Celebrity Homes – Page 8

March 22, 2010March 21, 2010

Marilyn Monroe’s Former Doheny Drive Apartment Building

Another day, another Marilyn Monroe location. 🙂 Last month, fellow stalker and major Drew Barrymore aficionado Ashley, from The Drewseum website, tipped me off to The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog which had just published a post about an apartment building where my girl had lived at two separate times during the 1950s and 1960s. Amazingly enough, for whatever reason, I had never heard of that particular apartment building in relation to Marilyn Monroe before and I immediately added the address to my list of must-see locations! So, while were out in Hollywood doing some Oscar Weekend stalking earlier this month, I finally dragged my fiancé right over to Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills to stalk Marilyn’s former residence. YAY!

I was especially excited to stalk this particular former residence of Marilyn’s because The Marilyn Monroe Collection Blog had posted a photograph of the actress which had been taken while she was parked in front of the building! So darn cool! As you can see in the photographs above, while there have definitely been some changes to the property since the picture of MM was taken – including the addition of garage doors and the removal of the vent-like structures above the carport area – the building is still very recognizable from the time when the actress lived there. Love it!

Marilyn first moved into the Doheny Drive apartment building, which had been constructed just one year prior, in 1953 and lived there for about a year before marrying baseball legend Joe DiMaggio on January 14, 1954. The actress, who was already wildly popular at the time thanks to starring roles in both Niagara and Gentleman Prefer Blonds, lived in Unit #3 of the building, a one bedroom, one bathroom dwelling which measured a scant 648 square feet! It is incredibly hard to imagine one of the world’s most popular movie stars living in such tiny digs, but she must have liked the place because in April of 1961, after her divorce from playwright Arthur Miller was finalized, the actress left New York and once again leased the very same unit in the very same building. She stayed there until March of 1962, at which point she moved into the Brentwood area home she had purchased a few months prior, the same home in which she would sadly pass away on the night of August 4th, 1962 (or in the early morning hours of August 5th, 1962, depending on which report you believe). Marilyn’s former apartment building is now a made up of individually owned condominium units.

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According to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory, Marilyn’s former building, the front entrance of which is pictured above, is no stranger to celebrity. Other stars who have lived on the premises include actor James Coburn, pinup girl Jeanne Carmen, French actress Bella Darvi, and actress Viola Mertz.

Big THANK YOU to Ashley from The Drewseum for tipping me off to this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Marilyn Monroe’s former apartment building is located at 882 North Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills. The actress lived in unit #3.

March 3, 2010March 2, 2010

Shannen Doherty’s Former House

One of the first locations I ever stalked, long before I moved to the L.A. area, was the residence that Shannen Doherty called home during the height of her Beverly Hills, 90210 fame. I was on summer vacation in between my Junior and Senior years of college at the time and had flown down to Southern California for the weekend to visit my then-boyfriend and then-best friend, both of whom lived near Los Angeles. The three of us ended up spending one of the days I was in town stalking the Hollywood area, although this was long before I called my unique hobby “stalking”. Our first stalk that day just happened to be Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a place which I had only ever visited once previously during my teenage years. I remember being absolutely ecstatic upon seeing the numerous handprints and footprints of the stars, especially those of Tom Cruise who I was in love with at the time. At some point during our Grauman’s stalk, I wandered into the theatre’s little gift shop and stumbled upon The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book – a stalking tome the likes of which I had never before seen. I was instantly enamored with the book and, despite being a starving college student at the time, immediately forked over the $16.95 to purchase the guide. The rest of our day in Hollywood was spent using the book to tour various filming locations and numerous homes of the rich and famous. And while my then-best friend, whom we’ll call Julie for the purposes of this post, refused to take me to the Walsh House – she said it was WAY TOO FAR for her to drive – she did agree to make a stop at Shannen Doherty’s former West Hollywood abode, which I could NOT have been more excited about. And, as fate would have it, when we pulled up to the residence a man happened to be standing on the front porch. Well, let me tell you, I immediately started screaming and begged Julie to pull over so that we could ask the man some questions about SD, but she had an absolute meltdown and flat out refused to stop! In fact, she didn’t even want me to take a picture of the residence and was screaming at me the entire time to put my camera away. The above photo is the only one I managed to snap during her little tantrum. I’m not sure what it was that Julie was so nervous about, being that Shando had moved out of the home about four years prior and I had only wanted to ask the new resident if he had ever met the star and if the stories about her being a bad girl were true. But, alas, that was not to be. I’m fairly certain it goes without saying that Julie and I are no longer friends. 😉

She did agree to drive a bit north of the house, though, so that I could snap another photograph of the residence from farther away. That’s me and my college boyfriend in the above pic, along with a very tiny, very blurred view of SD’s former house.

