Year: 2015

The Andrew McNally House from “Kingdom Come”

Los Angeles never ceases to surprise me. Though I feel like I know the city and its environs like the back of my hand and have spent the last decade of my life researching its locations, I am constantly learning of new spots that I had no idea even existed. Such was the case with an architecturally unique property located pretty much right in my own former backyard. A fellow filming location enthusiast name Liesel recently asked me why I had yet to blog about the Andrew McNally House in Altadena. The answer to that question was simple – despite the fact that the locale is historically significant, architecturally important AND a filming location, not to mention the fact that I lived less than three miles from it for over ten years of my life, somehow I had never heard of the place.

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The massive Queen Anne-style residence was originally built in 1887 for Andrew McNally (of Rand-McNally map company fame). It was designed by architect Frederick L. Roehrig, who also designed Stacy’s (Brittany Murphy) childhood home from Little Black Book, Pasadena’s iconic Castle Green apartments, and the Frederick Hastings Rindge House (a locale that I have stalked, but have yet to blog about as I am unsure of its filming history).

The residence was built facing south, away from the street, so the photographs below actually show the rear of the property. Unfortunately, the front side is not visible from the street. You can see a picture of what it looks like here, though.

You can also catch a slight glimpse of the front of the home from the 600 block of East Deodara Drive, as shown in the Google Street View images below.

The residence, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007, boasts 10 bedrooms, 2 baths and a whopping 6,938 square feet. Though it originally sat on 15 acres of land, the property was subdivided after McNally passed away in 1904 and today measures 0.82 acres.

Though its exterior is striking, the most interesting aspect of the home can actually be found inside. In 1893, McNally acted as a commissioner for the Columbian Exposition at the World’s Fair in Chicago. While there, he became so enamored of a Turkish display that upon the Fair’s closing, he purchased said display and had it shipped home. In 1894, McNally employed Roehrig to build an addition to the southeastern corner of the Altadena residence in order to exhibit it. The architect wound up constructing a 25×25-foot, one-and-a-half story, eight-sided room that he topped with a conical roof. It became known as the “Turkish smoking room.” The space was ornate to say the least and featured a built-in banquette, elaborate screens, tall arches, diamond-shaped paned glass windows, and carved wood paneling. You can see historic pictures of the smoking room, which is still intact today, here and here and you can check out some more recent photographs of it, as well as the rest of the interior, here.

According to Liesel, the smoking room appeared in an episode of NCIS, but try as I might (and boy, did I try – I spent countless hours searching!) I could not figure out which episode. If anyone out there knows, please fill me in.

Liesel also let me know that the residence masqueraded as Depew’s Funeral Home in the 2001 dramedy Kingdom Come.

The interior of the house also appeared in the movie.

Several different rooms were used in the filming. You can see photographs of those rooms here.

Amazingly, the Andrew McNally House is still a private residence. Yep, someone actually lives there! I can’t even imagine how cool that must be!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Liesel for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Andrew McNally House, from Kingdom Come, is located at 654 East Mariposa Street in Altadena.

February 4, 2015
Huron Substation from “NCIS: New Orleans”

I have been a fan of the television show NCIS ever since it premiered in 2003. While I never got into its 2009 spin-off, NCIS: LA, the Grim Cheaper and I recently caught the backdoor pilots for the series’ most recent offshoot, NCIS: New Orleans, and absolutely loved them. I was also thrilled while watching to recognize the location used as the NCIS New Orleans field office in the episodes – it’s actually the Huron Substation located in Los Angeles’ Cypress Park. Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had told me about the locale years ago because of its appearance in the movie Must Love Dogs, but for whatever reason, I had never stalked it. Once it popped up on NCIS, though, I figured it was high time that I did and finally ventured on over there last week.

