Category: Movie Locations

The Conservatory Garden from “The Girl on the Train”

One of my favorite places in all of Manhattan is, surprisingly, not a stalking location. Or at least it wasn’t up until recently. The Conservatory Garden, a six-acre oasis in East Harlem situated across from the Museum of the City of New York, is easily the most picturesque park I have ever set foot in. I first learned about the site in 2007 thanks to Real City: New York City (sadly, the book is no longer in print, so I cannot provide a link), which described the “floral sanctuary” as “the most studiously tended area in Central Park.” My interest was immediately piqued and I headed right on over there during our NYC vacation later that year. (The photo above was taken during that trip, hence why I look sooooo different. ) In person, it was even more stunning than I had envisioned. The Conservatory Garden has since become a regular stop during our New York travels. I have wanted to blog about it ever since my first visit, but had never come across any filming done there. So imagine my thrill when I spotted the Conservatory Garden while watching a SAG Awards screener of the 2016 thriller The Girl on the Train. Now I can finally write about the place! (For those who have not yet seen the movie and aren’t in SAG, have no fear – the DVD comes out on January 17th).

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The garden was initially established in 1899 and consisted of a large e-shaped glass greenhouse, or conservatory (hence the name), surrounded by flowerbeds. By the 1930s, the greenhouse had started to deteriorate and in 1937 NYC Parks Commissioner Robert Moses had it razed and commissioned a new, formal garden to take its place. The site became known as the Conservatory Garden(not to be confused with the Central Park Conservatory Water).

The lush property is actually made up of three distinct gardens – one English in style, one French, and another Italian. The English garden, located in the southern portion of the park, is lined with annuals and flowering trees and features the Burnett Memorial Fountain, designed in 1936 by American sculptor Bessie Potter Vonnoh in honor of The Secret Garden author Frances Hodgson Burnett. Its surrounding pool is dotted with water lilies. (The fountain is pictured below and in the first image in this post.)

The French garden, situated in the northern part of the park, features an astounding array of perennial flowers, including over 20,000 tulips during the spring months and more than 2,000 Korean chrysanthemums that bloom during the fall. The garden also consists of the Three Dancing Maidens fountain, designed in 1910 by German sculptor Walter Schott. (The fountain is also sometimes referred to as the Untermeyer Fountain, in honor of the family that donated it to the Conservatory Garden.)

The central garden is Italian in style and boasts a sprawling lawn, a pergola strung with wisteria vines, a 12-foot high fountain, and a smattering of colorful crab apple trees.

Though technically a part of Central Park, the Conservatory Garden is tucked away – hidden almost. Its main entrance can be found on Fifth Avenue, just south of 105th Street. There visitors wander through a towering wrought-iron gate that initially stood in front of the Vanderbilt Mansion, which was formerly located 47 blocks south. Assembled in France, the ornate gate was designed by American architect George B. Post and donated to the park by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney in 1939, twelve years after the Vanderbilt Mansion was razed.

The Conservatory Garden is beautiful at any time of year, as my photos, which were taken on various trips to NYC during various seasons, attest to.

On any given day, even during the cold winter months, you will encounter people reading quietly under the shade of the trees, painters replicating the idyllic foliage via watercolor, and students sprawled out on the bucolic lawn, books surrounding them. Designated an official Central Park Quiet Zone, the Conservatory Garden is one of the most peaceful places in all of New York.

The Conservatory Garden is featured twice in The Girl on the Train. It first appears in an early scene in which a distraught Rachel (Emily Blunt) tries to find solace after discovering that the woman she has been watching is having an affair.

It then pops up again in one of the film’s closing scenes. Interestingly, the Three Dancing Maidens fountain figures prominently in The Girl on the Train’s theme. As is explained in the movie’s production notes, “Central Park provided the visual image that [director Tate] Taylor chose to frame the story: a sculpture of three dancing maidens at the Untermeyer Fountain, which graces the Conservatory Garden near 105th Street and Fifth Avenue. Early in the story, unemployed and drunken Rachel goes to the fountain to kill time. Later in the film, she returns there sober, with a new appreciation of the artwork’s three joyful females holding hands as they encircle the fountain. ‘Tate connected with this idea of the three women in the sculpture and the three women in our story,’ says [production designer Kevin] Thompson. ‘That was the poetry that he saw in that fountain.’”

It is at the Conservatory Garden that David Shayne (John Cusack) tells Helen Sinclair (Dianne Wiest) that he is falling in love with her in the 1994 comedy Bullets Over Broadway.

While a few websites state that the Conservatory Garden is where John Reese (Jim Caviezel), Lionel Fusco (Kevin Chapman), and Joss Carter (Taraji P. Henson) discuss HR in the Season 2 episode of Person of Interest titled “Bury the Lede,” that information is incorrect. Though an overhead shot of the park is shown leading up to the scene . . .

. . . actual filming took place elsewhere. (Though I am not certain, I believe the scene was shot at Forest Park in Queens, where another portion of the episode was lensed.)

Being that the Conservatory Garden is easily one of the most picturesque spots on the island of Manhattan, I’m shocked it has not been featured in more productions over the years.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Conservatory Garden, from The Girl on the Train, is located at 5th Avenue and 105th Street in New York’s East Harlem. The park is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

January 11, 2017
Orange Army-Navy from “That Thing You Do!”

Another day, another That Thing You Do! locale. It is one of my all-time favorite movies, after all! In early December, the Grim Cheaper and I found ourselves in the O.C. and decided to head out to Old Towne Orange to do some Christmas shopping. While perusing the charming streets and boutiques, I was reminded of a few spots from the 1995 film that I had stalked, but had yet to blog about, namely the Starbucks/Wells Fargo where Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) broke his arm, which I posted about on Monday, and the Army-Navy store where Faye Dolan (Liv Tyler) rather enthusiastically told T. B. Player (Ethan Embry) that his group’s song was playing on the radio for the first time.

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I was especially interested in the latter locale because, unlike several of the other Old Towne Orange spots used in the movie (you can read about a few of those sites here and here), it was not a vacant storefront dressed for the shoot, but was, and still is, an Army-Navy shop in real life.

Orange Army-Navy has been an area staple since originally opening in 1955.

Run by the same family since its inception, the shop sells military-related items in addition to clothing and camping supplies.

Orange Army-Navy was only featured briefly in That Thing You Do!, but it appeared in what is hands-down my favorite scene in all of moviedom – the famous “We’re on the radio!” scene, which you can check out a clip of here. Though I’ve seen it a gazillion times, it makes me deliriously happy – and tear up – each and every time I watch!