Anyway, the other day while doing some stalking in the West Hollywood area, I was reminded of my long past failed stalk of Shannen’s house and mentioned the story to my fiancé. He thought the whole thing was absolutely hilarious, especially when I showed him the photograph I had taken out of Julie’s car window, and it was then that I decided I just had to blog about the place. So, later that day I dragged him up Doheny Drive to re-stalk Shannen’s former residence and was quite to surprised to discover that the property had been altered since my last visit. Apparently, Shannen’s former home, which is currently for sale at the bargain price of $4,695,000, was given a recent facelift, both inside and out.

As you can see in the above photograph, though, the house still has that weird round sculpted adornment above the front door that it had when I first stalked the place back in 1998. The 3 story, 3 bedroom, 3.5 bathroom residence, which was built in 1967 and measures 3,699 square feet, boasts city and ocean views, a gourmet kitchen, a master suite with a fireplace and an infinity bathtub (although I must confess I don’t even know what the heck an “infinity bathtub” is), a pool, a waterfall, a spa, and an outdoor fireplace.

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This is the same house that Shannen not only famously trashed, but was evicted from in March of 1993. Supposedly the actress moved out of the property in the middle of the night after being served with an eviction notice while still owing $14,000 in back rent. Her landlord ended up filing a lawsuit against her claiming she caused $136,300 in damage to the property while living there. Included in that $136,000 was a reported $70,000 in structural damage that was also caused by the actress. How in the heck one tiny person – SD is reportedly 5’2” – can cause that much structural damage to a house I’ll never know, but I digress. Shannen’s former home had actually seen its fair share of notoriety long before the 90210 bad girl moved in, though. In the 70s, famous Hollywood Madame and longtime Heidi Fleiss mentor, Alex Adams, also lived at the property and even operated a brothel out of it for several years.

While doing research for this post, I managed to dig up the above black and white photograph of the interior of the house which was taken just around the time Shannen lived there and was featured in a February 24th, 1997 People Magazine article about the star. The color photograph pictured above was taken off of the home’s real estate website – which you can view here – and as you can see, despite the recent remodel, the beamed roof and fireplace area still look very much the same today as they did when Shannen called the place home. So darn cool!!! 🙂

And, of course, while we were stalking the place a couple of weeks ago, I just had to drag my fiancé up the hill to take a photograph of the house from the same spot where I had taken a picture of it all those years beforehand.

On a side note – Fellow stalker Erika recently met Shannen Doherty while dining at the Marmalade Cafe in the Malibu Lumber Yard. Because Erika is 100% on Team Brenda (YAY), she just had to ask Shannen if she’d be willing to snap a picture with her, to which the star happily obliged! See, I knew SD HAD to be nice! 🙂 Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have my photo taken with Shannen Doherty!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Shannen Doherty’s former house is located at 1654 North Doheny Drive in West Hollywood.

February 26, 2010June 16, 2011

Jennifer Aniston’s Former Beach House

While out stalking the ‘Bu with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, a couple of weeks ago, I just about had a complete heart attack as the two of us passed by my girl Jen Aniston’s former beach house and I noticed that the door to the front gate was standing WIDE OPEN! Let me tell you, I must have screamed for a good sixty seconds over that one! Once Mike regained his hearing ;), he made an immediate U-turn across Pacific Coast Highway so that the two of us could head over to the house to get a peek behind the gates. I’ve actually stalked Jen’s former Malibu bungalow a few times in the past – and have even blogged about it once before – but being that this was the first time I was catching a glimpse of her front courtyard area, I figured the place was worth a re-post. And let me tell you, I was pretty much dying the whole time I was there. I mean never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d get to see past that front gate!

As we walked up to the house we noticed some workers standing out front, so I, of course, struck up a conversation with them. The workers told us that they were doing some landscaping in the front courtyard area of the residence, which is why the gate was open. When I asked one of them if he knew that Jennifer Aniston used to live on the property, he looked at me like he had absolutely no idea who Jennifer Aniston even was. LOL

I didn’t want to overstep my bounds or get the landscapers in any sort of trouble while I was stalking the place, so I stayed on the sidewalk area while taking the above pictures, but believe me I was absolutely dying to venture in for a closer look!

I did manage to catch a glimpse of the glass front door, though, which you can just barely see in the above pictures.

