Category: This and That

The Lounge – The Site of Britney and Justin’s Dance-Off

If you are anything at all like me, you eagerly tuned in to watch Lifetime’s Britney Spears biopic Britney Ever After the evening of February 18th. If not, you seriously missed out. It was amazing – in the way that only bad Lifetime movies can be amazing. The two-hour made-for-television flick chronicled a decade of the pop star’s life in the spotlight, from her rise to fame with the release of 1998’s . . . Baby One More Time, through her many turbulent years, ending with her 2008 comeback. The moment I was most excited to see re-created was the infamous dance-off that took place between Britney and ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake in 2002. The scene did not disappoint – and got me interested in tracking down the spot where the real life event occurred. Due to the highly transitional nature of the nightclub business, though, it required quite a bit of legwork to do so.

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Thanks to the place’s non-distinctive moniker, a Google search for “The Lounge” and “Los Angeles” did not provide much information. Adding “Britney Spears” into the search mix didn’t help. But when I swapped out her name for Justin’s, I started to make headway. Kicked back was a link to this 2003 MTV.com article which mentioned that the former *NSYNC-er was partnering with The Lounge owners Art and Allan Davis to open dim sum restaurant Chi. From there, I began searching for “The Lounge,” “Los Angeles,” and “Art and Allan Davis” and was finally yielded this 2002 image of actor Lukas Haas standing outside of the club. Though The Lounge was not visible in the photo, another restaurant was. While looking at the picture, I spotted the instantly identifiable yellow-paneling and green awning of Dan Tana’s in the background. The West Hollywood eatery has been a landmark since it was originally established in 1964 and the Grim Cheaper and I have dined there on several occasions, so I recognized it immediately. From there, it was not hard to discern that The Lounge was formerly located just west of Dan Tana’s at 9077 North Santa Monica Boulevard.

The Lounge saw its beginnings in January 1999 when the Davis brothers purchased La Masia, a decades-old Spanish restaurant/nightclub. The duo eventually revamped the site, re-opening it as the Latin Lounge in 2001.

The place was an instant hit with the Hollywood set, attracting such stars as Sarah Jessica Parker, Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Quaid, and Ricky Martin in its first months of operation.

The two-level supper club, which eventually dropped the “Latin” from its name, featured a small dance floor, live music, furry sconces (yes, you read that right – the light fixtures were apparently covered in fur), a leopard print bar, a chandelier that scaled two stories, colorful murals, and a mirrored mezzanine.

It was not long before The Lounge was the place to see and be seen with the likes of Matthew Perry, Hank Azaria, Hilary Swank, Melissa Joan Hart, Nicole Richie, Gisele Bündchen, Demi Moore, Brittany Murphy, Dean Cain, Ashton Kutcher, Paris Hilton, Ethan Embry, and Tiffany Amber Thiessen all popping in regularly. Oh yes, and Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

As reported at the time by Us Weekly, on August 1st, 2002, nearly 5 months after their split, Britney and Justin ran into each other at The Lounge. Britney reportedly got upset with Justin for dancing with his new flame, Jenna Dewan – yes, the Jenna Dewan that went on to marry Channing Tatum – and it resulted in a 90-minute dance-off between the former couple and their respective entourages. Britney later denied the report, but by then it had already become the stuff of pop culture legend. Britney Ever After’s depiction of the moment (pictured below) was absolutely delicious and completely ridiculous at the same time. Though I believe it was a fairly realistic re-creation of what actually happened that night. I mean, I can’t imagine a dance-off scenario that isn’t completely ridiculous. While researching this post, I came across two images (you can see them here and here) that show Britney leaving The Lounge I believe on the night in question. Though dated August 2nd, 2002, the day following the alleged dance-off, I am guessing by the time she left the club, it was after midnight the next morning.

Though The Lounge had a pretty good run, as is typical of most nightclubs, it did not last. By 2005, the site had become Lobby. When Lobby closed, the space was transformed into Foxtail, which was owned in part by Brett Ratner, and then later Mi-6. All three clubs were insanely popular with celebrities during their brief tenures.

The exterior of the property changed considerably during those ensuing years. At the time that The Lounge was in existence, the exterior was Spanish in style, as you can see here, here, and here. By 2008, the style had shifted to Art Deco and the building was covered with a screened façade.

In 2011, the space underwent an even more drastic remodel. As you can see in the Google Street View images below from April and July of that year, the property was taken down to the studs and completely rebuilt before re-opening as Italian eatery Mercato di Vetro. So, sadly, the building no longer looks anything like it did the night of Britney and Justin’s dance-off.

Today, the site houses a restaurant/club named Doheny Room.

Much like its predecessors, Doheny Room is a major celebrity hot spot, attracting the likes of David Spade, Chris Brown, Vanessa Hudgens, Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and The Game on any given night.

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 Lounge, aka the site of Britney and Justin’s infamous 2002 dance-off, was formerly located at 9077 North Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The locale is now the site of Doheny Room.

