Year: 2019

A “Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase” Giveaway!

UPDATE – This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to winner Sandy A.!

***Warner Bros. provided me with a free copy of Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase on Blu-ray to facilitate this giveaway. The opinions I share are my own.***

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase is heading home on Digital March 26, 2019 and on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack & DVD on April 2, 2019! Fans can celebrate with the Escape Room & Mystery Match blog app in which players solve a mystery to help Nancy out of a jam!

• Welcome to the Interactive Nancy Drew Escape Room – to escape, you must solve riddles and find items to uncover the three numbers needed to open the door. Good Luck!

• In the Mystery Match Video Puzzle, use your mouse to click + drag puzzle pieces to unlock clips from the film.

You can play below! Be sure to let me know how long it took you to crack the code and escape the room!

I am also hosting a giveaway in which one lucky reader will win a Blu-ray copy of the film. Entering is easy – simply click on the link below, follow me on Instagram and then provide your Instagram handle. If you already follow me on Instagram, then simply click below to enter and input your Instagram handle. The contest begins today and runs through April 14th. The winner will be announced on April 15th. Don’t forget to use #NancyDrew and #TheHiddenStaircase to spread the word about the film and the app!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to US residents only. Each household is only eligible to win the Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase Blue-ray via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification. The prize will be sent via FedEx or USPS. No P.O. Boxes please.

April 2, 2019
Zipper Concert Hall from “The West Wing”

Most actors will tell you that extra work is the worst. But when I first landed in L.A. back in 2000, I did quite a bit of it and couldn’t have enjoyed myself more. Just being on a movie or television set was surreal and provided an indelible opportunity to observe the inner workings of a production, watch my favorite actors live and in person (and sometimes even interact with them), and be truly immersed in the filmmaking process. I ate it all up with a spoon. One of my more memorable experiences took place on April 24th, 2000 (yes, I remember the date) when I sat in the audience of a supposed live town hall meeting with President Josiah ‘Jed’ Bartlett (Martin Sheen) for the Season 1 finale of The West Wing titled “What Kind of Day Has It Been.” I was not a viewer of the hit NBC series at the time and, despite my extraordinary experience on set, did not watch the episode when it aired and, shockingly, did not end up seeing it until last month when the Grim Cheaper and I went on a West Wing binge. Even though 19 years had passed, I was immediately brought right back to the day of the shoot and decided that I had to write a post on the auditorium where filming took place. While I did not remember its exact location, I did recall that it was in downtown L.A. near the U.S. Bank Tower. So I got to Googling and amazingly the first result kicked back when I inputted “auditorium” and “downtown Los Angeles” was a link to Zipper Concert Hall which turned out to be the right spot!

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Zipper Concert Hall is located on the campus of The Colburn School, a performing arts institution originally founded in 1950 as part of the USC School of Music. Initially housed in a warehouse across from the Shrine Auditorium in University Park, the facility offered piano lessons to young children. At some point, the curriculum was expanded to include college-level courses and the place re-branded as the Community School of Performing Arts. The academy broke away from USC in 1980 thanks to a sizeable donation from philanthropist/music enthusiast Richard D. Colburn and six years later it was renamed in his honor. Twelve years after that, The Colburn School was relocated to a new, larger custom-built campus at the corner of South Grand Avenue and East 2nd Street in downtown L.A., where it remains today.

Designed by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, at its inception the modern complex boasted a library, a rehearsal hall, two dance studios, a piano lab, 28 teaching spaces, and the 415-seat Zipper Concert Hall. The auditorium (it’s the sloped structure with the sheet metal roof below) was named after Vienna-born musician Herbert Zipper who served as The Colburn School’s artistic advisor from 1980 until his death in 1997.

Interestingly, the Lloyd Wright-designed former studio of violinist Jascha Heifetz was also incorporated into the layout of the campus. Initially situated on the grounds of Heifetz’s Beverly Hills estate (at 1520 Gilcrest Drive), the standalone structure, which was connected to the main residence via a breezeway, was saved from demolition by a very unlikely source. Upon Heifetz’s passing in 1987, his home was sold to none other than James Woods, who set about tearing the place down. The actor recognized the significance of the studio, though, and offered it up to anyone who was willing to pay to have it relocated. The Colburn School’s then dean, Joseph Thayer, jumped at the chance. The small edifice was subsequently deconstructed and transported to a storage facility where it sat until the new campus was completed. It was then reassembled on the third floor of the Grand Building. You can check out some images of it in its original form and its current state here and here.

In 2007, the Colburn campus was expanded by the Pfeiffer Partners architecture firm at which time a 384,000-square-foot, 12-story building was added, as were a 3,900-square-foot rehearsal hall, residential housing for 147 students, a cafeteria, offices, an art park, and numerous practice and performance spaces. And the school is still growing. Just last year, prolific architect Frank Gehry was tapped to design yet another addition, this one bringing in 200,000 square feet, an additional concert hall, and a theatre. You can check out some images of what the school currently looks like here and here.

In the “What Kind of Day Has It Been” episode of The West Wing, Zipper Concert Hall masks as Virginia’s Newseum. Though exteriors were filmed at the museum’s former location at 1101 Wilson Boulevard in Rosslyn . . .

. . . all interiors were shot at Zipper. It is there that President Bartlett speaks to a large audience about the apathy of America’s youth when it comes to government and politics.

The hall appears prominently at both the beginning and end of the episode. Sadly, Zipper was closed when we showed up to stalk it so I did not get to revisit the inside, but you can check out some photographs of it here.

