This and That – Page 57 – IAMNOTASTALKER

March 26, 2010April 20, 2010

The (Probable) Warehouse from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Video

Another day, another “Beat It” locale! After tracking down the probable diner that appeared in “Beat It”, I set my sights on locating the warehouse which was also featured in Michael Jackson’s iconic 1983 music video. And I really have to say a big thank you to my friend and fellow stalker David in Spain before I go any further with this post because had he not informed me that the “Beat It” diner was located somewhere on Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles’ skid row area, I doubt any of us would have ever been able to track down the other locales featured in the short film. Finding these locations has been like a veritable domino effect, one locale leading to the next and to the next and to the next, all thanks to that original clue that David emailed me a few weeks back. So, thank you, David! Anyway, two weeks ago I was at my parents house watching my dad’s Michael Jackson’s Number Ones DVD trying to figure out where the “Beat It” warehouse was located, when my dad spotted an address number of 1013 (pictured above) painted on the building’s exterior wall. I immediately sent that information out to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, David in Spain, and another fellow stalker named David who lives right here in the U.S. (the very same David who tracked down the Martini house from It’s A Wonderful Life which I blogged about back in December). Well, it wasn’t an hour later that David from America (is this getting confusing yet? ;)) emailed me back with the warehouse’s location – 1013 Fifth Street – which is the very same street where the “Beat It” diner and former pool hall/now grocery store can be found! So, I immediately dragged my dad right out to stalk the place. THANK YOU, DAVID!

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As the word “probable” in the title of this post implies and as was the case with the diner, I can’t say with absolute, one hundred percent certainty that the warehouse David found is the actual “Beat It” warehouse. There are quite a few irrefutable similarities between the building that appeared in the video and the one pictured above, but because almost three decades have passed since filming took place, there are also, of course, some major differences. My gut is telling me that it’s the right spot, and they do say that you should always trust a woman’s intuition, but I just can’t be sure. So, once again, dear readers, I am putting it out there for to you to answer. Let me know what you think after reading this post. Did David find the correct place or should we continue our search? And now, on with the blog! The “Beat It” warehouse is currently occupied by a food distributer known as Jing San Food, Incorporated and all I have to say is THANK GOD my dad was with me on this particular stalk because he somehow managed to not only talk our way into the building, but to also get permission to take photographs of the place! Simply AMAZING! Anyway, according to the people I talked to, Jing San Food moved into the warehouse space two years ago and, unfortunately, no one seemed to know what sort of business occupied the premises before that time. Nor did anyone seem to know anything about “Beat It” being filmed there – if, in fact, it was. Anyway, as you can see in the above photographs, the address number of Jing San Food is actually 458 and not 1013 as we had seen in the video.

But, if you look at the above Google Maps Aerial View of the warehouse you can see that it is located on the corner of Alameda and Fifth Streets. The 458 address number refers to its location on Alameda. As is also referenced in the above map, though, the south side of warehouse is situated on the 1000 block of Fifth Street, on the odd-numbered side of the street, which means that it is very possible that way back in 1983, the year “Beat It” was filmed, the warehouse could have been numbered 1013. I am guessing that the building was divided up and leased to more than one tenant at that time, which would have required there to be more than one address number. Because the building is only occupied by one tenant today, those multiple address numbers would be redundant and unnecessary. I am guessing that they did away with the Fifth Street numbers and just kept the Alameda Street address once the new tenants moved in. But, again, that is entirely a guess on my part.

Amazingly enough, though, I did spot a “0” posted on the Fifth Street side of the warehouse – which seems to be a left over address number from quite some time ago and absolutely cements my belief that that particular part of the building was numbered 1013 at one time. So, that’s one thing we’ve got going in our favor.

The next, and quite possibly biggest, thing we’ve got going for us is the cement staircase which leads up to the warehouse. As you can see it is a pretty exact match to the one which appeared in “Beat It”. The warehouse doors have changed and there is now a makeshift doorway in one of the bays (which you can see more pictures of later on in this post) . . .

. . . but otherwise this part of the exterior looks pretty darn similar to the “Beat It” warehouse exterior.

The windows which appear across the street from the warehouse are also pretty darn spot on to the windows which appear across the street in “Beat It”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t match up the exact angle that appeared in the video as there were by no stretch of the imagination at least fifteen big rig trucks parked out on the street in front of the warehouse blocking my view.

Yet another thing we’ve got going in our favor is the fact that the warehouse in the “Beat It” video has an awning of some sort on its exterior and the warehouse David found also has remnants of what looks to be a former awning.

The inside of the warehouse, however, is an entirely different story. As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the ceiling of the building does not look at all like the ceiling from “Beat It”. I confirmed with one of the Jing San Food workers that the entire ceiling of the warehouse had been replaced – not redone, but actually replaced – two years ago, before they took over the space, so it would make sense that it wouldn’t match. But I have no way to confirm what the old ceiling looked like and it seems odd to me that someone would actually change the entire shape of the roof from peaked to flat. I mean, it’s possible that that happened, but I can’t say that it’s very likely.

As promised, pictured above is the interior view of the makeshift door that now stands in the “Beat It” bay. As you can see, the door, which did not appear in the video, was quite obviously an add-on to the property and not an original part of the warehouse. It also, sadly, alters the appearance of the interior quite a bit.

While stalking the warehouse, my dad and I tried to locate something that would tie the place to the “Beat It” video – any small remnant that would irrefutably prove that we were in the right place. Sadly, no such remnant was to be found. In the video, it appears that there is some sort of makeshift office space located behind Michael and the gang members. That office space is no longer there, though. My dad said that warehouses typically have some type of coarse office set-up like the one which appeared in “Beat It” and that because it is usually constructed in a rudimentary manner, it would not be at all uncommon for a new tenant to dispose of it.

Part of that rudimentary office space consisted of a second floor area (you can see the stairway leading up to it in the above screen capture).

At first blush I wouldn’t think that the warehouse I visited would have been tall enough to house a second floor, but as you can see in the above photographs, the tenants are currently having one installed! So, it actually is possible and is, in fact, being done!

The chipped up cement floor of the warehouse is also very similar to the one which appeared in “Beat It”, but then again I would expect the floor of any heavily trafficked warehouse to have that same worn-in appearance.

So, like I said earlier, I am putting it to you to decide, dear readers. Have we found the warehouse? If David was right and this is in fact the actual “Beat It” warehouse, it is absolutely mind-boggling to me that I was in the exact spot where the King of Pop made music history almost three decades prior. That warehouse floor is definitely hallowed ground and I can’t even believe I was able to stand on it!

David was also able to track down the probable manhole cover that the gang members came out of at the beginning of “Beat It”. And I just have to say here that that particular part of the video never really made sense to me. What, do these guys live underground? Just hang out there? LOL Even as a child I can remember wondering why people would be coming up out of the ground like that. But I digress.

We believe the manhole cover is located just east of the warehouse in the middle of the intersection of East Fifth and Seaton Streets. This particular location will be the toughest of them all to prove, though, because . . . well . . it’s a manhole cover. Such covers are located all over the city, pretty much all look exactly the same, and, unfortunately, aside from a nearby set of train tracks, there aren’t really any landmarks seen in the “Beat It’” video with which to distinguish it. But, due to its close proximity to the warehouse and a set of train tracks. I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that the manhole cover pictured above is the one which appeared in “Beat It”.