March 3, 2017
Market from “Mother”

I absolutely love surprises! So I was thrilled to receive an email a couple of days ago from my friend Michael with the news that he had written yet another guest post! For those who don’t read IAMNOTASTALKER regularly, Michael is a frequent contributor. His body of work is now so large, in fact, that I have added a category titled “Michael’s Guest Posts” that can be found on the right side of my site, as well as a “Michael’s Guest Posts” tag in each column in order to easier find his articles. His latest locale is a rather poignant one. So without further ado . . .

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The sad circumstances of late found me reminiscing about one of my favorite Debbie Reynolds movies, Mother. Although it was released in 1996, I end up laughing at it just as heartily now as I did twenty years ago. For those of you who haven’t seen it, Debbie Reynolds stars as the film’s titular character, sharing top billing with Albert Brooks who plays her son, John. After his second divorce, John moves back home in an effort to try and dissect his relationship with his mother—an experiment he hopes will help him get to the root of his chronic misfortune with women.

Although most of the movie takes place in the Bay Area, the majority of it was filmed in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the cast and crew did travel to Sausalito to obtain some establishing shots of the town, along with footage of Reynolds and Brooks driving.

One of my favorite scenes in the movie has Beatrice and John critiquing each other’s selections at the grocery store before (literally) bumping into a neighbor. The sequence begins the in the store’s parking lot where, to John’s frustration, Beatrice is inadvertently blind to the only available spot.

As the camera pulls out, the store’s name is revealed: Mollie Stone’s Market. The grocery chain, founded in 1986, has a scattering of Bay-Area locations, and as the film would have you believe, the actors were indeed parking outside the Sausalito store.

This summer when I took the ferry over from San Francisco to check out the Too Close for Comfort house, I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to finally have a look at Mollie Stone’s. As I walked up, I was excited to see that the exterior of the store and parking lot, while updated, were still recognizable from the film.

But, when I ventured into the store, I was surprised to find out that the interior scenes had been filmed elsewhere. I hadn’t done my usual amount of due diligence and had just assumed that they’d filmed the interior when in town for the parking lot scene. Had I originally looked just a little closer, I would have noticed that the roof, windows, and doors differed between the interior and exterior scenes.

Pretty certain that the Sausalito Mollie Stone’s wasn’t used for the interior, I started to focus my search on Los Angeles-area stores, where the remainder of the movie had been filmed. I re-watched the scene frame-by-frame hoping for some hidden detail that would betray its location, but there wasn’t much to go on. Battling with a hotel’s questionable Wi-Fi, Lindsay came to my digital rescue and helped scour the clip for clues to the store’s real location.

Lindsay noticed what looked like palm trees outside the doors, which could suggest a Southern California locale. And that the green Mollie Stone’s carts used by the principal actors didn’t match the rest of the store’s blue carts, helping confirm that they hadn’t filmed in a real Mollie Stone’s location.

I, in turn, was able to make out what looked to be a Googie-style sign across the street, which I thought might be a Norms Restaurant, since they have similarly designed signs.

The other thing that jumped out at me was a coin-operated toy machine —with a hen that spins around and clucks before “laying” a prize-filled egg. Admittedly not a clue, it was a welcome bit of nostalgia that I haven’t seen since I was little.

Thinking the store looked a little dated to have been one of the major chains, I tried researching as many independent markets as I could find, but unfortunately hit a dead end.

Stymied but not defeated, I decided to “cheat” and get in touch with someone involved in the production of the movie. Fortunately, he was kind enough to respond and remembered exactly where the store was located.

The Mar Vista Market, appropriately located in Mar Vista, a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, on Venice Boulevard at Grand View, was used to film the interior scene.

Sadly, the market was demolished in 2000, and in 2004 a post office was built on its footprint.

According to “Distant Vistas,” a wonderful history of Mar Vista written by S. Ravi Tam and posted on the Mar Vista Historical Society’s site, the market, originally owned by Nate and Allen Arnold, opened in 1939 as Arnold’s Super Ranch Market, and by 1947 it had changed owners and names to the Mar Vista Food Center, before finally remodeling and reopening as the Mar Vista Market in 1949.

A 1984 piece in the Los Angeles Times further explains that Dave Simmons originally bought the store’s produce department in 1945, and by the 1950s had taken ownership for remainder of the entire 23,000-square-foot market.

Remarkably, the building across the street from the market, whose distinct sign I had noticed through my fuzzy Wi-Fi connection, is still there. The sign, originally created for the Mar Vista Bowl, has been removed, but remains immortalized in a mural painted on the exterior of the building, which still houses a bowling alley.

Apparently, I wasn’t too far off in thinking it might have been a Norms Restaurant. Mar Vista Bowl was designed by Armet and Davis, who also designed a spate of Googie buildings, including Norms on La Cienega Boulevard.

Now with the name and address of the market, Google linked me to a MacGyver filming location page that noted a scene from the episode “Split Decision” was filmed in the market’s parking lot.

