September 2018 – IAMNOTASTALKER

September 28, 2018September 29, 2018

California Market Center from “Cruel Intentions”

For such a quintessentially “New York” movie, quite a lot of Cruel Intentions was shot in L.A., which I’m only just now discovering. A few of the more prominent West Coast locales include the modern pad where Blaine Tuttle (Joshua Jackson) lived (it’s actually the Benton House in Brentwood), the Rosemont Estate’s ornate indoor pool (that can be found at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles), Penn Station (downtown L.A.’s 7th Street/Metro Center Station in real life), and, as I recently learned thanks to my friend Owen (of the When Write Is Wrong blog), the office of Sebastian Valmont’s (Ryan Phillipe) therapist, Dr. Greenbaum (Swoosie Kurtz), which is really California Market Center, also in downtown L.A. I headed right on out to stalk the site on a sunny Saturday morning shortly after Owen told me about it in June, but what I did not realize is that the wholesale fashion mart is closed on weekends. So that particular mission was thwarted. I wasn’t able to re-stalk the place until mid-September and, this time, I made sure to hit it up on a weekday.

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The California Mart, as it was initially called, was established by New York lingerie manufacturers Harvey and Barney Morse. Upon moving to L.A. and working the SoCal fashion trade in the 1930s, the brothers discovered there was a need for a centralized spot where retailers could look for and secure merchandise. As Edna Bonacich and Richard P. Appelbaum explain in their 2000 book Behind the Label, “Buyers would come to Los Angeles with their checkbooks in hand, yet wind up spending days wandering through the sprawling Los Angeles basis in a sometimes futile search for suitable manufacturers. The Morse brothers saw an opportunity.” The duo purchased a plot of land for their new marketplace on East 9th and South Los Angeles Streets in 1952 and the complex’s first building was completed in 1963.

The mart’s second building was constructed in 1965 and the third in 1979. All three were designed by the Victor Gruen Associates architecture firm.

The result of their efforts is a sprawling 1.8-million-square-foot marketplace that the L.A. Times dubbed “the heartbeat of the Los Angeles apparel industry” in 1987.

The Morse family continued to own the California Mart until 1994 when it was lost to foreclosure. The site was soon snapped up by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, who set about refurbishing the interior and increasing tenancy. In 2000, Equitable Life sold to Hertz Investment Group for a cool $90 million. Though the company renamed the vast plaza “California Market Center,” many still refer to it by its original moniker.

In 2005, the complex was acquired for $135 million by Jamison Realty Inc. They subsequently sold it last June for a whopping $440 million to New York-based real estate company Brookfield, who are planning to renovate the space and make it more publicly accessible. (Perhaps keeping it open on weekends might be a good start. Winking smile ) Bert Dezzutti, the head of Brookfield’s Western region, recently told the Los Angeles Times, “We want to open it up literally and figuratively to the street and to pedestrian flow to invite people into space that is somewhat blocked off and difficult to access now.” I really hope their punch list doesn’t include altering the market’s fabulous lobby.

The gorgeous atrium-like space . . .

. . . is capped by a magnificent glass ceiling that is not only stunning to look at, but allows copious natural light to flow in and provides beautiful views of the mart’s three modernist-style buildings.

The 13-story complex currently houses numerous meeting venues and event spaces, more than 1,200 apparel showrooms, a theatre, a print shop, a food court, a fashion school (Otis College of Art and Design), a bank, a large parking garage, and some of the nicest public restrooms in all of downtown.

You can check out some more photographs of the market here.

Cruel Intentions made spectacular use of the complex’s lobby.

It is there that, in the 1999 drama’s opening scene, Sebastian leaves his latest therapy session just seconds before Dr. Greenbaum learns that he has not only seduced her daughter, Marci (a pre-American Pie Tara Reid), but has posted nude photographs of her online.

Dr. Greenbaum catches up with Sebastian in the market’s atrium and proceeds to scream at him from the second floor.

