Author: Lindsay

Spencer and Heidi’s Big Day!

UPDATE: Be sure to check out my full write up of the event with a ton of pictures here.

Well, it’s official! The reality TV couple that everyone loves to hate tied the knot at a Pasadena church earlier today . And, of course, I was there to stalk it!!!! 🙂 I have to say it was A-MA-ZING to be there and surprisingly enough, I think I am now on Team Spencer! I can’t quite believe it myself, but he seemed like a really nice guy in the little that I saw of him. Is it possible his douchebag routine is put on solely for the cameras??? Anyway, I promise to do a full write-up on the whole event tomorrow, but for now enjoy the following pictures. 🙂

Mr. and Mrs. Spencer Pratt 🙂

Spencer and Heidi kissing in front of Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Tossing the bouquet . . .

. . . which was caught by my fave Kristin Cavallari, who looked STUNNING!

The newlyweds make their getaway in a black Rolls Phantom.

Lauren Conrad taking off about 15 seconds after the ceremony ended.

Brody Jenner arriving with girlfriend Jayde Nicole.

Even “Stacey the Bartender” was in attendance! LOL

Holly Montag in her bridesmaid dress – which was actually really pretty.

Stephanie Pratt, Lo Bosworth, Audrina Patridge, and Kristin Cavallari have a post-ceremony chat in front of the church.

I promise a full run-down on the Speidi nuptials tomorrow. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Spencer and Heidi’s wedding ceremony took place at Westminster Presbyterian Church, located at 1757 North Lake Avenue in Pasadena.

April 25, 2009
On Location With “Peep World”!

Yesterday, while heading to fave bookstore Vroman’s to pick up a stalking book I had special ordered, I happened upon a small crew filming on the sidewalk at the store’s entrance. One of the policemen on duty was extremely nice and told me that the movie being filmed was a low-budget indie entitled Peep World. The flick actually has a great cast including Sarah Silverman, Michael C. Hall (who plays Dexter on the Showtime series of the same name), and The Office’s Rainn Wilson, but unfortunately none of them were on hand while I was there. I was actually really hoping Michael C. Hall would show up as I love me some Dexter, but, alas, that was not to be.

The only actors on set that I saw were Ben Schwartz (from I Hate Valentine’s Day);

and Kate Mara (who starred in the movies Shooter and We Are Marshall). I didn’t recognize either of them, though, which is surprising being that I usually recognize anyone and everyone. 🙂 At first, I actually thought that Kate Mara was Joanna Garcia from TV’s Privileged, as the two look strikingly alike!

I only stuck around to watch the filming for about ten minutes because, sadly, the crew was NOT at all nice or friendly. One of the production guys actually tried to feed me some nonsense about it being illegal for me to take pictures of the production. But being that I was standing on a public sidewalk, talking to the policeman on duty while taking those pictures, the guy pretty much didn’t have a leg to stand on. LOL Oddly enough, some paparazzi were also on the scene taking pics and one of the crew members had a policeman ask them to leave. HUH???? Wouldn’t you think that a low budget movie would want all the publicity it could get???? I am actually shocked that the paparazzi were even there to begin with, as no one even remotely famous was on the set. It’s always such a bummer to me when film crews aren’t friendly. I find it quite ironic that the crew of a fairly low-budget indie film would be so rude, when one would expect the opposite to be true. In my experience, though, it is the big budget, A-List crews that are the nicest. Oh well, I just have to resign myself to the fact that not all film crews are as friendly as the crew of CSI: Miami.

Surprisingly enough, I also got bored quite quickly while watching the filming. And for me to get bored on a film set is almost unheard of! But nothing much was really going on. The crew was also so disorganized that it was almost comical. They scene they were filming involved a taxi carrying Ben Schwartz pulling up to Vroman’s front entrance. But because no one from the crew was stationed on the sidewalk to stop cars from entering the filming area, quite a few people were driving up and parking in the exact spot where the taxi cab was supposed to go. LOL They actually had to repeatedly stop filming to ask the drivers to move. During one take, when an older gentleman tried to walk past the camera, a crew member put his hand out and whispered “Can you hold on a minute?” The man, who was obviously hard of hearing due to his age, said really loudly “WHAT?” LOL LOL LOL So, at least I got a few laughs out of watching the filming. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 East Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. You can visit their website here.

April 24, 2009
The Knots Landing Cul-De-Sac

The first time I heard about the wildly popular 80s primetime soap opera Knots Landing was when it was referenced in the Season 2 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 entitled “Wild Fire”. In the episode, after getting into a fight with Brenda over Dylan McKay’s affections, Emily Valentine announces “This isn’t Beverly Hills, it’s Knots Landing! When I got to school they should have given me a scorecard instead of a class schedule so I could keep track of everyone’s boyfriends.” LOL Love it! But for my good friend and fellow stalker, Kerry, during her teenage years  Knots Landing was her 90210.   She loved the show so much, in fact, that one day she actually called up the production company and asked where the famous cul-de-sac from the series was really located. And they told her! See why we’re such good friends? 🙂 So, since I was in the area this weekend, I decided to stalk it!

