Category: Movie Locations

Mitch Hiller’s House from “Enough”

One location that I have been absolutely obsessed with for what seems like ages now is the ultra-modern beach house where Mitch Hiller (Billy Campbell) lived in the 2002 thriller Enough – which I just recently discovered is the very same spot that stands in for the exterior of the Indianapolis loft belonging to Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe) on fave show Parks and Recreation. Mike had long known where the property was located thanks to a former co-worker of his whose husband was on the Enough crew. So, while we were in the Marina Del Rey-area on Saturday (which, as I mentioned yesterday, was completely dreary and overcast – I thought it was supposed to be summer, folks!), he took me right on over to stalk the place. And I am very happy to report that it is just as spectacular in person as it was onscreen. Looks like this stalker may just have herself a new dream house!

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The Enough house, which was originally constructed in 1996 out of glass, cement and weathering steel, boasts four bedrooms, five baths, an upstairs office, an elevator, a gourmet kitchen, a detached two-car garage, private balconies off of each bedroom, floor-to-ceiling windows, a media room, and sweeping views of Marina Del Rey’s Grand Canal and the Pacific Ocean. There seems to be some discrepancy online over the abode’s square footage, though, as Zillow (and most property record sites) report it as measuring 5,758 square feet, while the pad’s real estate website claims it to be “almost 3,000”. From viewing the place’s exterior, I would guess the 3,000 measurement to be the better bet. And while the dwelling was just recently for sale for a whopping $4,850,000, it appears to have since been taken off the market.

In Enough, Slim Hiller (Jennifer Lopez) stalks her abusive ex-husband Mitch and sets up an extensive trap to kill him at the home.

And while I would have bet money that the real life interior of the home was used in the filming, that does not appear to have been the case.

As you can see below, the real life property is not nearly as open as its onscreen counterpart and its ceilings are not nearly as high.

The actual home also has a more polished and less industrial look than what appeared in the movie. So while I love, love, love the exterior of the place, I have to say that I much prefer the onscreen design of the interior to the reality.

And while we were there, I, of course, just had to sit where JLo sat at the end of the flick.

As I mentioned last week in my post about the loft where Chris lives on Parks and Recreation, the exterior of the Enough house also popped up as the exterior of Chris’ pad in the Season 3 episodes titled “Indianapolis” and “Road Trip”.

Mike, who, as I have mentioned countless times before, knows the City of L.A. and its surroundings like the back of his hand, also pointed out that retired Laker Rick Fox and then wife, actress Vanessa Williams, used to live right across the canal from the Enough house at 5518 Pacific Avenue. The home was sold to new owners, though, sometime after the couple divorced in 2004.

And while we were stalking the Enough house, Mike and I discovered a gorgeous garden named Channel Pointe located directly across the street. Apparently gardens like the one pictured below are quite common in Marina Del Rey (which is quickly turning out to be one of my favorite cities in Los Angeles). Love it!

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here and you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And don’t forget to take a look at my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Mitch’s house from Enough is located at 5417 Via Donte in Marina Del Rey. Rick Fox and Vanessa Williams formerly lived across the canal in the home located at 5518 Pacific Avenue. And the Channel Pointe Garden can be reached from Via Donte, directly across the street from the Enough house.

July 18, 2012
Villa d’Este – The “Under the Yum Yum Tree” Apartment Building

Thank you to all of my fellow stalkers for putting up with my two recent – and much-needed – blogging hiatuses. It felt so good to relax and recharge and I will now be back with a vengeance. And now, on with the post! A couple of months ago, after stalking Romanesque Villa, my girl Marilyn Monroe’s former West Hollywood pad (which I blogged about back in early May), I dragged the Grim Cheaper a few blocks east to Villa d’Este, the idyllic and picturesque apartment building featured in the 1963 film Under the Yum Yum Tree. I found out about this location thanks to fave stalking book Hollywood: The Movie Lover’s Guide by travel writer Richard Alleman. And while I had yet to see Under the Yum Yum Tree at the time (nor had I ever even heard of it), since the place was right around the corner from Marilyn’s former building, I figured I might as well stalk it. And I am so glad that I did because Villa d’Este is nothing short of majestic! Under the Yum Yum Tree, however, which I finally sat down to watch last week, left quite a lot to be desired. I found it just a wee bit boring and silly, and I still have yet to figure out what in the heck its odd title means.

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But the cat in the movie was awesome, as you can see below, so I guess there’s that.

Anyway, because Villa d’Este is such a magical place, I decided it was most-definitely blog-worthy. The property, which was constructed in 1928 and was originally called the “Court of the Fountains”, was designed by brothers F. Pierpont and Walter S. Davis – the so-called “founding fathers of the L.A. courtyard apartment” who also designed the Roman Gardens Apartments in Hollywood, the since-demolished French Village at what is now the entrance to the Cahuenga Pass, and St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral near Exposition Park. The two-story Italian Renaissance-style building was inspired by the legendary 16th-century villa and gardens of the same name in Tivoli, Italy.

As you can see below, the detailing of Villa d’Este is nothing short of incredible. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to live in a place like that!