The Colburn School’s Grand Foyer (which you can see images of here) was also featured in “What Kind of Day Has It Been” . . .

. . . as was its Mayman Recital Hall (photos here and here).

I can still remember the filming of the episode as if it was yesterday. I even recall exactly where I was sitting – fourth row, right. (That’s me below!) During the shoot, I became completely enamored with Martin Sheen, who is very much like his presidential character in real life – gregarious, warm, witty, chatty, and a wealth of random knowledge that he loves to share. Throughout breaks in filming, he actively engaged the extras, both individually and as a group, and discussed everything from how he spent the day prior, Easter Sunday, memorizing the speech we were now listening to him perform to behind-the-scenes tidbits (like the fact that Dr. Josiah Bartlett, Jed’s supposed great-grandfather’s great-grandfather and the New Hampshire delegate to the second Continental Congress in 1776, whom he mentions in the speech, was, in fact, a real person) to Elián González, the young Cuban boy who had been seized by federal agents and returned to his father just a few days prior. To see him seamlessly transition between his character and his actual self, turning Jed Bartlett on and off like a switch, was incredible. The president’s speech in the scene was long (much longer than what was actually shown in the episode), detailed, wordy, and full of facts and figures. Martin knew it inside and out, though, and nailed it on every.single. take. The fact that he could be jovial and joking with us one minute and then, as soon as “action” was called, be immediately in character and 100% on-point the next was thrilling and fascinating to watch. It was a long day, too, but Martin was just as fresh on his first take as he was on his last, a good ten to twelve hours later. Witnessing his creative process was an incredible experience – truly a once-in-a-lifetime. I’ll never forget coming home that night and telling my parents that I had learned more about acting (not to mention the way an actor should behave on set) from one day of observing Martin Sheen than I had in my four years of college as a theatre major. They were not pleased by the news considering they footed the bill for the latter.

The West Wing is not the only production to feature The Colburn School. In the 2002 drama Adaptation, Charlie Kaufman (Nicolas Cage) attends Robert McKee’s (Brian Cox) Story Seminar at Zipper Concert Hall.

The school masks as the Museum of Design, where Milly Wilder (Mandy Moore) and Jason (Tom Everett Scott) go to see an art exhibit, in the 2007 romcom Because I Said So.

And in the Season 7 episode of Castle titled “Castle, P.I.,” which aired in 2015, Colburn portrays The Eastbourne School, where Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) and Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) investigate the murder of admissions director Shana Baker (Gia Mora). (Note – the exterior seen in the episode is the school’s Olive Street entrance.)

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Zipper Concert Hall, from the “What Kind of Day Has It Been” episode of The West Wing, is located on the campus of The Colburn School at 200 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles. You can check out the hall’s upcoming events on the school’s official website here.

April 1, 2019
Imperial Western Beer Company from “Blast from the Past”

I absolutely hate losing things – it is one of my biggest pet peeves, especially when the items can’t be replaced. Such was the case with a group of photos I took of Union Station’s former Fred Harvey Restaurant back in June 2009. Upon learning about the site and its appearance as the dance club in fave movie Blast from the Past, I toured it as a possible wedding venue and it promptly became one of my top contenders. Closed since 1967, the historic and strikingly unique venue is a virtual time capsule of 1930’s glamour. Though the Grim Cheaper and I ultimately got married elsewhere, Fred Harvey Restaurant left a mark on my heart and I vowed to do a post on it. Somehow, I forgot and it was not until discovering that the space had been renovated and finally reopened (after 51 years!) as the Imperial Western Beer Company last October that I was reminded. When I sat down to pen my post, though, I could not find my photos anywhere. I still can’t. Though I am deeply saddened not to have those images, the misplacement gave me a great excuse to get back out there to see the restaurant in its revamped state.

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Part of the Fred Harvey Company chain of hotels and eateries, the downtown L.A. Fred Harvey Restaurant, which I’ve also seen referred to as the “Fred Harvey Room” and “Harvey House,” initially opened along with Union Station in 1939.

The popular conglomerate, established in 1876, catered to commuters and travelers by offering quick, tasty meals in upscale locations dotted near train stations all over the U.S. The company was also noted for only employing women who became known as “Harvey Girls.” Per a 2009 Los Angeles Times article (which unfortunately is not online), founder Fred Harvey hired the fairer sex because they were less inclined “to get likkered up and go on tears.”

Union Station’s Fred Harvey outpost was designed by architect Mary Colter in the Art Deco and Spanish Colonial Revival styles.

With a colorful tiled entrance,

a large central lunch counter,

rounded leather booths,

a three-story vaulted ceiling,

a grand staircase . . .

. . . leading up to a mezzanine,

and dazzling patterned flooring,

the space really was a sight to behold – and still is.

Fred Harvey proved so popular that in 1941 the need to expand arose and a bar area was added in what was formerly an adjacent breezeway.

Colter was pegged to design the 2,300-square-foot addition and did so to spectacular fashion in the Streamline Moderne style.

During its glory years, the restaurant served more than 800 meals an hour and more than 100,000 hungry patrons each day, per L.A. Weekly.

As train travel waned following World War II, Fred Harvey patronage died off and the place was eventually shuttered in 1967. It would stay that way for the next five decades, opening only for special events and filming.

Though recent years saw a definite want for a new eatery to open in the space, bringing the site up to code proved cost prohibitive. So it remained vacant. You can see what it looked like during that time here.