The Knots Landingseries, which has the distinction of being one of the longest running primetime dramas in the history of television, centered around the happenings of a group of families living in a beachside cul-de-sac named Seaview Circle. In real life that cul-de-sac is known as Crystalaire Place and it is not located anywhere near the beach. It’s actually in Granada Hills in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley.  Producers actually edited the beach into the series opening credits to make it appear as if the cul-de-sac overlooked the ocean.  LOL

Even though I’ve never seen even one episode of the series, I was still super excited to be stalking the famous Knots Landing cul-de-sac. All I could think about while I was there was how cool it would be if Wisteria Lane from TV’s Desperate Housewives was a real life residential street that fans could visit. 🙂 I realize that people can stalk the Wisteria Lane set at Universal Studios, but somehow it’s just not the same.

All in all, five houses on Crystalaire Place were used in the filming of Knots Landing, including the Ewing house;

the Mackenzie house;

the Cunningham house;

the Avery house;

and the Ward house.

I am happy to report that aside from some minor changes like paint color, all of the houses are very recognizable from the series. 🙂 If you were at all a fan of Knots Landing, I highly recommend stalking Crystalaire Place. And please excuse some of my photos. I stalked the cul-de-sac on a very bright day and in some of the pictures my camera picked up quite a glare. 🙁

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Knots Landing cul-de-sac is really Crystalaire Place in Granada Hills. Gary Ewing’s house is at 16966 Crystalaire Place. Karen Mackenzie’s house is at 16972. The Avery house is number 16975. The Cunningham house is at 16969. And the Ward home can be found at 16961.

April 23, 2009
Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony

Got a call from my good friend Blaze on Monday morning who told me that Hugh Jackman’s Hand and Footprint Ceremony was scheduled to be held the following day at Mann’s Chinese Theatre. So, of course, we made plans to attend. 🙂 I was incredibly excited to see a handprint ceremony in person, not so much because I am a huge fan of Hugh Jackman, but because the event is so historic. That being said, Hugh Jackman is an AMAZING talent and he completely rocked this year’s Oscars, so I was pretty excited about seeing him in person, too. But truth be told, I would have been excited to see just about anyone. 🙂

The Hand and Footprint Ceremonies, or Inductions into the Forecourt of the Stars as they are also called, take place fairly rarely.   Previous to yesterday’s ceremony, the last movie star to be immortalized in cement was Michael Caine on July 11, 2008. In 2007, there were three induction ceremonies, one for the cast of Ocean’s 13 (Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, and producer Jerry Weintraub), one for the stars of the Harry Potter movies (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint), and one for superstar Will Smith. So, I really could not have been more floored to attend! Sadly, though, the event was incredibly disappointing! Even more so for me because I had been so excited about it. 🙁 As you can see in the above photograph, the ceremony was slated to begin at 10 a.m. But that’s not really what happened.

Blaze and I showed up to Mann’s Chinese Theatre at around 8:30 a.m. to stake out a place in line. By that time there were already about a hundred people lined up. Within an hour, about 500 more people arrived. Who knew Hugh was so huge!  Needless to say, the event was packed. Right around 9:30 a.m., we were led to a set of bleachers which had been set up in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard. Now, even though it was only 9:30 in the morning, the temperature had already reached 90 degrees! For those of you who don’t live in the area, L.A. has been experiencing a bit of a heat wave the past few days. And the bleachers were located in direct sunlight, so, let me tell you, it was HOT. I’m actually surprised that no one passed out, it was that hot. At around 10:15 when the ceremony had not yet begun, I was starting to feel a bit woozy. At 10:25 I was ready to pack up and call it a day.

At 10:32, when a group of men started hanging a sign at the foot of the stage, I was ready to scream! The ceremony was set to start at 10 and 32 minutes after the fact they are still hanging signs???? I took the above photos of some nimrod with a tape measure who was trying to center the sign correctly, just to make sure it was all really happening and I wasn’t suffering from some heat-induced hallucination. LOL I don’t have a lot of patience to begin with, so for me this was torture. And I LIVE for this sort of thing! So, I can only imagine how the people in attendance who weren’t quite so into the whole Hollywood thing were dealing. When I attended the Friday the 13th premiere back in February, everything went off without a hitch, so I was really surprised at how disorganized this event was.

Anyway, the event FINALLY got underway right at 11 a.m., exactly one hour past the scheduled start time. Just a few minutes before Hugh was introduced, six men walked out carrying the cement block Hugh would soon be standing in. I couldn’t believe it took six men to hold it!!!!

Then, Jay Leno, who was emceeing the event, came out and made a very brief speech introducing Hugh. Jay was much larger than I expected him to be and seemed to have on a ton of makeup. Jay said that Hugh is one of the nicest celebs he’s ever had on his show.  He said that you can tell a lot about a person from how they treat the people working behind the scenes in show business, and that Hugh is always extremely kind to everyone from the makeup crew to the production staff at The Tonight Show.

