Because I spent all day yesterday doing some location scouting with Mike, from MovieShotsLA – including an amazing visit to the WB Ranch!!!! – I was not able to write a new post for today. But I promise to be back tomorrow with a whole new location. So until next time, Happy Stalking! 
While doing research on the Chaplin Court apartment complex, which I blogged about last Thursday, I came across some information about an oft-filmed-at Chatsworth-area estate formerly owned by Old Blue Eyes himself, Frank Sinatra, that, for some inexplicable reason, I had somehow not previously known about. The mansion, which in most circles is known simply as Farralone, is a marvel of modern design that just came on the public market for the very first time in history a couple of weeks ago. And, let me tell you, I took one look at the photographs featured on the real estate listing and became just a wee-bit obsessed with stalking the place. So I dragged the Grim Cheaper right on out there last weekend to do just that.
Farralone, or the “Great Glass Mansion” or the “Sinatra Compound” as it is also sometimes called, was commissioned by Chase-Manhattan-Bank-heiress Dora Hutchison in 1951 and was designed by Pereira & Luckman, the architecture firm who also gave us the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, the Theme Building (aka The Encounter Restaurant & Bar) at the Los Angeles International Airport, and, my personal favorite, the Disneyland Hotel. Dora built the house to be used as a party pad and regularly hosted rousing soirees where she counted Ava Gardner, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, and Vincent Minnelli as guests. When Dora moved back to her native New York, she leased the property to none other than Frank Sinatra, who remained there for almost ten years. Sadly though, as you can see above, not much of the property is visible from the street.
But that’s why God created real estate listings! The estate, which was just put on the market earlier this month for a cool $12 million, boasts sweeping views, parking for over 200 cars, 10,000 square feet of living space, 4 bedrooms, 6 baths, 3 private offices, a conference room, a detached gym, a 50-foot swimming pool, 14 acres of land, a vineyard, a production studio, 16-foot ceilings, glass walls, and a 1,000-square-foot, 1-bedroom, 2-bath guest house (with its own separate pool) where my girl Miss Marilyn Monroe supposedly lived in for a time.
Farralone has seen so much filming over the years that, according to a December 2nd, 2011 Forbes article, it not only nets up to $2 million a year in location fees, but also “comes with a property manager who acts as a liaison with the studios, paid for by the studios.” The article further states that the “main house also boasts a lower level production studio equipped with conference room, edit bays, private office and a separate entrance, all paid for and maintained by the studios.” Ironically enough, when we showed up to stalk the property some filming was actually taking place. The super-nice security guard on duty informed us the the shoot was for a reality dating show of some sort, but she was unsure of the name.
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In the Season 4 episode of Californication titled “Lawyers, Guns, and Money”, Farralone showed up as the residence belonging to Stu Beggs (aka Stephen Tobolowsky), where Marcy Ellen Runkle (aka Pamela Adlon) made a house call to give Stu a “full Kardashian” body wax.
In the 2001 thriller Swordfish, Farralone was the house where Gabriel Shear (aka John Travolta) lived and where Halle Berry famously shed her top for the very first time onscreen – an act for which she was supposedly paid a whopping $500,000. Thanks to some crafty CGI, the Sinatra compound was made to appear as if it was located in the heart of Downtown Los Angeles for the film, instead of Chatsworth.
Farralone was also the home where Jack Wyatt (aka Will Ferrell) lived and threw his post-divorce party in the 2005 romantic comedy Bewitched.
In 2006’s Dreamgirls, Farralone stood in for the residence belonging to pop star Deena Jones (aka Beyonce Knowles) and her music-producer husband, Curtis Taylor Jr. (aka Jamie Foxx).
In the Season 2 episode of Mad Men titled “The Jet Set”, Farralone was used as the supposed-Palm-Springs-area home where Joy (aka Laura Ramsey) took Don Draper (aka Jon Hamm) while he was visiting California.
In the 2002 flick The Salton Sea, Farralone was the home where Nancy Plummer (aka Shirley Knight) and Verne Plummer (aka R. Lee Ermey) lived.
In 2001’s Tomcats, the Sinatra Compound was where Kyle Brenner (aka Jake Busey) lived.
The real estate listing mentioned that Farralone had been featured in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and I really have to pat myself on the back for this one because as soon as I read those words I knew immediately that the episode in question was Season 9’s “Kill Me If You Can”. I was not even watching CSI regularly back in 2008 when the “Kill Me If You Can” episode aired, but I had caught it on TV at some point and when I saw CSI mentioned in the listing, my mind immediately flashed to an image of Lawrence Fishburne standing by the Farralone pool while investigating the death of an art dealer. Why these random, useless bits of location information remain stored in my head is beyond me, but they do. 
Thanks to commenter Becky on the Design Public blog, I learned that in the Season 1 episode of Six Feet Under titled “An Open Book”, Farralone stood in for the home belonging to the parents of Brenda Chenowith (aka Rachel Griffiths).
