90210 & Beverly Hills, 90210 Filming Locations – Page 2

September 25, 2015September 25, 2015

Lake View Medical Center from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

In researching today’s post, I put in several hours scanning through countless Season 1 and Season 2 episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210. Time well spent as far as I’m concerned! Winking smile This was all due to a comment left on my blog last October by a reader named Vanessa Laine who said that the now defunct Lake View Medical Center in Lakeview Terrace was the hospital that appeared in Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead. I immediately got to perusing the internet for more information on the site and came across this 1991 Los Angeles Times article which mentioned that 90210 was doing some filming on the premises at the time. A location that had been used in both fave show 90210 AND fave movie Don’t Tell Mom? It was like a dream come true! So I ran right out to stalk the place. It wasn’t until yesterday, though, that I was able to figure out (with some help from my buddy Mike, from MovieShotsLA) which 90210 episode the former hospital had appeared in.

[ad]

Lake View Medical Center was originally built in 1960 and served as a working hospital until it went bankrupt in 1986. Shortly thereafter, the Phoenix House organization made plans to purchase the 14.5-acre property and turn it into a drug rehabilitation facility for teens, but opposition from local residents thwarted those plans. The location remained vacant for the next several years while lengthy negotiations took place between Phoenix House and the city. During that time, it was used regularly for filming. Negotiations over the site finally ended in December 1992 and the Phoenix House Academy in Los Angeles opened its doors in 1994.

Virtually none of the property can currently be seen from the street, which is not surprising considering its function as a drug rehabilitation center.

According to the Los Angeles Times article, Beverly Hills, 90210 had filmed on the premises in late November 1991. Because he is such an expert on the show, I sent Mike a text asking if he could recall any episodes from around that time period that involved a hospital. He responded seconds later saying, “Yeah, there are two hospital scenes in ‘A Walsh Family Christmas.’” As it turns out, he was right on the money! What can I say? When it comes to 90210, he is the man! In the episode, Lake View Medical Center first stood in for the Albuquerque, New Mexico hospital where Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) went to retrieve his birth certificate.

Only the interior of Lake View appeared in the scene. The establishing shot of the hospital is of a different location (one that looks so familiar to me, but that I just cannot place). UPDATE – The Grim Cheaper just read this post and said, “Isn’t that building at Warner Bros. Studio?” He was right! He has only been on the tour twice, while I have been a good 25 times, yet he was the one to recognize it! As it turns out, the exterior of the Steve’s hospital is Warner Bros. Building 136.

The same building was also used as John Connor’s (Thomas Dekker) high school in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Later in “A Walsh Family Christmas,” Lake View masked as the mental hospital where Emily Valentine (Christine Elise) had been placed a few episodes prior after trying to light the gang’s homecoming parade float on fire. In the spirit of Christmas (and completing ignoring the fact that she spiked his drink with U4EA), Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) visits Emily in the episode and gifts her with his Minnesota Twins jersey.

As you can see below, the tall wooden doors that appeared in each scene are a match to each other.

West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, located at 7300 Medical Center Drive in West Hills, was used for the exterior of Emily’s hospital in the episode.

Once I had pinpointed Lake View’s appearance in “A Walsh Family Christmas,” I searched through numerous other early episodes that involved hospitals thinking it might have been featured in those, as well, but no such luck. As far as I can tell, Lake View only appeared on 90210 once.

In Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, Lake View stood in for River Ridge Hospital, where Kenny Crandell (Keith Coogan) took his little brother, Walter (Robert Hy Gorman), after he fell off the roof. I had quite a bit of trouble pinpointing the area of Lake View that was used as the exterior of the hospital in the scene – so much so that I started to doubt Vanessa’s tip. As it turns out, the building featured in the movie is not part of the Phoenix House complex, but is the neighboring Community Charter Middle School. From what I have been able to gather, the structure did originally belong to Lake View Medical Center, but was sold off at some point after the site was shuttered.

Though the front overhang has since been removed, the building is still very recognizable from its Don’t Tell Mom appearance.

The interior of Lake View was also featured in the movie.

As you can see below, once again the tall wooden doors seen in Don’t Tell Mom are a match to what was shown on 90210.

Lake View also popped up in Beverly Hills Cop III as the spot where Det. Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) took Uncle Dave Thornton (Alan Young) after he had been shot.

As you can see below, Don’t Tell Mom and Beverly Hills Cop III utilized the exact same area of the hospital.

Lake View Medical Center was featured extensively in the 1993 drama Mr. Jones as the place where Mr. Jones (Richard Gere) was institutionalized after having several manic episodes.

There are those tall wooden doors again!

Lake View was also where Abby Quinn’s (Demi Moore) doctor worked in the 1988 thriller The Seventh Sign.

You can see the Don’t Tell Mom building through the window in the screen capture below.

The complex was perhaps most famously used in 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day, in which it masked as the Pescadero State Hospital of California where Sarah Conner (Linda Hamilton) was institutionalized.

At the time, it looked a bit different than it does today due to the fact that the parking lot was then located in the area just south of the hospital.

Today, the parking lot is situated just west of the hospital building and there is currently grass covering the former parking area.

On a Beverly Hills, 90210 side-note – I just came across this amazing blog that recaps the show and its fashion, and it had me in absolute hysterics! You’ve gotta check it out. Best part? The author is 100% Team Brenda. A woman after my own heart!

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker Vanessa for finding this location and to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for helping me to identify its appearance in Beverly Hills, 90210. Smile

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Phoenix House Academy in Los Angeles, aka the former Lake View Medical Center from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 11600 Eldridge Avenue in Lakeview Terrace. Please keep in mind that the complex is a working drug rehabilitation facility. The building used as the exterior of River Ridge Hospital in Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead is the Community Charter Middle School located next door at 11500 Eldridge Avenue.

February 9, 2015April 25, 2019

The Bel Age Hotel from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

Ah, change. It’s one of my least favorite things, especially when it comes to filming locations. So I was devastated when the Wyndham Bel Age Hotel, one of the most prominent locations from Beverly Hills, 90210, closed in 2007 to undergo a huge renovation and was renamed The London West Hollywood. I had been to the Bel Age prior to its closure, but failed to take any photographs of the place. I was so incredibly excited to be there that the visit is seared into my memory for eternity, but I still wish I had pictures. Back in 2003, I was enrolled in an acting school and two of my classmates happened to work at the Bel Age. One evening during class, upon learning what a 90210 freak I was, they offered to take me on a tour of the place. The whole thing was very last minute, which is why I did not have my camera. So around 11 p.m. that night (class got out late), we headed to West Hollywood and my friends proceeded to take me through every square inch of the hotel – we’re talking restaurants, kitchens, back hallways, suites, ballrooms, and, most memorably, the rooftop pool. The whole thing was pretty epic for someone as obsessed with 90210 as I am and, looking back, the fact that I did not have a camera is rather tragic. But there’s good news! Mike, from MovieShotsLA, and I recently stopped by The London – and this time I brought a camera! – and I was shocked to discover that, despite the extensive remodel, the hotel is still very recognizable from 90210.

