This and That – Page 15 – IAMNOTASTALKER

October 14, 2016September 29, 2017

Sarah’s House from “The Craft”

Another day, another request – this one also from my friends Lavonna and Katie regarding The Craft. (You can read yesterday’s post about HarborPlace Tower from the movie here). During a recent group texting session, Katie asked if I knew the location of the home where Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney) lived with her dad, Mr. Bailey (Cliff De Young), and her step-mom, Jenny (Jeanine Jackson), in the flick. Well, not only did I know the location, but I had actually stalked it! Though I was never a huge fan of The Craft, Sarah’s rambling Spanish-style home made an impression on me when I first watched the film back in 1996. So when I came across its address a couple of months ago thanks to an anonymous commenter on the Movie Locations and More website (who tracked the pad down all the way from Australia!), I immediately jotted it in my stalking notebook and headed on over there a few weeks later.

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At the beginning of The Craft, Sarah and her family move from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Their new home first pops up in one of the film’s opening scenes . . .

. . . and is then seen regularly throughout the rest of the movie.

Thanks to Google Street View, I knew prior to stalking the residence that it was set far back from the road and that virtually none of it was visible.

You can just barely catch a glimpse of the dwelling in the images below.

Thankfully, aerial views provide a better look at the property. As you can see below, the house still looks much the same today as it did back in 1996 when The Craft was filmed.

Per Zillow, the 1927 home boasts 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 3,429 square feet of living space, and a 0.58-acre plot of land.

Quite a bit of the residence was shown in the movie, including the pool, which was left dry for the shoot.

The property’s extensive driveway also made an appearance, though it looks substantially different today than it did in 1996 due to some massive foliage growth and the addition of a large detached garage.

Though the interior of Sarah’s home is said to have been built on a soundstage, I am guessing that it was closely modeled after the property’s real life interior. Unfortunately, I could not find any photographs of the inside of the residence with which to verify that hunch.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Sarah’s house from The Craft is located at 8330 McGroarty Street in Sunland.

October 13, 2016September 29, 2017

HarborPlace Tower from “The Craft”

Today’s location is a special request from my good friends Katie and Lavonna, who, in a group text, both suggested I blog about some sites from The Craft as part of my Haunted Hollywood postings. Now the 1996 horror flick is not one of my favorites and its locales have been pretty well documented elsewhere online, but I am never one to turn down a stalking plea from friends. So Katie and Lavonna, this one’s for you! Thankfully, I already had a few sites from the film stockpiled, ahem, stalkpiled. Back in May 2015, a fellow stalker named Nathan wrote to me asking for some help in tracking down two locales from the movie, the occult shop (I told the story behind that search here) and the building where Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk) lived with her mom, Grace Downs (Helen Shaver). Lucky for me, that spot was an easy find thanks to a notation on IMDB which stated that The Craft had done some filming at Long Beach’s HarborPlace Tower. Though Nathan didn’t think that was the right place, one look around the property on Google Street View told me it was. I finally made it out to see the structure in person this past May.

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Construction on HarborPlace Tower (and no, that’s not a typo – per the building’s official website, the name is spelled “HarborPlace” with no spacing) began in 1990 and was completed in September 1992.

The modern, Art Deco-ish building is comprised of 225 luxury condos.

The structure boasts 22 floors, though there is no 13th, which I thought was quite fitting being that I am covering HarborPlace as a Haunted Hollywood locale.

Building amenities include a pool, a spa, his-and-hers saunas, concierge service, a gym, an underground garage with parking for 600 cars, a 24-hour security guard, a sun deck, a park with artwork designed by sculptor Ned Smyth (some of those pieces are pictured in the images above and below), an expansive lobby, ocean views, and meeting rooms.

You can check out a video showing the interior of the building and one of the units here.

In The Craft, teen witch Nancy places a spell on her abusive step-father causing him to have a heart attack and die. Thanks to his extensive life insurance policy, Nancy and her mom are subsequently able to move from the trailer park where they live to more upscale digs at HarborPlace Tower.

In the scene in which Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), Bonnie (Neve Campbell), and Rochelle (Rachel True) visit Nancy’s new apartment for the first time, the girls enter the property on its East Ocean Boulevard side. The buildings visible in the background (located at 555 East Ocean and 455 East Ocean) still look much the same today as they did in 1996 when The Craft was filmed.

The interior of one of HarborPlace’s actual units stood in for Nancy’s apartment in the flick.

While it was under construction, the building appeared as itself in the Season 10 episode of Columbo titled “Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star,” which aired in 1991.