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The Huron Substation was originally constructed in 1906 in order to provide electricity for the Yellow Cars transit line. As journalist Jean Merl explained in a 2009 Los Angeles Times article, “The trolleys, operated by Henry E. Huntington’s Los Angeles Railway, were the local counterpart to Pacific Electric Railway’s Red Cars, which covered four counties. Both systems operated streetcars powered by electricity and required scores of substations to convert alternating current to the direct current used by the cars.”

The massive, peaked-roof, brick structure was designed by civil engineer Edward Sigourney Cobb, who, according to the L.A. Times article, also helped to build Angels Flight, the famed funicular railway in Bunker Hill.

The City of Los Angeles sold the Huron Substation at the end of the 1950s and the site proceeded to go through several incarnations, including stints as a signal manufacturing plant, a welding shop and a furniture workshop.

The Huron Substation was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument on December 20th, 1988. A short time later, the interior was completely destroyed in a fire. Thankfully, then owner Bob Josten subsequently renovated the space, bringing it back to its original glory.

In 2005, a woman named Meike Kopp purchased the property. She uses the space as her private residence, but also rents it out for special events and filming – lots and lots of filming.

It’s no wonder the site has become so popular with location scouts – the Huron Substation is nothing short of spectacular. The interior is made up of sweeping 45-foot tall ceilings, huge arched windows, exposed brick, 12-foot high doors, an open first level that measures 32 by 46 feet, a second floor mezzanine, an enormous open staircase, and a large back patio. You can check out some photographs of the interior here. I can’t even imagine how cool it must be to live there!

While I did not get to see the interior, I was able to catch a glimpse of the patio area through the back fence. It, too, is pretty spectacular.

NCIS: New Orleans was first introduced via the Season 11 episodes of NCIS titled “Crescent City” and “Crescent City: Part 2.” The Huron Substation only appeared as the New Orleans NCIS field office in those two episodes.

Once the series was picked up, filming moved to the Big Easy and a set of the field office was built on a studio soundstage. You can see photographs of the set here.

Though production designer Victoria Paul stated in a November 2014 NOLA.com article that the set’s design was inspired by the carriageway used in the establishing shots of the field office (pictured below), it is obvious that the general layout and look of the space, with the exposed brick walls, large open staircase, carriage door and second floor mezzanine, were at least in part modeled after the Huron Substation. (The carriageway used on the series is located at approximately 723 St. Ann Street in New Orleans.)

As I mentioned earlier, I recognized the Huron Substation in NCIS: New Orleans due to its appearance in Must Love Dogs. In the 2005 romcom, the property was where Jake (John Cusack) lived. The upstairs area was used as his living space . . .

. . . while the downstairs was used as the workspace for his boat.

The Huron Substation was also extensively throughout 2001’s The Fast and the Furious as Dominic Toretto’s (Vin Diesel) garage.

In 2003’s Malibu’s Most Wanted, the site stood in for a nightclub where Brad ‘B-Rad’ Gluckman (Jamie Kennedy) performed.

Josh Groban’s 2006 “February Song” music video was filmed in its entirety inside of the Huron Substation.

You can watch that video by clicking below.

The Jonas Brothers also shot their 2007 “Kids of the Future” video on the premises.

You can watch that video by clicking below.

In the 2010 dramedy The Kids Are All Right, the Huron Substation masqueraded as WYSIWYG (an acronym for “What You See Is What You Get”), the restaurant owned by Paul (Mark Ruffalo). The building was used extensively in the filming. Areas utilized included the exterior;

the patio;

and the bottom floor, which was transformed considerably for the shoot.

That same year, the Huron Substation was transformed into Lou Pine’s, “the oldest were [werewolf] bar in Mississippi,” for the Season 3 episodes of True Blood titled “It Hurts Me Too” and “9 Crimes.”

The interior of the building appeared in the two episodes as well.

The Huron Substation also stood in for the interior of New York’s Central Park Boathouse in the 2010 comedy Date Night, though the scene that took place there was rather dark making the space fairly unrecognizable onscreen.