In typical Sebastian fashion, while Dr. Greenbaum is ranting and raving, he meets a cute girl and informs her that he is taking her to lunch.

The California Market Center lobby looks exactly the same today as it did onscreen 19 years ago. To say I was ecstatic to finally be seeing it in person is an understatement. And while I was a bit nervous that the powers that be would yell at me for taking photographs of the space, I am happy to report that all of the security guards and employees I spoke with could not have been nicer.

As Owen later discovered and informed me, an actual CA Market Center suite was also used in the scene as the interior of Dr. Greenbaum’s office.

As you can see in the screen capture as compared to the Google aerial image of the buildings located just north of the complex (both of which are pictured below), the view from the doctor’s windows match that of the actual mart.

California Market Center also popped up in the Season 4 episode of Starsky and Hutch titled “The Groupie,” which aired in 1978, as the spot where Det. Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson (David Soul) and Det. Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) went undercover as a swimsuit buyer and a fashion photographer, respectively.

The mart’s real life interior also appeared in the episode, but it looks quite a bit different today than it did onscreen 39 years ago.

Stay tuned on Monday, folks, for the start of my annual Haunted Hollywood postings! I can’t wait!

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: California Market Center, aka Sebastian’s therapist’s office from Cruel Intentions, is located at 110 East 9th Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the center’s official website here. The property is only open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., so plan accordingly.

September 26, 2018December 6, 2018

Counterpoint Records and Books from “A Lot Like Love”

I obviously need to start paying closer attention to things because for years I was under the impression that all of the locations from fave movie A Lot Like Love had been tracked down. But while scanning through the 2005 romcom to make screen captures for my recent post on the home where Oliver’s (Ashton Kutcher) parents lived in the flick, I just about fell out of my chair when I realized that one spot remained unearthed – the record/book store where Emily Friehl (Amanda Peet) met – or I guess I should say “re-met” – her future fiancé, Ben Miller (Jeremy Sisto). Being that unknown locales plague me like no other and that there’s pretty much nothing I love more than a good book shop, I immediately set about IDing the place. As fate would have it, the hunt turned out to be one of the easiest of my entire stalking career.

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In A Lot Like Love, Emily reconnects with Ben, after initially meeting him at a mutual friend’s wedding, at a spacious record/book store where the two banter over the last copy of an import CD they both want. Feeling lucky, I headed to Google, inputted “large record bookstore Los Angeles” and the very first result kicked back was for Counterpoint Records and Books at 5911 Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. One look at images of the place told me it was the right spot. If only all of my searches were so simple! So to the top of my To-Stalk List the site went and I headed right on over there a few weeks later.

Counterpoint Records and Books was originally established by John Polifronio and his then girlfriend/now wife Susan way back in 1979 as a classical music boutique that operated out of the back of The Book Treasury, formerly located at 6707 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

Because of the Boulevard’s rather sketchy nature at the time, the couple decided to relocate the following year and sublet a 600-square-foot portion of a frame store in the more shopper-friendly Franklin Village.

Popular from the get-go, it was not long before John and Susan needed to expand, first taking over the entire frame shop and then spreading over into the storefront next door.

The couple also soon decided to branch out. Longtime collectors of rare and used books, John and Susan eventually found their home overflowing with volumes and elected to incorporate the excess tomes into their inventory.

In 1997, the duo purchased the building that houses Counterpoint, which Susan said in a 2012 interview was the saving grace in the store’s longevity.

The shop, which teems with colorful leaflets, thick novels, stacks of vinyl, copies of used VHS and cassette tapes, and racks upon racks of CDs, remains extremely popular today with locals and visitors alike.

Even actor Ron Livingston is a fan and included Counterpoint in his itinerary for a My Favorite Weekend column for the Los Angeles Times in 2006.