And thanks to the HGTV website, I learned that Farralone was where the Design Star contestants lived during Season 4 of the reality series.
Location manager Scott Trimble also let me know that Farralone was where Optimus Prime came out of the swimming pool in the first Transformers movie.
Fellow stalker Jason informed me that the estate also showed up as the party location at the very beginning of 2005’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Farralone also popped up in the 2004 music video for Usher’s hit song “Burn”.
You can watch the “Burn” video by clicking above.
Several articles have also claimed that the home appeared in the 2001 biopic Ali, but I scanned through that movie yesterday and did not seen anything resembling it pop up onscreen, so I am fairly certain that information is incorrect. I am thinking that the house might have instead been featured in the similarly-named television movie Ali: An American Hero, but because I have never seen it and was unable to find it anywhere online, I cannot verify that hunch. One rumor that I can put to rest is that the Farralone pool was not actually the site of Marilyn Monroe’s second-to-last photo shoot, as the real estate listing and several articles about the property have claimed. Truth be told, that photo shoot was not really a photo shoot at all, but simply consisted of photographer Lawrence Schiller snapping some stills of the starlet while she filmed scenes for her very last movie, Something’s Gotta Give. The shoot, which took place a few days before Marilyn’s death and featured her skinny-dipping while talking to co-star Dean Martin, was not actually shot on location, but on a set that was built inside of Stage 14 on the Fox Studios lot in Century City.
As you can see above, the pool from Something’s Gotta Give does not match the real estate listing photographs of the Farralone pool.
You can watch a YouTube video of the Something’s Gotta Give pool scene being shot, during which it is stated that filming took place on Stage 14 of the Fox lot, by clicking above.
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Farralone, the former Frank Sinatra estate, is located at 9361 Farralone Avenue in Chatsworth. You can visit the home’s official real estate listing here and you can check out some fabulous interior pics of the property here.
Another location that the Grim Cheaper and I ventured out in the pouring rain to stalk two weekends ago was the ultra-modern abode where Dr. Julia Harris, D.D.S. (aka my girl Jen Aniston) lived in the (horrible) 2011 comedy Horrible Bosses. I was informed of this location via a text from fellow stalker Chas, of the It’sFilmedThere website, who prefaced giving me the address with the query, “Did you like Horrible Bosses?”, to which I wrote back, “Not at all!” When he asked if my dislike stemmed from the fact that the movie was “too crude”, I wrote back, “No! It stemmed from the fact that it was seriously stupid!” 
The GC and I had gone to see Horrible Bosses on opening night in a theatre, as I do with pretty much every new Jen Aniston movie, and were both so bored to tears that we almost walked out! I just did not find the flick funny, like at all, and, for some reason, Charlie Day, who played Dr. Harris’ dental assistant Dale Arbus, seriously grated on my nerves, especially his gravely voice. It was like fingernails on a chalkboard to this stalker, but I digress. Anyway, I was extremely excited to receive Chas’ text, regardless of my feelings about the movie, as I am always, always up for stalking a location that has anything whatsoever to do with my girl.
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Julia’s house actually only shows up twice in Horrible Bosses – first in the scene in which Dale’s friend Kurt Buckman (aka Jason Sudeikis) stakes out the property with the intent of murdering Julia and later on in a flashback scene in which he describes what happens while there. According to the Horrible Bosses production notes, “The deviant doc’s house is stylistically similar to her office — that is, what can be seen of it through its wide street-facing picture windows, which afford her the opportunity to put on the kind of show she couldn’t get away with at work.”
In real life, the five-bedroom, four-bath, 3,906-square-foot home, which was completely rebuilt in 2008, is pretty darn spectacular! The property features a double-sided fireplace, a floating staircase, an open floor plan, Cherry wood and poured concrete flooring, exposed steel beams, a six-burner range, and three fireplaces. The property sold on July 22 of this year for $1.73 million. You can check out some great interior photographs of the place here.
Big THANK YOU to Chas, from the It’sFilmedThere website, for finding this location. You can check out Chas’ extensive Horrible Bosses filming locations page here.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Julia Harris’ house from Horrible Bosses is located at 2361 Midvale Avenue in the Westside area of Los Angeles.
Because I spent all day yesterday with fellow stalkers Lavonna, Beth, Melissa, Kim, and Sandy, who were in town from Cincinnati for a little stalking vacay, and Miss Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, I did not have time to write a new post for today. But I do promise to be back tomorrow with a whole new location.
So, until next time, Happy Stalking! 
