Year: 2017

The Southern Hotel from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Music Video

The Grim Cheaper often accuses me of beating a dead horse. While I typically don’t agree with him, today’s post is pretty concrete evidence that he’s right, because here I am yet again with yet another article about the diner from Michael Jackson’s 1983 “Beat It” music video. Today actually marks the fourth time I’ve written about this particular locale, making it the most covered spot ever featured on IAMNOTASTALKER. (To be fair, I’ve also written about the Walsh house from Beverly Hills, 90210 – my very favorite filming site – on four occasions, though one of the posts was a mash-up of several places from the Fox series.) This location has also been the most puzzling I’ve ever covered. I am happy to report, though, that the mystery surrounding it has finally, finally been put to rest thanks to a reader named Dave, who sent me an email in early July that just about made me fall off my chair.

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For those who haven’t been following along since the beginning, my coverage of the “Beat It” café started back in March 2010 when I wrote about the Monte Carlo Restaurant located at 109 East Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles. I first came across the eatery via Google Street View while on a cyber-stalking mission to track down the locale and was struck by its resemblance to what had appeared onscreen. With its half-green/half-cream walls and curved counter, the Monte Carlo, which is still in operation today, looks like it was ripped straight out of the video. It is also located smack dab in the middle of Skid Row, where I knew “Beat It” had been lensed.

Despite those seeming connections, though, upon visiting the restaurant in person, I started to have doubts that it was the spot where MJ filmed. Not only is the Monte Carlo interior much smaller than that of the “Beat It” café, but an address number of 416 could also be seen in the video (it’s denoted with a pink circle below), which does not gibe with the Monte Carlo’s 109 address.

A sign reading “Special Café” was also visible in “Beat It,” as you can see via the pink arrows in both the screen capture and the photograph below, which was taken from Todd Gray’s book Michael Jackson: Before He Was King.   (Please disregard the additional markings on the photo. They were added in reference to a since-solved mystery that my fellow stalkers were discussing in the comments section of my first Monte Carlo post). While it was entirely possibly the eatery’s name had been changed from “Special Café” to “Monte Carlo Restaurant” since filming took place, the discrepancy still gave me pause. So I opened the quest up to my fellow stalkers, asking for their opinions on the matter. Many chimed in, sharing their thoughts, but those thoughts didn’t lead to any sort of definitive conclusion. I re-stalked and re-blogged about the Monte Carlo later that same month in the hopes of clarifying things, but unfortunately, my second visit and post only provided more doubt and confusion – and more conversation amongst readers. Still though, no one was able to say with any sort of certainty whether or not we had found the right spot.

Cut to March 2013. An MJ fan named Justin, who had been following the hunt since the beginning, posted a comment on my original Monte Carlo post in which he shared a link to the 1955 photograph below.   He came across the image via the USC Digital Library archives while searching for historic pictures of Skid Row and East Fifth Street and was floored to happen upon one of a restaurant with signage reading “Special Café,” located next door to a property with a 414 address number – all of which lined up with what was seen in “Beat It.” The windows and doorway of the eatery in the photograph were also a match to what appeared in the video.

Shortly thereafter, I learned how to search through old digitized Los Angeles phone records and found a listing for the Special Café at 416 East Fifth Street, which seemed to cement everything. Justin had solved the mystery! (Or so we thought – but more on that in a bit.)

As Justin informed me (incorrectly, as it turns out, but, again, more on that later), the café had been razed shortly after filming took place, much to my chagrin, and, after being utilized as a parking lot for close to three decades, a building was finally constructed on the site in 2013. I immediately ran out to stalk the locale and did a write-up on it, but, unfortunately, that post led to even more confusion thanks to the Historic Aerials website.

When I pulled up 1972 and 1980 views of the Special Café site while researching for the post, Historic Aerials showed that no building was located there during those years. Since I knew that the eatery was around from at least 1955 (the year the photograph Justin found was taken) to 1983 (the year “Beat It” was filmed), the building’s absence on Historic Aerials was absolutely mind-boggling! As my friend/fellow stalker David from Spain stated in the comments section of that post, “Oh my god, that’s a case for Mulder and Scully.”

Thankfully, Dave, an eagle-eyed fellow stalker from across the pond, figured things out. In his July email, he said, “Check out the attached image of the Southern Hotel, captured from the 1982 Charles Bronson movie Death Wish II. Compare it with your recent-ish photo of the site, paying particular attention to the red panels on the right hand side, i.e. the lower left of the Southern building. Everything should be clear! Do you see it?” Yes, I did see it – and just about fell out of my chair upon doing so!

As Dave’s email went on to explain, “The Special Café was never demolished as such – it’s still standing, and forms part of the main Southern building (which it always did). The storefront windows have been replaced with the red paneling and the door (or at least, a door) is still there, although it’s walled off with railings now.”

To say that I was in utter shock over Dave’s revelation would be an understatement. The Special Café site still stands? Say whaaa?

He broke things down further, pointing out, “As per the Death Wish II screencap: the doorway/entrance to the Southern Hotel was originally on the right-hand side of the building and classed as No. 412, the Café – on the left hand side of the building – was No. 416, the storefront in the middle – aka the ‘Church on Wheels Heartreach Mission’ – which has now been remodeled into the main entrance to the Southern, would have originally been No. 414.”

In researching the Southern Hotel, I learned that it had been completely gutted in 2000 – taken down to the studs, “its bones on display like a clanky skeleton,” according to a Los Angeles Times article – before being transformed into a 55-room apartment complex for homeless veterans. Despite that remodel, though, the building, which was originally constructed in 1920, is surprisingly still recognizable from Death Wish II.

In the movie, architect Paul Kersey (Bronson) books a room at the Southern while on the hunt for the five men who killed his daughter and housekeeper.

As Dave informed me, Death Wish II isn’t the first Charles Bronson movie to feature the hotel.   Ten years earlier, the actor, playing the role of Arthur Bishop, walked on Fifth Street just west of the Southern in the 1972 thriller The Mechanic.

Dave also filled me in on, sent me links to, and provided screen captures of a myriad of the hotel’s other onscreen appearances and pop culture connections. As he informed me, photographer Sam Cherry snapped a picture of famed author Charles Bukowski on Skid Row standing across the street from the Southern in 1970. You can see the hotel, as well as the Special Café, on the right-hand side of the image below.

Chester (Harvey Gold) and Cooper (Jason Miller) walk by the Southern at the beginning of the 1974 drama The Nickel Ride. The Special Café exterior can even be seen in the second screen capture below.

In the Season 3 episode of Starsky & Hutch titled “The Heroes,” which aired in 1977, Det. Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (David Soul) and Det. Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) drive by the Special Café.

