Brenda and Dylan’s First Kiss

I think the new 90210 has been making me nostalgic for the original series, because lately I have found myself re-watching old episodes of the 90s show. The other night, while watching one of my fave episodes from the first season, the episode where Brenda and Dylan first get together, I noticed a filming location that I had yet to stalk. In the episode, entitled “Isn’t It Romantic”, Dylan has moved out of his suite at the BelAge Hotel and into what looks like a ritzy apartment building. After a date at the former Fox Studio City Theatre, Dylan brings Brenda back to that apartment building only to find his father waiting for him inside – and, of course, drama ensues.

While watching the episode, I happened to notice the word “L’Ermitage” spelled out on the side of the apartment building’s entrance (pictured in the above screen capture).

So I got to Googling and quickly discovered that there used to be a “members only” hotel called the L’Ermitage located in Bevelry Hills once upon a time. Sadly, the L’Ermitage was purchased by the Raffles hotel chain in October of 2000 and was completely renovated, remodeled, and renamed. The new hotel, called the Raffles L’Ermitage, does not look very much like Dylan’s former apartment building. Even the front entrance of the hotel, which was the site of Brenda and Dylan’s dramatic first kiss, was gutted and changed. But while the L’Ermitage does look very different than it did during the 90210 days, something about it is still vaguely reminiscent. Especially familiar is the sidewalk in front of the hotel where Brenda runs after Dylan’s meltdown where he throws a potted plant on the ground. Gotta love it!! 🙂 Standing there brought back such fond memories for me and I highly recommend stalking the L’Ermitage if you were at all a fan of Brenda and Dylan. 🙂

The L’Ermitage is an absolutely beautiful place and I cannot wait to drag my boyfriend back there on a Friday or Saturday night to grab a drink in one of the hotel’s many bars. The hotel’s rooftop terrace has been ranked one of the top three rooftop bars in the country. The hotel’s Writer’s Bar, where the walls are decorated with screenplays and scripts, is also supposed to be a fabulous place to grab a drink. The exclusive hotel is also a big time celeb hotspot – so if you visit be sure to keep your eyes peeled! Julia Roberts, Georgio Armani, Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Keira Knightley, Penelope Cruz, and Angelina Jolie have all stayed at the L’Ermitage in the past. While stalking the L’Ermitage yesterday, I saw James Woods, who was hanging out in front of the hotel. I absolutely LOVE me some James Woods and the TV show Shark, so I was floored to see him in person. I would have asked him to take a pic with me, but he was busy talking on his cell phone and then his friend drove up, so I didn’t want to bother him. I did snap a pic of him from far away, though. He is in the above photo leaning against the Porsche. SO COOL! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Raffles L’Ermitage is located at 9291 Burton Way in Beverly Hills, not far from Rodeo Drive.

West Beverly?

A few weeks ago, Mike, from MovieShotsLA, sent me some screen captures from a Season One episode of the original Beverly Hills, 90210 series entitled “Fame Is Where You Find It.” In the episode Brandon “goes Hollywood” after landing a role on Brenda’s favorite television series Keep It Together. In one scene in the episode, Keep It Together’s star, Lydia Leeds, picks Brandon up from West Beverly High in her limousine during lunch. While watching the episode, Mike noticed that the high school shown in that scene did not look like Torrance High School, the real life locale which was used to portray West Beverly High during the first three seasons of 90210. Mike made it his mission to find out exactly what school was used in that scene.

