Category: Movie Locations

The Most Photographed Home in the World!

About three months ago my mom challenged me to find a house that had been used in a famous photograph back in the 1960s. The only information she remembered about the photograph was that it was an advertisement of some sort shot in black and white and that it featured two women sitting in a glass home that overlooked all of Los Angeles. With those small pieces of information, I got to googling and came up with . . . nothing. This went on for months with me having absolutely no luck in finding either the house or the advertisement she had been talking about. Then about two weeks ago while my mom was flipping through a magazine at a hair salon, she came across this photographwhich was described as “the most iconic image of Los Angeles”.   Sure enough it was the picture my mom had been talking about – only as it turns out it wasn’t an advertisement at all, but a photograph by legendary architectural photographer Julius Shulman. And the house featured in the image is actually quite well known. In fact, it has been called “the most photographed home in the world”. Its name is the Stahl House, otherwise known as Case Study House #22.

When my mom first described the home to me all those months ago, I had an inkling that it was either a John Lautner house or a Case Study House.   And sure enough, I was right! To tell you the truth, I don’t know a lot about the Case Study Houses. Up until a few weeks ago, I had never even seen a photograph of one. But my best friend Kylee has long been obsessed with the Houses and I had learned enough about them from her to know that the house my mom was describing just might be one. The Case Study project began in 1945, when John Entenza, editor of Art and Architecture Magazine, commissioned several legendary architects including Richard Nuetra, Raphael Soriano, Charles and Ray Eames, Eero Saarinen, Craig Ellwood, and Pierre Koenig to build affordable homes in California using mostly wood, steel, and glass. The houses were intended to be model homes which the typical American family could easily duplicate using affordable materials.

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Interestingly enough, the Stahl House which is arguably the most famous of all the Case Study Houses, wasn’t originally commissioned as one.   In 1954, a man named C.H. “Buck” Stahl purchased a vacant lot high up in the hills of Los Angeles at a cost of $13,500. Buck had the idea to build a house on the property constructed almost entirely of glass to showcase the lot’s incredible views. He said to the architects “I don’t care how you do it, there’s not going to be any walls in this wing.” He built a scale model of his dream home and started shopping the project around to different architects. They all told him his design was impossible, that it couldn’t be done. Enter architect Pierre Koenig, who at the time was involved in the Case Study Project. Pierre told Buck and his wife Carlotta that not only could the house be built, but that he wanted it to be a part of the Case Study Program. And thus Case Study House #22 was born. It is incredible to me that the most famous Case Study House wasn’t designed by an architect – it was designed by a man with a vision who wouldn’t take no for an answer.   The iconic photograph that was burned into my mother’s memory was actually taken before construction on the home had even been completed. Here is a great article detailing how the most famous photograph of Los Angeles came to be.

After my mom discovered the name of the house, I decided to do some research on it as I thought it would make for an interesting blog post. While searching the web I stumbled upon this website where I found out that it was possible to actually tour the home and I just about died! If only all of my stalking exploits were this easy! 🙂 I quickly made reservations for my mom and her friend and me and my best friend to take a tour of the legendary Stahl House the following week. And I must say, at the reasonable price of $20 per person, it was entirely worth it.

When you enter the front door of the house your mouth pretty much just drops to the floor at the site of the incredible views. Honestly I’ve never seen views like that anywhere in my entire life. They were literally breathtaking! And the house!!! Words can’t even properly describe the house! I can’t imagine living, or even getting to spend one night, there. Our tour, which lasted about an hour, was led by Buck Stahl’s widow and son, Carlotta and Mark Stahl, respectively. Mark said that growing up in the house he really had no idea how special it was. To him it was just his home. He said that only when he got a bit older and noticed his friends were always wanting to hang out there and swim in his pool, did he realize the home was anything out of the ordinary. I must say it was fascinating to be given a tour of the Stahl house by members of the actual Stahl family. Case Study House #22 is one of the only Case Study Houses that is still owned and occupied by the original residents, so it is in amazing condition. Due to the Stahl Family’s determination to keep the house true to its original form, the home is extremely expensive to maintain, which is why they started giving tours.