Then, finally, Hugh came out! HJ is very good-looking and VERY tall – 6’2″ according to IMDB – in person. He is in excellent shape, too. Hugh posed for some quick media photographs before heading over to the podium to make a speech.

In his speech, which was also very brief, Hugh said that about 12 years ago when he and his wife first moved to L.A., they visited Mann’s Chinese Theatre and he put his hands in Peter Sellers handprints, which I thought was really cute. Maybe someday I’ll be up at that very podium saying that I once put my hands in Marilyn Monroe’s handprints. 🙂

Hugh also thanked his wife and two children who were in attendance. Apparently, Hugh’s nine year old son told him he would only come to the ceremony if Daddy promised not to make a long, boring speech. LOL

Also in attendance at the ceremony was 20th Century Fox owner Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng.

Then came the moment we’d all been waiting for – the handprints! It was actually pretty bizarre to see the handprint process in person, as three men were actually surrounding Hugh the whole time, physcially guiding him through it. You can see in the above photographs how the two men on either side of him actually placed his hands in the cement for him and then held them down. What was also odd was that he had to leave his hands in the cement for a good minute before taking them out. I’m not sure if that was strictly so that the media in attendance had time to snap photographs or if it had something to do with the time it takes for cement to set.

It was very apparent how excited Hugh was to be recieving this honor. His grin was absolutely HUGE. So cute! 🙂

Then, HJ signed his name in the cement with a little wooden stick, which he ended up giving to someone in the crowd. 🙂

Then, this time with the help of four men, Hugh placed his feet in the cement.

As with his hands, Hugh also had to keep his feet in the cement for quite a long time – at least one full minute.

As he was wiping his feet off, one of the fans in the bleachers called out “Can I have your shoes?” LOL Hugh said no to that one, though. I’ve heard that Mann’s actually provides the shoes that celebrities wear during the footprint ceremony, but in this case it appeared that HJ wore his own shoes. They didn’t look new.

After his feet and hands had been immortalized in cement, Jay and Hugh returned to the podium and thanked everyone for coming. At that point Hugh turned to the bleachers and thanked all of his fans, whom he said he knew he wouldn’t be here without. And that was pretty much it. All in all the ceremony took about ten minutes. LOL

And literally the second it was over, Jay Leno was out of there!! He pretty much immediately dashed off stage and into a waiting car without signing any fan autographs. 🙁   I think that had a lot to do with the heat, though.   As you can see in the above photograph, Jay looks as if he’s about to wilt. Check out his hair! LOL

After the ceremony was over, Hugh announced he was going to sign autographs for the many fans in attendance. I was extermely impressed by this being that it was so darn hot outside.  Blaze and I didn’t stick around for an autograph, but instead walked to a nearby grocery store to buy some much needed bottled water. Twenty minutes later, as we made our way back to Mann’s, Hugh was STILL there signing autographs!! He seemed like a genuinely appreciative, kind, and humble guy.   And while it was extremely exciting for me to see a hand and footprint ceremony in person, I don’t know that I’d ever do it again.  🙁 Well, maybe if it was for my girl Jen. But even then I’d have to think long and hard about attending.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Mann’s Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood. You can visit their website here. Hugh Jackman’s handprints and footprints are currently on display in the center of the Chinese Theatre’s Forecourt to the Stars.

April 22, 2009
The Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions

As I’ve mentioned once before, even though he has some major issues, darn if I don’t love me some MJ! So when one of my readers, Amanda, posted a comment this morning about the Michael Jackson Exhibit that is currently being held in Beverly Hills, I just about had a full blown panic attack right there in my own living room. HOW IN THE HECK HAD I NOT HEARD ABOUT THIS??? LOL I immediately called my dad, who also loves himself some MJ, and the two of us headed right over to Beverly Hills to check out the exhibit.

The Michael Jackson exhibit was originally slated as an auction to be hosted by Julien’s Auctions company. Michael Jackson himself hired the auction house, which specializes in entertainment memorabilia, to sell off virutally all of the contents of his now defunct Neverland Ranch. At the last minute, though, MJ changed his mind and decided to cancel the auction and buy back all of his memorabilia from Julien’s. But he did agree to go through with the scheduled exhibition of his valuables, which is open to the public now through April 25th. And I am so glad he did, as my experience there today was nothing short of incredible!!!!!