While there, I was so focused on seeing Jen’s former courtyard area that I didn’t even realize the garage door to the house was open. It wasn’t until Mike elbowed me and whispered really loudly in my ear, “GET A PICTURE OF THE GARAGE! GET A PICTURE OF THE GARAGE! That’s where Jen did her laundry!” that I even noticed it. LOL I so wanted Mike to ask the landscaping guys if we could peek inside the house, but he refused as he felt like that would definitely be crossing a line. And I have to admit I agree with him – which is why I didn’t want to ask the workers myself. 😉 But, oh, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that house!

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During the time Jen rented the home, the glass walls of the back patio area were actually covered over with some sort of black paneling which shielded the star from the prying eyes of not only the paparazzi, but stalkers such as myself. So, I was beyond floored when Mike and I traveled to the back side of the property and noticed that those panels were no longer there, which meant that Jen’s former “backyard” was visible. YAY! It’s actually very surprising to me that the notoriously press-shy Aniston ever lived in this house – especially during her divorce, when the media frenzy was at an all-time high – being that the public beach access walkway is located just a few feet to the east of the property. Because the area was so easily accessible, the paparazzi used to supposedly camp out night and day on the beach directly behind her house. Ugh!

Jen moved into her wood-shingled Malibu beach bungalow in early 2005, immediately following her separation from now ex-husband Brad Pitt. She leased the property, which is supposedly owned by Oracle C.E.O Larry Ellison, through the end of 2007 for a reported $30,000 a month. Despite the fact that it is located right on the sand, thisclose to the ocean, Jen’s former beach house is fairly modest by celebrity standards. The residence, which was built in 1945, boasts two bedrooms, three bathrooms, and measures a scant 1,531 square feet. And I have to say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the place. The house is incredibly charming and so very, for lack of a better word, cute and I would give anything to live in something similar. I am so enamored of the place in fact that I would consider it my dream pad, even if it hadn’t been previously lived in by Jen. 😉 The two-story bungalow is actually the place where the actress conducted her infamous first post-split interview which ran in the September 2005 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. According to several other interviews which also took place at the home, Jen decorated her bachelorette pad with mostly white furnishings adorned with white candles, white flowers, and quite a bit of Asian-inspired decor. She also reportedly kept a little vase filled with loose Merit brand cigarettes on an end table next to the couch for her guests to partake of. Apparently Jen remodeled the home a bit, even though it was a rental, before moving in. Vanity Fair author Leslie Bennetts says, “Although the bungalow was dark and depressing when she first saw it, a quickie makeover has transformed it into a cozy sanctuary that’s far more representative of Aniston’s personal taste than the showplace she and Pitt shared, where the decor seemed all hard edges and unforgiving materials.” Bennetts goes on to ask Jen what she likes best about being separated from Brad, to which the actress responds, “I can have a comfortable couch.” LOL

On a side note – Early last year fave website Big Time Listings reported on another (possible) former rental of Aniston’s in the Laurel Canyon area. And while Big Time Listings can’t actually verify that the actress ever lived in the home, according to the September 2009 issue of Elle Magazine, Jen did rent a house in Laurel Canyon during her pre-Friends days, so it’s a definite possibility.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jennifer Aniston’s former beach rental is located at 22164 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