For those who have not seen That Thing You Do! and did not click on the link above, the film centers around a local Erie, Pennsylvania garage band named The Wonders during the year 1964. Towards the beginning of the flick, The Wonders secure themselves a manager who claims he can get their single, “That Thing You Do,” some radio play. While out and about in downtown Erie a few days later, Faye, the girlfriend of the group’s lead singer Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathon Schaech), finally hears the song playing on her junior radio. As soon as she realizes what she is hearing, she begins screaming and runs down the street, right into band member T. B., who is leaving the local Army-Navy store. Faye enthusiastically squeals at him, “We’re on the radio!,” while pushing him into the shop’s front doors. The two then race down the sidewalk to find the other members of the band to tell them the good news. Liv Tyler is sheer perfection in her delivery and the scene is so full of energy and excitement that the characters practically jump off the screen. As I said, it is one of the best moments in movie history.

Had to do it!

Orange Army-Navy also masked as Brad’s Sporting Goods in a brief scene in the 2006 comedy The Benchwarmers.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Orange Army-Navy, from That Thing You Do!, is located at 131 South Glassell Street in Old Towne Orange. You can visit the store’s official website here.

January 6, 2017
The Old Towne Orange Starbucks from “That Thing You Do!”

“We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks, but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other.” So says Meg Swan (Parker Posey) about meeting her husband, Hamilton (Michael Hitchcock), in the 2000 comedy Best in Show. (You can watch the hilarious scene here.) Meg might well have been describing the two outposts of the coffee giant in Old Towne Orange, which are situated across the plaza from each other. As fate would have it, both are filming locations! I blogged about one – the 44 Plaza Square site, which was featured in the 2004 Yuletide comedy Surviving Christmas – last December, and promised to do a post on the second – which can be found at 101 East Chapman Avenue – but never got around to it. So I figured now was as good a time as any. Here goes! The second Starbucks, which is housed alongside a Wells Fargo in a 1928 bank building, made a brief cameo in fave movie That Thing You Do!

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The city’s first bank, the Bank of Orange, was originally established in 1886. The following year, the company constructed offices, a two-story brick building, on the northeast corner of Chapman Avenue and Plaza Square. You can see what it looked like here. The site has been home to a bank ever since.

The Bank of Orange underwent an ownership change in 1905 and was eventually consolidated with another local financial institution, becoming the First National Bank of Orange in 1927. The brick offices were torn down shortly thereafter to make way for a new headquarters building. That property, which was designed in the classical style by architects Morgan, Walls & Clements, opened its doors in 1928.

The stately site, which was expanded twice over the years (first in 1955 and then again in 1963), became a Wells Fargo in 1978. In more recent years, a Starbucks was added to the premises.

Due to the fact that the coffee shop is situated inside of the actual bank, its interior is quite unique.

And quite impressive.

Not a bad place to grab a cup of joe, eh?

I fell in love with the site’s ornate rounded inlaid ceiling.

As you can see below, it’s really quite something.

In That Thing You Do!, the exterior of the Starbucks/Wells Fargo building masked as the exterior of the main branch of The Erie Public Library. You can see a photo of it dressed for the filming here. It was there that, while Jimmy Mattingly (Johnathon Schaech) pontificated about naming his musical group “The Heardsmen,” Chad (Giovanni Ribisi) broke his arm during an attempt to hop over a parking meter. Though it was a short scene, it was significant in that it served as the catalyst for Guy Patterson (Tom Everett Scott) joining the group to replace Chad, which in turn caused them to become famous.

Filming of the segment took place on the building’s south, East Chapman Avenue side . . .

. . . where there are, unfortunately, no parking meters in real life, so I could not do a re-creation.

Being that I’m a klutz, though, maybe that’s a good thing.

The building’s other side (the west Plaza Square side) was seen briefly in the background of the Season 5 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Partridge.”

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Old Towne Orange Starbucks/Wells Fargo from That Thing You Do! is located at 101 East Chapman Avenue in Orange.

January 4, 2017
“Christmas with the Kranks” Studio Locations

Since I have been on such a Christmas with the Kranks kick as of late, I thought I’d finish out this year’s Yuletide posts by blogging about the movie’s studio locations. The 2004 comedy was unusual in that it utilized the backlots of not one, not two, but three different L.A.-area studios!

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The main backlot set featured in Christmas with the Kranks was the Hemlock Street neighborhood at the now defunct Downey Studios, formerly located at 12214 Lakewood Boulevard in Downey. The residential complex, which took 12 weeks to construct at a cost of $5 million and was comprised of 16 Midwest-style homes, was built specifically for the movie after producers came up empty-handed searching for a Chicago-area community to use in the production. When Christmas with the Kranks wrapped, Downey Studios chose to leave the expansive set intact to be used in future productions. It subsequently popped up in Pineapple Express, Supernatural, 24, and the Jonas Brothers’ “Paranoid” music video. Unfortunately, Downey Studios was shuttered in 2012 and all of its sets and soundstages razed, including Hemlock Street. Today, a retail complex known as The Promenade at Downey stands on the site.

During the time that Downey Studios was in operation, the Hemlock Street homes were visible to passersby from nearby roads. I stalked the place back in 2011 and seeing the façades was a thrill to say the least. You can read a more extensive post I wrote about the former studio here.

Because Downey Studios lacked a downtown backlot set, the production team had to venture elsewhere to film the movie’s urban scenes. They found what they were looking for (well, in part) at Universal Studios Hollywood, located at 100 Universal City Plaza in Universal City. It was in the studio’s New York Street area that cast and crew shot the scene involving Chip’s Market, where Luther Krank (Tim Allen) attempted to buy white chocolate and pistachios for his wife, Nora (Jamie Lee Curtis).

The Pumpkin Seed Paperie & Press stationary store, where Nora failed to place her annual Christmas card order, was also located on New York Street. Unfortunately, the façades used in the movie were destroyed by a fire in 2008 and no longer exist. You can see some images of them on The Studio Tour website here, here, here, and here.

Though not a backlot location, it bears mentioning that another spot at Universal made an appearance in Christmas with the Kranks. One of the property’s restaurants, The Studio Grill by Wolfgang Puck, is where Nora lunched with her friends Merry (Felicity Huffman) and Candi (Caroline Rhea) at the beginning of the movie. You can check out some photos of the eatery here.

For whatever reason, when it came time to film the scene in which Officers Salino (Cheech Marin) and Treen (Jake Busey) drive Blair Krank (Julie Gonzalo) and her new fiancé, Enrique Decardenal (Rene Lavan), home from the airport, producers chose not to utilize the Universal backlot, but instead headed over to Warner Bros. Studio, located at 3400 West Riverside Drive in Burbank. (Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for the photo that appears below, which he took during one of the many WB tours that we’ve embarked upon together.)

The scene was shot on Warner Bros. Studio’s famed Hennesy Street.

The spot where the officers arrest a burglar in the scene can be found in the southeastern portion of Hennesy Street.