It is not hard to see why the store became such a neighborhood staple. Counterpoint Records and Books is warm, friendly and inviting. The employees that I spoke with not only invited me to take as many photos of the place as I wanted, but spent quite a bit of time chatting with me about the various filmings that have taken place on the premises over the years. Though, shockingly, not a one of them knew about A Lot Like Love!

In the movie, Emily and Ben reconnect while perusing the long CD rack in the middle of the store. Though that area of the shop is largely unchanged from the time that filming took place, the sections around it have been moved. During the shoot, the Religion, Philosophy and Occult sections were situated behind the CDs, but today those shelves house Fiction, as you can see below.

Philosophy and Religion can now be found on the opposite side of the room.

I was thrilled to see that, despite the move, the signage still looks exactly as it did onscreen.

There seems to be a bit of confusion concerning some of Counterpoint’s other cinematic appearances floating around online, so I’ll do my best to clear up the misinformation here.

The shop did pop up at the beginning of Prince’s 2004 “Musicology” music video, which you can watch here.

While many websites state that Counterpoint made an appearance in the 2010 movie Beginners, it was only featured in the trailer (which is where the still below comes from), not the actual film. It seems that the scene shot on the premises wound up on the cutting room floor. To confuse matters further, a different L.A. book boutique – the now defunct Cosmopolitan Book Shop at 7017 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood – does cameo a few times. It is there, not at Counterpoint, that Oliver (Ewan McGregor) and Anna (Melanie Laurent) peruse The Joy of Sex.

Counterpoint Records and Books pops up in Olly Murs’ 2012 “Troublemaker” music video, which you can check out here. (I would be remiss if I did not mention that Olly is such a cutie! I had never heard of him until writing this post and was pleasantly surprised to find while watching his video that he reminds me quite a bit of Michael Bublé in looks and mannerisms.)

Though Curbed Los Angeles reports that Joan Crawford’s (Jessica Lange) book signing in the Season 1 episode of Feud: Bette and Joan titled “You Mean All This Time We Could Have Been Friends?” was shot at Counterpoint, that information is incorrect. Perplexingly, the website even goes so far as to say “According to [production designer Judy] Becker, the production team built a book-signing station for the scene, which Counterpoint opted to keep after filming concluded.” But, as you can see below, the two-story venue that appeared in the episode looks nothing like Counterpoint. Filming actually took place at the Philosophical Research Library at the University of Philosophical Research located at 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard in Los Feliz. You can check out some photos of the space here and here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Counterpoint Records and Books, from A Lot Like Love, is located at 5911 Franklin Avenue in the Hollywood Hills. You can visit the store’s official website here.

September 14, 2018September 8, 2018

Taking the Week Off

My best friends are currently visiting from Switzerland, so I will be taking the next week off from blogging. I will hopefully be back to regular scheduled programming by the 24th – or the 26th at the latest. See you then!

September 12, 2018September 8, 2018

The “How to Marry a Millionaire” Apartment Building

One of the things I love most about L.A. is the direct access the city has to a myriad of unique, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Case in point – Essentially Marilyn, The Paley Center for Media’s latest exhibit featuring costumes, personal artifacts, clothing, and memorabilia from none other than Miss Marilyn Monroe herself, including the starlet’s personally annotated script from The Seven Year Itch AND a replica of the infamous dress she wore in the 1955 movie’s iconic subway grate scene. (If you feel like going down a rabbit hole of information regarding the legendary frock, check out these fabulous articles on The Marilyn Monroe Collection website here and here.) Fingers crossed I make it out to see the exhibit before it closes on September 30th. In the meantime, I thought I’d blog about an MM locale I stalked back in April 2016 while in New York – 36 Sutton Place South, aka the building where Pola Debevoise (Monroe) lived with her BFFs Loco Dempsey (Betty Grable) and Schatze Page (Lauren Bacall) in How to Marry a Millionaire.