As expected, the door and window placement match what’s seen in Mother. And, you can even make out part of the enter/exit signs above the doors in the film.

Another touchpoint revealed in the MacGyver footage is a group of utility poles near the door which can be seen through the window in Mother, and one of which is still standing today.

And there you have it, the market from Mother, only 400 miles from the parking lot to the fancy jam aisle.

Big THANK YOU to Michael for yet another fabulous – and timely – post. Don’t forget, you can check out the rest of Michael’s articles here.

Stalk It: Mollie Stone’s Exterior from Mother is located at 100 Harbor Drive in Sausalito. USPS, aka Mar Vista Market (razed), aka “Mollie Stone’s Market” Interior from Mother is located at 3826 Grand View Boulevard in the Mar Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.

February 22, 2017
Virginia O’Hanlon’s Former House

I still believe in Santa Claus. Yes, you read that right. Though I am fast approaching 40, the magic and wonderment of the Christmas season remain very real to me. My feelings on the subject can best be summed up by Francis Pharcellus Church’s famed 1897 The New York Sun editorial penned in response to a letter from eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon, who asked the age-old query “Is there a Santa Claus?” Church’s reply, which assured her and the audience at large that “Yes, Virginia, there is!,” stated that without Kris Kringle, “There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.” I remember reading the editorial as a young adult and reveling in Church’s encouragement of a belief in things that can’t be seen. So when my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, informed me that he knew the location of Virginia’s former house, where she wrote her famous letter, I just about died of excitement and headed right on over there while in New York this past April.

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This location was an easy find for Owen. When I asked if he remembered how he came across Virginia’s address, he replied, “I definitely recall how I found that one. It took an incredible amount of investigative work and persistence on my part. Here’s the lengthy story: I found a picture of the original 1897 letter to the editor in The Sun newspaper.” Ha! Nicely done, Owen!

Virginia’s former residence, one of a set of six attached brownstones, was originally constructed in the late 1880s. The four-story property, as well as its neighbors, was designed by architect Charles T. Mott for developer Charles Bouton. In 1896, Dr. Philip O’Hanlon, who worked as the City’s Coroner’s Physician, his wife, Laura Lincoln Plumb, and their daughter, Laura Virginia, leased the red-brick home.

As the story goes, the following summer, young Virginia came to her father with the query ‘Does Santa Claus really exist?’ His rather deflective response was to suggest Virginia write a letter to The New York Sun about the matter. The newspaper published her letter, which I’ve recreated below, as part of an editorial on September 21st, 1897. You can take a look at Virginia’s original note here. And yes, the original does still exist. It was appraised on Antiques Roadshow in 2012 (It’s worth? $20,000 to $30,000!) and today belongs to Virginia’s great-grandson.

The man tasked with the fateful job of composing a reply was the assistant to the editor, Francis Pharcellus Church, though his authorship went unknown until shortly after his passing in 1906, as the editorial was originally published unsigned. The Sun readers were quick to embrace Church’s poignant and heartfelt prose and over the years many wrote in asking for the editorial to be republished. The newspaper eventually complied and began featuring the column annually in 1920. It has gone on to become one of the most reprinted editorials in history. You can check out a picture of one of the many reprints, which I’ve re-created below, here.

Virginia and her family remained in the home at 115 West 95th for four years, at which time her parents purchased a pad just a few doors away at 121 West 95th. After the O’Hanlons moved out, Virginia’s former residence became a boarding house and then, in 1957, was divided into apartments. Eight years later, it was acquired by the city, along with its five neighbors, and left vacant. By that time, the properties had fallen into disarray and the city intended to fix them up as part of an urban renewal project. Those plans never came to fruition, though, and it was not long before the dwellings became the subject of a heated real estate battle.

In the 1970s, Jeanne L. Beatty, founder and president of the West 95th Street Development Corp., purchased the six homes from the city, along with five others on the street. She rehabbed five of the properties, but the remaining six, including Virginia’s, were left to essentially rot. Jeanne blamed a bad loan and construction complications. Neighbors blamed Jeanne’s greed – despite their dereliction, the residences had risen considerably in value and locals believed Beatty wanted to hold onto them for as long as possible to squeeze as much revenue out of them as she could. A lawsuit was eventually filed against Jeanne and the brownstones continued to sit untouched, dilapidating further, as the legal battle forged ahead. Finally, in 1992, the city repossessed the homes and sold them off. Virginia’s house was purchased by a man named Moshe Shrem, who began renovations. He converted the property back to a single-family residence and in 2001 it hit the market for a cool $2.7 million. The story doesn’t end there, though. Two years later, the dwelling, along with its neighbor to the west, was purchased by The Studio School, a private elementary/middle school. The two homes were combined into one large learning facility and The Studio School began holding classes on the premises in September 2007. Two years later, the school honored Virginia by affixing a plaque to the front of the building commemorating its famous former resident and the historic event that took place there more than a century prior.