Finally, in 2014, restauranteur Cedd Moses of 213 Hospitality (the company also owns frequent film stars Casey’s Irish Pub, and Cole’s French Dip) stepped in with a grand vision to restore the place to its original glory and re-open it as a brewery/gastropub. And thus, Imperial Western Beer Company – named in honor of the Imperial, a Southern Pacific liner that initially ran between Los Angeles and Yuma in the 1930s – was born.

The restoration process took four years to complete and, though the menu was modernized and the property brought up to code, aside from turning the lunch counter into a bar, the furnishings and décor were left pretty much intact.

The 1941 bar addition also got a revamp . . .

. . . and is now known as “The Streamliner.”

Of the finished product, Moses told L.A. Weekly, “To me it’s a love letter to our city. We felt responsible to bring this back in a great way and hopefully do the space justice. My only regret is that my father wasn’t here to see it.” Sadly, Cedd’s dad, artist Ed Moses, who hung out at Fred Harvey Restaurant back in the day and even once dated a Harvey Girl, passed away shortly before the eatery opened.

Considering the property’s immaculately preserved state and years of vacancy, it is no surprise that it wound up in scads of productions.

In the 1999 romcom Blast from the Past, Fred Harvey Restaurant portrayed Club 40’s, where Adam (Brendan Fraser) dazzled Eve (Alicia Silverstone) with his swing-dancing prowess.

The exterior, which was heavily dressed with window coverings, neon lights, palm trees and awnings, made a brief appearance in the scene.

The Streamliner popped up briefly, as well.

In 1998, The Brian Setzer Orchestra fittingly shot their video for the swing classic “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” at Fred Harvey Restaurant. You can watch it here.

Fiona Apple’s 2000 “Paper Bag” video, which was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, made spectacular use of the space . . .

. . . and gives us a great glimpse of what the lunch counter looked like prior to being transformed into a bar.

In the 2003 comedy Anger Management, Fred Harvey Restaurant portrays Mort’s, said to be on 86th Street in New York, where Dave Buznik (Adam Sandler) stages a fake date to make his ex-girlfriend jealous. The exterior of the eatery . . .

. . . as well as the interior . . .

. . . and The Streamliner all make appearances.

In the 2005 thriller The Island, the site masks as the Yucca Amtrak station where Tom Lincoln (Ewan McGregor) and Sarah Jordan (Scarlett Johansson) attempt to catch a train to L.A. . . .

. . . before James McCord (Steve Buscemi) is shot off the mezzanine . . .

. . . and into the bar below.

Fred Harvey Restaurant plays La Noche Cubana nightclub, where Abby (Katherine Heigl) and Mike Chadway (Gerard Butler) grab drinks and dance towards the end of the 2009 romcom The Ugly Truth (another one of my favorites).

And in the 2011 drama Atlas Shrugged: Part I, Paul Larkin (Patrick Fischler), Orren Boyle (Jon Polito), Wesley Mouch (Michael Lerner), and James Taggart (Matthew Marsden) discuss taking down Hank Rearden (Grant Bowler) while at Fred Harvey Restaurant.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Imperial Western Beer Company, from Blast from the Past, is located on the southern side of Union Station at 800 North Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the gastropub’s official website here. The restaurant is open weekdays starting at 4 p.m. and weekends beginning at 12 p.m.

March 29, 2019
The “Young Sheldon” House

I don’t think I’ve ever hated a television character more than Samantha Ruland on Scandal (though Beverly Hills, 90210’s Kelly Taylor ranks a close second). Played by Zoe Perry, Samantha represented pure evil – there was literally not a single redeeming thing about her. It got to the point that even hearing her voice had a Pavlov’s-dog-like effect on me, making me want to throw my television out a window each time she spoke. So when I learned that Perry had been cast as Mary Cooper, mother to Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage), on Young Sheldon, I did not have high hopes for liking the CBS series, which premiered in September 2017. I still gave it a shot, though, and was pleasantly surprised. While not as good as its parent show, The Big Bang Theory, it is still enjoyable and, amazingly, I have even come to like Zoe! So I was thrilled when fellow stalker Julie posted a comment on my site recently supplying the address of the supposed Medford, Texas home of the Cooper family on the series (spoiler – it’s actually in Valley Village) with the request that I stalk it. Your wish is my command, Julie!

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In real life, the Cooper house, which was built in 1949, boasts 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 1,335 square feet of living space, and a 0.18-acre plot of land. It was sold early last year for a whopping $827,000, though surprisingly there was no mention of its current onscreen role in any of the listing information I came across online.

The new owners appear to be doing some remodeling, but hopefully they are only making changes to the interior and not the exterior. You can check out what the inside of the residence looked like in the 2018 listing photos here.

The ranch-style property is used regularly on Young Sheldon in both establishing shots . . .

. . . and for occasional on location filming.

The pad looks much the same onscreen as it does in person aside from a few minor changes including the removal of the stop sign out front and the red paint on the curb (I believe the latter is taken away digitally), and the addition of the family’s tire swing.

Though Julie surmised that the inside of the home had been utilized in the Young Sheldon pilot, upon close inspection it appears that the Cooper house interior has been a set from the get-go. As you can see in the screen capture from the inaugural episode as compared to the MLS photo below, though similar, the two interiors are not one and the same. Page 30 of Assistant Art Director Andrew Sloane’s online portfolio also notes that the inside of the Cooper residence was built for the pilot. As regular readers of my site know, sets for television shows are typically not constructed until a series is picked up by a network, which is why the vast majority of pilots are filmed on location inside of actual residences. In this case, though, Young Sheldon was a spin-off of the highly popular The Big Bang Theory and therefore came with a built-in audience, so CBS ordered a run of episodes before the pilot had even been shot. As such, the show’s sets were assembled from the outset.

