Grand Hope Park from “All About Steve”

The Hills are alive and well once again thanks to the recent MTV reboot The Hills: New Beginnings which debuted late last month.  I actually did not have high hopes for the show, despite loving the original, but I have to say that the Grim Cheaper and I are really enjoying it.  More mature and realistic than its predecessor, though no doubt just as engineered and produced, watching it feels like coming home again.  There’s nothing quite like a revisit to the highly-stylized world of Audrina, Spencer, and Heidi!  And thanks to a recap special the GC and I viewed prior to the premiere episode, I was reminded of Grand Hope Park, an oft-used site from the OG series that was also featured in the 2009 romcom All About Steve.  Though I peripherally covered the picturesque spot in blogs about the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) and the Renaissance Tower in 2008 and 2011 respectively, I thought it was time the place got its due with a full-fledged post of its own.

Situated on land that formerly housed a parking lot, Grand Hope Park was completed in 1993.

Designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, the 2.5-acre site was commissioned by the Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency as part of the city’s Open Space Network, a collection of lush public areas dotted along downtown’s Hope Street.

Grand Hope Park, the first major park built in Los Angeles since Pershing Square in 1870, boasts large grassy expanses, a children’s playground, vine-draped pergolas, meandering pathways, numerous terraces, a plethora of trees, and a collection of art installations that includes sculptures, fountains, and a mosaic clock tower.

My favorite area of the property, though, is easily the unique sunken water court featuring a startling blue pool and geometric-shaped elements.

A protected serene little space in the heart of the city, Grand Hope Park is flanked by FIDM to the east and the Renaissance Tower apartment complex to the South, all of which have appeared onscreen.

One look at the bucolic site and it is not very hard to see why location managers have continually flocked there.

Grand Hope Park pops up twice at the beginning of All About Steve in establishing scenes that show Mary Horowitz (Sandra Bullock) on her way to and from her job as a cruciverbalist at what is supposedly The Sacramento Bee newspaper.  Both the park . . .

. . . and its unique water court appear in the segments.

As I mentioned earlier, thanks to the fact that several cast members attended FIDM, Grand Hope Park regularly cameoed on The Hills.  In a myriad of episodes, including Season 3′”‘”‘s “A Date with the Past” which aired in 2008, Lauren Conrad and friends were seen gossiping over coffee at the picturesque site.

Numerous other productions have made use of the place, as well.

Renaissance Tower regularly appeared as Buckland Auction House where Prue Halliwell (Shannen Doherty) worked during Seasons 1 and 2 of Charmed.

Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano) and her ex-boyfriend Clay (Victor Browne) also walk in the park in Charmed'”‘”‘s Season 1 episode titled “Feats of Clay,” which aired in 1999.

FIDM and Grand Hope Park popped up regularly as the exterior of the supposed Santa Monica-area St. Ambrose Hospital on the television series Private Practice.

In 2009, the park masked as the entrance to an FBI field office in the Season 7 episode of 24 titled “Day 7: 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.”

Thanks to the Castle Wiki website, I learned that Grand Hope Park was featured on the ABC series no less than nine times (“Nine times?”  “Nine times!”  “I don’t remember him being sick nine times.”  Ferris Bueller reference – anyone, anyone?).  In Season 1’s “Nanny McDead,” which aired in 2009, Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) and Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) interview a nanny named Chloe Richardson (Sarah Drew) at the park.

In 2011, it popped up in Season 3′”‘”‘s “Poof, You’re Dead,” as the spot where Beckett and Castle tracked down magician Chuck Russell (Chadwick Boseman).

That same year, Beckett told Castle about her recent break-up at Grand Hope Park in Season 4′”‘”‘s “Rise.”

In the Season 5 episode “Cloudy with a Chance of Murder,” which aired in 2012, Beckett and Castle investigate the killing of weathergirl Mandy Michaels (Candice Mann) at the park.

Later that season, a heavily dressed Grand Hope Park masked as the snowy New York plaza where a man wearing a St. Nick costume plummeted to his death in the episode titled “Secret Santa.”

It is at Grand Hope Park that Castle proposes to Beckett in the Season 5 finale titled “Watershed” . . .

. . . in a scene that continued over into the Season 6 premiere, “Valkyrie.”

Beckett and Castle covertly meet up at the park later that same season in the episode titled “Veritas.”

And in Season 7′”‘”‘s “Hollander’s Woods,” which aired in 2015, Beckett tells Castle about her tentative plan to become a state senator while at the site.  Phew!  Castle sure does love itself some Grand Hope Park!

Grand Hope Park is also where Carl Creel (Brian Patrick Wade) meets with Sunil Bakshi (Simon Kassianides) and almost gets shot in the Season 2 episode of Marvel’s AGENTS of S.H.I.E.L.D. titled “Heavy is the Head,” which aired in 2014.

And in the Season 1 episode of Supergirl titled “World’s Finest,” which aired in 2016, Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) is kidnapped and taken to Grand Hope Park where a huge battle ensues.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Grand Hope Park, from All About Steve, is located at 919 South Grand Avenue in downtown L.A.

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