The eatery and hotel were also briefly seen in the Season 4 episode of Starsky & Hutch titled “Starsky vs. Hutch,” which aired in 1979.

When Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) and Adrian (Talia Shire) arrive at the Hotel Lorane (which, as Dave pointed out, is still intact!) in 1982’s Rocky III, the Southern is visible in the background.

The hotel is seen, briefly once again, in the opening montage of the Season 1 episode of Miami Vice titled “Glades,” which aired in 1984.

And in 1984’s Repo Man, the Southern and the Special Café are just barely visible from the window of Otto’s (Emilio Estevez) car during a driving scene.

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

Big, huge THANK YOU to fellow stalker Dave for finally putting an end to the “Beat It” café mystery, for doing all of the research for this post, and for providing the many screen captures!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Southern Hotel is located at 412 East Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles. Special Café, aka the diner from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” music video, was formerly situated in the eastern portion of the building’s ground floor, but is no longer there. This locale is not in the best of areas, so if you visit, please exercise caution.

September 6, 2017
Happy Labor Day!

I would like to wish a happy Labor Day and three-day weekend to all of my fellow stalkers. I am taking today off in honor of the holiday, but will be back on Wednesday with a new post – one I am really, really excited about. So stay tuned!

September 4, 2017
The Francis F. Palmer House from “Gossip Girl”

A Gossip Girl tour of New York wouldn’t be complete without a visit to Constance Billard School for Girls/St. Jude’s School for Boys, the elite preparatory academy attended by Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively), Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester), Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), and the rest of “Manhattan’s elite” teenage set on the CW series. The only problem is that four different locations (yes, four!) actually portrayed the learning institution. I visited (and blogged about) the most recognizable of the bunch, the Museum of the City of New York, while in NYC back in 2009. And while I desperately wanted to stalk the second-most recognizable spot, the Francis F. Palmer House, aka the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (try saying that one five times fast!), I wasn’t able to get around to it on that trip. So there was no way I was missing it during my latest Big Apple vacation last April.

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The Francis F. Palmer House was originally constructed from 1916 to 1918 on a corner plot of land located at East 93rd Street and Park Avenue that was once the site of an 1847 residence built by Winfield Scott, a war hero who served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1841 to 1861.

Commissioned by wealthy banker Francis Palmer, the Georgian Federal-style estate was designed by the Delano & Aldrich architecture firm, who employed brick and Tuscan marble in the construction. At the time of its inception, the five-story pad boasted a Mansard roof, a Juliet balcony, a library, a myriad of fireplaces, and a large formal garden courtyard situated on its west side.

When Palmer passed away in 1926, his widow sold the residence to George F. Baker, Jr., the son of a well-to-do banker. Baker snatched up three surrounding properties, as well, razed them and hired Delano & Aldrich to build a garage with servants’ quarters and a large secondary wing complete with a ballroom in their place. The new structures were all situated around the garden courtyard, making it the focal point of the dwelling.

In 1959, Baker’s widow sold the sprawling mansion to the Synod of Bishops (aka the administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia), who transformed it into their headquarters. While the property underwent a few modifications to make it functional as a workplace, not much was altered, thankfully, and the changes that were made honored the original design. As part of the transformation, the Synod opened up the large brick wall surrounding the central courtyard (allowing it to be visible from the street) and added a gorgeous wrought iron gate. A towering Imperial staircase was also installed at the rear of the courtyard in order to grant easier access to the second floor. Today, the site is comprised of an administration building and two churches, the Cathedral of the Icon of Our Lady of the Sign and St. Sergius Church.

The Francis F. Palmer House was only utilized as Constance Billard School for Girls/St. Jude’s School for Boys during a portion of Gossip Girl’s inaugural season, first appearing in the episode titled “Poison Ivy.”

The site’s 93rd Street exterior . . .

. . . as well as its courtyard and stairwell made numerous appearances during Season 1 and should be immediately recognizable to GG fans.

Eagle-eyed viewers undoubtedly know that a second school courtyard was also featured during Season 1 and throughout the end of Season 2. That spot cannot be found at the Francis F. Palmer House, though. It was actually just a set built on a soundstage at Silvercup Studios in Queens where the series was lensed.

Most interior school scenes were also shot on a studio-built set at Silvercup.

The inside of the Palmer House did pop up a few times as the interior of Constance Billard/St. Jude’s during Season 1, though, including in the episodes “Poison Ivy” and “A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate.”

“A Thin Line Between Chuck and Nate” was actually the last time the Palmer House made an appearance on Gossip Girl. For whatever reason, beginning with the episode that followed, titled “The Blair Bitch Project,” the Museum of the City of New York started standing in for the gang’s school and the Palmer House was never to be seen again.

Then, inexplicably, at the beginning of Season 2, locales shifted once again – this time to The Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, though establishing shots of the Museum of the City of New York were still often utilized.

Despite the Palmer House’s rather brief stint on Gossip Girl, it is still, in my opinion, one of the most recognizable locations from the show, not to mention a gorgeous example of New York’s early 20th Century architecture. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

The Palmer House also stands in for The Briarton School, where Jamie Burns (Matt Bomer) teaches, on the third season of The Sinner.

And it popped up as the home of Nicholas Endicott (Dermot Mulroney) in the Season 1 episode of Prodigal Son titled “Like Father . . . “

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Francis F. Palmer House, aka the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, aka Constance Billard School for Girls/St. Jude’s School for Boys on Gossip Girl, is located at 75 East 93rd Street on New York’s Upper East Side. The other locations utilized as the gang’s academy on the series are the Museum of the City of New York at 1220 Fifth Avenue, also on the Upper East Side, The Packer Collegiate Institute at 170 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn, and Silvercup Studios at 42-22 22nd Avenue in Long Island City.

September 1, 2017
The Empire Hotel from “Gossip Girl”

My friend Mikey, from the Mike the Fanboy website, always teases me for being a huge fan of “Hollywood randoms,” i.e. stars he has never heard of. One of my favorites of the so-called randoms is Ed Westwick, who played Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl. Out of all the male TV characters I’ve ever come across, Chuck is hands-down my most-loved. (Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock runs a close second.) The Grim Cheaper and I were obsessed with Gossip Girl when it was on the air, but haven’t seen the CW series since it wrapped in December 2012. Out of the blue, he put on the pilot last night and I can’t tell you how great it was to once again hear that famous intro speech narrated by Kristen Bell. You know the one – “Gossip Girl here – your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite.” Watching the episode got me to thinking about the Empire Hotel, which was owned by Chuck on the series and which I stalked while in New York last April. Somehow I had never gotten around to blogging about the place. So here goes.