And in the 1995 action flick Heat, Lt. Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) ambushed Hugh Benny (Henry Rollins) at HarborPlace Tower.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: HarborPlace Tower, from The Craft, is located at 525 East Seaside Way in Long Beach.

October 12, 2016September 29, 2017

Robert Pastorelli’s Former House

Growing up, I absolutely loved Murphy Brown. This was largely due to the antics of zany housepainter/nanny Eldin Bernecky, played by actor Robert Pastorelli. I adored Eldin so much in fact that when Pastorelli left the show in 1994, I stopped watching. I was heartbroken to learn of his death a decade later and was even more heartbroken when news came to light that he was being investigated as a suspect in the 1999 killing of his then girlfriend, Charemon Jonovich, at the time. Not surprisingly, the case fascinated me, so when I came across a Curbed LA article back in 2009 about the Hollywood Hills house where both deaths occurred, I immediately added the address to my To-Stalk List. And while I made it over there shortly thereafter, somehow in all of this time I never managed to blog about it. I had actually forgotten about the place until a couple of weeks ago when I sat down to look through all of my old stalking photographs in order to compile a database of yet-to-be-blogged Haunted Hollywood locales. As soon as I spotted the images, this one was moved right to the top of the list!

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The story of Robert Pastorelli’s life is a sad one. Born in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1954, Robert set out on a path to become a professional boxer. A near-fatal car accident at the age of 19 derailed those plans and he began battling a drug problem shortly thereafter. During his twenties, Pastorelli moved to New York and became involved with the theatre scene. He eventually relocated to L.A., where he found success with small movie and television roles before finally hitting the big time when he landed the part of Eldin in 1988. He got clean around that same time, but just two years later tragedy struck when his then girlfriend died of AIDS, apparently the result of repeated drug use.

When Murphy Brown creator Diane English left the show in 1994, Pastorelli followed suit. Though he landed a starring role in another English sitcom, Double Rush, almost immediately, it was cancelled after only 12 episodes. Robert continued to work in Hollywood in the ensuing years, though not very successfully. Then in 1999 things really got bad. According to reports, at approximately 9:50 p.m. on March 15th of that year, Pastorelli’s 25-year-old live-in girlfriend Charemon shot herself in the head during an argument with the actor while in the master bedroom of their shared home. She died instantly. Their one-year-old daughter was asleep in another room. Pastorelli cooperated with authorities and the coroner ruled Charemon’s death “undetermined.” That ruling was later changed to “homicide,” though, according to Inside Edition which cited “staging of the crime scene and scientific evidence the firearm was handled after discharge” as the reasoning behind the adjustment. Pastorelli became the police’s number one suspect.

According to numerous articles, including this one from the Daily News, Pastorelli knew he was being investigated and that detectives were closing in and an arrest was likely imminent. He began using drugs again and on March 8th, 2004 the actor was found by an assistant, slumped over on his toilet with a syringe in his arm, dead from an accidental heroin overdose at the age of 49. It’s a sad story all around.

Pastorelli purchased his Hollywood Hills home in 1989 for $487,000. After his death, it was sold to a PR exec, who, in turn, put it on the market for $1.095 million in 2009. Per the listing from that year, the gated contemporary 1962 pad boasts 2 bedrooms, 1 ¾ baths, 1,726 square feet of living space, an open floor plan, a remodeled kitchen with stainless appliances, a fireplace, 360-degree views of the Hollywood sign and Griffith Observatory, and an “oversized party shower with direct access to the outdoor deck.” I’m not really sure what an “oversized party shower” is, but I’m guessing it’s not something I want. The residence wound up selling for $976,000 in May 2010. The photos below are from the 2009 MLS listing. You can check out some more images of the house here (and yes, the master bedroom, bathroom, and oversized party shower are pictured).

Though I have not been inside the house, I can attest to the fact that the views are stunning. The Hollywood Sign is literally right there!

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Robert Pastorelli’s former house is located at 2751 Hollyridge Drive in the Hollywood Hills. Heidi and Spencer’s home from Season 5 of The Hills is located just up the street at 3132 Hollyridge Drive.

October 11, 2016September 29, 2017

Hollywood Tower

“The next time you check into a deserted hotel on the dark side of Hollywood, make sure you know just what kind of vacancy you’re filling. Or you may find yourself a permanent resident… of The Twilight Zone.” So says Rod Serling at the end of Disney World’s popular The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction. The design of the ride, located at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, was inspired by several California locales, one of which was Hollywood Tower, a luxury apartment building situated alongside the 101 Freeway in Tinseltown. The looming structure is such an icon and area landmark that it has become synonymous with the landscape of L.A. It is also consistently cited as one of the city’s most haunted locations (along with The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the Hollywood Knickerbocker Apartments, and the Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles), so I figured what better time to blog about it than now?