Another way the family generates revenue to maintain the home is by renting out the space as a filming location. Due to the house’s unique structure and striking views, Hollywood locations scouts come a-knockin’ quite frequently on the Stahl House door.

The house has been featured in countless movies including Playing By Heart (where it was used John Stewart’s house; pictured above) Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Galaxy Quest, The Final Power, Thirteenth Floor, The Marrying Man, Prescription Murder, Corina Corina, Nurse Betty, Where the Truth Lies, and Smog; the television shows Adam 12, Night Stalker, and Emergency;

the music videos for Wilson Phillips’ “Release Me”,

Scott Weiland’s “Missing Cleveland”,

and ATB’s “I Don’t Wanna Stop” ;

and dozens of commercials including one for Best Buy featuring the Black Eyed Peas.

The home was also featured in a Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen photo shoot for a 2003 issue of YM Magazine. I absolutely loved MK & A once upon a time (I even had their dolls!) and I used to collect every single magazine that featured the twins. So as soon as my my mom showed me the famous picture of the Stahl House taken by Julius Shulman, I said “Hey, that’s where Mary Kate and Ashley did their YM photo shoot.”  LOL It might not be award winning photography, but the above image is one that was burned into my memory for many years.    I so wanted to recreate the twins’ pose while touring the house, but, alas, venturing out on that ledge is not allowed. LOL 😉 You can see more photos from the Olsen’s YM shoot here.

My best friend and I did get to recreate Shulman’s famous photograph while at the house, though, and it has quickly become one of my favorite pictures of the two of us. I honestly cannot recommend taking a tour of the Stahl House enough! Go, go, go on this tour!! Even if you are not at all interested in architecture or filming locations, I can pretty much guarantee the house will still amaze you. Seeing it in person is an absolutely magical experience. The tour lasts about an hour and consists of a walk through of the main living area, kitchen, and the pool and spa area. The two bedrooms are currently off limits as they are undergoing a renovation. The Stahl House is fairly small, only 2,300 square feet, but I could have spent all day there! Tours can accommodate up to twenty people and are usually held on Saturdays and Sundays. Photographs for commercial use are not permitted and a photography waiver must be signed before being granted entry. The Stahl Family was kind enough to let me publish these photographs from my tour on my blog and for that I sincerely thank them.

Note: All photographs of the Stahl House are used with permission from the Stahl Trust.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Stahl House is located at 1635 Woods Drive in Los Angeles. The only way you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of it, though, is by paying for a tour as the house is located on a gated, private street. To find out specific tour information please visit the Stahl House Facebook page.

March 13, 2009
The Robinson House from “The Graduate”

A few weeks back fellow stalker Scott, from the Film in America website, asked me if I knew the location of the Robinson house and the Braddock house from the 1967 movie The Graduate.   He told me that he feared the locations of those homes were lost to history being that the movie was filmed over forty years ago and the addresses didn’t seem to be posted anywhere.   So I just had to get Mike from MovieShotsLA on the case – and sure enough he found the houses. Well, the house, actually, but I’ll get to that later. 🙂 While doing some cyberstalking Mike came across this Wikipedia article stating that the Robinson home was located on North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills, and after a quick search of Google Maps he found the house, right where Wikipedia said it would be. 🙂

The Robinson house looks much different today than it did back in 1967 when The Graduate was filmed. At the time of filming, the home had an all white exterior while today it has a red brick facade. My initial belief was that the brick exterior was added to the house sometime after filming had been completed, but after seeing the above screen capture, I realized that, in actuality, the home has always been brick. When The Graduate was filmed the bricks were just painted white. 🙂

Because the Robinson house looks so very different today than how it appeared onscreen forty years ago, I was shocked Mike was able to locate it. But he found two “landmarks” of a sort on Mrs. Robinson’s house that he used while searching Palm Drive. The first landmark was the wierd brown wooden design that appears to the left of the front door. The second was the house’s small peaked roof area. Both are pictured above. But here’s where things get really weird!