In 2012, the substation masked as the gym belonging to Chad Raber (Daniel Sobieray), a personal trainer who has been murdered, in the Season 1 episode of Major Crimes titled “Before and After.”

Huron Substation also appeared in the films Catwoman and Secretary and in episodes of Heroes and Dollhouse, though I am unsure of which episodes specifically.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Huron Substation, from NCIS: New Orleans, is located at 2640 Huron Street in Cypress Park. You can visit the property’s official website here.

February 3, 2015
The “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” Police Station

Once in a while a filming location comes along that blows my mind. Today’s post is about one of those locations. Recently, fellow stalker Chas, of the It’s Filmed There site, texted to let me know that he had just tracked down the police station from fave movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I was shocked to learn not only that the place still looks exactly the same today, almost thirty years later, but that it is located in L.A.! (For those not in the know, Ferris was set in Chicago and, aside from a few SoCal locales, largely filmed in the Windy City.) So I ran right out to stalk it while visiting L.A. two weeks ago.

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In real life, the site is not a police station at all, but the former Los Angeles headquarters of Hills Bros. Coffee. The structure, which was built in 1929 and designed by architect George H. Kelham, housed both a warehouse and second floor offices for the java company. It is those second floor offices that masked as the police station in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Today, the property belongs to the Southwestern Bag Company.

Sadly, I was not able to get inside to see the interior, but while doing research for this post came across these fantastic images online that were taken by location scout Nick Morley. I contacted Nick to ask if he would allow me to use some of his photographs for this post and he wrote back right away giving me the go-ahead! Thank you, Nick! You can also check out another set of pictures that show the building’s first floor here.

In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the police station is where Jeanie Bueller (Jennifer Grey) is taken after being picked up by the police for making a phony 911 call. It is also where she meets “Boy in Police Station” (Charlie Sheen) and says one of my favorite lines in movie history – “Why don’t you put your thumb up your butt!”

The scene was shot in the lobby area of the building’s second floor, right at the top of the staircase. As you can see in Nick’s photograph as compared to the screen capture below, the space looks exactly the same today as it did in 1986 when Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was filmed.

The office where Det. Steven Lim (Robert Kim) informs Katie Bueller (Cindy Pickett) about Jeanie’s fake 911 call is located adjacent to the second floor lobby area. In Nick’s photograph below it is shown from an opposite angle than the screen capture pictured.

It, too, looks much the same today as it did when the movie was shot.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to get into that building! I would so love to pose for a pic on the stairs where Jeannie stood in the scene!

Chas actually found this location thanks to its appearance in a couple of other movies. While putting together a page about filming locations from Divergent a few months back, Chas tracked down the spot where Tris (Shailene Woodley) came into contact with her mother. As it turns out, that was the Hills Bros. Coffee building. Only the exterior of it was shown in Divergent, though.

Then while watching the 1987 action-comedy Beverly Hills Cop II a couple of weeks ago, Chas realized that the shaping, sizing and paning of the windows of the “Detroit” police station where Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) worked matched those of the windows of the building in Divergent. So he went searching for interior photographs of the Hills Bros. building and came across Nick’s page of images. Sure enough, what was shown in Nick’s pics matched the Beverly Hills Cop II police station.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the staircase and lobby area from the Beverly Hills Cop II police station were an exact match to those from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. So he then compared screen captures from FBDO to Nick’s photographs and confirmed that the two places were one and the same!

The Hills Bros. Coffee building has actually appeared in countless productions over the years. The north side of it masked as a – yep, you guessed it! – police station in the 1988 thriller Jack’s Back.

In fave movie License to Drive, which was also released in 1988, Les Anderson (Corey Haim) falls asleep during driver’s ed class and dreams about speeding around in a Ferrari with his crush Mercedes Lane (Heather Graham). At one point, Les lights a cigarette for her, throws the match out the window and starts an explosion. That bit was shot in the alleyway that runs along the western side of Hills Bros. Coffee.