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The Empire’s history dates back to 1893 when construction began on a large 7-story lodging at the corner of West 63rd Street and Broadway on New York’s Upper West Side. The Hotel Casa Alameda, as it was set to be called, was never completed, though, and the property went into foreclosure. It was eventually sold, the construction finished and, in 1889, re-opened as the Empire Hotel. Nine years later, the Empire was purchased by Herbert DuPuy, who had lofty goals for the site. He had the building razed in 1922 and replaced it with a new, larger, 15-story hotel. The re-imagined Empire opened to the public on December 5th, 1923.

Its now iconic rooftop sign was erected at the same time.

Though Hotel Online states that the sign is “one of the first ever and longest standing neon billboards in the United States,” according to Curbed New York, it was actually replaced in the 1960s. I am unsure which site’s information is correct, but, regardless, the “Hotel Empire” sign makes for some amazing photo opportunities, as you can see here and here.

In December 2003, the Empire was shuttered after being slated for a condominium conversion project, but the plan was halted by a group of permanent residents who filed complaints with the city.

Instead, the hotel underwent a massive 3-year renovation, re-opening in August 2007.

The interior of the 413-room property was reimagined by interior design firm Goodman Charlton.

The result of their efforts is a very Old Hollywood-esque tapestry of golds, blacks, oranges, and the occasional zebra print.

The sweeping two-story lobby is marked by swaying curtains, tall cushy sofas, and a massive staircase.

It is not at all hard to see how the Empire wound up on Gossip Girl. Its design is so very, very Chuck Bass.

The site first showed up in the Season 3 episode of GG titled “The Lost Boy,” in the scene in which Chuck announces to his longtime girlfriend Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) that he has cashed in all of his Bass Industries stock in order to purchase the Empire.

The hotel’s next appearance on the series was in “How to Succeed in Business,” also from Season 3, in which Chuck opens a speakeasy on the premises.

The Empire then went on to be featured regularly in both establishing shots . . .

. . . and in various on-location shoots throughout the remainder of the series’ 6-season run.

The penthouse suite Chuck called home was just a set, though, located on a soundstage at Silvercup Studios East in Queens, where the show was lensed.

According to a January 2010 CNN Entertainment article, the Empire saw a 5-10% increase in bookings and a 50% increase in website traffic due to the filming – at a time when most hotels were experiencing a decrease in numbers. John A. Fox, a senior vice president at hospitality consulting group PKF, noticed the spike in bookings, but “had not thought to attribute it to the hotel’s guest appearance in a television show.” Um, hello! Thankfully, David Bowd, president of the hotels division of Amsterdam Hospitality, the company that owns the Empire, had more foresight. Of his reasoning behind the decision to allow filming on the premises, he said, “I think that teenagers can dictate where their parents stay over vacation and we saw a lot of that over the Thanksgiving holiday and into the bookings for Christmas and New Year’s.” Serious kudos to the Empire! So many hotels, restaurants, and businesses I’ve come across consider filming a nuisance and aren’t too keen on broadcasting their onscreen appearances, which I’ve never understood as cinematic stints can be such a massive draw for potential customers.

Gossip Girl is not the only production to have utilized the Empire. In the 2010 flick Sex and the City 2, the after-party for the premiere of Smith Jerrod’s (Jason Lewis) new movie is held in the property’s lobby, though the hotel is not mentioned by name. Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) simply describes the place as “the VIP room at the after-party.”

It is in the Lobby Bar that Carrie catches Mr. Big (Chris Noth) flirting with the Senior Vice President of the Bank of Madrid, Carmen Garcia Carrion (Penelope Cruz).

As its name suggests, the Lobby Bar is located in a tucked-away corner of the Empire’s lobby.

In the Season 1 episode of Power titled “Not Exactly How We Planned,” which aired in 2014, James ‘Ghost’ St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) and Tommy Egan (Joseph Sikora) met with Felipe Lobos (Enrique Murciano) at the hotel.

The Empire masked as the Wooster Hotel, where SVU detectives Odafin Tutuola (Ice-T) and Dominick Carisi Jr. (Peter Scanavino) investigated the rape of aspiring Olympic pole vaulter Jenna Miller (Kim Morgan) in the Season 18 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit titled “Heightened Emotions,” which aired in 2016.

The Empire was also supposedly featured in the Season 2 episode of The Equalizer titled “Solo,” which aired in 1987, but I could not find a copy of it anywhere to make screen captures for this post.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Empire Hotel, from Gossip Girl, is located at 44 West 63rd Street on New York’s Upper West Side. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

August 30, 2017
Jewel’s Catch One from “Pretty Woman”

They say that Lady Luck makes for a fickle mistress, but she was certainly smiling on me earlier this month. Not only did I track down the Campbell residence from Soap and the original Mama’s Family house during the first week of August, but fellow stalker Chas, from It’s Filmed There, sent me a text saying that he had finally, finally located the interior of The Blue Banana from the 1990 romcom Pretty Woman, a place I had been looking for for ages. I was shocked to learn that Vivian Ward’s (Julia Roberts) favorite hangout was actually Jewel’s Catch One, an oft-filmed site that also appeared in another of my favorite movies, Girls Just Want to Have Fun. The Arlington Heights hot spot shut its doors in July 2015, unfortunately, after 44 years in business. It crushed me to realize that up until two summers ago, the venue was still in operation and I could have stalked it! Knowing the transient nature of nightclubs, in all my years of searching for the locale, never in my wildest dreams did I think it would still be in business, intact, or even remotely recognizable 27 years after filming took place. But a Google search of images of Jewel’s Catch One showed me that, up until the closure, the lounge still looked exactly as it did in Pretty Woman. Another Google search told me that the site now housed a different nightclub named Union. I happened to be in L.A. when I received Chas’ text, so I headed right on over to stalk the venue. And there was Lady Luck once again at my side. Union was closed when we stopped by, but while I was taking photos, one of the booking managers happened to walk out. I asked if there was any way he might show me the interior and he could not have been more happy to do so! I literally just about hyperventilated from excitement. That excitement only heightened when I saw that, despite the change in ownership, the interior of the club is still very recognizable as The Blue Banana!

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Before I delve into that, though, a little history on the site. Jewel’s Catch One was founded in 1973 by Jewel Thais-Williams, an African-American lesbian who had long been growing weary over the difficulty she was having getting in to the popular West Hollywood gay clubs of the era due to her skin color and gender. Recognizing the need for a safe haven for minority members of the LGBT community to dance, party and let loose, Jewel took matters into her own hands and purchased a neighborhood bar located on the ground floor of a three-level 1923 building that once housed the Diana Ballroom. She transformed the small space into Jewel’s Catch One, a welcoming nightclub that offered the ultimate in privacy and discretion for its patrons. It quickly caught on, becoming so popular that Jewel was able to expand into other areas of the building, eventually purchasing and taking over the entire 7-room property.