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Hollywood Tower was originally built in 1929 as “La Belle Tour,” a luxury apartment house. The French Normandy-style building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by architects Cramer and Wise.

The 8-story property, which rises to 110 feet at its highest point, boasts rooftop gardens, a subterranean garage, and 52 units, including 3 penthouses.

As the plaque on the front door tells you, the location served as “Sophisticated living for film luminaries during the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood.”

Renamed Hollywood Tower in 1942, such stars as Humphrey Bogart, Errol Flynn, Robert Patrick, George Raft, Eugene Pallette, William Powell, and Colin Clive (aka Dr. Henry Frankenstein – love it!) all called the place home at one time or another. Carmen Miranda was even married on the premises.

You can check out what the interior of the building looks like here, as well as some images of the individual units here, here, and here. The bathrooms are to die for!

Rumors of hauntings at Hollywood Tower are prevalent online. The Rock Photographer blog, penned by a building resident, mentions the hauntings (including a “shadowy, floating figure” who stalks the fourth floor), as well as suicides, murders and mob hits that have taken place on the property in this post, though no specifics are given.

Whether or not the building is actually haunted remains to be seen, but being that the structure has a decidedly looming presence, it is no surprise that it influenced the Disney Imagineers who created The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. (Check out Scouting LA for a fabulous write-up on the various SoCal properties that served as inspiration for the ride.)

As you can see below as compared to this image, the ride’s signage is very similar to that of Hollywood Tower. The overall design of the two structures is also somewhat similar, though Tower of Terror bears a distinct Southwestern element that cannot be found at Hollywood Tower.

Hollywood Tower is also a filming location! In the 1948 crime drama Devil’s Cargo, Margo Delgado (Rochelle Hudson) calls the building home.

Jake Scully (Craig Wasson) briefly stays with his friend at Hollywood Tower in the 1984 thriller Body Double.

The real life interior of one of the apartment units was also used in the movie, though very little of it can be seen.

Hollywood Tower is also where Leon (Alan Solomon) lived and gathered five students together to invite them to compete in the “Great All-nighter,” an all-night scavenger hunt through Los Angeles, in the 1980 comedy Midnight Madness.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hollywood Tower is located at 6200 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood.

October 10, 2016September 29, 2017

The Burr House from “The Twilight Zone”

After what amounted to a nearly two-year stalking hiatus, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, is finally back! Let me reverse a bit and explain. Over the past couple of years, Mike has been busy working in production (yep, he actually toils away on movie sets now!), which hasn’t left much time for tracking down locations. I was having some trouble with a locale this past week, though, and on a whim decided to see if he could lend a hand. Mike was game and, lo and behold, the two of us were on the hunt once again, just like old times! The story of our quest, which is a bit of a long one, is detailed below.

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While doing some research on Say Anything . . . locations back in January, I came across a 1990 Los Angeles Times article which made mention of an old Victorian house in Monrovia that had been featured in an episode of The Twilight Zone. Perfect for my Haunted Hollywood postings, right? Though the exact episode was not named, the column stated that parakeets were flown through the residence during the shoot, so I assumed it would not be hard to figure out. I did a little digging, pinpointed the address of the property, headed right on over to Monrovia to stalk it shortly thereafter, and did not think much more about it until sitting down to write this post. As it turned out, even armed with such specific information regarding parakeets, identifying the episode proved arduous. My first course of action was to Google “The Twilight Zone episode” and “parakeets,” which yielded nothing. Then I literally spent hours scanning through old TTZ episodes and reading recaps, but came up with nada. Enter Mike. Literally five minutes after I texted him and told him of my quest in tracking down the “parakeet episode,” he texted me back with an answer. As he discovered, the episode was Season 1’s “Still Life,” which originally aired on January 3rd, 1986. I felt like a complete blonde when he told me his search process, which involved inputting the sentence “Which episode of The Twilight Zone filmed in Monrovia, CA?” The third result to be kicked back was a synopsis of “Still Life” on The New Twilight Zone website. Actor Robert Morris had provided the site with a behind-the-scenes photograph of the shoot which was posted with the caption, “ . . . the episode was shot in Monrovia, California in this beautiful home.” D’oh!

In real life, the dwelling is known as the Burr House and it was originally built in 1893 for Frank W. Burr and his family. The 18-room Queen Anne-style residence was constructed entirely of redwood at a cost of $2,800. At the time of its inception, it did not have heating, electricity, or even indoor bathrooms. Yep, the Burrs had to use an outhouse! That outhouse is still currently located on the property. The Burr family owned the site until 1975, which explains how so much of the home’s original detailing remains intact today, 123 years after it was built.