[ad]

For a good two decades the Wyndham Bel Age was the place to see and be seen in West Hollywood. Located right off the Sunset Strip, the wood-paneled, pink-hued, all-suite hotel, which was built in 1984, featured a fitness center, a salon, a florist, an antique gallery, a rooftop pool, two restaurants (the exclusive Franco-Russian-inspired Diaghilev and the more casual Club Brassiere, which turned into a jazz club at night), 24-hour room service (yes, please!) and an art collection rivaling that of a museum. The Bel Age displayed pieces from Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, and Erte (not just in public spaces, but in each guest room, as well!), just to name a few, and also boasted an open-air sculpture garden. In late 2005, the property was purchased by the Blackstone Group and subsequently closed for its $50-million renovation on May 15th, 2007. It re-opened as The London the following May.

As I mentioned, though, the hotel is still very recognizable from its 90210 days.

The Bel Age popped up countless times on Beverly Hills, 90210. It was pretty much the producers’ go-to hotel of choice. The property was first featured in the Season 1 episode titled “The Green Room.” As you can see below (though my photograph is facing the opposite angle from the screen capture), the lobby is still very similar today to how it was in the ‘90s. During the Bel Age days, the lobby was all pine wood paneling and muted pink accents. That wood paneling has since been painted white, but its shaping and embellishments remain the same. The large mauve rugs were sent packing, though, and the lobby currently boasts bright white marble floors.

The front desk is also still situated running the entire length of the western side of the lobby, just as it was pre-remodel. (My apologies as my below photograph was, again, taken from the opposite angle of the screen capture.)

The large corridors that branch off from the lobby are, also, still much the same as they were on 90210, minus a lot of pink and floral furniture.

The corridors house the entrances to the property’s banquet rooms (I believe) and were seen in several episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210.

The hallways between suites also haven’t changed much, aside from the addition of a lot of white paint. I got the photograph below off of Trip Advisor and, as you can see, the chair railings, crown moldings, diagonally-situated wall panels, and carved wooden doors that appeared on 90210 are all still intact today. The art work that once lined the Bel Age’s corridors was all, sadly, sold at an auction following the hotel’s 2007 closure and is therefore no longer on display.

One of the Bel Age’s actual rooms was used as the corporate suite where Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) lived in “The Green Room.” Though it is a bit hard to make out in the screen captures below, the room featured in that episode was Suite 211.

As you can see, the room from “The Green Room” matches a photograph of a former Bel Age hotel room that I got from the SanFrancisco.com website. You can check out what The London’s rooms currently look like here.

In the Season 1 episode of 90210 titled “The First Time,” Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) took his former girlfriend Sheryl (Paula Irvine) to meet Dylan for lunch at the Bel Age. At the time, the restaurant where they ate was known as Club Brasserie. That eatery is now the Boxwood Café. As you can see in the screen capture and photograph below (which I got off of the London website), the space’s unique peaked ceiling was not changed during the remodel.

Room 211 made an appearance in “The First Time,” too.

The Bel Age was also where the West Beverly High Mother/Daughter Fashion Show was held in the Season 1 episode titled “Perfect Mom.”

The actual fashion show took place in one of the hotel’s ballrooms, though not much of it can be seen in the episode due to the dark lighting. You can check out what the ballroom looks like today here.

In the Season 2 episode titled, “Things to Do on a Rainy Day,” Brenda Walsh (my girl Shannen Doherty), Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth), Donna Martin (Tori Spelling) and David Silver (Brian Austin Green) booked a room at the Bel Age in order to try to meet the guys from Color Me Badd, who were staying at the hotel. That so sounds like something I would do, by the way! Oh, who am I kidding – I HAVE done that!

Me doing my best Kelly-Donna-Brenda-standing-in-the-rain impersonation.

A real room – or a set very closely resembling one – was used in the filming of “Things to Do on a Rainy Day.” As you can see below, the gang’s suite, most notably the railing and curtain, matches the below photograph of one of the Bel Age’s former rooms, which I got off of the Agoda website.

In the Season 3 episode titled “Back in the High Life Again” (which was probably my least favorite episode of the ENTIRE series), Jack McKay (Josh Taylor) threw a soiree in his room at the Bel Age upon getting released from prison.

It was in the “High Life” episode, at the hotel’s rooftop pool, that Dylan finally chose Kelly. Gag! Mike and I did not make it up to the pool during our visit, but you can see what it looks like in its current state here. Thankfully, the pool was not altered during the remodel.

Most famously, the West Beverly Senior Prom was held at the Bel Age in the Season 3 episode titled “A Night to Remember.” And we all know what happened at the West Beverly Senior Prom! That night resulted in one of 90210’s most memorable storylines EVER. Let’s hear it for “Donna Martin graduates!”

The gang’s prom took place in one of the hotel’s ballrooms – I believe the very same ballroom that was used in “Perfect Mom.” If you look at a current photo of that ballroom, you can see that the space’s ceilings and crystal chandeliers remain the same today as they were in 1993 when the episode was filmed.

For as long as I can remember there has been a bit of a mystery surrounding the bathroom scene in which Donna got sick in the episode, but I am very happy to report that while writing this post I figured things out and can officially put that mystery to rest. A few years back, there was a blog called “Tales of an Extra” that was written by a man who was a professional background actor. (For whatever reason, the blog is no longer online.) The man appeared in numerous episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 and had this to say about his experience shooting Season 3’s “Senior Poll” at the L.A. Forum, “Some scenes of some of the female characters and extras were shot in the ladies room, which were to be used as part of a prom scene in the episode, and had nothing to do with the Forum.” That post caused many people, myself included, to believe that the scene in which Donna got sick at the prom was most likely shot at the Forum. The bathroom from “A Night to Remember” is pictured below. The space never struck me as a bathroom that would be located at a sports arena, though. Not to mention the fact that it would be rather odd that a scene from “A Night to Remember” would be shot during the filming of “Senior Poll,” which was two episodes ahead of it chronologically. My friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, managed to track down the set decorator for both episodes for me, so I emailed her to try to clear things up. She informed me that the prom bathroom was a set created for the shoot and was most definitely not located at the Forum. Because the room certainly had that set look, I believed her. But that left me wondering about the supposed prom scene filmed in a Forum bathroom.

Then all of a sudden it hit me! Maybe there was a bathroom scene in the “Senior Poll” episode! I popped in my DVD and, sure enough, there was! And in it, Kelly was wearing a prom dress! In the scene, Kelly, Donna, Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris) and some other West Beverly girls are shown getting ready to take their yearbook pictures for the senior poll. Kelly had won “Most Beautiful” and chose to wear a formal gown for her photo. It was that scene that was shot in a Forum bathroom. Mystery solved!

One thing I was not able to figure out, though, is where the stairs that the gang walked down in “A Night to Remember” were – or are – located. Mike and I did not see them while stalking The London, nor do I remember them from my 2003 tour of the Bel Age. They appear to have been located somewhere in the lobby, though.

The same stairwell also appeared in 90210’s “Perfect Mom” episode.

I also came across a more recent photo of the stairs in a 2006 WeHo News article. Though the picture is taken from a wide angle, it does not clear up where the stairs were – or again, are – located. Oh, how I would love to find them!

The apartment building where Mel Silver (Matthew Laurance) lived – and where the gang drank champagne before the prom – in “A Night to Remember” was actually the back side of the Bel Age hotel, which can be found on Larrabee Street. For the shot, producers simply installed an awning reading “121 Doheny Palm.” Aside from that minor change, the area still looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did in 1993.

