Category: TV Locations

Henry’s House from “Selfie”

I was saddened to learn recently that both Selfie and A to Z – two of my favorite new shows of the fall season – had been cancelled. If How to Get Away with Murder winds up on the chopping block next, the networks will be receiving a very strongly worded letter from me! While Selfie is (or should I say “was”?) both hilariously written and fabulously acted, it is the architectural house where Henry Higgs (John Cho) lives on the series that has me most obsessed. So while I was in L.A. last week (before I learned that the show had been canceled) with my good friends Lavonna, Kim, Melissa and Maria (that’s Melissa and Maria pictured above) who were visiting from Ohio, we headed out to Altadena to see the pad in person.

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Henry’s sprawling post-and-beam-style house is featured regularly on Selfie.

The residence looks very much the same in person as it does onscreen. I was shocked to discover while there, though, that the pad sits on a humongous piece of land. In establishing shots, only a small, tight-angle shot of Henry’s home is shown, so I never pictured it to be situated on such a massive lot, which, according to Redfin, measures 1.02 acres.

The tranquil property, which is located towards the end of a hilly, winding road, is extremely private and quiet.

The structure was originally built in 1949 by architect Robert F. Gordon. The entryway and living area were then remodeled in 1975 by Tim Andersen and in 2004 the husband-and-wife team of Fung + Blatt converted the home’s detached poolside stables into a guest retreat with a bedroom, kitchenette and bath. You can check out some photographs of the guest house remodel here.

In real life, the one-story residence boasts three bedrooms, three baths and 1,844 square feet of living space. Over the years, the stunning property has been featured in Sunset, Los Angeles and Atomic Ranch magazines.

I am fairly certain that the interior of Henry’s home is a mix of both the Altadena dwelling’s actual interior (which you can see photographs of here and here – LOVE the living room’s built-in couch and shelving) and a set located at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank where Selfie is lensed. I believe the room pictured below, which is the area of the house shown most often on the series, is a set.

But I think that the other sections of the house that appear onscreen are those of the real life residence. Henry’s kitchen, which is pictured in the screen captures below, is an exact match to the home’s actual kitchen, which you can see in this photograph.

On a side-note – I will be on The Bill Feingold Show Featuring Kevin Holmes once again this morning at 8 a.m. PST. You can listen in here.

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Henry’s house from Selfie is located at 3705 Alzada Drive in Altadena.

November 19, 2014
Grayson Manor from “Revenge”

My favorite location from the television series Revenge is Grayson Manor, the massive Hamptons estate that originally belonged to the dysfunctional Grayson family, but is currently home to Emily Thorne (Emily VanCamp). It seems that pretty much everyone who watches the show is as obsessed with the house as I am and there are countless message boards dedicated to its design. While most commenters stipulate that the dwelling is not a real place, but a CGI-generated property created by Revenge production designers, that information is actually incorrect. As I have come to discover, Grayson Manor is an amalgamation of several different residences – one of which is located in Malibu.

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As I mentioned in my recent post about Porter’s Stowaway Tavern, while Revenge is set in the Hamptons, the pilot episode was actually shot at several real locations in North Carolina. When the series got picked up by ABC, replica sets of the NC locales were built at MBS Media Campus in Manhattan Beach where the show is lensed. During my obsessive Revenge binge-watching in September, I set out to find the exteriors of the two main residences used in the series – Emily’s beachfront cottage and Grayson Manor, which are shown to be located next door to each other. I wound up tracking down the address of Emily’s home on fave website Hooked on Houses. In reality, it is located at 6249 Pebble Shore Lane in Southport, North Carolina. Despite a few alterations, it looks pretty much exactly the same in real life as it does onscreen.

I was absolutely shocked to discover via aerial views and the real estate listing photo pictured below, though, that Grayson Manor was nowhere to be found. In reality, Emily’s house is not situated next to the Grayson’s massive estate, but a small community center and pool.