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Though Marilyn’s performance in the 1953 comedy definitely plays to type, it is one of my favorites of hers. Legend has it that when she asked director Jean Negulesco about her bespectacled character’s motivation, he replied “You’re blind as a bat without glasses. That is your motivation.” The advice led to some of the best comedic moments of her career, in my opinion. For those who have never seen the film (and you really should), it centers around three bachelorettes who, hoping to land millionaire husbands, sublease a penthouse apartment in a tony Manhattan building. To portray the girls’ fancy digs, producers looked no further than 36 Sutton Place South.

Originally built in 1949, the 17-story complex boasts 101 units.

Consisting of a brick and limestone façade with glass balconies, the place has something of a postmodern feel.

The white-glove building, which became a co-op in 1962, features a canopied entrance, a doorman and a concierge, an on-site gym and laundry room, and a rooftop deck with a garden and river views. You can see some interior photos of the property here.

36 Sutton Place South only actually appears twice in How to Marry a Millionaire, first popping up in the movie’s opening scene in which Schatze arrives at the building to sublease the unit.

It is then featured in a later scene in which the unit’s owner, Freddie Denmark (David Wayne), returns home and attempts to retrieve a document he has stashed away inside. Only the exterior of the property was utilized in the filming.

All interiors were part of an elaborate set built at 20th Century Fox Studios in Culver City, including the building’s lobby;

the inside of the women’s apartment;

and their balcony, which does look very much like 36 Sutton’s actual rooftop deck. You can see photos of it here and here.

I am fairly certain that close-up shots of the building’s front doors were also shot on a set.

Though the entrance shown in How to Marry a Millionaire does look a lot like 36 Sutton’s actual entrance, the complex’s real life doorway is much larger than its onscreen counterpart. The window that should appear in the right-hand portion of the frame below is also missing and, while the bottom part of the planter to the left of the main doors is slanted in real life, it is flat in the movie. Though these elements could have been changed in the 65 years since filming took place, I do not believe that to be the case.

How to Marry a Millionaire is not 36 Sutton’s only claim to fame. During the 1950s, Joan Crawford and her husband, Pepsi-Cola Company chairman Alfred N. Steele, made the place their New York home.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The How to Marry a Millionaire apartment building is located at 36 Sutton Place South in New York’s Sutton Place neighborhood.

September 10, 2018September 7, 2018

Le Chene French Cuisine from “Sharp Objects”

I am a very black and white person. Opinions typically come to me immediately and tend to swing towards either loving or hating something. I don’t deal much in grey. For some reason, though, I cannot decide if I like Sharp Objects. I thoroughly enjoyed the Gillian Flynn novel on which the new HBO series is based (it is my favorite out of all of her books) and could not have been more excited to watch, especially when I heard it being referred to as “the next Big Little Lies.” But five episodes in and I’m still on the fence. The show’s acting is indisputably top-notch and its storyline gripping, but I also find it slow-moving, bleak, and all-around odd. I was thrilled to learn, though, that while set in the fictional town of Wind Gap, Missouri, filming largely took place in Southern California. I was also thrilled to recognize one spot that I stalked a few years ago, but never blogged about – Le Chene French Cuisine. The Grim Cheaper and I happened by the Santa Clarita eatery way back in March 2013 while doing some stalking nearby and I recalled its unique exterior from its many appearances in film location books and websites chronicling its cameo in 1971’s Duel. So we promptly pulled over to snap some pics. Though the place went right out of my mind and into my stalking backlog, as soon as it showed up on Sharp Objects, I knew I had to dedicate a post to it.

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Le Chene French Cuisine was originally established as the Oaks Garage gas station by mechanic William A. Dodrill and his wife, Rachel Swanson, in 1917. The initial structure that stood on the premises was not much more than a small wooden shack with an adjacent concession stand that offered cold sodas to passersby. You can check out a photo of what it looked like at the time here.

In 1923, the couple decided to broaden their budding enterprise by adding an eatery to the site. Boulders were brought in from Big Rock Creek in Palmdale to cover the new restaurant’s exterior. The unique façade earned the place the nickname “rock house,” as well as “Castle Oaks Garage and Café” thanks to its castle-like appearance.

