Author: Lindsay

"He Tied Me to a Chair and Stole My Car!"

On Thanksgiving my mom and I did a little stalking in South Pasadena – we aren’t much for football games or the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. 🙂 Anyway, one of the places we stalked was John Voight’s home from the movies National Treasure and National Treasure : Book of Secrets. Mike, from MovieShotsLA , had found the house long ago, but I had yet to go out and stalk it.

In the first National Treasure, Nicolas Cage, along with his cohorts Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha (LOVE him!!), show up at this house, which is supposedly located in Philadelphia, carrying a stolen copy of the Declaration of Independence. After using lemon juice and heat to uncover a code located on the back of the historical document, the trio tie John Voight to a chair and steal his car. LOL The house also shows up a few times in the second National Treasure movie.

When I first saw National Treasure, I remember thinking that John Voight’s house looked like a Pasadena house, despite the writing that appears onscreen which says otherwise (pictured above). LOL Sure enough, I was right. The white clapboard residence does have an East Coast feel to it, though, which is probably why the producers chose it. Pasadena is chock full of Colonial style homes like this one, and many of them have made appearances in movies, such as the Father of the Bride house, the Mr. and Mrs. Smith house, and the Catch Me If You Can house.

Seeing so many similar Pasadena houses appearing in movies really makes me wonder what makes producers choose one over another. While the National Treasure house is very cute in person, for some reason the two octagon shaped windows located above the front door kind of creep me out. I guess someone on the location team liked them, though. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The National Treasure house is located at 1030 Buena Vista Avenue in South Pasadena, just down the street from Lady Heather’s house.

December 10, 2008
Fill ‘Er Up!

In the film-friendly city of Altadena, where pretty much every other house has been featured in a movie or television show, it seems that even the gas stations are famous! 🙂 Last week, while doing some Altadena stalking with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, he drove me by Ronnie’s Automotive, a gas and service station that has been used in countless movies and television shows. Mike had stalked the location a while back after recognizing it while watching Transformers where it was used as Bernie Mac’s car lot (pictured above and below).

While we were there snapping photographs, the owner of the garage happened to step outside. He really could not have been nicer and ended up chatting with us for a good 15 minutes. He told us all sorts of stories about different productions that had filmed there over the years. He said that Clint Eastwood, who directed Million Dollar Baby which was also filmed at the station, was by far the nicest and most professional director he had ever seen. Apparently Clint is so prepared and focused that he is able to complete each shot in just a few takes and his days are usually wrapped very quickly. He also told us that Clint is extremely nice and does not tolertate any sort of yelling on his sets.

All in all Ronnie’s Automotive has been featured in over 200 productions – so many, in fact, that the owner George could not remember most of them! Besides Transformers and Million Dollar Baby and countless commercials, it was also used in the Vince Vaughn flick Dodgeball and in Pamela Anderson’s July 1992 Playboy pictorial. I was also convinced that Ronnie’s was used as Dan Akroyd’s garage in the Britney Spears’ movie Crossroads. Back when I was an extra in Crossroads, one of the crew members told me that the garage used in the movie was located in Altadena, so I just assumed that it was Ronnie’s. However, when I recently re-watched the movie, I could see that the two stations didn’t match up. So it looks like Mike and I have a new location to find! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Ronnie’s Automotive Service is located at 2012 Lake Avenue in Altadena. You can visit their website here.

December 9, 2008
The Dakota

Today is the 28th anniversay of John Lennon’s death, so I thought I would devote today’s blog to him. I have never really been much into music (my idea of a music icon is Britney Spears, if that tells you anything!) so I was never a fan of John Lennon or the Beatles. My mom, however, loved The Beatles (especially Ringo Starr) and during her teenage years even climbed up the side of a Japanese hotel where the Beatles were staying to try to catch a glimpse of him. She also snuck backstage during a Beach Boys concert, ran up to Dennis Wilson, kissed him on the lips, then ran back out, but that’s a whole other story. Now at least you know where I get it from. 🙂 Anyway, since my family always takes a New York vacation during the first week of December, I often find myself in Manhattan on the anniversary of John’s murder. Last December 8th my boyfriend and I decided to stop by both John’s former apartment building and his memorial to see if anything was going on. And boy was there!