I tried to help him out in this stalking mission, but as usual he was one step ahead of me. 🙂 It didn’t take long at all before Mike found some online photos of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks and recognized it as the place that stood in for West Beverly in the “Fame Is Where You Find It” episode. I have visited and blogged about this location once before, but I just had to run right out to re-stalk it so that I could see the exact spot that was used in 90210. 🙂 And standing there at Notre Dame High, it was easy to see that, without a doubt, it was definitely the location used in the “Fame Is Where You Find It” episode. It is so strange to me that producers filmed Brandon’s limousine pickup at a different location than Torrance High School, especially since there were a few other scenes from that same episode that were filmed at Torrance High. What was it that caused producers to shoot this scene elsewhere when in ever other instance I know of, all exteriors of West Beverly were shot at Torrance? Were they looking for a specific look for that particular scene that Torrance just didn’t have? Did they run out of time and decide to shoot the brief limo scene at Notre Dame because it is about 20 miles closer to the 90210 studios than Torrance High School? Perhaps we will never know, but it is these little idiosyncrasies that absolutely fascinate me when it comes to filming locations – and that will keep me stalking day after day for years to come. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Notre Dame High School is located at 13645 Riverside Drive in Sherman Oaks. The exterior of the school’s chapel area was used for the filming of Brandon’s limousine pickup.

Ray Pruit’s House

Thanks to Geoff over at 90210Locations, I was able to stalk Ray Pruit’s house this past weekend while out in Van Nuys. The home was featured in numerous Season 5 episodes of the series as the abode of Donna’s abusive, pumpkin-patch-owning boyfriend, Ray. At that time, the house was painted a light beige color, but has since been repainted a darker blue. Other than the exterior color, though, the house looks exactly as it did back in the 90210 days. Big THANK YOU to Mike from MovieShotsLA for the above screen capture. 🙂

Ironically enough, while taking pictures in front of Ray’s house, a neighbor walked outside and I asked him if he lived in the neighborhood at the time 90210 filmed. He said that not only was he around during that time, but he was, in fact, the location manager of the show for Seasons 4 through 10!!! I absolutely could not believe my luck and ended up talking his ear off for about fifteen minutes. He really could not have been nicer and he even gave me his email address in case I ran up against any elusive 90210 filming spots that I might need help in locating. 🙂 YAY!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Ray Pruit’s house is located at 6628 Canteloupe Drive in Van Nuys. Not far away are both the former 90210 production studios, located at 15001 Calvert Street, and the liquor store from the “U4EA” episode, located at 6020 Kester Boulevard.

"I’d Like to Exchange an Egg . . . "

At the risk of this site becoming strictly a blog about 90210, I just had to do a post about another location from the iconic 90s television show. I finally got Season 2 of the series on DVD and this weekend I spent many hours glued to my television set watching it. And I must admit I got a little obsessed with finding the liquor store from the episode in which Emily Valentine (my least favorite character in 90210 history) convinces the gang to spend their Saturday night at an underground club. In the episode, entitled “U4EA”, Emily tells the gang that they will have to visit a liquor store and “exhange an egg” for directions to the oh-so-secret underground club.

While watching the episode I noticed the numbers “6202” and a sign reading “Pat’s” located above the liquor store doors. I had an inkling that the liquor shop might be located in Van Nuys, near the 90210 studios, so I got to Googling and sure enough, there it was, just a few blocks from where 90210 was produced. So this weekend, I of course dragged my boyfriend out to Pat’s Jr. Market to do some stalking. I was so happy to see that after all these years the liquor store looks almost EXACTLY the same as it did back in the 90210 days.

Even the interior is still completely recognizable from the “U4EA” episode. The poor clerk at the register had no idea what I was talking about when I told him that 90210 had filmed there 17 years ago and I’m pretty sure he thought I was a complete moron when I had my boyfriend snap pics of me inside. LOL Geez, some people just don’t get it, do they?!? 🙂

The “U4EA” episode also featured one of my fave 90210 scenes ever – the scene where Andrea and Steve enter a different liquor store and tell the befuddled clerk that they want to exchange an egg. “Is there something wrong with the egg?” she asks. LOL LOVE IT!

You can watch the full liquor store scene here.

Stalk It: Pat’s liquor store is located at 6202 Kester Avenue in Van Nuys. The former 90210 studios are located just a few blocks away at 15001 Calvert Street.