During the 1940s, the business was acquired by Chester and Marie Lamar and became a hotbed of celebrity activity. Just a few of the well-knowns who popped in while filming in the area or passing by on their way to local attractions include Gregory Peck, Lee Marvin, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Wallace Beery, William Boyd, Jane Wyman, Keenan Wynn, Mickey Cohan, and Clark Gable (who was not the best customer, reportedly).

Since the Lamars’ tenure ended in 1957, the property has been bought and sold several times. It was finally leased by Juan Alonso in 1980. The Spanish-born chef transformed the site into upscale French eatery Le Chene, which translates to “the oak.”

Despite the fact that it is located pretty much in the middle of nowhere, the restaurant quickly became a popular dining spot and Alonso purchased it in 1981. Years later, when the need to expand arose, he gutted the former garage and turned it into a banquet room. He has since enlarged the kitchen and main dining room, remodeled the bar, and added a large garden and a 6-acre vineyard. Today, the eatery boasts a whopping 8,900 square feet.

Le Chene popped up in the fourth episode of Sharp Objects, titled “Ripe,” as the supposed Wind Gap restaurant La Mere, where Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) meets with some of her mother’s friends including Jackie O’Neill (Elizabeth Perkins) and Annie B (Beth Broderick). Both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior of the site appear in the episode. Sadly, Le Chene was closed when we dropped by, so I did not get to see the inside, but you can check out some photos of it here.

In the television movie Duel, which has the distinction of being Steven Spielberg’s first foray into full-length film directing, Le Chene portrays Chuck’s Café, where David Mann (Dennis Weaver) crashes his car after being chased by a menacing truck driver (played by Carey Loftin).

After the collision, David ventures into the restaurant (which looked much different at the time the flick was lensed in 1971) to clean himself up and soon discovers that the truck driver has followed him inside to terrorize him further.

Though an old LoopNet listing for the property suggests that additional filming has taken place the premises, I have been unable to dig up any other productions the place has appeared in.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Le Chene French Cuisine, aka La Mere from Sharp Objects, is located at 12625 Sierra Highway in Santa Clarita. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here. The eatery is only open for dinner most days (on Sunday, brunch is served), so plan accordingly.

September 7, 2018September 8, 2018

McGee’s Pub – The Inspiration for MacLaren’s on “How I Met Your Mother”

I have never been a film location purist. I am just as happy visiting spots that have appeared onscreen as I am touring those that have provided inspiration for sets – as evidenced here, here and here. So while in New York in April 2016 I just had to pop by McGee’s Pub, aka the watering hole that MacLaren’s Pub from How I Met Your Mother was based upon. I first learned about the place and its small screen cachet while penning this article for Los Angeles magazine in 2014 and promptly added it to my NYC To-Stalk List. Though I later discovered that Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) and Barney Stinson’s (Neil Patrick Harris) favorite hangout was actually modeled after four different Manhattan bars, since McGee’s is the only one still in operation today (well, in its original state, at least) and the one most often associated with the show, I figured it was worthy of its own post.

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How I Met Your Mother was the brainchild of producing partners Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, who, like main characters Ted and Marshall, met while attending Wesleyan University. After graduation, the duo moved to New York together and landed a gig writing for the Late Show with David Letterman in 1997. During their five-year stint there, they would often grab drinks at McGee’s, located right around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theater where Letterman was lensed. In 2002, the two headed to Los Angeles with the hopes of helming a television series. They pitched How I Met Your Mother to CBS in 2005 and the rest is history.

