Don’t forget to read today’s Scene It Before post for Los Angeles magazine – about the Say Anything-inspired Target commercial. You can find it here. My columns typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.
Year: 2014
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Paul Pfeiffer’s House(s) from “The Wonder Years”
It’s official, folks! 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 and there is even an option to purchase a special edition signed by Fred Savage and Danica McKellar! Um, sign me up! To celebrate the good news, I thought it would only be fitting to write about a Wonder Years location today – the house (or I should say “houses”) where Paul Pfeiffer (Josh Saviano) lived on the hit coming-of-age series.
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I found the address of the Pfeiffer residence on the My TWY Yearbook website and stalked it back in February. It was not until doing research for this post, though, that I realized two different properties had actually been used to portray the family’s home on the series. But more on that later. The house mentioned on My TWY Yearbook was featured in the Season 5 episode of The Wonder Years titled “Pfeiffer’s Choice.” In the episode, Paul’s family comes into some money thanks to a lucrative investment and when a jealous Jack Arnold (Dan Lauria) drives by the Pfeiffer home, with his son, Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage), he is irked to see Paul’s father, Alvin (John C. Moskoff), driving a brand new humongous John Deere tractor.
The residence shows up a second time in the episode, in the scene in which Kevin comforts Paul after learning that Alvin has lost all of the money he recently made.
The house used in “Pfeiffer’s Choice” can be found at 536 Tufts Avenue in Burbank, just up the street from Winnie Cooper’s (Danica McKellar) second home from the series (which I blogged about here). The 1950-property, which boasts three bedrooms, two baths, 1,651 square feet of living space and a 0.17-acre yard, looks much the same today as it did when The Wonder Years was filmed.
While I was scanning through various episodes making screen captures for this post, I came across Season 6’s “Poker” and was shocked to see a different dwelling featured as Paul’s. An address number of 537 was visible in the episode and, because most of The Wonder Years houses are situated in very close proximity to each other, I figured I would most likely find the place on University Avenue, near Kevin Arnold’s pad, which is located at 516 University. (I blogged about it here). Sure enough, a quick Google search of “537 University Avenue” proved my hunch correct. Thankfully, fellow stalker Chas, of the ItsFilmedThere site, had recently taken some photographs of the residence (on account of its appearance in an episode of ER) and loaned them to me for this post.
Why two different properties were used is anybody’s guess. Even odder is the fact that the two Pfeiffer residences are located directly next door to each other! (Truth be told, there might have been more properties masquerading as the Pfeiffer home over the years. I am still only on Season 2 of my binge-watch of the series, though, so I cannot say for certain either way.)
In real life, Paul’s house from “Poker” was built in 1949 and features two bedrooms, two baths, 1,742 square feet and a 0.17-acre lot.
As I mentioned earlier, the same residence was also featured in an episode of ER. It popped up in Season 4’s “Fathers and Sons” as the home of Dr. Mark Greene’s (Anthony Edwards) parents.
The real life interior of the property also appeared in the episode and, while fairly non-descript, my head just about exploded upon seeing the kitchen.
The kitchen from ER is an almost exact match to the Arnold’s kitchen from the pilot episode of The Wonder Years! (The Wonder Years pilot made use of the actual interior of the 516 University Avenue home and, after the series got picked up, a set based on it was constructed for all subsequent filming.)
I guess the resemblance should not have come as such a surprise to me being that the two homes are located on the same street, share similar exteriors and were most likely constructed by the same builder. I was still shocked (and delighted!) when I noticed it nonetheless.
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.
Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the ItsFilmedThere website, for providing the photographs of Paul’s second house that appear in this post.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: A map of The Wonder Years neighborhood is pictured above. Paul Pfeiffer’s first house is located at 536 Tufts Avenue in Burbank. Paul’s second house can be found next door at 537 University Avenue. Winnie Cooper’s first home is located at 525 University Avenue. Winnie’s second home can be found at 501 Tufts Avenue. And Kevin Arnold’s residence is located at 516 University Avenue.