Sadly, the building is gated and off-limits to the public, so we were not able to view the interior courtyard. We did catch a tiny glimpse of it through the front gate, though, and it is simply breathtaking! I can only imagine how perfect and peaceful it would be to sit there with my laptop, blogging the day away, with no sounds to distract me but the flow of water from the many nearby fountains. Sigh!

In a cool twist, Lou Ferrigno’s house from I Love You, Man, which I blogged about here, is visible from the street out in front of the property.

As is the world-famous Laugh Factory Comedy Club.

In Under the Yum Yum Tree, Villa d’Este stands in for the Centaur Apartments, where a skirt-chasing landlord named Hogan (Jack Lemmon) rents units to young, naïve, female coeds in the hopes of bedding them. Only the exterior of the building was used in the movie.

The lush, tiered interior courtyard that appeared in the flick was just a set – an amazingly huge and detailed set, but a set nonetheless. I actually almost prefer the onscreen courtyard to its real life counterpart. It is amazing to me that set design was that advanced back in 1963 when Under the Yum Yum Tree was filmed! I mean, the faux courtyard pictured below is even more realistic and beautiful than the one that was featured on Melrose Place almost thirty years later!

The red-hued apartment that Hogan called home was also just a set.

As was the adorable apartment where Robin Austin (Carol Lynley) and her fiancé, Dave Manning (Dean Jones), lived. You can check out what the interior of an actual Villa d’Este apartment looks like on fave website CurbedLA here. Talk about character! The place just oozes charm! Back in 2008, when the CurbedLA article was written, a one-bedroom Villa d’Este apartment rented for a cool $3,450 a month, while a two-bedroom went for $4,500. Yikes!

Besides being a filming location, Villa d’Este has also been home to countless celebrities over the years, especially during the heyday of Hollywood. According to my buddy E.J. over at The Movieland Directory website, just a few of the luminaries who have lived there include silent film actresses Pola Negri, Theda Bara, Priscilla Dean, Jetta Goudal, and Mabel Normand, voiceover actor Charles Judels, and legendary director Cecil B. DeMille.

I mentioned in last Monday’s post that I was about to begin a new project that I was very excited about. Well, that project is finally off the ground and I would like to share it with my fellow stalkers. I just started a diabetes blog (because I have so much extra time – ha! ) called The Well-Heeled Diabetic. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes seven years ago and, since that time, have learned a lot about the disease and think I might be able to help others who are afflicted. If you would like to check it out, you can do so at www.wellheeleddiabetic.com. And if you happen to know someone who is diabetic, please pass the site along to them.

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Villa d’Este, aka the Centaur Apartments from Under the Yum Yum Tree, is located at 1355 North Laurel Avenue in West Hollywood. You can visit the building’s official website here.

July 2, 2012
The “Beaches” Cottage

For Mother’s Day this year, my mom decided that she wanted to take a little weekend getaway to Newport Beach with my dad, the Grim Cheaper and me. I was absolutely thrilled over her choice of destination as while we were vacationing at the Hyatt Huntington Beach, aka the Beverly Hills Beach Club from 90210 (which I blogged about here), for the GC’s birthday last year, I happened to come across an article on South Bay filming locations in an area-attractions magazine that had been put in our room. One of the locations mentioned in the article was the Crystal Cove Historic District’s Cottage #13, which had been featured in the 1988 film Beaches. I was absolutely floored to learn of the locale as I had previously been under the impression that the Beaches cottage was located on the East Coast, near Coney Island where the flick’s opening scenes were lensed. And while I immediately added the address to my To-Stalk list, we unfortunately did not have time to go there that particular weekend. So before checking into our hotel for our Mother’s Day vacay a few weeks ago, I dragged the GC right on over to Crystal Cove State Park to finally stalk the place

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The Crystal Cove Historic District encompasses 12.3 acres of coastal land running along a 3.5-mile stretch of picturesque shoreline. The site was first developed in the late 1800s as a cattle ranch, then later as a sheep farm, and then later still, in a fortuitous twist, as a South Seas-style set for the movie industry. At the time, the property was owned by San Francisco-financier James Irvine (and later his son, James Irvine II), who had purchased it in 1864 from Jose Andres Sepulveda, who, in turn, had acquired it from the Mexican government in 1836. During the early 1900s, countless silent film productions came in, planted palm trees and built thatched-roof shacks for movies such as Treasure Island (1918), The Sea Wolf (1920), Stormswept (1923), White Shadows in the South Seas (1928), Half a Bridge (1928), and Sadie Thompson (1928). Some of those shacks were left behind after shooting wrapped and became homes for the Irvine’s friends and employees.

The Irvines also allowed their friends and employees to build custom cottages on the beachfront site, most with thatched roofs to accommodate film production. Forty-six cottages in all popped up during the 1920s and 1930s, each constructed by hand using salvaged materials, including wooden pieces from a shipwrecked vessel that washed ashore in 1927. Miraculously, thanks to a leasing contract clause and some avid preservationists, each of the 46 original bungalows remains standing to this day. In the 1930s, the Irvine family decided to give their tenants the option of either moving their homes off the land or of transferring over ownership and paying monthly rent on the cottages. For whatever reason, the family added a clause to each lease which stipulated that no portion of the small dwellings was to be altered.