While looking at aerial images of the Palm Drive house, I realized that the pool area and backyard looked a whole lot like Benjamin Braddock’s backyard from the movie. Armed with a pretty big hunch I grabbed my Graduate DVD and fast-forwarded through the entire thing.  And sure enough, my hunch was correct – the front of the Braddock house is never shown in the Graduate – only the backyard is shown. And after looking at all of the Braddock backyard scenes one more time, I realized that the Braddock house and the Robinson house were one in the same!   LOL

So last week I dragged my boyfriend out to Beverly Hills to stalk the (one and only) Graduate house and while I was there taking photographs the owner happened to drive up. So, of course, I just had to talk to her! 🙂   I asked her if she lived in the home at the time The Graduate was filmed and her mouth pretty much just fell to the floor and she said “HOW did you know this was The Graduate house?” LOL I told her that my friend Mike was a master stalker and that he had found the house by doing some cyber-stalking. She confirmed that her home was indeed used in The Graduate, but said that she didn’t live in it at the time. She said that when she purchased the house about twenty years ago, the real estate agent was marketing it as “the Robinson house”. LOL Then I asked her if her backyard was in fact Benjamin Braddock’s backyard and once again her mouth just hung open. Apparently she didn’t realize who she was dealing with! LOL She told me that, in actuality, Benjamin Braddock’s backyard existed only on a soundstage, but that his backyard and pool area were indeed modeled after hers. I’m not sure she’s entirely correct on that, though. While I have no doubt that her backyard was re-created on a soundstage and that most of the filming probably took place there, if you watch some of the Graduate pool scenes closely it becomes obvious that at least some filming did actually take place at the Palm Drive home.

So, there you have it, the mystery of The Graduate houses is finally solved.   🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Graduate house is located at 607 North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills.

February 25, 2009
Get Out Of Line!

Those of you who read my blog regularly know that there’s only one thing I like better than stalking and that’s Starbucks. 🙂 Or any kind of coffee, really. So when Mike, from MovieShotsLA, called me up last Sunday morning and asked if I wanted to stalk a coffee shop with him, I believe my exact words were “How fast can you be here?” On a side-note, my grandma just started reading my blog and the other day she called me up and asked “So, who’s this Mike guy????” She was convinced my boyfriend must be upset about all the time Mike and I spend together stalking. And I really had to laugh at that one because I’m pretty sure my boyfriend wakes up every morning thanking his lucky stars that Mike and I found each other. You see, if Mike is out stalking with me, that means my boyfriend isn’t.  And I’d say he’s pretty happy about that. No, I’d have to say that not only does my boyfriend not mind Mike and I spending so much time together, but I’m pretty sure that at this point Mike is probably in the running to be my boyfriend’s best man in our wedding.

Anyway, the coffee shop that Mike wanted to stalk is named Bean Town Coffee Bar and it was featured several times in the 2005 Will Ferrell movie Kicking and Screaming. I just rented the movie last week and I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised watching it as it’s absolutely hilarious!! And my favorite scene in the whole movie is the one that takes place at Bean Town.  In the scene, Will Ferrell has just become addicted to coffee and shows up at his favorite coffee shop for his morning fix. But on this particular day the rather long line is moving far too slowly and Will has a total coffee meltdown. I have to say that I almost died laughing watching that scene because, let me tell you, I’ve been there! There are some mornings at Starbucks where I just want to tear my hair out because the line is taking so long!   My boyfriend bought me a taser (it’s pink!) a couple of months ago because he was worried about me walking to my car late at night after my acting classes and he’s always joking that one day he’s going to get a call from the police saying that I was arrested for tasing someone who was taking too long in the Starbucks line. While watching Will Ferrell’s meltdown scene, I was reminded of comedian John Pinette’s “Get Out Of Line” routine. It has to be my favorite comedy routine of all time!

In real life Bean Town is a super cute little coffee house, with exposed brick walls, comfy chairs, board games, outdoor tables, and live music on weekends. The staff is super friendly and boy is the coffee strong, but in a good way. 🙂 And no, the line didn’t move too slowly while we were there. Besides yummy coffee, Bean Town also serves up a wide array of homemade goodies, including cinnamon rolls, croissants, sandwiches, soups, and cookies.   And even though I am a Starbucks girl at heart, I will for sure be returning!   As the authors of the book Hometown Pasadena said “We’d live in Sierra Madre just for Bean Town – it’s the perfect coffee house.”