If that area looks familiar to my fellow stalkers, that’s because it should. It has been immortalized in numerous iconic productions over the years.

I chronicled some of its onscreen appearances for both Los Angeles magazine and Discover Los Angeles, but figured it was worthy of a re-cap.

The same area of the backlot is most famous for being the site of the upside-down kiss in 2002’s Spider-Man.

It also served as the rear of the Hudson St. Home for Girls in the 1982 musical Annie.

The southeastern portion of Hennesy Street masked as the block in Okinawa, Japan where Sato’s (Danny Kamekona) dojo was located in 1986’s The Karate Kid Part II.

It was also there that Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) introduced herself to Jean-Claude Van Damme in the Season 2 episode of Friends titled “The One After the Superbowl: Part 2.”

Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) attempted to smoke there in the Season 3 episode of Sex and the City titled “Escape from New York.”

And the area was also used as the exterior of Toby Cavanaugh’s (Keegan Allen) loft on Pretty Little Liars.

I would like to wish all of my fellow stalkers a very Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a safe and joyous holiday! My posts in the coming week will be light, but I promise to be back in 2017 with lots of new content!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

December 23, 2016
Westside Pavilion from “Christmas with the Kranks”

Some cities know how to do Christmas right. Sadly, Palm Springs is not one of them. As I mentioned last year, the desert just seems to be lacking when it comes to Christmas décor. Yes, there are lights and garland strung in certain sections of our local mall and colorful wreaths hung from a few select street lights, but overall the Coachella Valley doesn’t really have a holiday feel. So much so that two years ago, the Grim Cheaper and I decided to make an annual December pilgrimage to Los Angeles so that we could shop in a city that truly embraces the holidays. (You’d be hard-pressed to find a mall in L.A. that does not have a two- or three-story tree. Now that’s how I want to do my Christmas shopping!) Shortly before we ventured out this year, I discovered that Christmas with the Kranks had done some filming at Westside Pavilion, so we headed there first. And it turned out to be a truly magical experience. But more on that in a bit.

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As I talked about in Friday’s post, earlier this month I set out to track down some unknown locations from Christmas with the Kranks. After identifying the Irish pub from the 2004 comedy, I turned my focus on the mall where Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her husband, Luther Krank (Tim Allen), visited “Tans Forever” tanning booth.

While watching the scene, I noticed, via the escalators visible behind Nora and Luther, that the Christmas with the Kranks shopping center had three levels. So I did a Google search for “three-story mall” and “Los Angeles” and was led to this LA Tourist article which mentioned the Westside Pavilion and its three floors of storefronts. One look at images of the Pavilion told me that it was definitely the right place! From there, I just had to figure out the exact spot where filming had occurred.

It was obvious in the scene that the Tans Forever storefront had been created on Westside Pavilion’s second floor. And thankfully the names of a few neighboring businesses were visible in the background, including Shoe Care, Payless ShoeSource, and Regis Hairstylists.

A quick look at Westside Pavilion’s online map showed me that while Regis had since moved, Payless and Shoe Care were still located in the same area – on the mall’s second level near Macy’s. So the Grim Cheaper and I headed right on over to that spot upon arriving at the shopping center.

To our surprise, as soon as we stepped off the escalator we noticed that a film shoot was taking place! As we walked closer, I just about fainted upon realizing the shoot was for The Goldbergs, a show that the GC and I just recently started watching and are officially obsessed with. The cast and crew honestly could not have been nicer and I will be doing a whole post on our experience as soon as the episode that was being filmed airs.

After watching The Goldbergs shoot for a bit, the GC and I attempted to figure out the exact spots where Christmas with the Kranks filming had taken place. We pinpointed the escalator used in the movie easily enough. In the scene, Nora and Luther use the down escalator situated near PacSun to go from the mall’s third level to the second.

Even though I knew the general vicinity, pinpointing the spot where the Tans Forever storefront had been set up proved more difficult. It was not until I got home and enlisted the help of my friend/guest poster extraordinaire Michael (you can read his many amazing posts here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) that I was able to figure it out. As we discovered, the Tans Forever salon was created in what is now Kid’s Club (that’s the teal storefront in the photograph pictured below).

Thanks to some old Westside Pavilion maps that he found online, Michael learned that at the time of the filming the Kid’s Club space was vacant and had most recently housed a Ritz Camera. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the storefront does not currently look anything like it did in Christmas with the Kranks. Sadder still, while stalking the mall, I came to believe that a different shop had been used in the shoot, so I barely took any photos of Kid’s Club.

We did venture inside, though, while looking for some gifts for the kids on our list and, while the real life interior of the space was also used in Christmas with the Kranks, because it was a shop created especially for the movie, it currently bears no resemblance to its onscreen appearance.

Westside Pavilion has been featured in a few other holiday-themed productions, as well! Though not a Christmas movie, in 1987’s No Man’s Land, Ted Varrick (Charlie Sheen) and Benjy Taylor (D.B. Sweeney) shop at – and steal a Porsche from – the mall during Christmastime.

The Season 5 holiday-themed episode of Modern Family titled “The Old Man and the Tree,” which aired in 2013, was also shot at Westside Pavilion. It is there that Mitchell Pritchett (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) shops for a Puppy Pound toy for his daughter, Lily (Aubrey Anderson-Emmons), and that Alex Dunphy (Ariel Winter) and Haley Dunphy (Sarah Hyland) work as Mrs. Claus and an elf, respectively, for an absentee Santa Claus.

The mall has also appeared in a couple of non-Christmas-themed productions. Tom Petty rode the escalators there in his 1989 “Free Fallin’” music video, which you can watch here.

And the exterior of the Pavilion was used in an establishing shot in the 1995 comedy Clueless. (All of the movie’s interior mall scenes were lensed at Westfield Fashion Square in Sherman Oaks, which I blogged about here.)

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Michael for all of his help in pinpointing the Tans Forever storefront!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Westside Pavilion from Christmas with the Kranks is located at 10800 West Pico Boulevard in Rancho Park. Filming took place on the second level in and around what is now Kid’s Club. You can visit the mall’s official website here.

December 19, 2016
Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery from “Christmas with the Kranks”

I don’t know what it is about Christmas movies, but I cannot watch them without crying. Even the not-so-great ones make me bawl. Case in point – the 2004 comedy Christmas with the Kranks. While admittedly not one of the best Yuletide films, the Grim Cheaper and I watch it each year and I cry every.single.time. After our recent annual watch, I decided to attempt to track down some of the flick’s unknown locales. The spot at the top of my list was the Irish pub where Nora Krank (Jamie Lee Curtis) ate with her husband, Luther Krank (Tim Allen). Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a place I have dined at many times!