Johns’ memorial, which is called Strawberry Fields, is a 2.5 acre tear-dropped shaped section of Central Park that was commissioned by Yoko Ono and designed by landscape architect Bruce Kelly. The memorial, which is considered an international peace garden, was opened to the public on October 9, 1985 (John’s birthday). The garden consists of 161 different varieties of flowers and plants, one representing each country of the world. Each year, on the anniversary of his death, countless fans make a pilgrimage to the memorial to honor his memory. Last year there were so many people there I couldn’t even get a picture of the famous “Imagine” plaque which was donated to the memorial by the Italian city of Naples. It’s amazing to me that 28 years after his death John can still draw such a huge crowd. On the anniversary of his death, most mourners pretty much camp out at the memorial for the entire day, singing Beatles songs, sharing John Lennon stories, and grieving the death of the legendary musician. It is really a site to behold. Last year, amid news crews conducting interviews, musicians singing tributes, and tourists taking photographs, I just had to snap a photo of the “Designated Quiet Zone” sign which sits at the entrance to the memorial. LOL

After visiting Strawberry Fields, I dragged my boyfriend across the street to John Lennon’s former residence, the Dakota apartment building. It was at the entrance to this building that John was killed 28 years ago today. On December 8, 1980, after finishing a session at a recording studio, John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono were driven by limo to their Upper West Side apartment just a few minutes before 11pm. As they made their way to the entrance of the building, deranged fan Mark David Chapman shot Lennon four times in the back. John collapsed in the entryway of the Dakota and was pronounced dead a short time later while on an operating table at Roosevelt Hospital.

The beautiful and unique Dakota apartment building has long been a celebrity haven. John and Yoko weren’t the only stars to call it home. Lauren Bacall, Judy Holliday, Jack Palance, John Madden, Judy Garland, Rosemary Clooney, Gilda Radner, Paul Simon, Connie Chung and Boris Karloff have all lived at the building at one time or another. The Dakota is also a popular filming location! It was featured in Vanilla Sky (as Tom Cruise’s apartment), Rosemary’s Baby (as Mia Farrow’s pad), and House of Strangers.

Construction was completed on the famous Dakota Apartment building in the year 1884. It was built by architect Harry J. Hardenbergh, who also designed the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Carnegie Hall and, my favorite building in all of New York, the famed Plaza Hotel. The Dakota is very similar in looks to the Plaza, actually, with the same peaked slate and copper roofs, corner turrets, and French chateau accents. The Dakota is absolutely stunning in person and I highly recommend stalking it – even if you aren’t a Lennon fan!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Dakota is located at 1 West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of New York. Strawberry Fields memorial is located just across the street from the Dakota in Central Park. The entrance to the 2.5 acre memorial begins at Central Park West and 72nd Street.

December 8, 2008
Donna Martin, Rose Princess

When I first moved to Los Angeles about eight years ago, one of the very first items on my stalking agenda was to visit the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Headquarters. I wanted to sign up for their annual Rose Court Pageant just like Donna Martin did in the Season 6 episode of 90210 entitled “Everything’s Coming Up Roses”. 🙂 I was absolutely flabbergasted when after asking for an application the receptionist explained to me that in order to apply for the Rose Court I had to currently be in high school or in my first year of college (at the time I had just graduated from college). I calmly told him that that simply wasn’t true as Donna was in her third year of college when she entered the pageant on 90210, to which he replied “Yes, but that was a TV show!” LOL I cannot believe 90210 decieved me like that!! Anyway, even though my attempts at becoming Rose Queen were thwarted even before they began, I still loved being at the Tournament House and seeing where 90210 had filmed. 🙂