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The “Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps” Tour
I have long considered myself a Disneyland expert (or a “foamer” – a term I learned from Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, that refers to those who foam at the mouth over all things Disney). I have visited The Happiest Place on Earth more times than I can count and know its layout like the back of my hand. I even had the amazing opportunity to dine at the park’s ultra-exclusive Club 33 back in 2009. So I was shocked when fellow stalkers Kim, Lavonna, Katie and Kaylee, while preparing for their June trip to Los Angeles, told me they were buying tickets for the Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps tour, during which guests are taken inside Walt Disney’s Main Street apartment. I had no idea such a tour existed (though James Franco did) or that visitors were ever allowed inside the hallowed walls of the Disney apartment! Kim and Lavonna were nice enough to gift me with a Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps ticket for my birthday and we wound up spending two glorious days at The Happiest Place on Earth, of which the tour was the definite highlight.
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The tour, which lasted about three hours, kicked off at the Disneyland Tour Gardens kiosk on Main Street, where we were introduced to our guide and each given a headset to wear. The excursion included a free lunch and, upon arrival, we were asked to choose a meal. Several dining options were available, including Chicken Salad, Caprese and Roasted Turkey sandwiches, as well as Roasted Vegetable and Jolly Holiday salads. Desert was also included. Our group was especially excited about the White Chocolate Matterhorn Macaroons.
The tour got started promptly at 9:30 a.m. and we headed down Main Street, U.S.A. . . .
. . . towards Sleeping Beauty Castle. Along the way, we stopped at several spots and were told historical anecdotes about Walt’s creation of the park. There were even sound clips of some of Walt’s speeches that were played at key locations throughout our journey. I got goose bumps listening to his Fantasyland dedication while standing in the shadow of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Fantasyland was the land dearest to Walt’s heart and the last to be unveiled on Disneyland’s opening day, July 17th, 1955. In his speech, he said, “Now the plaque reserved for last. A few words of dedication for the happiest kingdom of them all, Fantasyland. Here is the world of imagination, hopes and dreams. In this timeless land of enchantment, the age of chivalry, magic and make-believe are reborn and fairy tales come true. Fantasyland is dedicated to the young and the young-at-heart, to those who believe that when you wish upon a star, your dreams do come true.” The castle’s drawbridge was then lowered and the 28,000 guests present that day allowed to venture forth into Fantasyland. Yep, you read that right – the Sleeping Beauty Castle drawbridge is operable! It has only been publicly lowered twice, though – on opening day and then again almost thirty years later, upon the unveiling of Fantasyland’s 1983 remodel.
Our guide took us through almost every square inch of the park, sharing details and stories each step of the way. I should point out here that it is a walking tour and, boy, did we do a lot of it! If you decide to partake of Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps yourself, be sure to wear comfortable shoes!
Because it was our second full day at Disneyland, the stroll really took it out of us. I turned around during one of our stops to see Kim like this.
The Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps tour included a visit to two attractions – and yes, we got to skip the line both times! At one point, we passed by someone who said, “Those people are on some sort of VIP tour.” Yep, that’s how we roll! The first ride we were taken to was Peter Pan’s Flight, one of my all-time favorites. The ride was also one of Walt’s favorites and has been in operation since Disneyland’s opening day, which is incredible to me! I was so thankful that we got to bypass that particular line as it is invariably one of the park’s longest, no matter what time of day.
The second “ride” we got to experience was Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at the Main Street Opera House, which, as luck would have it, was the attraction that Lavonna most wanted to see while visiting the park due to its appearance in a Season 3 episode of Modern Family.
In the episode, aptly titled “Disneyland,” Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill) drags his family to watch Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, which holds special meaning for him thanks to a visit he had there with his children, Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Claire Dunphy (Julie Bowen), when they were young.
Sadly, our experience was not as favorable as Jay’s. The show features a short film about the life of Abraham Lincoln and then culminates with an animatronic version of the former president delivering a mash-up of several of his famous speeches. Our guide had really talked up the fabulous and technologically-advanced animatronics used to create Honest Abe. Too bad we never got to see it.
As the music flared into a loud crescendo and the curtain pulled back to reveal the Lincoln figurine, something went awry. While we heard the former president’s voice, all that we saw during his speech was a black hole of darkness and two hazy lights. (Yes, I took a picture of it.) None of the Disney cast members noticed anything was wrong – not even our tour guide, who was texting at the time – and the unseen Abe was allowed to finish out his speech in obscurity. Our group kept looking over at Lavonna who was NOT a happy camper at that point. The rest of us were in hysterics, though.
At the end of Abe’s speech, the music swelled, the curtain fell and a graphic reading “America, Keep on Dreaming” appeared, while a hologram of an eagle flew in front of us. At that point we all pretty much died laughing (well, excluding Lavonna) and “Keep on Dreaming” became our catchphrase for the rest of the trip.