A close-up view of the plaque is pictured below.

Sadly, the front door of Virginia’s home was removed during The New School renovations, so the property looks a bit different today than it did when the O’Hanlons lived there.

As you can see below, the entrance to The Studio School is through a pine wood door located at the property to the left of Virginia’s former home at 117 West 95th Street, while 115 West 95th has no entrance. You can see what the residence looked like before the doorway was removed in this 1967 photo.

Thankfully, the casing around Virginia’s former door is still intact, so it is possible to make out where it was situated, which is just below the 115 address marker.

Today, a window occupies that space.

A staircase leading to the basement level of the school was also added to the front of the property during the renovations. The rest of the original façade appears to have been left intact, though.

While researching Virginia’s former home, I came across this photo of it taken during Christmastime. The decorations are absolutely beautiful! Oh, how I wish I could have seen it all decked out for the holidays!

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Virginia O’Hanlon’s former house is located at 115 West 95th Street on New York’s Upper West Side.

December 9, 2016
Martin’s Tavern – Where JFK Proposed to Jackie

I consider myself to be a pretty good stalker, but my good friend Lavonna puts me to shame. Prior to my recent trip to Washington, D.C. with the Grim Cheaper, I painstakingly researched filming locations and area landmarks to check out while we were in town and compiled an extensive list of must-see places. So imagine my surprise when, while strolling around Georgetown, I received a text from Lavonna asking if we were planning to dine at Martin’s Tavern, the spot where, as legend has it, then Senator John F. Kennedy proposed to Jacqueline Bouvier in 1953. Amazingly, I had not come across any information about the historic restaurant during any of my research. So I made an impromptu addition to my D.C. Must-Stalk List and headed right on over to Martin’s to grab lunch.

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Originally established in 1933, Martin’s Tavern is D.C.’s oldest family-owned restaurant. The eatery was founded by William S. Martin, an Irish immigrant who came to American in the late 1890s, and his son William G. Martin, a Georgetown graduate who played professional football, baseball and basketball.

Though the Great Depression was in full swing at the time of Martin’s inception, the tavern managed to succeed.

In 1949, William G.’s son, William A. Martin, a Georgetown University Medical School graduate who was known for being a Golden Gloves boxer and Pro-Am golfer, came onboard. Today, his son, Billy Martin, runs the restaurant. And it is still going strong.

Martin’s Tavern has long been a celebrity and politico hotspot. In fact, aside from Obama, every president from Harry Truman on has dined on the premises.

Martin’s main claim to fame, though, is the JFK/Jackie proposal. As the story goes (and there are some that dispute it), on the evening of June 24th, 1953, while sitting in Booth 3, John F. Kennedy asked for his girlfriend Jackie’s hand in marriage. She said yes, of course, and the rest is very well-publicized history.

Today, there is a plaque displayed on the side of the wooden booth denoting it as the “Proposal Booth.”

Whether the story is true or not (and Martin’s recently found a witness who backs up the claim), what cannot be disputed is the fact that JFK was a frequent patron of the restaurant during his time as a senator, popping in for breakfast every Sunday morning after church.

It is not hard to see why he was such a fan of the place. I fell in love with Martin’s Tavern, and its cozy low-lit, wood-paneled, Tiffany-lamp-strewn interior, pretty much on site.

Though the restaurant’s history alone was enough to have me drooling, the food was pretty incredible, as well. I can honestly say that Martin’s crab cakes (made from a 60-year-old family recipe) were some of the best I’ve ever had in my life. And the staff could not have been more friendly or welcoming. When I expressed an interest in the eatery’s background, our server took me on a little tour of the place and told me all sorts of stories about its vibrant past.

While doing research for this post, I came across several mentions of Martin’s Tavern’s appearance in The Exorcist III. I scanned through the 1990 horror flick, though, and did not see the establishment pop up anywhere. Upon digging further, I stumbled upon the DC Ladies blog, which states that the restaurant was featured in the first twenty minutes of the 1979 original The Exorcist as the spot where Father Merrin (Martin von Sydow) ordered a beer. Well, there is no such scene in the movie, but there is an early segment in which Father Karras (Jason Miller) asks Tom (Thomas Bermingham) for a transfer over a couple of brewskies at a busy bar. Very little of the watering hole can be seen in the scene, though, and while what is shown looks very much like Martin’s, I cannot say with any certainty that filming took place there.

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

Big THANK YOU to Lavonna for telling me about this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Martin’s Tavern is located at 1264 Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown. You can visit the eatery’s official website here. JFK is said to have proposed to Jackie in Booth 3.

November 30, 2016
Happy Thanksgiving!

I am taking today and the rest of the week off to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. My mom and I are in charge of dinner this year (it’s my first time ever!), so I’m sure by the time this post is published, I’ll be knee-deep in turkey preparations. I hope all of my fellow stalkers have a fabulous holiday. I will be back next week with new locales. So until that time, Happy Stalking!