The Tournament House was originally built for the Wrigley Family – yes, Wrigley as in the spearmint gum. Construction on the home took over eight years and was finally completed in 1914. At the time Orange Grove Boulevard was known as “Millionaires’ Row” due to the countless opulent mansions lining both sides of the street. Sadly, most of those mansions are now long gone, torn down many years ago to make room for apartment complexes and smaller homes. But the Tournament House remains. When Mrs. Wrigley passed away in 1958, she deeded the home to the City of Pasadena with the specific instruction that it was to be used as the Tournament of Roses Headquarters, which it has remained ever since.

The Tournament House, which sits on over 4 1/2 acres of beautifully manicured rose gardens, is absolutely beautiful in person. The interior of the mansion is supposedly incredibly beautiful, as well, although I have never seen it. Free tours of the House are offered every Thursday between 2pm and 4pm during the months of February through August and I think I am definitely going to have to partake in one soon. 🙂

The Rose Queen tradition began in 1905 and continues to this day. It is so named because the Rose Queen reigns over Pasadena’s Annual Tournament of Roses Parade each New Years, riding on a special float. Each year over 1,000 girls compete for the Rose Queen title, in a process that takes a month to complete. Out of those thousand, one girl will become the Rose Queen and six others will become Rose Princesses in her Royal Court. An interesting side note – actress Sophia Bush (of One Tree Hill fame) won the Rose Queen title in the year 2000. 🙂 You can see a photograph of Sophia with her Court here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Tournament of Roses House is located at 391 South Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena.

December 5, 2008
90210’s Baby Mama’s House

While stalking the 90210 house last week, the owner, Jack, told Mike [of MovieShotsLA – as if you didn’t already know by now :)] and me about a few Beverly Hills, 90210 filming locations that we had yet to locate. One location was the home of Brandon’s love interest from the Season 1 episode entitled “One Man and a Baby”. In the episode Brandon dates an Ivy League hopeful named Melissa whom he later finds out is also a single, teenage mother. The house used as Melissa’s in the episode just happens to be located directly across the street from the Walsh home in Altadena. While re-watching the episode last night, I was cracking up at the scene when Brandon drives up to Melissa’s house to pick her up for their date, because in reality her home is located a hop, skip and a jump away from his home on the show. LOL

According to Jack, Melissa’s house looks very different today than it did when 90210 was filmed there back in 1990. Today there is a large stucco wall surrounding the front of the home, which hides most of the property. Sadly, the front door is the area of the home that was featured most prominently on 90210 and it is no longer visible from the street. 🙁

Jack also told us that the same home’s pool area was also used in a few different 90210 episodes and I found one of those episodes yesterday. In the Season 1 episode entitled “Every Dream Has Its Price”, the pool belonged to Brenda’s shoplifting friend Tiffany. A short scene takes place there where Brenda confronts her sticky-fingered friend and gives her a lesson in good old Midwestern values.

The very same pool, diving board, and bikini clad actress from that scene were also featured each week in 90210’s opening credits. 🙂

The house was also featured in the 2008 film Finding Amanda where it was used as Matthew Broderick’s home and in the Eva Longoria flick Over Her Dead Body where the backyard was used for a wedding scene. The home is currently for sale and for a mere $2,850,000 you can own a piece of 90210 history! You can visit the home’s real estate website, which has interior pics of the house, here. Ironically, the stairwell in the home looks very similar to the stairwell from the set of the Walsh house. The real estate website also features some clips of movies featuring the home. LOVE IT!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Melissa’s house is located at 1690 Altadena Drive, right across the street from the Walsh house.

December 4, 2008
I Heart New York!

Tonight I am taking the red eye to New York City, leaving behind the land of tank tops and cutoff shorts for the land of down parkas and thermal underwear. My family and I are taking our annual winter vacation to my favorite city in the world – the Big Apple! So today, before my flight, I thought I’d blog about a location I stalked on my last trip to NYC.