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In Christmas with the Kranks, upon facing the prospect of spending the holidays without their daughter who has just joined the Peace Corps, Luther convinces Nora to skip Christmas. Their friends and neighbors don’t take the decision lightly. While dining at an Irish pub towards the beginning of the movie, Nora complains to Luther that she is the one having to deal with the fallout. As she explains, “It’s us women who handle Christmas, not men. I am the one taking the brunt for your harebrained scheme! I am the one on the front lines!”

Besides the fact that the pub looked incredibly cozy in the scene, there’s pretty much nothing I love more than dining at movie restaurants, so it was a no-brainer that I wanted to track this spot down. Unfortunately, I had a little trouble doing so due to the fact that not much of the eatery was shown onscreen and no notable clues were visible in the background.

The more I re-watched the scene, though, the more I had a sense that the restaurant was familiar to me – that I had been there before. Then, all of a sudden, the green-hued bar-top visible behind Nora jumped out at me and I immediately knew where filming had taken place – the Hamburger Hamlet located at 214 South Lake Avenue in Pasadena.

I have dined at the Hamlet countless times over the years. In fact, ironically enough, when I lived in Pasadena the eatery was a regular pit stop during the holidays. Every December, my mom and I would inevitably pop in for a bite to eat while out Christmas shopping in the area. Even more ironic, we would invariably sit in the bar, the exact area where Christmas with the Kranks was filmed!

Why I had such a tough time identifying the place is beyond me, but I am guessing it is because Hamburger Hamlet is not actually an Irish pub as was depicted in the movie and therefore is not decorated as such, it is not nearly as dark as it was portrayed to be onscreen, and only a tight shot of it was ever shown. I really should have recognized the restaurant’s unique back room, though, which is visible behind Luther in the screen capture below.

Hamburger Hamlet’s rear room, which is strewn with spacious red leather arm chairs, is situated around a large central brick fire pit, made complete with a metal hood affixed to the ceiling. As I said, it’s unique. Being that the chains that anchor the hood to the ceiling were visible in the background of Christmas with the Kranks, this one really should have been an easy find.

Now you’re probably saying, “Wait a minute, the title of this post is ‘Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery’ not ‘Hamburger Hamlet!’” Sadly, the Pasadena Hamlet, which was originally established in 1967, shut its doors after almost fifty years in business on January 3rd, 2014. A Du-par’s outpost was opened at the site the following morning.

I had yet to visit the location since Du-par’s took over and assumed that all of the décor had been changed. I was thrilled to see, via the hundreds of photographs on Yelp, that that was not the case! The eatery still looks exactly as it did during its Hamburger Hamlet days, i.e. wood paneling and red leather galore!

The GC and I headed over there to grab a bite a few days later and I am happy to report that the restaurant looks just as great in person as it did in the Yelp images. And the food is darn good, too, though that did not come as a surprise being that I’ve always been a big fan of Du-par’s fare. Any eatery that serves a hot turkey meal with all the fixings on a daily basis is A-ok in my book!

As I mentioned earlier, in Christmas with the Kranks, Nora and Luther sat in the restaurant’s bar area, pretty much in the exact spot where the pub table is situated in the images below.

I would like to wish a VERY happy birthday to my dad (and my uncle – his twin) – today! Thank you for all the light and laughter you bring us on a daily basis (as evidenced by the photo below – I remember exactly what you said to me in that moment and still crack up whenever I think about it!), despite all your suffering! I love you!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Du-par’s Restaurant and Bakery, aka the former Hamburger Hamlet, aka the Irish pub from Christmas with the Kranks, is located at 214 South Lake Avenue in Pasadena.

December 16, 2016
The Complete Guide to “Jerry Maguire” Filming Locations – Part II

The Complete Guide to Jerry Maguire Filming Locations, which I’ve partnered up with Greg Mariotti of The Uncool to compile, continues today! In case you missed it, be sure to check out Part I here.

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18. Cushman’s House – (Morehart Mercantile, 9016 Mupu Road, Santa Paula)

“You know, I told myself, ‘He shows up, we stick with him.’” – Matt Cushman

Matt Cushman (Beau Bridges), whose word is stronger than oak, makes a verbal agreement to keep Jerry as his son Frank’s agent while in the living room of his Odessa, Texas ranch house. Filming actually took place at a home on the sprawling grounds of Morehart Mercantile, a feed and farm supply company in Santa Paula.

19. Jerry, Ray and Dorothy’s Airport Goodbye – Terminal A Entrance, John Wayne Airport (18601 North Airport Way, Santa Ana)

“Jerry, do you know the human head weighs eight pounds?” – Ray Boyd

Dorothy and Ray drop Jerry off at the airport before the NFL Draft outside of the entrance to Terminal A at the John Wayne Airport. While there, Dorothy fondly watches a father say goodbye to his wife and young son.

20. Airport Gate – Terminal 6, Los Angeles International Airport (600 World Way, Westchester)

“No, I am not Hootie.” – Rod Tidwell

Jerry, Rod and Cush meet up en route to the NFL draft at what is supposed to be the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. While there, some young boys approach Rod for an autograph, mistakenly thinking he is Darius Rucker from Hootie & the Blowfish. The scene was not actually lensed in the Peach State, but at Terminal 6 of the Los Angeles International Airport. A replica of the suit Martin Luther King Jr. wore during his meeting with Lyndon B. Johnson, which has been on display at ATL since the 1980s, was created for the scene in exacting detail by production designer Clay Griffith. It is visible just to the left of Rod in the above screen capture.

21. New York Marriott Marquis – The L.A. Hotel Downtown (333 South Figueroa Street, downtown Los Angeles)

“Rod, you know what was great about you down there? For about five minutes you unloaded that rather large chip that resides right there on your shoulder and, you know what? You let people in – and you were brilliant.” – Jerry Maguire

Jerry, Rod and Cush attend the NFL Draft not at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square as was stated in the movie, but at what was then the Sheraton Grande in downtown Los Angeles. The exterior, lobby, and mezzanine level of the upscale property, which became the L.A. Hotel Downtown in 2012, were heavily dressed with Marriott Marquis signage, convention booths, and football memorabilia for the draft segments, but are still largely recognizable. Don’t go looking for the gift shop or Cush’s hotel suite there, though. Those scenes were shot at Sony on sets built on Stage 21 and 22, respectively. The ballroom where Jerry and his goddess-of-rock-climbing fiancé Avery Bishop (Kelly Preston) break up can’t be found there, either . . .