The interior of Mel’s apartment appears to have been some sort of banquet room or large suite, complete with a large built-in bar, at the Bel Age.

The wooden doors (see screen cap above) and carpeting of Mel’s apartment match those of the hotel, as seen later in the episode while the gang is waiting for Donna to come out of the bathroom. The framed artwork hanging on Mel’s wall is also a direct match to the artwork pictured hanging in the Bel Age hallways in previous episodes.

The Bel Age also served as the location of Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering) and Janet Sosna’s (Lindsay Price) wedding reception in the Season 10 episode titled “Baby, You Can Drive My Car.” Though producers changed the name to the “Beverly Royale Hotel” for the scene.

While the Bel Age’s lobby . . .

. . . and one of its rooms appeared in the episode . . .

. . . I believe the room where the actual wedding reception took place was just a set.

The Bel Age also appeared in many episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 during its later years, but because I pretty much stopped watching the series during Season 5, it would be impossible for me to chronicle them all.

90210 is hardly the only production to have been lensed at the hotel. In the 1985 crime drama Prizzi’s Honor, Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson) and Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner) met up a couple of times at the Bel Age.

In one scene, they had drinks at Diaghilev restaurant.

That same year, Alec Newbary (Judd Nelson) rescued Jules (Demi Moore) from a date-gone-wrong at the Bel Age, said to be Washington, D.C.’s VanBuren Hotel, in St. Elmo’s Fire.

The staircase also made an appearance in the scene.

The Bel Age pool was the site of Sammy Joe’s (Heather Locklear) photo shoot in the 1991 miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion.

Allison Parker (Courtney Throne-Smith) attended a work party at the Bel Age in the pilot episode of Melrose Place, which aired in 1992

The Bel Age was also where Charles Reynolds (Linden Ashby) stayed in the Season 1 episode of Melrose Place titled “Peanut Butter and Jealousy.” Only the exterior of the hotel was used in the episode, though.

Interior scenes were filmed at another location altogether.

In the Season 4 episode of Ally McBeal titled “The Getaway,” which aired in 2001, Richard Fish (Greg Germann) and John Cage (Peter MacNicol) headed to Los Angeles for a vacation and checked into the Bel Age.

The pool was featured in the episode, as well.

In the Season 2 episode of Desperate Housewives titled “I Wish I Could Forget You,” which aired in 2005, the Bel Age Hotel was where Bree Van De Kamp (Marcia Cross) went for a romantic weekend with her new boyfriend George Williams (Roger Bart).

Bree and George ate at Diaghilev in the episode.

The stairs from 90210 also made an appearance.

In the Season 1 episode of Melrose Place 2.0 titled “San Vicente,” which aired in 2009, Ella Simms (Katie Cassidy) threw a party for movie executive Curtis Heller (Nolan North) at what was by then The London.

While it has been said that the Bel Age pool was featured in the opening scene of 1991’s L.A. Story, I am fairly certain that is incorrect. As you can see in the screen capture below as compared to an old photograph of the Bel Age pool that I got from the Top Travel News website, the patio area at the Bel Age is considerably larger than the patio that appeared in L.A. Story.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The London West Hollywood, aka the former Bel Age Hotel from Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 1020 North San Vicente Boulevard in West Hollywood. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

January 14, 2015January 13, 2015

Hyatt Westlake Plaza from “The Karate Kid”

2014 was definitely the year of The Karate Kid. Not only did the flick turn thirty, but two of its missing locations were finally found – Mr. Miyagi’s house, which I blogged about here, and the fictional Encino Oaks Country Club, which, as it turns out, was actually the Hyatt Westlake Plaza hotel in Thousand Oaks. The latter was only brought to my attention recently thanks to this June LA Weekly article. So while I was in the area one (very rainy) day a couple of weeks ago, I stopped by to investigate further.

[ad]

I had actually stalked the Hyatt Westlake Plaza once before, way back in February 2010, because of its appearance in the Season 1 episode of fave show Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Palm Springs Weekend.” (You can read that post here.) I later came to find out that the hotel was also used for some interior filming in the Season 5 episodes titled “P.S. I Love You: Part I” and “P.S. I Love You: Part II,” which were also set in Palm Springs. As I said in that post, which you can read here, Hyatt Westlake Plaza was obviously 90210’s go-to Palm Springs hotel stand-in. But more on that in a bit.

In The Karate Kid, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) heads to the Encino Oaks Country Club to pick up Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue) for a date. Ali tells Daniel that she will meet him outside at 9:30, but she winds up being late. According to the LA Weekly article, Daniel waited for her just outside of the Hyatt Westlake Plaza’s main entrance. Thankfully, that information was easy to verify as the hotel’s entrance looks exactly the same today as it did in the fall of 1983, when The Karate Kid was shot.

In the scene, Daniel stood in front of the easternmost beam of the hotel’s porte-cochère.

You can even see the Hyatt’s tiled lobby fountain in the background, which was also visible in the “P.S. I Love You” episodes of 90210.

Today, the fountain is no longer tiled, but its shape remains the same as it was when 90210 was filmed in 1995.

Once Daniel gets tired of waiting for Ali in The Karate Kid, he heads inside the country club to try to see what is holding her up. He sneaks in through the kitchen and eventually sees Ali in a luxe ballroom kissing his nemesis, Johnny (William Zabka). According to LA Weekly, filming of that scene took place in the Hyatt’s Grand Plaza Ballroom, so I headed inside to check it out. Sadly, due to the fact that the hotel has been remodeled several times over the past thirty years, it no longer looks anything like it did onscreen, which gave me some pause.

The most notable change was that of the chandeliers. In The Karate Kid, the ballroom chandeliers were made of ornate crystals, while the room’s current chandeliers are almost Mediterranean in style and feature iron accents.

I did notice that the ballroom’s recessed ceiling squares and positioning of heating vents did appear to be a direct match with what appeared in The Karate Kid. Despite that fact, though, I started to have doubts about the location. It was hard for me to believe that the hotel would do away with such fancy crystal chandeliers, especially considering that the new chandeliers make the room much less elegant and far more casual. I thought it was more likely that filming had taken place at a different spot, one that still had those chandeliers in place.

I also was unable to locate the set of double doors that led to the kitchen in the movie, which only gave me further hesitation that the Grand Plaza Ballroom was the ballroom from The Karate Kid. I know, I know. I was definitely nitpicking, especially considering that it has been thirty years since filming took place. What can I say? I don’t like to be 95% sure, or 99% sure, or even 99.9% sure about locations I present on my blog. Before reporting anything, I want to be 100% certain about all of my assertions.

This past Monday, I started searching for other ‘80s productions filmed at the hotel, hoping one might show the Grand Plaza Ballroom. If I could find some sort of image of the ballroom and those crystal chandeliers were indeed in place, then I could verify that it was the same spot used in The Karate Kid. Thanks to IMDB, I learned that Hyatt Westlake Plaza had been featured in two Season 6 episodes of Knots Landing, “Vulnerable” and “The Long and Winding Road.” The episodes were filmed in 1985, just two years after The Karate Kid was shot. I spent hours searching for them online, but, sadly, Knots Landing is not available to watch anywhere! I finally managed to find a (rather dramatic) scene from the “Vulnerable” episode on YouTube and, miraculously, it took place in the Grand Plaza Ballroom! Eureka! You can watch it by clicking below.