Though the general layout and look of the Cooper house is the same as the Valley Village pad, there are many differences.

The set, which exists on Stage 6 at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, is much more dated than the actual house, which makes sense being that Young Sheldon takes place in the late 80s/early 90s.

It does certainly echo the real life home, though.

Even the bathroom (visible in the background of the screen capture below) largely resembles that of the house.

You can check out a video tour of the set given by Raegan Revord, who plays Sheldon’s twin sister, Missy, here.

The picturesque Colonial home belonging to Meemaw (Annie Potts) on the series, said to be located across the street from the Cooper residence, can actually be found about four miles away.

It is none other than the Partridge House on Blondie Street at Warner Bros. Ranch (albeit with a small front porch added). You can read a bit about the property’s history and its other onscreen appearances in this 2016 post I wrote for the Mike the Fanboy website.

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Julie for telling me about this location and asking me to stalk it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Cooper family home from Young Sheldon is located at 5501 Morella Avenue in Valley Village.

March 27, 2019
The Urban Outfitters from “National Treasure”

Today’s stalking venture is not only six years in the making, but a cross-country endeavor! Way back in January 2013, as the Grim Cheaper and I were preparing to move from Pasadena to Palm Springs, I caught National Treasure on TV and immediately recognized the exterior of the Urban Outfitters in the flick as that of 139 West Colorado Boulevard, just a few blocks from where we lived at the time. Seeking a reprieve from packing, I ran down there to see if the interior of the store had been used, as well. Because it was an impromptu stalk, I did not bring screen captures or a clip of the scene to aid in the identification process, but what I saw when I arrived seemed to match what appeared in the film. Being that I was in the middle of a move, the search went straight to the back of my mind as soon as I got home and did not get picked up again until I visited Philadelphia in September 2016. During our stay in the City of Brotherly Love, I furiously researched locales from the 2004 adventure flick, largely shot in the area, and was shocked to come across a mention on Curbed LA that the Urban Outfitters from the movie was actually at 1627 Walnut Street near Rittenhouse Square. Doubting my original find from three years prior, I dragged the GC right on over there, but it was obvious upon entering that it was not the spot where Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage), Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) and Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) shopped for casual clothes mid-flick. The Philly store, which you can see photos of here and here, has a very different feel to it than what was shown onscreen. Somehow, upon returning home, I completely forgot about the locale yet again, though. It was not until last month, when a fellow stalker named Wylen published a comment on my site letting me know that the Pasadena Urban Outfitters had appeared in an episode of My So-Called Life, that I was reminded of it. So I headed right back out there, screen captures in hand this time, and am thrilled to finally be able to confirm that the Colorado Boulevard store is, indeed, the one from National Treasure.

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The Pasadena outpost of Urban Outfitters is housed inside a stately two-story brick structure in the heart of Old Town that is largely referred to as the “Wood & Jones building” in honor of its former longtime tenant, Wood & Jones printing company, established in 1907. Founders Bert Wood and Fred Jones pinpointed Pasadena as the ideal place to headquarter their business after learning that the city had the highest per capita income in the country at the time. The duo first set up shop in a space on Union Street before moving to Colorado Boulevard in 1909.

Early images of the printery, featured in a 2010 interview Huell Howser did with Wood’s granddaughter, Hanna, for KCET, are pictured below. And you can check out a photo of the outside of the building taken in 1936 here. It is amazing how little of the exterior has been altered over the years.

When Jones passed away in the 1940s, the Wood family took over full operation of the business and continued to run it through 1994, at which time it was sold to longtime employee J.J. Gish. Per the book Historic Pasadena, the Woods held on to the Old Town building, though, and continue to own it to this day – its lineage honored by the company signage that remains present on its façade.

Wood & Jones vacated the building later that same year (it is still in operation just a few miles away at 2040 East Walnut Street, though it is now known as “Typecraft”) and Urban Outfitters moved in shortly thereafter.

It has been going strong ever since.

Though the exterior of the store is shown briefly in National Treasure . . .

. . . it is on the second level that all of the action happens.

The stairs leading to the second level, which are visible at the beginning and end of the scene, actually served as my smoking gun, so to say, when it came to identifying the location. Their general layout, railing, and the elevator door situated on the landing match that of the Pasadena store perfectly.

For the shoot, a cashier counter was set up in the southwest corner of the second floor, in the area pictured in my photograph below.

Unfortunately, I did not get great pictures of that exact spot as I thought filming had taken place a little east of where it actually did, but you can see it more clearly in the Yelp image from user Ghalya M. below.

A display wall now cuts through the area where filming occurred, separating women’s clothing from lingerie and greatly limiting the view of the large steel girder that could be seen behind the prop cashier counter in the scene. (That girder is denoted with pink arrows in the images below.)

The wall beams visible in the far background behind the group are also now covered over with display paneling, but are still partially evident.

It is not very hard to see how the Pasadena Urban Outfitters came to be used in the film. With all of the exposed brick and ductwork, it definitely has a Philadelphia feel, much more so, ironically, than its Rittenhouse Square counterpart, which boasts a subdued, sleek, modern aesthetic.