In 1979, Mary Ann and Ramon Otero purchased the residence and began an extensive renovation and restoration process. Today, the property boasts 5 bedrooms, 4,700 square feet of living space, several bathrooms (there are 4.5 to be exact), a pool, extensive gardens, a detached garage, and a half-acre plot of land.

In “Still Life,” the Burr House belongs to photographer Daniel Arnold (Robert Carradine), who, after visiting an estate sale, brings home an antique trunk which he later discovers has a secret compartment containing a camera that was last used during a 1913 National Geographic Society expedition to the Amazon River Basin.

As Daniel soon learns, during the expedition the camera captured the souls of several Curucai Indian tribesmen whom he inadvertently brings back to life.

The Burr House was used extensively in the episode.

The home’s actual interior was also featured throughout.

You can watch “Still Life” by clicking below.

As was noted in the Los Angeles Times (as well as in this Monrovia Patch article), the Burr House has appeared in countless movies, TV shows, and commercials over the years. In 1988, it was used as the Boon residence in a scene in Sweet Hearts Dance. Because most filming of the Boon home took place at a similar looking Victorian dwelling located at 113 Eden Street in Hyde Park, Vermont, I am guessing that the Burr House segment might have been part of a reshoot.

Mike Donnelly (Chris Farley) voted – and got stuck in the voting booth – outside of the property’s garage in the 1996 comedy Black Sheep.

You can see the garage in the photos below.

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

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for his help in tracking down the correct The Twilight Zone episode!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Burr house, from the “Still Life” episode of The Twilight Zone, is located at 150 North Myrtle Avenue in Monrovia.

October 7, 2016September 29, 2017

“The Bedroom Window” Apartment

I am always on the lookout for new thrillers and scary movies to watch, especially during this time of year. While researching Baltimore locations in preparation for our recent trip to the Old Line State, I came across information about the brownstone apartment featured in The Bedroom Window. I had never seen the 1987 crime flick before, but remembered hearing good things about it. So, figuring the locale would fit in perfectly with my Haunted Hollywood posts, I added the address to my To-Stalk List and ventured right on over there while in town. I finally sat down to watch the movie this past week and found it really held up against the test of time, despite being almost thirty years old. The Bedroom Window is thoroughly frightening and suspenseful. For those who haven’t seen it, the film centers around businessman Terry Lambert (Steve Guttenberg) who starts up an affair with his boss’s wife, Sylvia Wentworth (Isabelle Huppert). Never a smart move. On the evening of their first tryst, Sylvia witnesses an attack on a woman in the park located just outside of Terry’s apartment. She, of course, can’t come forward as a witness, so Terry agrees to call the police and pretend as if he saw the assault. Not surprisingly, things do not go as planned and not only does Terry become a suspect in the crime, but the real culprit comes after him and Sylvia.

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In The Bedroom Window, Terry lives in an apartment located in a handsome four-story brownstone.

Amazingly, the property still looks much the same today as it did in 1987 when the movie was filmed.

The picturesque Federal-style building was originally built in 1900.

It is situated in the Mount Vernon Place Historic District, an area that surrounds Baltimore’s Washington Monument. The entire neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The brownstone, like those that surround it, was likely originally constructed as a single-family home.

It was subdivided at some point in time and today the building is made up of individual condo units.

In The Bedroom Window, Terry is shown to live on the second floor in Unit 4. His window, from which Sylvia witnesses the attack, obviously figures prominently in the story.

I am fairly certain that the interior of Terry’s flat was a set built on a soundstage and not one of the building’s actual units – which is unfortunate because it was a fabulous place. It reminded me a bit of the New York loft where Josh (Tom Hanks) lived in Big.

You can check out what one of the building’s actual units looks like here.

The church down the street from Terry’s brownstone also made a brief appearance in The Bedroom Window.

The hauntingly gothic sanctuary, which was designed by Thomas Dixon and Charles L. Carson in 1872, is known as Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Terry’s apartment from The Bedroom Window is located at 12 East Mount Vernon Place in Baltimore.