While doing research on the Strode House from Halloween a couple of weeks back, I came across a blog post about the extravagant yard haunt that actor Dick Van Dyke hosts every Halloween at his home in Malibu. And while you wouldn’t think it would be possible, being that I have lived in Southern California for well over a decade, have spent countless hours stalking, and am obsessed with all things Halloween and all things celebrity, until reading that post I had never before heard anything about it! And, let me tell you, I just about had a heart attack a few minutes later when I discovered that Dick Van Dyke lives inside of the gated Serra Retreat community because some of our good friends just (like literally weeks ago!) moved into that very same community! I immediately texted said friend to ask if she lived near Dick Van Dyke or knew him at all and started hyperventilating when she wrote back that not only are they next-door neighbors, but that the Grim Cheaper and I were welcome to come to his Halloween party! Talk about fate! I mean, do these things actually happen??? Days later, as I sit here typing this, I am still in a bit of shock and can’t quite believe that I was actually at Dick Van Dyke’s house for Halloween! And that right there is why I LOVE L.A. – one simply never knows what unthinkable adventure is waiting just around the corner! (The GC refused to dress up as Dylan again after already dressing up on Saturday night, which is why I am dressed like a flapper above. I am now thinking of changing his nickname to the “Grim Grumper”, by the way. 
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About two seconds after we arrived at our friends’ house on Halloween night, some trick-or-treaters knocked on the door and I just about died when I realized it was none other than James Cameron, dressed as a pirate, and his family! I kid you not! I was absolutely DYING inside as he introduced himself to our friends and welcomed them to the neighborhood. Like really? As I said above, does this stuff actually happen??? Oh, what I would not give to live in the ‘Bu and have James Cameron trick-or-treat at my door! HOW INCREDIBLY COOL! I did not ask James for a photograph as I figured it would have been a bit awkward, but I am kind of kicking myself about it now. As my girl Pinky Lovejoy, of the Thinking Pink blog, constantly admonishes me, when an opportunity presents itself, always, always ask for a picture! Ah well, maybe next Halloween! Anyway, shortly after James left, we all headed over to Dick Van Dyke’s house and, let me tell you, it was nothing short of AMAZING! For this Halloween-obsessed stalker, being there was the ultimate experience!
Dick had decorated the entire front of his property – like every single square inch of it – with a myriad of Halloween displays and contraptions and, let me tell you, it was like nothing I had ever seen! The whole thing was like being in the middle of a horror movie set! We were there for well over an hour and I still do not think I saw everything. The spooktacular was comprised of animatronic mannequins, some of which would jump out at people from hidden corners;
a talking statue, a la the talking statues in the graveyard at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion;
a Pee-Wee Herman lookalike who was controlling an animatronic wolf that would jump out to “attack” each passerby;
and a video-rigged front door that had both a picture of Dick Van Dyke that would change from normal to scary depending on where you were standing and a “window” to an insane asylum in which an inmate with an ax tries to break her way out.
You can watch a video of the door by clicking above. Notice the marks that show up on the door when the inmate hits it with the ax! Simply incredible!
My favorite part of the whole thing, though, had to be the graveyard, which consisted of a myriad of tombstones, some of which moved and had animatronic corpses coming out of them. There was also an invisible screen set up at the back of the graveyard on which was projected a video of cartoon skeletons doing the “Thriller” dance! SO INCREDIBLY COOL! Sadly, the GC could not get a good picture of the video, nor could he get a photograph of the glow-in-the-dark monster footprints that had been painted in the street out in front of Dick’s house. AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING!
Because so many celebrities live in Serra Retreat, I was keeping my eyes peeled the entire time we were there and was beyond excited when I spotted Camille Grammer from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. As I have mentioned several times before on this blog, I absolutely LOATHE RHOBH star Kyle Richards (“hot, heaping hunks of hate!” as Jerry Stiller would say), and I don’t much like her sister Kim or their friend Taylor Armstrong, either. And while I used to like Lisa Vanderpump, after her high-school-like mean-girl behavior in the recently-aired “The Opposite of Relaxation!” episode, I don’t really care for her either. The only two on the show that I like are Adrienne Maloof-Nassif and Camille Grammer. So seeing Camille was especially exciting!
So I, of course, just had to ask her for a pic. I am very happy to report that Camille was a total sweetheart and even told me that I was beautiful!!! How nice is that? And she is absolutely gorgeous in person, far prettier even than she appears to be on TV. Love her!! Ironically enough, fellow stalker Chas later told me that Camille had been featured in an interview on TMZ TV on Halloween night in which she was asked what Halloween party she would be attending. Her response? “Dick Van Dyke’s and his is the best.” LOVE IT!
Shortly after I took the pic with Camille, Dick Van Dyke walked outside and I just about died. I, of course, also asked him for a photo and he happily obliged. Unfortunately, I did not get to talk to him at all, though, as he was extremely busy and had hoards of neighbors coming up to him, all wanting to say hi. All in all it was a magical evening and I still cannot quite believe it all happened! As I said yesterday, between meeting Matthew Lillard on Friday, dressing up as Brenda and Dylan on Saturday, and then spending Halloween night at Dick Van Dyke’s house, this was quite simply the Best. Halloween. Ever.
During the party, I also just had to run around the corner to get my picture taken in front of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline’s former house. 🙂
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Unfortunately, because Dick Van Dyke lives inside of Serra Retreat, a gated community that is not open to the public, there is no stalking location for this one.