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Bean Town Coffee Bar is located at 45 North Baldwin Avenue in Sierra Madre. You can visit their website here.

February 24, 2009
Le Borghese Apartments

While Mike, from MovieShotsLA, was cyberstalking the ‘Til There Was You apartment building a few weeks ago, he came across a comment on a website which stated that the very same building from ‘Til There Was You was also used in the 2001 David Lynch thriller Mulholland Dr. Well, after doing a bit more research, Mike and I discovered that information is actually incorrect. While there was a Spanish style courtyard apartment building featured in Mulholland Dr., it was not the El Cabrillo apartments which I blogged about yesterday.   The building used in Mulholland Dr. is actually named Le Borghese and while it does not look very similar to El Cabrillo, both buildings are extremely picturesque and serene and it is easy to see how they might have been confused for each other.

I have yet to see Mulholland Dr., but I really want to now after researching this post. Especially since the movie centers around an actress trying to make it in the bizarre world of Hollywood. I’m pretty sure I can relate. 🙂 I have heard from more than person, though, that Mulholland Dr. is by far the strangest movie they have ever seen.   LOL In Mulholland Dr., Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) stays at the Le Borghese after moving to Hollywood to try her hand in show business. Ann Miller plays Betty’s apartment manager, CoCo, in her very last onscreen role.

Le Borghese was built back in 1929 by architect Charles Gault, who built a number of famous courtyard buildings in the L.A. area in the 1920s. Apparently a large olive tree existed on the lot where Le Borghese was to be built and instead of uprooting the tree, Charles ended up centering the building’s courtyard around it. That tree is still there today and is now over 100 years old. Luckily, Le Borghese’s front gates were wide open while I was stalking the place, so I got to venture inside for a little looksie. All I could think after stepping inside the building’s amazing central courtyard was “I want to live here!” 🙂 Le Borghese is quite an idyllic place. It is peaceful and serene, with koi fish and turtles swimming in the central fountain, numerous crawling wisteria vines, an outdoor fireplace, and light green benches tucked away in shaded alcoves.   After seeing the building in person, it is no surprise that Le Borghese was chosen to be featured on the cover of the book Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles. The building was also featured in the 1996 movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs. I highly recommend stalking Le Borghese as it is one of the most beautiful apartments I have ever seen! You can see more photographs of the building here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Le Borghese apartments are located at 450 North Sycamore Avenue in the Hancock Park area of Los Angeles.

February 19, 2009
The “‘Til There Was You” Apartment Building

Another day, another elusive location found thanks to Mike – God of Stalking – over at MovieShotsLA. 🙂 I have been challenged several times over the past few months to find the beautiful courtyard apartment building featured in the 1997 movie ‘Til There Was You. Unfortunately I had never seen the movie before and my local Blockbuster did not carry the title. And according to Amazon.com, the DVD had been discontinued by the manufacturer. So I thought I was really out of luck on this one, as without seeing the movie firsthand I had no idea what I was looking for. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I just happened to mention my quandry to Mike and he set out to find the location. Within about fifteen minutes Mike called me back with an address. Amazing! He had found the location by doing a simple Google search. And all this time I had been trying to find the DVD. But who needs a video or screen captures when you’ve got mad stalking skills like Mike? LOL  🙂

Once Mike had found the location – and once I found out that BOTH my girl Jen Aniston and SJP starred in the movie – I decided to make one last ditch effort to purchase the DVD. And sure enough, I found it on Ebay! The only problem? For sale was a Region 2 DVD, which meant it would only work on European DVD players. LOL  Thank God my boyfriend is good with computers, because somehow he was able to rig my laptop so that I could watch the movie.   So, finally – after about a six month long wait – I got to see ‘Til There Was You.  I must say that the movie was pretty cute. I wouldn’t recommend going through what I did to watch it, but if you happen to see it in a video store, it’s worth a rental. 🙂

The entire premise of ‘Til There Was You centers around the proposed demolition of a Spanish style courtyard apartment building named La Fortuna. In the movie the building has a very romantic quality to it and everyone who sets foot inside of its picturesque courtyard immediately falls in love with it. In real life that apartment building is named El Cabrillo and it is no stranger to the film industry. El Cabrillo was constructed in 1928 by none other than Cecil B. DeMille who needed a place to house his out of town actors. The building was designed by noted architects Arthur and Nina Zwebell, who built numerous Los Angeles courtyard style apartment buildings in the 1920’s, many of which are now on the National Register of Historic Places. Notables who have lived in the building at one time or another include transvetite actress Divine, actress Ann Harding, director Lowell Sherman, makeup artist Perc Westmore, and playwright John Willard.