As we walked out of the theatre into the Opera House lobby, our guide apologized for the mishap and then led us through an exit hallway, where we were shown photographs of Disney and plaques displaying some of his famous quotes. It was at that point that she told us about Walt’s sudden passing on December 15th, 1966. It was a somber moment and I had tears in my eyes as she spoke of Roy Disney saying goodbye to his beloved brother while standing at the foot of his hospital bed.
In a bit of unfortunate timing, at that same moment a Disney cast member came out to shut down Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln “due to technical difficulties.” When she posted a sign reading, “This attraction is currently unavailable,” we could not suppress our laughter. Our guide was NOT amused at our hysterics and probably would have kicked us out had the tour not been nearing its end point. We, of course, had to pose for a photo in front of the sign before heading out of the theatre. Keep on dreaming, Lavonna!
Then came the moment we had all been waiting for – the visit to the Walt Disney apartment. The dwelling is situated on the second floor of the Disneyland Fire Station. In its central window, which overlooks Main Street, is the famous Disney lamp. For those not in the know, whenever Walt visited the park, the lamp in that window would be turned on to alert cast members to his presence. Upon his death, the lamp was lit permanently in his memory. Every time I enter Disneyland, I make sure to look up at the lamp, so the thought of seeing it from the other side of the window was almost too much excitement for me to bear.
Walt’s apartment is reached via a set of outdoor stairs located behind a locked gate to the right of the Fire Department. The studio is tiny (500 square feet!) and consists of one room and one bathroom. The main room features a small kitchenette, two large couches that convert into single beds (where Walt and Lillian would sleep when visiting the park) and a few sitting areas. The bathroom, which boasts pink tiling, is comprised of a toilet, sink and shower. The apartment also has a fairly large back patio. The Victorian-themed space was decorated by Academy Award-winning Disney set designer Emile Kuri. While most of the original furniture has been removed (some of it is housed at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco), the look has been kept reminiscent of how it was in Disney’s day. You can see a photograph of Walt in the apartment here and you can check out some great pictures of the interior here. Venturing inside was definitely a magical experience – one that I will never forget. (Sadly, we were only permitted to take one photograph while there.)
After the tour, we were served lunch at the Jolly Holiday Café. The Roasted Vegetable & Whole Grain Salad (recipe here) I had ordered was fabulous. And the much-anticipated Matterhorn Macaroons did not disappoint. Sadly though, I was not able to partake of them. Darn diabetes!
I cannot more highly recommend taking the Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps tour. Even for a Disneyphile like me who knows everything there is to know about the park, it was an informative and mesmerizing experience. Well, aside from the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln debacle, that is. (Pictured below is the commemorative pin that guests are given following the tour.)
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.
Big THANK YOU to Kim and Lavonna for not only finding out about the tour, but for booking it for us!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The Walk in Walt’s Disneyland Footsteps guided tour is offered everyday at 9:30 a.m. Tickets are $109 per person, but 20% discounts are available to Disneyland Annual Passholders and AAA members. Tickets can be purchased 30 days in advance by calling (714)781-TOUR. You can find out more information about the tour here.
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Scranton Business Park from the First Season of “The Office”
A fellow stalker named Scott recently challenged me to track down the building that was used as both the interior and exterior of Scranton Business Park during the inaugural season of The Office. I was perplexed at his query as I had no idea that two different Dunder Mifflin locations had been utilized during the show’s run. While I knew that interior filming had originally taken place inside of a real office space and that a set modeled after it had later been built inside of a soundstage, I always assumed that said office was at Chandler Valley Center Studios (which I blogged about here) on Saticoy Street in Van Nuys. I was wrong.
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Upon receiving the challenge, I did a Google search for “The Office filming locations Season 1” and came across a Yahoo! Answers query from an inquiring mind named Nickvet419 who had the very same question that Scott did. Nickvet419 had provided some screen captures (pictured below) and, sure enough, the building shown was NOT Chandler Valley Center Studios. Upon further searching, I dug up a 2006 TV Guide blog post written by Jenna Fischer (aka Pam Beesly) in which she stated that the series’ first season – both interiors and exteriors – had been filmed at a real office building in Culver City. I immediately forwarded the screen captures and Jenna’s post to fellow stalker/Office aficionado Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, and asked if he had ever done any research on the locale. His response? “Nope, I’ve never tried to track down that location. In fact, I have zero recollection of that. Are you telling me that the Saticoy Street building we’re all familiar with wasn’t used for exterior scenes during the entire Season 1 run? I don’t remember that at all. My memory sucks, but I figured I would have remembered if outdoor scenes suddenly changed from an unidentified building to the Saticoy spot. All the outdoor scenes I can picture are of Saticoy. Weird.” You’re telling me! How in the heck did I not recognize the fact that two different Dunder Mifflins had appeared on the show? Thankfully, Owen quickly tracked down the Culver City locale and I ran out to stalk it this past weekend.