January 19, 2010January 19, 2010

Julia Child’s Childhood Home

One of the best things about being a member of the Screen Actors Guild is that each and every January all guild members receive, often without notice, DVDs of various movies that have been nominated for an upcoming SAG award. These DVDs are doled out “for your consideration” so that members can watch them before casting their ballots for the upcoming awards. And, let me tell you, I can hardly stand the anticipation as I head to my mailbox each day during awards season, wondering what treasure I will find waiting for me in there. It’s like Christmas in January! This week alone I received five different DVDs, one of which was Julie & Julia. Ironically enough, while at a birthday celebration last Sunday night, some new friends were inquiring about my blog and asked if I had yet to see the Meryl Streep/Amy Adams movie, which I had not. They ordered me to run right out and rent it immediately, as not only was it a fabulous flick, but its plot also centered around the true life story of an intrepid young blogger named Julie Powell who they said reminded them of me. So, you can imagine my surprise when I opened up my mailbox just a few days later and found a copy of Julie & Julia waiting for me! YAY! So, I, of course, watched the movie that very night. I honestly didn’t have high hopes for it, though, despite the glowing recommendation I had just heard, because I am not that interested in the culinary arts. Actually, truth be told, I am not AT ALL interested in anything having to do with the culinary arts. I am an absolutely HORRIBLE cook. I somehow managed to ruin an entire serving of rice the other night – while using a RICE COOKER, no less! I am very lucky, though, because my fiancé actually does all of the cooking in our household. He LOVES to cook – says it calms him after a long day at work – and, really, who am I to argue? 😉 What can I say, he’s the perfect guy – he not only brings home the bacon, but cooks it, too! Anyway, amazingly enough, I ended up absolutely ADORING Julie & Julia. I pretty much loved EVERYTHING about the movie – both Meryl Streep and Amy Adam’s performances, the love both women had for their husbands, the amazing life story of the famous chef and how she inspired a young government worker to spend an entire year cooking out of one of her cookbooks and then writing a blog based on her experiences. But what I loved the most about Julie & Julia is the fact that it is the very first movie ever to be based on a blog. Now I just need someone to create a movie based on my blog and I’d be one happy camper! 🙂 Amazingly enough, the movie also inspired me, rice-ruining Lindsay, to cook! I have never in my life had a desire to cook anything – ever. But after watching Julie & Julia, I immediately ran right out and bought my very first cookbook, written by Julia Child, of course. I opted to purchase The Way To Cook, instead of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which is the tome Julie Powell conquered in the movie, because the former is geared toward people with “little to no cooking experience”, which, let’s face it, describes me to a T! 🙂 But more on that later. Anyway, while watching Julie & Julia, I was shocked to find out that Julia Child actually grew up in Pasadena – the same city which I now call home! So, after watching the movie, I went on a cyberstalking mission to find her childhood house and almost immediately came across a website called Pasadena Daily Photo, which spelled it all out for me! Thank you, Pasadena Daily Photo! 🙂 So, the next morning, I dragged my dad right out to stalk the place.

As the daughter of John McWilliams, Jr., a successful landowner, and Julia Carolyn Weston, heir to the Weston Paper Company fortune, Julia Child grew up very wealthy. The Colonial-style home pictured above was built for her parents in 1912 by architect Reginald Johnson, who was also responsible for designing Pasadena’s All Saints’ Church and Santa Barbara’s Biltmore Hotel, among numerous other prominent Southern California structures. The home, which boasts five bedrooms, five bathrooms, and a whopping 4,210 square feet of living space, is truly ginormous and beautiful in person and it definitely has that Old Pasadena feel to it! It was so fascinating to be standing there decades later, imaging Julia Child as a little girl playing in the front yard, looking out the blue-shuttered windows, and walking in and out of the front door. While living in this house, Julia attended the prominent Westridge School for Girls, which is also located in Pasadena. While doing a bit of research on the world-famous chef, I found out that while growing up Julia’s family not only employed full-time drivers, gardeners and housekeepers, but chefs, as well. Ironic, dontcha think? 😉 And, her parents also honeymooned at San Diego’s Hotel Del Coronado, an oft-used filming location which I blogged about last summer. 🙂 So cool!!!

Taking a page from Julie Powell, I decided to not only cook a Julia Child meal this past Friday night, but to also blog about my experiences, as well. Like a dolt, though, I completely forgot to take photographs of the finished feast, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it turned out beautifully. 🙂 For the meal I decided to cook Julia’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, Broccoli-Sauced Broccoli, and Chicken Breasts Meuniere: Sautéed in Butter. And while the chicken and soup turned out simply AMAZING – so amazing that I am still finding it difficult to believe I actually cooked them – the broccoli left a bit to be desired. But I am fairly certain that was due to me either leaving out an ingredient or misreading an instruction somewhere along the way, because the finished product did not look anything like its photograph in the book. When I realized I had messed up the dish, I had visions of Rachel Green after she completed her English Trifle/Mincemeat Pie desert in “The One Where Ross Got High” episode of Friends. 🙂 Anyway, I’d like to share a few things that I learned while cooking on Friday. One – my fiancé and I do not own a set of measuring spoons. How that’s even possible I’m not sure! Two – simmer does not mean low heat, as I had previously believed. It actually refers to a temperature just below boiling. And three – cooking is HARD WORK! It’s enjoyable work, don’t get me wrong, but, wow, it’s WORK! I had no idea how hard it was. I truly felt like I needed a nap afterwards. 🙂 But it was also extremely fun and I am already looking forward to my next go at it. I swear, if you had told me two weeks ago that I’d actually be able to enjoy the act of cooking in the near future, I never would have believed you in a million years.

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Julia Child’s childhood home is located at 625 Magnolia Avenue in Pasadena.

January 5, 2010January 4, 2010

Simon Baker’s Former House

While doing some cyberstalking on fave website Virtual Globetrotting a few weeks back, I came across this post listing the address of a Santa Monica home which formerly belonged to cutie Mentalist star – and my latest celebrity crush – Simon Baker and I just about keeled over from excitement. So, when my dad asked if I would be able to take him to a doctor appointment in the Santa Monica area yesterday morning, I literally jumped at the opportunity and informed him that we’d be making a little stalking pit stop first. 🙂 Thankfully, since my dad is also a big Mentalist fan, he didn’t give me much grief about being dragged along on this particular stalking expedition.