Besides being featured in ‘Til There Was You, legend has it that El Cabrillo was also used in a Rudolph Valentino movie many moons ago. It is also currently being used as the home of the main character on the television series Chuck. Interestingly enough, Chuck’s pilot episode was actually filmed on location at El Cabrillo. The courtyard area and three different apartments were used for that episode. But once the show got picked up by NBC a replica of the apartments and the courtyard were rebuilt on a soundstage at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank.

Sadly, El Cabrillo’s gates were closed while I was stalking it, so I did not get to see the interior courtyard area. From the outside El Cabrillo is amazingly non-descript and completely covered in foliage. You could easily drive right past the building without realizing the beauty that lies just on the other side of its gates.

But for those of you who would like an up-close-and-personal look at the building, I have some good news!   A few of the units are currently available as vacation rentals. And it appears from the rental website photographs that El Cabrillo’s interiors are absolutely beautiful!! They actually remind me a lot of the interior of Amanda Peet’s apartment in fave movie A Lot Like Love. In fact the interiors are so similar, that I can’t help but wonder if the A Lot Like Love set was modeled after the interior of a real El Cabrillo apartment (both are pictured above).

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The ‘Til There Was You apartment building, aka El Cabrillo, is located at 1832-1850 North Grace Avenue in Hollywood.

February 18, 2009
“It Never Rains In Southern California . . . “

As the old Albert Hammond song says “It never rains in Southern California, but girl, don’t they warn ya, it pours man, it pours!” And pour it did almost all last week all over the normally sun drenched landscape of Los Angeles.  While on my way to stalk Burbank’s Handy Grocery Store in the pouring rain this past weekend, I happened to pass right by Walt Disney Studios on Buena Vista Street and was reminded about a story I once heard that seemed quite fitting of the day’s weather.

According to The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book, journalist Peter J. Boyer stated in a Vanity Fair article that Disney is “a place so reviled that even its architecture inspires nasty rumors, such as the apocryphal story that architect Michael Graves arranged the drainage system in the Disney headquarters building [aka the Team Disney building] in such a way that the huge sculpted Seven Dwarfs atop the edifice would seem to be peeing on Disney executives whenever it rained.” LOL So, since it just happened to be raining at the time, I pulled over to see if Boyer’s story had any merit. 🙂 After seeing the Dwarfs in person in the pouring rain, I have to admit that I think the anecdote is somewhat of an urban legend, but it still makes for a great story and hopefully a great blog post. 🙂

Walt Disney built his Burbank studio in 1940 after the enormous financial success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the world’s first full length animated feature film.  At the time it was built the 41 acre lot was comprised of four full size soundstages (there are now six), a backlot that included a Western town, a town square, a residential street, and a small pueblo (the entire backlot has since been demolished), and recreation areas for employees which included ping pong tables and a volleyball court. Over the years many productions have been filmed on the historic Disney lot, including That Darn Cat, Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Absent Minded Professor, The Swamp Fox, The Princess Diaries, Eight Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, Boy Meets World, Home Improvement, Lizzie Maguire, Less Than Perfect, and Mary Poppins. Ironically enough, Mary Poppins was filmed solely indoors, using up all four of the Disney Studio soundstages. Even the Cherry Tree Lane set where the Banks Family lived was built inside of a soundstage. Being a huge Mary Poppins fan myself, I was highly disappointed when I found this out as I had always hoped to one day see Cherry Tree Lane in person. 🙁  On an interesting side note, even though he passed away in 1966, Walt Disney still holds the record for most Academy Awards won by a single person.  In his lifetime, he won a incredible TWENTY-SIX Oscars!