I was literally on the edge of my seat for the entire drive to Beverly Hills! And the exhibit did not fail to disappoint! The first thing you see when walking up to the exhibition area is – are you sitting down for this??? – the famed NEVERLAND RANCH GATE! I have wanted to see that gate for as long as I can remember and was so disappointed when I stalked Neverland Ranch back in 2007 and discovered that it wasn’t visible from the street. I was so floored to see that gate in person, in fact, that I couldn’t imagine there’d be anything inside the exhibit hall that could top it!   But, boy, was I wrong! The Neverland gate was just the beginning! 🙂

In a very lucky twist of fate, after asking a security guard a question upon entering the exhibit, I was referred to a man named Michael Doyle. Well, it turns out that Michael is the administrator of the entire exhibit and a SUPER nice guy. After I told him a bit about my blog, he ended up taking me on my own mini private tour of the exhibit!!!!! Unbelievable!!!!! 🙂  According to Doyle, the 30,000 square foot, 1,400 lot exhibit took over nine months to coordinate. The removal of the items from Neverland Ranch alone took ninety days!   Doyle was at the ranch during that entire ninety day period and got to see up close and personal how the King of Pop lived. What an experience! When I told Doyle that I had actually been to Neverland Ranch, he said “Oh, you were invited there?” LOL I had to clarify and tell him that no, I had not been invited to Neverland Ranch, but had stalked the outside of it for my blog.  LOL LOL LOL While I was speaking with Doyle, he got a call that Sharon Osbourne would be touring the exhibit later that day. I guess even celebs are fascinated with the King of Pop. 🙂

The entire exhibit, which feels very much like a museum, is set up in such a way that visitors feel as if they are actually stepping inside of the real Neverland Ranch. Before arriving, I was nervous that cameras would not be allowed, as I knew that I’d want to take pictures of EVERYTHING. Well, I really needn’t have worried, as cameras are not only allowed, but encouraged!!! The ultra-friendly security guards and docents kept telling us to be sure to take a lot of photographs. And my dad and I sure complied!! The two of us took over 200 pictures while there!   Obviously I can’t post all 200 pictures here, as this post would be never-ending. So, I had to choose a few of my favorites. 🙂

On display are numerous costumes that the King of Pop wore during performances. Seeing them in person I could not believe how tiny MJ is! According to one of the docents, he has a 28 inch waist!   I took the above photograph for comparison –  now, I am a small girl (a size 2 usually) and look how much smaller Michael is than me! He’s like half my size!!!

Michael had 114 arcade games at Neverland Ranch, all of which are in working order and on display at the exhibit. Apparently, when the auction was still set to happen, the arcade games were garnering the most attention. Not from Michael Jackson fans, though, but video game enthusiasts. 🙂

On display were both a personal letter from then-president Ronald Regan offering his condolences after the pop star’s accident while filming a Pepsi commercial,

and the original contract MJ signed with the William Morris Agency on May 21, 1970. As an actress, seeing his agency contract absolutely fascinated me!

Numerous awards were also on display, including a fairly banged up American Video Award for “Beat It” from 1983.

Countless Disney items were featured, most of them presented to the pop star from Disney themselves, including several animatronic window displays which were located at the entrance to Neverland’s movie theatre.

Also on display was a huge collection of the singer’s blinged out clothes;

and sparkly gloves;

including THE glove;

his wax figure from Madame Tussauds in London;

his household furniture, including China, silverware, and glasses;

hundreds upon hundreds of statuaries;

a huge collection of cars, including three limousines, a Neverland Ranch firetruck, and several mini-cars that look like they might have once been part of a Disneyland ride;

and his tour bus complete with a ginormous plasma TV and a huge marble bathroom with a bidet.

But my absolute favorite part of the exhibit was the large stage set up in the main room that featured a huge movie screen that played the Michael Jackson: Live In Bucharest DVD on loop. It was amazing to be walking around what basically amounts to a replica of Neverland Ranch while listening to music from the pop star himself.   My dad pretty much stood mesmerized watching that DVD for a good 45 minutes. 🙂

And, of course, I just had to do the Thriller dance. 🙂

I cannot recommend stalking the Michael Jackson exhibit enough!! If you are at all a fan of the pop star, or are enthralled with celebrity in general, you MUST stalk the exhibit. It was an AMAZING experience for me – a once in a lifetime, really – and I can’t even believe I got to see it all with my own two eyes. BIG THANK YOU to Amanda for letting me know about the auction!!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: You can visit the Michael Jackson Exhibit by Julien’s Auctions through this Saturday, April 25th in the old Robinsons-May building, which is located at 9900 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, directly next door to the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The exhibit is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is $20 per person.   Parking is $10. I’d allow yourself a minimum of two hours to see the exhibit. Ladies, if you carry expensive purses, I suggest you leave them at home as you will have to check all bags at the door. Cameras, however, are welcomed and encouraged! 🙂 You can visit the Michael Jackson Exhibit website, where you can watch videos about the exhibition and browse through the five auction catalogs, here.

April 21, 2009
The Closer Duplex

As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of TNT’s crime series The Closer. As is my whole family, actually. So, a few weeks ago when my mom challenged me to locate Brenda and Fritz’s duplex apartment building from the series, I accepted the challenge! 🙂 And it didn’t take me long to find it at all.