Big THANK YOU to David (from America) for finding this location and to David (from Spain) for setting off the entire “Beat It” chain of events! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The probable “Beat It” warehouse, aka the Jing San Food, Inc. warehouse, is located at 458 South Alameda Street, at the corner of Alameda and East Fifth Streets, in Downtown Los Angeles. The probable manhole cover is located at the intersection of East Fifth and Seaton Streets, just due east of the warehouse.

March 25, 2010April 20, 2010

The Alley from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Music Video

Last week, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, stumbled upon an article about Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” music video written by a journalist named Sylvie Simmons who was actually on the set with the pop star during the legendary filming. The article, which was published in a 1983 issue of “Creem Magazine”, begins with the following sentences, “Downtown between the Pacific American Fish Co. and the Hotel St. Agnes Hospitality Kitchen there’s an alley. Cars block each end, no escape. And, silhouetted in the car headlights, two rival LA gangs are swaggering towards each other.” She was, of course, speaking about the scene in the beginning of the “Beat It” video in which two groups of opposing gang members are shown walking down a dark alley. Well, once Mike and I read Sylvie’s words, we immediately started Googling the terms “Hotel St. Agnes Hospitality Kitchen” and “Pacific American Fish Company” to see if we might be able to track down the historic alley that supposedly ran between them. I was actually thinking that this particular find would be an easy one – a slam dunk, if you will – but alas that was not the case at all. Unfortunately, because 27 years have passed since the iconic video was filmed on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles, we both came up completely empty handed. As far as we could tell, both the Hotel St. Agnes Hospitality Kitchen and the Pacific American Fish Company had long since either moved to new locales or been shut down entirely. But, thankfully, Mike had a pretty big ace up his sleeve, so our “Beat It” alley search didn’t end there.

As they say in battles, “When all else fails, call for reinforcements!”, which is exactly what Mike did. As luck would have it, Mike happens to know an LAPD officer named Rudy who has worked in the skid row area of Downtown Los Angeles for years. So, Mike immediately called up Rudy and asked if he might be able to track down the fish market’s former location. And, sure enough, he did! The former Pacific American Fish Company headquarters (pictured above) is located at 620 South Gladys Avenue, just a few short blocks from where both the “Beat It” diner and pool hall scenes were filmed. Unfortunately, though, neither of us could find any sort of alleyway or hotel near the former fish company building. It was then that I decided to expand my search.

Using Google Street View I wandered a block north of the former Pacific American Fish Company and stumbled upon a building with a sign posted above its entrance which read “Hotel Saint Agnes”. Eureka! I was extremely surprised to discover, though, that the fish company and the hotel were separated not only by several hundred feet, but by a large street, as well. I had taken Simmons’ words to mean that the two buildings were located directly next door to each other and that the alley could be found right in the middle of them. In reality, though, she was describing an alley located at a point somewhere in between two places that I am guessing at the time were area landmarks. So, I immediately started looking at all of the alleys that are situated in the space between the Hotel St. Agnes and the former fish market and fairly quickly came across one which looked like it could be the “Beat It” locale. And, sure enough, it was! YAY! So, yesterday, on the way home from taking my dad to a doctor appointment, the two of us stopped in Downtown Los Angeles to finally do a little stalking of the famous “Beat It” alley!

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The “Beat It” alley actually shows up just once in the video and only for a very brief second, but to me the location is still iconic. And, amazingly enough, as you can see in the above screen captures and photographs, it still looks almost EXACTLY the same today as it did 27 years ago when “Beat It” was filmed!

There are, of course, some differences, such as the fact that, for whatever reason, the Saint Agnes Hotel has since added rows of windows along its side.

But the shape and position of the buildings and telephone poles in the background of the video as compared to real life are an almost perfect match. Whoo-hoo! The distance from the street to the buildings that border the alleyway is a bit off, as you can see in the above pictures, but I have noticed that movie cameras have a tendency to distort proximities, for whatever reason. Objects in camera are not as close as they appear. 😉

What struck me the most about the alley, though, was the fact that the big grey pipe shown running down the side of the Hotel Saint Agnes in “Beat It’” is STILL there to this day, over two and a half decades later! SO DARN COOL!

The other alleyway, that the rival gang is shown walking down in “Beat It”, is, I believe, located directly across the street from the first one on the west side of South Gladys Avenue. Unfortunately, though, because the images from that scene are so darn dark, I can’t really say for certain that it’s the right spot. Oh, Michael, why couldn’t you have filmed “Beat It” during the day? I realize it wouldn’t have given you the same sort of dangerous effect as filming at night did, but it sure would have made things easier on us stalkers! 😉

And, of course, I just had to do the little “Beat It” gang member finger snap while I was there. I so wanted to look tough in the above picture, but that’s a little hard to do when you’re wearing capri sweatpants and carrying a Louis Vuitton purse. 😉 I am happy to report, though, that while the alley is not in an entirely fabulous area, it’s not nearly bad as where the former pool hall/now grocery store is located. I mean, as you can see, I did get out of the car for this stalk! I wouldn’t, however, recommend visiting this location alone, as it is in a pretty desolate part of town. As always, please exercise caution.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The “Beat It” alley is located on the South 500 block of Gladys Avenue, next to the St. Agnes Hotel which is located at 560 South Gladys Avenue, in Downtown Los Angeles.

March 23, 2010December 6, 2013

Marilyn Monroe’s Childhood Orphanage

It’s shaping up to be Marilyn Monroe week here at iamnotastalker, because here I am yet again blogging about yet another location relating to the late actress. Thanks to the “Movie Star Homes and Notorious Crime Scenes” map that Mike, from MovieShotsLA, purchased for me while the two of us were out and about doing some Oscar Weekend stalking earlier this month, we were able to visit the famous Hollygrove Home for Children, the orphanage where a young girl named Norma Jeane Baker spent twenty-one formative months of her childhood. For some particularly odd reason I had always been under the incorrect assumption that Marilyn’s childhood orphanage was located in the Van Nuys area, so when I found it’s Hollywood address on my new star map, I was absolutely elated and begged Mike to drive right over there so that we could stalk the place. As fate would have it, Marilyn’s former orphanage is located a scant seven blocks away from Tom Kelley’s Photography Studio – the spot where she would later take her now infamous nude calendar photos in 1949 – which I blogged about on Friday.

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In December of 1934, Marilyn’s mother Gladys, who had long suffered from mental illness, had a complete emotional breakdown and was committed to an asylum. Her eight year old daughter, Norma Jeane Baker, was sent to live with Grace McKee, her mother’s best friend, whom Marilyn soon nicknamed “Aunt Grace”. Aunt Grace cared for the young girl for about a year until she lost her job with Columbia Pictures and could no longer afford to do so. On September 13, 1935, she was forced to bring Norma Jeane to the Los Angeles Orphans Home Society – Hollygrove’s original name – where she became the orphanage’s 3,463rd ward. Marilyn stayed at Hollygrove on and off for a period of almost two years, during which time she was also shuttled between no less than nine different foster homes. She left the orphanage for good on June 12, 1937, at which time she moved back in with Grace McKee where she remained for about a year before being shuttled off to yet another family member. And while some Marilyn biographies stipulate that the star played up her sad upbringing as part of her Hollywood persona and did not really live in quite as many foster homes as she led people to believe, spending any part of one’s childhood in an orphanage constitues a “Hard Knock Life” in my eyes. It’s amazing to think of what she was able to do with her life after surviving such a tumultous beginning.

