Category: TV Locations

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Mansion Bel Aire

A few weeks ago, while searching for the Fresh Prince of Bel Air house, fellow stalker Kerry told me about a mansion in Glendale that she calls the “Tara House” that she thought might be the home used in Fresh Prince. So, of course I had to run right out to stalk it. It wasn’t the FP home, but I was so happy to have stalked it anyway as it is an absolutely ginormous mansion that I never would have found otherwise. Thanks, Kerry!

According to one of my fave tour books, Bel Aire, as the mansion is called, was built in 1922 by Mattison Boyd Jones, a highly successful Glendale area businessman and politician. It was since named a historic landmark and is frequently used as a filming location, most prominently as the main home in the Aaron Spelling produced TV Series Flamingo Road. Legend has it that the mansion was also used a filming location back in 1938 during the filming of Gone With the Wind, but that claim has never been substantiated.

The house is truly amazing as it looks like it belongs on a large Southern plantation, not on a normal street in Glendale among normal sized homes. The mansion sits far back from the road on what has to be at least 3 acres of sprawling lawns and gardens. I highly recommend stalking this location as it is truly one of a kind! And, it is very stalker friendly as it is not hidden behind tall gates or trees.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: “Bel Aire” is located at 727 Kenneth Road in Glendale. After stalking Bel Aire, head over to the new Americana at Brand shopping center located on Brand Boulevard. Just opened this month, it was built by Rick Caruso (no relation to David), the same man who built LA’s celebrated The Grove shopping center.

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Fresh Prince House – For Real This Time!

Major Fresh Prince of Bel Air fan Bryan posted a comment on my original Fresh Prince post asking me to please, please, please find the actual location of the mansion used as the Banks’ house on the 90s show. Bryan told me he had been looking for this location for years and every tour book seemed to have gotten it wrong. Being that I know the feeling of complete desperation in not being able to find a location, I made it my mission to find the house for him! I am sad to say it took me a really long time! I have literally stopped to take a picture of every single colonial style mansion I have driven by over the past month to compare to a picture Bryan had sent me of the Fresh Prince house. I was absolutely convinced I had located the right house on two separate occasions, but after coming home to compare pictures, I found I was completely wrong.

Then the other night, a lightbulb went off in my head. I decided to look at a filming locations website – the same one where I located the Shark House. Why I didn’t think of this sooner, I have no idea, because in a matter of minutes I was pretty sure I had found the house! I immediately emailed a picture of the house to Bryan and he confirmed it for me, as did the location company. Then I set off to Brentwood (NOT Bel Air) to stalk the house.

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Unfortunately my pictures came out absolutely horrible!! There are many trees in front of the Banks’ mansion and I could not get my camera to focus correctly on the house through the trees. My dad, who has a much better camera than I do, has promised to stalk the house with me later to take some better pics. The good news, though, is that if you drive by the house, you can definitely see it clearly through the trees and I am so happy to report that it looks EXACTLY the same as it did back in the Fresh Prince days. I was just standing there waiting for a taxi cab to drive up with dice in the mirror. 🙂

An ironic side note – I randomly watched the pilot episode of 90210 the other night and featured on that episode, big as life, was the incorrectly identified Fresh Prince house from my first post! It was used as the location of the Beverly Hills mansion where Brandon and Brenda attend their first West Beverly High party. Since both the pilot episodes of 90210 and Fresh Prince were filmed around the same time back in 1990, my thought is that people and neighbors saw 90210 being filmed at the house and since neither show was well-known at all at that time, heard it was a show about “Beverly Hills” and got it confused when a show about “Bel Air” premiered. Through incorrect word of mouth and communication error, the location wound up in tour books as the Fresh Prince house. That’s my theory anyway. 🙂

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Fresh Prince house is located at 251 N. Bristol Avenue, at the corner of Bristol Avenue and Parkyns Street, in Brentwood. Katherine Heigl’s sister’s house from the movie Knocked Up is located just up the road at 531 N. Bristol, but unfortunately that home is now gated and not much can be seen at all from the street. The incorrectly identified Fresh Prince house, where the Walsh twins went to their first Beverly Hills party, is located in Bel Air, at 417 Amapola Lane.