Maddeningly though, the cameras never panned high enough in the scene to show the chandeliers. I did spot some similarities between the Knots Landing ballroom and The Karate Kid ballroom, though. As you can see below, the single and double wood frame décor elements were present in both productions.

The chair railings that run across both rooms are also a match.

As is the shaping of the doorframes. The wallpaper also seems to be the same in both films, though it is hard to tell.

I still was not convinced that the two rooms were one and the same, though. I wanted to see an image of those chandeliers! That would clinch things for me. Then, like a lightning bolt, it hit me! I suddenly remembered that in “P.S. I Love You: Part II,” Donna Martin (Tori Spelling) made a speech to her fellow sorority sisters – wait for it – in a ballroom. I immediately popped in my DVD of the episode and, sure enough, the crystal chandeliers from The Karate Kid were visible! I finally had my confirmation!

While I was at it, I figured I might as well also chronicle all of the productions filmed on the premises. In the 1985 movie Tuff Turf, Hyatt Westlake Plaza once again masqueraded as a country club, this time the El Canyon Country Club that Morgan Hiller (James Spader), Frankie Croyden (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ Kim Richards) and their friends snuck into. The front exterior of the property . . .

. . . and the lobby area were used in the flick.

Oddly though, the ballroom featured in the movie was actually the Riviera Country Club’s Crystal Ballroom in Pacific Palisades. You can see pictures of it here.

As I mentioned above, Hyatt Westlake Plaza appeared in two episodes of Knots Landing, Season 6’s “Vulnerable” and “The Long and Winding Road.” In the episodes, the hotel was where Mack MacKenzie (Kevin Dobson) and Karen MacKenzie (Michele Lee) confronted the shady Dr. Ackerman (Laurence Haddon) while he was participating in a bridge tournament. After the confrontation, Dr. Ackerman runs outside to the Hyatt’s parking lot and shoots himself.

In the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills 90210 titled “Palm Springs Weekend,” which aired in 1991, the Hyatt Westlake Plaza masked as two hotels. It first stood in for the Desert Palm Mirage, where Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty) thought she was supposed to meet Dylan McKay (Luke Perry) for a romantic rendezvous.

“I had to sleep in a broom closet!”

And it also played the Desert Mirage, the hotel where Brenda later caught Dylan with another girl.

I so love that the elevators still look exactly the same today as they did when 90210 was filmed 24 years ago.

In Season 5’s “P.S. I Love You” episodes, the Hyatt was used as the interior of the hotel where the KEG/Alpha Convention was being held.

The Hyatt’s hot tub was also used in the scene in which Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) and Valerie Malone (Tiffani Thiessen) almost rendezvoused. The hot tub is denoted with a yellow arrow in the photograph below (which I got off of the hotel’s website). It is located just beyond the pool. As you can see, the tiered shaping of the top of the pillar visible behind Brandon on 90210 matches that of the Hyatt’s pillars. And the boulders situated near the pool are also a match to what appeared onscreen.

Hyatt Westlake Plaza has also appeared on The Bachelor. For a time, it was where contestants were put up prior to moving into the mansion. I do not believe that it has been used in the show’s more current seasons, though. The screen captures below were taken from the first episode of the series’ 14th season, which starred Jake Pavelka.

On a side-note – my dad has a couple of doctor appointments in L.A. this week and I am heading out there with him. While I will have a new Los Angeles magazine post for tomorrow, I will not have a new post for Friday.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Hyatt Westlake Plaza, aka Encino Oaks Country Club from The Karate Kid, is located at 880 South Westlake Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

August 11, 2014August 9, 2014

Malibu Café at Calamigos Ranch

The Grim Cheaper and I recently headed out to the ‘Bu to grab a bite to eat at the Malibu Café at Calamigos Ranch and walked away with not only a new favorite restaurant, but an addition to my Must-Stalk List. Mike, from MovieShotsLA, had told me about Calamigos Ranch years ago because of its appearance in a couple of Beverly Hills, 90210 episodes. And though it took me a while to stalk the place, it was definitely worth the wait.

[ad]

Calamigos Ranch was founded in 1947 by Navy veteran J. Grant Gerson and his wife, Helen, on a 15-acre plot of land nestled at the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains. Gerson originally called the property Calamigos Star C Ranch (“Calamigos” is an Indian word meaning “come as my brother, come as my friend”) and operated a year-round Old West-themed children’s camp there for over three decades.

As more residences started popping up near what was once his rural property, Gerson decided to purchase several plots of adjoining land. Today, Calamigos Ranch, which is still run by the Gerson family, is comprised of a whopping 120 acres and is utilized mainly as a special events venue.

The ranch is an extremely popular wedding location (there were three taking place on the premises the day we were there!). In fact, my favorite actor, Matt Lanter, married one of my favorite bloggers Angela Lanter at Calamigos on June 14th, 2013. You can see pictures of their nuptials here.

As we walked through the ranch’s massive grounds making our way to Malibu Café, I was stunned at how gorgeous the property is and became just a wee bit obsessed with the twinkle-light-draped trees pictured below.

Calamigos Ranch has a very rustic feel to it and I mean that in the best possible way.

Even the designated smoking area is picturesque!

Malibu Café, which sits at the center of the property, is a more recent addition to the ranch.

And while food is served there (excellent food, might I add) and the dining areas are uniquely stunning . . .

. . . to classify the place simply as a restaurant would be doing it a disservice.

Malibu Café is more of a gathering space, with games for both adults and kids . . . .

. . . tucked away spots reserved for quiet reflection . . .

. . . and meandering waterways.

There is even a boat launch onsite that offers pedal boat rentals!

Um, sign me up!

The café’s unexpected décor had me practically foaming at the mouth! It’s exactly the way I would want to decorate my house if I owned one.

Thanks to its natural beauty and ruggedness, Calamigos Ranch has been utilized for filming countless times over the years, far more times than I could ever catalog here, but I’ll do my best. Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) and Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) attended a Task Force retreat held at Calamigos in the Season 4 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Change Partners,”

The room where Brandon and Kelly square-danced can be viewed here.

In the two-part Season 4 finale of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Mr. Walsh Goes to Washington,” Calamigos Ranch was the site of CU’s 28th Annual Mardi Gras fair.

I believe that the wedding of Suzanne Steele (Kerrie Keane) and Kevin Weaver (David Hayward), which took place in the episode, was also filmed at Calamigos.

The ranch was the site of Waynestock in 1993’s Wayne’s World 2.

According to the Seeing Stars website, the television series Bunheads films almost exclusively at Calamigos.

One of the ranch’s many cabins was transformed into a spa for the Season 2 episode of Rizzoli & Isles titled “Living Proof.”

The property’s wooded area was also where a young pregnant woman tried to escape an attacker in the episode.

Calamigos was the site of Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) and Dr. Ben Warren’s (Jason George) wedding in the Season 9 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy titled “Run, Baby, Run” and “Things We Said Today.”

The episodes were filmed in the ranch’s Main Dining Room.

I snapped a few photos of the space’s interior through the front windows.

In the third episode of Season 9 of The Bachelorette, Desiree Hartsock hosted a Western-themed group date at Calamigos Ranch.

The group date took place in the area pictured below, which is located on Pitsch Canyon Road.