As legend has it, the window of Marilyn’s orphanage dormitory, which she shared with 26 other girls, looked out upon the former RKO Studio’s water tower and led to her dreams of someday becoming a world famous movie star. One of my all-time favorite quotes from the actress reads, “I used to think as I looked at the Hollywood night, ‘There must be thousands of girls sitting alone like me, dreaming of becoming a movie star. But I’m not going to worry about them. I’m dreaming the hardest.’” Love it!

The Los Angeles Orphans Home Society, which changed its name to the Hollygrove Home For Children in 1957, was originally founded in 1880 in Chinatown and was L.A.’s very first orphanage. It moved to its current location in Hollywood a few years later where it served as a home for displaced children for over 125 years. In 2006, Hollygrove transitioned from a residential center for abandoned children to an “EMQ Families First Agency”, which, as far as I’ve been able to discern, is an outpatient treatment center for young child abuse victims. Sadly, as you can see in the above photographs, the property looks much different today than it did in the ‘30s when Marilyn lived there. You can read a more detailed history of the former orphanage here.

I am very happy to report that the old Hollygrove sign in still in place, though, which was incredibly exciting for me to see in person.

If you look closely in the above photographs, you will see that someone even went so far as to spell out “Norma Jeane” on the bottom part of the Hollygrove letters. So darn cool! 🙂 While we were stalking Marilyn’s former orphanage, Mike rang the front buzzer to see if we might be allowed inside. When I asked him what he was going to say to whomever picked up the phone, he joked, “I’m going to tell them that my name is Mike Monroe and that I’m interested in adopting a little blond girl.” LOL LOVE IT! I swear I was still cracking up over that statement hours later. Sadly, though, Hollygrove’s main office was already closed by the time we got there and no one answered our call, which is especially upsetting being that according to this L.A. Times article there is actually a “hallway museum” inside of the former orphanage which features photographs of a young Marilyn. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see those!

During Marilyn’s stay at Hollygrove, she attended Vine Street Elementary School, which is located just a few blocks away from the former orphanage, so, of course, Mike and I just had to stalk that location as well. Because school was in session at the time, though, we didn’t get to take many photographs of the property while there. 🙁

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Hollygrove, Marilyn Monroe’s former orphanage, is located at 815 North El Centro Avenue in Hollywood. Vine Street Elementary School is located at 955 North Vine Street, also in Hollywood.

March 19, 2010December 6, 2013

Tom Kelley’s Photography Studio – The Site of Marilyn Monroe’s Nude Pictorial

A few weeks ago, while out doing some Oscar stalking with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, the two of us visited a convenience store on Hollywood Boulevard which just so happened to be selling the latest edition of fave star map “Movie Star Homes and Notorious Crime Scenes”. So, I, of course, just had to buy myself a copy (actually, truth be told, Mike purchased it for me – Thank you, Mike!) and was absolutely floored to discover that one of the many new addresses included in the map was that of Tom Kelley’s former photography studio, the very place where a then-unknown wanna-be actress named Norma Jeane Baker posed for her now-infamous series of nude calendar photographs on May 27, 1949. Just twenty-two years old at the time, the blonde ingenue, who would just a short time later come to be known as one of the most famous movie stars in the entire world, posed sans clothing while laying on top of a drape made of red velvet. When later asked about what she was wearing during the controversial photo shoot, Marilyn said, “It’s not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on.” Love it! Well, once I had the address of the studio, Mike and I headed right over there to stalk the place. Yay!

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Tom Kelley’s former photography studio is currently inhabited by Pictures in a Row, a production company which touts the famous history of their office space right on their website – SO LOVE IT! The studio is unfortunately gated, but, as luck would have it – and I always seem to have the most AMAZING luck when I am out with Mike – one of the Pictures in a Row employees just happened to be standing outside of the gate when we pulled up. So we, of course, got to talking to him and I told him about my blog and my love of Miss Monroe and asked if I could snap a few photographs. Well, not only did he tell me to snap away, but he then asked – are you sitting down for this? – if I wanted to COME INSIDE THE STUDIO TO SEE WHERE THE FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHS HAD BEEN TAKEN! Well, let me tell you, I just about FAINTED right there on the spot! Did I want to come inside???? Did I want to come inside????? OF COURSE I DID! So, after regaining my composure, he led me past the front gates and INTO TOM KELLEY’S FORMER STUDIO. As you can probably imagine, I was just about DYING the entire time. The interior of the studio is pictured above and while the employee told me that the space has undergone quite a few changes in the sixty some-odd years since Marilyn was photographed there . . .

. . . the ceiling has been left largely untouched. So, what is pictured above is pretty much the exact view Marilyn had as she looked upwards while Tom Kelley photographed her from a ten foot ladder. So darn cool! I really can’t tell you how incredible it was to be able to actually set foot inside of such a historically significant building onto what I very much consider to be hallowed ground.

Because Marilyn’s calendar photographs became so incredibly famous, the legends surrounding them abound. There are even differing reports as to why the struggling starlet posed in the first place, but according to her official statement she was behind on a rent payment and simply needed the $50 paycheck. Apparently, after the two hour session ended, the photographs of Marilyn sat in one of Tom Kelley’s filing cabinets for over a year until Western Lithograph contacted him to see if he had any nudes he’d be willing to sell. Kelley ended up selling the company two of his Marilyn photographs for a mere $200 fee and it was those two prints, which were entitled “Golden Dreams” and “A New Wrinkle”, that wound up in the calendar. The calendars were then sold and hung up in men’s garages all over the U.S., but it wasn’t until March of 1952 that a newspaper journalist named Aline Mosby identified the now-wildly-famous Marilyn as the calendar’s model. What followed was a virtual media firestorm, making Monroe more popular than she already was. But the story doesn’t end there. In 1953, a young entrepreneur named Hugh Hefner purchased one of Kelley’s prints and featured it as the centerfold in the very first issue of his new men’s magazine which he dubbed Playboy. That first issue sold a staggering 54,000 copies and turned the magazine and its creator into household names. The rest, as they say, is history. Marilyn was so significant in building Heff’s empire, in fact, that he wound up purchasing the crypt directly next to hers at Pierce Brothers Westwood Memorial Park Cemetery so that he could lay in eternal rest with the woman who launched his career. The area of the studio where Marilyn posed is denoted with the pink arrow in the above photograph.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Tom Kelley’s former photography studio, where Marilyn posed for her now infamous nude calendar pictures, is located at 736 Seward Street in Hollywood.

March 17, 2010March 16, 2010

Millions of Milkshakes

Thanks to the earthquake which jolted me awake at around 4 O’clock this morning after which I was not able to fall back asleep, I am currently feeling a bit off my game. So, I have to apologize in advance if today’s particular blog post isn’t exactly up to par. Anyway, on with the stalking! Back in November, fellow stalker Lavonna tipped me off to a little milkshake stand in West Hollywood named Millions of Milkshakes which has become quite the celebrity hot spot as of late. The shop, which opened up in 2008, is basically a make your own milkshake bar featuring a virtual smorgasbord of over one hundred different ingredients (consisting of everything from chocolate chip cookie dough and Toblerone chocolate bars to fresh blueberries and protein powder), that customers can mix together in over 75 million different combinations – and yes, they actually paid a mathematician to calculate the number of milkshake possibilities – with either regular ice cream, non-fat frozen yogurt, or non-dairy ice cream. If you’re not brave enough to invent your own concoction, or don’t have the time to peruse the shop’s extensive menu of toppings – and believe me, it is overwhelming! – you can order up one of the many varieties created by and named after your favorite celebrity. Of course, once Lavonna told me about the place I immediately added it to my long list of “To Stalk” locations, but since I don’t get out to WeHo very often, I had yet to actually visit it. But since we were in the area two Saturdays ago eating at the nearby Marix Tex Mex Cafe, I just had to drag my fiancé a few blocks to the west to finally stalk the famous milkshake stand. And, let me tell you, the place was well worth the wait!