In real life, the original exterior of Scranton Business Park was actually Stage 1 and 2 of the Century Studio Corporation, which has since gone out of business due to runaway production. The building housed both soundstages and second floor office space when it was in operation. You can see photographs of some of the company’s soundstages (there were nine of them in total) here.
For a time, Stage 1 and 2 were being offered for sale, but the property now appears to have been taken off the market. Several set pieces and backdrops are still located onsite, though, as you can see below. I am guessing that the location went into foreclosure at some point and is currently in a holding pattern, waiting to be sold by the bank.
Sadly, the exterior of the property was altered in recent years, as you can see in the Google Street View image below (and LoopNet listing photo here) as compared to my current photograph. While there used to be eight windows running across the second floor of the building, there are now only six.
The door to the loading dock located directly beneath the missing windows has also been made taller, which means that a portion of the second floor office space has been removed. I was absolutely heartbroken upon discovering the change because it is that removed area that I believe was used on The Office.
As you can see below, the building is divided into two sections, each with a soundstage and second-floor office space, separated by a green-gated entrance. The northern portion comprises Stage 1, while the southern portion comprises Stage 2.
After spending a ridiculous amount of time comparing the blurred views of buildings visible in the background of some Season 1 episodes to Google Street View images of buildings located across the street from Stage 1 and 2, I became convinced that it was the second floor of Stage 1 (the northern section) that was used as the interior of Dunder Mifflin. (I know, I know – I have way too much time on my hands!) The discovery was particularly distressing as I was hoping that the office space that appeared on the series was still intact – and that I could possibly tour it someday. But that does not appear to be the case.
Stage 1’s offices were only utilized for the first season of The Office (a total of six episodes), but because the set built for the remainder of the filming was almost an exact replica, the space would have been completely recognizable.
What a thrill it would have been to see it in person!
Of the set, Jenna Fischer stated in her blog post, “In Season 1 of The Office, we shot on location at a real office building, on the second floor of some old offices in Culver City, California. For Season 2, we moved to a soundstage, where they re-created the original office location down to the smallest detail. (Except that they made Michael’s office a little larger. It was hard to fit the camera crew into the old office to do his interview segments.) Why move at all? The No. 1 reason: Now we can control the weather and the amount of light that comes through the windows. When they were real windows facing the real outside, it was tricky! If you watch the DVD of Season 1, I bet you can see some subtle differences between our old location and our new stage. The craziest thing was that for the first few weeks in our new location we would forget we were on a soundstage and get confused trying to leave. The actual exit doors were all different. Just imagine if someone rebuilt the interior of your house on a soundstage. So when you walked out your “front door,” instead of seeing the outside you were still inside a giant warehouse with lights and equipment. It felt like we were on The Truman Show!”
Pictured below are screen captures of Michael Scott’s (Steve Carell) office, the set version of which was made slightly larger than the real life version, as Jenna mentioned.
The change is barely noticeable, though.
The Dunder Mifflin warehouse, where the gang played basketball in the Season 1 episode titled “Basketball,” was actually the soundstage on the bottom floor of Stage 2. This was easily discernible thanks to the adjacent brick wall that was visible in the episode.
According to DVD commentary provided by B.J. Novak (aka Ryan Howard), during Season 1 the production team transformed the soundstage located directly below the real life offices used for interior filming into a makeshift production office. I am guessing that is why the Stage 2 soundstage was employed as the warehouse in “Basketball” – because the Stage 1 soundstage was already being utilized as production space.
I was thrilled to discover that the little green-gated alcove located in between Stage 1 and 2 had appeared in some of the first season’s deleted scenes. At least that area is still intact. Now if only I could get in there to see it!