22. Avery and Jerry’s Break Up – International Ballroom, Hilton Los Angeles Airport (5711 West Century Blvd. Westchester)

“I won’t let you hurt me, Jerry. I’m too strong for you. Loser!” – Avery Bishop

Though Jerry unceremoniously dumps Avery while at the NFL Draft, the scene was not shot at the L.A. Hotel Downtown where the other Draft segments were lensed, but in the International Ballroom at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport. Avery does not take the break-up well – “No one has ever dumped me!” – and repays Jerry with several uppercuts to the face and a knee to the groin. Imagine if he had gotten her the ring she really wanted! Howard Stern’s Artie Lang makes a cameo in this scene, but it was cut from the theatrical version. It will be included as an extended scene on the 20th Anniversary Blu-ray! Unfortunately, the International Ballroom has been remodeled significantly in recent years and no longer resembles its onscreen self.

23. United Airlines Club Room – TWA Ambassadors Club, Los Angeles International Airport (Terminal 3, 300 World Way, Westchester)

“See this jacket I’m wearing? You like it? Cause I don’t really need it because I am cloaked in failure!” – Jerry Maguire

The TWA Ambassadors Club in Terminal 3 of LAX was dressed to look like a United Airlines Red Carpet Club for the scene in which Jerry drowns his sorrows over losing both Cush and Avery during the Draft. The lounge was also utilized for the short segment at the beginning of the movie in which Calvin Nack (Brent Barry) won’t sign an autograph for a little boy. Today, the Ambassadors Club space houses the Virgin America Loft at LAX.

24. Arizona Cardinals Training Facility (8701 South Hardy Drive, Tempe, Arizona)

“These are the ABCs of me, baby!” – Rod Tidwell

Jerry watches a rather mediocre practice of Rod’s – and attempts to discuss Rod’s contract with Dennis – while on the western field of the Arizona Cardinals Training Facility in Tempe, Arizona. The property’s locker room and bathroom were also utilized for the famous “Help me help you” sequence in which Jerry explains the hardships of his job (“It is an up-at-dawn, pride-swallowing siege that I will never fully tell you about, OK?”) while Rod “air dries.” Sadly, that area of the site was gutted as part of a remodel in early 2015. The Arizona Cardinals Training Facility was also used during a few of the movie’s game sequences and was where Rod received medical treatment towards the end of the film.

25. The Crocodile – Moody’s (333 South Figueroa Street, downtown L.A.)

“Meet me at the Crocodile, 8 o’clock.” – Dennis Wilburn

Though Tempe did boast a popular hangout known as the Crocodile Café in the ‘90s, filming of the scene in which Dennis stands Jerry up was not actually shot there. Instead, an eatery named Moody’s located just off the lobby of the Sheraton Grande (now the L.A. Hotel Downtown) was utilized for the shoot. While the wood-paneled space has been shuttered for several years, it remains intact and still looks much the same as it did onscreen. You can see some more images of it here.

26. Jerry and Dorothy’s First Date – Paco’s Tacos (4141 South Centinela Avenue, Del Rey)

“You wanna go out to dinner?” – Jerry Maguire

For their first date, Jerry and Dorothy head to Del Rey staple Paco’s Tacos where the two enjoy a romantic meal of Mexican fare set to the tune of a Mariachi version of “Words Get in the Way.” Little of the property’s décor has changed since filming took place twenty years ago. Even the brightly-colored fish tank that Dorothy and Jerry sat next to still looks the same as it did onscreen. Nearly everything on the menu at the decades-old Paco’s is made fresh daily on the premises, including the tortillas which patrons can watch being sculpted by hand. The popular restaurant also popped up several times on the 1970s television series CHiPs.

27. Rod’s Camel Chevrolet Commercial Shoot – Lost Dutchman State Park (6109 North Apache Trail, Apache Junction, Arizona)

“I didn’t shoplift the pootie! Alright, I shoplifted the pootie.” – Jerry Maguire

Rod attempts to film a Camel Chevrolet commercial with an actual camel and then schools Jerry on the art of dating a single mom while at the base of the Superstition Mountains at the incredibly picturesque Lost Dutchman State Park. The 320-acre site was named after the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine and is a popular camping and hiking area, as well as a popular filming location, having also appeared in the 1987 comedy Raising Arizona.

28. Veterans Stadium Press Box – Stage 21, Sony Studios (10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City)

“Loser!” – Avery Boyd

Avery flashes Jerry the loser sign while in the press box of what is supposed to be Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia during one of Rod’s games. The box was actually a set, though, built at Sony on Stage 21.

29. Veterans Stadium Exterior – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (3911 South Figueroa Street, Exposition Park)

“Not everyone has what you have.” – Jerry Maguire

Rod and Jerry share a heart-to-heart (which doesn’t end well) outside of Veterans Stadium after Rod’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Filming actually took place near the entrance to Gate 5 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, though. The Coliseum was used for several sequences in Jerry Maguire, including the scene in which Jerry is shown swimming underwater (that bit was shot at the property’s LA84 Foundation/John C. Argue Swim Stadium), the segment in which Sugar tries to poach Rod before the big game at the end of the movie, and the aforementioned scene from the opening montage in which Cush tosses footballs in “Odessa, Texas.”

30. Restaurant Where Marci Goes into Labor – Reel Inn (1220 3^rd Street, Santa Monica)

“I hate you going to the movies alone without me.” – Rod Tidwell

A lunch date with Rod and Jerry and their families at the Reel Inn on the Santa Monica Promenade ends abruptly when Marcee Tidwell (Regina King) unexpectedly goes into labor. Sadly, the fish restaurant has since closed and today is an American Apparel store. The only aspect of the space that remains recognizable is its open ceiling and exposed ductwork. The Reel Inn’s sister eatery in Malibu remains a local staple, though, as it has been since it first opened in 1986.

31. Jerry and Avery’s Airport Encounter – Tom Bradley International Terminal, Los Angeles International Airport (1 World Way, Westchester)

In a scene that was shot as an homage to the opening of The Graduate, Jerry and Avery pass each other while traveling in opposite directions on a moving walkway at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX.

32. Cardinals/Cowboys Game – Sun Devil Stadium (500 East Veterans Way, Tempe, Arizona)

“No, no, no. No, wait, wait. Just – just let me enjoy this for a minute.” – Rod Tidwell

Jerry Maguire’s climactic final game was lensed at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. The thrilling segment, in which Jerry finally gets Rod to dance, was shot during an actual Cardinals/Cowboys football game. The scene in the hallway outside of the locker room following Rod’s big moment was also shot at Sun Devil Stadium, as was the segment in which Jerry runs to the field to get to Rod after his injury. The press box and football announcers sequences were not shot on location at the arena, though, but were sets built on Stage 21 at Sony.

33. The Up Close Show – Stage 8, Sony Studios (10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City)

“Jerry Maguire, my agent – you are my ambassador of kwan, man!” – Rod Tiwell

Though Rod vows not to shed a tear while being interviewed by Roy Firestone (who played himself) on Up Close, he winds up wailing after receiving the news of his new $11.2-million/4-year offer from the Arizona Cardinals. Filming of the Up Close show scenes took place on Stage 8 at Sony Pictures Studios.