October 6, 2016September 29, 2017

Jeff’s House from “Spellbinder”

My Haunted Hollywood backlog is getting ridiculous! Currently, I have more than 50 already-stalked spooky locations compiled – and only about 20 or so days each year to blog about them. Regardless, I keep compiling more – and I love every minute of it! Why can’t all year be Halloween? Last October, fellow stalker Chas, of the It’s Filmed There website, contributed to my ever-growing list by texting to let me know about a horror movie house he thought I might be interested in – the residence where Jeff Mills (Tim Daly) lived in 1988’s Spellbinder. I had never seen the film before, or even heard of it actually, but was fascinated by the fact that the home was located on Westwanda Drive in Beverly Hills, the very same street where Yvette Vickers lived and was found dead in 2011, after months of lying dead on her floor. (I blogged about that property in October 2014.) I ran right out to stalk the Spellbinder pad and, though I was not able to include it in last year’s Haunted Hollywood postings, wanted to make sure to fit it in this year.

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Sadly, as I discovered upon arriving, the house is obscured by a large fence and very little of it can be seen from the road.

Not much of the residence is visible from the other side of the property, either.

That was not the case back in ‘88 when Spellbinder was filmed, though. As you can below, at the time, the dwelling was only surrounded by a small white picket fence.

What can be seen today, though, matches what appeared onscreen.

In real life, the Cape Cod-style residence, which was built in 1954, boasts 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1,940 square feet of living space.

I am fairly certain that the interior of Jeff’s home was a set – especially being that much of it was destroyed at the hands of the otherworldly friends of Jeff’s new girlfriend, Miranda Reed (Kelly Preston), in the film.

I was able to dig up one interior photograph of the residence from an old MLS listing and in it you can see that the set fireplace from Spellbinder very closely resembles that of the actual house, though it is situated differently. I am guessing that most of the set was modeled after the home’s real life interior.

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

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’s Filmed There website, for telling me about this location. You can check out his page on Spellbinder’s other filming locations here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Jeff’s house from Spellbinder is located at 9912 Westwanda Drive in Beverly Crest. Yvette Vickers’ former home was located just up the street at 10021 Westwanda Drive, though it has been demolished.

October 5, 2016September 29, 2017

“The Exorcist” House and Stairs

I’ve ventured down a deep, dark rabbit hole today, friends. I should back up and explain from the beginning. Last night, the Grim Cheaper and I watched The Exorcist for the first time. I had come across images of the stately brick house and adjacent towering staircase featured in the iconic 1973 horror flick while researching filming locations in the D.C.-area prior to our September trip and found them to be particularly haunting. Despite the fact that I had never seen The Exorcist and knew little about it other than it was considered one of the scariest movies of its day (with theatregoers purportedly fainting during viewings), I jotted down the addresses and moved them to the very top of my D.C. To-Stalk List. Both sites proved fabulously creepy in person. I felt I couldn’t very well write about them without a screening of the flick, though, so last night the GC and I sat down to watch. I was shocked at how much the movie withstood the test of time. I was scared throughout (though I did find the demonic ramblings hysterical and I’m pretty sure they were meant to be obscene and shocking in their day). When I sat down to write this post, I discovered that the film was actually based upon a real life case and starting doing research. And wow, did I get sucked in! I highly suggest you do not open that Pandora’s box unless you have a lot of time on your hands because it. is. fascinating.

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I’ll give you the Reader’s Digest version here. The Exorcist was originally a book – a best-seller, actually, written by William Peter Blatty. William was initially inspired to pen the novel while attending Georgetown University in 1949, when a professor mentioned the supposed real life exorcism of a 14-year-old Maryland boy that had recently taken place. The case of the possessed youngster, which was chronicled in countless newspapers, was shrouded in mystery and the story largely twisted by various reporters. The tale, which detailed violently shaking beds, rashes that spelled out demonic messages, and outbursts of profanity laced with Latin, stuck with Blatty for two decades and he finally began to put pen to paper in 1969. The book became an immediate sensation when it hit shelves in 1971 and drew renewed attention to the real life exorcism. The movie that followed two years later, which Blatty wrote the screenplay to, only exacerbated the public’s fascination with the case and rumor and gossip about it spread. The actual story, which was thoroughly investigated by historian Mark Opsasnick and finally revealed in a five-part article in 1999, is much less paranormal. You can read it here. Though Opsasnick does not mention the boy’s real name in his piece, instead using the alias Roland Doe, today that name is widely published all over the internet. The “real” Exorcist child is Ronald Edwin Hunkeler, who lived at 3807 40th Avenue in Cottage City (that’s his childhood home pictured below). You can see a photograph of a teen Hunkeler here. And you can read another in-depth recap of the case, which further debunks many of the rumors, here.