November 23, 2016
Happy Veterans Day

I would like to extend a very heartfelt thank you today to all who have served this great country of ours, including my grandfather (that’s him above during World War II), my dad, my uncle, my father-in-law, my cousin, my brother-in-law, my grandfather-in-law, and several of my friends. I hope we all take a moment to remember the people we are celebrating today and that everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

November 11, 2016
Halloween 2016 at the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride

I love anything and everything having to do with the ‘80s. So when I started hearing buzz about Stanger Things, a horror series on Netflix with deep ‘80s undertones, this past summer, I knew I’d be hooked. The Grim Cheaper and I finally sat down to binge-watch it in August and immediately became obsessed, staying up until 3:30 in the morning two days in a row to finish it. Stranger Things is literally one of the best. television. shows. ever. It was also responsible for inspiring our Halloween costumes this year. As soon as I saw the first episode, I knew there was no one else I’d rather be than Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). And the GC quickly set his sights on dressing up as Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo).

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I am nothing if not anal when it comes to Halloween costumes and, as such, I wanted my Eleven dress to be perfect. My mom was originally going to make it for me, but the only pattern we could find that came close to Eleven’s pink Peter-Pan-collared frock turned out to be wildly different once my mom started sewing. So I turned to Etsy and found a dress that was spot-on, made by FrenchieYork. Thankfully, I already owned a pair of white Converse sneakers and the GC loaned me his blue rain coat, so the only items I had to buy were a pair of green and yellow tube socks, which I found on Amazon, and a wig. While I originally wanted to wear a shaved head wig, I could not find one anywhere. I thought I might be able to buy a brown wig and shave it, but after researching that option online, quickly realized that it wouldn’t be possible. Apparently, quite a few people tried going that route with disastrous results, which I should have anticipated. I chopped enough of my Barbie dolls’ hair off as a kid to know that cutting synthetic hair, especially that drastically, never ends well. So I purchased this Hot Honey Blonde Wig and had my mom trim it slightly to match the length of Eleven’s hair.

Originally, I was not planning on accenting my costume with a box of Eggo Waffles, as I did not want to be carrying something around in my hands all evening. But the GC came home with an Eggos carton shortly before Halloween and it dawned on me that I could make a purse out of it, which I did quite easily. I just put clear packaging tape around the entire thing to make it sturdier, ran string through the sides as a strap, attached Velcro to the top flaps so that my belongings would be secured, and voila!

The GC’s costume was an easy find, as well. We purchased Dustin’s hat on eBay and his Waupaca, Wisconsin shirt on Amazon (the exact one we bought is no longer available, but you can find a similar one here), which he wore with jeans, a hoodie, and Adidas that were already in his closet. The wig was a little harder to come by. We wound up buying this Glam Rock Wig, which my mom cut to look more like Dustin’s hair.

For our Halloween festivities this year we decided to hit up the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. For those who have never been, the Haunted Hayride is a longtime L.A. attraction in which guests travel through a frightfully decorated Old Zoo (you can read my post on that locale here) while sitting in a large tractor-pulled trailer. Though it is one of the city’s most popular Halloween events, the GC and I had never been and decided this was the year to do so. Thanks to my friend Becky, of the Temporary Rest Stop blog (she wrote this fabulous guest post about Breaking Bad filming locations for my site back in May), I learned that it was possible to walk around the Hayride venue during daytime off-hours and see all of the décor. So we actually got a double dose of the place!

First thing Halloween morning, the GC and I headed right on over to the site. Because it was closed and no one was really around, I was a little nervous about just walking right through the Hayride entrance, but thankfully a security guard happened by and when I asked if it was OK to venture in, he explained that the public is welcome to take a look around as long as they don’t touch any of the props or mess up the sets. How awesome is that?

So we wandered right on in and had an absolute blast.

This year’s Haunted Hayride theme was “Secret Society.” As the website states, “Inside the gates of the society, members will bear witness to the clandestine lives of their faction and in a shocking turn, will be commandeered by the society and sent into an initiation, confronting the ghosts of hayrides past.”

Getting to see the decorations up-close-and-personal and in the light of day was pretty amazing.

My favorite part of the set-up was the string of former zoo enclosures, which were fashioned with all manner of gory props.

The enclosures were left open, which meant that we were able to venture inside for some fun.

The Haunted Hayride venue is huge and we spent a good hour walking around looking at everything. If you live in the L.A. area, I can’t more highly recommend stalking it.

Our nighttime visit was a blast, as well, though I will say that the evening turned out to be a lot shorter than we expected. We were able to go through all of the attractions offered in about an hour and a half. While we had a great time and enjoyed all that we did, I felt that the Haunted Hayride was lacking a bit.

Though various kiosks are set up, there just isn’t that much to do while there.

We purchased VIP tickets, so we did not wait in line at all the entire night, which, obviously, got us through things more quickly, but I still expected there to be more to experience.

That being said, we had a great time and would likely go again.