P.S. I Love You

In honor of the big 90210 v. 2.0 premiere that took place on Tuesday night, I just had to do a little 90210 v. 1.0 stalking this past weekend. Since my boyfriend and I were out in Palm Springs for a little Labor Day vacay, I dragged him to the Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa which was featured in the series’ Season 5 finale. In the episode, entitled “P.S. I Love You”, Brandon, Valerie and the gang head out to Palm Springs for an Alpha/KEG get together. The group stayed at the Rancho Las Palmas, which at the time was known as Marriot’s Rancho Las Palmas Resort. Two years ago the hotel changed ownership and dropped the Marriott from its name. One of the most famous scenes in 90210 history took place at this hotel – the scene when Ray Pruit pushes Donna down a flight of stairs. It is those stairs that I set out to stalk this past weekend.

Unfortunately, since the hotel has changed hands since filming took place, none of the new staff could give me any information about where filming took place. In fact, most of the hotel staff looked at me like I was crazy when I told them that 90210 had filmed there. LOL But the concierge, who used to work at the nearby Desert Springs Marriott, did tell me that the TV show Las Vegas(sigh – Josh Duhamel!) filmed over at his former workplace several times. Looks like I have some more stalking of that hotel to do! 🙂

Anyway, I had a pretty clear picture in my head of the stairs Ray Pruit – “spelled with one ‘T’ cause that’s all his momma could afford” – pushed Donna down from watching the episode way back when. I was shocked to find out that there are actually 120 sets of those exact same stairs on the hotel property – four sets for each of the hotel’s 30 buildings. So, while I did take a picture on one of the sets of stairs, I am not sure it was the exact one that was used during filming. I am planning on borrowing Mike from MovieShotsLA‘s DVD of that episode to try to pin down the exact filming location. Big THANK YOU to Mike, too, for making these screen captures for me. 🙂

Since being taken over by the KSL Resorts hotel chain, Rancho Las Palmas has been extensively remodeled, however it is still pretty recognizable from the 90210days. Unfortunately, though, the pool areas have changed dramatically since filming, so once again I wasn’t able to pinpoint which of the hotel’s three pools was used for filming. But, according to the concierge, even if I had been able to pinpoint the correct pool, it would most likely be unrecognizable. All three pools have been completely gutted and remodeled since the KSL takeover. BUMMER! In the picture above I am standing in front of the hotel’s adults only Tranquility Pool, which, judging by the surroundings, I am pretty sure was the one featured in 90210.

Even though this particular stalking adventure was kind of a bust, I would still recommend stalking the hotel as it was still very cool to be there. Rancho Las Palmas is absolutely gorgeous, and I am actually hoping to stay there on my next trip out to the desert. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa is located at 41-000 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage, just outside of Palm Springs. You can visit their website here. During the summer rooms will run you about $250 per night. The famous stairs that Donna was pushed down are located throughout the hotel property. The Tranquility Pool is located just off the main lobby.

Break Out The Clicquot!

This is a post I’ve been itching to do for almost two weeks now, but had to keep mum on! Two weeks ago I was interviewed by Washington Post travel correspondent Andrea Sachs, who, based on the major hype of the upcoming 90210 v. 2.0, was sent out to the West Coast to do a travel piece on the world’s most famous zip code. Andrea contacted me to do an interview about the iconic TV series and also a little BH stalking. The article was finally published today and I could not be more excited!! My family and I just got back from celebrating with a little champagne. 🙂 You can read the article here.

When I first received Andrea’s email asking if I would have time to chat about my fave TV show for a newspaper article, I have to admit I thought someone was playing a joke on me. The name Andrea Sachs seemed extremely familiar and after doing a little Google research, I realized that I recognized it from the movie The Devil Wears Prada where it was the name of Anne Hathaway’s character. Besides sharing a name, the two also share a profession. In the movie Andrea Sachs is a budding newspaper journalist. So I was completely convinced someone was pulling my leg. But, it turns out that there is, in fact, a real life Andrea Sachs who is, in fact, a reporter for the Washington Post. And I was happy to discover that the real Andrea is much cooler and a hundred times more funny than her silver screen counterpart. 🙂

Andrea and I decided to meet up for a “power lunch” at the legendary Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel (where we spotted a very large Rob Reiner – I had no idea he was such a big man!) and we wound up spending the entire afternoon stalking. Andrea’s assignment – to report on both the Hills of Beverly and the legendary television show – had a built in challenge for me. Andrea was required to stay in the 90210 zip code and, ironically, there isn’t one filming location from the TV show actually located in Beverly Hills.So I had to think a bit outside the box for this one. 🙂 During our adventure we hit up Aaron Spelling’s manse (which is currently for sale for a reported $150 million!!!), the Playboy Mansion, the home where Shannen Doherty attacked then-boyfriend Dean Factor, and Brad and Jen’s former Beverly Hills love nest.