Actually, I can’t really take credit for this one. I happened to show my boyfriend a screen capture I had made of Brenda’s building to see if he might have an idea of where it was located, and, sure enough, he did! He told me that there is a certain area of Hollywood that is chock full of duplexes just like Brenda’s and that I should start my search there. And that’s exactly what I did. That area is South of Beverly Boulevard, in between La Brea and Fairfax. And sure enough, that’s exactly where I found the building! It was actually on the second street I searched. 🙂

Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson and her fiance Fritz Howard move into this duplex on the Season 4 series opener, entitled “Controlled Burn”. Brenda spends most of the episode, which guest-starred Life On Mars cutie Jason Mara, fretting about what to do with her cat, Kitty, as her new landlord has a strict “no pets” policy.   “Controlled Burn” actually featured some on location filming at the duplex, when Brenda brings home a reporter who is writing a story about the squad (pictured above).  The duplex is shown throughout the rest of Season 4 in establishing shots of Brenda and Fritz’s home.

The Closer duplex looks EXACTLY the same in person as it does on TV, right down to the wind chimes hanging from the second story balcony and the decorative plaque located above the carport. Oddly enough, though, producers changed the address number of the duplex during filming. As you can see in the above screen capture, the address number on The Closer is 130/132. The real address, though, is 126/128. Which makes absolutely no sense to me! If you’re going to change the house number for whatever reason – most likely to ward off stalkers like myself 🙂 – shouldn’t you change it more significantly than that? LOL Because, to tell you the truth, when searching for the duplex, I was only looking at buildings with 130/132 address numbers, but quickly noticed The Closer duplex located right next door to a building that was numbered 130.  LOL 🙂

The other inconsistency I noticed about the duplex is that in The Closer there is only one exterior door. You can see in the above screen capture that to enter her apartment, Brenda has to go through the main front door, which then leads into an anteroom.

But in real life, the duplex actually has a second front door located just to the right of the main entrance. Since Brenda’s unit is the one with the large plate glass window on the bottom floor, she should actually enter her home through that second exterior door, which is never shown on TV. Ah, the magic of Hollywood! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Closer duplex is located at 126/128 North Detroit Street in Hollywood.

April 20, 2009
“Smoke Gets In Your CSIs”

A few months ago while doing some cyberstalking, I came across this fabulous blog post about a photographer named Rob Greer who was lucky enough to have my fave show CSI: Miami film right in his studio. So, of course, I just had to stalk the place. 🙂 Especially since the episode which was filmed at the studio, entitled “Smoke Gets In Your CSIs”, was one of my favorite episodes from this season! In the episode, which aired in February of this year, the team investigates a physician who performs illegal organ transplant surgeries right in his own home.  The episode was pretty much a thrill a minute and I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole time – especially when Eric Delko finally professed his love to Calleigh Duquesne. I have been waiting for those two to get together for YEARS! 🙂

In “Smoke Gets In Your CSIs”, Rob Greer’s photography studio was used as the Miami home of the episode’s renegade doctor. Filming took place in both the interior and the exterior of the studio. I actually find it odd that they chose this location to stand in for a physician’s home, as neither the interior nor the exterior look much like a home at all.  The place actually looks more like a warehouse than anything else. But, due to the illegal surgeries that the physician was performing in the episode, I am guessing that the producuers wanted his home to have a cold, urban, industrial feel to it.   You can see some great photos of the photography studio here.

Rob Greer’s photography studio is located in the Los Angeles Brewery Arts Complex. The complex, which can best be described as a sort of compound or artists’ enclave, is an eclectic mix of buildings, warehouses, and offices. Apparently, the buildings house mostly live/work units and are available for lease to artists only – ie. graphic designers, painters, photographers.    The complex is located in an industrial part of town, out in the middle of nowhere, which led me to wonder how in the heck a location scout would even find out about it. But my boyfriend said since the compound has such a unique look, it is probably used in productions all the time and therefore is well known in the scouting world. The entire area is gated and not usually open to the public, but luckily when I showed up to stalk the place it was open for an art gallery showing. 🙂 Yay! I can’t really recommend stalking the complex, though, because besides the fact that it is normally closed to the public, there also just isn’t really that much to see.

Rob Greer’s blog post about the CSI: Miami filming  is a great read with tons of pictures and I highly recommend giving it a glance. According to Rob, set dressers came to his studio the day before the filming and spent quite a few hours dressing the space with living room furniture and a large chandelier so that it would look more like a home. But the following morning, when the director arrived on set, he took one look at the living room set-up and wanted it all removed! LOL Only in Hollywood! Rob Greer’s experience with the cast and crew of CSI: Miami was exactly on par with my encounter with them a few months back. He said they were incredibly nice and friendly, especially David Caruso, whom he describes as “really warm and genuine”. 🙂 I’m telling you, the CSI: Miami cast is like no other!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Rob Greer Photography is located at 678 South Avenue 21 in Los Angeles.  Be careful not to trespass on the property, though, because, as I mentioned above, the area is not usually open to the public.