The State of California purchased the land from the Irvines in 1979 and offered all then-tenants a twenty-year lease on their cottages. That same year, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places, which listed the bungalows as “the last intact example of California beach vernacular architecture”. Once the twenty-year leases had expired in 1999, the state began showing interest in demolishing and vastly restructuring the cottages in order to make way for a large resort hotel. Thankfully, a Pasadena resident/local preservationist named Martha Padve, who regularly vacationed at Crystal Cove, joined forces with several other concerned citizens and formed the Crystal Cove Alliance, which ended up saving the site. Today, the cottages, which recently underwent an extensive two-phase restoration process, are offered to the public as extremely reasonably-priced vacation rentals.

I can honestly say that the Crystal Cove Historic District is one of the most adorable places I have ever visited. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to vacation there! The beachfront enclave features 22 charming vacation rentals, the quaintest little general store/gift shop that I have ever seen, an exhibit center, a park and marine research facility, a Ruby’s Shake Shack, and The Beachcomber Café (pictured below)– a fabulous toes-in-the-sand restaurant where the GC and I grabbed lunch – and some champagne, of course! I honestly cannot more highly recommend stalking the site! Setting foot on the grounds is like stepping back to a simpler time – one which definitely encapsulates the Cove’s longtime motto, “Where every night is Saturday night and Saturday night is New Year’s Eve”. Love it!

Towards the end of Beaches, longtime friends Hillary Whitney Essex (Barbara Hershey) and CC Bloom (Bette Midler), along with Hillary’s daughter, Victoria Essex (Grace Johnston), spend the summer at Hillary’s beach house. As you can see below, the cottage looks quite a bit different today than it did onscreen in 1988. I am fairly certain, though, that the structure has always been the same basic shape and that set designers added the A-line roof for the filming.

The cottage’s porch area was used extensively during the filming.

The interior of Hillary’s beach house was just a set, though. As you can see below, the real life interior of Cottage #13 is much, much smaller than what appeared onscreen.

Although it does appear that one of the cottage’s actual rooms was used in the filming.

The Beaches cottage, which is currently under renovation and will eventually serve as Crystal Cove’s film museum (how cool is that???), has a plaque on display on its front gate that alerts visitors of its cinematic history, which I was absolutely FLOORED to discover! Why don’t the owners of ALL movie locations do something like this?

I was also floored to discover that the porch area is completely accessible to the public!

Oh yeah, just hanging out at Hillary’s house.

The cottage also boasts some amazing views, as you can see below.

As you can see in this May 2010 picture from the Finding the Famous blog, before the recent renovation the home was in pretty bad shape. Thank goodness for the Crystal Cove Alliance!

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: There is no real address for this location. The Beaches cottage, aka Cottage #13, is located in the Crystal Cove Historic District, inside of Crystal Cove State Park, in Newport Beach. The best way to describe how to get there is to head to The Beachcomber Café, which is located at 15 Crystal Cove in Newport Beach. You will have to park across the street from the park at the Los Trancos Parking Lot, which is located on the Pacific Coast Highway just south of Newport Coast Drive. Parking is $15 per car, but the café does validate. Then either walk or take a shuttle (which costs $2 a person, each way) to the park (I would recommend walking). Reservations are highly recommended for The Beachcomber as the place was absolutely jammed when we were there and the bar area was pretty much standing-room-only. The Beaches cottage is located about 8 houses east of the café. You can visit the official Crystal Cove Beach Cottages Website here.

June 20, 2012
Red Carpet Wine & Spirits from “Crazy, Stupid, Love.”

A couple of weeks ago, a fellow stalker named Emily wrote a comment on my post about the Weaver house from fave movie Crazy, Stupid, Love. in which she informed me that the liquor store that appeared in the flick was Red Carpet Wine & Spirits (what a great name!) in Glendale. As fate would have it, I had been looking for that wine shop for what seemed like ages and could NOT have been more excited to read Emily’s comment. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a few days later and, amazingly enough, our visit turned out to be one of the best stalks of my entire “career”! Thank you, Emily!

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As soon as we set foot in Red Carpet Wine & Spirits, owner H.K. Hedlund walked up to us to ask if he could help us find anything. When I explained the reason behind our visit, he immediately directed us to the exact spot where filming took place and then proceeded to fill us in on tons of behind-the-scenes information. (And yes, I was definitely pinching myself!) H.K. ended up chatting with us for well over an hour, showed us photographs he had taken of the Crazy, Stupid, Love. shoot, dished on some of the celebs who have been spotted in his shop over the years, and told me that I could take all of the pictures of the place that I wanted. Um, yes please! As you can imagine, I was in absolute heaven!