In a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bays explained that he and Thomas followed a common adage when penning the series – “Write what you know, not what you think you want to see.” As such, they based the two main characters on themselves – Ted is modeled after Carter and Marshall after Craig – and styled their regular hangout like several places the duo patronized while living in NYC. As chronicled in an April 2008 CBS Watch article, McHale’s (a Times Square favorite at 750 8th Avenue that closed in 2006 – you can see photos of it here and here) “lent its dark atmosphere,” Chumley’s (a beloved onetime speakeasy at 86 Bedford Street in the West Village that suffered severe structural damage in 2007, was gutted, redesigned, and finally reopened 9 years later looking much different than its original self) “inspired some of MacLaren’s more rustic touches,” Fez (an Upper West Side Moroccan eatery at 2330 Broadway that shuttered in 2006) “gave the writers the idea to put a few round booths at the back of their TV bar,” and McGee’s “features the model for MacLaren’s WPA-era mural on its back wall.” (McGee’s mural and the one it inspired are both pictured below. Surprisingly, they don’t really resemble each other at all.) Bay and Thomas named their fictional watering hole after Bay’s production assistant, Carl MacLaren.

McGee’s Pub and Restaurant, christened in honor of Ed Sullivan Show cameraman Willie McGee, was originally founded in a small space on the bottom floor of the Ed Sullivan Theater at 1697 Broadway in 1983. You can see what it looked like at the time here. (That site is now home to Angelo’s Pizza.) When Letterman moved into the venue, the theater was extensively renovated and, in conjunction, McGee’s was forced to vacate in July 1995 in order to make way for a more high end restaurant. Owner Pete Fitzpatrick subsequently found a new, larger space right around the corner at 240 West 55th Street.

Though the more ritzy eatery brought in to replace McGee’s folded in a scant 22 months, McGee’s is still going strong today. The 3-story restaurant boasts 22 TVs, 2 bars, an internet jukebox, and a private events suite known as the Symphony Room.

While the bar’s exterior looks nothing like the exterior of MacLaren’s Pub (which was just a façade on the 20th Century Fox Studios backlot in Century City) . . .

. . . the interior of McGee’s is very reminiscent of its onscreen counterpart.

While not exactly carbon copies, MacLaren’s and McGee’s have a decidedly similar atmosphere.

Thanks to its red booths, low lighting, and heavily adorned walls, I truly felt like I was hanging out at Ted and Marshall’s favorite place while at McGee’s. Though I have to say that the original Chumley’s was a place I visited regularly when it was in operation and it, too, had an extremely similar ambiance to MacLaren’s. So Carter and Thomas did a superb job of incorporating the aura of both sites into their set design.

For those location purists unlike me who think a visit to McGee’s is a waste of time being that How I Met Your Mother never actually filmed on the premises, there are countless photos displayed of the cast hanging out at the bar (like the one below which comes from the restaurant’s Facebook page), autographs and clippings galore, as well as a myriad of HIMYM-inspired menu items, such as The Accidental Curly Fry Basket, The Bro Code Combo, and the Suit Up Sandwich, to satisfy any true fan.

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On a How I Met Your Mother side-note – Thanks to my friend Marie, I got to visit 20th Century Fox Studios back in November 2014. The lot isn’t typically open to the public and being there was definitely one of the highlights of my stalking career thus far. During the tour, we were even taken by the MacLaren’s exterior. Though the series had ceased filming almost a year prior, I was thrilled to see that the façade still looked much the same as it did onscreen.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: McGee’s Pub, which served as the inspiration for MacLaren’s Pub on How I Met Your Mother, is located at 240 West 55th Street in New York’s Midtown West neighborhood. You can visit the restaurant’s official website here.

September 5, 2018September 4, 2018

Jack Ryan’s House from “Clear and Present Danger”

The Grim Cheaper was anxiously awaiting last Friday’s premiere of the new Amazon series Jack Ryan. There was practically a countdown going on in our house. When we finally viewed the first episode, though, my only thought was ‘I want that hour and four minutes of my life back.’ Needless to say, we were not impressed. The show is a bit of a snoozefest. And being that it was lensed outside of L.A. (mainly in Canada and Morocco), I did not even have its locations to distract me. Watching the pilot did remind me of a related site that I stalked back in November 2012 – the Hancock Park pad used for interior shots of the residence belonging to Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) and his family in the Tom Clancy franchise’s third installment, 1994’s Clear and Present Danger. I first learned about the home thanks to a Los Angeles Times article published in February 2012, shortly after the property was put up for sale for the first time in almost thirty years. Though I promptly added the address to my To-Stalk List and hit the place up later that same year, I somehow forgot to blog about it. With all the interest in the new series, I figured it was the perfect moment to amend that.