34. Ray Tosses a Ball to Little Leaguers – Pote Field (4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Griffith Park)

“Hey, I don’t have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I’ve failed as much as I’ve succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success.” – Dickie Fox

Jerry Maguire comes to a close at Pote Field in Griffith Park, where Ray impresses a group of Little League players – and Jerry – as he tosses back an errant ball before walking hand-in-hand with Jerry and Dorothy off into the sunset. An alternate ending, where Jerry takes Ray to the zoo, will be featured on the 20^th Anniversary Blu-Ray.

December 14, 2016
The Complete Guide to “Jerry Maguire” Filming Locations – Part I

Few romantic comedies appeal to both sexes. Even fewer are responsible for adding instantly recognizable catch phrases to the lexicon. And fewer still remain engaging and poignant decades after the fact. Jerry Maguire is one such film. Amazingly, the Cameron-Crowe-directed flick turns twenty today! Yes, as implausible as it may seem, Jerry Maguire first hit the big screen on December 13^th, 1996. The movie has always been one of my favorites and remains just as loved in my household today as it did when it originally premiered. In honor of its 20^th anniversary, I’ve teamed up with Greg Mariotti of Crowe’s official website, The Uncool, to uncover and compile a complete list of all of the film’s shooting locales, as well as some insider tidbits. So, without further ado, we present The Complete Guide to Jerry Maguire Filming Locations – Part I. Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow. And for those who want to soak up even more behind-the-scenes info, the movie’s 20^th Anniversary Blu-ray, chock full of new extras, will be hitting shelves on January 3^rd.

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1. Opening Montage

“So, this is the world and there are almost 6 billion people on it. When I was a kid, there were three. It’s hard to keep up.” – Jerry Maguire

The movie’s opening, in which successful sports agent Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) introduces the audience to several of his young clients, was shot at various athletic facilities across L.A., mainly in the San Gabriel Valley. The “Indiana” Basketball Court where Clark Hodd (Michael James Johnson), the best point guard in the country, shoots hoops is Robinson Park, located at 1081 North Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena. The area where Clark plays in the segment was remodeled in the mid-2000s and the number of courts reduced from four to two, so it looks a bit different today. Erica Sorgi (the All-American diver played herself) – “You’ll see her in the next Olympics!” – skips across the living room of a house at 972 Cornell Road in Pasadena before hurling off a diving board a few miles away at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center at 360 North Arroyo Boulevard. Dallas Molloy (also playing herself), whose lawsuit, as Jerry tells us, helped paved the way for women boxers everywhere, throws jabs in the boxing gym at Villa-Parke Community Center at 363 East Villa Street, again in Pasadena. The “Indio” baseball field where Art Stallings (Jordan Ross) shows us what pure joy looks like is Pote Field at 4730 Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park. The “Great Frank Cushman” (Jerry O’Connell) tosses a pigskin at what is supposed to be an Odessa, Texas stadium, but, in reality, he is at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at 3911 South Figueroa Street in Exposition Park. And Brookside Golf Course at 1133 Rosemont Avenue in Pasadena is where a young golfer (Brandon Christianson) throws a club at his coach.

2. NFL Owners Meeting – The Westin Los Angeles Airport (5400 West Century Boulevard, Westchester)

“Now I’m the guy you don’t usually see. I’m the one behind the scenes. I’m the sports agent.” – Jerry Maguire

Following the opening, the scenery shifts to an NFL owners meeting taking place in the bustling lobby of what was then the LAX DoubleTree Hotel, but today is The Westin Los Angeles Airport. There, Jerry wheels and deals for his various clients, trying to secure a $14-million-per-year/5-year offer for one player. Hey, no one said winning was cheap!

3. Sports Management International Exterior – Brickell Bay Office Tower (1001 Brickell Bay Drive, Miami, Florida)

“33 out-of-shape agents guiding the careers of 1,685 of the most finely tuned athletes alive.” – Jerry Maguire

Though Jerry Maguire was lensed solely in California and Arizona, an establishing shot of downtown Miami’s sleek Brickell Bay Office Tower was used to represent the exterior of Sports Management International, aka SMI, where Jerry and his fellow agents work.

4. SMI Interior – Stage 23, Sony Pictures Studios (10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City)

“I will not rest until I have you holding a Coke, wearing your own shoe, playing a Sega game featuring you, while singing your own song in a new commercial starring you, broadcast during the Super Bowl in a game that you are winning – and I will not sleep until that happens.” – Jerry Maguire

The interior of the Sports Management International office was an elaborate set that took up almost all of Stage 23 at Sony Pictures Studios. The sprawling two-story space, which was inspired by the office in Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, was comprised of a large central bullpen containing rows upon rows of desks, surrounded by a perimeter of windowed private offices and meeting rooms. The views visible from the various office suites were created via a large backdrop made from a photograph taken from a building at Newport Center, located at 620 Newport Center Drive in Newport Beach.

A deleted office scene, which will be featured on the 20^th Anniversary Blu-ray, was shot on the top floor of the parking structure located at 600 Corporate Pointe in Culver City.

5. Houston Police Station – Airport Center Parking Garage (5250 West Century Boulevard, Westchester)

“Listen, there’s no proof of anything, except this guy is a sensational athlete.” – Jerry Maguire

The world of sports starts to lose its luster for Jerry when his football player client is arrested for statutory rape and taken to a “Houston police station.” Filming of the scene actually took place in the parking garage at Airport Center near LAX.

6. Steve Remo’s Hospital Room – Veterans Administration Medical Center (5901 East 7^th Street, Long Beach)

“It would take a tank to stop your dad. It would take all five Super Trooper VR Warriors to stop your dad.” – Jerry Maguire

Jerry gets a reality check – and the finger! – courtesy of a client’s young son at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Long Beach. The hospital segments involving Steve Remo (Toby Huss) and his family were the first of the film to be shot.

The scenes featuring Jerry’s idol Dicky Fox, who was played by Jared Jussim – a lawyer at Sony – were also shot on location at the medical facility.

7. Airport Shuttle (California Avenue and Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica)

Though there is no airport in the vicinity in real life, the scene in which Jerry is shown riding in a Budget car rental shuttle down a rainy street was shot on Ocean Avenue just north of California Avenue in Santa Monica.

8. Miami Corporate Conference Hotel – Long Beach Marriott (4700 Airport Plaza Drive, Long Beach)

“And then it happened. It was the oddest, most unexpected thing. I began writing what they call a mission statement. Not a memo – a mission statement. You know, a suggestion for the future of our company.” – Jerry Maguire

The “Miami” hotel where Jerry and his fellow agents attend a corporate conference is actually a conglomeration of three different locations. The elevator bay, front desk and atrium-like lobby where Jerry receives a standing ovation after handing out his mission statement can be found at the Long Beach Marriott. Jerry’s actual room, where he stays up all night writing the statement (“And I’m not even a writer!”), was a set built on Stage 21 at Sony. And the stairwell Jerry runs down while on his way to the Copymat is the back staircase of the Sydney Poitier Building at Sony Pictures Studios.