Red Carpet Wine & Spirits was originally founded in 1964 by a man named John Vincenti. Twenty-three years later it was purchased by a retailer named David Dobbs, who, after deciding he wanted to move to Bakersfield, put the place on the market once again in late 2006. Hearing the shop was for sale, many of Dobb’s longtime employees quit and, in a twist of fate, H.K., who at the time owned an importing and wholesale beer business, was brought on to help out during the busy holiday season. H.K. ended up liking the place so much that he purchased it, along with his wife, Lisa, in October 2007. After taking over, the duo, who both grew up in nearby Arcadia, added an adorable wine-tasting room (pictured below) featuring three Enomatic wine dispensers which offer 2-ounce pours for as little as $2. Red Carpet, which boasts a huge and loyal following, hosts numerous onsite events in the wine room each year, including a book signing in July 2010 which featured Jennifer Aniston’s private chef, Jewels Elmore, who authored “The Family Chef: Make Your Kitchen the Heart of your Family”. So incredibly cool! The wine-tasting room can also be booked out for private parties which run from $10 to $20 per person.

Red Carpet, which WineSeller Magazine deemed “One of California’s most renowned wine shops”, currently carries over 1,200 different wines, 1,500 different spirits and 800 different beers, procured from all over the world. Unlike most run-of-the-mill wine stores, the oenophiles who work there actually sample every single libation that lines their shelves, so when I asked for a dry, average-priced champagne recommendation, H.K. was able to speak from experience. The champagne he directed me towards, which I enjoyed on my birthday, was fabulous! H.K. prides himself on his staff’s superior customer service, which I was lucky enough to witness firsthand. When I inquired about the most recent vintage of Marilyn Merlot wine (which you may remember me blogging about here), H.K. informed me that they were sold out, but that he would track down a bottle for me and deliver it right to my door. When I told him that was not necessary, being that I live about ten minutes from the shop and could easily come by to pick it up, he insisted and informed me that home delivery was just one of the many services that he and his team offer, free of charge mind you! Red Carpet is an amazing wine shop and I honestly cannot more highly recommend stalking it – or throwing a party there!

In Crazy, Stupid, Love., Red Carpet Wine & Spirits was where Jacob Palmer (cutie Ryan Gosling – sigh!) and Hannah (Emma Stone) shopped for wine before heading to Hannah’s mom’s house for dinner. According to H.K., one of the movie’s producers is a long-time customer of the shop, which is how it came to be used in the flick.

It was while there that Jacob made a phone call to his friend Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) and confided in him that he had met a girl who was a “game-changer”. So I , of course, just had to imitate Jacob talking on the phone while I was there.

H.K. and Lisa even appeared briefly in the background of the scene! How lucky are they?!? You can check out some fabulous photographs that H.K. took during the filming here.

H.K. informed us that Red Carpet Wine had also appeared in the Season 5 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “Crime Doesn’t Pay”, in the scene in which Dave Williams (Neal McDonough), while shopping for wine with his new wife, Edie Britt (Nicollette Sheridan), ran into Father Drance (Don Moss), the priest who performed his then-wife and daughter’s funeral a few years prior.

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Emily for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Red Carpet Wine & Spirits, from Crazy, Stupid, Love., is located at 400 East Glenoaks Boulevard in Glendale. You can visit the store’s official website here.

June 19, 2012
Afton Arms – “The Boys Next Door” Apartment Building

A couple of months ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, informed me of a location that he thought was right up my alley due to its vast and storied Hollywood history – the Afton Arms apartment building from the movie The Boys Next Door. After Mike mentioned it, I attempted to watch the 1985 flick – which centers around a Los Angeles killing spree – on more than one occasion, but it was, sadly, far too dark for this stalker’s liking and I never ended up finishing it. But I decided to do some research on the Afton Arms anyway and, let me tell you, the information I dug up had me practically salivating at the mouth! So I immediately added the building to my To-Stalk list and finally dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Hollywood to see the place in person this past Saturday afternoon.

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The 42-unit Afton Arms apartment building was originally built in in 1924 and was designed by Leland Bryant, the prolific architect who also designed the Sunset Tower Hotel (one of my favorite spots in L.A.), Granville Towers (Portia de Rossi’s former home), the Harper House [where Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) was murdered in Scream 3], and the Romanesque Villa Apartments (where my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe once lived). Afton Arms has had countless claims to fame over the years, the most notorious of which is the legend that one of its apartments was the site of regular trysts between Joseph Kenney and actress Gloria Swanson during the 1920s. Whether or not the two ever set foot on the property, though, is anyone’s guess, but what is known is that Afton Arms has been home to several Hollywood luminaries (my buddy E.J.’s Movieland Directory’s page on the place is one of the most extensive on his entire website) and the location of several murders (one in 1987) and deaths (on June 27, 1988, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Hillel Slovak was found dead of a drug overdose in apartment #114).