Millions of Milkshakes is an absolutely adorable little spot that was first opened up on Halloween day of 2008 by a British restaurateur named Sheeraz Hasan. At the tender age of 16 in his hometown of London, Sheeraz came up with the inspired idea of converting his family’s then-failing restaurant into a Hollywood themed eatery named the Tinseltown Cafe. His cafe became an immediate success and a few years later Sheeraz headed out to Hollywood, with stars in his eyes. He ended up becoming friends with Creative Artists’ Agency founder Roland Perkins and creating his very own Los Angeles news show entitled Hollywood TV. After the show took off, Sheeraz set his sights on opening up a milkshake stand. Using his Hollywood connections, he invited tween queen Miley Cyrus to make an appearance at his newly opened eatery which set off an immediate publicity storm. Shortly thereafter, the place became insanely popular with celebrities and non-celebrities alike. Just a few of the stars who have created their own signature shake at the now-famous milkshake bar include LaToya Jackson, Vivica A. Fox, Donny Osmond, Ben Stein, Aaron Carter, John Gosselin (UGH!), Leonardo DiCaprio, Lindsay Lohan, Spencer and Heidi Pratt, Stephanie Pratt, Antonio Sabato, Jr., Gwen Stefani, Adam Sandler, Tim Allen, Paris Hilton, all three Kardashian sisters, and fellow stalker Owen’s main gal Jennifer Love Hewitt. In fact, Millions of Milkshakes has become such a celebrity hotspot that Good Day L.A. recently dubbed the place “the new red carpet”. Love it! Also adding to the stand’s popularity (at least in my eyes) is the fact that they are almost always playing Michael Jackson music on the stereo. 😉

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Because my girl Jen Aniston has yet to create a Millions of Milkshakes signature shake, my fiancé and I opted instead to order Miley Cyrus’ creation. And even though I really can’t stand the singer/actress, I have to say that the girl’s got some good taste in shakes! The Hannah Montana star’s drink is made up of vanilla ice cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, and Reese’s peanut butter cups and I have to say that it was simply A-MA-ZING. Like quite possibly one of the best things I have ever tasted in my entire life! Sadly, because I am diabetic, I could only sample two small sips of the drink, but OMG you can bet I’m running straight to Millions of Milkshakes the next time my blood sugar is low. 😉

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Lavonna for tipping me off to this location and a Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all of my fellow stalkers! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Millions of Milkshakes is located at 8910 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit their website here.

March 16, 2010June 16, 2011

Marix Tex Mex Cafe – Jennifer Aniston’s Favorite Restaurant

Two weeks ago, while out doing some Oscar Weekend stalking, I dragged my fiancé to Marix Tex Mex Cafe in West Hollywood, a restaurant which has long been one of my girl Jen Aniston’s favorite places to dine. And while Jen has always been pretty vocal about her love of Mexican food and margaritas, I had never actually heard of the eatery until last year when a woman in one of my acting classes mentioned that she had spotted the actress there on numerous occasions. Well, let me tell you, I just about died upon hearing that! For whatever reason, though, I had yet to stalk the restaurant. So, when I realized that my fiancé and I were in the West Hollywood vicinity this past Oscar Weekend, I begged him to make a little lunchtime pit stop at the Tex Mex hot spot. It should come as no surprise that the Grim Cheaper was not AT ALL keen on the idea of grabbing a bite to eat at a place frequented by a famous actress, as he thought the prices would be outrageously expensive. I am happy to report, though, that Marix was EXTREMELY reasonable and that even the Grim Cheaper enjoyed himself while there! 🙂

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Marix is an absolutely ADORABLE little restaurant tucked away off of Santa Monica Boulevard on a tree-lined side street in uber-hip West Hollywood. The eatery is small, casual, and intimate and it’s not at all hard to see why Jen frequents the place. Not to mention the fact that it serves up some fabulous food! Like FABULOUS! The chicken fajitas were A-MA-ZING, as were the tortilla chips and fresh salsa. I literally gorged myself while there. The Marix staff also could NOT have been more friendly and I am happy to report that the place lacks any of the pretentiousness that is usually prevalent in L.A. area restaurants. I literally cannot say enough good things about the place and wish I lived closer so that I could frequent it more often.

Marix Tex Mex Cafe has actually been a long time favorite of Jen’s and was even mentioned way back in December of 2001 in this People Magazine article about the star. According to my friend from acting class, Jen can usually be spotted on the restaurant’s SUPER CUTE front patio which is pictured above. I hear Jen doesn’t frequent the place as much as she used to, though, thanks to the paparazzi who discovered the celebrity hot spot a few years ago and have been a constant presence ever since. Other stars who have dined at the eatery include Jessica Simpson and her BFF/hair stylist Ken Paves, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and their daughter Coco, Kate Hudson, Oliver Hudson, Ian Ziering, Brad Pitt, Angie Everhart, Dexter’s Michael C. Hall and Jennifer Carpenter, Ron Livingston, Gwen Stefani, Gavin Rossdale, Pamela Anderson, Michelle Rodriguez, Wanda Sykes, The Biggest Loser’s Bob Harper, and Wilson Cruz of My So-Called Life fame.

And while we didn’t run into Jen while dining there, we did spot former Bachelorette contestant Jerry Ferris at the table directly in front of us. I noticed Jerry pretty much immediately upon sitting down, but, while I knew he was famous, neither my fiancé nor I could place who he was. I asked our waitress if she recognized him and she in turn asked the other servers on duty, but no one seemed to have any idea whether or not he was even famous. Am I the only person who watched Season Three of The Bachelorette???? LOL Anyway, by that time I was going absolutely crazy because I KNEW I recognized Jerry, but could not for the life of me figure out from where. Then all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks – sitting in front of me was the man who had stolen America’s heart (or at least mine) on Jen Schefft’s season of The Bachelorette. I had absolutely LOVED Jerry on the series and was actually lucky enough to have met him shortly after his reality TV stint ended just about five years ago. Well, as soon as I figured out it was him, I told my fiancé I wanted to ask for a photograph, but that I felt bad since he was eating at the time, to which the Grim Cheaper said, “You ALREADY have a photograph with the guy (pictured above) – please do NOT bother him again.” LOL Sadly, I listened to the GC and did not go up to Jerry (HMPH!), but I really regret doing so as he had been a TOTAL sweetheart to me when I met him back in 2005. Ah well! Maybe I’ll run into Jerry during my next Marix stalk. 😉

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Marix Tex Mex Cafe is located at 1108 North Flores Street in West Hollywood. They also have a second location which can be found at 118 Entrada Drive in Santa Monica. You can visit the Marix website here.

March 15, 2010March 15, 2018

The Bar from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Video

UPDATE: While I originally thought that the video’s pool hall scenes were also shot at this location, that is not the case. The pool segments were actually shot at the Brunswick Billiard Academy, which was formerly located in the basement of the San Fernando Building at 400 South Main Street in downtown Los Angeles. I’ve amended the post to reflect this. Special thanks to Michael Scaglione for the information!