My dad and I were both quite shocked when we pulled up to the residence and saw it in person, as it is a lot smaller than we had anticipated and looks like a fairly normal suburban home. A very nice suburban home, of course, but still fairly normal, nonetheless. My dad kept saying, “There is no way Simon Baker lived there!” Thanks to the property’s ostensible lack of a front wall and exterior gate, it’s hard to imagine a celeb like SB ever calling the place home. But I guess it sort of makes sense being that Simon lived in the house about nine months before The Mentalist hit the airwaves, turning him into a household name and creating the need for some sort of exterior wall to keep stalkers like myself at bay. 😉

SB and his wife, actress Rebecca Rigg, purchased the 2,394 square foot, three bedroom, two bath home, which was originally built in 1934, on December 13, 2006 for a whopping $2,626,000 and sold it just a little under 13 months later, on January 10, 2008, for a nice little profit at $2,895,000. While living in the house, the couple remodeled and expanded the kitchen area and added a pool and spa to the backyard. You can see interior photographs of the home at the time it belonged to SB here. The area where the house is located – which just so happens to be one of the most expensive areas in all of Los Angeles County – is known as Gillette’s Regent Square and was developed by none other than King Camp Gillette, the razor blade magnate who also gave us King Gillette Ranch, aka the Biggest Loser Ranch, in Calabasas. Amazingly enough, during the time that Simon lived in the house, my fiancé lived just a few blocks away [in a much less expensive area, of course. ;)], yet we never ran into him! How we missed each other is beyond me, being that Owen Wilson also used to live in that same vicinity (at 947 23rd Street) and my fiancé and I ran into him not once, but twice!!!! Oh, SB, where were you hiding??? 😉 According to fave website The Real Estalker, when SB sold this house, he purchased an even larger one also in the Santa Monica area. So, you know what that means, don’t you?? Yessiree, there’s a whole other Simon Baker residence out there just waiting for me to stalk it! 🙂 YAY!

On an interesting side note – Fellow stalker and Mentalist aficionado Liz recently alerted to me to the fact that Rebecca Rigg, SB’s real life wife and mother of his three children, played widowed actress Felicia Scott in the Season One episode of The Mentalist entitled “A Dozen Red Roses”. So cool! 🙂

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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Simon Baker’s former house is located at 534 20th Street in Santa Monica. Owen Wilson’s former residence is just a few blocks away at 947 23rd Street. Courteney Cox also owned a house in the area, at 606 Alta Avenue, during her Friends days. Across the street from Courteney’s former digs is the 7th Heaven house, which can be found at 527 Alta Avenue. Also in the area is Danny Devito’s house from Twins, which can be found at 323 11th Street, and Darrin and Samantha’s house from Bewitched, which is located at 267 18th Street.

September 29, 2009September 27, 2009

Kendra Wilkinson’s House

A few months back, fellow stalker Ashley challenged me to find the home belonging to Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett on the E! television series Kendra. And while I did actually spend quite a bit of time looking for this location, for some reason I just couldn’t seem to track it down. I do have to admit, though, that because I am not the biggest of Kendra Wilkinson fans – her laugh is pretty much like nails on a chalkboard to me! – I gave up on finding this location rather quickly. But thankfully, Ashley kept on the case and, just last week, posted a comment on my site letting me know that she had finally found the house! Thank you, Ashley! 🙂 So, this past Friday, while doing some stalking in the Valley, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I stopped by Kendra and Hank’s house to snap some pics.

This house first showed up in the Season 5 episode of The Girls Next Door entitled “Transitions Part I”, in which Kendra, accompanied by Hef’s other two girlfriends Bridget Marquardt and Holly Madison, tours various houses for sale in the L.A. area. Kendra ends up purchasing the brick Colonial-style home pictured above and shortly thereafter moves out of the Playboy Mansion to begin a new life – and a new reality series – on her own. The house was then featured weekly on Kendra’s self-titled reality show and it wasn’t long before boyfriend Hank Baskett moved in. Sadly, though, Kendra and Hank moved out of the house this past July and relocated to the New Jersey area, so it will actually not be featured in upcoming episodes of the series.