While writing his novel, Blatty made contact with Father Bowdern, the priest who performed Hunkeler’s exorcism. Bowdern told him of a diary that was written by Father Bishop, an attending priest, which chronicled the entire process. The novelist, of course, asked to see the diary, but Bowdern refused to hand it over. To assure the confidentiality of those involved, Blatty decided to change his story’s lead character from a teen boy to a teen girl. He did eventually get his hands on the diary and much of what he read figured into the book. The movie closely follows the story of the book and centers around famous actress Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) and her 12-year-old daughter, Regan (Linda Blair), who are temporarily living in a handsome brick-clad pad in Georgetown while Chris shoots a movie nearby. Though their surroundings are gorgeous, it is not long before things take a sinister turn and Regan begins to show signs of demonic possession.

The MacNeil’s Georgetown dwelling is featured extensively throughout The Exorcist.

Looking below, you may notice that the actual residence differs quite a bit from what appeared onscreen. For the shoot, an entire fake wing was built on the eastern side of the house. This was done so that Regan’s bedroom window would be close to the stairs situated next to the property, which accommodated for several scenes that were pertinent to the film (I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I won’t say more). A fake mansard roof was also added to the structure to give the appearance that the home had an attic – something else that was necessary to the plotline.

A fence has also since been added to the perimeter of the property, obscuring most of the ground floor from view. This was apparently done to ward off stalkers, who still rampantly visit the residence, more than four decades after the film was made!

Said fence was closed when I stalked The Exorcist home, but I did find some Google Street View imagery in which it was open. As you can see below, despite the missing wing and mansard roof, the house is still very recognizable from its time onscreen.

Only the exterior of the property appeared in The Exorcist. Interiors were part of a vast set constructed at New York’s now defunct Camera Mart studios.

In real life, the dwelling, which was built in 1950, consists of 3 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, and 2,808 square feet living space. The pad sits on a 0.11-acre plot of land that overlooks the Potomac River and the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

I find it fascinating that virtually all of the photos I took of the place have some sort of an orb reflection in them!

I mean, come on! Can things get any more creepy?

The infamous stairs, which figured so prominently in the story, are located just east of and adjacent to the house.

And let me tell you, they are harrowingly steep!

According to a 2013 USA Today article, the stairs are technically known as the “Hitchcock Steps,” named in honor of the prolific suspense director, but ever since the movie’s 1973 premiere have largely been called the “Exorcist Steps.”

Though the southern portion of the stairs was also featured in The Exorcist, we did not venture down to see it. It was over 90 degrees and insanely humid the day we stalked Georgetown and ambling all the way down those steps – and then back up – in that heat did not seem appealing in the slightest.

In 2013, Blatty and Exorcist director William Friedkin revisited several of the movie’s locations, including the stairs. You can watch a video clip of their stalk here.

On an Exorcist side-note – I was shocked to see how much Linda Blair resembles Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) from Stranger Things (which the GC and I are obsessed with, BTW – if you have not yet watched, I cannot more highly recommend doing so!).

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The MacNeil house from The Exorcist is located at 3600 Prospect Street NW in Georgetown. The stairs that appeared in the movie are located just east of the house and run between Prospect Street NW and M Street NW.

October 4, 2016September 29, 2017

The Old Man’s House from “Night of the Demons”

Ah, how I love creepy old houses. Horror flicks? Not so much. Which is strange, I know, being that I am such a fan of Halloween, all things scary, and movies in general. I do absolutely love horror films that are done well, though (hello, Scream!), but find that the vast majority are pretty pointless (Phantasm, anyone?). That being said, I will never stop stalking locations from them. A couple of months ago, I came across this screen capture of a fabulously spooky old house from the 1988 slasher flick Night of the Demons on The Location Scout website and practically started drooling. Though the capture was slightly blurry due to movement in the scene, the view of the home showed that it was nothing short of tall, dark, and looming. I knew I had to see it in person and jotted down the address immediately. I finally got out to stalk it a couple of weeks back while I was visiting L.A. and, though it has recently been fixed up and is no longer as spectacularly creepy as it appeared onscreen, the place did not disappoint.

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Originally built in 1898 as a single-family home, the 5-bedroom, 2-bath, 2,706-square-foot property was transformed into a duplex in 1942.

As you can see below, the pad boasts two address numbers – 2833 and 2833 ½.

The residence is located in the Menlo Avenue – West Twenty-ninth Street Historic District, an area of University Park that is comprised of a wide selection of architecturally significant homes that date back to the late 1800s. The neighborhood, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, is comprised of more than fifty Victorian, Classic Revival, and Craftsman-style dwellings, each of them boasting unique detailing. The Night of the Demons house was built in the Dutch Colonial Revival-style and features a pedimented front porch with columns and an elaborate tympanum (yeah, I had to look that one up, too), a gambrel roof, a Palladian window, and carved diamond insets.