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Scrubs!

Scrubs Hospital Last week I attended an acting class in North Hollywood and I happened to get a little bit lost on my way there. I turned onto a small side street off Riverside Drive and wound up in what I thought was a parking lot. But when I saw a guard shack with a large sign saying “Gate B” and what looked to be a closed down hospital, I put two and two together and realized it was actually the Scrubs set! My buddy EJ over at The Movieland Directory had told me a while back where the Scrubs set was located, but I had yet to stalk it as I don’t watch the show. But when I found myself mistakenly right at their front entrance, I was pretty darn excited! 🙂

Scrubs is filmed at the former North Hollywood Medical Center, a real hospital that closed its doors about 10 years ago. Like so many other closed down hospitals in LA, it is now used strictly as a filming location. It was also used in the filming of Discovery Health’s Diagnosis X and the movie The One, but ever since Scrubs premiered it has been used exclusively by the show. The hospital has been completely transformed into a studio and even the apartment sets from the show are located inside the hospital building.

It is a slightly eerie place, being that it still very much looks like a real hospital, complete with ambulances parked out front. According to one article I read, Zack Braff said that people sometimes walk inside the hospital asking for medical help. When he tells them, while wearing his Scrubs costume, that they are not in an actual hospital, the people look at him like he’s crazy. LOL Zack also said that filming inside the hospital is great for him as an actor, because it makes everything that much more realistic.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Scrubs hospital is located at 12699 Riverside Drive in North Hollywood. You can park on Riverside Drive and walk right up to the front of the hospital to take some pictures. Be sure to look at the hospital entrance doors – they have signs that say “Sacred Heart Hospital.” 🙂

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"I am a Spring Princess!"

One of my favorite lines of all time from Beverly Hills, 90210 was said during the Spring Dance episode from the show’s first season. In the episode, Kelly gets nominated for Spring Queen making her a “Spring Princess” in the interim until the awards are announced. When Kelly arrives at the Walsh’s house on the night of the dance, she finds that she and Brenda are wearing the exact same dress. A fight ensues and Brenda tells Kelly to go change her dress to which Kelly responds “Brenda, I am a Spring Princess!” Love it! Now whenever my boyfriend asks me to do something I don’t want to do, like clean the dishes, I always say “I am a Spring Princess!” LOL

Anyway, the store where Kelly and Brenda first find their matching dress is located in a small section of Rodeo Drive called Rodeo Collection. The Rodeo Collection is a specialized outdoor mall of sorts, although it doesn’t much look like any of the malls I frequent. Rodeo Collection is a five story, 66,000 square foot conglomerate of high end stores and it is set up in the style of a European Piazza. There are meandering walkways, gardens, and terraces mixed in with some very ritzy boutiques. Rodeo Collection was actually only used for the exterior of Brenda and Kelly’s prom dress shop; the interior looks like it was most likely just a set built on a studio sound stage. Rodeo Collection was also featured each week during the opening credits of 90210. It was also used quite a bit in the movie Body Double.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Rodeo Collection is located at 421 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. If you get a chance, after stalking the Rodeo Collection, go visit Crumbs bakery at 9465 Santa Monica Boulevard for some yummy cupcakes! 🙂

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Andrea Zuckerman’s “Valley” House

I must be on a 90210 kick this week or something, because here I am again blogging about my fave 90’s show. 🙂 My buddy Mike over at MovieShotsLA just gave me the address of Andrea Zuckerman’s house from 90210, so I had to run right out and stalk it! On the first season of 90210, Andrea Zuckerman lived out of district, in the “Valley” and used her grandmother’s Beverly Hills address so that she could attend West Beverly High. In reality, Andrea’s house is actually a lot closer to Beverly Hills than the Walsh home is. Ah, the magic of TV.