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
Big THANK YOU to Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Scranton Business Park from the first season of The Office is located at 3322 La Cienega Place in Culver City. Chandler Valley Center Studios, the building used during Seasons 2-9 of The Office, can be found at 13927 Saticoy Street in Van Nuys.
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New “L.A.” Mag Post – The TCM Movie Locations Tour
Be sure to check out today’s Scene It Before post for L.A. magazine – about the new TCM Movie Locations Tour. You can find it here. My columns typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.
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Martin Weir’s Mansion from “Get Shorty”
While out and about stalking in Beverly Hills two weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, took me on a minor detour to see the mansion where movie star Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) lived in the 1995 comedy Get Shorty. I LOVE the scene that took place at Martin’s pad, so I was beyond excited to finally be seeing it in person.
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Towards the beginning of Get Shorty, Chili Palmer (John Travolta) enlists the help of Martin’s ex-wife, Karen Flores (Rene Russo), in the hopes that she can get the actor to star in a movie Chili is producing. Karen agrees to go to Martin’s mansion to talk to him and tells Chili that she will meet him afterwards at Abiquiu restaurant in Santa Monica (which I blogged about here). Instead of waiting for that lunch meeting, though, Chili buys a map of the stars’ homes and shows up at Martin’s residence at the same time that Karen does. (A man after my own heart!) Upon arriving, he says, “I can’t believe this map is accurate. I bought it for ten bucks from a kid sitting in a lawn chair on Sunset.” Love, love, love!
The mansion’s front gate was shown several times in the scene. It was closed when we arrived, but, as you can see below, still looks very similar to how it appeared in the movie.
The large, circular fountain-like structure that was stationed just beyond the gate in Get Shorty is no longer there, though, or was, perhaps, never there and was simply just a prop installed for the filming. Not having the fountain certainly adds more space for cars, which seems to be a pressing need for the current homeowners, as you can see below.
The home’s elaborately carved exterior is absolutely stunning – both onscreen and in person.
In real life, the 13,913-square-foot pad, which was originally built in 1988, has eight bedrooms, nine baths and a 0.66-acre lot. It last sold in July 2007 for $14,800,000.
I believe that the manse’s real life interior also appeared in Get Shorty, but I was, unfortunately, unable to verify that.
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.
Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Martin Weir’s mansion from Get Shorty is located at 1017 North Crescent Drive in Beverly Hills.
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JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa from “Saved by the Bell”
This Labor Day, Lifetime is set to air The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story about the making of the Saturday morning classic which ran from 1989-1993. Um, YAY! (How did I not know about this, by the way?? Ordering it now!) While the show was admittedly as cheesy as they come, I loved it as a youngster and still find myself getting sucked in whenever I come across an episode on TV. Once I heard the news about the behind-the-scenes docudrama (thanks to my editor at Los Angeles magazine), I decided it was high time I did some stalking of the original series’ locations – especially being that one of them is right in my own backyard. (I blogged about it once before here.) During the show’s third season, Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), Kelly Kapowski (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), Jessie Spano (Elizabeth Berkley) and the gang headed out to Palm Desert to attend the wedding of Jessie’s father, Mr. Spano (George McDaniel). In the two episodes, which were titled “Palm Springs Weekend: Part I” and “Palm Springs Weekend: Part II,” the group stayed at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa. Amazingly, despite an extensive remodel, the hotel is still recognizable from its onscreen appearance 23 years ago.
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The JW Marriott Desert Springs is one of my favorite hotels in the Coachella Valley and quite possibly the largest resort I have ever seen. The place is massive – like 450-acres massive.
The hotel originally opened in February 1987 and currently features 884 (!!) rooms, an eight-story atrium lobby (pictured below), four pools, a 38,000-square-foot spa, twenty tennis courts, an 18-hole putting green, basketball courts, a salon, two golf courses, five restaurants, and, most importantly, a Starbucks.
The resort’s most stunning feature, though, is its massive waterway system, which guests are able to view via manned gondolas.
The main boat launch is pictured below.
Sadly, the property underwent a $25-million renovation from 2007 through 2012 and looks quite a bit different today than it did in when Saved by the Bell was filmed in 1991. It is still, thankfully, somewhat recognizable, though. You can check out a photograph of the original lobby here.
In the “Palm Springs Weekend” episodes, Jessie’s dad is said to manage the J.W. Marriott Desert Springs and the property was featured extensively in the shows. Just a few areas that were used include the front exterior;
the main entrance;
the lobby doors;
and the boat launch.
