Year: 2019

The Millennium Biltmore Hotel’s South Galleria from “The West Wing”

The Millennium Biltmore Los Angeles is a rare bird when it comes to filming locations in that virtually every square inch of it has appeared onscreen – and I’m talking in multiple major productions! This factoid fascinates me and I thought it would be fun to cover in an in-depth article, so a few years back I pitched the idea to my editor at Discover L.A. who told me to run with it. Though I chronicled ten areas of the vast hotel in the column, which was published in 2016, due to length concerns there were a few spots I had to leave out including the South Galleria, an ornate hallway that was most famously featured in Pretty in Pink. I had planned on writing about the beautiful space on my own site as a follow-up to the article shortly thereafter, but never got around to it. Then, last week, while watching an early episode of The West Wing (which the Grim Cheaper and I just started binging and are absolutely obsessed with!), I spotted the Galleria and decided it was high time I finally dedicate a post to it.

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The South Galleria, which is situated along the southwest edge of the Biltmore, connects the hotel’s South Grand Street entrance to its Main Galleria and provides access to the Heinsbergen Room, the Regency Room, and the Biltmore Bowl.

The gilded hallway, inspired by the opulent Roman villas of ancient Pompeii, boasts an intricate Beaux Arts-style vaulted ceiling featuring bucolic frescoes hand-painted by muralist Giovanni Smeraldi.

The dramatic space is also flanked by elaborate friezes, carved columns, and sweeping archways.

The gilded gates situated on its south side . . .

. . . lead to an equally grand stairwell that heads down to the Biltmore Bowl and the Regency Room.

Being that the South Galleria is situated in a tucked away area on the side of the hotel, it would, sadly, be quite easy for visitors and guests to spend ample time at the Biltmore and not even realize the impressive space exists. If you happen to find yourself on the premises, do not make that mistake. The striking hallway is not to be missed!

In the Season 1 episode of The West Wing titled “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet,” which aired in 2000, the South Galleria portrays Washington D.C.’s Old Executive Office Building (now known as the Eisenhower Executive Office Building), where President Jed Bartlet’s (Martin Sheen) speech to the United Organization of Trout Fishermen is moved at the last minute due to some unforeseen rain.

Producers cheated a bit with the locale in the scene by shooting from both ends of the Galleria in order to make it appear as two different hallways that the President has to walk down on the way to deliver his speech. The West Wing does love a good lengthy walk-and-talk segment!

John Norman Howard (Kris Kristofferson) gets into a fight with the paparazzi during the Grammy Awards at the top of the staircase/escalator leading down to the Biltmore Bowl in the 1976 version of A Star Is Born.

In the 1986 classic Pretty in Pink, Andie (Molly Ringwald) trepidatiously ventures alone down the South Galleria on her way to her Senior Prom (which was held in the Biltmore’s famed Crystal Ballroom) . . .

. . . only to find her BFF Duckie (Jon Cryer) waiting for her at the other end.

Though Richard Alleman asserts in his book New York: The Movie Lover’s Guide that “James Caan, as the novelist in Steven King’s Misery (1990), celebrated his latest best seller” at Tavern on the Green, I discovered that information was incorrect while doing research for my June 2018 post about the famed NYC eatery. In actuality, at the end of the film, Caan’s character, Paul Sheldon, shares a celebratory lunch with his agent, Marcia Sindell (Lauren Bacall), at none other than the South Galleria, which was dressed to look like an upscale Big Apple restaurant.

The South Galleria also posed as a restaurant in Atlas Shrugged: Part I. In the 2011 drama, it served as the spot where Dagny Taggart (Taylor Schilling) confronted Francisco D’Anconia (Jsu Garcia) about his shady copper mine investments.

But the South Galleria’s noted onscreen appearances don’t end there! The space also pops up as a Beirut hotel hallway in the Season 7 episode of The Mentalist titled “Orange Blossom Ice Cream,” which aired in 2014.

And Alex Levy (Jennifer Aniston) and Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) have a terse conversation in the South Galleria during an awards ceremony in the Season 1 episode of The Morning Show titled “A Seat at the Table,” which aired in November 2019.

Bradley Jackson (Reese Witherspoon) is also shown walking down the Biltmore Bowl staircase on her way to the ceremony in that same episode.

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 Millennium Biltmore Los Angeles is located at 506 South Grand Avenue in downtown L.A. You can visit the property’s official website here. The South Galleria, from the “Let Bartlet Be Bartlet” episode of The West Wing, can be reached via the hotel entrance situated just north of and adjacent to Coffee on Grand at 530 South Grand Avenue.

January 28, 2019
The Firehouse Restaurant from “Speed”

Pop quiz, hotshot! You’re hanging around Venice Beach, in dire need of a latte, and you happen to pass by The Firehouse Restaurant from the 1994 action hit Speed. What do you do? What do you do? Why, you head in for some stalking and a cup of joe, of course! I’m really reaching into my reserves with this particular post because I actually visited the landmark café waaaay back in September 2009 (I wasn’t even married yet!) and then somehow promptly forgot about it until doing some research on the Venice area last week. It was such an ancient stalk, in fact, that I had to practically do an archeological dig through the Grim Cheaper’s computer to find the photos I took there. Talk about delving into the archives!

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As the name suggests, the Firehouse is situated inside of an actual former fire station located on the corner of Main Street and Rose Avenue, just a few short blocks from the beach. Known as the Ocean Park Firehouse, it served as the home of Engine Co. #62 from the time it was built in either 1902, 1904, 1907 or 1909, depending on which report you happen to be reading, until it was decommissioned in the ‘50s. You can see what it looked like when it was still in operation here and here.