In 1972, a man named General Hershey Bar (I’m not making this up!) took over the management of the Afton Arms and renamed the place “The Happy Malaga Castle” (again, not making this up!). After Mr. Bar’s short tenure as manager, the building went through a succession of different caretakers, fell into serious disrepair and became home to more than a few seedy characters. Journalist Rob A. Campbell states in a fabulous September 20th, 1995 Los Angeles Times article on the property, “Though the Castle was listed as ‘Best Hollywood Apartment Building’ in the L.A. Weekly, its major assets were ‘a plausible little garden’ and ‘easiest place to buy cocaine.’” LOL He also says, “the Castle was so notorious with local police that officers would show up two or three times a day, whether called or not.” Thankfully, long-time resident Ynot Navillus finally took over management of the building and saw to it that the Arms was restored to its original grandeur – and name. Of the process, Ynot said, “When you bring light and air into a situation in the form of service and cleanliness, those who need a dank environment depart. Then there are those who respond to the change of the environment and they themselves change and end up staying. Those are the success stories.”

Today, Afton Arms is a gorgeous (albeit slightly overgrown) vine-covered property, one which I doubt the local police ever have much reason to visit. The place was named Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument Number 463 on November 3, 1989.

In The Boys Next Door, best friends Roy Alston (Maxwell Caulfield) and Bo Richards (Charlie Sheen) take a road trip to Los Angeles shortly following their high school graduation. During their trip, they meet a man at a bar and wind up going back to his apartment at the Afton Arms, where they randomly murder him. Like I said, it’s a dark movie. As you can see below, thanks to the abundant foliage that now covers the structure, it looks quite a bit different today than it did in 1985 when The Boys Next Door was filmed. In fact, it is, sadly, almost unrecognizable. Major kudos to Mike for finding it!

And while I cannot say for sure, I am fairly certain that the real life interior of one of the Afton Arms apartments was used in the filming. You can check out some pics of a unit that is currently for lease in the building here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location and convincing me to stalk it!

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Afton Arms, aka The Happy Malaga Castle, aka The Boys Next Door apartment building, is located at 6141 Afton Place in Hollywood.

May 25, 2012
The “Clueless” Party House

One location that I have been wanting to stalk for what seems like ages now is the party house from fave movie Clueless. Because the property is located in Granada Hills, though, and because I rarely travel that far deep into the San Fernando Valley, it was quite a long while before I finally made it out there. But make it out there, I did, one dark and dreary afternoon (as you can see above) back in March. And I can honestly say that this is one location that was absolutely worth the wait! I could NOT have been more excited to be stalking the house and was literally pinching myself the whole time! Not even the intermittent rain could dampen this stalker’s spirits on that particular day!

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In Clueless, Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), Dionne (Stacey Dash), Murray (Donald Faison), and Tai (Brittany Murphy) venture outside of Beverly Hills for the evening in order to attend a high school party being held at a house located in the dreaded “Valley”. As you can see below, the party house still looks very much the same today as it did back in 1995 when Clueless was filmed, minus the Christmas decorations, of course. Even the exterior metal stairway railing leading up to the front porch is still there! Love it, love it, love it! And, as fate would have it, I had a little Clueless moment of my very own right as we pulled up to the residence and I heard the thump-thump-thump of a nearby helicopter. If you’ll recall, a helicopter happened to be flying overhead during the Clueless party scene when Cher was on the phone with her father, causing him to ask if she was in Kuwait, to which she replied, “Is that in the Valley?” LOL LOL LOL Man, I love that movie!

While we were snapping pics of the house, the owners happened to come outside and were nice enough to chat with us for a bit. They informed us that the filming of the party scene took a whopping two weeks to complete and that the real life interior of the property, including the kitchen where Elton (whom I just realized was played by actor Jeremy Sisto!) revived Tai and the bathroom where Murray shaved his head, was used in the shoot.

The actual backyard and pool area also appeared in the movie. I was so hoping the owners would invite me inside for a little tour, but, unfortunately, that did not happen.

An aerial view of the backyard, courtesy of Bing, is pictured below. As you can see, the green fence that once surrounded the pool is now, sadly, gone.

In real life, the Clueless party house, which was originally built in 1963, boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,716 square feet of living space, and 0.54 acres of land. The owners informed us that producers ended up choosing their home for the filming because they thought that it looked like the archetypal “Valley” residence. And I have to say that I agree with them. The Clueless party house is extremely reminiscent of another famous Valley dwelling – the home where Jan, Cindy, Marcia and the rest of the Brady clan lived on fave show The Brady Bunch.

Be sure to “Like” IAMNOTASTALKER on Facebook here and “Friend” me on my personal page here. You can also check out the IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page here. And you can follow me on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Clueless party house is located at 16401 Knollwood Drive in Granada Hills.

May 10, 2012
The “Some Kind of Wonderful” Party House

While I was stalking Steff’s mansion from Pretty in Pink, which I blogged about last Thursday, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, texted me to let me know that the party house from another classic John Hughes-penned ‘80s movie, 1987’s Some Kind of Wonderful, was located literally just around the corner on Hudson Avenue. So I, of course, dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there to stalk the place. I have to admit that I had actually not seen Some Kind of Wonderful in years, so as soon as the GC and I got home that evening, I popped in my DVD of the flick and was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I had completely forgotten what a cute movie it is.