The anomaly led many fans to believe that Grayson Manor was simply a CGI-generated residence that does not actually exist. Thanks to an intrepid stalker who commented on Hooked on Houses, though, I learned that there is a real Grayson Manor. It is located at 257 Further Lane in East Hampton, New York. A few changes were made to the façade for the series, including a lengthening of the house, the addition of Victorian Grayson’s (Madeline Stowe) infamous turret, and a relocation of the pool from the side of the property to the back.

Despite those alterations, the estate is still largely recognizable from the series. What I wouldn’t give to see it in person!

The inside of an estate located at 2340 Ocean Point Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina was used for the interior of Grayson Manor in Revenge’s pilot episode (pictured below). Once the series got picked up, an almost exact replica of that interior was built inside of a soundstage. You can see comparison photos of the real interior and the set on Hooked on Houses here and you can see some great pictures of the Wilmington residence’s actual interior here.

Once filming relocated to Los Angeles, producers needed a dwelling bearing a similar look to the East Hampton house to be utilized for on location exterior shoots. They found the perfect pad at 27720 Winding Way in Malibu. While much smaller than the home from the pilot (which is still used in establishing shots of Grayson Manor), it does bear a resemblance to it.

Fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, managed to track down this locale for me, after I had spent countless hours searching with zero luck. In real life, the Winding Way estate, which was built in 2007, boasts three stories, five bedrooms (three of which are en-suite), nine baths, 10,000 square feet of living space, a formal dining room, a chef’s kitchen, a butler’s pantry, a media room, a gym, a playroom, a gift-wrapping room (a la Candy Spelling), a 3,000-square-foot basement, 5.8 acres of land, a pool, a spa, a tennis court, an equestrian corral and a playground. Sadly though, the property is located on a private road and none of it (aside from a small portion of the roof) is visible to the public. You can check out some close-up photos of the house here, though.

The Winding Way house first showed up in the Season 1 episode of Revenge titled “Charade,” in the scene in which Emily and Daniel Grayson (Joshua Bowman) returned to Grayson Manor after a swim in the ocean.

The pad has popped up several times since, including in the Season 3 episode titled “Hatred.”

The same residence was also used as the Hamptons home of Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) in the Season 5 episode of Castle titled “Murder He Wrote.”

The house where Nolan Ross (Gabriel Mann) – my favorite character – lived during the first season of Revenge is located just up the street at 27326 Winding Way. That particular location has been featured in dozens of productions, including Brothers and Sisters and 90210. Unfortunately, none of it is visible from the street.

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

Big THANK YOU to my friend Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The exterior of Grayson Manor from Revenge is located at 257 Further Lane in East Hampton, New York. The estate used for the interior filming of the pilot episode can be found at 2340 Ocean Point Drive in Wilmington, North Carolina. The residence used for on location exterior shoots is located at 27720 Winding Way in Malibu. Nolan’s Season 1 home on the series is located just up the road at 27326 Winding Way. Unfortunately, both Ocean Point Drive and Winding Way are private roads that are not accessible to the public.

November 18, 2014
Porter’s Stowaway Tavern from “Revenge”

The Grim Cheaper and I recently became obsessed with Revenge. We randomly started watching the ABC series on Netflix one night in early September and could NOT stop. For the next three weeks, the two of us obsessively binge-watched episodes, to the extent that I’m kind of surprised no one staged an intervention. We headed to L.A. for a few days in the middle of our Revenge-fest and made sure to bring along our Apple TV so that our viewing would not be interrupted. And we ordered room service every single night while there so that we could stay in front of the television during dinner! I was relieved when we finally caught up to the series’ current season, as it meant I could go back to living a normal life. It also meant that I could finally stalk some of the show’s locations, the first of which was the storefront that masquerades as Porter’s Stowaway Tavern.

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Though the Stowaway is said to be located in Montauk, New York, the exterior of the watering hole owned by Jack Porter (Nick Wechsler) on the series can actually be found in a small shopping center named Fisherman’s Village in Marina del Rey.