The building housed several different entities in the years that followed including an antique store, an art studio and a lingerie shop. Finally, in 1986, it was taken over by Leiko Hamada and transformed into The Firehouse Restaurant. With its hearty breakfasts, the site initially catered to the body builders who worked out in the sand at nearby Muscle Beach, but soon became popular with locals and tourists alike. It remains a neighborhood favorite today, more than thirty years after opening.

The Firehouse pops up briefly at the beginning of Speed as the spot where Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) picks up a morning coffee moments before being unexpectedly looped into a deadly game with Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper).

Though some changes have been made to the interior in the 25 years since filming took place, the restaurant is largely recognizable from its cameo. (Love, love, love the ladder hanging from the ceiling above the counter.) And yes, I realize that my photos are almost ten years old, but per images featured on Yelp, not much has been altered since my visit.

It is directly kitty-corner from The Firehouse, in front of LADOT Parking Lot 740, that the bus explodes in the scene.

And it is directly across from the explosion site that Jack receives the ominous call from Howard alerting him that there is a second bomb on a different city bus.

The payphones featured in the scene were not real, but set pieces placed pretty much exactly where the bus stop is situated today.

Fellow stalker/Emergency! expert Richard Yokley (you may remember him from this post and this post) informed me that Wick Lobo (cutie Christian Kane) and his team also popped by The Firehouse in the Season 1 episode of Rescue 77 titled “Remember Me: Part 1,” which aired in 1999.

The GC and I didn’t eat at The Firehouse that day in 2009 – I made like Keanu Reeves and just grabbed a coffee – so I can’t really attest to the quality of the food, but the place is adorable and I highly recommend stopping by for a visit.

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 Firehouse Restaurant, from Speed, is located at 213 Rose Avenue in Venice. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. In the movie, the bus explodes kitty-corner from The Firehouse, on Main Street just south of Rose Avenue in front of LADOT Parking Lot 740. The payphones were set up directly across the street from the parking lot on the opposite side of Main in the area where the bus stop now stands.

January 23, 2019
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

When initially writing out “Martin Luther King Jr.” in the above title, I made a mistake, spelling his last name “Kind” instead of “King.” Talk about an apropos typo! Today, as we celebrate the birth of the great leader, whose example of compassion and love has proved everlasting, let’s remember to be kind to one another in honor and recognition of all that he gave us.

I’ll see you back here Wednesday with a whole new locale.

January 21, 2019
Jerry’s Condo from “Jerry Maguire”

Location hunts can take some strange, circuitous paths. Case in point – during my laborious, years-long search for the condo where Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) lived in the 1996 classic of the same name, I headed down a fairly deep rabbit hole in an attempt to identify the onetime beach home of actress Suzanne Somers and her husband, Alan Hamel. What in the heck do Somers, Hamel and their former beach house have to do with Jerry Maguire? Let me explain.

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My quest to find Jerry’s condo actually began many moons ago, around the time I first met Mike, from MovieShotsLA. During one of our initial stalking outings, Mike mentioned that he had worked in Marina Del Rey for years and would often walk by a house on the Strand that had a unique rock sculpture displayed on its beach side. Upon seeing Jerry Maguire years later, he noticed a rock sculpture visible outside of Jerry’s windows and knew it was the same one he had regularly passed. Unfortunately though, other than it being on the Strand in MDR, he could not remember exactly where it was located. As soon as I got home that day, I spent more than a few hours searching the area’s coastline. Being that the exterior of Jerry’s place was never actually shown in the film, I had my work cut out for me and came up empty. Figuring the rock statue had long since been removed, I abandoned any hope of ever pinpointing the site. Then, in 2016, while on a Jerry Maguire kick, I sat down to watch the video commentary featured on the film’s Special Edition DVD and just about fell over when Renée Zellweger mentioned that Suzanne Somers lived next door to the location used as Jerry condo’s. Hope restored, I began hunting for the Somers/Hamel residence, which both Zellweger and Cuba Gooding Jr. said was in Manhattan Beach and which I figured would be a snap to find.

A Google search led me to a 1999 Los Angeles Times article chronicling the sale of the Three’s Company actress’ longtime Marina Del Rey home, which was described as a “beachfront townhouse” with three levels, three bedrooms, a rooftop sundeck, and 3,500 square feet. According to the blurb, Somers and Hamel had owned the pad since 1977. While the Marina Del Rey part did not gibe with Renée and Cuba’s recollections, it did gibe with Mike’s, so I figured I was on the right track. Hope was soon dashed, though, when I came across a 1982 People feature that catalogued all of the Hamel/Somers’ homes, noting that their coastal property was “a seven-level beach-fronter” in the “expensive section of Venice.” Though I knew that one of the articles had to be incorrect in its reporting, I couldn’t find an address for the couple in either MDR or Venice, nor could I find a seven-level property anywhere along the Speedway! The hunt for their pad was proving just as difficult as the search for Jerry’s! So I reversed course and sat down to scour the entire coastline from Venice down to Manhattan Beach. Using Google Street View (which amazingly chronicles the beach side of the Strand!) and some serious elbow grease, I finally came across the infamous rock sculpture outside of the property located at 3811 Ocean Front Walk in Marina Del Rey. Eureka!

I promptly did an internet search of the address to see what else I could dig up on the locale and was flummoxed when the first result kicked back was a 2015 real estate listing with this sentence in the description, “Residence offers Hollywood pedigree, as it was the home of Jerry Maguire in the popular movie of the same name.” Face palm! Had I just simply Googled “Jerry Maguire” and “Marina Del Rey” upon revisiting my quest for the house, I would have saved myself a lot of time! Ah, well. I ran out to stalk the place just a few days later and was saddened to see that the rock statue that had figured so much in the hunt was no longer in place.