In 1990’s Child’s Play 2, Hills Bros. Coffee masked as the social services office where Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) was sent after his foster father was killed.

The interior of the building – as well as that famous staircase – was also utilized in the film.

Hills Bros. Coffee served as a police station once again in 1992’s Unlawful Entry.

Thanks to The Rockford Files Filming Locations blog, I learned that the building was used as the Bunker Hill Division of the Metropolitan Police Station in the series’ 1996 made-for-television movie “If the Frame Fits.”

Hills Bros. Coffee masked as a police station yet again in 1998’s The Negotiator.

In the Season 1 episode of Angel titled “She,” which aired in 2000, the building stood in for both an ice factory and a private security firm office.

Hills Bros. Coffee regularly masqueraded as Ojai Foods on the television series Brothers and Sisters, which ran from 2006 to 2011.

It also popped up in the 2011 movie The Muppets.

And in the Season 1 episode of How to Get Away with Murder titled “Smile, or Go to Jail,” Hills Bros. was used extensively as the police station where both Annalise Keating’s (Viola Davis) new client, Paula Murphy (Ana Ortiz), and murder suspect Rebecca Sutter (Katie Findlay) were being held.

The interior of the building also appeared in the episode. There’s that staircase again!

The building is featured as a Los Angeles police station circa 1932 on the HBO series Perry Mason.

Hills Bros. Coffee also apparently popped up in the Season 1 episode of Castle titled “A Chill Goes Through Her Veins” (though I could not track it down to make screen captures for this post) and in several episodes of CSI: NY (though I am unsure of which episodes specifically).

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Chas, of the It’s Filmed There website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Ferris Bueller’s Day Off police station is located at 635 South Mateo Street in downtown L.A. The address of the building is also sometimes listed as 642 Mateo Street, but that address is incorrect and would be located across the street from where the building actually stands.

February 2, 2015
Latest “L.A.” Mag Post – The “Taken” Apartments

Don’t forget to read my latest Los Angeles magazine post here – about the apartment building from Taken, as well as my review of Taken 3. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

January 29, 2015
St. Vincent Court from “The Mentalist”

I cannot wait for the Secret L.A.-themed February issue of Los Angeles magazine to hit newsstands! The City of Angels is chock full of tucked-away gems and I absolutely love discovering them. The Grim Cheaper and I just stalked one, in fact, that is also a filming location – St. Vincent Court, which appeared in a recent episode of The Mentalist. I first discovered the tiny and incredibly unique alleyway while on a Watson Adventures’ Downtown L.A. Movie Locations Scavenger Hunt with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, back in November 2010. So I recognized it immediately when it popped up on The Mentalist and ran right out to re-stalk it while in L.A. last week.

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St. Vincent Court is so named because it stands on the site of what was Los Angeles’ first college, Saint Vincent’s College. The school was originally founded in 1865 at the Lugo Adobe House. Two years later, it moved to a two-story building on 6th Street, between Hill and Broadway, in downtown L.A. St. Vincent Court, which is actually a small alleyway, was known as St. Vincent Place at the time and served as the main pathway onto the campus. In 1887, the school relocated to a new venue and the property subsequently served as a military compound. Then, in 1906, it was chosen to be the location of the very first Bullocks department store. The new store was constructed on the corner of 7th and Broadway, adjacent to St. Vincent Place, which was used as a pass through and for deliveries. Bullocks soon purchased the building located across the alley and built an air bridge to connect the two structures. The alley became dirty and dingy, as alleys tend to do, though, and in 1956 Bullocks and the City of L.A. teamed up to give the small space a facelift. Façades and false fronts were built, awnings installed, a café and flower shop added, and the alley’s name changed to St. Vincent Court. The site was dedicated in 1957 and became a California Registered Historical Landmark that same year.