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In real life, the massive 3-story Southern Colonial-style home, which was built in 1925, boasts 7,480 square feet, 6 bedrooms, 6.5 baths, a master suite with a fireplace, his-and-her baths and his-and-her walk-in closets, a library/den, a gourmet kitchen, a wine cellar with space for 900 bottles, hardwood flooring and crown moldings throughout, a detached 1-bedroom guest apartment, a pool house with its own kitchen, a large veranda, a rose garden, a fountain, a pool, a spa, a tennis court, a 4-car garage, a motor court, and a 0.86-acre lot. Holy amenities, Batman!

Sadly, thanks to the fact that its entire perimeter is lined with large trees, virtually none of it is visible from the street.

It doesn’t help matters that the residence sits perpendicular to the road, as you can see in the Bing Maps aerial view below. It is a very unique orientation (I have never seen a house situated sideways like that before) which, unfortunately, blocks most of the place from sight.

The views below are the best that can be gleaned of the home’s spectacular Antebellum façade.

Per the Los Angeles Times, Harrison Ford took such a liking to the property during the ten days spent filming on the premises that he offered to buy it. The owners, who purchased the pad in 1983 for $800,000, were not interested in selling, though. Their minds didn’t change until January 2012, when they placed the home on the market for $5.295 million. The real estate agent used the residence’s cinematic clout as a selling point, which is how it wound up being featured in the Times. It sold that same July for $4.32 million. You can check out the MLS photos here.

The dwelling appears numerous times throughout Clear and Present Danger. The kitchen first pops up in a beginning scene in which Jack learns that Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones) is in the hospital. Though the MLS photo below was taken from a slightly different angle than the one from which the segment was shot, you can see that very little of the kitchen had been altered from its onscreen state at the time of the sale in 2012.

Even the home’s highly unique copper and stainless steel range hood appears to have remained untouched. You can just barely see it to the right of Jack’s head in the screen capture below.

The master bedroom is then featured in a later scene in which Jack watches President Bennett (Donald Moffat) being interviewed on TV while getting ready for work. The MLS image below is, again, taken from a different vantage point, but it is still apparent how little of the room has been changed since the shoot.

In the segment, you can even see one of the room’s walk-in closets through the door in the background.

Near the end of the movie, the living room makes an appearance in the scene in which Ryan learns of Admiral Greer’s death. That space, too, looks much the same as it did when Clear and Present Danger was shot in 1994.

The Los Angeles Times article also states, “In another scene, Ford is preparing to go to South America and was filmed packing the homeowners’ actual clothes. The suitcase ended up in a prop truck, and the owners later had to retrieve their belongings from the prop department.” I scanned through the flick twice, though, in preparation for this post and did not come across a scene like that anywhere. There is one segment in which Ford is shown carrying a suitcase down the residence’s sweeping staircase just prior to his trip to Bogota, but no packing scene. I guess that bit wound up on the cutting room floor.

Only the interior of the property appears in Clear and Present Danger. The exterior of the Ryan home is a different location entirely – one I have not been able to track down as of yet.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The house used for interior shots of Jack Ryan’s residence in Clear and Present Danger can be found at 615 South Rossmore Avenue in Hancock Park.

September 3, 2018September 2, 2018

Happy Labor Day!

I would like to wish all of my fellow stalkers a happy and safe Labor Day! I am taking today off, but will be back on Wednesday with a new location. Until that time, happy stalking! Smile