Andrea’s house looks almost exactly the same as it did in the 90210 days. The house is a really cute Craftsman style home and I am actually really surprised the producers didn’t choose a more dumpy house to use as they always seemed to emphasize the fact that Andrea was poor and how she lived in the “highly undesirable” Valley. The neighborhood is actually not that great, though, and I wouldn’t recommend stalking this location at night. You can see this house in the 90210 pilot episode when Brandon follows Andrea home after getting into a fight with her at school.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Andrea Zuckerman’s house is located at 540 North Gramercy Place in Hollywood.

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The Peach Pit

Got a comment Tuesday night from Kevin who asked if I had a picture of the Peach Pit location from 90210. I briefly blogged about the Peach Pit on my first 90210 post a few months ago, but at the time I didn’t have a picture of the filming site. In reality, there were actually three different locations used as the Peach Pit during 90210’s ten year run. During the first season, two different storefronts were used. For the very first few episodes the exterior of an Apple Pan restaurant was shown as the Peach Pit. I found this location thanks to fellow stalker Mike over at MovieShotsLA. After only a few episodes, though, producers moved to a new exterior to film the Peach Pit. Unfortunately I have yet to find that location. 🙁

During the second season and throughout the rest of 90210 ‘s run, a Ruby’s Diner in Pasadena was used as the Peach Pit. Ruby’s is a 50’s style restaurant chain that can be found all over the Los Angeles area. The one in Pasadena was a favorite of mine when I first moved to LA. It wasn’t until my third or fourth time eating there that one of the waitresses told me it was the location of the Peach Pit. I about died! There I was eating at Brenda and Dylan’s favorite hang out and I didn’t even know it! 🙂

Sadly, Ruby’s closed its doors back in 2005 when it lost its lease. An Italian Restaurant took over after Ruby’s closed and painted the exterior of the building yellow. That restaurant also shut down and the space is currently vacant. The location is not very recognizable anymore as the 90210 gang’s hangout. The only thing that remains from the 90210 days are the Peach Pit’s exterior double doors.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: The Apple Pan Restaurant which was used as the Peach Pit in Season 1 is located at 10801 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles. The Peach Pit from Seasons 2 through 10 can be found at 45 South Fair Oaks Avenue in Pasadena.

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Crossroads School

Last night my boyfriend gave me an article entitled “The Speidi Chronicles” that he had saved for me from Sunday’s LA Times and it was all about Spencer and Heidi. I swear I really need to marry this guy! 🙂 Anyway, Spencer and Heidi sat down at Don Antonio’s for the interview and over some quesadillas and fajitas they opened up about life on The Hills. Ever notice how every time Spencer and Heidi sit down for an interview, it’s always at Don Antonio’s?!? Anyway, besides revealing juicy little tidbits like the fact that Heidi didn’t get paid a dime for being a part of the first season and that while she had to pay rent for their Park La Brea Apartment Lauren did not, the article also dilvulged that Spencer attended Crossroads School in Santa Monica. Since I happened to be in Santa Monica today, I just had to go stalk it!

Besides being Spencer Pratt’s alma mater, the school has educated a slew of other famous celebs and their children, including Kate Hudson, Cash Warren, Baron Davis, Michael Bay, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jack Black, Jake Busey, Sean Astin, and (total coincidence) Whitney Port. I wonder if she knew Spencer in high school! Although Crossroads is a highly prestigious school, it has also attracted its fair share of scruitiny. A book written in 2004 called Hollywood Interrupted did not paint a very flattering picture of the school or its students and neither did a 2005Vanity Fair article.

The school is very modern looking and has some highly unique architecture. I definitely recommend doing a drive by if you get the chance.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Crossroads School is located at 1714 21st Street, just off Olympic Boulevard, in Santa Monica. The school is very close to the Epic Records office building where Audrina works.