This past week, after I tracked down the (probable) “Beat It” diner, I asked fellow stalker Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for his help in locating the bar that also appeared in the iconic 1983 Michael Jackson music video. Chas, who, unlike me, is not afraid of using the telephone ;), immediately called up “Beat It” director Bob Giraldi’s production company in New York City to inquire about the location. Amazingly enough, he got through to an EXTREMELY nice woman who said that she had never been asked that question before, which I find mind boggling! I mean, does no one besides us care about this stuff??? Anyway, the woman looked up the information on her computer and then confirmed with someone in the production office who had worked on the video before telling Chas that the bar scene had been filmed at the Hard Rock Cafe in Los Angeles. When Chas told me the news I was elated that I finally had a definitive answer, but was thoroughly confused as the bar in the video did not look at all like any of the Hard Rock Cafes I had ever visited. So, I, of course, got to cyberstalking and quickly discovered that back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, there was, in fact, a dive bar located smack dab in the middle of Skid Row that bore the name “Hard Rock Cafe”. The bar is, sadly, no longer in operation, but, as fate would have it, is quite well known in the music industry for reasons having nothing to do with Michael Jackson! On a side note, after I started having doubts about the Monte Carlo Restaurant being the cafe featured in “Beat It”, I asked Chas to once again call up Bob Giraldi’s production company to see if someone could confirm whether or not I had tracked down the right place. Unfortunately, though, a very rude woman answered the phone and told him she could not give out that information. UGH!

According to what I was able to dig up online – and it’s quite a story – back in December of 1969, after The Doors photographer Henry Diltz took his now-famous photograph of the band standing inside of the Morrison Hotel, lead singer Jim Morrison announced that he wanted to grab a drink. So, the group headed a few blocks north to nearby Skid Row, saw an establishment named the “Hard Rock Cafe”, which Diltz described as “a little wino bar on the corner”, and pulled over. While the group sipped on beers, Diltz decided he liked the feel of the place and ended up taking a series of photographs of the band hanging out there. Those shots ended up not only being featured on the back cover of the band’s Morrison Hotel album in 1970, but they even named the A-side of that album “Hard Rock Cafe” in honor of the establishment. But the story doesn’t end there. The following year, a restaurateur named Peter Morton decided to open up a dining establishment in London and because he was such a huge Doors fan, contacted Jim Morrison and asked if he could name his restaurant “Hard Rock Cafe” after their recent album. Jim agreed and Morton’s restaurant quickly became a hit with Londoners. Shortly thereafter, the “Hard Rock Cafe” became a wildly popular worldwide chain, not to mention a household name. And to think the whole thing came about because Jim Morrison was thirsty!

Fourteen years later, the Hard Rock Cafe again made music history when it appeared in Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” music video, in the scene in which a group of gang members is shown leaving a bar to head to a fight.

As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the front doors which appeared in the Doors photographs from 1969 are a perfect match to those which appeared fourteen years later in “Beat It”.

Also a perfect match are the bar area . . .

. . . and the wall fan seen in the upper right corner of the front of the Cafe.

Sadly, the original Hard Rock Cafe closed its doors about twenty or so years ago and a grocery store named Green Apple Market now stands in its place. But even though the bar is long gone, I still had to run right out to stalk its former location! 🙂 So, this past Friday, on the way home from taking my dad to a doctor appointment in Downtown Los Angeles, the two of us made a little stop in Skid Row at Green Apple Market. Because the market is located in a pretty sketchy area, I was too scared to actually venture inside and instead sent my dad to snap photographs for me, while I waited behind in the car with my doors locked. 😉 As you can see in the above photograph and screen capture, the exterior of the grocery store bears little resemblance to the exterior of the Hard Rock Cafe which once occupied the same space. The location of the front doors and front windows are about the only two things that remain the same.

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The owner of the store confirmed for my dad that a bar had once occupied the space about twenty years prior and that after it closed a salon had moved in. That salon went out of business just recently at which point the Green Apple Market took over. For whatever reason, though, the store is only using a portion of the premises, which, according to my dad measures a good 6000 – 7000 square feet. And while the owner seemed to know quite a bit about the location’s history, she had no idea whatsoever that Michael Jackson had filmed “Beat It” on the premises some 27 years prior! And, sadly, there are no remnants whatsoever of the former Hard Rock Cafe left on the property. I was hoping for some small piece of the bar – i.e. the paint on the walls, the flooring, the shape of the ceiling, etc – to still be visible, but, alas, that was not to be. The owner was apparently very nice, though, and told my dad to feel free to take as many pictures as he wanted. YAY! The above two pictures were taken from the back of the store looking forward towards the market’s left wall. The front door is located just to the right and center of the main counter pictured above.

The above photograph shows the view from the back of the store looking forward towards the front doors. The cashier counter is located to the left of this picture.

The above pictured view was taken from the front of the store, looking towards the back. Because the space is not very deep, my dad believes the back wall is actually a false wall that was added after the Hard Rock Cafe closed its doors.

My dad snapped the picture of this particular wall because I had told him that the “Beat It” bar was partially painted green, but alas it was not the same shade of green that colors the store now. 🙁 The ice machine pictured above is located at the very back, right hand side of the store.

Most of that space where the Green Apple Market is now located is currently empty. The vacant room pictured above is situated to the right of the store’s front doors.

The empty deli case pictured above is located on the back side of that vacant room . . .

. . . and pictured above is what is located just around the corner from the empty deli case in the rear area of the store. I soooo regret not going inside the market with my dad and am seriously thinking of going back to re-stalk the place. He did tell me something that gives me reservations about doing so, though. Apparently while he was inside the store, a man came up to him and asked if he was the owner. My dad said no, but pointed out the real owner to the man, who then took off running towards her screaming, “So, you’re the $%#@ &$@#! I talked to on the phone!” See what I mean – it’s not in the greatest of areas. 🙁 It’s hard to believe Michael Jackson once spent a few days there, especially considering the area was a lot rougher during the 80s, but I guess he wanted “Beat It” to be as authentic as possible, and you can’t get more authentic than actually filming on Skid Row.

On a side note – The photographs of The Doors which appear in this post do not belong to me, but remain the sole property of the band and photographer Henry Diltz.

Big THANK YOU to Chas, from ItsFilmedThere, for finding this location and to The Doors, without whom there would be no existing photographs of the place.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The old Hard Rock Cafe site, aka the bar from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” music video, is located at 300 East 5th Street in Downtown Los Angeles, just two blocks east of the Monte Carlo Restaurant, aka the (probable) “Beat It” diner. The old Hard Rock Cafe is currently a Green Apple Market grocery store and is unfortunately not located in the safest of areas, so, if you do choose to stalk it, please exercise caution.

March 12, 2010September 6, 2017

The (Possible) Cafe from Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” Video

[UPDATE – The Monte Carlo Restaurant is NOT where “Beat It” was filmed. The iconic video was actually shot at the Special Café, located just a few blocks away. You can read all about it here. Even though this post contains erroneous information, I am leaving it up as it chronicles an important part of the long, arduous journey my fellow stalkers and I embarked upon to track the locale down.]