As you can see, the launch looks much different today than it did onscreen.
Mr. Spano’s wedding was held in the Marriott’s lobby, which also looks much different today, sadly. I have to say I prefer the hotel’s original design to the current one.
The resort’s Valley Golf Course also appeared in the episodes, but I did not venture out there to take any pics. (Cut me some slack – it was 110 degrees at the time.
)
One of the Marriott’s former restaurants was used several times on the shows, but, sadly, during the remodel that space was completely gutted and subsequently reopened as a different eatery named Rockwood Grill.
I am guessing that the Desert Springs’ actual fitness center was utilized in the episodes’ gym scenes. Unfortunately, the entire spa was gutted during the remodel and no longer looks anything like its previous self.
I was not able to pinpoint which of the Marriott’s pools appeared in the episodes. I did track down a photograph of the Saved by the Pool pool online and the caption states that it is located at the Desert Springs Villas II (a time share community that is part of the resort), but, oddly, I can’t find a pool on aerial views that matches up.
I would really LOVE to see it in person, too, being that it is where Zack and Kelly rekindled their romance in “Part I.”
The JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort has popped up onscreen several times since Saved by the Bell. In 2006, the hotel was where Kimberly Bryant got a little crazy while on vacation with her girlfriends in the third episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County’s first season.
In 2007, Chrissy Schwartz and her friends spent a couple of nights at the Marriott in the pilot episode of Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County, which was titled “Crush . . . Interrupted.”
Oddly, in the episode the group dines at Mikado, which is supposedly a restaurant in the O.C., prior to their trip. Mikado is actually located at the Desert Springs Resort, though, which means that the dinner scene was filmed during their vacation, not beforehand. So much for “reality” TV.
In 2009, Desert Springs was where Alexis and Jim Bellino spent a romantic weekend sans kids in the Season 5 episode of The Real Housewives of Orange County titled “Nothing Is As It Seems.”
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 JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa, from the “Palm Springs Weekend” episodes of Saved by the Bell, is located at 74-855 Country Club Drive in Palm Desert. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.
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Latest “L.A.” Mag Post – The “License to Drive” DMV
Don’t forget to check out today’s Scene It Before post for Los Angeles magazine – about the DMV from fave movie License to Drive. You can find it here. My columns typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.
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Café Figaro from “Jerry Maguire”
Today’s post is a long time in the making. Off and on for years now I have been trying to track down the restaurant where Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) got fired in the 1996 romcom of the same name. I decided to actively revisit the search a couple of weeks ago and, this time, got Mike, from MovieShotsLA, involved. He wound up finding the place shortly thereafter. As it turns out, Jerry was let go from Sports Management International while at Café Figaro at 9010 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. Sadly, the eatery was shuttered in 1997, but Mike and I headed right on out to stalk its former location nonetheless.
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Mike pinpointed the locale thanks to the unique trees visible outside of the restaurant during the firing scene. Those trees can only be found on a few streets in the L.A. area, one of which is Melrose Avenue. So he began his search at the start of Melrose (just east of where it intersects with North Doheny Drive) and, sure enough, found the right spot within a matter of minutes. The only trouble was, the space had gone through so many iterations in the years since Jerry Maguire had been shot, that it was a bit of a struggle for me to figure out what restaurant had been in operation at the time of the filming. Finally (after scanning through at least 25 Google search results pages), I came across this 2007 article which stated that an eatery named Café Figaro had once been located at 9010 Melrose Avenue and that its walls had been covered with “ticky tacky newspaper decoupages.” Eureka! With that information in hand, I did a Google search for “Jerry Maguire” and “Café Figaro” and turned up this post which confirmed the find. Woot woot!
Café Figaro first opened its doors in 1969. (Apparently, Bill Cosby was one of the initial investors.) It was founded by Tom Ziegler, who, in the 1950s, had pioneered a coffee shop of the same name on the corner of MacDougal and Bleecker Streets in Manhattan. When a rent hike forced Tom to close that eatery in 1969, he packed up all of its interior decor and migrated west to Los Angeles where he launched a new, larger Figaro. You can read a 1970 news article about the L.A. site shortly after its opening here. (Interestingly, a man named Ben Fishbein re-opened the Manhattan Café Figaro in 1975, six years after Ziegler had been forced out. The re-vamp proved extremely successful and remained in operation until 2008. You can read more about the East Coast Figaro’s history here.)