Juan Pablo Galavis won the date’s challenge and was rewarded with a private screening of The Lone Ranger in the Calamigos barn.

Juan Pablo returned to the ranch a few months later during his stint as The Bachelor. In the second episode of his season, he treated Claire Crawley to a one-on-one snow date at Calamigos. The property was not at all recognizable in the episode due to the fact that producers set up a winter wonderland in one of the open areas for the date, complete with Christmas trees, snow, a hot tub and a hill for sledding.

I cannot more highly recommend a visit to Malibu Café. The place is one of Los Angeles’ hidden treasures.

For more stalking fun, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Los Angeles magazine online. And you can check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic, here.

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for telling me about this location! Smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Malibu Café at Calamigos Ranch is located at 327 Latigo Canyon Road in Malibu. You can visit the ranch’s official website here and the café’s official website here. If you plan on dining at the restaurant, reservations are highly recommended as the place is jam-packed pretty much all day, every day.

March 28, 2014March 27, 2014

The Donna Martin Graduates Protest Site

As big of a Beverly Hills, 90210 fan as I am, it will probably come as a shock to learn that up until recently I had yet to stalk the spot where one of the show’s most iconic moments was filmed – Burbank City Hall, aka the Donna Martin Graduates protest site from the Season 3 episode titled “Something in the Air.” So, since I was in the area recently stalking The Wonder Years houses (you can read those posts here and here), I decided that it was about time that I amended that fact.

[ad]

Burbank City Hall, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by architects William Allen and W. George Lutzi. Construction on the Moderne/Art Deco-style building began in 1941 and lasted until 1943. The final cost of the project was $409,000.

The building’s most impressive feature is its tower, which stands at 77 feet.

The lobby area, which I, unfortunately, did not get to see, boasts twenty different kinds of marble, bass relief sculptures and a grand staircase. The building also houses two large murals painted by Hugo Ballin. In a 1996 Daily News article about the structure, Councilman Ted McConkey is quoted as saying, “Anyone walking into City Hall would recognize that it’s something unique. It’s special because of the period in which it was built, because of the way it’s been maintained and because of all the murals at City Hall. We get an inordinate number of requests to use City Hall from film companies.” Love it! You can check out a fabulous photograph of the lobby here.

In “Something in the Air,” Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) stages a Senior Class walk-out during final exams to protest the fact that Donna Martin (Tori Spelling), after showing up drunk to the prom, is not being allowed to graduate with her class. (The Juniors also participate in the walk-out, in order to protest the dress code that the school board has implemented for the upcoming school year.) The protestors – chanting the now legendary line “Donna Martin graduates!” – wind up at the steps of Burbank City Hall, which (I think) is supposed to be masquerading as the West Beverly Hills School District in the episode.

This guy had a little trouble with his “No scapegoats” sign. Winking smile

During the rally, Mrs. Teasley (Denise Dowse) warns the students that they are all in danger of being flunked, which only serves to rile them up further. With Brandon leading the charge, they head inside the building and into the school board meeting.

Once inside, Brandon, of course, makes a speech in Donna’s defense. That speech never ceases to crack me up. He says, “Donna Martin is the kind of girl that goes out of her way for people. That’s why all these people here are going out of their way for her.” Like, huh? Did I miss something in all of my avid 90210 watching? When did Donna ever go out of her way for anyone, let alone the entire Junior and Senior class? It all ends well, though, as the board members wind up being moved by Brandon’s speech and vote to allow Donna to graduate. Donna Martin graduates, indeed!

“Something in the Air” was not the first Beverly Hills, 90210 episode to be lensed at Burbank City Hall. Although the exterior of Beverly Hills City Hall was used as an establishing shot . . .

. . . the interior of Burbank City Hall was where Jim Walsh (James Eckhouse) and Brandon attended a meeting about the Highpoint Center project in the Season 2 episode titled “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

Thanks to the Dear Old Hollywood website, I learned that Burbank City Hall stood in for a police station in the 1954 film Pushover.

In the Season 3 episode of The Rockford Files titled “Crack Back,” which aired in 1977, Burbank City Hall masqueraded as the courthouse where Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett) defended a professional football player who was on trial for murder.

In 1980’s American Gigolo, Burbank City Hall was where Julian (Richard Gere) was accosted by the press after being arrested. Very little of the building is visible in the scene, though.

The building masqueraded as a courthouse once again in the 1993 made-for-TV movie A Place to Be Loved (aka Shattered Family).

The interior of Burbank City Hall stood in for the U.S. Naval Headquarters at Pearl Harbor in the ending scene of the 1995 movie Crimson Tide.

For the exterior of the U.S. Naval Headquarters, a different building was used – Memorial Hall at Chapman University in the City of Orange.

The IMDB website states that Burbank City Hall was also utilized in the 1961 film The Choppers, the Season 2 episode of Police Woman titled “Generation of Evil,” the Season 2 episode of S.W.A.T. titled “Courthouse,” and the Season 1 episode of Matt Houston titled “The Showgirl Murders,” but, unfortunately, I could not find copies of any of those productions to verify that information.

On a Donna Martin Graduates side-note – Even though we don’t have kids, during the holidays the GC and I participate in a bit of Elf on the Shelf fun by trading off hiding our elf (named Max) every night for each other. This year, Max decided to hold a walk-out – with some nutcrackers, a couple of Santas, and my 90210 dolls – in honor of my favorite television show. While I thought it was genius, the GC did not share in my enthusiasm. Winking smile

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Donna Martin Graduates protest from the “Something in the Air” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 was filmed at Burbank City Hall, which is located at 275 East Olive Avenue in Burbank.

January 28, 2014January 27, 2014

The Infamous Ray Pruit Stairs

Since moving to the desert last January (I cannot believe it has been a year!), I have wanted to revisit Rancho Las Palmas, the sprawling Rancho Mirage resort where Ray Pruit (Jamie Walters) pushed girlfriend Donna Martin (Tori Spelling) down a flight of stairs in the Season 5 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “P.S. I Love You: Part II.” I originally stalked and blogged about the location back in September 2008, but, because the hotel has 120 sets of identical stairs, at the time I was unsure of which set had appeared in the episode. Thankfully, the resort’s sales manager saw my post and left a comment, informing me of exactly where the scene had been shot. And while it took me over five years to get back out there to re-stalk the place, once I did, I could NOT have been more excited!

[ad]

Rancho Las Palmas is massive. The 240-acre resort boasts a 27-hole championship golf course, four eateries, a spa, 50,000-square-feet of event/meeting space, and three pools – one of which is Splashtopia, a two-acre water feature made complete with a 425-foot lazy river, two 100-foot water slides, a man-made sand beach, a Jacuzzi, and a café. Guests also have access to 25 tennis courts at the Palm Springs tennis center located in the Rancho Las Palmas Country Club, which is adjacent to the hotel.