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In Some Kind of Wonderful, Keith Nelson (Eric Stoltz) takes his dream girl, Amanda Jones (Lea Thompson), on an uber-date all over the city of Los Angeles. One of their stops is the mansion belonging to Amanda’s former boyfriend, mean-boy Hardy Jenns (Craig Sheffer), where a high school party is being held.

I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the home was used in the filming of the party scene, as well, but I was unable to find any photographs of the place online with which to verify that hunch.

In real life, the Some Kind of Wonderful party house, which was originally built in 1925, boasts seven bedrooms, six baths, 6,488 square feet, and almost half an acre of land. As you can see below, the Tudor-style mansion is quite spectacular in person. While the GC and I were outside snapping pics of the place, the owners happened to pull out of their driveway and, when they saw us, they waved with a look on their face which suggested that fans stalking their home was a regular occurrence. Love it!

As it turns out, Some Kind of Wonderful and Pretty in Pink share more in common than their writer, director (Howard Deutch), and Hancock Park filming locations. According to IMDB’s Pretty in Pink trivia page, the original ending of the flick had Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) and Duckie (Jon Cryer) winding up together. After a poor reaction from test audiences, though, the studio forced John Hughes to write a new ending in which Andie would choose Blaine McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy). Hughes never apparently liked the way the flick turned out and, in response, wrote an almost identical story the following year, but with the ending he wanted. That story turned out to be Some Kind of Wonderful. While re-watching the flick, I was amazed at the many similarities it had to Pretty in Pink. Excluding the ending, the two movies are virtually one and the same. In another interesting twist, Hughes wanted Molly Ringwald to play Amanda Jones in Some Kind of Wonderful (a role that ultimately went to Lea Thompson), but, hoping to branch out from her teen princess roles, she turned down the part and Molly and Hughes did not speak for the next twenty years.

My friend Owen let me know that the very same pad also portrayed the residence of Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) in the 1983 made-for-television movie The Day After.

On a stalking side-note – my good friend Nat set up an IAMNOTASTALKER Facebook page for me a few years back, but, for whatever reason, I never really did anything with it. Well, all that is about to change! I finally added a cover photo and will be regularly updating my News Feed. So, if you get a chance, be sure to head on over there and gimme a “Like”. You can also “friend” me on Facebook page here. I just created an IAMNOTASTALKER About Me page, as well, which you can check out here. And if you are not already following me on Twitter, you can do so here. Yes, my fellow stalkers, IAMNOTASTALKER is finally taking it to the next level! Woot woot!

And on another stalking side-note – while watching Extra being taped last Thursday afternoon at The Grove, I got picked to ask actor Colin Egglesfield an on-air question. That is me with host Renee Bargh and Colin below. Big THANK YOU to my girl, Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, for snapping the pics! The episode should be airing sometime this week, so keep your eyes peeled! I have been watching Extra over the past couple of days, though, and it does not seem as if the fan questions ever actually air, but fingers crossed that mine will!

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Some Kind of Wonderful party house is located at 516 South Hudson Avenue in Hancock Park. Liam Court’s (cutie Matt Lanter – sigh!) house from fave show 90210 is located just up the street at 401 South Hudson Avenue. Steff’s mansion from Pretty in Pink is located right around the corner at 366 South June Street in Hancock Park. The Erle M. Leaf House, aka the Residence of the Los Angeles British Consuls-General where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, stayed in July 2011, is also located right around the corner at 450 South June Street.

May 7, 2012
Steff’s House from “Pretty in Pink”

This past Saturday afternoon, a fellow stalker named “Pookie” posted a comment on my site in which she mentioned that the mansion where Steff (James Spader) lived in 1986’s Pretty in Pink was located just up the street from the the Residence of the Los Angeles British Consuls-General where Kate Middleton and Prince William stayed in July 2011, which I blogged about last month. As it turns out, Pookie’s parents live right around the corner from the Pretty in Pink dwelling and she was lucky enough to have witnessed some of the filming of the iconic 80s flick when it took place back in 1985. Well, as you can imagine, I was extremely excited about learning the location of Steff’s house, and, since we were only a few miles away at the time, asked the Grim Cheaper to take me right on over there to stalk the place.

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In real life, Steff’s house is absolutely stunning and looks like it belongs in a neighborhood somewhere on the East Coast and not in the heart of Los Angeles’ Hancock Park. The French chateau-style property, which was originally designed in 1927 by the Webber, Staunton & Spaulding architecture firm, boasts seven bedrooms, a whopping eight baths, 7,140 square feet of living space, over half an acre of land, four fireplaces, original chandeliers and wall sconces, formal gardens, a reflecting pond, a three-car garage, a separate guest apartment, and (according to a comment left by Evan on The Houses of Hancock Park blog) a third floor that inexplicably houses a disco. The mansion was recently sold, in May of last year, for a cool $5 million. You can check out the real estate listing here.

One odd thing I noticed about the house, though, was that one of its windows has been completely cemented over, as you can see below. Even odder still is the fact that the cemented-over space still remains flanked by shutters.

Most odd of all, though, is the fact that the window even appears to have been covered over way back in 1985 when Pretty in Pink was filmed. Why in almost three decades worth of time did the homeowners not remove the shutters? Or re-install the window? Very, very strange.