Jewel’s Catch One attracted people of all races, genders, and sexual orientation. Thanks to the privacy the club afforded, it wasn’t long before celebrities started popping in, as well. Just a few of the stars the lounge played host to include Sammy Davis Jr., Gregory Hines, Warren Beatty, Ali MacGraw, Madonna, Sharon Stone, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Sade, and Pink.

In 1985, the club suffered a massive fire in its top-floor disco room. Despite having to shut down for two years to rebuild, Jewel’s prevailed, coming back stronger than ever.

Thais-Williams could be found on the premises nightly, mixing drinks and mingling with her customers. She was so much more than just a nightclub owner, though. Jewel quickly found herself in the position of trailblazer, community leader, and humanitarian. When the AIDS epidemic first hit, she held fundraisers and offered her support to those afflicted. She helped local addicts get clean. She operated a soup kitchen out of Catch One’s parking lot to provide food to those who couldn’t afford to feed themselves. She co-founded countless community organizations, including the Minority AIDS Project, the Unity Fellowship of Christ Church, the Imani Unidos Food Pantry, and Rue’s House, a living facility for women and children with HIV. She didn’t stop there, though. After sitting through an appointment with an inefficient doctor in the ‘90s, Jewel decided to go back to school to study Eastern Medicine. She graduated in 1999 with a Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine – at the age of 60 no less. Two years later, she opened the Village Heath Foundation next door to Catch One. The free clinic, which is still in operation, provides medical services to the community’s less fortunate. Today, Jewel can even add “producer” to the long list of her accomplishments, having served as one on a 2016 documentary about her club titled Jewel’s Catch One.

Sadly, Catch One saw a decline in patronage in recent years. As Jewel explained in a 2014 The Neighborhood News Online interview, “The need [for the club] isn’t there anymore. The population was gay and lesbian for most of the years — though everybody came, including straight people and stars — but now the community can go anywhere they want to. And now, even when I come out on a Saturday night, no one’s dancing, no one’s talking. They’re all standing on the edge of the room and all you see is white lights, screens.” In July 2015, she decided to shutter the site, put it up for sale, and instead focus her energies on running the Village Health Foundation. The space was purchased by Mitch Edelson in November of that year and re-opened as Union in February 2016. I love that the club’s original signage was left intact, despite the changeover.

Today, the venue boasts six dance areas known as the Disco, The Loft, Jewel’s Room, Circle Bar, Noise Room, and Tavern. Jewel’s Room (pictured below) is the space that appeared as The Blue Banana in Pretty Woman and is the area of the club most often featured onscreen. It is not very hard to see why producers choose to use it regularly. It definitely has a retro aura, even with the modernizations made by Edelson when the site became Union.

As I walked into Jewel’s Room, I just about passed out from excitement.

I was in awe at how recognizable it still is from Pretty Woman, as you can see above and below.

I was most excited to see the stairwell leading to the mezzanine, which Vivian walked down in the movie. The white metal railing has since been swapped out for a modern glass and metal railing (which bummed me to no end), but I was thrilled to finally be laying eyes on the stairs nonetheless.

Never thought I’d be posing for this photo! Finally! (Due to the room’s low lighting, my pictures came out a bit hazy, unfortunately – some worse than others. My apologies.)

Jewel’s Room’s mezzanine was referred to as the “Poor Room” in Pretty Woman. When I mentioned that factoid to our tour guide, he asked if I wanted to head upstairs to see the space in person. It was about that time that I completely lost my cool. (Again, I’m sorry about the poor quality of my photos here.)

When I saw that the mezzanine area boasts an air hockey table in real life, I was ecstatic. Not quite the pool table seen in Pretty Woman, but close enough!

Another shot of the “Poor Room” is pictured below.

As I mentioned in this February 2012 post, the front exterior of The Blue Banana was a mocked-up section of the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.

The rear exterior of Jewel’s Catch One did appear in a deleted scene, though, that was featured on Pretty Woman’s 15th Anniversary Special Edition DVD. In the scene, Vivian stops by The Blue Banana with Edward Lewis (Richard Gere) to look for her roommate, Kit De Luca (Laura San Giacomo). While there Edward proceeds to get into an altercation with drug dealer/pimp Carlos (Billy Gallo). It was because of that segment that Chas was finally able to identify the club. While watching the scene a couple of weeks ago, he happened to recognize Catch One’s back entrance (namely the doorway and stairwell) from its appearance in both Girls Just Want to Have Fun and Pretty in Pink, two movies he has chronicled on his site. (You can check out his posts on those flicks here and here.)

The interior of Jewel’s Room was also utilized in the deleted scene.

In fave movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which premiered in 1985, Jewel’s Catch One portrayed The Court nightclub, where Janie Glenn (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Jeff Malene (Lee Montgomery) rehearsed for the big Dance TV contest. In the scene, Catch One’s rear entrance masked as the front of The Court.

I am not sure if the scenes that took place inside The Court were shot at Jewel’s, but I am guessing they were. I believe the Disco was utilized for those segments. Due to the fire that occurred in the Disco in 1985 and the subsequent remodel of the space, it is hard to say for certain either way, though.

Catch One masqueraded as Cats nightclub, where Andie (Molly Ringwald) regularly hung out in 1986’s Pretty in Pink.

As you can see from comparing my photographs below to the screen captures above, Catch One’s rear entrance is now fenced in and, though still recognizable, looks quite a bit different than it did onscreen in Pretty Woman, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and Pretty in Pink.

Thanks to our friendly tour guide, I was able to snap a pic of the stairwell seen in the three films from behind the fence.

Because so little of the inside of Cats was shown in Pretty in Pink and what was shown was dimly lit, I cannot say with any certainty if Jewel’s Catch One or a different location was utilized for the interior segments.

In the 1988 drama Beaches, Catch One popped up as two different spots. Jewel’s Room first appeared as The Blue Cave, the New York City lounge where CC Bloom (Bette Midler) tried her hand at being a jazz singer.

Later in the movie, the Disco portrayed San Francisco’s Pink Palm nightclub, where CC and Hillary Whitney Essex (Barbara Hershey) made up after not speaking for years.

Jewel’s Catch One also masked as two different places in the 1988 comedy I’m Gonna Get You Sucka. The Disco first popped up in the movie’s Soul Train flashback scene.

Later in the film, Catch One’s front exterior . . .

. . . and Jewel’s Room portrayed the Big Brim Bar, the hangout of “every criminal and major player in town.”