Well, the stalking gods have definitely been smiling down upon me as of late because this year I experienced what was quite simply the Best. Halloween. Ever. It was an absolute whirlwind and I honestly do not know how any future Halloween can ever compare! It all started a couple of weeks ago when the fabulous Katie, from the Matthew Lillard Online website, announced that she would be giving away two tickets to the October 28th performance of Harbor, the new play in which the Scooby-Doo-actor stars, along with a meet-and-greet/photo-op. I, of course, immediately entered my name in the contest and, as fate would have it, I won! Because this stalker absolutely LOVES herself some Matthew Lillard, I was literally screaming at the top of my lungs when I found out. What better way could there have possibly been to begin my Halloween weekend than by meeting one of the stars of Scream, my very favorite scary movie of all time?!?! And while the Grim Cheaper was not nearly as excited about my big win as I was – he is not at all a fan of the theatre, especially Los Angeles theatre which tends to be a bit pretentious – the two of us found ourselves heading out to The Victory Theatre Center in Burbank this past Friday night. And, let me tell you, I was literally bouncing out of my seat during the entire drive there!
Amazingly enough, the excitement of the evening got started before the lights in the theatre even went down! While the GC and I were standing in line waiting to pick up our tickets, I just happened to spot Mekia Cox – who not only played Sasha during Season 3 of fave show 90210, but was also one of Michael Jackson’s dancers on the ill-fated This Is It tour – standing in line behind us. I, of course, just had to go up to her to ask for a photo and I am very happy to report that she could NOT have been sweeter. Mekia said that she could not believe that I had recognized her as she usually does not get spotted when her hair is pulled back. She obviously didn’t realize that she was talking to a stalker. 
I was like, “Are you kidding? I noticed you the second you walked through the door!” 
Harbor, which was written by Jon Cellini, Matthew Lillard’s college roommate, is the story of a single mother who, upon the death of her father and the subsequent reading of his will, is forced to make contact with her ex-husband and his new wife. And while it sounds as if that would be some rather depressing subject matter, the play is actually laugh-out-loud hilarious! And Matthew Lillard absolutely SHINES in it. His onstage persona is magnetic and he is nothing short of fascinating to watch. The guy has got some major presence – one look at him onstage and it is entirely obvious how he became a movie star. Truth be told, though, the entire cast was FABULOUS, the script superb, and the theatre warm and intimate. I honestly could not have enjoyed the production more. And I was not the only one! Let me tell you, I almost fell out of my chair when the lights went up at the end of the show and the GC turned to me and said, “That was the best play I’ve ever seen in my life!” I mean, I knew Harbor was good, but the fact that the GC said that speaks volumes! If you live in the L.A. area or are planning to visit in the near future, you really need to go see this show!! I honestly cannot recommend it more!
After the play was over, we headed to the lobby to wait for Matthew to come out, whereupon the GC met the producer of the show and promptly told her that Harbor was the best play he had ever seen. He was so giddy over finally enjoying a live performance, I honestly would not have been surprised if he had started shouting about it from the rooftops! Anyway, when Matthew came out, I walked up to him to introduce myself as the Matthew Lillard Online contest winner and he immediately said, “Oh! I’m supposed to take a picture with you!” Um, LOVE IT! After posing for the above picture, which turned out ADORABLE (can you tell how excited I was to meet him??), Matthew hung around and chatted with us for quite a long time. The guy truly could NOT have been nicer and when I told him that the two of us used to frequent the same Starbucks and that I had always tried to (accidentally ) run into him there, he jokingly started calling me a stalker! Oh, if he only knew. Matthew was truly honored that I was such a fan and gave me a huge hug before going off to meet the many other fans of his that were in attendance. Sigh! What a complete and total sweetheart! As I said – the evening could not have been a more magical start to my Halloween weekend.
The following night, the GC and I headed out to Palm Desert, where his boss was hosting a prom-themed Halloween party. And while I had originally wanted to dress up as Ali (aka Christina Aguilera) and Jack (aka Cam Gigandet) from Burlesque this year, as soon I heard the words “prom-themed”, my plans immediately changed and we instead went as Brenda Walsh (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) and Dylan McKay (aka Luke Perry) in their outfits from the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Spring Dance”. As you can imagine, I could NOT have been more excited for this particular costume!
And I, of course, just had to make the GC a vegetable boutonniere like the one Brandon Walsh (aka Jason Priestley) wore in the episode.
I also just had to re-create the above photograph of Brenda and Dylan. Oh, the crap I put the Grim Cheaper through! It is honestly amazing that he ever proposed! And my Halloween excitement did not end there because I spent this past Monday night at a place that I am still pinching myself over, but more on that tomorrow.
A big, huge THANK YOU to Katie, from the Matthew Lillard Online website, for the tickets to Harbor!