The picturesque complex is made up of five brightly-colored New England-style buildings situated along a cobblestone promenade that lines the waterfront.

And what a stunning waterfront it is!

Fisherman’s Village is best-known for the tall blue and white lighthouse that sits at its center and houses a walk-up café.

Sadly, the 1.2-acre complex started to decline in popularity in the ‘90s and city officials are now looking at redeveloping it or possibly tearing it down and replacing it with a parking lot. I certainly hope that does not happen.

Though most of the shops were vacant, I found Fisherman’s Village to be extremely quaint and charming. I would love to see new businesses move in and revitalize the place!

Interestingly, the Revenge pilot was not shot in California, but at various locations in North Carolina. The Fishy Fishy Café at 106 Yacht Basin Drive in Southport masked as Porter’s Stowaway Tavern in the episode. (You can check out some photographs of the restaurant being dressed for the shoot here.) The exterior of the café (pictured below) does bear a striking resemblance to the buildings at Fisherman’s Village, so it is not hard to see why the shopping center was chosen for filming once the series got picked up and production moved to Los Angeles.

From the second episode of Revenge on, a building that stands in the middle of Fisherman’s Village has masqueraded as the Stowaway. In real life, the structure houses a bike shop named Daniel’s Bicycle Rentals & Sales, an ice cream stand named Daniel’s Ice Cream, and a few other small offices.

The two-story building is only used for faraway establishing shots, though . . .

. . . as well as some rare walk-bys.

All close-ups of the tavern’s exterior are actually shot on a set. I was so hoping to see the Stowaway’s entrance . . .

. . . and patio area, and was shocked to discover upon stalking Fisherman’s Village that they actually only exist inside of a soundstage at MBS Media Campus, where the series is lensed.

While typically only the western side of the Fisherman’s Village building is shown on Revenge, in the recently-aired Season 4 episode titled “Ashes,” in which the Stowaway catches fire, the opposite side was utilized.

The super-nice Daniel’s Bicycle Rentals & Sales employee that I spoke with even sent me a photo of the fire scene being set up. SO INCREDIBLY COOL! As you can see, a fake façade was put over a portion of the bottom floor of the building for the shoot.

For the filming of the pilot episode, the actual interior of the Fishy Fishy Café was used as the interior of the Stowaway.

A (much larger) set resembling that interior was then built at MBS Media Campus for all subsequent filming.

Revenge is hardly the first production to make use of Fisherman’s Village. In fact, it popped up in another of my favorite shows, The O.C. In the Season 1 episode titled “The Rescue,” the shopping center was where Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton), Seth Cohen (Adam Brody), Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie) and Summer Roberts (Rachel Bilson) grabbed pizza after helping Marissa to escape from the hospital. The scene was shot outside of what is now the Hornblower Cruises & Events office.

Later that season, in the episode titled “The Ties That Bind,” Seth and Ryan hung out on Seth’s boat which was docked at Fisherman’s Village.

The center was also the site of Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana Stand on Arrested Development. On the series, the banana stand was situated directly in front of the Fisherman’s Village lighthouse.

And in the Season 3 episode of Greek titled “All Children . . . Grow Up,” Fisherman’s Village stood in for Myrtle Beach, where the CRU kids spent Spring Break.

On a side-note – I would like to wish my mom a VERY happy birthday today! I love you! xo xo xo

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

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Porter’s Stowaway Tavern from Revenge, aka Daniel’s Bicycle Rentals & Sales, is located at 13737 Fiji Way, in the Fisherman’s Village shopping center, in Marina del Rey. “The Rescue” episode of The O.C. was shot outside of the Hornblower Cruises & Events office located at 13755 Fiji Way. Bluth’s Original Frozen Banana stand from Arrested Development was situated in front of the Lighthouse Fountain & Grill, which is located at 13735 Fiji Way.