I’m assuming the sculpture was removed when the place sold in 2015 (for a cool $2,754,000, mind you!) because it was still on display in the MLS photos.

As was depicted in Jerry Maguire, 3811 Ocean Front Walk houses condos in real life – two condos to be exact. Unit 1, a one-story space, is situated on the lower level and Unit 2, a two-story spread, comprises the second and third floors. It was the lower level unit that was utilized in the film.

The site pops up several times in the movie. Though the master bedroom was not utilized (Jerry’s bedroom was a set built on Stage 21 at Sony Pictures Studio), the rest of the condo’s interior was used prominently in the film.

Areas of the pad that appeared onscreen include the kitchen;

the living room;

the dining room, which served as Jerry’s home office;

and the media room. (Notice that the shutters and shelving visible behind Kelly Preston below are identical to those pictured in the listing photo! I think the couch might actually be the same, too!)

One room in the condo was also apparently utilized as the office of Cardinals General Manager Dennis Wilburn (Glenn Frey) in the movie, but I was unable to find anything that resembled it in the listing photos.

In real life, Unit 1 features 2 en-suite bedrooms, 3 baths, 2,368 square feet, a private beachfront terrace, a fireplace, an open kitchen, a media room, flagstone flooring throughout, and granite countertops. Or, at least, it did.

Sadly, as you can see in recent Google Street Views and in this image, the second and third floors appear to be undergoing massive renovations.

It is heartbreaking that the locale remained virtually frozen in time from its onscreen stint all the way up until its recent sale, only to then be completely gutted. What a shame.

For those wondering, I did end up finding Suzanne Somers’ home, but not until I sat down to write this post. Once I finally pinpointed Jerry’s condo, I was so excited, I completely forgot to see if the Hamel/Somers residence was actually located next door. As Zellweger noted, though, it does indeed neighbor Jerry’s place at 3819 Ocean Front Walk! I wound up identifying it thanks to a set of photos published on Alamy of a fire that took place at the property in 2009 which ran with captions stating the locale was once owned by Somers.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Jerry’s condo from Jerry Maguire is located at 3811 Ocean Front Walk #1 in Marina Del Rey. Suzanne Somers and Alan Hamel’s longtime former home is right next door at 3819 Ocean Front Walk.

January 18, 2019
Kabuki Japanese Restaurant from “Clueless”

OK so I’m totally buggin’! I just found out that Paramount Pictures is in talks to reboot Clueless! This may be way harsh, but all I have to say regarding the news is ‘Whatever!’ The 1995 classic is absolute perfection AS IS and should NOT be touched! Hearing about the project did remind me of several locales from the flick that I stalked long ago, but have yet to blog about, namely Kabuki Japanese Restaurant in Burbank, aka the former Crocodile Cafe, where Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) lunched with her Beverly Hills besties Dionne (Stacey Dash) and Tai (Brittany Murphy). I had been on the lookout for the eatery for ages – pretty much since starting my blog back in 2007. It was not until 8 years later, on June 4th, 2015, that a reader named Jasmine finally solved the mystery when, in response to another reader asking about the restaurant in the comments section of my post on the Horowitz house from the movie, said, “It used to be Crocodile Cafe in Burbank on San Fernando and Orange Grove. But now it’s a Kabuki. I have no idea how I figured this out but I’m pretty sure that’s exactly where it was. The booth they sat at is right behind the hostess/cashier. I sound so stalkerish right now it’s ridiculous.” Jasmine’s comment was quite stalkerish, but in the best way possible! One look at images of the place online told me she was right. I could not have been more thrilled and ran out to stalk Kabuki just a few days later with my friend Kate who was in town visiting from Kentucky. Very shortly after that, author Jen Chaney released her fabulous book As If!: The Oral History of Clueless as told by Amy Heckerling and the Cast and Crew which confirmed Crocodile Cafe’s appearance in the film on page 126.

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The former Crocodile Cafe actually pops up twice in Clueless – first very briefly in the opening “So, OK, you’re probably going ‘Is this, like, a Noxzema commercial or what?’” montage.

It then later appears in the scene in which Cher and Dionne take Tai out for a “calorie fest” to cheer her up after she finds out that snob-and-a-half Elton (Jeremy Sisto) isn’t into her.

Upon walking into the restaurant, I was thrilled to see that despite the changeover from Crocodile Cafe to Kabuki, it was entirely recognizable from its big screen cameo. Unfortunately, someone happened to be sitting in the exact booth utilized during filming, so I couldn’t snap any photos of it, but as you can see in the image below as compared to the screen capture, the booths remain very much the same today as they appeared in Clueless. The cushioning has been swapped out and glass partitions have since been added, but other than that, they are untouched.

The front door and hostess area also largely look the same.

Crocodile Cafe’s bar, which was visible in both Clueless scenes, was apparently gutted when Kabuki took over.

The area where it used to be located is pictured below. Thankfully, the frosted glass blocks formerly situated behind the bar are still intact, as are the wood columns that frame them.

It is not hard to see why the restaurant was chosen for the movie. With its bright pink and green color scheme and 90s-modern vibe, the place fit in perfectly with the splashy, over-the-top visual aesthetic that made up Cher’s world. Interestingly, Crocodile Cafe was not producers’ first choice, though. Per As If!, “Originally the Clueless crew was hoping to shoot the restaurant sequences at California Pizza Kitchen. But once the CPK people saw the final script, and saw how much breadstick-penis talk goes on between Cher, Dionne and Tai, they said no. Says producer Adam Schroeder: ‘I think the whole idea of talking about boy parts in CPK, that made them uncomfortable.” The default location turned out to be ideal, though.