Per the Clothes On Film website, the Urban Outfitters segment was not an original plot element. Author Lord Christopher Laverty explains, “Despite serving a worthwhile purpose in character development, the scene in which Abigail and Gates bond at an Urban Outfitters was actually a late addition to the script. As the costumes had already been selected, [costume designer] Judianna Makovsky had to think of a store where the two protagonists could feasibly buy these clothes. Urban Outfitters was within shooting distance [editor’s note – Jon Voight’s house from the film is nearby in South Pasadena] and so seemed like the logical choice.” Interestingly, Abigail’s jacket was actually an Abercrombie & Fitch score, her sweater was designer, and her boots were from Barneys New York Co-Op, while Ben’s jacket was a Levi’s find.

I am 99.9% certain that the dressing room where Ben and Abigail changed out of their formal wear was a set, for two reasons. A, the space just looks like a set (due to privacy reasons, rarely are double-swinging doors utilized in dressing rooms and even more rarely are they as low as the ones featured in National Treasure) and B, the dressing room at the Pasadena Urban Outfitters does not look anything like what is pictured below.

Which is a shame as I so would have loved to re-create the moment below.

As fellow stalker Wylen informed me, back in 1994, when the building still housed Wood & Jones, it served as the print shop owned by Patty Chase’s (Bess Armstrong) father, Chuck (Paul Dooley), in the Season 1 episode of My So-Called Life titled “Father Figures.” Wylen’s dad actually worked on the premises at the time, which is how he knew of the filming. In his comment, he stated, “I think in the episode they even named Patty’s dad’s company Wood & Jones, possibly because they may have had an establishing shot of the actual building, but that didn’t end up in the episode.” Wylen is correct – the shop is referred to as “Wood & Jones” in “Father Figures.” He is also likely right about the establishing shot. What I did not realize until sitting down to write this post, though, is that, per IMDB, Chuck’s last name is actually “Wood ” – obviously to match the shop’s moniker. How fascinating that the real life signage of a building (one that never ended up being shown) not only informed the name of a company on the series, but also that of a character! Wylen went on to say, “I remember Wood & Jones closed up shop the same year and my family helped move things out and a bunch of stuff that was in the background we ended up taking. When I saw the episode my mom and I kept saying, ‘Hey, we have that!’” So incredibly cool to not only have an artifact from My So-Called Life, but a piece of Pasadena history.

As I mentioned earlier, in 2010 Huell Howser filmed a brief segment for KCET in front of Urban Outfitters. You can watch it here.

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

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Wylen for informing me of this location’s My So-Called Life connection!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Urban Outfitters from National Treasure is located at 139 West Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit the store’s official website here.

March 22, 2019
The “George Lopez” House

The Grim Cheaper and I watch a LOT of television – something I’ve mentioned many times on this blog. Somehow we still miss quite a few shows, though, like George Lopez which ran on ABC from 2002 to 2007. Nonetheless, when a fellow stalker named Jonathan emailed me back in 2016 to let me know that he had managed to track down the main house from the series on a quiet road in San Fernando, I was thrilled as I figured many of my fellow stalkers would be interested in the find. One look at Street Views images of the pad had me immediately interested, as well. The picturesque Victorian was easily one of the most charming abodes I had ever laid eyes on. So onto my To-Stalk List it went!

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The George Lopez house was originally built in 1885, making it the second-oldest home in San Fernando. (Ironically, the property that outranks it is known as Lopez Adobe. Located at 1100 Pico Street, the dwelling was constructed in 1882 for Valentin Lopez – no relation to George, at least not that I could find – whose family founded the area’s first post office and English-speaking school.)

Per a 2002 Chicago Tribune article, the idyllic Victorian was commissioned by Senator Charles Maclay, a founder of San Fernando, and his wife, Catherine Paxton Maclay.

The once grand home started to fall into disrepair in the 1960s, sadly, and by the time it hit the market in the late ‘90s, had become severely dilapidated. Gretchen and Abraham Guerrero saw through the rotted wood, shattered windows and cracked paint, though, and purchased the pad in 1997, immediately setting about on a massive restoration project that lasted more than five years. During the renovation, paint layers were stripped away, many original elements restored or re-created, two bathrooms were added (the pad initially only had one), and the attic space turned into a master suite. The result of their efforts is stunning.

Today, the 1,761-square-foot abode boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 baths (one with a footed tub), a 0.39-acre lot, a wraparound front porch, a fireplace, red oak flooring, 12-foot ceilings, and a modern kitchen with marble counters.

Considering George Lopez grew up in San Fernando, it is no surprise that the pad came to be used on the series, which was largely based on his life.

The property looks much the same in person as it did onscreen, though it has since been painted green, which Gretchen and Abraham believe is its original coloring. During their lengthy renovation, the couple happened to come across a stack of laurel-hued wood stashed away in an exterior closet which led to their hunch. They had the color matched and subsequently repainted the house, bringing it back to its initial glory.

The home only appeared in establishing shots on George Lopez.

Interiors . . .

. . . and the backyard were all part of a set located on a soundstage at Warner Bros. Studio where the series was lensed.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Jonathan for finding this location!

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 Lopez family home from George Lopez is located at 671 Fourth Street in San Fernando. Olympic Coffee Shop, from Sharp Objects, is just over a mile away at 12192 San Fernando Road in Sylmar.

March 18, 2019
Olympic Coffee Shop from “Sharp Objects”

I’m not sure what it is about old school diners, but I sure have an affinity for them. My inclination maybe stems from memories of childhood road trips or weekend mornings spent at greasy spoons with my parents during my early years or my nostalgic nature in general. Whatever the cause, if I see a retro café onscreen, chances are I’m going to want to locate it. Such was the case with Gritty’s Coffee Shop, the supposed Wind Gap, Missouri eatery Detective Richard Willis (Chris Messina) frequented in Sharp Objects, the 2018 HBO miniseries based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name. Thankfully, the restaurant was a snap to find.