November 7, 2014
Griffith Park from the “Full House” Opening Credits

Growing up, I was obsessed with ABC’s TGIF series Full House. Like obsessed! Because my Uncle Tim lived with my family during my younger years, I related closely to the show – and thought it was insanely cool that I had my very own “Uncle Jesse.” So I was thrilled when fellow stalker Michael contacted me recently to let me know that he was in the process of hunting down the park used in the opening credits of Full House’s first three seasons. I had always been under the impression that the credits had been filmed in San Francisco, where the show was set. As Michael informed me, though, it was not until Season 4 that the cast was flown out to the City by the Bay to shoot on location. During Seasons 1 through 3, the opening segments featuring the series’ actors were lensed in a Los Angeles park and a B-roll team was sent to SF to film similarly-dressed doubles for all of the wide-angle shots. As you can imagine, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by Michael’s quest.

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I gave Michael a few of my best guesses as to where filming could have taken place. Those guesses included Lacy Park in San Marino, Johnny Carson Park in Burbank and Griffith Park in Los Feliz. Not able to pinpoint the location via Google aerial views, he ventured out to do some in-person recon and quickly discovered that Griffith Park was the right spot. Now I should mention here that Griffith Park is one of the largest parks in America. It measures 4,310 acres! So the fact that Michael was able to track down this locale – on foot, no less! – is pretty darn amazing. My hat is off to him.

As Michael discovered, all of the park scenes from Full House’s Season 1-3 opening credits (which you can watch below) were shot in Griffith Park’s Park Center area, just southwest of where Griffith Park Drive meets Crystal Springs Drive.

Amazingly, despite the passage of almost thirty years, that area of the park looks pretty much exactly the same today as it did when Full House originally aired in 1987.

The opening credits park scenes included a shot of the Tanner family playing a friendly game soccer;

a shot of Jesse Katsopolis (John Stamos) and Joey Gladstone (Dave Coulier) ditching Danny Tanner (Bob Saget) to hit on some female fellow park-goers;

and a shot of the group running down a hill. It was that hill that was most exciting for me to see. The Full House opening was so ingrained in my memory that as soon as I stepped into that spot, my head filled with the words to the theme song, “Everywhere you look (everywhere), there’s a heart, (there’s a heart), a hand to hold onto.”

The structure seen in the background of the hill segment is the Park Services Building located at 4800 Griffith Park Drive.

Prior to this search, I had no idea that a different actor – John Posey – had played the Tanner family patriarch in Full House’s original pilot. Once the series got picked up, Bob Saget was hired to replace Posey and the episode was reshot. You can watch the original opening with Posey by clicking below and you can read an interview with him in which he talks about losing the Full House gig here.

You can watch all of the Full House opening credits (Season 1-8) by clicking below.

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 fellow stalker Michael for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The opening credits of Full House’s first three seasons were filmed in Griffith Park’s Park Center, which is located at 4730 Griffith Park Drive in Los Feliz. A detailed aerial view of the area denoting where each segment of the credits was filmed is pictured below.

September 26, 2014
The “Yes, Dear” House

One show that I never really understood the appeal of is Yes, Dear. My dad loved the sitcom, which ran from 2000 to 2006, and watched it regularly, but I always found the characters slightly unlikable and the storylines a bit ridiculous. Nevertheless, when I received an email from a fellow stalker named Jeremy recently asking for some help in tracking down the main house featured on the series, my interest was immediately piqued.

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Jeremy had sent some screen captures along with his query and, maddeningly, while a four-digit address number was visible on the front of the house in one of them, none of the digits were clear enough to read.

While looking at one of the images more closely, I spotted a trash can on the side of the Yes, Dear house with an address number painted on it, the last three numbers of which were somewhat legible. My guess was that they read 326. Due to its Spanish architecture, I figured the home was most likely located in Pasadena and started searching 4-digit address blocks in the 300 range in the area, but came up empty-handed. At that point, I decided to get fellow stalkers Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, and Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, involved. Miraculously, Geoff emailed me with an address just a few hours after I initially contacted him. As it turns out, the Yes, Dear house is not located in Pasadena at all, but at 2316 Greenfield Avenue in West L.A.’s Rancho Park neighborhood.