9. Copymat – Kinko’s (6301 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood)

“That’s how you become great, man. Hang your balls out there.” – Copymat Jesus

The “Miami” Copymat where Jerry prints 110 copies of his The Things We Think and Do Not Say mission statement – even the cover looks like Catcher in the Rye! – was actually a Kinko’s located on Sunset Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood. The site was razed in 2002 in order to make way for Sunset + Vine, a 750,000-square-foot mixed-used development comprised of upscale apartments, restaurants and retail stores. Fun fact – Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains portrayed the “Copymat Jesus” in the scene.

10. Airplane Ride – Stage 21, Sony Pictures Studios (10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City)

“First class is what’s wrong, honey. It used to be a better meal. Now it’s a better life.” -Dorothy Boyd

Dorothy Boyd (Renée Zellweger) longingly listens to Jerry tell the tale of his engagement from afar while sitting in a coach seat on a plane ride from Miami to Los Angeles. The scene, along with the movie’s other airplane sequences, was shot on Stage 21 at Sony.

11. Baggage Claim – Terminal A, John Wayne Airport (18601 Airport Way, Santa Ana)

“I know who you are. You’re Dorothy Boyd. You’re in accounts. You have the side middle cubicle with a poster of Albert Einstein’s face morphed onto Shaquille O’Neal’s body.” – Jerry Maguire

It is at Baggage Claim 2 in Terminal A of the John Wayne Airport that Dorothy loses Ray (Jonathan Lipnicki) – and tells Jerry how much she loves his “memo.” John Wayne was featured in many of Jerry Maguire’s airport segments, including the scene towards the end of the movie in which Jerry rushes through a quiet terminal hallway to get home to Dorothy, which was shot in front of the car rental counters. Cameron returned to this location in 2004 to shoot Elizabethtown. It was the first film to use the airport, post 9/11.

12. Jerry’s Condo (3811 Ocean Front Walk #1, Marina del Rey)

“There’s no real loyalty. And the first person who told me that, Jerry Maguire, was you!” – Avery Bishop

A contemporary 2-bedroom, 3-bath, 2,368-square-foot condo overlooking the ocean in Marina del Rey serves as Jerry’s sleek home in the film. The pad’s interiors, including kitchen and living room, appear throughout the movie, though Jerry’s bedroom was a set built on Stage 21 at Sony. Interestingly, the property performed triple duty in Jerry Maguire. Not only did it portray Jerry’s residence, but it was also utilized as Cardinals General Manager Dennis Wilburn’s (Glenn Frey) office and Jerry’s hotel room in the scene in which the two speak on the phone about Rod Tidwell’s (Cuba Gooding Jr.) contract. The condo recently sold on October 27^th, 2015 for $2,754,000.

The exterior of a home two doors up the street at 3719 Ocean Front Walk was used as the exterior of Jerry’s condo in a scene that wound up on the cutting room floor.

13. Jerry’s Bachelor Party – Grand Havana Room (301 North Canon Drive #215, Beverly Hills)

“He cannot be alone.” “He – he can’t be alone.” “He’s almost phobic.” – Jerry’s former girlfriends

Jerry’s bachelor party, where he comes face to face with his greatest fear of being alone via a humorous video clip starring his many former flames, is held in the private, members-only Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills. The exclusive cigar club, which was originally established in April 1995, is still in operation today and looks much the same as it did onscreen in Jerry Maguire.

14. Cronin’s Restaurant – Café Figaro (9010 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood)

“What about me? You know what I went through knowing I was gonna have to fire my mentor? Carrying that around in my head for a week! Could you get past yourself for a second?” – Bob Sugar

The now defunct West Hollywood eatery Café Figaro masked as Cronin’s, the busy restaurant where Bob Sugar (Jay Mohr) fires Jerry in the movie. The kitschy spot, which was decorated with decoupaged newspaper articles and Tiffany lamps, was originally established in 1969 and remained in operation through 1997. The site has since gone through numerous remodels and restaurant iterations and today houses Au Fudge, the insanely popular, ultra-chic and innovative kid-friendly bistro founded in part by actress Jessica Biel. Both the interior and exterior of the space were utilized in Jerry Maguire.

15. Kathy Sanders’ House – Stage 21, Sony Pictures Studios (10202 West Washington Boulevard, Culver City)

“Oh, Jerry!” – Kathy Sanders

Jerry’s client Kathy Sanders (Angela Goethals) feigns anguish over Jerry’s firing at a set built on Stage 21 at Sony. The scene was inspired by a similar event in Cameron Crowe’s life in which, thanks to faulty call-waiting, the director caught an actress in pretend agony over deciding not to take a part in one of his films.

16. Rod Tidwell’s House (1760 Kirsten Lee Drive, Westlake Village)

“I’m a valuable commodity! I go across the middle. I see a dude coming at me, trying to kill me, I tell myself ‘Get killed. Catch the ball.’ Booyah! Touchdown! I make miracles happen!” – Rod Tidwell

It is at a large Mediterranean-style home situated on a quiet cul-de-sac at the top of a hill in Westlake Village that one of the most famous sequences in all of moviedom was shot. While standing in the pink-tiled kitchen of his supposed Arizona residence, Rod delivers his famous “Show me the money!” speech and Jerry secures his one client. The scenes at the Tidwell home were the last of the movie to be filmed and both interiors and exteriors were utilized in the shoot.

17. Dorothy’s House (527 23^rd Street, Manhattan Beach)

“Don’t cry at the beginning of a date. Cry at the end, like I do.” – Laurel Boyd

Dorothy and her sister Laurel’s (Bonnie Hunt) charming yellow bungalow can be found on a sleepy street in Manhattan Beach, looking much the same as it did onscreen twenty years ago. Though the interior of the sisters’ home, including the kitchen, living room, Dorothy’s bedroom, and Ray’s bedroom, was a large set built on Stages 22 and 23 at Sony, it was modeled partly upon the residence’s actual 3-bedroom, 2-bath, 1,820-square-foot interior. The wooded backyard, where Dorothy and Jerry got married and then later broke up, was also a set built on Stage 22. A bedroom located in the home next door at 529 23^rd Street was also utilized as part of Dorothy’s house.

Be sure to check out Part II of The Complete Guide to Jerry Maguire Filming Locations here!