I have long been a fan of a series of mystery novels that take place in and around the island of Manhattan. The series is written by former New York District Attorney Linda Fairstein, who worked in the Manhattan D.A.’s office for over thirty years before retiring in 2002. Linda first served as assistant district attorney for four years before being promoted to the head of the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit where she spent twenty-six years prosecuting perpetrators of sexual assault and trying numerous high profile cases. In 1996 Linda began writing mystery novels based on her experiences in the D.A.’s office. Her first novel was entitled Final Jeopardy and it centers around heroine Alexandra Cooper, who, like Linda herself, is head of the Manhattan Sex Crimes Unit. Mark Twain did say to “Write what you know.” 🙂 Since her writing debut, Linda has gone on to publish nine other mysteries in the series, each one better than the last. I absolutely love Linda’s novels, not only because they are great reads, but also because Alexandra visits real life New York locations in the course of her travels. Not wanting to restrict my stalking solely to movie locations, on my last trip to NYC, I set out to stalk some of the sites featured in Linda’s books.

The first location I set out to stalk was PJ Bernstein’s Delicatessen and Restaurant, a favorite stomping ground of Alex Cooper’s. In the series, Alex lives just upstairs from the deli and visits it in each and every novel. Apparently they make fabulous matzo ball soup. So, last December, I just had to drag my boyfriend there. I was absolutely floored to see that the Upper East Side deli was exactly as Linda had described it in her books. The owner was extremely nice, although somewhat baffled at the fact that I was taking photographs out front. When I explained to him why I was doing so, a lightbulb went off in his head and he started laughing. He couldn’t believe I was actually stalking a location from a fictional book. LOL He told me that he knew Linda very well and that she visits his deli almost daily, but sadly we did not see her during our visit.

The next location I dragged my boyfriend to was Alex Cooper’s swanky Upper East Side apartment building. I was happy to see that the building was also exactly as described in the books – long curving driveway with a drop-off area, two doormen out front, and a little gated garden. I didn’t get very good pics of the building, though, as the doormen looked a bit unhappy at the fact that I was posing for pictures out front. LOL

I must say that it was very cool stalking these locations from Linda’s mysteries; almost as much fun as stalking movie locations. If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend checking out the Alex Cooper mystery series, you won’t be disappointed!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: PJ Bernstein is located at 1215 3rd Avenue in Manhattan. Alexandra Cooper’s apartment building is located just around the corner at 211 East 70th Street.

December 3, 2008
The Family House

My good friend and fellow stalker Kerry is a huge fan of the 1976 television show Family and I just found out that while she has stalked the home used in the series several times, she doesn’t have any photographs of it. So I just had to go out and stalk the house for her this past weekend. Kerry, this one’s for you! 🙂

Sadly, I have never seen an episode of Family, so when I set out to stalk the house this weekend, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was floored to see that in person the house is absolutely adorable and very picturesque. It’s not very hard to see why producers chose to use this home for a television series about a typical American family, as it looks like a house everyone would want to live in. In fact, the entire street is so cute that it looks like it belongs on a postcard or in a movie. The street is pretty much the real life equivalent of Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives. Many homes on the Family street have actually been used in various televison and movie productions, but I’ll blog about those later. 🙂

When I got home from stalking the Family house, I found the opening credits of the show on YouTube and was extremely excited to see that the house looks pretty much the same today as it did back in 1976. You can watch the opening credits of the show, in which the house is featured prominently, here.

In an ironic side note, one of my fave stalking books states that the home used in Family is the very same home used as the Walsh’s house in Beverly Hills, 90210. I really had to laugh when I saw that, as aside from the arched front doorways, the two homes could really not look more different. LOL

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Family house is located at 1230 Milan Avenue in South Pasadena.

December 2, 2008
The Real Clark W. Griswold House?