The charming dwelling looks exactly the same in person as it did onscreen.

In real life, the residence, which was built in 1925, measures five bedrooms, three baths, and 2,854 square feet.

On Yes, Dear, the pad belonged to movie executive Greg Warner (Anthony Clark) and his wife, Kim (Jean Louisa Kelly, who I can’t even believe is the same woman who played Tia in Uncle Buck). Kim’s sister, Christine Hughes (Liza Snyder), her husband, Jimmy (Glee’s Mike O’Malley), and their two children also lived on the property, in the Warner’s guest house.

While writing this post, I got to thinking that the residence was an odd choice for use in the series as, while not small by any means, it in no way seems big enough to have on its premises a guest house large enough to accommodate a family of four.

Only the exterior of the Rancho Park property was used in the filming. The interior of the Warner home was a set built on a soundstage at CBS Studio Center in Studio City, where the series was lensed.

While searching for the residence, I came across countless message boards on which commenters stated that the Yes, Dear house had been featured on several other television shows, namely Dave’s World, Happily Divorced, and – this one I don’t even understand – Beverly Hills, 90210. I know my readers do not need any sort of explanation or photograph comparison to illustrate that the Yes, Dear house most definitely is NOT the same place as Casa Walsh, so I’ll move on from that one right now. I did manage to track down an episode of Dave’s World, which ran from 1993 to 1997, on YouTube and the house where Dave Barry (Harry Anderson) lived in it is pictured below. As you can see, it is also most definitely not the same place featured on Yes, Dear.

Several commenters also surmised that the Dave’s World interior sets had been reused for Yes, Dear. But as you can see, while the two interiors are similarly laid out, they are not the same.

Both interiors did feature centrally located staircases, but the one on Dave’s World was curved, while the one on Yes, Dear was split-level.

The residence where Fran Lovett (Fran Drescher) and Peter Lovett (John Michael Higgins) lived in Happily Divorced, which ran from 2011 to 2013, does bear a resemblance to the Yes, Dear house, but again, they are definitely not one and the same. (For those who are interested, Owen managed to track down the Happily Divorced house – it’s at 1242 South Masselin Avenue in the Mid-Wilshire area of L.A.)

The interior of the Lovett’s house (pictured below) looked nothing like the interior of the Warner home, though.

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 Geoff, from the 90210Locations website, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Yes, Dear house is located at 2316 Greenfield Avenue in the Rancho Park area of West L.A.

September 23, 2014
This Week’s “L.A.” Mag Post – About the “Golden Girls” House

Don’t forget to check out this week’s L.A. magazine blog post – about the Golden Girls house – here.

September 21, 2014
New Scene It Before Post – About the “Saved by the Bell” School

Don’t forget to check out today’s Los Angeles magazine post – about Ulysses S. Grant High School from Saved by the Bell. You can read it here. My columns typically get published in the late morning/early afternoon hours.

August 28, 2014
The Water Garden from “A to Z”

During my recent viewing of A to Z’s digital preview (which you can watch here – I’ve now seen it twice!), I recognized a location featured in it – The Water Garden in Santa Monica. The Grim Cheaper used to live close to the office complex and I had driven by it countless times over the years. I had never ventured onto the property for a closer look, though, so I decided to amend that while in the area last week. And I was shocked at what I discovered!

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While the exterior of The Water Garden (pictured below) is pretty, the interior grounds, which are not visible from the street, are absolutely breathtaking! I cannot even imagine having an office there! What an idyllic place to work!

The Water Garden complex is much larger than it appears to be from the street. The 17-acre property, which takes up an entire city block, is comprised of eight buildings (six 6-story structures and two 5-story structures) that total a whopping 1.27-million square feet of office space.

The eight buildings surround a massive waterway that meanders throughout the grounds, complete with geysers, fountains and bridges. Like I said, it is breathtaking.