Unfortunately, Disney does not currently offer tours of its studio. : (   But the good news is that the Team Disney building can be viewed from the street outside the studio gates.   If you are a big Disney fan, I highly recommend stalking the exterior of the building as it is very cool to see in person. The Seven Dwarf statues are absolutely HUGE. I was shocked at their size when I saw them in person as pictures simply do not do them justice!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Disney Studios is located at 500 S. Buena Vista Street in Burbank. The Team Disney building, with its Seven Dwarfs facade, can be viewed through the main gate located just around the corner on Alameda Avenue. Unfortunately the studio does not offer tours of its property. 🙁 But for $2,169 (per person!!!!!) you can purchase a 6 day/5 night “Hollywood and the Disneyland Resort” vacation from the Adventures by Disney Vacations company. One of the days consists of a behind the scenes tour of Walt Disney Studios.

February 13, 2009
Top of the Tower

While there are several restaurants in New York that I LOVE, there is one in particular that stands out far above the rest. That restaurant is named the Top of the Tower and it is located on the 26th floor of the Beekman Tower Hotel. Although the Top of the Tower has been one of my favorite places in all of New York for several years now, I had yet to blog about it because up until a few weeks ago, I didn’t realize it was a filming location – in one of my dad’s favorite movies no less! Two weeks ago, while looking at the Top of the Tower website, I noticed a small section mentioning that it had been used in film and video shoots. So I asked Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to call up the hotel to ask what exactly it had been featured in. For some reason making phone calls like that absolutely terrifies me. I love speaking with people face to face, but phone calls – ugh. Mike, on the other hand, dreads the face to face, but likes making phone calls. LOL What can I say – we make the perfect team. 🙂 So anyway, Mike called up the Beekman Tower for me and found out that among other things, the exterior of the hotel was featured in the Matt Damon flick The Bourne Supremacy. And voila, a blog post was born. 🙂

The landmark art deco style Beekman Tower Hotel was built in 1928 by John Mead Howells. The building’s many ornamental Gothic details were designed by sculptor Rene Chambellan. The building, which was previously named the Panhellenic Tower, was originally built as an affordable apartment complex for recent female college graduates belonging to the Greek, or Panhellenic, system – hence the name. According to the book One Thousand New York Buildings, the Panhellenic instantly became a landmark building as it was “a perfect example of vertical force”. The twenty-six story building housed 400 separate living spaces, a roof solarium with 360 degree sweeping views of Manhattan (that space is now the Top of the Tower restaurant), and a cocktail lounge. Not bad for affordable housing, huh? 🙂 The Greek Alphabet, which was carved just to the left of the building’s entrance, is still visible to this day. In 1964 the Panhellenic was sold to a private company who turned it into a regular apartment building. In the early 90s the building was sold once again and was completely renovated and remodeled and turned into the upscale, all suite Beekman Tower Hotel. You can view some great photographs of the Panhellenic Building here.

The Beekman Tower has had several brushes with celebrity. Katharine Hepburn’s sister was a resident of the Panhellenic Tower in its early years and Ms. Hepburn visited the building frequently. The photo shoot for Jennifer Hudson’s March 2007 cover story for Essence Magazine took place at the Top of the Tower. You can see behind the scenes pics of that photo shoot here. In November of 2008, a party to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” album was also held at the Top of the Tower. And as I mentioned earlier, the exterior of the Beekman was used in the filming of The Bourne Supremacy.

I really can’t recommend stalking the Top of the Tower enough! The food is amazing – the mashed potatoes and mushroom risotto are some of the best I’ve ever had! – the art deco ambiance is beautiful, and the service is perfection. But more than anything else, it is the breathtaking views that set this restaurant apart. The Top of the Tower has some of the most amazing views I have ever experienced in my life – especially at night when the city lights make New York extraodinarily spectacular and romantic. If you only have one night to spend in Manhattan, the Top of the Tower is the place I’d spend it.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It:The Beekman Tower Hotel is located at 3 Mitchell Place, at the corner of 1st Avenue and 49th Street, in New York City. You can visit their website here.