Catch’s One rear exterior and Jewel’s Room appeared as The Gold Tooth, the supposed Decatur, Georgia nightclub where Nisi (Halle Berry) and Mickey (Natalie Desselle Reid) hung out in the 1997 comedy B*A*P*S.

Jewel’s Catch One played The Bell, the Philadelphia-area nightclub where 23 people were killed in a 1978 fire, in the Season 1 episode of Cold Case titled “Disco Inferno,” which aired in 2004.

Though the Disco was utilized for the majority of the shoot, Jewel’s Room was featured at the end of the episode as the spot where Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris) took ADA Jason Kite (Josh Hopkins) to celebrate after solving the case.

In 2015’s Straight Outta Compton, the Disco portrayed Doo-To’s Club, the Compton spot where Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins) and Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) first performed.

Jewel’s Catch One was also supposedly featured in the 1993 Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It, but I scanned through the movie and did not see it anywhere.

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

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Union, aka Jewel’s Catch One, aka The Blue Banana from Pretty Woman, is located at 4067 West Pico Boulevard in Arlington Heights. You can visit the nightclub’s official website here.

August 28, 2017
The Cunningham House from “Happy Days”

I consider myself a seasoned stalker. I think most would agree. Somehow though, until last month, I had never stalked one of the most iconic homes in television history. I am talking about the Cunningham residence from Happy Days. I did not even realize my colossal blunder until I was contacted by The Meredith Vieira Show about using some of my photographs in a segment they were running called “Name That Hollywood Home” last spring. Producers were interested in utilizing a pic featured in my 2009 post about The Golden Girls pad, but also inquired if I had any images of the Cunningham dwelling. I was ashamed to admit that I didn’t and had never actually seen the place in person. I finally amended that situation last month while in L.A. for the weekend with the Grim Cheaper.

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On Happy Days, the Cunningham family – Marion (Marion Ross), Howard (Tom Bosley), Richie (Ron Howard), and Joanie (Erin Moran) – along with their friend/tenant Arthur ‘Fonzie’ Fonzarelli (Henry Winkler) were said to reside at 565 North Clinton Drive in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their traditional two-story home can actually be found at 565 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hancock Park, less than a mile from Paramount Pictures, where the series, which ran from 1974 to 1984, was lensed. (I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there was actually a third Cunningham child named Chuck, portrayed by Irish actor Gavan O’Herlihy, who was unceremoniously written off the show after its inaugural season, never to be seen again.)

In reality, the Cahuenga Boulevard home, which was built in 1923, boasts 6 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3,904 square feet of living space, a 0.29-acre lot, and a swimming pool (which, per Bing’s Bird’s Eye view, appears to be dry). According to Zillow, the Colonial-style pad is currently worth a whopping $3 million! It last sold in February 1995 for $422,000, so the owners have made quite a profit on the place.

The property did not show up on Happy Days until the series’ third episode, titled “Richie’s Cup Runneth Over,” in the scene in which dancer Verna LaVerne (Louisa Moritz) drove a very drunk Richie home from a bachelor party (pictured below).

The house then went on to be featured regularly in establishing shots throughout the show’s ten-year, eleven-season run.

It is amazing to me how little the residence has changed since Happy Days first premiered more than 43 years ago. Aside from the addition of a railing on the exterior steps and the removal of the planter boxes lining the porch as well as the perimeter of the front yard, the place appears frozen in time from the days when the Cunninghams called it home.

Only the exterior of the Cahuenga pad was utilized on Happy Days. The interior of the Cunninghams’ house was a set built inside of Stage 19 at Paramount Pictures. Eagle-eyed viewers undoubtedly noticed that the set looked a bit different during Seasons 1 and 2 (pictured below) than it did during the rest of the series’ run.

Filming of Happy Days shifted from a single-camera setup with no audience to a three-camera setup with a live studio audience during Season 3 and the set had to be altered to accommodate that change. The altered Cunningham home interior featured during Seasons 3-11 is pictured below.

Though the Cahuenga Boulevard residence does boast a detached garage situated at the rear of the property, the scenes taking place in that area of the Cunningham pad were not shot on location at the actual house, but on a set re-creation built on Stage 19.

According to my buddy E.J.’s book Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites, actress Lupe Velez called the Cunningham residence home in the late ‘20s/early ‘30s while she was dating Gary Cooper, whose parents lived just five houses down at 529 North Cahuenga Boulevard. Supposedly, Cooper’s parents were wildly opposed to his love affair with the “Mexican Spitfire” and would walk by her dwelling on a nightly basis, peering in the windows to see what the two were up to. It wasn’t long before Lupe relocated to a more secluded spot at 1826 Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Hollywood Hills West.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Cunningham home from Happy Days is located at 565 North Cahuenga Boulevard in Hancock Park.

August 25, 2017
Brand Library from “Scorpion”

I am probably the only person you will ever hear say this, but I absolutely loved working as a background actor in Hollywood. Sure, the hours were long and unpredictable and the work tedious and repetitive, but the opportunities I was afforded to be up-close-and-personal with the inner workings of movie and television production were unparalleled. I reveled in observing everything from the rehearsal process to the stars’ make-up application to the Steadicam operators’ choreographed movements. I also got to learn about and was granted access to some fabulous and unique locales, one of which was the Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale. Though I lived in nearby Pasadena at the time, until I was hired as an extra for the movie Loaded in October 2006, I had never heard of the place, and was struck by its beauty and extraordinary architecture as soon as I arrived on set. For the shoot, the library was transformed into a college campus and my job was to mill about the property’s entrance and sprawling front lawn for a couple of scenes. While Loaded turned out to be an undeniable flop (even just scanning through it to make screen captures for this post was painful), Brand Library left an indelible impression on me. So when I spotted it while watching new fave show Scorpion recently, I figured it was high time I blog about the site.

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Brand Library was originally built as a private residence for Glendale developer Leslie Coombs Brand and his wife, Mary Louise, in 1904.

Known as El Miradero (Spanish for “the lookout”), the property was designed by Brand’s brother-in-law Nathaniel Dryden.

Modeled after the East Indian Pavilion from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (which you can see a photograph of here), Dryden employed Saracenic, Moorish and Indo-Islamic elements in his design.

Constructed at a cost of $60,000 (and we’re talking 1904 money!), the lavish 13-room, 5,000-square-foot property boasted towering scalloped archways, intricate beveled glass windows, shaded loggias, a pool, a tennis court, orange groves, a miniature lake, ponds and fountains, kennels for the family’s dogs, an airstrip, a conservatory, a sprawling palm tree-lined drive (pictured below), and even a private clubhouse complete with a bar and pool tables that was open to the local elite.

El Miradero was so opulent and palatial that locals began referring to it as “Brand’s Castle.”