St. Vincent Court is situated behind a rather unremarkable breezeway and is virtually hidden from view. Despite the signage out front announcing its existence, one could easily walk by without even realizing it is there.

From the outside, it looks like any other of the city’s non-descript alleys. Step inside, though, and you’ll find that it is anything but.

Inside, the place looks like Disneyland.

The fake balconies;

ornate overhangs;

whimsical signage;

elaborate doorways and windows;

and sidewalk seating . . .

. . . . all add up to give the alley an amusement park/movie set/fake European/old world-feel. To say that St. Vincent Court is unique is a vast understatement. The place is like a Hollywood backlot that has been randomly plopped into the middle of downtown.

Despite some recent opposition to outdoor seating in the alley, mid-week St. Vincent Court is typically bustling with hungry downtowners seeking authentic European and Mediterranean-style meals at lunchtime.

In the Season 7 episode of The Mentalist titled “Orange Blossom Ice Cream,” Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) and Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) went undercover in Beirut in order to capture a terrorist. No filming actually took place in the Middle East, though. Instead production simply headed to . . . downtown Los Angeles. The hotel where Patrick and Teresa stayed in the episode was none other than the Millennium Biltmore.

Two of the Biltmore’s hallways were used in the episode . . .

. . . but I am fairly certain that Jane and Lisbon’s suite was just a set built on a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studios where The Mentalist is lensed.

For outdoor filming, production head to St. Vincent Court. The alley was first shown in the scene in which Patrick was taken to meet with terrorist Jan Nemic (Mark Ivanir).

Nemic’s lair was actually the back side of the Los Angeles Theatre.

Later in the episode, Lisbon and Jane dined on some manakish at a local Beirut eatery.

The restaurant scene was filmed at the Sevan Garden Kebab House, which is located at the northeastern end of St. Vincent Court. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of the place’s interior. You can check some out here, though.

After dinner, Jane and Lisbon head out to St. Vincent Court and hail a cab.

At the end of the episode, Lisbon and Jane are shown walking up the Biltmore’s stairs . . .

. . . and onto the hotel’s rooftop to share some orange blossom ice cream.

St. Vincent Court also appeared in the Season 1 episode of Moonlight titled “Out of the Past.”

Memphis Raines (Nicolas Cage) sped through the alley while being chased by cops in Gone in 60 Seconds

And Taylor Swift danced there in her “Delicate” music video.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: St. Vincent Court, from the “Orange Blossom Ice Cream” episode of The Mentalist, is located on 7th Street, in between South Hill Street and Broadway, in downtown Los Angeles’ Jewelry District.

January 28, 2015
Burning Man’s House from “Major Crimes”

My friend Owen and I share an uncanny synchronicity. The other night I received an email from him which said the following, “837 Beacon Ave., L.A. You may want to stalk this place after you watch the Season 7 premiere of Parks and Recreation.” I had yet to see the episode, but immediately looked up the address via Google Street View and just about fell off my chair. The very same house had also appeared in that week’s Major Crimes and I had made a mental note while watching to track it down. As I said, uncanny! It was as if Owen had read my mind!

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The reason Owen thought I would be interested in stalking the residence should be apparent to those who read my site regularly. As you can see below, the property is abandoned and there is nothing this stalker loves more than an abandoned site.

In the Major Crimes episode that I had watched, Season 3’s “Special Master: Part Two,” the Major Crimes Division gang tried to catch a serial murderer/rapist known as “Burning Man” who was killing women in abandoned houses all over L.A. They finally manage to locate him at his abandoned childhood home in what is said to be Boyle Heights. In reality, though, the property is in Westlake.

The interior of the residence also appeared in the episode.

In the Season 7 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “2017,” which aired the day after “Special Master: Part Two,” April Ludgate (Aubrey Plaza) and Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt) stumbled upon an open house at the property while driving through Pawnee, Indiana’s “creepy Warehouse District.”

I loved the fact that the owner was holding open houses every day in the episode. He was really motivated to sell!