Of Crocodile Cafe’s unique décor, Los Angeles Times writer Max Jacobson had this to say in a 1997 article, “It’s a breezy place with an open kitchen tiled in a pattern that looks like a multicolored snake. The dining room–all brick walls, high ceiling and a gallery’s worth of modern art–is narrow and noisy.” I believe the open kitchen Jacobson mentions (or at least a portion of it), which was not shown in Clueless, serves as the restaurant’s sushi counter today.

The Burbank Crocodile Cafe outpost opened its doors in July 1994, so it was new when Clueless filmed on the premises. (Though I am unsure of the exact day the scenes were lensed, the movie was shot from November 21st, 1994 through February 7th, 1995.) The eatery was the fifth in the CC chain, which was founded in Pasadena in 1987 by restauranteur Gregg Smith as a sort of casual version of his upscale and highly popular bistro Parkway Grill. I was unable to dig up the year the eatery closed, but, per a newspaper ad I came across, the shuttering took place between May 2002 and July 2005, at which time Kabuki Japanese Restaurant was already in operation. Oh, how I wish I could have seen the Croc when it was still open in all of its bright green and pink glory!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Jasmine 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: Kabuki Japanese Restaurant, aka the former Crocodile Cafe from Clueless, is located at 201 North San Fernando Boulevard in Burbank. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. The Downtown Christmas Shopping District from “The Voice of Christmas” episode of The Brady Bunch is located a little over a block away at 100 South San Fernando.

January 16, 2019
The John Ferraro Building

I was recently interviewed for an exciting new project (more details to come) and in my talks with producers beforehand was asked if I had any ideas about where the interview could take place. They were hoping to meet up at a filming location that I felt best represented the spirt of L.A. I didn’t hesitate in my answer – the John Ferraro Building. The strikingly gorgeous structure is not only an onscreen stalwart and an icon of Los Angeles architecture, but it uniquely serves as both a notable part of the city skyline and one of the best places to view it. I have covered the place countless times on my site – in a 2010 post, on My Must-Stalk List, in the “See” section of my 2015 Guide to L.A., to name a few – as well as for other entities, including my article on the Top 10 Science Fiction Locations for Discover Los Angeles and a blurb about must-see locales for the September 2018 issue of Los Angeles magazine. My love for the John Ferraro Building is prolific. While walking the perimeter of the property prior to my interview last week, I realized that in all my chronicling of it, I had yet to do a deep dive into its vast filming history, so I thought it only appropriate to amend that.

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Designed in 1965 by A.C. Martin & Associates, the Modernist/Corporate International-style structure was “green” before being green was even a thing. Built to house the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), the architecture firm innovatively incorporated both elements into the design in the most unique way.

The building, which features concrete slabs cantilevered between towering glass walls, boasts specially-built ceilings on each of its 17 floors that absorb heat from the lighting system, helping to keep the property warm during cooler temperatures (yes, L.A. does get some of those) and at night.

As for water, the dramatic structure sits atop a 625 x 350-foot moat-like reflecting pool containing 2-million gallons of the stuff, portions of which are pumped through the HVAC system to cool the interior, essentially carrying 1/3 of the entire air conditioning load.

The pool and its eight fountains also make for some incredible views, the likes of which can’t be found anywhere else in the city.

I mean, come on!

I challenge you to find a prettier spot in all of L.A.

Last one, I promise.

Originally known as the DWP’s General Office Building (GOB), the property was renamed the John Ferraro Building in 2000 in honor of L.A.’s longest-serving city councilman.

The distinctive 287-foot-tall site is Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #1022.

Most of my photos in this post come from past visits to the LADWP. While we were there last week, the site was undergoing some sort of maintenance and the typically stunning reflecting pool was dry and the plentiful fountains shut off, as you can see below.

Despite this fact, the building was still dazzling to look at.

Considering LADWP’s beauty, it is no surprise that the place is a frequent film star. What is surprising is all of the misinformation about its various cameos floating around online. But more on that in a bit.

Robert Neville (Charlton Heston) jogs around the building in the 1971 Sci-Fi classic The Omega Man.

Jerry Landers (John Denver) gets interviewed by God (George Burns) at the LADWP, which is said to be located at 1600 Hope Street, in the 1977 comedy Oh, God!, though not much of the building is shown in the scene.

The property portrays a courthouse, where the two young winners of a traffic safety essay contest are interviewed – and mistakenly kidnapped – in the Season 3 episode of CHiPs titled “Kidnap,” which aired in 1980.

Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) explains to Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) what a Terminator is in the building’s parking garage in 1984’s The Terminator. It is the rear side of the parking lot, on 1st Street, that Reese drives in and out of in the scene.

In the Season 7 episode of The X-Files titled “All Things,” which aired in 2000, the John Ferraro Building masks as the exterior of Washington National Hospital, where Dana Scully’s (Gillian Anderson) former professor is being treated.

John Hancock (Will Smith) holds a news conference at the LADWP to announce that he is heading to prison in the 2008 action flick Hancock.

The site appeared regularly as FBI Headquarters on the short-lived television series FlashForward, which debuted in 2009.

During the first season of Pretty Little Liars, which started airing in 2010, Hannah Marin (Ashley Benson) gets a job at her ex-boyfriend’s mother’s dental office, shown in establishing shots to be located at the LADWP, in order to work off the damage she caused by crashing his car.

That same year, the site popped up very briefly as the exterior of a CIA building in the Season 3 episode of Chuck titled “Chuck Versus the Subway.”

Also in 2010, the LADWP served as a dream world in Inception. It is in the building’s reflecting pool that Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), conceived reconstructions of homes from their past, which were, of course, just CGI creations.