The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride consists of three main attractions, the primary of which is the Hayride itself, which was fabulous at night and a lot longer than I anticipated. At one point, guests even get off the tractor and have to find their way through a corn maze.

My favorite part of the night, though, was the Trick or Treat attraction (the exterior of which is pictured below), during which guests roam through a fake village of tiny cottages, knocking on doors in order to get candy. While treats are handed out, so are scares, as people jump out at visitors from doorways, windows and other dark places. Trick or Treat was incredibly well done and I loved every minute of it, even more so than the actual Hayride.

The third event offered was the Ouija Origin of Evil House of Shadows, which could have been really cool, except that the entire thing was lit by intense strobe lighting, which made me really dizzy. I am not one to get woozy easily (I regularly read in the car), but those lights had me feeling like I’d downed a bottle of tequila. By the end of it, I was so disoriented that I was walking into walls.

According to recent Yelp reviews, Hayrides of years past were far better executed, so I’m looking forward to going back to see how it is in 2017.

All in all, it was a fabulous Halloween and I am deeply saddened that my favorite season has come to an end. I hope all of my fellow stalkers had a fun-filled holiday. I, for one, am already looking forward to next year.

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 Los Angeles Haunted Hayride takes place each October at the Old Zoo, which is located at 4801 Griffith Park Boulevard inside of Griffith Park. You can find out more information about the event here.

November 3, 2016
My Latest Interview with The Blaze with Lizzie & Kat!

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with two of my favorite podcasters, Lizzie and Kat of The Blaze with Lizzie & Kat. I’ve been following their show ever since the very beginning, so to finally meet them and hang out with them for a couple of hours was thrilling to say the least! If you are at all interested in Beverly Hills, 90210 and aren’t already listening to their podcast, you need to be! You can check it out here. And you can listen to my interview here. Spoiler – we talk about our shared loved for Brenda Walsh, the day the Grim Cheaper thwarted my chance at meeting D’Shawn Hardell, and that time I sent James Eckhouse a card (not joking – you can see a picture of it here).

November 1, 2016
The Los Angeles Filming Locations of “Hocus Pocus”

It’s finally here, folks! The day I wait for all year long. Halloween! I hope all of my fellow stalkers have a fabulous, spooky and safe holiday! I figured what better way to celebrate my favorite day than with a post about one of the world’s most beloved Halloween movies, Hocus Pocus. Last week, my friend Katie detailed the Salem, Massachusetts locations featured in the 1993 flick, so I thought I would write about a few of its L.A. locales. Yep, that’s right – portions of the film were lensed right here in Los Angeles!

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A couple of years ago, I came across a Whittier Daily News article that chronicled the various filming that had taken place in the city over the years. I was shocked to learn that Hocus Pocus was shot in the area. At the time, I was under the impression that the movie had been lensed solely in Salem, but as the column stated, in December 1992, HP did some filming “in and around Central Park with inside shots at the Uptown YMCA.” So I immediately popped in my DVD and started scanning through it. While I did not see any scenes that looked to have taken place at the YMCA or in Central Park (as I later found out thanks to this article, the park scene was cut), I did notice an address number of 6536 posted above the door of the Victorian-style house where the Devil (Garry Marshall) lived with The Master’s Wife (Penny Marshall).

Feeling lucky, I did a Google search for “Victorian house,” “Whittier,” and “6536” and one of the first results kicked back was an article on the Historic Whittier Homes website about a residence located at 6536 Friends Avenue. Sure enough, the images shown matched the Devil’s house to a T. As it turns out, the dwelling is situated along the eastern side of Central Park, which is also known as Friends Park.

The picturesque property only popped up briefly in Hocus Pocus, in the scene in which the Sanderson Sisters – Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy) – inadvertently find themselves on the doorstep of a hapless man dressed up as the devil on Halloween night. Thinking he is their master, the witches head inside to do his bidding. The man’s wife is having none of it, though, and quickly boots the three sisters.

The residence looks much the same today as it did when Hocus Pocus was filmed back in late 1992.

I am unsure if interiors were also filmed inside the home or if those segments were lensed elsewhere.

The same pad also served as the residence of Rita Robbins (Glenne Headly) in the 1996 comedy Sgt. Bilko.

In real life, the Devil’s house was constructed in 1911 and boasts 4 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1,792 square feet of living space, and a 0.16-acre lot. According to the Historic Whittier Homes website, the dwelling has been featured in 7 movies, including Hocus Pocus, though, aside from Sgt. Bilko, I am unsure of what the others are.

After identifying the Devil’s pad, I decided to do some further digging and discovered that another scene was filmed just two doors down – a very brief set-up scene in which extras dressed in costume were shown trick-or-treating.

The property featured in that segment is another gorgeous Victorian, originally built in 1896.

The colorful 2,512-square-foot dwelling boasts 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, tin ceilings, stained glass windows, wood moldings, hardwood flooring, and a fireplace. You can check out some interior images of it here.

