The Friends of Heaven Grief Retreat Hotel from “Dead to Me”

You wouldn’t expect a show centered around grief to be funny.  But the Netflix original Dead to Me, about the recently-widowed Jen Harding (Christina Applegate) and her new BFF Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini), whom she meets in the Laguna Beach chapter of the Friends of Heaven grief group, is downright hilarious!  One episode in particular, “I’ve Gotta Get Away,” in which Jen and Judy attend a Friends of Heaven-sponsored retreat, had me LOLing throughout.  So I, of course, had to blog about the supposed Palm Springs hotel where the event took place, which, as it turns out, is a mash-up of several different L.A. spots.  Two I’ve previously blogged about and recognized on sight (that’s the Sportmen’s Lodge above, which you may remember from this post) and the third I did a bit of digging to track down.   What can I say – I always go the extra mile for my fellow stalkers.

The bulk of the Friends of Heaven Grief Retreat took place at The Garland Hotel Studio City, a spot I spent a few days at in 2015 and later blogged about.  Numerous areas of the retro-fabulous property, which does have a very Palm Springs feel, were utilized in the episode including the Cabrillo ballroom, where Jen follows her new crush, Jason (Steve Howey), to a seminar titled “Big Question.”   Though I stalked the space during my Garland stay, unfortunately the photos I took don’t jibe with the angles shown onscreen.  Regardless, you can still see that the carpeting, wall color and chair railing match.

And while I failed to snap an image of the Cabrillo’s entrance, which appeared on Dead to Me, I did get a pic of the doors to another of the hotel’s venues, the Beverly Garland Theatre, which bears the same look.

The lodging’s Garland Ballroom was utilized for the Lost Angels: Finding Yourself After Pregnancy Loss workshop that Judy attends.

Again, my photos were taken from different angles than what was shown onscreen, but you can see that the chandeliers, mirrored paneling and carpet all match.

One of The Garland’s hallways was utilized in “I’ve Gotta Get Away,” as well.

And the hotel’s picturesque courtyard pops up twice in the episode.

It first appears toward the beginning of “I’ve Gotta Get Away,” in the scene in which Judy and Jen head to their respective seminars.

Later, Jen has a talk with Pastor Wayne (Keong Sim) there.

I am unsure if the two hotel rooms featured on Dead to Me are actual Garland rooms (which you can see images of here) or studio-built sets.

Though both suites do look very much like those of the hotel, there are some structural differences.  For instance, Jason’s room on the show has louvered double closet doors . . .

. . . while The Garland’s rooms feature flat single closet doors with raised blue paneling.

On Dead to Me, similar blue paneled doors instead lead to the bathroom.

But The Garland’s bathroom doors are made of frosted glass.

Jason’s room also boasts crown molding and numerous ceiling beams . . .

. . . which the actual rooms do not, as you can see in the image below from the hotel’s website.

While I’m leaning toward the Dead to Me rooms being sets, the wallpaper and carpeting in both suites match those of the hotel precisely.  It seems like duplicating those two décor items in such exacting fashion would not only be difficult, but rather pointless considering most viewers have likely never been to The Garland and would have no idea what the accommodations look like.  So I’m really torn on this one.

And oddly, while The Garland does have a beautiful pool . . .

. . . for whatever reason, cast and crew headed three miles west to the Sportsmen’s Lodge for Dead to Me’s pool scene.

I have stalked Sportmen’s Lodge countless times in the past (you can read about one instance here), so I recognized the pool – and its signature orange chaises – immediately.  Somehow though, I had never taken any photos of the area and when I recently headed back to the hotel to do so, I found it under massive construction.  Despite the detritus, the pool is still recognizable from its appearance in “I’ve Gotta Get Away.”

In another odd twist, producers chose not to utilize any of the restaurants located at either The Garland or Sportsmen’s Lodge for the Carry On-Oke event that supposedly took place at the hotel bar.  They instead made use of a Hollywood watering hole named Black.  Though I have yet to stalk the place and actually had never heard of it prior to researching for this post, it was not very hard to identify thanks to its unique retro aesthetic.  You can check out some photos of it here.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Friends of Heaven Grief Retreat from the “I’ve Gotta Get Away” episode of Dead to Me took place at these three spots – The Garland Hotel at 4222 Vineland Avenue in Studio City, Sportsmen’s Lodge Hotel at 12825 Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, and Black bar at 6202 Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood.

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