April 17, 2009
Paradise Cove

One location I have been wanting to stalk ever since I first moved to L.A. nine years ago – has it really been nine years??? – is Malibu’s Paradise Cove. Countless movies have been filmed at the Cove, but I wanted to stalk it for one reason and one reason only.    Back in April of 1999, it was the location where Britney Spears filmed the music video for her hit song “Sometimes”.   And I absolutely LOVED that video. I can still remember the first time I watched it on TRL just about ten years ago. And ever since that day I have been dying to see the white pier featured in the video in person. So, this past Saturday, I finally did just that. When I happened to mention to my mom that morning that I was on my way to stalk the Cove and the reason why, she said “Oh Lindsay, when are you going to get over this Britney obsession?” LOL

Paradise Cove, as we know it today, came to be in the early 1950s when a man named Joe Morris purchased two adjacent parcels of land and combined them into 70 beachfront acres complete with a private cove and a beach cafe.  In the beginning, the area was a fisherman’s hangout, a place for sea-weary workers to not only launch their boats, but to kick back and grab a drink after a long day on the open water.  The Cove gradually turned into a beachfront community, a place for local families, tourists, and celebrities alike to hang out by the sea. In the 70s, Joe sold his land, his beachfront restaurant, and his private cove to the Kissel family, who turned the area into a waterfront mobile home park.  Joe’s son Bob was heartbroken over the sale and in 1998, he returned to Paradise Cove and purchased his father’s former restaurant. He renamed it Bob Morris’ Paradise Cove Beach Cafe and remains the owner to this day.   The above photograph is of a picture on display at the Beach Cafe of my girl Marilyn Monroe posing on a cliff above the restaurant many moons ago.

Most of the action of Britney’s “Sometimes” video takes place right on the Paradise Cove pier. In the video, while hanging out at her beach house, Britney spies a cute boy playing nearby in the sand. She rushes down to the local pier, where her back-up dancers, dressed all in white, are waiting for her. The group then performs a very “Britney” dance routine (of course, I memorized it!) for the boy. I know, I know, the premise sounds incredibly lame, but – trust me – the video is adorable! You can watch the “Sometimes” video here.

In person, the pier looks exactly the same as how it appeared in Britney’s video. The only difference is that, in real life, there is no “Kenny’s Cove” sign located over the entrance.   Apparently the video’s producer, Nigel Dick, thought an entrance sign similar to the one that adorns the Santa Monica pier was needed for decoration.  He decided to name the cove after the video’s location scout, Kenny. 🙂 Love it!

Had to do it! 🙂

Paradise Cove has been featured in countless productions over the years.   In American Pie 2, the Michigan lake house the boys spend their summer at was actually a facade the producers built on the beach at Paradise Cove just North of Bob Morris’ Paradise Cove Beach Cafe.  That’s the Paradise Cove Pier behind the boys in the above screen capture. Producers also built a fake lighthouse on the end of the pier for the production.

In Lethal Weapon 4, Mel Gibson and Rene Russo lived in a trailer/house also located just to the North of the Beach Cafe. Their house was also just a facade built for filming. You can see the Cafe’s exterior just to the right of Mel Gibson in the above screen capture.

The pier is featured twice in Indecent Proposal. It first shows up as the location where Woody Harrelson proposes to Demi Moore in the beginning of the movie. Then, at the very end of the movie, it is where the two reunite.

Other productions filmed at the Cove include Rockford Files (James Garner lived in a trailer on the beach), Gidget, Monster-in-Law (JLo and Michael Vartan explored the Cove’s tide pools in the beginning of the movie), Alias, Charlie’s Angels, X-Men (Spider-Man creator Stan Lee served hot dogs by the sea) and The House of Sand and Fog. The Beach Boys also shot the cover for their Surfin’ Safari album at the Cove (pictured above).

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I HIGHLY recommend stalking the Cove – but be forewarned, it’s not cheap! Parking there costs $25! Yes, you read that right! Which is the very reason it took me nine years to stalk the place. Stealing a term from my friend Mandy, I long ago dubbed my boyfriend the “Grim Cheaper” because the guy just hates spending money. Five years ago, when we went to stalk the Cove for the first time, he took one look at that $25 parking sign and turned the car right around. LOL  What we didn’t realize at the time is if you grab a bite to eat at Bob Morris’ Paradise Cove Beach Cafe and spend more than $20, the parking fee drops to $3, which is not bad at all.  So, after stalking the Cove this past Saturday we marched right into the cafe and parked ourselves on some bar stools.   And while we had a good time and the food was definitely yummy, I think we actually missed the boat on that one.  What we didn’t realize is that there is actually a back patio area where you can sip a cocktail while sitting outside under the sun, watching the surf.  But the rules for the back patio are pretty confusing because while the cafe provides the outdoor seating, they do not actually own that particular area. So, you can buy a bottle of wine or beer inside the restaurant to take outside, but the bottles have to remain closed until you reach your sandy destination. If you open your beverages before you leave, you will have to finish them inside. Confused? So was I.