Rancho Las Palmas has quite an interesting history. The property was originally the site of the Desert Air Hotel & Resort, a 320-acre compound that was founded by architect H.L. Gogerty in 1946. The resort consisted of an airstrip for private planes, World War II army barracks that pilots and travelers could rent for the night, and a bar and a pool that were added in 1951. You can see a picture of what the property looked like at that time here. Luminaries like Edgar Bergen, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Robert Taylor flocked to the place and The Bob Cummings Show was even filmed onsite for a time. The resort was sadly shuttered in 1976 and then demolished a year later to make way for a new Marriott hotel. According to the Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields website, one former Desert Air patron had this to say of the new lodging, “I visited the site several years ago – nothing left, except that the main fairway of the golf course seems to be aligned with the old northwest/southeast runway, and there’s a Desert Air Drive in the condos by the hotel. Very ritzy, very posh, but it will never have the understated chill-out class of the old place, with guest cottages made from recycled WW2 barracks huts. I think the difference speaks volumes about the way this country has changed.” I have to admit, it would have been pretty darn cool to vacation in authentic World War II barracks.

At the time that 90210 was filmed, the hotel was known as Marriott’s Rancho Las Palmas. After being taken over by KLM in 2006, the site underwent a massive renovation and the “Marriott” dropped from its name. Today, the property is operated by Omni Hotels & Resorts.

In “P.S. I Love You: Part I” and “P.S. I Love You: Part II,” Rancho Las Palmas was where Steve Sanders (Ian Ziering), Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley) and the rest of the C.U. gang attended a national KEG/ALPHA convention. Several areas of the resort were shown in the episodes, including the front entrance;

the Azure Adult Pool (where Ray had a fit over Donna’s choice of swimwear);

and, of course, the infamous stairs that Ray pushed Donna down.

The stair scene was shot on the northwest side of Building #5.

In real life, the stairwell leads up to Room 520.

You can watch the stair scene by clicking below. I love when Valerie says, “Ray, go get the hotel doctor! Go!” LOL Hotel doctor??? How about, “Let’s get her to a hospital,” Val!

And you know I just had to do it!

While re-watching the “P.S. I Love You” episodes (big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for loaning me his Season 5 DVDs), I was shocked to see that the interior scenes had not been filmed inside Rancho Las Palmas (the Rancho lobby is pictured below), but at another location that I was familiar with – Hyatt Westlake Plaza in Westlake Village, which also appeared as a Coachella Valley-resort in the Season 1 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 titled “Palm Springs Weekend.” I stalked Hyatt Westlake Plaza in February 2010 (you can read that post here) and recognized it immediately when it popped up in “P.S. I Love You.” I guess the Hyatt was 90210’s go-to Palm Springs hotel stand-in.

The first thing that clued me in to the fact that Hyatt Westlake Plaza had been used in “P.S. I Love You: Part I” and “Part II” was the large fountain that was seen in the center of the lobby in the episodes. That same fountain is pictured below in a 2010 photograph that I took of the Hyatt lobby. While no longer tiled, the shape of the Hyatt fountain is an exact match to the shape of the 90210 fountain.

The general layout of the Hyatt lobby also matches the lobby that appeared on 90210. Sadly, the Hyatt was remodeled sometime after the episodes were filmed, so the décor and flooring look quite a bit different today.

In “P.S. I Love You: Part II,” Brandon is shown walking through the Hyatt lobby, past a side table. That same side table (as well as the lamps on it and the painting behind it) is a direct match to a side table that Brenda Walsh (my girl Shannen Doherty) walked by in “Palm Springs Weekend.” Love it!

The recessed hotel room doors and positioning of the room signage that appeared in the “P.S. I Love You” episodes also match those of Hyatt Westlake Plaza.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The “P.S. I Love You” episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 were filmed at Rancho Las Palmas, which is located at 41000 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage. You can visit the resort’s official website here. Ray Pruit’s infamous stairs can be found on the south side of the property, just off Avenue Las Palmas, in Building #5, which is denoted with a pink arrow below. The stairs are on the north side of the building and lead up to Room 520. The pool that appeared in the episode is the Azure Adult Pool, which is located just outside of the hotel’s main lobby and is denoted with a blue arrow below. The interior scenes from the “P.S. I Love You” episodes were shot at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza, which is located at 880 South Westlake Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. You can visit the hotel’s official website here.

December 24, 2013December 23, 2013

Alvarado Street School from “Beverly Hills, 90210”

For my final holiday post of 2013, I thought I would blog about a locale from my favorite television series of all time, Beverly Hills, 90210. Last September, I dragged the Grim Cheaper out to Culver City to stalk Playa del Rey Elementary School, which masqueraded as Alvarado Street School, where Brenda Walsh (my girl Shannen Doherty), Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth), Dylan McKay (Luke Perry), and the rest of the West Beverly gang handed out gifts to needy children in the Season 3 Yuletide-themed episode “It’s a Totally Happening Life.” Because I do not own the series’ third season on DVD, though, and because the episodes are maddeningly not available to stream on iTunes, Netflix or Amazon, I was not able to blog about the site last Christmas. So this year, I enlisted my good friend Mike, from MovieShotsLA, to provide me with a recap and screen captures so that I could finally do so. Thank you, Mike!

[ad]

In real life, Playa del Rey Elementary School, which is known as the “Jewel of the Westside,” is an SAS (School for Advanced Studies) establishment for gifted and high-achieving students in kindergarten through fifth grade. Besides traditional courses, such subjects as theatre arts, dance and choral music are also offered.

Playa del Rey Elementary School was featured prominently in “It’s a Totally Happening Life,” in which, in an homage to the 1946 classic It’s a Wonderful Life, two guardian angels, Clarence and Miriam, watch over the 90210 gang. And, in what turns out to be a Christmas miracle, the angels even manage to save the group from a fatal bus accident at the end of the show.

In the episode, Brenda and Kelly give Dylan an ultimatum, telling him that he must choose between the two of them by New Year’s Day. (He makes the wrong choice, incidentally, and the show never recovered, at least in my never-to-be humble opinion. I’ve shared my thoughts about the Dylan-Kelly-Brenda love triangle ad nauseam over the years, though, so I will spare y’all from digressing further. Winking smile )

While the school still does look very similar to how it appeared when filming took place back in 1992 (has it seriously been 21 years?!?), sadly the area that was featured in the episode is now covered over with blue-paneled fencing and is no longer visible from the street. Ironically enough, that is the only portion of the school’s fencing that is covered in such a manner. The paneling must have been installed to ward off the many stalkers who drop by. Winking smile

You can see areas of the school that were not featured on Beverly Hills, 90210, but are visible from the street in the photographs below.

Sadly, the gate that the gang walked through in “It’s a Totally Happening Life” has also since been removed. It was formerly located at the front of Playa del Rey Elementary, just east of the main entrance, in the area where Santa is standing in the photograph below. Oh, how I wanted to pose for a photograph next to that gate! Sad smile

I will be taking the rest of the week (and possibly next Monday) off from blogging in order to celebrate Christmas with my family and for a quick trip to L.A. I hope all of my fellow stalkers have a fabulous holiday!

Big THANK YOU to Mike, from MovieShotsLA, for making the screen captures that appear in this post.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: Playa del Rey Elementary School, aka Alvarado Street School from the “It’s a Totally Happening Life” episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, is located at 12221 Juniette Street in Culver City. The southeast corner of the school, near the intersection of Juniette and Randall Streets, was the area that appeared in the episode.