Café Figaro closed down in 1997, a whopping 28 years after its founding. The interior of the space was subsequently gutted and the Kass Bah steakhouse, which you can see of a photograph of here, opened in its place. By the summer of 2001, the Kass Bah had called it quits. Following that closure, the property went through numerous iterations – it was the Parisian Room, then Santo Coyote and then Murano, prior to which it was completely gutted once again. When Murano shuttered, the site became The Artichoke’s Heart, then, after yet another remodel (this one not as major as the first two, which were complete overhauls), Smoke. Since Smoke’s closing in 2013, the venue has remained vacant. It absolutely boggles my mind that Mike was able to locate a spot that had not only changed hands no less than six times, but had been completely gutted twice. Hats off to him!
In Jerry Maguire, Café Figaro stood in for Cronin’s, the “crowded” restaurant where Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr) rather comically fired Jerry. During the scene, Bob delivered this diatribe, one of my favorite from the movie – “What about me? You know what I went through knowing I was gonna have to fire my mentor? Carrying that around in my head for a week! Could you get past yourself for a second?”
Not surprisingly, while the general structure and set-up remain the same, the restaurant’s interior looks completely different today than it did onscreen. You can check out some photographs of Café Figaro’s interior from the early 1970s here and here, though, and see that it did indeed match what appeared in Jerry Maguire.
Café Figaro’s exterior (which was only seen in a limited view in Jerry Maguire) has also been remodeled since filming took place, but is still somewhat recognizable.
Thankfully, the space across the street, which was a children’s gym at the time that Jerry Maguire was filmed, has not changed over the years and still looks pretty much exactly the same as it did onscreen.
As does the building located next door to Café Figaro, which Jerry rushes by in the scene while on his way back to his office.
Mike and I were both floored to see that the manhole cover that was shown in the close-up of Jerry running was still there. Love that!
Me doing my best Jerry impersonation.
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
Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The former Café Figaro space from Jerry Maguire is located at 9010 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. The building that Tom Cruise runs by in the movie is located next door at 9006 Melrose Avenue. The manhole cover that he walks over can be found just east of that building’s front door.
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The Mercantile from “Major Crimes”
During a recent stalking adventure with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, the two of us passed by a unique building in Hollywood housing a restaurant named The Mercantile. While we did not have time to stop in that day, I made a mental note to revisit it for a meal at a later date. So I was absolutely floored to see the place pop up last week in the Season 3 episode of Major Crimes titled “Letting It Go.” I immediately texted Mike and told him we had to re-stalk the eatery as soon as possible and we ended up doing just that this past Thursday while I was in L.A. for a brief visit.
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The Mercantile was originally founded in November 2009 by restaurateur George Abou-Daoud, who also opened Delancey pizzeria, aka Tom’s Bistro from Parks and Recreation which I blogged about here. Abou-Daoud owns so many area eateries that he is often referred to as the “unofficial mayor of Hollywood.”
The Mercantile is housed in a two-story 1928 Spanish Churrigueresque-style building that boasts spectacular sculptural detailing. I fell in love with the place upon sight.
The interior of The Mercantile is just as picturesque.
I would give my eye teeth for the reclaimed wood table pictured below. I so want it for my apartment!
The combination gourmet market/restaurant/wine and cheese bar offers a pretty spectacular menu (50+ wines by the glass!), but, sadly, Mike and I did not get a chance to eat while we were there. I am definitely planning a re-visit with the Grim Cheaper in the near future, though.
In the “Letting It Go” episode of Major Crimes, The Mercantile was where Detective Amy Sykes (Kearran Giovanni) took rape victim/murder suspect Corporal Laura Day (Nikki DeLoach) for a cup of coffee to sober her up.
As you can see below, The Mercantile’s name and signage was visible in the scene, which is how I recognized it.
The Mercantile was also very briefly featured in the Season 3 episode of Scandal titled “We Do Not Touch the First Ladies” as Darcy’s Cafe, the spot where David Rosen (Joshua Malina) went to meet a reporter and wound up being kidnapped.
Speaking of Major Crimes, I am dying to track down the motel that was used in the series’ Season 3 promotional photographs. Does anyone happen to recognize it or know where it is? I have a feeling that the structure might have been digitally altered for the picture, but I would love to find it nevertheless.
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 Mercantile, from the “Letting It Go” episode of Major Crimes, is located at 6600 Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit the eatery’s official website here.