For months now, it seems, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I have been trying to track down the diner which briefly appeared in Michael Jackson’s iconic music video for his 1983 hit song “Beat It”. Being that the video was produced well over 25 years ago in a part of L.A. that is rapidly changing, this proved to be one rather difficult stalking venture. Even though we knew that “Beat It” was filmed in its entirety in Los Angeles’ Skid Row area, finding the exact locations used so long after the fact was literally like trying to locate a needle in a haystack. At one point I even went so far as to email Bob Giraldi, who directed the video, to see if he could provide me with any location information, but he, unfortunately, never wrote back. Not usually one to give up, I actually thought our hunt was pretty much dead in the water, until last week when I mentioned the quest to my friend and fellow stalked David who lives in Spain. David is a huge, longtime MJ fan and I thought he might be able to provide some insider insight as to where the video was filmed. And, as fate would have it, he did! David mentioned that he had just purchased a book named Michael Jackson: Before He Was King written by photographer Todd King. At the very end of the book there is a photograph of MJ inside of the “Beat It” cafe, the caption of which states that it was taken at a real life diner on Fifth Street in what David said was the “Five Cents” area of Los Angeles. Well, I mentioned that info to Mike while we were out stalking this past Friday and, after first stopping by the set of CSI: Miami and then the Academy Awards red carpet, the two of us immediately headed over to Downtown L.A. in search of that cafe!

Even though Mike was born and raised in Los Angeles, he was unfamiliar with the area which David had described as being called “Five Cents”. I, too, had never heard that term used before. Mike eventually called up one of his friends who works for the LAPD to see if he could point us in the direction of Five Cents, L.A., but he, too, was at a loss. It was at that point that I figured out that something might have gotten lost in David’s translation of the photo’s caption and so I got to Googling on my blackberry. As it turns out, the place the caption had been referring to is a small section of Fifth Street in Los Angeles’ Skid Row, a part of town which has long been dubbed “The Nickel”, or in other words five cents. 🙂 Once that little mystery was solved, Mike and I headed over to Skid Row and proceeded to walk around the area. I should mention here that I have always been a bit of a skittish person. I don’t like venturing into “bad” or dangerous parts of town and I am literally afraid of my own shadow. So, because it was already getting dark when we arrived in Skid Row, an area which can be a bit sketchy even during the day, I told Mike that as much as I wanted to find the cafe, we’d have to come back at a later date – preferably during daylight hours. I was highly disappointed that we had to turn around after coming so close to locating the restaurant, so when I arrived home I immediately got to cyberstalking Skid Row. Well, let me tell you, I just about had a heart attack when I saw the above pictured Google Street View image of the Monte Carlo Restaurant appear on my screen. With its curved countertop and half green/half cream colored walls, I was fairly certain that I had found the “Beat It” cafe. And, of course, the very next day I dragged my fiancé right out to stalk the place.

As soon as I walked through the doors of the Monte Carlo Restaurant, with my camera in hand, one of the patrons asked if I was visiting the place because it had been featured in “Beat It”. Well, let me tell you, I just about fell over! I asked her how she knew it had been used in the video and she said it was pretty common knowledge in the neighborhood. I couldn’t believe that here I had spent MONTHS searching for the location and all the time it had been “common knowledge” to some. She then called the owner over so that I could ask a few questions. And while the owner hardly spoke English, she did confirm to me that Michael Jackson had filmed a video there “over twenty years ago”. Twenty-seven, to be exact. The owner told me she has had the restaurant for over thirty years and that she was there the day filming took place, but said she didn’t get to meet Michael. 🙁

While I had always hoped that I would someday be able to track the “Beat It” cafe down, never in my wildest dreams did I EVER think that twenty seven-years later the place would still look EXACTLY the same. So, you can imagine how floored I was to discover how little of the restaurant had actually been changed since 1983 when the video was filmed. There are, of course, some differences, such as the fact that the front doors have changed, the counter has been cut in half lengthwise, and a false wall has been added to the back of the cafe, hiding the kitchen area. Other than those minor alterations, though, the Monte Carlo Restaurant still looks almost exactly as it did in “Beat It”. YAY!

When I got home, though, and started to watch “Beat It” more closely, some doubts about the location were raised in my mind. The video, or short film as Michael liked to call it, opens up in the diner where two gang members, while eating, hear word of a scuffle and immediately head out the door so that they can join in the fight.

Later on in the video, Michael enters the diner, which is now empty, and does a little dance before the scene cuts to him getting jiggy with it in a pool hall.

As you can see in the above screen captures, though, what started to confuse me was the fact that building which appears in the background when the gang members are shown exiting the cafe does not match the building which appears in the background when Michael is shown entering it.

And neither building matches the one that is located across the street from the diner in real life.

It also appears that the window which the gang members walk by on their way to the diner’s front door is flat, while the window that appears behind Michael is popped out.

And, there is also an address number of “416” visible in the background behind Michael in the above screen capture, which doesn’t match the 109 address number of the Monte Carlo Restaurant. So now, it seems, I am even more thoroughly confused than I was before I tracked the place down. LOL I thought of a few different explanations, though, which might clear up the contradictions. One – it might just be a coincidence that the Monte Carlo Restaurant bears such a strong resemblance to the “Beat It” cafe and the owner and patrons were simply lying to me about it being used in the video. Although, I am not sure what reason the owner would have for lying, other than to drum up business, which seems unlikely to me. If she really wanted to do that, why not just hang a sign in the window touting the restaurant’s famous history? Another option is that the Monte Carlo moved from one location on Fifth Street in Downtown L.A. to another and that the original dwelling was where the video was shot, which would account for both the change in address numbers and the difference in buildings located across the street. That scenario also seems highly implausible, though. Another explanation still – fellow stalker Chas from the ItsFilmedThere website recently tracked down the pool hall which appeared in “Beat It” [that will be Monday’s post :)], which, as fate would have it, was also a cafe located on Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles, so it’s entirely possible that photographer Todd King was mistakenly talking about that location when describing the photograph he had taken in the diner. Which would mean that the diner might not actually be located on Fifth Street at all and that I am right back at square one. I am really hoping that option is not true. A fourth possibility is that part of the video was filmed at the actual Monte Carlo Restaurant and then the interior was later recreated on a soundstage for some re-shoots, which would explain the differing buildings seen in the background behind the gang members and Michael. And yet another option still is that the owner of the Monte Carlo Restaurant was such a fan of MJ that she opened up a diner on the same street where “Beat It” was shot and then modeled her cafe after the one in the video. But being that there wasn’t a single solitary MJ photograph on the wall or a piece of MJ memorabilia in the place, that last scenario is also pretty doubtful. And finally, it’s entirely possible that director Bob Giraldi had set dressers add the “416” to the front window as decoration, but somehow that just doesn’t seem likely. So, if I’m so unsure about the Monte Carlo Restaurant, why write this post at all, you ask? Well, I just can’t get past the fact that the restaurant looks so incredibly similar to the “Beat It” cafe or the fact that both the patrons and the owner told me that it was, in fact, the diner used in the video. I am hoping that someone out there will know more about the filming of “Beat It” and will either be able to confirm where it was shot or at least point me in the right direction. So, I am putting it to you, dear readers. What are your thoughts on the matter? Am I right to be in doubt or am I just seriously over-thinking the issue?

And whether the Monte Carlo Restaurant was the actual “Beat It” cafe or not, I just had to do a little MJ dance while there. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Monte Carlo Restaurant, aka the probable “Beat It” cafe, is located at 109 East Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles. The cafe is just on the outskirts of skid row, so while it is safe to stalk it during daylight hours, I can’t really recommend going there at night.

