located at the Salton Sea and I am fairly certain that filming actually took place there, as well. Because the area has changed so drastically over the ensuing sixty years, I was unable to confirm that, though.

I do know for certain – thanks to this 2006 Los Angeles Times article – that the interior of Jim’s house was a set and not the interior of an actual Salton Sea residence.

In 1957, the sea was where prehistoric mollusk mutations were discovered in The Monster That Challenged the World. The narration that opens the film states, “This is the Salton Sea in Southern California – a strange phenomenon in which nature has placed four hundred square miles of salt water in the middle of an arid desert.” Aside from the aerial view of the area shown during that narration, I do not believe any other filming took place there.

The region was also used for flashback scenes in which Tom Van Allen (Val Kilmer) thinks back to a time when his wife, Liz (Chandra West), was still alive in 2002’s aptly-named The Salton Sea.

In the book Hollywood Escapes, the film’s director D.J. Caruso is quoted as saying, “I had flown over The Salton Sea many times and always wondered What the hell is that down there, and why is it called a sea? After reading the first draft of Tony Gayton’s screenplay The Salton Sea, I hopped into my car and made an impromptu trip out there. Upon arriving, I was overcome by the vastness of this body of water. It was indeed visually striking and I was moved by its haunted beauty. The images at the Salton Sea alone could have made a two-hour picture. I knew this place was the perfect companion to the soul of Val Kilmer’s character. What once was beautiful and full of hope, now was lost and searching for a way to survive.”

The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club masqueraded as the Aces & Spades dance club in the 2005 thriller The Island.

I am fairly certain that only the exterior of the Yacht Club was used in the filming and that the interior of the Ace & Spades was a set built elsewhere.

The North Shore Motel also appeared briefly in the movie.

Rock band Linkin Park shot the cover images for their 2007 album, Minutes to Midnight, at the Salton Sea.

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!

Stalk It: The Salton Sea is located off Highway 111, about 50 miles southeast of Palm Springs. The North Shore Beach and Yacht Club can be found at 99155 Sea View Drive in Mecca.

April 21, 2014
The Disneyland Locations from “Saving Mr. Banks”

In February (on what turned out to be an exorbitantly crowded day), the Grim Cheaper and I visited The Happiest Place on Earth with Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, and her husband, Keith Coogan. Since I had just recently watched – and fallen in love with – Saving Mr. Banks, I decided to do a little stalking of the Disneyland locales that appeared in the flick while I was there.

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In Saving Mr. Banks, which chronicles the making of the 1964 film Mary Poppins, Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) takes P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) to Disneyland for the day in the hopes that the trip will soften the prickly author and make her more a bit more agreeable to work with. When P.L. arrives at the park, she is driven right through the main gates and up to the the back side of Disneyland Railroad’s Main Street Train Station, where Walt is waiting for her.

The Main Street Train Station and Disneyland Railroad are both original attractions, opened the same day that the park was on July 17th, 1955. The Victorian-style station is one of four located throughout the property and is serviced by five different trains. The locomotives, which run on bio-diesel fuel, are all historically accurate in their design, with one, the C.K. Holiday train, boasting a special caboose named the Lilly Belle. The Belle, which was originally part of the now-retired Retlaw 1 train, was redesigned with luxurious appointments in 1974 in order to act as a special passenger car for VIPs. You can check out some photographs of it here. The car is still in operation to this day and is open to the public, pending availability. If you would like to ride the Lilly Belle, inquire at the front desk of the Main Street Railroad Station as soon as the park opens and, if it is running that day and is available, you and your party will be given a scheduled ride time. Passengers are even given special train tickets to commemorate the experience. (There are rumors floating around the internet that the public is no longer allowed on the Belle. While this website claims the rumors have been confirmed, I am not sure if that is accurate.)

While outside the Main Street Train Station, Walt is shown jovially greeting admirers and handing out pre-signed autographs, which never ceases to crack me up as your chances of catching Tom Hanks happily interacting with fans are slim to none. The guy’s a great actor, but not AT ALL friendly – in fact he was downright mean to me when I met him a few years back. He was also deemed one of The Top Ten Worst Autograph Signers of 2013 by Mike the Fanboy – and rightly so. You can read Mike’s write-up here.