I absolutely love Christmastime! Halloween may be my favorite holiday, but the weeks leading up to Christmas are definitely my favorite time of year. Each November I start looking forward to the red and green decorations lining city streets, the twinkle lights adorning houses and store windows, Starbucks eggnog lattes, carolers, the general goodwill in the air, and even all the hustle and bustle. I just love it! But my absolute favorite thing to do during the Christmas Season is to drive around looking at the many homes decorated with multi-colored lights. The very best, and most famous, decorated home in all of Los Angeles also just happens to be a filming location! 🙂 So, of course, I had to blog about it!

No family does Christmas decorations better than the Balian Family. The Balians are the owners of the Los Angeles based Balian Ice Cream Company and they live in a big, pink mansion in Altadena. Their 21 room home was built in 1922 and is commonly known around the L.A. area as “The Balian Mansion”. The Balians have been decorating their home for Christmas since 1955 and, let me tell you, it is truly a sight to behold! I honestly think it must have been the real life inspiration for Clark Griswold’s Christmas light display in the movie Christmas Vacation. While standing in front of the house, you can almost see the City of Altadena’s main power meter spinning out of control just like in the movie. LOL

Never in my life have I seen a home as decorated for Christmas as the Balian Mansion is each year. Every last inch of the 5,459 square foot house and its surrounding 3.5 acre lot seems to be completely covered in Christmas lights and Christmas decorations, including a life size nativity scene, painted signs and lighted plastic statues. A few entrepreneurial souls even stand out front selling t-shirts and glow sticks out of their cars. Visiting the Balian Mansion at Christmastime is definitely an event! People come from miles around to behold the site in person and the streets around the mansion get extremely backed up with cars during the weeks leading up to Christmas. This year it’ll propbably be even more crowded than normal, being that the mansion just got a shout out on AOL’s list of Top 12 Festive Holiday Homes.

Although the mansion’s main claim to fame is its yearly Christmas light display, the home also made an appearance in an early episode of Beverly Hills, 90210. The house shows up in the first season episode entitled “The First Time” in which Brandon’s girlfriend from Minnesota comes to visit. In the episode, Brandon and Brenda pass by the Balian Mansion while driving home from school (pictured above). At the time the mansion was painted brown, but today it is a bright pink color. When I re-watched that episode recently, I almost fell out of my chair upon seeing the mansion, which I immediately recognized from my many pilgrimages there each December.

The Balian Mansion is an L.A. Christmas tradition and I HIGHLY recommend stalking it! If you are in the area during Christmas, you must, must, must drive by! The lights are typically put up the first week in December and stay lit through the first week of January. When I drove by the house yesterday it looked as if the lights were still being set up and I made my boyfriend take a pic of the many powerlines needed to light the house (shown above). LOL I can only imagine what their power outlets look like!!!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Balian Mansion is located at 1960 Mendocino Lane in Altadena. If you are in the area, be sure to also make a stop at Christmas Tree Lane, which is located on Santa Rosa Avenue, just off Woodbury. Christmas Tree Lane is a mile long stretch of huge cedar trees decorated with hundreds upon thousands of multi-colored lights. It is absolutely magical. Christmas Tree Lane, although not a movie location, is definitely a must see!

December 1, 2008
The Californication House

First off let me wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! 🙂 Now on to stalking! Yesterday, while doing some Venice Beach stalking, I visited a location I have long been obsessed with finding – the house from the David Duchovny series Californication. I have long been a DD fan – ever since I saw my first X-Files episode over 15 years ago I have pretty much been obsessed. So when my boyfriend got the Season 1 DVD’s of Californication a few weeks ago, I had to watch! Sadly, I have to admit that I don’t really like the series. But I did become a huge fan of Hank Moody’s ex-wife Karen’s home while watching. On the show Karen lives in a very modern style cement and wood home that is very reminiscent of James Woods’ house on the TV show Shark. It also has some of the same characteristics of John Lautner homes. So, I course I immediately became obsessed with it. 🙂 Luckily, while doing some cyberstalking I came across this awesome website which gave me the home’s location. YAY!