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While set in the Show-Me State, as I mentioned in this post Sharp Objects was largely filmed in Southern California. A Google search for “Gritty’s Coffee Shop” and “Los Angeles” led nowhere, though. Thankfully, I happened to spot an address number of “12912” posted outside of the restaurant while watching the sixth episode, titled “Cherry,” which made my search much more fruitful. As soon as I inputted “Coffee Shop,” “Los Angeles,” and “12912,” a slew of entries for an eatery named Olympic Coffee Shop located at 12912 San Fernando Road in Sylmar was kicked back.

One look at images of the place online told me it was the right spot and I promptly added it to my To-Stalk List.

Then, when I saw the eatery pop up in an episode of Bosch (Season 2’s “Gone”), which the Grim Cheaper and I were binging at the time, that very same week, I knew I had to get out there stat!

Olympic Coffee Shop was originally established way back in 1951 as James’ Drive-In.

It subsequently became Jim Bill’s Restaurant in 1957, then Demetri’s Coffee Shop in 1971, and finally Olympic Coffee Shop in 1984.

Other than its past names, I could not find much information about the place’s history online, which is surprising considering its longevity.

Unfortunately, the GC and I were short on time when we showed up to stalk Olympic Coffee Shop, so we could not dine on the premises. As fate would have it, though, the super-friendly owner happened to see us taking photos outside and welcomed us in for a quick chat and to snap all the pictures I wanted.

He also filled us in on the site’s extensive film resume.

According to him, the place is used in productions almost weekly, which, due to its perfectly preserved 1950s aesthetic, is not at all surprising.

What is surprising is that I had never heard of the place until Sharp Objects!

Olympic Coffee Shop appeared in three episodes of the miniseries. Along with the aforementioned “Cherry,” it also popped up in the episodes “Fix” and “Falling.”

The restaurant’s film history dates back much, much farther, though.

In 1978, it masked as Sybil’s in the comedy Every Which Way But Loose, but both the exterior . . .

. . . and interior looked quite a bit different at the time.

Lincoln Hawk (Sylvester Stallone) challenged his son, Michael Cutler (David Mendenhall), to arm wrestle some local thugs at the restaurant, when it was still operating as Demetri’s, in 1987’s Over the Top.

In the 2000 film Memento, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) and Leonard (Guy Pearce) discuss the faultiness of memories at Olympic Coffee Shop.

Luke Campbell (Dan Byrd) and Sylar (Zachary Quinto) narrowly escape from government agents at the eatery in the Season 3 episode of Heroes titled “Building 26,” which aired in 2009.

Train’s Patrick Monahan falls in love with a waitress named Kate (played by Anna Camp) at Olympic Coffee Shop in the group’s 2010 “Marry Me” music video, which you can watch here.

That same year, the restaurant was the site of a massive shootout in the Season 2 episode of NCIS: Los Angeles titled “Bounty.”

Donna (Catherine Keener) and Patrick (James Le Gros) run into Kathleen (Mikey Madison) at Olympic Coffee Shop at the end of the 2018 drama Nostalgia.

That same year, Johnny ‘Coco’ Cruz (Richard Cabral) has a rather terse reunion with his mom and sister at the café in the Season 1 episode of Mayans M.C. titled “Murciélago/Zotz.”

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Olympic Coffee Shop, from Sharp Objects, is located at 12192 San Fernando Road in Sylmar. The café is open daily from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.

March 15, 2019
Noodles’ House from “A Star Is Born”

News outlets are reporting that Lady Gaga can’t seem to let go of her A Star Is Born character. Well, I am apparently having a hard time letting go of the movie’s locations because here I am yet again with yet another site from the film (you can read my other ASIB posts here, here, and here) – a film that I did not even enjoy, oddly enough. Yes, I did finally sit down to watch it recently, but found myself bored and wound up turning it off about ninety minutes in. I don’t know if my apathy was completely legitimate or had to do with the fact that I was dreading the sad ending, but either way, the portions I did see were just “meh.” The only time I did perk up was when the supposed Memphis home belonging to George ‘Noodles’ Stone (Dave Chappelle) came onscreen as I was fairly certain it was a spot I had stalked long ago. A quick visit to my website verified my hunch – Noodles’ pad is none other than the Teen Wolf party house! Researching further, I was shocked to discover that the property boasts yet a third notable claim to fame! So, even though I already blogged about it back in 2011, I figured it was definitely time for another go-around.

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Per a couple of commenters on my 2011 post, in real life Noodles’ house was built in 1915 for a man named Dr. Hubert Shearin, who was the head of the Occidental College English Department at the time. A distinguished member of the community, Dr. Shearin also served as director of the Eagle Rock School Board and director of Eagle Rock Bank, as well as belonging to countless local clubs. Considering his prominence, it should come as no surprise that when Eagle Rock became part of the City of Los Angeles in 1923 and many roads were required to be renamed, the street his former residence is on was dubbed “Shearin Avenue” in his honor.

Hubert passed away suddenly on August 12th, 1919 at the age of 41, leaving behind his wife, Ruth, and their two children. Ruth continued to live in the 4-bedroom, 1-bath, 2,346-square-foot property (which you can see interior photographs of here) until 1952, at which time she moved to Glendale. In the ensuing years, the house went on to become quite famous cinematically.