Steff’s mansion, which is supposedly located in Elgin, Illinois, shows up three times in Pretty in Pink. It first pops up towards the beginning of the movie in the scene in which Andie Walsh (Molly Ringwald) and Duckie (John Cryer) are shown driving through a ritzy neighborhood late at night. As Andie stops to admire the residence, she announces that it is her favorite on the whole street and then poignantly says, “ You know what the really sad thing is, though? I bet the people that live there don’t think it’s half as pretty as I do.“

The mansion next shows up in the scene in which Blane McDonnagh (Andrew McCarthy) brings Andie to a party at his best friend Steff’s house.

As you can see from the screen captures and photographs (which I got off of the property’s real estate listing) below, the home’s actual interior was used in that scene, as well. It is amazing how little the residence has changed over the past 27 years. Love it!

It even appears that the very same headboard that was used in the movie is still there in real life! So incredibly cool!

Finally, the mansion’s library area popped up towards the end of Pretty in Pink in the scene in which Steff tells Blaine that he will stop being friends with him if he continues to date “trash” like Andie. As you can see in the screen capture and photograph below, the very same curtains, chair, desk, and stool which appeared in the movie are still there in real life. INCREDIBLE!

Thanks to the Scarecrow and Mrs. King forum, I learned that Steff’s house also appeared extensively in the Season 1 episode titled “Waiting for Godorsky” as the supposed Washington, D.C.-area mansion of Princess Sophia Valosky (Hildegard Knef).

As you can see, the window was even covered over way back in early 1984 when the episode was filmed.

The interior of the mansion also appeared briefly in Scarecrow and Mrs. King.

Back in June 2010, the Before the Trailer website mentioned that Dior was filming at the residence and, after doing some digging online, I discovered that the filming was actually for the Miss Dior fragrance campaign that starred actress Natalie Portman. Ironically enough, while the spot was supposed to take place in Paris and the vast majority of it was, in fact, lensed in the City of Light, a small portion of it was shot at Steff’s mansion! As you can see below, the awning and wading pool which appeared in the Dior commercial match up exactly to those which can be seen on the home’s real estate listing, although a fountain was added to the pool for the shoot.

The statues affixed to the plant pots that can be seen in the background of the shoot also match up to the statues that appear in the listing.

And finally, the large swan statue that is visible in the background of the ad matches the one that appears in the home’s listing.

You can watch the Dior ad by clicking below.

Natalie Portman Dior Ad Filmed at Steff’s Mansion from “Pretty in Pink”

On a Pretty in Pink side-note – my girl Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, and I were lucky enough to meet James Spader a couple of weeks ago after we randomly spotted the star leaving a movie theatre. And while we had heard that he could be unfriendly, I am very happy to report that he was extremely nice and seemed quite amused at our excitement over seeing him.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Steff’s mansion from Pretty in Pink is located at 366 South June Street in Hancock Park. The Erle M. Leaf House, aka the Residence of the Los Angeles British Consuls-General where Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, stayed in July 2011, is located right down the street at 450 South June Street.

May 3, 2012
The “Jack and Jill” House

This past Sunday afternoon, while doing some stalking in the Pacific Palisades area, I dragged the Grim Cheaper over to Amalfi Drive to stalk the main house used in the 2011 movie Jack and Jill. And I should mention here that while I did not have very high hopes for Jack and Jill before watching it a couple of weeks ago, both the GC and I ended up really enjoying it. Granted, it is by no means a classic, nor will it be winning any major awards any time soon, but it is sweet and funny and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion. I also absolutely fell in love with the uh-ma-zing Mediterranean-style mansion where advertising executive Jack Sadelstein (Adam Sandler) lived in the flick and became just a wee-bit obsessed with stalking it. Thankfully, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, was able to track it down for me.

While watching Jack and Jill, Mike had noticed an address number of “343” visible on the curb in the background of the scene in which gardener Felipe (Eugenio Derbez) drove Jack’s visiting twin sister, Jill Sadelstein (who was also played by Adam Sandler), home from a party. Mike knew that the residence was located somewhere in Pacific Palisades thanks to an article on the Gambino Landscape Lighting blog and began searching aerial views of the area for Mediterranean mansions with a “343” in their number. Amazingly, it was not long before he found the right one. So I immediately added the address to my “To-Stalk” list and headed on over there on what turned out to be a very dreary and dismal afternoon, one which I did not dress at all appropriately for. I am surprised my lips are not blue in the first picture on this post.

The Jack and Jill house was just recently built in 2005 and boasts 8 bedrooms, 8 baths, 10,160 square feet of living space, and 0.64 acres of land. As you can see on this Estately.com listing, a completely different residence once stood on the site, one that was built in 1948 and measured 3 bedrooms, 3 baths and 3,686 square feet, but it was sold in July 2002 (for a whopping $4 million, mind you) and subsequently torn down to make way for the Mediterranean manse pictured above.

Aerial views of the home show that there used to be a residence located next door, as well.

But that property has also since been leveled and its land now makes up the backyard of the Jack and Jill house;

as you can see above.