Basically, Bob Morris’ Beach Cafe acts as a liquor store and sells full bottles of wine and beer that you can purchase at the bar and then take outside to drink on the back patio area.   I SO wish I had known that at the time, as the patio looks like a really fun place to grab a drink, put your toes in the sand, and watch the sun set. Oh well, it looks like I’ll just have to go back to stalk the place again. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Paradise Cove is located at 28128 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. You can visit the Paradise Cove website here.

April 16, 2009
The Adamson House

I spent all last week on the hunt for a location from my fave 90s TV show Beverly Hills, 90210. The spot I was looking for was the location that stood in for Baja, Mexico in the Season 2 episode entitled “Mexican Standoff”. In the episode, Brenda sneaks off to a Mexican resort town for the weekend with Dylan without telling her parents. I knew from this amazing website that the “Mexico” scenes were actually shot near the beach in Malibu, so I started my hunt there.   And it wasn’t long before I found the right spot!

While watching the “Mexican Standoff” episode, I noticed an abundance of intricate Spanish tile in the background of pretty much every scene. (You can see an example of that tile behind Dylan in the above screen capture.) The tiles were my big tip-off, as there is actually a famous house in Malibu that is known for its exquisite tile work. In fact, the house has been deemed the “Taj Mahal of tile”. I had done some research on the home a few years back when I was working and immediately thought of it when I watched the “Mexican Standoff” episode this past week. The home, which is named the Adamson House, is owned by the State of California and has been open to the public as a museum since 1983. So, I, of course, dragged my boyfriend right out there this weekend for a tour.

In 1891, a man named Frederick Hastings Rindge purchased what is now known as the city of Malibu for the bargain price of $10 per acre. Rindge’s wife, May, was fiercely protective of her family’s privacy and did everything she could to keep outsiders out, including fencing off the 17,000 acre property and hiring armed guards who patrolled the area day and night.   For close to forty years the Rindges were Malibu’s only occupants. But in the 30s, May ran into some financial trouble and had to sell off parcels of her property. Not wanting to sell to just anyone, May made sure she sold her land to wealthy, distinguished individuals who understood the need for privacy. Most of those individuals were movie stars. And thus, the city of Malibu, celebrity haven, was born. It was Frederick and May’s daughter, Rhoda Agatha Rindge, and her husband Merritt Adamson who in 1930 built the 4,000 square foot Mediterranean style home that is now known as the Adamson House.

Rhoda and Merritt’s custom home, which was designed by Stiles O. Clements, took a year and a half to build and is situated directly above the Malibu Lagoon. May Rindge, who was a tile connoisseur and owned her own tile company named Malibu Potteries, commissioned all of the custom, handmade tile that eventually made her daughter’s home so famous and, in the end, saved it from demolition. In 1966, four years after Rhoda’s death, the State of California was granted eminent domain on the Adamson House and its surrounding property. The state purchased the home from Rhoda’s heirs for $2.6 million and set about razing the property to build a beach parking lot. Unbelievable!!   Thankfully, the Malibu Historical Society and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation stepped in and fought to stop the demolition of the home.  That fight turned into a ten year battle. During that time, the chancellor of Pepperdine University leased and lived in the property. In 1976, thanks to the home’s unique tile work and its historical significance to the city of Malibu, the house was saved from the wrecking ball. In 1983, after a lengthy renovation process, the home was opened to the public as a museum. The Adamson House is currently both a California Historic Landmark and on the National Register of Historic Places.

And, let me tell you, it is an absolutely incredible place to visit. The tile work in the home is nothing short of A-MA-ZING! I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life and doubt I ever will again. I was shocked when I heard that construction on the home took only a year and a half to complete, as the detailing is so incredibly intricate and elaborate that I would have expected it to have taken much longer. Everything from the clock in the kitchen to the heater grates in the ceiling are made from hand-painted tiles!   The house could not be more exquisite and I HIGHLY recommend taking the tour to see it for yourself.

That being said, I have to say that the actual tour was one of the most BIZARRE experiences of my life. There are simply no words to accurately describe our tour – or our docent for that matter. I’m not quite sure what was wrong with her, but I think it is safe to say she was a few bricks shy of a load.   A sample bit of her dialog from the tour: “Now we are in the upstairs . . . the ceiling . . . has . . . and you can see . . . and there are . . . this piece of . . . . . . . . . . . . . string . . . during World War II . . . there were bombs . . . who can guess why there are no lights?” And I’m pretty much QUOTING her! LOL When I asked why the Rindge family sold the Adamson House to the State of California she told me it was because “they were tired of it”. LOL LOL LOL At one point during the tour, my boyfriend turned to me and said “Please don’t ask if 90210 was filmed here – that might just make her head explode!” Within the first five minutes I became convinced we were on a hidden camera show – I was hoping it was I Get That A Lot – and at any moment a camera crew was going to jump out at us from behind a wall. I was actually laughing so hard on more than one occasion that I had to completely turn away from the group and stare at the wall. LOL I haven’t laughed that hard in a really long time, so I guess the tour wasn’t a total bust!   In fact, as I sit here writing about it, I’m STILL laughing. 🙂 We even made friends with another couple, who were just as bewildered over our docent’s behavior as we were.   At the end, one of them said to us, “I realize that they are all volunteers, but isn’t there some sort of screening process???” LOL But I must say that despite our nimrod of a tour guide, seeing the house in person is still an experience I’d recommend.