While touring the interior, Andy states that the residence has the “fairly standard layout” of 12 closets, 3 bomb shelters, 5 dumbwaiters, 2 and 3/8 baths, and no kitchens.” Ah yes, and there is also a staircase to nowhere and a fire pole on the premises. Once the couple learns that the pad used to be a holding cell for assembly line workers from the Pawnee Doll Head Factory who had gone insane, they spontaneously decide to purchase it. Sold!

In real life, the property, which was originally built in 1895, boasts 6 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3,264 square feet of living space, and a 0.18-acre plot of land. And I am guessing that it does actually have a kitchen.

Though the property is abandoned in real life, I think it is in better shape than its façade would have one believe. Granted the place is not turn-key by any means, but it’s not dilapidated, either. I am also fairly certain that the windows are boarded up in order to protect them and not due to being broken.

Owen also let me know that April and Andy’s new home had appeared in several other productions over the years. In the Season 8 episode of The X-Files titled “Via Negativa,” which aired in 2000, the house serves as the supposed Pittsburgh headquarters of the Third Eye cult.

The interior of the property also appears in the episode.

Detective Michael Raines (Jeff Goldblum) and his team arrest some murder suspects at the house in the Season 1 episode of Raines titled “The Fifth Step,” which aired in 2007. Only the interior of the residence is featured in the episode.

In the Season 2 episode of The Mentalist titled “The Scarlet Letter,” which aired in 2009, the home masks as an apartment building where the stepmother of a murder victim lives.

The interior of the dwelling was also utilized in the filming, though obviously altered to appear as if it was comprised of separate apartment units.

That same year, the property was featured in the movie Blood and Bone as the boarding house where Isaiah Bone (Michael Jai White) stays after being released from prison.

The interior of the home also appears in the movie.

As you can see, it is in much better shape than one would expect. The woodwork is gorgeous! All the place needs is a little Magic Eraser and it would be amazing!

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Burning Man’s house from Major Crimes is located at 837 Beacon Avenue in Westlake.

January 27, 2015
South Fork Inn from “Revenge”

Finding today’s location had me feeling like a complete moron. Though my obsession with Revenge has waned in recent months (I have only watched three episodes from the current season), I remained hell-bent on tracking down the Colonial-style structure used in establishing shots of the South Fork Inn on the series. I figured the location was most likely a private home and scoured the internet for months looking for it, all to no avail. Then a couple of weeks ago, I decided to once again try my hand at finding it and proceeded to search through every location database that I knew of, comparing the Colonial-style homes listed with screen captures from the show. I found the right spot fairly quickly and could not believe my eyes once I did. Turns out the location is well-known to me – it was featured regularly and prominently on my favorite TV show of all time, Beverly Hills, 90210. South Fork Inn is none other than the Marion Davies Guest House at the Annenberg Community Beach House, aka the former Sand & Sea Club, aka the very same spot that stood in for the Beverly Hills Beach Club on 90210. (Insert facepalm here.) Granted, the property has changed quite a bit since 90210 filmed on the premises, but still, how I did not recognize it is beyond me.

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The five-acre beachfront property, which was originally known as Ocean House, was constructed in 1928 at a cost of $3.5 million for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and his mistress, Marion Davies. The lavish compound was designed in the Georgian Colonial-style by architects Julia Morgan and William Flannery. The site was comprised of a three-story main house featuring 55 bathrooms, 37 fireplaces, a theatre, a ballroom and a basement pub. The property also boasted three detached guest houses, as well as servants quarters, dog kennels, tennis courts, and two swimming pools. (Flannery designed the main estate, while Morgan was responsible for the pool, guest houses and other detached structures, as well as all interiors.) The parties held at the compound during Hearst and Davies’ tenure there were legendary and often included guest lists numbering in the thousands. Such luminaries as Howard Hughes, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, Winston Churchill, and Gloria Swanson all spent time at the massive estate at one time or another.