February 10, 2009
I Am Just So That Into It!

On Friday night, literally the second my boyfriend got off work, I dragged him right out to see new movie He’s Just Not That Into You. He said afterwards that if he had known it was a two-hour-and-nine-minute-long-movie, he never would have agreed to see it. LOL Needless to say, he just wasn’t that into the movie. But I, on the other hand, was! I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! I was practically skipping out of the theatre afterwards, with a huge grin on my face, thinking to myself that movies like HJNTIY are the reason I moved to Hollywood. Movies like that make me want to act. 🙂 I’m not aiming to be the next Meryl Streep and I have no desire to be the darling of the independent film circuit – I just want to make people laugh and walk out of that movie theatre with a big ol’ smile on their face. 🙂 That’s the kind of acting I want to do – and HJNTIY is EXACTLY the kind of movie I hope to someday be a part of. So, in case you didn’t get it the first few times – I LOVED THIS MOVIE! 🙂

So, yesterday, after I found one of the movie’s filming locations, I, of course, ran right out to stalk it. 🙂 Although the movie is set in the East Coast city of Baltimore, most of the filming took place – of course – in Los Angeles. Only two weeks of filming actually occured in Baltimore and only four of the HJNTIY actors (Bradley Cooper, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, and Kevin Connolly) made the trip out to the East Coast. The film’s writers, Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn, decided to set their story in Baltimore because they had never seen it done before. Most romantic comedies are set in either New York or Los Angeles and Marc and Abby were hoping to shake things up a bit. Since Marc had lived in Baltimore for ten years before moving to L.A. to pursue a screenwriting career, he knew the coastal city well and thought it was the perfect choice to set their story.

But since I couldn’t very well run right out to Baltimore to stalk HJNTIY, I decided to try to find some of the movie’s West Coast locations. I really wanted to stalk the coffee shop where Drew Barrymore met Kevin Connolly towards the end of the movie, but I struck out on that one. Instead, after a bit of Googling, I happened to find these paparazzi photos of Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper filming a scene at a grocery store in Burbank. From there it was just a matter of finding the right grocery store. And sure enough, I did! 🙂

In real life the grocery store is called Handy Market and it is a very cute and very tiny little shop. According to one of the Handy Market checkers, back in October of 2007 the store was shut down for a full day and a half for the filming of the two short scenes that took place there. Scenes were filmed both inside the store – at the first check-out stand and in a few of the aisles – and outside on the market’s exterior West facing wall.

It’s not hard to see why producers chose to use Handy Market. According to this article about the filming of HJNTIY , director Ken Kwapis said “One of the things that I love about Baltimore is that the texture of the city can be summed-up in one word: brick. The brick textures of the interiors and the exteriors are, to me, so expressive, so distinctive. Being a resident of Baltimore, you may not realize it, but boy, it’s not easy to find a lot of brick in L.A.” LOL Handy’s all-brick exterior must have made it a shoe-in for being used in the movie.

So, for all of you out there who weren’t like me and didn’t catch HJNTIY on opening night, drop what you’re doing and go see it now! I guarantee you so will be that into it! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Burbank’s Handy Market is located at 2514 W. Magnolia Boulevard in – you guessed it! – Burbank. The Home Depot store located at 16800 Roscoe Boulevard in Van Nuys was also used in He’s Just Not That Into You, although I most likely won’t stalk that location. 🙂 My boyfriend would probably be really excited if I did, though. LOL

February 9, 2009
The Father of the Bride Apartment

I must bow down yet again to Mike over at MovieShotsLA for finding a filming location that has eluded me for years! Ever since seeing Father of the Bride Part II way back in 1995 – has it honestly been that long??? – I have been obsessed with Kimberly Williams’ Spanish style apartment building from the movie (pictured above). I can still remember sitting in the theatre thinking that one day I wanted to live in an apartment building just like hers! So the other day when Mike called me and asked if there were any locations I was currently stumped on, I remembered my obsession with the Father of the Bride apartment and enlisted his help in locating it. Sure enough, not even an hour later I got an email from him with a link to the address! I am telling you, the guy is unbelievable! So, bright and early the following morning I ran right out to finally stalk Annie’s apartment building. 🙂