The last stop on our Beverly Hills stalking tour was Andrea’s inspired idea – the real Beverly Hills High School, upon which 90210‘s fictional West Beverly High was loosely based, but of course where no actual filming took place. Producers had originally wanted to film at the real Beverly Hills High, but the school board was having none of that. So producers created the fictional West Beverly Hills High School and set out for Torrance High School in the South Bay to film. Torrance High will also be featured once again in the new 90210 series.

Even though BHHS shied away from being featured in the 90210 series, it has been used in several other Hollywood productions including Anywhere But Here, The Beverly Hillbillies, Less Than Zero, the Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, Taggat, Whatever It Takes, and the videos for Nickelback’s Rockstar and NLT’s That Girl. In the Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life, the school’s “Swim Gym” (pictured above) which features a basketball court that slides open to reveal a swimming pool underneath, was prominently featured.

Andrea had read about Beverly High’s “Hall of Fame”- a wall display featuring headshots of BHHS’ famous alumni and I was absolutely dying to see it! The display actually ended up bringing us full circle in our stalking adventure when we spotted Rob Reiner’s photo on the wall. Andrea took one look at Rob’s photo and said “You really didn’t realize he was a large man???” LOL As excited as we both were to see the Hall of Fame, it proved to be pretty anti-climatic. Sadly many of the most famous names were strangely missing from the display. BHHS’ famous alumni include Angelina Jolie, Tori Spelling, both Ephron sisters, Albert Brooks, 80s heartthrob Steve Burton, Cari Fisher, Bonnie Franklin, Gina Gershon, Nicolas Cage, Shaun Cassidy, Jennifer Grey’s father Joel, Brady mom Florence Henderson, Lenny Kravitz, Monica Lewinsky (LOL!), the Menendez Brothers, Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meister, Pauly Shore, Antonio Sabato Jr., Alicia Silverstone, and countless, countless others. I was most looking forward to seeing BHHS alumni David Schwimmer’s photo on the wall, but like many others it was absent. I mean, hello – where’s the Friends’ love?

In person the school has minimal resemblance to how West Beverly High was portrayed onscreen. For being located in the world’s most exclusive zip code, the school is actually quite unremarkable and ordinary. I really expected much more from BHHS. In reality the school looks pretty much like every other American high school I have ever seen. The interior leaves much to be desired, as well, and, in truth, looked pretty run down. Andrea and I were cracking up at the sad state of the hallway’s ceiling tiles (pictured above). I am happy to report, though, that both the students and faculty of BHHS could not have been friendlier to us as we wandered the halls. But all I kept thinking was how young the students looked compared with what was portrayed on 90210. I mean, there wasn’t a Luke Perry style receding hairline in the bunch!

I truly had a BLAST stalking with Andrea all afternoon and I cannot wait for her next West Coast adventure as I’d love to hang out again. And the article turned out fabulous – I really could not be more excited! 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Beverly Hills High School is located at 241 Moreno Drive in Beverly Hills. You can read the Washington Post article here.

Spend the Night at Kelly and Donna’s Beach Apartment

While doing some cyber-stalking this morning, I came across this advertisement for a vacation rental of the 90210 beachhouse! For between $300 and $600 per night, you can take the ultimate 90210 vacation and actually spend a few nights (there’s a three night minimum) in Kelly and Donna’s beachfront apartment. How cool is that??