According to the neighborhood’s National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form from 1987, the home was built for Jennie V. Mitchell, one of the only African American women to own property in Los Angeles at the time. Jennie, who never lived in the residence, is featured in the book The Negro Trail Blazers of California. From 1902 to 1904, the pad was occupied by Bernard Potter, a lawyer who wrote 1950’s Los Angeles Yesterday and Today.

In 2014, the property was sold, underwent a renovation, and today serves as student housing for the University of Southern California. You can check out some interior photos of what it looked at the time it was on the market here and some images of what it currently looks like here.

The residence appears twice in Night of the Demons. It first pops up in the movie’s opening scene in which some teenagers harass the Old Man (Harold Ayer) – and I’m not being disrespectful here, the character’s name is actually listed as “Old Man” – while he is standing in front of his house on Halloween night. The Old Man then proceeds to harass Judy (Cathy Podewell), a teen girl who happens by, before promising his revenge on all “damn rotten kids” while menacingly holding up razor blades and apples.

The dwelling then pops up again in the movie’s closing scene, in which the Old Man walks outside to retrieve his newspaper the following morning.

After grabbing the paper, the Old Man heads back inside, whereupon his wife serves him an apple pie she baked that morning using all of the leftover Halloween apples. You can imagine what happens next. Spoiler alert – it ain’t pretty!

I was floored to discover that the actual interior of the residence was used in the filming of that scene. As you can see below, the stairwell visible in the segment is a direct match to the staircase pictured in an MLS photograph of the home from 2014.

Though the MLS photos did not feature a full image of the dining room area, the walls were visible in one of the pictures and, amazingly, they look to have been the same color pink in 2014 that they were when Night of the Demons was filmed in 1988! As you can see in current images of the home, though, the walls have since been painted taupe, so that is no longer the case.

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

A big THANK YOU to The Location Scout for finding this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Old Man’s house from Night of the Demons is located at 2833 Menlo Avenue in University Park.

October 3, 2016September 29, 2017

Dolly Oesterreich’s House

It is finally that time again, my fellow stalkers – time for my annual Haunted Hollywood postings! I, for one, could not be more excited! Though I should mention here that postings this year will be rather light as I have two trips planned this month (as I mentioned last week, I’ve traveled more as of late than I ever have before) and my best friend Robin and his girlfriend Steffi are also coming for a visit in mid-October. I do have some great locations lined up, though, starting with today’s. I thought I’d kick things off with a locale from one of L.A.’s oddest murder cases, the killing of Fred Oesterreich at the hands of the “Bat Man of Los Angeles,” which was brought to my attention a couple of months back by my good friend Lavonna.

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The lurid tale begins in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and centers around a rather seductive housewife named Dolly Oesterreich (that’s her below). Born Walburga Korschel in 1880, Dolly, as she was nicknamed, was married to Fred Oesterreich, a well-off apron manufacturer. Though the two lived an affluent life, Dolly had an insatiable sexual appetite and Fred just wasn’t cutting it for her in the bedroom. She quickly set her sights on one of Fred’s factory workers, 17-year-old Otto Sanhuber. One day in 1913, Dolly, feigning a problem with her sewing machine, asked Fred to send Otto over to the Oesterreich’s stately home to make a repair. According to a 1995 Los Angeles Times article, when the young man arrived, Dolly answered the door wearing only a silk robe and stockings (as you do). The two quickly began a lurid affair and it wasn’t long before neighbors started taking notice of Otto’s many comings and goings. So Dolly came up with the only viable resolution – to move her lover into her home’s attic. Poor Otto remained hidden away there for five years, never venturing outside during that time and only leaving his rooftop confines in the daylight hours for the purposes of satisfying Dolly – and to help her clean the house. Dolly brought Sanhuber books from the library to help him bide his time, which, oddly, led to a writing career. Otto began penning articles and stories, several of which Dolly had published for him (under a pen name) in pulp magazines.

When Fred decided to make a cross-country move to Los Angeles in 1918, Dolly insisted that their new digs have an attic (obvs!) and moved her lover right along with them, unbeknownst to her husband. The threesome settled into a traditional two-story home in Silver Lake at what was then 858 North Andrews Boulevard. The dwelling still stands today.

