Seaside Coffee Shop from “Big Little Lies”

My favorite filming location find from this season of Big Little Lies isn’t actually a filming location at all!  Back on March 19th, 2018, shortly after shooting of S2 commenced, Reese Witherspoon posted an Instagram photo of herself sitting in front of the supposed Central Coast-area Seaside Coffee Shop with costar Laura Dern, captioning, “Watch out, Monterey, here we come!  #BLL2.”  Being that it was pretty much the first image of the season to be released, it naturally sent fans’ tongues wagging.  I, for one, was practically drooling with anticipation upon seeing it!  I also, of course, wanted to know exactly where the pic had been taken.  I assumed (correctly) that Seaside Coffee Shop was not an actual eatery, but a mocked-up storefront.  Because the series utilizes both the Central Coast and Southern California, though, I had no idea where to even begin looking.  Figuring (incorrectly) that the café would appear in a scene during the upcoming season and I’d be better able to track it down then, I put my quest on the back burner.  While it never did pop up onscreen, I was, thankfully, able to ID it anyway.  If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times – stalking begets stalking!  The morning after the premiere, titled “What Have They Done?”, aired, I went on the hunt for its locations and quickly pinpointed the real estate office where Madeline Martha Mackenzie (Witherspoon) works as the Deasy Penner Podley brokerage firm situated on the bottom floor of Hotel Shirley in Sierra Madre.  It was the coloring of the building that I recognized and, as soon as I did, a lightbulb went off in my head as I realized that Seaside Coffee Shop could be found in the same spot!

While Hotel Shirley’s northern street-level storefront (on the left-hand side below) portrayed Madeline’s real estate office (as denoted in this post), Seaside Coffee Shop was erected next door in the southern unit.

During my stalk of both locales back in late June, I asked the incredibly friendly Deasy Penner Podley agents about the Seaside Coffee Shop set (which they were shocked I had identified).  They informed me that at the time of the Big Little Lies shoot, the space was vacant and that they believed it was not utilized for any filming, but created solely for the background of the various scenes taking place at Madeline’s office.  Aside from Reese’s Instagram (and Laura Dern’s), though, the place was never seen – in the background or otherwise – so I guess whatever was shot in its vicinity wound up on the cutting room floor.

Today, the storefront is home to Capelli Court Salon.

It is a shame that it never appeared onscreen because the charming little shop would have been a welcome addition to the rather lackluster landscape of Season 2.

Reese did post a second image taken at the locale to Instagram on June 10 of this year, the day after “What Have They Done?” aired, saying “Pull up a chair!  Let’s spill some #BLL tea from last night’s premiere!”, so I guess she found it pretty picturesque, too.

Even though Seaside Coffee Shop was never used for a scene, I was thrilled to finally be able to ID and stalk it!

The fictional café was created in the Capelli Court space'”‘”‘s northern window.

To complete the look, the site was dressed with signage, curtains, flowers in the window planter, and a bistro set.

I was ecstatic to discover a table and chairs set up on the sidewalk a stone’s throw away from Capelli Court'”‘”‘s exterior when I showed up to stalk the place.  While the table was too heavy for me to move into position, I did pull one of the chairs over to pose à la Reese.

Even without the chair and other café adornments, though, the locale is still extremely recognizable – a little slice of Monterey right here in L.A. for BLL fans to enjoy!

The interior of the Capelli Court site was utilized by another HBO series, as well.  In the Season 1 episode of Camping titled “Going to Town,” which aired in 2018, Jandice (Juliette Lewis) and Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto) shop for a ring at a fictional antique store the production created in the then-vacant space.

Though the front of the shop did not appear in the episode, the rear entrance could briefly be seen.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The fictional Seaside Coffee Shop from Big Little Lies was created in the storefront that now houses Capelli Court Salon at 26 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre.  Deasy Penner Podley, aka Madeline’s real estate office from the show, is next door at 30 North Baldwin Avenue.   Several other sites from Season 2 can be found on the same block including the Starbucks at 1 Kersting Court, where Tori Bachman (Sarah Sokolovic) propositioned Ed Mackenzie (Adam Scott) in “The Bad Mother” and where Renata Klein (Dern) lashed out at Mary Louise Wright (Meryl Streep) in “I Want to Know”, and Mother Moo Creamery  at 17 Kersting Court, where Madeline threw an ice cream cone at Mary Louise in a scene that was ultimately cut.

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