Hearst and Davies vacated the mansion in 1946 in order to move to Beverly Hills. The couple took quite a loss on the place, selling it to a man named Joseph Drown for a measly $600,000. Drown immediately transformed the site into a hotel named Oceanhouse and a beach club named the Sand & Sea Club. The hotel was never a huge success, though, and in 1956, Drown had the main house and many of the original structures demolished. He then added three new buildings to the premises and continued to operate the property as the Sand & Sea Club.

For reasons that are a bit hazy, the land where the Sand & Seas Club stood was acquired by the State of California in 1959. The state in turn handed management of the land over to the City of Santa Monica. It was still being leased back by Drown, though, and the site run as a beach club. In 1964, Drown sold the club to Douglas Badt, who continued to operate it as the Sand & Sea Club until October 1990, when the city decided that a private club could not be situated on public land. It became a public club for a short time after that and was used often for filming. Then, the 1994 Northridge Earthquake rendered the site unsuitable for public use. It sat vacant and boarded up for several years following. (I took the below photo of the place in 2000.)

The city eventually started making plans to renovate the site and turn it into a public beach club, and renowned philanthropist Wallis Annenberg donated $28 million to the cause. Annenberg had been a member of the Sand & Sea Club as a child and wanted to see the once-great property resurrected. During the renovation, all of the remaining Ocean House structures were demolished, aside from one of the guest houses, which is currently known as the Marion Davies Guest House . . .

. . . and a 110-foot Italian marble swimming pool. Sadly, other than those two elements, no part of Hearst’s original compound, or the Sand & Sea Club remains.

The Annenberg Community Beach House opened on April 25, 2009. The site is open to the public daily and is also used as a special events/wedding venue – and, of course, for filming.

The Marion Davies Guest House pops up regularly as the South Fork Inn on Revenge.

The Guest House is only used for establishing shots, though. The interior of the Inn is just a set built inside of a soundstage at MBS Media Campus where the series is lensed.

In the pilot episode of Revenge, which was shot on location in North Carolina, the City Club of Wilmington was used as the exterior of the South Fork Inn.

Oddly, the interior South Fork Inn scenes from that episode were shot elsewhere, though.

As you can see in the images below, the property used for interior filming (which could very well be a private residence) is addressed “400.” That number does not match up to the address of the City Club of Wilmington, which is located at 23 South 2nd Street. UPDATE – A fellow stalker named Brian let me know that the interior scenes were shot at the Dudley Mansion located at 400 South Front Street in Wilmington. You can see some interior photographs of the place here.

Fellow stalker Glenn also just let me know that a different exterior was used as the South Fork Inn in the Season 3 episode titled “Homecoming.” That location is actually The Culver Studios at 9336 West Washington Boulevard in Culver City.

The Annenberg Community Beach House also popped up in the Season 3 episode of Revenge titled “Confession,” this time as a swanky beach club in the scene in which Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann) first met Patrick Osbourne (Justin Hartley).

Filming of that scene took place on the patio overlooking the pool area.

During the second and third seasons of Beverly Hills, 90210, which aired in 1991 and 1992, the Sand & Sea Club masked as the Beverly Hills Beach Club, where Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) worked and the rest of the West Bev gang hung out. The Marion Davies Guest House was not used in the filming of those episodes, though. [To make screen captures for this post, I had to re-watch several of the episodes in which Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) and Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) cheated on my girl Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) and let’s just say it had me feeling all kinds of ragey! ;)]

During the third season of Saved by the Bell (or fifth, if you’re watching Netflix), which aired in 1991, the Sand & Sea Club masked as the Malibu Sands Beach Club, where Zack Morris (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and the gang worked for a summer.

While the Marion Davies Guest House was not used in the filming of Saved by the Bell, either, it was briefly visible in the background of the episode titled “The Game,” as you can see below.