The complex also features lush landscaping with rambling, trellised pathways that make the property look more like a public park than an office facility. What I wouldn’t give to work there!

On A to Z, The Water Garden is where both Andrew (Ben Feldman) and Zelda (Cristin Milioti) work – Ben at a matchmaking company named Wallflower and Zelda at a law firm.

The complex was used extensively throughout the pilot episode.

Some of The Water Garden’s interior space was also utilized in the pilot – as both the interior of the Wallflower offices . . .

. . . and Zelda’s law firm. I am guessing that will not be a regular practice, though, and that a set of both office interiors will be built on a soundstage for all subsequent filming.

The Water Garden also made an appearance in the Season 3 episode of CSI: Miami titled “Recoil,” in which it stood in for the Biscayne Courthouse where Horatio Caine (David Caruso) and the gang investigated a shooting.

Oddly, while an image of The Water Garden was used in an establishing shot of the Biscayne Courthouse in the Season 6 episode of CSI: Miami titled “Inside Out” . . .

. . . actual filming took place elsewhere.

The Water Garden also served as the San Francisco headquarters of Gryzzl in the Season 6 episode of Parks and Recreation titled “Moving Up.”

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.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Water Garden, from A to Z, is located at 1620 26th Street in Santa Monica.

August 27, 2014
Andrew’s House from “A to Z”

Networks have recently begun the practice of digitally releasing the pilot episodes of new shows weeks before their scheduled premiere dates. I think it’s a genius maneuver and have been relishing watching them all. One that I perused, on the recommendation of fellow stalker Owen, of the When Write Is Wrong blog, was A to Z, a comedy co-produced by actress Rashida Jones that centers on the relationship between hopeless romantic Andrew (Ben Feldman) and pragmatic lawyer Zelda (How I Met Your Mother’s Cristin Milioti). I thoroughly enjoyed the pilot and plan on adding the series to my television line-up, although I do have a fear that the storyline will wind up akin to that of the ultra-depressing (500) Days of Summer. Fingers crossed that I’m wrong on that count.

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On A to Z, which is set in Los Angeles, Andrew lives in a Craftsman-style home with his quirky roommate/co-worker, Stu (Henry Zebrowski).

Owen managed to track down Andrew and Stu’s house – as well as all of the other locales that appeared in the pilot – before I had yet to even watch the episode. So, since he had already done most of the heavy lifting, I decided to run right out and stalk a few of them while I was in L.A. earlier this week.

In real life, Andrew’s residence is located in Los Feliz and looks much the same in person as it does onscreen. The pad measures three bedrooms, one bath and 1,416 square feet.

I am fairly certain that the property’s actual interior was used in the pilot episode and that a set modeled after it will be built for all subsequent filming.

In an unexpected twist, the Laverne & Shirley apartment building (which I blogged about here) was used as Zelda’s apartment in the episode.

A to Z is set to premiere on Thursday, October 2nd at 9:30 p.m., but you can watch a full episode preview of the pilot now on NBC.com.

On a side-note – I had an absolute blast being a guest on The Bill Feingold Show Featuring Kevin Holmes yesterday! For those who missed it live, you can listen to the show On Demand here.

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 Owen, from the When Write Is Wrong blog, for finding this location!

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: Andrew’s house from A to Z is located at 4431 Melbourne Avenue in Los Feliz. Zelda’s apartment building from the series can be found at 419 North Sierra Bonita Avenue in L.A.’s Fairfax District.

August 22, 2014
The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage

The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage recently re-opened after what amounted to countless delays and an almost eight-year closure. A few years prior to its shuttering, when it was known as The Lodge at Rancho Mirage, the resort hosted the nuptials of Bachelorette Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter, and I had been itching to stalk it ever since. The Grim Cheaper and I had actually stayed at the property a couple of times, long before Trista and Ryan’s wedding and long before I ever had a blog, but, unfortunately I never took any pictures, so, for me, the grand unveil could not come soon enough. When the hotel finally did re-open a few months ago, I ran right out to stalk it. Sadly though, it no longer looks anything like it did when Trista and Ryan tied the knot there a little over a decade ago.