February 26, 2010June 16, 2011

Jennifer Aniston’s Former Beach House

While out stalking the ‘Bu with Mike, from MovieShotsLA, a couple of weeks ago, I just about had a complete heart attack as the two of us passed by my girl Jen Aniston’s former beach house and I noticed that the door to the front gate was standing WIDE OPEN! Let me tell you, I must have screamed for a good sixty seconds over that one! Once Mike regained his hearing ;), he made an immediate U-turn across Pacific Coast Highway so that the two of us could head over to the house to get a peek behind the gates. I’ve actually stalked Jen’s former Malibu bungalow a few times in the past – and have even blogged about it once before – but being that this was the first time I was catching a glimpse of her front courtyard area, I figured the place was worth a re-post. And let me tell you, I was pretty much dying the whole time I was there. I mean never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d get to see past that front gate!

As we walked up to the house we noticed some workers standing out front, so I, of course, struck up a conversation with them. The workers told us that they were doing some landscaping in the front courtyard area of the residence, which is why the gate was open. When I asked one of them if he knew that Jennifer Aniston used to live on the property, he looked at me like he had absolutely no idea who Jennifer Aniston even was. LOL

I didn’t want to overstep my bounds or get the landscapers in any sort of trouble while I was stalking the place, so I stayed on the sidewalk area while taking the above pictures, but believe me I was absolutely dying to venture in for a closer look!

I did manage to catch a glimpse of the glass front door, though, which you can just barely see in the above pictures.

While there, I was so focused on seeing Jen’s former courtyard area that I didn’t even realize the garage door to the house was open. It wasn’t until Mike elbowed me and whispered really loudly in my ear, “GET A PICTURE OF THE GARAGE! GET A PICTURE OF THE GARAGE! That’s where Jen did her laundry!” that I even noticed it. LOL I so wanted Mike to ask the landscaping guys if we could peek inside the house, but he refused as he felt like that would definitely be crossing a line. And I have to admit I agree with him – which is why I didn’t want to ask the workers myself. 😉 But, oh, what I wouldn’t give to see the inside of that house!

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During the time Jen rented the home, the glass walls of the back patio area were actually covered over with some sort of black paneling which shielded the star from the prying eyes of not only the paparazzi, but stalkers such as myself. So, I was beyond floored when Mike and I traveled to the back side of the property and noticed that those panels were no longer there, which meant that Jen’s former “backyard” was visible. YAY! It’s actually very surprising to me that the notoriously press-shy Aniston ever lived in this house – especially during her divorce, when the media frenzy was at an all-time high – being that the public beach access walkway is located just a few feet to the east of the property. Because the area was so easily accessible, the paparazzi used to supposedly camp out night and day on the beach directly behind her house. Ugh!

Jen moved into her wood-shingled Malibu beach bungalow in early 2005, immediately following her separation from now ex-husband Brad Pitt. She leased the property, which is supposedly owned by Oracle C.E.O Larry Ellison, through the end of 2007 for a reported $30,000 a month. Despite the fact that it is located right on the sand, thisclose to the ocean, Jen’s former beach house is fairly modest by celebrity standards. The residence, which was built in 1945, boasts two bedrooms, three bathrooms, and measures a scant 1,531 square feet. And I have to say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the place. The house is incredibly charming and so very, for lack of a better word, cute and I would give anything to live in something similar. I am so enamored of the place in fact that I would consider it my dream pad, even if it hadn’t been previously lived in by Jen. 😉 The two-story bungalow is actually the place where the actress conducted her infamous first post-split interview which ran in the September 2005 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. According to several other interviews which also took place at the home, Jen decorated her bachelorette pad with mostly white furnishings adorned with white candles, white flowers, and quite a bit of Asian-inspired decor. She also reportedly kept a little vase filled with loose Merit brand cigarettes on an end table next to the couch for her guests to partake of. Apparently Jen remodeled the home a bit, even though it was a rental, before moving in. Vanity Fair author Leslie Bennetts says, “Although the bungalow was dark and depressing when she first saw it, a quickie makeover has transformed it into a cozy sanctuary that’s far more representative of Aniston’s personal taste than the showplace she and Pitt shared, where the decor seemed all hard edges and unforgiving materials.” Bennetts goes on to ask Jen what she likes best about being separated from Brad, to which the actress responds, “I can have a comfortable couch.” LOL

On a side note – Early last year fave website Big Time Listings reported on another (possible) former rental of Aniston’s in the Laurel Canyon area. And while Big Time Listings can’t actually verify that the actress ever lived in the home, according to the September 2009 issue of Elle Magazine, Jen did rent a house in Laurel Canyon during her pre-Friends days, so it’s a definite possibility.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Jennifer Aniston’s former beach rental is located at 22164 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

February 22, 2010February 20, 2010

Disneyland’s Club 33

I must preface today’s blog with an apology, as this is one post that is far too long overdue! Well over six months ago – yes, I am talking about waaaaaaaaaay back in July of 2009 – my good friend and fellow stalker Kerry invited me to share in her birthday celebration at the Happiest Place on Earth, aka Disneyland. But this wasn’t just any ordinary birthday celebration as Kerry had magically secured us a reservation at the park’s ultra-exclusive, members-only, virtually-impossible-to-get-into Club 33 restaurant. For those non-Disney fanatics, unlike myself, Club 33 is the “secret”, private, fine-dining establishment that Walt Disney had built inside of New Orleans Square. To eat there one must either be a member (and there are only 487 of them at the present time) or know a member who would be willing to make them a reservation. Like I said, it’s virtually impossible to get in. But, thankfully, Kerry doesn’t know the meaning of the word impossible. So when she called me up in early 2009 to tell me that she had made it a goal to spend her July 29th birthday at Club 33, I had no doubt she’d make it happen. And, sure enough, she did! Through a big-wig at ESPN whom she has known for years, she was able to secure a lunch reservation for 6 – Kerry and her husband, Jim, their friends Ken and Anita, who flew in from Washington for the occasion, and me and my fiancé. And, let me tell you, I could NOT have been more excited as I had been dying to eat at Club 33 for just about as long as I can remember.

Walt Disney originally envisioned Club 33 as an elegant, but private sort of VIP lounge where he could entertain visiting dignitaries, movie stars, and Disneyland’s corporate sponsors. He was inspired to build the club after seeing similar such establishments at the 1964-1965 World’s Fair. Disney enlisted artist Dorothea Redmond to paint the original conceptual drawings of the club and then commissioned interior designer and former studio art director Emile Kuri to design and decorate the space. Walt then traveled to New Orleans, along with his wife, Lillian, and designer Kuri, to purchase authentic Bayou-inspired decor and antiques to furnish his restaurant, which he dubbed Club 33. There are varying reports as to how Walt came up with that name, the two most persistent being that the name was derived from the club’s address – 33 Royal Street – and also that it was christened in honor of Disneyland’s 33 original corporate sponsors. No one has ever been able to say for sure, though, and the name remains one of the club’s greatest mysteries. Club 33 finally opened its doors in May of 1967. Sadly, though, Walt never got to enjoy it, as he passed away five months prior to its completion. His brainchild enjoyed immediate success, though, and fairly soon memberships were being offered. As of 2007, the club had 487 registered members, all of whom belong either individually or through a corporation. But, let me tell you, the cost of belonging is steep! An individual membership has an initiation fee of $9,500 and annual dues of $3,175, while corporate memberships cost $5,925 in annual dues with a $20,000 initiation fee. The only way a new membership opens up is when a current member drops out of the club, which rarely ever happens. Rumor has it that people on the waiting list can expect to wait over 14 years before a spot becomes available! Not kidding! And sadly, the waiting list is currently at full capacity and is not accepting any new applicants. Also not kidding! And while not a filming location, because of its excellent food and shroud of secrecy, the club has long been a celebrity magnet. Just a few of the stars who have dined there over the years include Barbra Streisand, Robert Wagner, Mickey Rooney, Sammy Hagar, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Phoebe Cates, Fess Parker, Bernard Fox, Geena Davis, Mira Sorvino, Christopher Backus, Elton John, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tommy Smothers, Michael Eisner, John Lasseter, Mike Ness (from the band Social Distortion), Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Kline, and Buddy Ebsen. Club 33’s most famous guest, though, has to be none other than the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, who was a frequent visitor. 🙂 The entrance to Club 33 (pictured above) consists of a non-descript grey door sandwiched between the Blue Bayou Restaurant and the Le Specialty Gourmet Shop. One could easily walk right past it without knowing anything was there. Save for a mirrored plate featuring the Club 33 logo and two tiny gold speaker boxes, the entrance is largely unmarked.