The home, which is known as the McKinley Residence, was built by architect David Hertz for his family and originally only consisted of the structure that is pictured above. The original structure consisted of two separate buildings, one in the front and another in the back, that were joined via a covered bridge. A few years later Hertz bought an adjoining lot and built the property’s second structure which also consisted of two buildings. Today the property is made up of a total of four buildings all surrounding an outdoor courtyard and pool area and connected via several enclosed bridges. David Hertz has designed numerous homes throughout the West Coast and has a strong commitment to only building “green” structures and protecting the environment. He is also the inventor of a building material called “syndecrete” which is a “green” cement based surfacing substance that is used in the building of many homes.

The McKinley Residence is a frequent filming location. Besides Californication, the house has been featured in Adaptation, Men, Women & Dogs and a Season 3 episode of CSI: Miami entitled “Murder in a Flash.” The house has also been featured in Dwell Magazine and Shape Magazine. You can see all of the projects this extraordinary house has been featured in here. You can also see some great interior photos of the home here. The McKinley Residence is an amazing home to see in person and I highly recommend stalking it!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Californication house is located at 2420 McKinley Avenue in Venice.

November 27, 2008
The Inside of the Walsh House from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Last Friday, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I set out to do a little Pasadena stalking. Who knew that our day would hold the stalking adventure to end all stalking adventures! Even as I sit here, days later, writing these words, I am pinching myself, unsure if the whole thing even really happened. But since I have the photographs, I guess it really did. 🙂

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On Friday afternoon, after stalking a few Pasadena locations, Mike and I stopped off at our old staple, the 90210 house, aka Casa Walsh. Even though Mike and I had stalked this home countless times before, we had to return yet again as it is one location that we just never grow tired of. On this particular trip, though, the stalking gods must have been smiling down on us because the owner of the home pulled up in his car right when we arrived. So of course, we got to talking with him. 🙂

The owner, whose name is Jack, could NOT have been a nicer guy! He stood and talked with us in the Walsh driveway for about 45 minutes, sharing all sorts of 90210 stories and behind the scenes info. For instance, he told us that on one occasion when they filmed at his house, producers cleared out all of his living room furniture and built a soundstage of Kelly’s bedroom in the vacant room! LOL He also told us that some of the camping scenes from the Season 2 episode entitled “Camping Trip” were actually filmed in his backyard! And – my personal favorite story of the many Jack shared with us – one day he got home from work to find a message on his answering machine from a woman who said “Hi this is Emily Valentine and I wanted to let you know that I just got out of the asylum.” LOL Jack even told us of a few other 90210 filming locations that he knew about. 🙂 Now, this is where the story gets REALLY exciting. After talking with us for a bit in his driveway, Jack invited us into his backyard to take some photos.

Numerous events in the Walsh twins’ lives took place in Jack’s backyard, including Cindy and Jim’s 20th wedding anniversary, Jackie Taylor and Mel Silver’s wedding, the painting of the gang’s homecoming float which was later doused with gasoline by Emily Valentine, and – my personal favorite – one of the first times Brenda lays eyes on Dylan.

In that episode, entitled “Isn’t It Romantic”, Dylan and Brandon are working on Brandon’s car Mondale in the Walsh backyard. In the meantime, while speaking with Kelly on the phone, Brenda walks outside onto a little balcony to admire Dylan from afar, but he notices her and turns around to give her that cute Dylan smile that I was so in love with. 🙂 LOVE THAT SHOW! Anyway, Brenda’s balcony is really a part of the Altadena home and I could not have been more excited to see it in person! I believe it was at this point in our Casa Walsh tour, as Mike and I stood there snapping pictures like crazy and screaming like little schoolgirls, that Jack told us we both had way too much time on our hands. LOL 🙂