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24

Today while driving in Pasadena, I happened to pass by one of those yellow filming signs I am so fond of seeing, and it turns out that the TV show 24 was filming at Saint Luke’s Hospital. So I immediately parked my car and ran onto the set in the hopes of seeing Keifer Sutherland or one of the show’s other stars. Unfortunately I didn’t see anyone famous, but I did get to hang out for a bit and watch some of the filming. The scene being filmed showed a large tank full of Army men pulling up to the side of the hospital and all of the army men running out of the tank.

Saint Luke’s is actually a former hospital and is not currently in use. It closed its doors in 2002 and is now used strictly as a filming location. The fireman and security guard that I hung out with on the set today gave me a lot of history of the filming at St. Luke’s. Kill Bill, In Her Shoes, Rush Hour 3, Las Vegas, and Something’s Gotta Give were all filmed at the hospital. 24 films there almost every week, as does Desperate Housewives, which used the hospital for the scenes when Mike was in a coma, when Carlos’ mom was in a coma, and when Carlos went blind. Geez, is anybody ever healthy on that show?! 🙂

The fireman on duty also told me that he also worked during the filming of Something’s Gotta Give starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, and Keanu Reeves. Apparently the movie was being filmed during the Laker playoffs and everyday at precisely 4:30pm, Jack Nicholson would leave the set to head to Staples Center to watch the game. Like clockwork, no matter what was going on or how mad the director would get, Jack was out of there at 4:30pm. LOL I guess no one comes between Jack and his Lakers.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Saint Luke’s Hospital is located at 2632 East Washington Boulevard in Pasadena. Chances are if you drive by the hospital on a weekday, you will see film crews set up there. Pasadena film crews are notoriously friendly and will most likely fill you in on what is being filmed and even let you hang out and watch. 🙂

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Now Wear This!

For those who haven’t yet heard the good news – Jennie Garth has officially signed on to star in a recurring role on the new Beverly Hills, 90210 spin-off that is going to air on the CW. Although Brenda was always my fave 90210 character I still have to say YAY! Jennie will be reprising her role as Kelly Taylor, who is now a guidance counselor at West Beverly High.

I thought I’d do a little 90210 blogging in honor of today’s big news! During the 7th Season of 90210, Donna and Kelly opened up a clothing boutique called “Now Wear This!” A few years ago, as I was driving on Melrose Avenue, I spotted the location of the shop and almost got into a car accident I was so excited! When I first saw the location, the site was just a vacant storefront and pretty run down, but a few years ago it became home to a restaurant called El Guapo Mexican Cantina – which, according to reviews, is a very happening spot and a supposed celeb hang out. I have yet to eat, there, though, as anytime I have a hankering for Mexican food I head over to the BEST Mexican food in LA, Don Antonio’s. But it looks like I am going to have to check out El Guapo’s someday soon!

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Donna’s dress shop is located at 7250 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. It is just down the street from both The Groundlings Theatre – famous improv school and alma mater to countless celebs – and People’s Revolution – Lauren Conrad’s new workplace.

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Charlie’s Angels

Charlie\'s Angels I must admit that I absolutely loved the first Charlie’s Angels movie, so when I found the location of the headquarters of Charles Townsend Investigations in my stalking tome last weekend, I just had to stalk it. This same location was used in both the filming of the Charlie’s Angels television show back in 1976 and the more recent first Charlie’s Angels movie in 2000. In the movie, Townsend Investigations is actually blown up by the evil Eric Knox, but for the big blow up scene, producers built a replica of the headquarters building on a studio soundstage.

Townsend Investigations looks much the same today as it did in 1976, except that now a Miele store occupies the space. Miele is a high end German appliance store.

Until next time, Happy Stalking! 🙂

Stalk It: Townsend Enterprises is located at 189 Robertson Boulevard, on the corner of Clifton Way and Robertson Boulevard, in Beverly Hills. A few blocks South of the Miele store is the chic, celeb favorite shopping district of Robertson Boulevard which is home to Kitson, Lisa Kline, the Ivy restaurant, and the MAC Pro Store. Robertson is a shopping haven for celebs and paparazzi can often be seen milling around outside of the many high-end stores located there.