It is there that Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox) and his friends attend a raucous high school party in the 1985 classic Teen Wolf.

A woman named Valerie who grew up in the house and lived there during the Teen Wolf shoot wrote a comment on my 2011 post informing me that the closet where Scott kissed his BFF Boof (Susan Ursitti) was not real, but a set piece built specifically for the filming on the home’s rear deck, which is what I had suspected upon first viewing images of the interior. In actuality, the closet doors seen in the movie are French doors that lead from the dining room to the backyard. You can check out an image of the spot where the prop closet was built here.

It was thanks to my obsessive study of the closet and dining room area while writing my original post that I recognized the pad in A Star Is Born. Actually, what I recognized were the unique arched built-ins situated on either side of the home’s French doors. I had spent quite a bit of time scrutinizing them, so when they popped up in A Star Is Born, I immediately took note. You can check out some actual images of the residence’s dining room, which was massively repainted for the ASIB shoot, here and here.

Along with the dining room . . .

. . . the kitchen (which you can see a photo of here) also briefly appeared in A Star Is Born . . .

. . . as did an upstairs bedroom (matching photo here) . . .

. . . the side yard (matching photo here) . . .

. . . and the street out front (matching Google Street View image below).

As I mentioned earlier, along with Teen Wolf and A Star Is Born, the dwelling boasts yet another Hollywood connection. On the television series This Is Us, it serves at the supposed Pittsburgh residence of the Pearson family. It is this home that burns down in the much-maligned episode titled “Super Bowl Sunday.” For whatever reason, the property was only utilized on the show starting in Season 2.

During the series’ inaugural season, a different home at 1960 Fletcher Avenue in South Pasadena appeared as the Pearsons’.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Noodles’ house from A Star Is Born, aka the Teen Wolf party house, aka the Pearson residence from This Is Us, is located at 5223 Shearin Avenue in Eagle Rock. Rachel’s (Chloë Grace Moretz) home from (500) Days of Summer can be found right next door at 5231 Shearin Avenue.

March 13, 2019
Hummingbird Nest Ranch from “Book Club”

One of my favorite stalking stories involves the Grim Cheaper and Sex and the City: The Movie, which I saw right when it came out in late May 2008. I was gifted Amy Sohn’s book about the film for my birthday just a few days later and while it did a fabulous job of breaking down the locales, one that I desperately wanted to find was only mentioned in passing. Of the Mexican restaurant where Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) dined with the girls during her non-honeymoon, all that was said was that filming took place in Simi Valley. As soon as I read those words, though, I knew what I had to do – call up every Mexican eatery in the area and ask if the flick was shot there, obvs! Now I should mention here that I hate telephone calls. The GC likes to say that I am scared of the phone and he’s not far off. So I enlisted his help with this endeavor. It was a rather humorous undertaking being that none of the people who answered his calls had any earthly idea what he was talking about. Needless to say, after spending hours on the task, we came up empty – but the whole thing sure was good for a few laughs. It was not until Mike, from MovieShotsLA, saw the film that the mystery was finally solved. He recognized the Mexican restaurant, which – spoiler! – isn’t really a restaurant at all, as none other than Hummingbird Nest Ranch, an oft-filmed compound nestled north of the 118 freeway in Santa Susana. The property is, unfortunately, closed to the public, but is available to lease for special events. So, since I was newly engaged at the time, it went to the top of my list of spots to tour as a possible wedding venue. I headed out there soon thereafter, but was struck with bad luck thanks to the reality series Tool Academy which had taken over the property for a weeks-long shoot, thereby severely limiting what I could photograph. Regardless, when I saw the site pop up as the idyllic “Sedona” ranch belonging to Mitchell (Andy Garcia) in Book Club (one of my favorite movies of 2018 – available on DVD here and via streaming here), I knew I had to finally blog about it.

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Hummingbird Nest Ranch was the brainchild of Metro Networks founder David Saperstein who, in 2000, purchased a 123-acre plot of picturesque land in the hills of Simi Valley for his second wife, Suzanne. Though a gorgeous 1920s home known as Sitting Bull sat on the property, David envisioned something grander for Suzanne and commissioned architect Richard Robertson to build a massive 17,000-square-foot Spanish-style estate on the grounds for the couple to live in.

Several other structures were also added including 3 riding arenas, 16 guest and staff houses, and a 20,000-square-foot barn. That’s the barn below. Yeah, I know – it’s grander than most homes!

There is also parking for 400 vehicles, numerous swimming pools, a spa, a large pond, a helipad, and a solar-panel farm on the premises.

Saperstein filed for divorce from Suzanne in 2005 and subsequently put the ranch on the market in 2007 for $75 million. When there were no takers, he switched gears and decided to turn the property into a massive 5-star resort complete with 105 rooms, 98 casitas, numerous restaurants and swimming pools, conference facilities, and a convention center.

The city of Simi Valley greenlighted the plan, but once the permits were in place in 2014, Saperstein changed gears yet again and re-listed the site, this time for $49.5 million. It finally sold in December 2015 for $33 million.

Though the purchaser was said to be transforming the place into a wellness hotel, so far those plans have not yet come to fruition.

Because the place sat largely vacant for close to a decade, it became the perfect venue for filming (not to mention a few celebrity weddings including that of Kaley Cuoco and Ryan Sweeting, Nazanin Mandi and Miguel Pimentel, and Morgan Stewart and Brendan Fitzpatrick).