Things remained status quo for the next several years – well, as status quo as life can be when one has a secret lover stashed away in an attic. Then, on August 22nd, 1922, the proverbial sh*t hit the fan. That evening, Dolly and Fred got into a heated argument. Otto heard the ruckus and broke from his hideout, armed with two rifles, to put a stop to it. A struggle ensued and Otto wound up shooting Fred in the chest, killing him. Dolly and Otto then staged the scene to look like a robbery gone wrong, with Otto locking Dolly into a closet before, once again, hiding himself away in the attic. Police arrived onsite shortly thereafter thanks to a call from neighbors who heard the gunshots. Figuring there was no way Dolly could have locked herself into the closet, the detectives bought her story hook, line and sinker.

Dolly inherited Fred’s substantial assets and subsequently moved to a new house (unfortunately, I am unsure of that home’s location). Yes, this one had an attic, too. And yes, Otto, once again, came along. Despite the fact that Fred was now out of the picture and Otto no longer needed to hide, he inexplicably continued to live in Dolly’s attic and the two continued on as before. The loss of Fred apparently left a hole in Dolly’s life, though, and she started seeing two men, her estate attorney, Herman Shapiro, and a businessman named Roy H. Klumb. It was at this time that things began to awry.

For reasons unknown, Dolly gifted Herman with Fred’s diamond watch, which was supposedly stolen during the “robbery.” Herman recognized it immediately, but Dolly explained the situation away, stating she found the watch underneath a seat cushion after the crime had taken place. Around that same time, she asked Roy to discard of one of her rifles, saying it looked like the weapon that killed Fred and she didn’t want police to come across it and suspect her of the murder. Roy, who was obviously a few eggs short of a dozen, obliged her request and tossed the gun into the La Brea Tar Pits. Dolly then asked a neighbor, who was also obviously missing a few eggs, to get rid of the second rifle, and he obliged, as well, burying it in his backyard.

Roy didn’t take it lightly when Dolly later broke up with him (I swear, she must have been quite a woman!) and went straight to the police to tell them about the gun he had disposed of. Detectives wound up uncovering it on July 12th, 1923, almost a year after the murder, and Dolly was subsequently arrested. When her neighbor read about the arrest and the other rifle’s recovery in the newspaper, he dug up the gun he had buried and marched it straight down to the station. Though neither weapon produced much evidence-wise due to deterioration, things only got worse for Dolly. While she was in jail, she asked Herman, whom she was still seeing, to bring food to Otto, who remained squirreled away in the attic. Herman was not thrilled upon meeting Otto and learning of his exploits with Dolly and demanded that he leave. The attic-dweller headed to Canada and, amazingly, the charges against Dolly were soon dropped. The story does not end there, though.

When Dolly and Herman broke up in 1930, he headed straight to the police to spill the beans, just as Roy had done seven years prior. Dolly was arrested yet again, this time for conspiracy. Otto, who had returned to L.A. by then, was also arrested, for Fred’s murder. The arrests and subsequent trial became a media circus, with the press dubbing Otto the “Bat Man” and the “Bat Man of Los Angeles” due to his many years of attic dwelling. Though the jury did wind up finding Otto guilty of manslaughter, because the seven-year statute of limitation had run out by the time of the verdict, he faced no jail time and walked away a free man. After spending the better part of a decade living in an attic, though, something tells me he wouldn’t have minded jail much. Dolly’s jury was miraculously hung and she, too, walked away with her freedom intact. So what became of the two? Otto changed his name to Walter Klein and married a woman named Matilda. Dolly found love with a man named Ray B. Hedrick, whom she dated for over thirty years before finally marrying him in 1961, less than two weeks before her death. The bizarre case inspired both the 1995 made-for-TV movie The Man in the Attic starring Anne Archer and Neil Patrick Harris (you can check out the trailer here), and, oddly enough, the 1968 British comedy The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom.

When Lavonna first told me about the case, she asked me to track down the house where the murder took place. Thankfully, a poster named GaylordWilshire on SkyscraperPage’s Noorish Los Angeles thread had done all of the legwork for me, finding the Oesterreich residence thanks to this image from the trial which showed a blueprint of the dwelling and noted its address as 858 N. Andrews. As GaylordWilshire explained, Andrews Boulevard was changed to La Fayette Park Place at some point and today the former Oesterreich pad can be found at 858 North La Fayette Park Place in Silver Lake. You can check out an image of what the house looked like in 1937 here. Though it has since been transformed into a multi-family dwelling comprised of apartments, miraculously little of the exterior has been altered. You can see some interior photos of a few of the apartment units here and here. Sadly, I did not come across any online images of the attic.

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

Big THANK YOU to my good friend Lavonna for telling me about the Oesterreich case and to poster GaylordWilshire on SkyscraperPage’s Noorish Los Angeles thread for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Dolly Oesterreich’s former house is located at 858 North La Fayette Park Place in Silver Lake.