After seeing us go a bit crazy over being in the actual 90210 backyard, Jack (wait, are you sitting down for this???) INVITED US TO SEE THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE!!!! Yes, you read that right – HE INVITED US INSIDE THE HOUSE! THE 90210 HOUSE! BRANDON AND BRENDA’S HOUSE! WE GOT TO GO INSIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mike and I both just about keeled over and died at this proposition and I am surprised we didn’t knock poor Jack to the floor as we made a running b-line for the house. 🙂 LOL While inside, Jack first showed us some scrapbooks he had made with photographs and articles from his house’s filming days. The scrapbooks included all sorts of photographs and memorabilia from the 90210 days, including photos of his kids with the stars and the original contract he signed allowing the production company to use his home for filming. I couldn’t help but smile as I read one clause in the contract which stated that a basketball hoop would be added to the exterior of Jack’s garage. 🙂 That basketball hoop is now gone as Jack is in the middle of remodeling his garage (say it ain’t so!). There were actually two different basketball hoops used during the filming of 90210 and when the series ended, Jack got to keep both of them. Many years later he ended up giving both of those hoops away to 90210 fans who had stopped by his house to take pictures. Like I said – what an amazingly nice guy! Mike was extremely bummed that he wasn’t the lucky recipient of one of those basketball hoops, but we should consider ourselves lucky as Jack said that Mike and I were the first two fans he had ever invited inside the house. 🙂

The most surreal moment of the day for me happened when my phone rang while I was standing in the 90210 kitchen (which you can sort of see in the above photograph). You see, my ring tone is, and always has been, the 90210 theme song. I kid you not. So there I was standing in Casa Walsh when the familiar strains of “Duh-nuh-nuh-nuh” came pouring out of my phone. LOL After looking at Jack’s 90210 scrapbooks, he took us on a mini-tour of the downstairs of his home. I was in utter shock not only at the fact that he would invite us into his home, but also that I WAS ACTUALLY STANDING INSIDE THE 90210 HOUSE! I had dreamed of seeing the inside of that home for YEARS and the only thing I can imagine that would have been more satisfying to a stalker like myself would be to have visited the studio set of the Walsh home during filming. I had read that the set of Casa Walsh was based on the real interiors of the Altadena home and on Friday I saw for myself that that was sort of true. While the kitchen area looks nothing like Cindy Walsh’s kitchen, the entryway, living room and dining room are all very similar to what we saw on TV. When walking inside the house it was like worlds were colliding inside my head as the image I knew of the interior sets meshed with reality. It was surreal and almost as if my brain couldn’t accept both images at the same time. LOL

The dining room area, which was just re-painted and therefore has no furniture in it, is very reminiscent of the Walsh dining room.

The living room is also quite similar to its television counterpart, except that it is longer and not quite as deep as the Walsh living room. In real life it is also missing the Walsh’s built-in bookshelves.

The area of the home I was most excited to see was the entryway/stairwell, as the Walsh’s entryway/stairwell was shown so often on the show. In reality, the stairway is situated like a mirrior image of how it appeared on 90210. The stairs run from the left to the right, while the Walsh stairway went from right to left. I asked Jack why he thinks they made this change for the studio set and he said he thinks that it worked better for camera angles that way. Aside from the stairway running the opposite direction, the real entryway looks very similar to the Walsh entryway and I still cannot believe I got to see it with my own two eyes!

Of course, we just had to take a picture with Jack in the entryway to document our time spent at Casa Walsh. On our way out, after giving Jack our phone numbers and telling him that if he ever needed ANYTHING to give us a call :), Mike told him that if he ever decided to sell Casa Walsh he wanted to be the first to know. 🙂

I still can hardly believe this whole thing even happened!! Mike and I seem to have a lot of luck when it comes to stalking 90210 locations, and I think I need to bring him with me on all of my stalking adventures from now on. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Casa Walsh is located at 1675 E. Altadena Drive, in Altadena. We got really lucky being let inside the house, but please don’t bother the owner to do this yourself as it is not his common practice.

November 26, 2008