The exterior of the townhouse being advertised was used as the location of Kelly, Donna and various other cast member’s beach apartment from Seasons 4 through 10. Many memorable scenes took place at the beach apartment over the years, my favorite being David’s proposal to Donna. 🙂 It is so odd to look at the interior pictures of the real beach house as it looks nothing like the interior of Kelly and Donna’s place. The interior of their apartment existed only on a soundstage, of course, about 40 miles away, in Van Nuys. But it would still be really cool to stay at the real apartment! The advertisement doesn’t state which apartment is available for rent, but Kelly and Donna lived in the 2nd floor unit on 90210. According to the advertisement, the newly remodeled beach house sleeps four, has a barbecue, lots of deck space, and a private jacuzzi. Not a bad place to spend a vacation! Looks like I might just have to drag my boyfriend out to Hermosa for a little 90210 vacation. 🙂

You can read my other post about the beach apartment here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Kelly and Donna’s beach apartment is located at 3500 The Strand in Hermosa Beach. If you walk along the beach just south of where Hermosa Beach meets Manhattan Beach, you’ll see the apartment. You can’t miss it! To rent the place out, contact Gary Ashe at (310)809-0592 or you can send him an email inquiry.

Steve Sanders’ House

While out stalking on Wednesday, Mike from MovieShotsLA took me over to a mansion called the Iny Estate, which is probably better known as Steve Sanders’ house from the original 90210 series. While the estate was featured as Steve Sanders’ home for the entire ten year run of the series, it is probably most recognizable from the pilot episode of 90210. In that episode, the West Beverly gang attends a party where Steve drinks a bit too much and realizes he can’t drive home. He entrusts his black corvette (with custom license plate “I8A4RE” – LOL!!) to David Silver who doesn’t have a license. When David parkes the car at Steve’s house, he forgets to put the car in gear causing it to roll down the driveway and crash into a parked car. Steve spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out which “nerd” totalled his corvette. SUCH GREAT TV! 🙂

This location had actually eluded Mike and his fiance for quite some time. My hat is seriously off to them, though, as they went so far as to contact STEVE SANDERS HIMSELF, Ian Ziering, to ask him if he remembered where his house on the show was located. Ian recalled that the home was somewhere in Encino and from that bit of information, Mike and his fiance were able to locate it. I truly think they are better stalkers than me! 🙂

In real life the ultra modern manse is owned by Paula and Ben Iny and the house is a frequent filming location. While Mike and I were there, Ben Iny happened to be outside and we got to speak with him briefly. He was laughing at us and, like the security guards at the 90210 studio, said “But 90210 was filmed so long ago!” LOL The house has 38 foot ceilings, an elevator, a conservatory, a “glass radius wall” (whatever that means!), four fireplaces, an indoor jacuzzi, and a pool and spa. It sounds like EXACTLY the type of place Steve Sanders would have lived! You can see an up close and personal view of the home and even take a virtual tour on the official Iny Estate Website. The home has also appeared in the Corbin Bernsen movie “The Dentist”, the movie “Ghost in the Machine”, and in music videos for both Prince and Ice Cube.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Steve Sanders former house is located at 16711 Bosque Avenue in Encino.

“I Choose Me”

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Yesterday, fellow stalker Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I took a little stalking adventure to the studio where the original 90210 series was filmed. Mike has been there several times and he was dying to show me the studio in person. I must say that being there and seeing the studio with my own two eyes brought out the high school girl in me – standing there looking at that familiar set, I truly felt like I had stepped back in time to my teenage years. 🙂 From the street outside of the studio, you can actually see the exterior of the former Peach Pit After Dark and it is still completely recognizable all these years later. While Mike and I were standing outside freaking out over seeing the Peach Pit in person, a security guard came over to us and asked if he could help us. We told him we were HUGE fans of 90210 and he said “Oh, the new series isn’t actually being filmed here.” LOL We had to explain that we were fans of the OLD 90210.