Walt and P.L. then make their way down Main Street, U.S.A. Mid-walk, Walt gazes up longingly at a window that bears his father’s name.

That window, located above the Emporium (Disneyland’s largest gift shop), is, too, a park original and has been there since opening day. It reads “Elias Disney, Contractor, Est. 1895.” Elias held a number of different jobs throughout his lifetime, including mail carrier, orange farmer and railroad crewman. He also did some work contracting houses in Chicago and it is believed that he might have started his own contracting business in 1895, hence the year listed on the window.

Walt then manages to get P.L. on a ride – the King Arthur Carrousel – although she does so very begrudgingly.

The King Arthur Carrousel (which utilizes a British spelling) is also a Disneyland Opening Day attraction and has been in operation since 1955. (It was in fact a carousel, the one at Griffith Park, that inspired Walt to create Disneyland in the first place.) The merry-go-round was originally built in 1922 and, prior to its relocation to The Happiest Place on Earth, had been a part of Sunnyside Beach Park in Toronto, Canada. Walt had the ride enlarged and remodeled before it made its Disney debut. The carousel features 68 hand-carved wooden horses (each has a name – supposedly, you were once able to stop by Disneyland City Hall and pick up a list of those names), one chariot and 3,328 sparkling bulb lights. Jingles, the horse that P.L. rides in Saving Mr. Banks, is one of the attraction’s actual steeds and its most ornately-decorated. In an ironic twist, on April 8th, 2008, as part of the park’s 50th anniversary celebration, Jingles was dedicated to none other than Mary Poppins herself, actress Julie Andrews.

The Disneyland locations can be seen briefly in the Saving Mr. Banks trailer, which you can watch by clicking below.

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!

Stalk It: Disneyland Resort is located at 1313 Disneyland Drive in Anaheim. You can visit the park’s official website here. The areas used in Saving Mr. Banks include the rear side of the Main Street Train Station, just beyond the park’s front entrance; the Elias Disney window, which can be found on the west side of Main Street, on the second floor of the Emporium, next to and just south of the Crystal Arcade storefront; and the King Arthur Carrousel, which is in Fantasyland, just north of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

April 18, 2014
Kim’s New House from “L!fe Happens”

Once I had tracked down the main house used in L!fe Happens (you can read that post here), as well as Auntie Em’s Kitchen, which also appeared in the flick (you can read that post here), I became more than a little obsessed with finding the cottage that Kim (Krysten Ritter) rented towards the end of the 2011 rom-com. Ironically enough, I didn’t even like L!fe Happens all that much, but it was filmed in L.A. and knowing that there are undiscovered SoCal locations out there just waiting to be unearthed is like kryptonite to this stalker. So, once again, I found myself on the hunt.

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The bungalow only appears in a few brief scenes near the end of L!fe Happens, after (spoiler alert!) Kim decides to move out of the residence she formerly shared with her BFFs Deena (Kate Bosworth) and Laura (Rachel Bilson) and into her her own place.

While Kim is out house-hunting, she is shown driving on a street that – thanks to its broadness, position at the base of a group of mountains and fact that it dead-ends into another road – I figured was most likely located in Eagle Rock.

I was also fairly certain that the street sign that Kim passed in the scene said “Las Flores.”

I also noticed an address number that I believed to be “5120” painted on the curb in front of Kim’s new house. So I started searching all of the 5100 blocks of streets running perpendicular to Las Flores Drive in Eagle Rock. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I found the right place. As it turns out, the address number is actually “5129,” not “5120.” And they say close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades!

In real life, the picturesque 1911 cottage features three bedrooms, 1 bath, 1,694 square feet, and a 0.17-acre plot of land. It last sold in June 2012 for $565,000.

The home’s actual interior was also used in the filming, as you can see in the screen capture/MLS photograph-comparisons pictured below.

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!

Stalk It: Kim’s new house from L!fe Happens is located at 5129 Windermere Avenue in Eagle Rock.

April 16, 2014