When Leslie passed away in 1925, he deeded the manse, as well as the 488 acres surrounding it, to the city of Glendale with the decree that it should be turned into a library and public park. His one stipulation was that the city could not take over ownership of the property until his wife’s death.

Mary Louise continued to live on the premises for the next 20 years, until eventually passing away in a car accident on October 13th, 1945 while on vacation in Arizona. She was 74. The city of Glendale subsequently began transforming the Brand estate into a library. Not just any library, though. El Miradero was instead turned into a specialty art library, housing a collection of over 110,000 LPs, DVDs, art prints, books, and CDs. It opened to the public in 1956. Sadly, during the transformation, much of the residence’s original interior design, which was Victorian in style, was covered over or removed in order to make the site more functional as a municipal space.

A large gallery and 100-seat recital hall were added to the grounds in 1969, though they bear a much more modern look than El Miradero. (You can see the gallery and recital hall spaces to the left in both of my photos below.)

Thankfully, in 1998, a plan was approved to renovate the library and restore much of its original interior detailing. The project did not get underway until 2012, though, at which time the site closed for 2 years and underwent $10-million worth of work.

The results of the renovation are nothing short of spectacular. Though the exterior of Brand Library is striking, the restored interior is absolutely jaw-dropping. Visitors to the site now enter through the property’s former solarium, reportedly Leslie and Mary Louise’s favorite area of the home. All of El Miradero’s rooms are centered around the bright space, which during the Brands’ tenure was decorated with dark wood, a myriad of foliage, a fountain, and bird cages. You can see photographs of it from that time period here and here.

Just off the solarium is the couple’s former dining room. Painted in a rich blue, the space boasts a magnificent window seat with a carved wood frame. You can check out images of the room in its original form here and here.

El Miradero’s former library room is just as impressive, with an intricately painted ceiling and leaded glass windows. Pictures of it during the Brands’ day can be seen here and here.

From the library room, visitors step into what was originally the home’s reception hall, a grand space boasting a stone, brick and wood fireplace. You can check out photos of what it formerly looked like here and here.

Off the reception hall sits the Brands’ drawing room, which is decorated in soft blue tones and features a hand-painted ceiling. You can view an image of the room in its original state here.

As you can see in comparing the historic photos to my recent images, the restorers did an amazing job of bringing the property back to its original splendor. It honestly looks as if no time has passed since the Brands lived on the premises!

El Miradero’s impressive and unique architecture lends itself quite well to the screen.

In the Season 2 episode of Scorpion titled “Sun of a Gun,” the library played the role of President Desta Rahal’s (Hakeem Kae-Kazim) home in Bahari, North Africa.

Only the exterior of the building was used in the shoot. The interior of Desta’s palace was a mash-up of two different spots – a studio-built set . . .

. . . and the Moroccan Room at The Hollywood Athletic Club in Hollywood.

Scorpion is hardly the first production to feature the library. In fact, during the days that Brand lived on the premises, he rented the home out to film companies regularly, figuring the publicity generated by doing so was good for Glendale, the city he was in the process of developing. As such, El Miradero appeared in numerous silent movies including 1915’s Under the Crescent, 1920’s An Arabian Knight, 1925’s Webs of Steel, and 1919’s The Man Beneath (pictured below).

The site’s popularity as a filming locale only increased after it was turned into a library. In the Season 4 episode of The Six Million Dollar Man titled “The Thunderbird Connection,” which aired in 1976, the property masked as Price Hassad’s (Barry Miller) Burdabi palace.

Brand Library portrayed the Love Truth Temple, aka the headquarters of the cult that Page Connally (Heather Locklear) belonged to, in the Season 2 episode of The Fall Guy titled “Just a Small Circle of Friends,” which aired in 1983.

At the beginning of the 1988 comedy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, the library masqueraded as the Beirut palace where terrorists plotted to take down the U.S.

As I mentioned earlier, Brand Library was transformed into a college campus for Loaded. It popped up twice in the 2008 movie – first in the scene in which pre-law student Tristan Price (Jesse Metcalfe) and his friends hang out between class.

It then was featured in the scene in which drug dealer Sebastian (Corey Large) tries to befriend Tristan’s girlfriend, Brooke (Monica Keena).

I was an extra in both scenes, though you can only see me in the latter. There I am denoted with a yellow arrow in the screen cap below.

Brand Library also appeared in The Other Side of Midnight, but I could not find a copy of the 1977 flick anywhere to make screen captures for this post.

From what I have read online, the site also popped up in episodes of The X-Files, Alias, and Mission: Impossible, though I am unsure of which episodes specifically. If anyone happens to know, please fill me in.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Brand Library & Art Center, from the “Sun of a Gun” episode of Scorpion, is located at 1601 West Mountain Street in Glendale. The site is open to the public, but closed on Mondays, so plan accordingly.

August 21, 2017
Mawby’s Bar from “Flashdance”

While I am definitely a child of the ‘80s, there are some classic films from that era that I have never been a fan of. Pretty in Pink, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Flashdance come to mind. Being that there’s pretty much nothing I love more than movies with musical and dance montages, the latter should be right up my alley, but, for whatever reason, it never struck a chord. There is one spot from it that I have been asked about regularly over the years, though – Mawby’s Bar, the club where welder-by-day/exotic-dancer-by-night Alex Owens (Jennifer Beals) worked in the 1983 flick. Filming websites had long documented that the Mawby’s exterior could be found in downtown L.A., though it’s exact address was never specified. Then in September 2014, The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations published some more detailed information. According to a tip from location manager Charles Newirth, Mawby’s was a mocked-up vacant warehouse at the corner of Boyd and Wall Streets that had been demolished at some point since filming took place. Because the building was said to be gone, I did not put any further thought into it. So imagine my surprise when this past December, fellow stalker Chas, of It’s Filmed There, posted a page about Flashdance locales, along with the address of the still-intact Mawby’s warehouse!

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I immediately headed over to Google Street View to check out the building, which, as Chas explained, looks considerably different in reality. Not only was the structure, located at 229 Boyd Street, heavily dressed for the filming of Flashdance (with a neon, glass brick and black metal façade added to the exterior, as well as letters spelling out “hotel” written across the second level), but it was also altered in the years following the shoot. Most noticeably, the five rounded second story windows were filled in at some point.

Amazingly though, the outlines of those windows are still discernible today, which I was absolutely floored to see!

I was also floored to see that the utility access cover visible in the sidewalk directly outside of Mawby’s front door is still there today! (I know, I know – it doesn’t take much to excite me.)

Mawby’s, which was loosely based upon a real Toronto-area strip club named Gimlets, was featured numerous times throughout Flashdance.