No interior filming of Saved by the Bell took place at the Sand & Sea Club. The interior of the Malibu Sands Beach Club was just a set built inside of a soundstage.

While doing research on the Sand & Sea Club for this post, I came across the photograph below. Apparently, Bethenny Frankel was a Production Assistant on Saved by the Bell during the early ‘90s and worked on some of the beach club episodes! How cool is that?

The Sand & Sea Club also made an appearance in the 1990 movie Side Out.

For more stalking fun, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Marion Davis Guest House, aka South Fork Inn from Revenge, is part of the Annenberg Community Beach House, which is located at 415 Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica. You can visit the property’s official website here.

January 26, 2015
New “L.A.” Mag Post – About the Los Altos Apartments

Be sure to check out my new Los Angeles magazine post here – about the Los Altos Apartments from Transparent. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

January 22, 2015
FBI Headquarters from “The Mentalist”

Around this time last year, The Mentalist embarked on a huge change of course by having Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) and Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) leave the Sacramento-based California Bureau of Investigation and then join the Austin, Texas branch of the FBI. So, of course, that meant that I had a new location to find – the building used as FBI Headquarters. I spent countless hours searching for the stunningly modern structure, though, but was never able to track it down. For a while, I even thought it might actually be located in the Lone Star State. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I enlisted the help of my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, and he came through big time! While doing a Google Image search, he happened upon this Tumblr page on which a commenter stated that the building used on the series is the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita. As soon as Owen shared the information with me, I became desperate to stalk the place. So last week, when we headed out to West L.A. for my dad’s doctors appointments, I begged the Grim Cheaper to take a little detour to Santa Clarita beforehand. Despite the fact that this would take us sixty miles out of our way (round-trip), he agreed! He’s seriously so good to me!

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The Dianne G. Van Hook University Center was designed by architect Leo A. Daly in 2010 at a cost of almost $29 million. The 110,000-square-foot ultra-modern structure contains 23 classrooms, 6 computer labs, 6 meeting rooms, a lecture hall/theatre, a book store, a video conference room, and a large outdoor patio. The building was named in honor of the college’s longtime superintendent/president, Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook, who has been running the COC since 1988.

Though the College of the Canyons has appeared in countless productions over the years (including Weeds, NCIS, and The Girl Next Door), for this post I am focusing solely on the University Center. The building first showed up in the Season 6 episode of The Mentalist titled “My Blue Heaven” and has subsequently been used in every episode since, usually in establishing shots.

The Dianne G. Van Hook University Center is just as stunning in person as it is onscreen. I love how the façade is made up of both sharp and rounded lines.

The interior of the building also pops up occasionally on The Mentalist, so I was beyond thrilled to discover that it is accessible to the public.

The University Center’s interior is also just as stunning in person as it is onscreen.

In the recently-aired Season 7 episode of The Mentalist titled “The Silver Briefcase,” Lisbon and Jane were shown walking along the building’s catwalk . . .

. . . and down the main staircase.

So I just had to pose for a pic on the stairs.

The building’s incredible views were also shown in “The Silver Briefcase.” Man, what I wouldn’t give to see that place at night!

The interior of the actual FBI offices on The Mentalist are sets located inside of a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank. I actually got to see those sets while on a tour of the lot back in June with my friends Lavonna, Kim, Kaylee and Katie. Unfortunately, no photographs were allowed, though.

The University Center also popped up in the Season 12 episode of NCIS titled “Blast From the Past” as the spot where Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) went undercover as an IT specialist.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center, aka the Austin Headquarters of the FBI on The Mentalist, is located on the College of the Canyons campus in Santa Clarita. The building does not have an exact address, but is situated on University Center Drive, just west of where it intersects with Rockwell Canyon Road.

January 20, 2015
My Latest “L.A.” Mag Post – About Beso from “Gone Girl”

Don’t forget to check out my latest Los Angeles magazine post here – about Beso restaurant from Gone Girl. My articles typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

January 15, 2015