The interior of the property also appears briefly in the film. As Cobb leads Ariadne (Ellen Page) inside, he says, “We both wanted to live in a house, but we loved this type of building. In the real world, we’d have to choose, but not here.” He then takes her upstairs to his “residence,” which is supposedly located a short elevator ride away, but can actually be found about ten miles north at 215 South Grand Avenue in Pasadena.

Emma (Natalie Portman) and Adam (Ashton Kutcher) randomly run in to each other at a farmers’ market taking place at the LADWP in the 2011 romcom No Strings Attached.

In 2012, Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King) told Terrell (Michael Jace) that she was expecting his baby at the John Ferraro Building in the Season 4 episode of Southland titled “Thursday.”

The locale pops up briefly in some establishing imagery of what is supposedly the Department of Justice in 2016’s The Nice Guys.

Melinda’s (Punam Patel) “fountain unveiling” in the Season 2 episode of Adam Ruins Everything titled “Adam Ruins the Future,” which aired in 2017, takes place at the LADWP.

In The Rookie, which began airing in 2018, the LADWP portrays the Los Angeles Police Department’s Mid-Wilshire Station.

Now that we’ve covered a plethora of the productions that LADWP has been in, let’s debunk some of that erroneous info I mentioned earlier. There is so much of it swirling around the internet that writing this post felt more like a disproving of the false reporting of the building’s film history than a chronicling of its many appearances.

Though several websites claim that the LADWP masked as Washington, D.C.’s Bureau of Internal Revenue at the beginning of 1964’s What a Way to Go!, that is incorrect. Filming actually took place at the Gateway West Building, once located at 1801 Avenue of the Stars in Century City. The structure was demolished in 2015 as part of the Westfield Century City expansion, but you can see what it formerly looked like here.

LADWP wasn’t a courthouse in the Season 6 episode of Adam-12 titled “Clinic on 18th Street,” which aired in 1974, either. That building is actually the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center located just a few blocks away at 210 West Temple Street.

Nor did it portray the 14th Street Precinct in the 1980s television series Cagney & Lacey as has been reported. The confusion on this one is semi-understandable, though, being that filming took place at another downtown L.A. DWP site – the Central District Facility located at 1350 South Wall Street. Sadly, the exact building utilized has since been torn down, though.

It has also been reported that the John Ferraro Building played the Tacoma Police Department in the 1989 comedy Three Fugitives. That location, though, is actually the very same former Central District Facility building from Cagney & Lacey.

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 John Ferraro Building, aka the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, is located at 111 North Hope Street in downtown L.A. The facility’s lobby is open to the pubic each weekday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

January 11, 2019
My Favorite Entertainment Finds of 2018

I watch a lot of television and movies throughout the year – as both part of my job and for entertainment. I am also a voracious reader and listen to a copious amount of podcasts. 2018 brought a slew of new finds. Some started out as promising, but completely missed the mark [I’m looking at you The Haunting of Hill House (what was that ending, amirite?), Crazy Rich Asians (which felt about two hours too long), Dirty John (I couldn’t even get through the pilot episode), Home Again (such a snoozefest), and A Simple Favor (again, what was with that ending?!?)], but a few became fast favorites. Taking a departure from my usual posts, I thought it would be fun to corral my most-loved finds of the year into an article so that my fellow stalkers can discover them, too. These productions aren’t necessarily new – some are on the older side, actually – they were just new to me in 2018. So without further ado, here is my list of my best entertainment discoveries of the past year.

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1. Bosch (Amazon original series) – I’ve mentioned my love for this show several times over the past few months. Dark, gritty, thrilling and mysterious, with well-placed noirish undertones, the L.A.-set police procedural, based upon the best-selling series of books by Michael Connelly, makes for a fabulous watch. I don’t know what I love more, Titus Welliver’s compelling take on lead character Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch or the striking locations. Either way, I’m smitten.

2. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (currently airing on NBC, past episodes available on Hulu) – I’ve also mentioned my love for this series, which will begin airing its sixth season on NBC this month, several times in recent posts. The Grim Cheaper and I started binging it immediately after our friend Kate sent us this hilarious clip last year and never looked back. The cop comedy, which chronicles the uproarious hijinks of NYPD’s fictional 99th Precinct, is laugh-out-loud hilarious (don’t believe me – watch the aforementioned clip, which has to be one of my favorite television moments EVER) and reminds me quite a bit of fave shows The Office and Parks and Recreation. I was devastated when it was cancelled by Fox in May, but, thankfully, NBC swooped in and picked it up, so fans will be getting their Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Captain Holt (Andrew Braugher) fixes soon. Cool cool cool!

3. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (book available on Amazon) – This one is a bit of a cheat since I actually read the gripping Joël Dicker mystery novel several years ago. A miniseries based upon it was released this past fall in the UK, though, and it looks captivating! I am absolutely clamoring to watch, but sadly it is not yet available in the U.S. Say whaaaa? Because the book is hands-down one of the best I’ve ever read and since I am guessing the show will be hitting American airwaves at some point in the near future, I thought a recommendation was due.

4. The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat (available on Amazon) – A neighbor recommended this novel to me in the late summer, saying it was one of her favorite books of all time (a hearty proclamation), and I ordered it immediately from my phone while sitting on her porch. I dove right in upon receiving it and was promptly transfixed by the tale of three lifelong friends living in Plainview, Indiana, which is in the same vein as Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, one of my all-time faves. I started reading the book so quickly that I didn’t peruse the synopsis on the back or even taken a good look at the cover and was shocked to learn after finishing that the poignant story about women was actually penned by a man! Edward Kelsey Moore nailed the nuances of female friendship to a T! I promptly ordered copies for my mom and grandma and can honestly say the tome is now one of my all-time favorites, as well.