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: Matthew Lillard will be starring in Harbor each Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night now through December 3rd at The Victory Theatre Center, which is located at 3326 West Victory Boulevard in Burbank. You can purchase tickets to the show here.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the house where Joan Crawford (aka Faye Dunaway) lived in Mommie Dearest, I have become just a wee-bit obsessed with the 1981 film as well as the 1978 autobiography of Joan’s daughter, Christina Crawford, on which it was based. The book is a fabulous, fabulous read, by the way – whether you believe the abuse allegations or not, and apparently many people do not – and after finishing it, I decided I just had to stalk the actual home where Christina grew up and where the alleged events of her tumultuous childhood took place. I, of course, found the address of Joan’s former mansion in fave book James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America’s Pop Culture Landmarks by Chris Epting and while in the Brentwood area a few weeks ago, ran right out to stalk it. Sadly, the Grim Cheaper was not with me at the time so I was not able to get a photograph of myself out in front. Ah well, I guess that just means I will have to go back sometime soon for a re-stalk.
When Joan first purchased the 9-bedroom, 7-bath, 8,103-square-foot mansion in 1929, while married to first husband Douglas Fairbanks Jr., it was Mediterranean in style, as pictured above.
The couple, who dubbed their new home “El DoJo” – a combination of both of their names – immediately set about gutting the property in order to turn it into a New-England-style dwelling, the result of which is pictured above. And while Joan supposedly again remodeled the residence’s interior after divorcing Fairbanks in 1933, and after each subsequent divorce as well (there were three in total), the exterior was left largely unchanged. It was at the home that Joan not only kept her famous and extensive doll collection, but also accepted her 1946 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Mildred Pierce. Apparently, Joan did not want to face the possibility of losing, so she stayed home on the evening of the ceremony, feigning the flu. When it was announced that she had won, the award was immediately delivered to her house and the actress invited the press inside to take photographs of her with it in bed. Joan lived at the Brentwood residence for over 26 years, until 1956 when she married Pepsi Cola CEO Alfred Steele and moved to New York City. When Alfred passed away in 1959, he left the actress with a large accumulation of debt and she was forced to sell the property. You can see some interior photographs of the abode at the time that Joan owned it on the Legendary Joan Crawford website here.
Sadly, Joan Crawford’s former home was extensively remodeled by some new owners beginning in 2003 and is no longer recognizable from the days when the screen legend lived there. Not that it matters much, though, because as you can see above, due to a massive amount of foliage which currently surrounds the property, barely any of it can be seen from the street.
Only a small portion of the garage area and a second-story window are visible.
And it appears from looking at aerial views that even the backyard of the home was given a facelift. As you can see above, the kidney-bean-shaped pool appears to be have been just recently built. You can catch a glimpse of what the backyard looked like in Joan’s day here and you can also check out some great pictures of the property being remodeled on the Find A Death website here.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Joan Crawford’s former home, aka the real life Mommie Dearest house, is located at 426 North Bristol Avenue in Brentwood. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air house is located just two blocks south at 251 North Bristol Avenue, also in Brentwood.
Before I get started, I would like to wish all of my fellow stalkers a VERY happy Halloween! And while I will, of course, be posting pics of me and the Grim Cheaper in costume, because I always write my blogs at least one day ahead of time, I will not be able to do so until later this week. It is for that reason that I will be extending my Haunted Hollywood postings through Wednesday, which is a good thing as I am having an absolute blast writing them! But for now, on with today’s post! Another older movie that I watched in preparation for my Haunted Hollywood theme was 1981’s Mommie Dearest, the alleged true story of the abuse of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen legend Joan Crawford. While watching the flick, I immediately recognized the house where Joan and Christina lived, as not only had it appeared in the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, but several tour books had also long ago incorrectly identified it as the Fresh Prince of Bel Air mansion. I had stalked and blogged about the Bel-Air-area property way back in April of 2008, but it was not until later that same year that I discovered that the actual Fresh Prince house was located in Brentwood (at 251 North Bristol Avenue – just a block and a half away from Christina Crawford’s actual childhood home, ironically enough). Anyway, because my 2008 write-up on the house was incredibly brief, I decided that it was most definitely worthy of a re-post. So here goes!
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In Mommie Dearest, the huge Colonial-style house pictured above is where Joan Crawford (aka Faye Dunaway) teaches her adopted daughter Christina (aka a phenomenal Mara Hobel) the perils of using wire hangers. And while the movie and Faye’s performance have largely been described as “camp”, I did not find them to be so at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and all of the performances and became so fascinated by the story that I ran right out to my local library to check out the book on which it was based.
In real life, the Mommie Dearest house, which was originally built in 1942, boasts 5 bedrooms, 6 baths, 6,077 square feet, and a 1.5-acre corner plot of land. And, amazingly enough, as you can see above, it still looks almost exactly the same today as it did in 1981 when the movie was filmed! Only the front of the property appeared onscreen, though.