May 16, 2013May 16, 2013

My Day on the Set of “90210”

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in my post about the Hideaway Saloon (which you can read here), I was devastated to learn of the cancellation of fave show 90210 – especially being that the cast and crew were informed of said cancellation while in the midst of shooting what was to be the (most-likely cliffhanger-ish) Season 5 finale. Thankfully though, the script was rewritten mid-shoot and the series given the proper sendoff that it deserved, with (spoiler alert!) Liam Court (my man Matt Lanter) finally proposing to longtime love Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes). Hallelujah! I literally had anxiety all day Monday while waiting for the show to air because I was afraid that Liam and Annie would remain star-crossed for all eternity and I just could not have handled that. I needed closure and am so thankful that I (as well as the rest of the fans) got it. Anyway, I thought it would only be fitting to write today’s post about a memorable time that I spent on the set of 90210 a few years back.

[ad]

Thanks to fave website OnLocationVacations, I learned, about a week ahead of time, that 90210 would be filming on August 31st, 2011 at the Langham Huntington hotel in Pasadena. I immediately called up my mom, who was already living in Palm Springs by that time, and asked if she and my dad would be willing to drive out to help me stalk the filming, since 90210 was my favorite show and all. Winking smile My mom said that she would talk to my dad about it and call me back. Well, let me tell you, I just about passed out from excitement when she called just a few minutes later and informed me that not only were they coming out for the filming, but that they had booked a room at the Langham for that day! Yes, my parents are that cool! Flash forward to the morning of the 31st. When I arrived at the hotel, I was floored to see the yellow sign pictured below. “The Code” – get it? LOVE!

When I first told my mom about the filming, I mentioned that the one 90210 star whom I was absolutely dying to meet was Shenae Grimes. (I had already met Matt Lanter a few months prior.) So imagine my surprise when I got to the Langham and, after striking up a conversation with a crew member, found out that Shenae was the only series regular on set that day. Talk about fate! I told the crew member what a huge fan of Shenae’s I was and that I would love to get a photograph with her, to which he said, “Oh, sure. One second.” He then got on his walkie-talkie and informed someone on the other end, “There’s a fan here who wants a picture with Shenae.” The person spoke back to him and the crew member told me to wait right where I was and that Shenae would be out in a minute. Well, let me tell you, I just about fell over at that! It was as if it was just expected that if there was a fan on the premises wanting a pic, that the actors would be happy to pose. Not all sets are like that, I can assure you. In fact, very few are that accommodating. True to the crew member’s word, Shenae came out just a minute later and walked right up to me and introduced herself. She was so sweet and we even got to chat for a minute about what a huge “Lannie” fan I am.

A few minutes later, a different crew member came up to me and invited me to watch the next scene that was being filmed (they had already finished up with the first scene of the day by the time I arrived). The crew member, who turned out to be the show’s location manager (yeah, I talked his ear off once I found that out!), parked me in the “Video Village” area behind where the directors and writers sit during a shoot and even took the below photograph to commemorate the event. And yes, I was definitely pinching myself! I’m surprised I didn’t have black and blue marks all up and down my arm, in fact! Winking smile

The scene I got to watch being filmed was the scene in which Annie first met her future boyfriend/john, Patrick Westhill (Chris McKenna). In the episode, which turned out to be Season 4’s “Benefit of the Doubt”, the Langham Huntington was the hotel where Patrick stayed while visiting L.A. Amazingly enough, it took less than an hour, and only about three or four takes, to shoot the sequence. Those of you who have ever witnessed any filming know what a feat that is, being that most shows require umpteen takes of each and every scene.

The scene was shot in the hotel’s Lobby Lounge, which is located right next door to The Tap Room bar.

I, of course, just had to go back to the Lobby Lounge later that day to pose for a (rather blurry) picture in the spot where Annie sat in the scene.

After that scene was completed, the cast and crew moved out to the hotel’s Horseshoe Garden, which you can see some photographs of here, to set up another sequence. (The Bachelorette’s Ashley Hebert and J.P. Rosenbaum got married in the Horseshoe Garden last December, but that’s a different post for a different day.) By this point, my parents had arrived at the Langham and the three of us set up camp on the patio of The Tap Room, which overlooks the Garden, so that we could watch the filming – and drink champagne at the same time. Winking smile

My dad acted as my paparazzi the whole day and got some great shots of the crew setting up the scene.

As you can see below, it was quite an undertaking.

He also got some great shots of Shenae during a break (notice she’s carrying a Starbucks – we could so be besties! Winking smile );

getting her make-up put on;

rehearsing with Chris;

and actually acting out the scene.

The scene being filmed in the Horseshoe Garden area involved Patrick taking Annie to lunch . . . on a helicopter!

And while the location manager informed me that they had originally planned on landing an actual helicopter on the Horseshoe Garden lawn, the city of Pasadena objected (ya think?), so they ended up adding the chopper in digitally during post production.

In reality, the lawn was completely empty during the filming, although at one point they did bring in a tiny toy helicopter that I think may have been used in the screen capture below.

After that scene wrapped, the cast and crew moved into the hotel’s Huntington Ballroom (you can check out a photograph of it here) which had been dressed to look like an art museum for the shoot. By that point, my parents were rather tired, so we opted to head out to dinner rather than watch more of the filming. All in all, it was a FABULOUS day and a FABULOUS memory – one that I will never forget.

The scene that was filmed early in the day, before I arrived at the hotel, involved Annie showing up to Patrick’s room to tell him that she likes him. Patrick’s room was actually the Langham’s Ford Cottage Room 1550, which you can check out some photographs of here.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Langham Huntington, aka Patrick’s hotel from “The Benefit of the Doubt” episode of 90210, is located at 1401 South Oak Knoll Avenue in Pasadena. You can visit the Langham’s official website here.

April 18, 2013April 17, 2013

The Hideaway Saloon from “90210”

While watching the Season 5 episode of 90210 titled “Misery Loves Company” a few months back, I became just a wee bit mesmerized by the Hideaway, the biker bar where Naomi Clark (AnnaLynne McCord) and Adrianna Tate-Duncan (Jessica Lowndes) tried to track down Naomi’s lost wedding ring. The series’ fabulous costume designer, Kime Buzzelli, had posted pictures of the site on her Instagram page (@kbuzzy), so I commented asking for its real name (for whatever reason, I had incorrectly assumed that the name shown in the episode was a fake). She wrote back right away (she’s great about interacting with fans) saying, “It was this place called the Hideaway and it was LEGIT! Loved it.” When I told her I was going to have to stalk it in the near future, she replied, “I’d love to go back, it seems like it’s actually like we shot it. Smile Perfect amount of tough and scary.” So I immediately added the place to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a few weeks later. And I just have to say here that I am seriously depressed over the fact that 90210 was cancelled. Yes, the show had gone downhill in recent months (The Hangover-themed “Dude, Where’s My Husband” episode starring a few of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills was a definite low point), but I still loved watching it and am beyond sad that, come next season, I will no longer be able to. And I swear, if Annie Wilson (Shenae Grimes) and Liam Court (my man Matt Lanter) do not get together in the final episode, CBS will be receiving a very strongly worded letter from me! Winking smile

[ad]

The Hideaway, which was constructed in 1917, originated as a stagecoach stop. It went through a few different incarnations after that, but started serving alcohol in (I believe) 1947 and has been going strong ever since.

I am fairly certain that the decidedly rustic décor has not changed much since the property’s beginnings almost a century ago.