Oddly enough, only a very small section of the Adamson House was used in the “Mexican Standoff” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.   Of course our docent had no clue whatsoever where, or even if, 90210 had filmed on the property back in 1992 and I had a surprisingly difficult time locating the exact spot used on my own. After the tour on Saturday, I went home and watched the “Mexican Standoff” episode once again and finally figured out where it had been filmed. Unfortunately, I had only taken one photograph of that spot while on the tour. LOL So, I actually had to drag my boyfriend BACK to the house the following day to take some more pictures. Thank the lord our docent was nowhere to be found. 🙂 The area featured on Beverly Hills, 90210 was the little porch and driveway located to the side of Adamson House garage.

In the scene, Brenda and Dylan get into an argument over a girl that Dylan dated the previous summer. Brenda is in quite the little snit until a mariachi band strolls over and serenades them with a Spanish version of the Morris Albert song “Feelings”.   The two make up and then dance the night away under the Mexican sky. GOD I LOVE THAT SHOW! 🙂 The new one doesn’t even compare!!! You can watch the scene filmed at the Adamson House here.

The “Baja” beach where Brenda and Dylan surf the following morning is very obviously the Malibu Lagoon State Beach, which is located directly in front of the Adamson House.

The location where Brenda and Dylan run into Jake Hanson in the beginning of that same episode is the beach parking lot located just south of the Adamson House. It is actually the place where you must park your car if you are going on an Adamson House tour. That’s the Malibu Pier in the background behind Dylan.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Adamson House is located at 23200 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The grounds are open daily to the public from sunrise to sunset. You do not need to be part of a tour to walk around the grounds. The interior of the house is only made available to the public via docent led tours. Tours are held Wednesday through Saturday from 11am to 3pm, with the last tour beginning at 2pm. Tours cost $5 per adult and $2 per child under the age of 16. Kids 5 and under are free. You can visit the Adamson House website here.

April 15, 2009
Taverna Tony

This past Saturday afternoon my boyfriend and I met up with my former boss and his wife for some coffee at the Malibu Country Mart – where we sat next to Brian Grazer in the playground area for a good 45 minutes. But that’s a whole other story. 🙂 After hanging out at the Mart for a bit, we decided to grab a bite to eat and I could not have been more floored when my boss’ wife suggested the famous Greek restaurant and celebrity hotspot Taverna Tony. Tony’s is a veritable celeb mecca in Malibu and pretty much anyone who’s anyone has dined there. I’ve been absolutely dying to stalk the place for years, but somehow just never got around to it. Until this past Saturday night! 🙂

Google the terms “Taverna Tony” and “celebrities” and a whole smorgasbord of famous names will appear, including Pamela Anderson, Courteney Cox, Kate Moss, Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Brooke Burke, David Charvet, Paris Hilton, Benji Madden, Salma Hayek, Shannen Doherty, Al Pacino and my girl Jen Aniston (who is of Greek descent) – all of whom have dined at the Malibu restaurant. Unbelievably, we did not spot any celebs on Saturday night, but to be honest, for once, I wasn’t paying very close attention. I was too busy gabbing. LOL But I get the feeling that seeing a celeb at Tony’s is pretty much a sure thing, so you can bet I’m going to return in the near future. 🙂

Before dining at Tony’s on Saturday night, I had never sampled Greek food, so I had no idea what to expect. Well, let me tell you, it was FABULOUS! I have to say that Tony’s serves up some of the BEST food I’ve ever eaten in my life. The servings are absolutely ENOURMOUS and the prices are extremely reasonable – especially considering it’s located in Malibu. Tony’s is the type of place where you can eat a healthy meal or completely throw your diet out the window. I opted for the latter. LOL If you’re game for doing the same, I must suggest the Flaming Saganaki Cheese appetizer! Second to fried calamari, it is probably the worst thing on earth you could possibly eat, but OH-MY-GOD! It is A-MA-ZING! I could have eaten an entire platter of just that! LOL

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I honestly cannot recommend stalking Taverna Tony enough! Even if you’re not into the whole celeb thing, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll love this place. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Taverna Tony is located at 23410 Civic Center Way, in the Malibu Country Mart shopping center, in Malibu. The feature live music and belly dancing nightly. You can visit their website here.

April 14, 2009