While Mike and I were stalking the house on Friday, we spotted several empty moving boxes propped up near the trash cans and also heard dogs barking in the backyard, so it seemed as if someone new had moved into Kendra’s old pad. But, according to the home’s real estate website which was just updated on September 24th, the five bedroom, six bath home, which measures 4,900 square feet, is currently vacant and available for rent at the bargain price of $6,000 per month. The website also mentions that the house is, of course, available for filming, as well. 🙂

While there I just had to take a picture of the home’s mailbox, which was featured prominently in the Season 1 episode of Kendra entitled “Preggers Can’t Be Choosers”. In the episode, Kendra and Hank are shown attempting to mail out their wedding invitations, which they soon discover are too large to fit in their mailbox.

Kendra’s solution? Leave the entire box of invitations on the ground next to the mailbox, along with a note addressed to the postman saying “Please take and send all invitations.” She then walks back into the house telling Hank, “I hope no one steals them.” LOL LOL LOL

Big THANK YOU to Ashley for finding this location! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett’s former home is located at 6014 Greenbush Avenue in Van Nuys.

September 2, 2009May 23, 2012

The Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel

While in Catalina this past week, as much as I wanted to stay at the Pavilion Lodge, my family instead opted to book a room at a little place called the Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel. And even though it’s never been a filming location, because the hotel was once the private residence of world-renowned author Zane Grey, I deemed the site to be blog-worthy. 🙂 For those who have never heard of him (like myself prior to my recent stay at his former home), Zane Grey is the best selling author of 89 Western style novels, including Riders of the Purple Sage, The Lone Star Ranger, and Call of the Canyon. Zane, who was born on January 31, 1872, actually started out his professional career following in the footsteps of his father as a dentist. Zane’s true passion was always writing fiction and playing baseball, but his father vehemently discouraged both pursuits. In fact, when Zane was a young boy, his father discovered a story he had written and not only tore it up, but severely beat him because of it. After marrying his wife, Dolly, in 1905, Zane began to finally pursue writing as a career. It wasn’t long before he became a household name and one of the first authors in history to earn a million dollars. At one point in time, Zane was also America’s highest selling author.

In his lifetime, Zane Grey published over one hundred novels which in turn sold over forty million copies. While most of his works were Western adventure stories, Zane also wrote books about his other passions, including sport fishing, hunting, and baseball. Zane’s novels became so popular that after his death in 1939, his publishing company, Harper & Brothers, continued to release one of his unpublished manuscripts each year for the next twenty-four years. All were wildly successful. Fifty of Zane’s novels were turned into one hundred different Western movies and he has over 120 writer, director, producer and actor credits on IMDB. What I wouldn’t give for that resume! Zane even formed his own production company at one time to handle the high demand for movies based on his books. One of Zane’s novels, The Vanishing American, was even filmed on Catalina Island. Legend has it that Zane brought in a herd of fourteen bison for the filming and left them there after the production wrapped. The bison took to Catalina quite naturally and spawned into a herd of over 150 buffalo that now call the island home.

In 1926, after falling in love with Catalina Island while vacationing there, Zane bought a parcel of land high on a hill in Avalon from William Wrigley and built a pueblo. Zane called his home “a place for rest, dream, peace, sleep”. Sometime after his death, Zane’s heirs turned the Pueblo into a small hotel. What a FABULOUS idea! I wish all celebrity heirs would follow suit!

The tiny hotel features only sixteen rooms, each named after one of Zane’s popular books. And while all of the rooms boast a view of some sort, none have a television, a phone, or a clock – an idea my fiance wasn’t too keen on. The whole point of staying at Zane Grey is to really get away from it all. The place touts itself as a quiet, peaceful retreat where you can spend a few days in total relaxation. And I have to say it was pretty darn amazing!

The hotel’s setting is simply breathtaking, with sweeping ocean . . .

. . . and mountain views,

large adobe verandas;

a living room featuring Zane Grey’s original furnishings and a grand piano,

and wild animals roaming the property. My fiance woke me up extremely early one morning to show me a buck he had noticed wandering the grounds (pictured above). The hotel is also blissfully quiet – whispering in common areas and out by the pool is encouraged. Because I am not big on noise, I LOVE quiet, peaceful hotels. In fact, the more quiet and peaceful, the better. And it doesn’t get much quieter or more peaceful than at the Zane Grey. Ironically enough, the only people not adhering to the “quiet” rule, were the people who worked on the property. The receptionist and housekeeper were SO darn loud, it was almost comical. So, other than wanting to strangle the two of them during most of the trip, my stay was highly relaxing. And I would recommend the Zane Grey to anyone. Even though the accommodations are a bit run-down and the service is highly sub-standard, we really enjoyed our stay there.