The Hideaway is actually the perfect name for the site because it is completely hidden away from view. So much so that the GC and I almost drive right past it! As you can see below, it is tucked below the road and virtually impossible to see.

The place is so seemingly remote and peaceful – it even butts up to a little stream! – that it is hard to believe it is located just one mile from the busy 210 Freeway.

And while I originally thought that the hitching posts out front were a décor choice, I was way off!

While we were exploring the place, the GC spotted more hitching posts in the back of the bar, as well as, ahem, evidence of horses having been on the premises, and a sign stating, “Do not tie horses to fence.” According to a 2001 L.A. Weekly article, the Hideaway is one of only three bars in the county that allows patrons to hitch their steeds to the posts out front. How incredibly cool is that?

The Hideaway’s payphone booth, which is painted to look like wood, is pretty cool, too.

Unfortunately, the Hideaway was not yet open when we showed up to stalk it (it opens at 11 a.m. on weekends), so we were not able to venture inside. We did happen to meet a few nearby homeowners who were nice enough to fill us in on the site’s filming history, though. And being that the bar offers karaoke (my favorite!), as well as live music, dancing, darts, and pool, I am going to have to drag the GC back there one evening when it is open.

In the “Misery Loves Company” episode of 90210, Naomi convinces Adrianna to go for a Thelma & Louise-style road trip up the coast, “minus the Grand Canyon suicide dive, of course.” During the drive, the two stop to skinny-dip in a natural spring (why not?) leaving their designer duds behind in Naomi’s convertible (of course). As you can guess, the clothes – and Naomi’s wedding ring, which was in her pants pocket – get stolen and, acting on a tip from some local hippies who happen to be walking by, the girls head to a biker bar just up the road in order to confront the culprits. (In that episode’s side story, Liam gets kidnapped by his psycho bodyguard who plans to take him to Mexico in a three foot by five foot box. Oh, and Annie gets shot. There’s a reason the GC has turned to me while watching 90210 over the past couple of weeks and said of the series’ cancellation, “Really, you didn’t see this coming?” Winking smile )

The real life interior of the bar was also used in the episode.

As you can see below, the Hideaway even has a little anteroom for dancing and is much larger than its exterior would have you believe.

Due to its rugged look and isolated feel, the Hideaway has been a favorite of location scouts since way back when. Thanks to the Falcon Crest website, I learned that in the Season 1 episode titled “The Tangled Vines”, which first aired in 1981, the watering hole masqueraded as the supposed Tuscany Valley-area bar where Lance Cumson (Lorenzo Lamas) took his cousins Cole Gioberti (William R. Moses) and Vickie Gioberti (Jamie Rose) for a drink. Both the exterior . . .

. . . and the interior of the bar were used in the scene.

In the 2000 black comedy Drowning Mona, the Hideaway stood in for the Verplanck, New York-area bar where Murph Calzone (Mark Pellegrino) worked.

The interior of the bar also appeared in the movie.

How much does Casey Affleck, who plays Murph’s brother, Bobby in the flick, look like Zac Efron, by the way?

In The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, the Hideaway was where Daisy Duke (April Scott) worked. At least I think it’s where she worked. Unfortunately, the movie was not available to stream anywhere online, so I was only able to watch a preview of it and while I did spot the Hideaway, I am not exactly sure of what function it served in the 2007 flick.

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to 90210 costume designer Kime Buzzelli for telling me about this location! Smile You can check out Kime’s official website here.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! Smile

Stalk It: The Hideaway, from the “Misery Loves Company” episode of 90210, is located at 12122 Kagel Canyon Road in Kagel Canyon. You can visit the bar’s official website here.

April 5, 2013April 4, 2013

Shannen Doherty’s Former Mulholland Drive Rental

Another locale that I found thanks to Hollywood Death and Scandal Sites, the fabulous book written by my buddy E.J. of The Movieland Directory, was the house at 13459 Mulholland Drive that was once rented by my girl Shannen Doherty and that was also the location of her ill-fated 1993 nuptials to Ashley Hamilton, son of actor George Hamilton. Well, believe you me, as soon as I read the words “Shannen Doherty”, I immediately added the address to my To-Stalk list and dragged the Grim Cheaper right on over there a couple of weekends ago while visiting L.A.

[ad]

Sadly, not much of the abode, which was originally built in 1949 and boasts three bedrooms, four baths, 3,734 square feet, and a 0.50-acre plot of land, is visible from the street.

You can see a very small bit of the property, which, according to Zillow, last sold in August 1997 for $942,500, if you head a few hundred feet east on Mulholland Drive.

I was excited to see the home’s front gate, though, as a photograph of it had been featured in the October 11th, 1993 issue of People Magazine in an article about Shannen and Ashley’s “secret” wedding.

That photograph is pictured below. In a disappointing twist, the gate has since been remodeled and now looks completely different than it did in 1993, so much so that I thought E.J. might have gotten Shannen’s former address wrong. (I know, I know – blasphemy! ) As you can see, though, the number “13459” is clearly visible in the People Magazine image, and the article, which you can read here, goes on to state that the star’s home was located on Mulholland Drive. Why, oh why, would the owners remodel the gate? Ugh! (On a fairly amazing side-note – People failed to recognize actress Meredith Salenger in the photograph below, calling her an “unidentified guest”. Nice reporting and research skills, People. Meredith was a pretty big star at the time, so how the magazine failed to identify her is beyond me.)

I’ve recognized her twice while out in public! Maybe I should go work for People.

Shannen moved into the Mulholland home at some point after being evicted from her Doheny Drive rental (which I blogged about here) in March 1993. And it was there that, on September 24th, the star married Ashley, who at the time was six days short of turning 19. The wedding took place on a Friday evening and, according to People, Shannen reported to the set of Beverly Hills, 90210 that morning as if it was a normal day. During a break, she asked someone from the art department to come over to her house that afternoon to help her decorate her backyard for her wedding. When the crew member expressed shock at the spontaneousness of the nuptials, Shannen said, “Yeah, I just found out this morning.” The bride wore a silk bathrobe and no shoes during the ceremony, which was decorated with sunflowers and tiki torches and was attended by only a few close friends. Not surprisingly, the marriage did not last. The couple was separated by February 1994 and in April Shannen filed for divorce. The two had only known each other for two weeks at the time of their nuptials and Ashley had just been released from a drug rehabilitation program shortly beforehand. Not the best of circumstances for the start of a successful marriage, but you live and you learn, right? In a November 1994 TV Guide article, Shannen said, “It was me jumping into something very, very fast before I knew someone. I think it was more of – I needed to feel love. And I loved him, because I think his heart was very, very good. However, there were things about him that I didn’t find out until we were married. Things I couldn’t overlook. And it was one of the most unhealthy relationships I’ve ever been in.”

I am fairly certain that Shannen did not live in the Mulholland rental for more than a year. In an August 1995 Sky Magazine article, in which she was dubbed a “compulsive house-mover”, she talks about her new Spanish-style abode in the Hollywood Hills (one that I have yet to track down!) and says, “I have a problem with staying in one place too long.”

You can find me on Facebook here and on Twitter at @IAMNOTASTALKER. And be sure to check out my other blog, The Well-Heeled Diabetic.

Big THANK YOU to fellow stalker E.J., of The Movieland Directory website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Shannen Doherty’s former rental is located at 13459 Mulholland Drive in Beverly Hills.