5. True Crime Obsessed (available on all podcast platforms; bonus episodes on Patreon) – Where have Gillian Pensavalle and Patrick Hinds been all my life? I found True Crime Obsessed, the duo’s podcast which comically recaps true crime documentaries, thanks to a recommended post on Instagram, started listening immediately and haven’t looked back since. It is hands-down the.best.podcast. I’ve ever heard (yes, it’s even better than Serial). Polished, professional and downright hilarious, the GC and I are all in with this one – not only did we become Patreon members so that we could access all of the bonus material, but we even purchased our very own “garbage bell.” Walk, don’t run, to your iPhone and subscribe to True Crime Obsessed immediately! You can thank me later. (My recommendation is to start from the very beginning with “Episode 1: The Imposter.” If you’re just wanting to wet your whistle, though, to get a feel for what Gillian and Patrick are all about, give “Episode 33: My Friend Rockefeller” a go. It’s one of my favorites.)

6. The Bitch Bible (available on all podcast platforms) – The GC and I are massive fans of Vanderpump Rules and its leading lady Stassi Schroeder. As such, we’ve been avid listeners of her Straight Up with Stassi podcast from the beginning. It did not take long for us to also become enamored with her BFF and frequent guest Jackie Schimmel, who is a podcaster herself. For whatever reason, though, we failed to listen to her show, The Bitch Bible, until earlier this year. And I am really sorry we waited because Jackie puts out some of the funniest narrative I’ve ever listened to in my life. She is opinionated, snarky and not afraid to say exactly what is on her mind. And I am here for it – every single minute of it!

7. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (Netflix original movie) – A sweet, sweet tale of teen romance in which two high schoolers fall for each other while pretending to be a couple, à la Drive Me Crazy, a longtime favorite of mine. You can’t help but fall in love with lead actress Lana Condor while watching. Her leading man, Noah Centineo, isn’t too shabby either.

8. Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. (USA Network) – I’ve made no secret of my love for the first season of this true crime anthology which covers the killings of Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace. While rap isn’t really my thing and I knew little of Tupac or Biggie prior to watching, I became absolutely hooked on the show. It is fabulous from start to finish. (The fact that Josh Duhamel stars certainly doesn’t hurt.) I’ve since researched the murders and was pleasantly surprised at the production’s level of accuracy, which is likely thanks to the fact that former LAPD detective Greg Kading, who served on several task forces that investigated the deaths, acted as co-executive producer.

9. Last Holiday (available on Amazon) – Definitely the oldest addition on this list, Last Holiday was released in 2006, but I only discovered it this past December. The sweet, uplifting tale of a woman who, after receiving a terminal health diagnosis, cashes in her life savings to take an extravagant, long-dreamed-about trip to Europe and, in the process, learns how to finally start living, is now a staple of our annual Christmas movie rotation. The flick is also responsible for several new spots on my ever-growing To-Stalk List, namely the Czech Republic’s magnificent Grandhotel Pupp where much of the story takes place.

10. You (available on Netflix) – Lifetime’s recent thriller series, which has since been acquired by Netflix, is an interesting take on a crime drama. Told from the perspective of the surprisingly sympathetic bookstore manager/psychotic killer Joe Goldberg (encapsulated perfectly by Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley), I almost (almost) found myself rooting for the bad guy and wishing ill on his love interest, Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), and her manipulative best friend, Peach Salinger (Shay Mitchell). Who knew Badgley could be so good at playing bad?

11. The Real Housewives of New York City (currently airing on Bravo, past episodes available on Hulu) – Though the GC and I have been devoted fans of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills since its inception, for some reason we never got into its New York City counterpart. That changed this summer. On a whim, we watched the Season 7 premiere and were immediately hooked. We wound up binging the rest of Season 7, as well as Seasons 8 through 10 in about two weeks time and then went back to the beginning to view Seasons 1 through 4. We are still getting through the series and loving every minute of it, though I have to say, without Bethenny Frankel at the helm, the mid-seasons are a bit lacking. Regardless, it is easily the most binge-worthy show I’ve ever seen. RHONY is pure gold – everything reality TV should be. As Michael Rapaport recently said in an interview, “Meryl Streep on her best day couldn’t do what Dorinda Medley does!” So make it nice and go watch!

12. Peppermint (available on DVD or streaming at Amazon) – There’s pretty much nothing I love more than a good revenge flick and Peppermint, Jennifer Garner’s recent foray into the genre, did not disappoint. When her husband and daughter’s murderers get off scot-free due to judicial corruption, suburban mom Riley North (Garner) takes matters into her own hands, bulldozing anyone and anything who gets in the way of her quest for justice. Let’s just say, she kicks a** gloriously.

13. Book Club (available on Amazon) – This 2018 romcom/friendship tale should not be missed! Hilarious and charming, the movie feels a bit like a re-envisioning of The First Wives Club with a Nancy Meyers element kicked in. All four lead actresses, Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen, are pure perfection. Not to mention, they all look fabulous! Bonus – it was set and filmed in L.A., so I even managed to get some good stalking locations out of it!

14. Chappaquiddick (available on Netflix) – I have never really researched the 1969 death of Mary Jo Kopechne, so I am unsure about the historical accuracy of the 2018 drama based upon the tragedy, but it sure made for a fabulous watch. The flick is extremely well-done, well-acted, and well-shot and I found myself fully immersed in the sad story. I also became obsessed with Kate Mara’s (Kopechne) hairstyle in it, which I very quickly emulated.