While we were stalking the house, a woman who lives in the area walked by and asked why we were taking pictures. When I told her that the home was where Adam Sandler lived in Jack and Jill, she got very excited and said she could not wait to tell her nieces and nephews the next time they came to visit. I SO love it when I inform random strangers about filming locations and they actually get excited, ‘cause, let me tell you, most of the time people (from L.A., at least) could care less. I am definitely an anomaly in this city.

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In Jack and Jill, the Mediterranean-style mansion was where Jack lived with his family – wife Erin (Katie Holmes), daughter Sofia (Elodie Tougne) and son Gary (Rohan Chand). The exterior of the residence was shown repeatedly throughout the movie.

Al Pacino, who played a crazy version of himself in the flick, even filmed a scene outside of the home’s front gate, which I somehow did not get a picture of. Fail!

The property’s real life backyard and pool area also appeared in the flick.

The interior of the Sadelstein house was just a set, though. You can check out some photographs of the property’s real life interior here and, as you can see, it does not match up at all to what appeared onscreen.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Jack and Jill house is located at 1343 Amalfi Drive in Pacific Palisades.

April 24, 2012
The “Teen Wolf” Liquor Store

While out stalking in the San Gabriel Valley three Thursdays ago, on our way to visit Clark Magnet High School where Kris Witherspoon (my girl Shannen Doherty) went to school in the 1986 television series Our House (which I have yet to blog about), Mike, from MovieShotsLA, made a quick (pardon the pun) detour to Quick Stop Liquor, the very same liquor store that appeared in 1985’s Teen Wolf. Mike had found this location years beforehand, while searching for locales from the 1986 thriller River’s Edge, which was also filmed in the area. And even though I live fairly close to Tujunga, where the liquor store is located, for whatever reason I had never ventured out to stalk it. So, since we were just around the corner, Mike insisted we stop by. (On a side-note – I have been playing around with the colors and sizes of my photographs lately. Would love to hear what my fellow stalkers think! )

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Quick Stop Liquor, which was named Tony’s Liquor in the flick, shows up twice in Teen Wolf. It first pops up in the scene in which Stiles (Jerry Levine), donning a trucker hat, sunglasses and a shirt that says “Obnoxious: The Movie”, tries to purchase a keg of beer from the store’s curmudgeonly owner (Harvey Vernon) before heading to a house party, the location of which I blogged about here.

The liquor store’s real life interior also appeared in that scene.

Quick Stop Liquor shows up once again a few scenes later when Stiles convinces his best friend/teen werewolf, Scott Howard (Michael J. Fox), to attempt to buy a keg, using a water gun as intimidation, from the same curmudgeonly shop owner.

The shop’s real life interior was also used in that scene, as well.

It is while there that Scott has one of his very first experiences as a werewolf. After being denied the keg and being chewed out by the shop owner, Scott gets just a wee bit angry, his eyes turn red, his voice deepens quite a few octaves, and he utters the film’s famous line, “GIVE ME. A KEG. OF BEER!”

While the exterior of Quick Stop Liquor is now pink (although I am not typically a fan of change, pink is my favorite color, so I have to say, “Yay!”) and the sign and store name have since been altered, the place looks pretty much the same as it did in Teen Wolf, despite the fact that almost three full decades have since passed. So incredibly cool!

Sadly though, a building has since been constructed in the area directly next to the liquor store, where Stiles and Scott parked their cars in Teen Wolf.

While stalking the place, Mike and I ventured inside to ask the woman working if we could snap some pictures. And while she was reticent at first, once Mike showed her his Teen Wolf page on MovieShotsLA and she realized that Quick Stop had appeared in a film, she got pretty excited. I so love it when that happens! As you can see above, while the interior of the store has changed a bit over the years, it is still pretty recognizable from the movie.

The woman also confirmed for us that the store’s front counter had been shortened in recent years, which is such a shame! I so would have loved to have seen the place in its original form!

“Teen Wolf” Liquor Store Scene Filmed at Quick Stop Liquor in Tujunga

You can watch the Teen Wolf “GIVE ME A KEG OF BEER” scene by clicking above.

On a stalking side-note – fellow stalker Allen Fuqua, of the Movie Mimic website, recently contacted me to ask if I would like to reenact a scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High with him. I, of course, readily agreed and this past Sunday afternoon, the two of us, Grim Cheaper in tow, ventured out to Van Nuys High School to attempt a Movie Mimic. The result is pictured above. I had an absolute blast movie-mimicking and getting to meet Allen and the photograph he created far exceeded my expectations. I highly recommend checking out Allen’s fabulous site, in which he travels to places ALL OVER THE WORLD (the guy has been EVERYWHERE, including London where he reenacted stills from my favorite movie of all time, Love Actually) and recreates iconic scenes from iconic movies. Love it! And, in an AMAZING twist, this past weekend The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences/The Oscars posted our Fast Times pic on their Facebook page. PINCH ME!

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Quick Stop Liquor, aka the Teen Wolf liquor store, is located at 6670 Foothill Boulevard in Tujunga.

April 23, 2012