A bit of celebrity trivia for you – directly across the street from the Zane Grey hotel is a huge, modern style home that, according to several people I talked to on the island, Sharon Stone was interested in purchasing at one time.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Zane Grey Pueblo Hotel is located at 199 Chimes Tower Road in Avalon on Catalina Island. You can visit their website here. The accomodations are very basic and sparse, so if you are looking for a fancy hotel this is DEFINITELY not the place for you. For higher end accomodations, I’d instead recommend the Inn on Mt. Ada. The house Sharon Stone thought about buying, but didn’t, is located directly across the street from the Zane Grey Pueblo at 124 Chimes Tower Road.

July 6, 2009July 7, 2009

The Old School House

A few weeks ago, while out stalking, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I decided to pay a little visit to the house where Luke Wilson lived and set up his fictional Lamdba Epsilon Omega fraternity in the 2003 comedy Old School. The house is located on a quiet, tree-lined street that has long been a favorite of location scouts. South Pasadena’s Bushnell Avenue has shown up in everything from the movies Back to the Future and Ghost Dad to the television series thirtysomething. I promise to devote a future post to the other famous homes located on the oft-filmed street, but today’s post will be dedicated solely to the Old School house. 🙂

I am happy to report that aside from a few minor changes, the Old School house looks exactly the same in person as it appeared onscreen. Unfortunately, the sun was shining very brightly the day we stalked the house, so my pictures did not turn out very good. 🙁

Because the Old School house was supposed to be located very close to, or as Vince Vaughn says “practically on”, a college campus, producers brought in a mailbox, a kiosk, and several parking meters to make the area look less residential. They also created fake parking places in front of the home, much like was done at the nearby Bedtimes Stories house.

The house shows up many times throughout the movie, most notably as the site of Vince Vaughn’s Mitch-A-Palooza Party, where he hires Snoop Dogg to perform.

Will Ferrell’s streaking expedition was also filmed in front of the Old School house. Before heading over to Honolulu Avenue in nearby Montrose, Frank-the-Tank tries to lead his fellow Mitch-A-Palooza partiers on a streaking trip down Bushnell Avenue. Unbeknownst to him, he is the only one streaking. LOL

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My friend and fellow stalker Owen, informed me that the Old School house was also used in the 1989 flick Back to the Future II. In the movie, bully Biff steals a little kid’s ball and tosses it up onto the balcony of the Old School house.

In a very random side note, the Old School fraternity house actually belonged to Will Ferrell at the time of the filming. In the movie’s DVD commentary, Will Ferrel says, “And this was actually my house. My little craftsman house in Pasadena. I was cool with it, even though you guys ruined the hardwood floors with all the equipment.” Actors Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson also took part in the DVD commentary and since there was quite a bit of joking around going on during their talk, I can’t say with absolute certainty that the house ever actually belonged to Will. He very well could have just been joking around. But he does continally refer to the house as being his throughout the entire commentary, so I think it might actually be true. At one point he even said that his wife was extremely upset when she saw the house set up for the post-Mitch-A-Palooza scene (pictured above). According to property records, the home was sold to a new owner in 2006, so while I can’t say for sure that Will owned it during the filming of Old School, I can say he for sure that he doesn’t own it anymore.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Old School house is located at 1803 Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena. The house located at 1727 Bushnell was used as both Lorraine’s 1955 house in Back to the Future and Michael J. Fox’s house in Teen Wolf. George McFly’s 1955 house is located at 1711 Bushnell, while Biff’s from Back to the Future Part II is at 1809. At 1710 Bushnell is the home that was featured as Ken Olin and Mel Harris’ in the television series thirtysomething. Ghost Dad was filmed at both 1615 and 1621 Bushnell. I will write a more detailed post on all of those locations at a later date. 🙂

June 17, 2009August 17, 2009

The “Joey” Apartment Building

For quite a while now I have been begging Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to locate the apartment building where Joey Tribbiani lived with his nephew, Michael, on the Friends spin-off Joey. So, imagine my surprise when I came across the address randomly in The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book. In the book, the address is listed as an almost after-thought, which is why it took me so long to notice it. LOL Apparently, most stalkers aren’t as interested in finding Joey filming locations as I am. 🙂 LOL Being that the show was canceled after only 14 episodes, I can’t say I’m all that surprised. But, because Joey was always my favorite Friends character (besides Rachel, of course!), I absolutely loved that show! “How you doin’?” 😉

On the show, Joey lived in a large apartment building named Monroe Manor, located directly beneath the Hollywood sign. Apparently, production designer John Schaffner chose the 50s style building because of its mid-century appeal. He said, “I didn’t want to do another Los Angeles show in a Spanish house or Craftsman cottage. I was more inspired by architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Rudolph Schindler, who worked in natural materials that create a more casual feeling.” Monroe Manor definitely has a unique appearance to it and evokes a feeling of old time Hollywood.