For all of the backyard scenes, producers chose to film at a different colonial-style mansion located in Beverly Hills. Remarkably, the backyard where filming took place looks almost identical to Joan Crawford’s real life backyard, which you can see a photograph of here.
I found the backyard location thanks to an old real estate listing which mentioned the property’s appearance in Mommie Dearest, so I, of course, just had to run right out to stalk it, as well!
And, as you can see in the above photographs from the listing, the backyard still looks EXACTLY the same today as it did onscreen in Mommie Dearest Even the backyard furniture is still the same! LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!
I am fairly certain that the interior scenes were all filmed on a soundstage and not at either of the actual homes.
As I mentioned above, the Mommie Dearest house was also used in the pilot episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 as the home of Marianne Moore (aka Leslie Bega), where the Walsh twins, Brandon (aka Jason Priestley) and Brenda (aka my girl Shannen Doherty), attended their very first Beverly Hills party.
The home’s hot tub area also appeared later on in the episode in the scene in which Marianne invited Brandon over for a date.
You can see that hot tub in the above aerial view.
And, oddly enough, a very brief establishing shot of the residence was used in another episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 – the Season 7 episode titled “All That Jazz”, in which it was used as the New Orleans hotel where David Silver (aka Brian Austin Green) took Donna Martin (aka Tori Spelling) for the night.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: The Mommie Dearest house is located at 417 Amapola Lane in Bel Air. The home used for all of the movie’s backyard scenes is located at 355 South Mapleton Drive in Beverly Hills.
Another Haunted-Hollywood-type location that I found thanks to fellow stalker/David Lynch aficionado Brad, from the Brad D Studios website, was the fictionally-named “Sierra Bonita” apartment complex – the fairy-tale-style property that was featured in one of the more intense and terrifying scenes from the surrealist director’s incredibly odd 2001 thriller Mulholland Dr. Brad had posted a brief write-up of the unique Silverlake-area site just last week and, because I had stalked and blogged about Le Borghese, the other apartment building featured in the flick, way back in February of 2009, I immediately added the place to my “To-Stalk” list and dragged the Grim Cheaper out there to see it just a few days later.
The complex, which consists of eight small, wood-shingled bungalows built around a central courtyard, was originally designed by Ben Sherwood in 1931. Ironically enough, as you can see above, in real life there is nothing whatsoever spooky or macabre about the location. On the contrary, the bungalow court is actually quite charming and idyllic in person and seems far more Disney-esque than “Lynchian”, as David Lynch’s movies have come to be described.
Legend has it, in fact, that the bungalows were once occupied by Walt Disney Studios animators and that the storybook-like architecture served as the inspiration for the Seven Dwarf’s cottage in the very first full-length animated feature film, 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. According to the “Ask Chris” column which appeared in the December 2006 issue of Los Angeles Magazine, Walt Disney Archive founder Dave Smith confirmed that director Hamilton Luske and animators Dick Lundy, Lee Morehouse, and Fred Moore all did occupy the complex once upon a time, which makes sense being that the original Walt Disney Studios was located a stone’s throw away on Hyperion Boulevard, where Gelson’s Market now stands. Because the apartments do bear a strong resemblance to the Seven Dwarf’s cottage, Chris suggests that the animators “might have taken their home to work with them”. 
Thanks to the Snow White lore, the bungalows have come to be known as the “Snow White Cottages” or the “Disney Cottages”, although they have no official name.
The fact that David Lynch even thought to transform such a picturesque spot into a place so sinister and foreboding – solely using camera angles, a few set pieces, and some carefully timed bars of music, mind you – speaks volumes about the director’s massive creative genius. He also somehow managed to make the property look huge on film, when, in reality, it is incredibly small and sits on a plot of land that measures less than two-tenths of an acre.
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In Mulholland Dr., the Sierra Bonita Apartments are where budding actress Betty Elms (aka Naomi Watts) and her amnesiac new friend Rita (aka Laura Harring) search for a mysterious stranger named Diane Selwyn. When Betty and Rita first arrive at Sierra Bonita, their taxi drives past the front of the complex, down a side alley located just north of the complex, and then drops them off in the rear of the property where the carports are located.
The carport area is pictured above and, as you can see, even it is picturesque! I can honestly say that was the first time in history I have ever seen a cute carport!
Betty and Rita then walk through the Disney-esque tower located at the back of the complex. A fake wall and apartment directory were set up in that area for the filming, which blocked the rest of the property from view.
That tower is pictured above.
According to the directory, Diane Selwyn lives in Apartment Number 12 in the complex’s West Courtyard. In reality, though, the property only has one courtyard.
Betty and Rita then make their way along meandering pathways and through maze-like foliage to Apartment 12. It was here that David Lynch employed tricky camera work and the magic of Hollywood to make the complex appear to be much larger than it actually is. To borrow a phrase from the British, I was absolutely gobsmacked when I arrived at the property and saw how miniscule it was.
Lynch also had a fake wall and gate installed at the front of the property, along Griffith Park Boulevard, which you can see in the background of the above screen capture.