December 13, 2016
Atlas Sausage from “Surviving Christmas”

My blog is likely to be light on content over the next month, as I have quite a few trips and excursions planned. As such, I figured there was no time like the present to begin my Christmas-themed postings. So here goes. (I also have a very exciting non-Christmas-related article hitting the blog next week, so stay tuned for that!) Finding filming locations is often akin to solving puzzles for me – and I love solving puzzles. So when I spot a clue in the background of a movie or television show, no matter how brief or insignificant the scene, it seems to call to me and I cannot help but attempt to figure out where the segment was shot. Such was the case with the butcher shop featured fleetingly in Surviving Christmas.

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For those who have yet to watch the 2004 Christmas comedy (and you really should – it’s fabulous), it centers around millionaire ad exec Drew Latham (Ben Affleck), who, after finding himself alone at Christmastime, returns to his childhood home in Arlington Heights, Indiana and pays the family who now lives there $250,000 in exchange for them allowing him to move back in for the holidays. During his stay, he upsets patriarch Tom Valco (James Gandolfini) by polishing off all of his beloved salami. So Tom heads to his local butcher to replenish his processed meat supply, donning a Santa hat per Drew’s request.

While watching the scene, I spotted a sign pasted on the butcher shop door. Though pictured backwards and partially cut off, it was apparent that the lettering spelled out “Atlas Sausage.” Even though the segment was brief (like blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brief), seeing that sign was like kryptonite to me – I couldn’t not at least attempt to track the place down. It turned out to be a short hunt – one quick Google search for “Atlas Sausage” and “Los Angeles” yielded a listing for a market by that name at 10626 Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood. While the exterior of the butcher shop was not shown in Surviving Christmas, I knew I had hit pit dirt when I saw that the diagonally-placed entrance door visible via Street View matched the diagonally-placed door that appeared onscreen. Sadly, Atlas Sausage closed down in the summer of 2003, shortly after Surviving Christmas filmed there in February of that same year, but I still headed right on out to stalk the locale nonetheless.

Atlas Sausage, or Atlas Sausage Kitchen as it was also known, was established in the 1940s and was a Valley landmark for the 60-plus years it remained in operation. All of the sausages sold at the market were made by hand – on the original wooden smokehouse that was in place since the day the store opened.

After the market closed in July 2003 (much to the chagrin of SoCal meat lovers, some of whom would travel from as far as San Diego to get their hands on Atlas’ links), the site sat vacant. In August 2006, Big Papi’s Rib Shack, or Big Papi’s Barbeque as it was also called, set up shop on the premises. Google Street View images of the property during its Big Papi’s tenure are pictured below.

The eatery did not last long, shutting its doors in January 2008.

Today, the space houses State Automotive Supply, which is rather ironic as a 1992 Los Angeles Times article about Atlas Sausage described the market as being “located in an industrial neighborhood with more than its share of automotive repair shops.”

I ventured inside State Automotive while I was stalking the place and, sadly, the interior looks entirely different today than it did when it appeared in Surviving Christmas. The space has actually been remodeled twice since Atlas Sausage closed, first when Big Papi’s moved in. The inside of the restaurant is pictured below via images I snapped from this “How to Serve BBQ Sausage” tutorial that was filmed on the premises. As you can see, it does not resemble the Surviving Christmas butcher shop in the slightest, though the rear brick wall that was visible in the movie was still intact at the time. The site was then remodeled once again prior to State Automotive’s opening. I did not take any photos of the inside as it is now rather cramped due to the fact that the vast majority of the building is currently used as storage for the shop’s inventory, which leaves just a small alcove area accessible to the public. When Atlas Sausage was in operation, the Los Angeles Times said this of its interior, “Plain shelves on plain walls hold scores of mustards and dozens of rye breads. The enormous collection of German beers, hidden away in a nondescript cooler, could easily be overlooked. A deceptively modest display of sausages and unsliced cold cuts occupies several utilitarian butcher cases.” All of that gibes with what was shown in Surviving Christmas. Oh, how I wish I could have seen the place back then! I absolutely love local specialty shops!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: State Automotive Supplies, aka the former Atlas Sausage from Surviving Christmas, is located at 10626 Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood.

December 7, 2016
The Dorchester from “Mannequin”

I’ve made no secret of my love for Mannequin over the past few months. As I’ve mentioned, my sole reason for heading to Philadelphia this past September was to stalk locales from the 1987 comedy, one of which was The Dorchester, the building where Jonathan Switcher’s (Andrew McCarthy) girlfriend Roxie (Carole Davis) lived. (You can read my posts on Jonathan’s apartment here and the eatery where Jonathan and Roxie dined here. And don’t worry, I will be writing an extensive article on Wanamaker’s department store soon!)

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Thankfully, the locale was an easy find. Not only has The Dorchester’s appearance in Mannequin been well-documented online for years, but its name was clearly visible in the movie.

Construction on The Dorchester began in 1960. The L-shaped concrete building, which opened to the public in 1964, was designed by Milton M. Schwartz & Associates.

The upscale, 32-story property boasts 545 individually-owned condominium units (or 542 depending on which website you happen to be reading), a gym, a rooftop pool, an underground garage, valet parking, an on-site spa, and a 24-hour doorman.

The building is situated just steps away from picturesque Rittenhouse Square, an oft-filmed park that I will be blogging about soon.

The Dorchester only appears once in Mannequin, in an early scene in which Jonathan attempts to apologize to Roxie for standing her up the night before. His efforts are thwarted by Roxie’s amorous foreign co-worker, Armand (Christopher Maher), though, who shows up and offers Roxie a lift to work, calling out in his broken English, “Hey, hey, Roxie, you look foxy! Can I ride you?”

That’s Rittenhouse Square visible behind Jonathan in the background of the scene.

I am 99.9% certain that the 80s-fabulous interior of Roxie’s condo was a set. (Her gold lamé blouse fits right in with the décor!) You can see what the actual interior of some Dorchester units look like here.

The Dorchester has also popped up in a few other productions. The building’s lobby masked as the hospital that T.J. Hammond (Sebastian Stan) was discharged from in the Season 1 episode of Political Animals titled “Resignation Day,” which aired in 2012. You can see photographs of the lobby here.

The Dorchester’s entrance was also used as the entrance to the building where Dr. Lena Solis (Alana De La Garza) lived on the 2013 television series Do No Harm.

Some filming of an as-of-yet untitled Kathryn Bigelow movie about the 1967 Detroit riots also took place at The Dorchester this past summer.

Though The Dorchester can’t be seen due to the fact that the camera is facing away from it, the street that runs along the building’s southern side was used in the 2010 romcom How Do You Know as the spot where Charles (Jack Nicholson) tries to tell George (Paul Rudd) that he thinks his phone is bugged.

That same area was also visible in the background of Mannequin.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Dorchester, aka Roxie’s condo from Mannequin, is located at 226 West Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia.

December 2, 2016