Though I cannot say for certain, from the way the film was shot and a few blurbs I have read online, it seems that the actual interior of the warehouse was also utilized in the filming. Ron Karabatsos, who played Mawby’s Bar owner Jake Mawby in the movie, even wrote in to the Fast Rewind website explaining that the club was built from scratch in an empty storefront in downtown Los Angeles. (Though he states that said storefront was on 5th and Los Angeles Streets, that intersection is only a hop, skip and a jump away from the Boyd warehouse, so I believe he was just a bit off in his recollection. It is also possible that a different vacant site was utilized for interior shots of Mawby’s, but I do not think that was the case.)

I was really hoping to find some additional onscreen appearances of the warehouse from the same time period so that I could further verify the location (you know me – I don’t like to leave any stone unturned when it comes to this stuff). While I did come across a couple, neither provided a great view of the building. We catch a very brief glimpse of the side of it in the 1984 Sci-Fi horror flick Night of the Comet. In the screen captures below, the Mawby’s warehouse, located just beyond the stop sign, is denoted with a yellow arrow.

A much better view of the warehouse is shown in 1988’s Miracle Mile, in the scene in which Harry Washello (Anthony Edwards) and Wilson (Mykelti Williamson) attempt to get gas at a downtown gas station. Unfortunately, I did not take any photographs of that side of the structure while I was stalking the place, so please bear with the Google Street View images pictured below.

Oddly, the second floor windows that I was so excited to see the outlines of appear to have been replaced by long rectangular windows by the time Miracle Mile was shot, which makes no sense whatsoever. If the rounded windows were actually swapped out, how are vestiges of them still apparent today?

Miracle Mile also provides a quick glimpse of the parking lot that was formerly situated across the street from the warehouse and was visible in Flashdance. Today, a one-story building stands on that site.

Thanks to a commenter named Sam I learned that an establishing shot of Mawby’s from Flashdance was re-used in the 1990 made-for-television movie Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen. No actual filming took place at 229 Boyd Street, though.

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

Big THANK YOU to The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations and Chas, from the It’s Filmed There website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The warehouse that masked as Mawby’s Bar in Flashdance can be found at 229 Boyd Street in downtown Los Angeles. The neighborhood where it is located is not the greatest, so please exercise caution when visiting.

August 16, 2017
Happy Trails Catering from “Big Little Lies”

UPDATE – Sadly, Happy Trails Catering is no longer open. The restaurant closed in 2018 and its beautiful garden currently sits vacant.

As you probably noticed, I was unexpectedly MIA for most of last week. My dad had an experimental five-day procedure done at a hospital in Orange County, so my family and I spent the week by his side. I fully intended to write new content while there, but the hospital Wi-Fi wasn’t really amenable to that. (What is it with hospital Wi-Fi, by the way? I’ve literally never encountered one even halfway decent!) But I am finally home and ready to get back to my regularly scheduled programming. So, on with the post! As someone who routinely plays tourist in my own town (wherever that happens to be), I counted myself an expert on Pasadena, the Southern California city I called home for more than 15 years. One spot that remained a secret to me for almost a decade, though, was Happy Trails Catering, a bucolic special events site/café/garden located in Old Town. My mom learned about the place while looking for L.A.-area wedding venues shortly after I got engaged in 2008 and, upon seeing photos of it online, told me we had to head out there pronto for a tour. I was dazzled at what awaited us! Situated just steps from the bustling sidewalk lining Fair Oaks Avenue, virtually hidden behind wooden entrance gates, is an absolutely charming garden positioned around a massive camphor tree. While I did not wind up choosing to tie the knot on the premises (the Grim Cheaper and I instead got married at our good friends’ house), Happy Trails made a definite impression. So it is quite surprising that I did not recognize the place upon sight when it popped up on Big Little Lies earlier this year. It wasn’t until the property’s third appearance on the HBO mini-series that I was actually able to identify it!

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Happy Trails Catering was originally founded in 1986.

As its name suggests, the company mainly operates as a catering business, run out of a small brick storefront.

Situated next to that storefront is the entrance to the property’s spectacular garden.

The pristine landscaped grounds serve as the company’s onsite special events venue.

Thankfully, you don’t have to be invited to a soiree on the premises to catch a glimpse of the peaceful idyll, though. Each weekday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the Happy Trails kitchen is transformed into a walk-up café open to the public.

Patrons can grab one of the eatery’s homemade soups, sandwiches, salads, or quiches . . .

. . . and head outside to enjoy it in the garden under the canopy of the camphor tree.

While Happy Trails is no-doubt one of the prettiest venues Pasadena has to offer . . .

. . . the site is just as well-known for its fare.

Though my mom and I didn’t sample any of Happy Trails’ offerings the day we toured the place, the GC and I stopped by the café recently for lunch and were thoroughly impressed. The Sage Roasted Turkey Breast Sandwich is honestly one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had.

Happy Trails Catering, masking as the supposed Monterey-area Side Door Café, was featured three times during the first season of Big Little Lies. It first showed up in the episode titled “Serious Mothering” in the scene in which Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman) and Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Reese Witherspoon) discuss their sex lives over cocktails, before being interrupted by their frenemy Renata Klein (Laura Dern).

The site was significantly dressed for the scene, with lounge areas, fire pits and outdoor heaters spaced throughout the garden, which is why I did not recognize it.

Happy Trails then popped up twice in the episode titled “Push Comes to Shove” – first as the restaurant where Madeline and her ex-husband, Nathan Carlson (James Tupper), meet to talk about co-parenting their teenage daughter, Abigail (Kathryn Newton). Though the property’s camphor tree was visible in the scene, I am ashamed to say that I still did not recognize the place!

Later in the episode, Jane Chapman (Shailene Woodley) meets up with Ms. Barnes (Virginia Kull) at the eatery to discuss whether or not her son, Ziggy (Iain Armitage), is bullying a fellow student. While watching the scene, I spotted Happy Trails’ rear barn doors behind the two women and placed them immediately. It was definitely a facepalm moment. I cannot believe it took three scenes for me to identify the locale!

The restaurant also makes an appearance in Big Little Lies Season 2 premiere titled “What Have They Done?” as the spot where Celeste and Jane talk about their complicated relationship.

It is not hard to see why Happy Trails was chosen to appear on Big Little Lies. The site has a very Carmel-ish feel to it. Per a Monterey County Weekly article, while filming Season 1 on the Central Coast, the BLL crew frequented Restaurant 1833 (which is now closed) and hoped to locate a similar spot in L.A. to stand in for it on the show. They found exactly what they were looking for in Happy Trails. As you can see in these images of the now defunct 1833, the two spaces bear a striking resemblance to each other. To me, though, Happy Trails is even more reminiscent of Hog’s Breath Inn, the iconic Carmel restaurant that was originally founded in 1972 by none other than Clint Eastwood. Fun fact – when the actor wanted to expand the eatery in 1986, he encountered quite a bit of bureaucratic red tape. He was so frustrated by the situation that he wound up running for mayor so that he could make some policy changes. His run was successful and Eastwood served as Carmel’s mayor for the next two years. Though he sold his interest in the Hog’s Breath Inn in 1999, the restaurant is still in operation today and looks much the same as it did during Clint’s tenure.