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After getting the OK from his boss, the security guard was nice enough to LET US ON THE PROPERTY and take us on a mini-tour of the studio!!!!! I just about DIED! Although nothing really remains from the old days of 90210, it was still very exciting for me to be there. Just thinking that I was standing in the exact spot where Shannen, Luke, Jennie and Jason reported to work everyday was enough for this stalker! I think the security guards were quite amused at our excitement over being there because they kept saying “That show was filmed soooo long ago.” And yes, while 90210 went off the air almost a decade ago and while most people today could probably care less – LOL – for me the show is so embedded in my memories that it is like a piece of my childhood. So being there yesterday was like stepping back in time, returning to some familiar place, and I was just as excited to be there as I would have been if the show was still filming today. 🙂

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Anyway, the security guards walked us through one of the soundstages where the sets for West Beverly High, the Peach Pit, and the Peach Pit After Dark used to be located. Right now the studio is being used for the TV show Swingtown, so those sets are currently set up on the former 90210 stages. BUT they still had some of the old lockers in the prop room left over from the 90210 days and the security guard took us to see those. They have been painted over and used for other productions, but I was still freaking out all the same. 🙂

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A full-on back lot is now set up in what was formerly the parking lot for the stars of 90210. This exterior set was built for the TV series Jericho and is now being used in Swingtown. I have never seen either show, but it was still pretty fun to walk through the backlot.

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The most exciting thing for both Mike and me to see was the exterior door to the Peach Pit After Dark, which is still standing at the studio today. It is currently covered up by the exterior of a church set that was used in Jericho, so you can no longer see the door from the street. But the security guards took us behind the church set to show us the door up close and personal. 🙂

I really wanted to get some screen captures of 90210 to put with today’s post, but would you believe that Target was completely sold out of Season 2 of the series??? Looks like I am going to have to order the DVDs on Amazon and post the screen captures later. 🙁 For those who remember the series well, the brick wall pictured in many of the above pictures was used throughout the ten year run of the series. It was used as the back of the Peach Pit in the Season 2 episode when Brenda is robbed while studying for finals at the Pit. In that episode, Brandon and Dylan go outside to take out the trash and it is that scene which features the brick wall. During the Emily Valentine Era, the brick wall was used as the both the location of the rave that the gang attends and also the location of the warehouse where Dylan takes Brandon to pick up his totaled Mustang the following morning. The brick wall was also the location of one of my favorite 90210 scenes ever – the scene when Kelly Taylor tells both Brandon and Dylan “I choose me.” LOL If you keep your eyes peeled during re-runs, you will notice the brick wall popping up repeatedly in Seasons 1 through 10.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The former 90210 studios is located at 15001 Calvert Street in Van Nuys. As always, exercise caution and use common sense. I would not recommend asking for a tour of the studio unless you are with a group of people, as you can just never be too careful.

The Beverly Beat

Thanks to my good friend Mike over at MovieShotsLA I was able to stalk Brandon and Steve’s newspaper office from the original Beverly Hills, 90210 series. On the final years of the original 90210, Brandon and Steve ran their own newspaper called “The Beverly Beat” and the location of the newspaper office had eluded me for some time.

I had long been convinced that the Beverly Beat office was located above Louise’s Trattoria restaurant on Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena (pictured above), but since I do not have the final seasons of 90210 on tape, I was never able to confirm my hunch. Then I met Mike, 90210 stalking expert, who told me that Brandon’s office was actually located at the Baine Building right on Hollywood Boulevard. So, of course, I ran right out to stalk it.

The Baine Building was built in the Spanish Revival style by businessman Harry M. Baine and designed by architecture firm Gogerty & Weyl in 1926. Harry M. Baine, a prominent businessman and Los Angeles County Supervisor, was also the man responsible for the creation of the annual Hollywood Christmas Parade. During Christmastime in 1928, hoping to promote his business and drive sales, Baine renamed Hollywood Boulevard “Santa Claus Lane” and hired real reindeer to pull sleighs down the street. And thus a tradition was born.

The Baine Building is a beautiful building in Hollywood that I highly recommend stalking. I wonder if the builiding will make an appearance on the new 90210 series. The building was also replicated in Disneyland’s California Adventure Park, so you can also stalk it there. 🙂 lol You can read this interesting article about the Disney replication.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Baine Building is located at 6605 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, just a few blocks from the Hollywood & Highland Center. Just a half a block away at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard is Musso and Frank’s Grill, the oldest restaurant in Hollywood and a great place to grab a bite to eat! 🙂