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The 24-acre resort located at 68900 Frank Sinatra Drive was originally constructed in 1988 as the seventh hotel in the Ritz-Carlton chain. In 2001, it was sold to Vail Resorts, Inc. and was renamed The Lodge at Rancho Mirage. The décor and design largely remained the same as it was during the Ritz days. During that time, the property was awarded several distinctions, including one of the Top 500 Hotels in the World by Travel + Leisure, one of the Top 100 Golf Resorts in North America by Condé Nast Traveler, and Highest Rated Resort, Palm Springs Area by ZAGAT. Despite the success, Vail Resorts sold The Lodge to Gencom in 2005. The site was shuttered the following year and arrangements made to fully renovate it and re-open it once again as a Ritz. Things did not go according to plan, though, and the project was halted in 2008 when Lehman Brothers, which was backing the renovation financially, filed for bankruptcy. The property was subsequently left vacant for the next five years until a new development company stepped in. Construction resumed in 2013 and, after several delays, the redesign was finally unveiled this past May.

That redesign turned out to be a complete gutting. Sadly, the resort no longer resembles its former self in the slightest. And while the remodel is undeniably beautiful, I much preferred the look of the place in its old state.

I am of the opinion that a hotel should embrace the city it is located in. If I am staying in a hotel in New York, I want to know I’m in New York. If I check into a resort in Seattle, I want to know I’m in Seattle. While some desert elements were incorporated into the new design of the Ritz, nothing about it says “Palm Springs” to me. The place has more of a generic feel. Walking through the lobby, I felt as if I could have been anywhere – Arizona, Pasadena or even Hawaii for that matter.

I was completely obsessed with the hardwood flooring, though. Gorge!

The outside remodel was also disappointing. The resort’s exterior space used to be much more open, with green rolling lawns as far as the eye could see. Today, the property is partitioned into several different areas and, while each section is beautiful, I prefer a sprawling look.

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, is the view. The Ritz, which sits atop a 650-foot bluff, still boasts some of the best panoramas in the entire Coachella Valley.

Trista and Ryan’s wedding, which was televised by ABC (of course), took place on December 6th, 2003. The lavish affair cost a reported $4 million, with some 30,000 roses flown in from Ecuador and Holland for the occasion. The Lodge was shut down to the public for a whopping four days during the event. You can check out some photographs of the nuptials here.

The couple was married on The Lodge’s east lawn, in a spot adjacent to the resort’s popular wedding gazebo. Sadly, that gazebo, and the entire lawn area, in fact, were dismantled during the renovation. The former location of the gazebo is denoted with a pink arrow in the image below and the area where Trista and Ryan’s nuptials took place is denoted with a pink “X.” You can check out some photographs of what the east lawn used to look like here.

That same spot post-remodel is pictured below. While it used to consist of a large sprawling lawn, today it is made up of a pool . . .

. . . and a large AstroTurf (I know, gross!) lounge area.

It is also now surrounded by hotel wings on three sides (one of the wings is a new addition) and, therefore, not as open as it once was.

Trista and Ryan are hardly the only celebs to have stayed at the resort. A few of the other luminaries who have walked the halls include Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Lopez, former president Gerald Ford, John Travolta, Bruce Springsteen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Kathy Ireland.

On an exciting side-note – this Thursday morning at 8 a.m. PST, I will be a guest on my favorite desert radio show, “The Bill Feingold Show Featuring Kevin Holmes” on K-News 94.3. (That’s me with Bill “Bulldog” Feingold below.) You can listen to it live online here.

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.

Until next time, Happy Stalking!

Stalk It: The Ritz-Carlton, Rancho Mirage, aka the place where Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter got married, is located at 68900 Frank Sinatra Drive in Rancho Mirage. You can visit the resort’s official website here.

August 19, 2014