The fake gate was built behind the complex’s real life gate, which can also be seen in the movie.
When Betty knocks on the door to Apartment 12, she is told that Diane Selwyn has recently moved into Apartment 17.
The bungalow used as Apartment 12 is actually numbered 2912 1/2 in real life and is the complex’s northwestern-most unit. It is located right on Griffith Park Boulevard and can be easily viewed from the street.
When Betty and Rita arrive at Apartment 17, they discover that no one is home and wind up breaking into the unit through a side window.
In real life, Apartment 17 is the bungalow numbered 2910 and it is located at the northeastern-most edge of the complex.
The window that Betty breaks into is pictured above.
I am fairly certain that the interior that was shown in the movie was just a set as the spacing of the windows in the kitchen area does not match up to the spacing of the windows on the exterior of the actual bungalow. You can check out some photographs of one of the actual apartment interiors on fave website CurbedLA here.
In the Season 2 episode of My Name Is Earl titled “Sticks & Stones”, the “Snow White Cottages” were used extensively as “Shady Grove”, where Maggie Lester, aka The Bearded Lady (aka Judy Greer), and her carnival friends lived.
Maggie lived in the bungalow numbered 2906 1/2 in the episode.
That bungalow is pictured above.
I am fairly certain that the real life interior of the unit was also used in the filming. How incredibly cute is Maggie’s place, by the way?!?! Oh, what I wouldn’t give to live there!
On a Mulholland Dr. side-note – Justin Theroux, my girl Jen Aniston’s current boyfriend, played the lead role of director Adam Kesher in the film.
Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Brad, from the Brad D Studios website, for finding this location! 
Until next time, Happy Stalking!
Stalk It: The “Sierra Bonita Apartments” from Mulholland Dr. are located at 2900 Griffith Park Boulevard in Silverlake. The units which were used in Mulholland Dr. are denoted with pink arrows in the above aerial view – Apartment #12 is actually the bungalow numbered 2912 1/2 and Apartment #17 is the bungalow numbered 2910. Maggie’s apartment from My Name Is Earl is denoted with a blue arrow in the above aerial view and is numbered 2906 1/2 in real life.
Way back in August, in preparation for my Haunted Hollywood postings, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to a spot that is, hands down, the spookiest location I have ever visited in all my years of stalking – Linda Vista Community Hospital in Boyle Heights. Because the property is not only a filming location, but has been abandoned for close to two decades now and is largely rumored to be haunted, I figured it would fit in perfectly with my Halloween-themed month. And the stalking gods must have agreed because a magical thing happened while we were there! As fate would have it, we happened to run into one of the hospital’s caretakers while we were snapping pictures outside and when he saw my enthusiasm for the place’s vast filming history, he invited us in for a private tour!
Linda Vista Community Hospital, which was originally named Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital or Santa Fe Railroad Hospital, was first built in 1904 as a private infirmary for sick and injured employees of the Santa Fe Railroad Line. The 6-story, 150-bed property, which was expanded several times after its opening, was transformed into a community hospital in 1937, at which point its name was changed to Linda Vista. Sadly, as the Boyle Heights area fell upon hard times, the hospital suffered and, in 1989, due to a lack of funds and a drop in Medicare reimbursements, the Linda Vista Emergency Room was closed. Two years later, in 1991, the hospital shuttered its doors altogether. And that’s when Hollywood came a’knockin’. Shortly after the closure, Linda Vista’s property manager, Francis Kortekaas, decided to lease the site out to film crews in order to offset its high maintenance costs and he has not looked back since! Due to its vacancy and aged appearance, location scouts cannot seem to stay away from the place. The hospital, which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, currently plays host to between 100 and 150 productions each and every year!
Linda Vista Community Hospital is also currently home to the Boyle Heights Paranormal Project, a research team that not only conducts intensive investigations of paranormal activity on site, but hosts regular events on the property – including late-night “flashlight tours” and overnight visits in which those stalkers far more brave than myself can actually spend the night inside of the hospital. Um, I think I’ll pass on that one! 
It was scary enough just being in that place in the broad daylight!
On our tour of Linda Vista Community Hospital, the GC and I were shown most areas of the property, including the hallways;
the front lobby;
the chapel;
an examination room;
the original morgue, which was dressed for the filming of an Eminem music video that had taken place a few days prior;
the original morgue freezer;
a room where serial killer Richard Ramirez supposedly camped out before he was caught;
and the basement area, which was used extensively in the pilot episode of ER and was the area that I had most wanted to see.
The basement contains a lobby area, which had been dressed with fake blood for a student film;
a kitchen/break room;
a surgical room;
and a fake morgue, which was constructed specifically for filming.
As you can see above, only one of the morgue freezers actually opens, the rest are fake. SO INCREDIBLY COOL! And while I have to say that I was scared out of my wits pretty much the entire time, the tour was one of the most exciting experiences of my life. 🙂 You can check out some more interior photographs of Linda Vista Community Hospital here.