A further search of “Hocus Pocus” “filming,” and “Whittier,” led me to a post about the movie on the Life at Cloverhill website in which a commenter named Efrain stated that interior school scenes were shot at East Whittier Middle School. While I have never stalked the school, I believe that information to be correct.

I found a video about East Whittier that was filmed in one of the school’s actual classrooms and, as you can see above and below, that classroom appears to be a direct match to the Hocus Pocus classroom.

The archways visible outside of the French doors in the movie also seem to match those of East Whittier.

As I mentioned in my February 2016 post for the Mike the Fanboy website, some Hocus Pocus filming also took place at Warner Bros. Ranch. The park where Dani (Thora Birch), Allison (Vinessa Shaw) and Max (Omri Katz) celebrated the supposed death of the Sanderson Sisters towards the end of the movie is located at the Ranch. As I also mentioned in my Mike the Fanboy post, the park, and its fountain, should be recognizable to Friends fans – they were featured each week in the hit series’ opening credits.

The house visible behind Max in the scene is none other than the Griswold residence from Christmas Vacation, though it looks quite a bit different today than it did when both Hocus Pocus and CV were shot.

Warner Bros. Ranch makes another appearance in Hocus Pocus. It is on the lot’s Blondie Street that Sarah haphazardly drove a city bus. (And what do you know? There’s the Griswold house again!)

I was thrilled to discover during a recent re-watch of the movie that the interior Halloween party scenes were shot at a place I am very familiar with – The MacArthur. Formerly known as the Park Plaza Hotel, the oft-filmed site has popped up in hundreds upon hundreds of productions over the years. I toured the space as a possible wedding venue back in 2009 and became quite enamored with it.

Filming of the Halloween party scene took place in The MacArthur’s Elks Hall, a grand room featuring sweeping archways, carved wooden columns, and ornate chandeliers.

And last, but not least is a location I just now figured out! While scanning through the movie making screen captures for this post, I almost fell out of my chair when I realized that the interior of Allison’s mansion was none other than the interior of the Crank House, aka the Omega Beta Zeta house from Scream 2, aka the Strong residence from Catch Me If You Can! As you can see in the screen captures below, the interior shown in Catch Me If You Can matches the inside of Allison’s mansion perfectly! I had always wondered where the interiors of Allison’s residence were shot, so I am floored to have finally figured it out! You can read a more in-depth post on the Crank House here.

I am fairly certain that a few other Hocus Pocus scenes were shot in L.A., including the trick-or-treating segments pictured below, but as of yet I have not been able to figure out where. If any of my fellow stalkers happen to know, please fill me in!

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 Devil’s house from Hocus Pocus is located at 6536 Friends Avenue in Whittier. The residence from the movie’s trick-or-treating scene can be found two doors down at 6546 Friends Avenue. East Whittier Middle School, where the interior school scenes were filmed, is located at 14421 Whittier Boulevard. Warner Bros. Ranch, where Dani and Allison celebrated the supposed death of the Sanderson Sisters, can be found at 411 North Hollywood Way in Burbank. The MacArthur, where the interior Halloween party scenes were shot, is located at 607 Park View Street in Westlake. And the Crank House, which was used as the interior of Allison’s mansion, can be found at 2186 East Crary Street in Altadena.

October 31, 2016
Eastern State Penitentiary

Prior to traveling anywhere, I read copious amounts about the place I plan on visiting. Copious amounts, from sources including books, magazines, websites, guides, and blogs. My favorite travel guides are the Eyewitness Travel books published by DK. Before my recent trip back east, during which we visited Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Philadelphia, I purchased DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Philadelphia & The Pennsylvania Dutch Country. As usual, it did not disappoint and chronicled countless sites I was interested in visiting while in the City of Brotherly Love. At the top of my Philly Must-Stalk List was Eastern State Penitentiary, which Eyewitness Travel described as an abandoned former prison turned museum. Yeah, I pretty much started drooling upon reading those words. In person, the locale was even more amazing than depicted in the book. Because Eastern State has been repeatedly called “one of the most haunted places in the world,” I figured what better time to blog about it than now?

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Tickets to Eastern State Penitentiary cost $14 per person and include either an audio tour or a guide-led tour. We opted for the audio tour, in which visitors are led through the vast premises via messages digitally-recorded by various experts, former guards, former inmates, historians, and other individuals, including actor Steve Buscemi who became enamored with the prison during a location scout for his 2000 film Animal Factory. Though Buscemi did not end up choosing the site for the movie, its haunting beauty stayed with him and he generously lent his voice to become the main narrator of the audio tour, escorting guests through what he calls a “magnificent ruin still standing in the middle of a modern city.”

As we learned via Buscemi, Eastern State Penitentiary, also known as the “House,” was originally founded in 1829, thanks largely to the efforts of the Philadelphia Quakers and the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons. For years, the groups had lobbied for the reform of area jails, which were known for their poor and often brutal conditions.