15. Ocean’s 8 (available on Amazon) – Last year’s all-female reboot of the 2001 caper classic Ocean’s Eleven could not have been more fun! Campy, witty and cinematically stunning, the flick is a fast-paced romp that I enjoyed every minute of. (Though I am seriously peeved that – spoiler alert! – George Clooney’s Danny Ocean was killed off.) The costume design was especially on point, as were the locations. My award for best locale of the year goes to the fabulous urban loft where Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), Lou (Cate Blanchett – who has never looked better!) and their team conspire to steal a diamond necklace, which per production designer Alex DiGerlando was actually the heavily modified interior of the annex of Brooklyn’s Bushwick United Methodist Church.

16. Going in Style (available on both Amazon and Hulu with a Cinemax subscription) – Though this one came out in 2017, the GC and I didn’t see it until early this year. A buddy heist comedy, in the same vein as Last Vegas, Going in Style centers around three octogenarians who lose their well-earned pensions thanks to a financial restructuring and decide to rob the bank behind it. The movie (directed by Zach Braff, who also helmed Garden State, one of my all-time favorites) is hilarious, heart-warming and downright fun.

17. Set It Up (Netflix original movie) – The Devil Wears Prada meets Cyrano de Bergerac in this cute romcom about two overwrought personal assistants who conspire to make their bosses fall in love in order to alleviate their insufferable workload. I adore anything and everything with Zoey Deutch and this flick was no different. The fact that I spent several years as a personal assistant only added to my enjoyment of it.

18. The Kissing Booth (Netflix original movie) – An undeniably cheesy story of teen love, but an entertaining watch nonetheless. The fact that stars Joey King and Jacob Elordi are together in real life (though there’s speculation they’ve since split) only made it more fun to view.

19. Broken Harts (available on all podcast platforms) – This new investigative podcast, which premiered in December and is still currently airing, hooked me from word one. Covering the March 2018 car crash in which prolific Facebook poster Jen Hart intentionally took the lives of her wife, Sarah, and five of their six adoptive children (though the sixth is believed dead, too), the story is eerie, dark and wholeheartedly perplexing. It delves into the many falsehoods of social media, lifting the veil on an Insta-famous family with whom not everything was nearly as rosy as it seemed.

20. I Was There Too (available on all podcast platforms) – To be fair, I’ve only listened to one episode of this podcast, but it was utterly fascinating and right up my alley. Matt Gourley’s show is a deep dive into the behind-the-scenes of classic movie moments told by people who were actually there during filming, whether it be a day player, an extra, a screenwriter, or a crew member. In the episode I heard (#83), musician Jordan Katz tells of his experience as a 14-year-old extra in the famous “I’d take a flamethrower to this place!” scene from Scent of a Woman. Not only does he spill the tea on the various actors involved and share a few humorous anecdotes from the five days he spent on set (yes, the scene took five days to shoot!), but he divulged exactly where the segment was lensed, which was not at all where I thought it was.

January 9, 2019
Harry Bosch’s House from “Bosch”

I contemplated chronicling the best movie and television productions I discovered in 2018 as my first post of the new year. Had I done so (and I still might later this month), Bosch would have topped the list. As I mentioned in my recent write-up on Demitasse café, the Grim Cheaper and I started watching the Amazon original series just a few months ago and were immediately hooked. A police procedural with a sarcastic and fabulously deadpan leading man set in Los Angeles – what more could this crime-obsessed, L.A.-loving stalker ask for? The locations used are seriously phenomenal, by the way – none more so than the cantilevered hilltop home of titular character Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch (Titus Welliver). The pad couldn’t be more quintessentially Los Angeles if it tried. So I, of course, ran right out to stalk it shortly after viewing the first episode.

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Bosch is based upon a bestselling series of novels by author Michael Connelly. I have never read any of the books, but have been able to piece together the various info written about Harry’s house in them thanks to a detailed forum on MichaelConnelly.com. In the novels, Detective Bosch is said to live on Woodrow Wilson Drive in the Hollywood Hills, though his specific address varies from “next to” 7203 Woodrow Wilson in 2010’s The Reversal to 8620 Woodrow Wilson in 2018’s Dark Sacred Night. Per a commenter on the forum, Connelly has apparently stated that Harry’s pad doesn’t exist in real life, but that the site where he placed it in his stories is a burnt-out foundation of a former cantilevered residence that the author stumbled upon in 1992. Additional commenters did some massive legwork on the subject and surmised that the location of said foundation is 7207 Woodrow Wilson Drive. And they’re right – I came across a video of Connelly showing the exact spot where he imagined the home (a still of which is pictured below) and compared it to Street View imagery of that address (again, pictured below) and, sure enough, it’s the spot! You can check out some photographs of the foundation and the land it sits on here.

In Blue Neon Night: Michael Connelly’s Los Angeles, a special limited edition DVD released in 2004 in which, as Amazon notes, the author “provides an insider’s tour of the places that give his stories and characters their spark and texture,” a house located at 7143 Woodrow Wilson is shown to be Harry’s and Connelly describes it as such, “Bosch’s home was fourth from the end on the right side. His home was a wood-frame, one-bedroom cantilever, not much bigger than a Beverly Hills garage. It hung out over the edge of the hill and was supported by three steel pylons at its mid-point.”

When it came time to start shooting the series in November 2013, producers found an even more perfect embodiment of that Blue Neon Night description at 1870 Blue Heights Drive in Hollywood Hills West.

Sitting high atop a hill, the architectural stunner, which was built in 1958, boasts 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1,513 square feet of living space, and a 0.26-acre lot.

Per Zillow, it is currently worth a whopping $2,130,000.

The striking pad first popped up in Bosch’s pilot and has gone on to appear in pretty much every episode since. It is the rear of the residence – its cantilevered side, which stands on a cliff overlooking the Sunset Strip, Culver City and beyond – that is regularly shown on the series.