The Monroe Manor complex was constructed in 1949 and is made up of ten terraced, duplex-type units built right into a Hollywood hillside. Each of the twenty apartments in the complex is entirely different in size and style. A side view of the building, which shows its tiered design, is pictured above. As you can see in the above photograph, the building is actually much larger than it’s front exterior would lead you to believe and much larger than it appeared onscreen in Joey. I read online that Monroe Manor was supposedly modeled after my girl Marilyn Monroe, but – call me crazy – I just don’t see the resemblance. 😉 LOL I think it is safer to say that the building was most likely just named after her. 🙂

In an interesting side note, after Joey was cancelled in 2004, a paramedics company in Charlotte, North Carolina purchased the entire set from the show (pictured above) to be used for their training simulations! Apparently, simulations are acted out on the former Joey set and recorded for later review and evaluation. How incredibly cool is that?? I so think I need to go work for that company!!!! North Carolina, here I come! 😉

In an even more interesting side note, when Matt LeBlanc first came to Hollywood, long before hitting it big with Friends, he actually lived at Monroe Manor!!!!! It was a complete coincidence years later when production designer John Schaffner chose the building to be used as the residence of struggling actor Joey Tribbiani. This was definitely a case of art imitating life! 🙂 Ironically, my good friend Maura has been asking me to find Matt LeBlanc’s house for some time now – so, Maura, this one’s for you. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Joey apartment building, aka Monroe Manor, is located at 2232 North Beachwood Canyon Drive in Hollywood. Joey lived in Apartment #7. In real life, Matt LeBlanc lived in #16.

May 14, 2009September 21, 2011

Bob Hope’s Palm Springs House

While in Palm Springs this past weekend, I dragged my boyfriend – ahem, fiance (I swear, I’m never going to get used to saying that!) out to stalk Bob Hope’s former residence, which is located high up on a cliff at the very top of Southridge Drive. I wasn’t so much interested in seeing the home because it had once belonged to Bob Hope, but rather because it was designed by famed architect John Lautner. And I am absolutely obsessed with Lautner homes! Once upon a time, I actually hated his designs – I thought they were just simply too weird. But over the years they have really grown on me. I love that all of his homes are so incredibly unique and recognizable. One look at a poured concrete wall or a curving roof line and you know immediately if a house was designed by Lautner. It’s no wonder that his homes have been used in countless Hollywood productions over the years including Charlie’s Angels, Diamonds Are Forever, The Big Lebowski, and Lethal Weapon 2.

Not everyone is as big a fan of John Lautner as I am, though. Legend has it that Bob Hope wasn’t exactly happy with the house that Lautner designed for him. According to this article, Judith Lautner, John’s daughter, states that Bob “made life hell for my father. He destroyed a lot of the thinking. He just stepped in and said ‘No, no, no.'” Legend also has it that Bob never even spent one night in the home, but instead used it solely for entertaining purposes. The home, which was built in 1979 and was designed to look like the skirts of a volcano, measures 17,531 square feet, has 6 bedrooms and 9.75 bathrooms!

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Unfortunately, Bob’s former home is located in a private, gated community, so I wasn’t able to get very close to it. 🙁 And, judging from the signs pictured above, the neighborhood is not very stalker friendly! When I saw the sign which read “Trespassers will be photographed and may be prosecuted”, I was pretty much outta there! Bob’s former community is very exclusive and was once also home to actors Steve McQueen and William Holden. Lautner also designed another home – the Elrod House – just down the road from Bob’s, but, unfortunately, I didn’t realize that until after I got home, so I didn’t get any photographs of it! Ugh, I am such a blond sometimes!

Because I couldn’t get very close to the house while stalking it, I had to settle for doing some cyberstalking as soon as I got home. It’s funny, but in aerial images the home actually appears to be rather small, but rumor has it that the open circle cut-out in the roof is so large that a helicopter could actually land there!! I don’t know if that is true or not, but being that the home measures almost 18,000 square feet, it is definitely a possibility! Another rumor floating around about the former Bob Hope residence is that the shape of the pool was loosely based on the comedian’s profile. So cool! You can see another amazing aerial view of the home here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bob Hope’s Palm Springs house is located at 2466 Southridge Drive. The Elrod House is located just a few houses down at 2175 Southridge Drive. Both are in a private, guard-gated community, so DO NOT trespass. If you are into hiking, apparently the nearby Araby Trail offers some great views of both homes.