The Gothic Revival-style institution, which was designed by British architect John Haviland, was established as a place where prisoners would spend time alone and seek penitence for their crimes. As such, it was given the name “Eastern State Penitentiary.”

Initial construction of the 11-acre site lasted from 1822 to 1836 and cost $780,000.

The unique pinwheel layout of the penitentiary, which consists of 14 cellblocks (originally 7) that extend like bike spokes from a central room, served as a model for more than 300 prisons across the globe.

Though Eastern State’s exteriors are extremely stark and foreboding . . .

. . . consisting of all-encompassing 30-foot high walls . . .

. . . (you can see just how tall those walls are below – use the large benches in the bottom right of the photos as reference) . . .

. . . each of the 450 original cells was considered largely modern. (And yes, I know that was a run-on sentence. Blame poetic license.)

The cells all featured skylights and, in keeping with the solitary concept of the prison, private exterior exercise yards.

Each also boasted central heating and running water, amenities that the White House did not even have at the time. Yep, that’s the toilet pictured below.

“You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”

Additional cellblocks were added to the structure from 1877 to 1926 , bringing the total to 14, with space for 1,700 prisoners.

Eastern State abandoned its solitary nature in 1913, at which time inmates began gathering for meals, recreation and religious ceremonies.

During its tenure as a prison, many of history’s most infamous criminals were incarcerated at Eastern State, including Al Capone. A re-creation of his lavish cell is pictured below, though there is some debate as to how extravagant his confines actually were.

For various reasons, the site was shuttered in 1971.

It was then left to deteriorate. Some images from that time period are pictured below. As you can see, the prison became so overgrown with foliage, it looked like a virtual forest.

The city of Philadelphia purchased the property, which was becoming more dilapidated by the day, from the state in 1980 and began making plans to transform it into a commercial center.

Thankfully, in 1988 a group of preservationists dubbed the “Eastern State Task Force” stepped in to thwart the renovation and to revitalize the site.

Around that same time, the prison’s doors were opened to a select few for tours. Due to the dangerous conditions of the building, initial guests had to sign liability waivers and wear hardhats to gain admittance.

Over the next few years, volunteers and preservation groups work to clean up Eastern State Penitentiary and to raise money in order to transform the site into a tourist attraction. On Halloween night 1991, a fundraiser was held for the prison. The event was so successful that it became an annual affair and eventually turned into a season-long Halloween attraction known as Terror Behind the Walls.

The gargoyles pictured below, who are named Frank and Carson, are not authentic to the building, but are props installed each year for Terror Behind the Walls. During the nighttime event, the prison is turned into a massive haunted house and guests are invited to explore the grounds in the dark. Sounds like my perfect evening!

In 1994, Eastern State Penitentiary opened its doors to the public for daily tours.

The tours proved immensely popular and today the prison is one of Philadelphia’s most famous attractions, well-loved by visitors and locals alike.

Though Eastern State has been “cleaned up” and visitors are no longer required to sign waivers or wear hardhats when touring the premises, caretakers had the foresight to leave much of the property’s decay intact.

Seeing it is nothing short of breathtaking.

Not only did Eastern State turn out to be one of our favorite places that we visited during our trip, but it is one of our favorite places we have visited period!

Our time in Philadelphia was extremely limited (we only had three days to explore the city) and we originally planned on spending two hours at the penitentiary, yet we just could not tear ourselves away and wound up staying for more than four hours. It still didn’t seem like enough, though. I literally could have spent all day there.

While exploring, I snapped more than 200 photos and I am pretty much in love with every single one (as evidenced by the number that appear in this post), even the ones that are overexposed . . .

. . . and underexposed.

#framer

There was beauty literally around every turn.

I just could not stop snapping.

I mean, come on!

I became just a wee bit obsessed with the gate below.

Can’t stop . . .

. . . won’t stop.

As if there wasn’t already enough to love, Eastern State Penitentiary is also a filming location!

The prison appeared in Tina Turner’s 1985 music video “One of the Living.”

The Dead Milkmen also shot their 1988 “Punk Rock Girl” music video there.

In the 1995 thriller 12 Monkeys, Eastern State Penitentiary masked as the insane asylum where James Cole (Bruce Willis) was sent.

Several areas of the site were utilized in the filming, most notably the anteroom outside of Cellblocks 2, 10 and 11.

Eastern State Penitentiary portrayed a Malaysian prison in the 1998 drama Return to Paradise.

The property’s exterior was digitally altered to appear as if it was on a coastline in the movie.

Sting shot the album cover and album art for 2001’s . . . All This Time at Eastern State.

That same year, the prison was featured in a Season 1 episode of the MTV reality show Fear.

Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) took refuge at Eastern State in 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior were utilized in the flick.

Eastern State was also the main location featured in Whitney Peyton’s 2010 “Crazy” music video.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Eastern State Penitentiary is located at 2027 Fairmount Avenue in Philadelphia. You can visit the prison’s official website here. The nighttime Terror Behind the Walls event runs each year from mid-September through early November.

October 28, 2016