The street side of the house, which is much less spectacular than the rear, was featured briefly in Season 4’s “Devil in the House.”

While situated on a private cul-de-sac, that side of the property can be viewed from a portion of Blue Heights Drive that is open to the public – though there is not much to see.

Just west of the home’s front entrance, though, in an area that is also publicly accessible, is an open expanse of land where views matching those of Harry’s pad can be gleaned.

And let me tell you, those views are absolutely incredible!

I mean, come on!

Last one, I promise.

We know – thanks to this video – that the actual interior of the Blue Heights Drive residence was utilized in Bosch’s pilot. And I am fairly certain that a few additional early episodes were shot on location inside the home, as well (quite possibly all of Season 1). At some point, though, a set re-creation was built on a studio soundstage that has since been used for all subsequent seasons.

How does a cop afford such a stellar pad, you ask? Per the storyline of both the books and the series, Paramount made a movie based upon one of Harry’s cases, for which he was paid handsomely.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Harry Bosch’s house from the television series Bosch is located at 1870 Blue Heights Drive in Hollywood Hills West. The best views of the structure can be seen from the 1600 block of Viewmont Drive and the 8800 block of Hollywood Boulevard.

January 4, 2019
Grand Central Market from “Bosch”

Happy 2019, my fellow stalkers! I was originally going to write about a different locale today, one that was sadly lost in the Woolsey Fire, but decided it would be best to start the year off on a happier note. So instead I’m covering a quintessential Los Angeles spot that I have stalked countless times, but somehow never blogged about – DTLA’s Grand Central Market. The bustling food emporium/retail grocery mart is a virtual city landmark, though I only visited it for the first time while on jury duty in 2007, a full seven years after I moved to Southern California! Upon stepping inside the vibrant marketplace and poring through the rows upon rows of diverse food vendors – an activity that was recommended as part of jury orientation – I was immediately enthralled. The Grim Cheaper and I subsequently popped by countless times in the years that followed to grab a bite to eat or do some specialty grocery shopping, but it was not until spotting the place in a Season 4 episode of Bosch recently that I realized I had yet to dedicate a post to it. So here goes.

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Grand Central Market is situated on the ground floor of what is, interestingly enough, two adjacent buildings. The Homer Laughlin Building, which fronts Broadway, was designed by architect John Parkinson for Homer Laughlin, founder of the Homer Laughlin China Company, in 1897. Eight years later, Harrison Albright was commissioned to build an adjoining structure, facing Hill Street, to enlarge the property. My photos below show the secondary edifice, known as the Laughlin Annex/Lyon Building. Upscale department store Ville de Paris became the first tenant of the two building’s massive street level space, which opens to both Hill and Broadway.

I had always assumed Grand Central was a more recent addition to the Los Angeles landscape, established sometime in the 1990s or thereabouts, and was shocked to discover while researching for this post that it actually opened its doors on October 27th, 1917, just a few months after Ville de Paris relocated to a different location downtown. More than one hundred years later, the market is still a DTLA staple.

Stretching a full city block, the 30,000-square-foot emporium initially housed 90 vendors and catered to the wealthy Angelinos living just up the road in Bunker Hill, who accessed the market via Angels Flight situated right across the street. Today, the locale plays host to more than 25,000 visitors each day – area businessmen and women, tourists and locals alike, all looking for a unique bite to eat or specialty ingredient to take home.

Grand Central Market has been rehabbed a few times throughout its history – first in the 1960s, then in 1990, and then again, to the chagrin of many locals, in 2013. Regardless of the revamps, the site is doing better than ever today. In fact, Bon Appétit magazine named the entire place one of the best new restaurants of 2014! Boasting 38 stalls, the locale offers such varied fare as German currywurst, Japanese bento boxes, fresh oysters, and handmade Salvadorian pupusas. You’ll also find staples like handcrafted bread, gourmet coffees and teas, and artisanal cheeses.

Bright, vibrant and colorful, GCM serves as the heartbeat of downtown. As such, it is no surprise that the site has wound up onscreen in numerous L.A.-set productions.

In the Season 4 episode of Bosch titled “Ask the Dust,” which aired in April 2018, Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) walks through the Broadway entrance of Grand Central Market and is then shown exiting the Hill Street side on his way to Angels Flight, where the murder of a prominent lawyer has recently occurred. Only the outside of the locale is shown in the scene, though.

Back in 1974, Grand Central Market was the site of a lengthy chase and shootout in the comedy/action flick Busting.

Eddie Moscone (Joe Pantoliano) convinces Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) to track down accountant/embezzler Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin) over breakfast there at the beginning of 1988’s Midnight Run.

In 1991, Huell Howser chronicled Grand Central Market in the episode of California’s Gold titled “L.A. Adventures,” which you can watch here.

Gy. Sgt. James Dunn (Keenen Ivory Wayans) takes refuge in the emporium at the end of the 1997 thriller Most Wanted.

Seth (Nicolas Cage) and Dr. Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan) shop for produce there in the 1998 drama City of Angels.

Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) does the International House of Pancakes quiz with a random stranger – and mistakenly gets arrested for solicitation – at Grand Central Market in I Am Sam, though very little of the place can be seen in the 2001 drama.

Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) are very, very briefly shown grabbing pupusas there in the 2016 favorite La La Land.

And in 2018’s Will & Liz, Grand Central Market is the spot where titular characters Will (Nathan Wilson) and Liz (Christine Tucker) go on a date.

Though several sites claim that GCM was also featured in National Treasure, that is incorrect. The 2004 adventure flick’s market scene was actually lensed about 3,000 miles away at Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, as I blogged about here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Grand Central Market, from the “Ask the Dust” episode of Bosch, is located at 317 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the emporium’s official website here.

January 2, 2019