The small building, named La Casa Torre, is located in Pasadena and actually consists of eight condominium units situated around a picturesque central courtyard area, complete with a fountain. The complex was built in 1927 by renowned Pasadena area architect Everett Phillips Babcock, who is famous for designing numerous Spanish style residences in the San Gabriel Valley. Babcock started off his career working for prominent Los Angeles architect Wallace Neff, who just happens to have designed the famous French Normandy style home Brad and Jen lived during their married years. In his design of La Casa Torre, Babcock implemented numerous Italian, Spanish, and Moorish details and each apartment boasted a real wood burning fireplace, mahogany floors, and travertine walls. Adding to the building’s charm is the fact that no two units are alike. La Casa Torre was featured in the 1996 book Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles and is currently under evaluation by the City of Pasadena to receive historic landmark status.

Although it has been over fourteen years since Father of the Bride Part II was filmed at this location, the building looks very much the same today as it did in the movie. The foliage is somewhat overgrown now and the courtyard is not quite as picturesque as it appeared onscreen, but for all intents and purposes La Casa Torre hasn’t changed much since filming took place. And I can’t tell you how excited I was to be seeing it in person!

Ironically, it turns out that I used to work just down the street from Annie’s building and must have driven past it about a hundred times, but never recognized it. In reality, the central courtyard is located behind and off to the side of the main building and therefore the complex doesn’t look like your typical couryard apartment building. So I never stopped to check it out. LOL La Casa Torre is located just down the street from the house that was used as Steve Martin and Diane Keaton’s home in both Father of the Bride movies. Looks like when Annie moved out of her parents’ house she didn’t go very far. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Annie’s apartment building from Father of the Bride Part II is located at 611-627 California Boulevard in Pasadena. Annie lived in Unit 619. Remember the building and courtyard are private property – while it is OK to look, it is not OK to trespass. 🙂

February 5, 2009
The License to Drive School

This weekend, thanks to Mike over at MovieShotsLA, I got to stalk the high school used in fave 80s movie License to Drive. When I found out that Mike had found this filming location long ago, I completely freaked out and of course immediately dragged my boyfriend, and my good friend Nat who was visiting from San Francisco, out to stalk it. It turns out, though, that the License to Drive high school is not really a high school at all, but rather a middle school named Walter Reed. And, let me tell you, for a middle school the place is absolutely HUGE. I couldn’t get over it! I think my entire junior high could have fit on Walter Reed’s front lawn. LOL

Walter Reed Middle School shows up several times in License to Drive, most often as the location where Mercedes Lane waits on an outdoor bench for her Ferrari-driving boyfriend to pick her up after school. It was that bench that I was most excited to see in person as I absolutely worshiped Mercedes growing up! I am happy to report that Mercedes’ bench is still there twenty years later and looks pretty much exactly the same as it did when filming took place. I can’t tell you how excited I was to be sitting in the exact spot my idol Mercedes Lane had sat all those years ago. 🙂 Too bad I didn’t have my denim skirt and white ankle boots on for the picture. LOL

Walter Reed’s unique pick-up/drop-off area located in front of the school is the reason I believe producers chose to use the school for filming. That area worked perfectly for the many pick-up/drop-off scenes featured in the movie.

Besides License to Drive, Walter Reed also appeared in 7th Heaven (as Simon Camden’s elementary school), 2006’s The Shaggy Dog remake, Role Models, Accepted, The West Wing, CSI, and Malcom in the Middle. The exterior of the school is very picturesque and has a very Middle America feel to it, so it is easy to see why it is used so often for filming. I was also excited to find out that quite a few celebs attended Walter Reed during their tween years, including Mayim Bialik (aka TV’s Blossom), Brian Austin Green, Adam Carolla, Teri Garr, Cuba Gooding Jr., Alyson Hannigan, Christina Milian, and, ironically, Khrystyne Haje who played Simone on Head of the Class. I say ironically because the storyline of Head of the Class, the show Khrystyne would later star in, was actually loosely based on Walter Reed’s honor’s program. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Walter Reed Middle School is located at 4525 Irvine Avenue in North Hollywood.

February 3, 2009