And, let me tell you, we were just about dying of excitement as we walked up to it! 🙂 To gain access to the club, one must press a button on the top gold speaker box located to the left of the front door and speak the name of the person who holds the reservation. No sound will come back to greet you, but if your name is on the hostess’ list, the grey door will magically open. The whole thing is very hush-hush and reminded me of what a speakeasy must have been like back in the day. 🙂 Apparently at one time, members would simply slip their membership cards through a little slot located in the speaker box to gain access to the club, but that is no longer the case. Pictured above are both me and Kerry at the front door.

Just beyond the entrance door lies a tiny lobby area lobby whereupon one checks in and is given the option to either use the wraparound staircase to access the club’s second floor . . .

. . . or to take a ride in the famous antique glass elevator, which Walt had built in exact replication of one he had seen in a Parisian hotel. Kerry and I, of course, opted to take the elevator.

I just about died when we got up to the second floor as the place is absolutely beautiful inside. Club 33 has a very old-Hollywood feel to it, with dark wood flooring, deep red walls, antique wall sconces, wooden chandeliers, and ornate detailing throughout.

And there are arrangements of fresh flowers literally everywhere you look!

Once we reached the second level landing, the hostess led us to our table. The club is made up of two eating areas, the first of which is known as the Main Dining Room and it features carved wooden chandeliers . . .

. . . and a private balcony area which overlooks New Orleans Square and the Rivers of America.

The second dining area is Club 33’s legendary Trophy Room, which is where we got to eat.

The Trophy Room is famous thanks to the fact that Walt originally envisioned it to have an array of animatronic creatures on display, all of whom would be able to hold conversations with his guests, thanks to the use of hidden microphones and an actor who would be voicing the animals from inside the confines of a hidden sound booth. And while his plan never saw fruition, an animatronic vulture from Walt’s original design is still on display in the Trophy Room to this day, although it sadly does not talk to the Club 33 patrons. 😉

The Trophy Room is richly decorated with cypress wood walls,

large and ornately carved display cases,

original Disneyland concept drawings,

and a few pieces from Walt’s wife Lillian’s butterfly collection.

The 33 logo is present on pretty much everything at the club, from the menus,

to the china,

to the post-meal mints. And, let me tell you, Kerry, Anita, and I pretty much wanted to take home anything and everything that featured that logo. We even stuffed a few Club 33 cocktail napkins in our purses. 😉 Not kidding!

A meal at Club 33 costs about $100 per person when all is said and done, but along with a reservation comes free admission to both the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks, so the meal pretty much pays for itself. 🙂 From what I hear, Club 33’s lunch menus are changed seasonally, but usually consist of five different dining options, all of which cost the same amount. I opted for the certified organic free range chicken with truffled mac & cheese. And, let me tell you, it was A-MA-ZING! Especially the mac & cheese!!!!!

But before our meals were served, we were instructed to graze at the club’s amazing buffet. Pictured above is the hallway which leads to the buffet room . . .

. . . which is where the famous harpsichord that was custom made for Lillian Disney is displayed. The harpsichord, which is trimmed in real life gold leaf and features a Disney artisan hand-painted picture of New Orleans Harbor circa the Nineteenth Century, is in working order and may be played by guests of the club. According to several of the staff members I spoke with, Elton John even played an impromptu performance on it once. Love it!

Also on display in the hallway is a table that appeared in the movie Mary Poppins, but unfortunately I didn’t get a great picture of it.

Club 33’s extensive buffet consists of a salad bar, a fresh fruit and imported cheese bar, a shellfish and oyster bar, and a freshly baked bread and cold cuts bar. And I swear I could have dined on just the buffet items and been happy as a clam!

Oh, and did I mention there’s also an all-you-can-eat dessert bar, as well? Diners are even invited to partake in the desert bar before their meal is served, if they’re so inclined. LOVE IT!

Club 33’s most famous desert is its S’mores martini, which is, unfortunately, only available on certain days of the week. And even when it is available, only a select few are made and once they run out, they run out. So, when we arrived at the club, Kerry, Anita, and I immediately headed over to the desert bar to snatch up a martini. Sadly, though, once there we discovered that we were dining on a non-martini day. But being that this was Disneyland – purveyor of the finest customer service in the world – once our waitress heard how disappointed we were over the lack of S’more martinis, she ran directly to the kitchen and had a batch made up especially for our table! How incredibly cool is that???? And I have to say that they also were pretty A-MA-ZING! In fact there wasn’t a single item served at the club that wasn’t A-MA-ZING! I literally could have gorged myself there all day! In fact, being that our meal took over two and a half hours from start to finish, by the time I had finished my desert and had carefully documented the entire place in photographs, I could have easily sat back down to do it all over again. LOL

Oh, and because it was her birthday, Kerry even got a special Mickey Mouse desert. 🙂 Love it!

Club 33 also has a full bar and is, in fact, the ONLY place in Disneyland that serves alcohol. So, I, of course, had to partake in a glass of champagne while there. 🙂

Just around the corner from the bar is the club’s foyer area,

which features the famous Club 33 display case where various items featuring the Club 33 logo are for sale. Said items can only be purchased at the club – or on eBay, of course – and because of that are pretty hot commodities.

Also on display in the foyer is the antique glass phone booth which was used in the 1967 Disney movie The Happiest Millionaire. The phone is in working order and is available for use by Club 33 guests.

And, of course, I just had to take a few pictures of the women’s restroom, as well. 😉

And yes, I sent my fiancé into the men’s room with camera in hand, too! 🙂

My experience at Club 33 was nothing short of magical and was a definite once-in-a-lifetime! As the Disneyland Encyclopedia states, “There’s never been a mention of Club 33 in any of the park’s souvenir books, naturally, and while people may have heard of it and even more have unknowingly walked right by the entrance, only a very few will ever be able to say they’ve been inside.” Thanks to my good friend Kerry, I am now one of those very few. 🙂 Can’t THANK YOU enough, Kerry! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Club 33 is located at 33 Royal Street, in between the Blue Bayou Restaurant and Le Gourmet Specialty Shop, in the New Orleans Square area of Disneyland. Sadly, the club is private and not open to the public. For further Club 33 reading, be sure to check out the unofficial Club 33 website.