Sadly, the other main restaurant featured on Big Little Lies is not accessible to the public. Blue Blues, the supposed Fisherman’s Wharf café where Madeline, Jane and Celeste regularly hung out, was nothing more than a studio-built set located inside of a soundstage. Quite a bit of misinformation about the location seems to floating around online, though. Several sources state that Paluca Trattoria, located at 6 Old Fisherman’s Wharf, masked as Blue Blues on the series. Heck, even Paluca Trattoria’s official website makes that claim. While the restaurant is situated in the same area of the wharf that Blue Blue’s was purported to be, no actual filming took place there. Not only is it obvious when looking at images of Paluca Trattoria in comparison to screen captures of Blue Blues that the two places are not one and the same, but production designer John Paino confirmed the matter in a February 2017 New York Post article, stating “We made the whole thing on a stage, and the background is digitally dropped in.” It is not hard to see why audiences were fooled, though. The café does look incredibly realistic, as you can see below. You can read an in-depth post I wrote about Blue Blues here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Happy Trails Catering, aka Side Door Café from Big Little Lies, is located at 207 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The café and garden are only open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., so plan accordingly.

August 14, 2017
Scorpion Headquarters from “Scorpion”

The Grim Cheaper and I tend to get hooked on a new series every summer. Well, truth be told, we get hooked on new series all throughout the year (The Goldbergs, Veep, and Vanderpump Rules come to mind). But during the summer months, we typically pick out a new-to-us show and binge-watch it nightly to avoid dreaded reruns. In 2014, that show was Revenge. In 2015, Scandal. Last year, it was Suits. And this year, it’s Scorpion, the CBS procedural that focuses on a group of geniuses who aid Homeland Security in solving crimes. The series, said to be loosely based on the real life of software specialist Walter O’Brien (played by Elyes Gabel), can definitely be cheesy and the storylines completely over-the-top at times (you often have to reeeeeallllly suspend disbelief), but we love it. It is the quirky cast of characters – Toby Curtis (Eddie Kaye Thomas), Happy Quinn (Jadyn Wong), Sylvester Dodd (Ari Stidham), Paige Dineen (Katharine McPhee), Ralph Dineen (Riley B. Smith), Agent Cabe Gallo (Robert Patrick) and Walter – who keep us coming back. Not to mention, the show has got some serious heart. I tear up over pretty much every episode. So while in L.A. recently, I was all about stalking a few of its locations, namely the Team Scorpion headquarters.

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For those who haven’t watched Scorpion, I’ll let Walter explain the team and their unique dynamic via his narration from each episode’s intro – “My name is Walter O’Brien. I have the fourth highest IQ ever recorded – 197. Einstein’s was 160. When I was 11, the FBI arrested me for hacking NASA to get their blueprints for my bedroom wall. Now I run a team of geniuses tackling worldwide threats only we can solve. Toby’s our behaviorist, Sylvester’s a human calculator, Happy, a mechanical prodigy. Agent Cabe Gallo’s our government handler. And Paige? Well, Paige isn’t like us. She’s normal, and translates the world for us while we help her understand her genius son. Together we are Scorpion.” (And let’s not forget their pet ferret, Ferret Bueller, which has to be the greatest name ever!) Traditional office space would never suit such a nontraditional team, so the group instead heads to a large graffiti-covered brick warehouse for work each day.

That warehouse is located at 1935 Bay Street in downtown Los Angeles. I found the address thanks to Gary, from Seeing Stars, who has a page on his site dedicated to locations from the series’ early episodes.

As you can see below, Scorpion headquarters looks much the same in person as it does on TV.

The 13,260-square-foot warehouse was originally built in 1925.

It is not hard to see why the building was chosen to appear on Scorpion – its rich coloring, urban layout and industrial design translate extremely well to the screen.

While researching this post, I came across a quote from series creator Nick Santora about shooting in Southern California. He said, “CBS was very supportive of keeping this show in L.A. I imagined it in L.A. and wrote it in L.A., and it just stayed in L.A. I was constantly waiting for the phone call telling us, ‘Hey, let’s go scouting in Louisiana, New Mexico, and Toronto,’ but that call never came. I’m thrilled because though I’m a New Yorker through and through, there are parts of L.A. that are undershot and very interesting visually. L.A. is an old city, and there are old buildings here. There’s great architecture that gets beat down by 110 degree weather, and Santa Ana winds that have been whipping sand against it for a century now, and it just looks great on film. I wanted to try to tell a story in this town.” His quote perfectly encapsulates the warehouse. Though gritty, rough and covered in graffiti, it looks stunning through a camera lens.

I mean, look at it!

The building is just begging to be photographed.

I mean, that alley! Yaaaaaaas!

I want to frame pretty much every image I took of the place.

As is typical with most TV shows, a different location was used as the Team Scorpion warehouse in the pilot. It can be found at 2270 Jesse Street in Boyle Heights. A full view of the exterior of the site was never shown in the episode, oddly. In the early scene in which Walter arrives at work, though he parks in front of the warehouse, due to the camera angle, we only see the building located just to the east of it, at 653 South Anderson Street. You can see a matching shot via the Google Street View image below.

The episode also provided a brief glimpse of the warehouse’s entry doors, which can be seen below via Google Street View.

The interior of the Jesse Street warehouse was also utilized in the pilot as the inside of Scorpion headquarters. As you can see in these real life photographs of the interior, not much was changed for the shoot.

When Scorpion got picked up, the production set up shop at MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach, where the interior of the Jesse Street warehouse was very closely re-created on a soundstage.

The warehouse rooftop, where Team Scorpion often hangs out, can also be found at MBS Media Campus.

It is actually a temporary outdoor set constructed when needed on the top level of the studio’s large parking garage, in the area denoted with a red X below.

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

Big THANK YOU to Gary, from the Seeing Stars website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Scorpion Headquarters from Scorpion is located at 1935 Bay Street in downtown Los Angeles. When visiting, please exercise caution as the site is not located in the best part of town. The headquarters building from the pilot episode can be found at 2270 Jesse Street in Boyle Heights. The warehouse rooftop is a set constructed on the top level of the MBS Media Campus parking garage at 1600 Rosecrans Avenue in Manhattan Beach.

August 7, 2017