For Book Club, producers chose to use Sitting Bull, Hummingbird Nest Ranch’s original 1920s house, instead of the massive main residence as Mitchell’s charming Arizona pad. Per a 2018 Architectural Digest feature, the property was love at first sight for production designer Rachel O’Toole. Of the home, she says, “It was just so perfect with the archways and the way that the light dapples through the yard and the pool. Standing at the front door you can see all the way through the kitchen into a bathroom, through an arched brick passageway and then outside through leaded glass to a fountain. I said to Bill [director Bill Holderman], ‘We shouldn’t waste our time looking elsewhere because this is it.’”

Diane Keaton, who plays Mitchell’s love interest in the film, also became smitten with the dwelling. When AD asked about her favorite Book Club locale, she responded, “I liked Andy Garcia’s house best. Andy’s house is an old Spanish. I wanted to buy it. That place is gorgeous.”

Of dressing the location for the shoot, O’Toole told AD, “For the color palette, we had burgundies and browns and tans with lots of textures like Persian rugs. We wanted Andy’s character to be grounded and approachable with things he collected from all his travels.”

Not much of the home was altered for the flick. Along with digitally adding the Arizona desert into the background of a scene . . .

. . . production also updated the pad’s 1970s kitchen, though it was only seen in a brief shot from outside the front door towards the end of the movie.

Sitting Bull also portrayed Gregory Sumner’s (William Devane) ranch on the popular nighttime soap Knots Landing, which aired from 1979 to 1993.

Though most of the Mexican resort scenes in Sex and the City: The Movie were shot at this house in Malibu, Hummingbird Nest Ranch masked as the hotel restaurant where a waiter guts Carrie by referring to her as “Mrs. Preston.”

Shortly after Sex and the City: The Movie debuted, the ranch popped up as Destinies, the rehabilitation center where Joan McCallister (Judy Davis) worked during the second season of The Starter Wife.

That same year, the ranch portrayed yet another rehab, this time on the Season 1 episode of 90210 titled “There’s No Place Like Homecoming” as the spot Adrianna Tate-Duncan (Jessica Lowndes) was sent after almost overdosing.

As I mentioned earlier, Hummingbird Nest Ranch was used extensively as the home of the competing couples on Tool Academy, which began airing in 2009.

Also in 2009, Hummingbird Nest Ranch masqueraded as Calistoga Canyon Resort and Spa where the CBI team investigated a murder in the Season 1 episode of The Mentalist titled “Crimson Casanova.”

In the Season 7 episode of NCIS titled “Rule Fifty-One,” which aired in 2010, the Nest portrays the Mexican estate of Paloma Reynosa (Jacqueline Obradors).

The massive main house plays Steve Jobs’ (Ashton Kutcher) tony Silicon Valley mansion in the 2013 biopic Jobs.

On July 27th, 2014, Scheana Marie (one of the most miserable brides ever!) married Michael Shay at Hummingbird Nest Ranch. The event was chronicled in the Season 3 episodes of Vanderpump Rules titled “For Better or Worse” and “Ring on a String” which aired the following year.

In the 2015 Entourage movie, the ranch masks as the Texas home of Larsen McCredle (Billy Bob Thornton) and his son, Travis (Haley Joel Osment).

That same year, Hummingbird Nest showed up in the Season 1 episode of Stitchers titled “The Root of All Evil” as the mansion belonging to Joe Parks (Cameron Daddo) and his wife, Suzanne (Courtney Henggeler).

Also in 2015, the ranch popped up as the home of Dr. Irving Pitlor (Rick Springfield) in the Season 2 episode of True Detective titled “Night Finds You.”

Hummingbird Nest masked as the Palm Springs Hotel where Ace Amberg (Rob Reiner) trysted with Jeanne Crandall (Mira Sorvino) in the Season 1 episode of Hollywood titled “(Screen) Tests,” which hit Netflix in 2020.

The couple stayed in Sitting Bull in the episode.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Hummingbird Nest Ranch, aka Mitchell’s house from Book Club, is located at 2940 Kuehner Drive in Santa Susana. You can visit the venue’s official website here. Please be advised that the ranch is private property and not open to the public.

March 11, 2019
Rest Easy, Luke

Coy Luther Perry III – I scrawled that name in my high school notebooks more times than I care to admit, along with his better known moniker, Luke Perry. My bedroom was also wallpapered with images of the dreamy teen idol. I even slept on Beverly Hills, 90210 sheets! And, at the age of 14, deep in the throws of my LP obsession, I changed my phone number to 34-LUKE-3. I’m not kidding. I kept that number up until the day I left Northern California to move to L.A. in 2000, a full decade after the series that made him famous started airing. Most who knew me during my youth can’t think of Luke and the show without thinking of me – even all these years later. That became painfully evident when news of his death broke yesterday morning and my phone became inundated with emails, texts, messages and calls offering condolences. The calls were especially hard to bear being that my ring tone is – and always has been – the 90210 theme song. Every single note felt like a pang through my heart and brought me to tears once more. Luke, along with the rest of the cast and 90210 as a whole were a tremendous part of my teen years. And they still are today. Luke’s death has left me gutted. It just doesn’t seem real. My heart mourns for lost pieces of my childhood, for his family, for his friends, and for the legions of fans who mourn alongside me. A world without Luke is not a place I want to know. As Gwynedd Stuart said in a Los Angeles magazine article yesterday, “It’s always sad and weird when a celebrity of our youth dies too young, but this one really stings.” Luke, you will be missed tremendously. Rest easy, sweet soul.

(The brilliant image above is from Thinking Mom.)

March 5, 2019