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Linda Vista Community Hospital has been featured in so many productions over the years that it would be virtually impossible for me to chronicle them all here. But I will do my best to try. In a flashback scene in the Season 1 episode of Dexter titled “Let’s Give the Boy a Hand”, Linda Vista stood in for the Angel of Mercy Hospital where Harry Morgan (aka James Remar) took his son, Dexter (aka Michael C. Hall), to show him where his grandfather worked for thirty years. Harry and Dexter then posed for a photograph out in front of the hospital.
When the scene then switches back to the present day, Dexter once again heads out to the Angel of Mercy Hospital, which has since been abandoned, where he finds Tony Tucci (aka Brad William Henke) – one of the Ice Truck Killer’s victims – alive, but with a severed right foot.
The next episode of Dexter, titled “Love American Style”, in which the Miami Metro Police Department investigates the torture of Tony Tucci, was also filmed at Linda Vista.
In the Season 1 episode of Charmed titled “Dream Sorcerer”, the exterior of Linda Vista stood in for Bay General Hospital where Prue Halliwell (aka my girl Shannen Doherty) recuperated after being in a car accident.
I am not sure, though, if the interior hospital scenes were also filmed at Linda Vista or at a different location.
In the Season 1 episode of FlashForward titled “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, Linda Vista stood in for the abandoned Raven River Psychiatric Hospital in Arizona, where Dr. Olivia Benford (aka Sonya Walger) and Agent Shelly Vreede (aka Barry Shabaka Henley) investigated former patient Gabriel McDow (aka James Callis). When Olivia and Shelly first pull up to the hospital, Olivia says, “It’s like the setting in one of those slasher movies!” LOL
In the Season 1 episode of Moonlight titled “Arrested Development”, Linda Vista’s fake morgue was used as the morgue of St. John Hospital where Mick St. John (aka Alex O’Loughlin) and Beth Turner (aka Sophia Myles) investigated a Jane Doe who had been killed by a vampire.
Linda Vista’s former asylum building was also used in that episode, as the supposed-Los-Feliz apartment building where Mick and Beth tried to catch Jane Doe’s killer.
The asylum building, which is pictured above, is located just south of the main hospital.
In the second episode of the recently-aired Bachelor Pad 2, Michael Stagliano wins a date in which he takes Erica Rose, Michelle Money, and former-fiancé Holly Durst for an overnight visit to Linda Vista Hospital. As I said above, I think I’ll pass on that one!
While all of the later episodes of the television series ER were shot on a soundstage at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, as I mentioned above, the pilot, which was titled “24 Hours”, was shot in its entirety at Linda Vista. And even though I was never a huge fan of ER, I cannot tell you how cool it was to see that area of the hospital!
Linda Vista was one of several different locations used as the exterior of the Honolulu Hospital where Nurse Lt. Evelyn Johnson (aka Kate Beckinsale), Nurse Betty Bayer (aka Jamie King), Nurse Sandra (aka Jennifer Garner), and the rest of the girls worked in Pearl Harbor.
A false front was built on the back side of the hospital, in the area denoted with a pink rectangle above, for the filming.
And while the Pearl Harbor interior hospital scenes also supposedly took place at Linda Vista, I did not see any rooms on our tour that even remotely resembled the rooms pictured above.
Mike, from MovieShotsLA, happened to be at Linda Vista during the filming of Pearl Harbor and snapped the above photograph while there. As you can see, there looks to have been some sort of set built in the parking lot area of the hospital and because the window sizes and shapes of that set match up to what appeared onscreen, I am guessing that it is where the interior hospital scenes were filmed.
In 1995’s Outbreak, Linda Vista stood in for the hospital in Cedar Creek, California where the massive outbreak first occurred.
In 1999’s End of Days, Linda Vista was used as the New York hospital where Christine York (aka Robin Tunney) was born.
It was also where Satan (aka Gabriel Byrne) found and killed Thomas Aquinas (aka Derrick O’Connor).
In 1985’s To Live and Die in LA, the hospital, which in a nod to its history was called Santa Fe Hospital, was where prisoner Carl Cody (aka John Turturro) pretended to have a sick relative in order to escape from Secret Service Agent Richard Chance (aka William Peterson).
The 2007 Duran Duran “Falling Down” music video, in which a Britney Spears’ inspired starlet is forced into rehab, was shot at Linda Vista Community Hospital.
You can watch that video by clicking above.
And the 2005 video for the Garbage song “Bleed Like Me” was also filmed at Linda Vista.
You can watch that video by clicking above.
Linda Vista Hospital also supposedly appeared in The Cell, but I scanned through the flick earlier today and could not find it anywhere.
Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Linda Vista Hospital is located at 601 South St. Louis Street in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. You can visit the hospital’s official website here. You can check out the Boyle Heights Paranormal Project’s Facebook page here and you can find out more about their upcoming events and tours here.